(A/N: Google translate is your friend!)


"...In the midst of the cell body, the nucleus holds chromosomes, and protects the Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA for short, from wayward particles that could damage or alter it. In this state of protection within the nuclear envelope, replication of DNA and conversion into RNA can occur."

Ms. Hertz, pausing from writing all over the board, turned and looked over her class, eyebrow quirking as Odd and Ulrich quietly looked up and down from their notes, scribbling words with haste.

Huh. Boys taking notes? That's different...

Giving them time to finish writing, she paused as both of them made eye contact with her, resulting in a brief nod.

Keep it up then.

"While different in nature, between plants and animals, Mitochondria and Chloroplasts both serve similar functions in self replication and respiration. Mitochondria generate energy through oxygen consumption, and are capable of binary fission, whereas, Chloroplasts use photosynthesis from sunlight to create glucose."

Looking over at Odd in particular, a smug smile slowly rose on his face as he wrote down more words.

Don't think I don't remember that day, Della Robbia. I still don't know how you pulled off that scientific anomaly... Maybe it was a clone and nobody's told me. I still can't believe I let him write on the board up here. Why on earth did he know so much about photosynthesis?

"...Uh, anyway. Find your packets on the Metabolic process, and open to sheet four."


Aelita sat back in a chair with a German language book opened on her lap, listening vaguely as Odd and Ulrich conversed quietly back and forth.

Here I am thinking I had to teach them everything...

"Ich habe ihm gesagt, dass es eine schlechte Idee."

Giving a moment for Aelita to comprehend, Ulrich smiled as she squinted.

"I told him... The idea was bad."

"Ja." He confirmed. "Und er tat es überhaupt?"

Odd eyed his girlfriend.

"And he did it... Anyway."

"Jawohl. Das nächste, was wir wussten, es fiel und zerbrach das Fenster."

Ulrich laughed in response, and Aelita flipped through several pages.

"The next thing we knew, it fell and broke... The window."

"He had to explain why the ladder was now halfway into the kitchen."

All three of them grinned from the story, and Aelita exhaled, closing the book.

"German is complex."

"Fräulein Aelita is not used to Deutsch." Ulrich remarked.

"How long have you know it, Herr Stern?"

"I was born in Deutschland, Prinzessin. Spoke it until I moved here to Paris."

Odd sat quietly, waiting until Aelita looked at him.

"Ich leibe dich."

A momentary blush and smile lifted her face.

"I love you too."

"Turteltauben..." Ulrich muttered, digging through his bag.


Jeremy sat dumbfounded as Odd and Ulrich conversed entirely in German during supper, and Aelita giggled endlessly as she picked up on bits and pieces of their conversation.

Noticing his and Natalia's blank expressions, Odd's eyebrows rose with mirth.

"Unsere armen Freunde... Sehen sehr verwirrt.."

"What did he say?"

Aelita propped her head on her arm.

"He says you guys look very confused."

"Ich denke, sie gehen..."

The boys traded a look.

"Bananen?"

"Ja!" Ulrich chuckled.

Jeremy corrected his glasses, trying to drown out the words as he ate.

Someone make it stop... Please.

William and Yumi strolled up together, and Ulrich furrowed his eyebrows with curiosity.

"Hier kommt der Dummkopf." He whispered

Trading a look with Aelita, Odd smiled as the three of them watched the pair sit down, presenting several notebooks alongside their food.

After a moment of seven people staring, Aelita inhaled, tongue in cheek.

"Was ist los?"

Yumi blinked.

What did you -

"Sie sind zusammen studieren?"

"Ja Ulrich, studieren zusammen."

William frowned as Yumi's mouth moved.

"Really...?"

"They've been speaking German all afternoon." Natalia sighed.

Hearing them break into snickers, William looked around.

"You guys are nuts."

"Nicht als Nüsse wie Sie!"

Ulrich and Odd howled with laughter, and Aelita sat content, cheeks rosy with mirth and barely containing a grin.

I think my boys have the language final in the bag.


