Chapter 3

"Oh my goodness, Chris! What is with that hair, no wonder I almost didn't recognize you." Ashley laughed as she hugged the man who she now recognized as an old friend. "I know you said you had a meeting, but do you have time to meet my husband? Maybe if you do we could get together for a soda or something."

"Well, I have a meeting downtown with my band but then I was going to eat lunch with my uncle back at the academy. But I think I can open my schedule for you instead, where would you like to meet?" he asked.

She held his hand like a little girl afraid that if she let him go she would never see him again. "Is that old bugger still at the school?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, and so is Delmas, as well as several of the same teachers. Hertz, for an example, is still there and has taken the position of head of the science department," Chris explained.

"Would it be possible… do you think that I could meet you at the school? I would like to see some of those guys and see if they still remember me," Ashley said. and Chris nodded.

"I will meet you and your husband by the front gate in about an hour."

He and Ashley parted ways, and she walked back to a curious Andros. "Ashley who was that? After he called your name, you seemed pretty excited to see him."

"That was Chris. He was one of my best friends growing up. He lived at the school but once I met him, he sort of became like a big brother. When my mother passed away, he was there for me. I didn't recognize him because he died his hair," Ashley explained. "I agreed to meet him at the academy in an hour after his meeting. He wants to meet you."

Ashley smiled as she walked down the sidewalk, grinning at Andros.

"So what do you want to do for now?" Andros asked.

"We could go and sit in the park that is right next to the school." Ashley smiled and led him to the park, where they found a bench.

They had been sitting for a few moments when Andros pointed at a kid's head that had just popped out of the bushes. "I think we have company. It looks like they may have been there awhile because I didn't see them run to over there."

Ashley gazed at the group of kids. "They used the old sewer tunnels that run from the school. Several students used it to beat curfew when I was a student here. They must have been using it to skip classes."

Her gaze landed on one member of the group—a pink haired girl wearing a dark, short dress with light pink pants. The peripheral view that she saw caught her memories and she gasped, "Aelita…"

Ashley was running alongside Aelita and Chris as they sprinted to get back to class. The two older ones had skipped study hall to run back to the hermitage to help her get her project for class, but because they didn't want to be seen leaving campus they had used the sewer system and in the process had found that there was an exit right behind their house. Despite skipping study hall, they were running late for their next class.

"Oi, you know how much I dislike science and what's worse is Daddy always makes it seem like I am the class idol. You'd think having a father who was so into science I would be more interested, but I'm not," Aelita complained as they came to a stop in front of the science building where she and Chris had class.

"Hey, you guys are lucky; you don't ever have to take that natural history class that this project is for," Ashley whined as she shifted the stuff for her project.

Chris grinned. "Yeah, lucky for us it was added to the curriculum just this year after we were already done with the credit that class replaces."

"Hey, I am glad I get one class with you even though you're in another grade than I am." Ashley grinned.

Aelita rolled her eyes. "I couldn't really care less about that computer class that is required for all students this year. I think computers are so overrated."

"Hey, one good thing is coming out of them," Chris argued. "The new level they bring to music editing is amazing. I think they will do wonders for music synthesizing."

"Whatever you say, Chris," Aelita said with a roll of her eyes. "Now, let's get on before my father gets all suspicious about why we were late to class. You know how my father has been since our mother's death."

Ashley smiled slightly, remembering Aelita as she watched the girl disappear back into the school yard. "It's amazing how someone so much younger can look like someone you used to know."

Andros turned to look at Ashley. "Is something the matter?"

"No, Andros, I just got lost in my thoughts thinking about the sewer entrance over there."

"You muttered a word a bit ago. Was it something is French?"

"No, it was a name," she said slowly. Ashley sighed quietly before she explained. "A name I have been holding back. She was Chris's girlfriend just before I was sent away. But she was something more to me, she was my older sister. I could never have asked for a big sister better than she was to me.

"She never complained about me tagging along with her even though I was a class lower then she was. Just before I was sent away, she was trying to calm me down by telling me that she must be the one father was sending off because of her resemblance to our mother, but I guess you never know the insides of a crazy man." Ashley contemplated her words for a minute before laying her hand on Andros's knee. "Come on, it's almost time to go meet Chris for lunch."

