Sorry for the delay. My school-issued computer had a hard drive failure, so I rewrote this from scratch. And... I think I'll be updating weekly from now on, as in a set cycle. Maybe bi-weekly... it depends on how I'm feeling, so... perhaps there's no set cycle at all?
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Odd, Pico, Elizabeth, and Ulrich were sitting in the gymnasium, surrounded by empty space and the sound of pregnant silence. It was their first time meeting together like this, and everyone was tense and on edge. Ulrich could feel that emotions were about to fly, but Pico couldn't at the moment. After all her time living in the real world, she was still a relative infant compared to those around her.
"Okay, so here's what I have in mind," started Pico. "Since Odd and you were dating over the internet, and never realized it, I think that you and he should try dating in the real world."
"No way," replied Odd and Ulrich at the same time.
"No offense, Sissy, but I could never date you."
'Ouch, that's harsh," seethed the taller girl. "Besides, get my name right; it's Elizabeth!"
"Sorry, Elizabeth." Odd crossed his arms and slouched in annoyance.
"Well, why are you against it, Ulrich?" Pico turned to the brunette.
"Odd told me to never let him date you, even if he had the chance."
"I did?" asked Odd. "When?"
"A few years ago."
"You remember that far?"
"Doesn't everyone?"
"Apparently not Odd..."
"Elizabeth, isn't that sort of unfair? You don't even remember what you had for breakfast this morning!"
"WHAT?! Of course I do... Wait... Dangit, Odd!"
"Hey, whaduya know, even Elizabeth isn't infallible."
"Big words for such a pea-brain!"
"WHAT?!" shouted Odd, much like Elizabeth did a moment before.
"OKAY!" yelled Pico.
"YEEEEAAHH!" intoned Ulrich
"WHAT?!" screamed Elizabeth, but in obvious confusion. Pico, Odd, and Ulrich tried to stifle grins, then burst out laughing, and Elizabeth looked from shaking ribs to shaking ribs, wondering what the heck was going on.
"Nothing, it's a Lil' Jon thing."
"Who?"
"He's a rapper from the US," replied Odd. "There's this thing he does where he makes these crazy sounds in his songs, and their hilarious when out of context..." Odd stared at Elizabeth. "But now that I've explained it..."
"It loses its funny qualities..." Elizabeth looked at Odd intently, and he stared at her as well.
Ulrich looked between the two and sighed loudly. "What is it now?" he asked.
:"It looks like Odd finally figured out that LizzyD is just as clueless as the real Elizabeth, and that it's no different than online when they talked together."
Elizabeth and Odd just nodded slowly, and Pico and Ulrich stared curiously.
And then, Pico and Ulrich had to break the two apart from kissing so hard! Odd and Elizabeth had, in the span of three seconds, ended up with their mouths all over each other's faces and bruised lips and smeared makeup... Which, while quite passionate, is also very freaky. Not just in the whole nature of the situation, but in the way that the two kids who were always trying to kill each other were now trying to snog each other. Isn't life grand?
"Ulrich, what are you doing?!" shouted Odd.
"No, what are you doing? You almost bit your lip off trying to get to her!"
"And Pico, what are you doing?" asked Elizabeth.
"Well, this whole thing kind of makes me uncomfortable enough, but now I feel at some romance movie." Pico blushed and pulled Elizabeth even farther away from Odd.
"Isn't life one big romance movie?" Odd scooted, ever so slightly, in Elizabeth's direction, and Ulrich tweaked his ear – ever so slightly.
"I guess..." Pico kept her hands firmly on Elizabeth's shoulders. "Even still, could you not glance at each other every three seconds, looking for a break so you can smooch?"
"Erm, that's not what's going on at all..." Elizabeth impulsively glanced at Odd, and Odd laughed.
"Oh wow, what a reflex fail."
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and smirked. "Whatever."
"Isn't this whole thing sort of weird?" Yumi stepped out from the shadows, her left arm fiddling with her backpack strap.
"Why is it weird? And how did you get in here?"
"Well, I was already in here, playing some game with penguins that I lifted from the Headmaster. I mean, borrowed." Yumi blushed for a moment, which was pretty weird, and continued. "Anyway, you wanna know my thoughts?"
"Not really, but go ahead," said Odd, inching closer to Elizabeth. Ulrich shot an arm between them and moved to fill the space.
