(Ulrich's POV)
I stared at my phone screen, still hesitating to press the call button. I had been debating this in my mind for almost four hours, thinking up how I was going to ask for such a big favour. Finally, I forced myself to press send and put the phone to my ear, my heart racing with every ring. "Hello?" a gruff voice answered.
"Hi dad," I greeted, trying not to sound so unhappy to have to talk to him.
"Ulrich?" He was incredibly surprised. "What's going on?"
"Well, I made B's on my last few tests, my girlfriend has been helping me study."
"Well I'm glad you found someone worth something." I didn't like the tone in his voice, I knew he was suggesting that anyone who was smarter than me was way too good for me, implying once again that I was his worthless son.
"Dad, I have a favour to ask." I gulped, staring at the ground in front of me. He wasn't even around and I was scared as hell. "Can I borrow some money?"
The was a long pause, making me check my phone twice to make sure he hadn't cut me off. "What for?"
I took a deep breath. This was going to take quite some convincing. "My friend has cancer. She's an orphan, so we're trying to help raise money."
"I'm sure the system will help her." He was going to hang up on me.
"Dad, wait!" There was no way I would give up so easily. "Take it out of my allowance if you have to. I just really need your help. I'll get a job and pay it all back, I swear."
"How about get a job and pay it yourself. It's about time you learnt some responsibility."
"You would help if I was Klaus!" I shouted. My older brother was undoubtedly my father's favourite, able to get anything that he wanted without any questions asked. "I never ask anything from you, and believe it or not I do my best to live up to your expectations. Everyone is pitching in to help, we only need a few hundred more, and that's nothing compared to what you make in a day. But if you want to continue to be the bitter old man that you are, just remember who's going to take care of you when you get old. And I can guarantee it won't be you're precious Klaus."
I hung up, not entirely sure what I had just done. That was not at all what I had planned, and I had accomplished nothing besides pissing off Dad and raising my blood pressure. I dug through the drawer beneath my bed, searching for my money. Being the son of a business man, I knew how to handle money better than anything, and knew that Mom had a tendency to send way more than I needed for my weekly allowance. I finally found the white envelope pressed against the back wall, pulling out the wad of cash I had collected over my years of attending one boarding school after another. I sat in my floor, counting out each bill and coin.
"It's not enough." I could feel a lump coming into my throat. I pulled my knees to my chest, trying not to cry. I wasn't going to let Aelita die because we couldn't pay for her treatment. The door opened and Odd walked in, Yumi following with a wooden box in hand. Odd looked at the money laid out on the floor.
"What's this?"
"It's what I've saved up, I was hoping it would help to pay off Aelita's medical bills." I wiped my nose on my sleeve, trying to get myself together. Odd sat down, digging a piece of paper from his pocket.
"My parents sent this this morning, and I have a little left from my allowance." He tossed the check on the floor with my money, and Yumi did the same.
"We set up a donation box in the lunch room. A lot of teachers and students gave a contribution." She sat down and unlocked the box, dumping the contents into the floor. While a lot of us weren't very popular among certain students, Aelita was well liked by everyone, and the proof was in the amount of money strewn across the floor.
"Delmas and Hertz wrote checks," Odd said, picking up the pieces of paper. "They were pretty generous about it too."
"Do you think it's enough?" I asked, looking at it all.
"Well, according to Delmas, there's been a school fund building for years to help students who don't have any family or anyone to help in special cases. Apparently it hasn't been touched in years so there's plenty to help with the bills but he says we still need to raise money before we ask for more," Yumi said, sorting the checks from the bills. "We'll set up the box again tomorrow, maybe we'll get some more."
I sighed, getting to my feet. "Any word on how Jeremie is?"
"He has a small concussion but he's fine," Odd replied. "Oh, and his parents are sending a huge check so we may have enough after all."
"Is he still in the infirmary?" I asked, putting my shoes on.
"Actually, he was in his room last I checked," Yumi said, getting up as well. "Come on, we'll all go see him. It'll make him feel better."
Odd gathered the money into the box, locking it and putting it in the wardrobe. "Can we get some lunch soon? I'm starving."
"Sure," I muttered, locking the door. Jeremie's room was only a few doors down, not giving much time for conversation. Yumi knocked on the door, opening it a crack.
"Jeremie, are you feeling alright?"
Jeremie sat at the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. "I can't save her guys. This isn't like Lyoko where I can type in some computer programme and everything will be okay. It's out of my hands."
Odd sat next to him, putting his arm around him. "It'll be okay. These guys know what they're doing."
"It's not fair."
I closed my eyes. I didn't want to hear him cry. I knew I'd start crying too, and so would the others. "It's okay," I finally managed to say, my voice cracking. "We're getting the money together, she'll get the treatment she needs and she'll be fine."
"Jeremie, you need to calm down." Yumi knelt in front of him, her hand on his shoulder. "You're still getting over that concussion, you're going to make things worse."
"I don't care," he said with a sob. "Until Aelita gets better, then I don't care."
I turned away, trying to block out all the emotion that was filling the room. Aelita is going to be fine, I thought. She has to be.