Odd paced back and forth in the room, he and Ulrich both in their pajamas, with a clipboard sitting on the brunette's lap.

"Alright Ulrich, her eyes sparkle like... Tell me something that's shiny."

"The sun... Uhh, die Sonne?"

"Nein. If you can see the sun sparkle, you're going blind."

Ulrich furrowed his eyes.

"Sparkle... Wie eine alpine Fluss."

"Like an... Alpine river?"

"Yeah. Ja."

"Sounds nice, but..."

Odd started shaking his head.

"Nein, nein, nein Ulrich. That sounds like she's crying."

"Crying happy tears?"

"Nein! Emily's eyes makes you think of crying? That makes you sound like a weinerschnitzel! That's not romantic!"

Ulrich huffed.

"Ich bin nicht eine weinerschnitzel."

Odd paused, breaking into laughter from his statement.

"Yes you are!"

"Anyway..." He growled, attempting to remain serious. "...Lets think of something other than sparkling eyes."

Jim Morales patrolled the hallway, hands behind his back. Passing Ulrich and Odd's dormitory, he paused from the words spoken inside.

"You guys complain about German when Italian is way harder."

"Half of it is Latin, right?"

"No. That's... No Odd."

"Tu non semplicemente capire!"

"Yeah, well, you... Sei un imbecille."

"Hah! At least you can insult people in Italian."

"Everybody knows how to insult in another language."

"Dummkopf."

"Blockhead."

"Weinerschnitzel!"

"...Coglione."

Jim banged his fist on their door several times.

"That's enough you two! Find something else to talk about!"

"Sorry Jim!"

Turning and walking a few steps away, Jim then paused in silence, listening.

"Nice going."

"You started it."

"And I'll finish it. We'll work more on the poems tomorrow."

"Fine."

Huffing, Jim then walked further down the hall.

Stern and Della Robbia have the strangest friendship...


Wednesday afternoon...

"I can't believe this is our last study period before the finals."

"The calm before the storm." Odd remarked, walking hand-in-hand with Aelita and trailed by Ulrich and Emily, who joined them the day before.

"At least you two can finally say you're ready this time." She breathed, pausing as Odd opened the library doors.

Emily smiled at Ulrich as he held the door open for her, and then continued inside, drifting over to their usual corner spot.

Dropping bags and sitting against the wall, notebooks were opened, and in moments, the two couples begun reviewing notes quietly.

"Odd, you have the story draft right?"

"Right... Here."

Both of the girl's attentions were drawn to dozens of lines of handwriting on several sheets of paper.

"A story?"

"Yes, uhh, its a summary of the history notes."

"Its about how Napoleon III contracts Henry Bessemer for steel production with the new Bessemer converter, for use in manufacturing weapons in the ongoing Crimean War... Between the Allies and Russia, of course."

Odd's finger rose proudly after the statement, and Ulrich handed the sheets to Emily, who swiftly began reading.

Aelita slowly gripped Odd's hand, feeling a bubble of elation inside as she eyed him proudly.

Victory was finally at hand.


"...So then the mitochondria cells are ready to beat the bacteria up after stealing their energy, and -."

Odd paused, head rising as the library doors opened, and Jeremy, Natalia, William and Yumi all entered, drawing the others attentions to the newly entering group.

"Looks like we've got company."

Several mildly smug looks were traded as the other group unknowingly sat down at the row of tables, only thirty feet away.

"Anyone thinking what I'm thinking?"

Withdrawing several empty sheets of paper, Aelita then nodded as she handed them to Odd, with Emily giving up lined paper to Ulrich as well.

"Way ahead of you."

Deep in reading review, and in William's case, drowsy boredom, the group sat in silence at the table.

Then, with a small *piff* a paper airplane landed and slid to a halt atop several papers.

All four heads rose and eyed the folded craft, and the precise construction produced only one name, causing their heads to turn to the source.

A moment of eight people awkwardly staring at each other began and ended, and expressions varied as Jeremy slowly reached out, noticing writing upon its wings.