Yumi rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue at him. "Anyway, it looks like Ulrich and Pico don't want you two to get together, even though they organized this whole thing. Not only that," Yumi held up her hand when Ulrich began to comment, "but Odd and Elizabeth hate each other. And now, they're all over each other, itching to 'swap spit? That doesn't make any sense at all."
"Good point," said Pico. "I don't want Odd to date Elizabeth."
"Why?" asked everyone.
"I've... I've developed feelings for him myself." Pico looked down and blushed insanely, a smile creeping across her face as she tried not to think of Odd. Oh, Odd... With his crazy sense of creativity, and the way his face scrunched up ever so cutely as he tries to figure out a question in math class...
"Pico, you do realize that everyone can hear you, right?"
Pico looked up at the speaker, with his spiked blonde hair and embarrassed blush. "Oh, crap. Ignore that. Or don't. Anyway, I'm feeling really weird right now, so I should probably leave..."
"Oh, no you don't. I know when someone is feeling weird, and you aren't. Sit down, Pico – you and I need to talk," said Elizabeth.
"Only with them around."
"Only when no one is around," replied Elizabeth, baring her teeth,
"Okay, everyone calm down." Yumi stood and knelt between Elizabeth and Pico, so that the circle now went like this: Yumi, Elizabeth, Ulrich, Odd, Pico, and then back to Yumi.
"Besides, why doesn't Ulrich want us to be together?" asked Elizabeth.
"Hey, as a friend, I have a duty to keep Odd away from crazies like you,"
"You wanna say that again?!"
"Guys, chill!" Pico spoke a little too loudly, and everyone snapped their attention to her. "Sorry, I'm still not used to my new body yet..."
"WHAT?!" shouted Odd. "What do you mean, 'new body'?!"
"It's a long story. Meet me with..." Pico counted on her fingers... "Jeremy, Yumi, Aelita, and Ulrich, and I'll tell you all about it... sadly."
"Hey what about me?" yelled Elizabeth.
"And why 'sadly'?" asked Yumi
"Again, it's a long story. And Elizabeth, you couldn't handle the truth. No offense."
"Oh really?!"
"Well, if Yumi agrees, that would be yes, right?"
"Yeah, I guess," said Elizabeth sitting back down.
"Okay." Pico turned to Yumi. "Can Elizabeth know about Lyoko and Xana?"
"Who?" asked Yumi, quick on her feet.
"Exactly." Pico turned back to Elizabeth. "Sorry, but you really shouldn't know." She turned to Ulrich. "Ulrich, call Jeremy in a few minutes, and make sure he issues a RTTP, okay?"
"Done."
"I don't know how it'll affect me, but it's worth a shot."
"Umm, why?" asked Ulrich.
"Because if Elizabeth here runs around asking about Lyoko, then Xana might notice." Pico didn't mention how close she and Xana were. If the Lyoko warriors knew that pf all people, she could tell Xana the fastest, then... Actually, they'd know soon enough anyway.
"Oh, and you said that Odd and Elizabeth hate each other?" asked Ulrich.
"Yeah," replied Yumi. "I mean, they have been at each other's throats, you know, in the bad way, for the whole time they've known each other. Well, Elizabeth did start chasing Odd a few months ago..."
"I'm not chasing Odd!"
"Well, you're not chasing me; that's for sure." Ulrich smiled and scooted closer to Yumi.
"I may be interested in Odd, but I'm not chasing him."
"Then call it what you will." Yumi shrugged and looked at Elizabeth curiously. "You know, you've changed a lot in the past few months. I feel a little proud of you."
Everyone turned to Yumi and went, "Why???"
"I sort of feel responsible, even if none of it is my fault. I started tutoring you in the summer, while school was out. And now it's the fall, and look how you've grown!" Yumi turned to Ulrich. "Remember how I'd always be at school? I was tutoring Elizabeth. And then, we'd go out on the town and go to the mall and stuff."
She turned back to Elizabeth. "You know, when you think about it, I was sort of like your big sister, right? It makes me feel a little special." Yumi smiled warmly, and Elizabeth fidgeted uncomfortably under everyone' curious glares.
Odd cleared his throat and shifted onto his other leg. "So let me get this straight. Sissy, I mean, Elizabeth, was tutored by Yumi for..." He counted on his fingers. "Six months..."
"Seven."
"Aww, Elizabeth, I wasn't done yet. Anyway, in those seven moths, Yumi's personality rubbed off on Elizabeth, and Yumi's love of Ulrich persuaded her to leave him alone?"
Ulrich blushed, and Pico laughed.
"I guess so..." Elizabeth looked down, blushing a little bit.
