Author's Note:

Success! Finished with Regents (got a 100 on one of them thank you very much) and now i can update :) Here's the next chapter in the epic adventures of Kat and the Lyoko Group :). ON WITH THE STORY!

Chapter 9: Excuses, Excuses

-Katherine-

I was waiting for Evan by the wall of the science lab for what seemed like an eternity. I thought he was just finishing up with that conversation with Odd but it felts like it went on for another year. I chuckled at my corny joke. Anyway I leaned against the wall beside the door of the science lab and looked down to the floor as if it was entertaining me. I couldn't wait here forever; we had a project to do anyway. So I finally stood up, straightened my blouse and did a dramatic hair flip before entering the science lab and getting to work.

Our science project was about how color affects the amount of heat absorbed. Now I'm not going to bore myself with the details so I continued recording my data. There were other students in the lab room but I didn't even look at their project, I kept to myself. Just the way I like it. No one bothering me, no one interrupting me. I looked down at the paper where I was writing to try and catch every detail of what was happening. And when I looked up, I looked up to the big brown eyes of Evan staring at me. It startled me so I admit that I jumped back slightly and I felt my heart stop for a millisecond. He smirked at me and chuckled, his white teeth glistening in the light.

"Don't be afraid to fall over you know, I'll be here to catch you," he said to me with a wink. At such a cute comment, I couldn't help but blush, it's my nature. I hid my face in the papers in front of me and continued to write my observations like a diligent student. I heard footsteps come behind me and I felt a soft hand on mine. I couldn't help but feel a surge of electricity and my hand went limp. I looked to see Evan's face so close to mind with a smile on his face.

"Why don't you take a break there. You're gonna work those pretty little fingers to death," he said to me dragging my hand away from the pen that was so close to falling to the floor. I looked at him, I took a good look at him. His soft brown hair was so touchable, his eyes were so warm and his smile was charming. And he didn't have that bad of a body either. As I looked on at his very nice features, a funny memory ran through my head.

Odd and I were walking down the hall where out physics class was and Odd was complaining about his empty stomach, once again,

"You know what I think, Katherine?" he says to me as we hold up traffic in the hall.

"What, Odd?"

"I think we should at least have lunch every hour of school. I'm a little hungry." I giggled at his weird but completely Odd comment.

"When are you never hungry?" Odd put a grime look on his face and stopped in his track.

"I don't know," he said to me. It made us laugh.

"Well if we had lunch all the time, there would be no time for learning some interesting facts," I say with a smile. He looks at me, one eyebrow raised.

"You've been spending too much time with Einstein." We chuckled our way around the corner to see Evan fixing his hair in the window nearby. Out of the corner of his eye, Evan notices the two of us and turns his head and waves at us.

"Hi Katherine, hi there Odd," he said cheerfully. I wave back at him as we pass him down the hall. Once we pass him and he is out of sight, Odd speaks again because he was completely quiet when we were near him.

"That guy cares way too much about his looks."

"Oh come on, Odd. And you don't?" I said touching it. It was soft, fluffy and a little stiff probably from all the hairspray it takes to keep that bad boy up.

"That's totally different, Kat. The Lyoko Look is effortless while he is still fixing his." I realized then that that was the first time Odd called me Kat. No one really gave me a pet name before, although I would think someone-anyone-would.

"I'm a perfected ladies man and he isn't," Odd continued.

"Of course you are Mr. Della Robbia," a voice said behind us. I cringed at the voice, still in memory. We turned slowly to see Mr. Delmas as tall as a skyscraper looking down at us. With a tapping of his foot, he said, "Now if you can be a ladies man with Miss. Stern somewhere else, for example your classroom." Odd gave his a cheeky and large grin and thumbs up.

"You got it, Mr. Delmas." He guided me down the hall in the direction of our class and when Mr. Delmas was out of the way, I couldn't hold back my laughter.

"It seems like you are not only a ladies man, you seem to win over the headmaster too."

"That, Kat, was just luck." We laughed as the memory faded from my mind.

My mind slowly came back to reality and I saw a hand waving frantically in front of my face. I shook my head and saw Evan looking at me with concern, yet still smiling.

"Are you ok Katherine, you seemed to drift a little." I smiled at him and said, "I'm sorry I got lost in thought."

"About what?" he looked at me with concern. I couldn't say that I was thinking about Odd, even if it was the truth I couldn't say it.

"I uh was thinking about the project and if we were going to pass," I said innocently. He smirked at me and touched my hair.


Evan smiled as he touched Katherine's hair. It was soft and brown like her eyes. Evan couldn't help but smile on the inside. For round 1 of winning over Katherine's heart, he thought to himself. I win. Suddenly, Katherine's phone rang and she answered it, her back to Evan and a few feet away from him.

"Hello? Hey Jeremy what's up?" She stays silent for a moment, nodding her head. Moments later, Odd comes in, breathing hard and looking for Katherine.

Still on the phone, Katherine nods.

"Yeah, Odd is right here. We're on our way. See you there." She hung up and smiled at Odd. He looks at her, and makes his way to her.

"Kat, we gotta go. There's a-"

"I know, Jeremy just called. Let's go." She turned toward Evan, forgetting that he was here.

"Evan, I gotta go-uh-" She couldn't think of an excuse and she couldn't just say she's gonna meet with the others and go to a virtual world. He'll never believe that. Odd saw her distress and walked over to her.

"Going to get Kiwi, my dog, he ran away and I want to find him." Evan looked at Odd curiously.

"I'll help you find it," he said grabbing his bag. Odd stopped him before he could.

"No no it's ok."

"But didn't you say that you needed help finding him," Evan said putting his bag on his back. That stumped Odd Katherine noticed. Evan could not find out about Lyoko.

"Jeremy," she blurted out all of a sudden. When they looked at her, she continued. "Jeremy found Kiwi just now. That's why he called. We are just going to go get him and see if he's ok," Katherine said smiling and grabbing Odd's hand to head out. She couldn't help but feel his warm hand send sparks of electricity through her hand. Just from a touch. She blushed and led him out the door.

"Come on, Odd. See you Evan." As soon they walked out the door and down the hall, they ran toward the factory. They were silent for a moment, Katherine mostly.

"Hey Kat," Odd said all of a sudden. She looked at him and he smiled. "Thanks for the save back there. Pretty smart of you, then again you're like another Jeremy except cute," he said smiling. Katherine blushed and continued her way to the factory.

"You're welcome Odd," she said smiling. He, she thought. He thinks I'm cute? He's being completely polite, there's no way he really thinks that of me.

They reached the factory and stopped running to catch their breath.

"But you know," he said putting his arm around her as he did with his other friends, "it comes with the territory. You're a Lyoko Warrior now," he said with a grin as he led her to the Super Computer to meet with Jeremy. Katherine never blushed so much in her life. Yet as they smiled and got off the elevator, everything turned serious as they saw Jeremy's face.

"Guys," Jeremy said. "Hurry up and get in the scanners."

"Why?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah," Odd said. "What she said." Jeremy looked toward them, his face showing his stress.

"It's Aelita."

OOoooo epic cliffhanger :) I'm completely sorry about my REALLY late updates. but I SWEAR! that i will try with every bone in my body to get them as early as possible :) if that's what you want anyway.

Tell me what you think pwease-Review anyone? thanks again for reading ^_^

-Alexa