With ginger unfolding, he then preened the paper flat onto the table, and all eyes pored over the four different sets of handwriting.

"What..."

"Its a poem."

At year's end, a lackadaisy trend,

Was replaced through patience and love;

So to those who said it couldn't be so,

Better hope you've got all that you'll owe.

Jeremy's mouth moved, and Yumi's head sat upon her hand.

"I can't wait to be gone for the summer."

"I think all four of them wrote it." Natalia whispered.

William looked over, eyebrows furrowing at Ulrich when he shook his head back and forth.

"They sure are serious about that bet."

"Odd's just trying to beat me at something."

"And Ulrich's being pig headed... Course he's got Emily by his side."

Natalia shuddered slightly at Yumi's sneer.

Yeesh, jealous much?

William's head turned, and the Asian girl's glare softened when his hand set upon hers.

"You don't need him, Yumi. If he bothers you that much, then don't think about him."

Eyeing the boy, she slowly nodded.

"Don't dwell on the th-."

He paused suddenly when an object landed in his hair.

Hand reaching up, he retrieved a neatly folded paper football, and immediately balled up a sheet of paper, launching it at the others with a grunt as they giggled in the distance.

Disgruntled, his mouth opened, only to shut as the same paper ball bounced off his notebook.

Rolling his eyes, his hand found a stack of sticky notes, and after lobbing them, a rush of gasps and giggles followed as the object struck the wall above their heads.

A minute passed, and then the stack of sticky notes, now sporting a goofy face drawn on the top, skittered across their binders, landing nearby.

Growing impatient, William grabbed a nearby pen, but just as he stood up, the library doors opened, and Jim Morales strolled in.

Nearly caught in the act, he slowly sat down, and a hush of silence fell over the area as Jim slowly walked around, inspecting the study groups scattered through the room.

No trouble this time... I'm surprised.

"Right. If anybody has ANY questions on the finals tomorrow and Friday, please feel free to ask me! I once was a member of the exam creation team on the national board of education."

"Hey Jim, can you tell us about it?"

The man paused from the unknown voice.

"The board?"

"Yeah."

Nearly every student in the room rolled their eyes at the next statement.

"Normally yes, but you all are studying so no, I'd rather not talk about it."


Minutes after the library's closure for the evening, Odd, Ulrich, Aelita and Emily all strolled to the cafeteria together, finally lacking binders and notebooks.

"My brain hurts."

"There's smoke coming out of your ears Odd."

Emily giggled at Ulrich's statement, and the blonde smelled the air.

"I can believe it." He remarked, smiling as Aelita squeezed his hand tighter.

"Doesn't it feel good to be ready?"

His eyebrow quirked with interest.

"Ive always been ready."

Ulrich cracked up as Aelita blushed.

"She's talking about the finals, bud."

"So am I!" The blonde piped up, grinning as Aelita rolled her eyes from the innuendo.

Or are you?

She glanced away for a moment.

Now I'm wondering what summer has in store, actually...

Her eyebrow quirked, and her heart sped up.

I wonder what he has planned...?


Stepping inside, and collecting food with haste, Odd suddenly halted, picking an alternate table to sit at.

For a moment, Ulrich surveyed their usual table, which was visibly lacking in spare chairs, and he grunted as he sat down alongside Emily.

"Hopefully summer vacation makes them blow off some steam."

Aelita picked up her utensils.

"I think the finals are making everyone stressed."

"Among other things." Emily noted.

Odd and Ulrich traded smiles.

"I really can't wait to see if Yumi is trying to make little Willy pass."

Aelita produced a laugh through her nose at the nickname.

"What happens if he does?"

"I'll be impressed."


Closing their bedroom door, Odd brought his mouth close to the jam.

"I'll be back in five minutes Ulrich."

"Yeah right."

Grinning from the muffled reply, he turned and walked alongside Aelita, both in their pajamas, down the hallway and up the stairs to the girl's hallway.