"Interesting..." mused Yumi.
"Yeah..." Ulrich scratched his chin, yawned, and fell back onto the glossy wooden floor. Where he hit his head. Umm, hard.
"OW!" he shouted, and everyone laughed save Yumi, who lifted his head and cradled it in the crook of her elbow... Dirty thieving elbow crooks...
"Hey! Don't laugh, that hurt!" Ulrich sat up and rubbed his head, and everyone instantly shut up.
And then, the act of shutting up so fast made them all giggle, and when Pico started giggling, everyone else laughed. After all, she had this weird sound like dying pelicans, and it was impossible not to laugh.
Have you ever heard a dying pelicans? It's sad, but if you don't know what it is, you'll laugh.
And then feel bad.
Anyway, Everyone started laughing then – Ulrich, because the situation was so weird, and Pico, because her on laughter makes her laugh, too!
THEY WERE ALL LAUGHING!
And then, Yumi called for order, and they slowly settled back down. "Okay, so where were we?"
Pico grinned. "Basically, Odd fell in love with Elizabeth, Elizabeth fell in love with Odd, I fell in love with Odd as well, and Yumi loves Ulrich, but Ulrich is too shy to reciprocate."
"More or less, you've got it spot on," replied Odd.
"Nice." Pico stood slowly and spun in a circle. "Okay, so here's what I'm going to do: Ulrich, I'm going to make you admit to Yumi."
"What? I already have!"
"Then say so."
Everyone stared at Ulrich, and he visibly started turning multiple shaded of red. "I, er..."
"Exactly!" Pico laughed and patted his head. "See? You're going to need my help after all." She turned to Yumi who had this look on her face that shouted, 'Get your hand off his head before I cut you.' Pico removed her hands.
"Sorry, Yumi, didn't know you were so possessive. Anyway, I'm going to also try and break up Odd and Elizabeth."
"What? Why?!" asked Elizabeth.
"Simple. I like Odd."
"You may like him, but you don't love him like I do." Elizabeth moved protectively in front of Odd.
"Love? No way. I've analyzed your relationship with him, and I think you've got rabid infatuation at most. Love? No." Pico paused, and turned so that she was facing Odd. "However, you two do have something, and it's up to me to take the thread that ties you and slice it in half." Pico smiled, her calm demeanor at odds with the weight of her words.
"Pico, you're pretty scary," replied Odd.
"Thank you, but... you have no idea." She grinned, and Odd couldn't help but grin back. Elizabeth shot a hand out and slapped his hand, and Odd whimpered.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Smiling at her like that." Elizabeth measuredly turned her head to Pico. "If we're going to be in a fight for Odd, you had better put up your guard."
"I intend to. In fact... In fact, I think that Odd had better choose between us."
Up until then, Ulrich and Yumi had been simply watching, but Yumi had a few thoughts as well... Clever girl.
"Wait a second, if Odd likes Elizabeth, why not just leave that alone?"
"Because I don't want him to love Elizabeth. I want him to love me."
"That's pretty creepy, Pico." Odd raised an eyebrow and cracked his knuckles out of habit.
"Oh, but you like that, don't you?" Pico smiled, and Odd had to look away to keep from smiling again.
Ulrich tugged at his collar. "Uh, besides that, this girl here?" He pointed at Elizabeth. "She's pretty possessive..."
"Oh, I know." Pico smiled, and turned back towards Elizabeth. "We'll just have to make you less possessive."
"That's even creepier," replied Elizabeth.
Pico bared her teeth. "Again; I know."
The tension in the gym was high, but measured. The game was set, and all the players were about to embark on a grand journey. Pico was the de facto, unstated captain, and she was driving their ship to an unknown destination. The only question was... How calm were the waters???
Everyone was more or less silent as they thought about how much weirder this year would be. Pico was already thinking of how to break her personal news to the Lyoko group, Ulrich was wondering why he couldn't ever tell Yumi how he felt, and Yumi was carefully stroking Ulrich's hair, wondering why he could never tell her how he felt.
The most in turmoil was Odd. He was trying to figure out a way to get Pico off his back... or should he get Elizabeth off his back? Why was he even thinking that way? I mean, it was obvious that he was meant to be with Elizabeth...
Right?
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Will Ulrich be able to get the courage up to tell Yumi how he feels? (Even still, everyone knows how he feels about Yumi anyway.) Will Pico succeed in capturing Odd's heart? Will Elizabeth be able to keep her Odd all to herself? Find out in future installments of Green Crush.