When they got to the gate, Chris was already there. Ashley greeted him by kissing him on the cheeks, while Andros got very confused by this display of affection between the two.

Ashley introduced them to each other. "Chris, I would like you to meet Andros, my husband."

Chris walked over and shook Andros's hand. In slow English, he said, "It is very nice to meet you, Andros. Ashley told me you don't know any French?"

Andros nodded to his question, and Chris said, "Well, I will try to speak in English to you, but I must warn you my English is somewhat poor and underused." Turning to Ashley, he added, "You would think for having become famous, I would use my English more but surprisingly I don't."

Ashley giggled, but then got an excited smile on her face, "Did you just say you and your band are famous?"

For Andros' ease, he decided to speak in English. "Yes, we have been on the French charts for a couple of years. Some of our hits have made it to the States, though."

"Really? I haven't heard anything by the Submarines," Ashley said.

"That's probably because our manager changed our name. We are now the Subdigitals."

"Really? You're kidding me, right?" Ashley laughed as they walked through the school yard.

"No, I am very serious." Chris shook his head.

Ashley laid her head on Andros's shoulder and laughed. "I was asking because just the other day I was watching the English version of your song! I think it is called Planet Net or something like that."

"Yeah, I know which one you are talking about." Chris nodded. "I called my uncle on the way here and told him I was bringing an old friend with me, so he is expecting you, but doesn't know who I am bringing." Looking at Andros, he added, "Andros, I know I have been talking to Ashley and have hardly had a chance to talk to you, but just so you know, my uncle knows even less English than I do."

Walking into the cafeteria, Chris led the way to the faculty table through a crowd of noisy children. Jim and Mr. Delmas were sitting there already. When they got to the table, Chris introduced them which was followed by Jim and Mr. Delmas getting up to greet Ashley properly.

Meanwhile towards the other side of the cafeteria at their usual table, Odd saw the two strangers walk in with Chris. "Hey… who's that that just walked in with Chris? Has anyone ever seen them before?"

Everyone shook their heads except for Aelita. "I don't know who they are, but the woman standing next to Chris seems familiar… Almost like I am having a flashback, but nothing comes up in my real memories as anywhere near as similar to them. I have spent time around Chris as well and given his age, he would have gone to school here about the same time my father worked here just before I got stranded on Lyoko."

Jeremie looked at Aelita and placed a hand on hers. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, I'm sure if it is important you will remember it or recover the rest of your memories in some way."

"You're righ,t Jeremie." Aelita smiled just as Sissi walked past with a strange look on her face.

Odd took advantage of this. "Hey, Sissi, did you finally realize that people with brains are actually smarter than you?"

"No, that woman that came in with Chris used to be some sort of baby sitter for me when I was really young and she just made me feel really uncomfortable. I hope she keeps all the baby stories to herself," Sissi complained.

"Oh yeah! What's her name?" Yumi smirked.

"How should I know? It's Ashley something," Sissi said, as she tossed her hair and walked to her normal 'popular' table.

Just then Jeremie's laptop beeped, signaling a XANA attack. "Oh no, not again. What's XANA up to this time?"

The five of them stood up and proceeded to walk out of the cafeteria. They only got as far as the trashcans when Jim stood up and yelled across the hall to them, "Belpois, Stern, Della-Robbia and Miss Stones, you had better not be thinking about skipping gym class today."

For some reason, he stressed both Jeremie and Aelita even though Aelita went to gym every day. Him calling out caused everyone sitting down at the tables to laugh at the four of them.

"Now, Jim, was that absolutely necessary? I know Belpois has been skipping a lot of gym classes, but I have talked to him about it. The others, however, have had fairly decent gym class attendances," Mr. Delmas said to Jim.

"Yes, it was. I figured if I could make it look like they would all get in trouble, Jeremie might just actually attend class." Jim nodded.

Mr. Delmas just shook his head. "So, Ashley, what have you been up to?"

Ashley blushed. "Well, when my father sent me away I went to live with my aunt. At first I had an unwillingness to try to fit in and held on as long as I could, so I was sent back to the sixth grade. It was some time after that that I met Andros, and just under two years ago we were married."

"Well, I supposed that should be congratulations in order for you." Mr. Delmas smiled to hear that things were going well for Ashley.