In a matter of seconds they slipped inside her room, and sat side by side on her bed, reclining against the wall together.

"Crazy how its already the end of the year."

"Tenth grade, gone by in a snap."

"Can you believe we've been dating almost three months already?"

His heart stirred.

"Yes, I can."

Squeezing her hand, she exhaled with a blush.

"It feels so easy."

"We've been best friends for years. It should be easy."

A smile lifted as the words danced through her head again.

Their eyes met and light, tender breaths passed back and forth as their gaze held each other still.

"I love you."

Relishing in his spoken words, she bashfully shut her eyes.

"And I love you."

Odd's head tilted, giddy with admiration.

I'll never get tired of hearing that.

Looking beyond towards her alarm clock, and then the books and binders surrounding her computer, he then paused in contemplation.

"Aelita."

Her eyes flitted back up to him.

"I want to thank you for helping me study... I just really hope I do well on the finals."

Her face illuminated with pride.

"Ohhh Odd, I know you will. You just need need to play it cool, and stay focused in here."

Her hand reached up pushed into his hair, and then her fingers slowly drifted down, dragging along his chin.

"I know you're smarter than you think you are, it just takes inspiration and drive to get you going... Those stories you and Ulrich came up with are amazing. Just think about the creative side of your notes, and the rest will be easy."

His heart raced with excitement.

"You sure?"

She nodded.

"Besides... I can't go on seeing you flunk another year. Saving my life is your duty, and saving your academics is mine."

"You save my life too."

She produced a wink.

"All part of the job, Prince Odd."

Responding with a chuckle, he exhaled, brimming with anticipation.

"I don't even feel tired."

"Me neither."

Looking at the ceiling, he bit his lip.

"Crammed everything into my head, and now I'm feeling excited and scared as all hell."

His attention instantly went to her hand drifting along his leg.

"Yeah...?"

Her voice, expression, and drifting fingers swirled into an instant turn-on as his eyebrows rose.

"Yeah. But its not the first time I've felt that way."

Her hand drifted up along his waist, tucking under his T-shirt, and drifting up along his chest.

"Me neither." She whispered, watching him with fascination as further conversation drifted away, her face nearing his as she slowly knelt over him.

Blushing at first, his hands found their way underneath her oversized T shirt, and carefully settled upon her sides, his thumbs slowly drifting down along her hips.

Hearts raced, producing excited breaths of arousal, and Odd leaned forward, pressing a light kiss up into her neck.

Ohhhh you sexy f-

Her hands touched his face, and in an instant, they collided together in passionate liplock, curling arms and hands around each others backs, gripping hair and skin interchangeably.

Sure hope this is what summer brings... And lots of it.


Ulrich looked at the time, shaking his head.

Five minutes, huh? Blockhead. Every time he goes up there to say goodnight to Aelita, they end up kissing for a half hour. I bet he's already hit home run and hasn't told me. Damn lovebirds can't keep off each other... Sure wouldn't be surprised.

Rolling over in his sheets, he stared at the empty bed a few feet away.

Kinda wonder what they're planning on doing over the summer... Too bad Emily's going home for the summer, or I'd hang out with her.

Sighing in a shudder of anticipation, he shut his eyes.

Can't wait to get out of here. Just have the damn finals first.


Jeremy stared at the screensaver on his computer monitor in abject boredom.

I love how nobody bothers to study all year, and a week before the end of the final semester, they try and pull it all together. Bet they're going mad. Cramming never works. Someday they'll figure out they can't flunk forever. I don't even understand how none of them are held back into remedial classes.

Blinking slowly, a breath drifted from his nostrils.

Sure hope Xana doesn't try anything over vacation. He's been good about it for two years now. Maybe its no fun when we aren't around to fight back.

Yeah. Sure Jeremy. Delude yourself further. Its only been weeks since the last attack. He must be up to something. I should keep working on that emulation function. Maybe that can keep him at bay while we're gone. That'd be handy.

Glancing at the clock, he grimaced, forcing his eyes shut.

Bedtime.