Chapter 4

Lucas looked through hazy eyes. When he checked his clock for the time, the digital numbers read 1:35 A.M. As Lucas searched for an answer to what caused him to wake up so early, he saw a flash of blue light coming from the hallway. He went into the hallway to find Vanellope shivering and glitching in her sleep. Little moans escaped her mouth; she sounded like she was in pain.

"Vanellope? Vanellope, wake up!" Lucas shook her shoulder violently. She woke up with a gasp and jolted up right, panting wildly.

"Oh man!" she exclaimed quietly. Sweat trickled down her forehead. Lucas rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. When Lucas was little, whenever he had a nightmare, his mom would console him by rubbing his back. He always liked it, so he figured it would work on Vanellope too.

"It was such a bad dream." She shook her head, trying to shake away the nightmare.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lucas asked.

Vanellope arched her back to stretch and then tiredly hunched over. Lucas continued his massage; pushing his palms forcefully but carefully into her back.

"It felt so real. I was back in Sugar Rush working on the go-kart I made to race in the competition when the other racers ran in my direction in a panic. They were frantic, yelling about the game crashing all around them. They ran towards the program escape route and I decided to follow them. But once I got to the escape chamber, something held me back. There was a barrier that I couldn't get past no matter how hard I tried. And the world was crumbling all around me! I couldn't escape and…" She shuddered. "That's when you woke me up."

Lucas stopped massaging her back to rub his foggy eyes. With a sigh he said, "Let's try to get some sleep. We still have four and a half hours before we have to wake up." Lucas patted the spot next to him in bed; Vanellope obediently lay down and closed her eyes.

The rest of the night passed quietly. Lucas groggily woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. Vanellope was still asleep so he shook her shoulder to wake her up. This time, she opened one eye to look at Lucas, smiled, and stretched.

Lucas and Vanellope took turns taking shower but they brushed their teeth together, ate breakfast together, and waited outside for the bus together. Once they got on the bus, they both sat in the empty seat near the back. Instead of blankly staring at the trees that whizzed by, Lucas spent the ride talking to Vanellope. To the ordinary observer, they would say Lucas was still stuck in his usual routine; but to Lucas, his life was completely changed because now he had someone to share it with.

The first time Lucas and Vanellope spent apart since the afternoon before was the time it took for Vanellope to get to her locker. After that, they sat in Homeroom together.

Vanellope pried away a folder that was tucked underneath Lucas's arm. "Soooo, what's in here?" She opened it and looked inside before he could stop her; not that he wanted to.

"That's my drawing folder. I just sketch, nothing too fancy." He shrugged.

However, Vanellope was thoroughly impressed as she flipped through the pages of graphite smeared drawing paper. The sketches consisted of character drawings; ones he had seen from movies and some of his own creation. Some of the sketches were environmental. One was the classroom where he had English first period. Another one was an outdoor setting. There was a tree that had lost its leaves; it was on an overlook. The only thing separating everything from the 50 foot drop below was a sturdy dense wooden fence. In the background was a hilly mountain range.

"Wow, these are really good, Lucas. You've got talent."

Lucas blushed and smiled, "Thanks."

After Homeroom, Lucas and Vanellope separated until lunch period. They were two years apart and had no classes together. Throughout the day, Lucas felt as though part of him was missing. Once fourth period ended, he headed directly for the cafeteria. As he entered the lunchroom, his heart leaped. Vanellope was standing in the middle of the cafeteria scanning the area for her brother. Once she spotted him, she ran toward him.

They exchanged greetings, got into the lunch line, and talked about the past four periods and what they had done.

"Gym was horrible," Vanellope started. "I have the same class as Taylor. Blegh. Anyway, we were in the changing area and she teased me about my 'teleportation' as she and her minions called it. Then they pushed me to the wall, wanting to see if I would 'teleport' through it. Of course, my heart was pounding and I didn't want to hit the wall, so I glitched. I did go through. The problem is, on the other side was the boy's locker room."

"Oh man," Lucas shook his head. "I really wish Taylor wouldn't torture you so much."

Vanellope shrugged, "It really wasn't that bad. The guys basically just let me run out of the room with my tail between my legs. I got out of there before I could get in any trouble."

"How was your second block class?" he asked.

"Computer Science is really interesting. After being in a computer for my entire life, it's interesting to see what goes on outside of it. I met this guy named Nick. He's really smart and helps me work the computer."

"Oh yeah," Lucas said, "I know Nick. He's developed a few of his own programs. It's ridiculous." He meant it as a compliment.

They waited in line until they got their trays and made their way to Lucas's table. He introduced Vanellope to the rest of the group. Being the friendly accepting group they were, they gracious let Vanellope sit down with them. She enjoyed it; she thought Matt was hilarious and a good story teller. Lucas agreed with her. Matt was the life of the table. After lunch, Lucas and Vanellope went their separate ways again.

Vanellope and Lucas walked home from school that day. They enjoyed walking and talking together. Lucas's Mom wasn't surprised to see Vanellope back again. She figured she'd be coming over more often. After Lucas took off his sweater, they went up to his room and he let Vanellope use his computer.

Vanellope sat at the desk with the mouse in her hand. She stared as she read through pages of internet sites. "Wow! The internet has everything! There's so much information." Vanellope had never seen a computer before. The format was much different than for a video game system. A small screen popped up and blocked her view. "Why does it keep doing this?"

Lucas waved this off as if it were nothing. "Oh, I think my computer might have a virus. I'm getting it checked out sometime this week, but for now, it's stuck like that."

"Hmm, that can get annoying." She clicked the x at the right corner of the pop-up box. A minute later, the box popped up again. "Come on!" She shook her head. Looking around, she noticed the wire that connected the computer to the internet. "Wait, why am I doing this out here?"

"Don't go into my computer. I don't know what the virus could do to you," Lucas warned.

"I'm not going into your computer. I'm just going to go straight to the internet. Watch."

With a flash of light, she passed through the internet router. Lucas waited patiently for her to come back. After a minute, the flash of light sparked back out of the wire.

"Wow! I just toured Rome!" Vanellope was over excited. "Things go so fast in there; I feel like I just saw everything!"

"I'm glad you're learning so much… but maybe you shouldn't glitch into the internet."

Vanellope frowned, "Why not? With this I can see the world at 1000 times the speed."

"Yes, that's great. But there is a lot of bad stuff on the internet too." Lucas's concern could be heard in his voice. It was easy for his computer to contract something, how hard would it be for Vanellope? She cautiously looked at the computer screen; but, wanting more, she pleaded for one last trip inside.

Lucas gave in, "Just one more quick trip, okay? And then you're done." Vanellope nodded excitedly and hopped back into the internet. Lucas waited a minute while she surfed the web. After a moment, the wire sent out red sparks; Vanellope shot out of it like an explosion. She landed on the bed, glitching and quivering.

"Oh no! What did you do? What happened!" Vanellope continued to shake on the bed, glitching with every tremor. Only one word escaped her mouth. "N-Nick."

"Nick!"