The lunch bell had rung throughout the school grounds. All of the students had lined up to get their share of today's lunch special: tuna casserole. Sissi had taken her portion and sat at her usual spot with Herve and Nikolas. As she ate, she noticed that Herve looked more pathetic than normal. While she normally wouldn't care about him, his look made her feel uneasy. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.
Herve looked at Sissi briefly before turning his attention once again to the tuna. "Oh, nothing," he said before taking another bite. "So how was your date?"
"He never showed up," she said before she continued eating. "But he's supposed to try to meet up with me again after school by the bleachers."
"He stood you up?" he asked, both astonished and disgusted. "Just who is this guy?"
"Actually," she said, "I only met him online. I've never seen a picture of the guy so I don't know how he looks like in real life yet."
The intercom speaker crackled as it turned on. "Elisabeth Delmas, please report to the Principal's office. Elisabeth Delmas, please report to the Principal's office," said the voice that belonged to the Principal's personal assistant.
Sissi wiped her mouth with a napkin and stood up from the table. "Looks like daddy needs me for something." She grabbed her purse and proceeded to walk to the administrative building. "Be right back."
Nikolas waited until Sissi was out of sight before turning his attention to Herve. "You hear that?" he asked.
"Yeah," Herve responded.
"So are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Um," Herve answered, "what am I supposed to be thinking?"
Nikolas smacked his forehead with his hand. "And everyone thinks I'm the dumb one," he mumbled to himself. "Look, do you think this guy will show up this time?"
"Uh, probably not," he answered.
"And how do you think Sissi will feel?"
"Pretty lousy."
"Exactly," Nikolas said. "Now how do you think she'll feel if you came up to her and confessed your love to her?"
"I don't know," Herve answered.
"I don't either but if you don't do it after school today, not only will you never have a chance again, you could lose her forever."
Nikolas' last statement struck a chord with Herve. He was right. It was now or never. "I'll do it!" Herve said. Nikolas nodded as he took a sip of water. Not only did he believe that this was the right thing to do, he also believed that this would stop Herve from acting so pathetic whenever he was around Sissi.
Odd took his dish and sat down with the rest of his friends. Instead of being the usual happy person he was every day, Odd looked upset. "I can't believe that I got detention today out of all days," he said as he attacked his tuna.
Jeremie adjusted his glasses. "Well, Odd, what did you expect? Not only did you show up Jim on the obstacle course, you insulted him for no being able to clear it in the first place."
"Hey," Odd said. "All I asked was whether or not his old age prevented him from clearing the course. It wasn't my fault that he took it so personally."
"And now you know," Ulrich said, rubbing it in just a little.
"Yeah, yeah," Odd mumbled. "Hey, Ulrich, can you do me a favor?"
"What is it?" he asked.
"Well," Odd said, "I was supposed to meet up with that girl after school by the bleachers but since I have detention, could you meet up with her and tell her I'll be late?"
"Um," Ulrich said, looking at Yumi. He was supposed to have another study date with her today and wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. She nodded to him, signaling that it was going to be fine. "OK, what does she look like?"
"I don't know. Didn't get a chance to meet her yesterday. She did say she was going to be wearing red sunglasses."
"Alright, I'll let her know you'll be a little late."
"Thanks, Ulrich," Odd said with a smile. "You're the best."
Hours passed before the final bell rung. Ulrich walked towards the bleachers mumbling under his breath, There were several things he could have been doing after school yet he decided to go play messenger and deliver a message for his friend. Not that he didn't want to help Odd out of a jam but when one of the things he wanted to do was hang out with Yumi, helping out a friend for such a trivial matter seemed low on his list of priorities. Just when things were already going bad, he felt someone take a jab at his right shoulder. He turned right, ready to unleash hell until he realized who had just hit him.
"Mind if I come along?" Yumi asked.
Ulrich suddenly felt all of that anger melt away. The scowl that was on his face just a few moments ago transformed into a big smile. "Sure. I could use the company."
Yumi smiled when she saw her friend do the same. "I can see that," she said. Both of them walked together until they reached the bleachers. As expected, there weren't as many people in comparison to the quad. However, with an impromptu game happening on the field, the crowd watching was still sizable. "So what are we looking for?" she asked.
"According to Odd, a girl wearing red sunglasses," Ulrich said as he scanned the area.
Yumi had found the only girl in the vicinity matching the description. "I found her. She's right over..." She paused when she realized who it was. "Oh no," she said as she pointed at the girl in question.
Ulrich looked over where Yumi was pointing at. The look of shock spread over his face. "You have got to be kidding me!"
Yumi shared his expression as both of them realized that the girl in the red sunglasses was none other than Sissi Delmas. She leaned over to Ulrich's side and covered her mouth with her hand so that no one would read her lips. "Did you know that it was Sissi that Odd was talking to?"
"No way!" he said. "You know how much they hate each other. There's no way he would be interested in her."
Yumi nodded. "Maybe you're right. Besides, I think Herve is going to try something here," she said as both of them saw Herve approach Sissi. While studying was going to be important, they both decided to stick around and see what happens next.
Sissi was sitting on the bottom level of the bleachers when she was approached by Herve. She was casually watching the game when she felt a tap on the shoulder. Her brief look of happiness when she felt the tap turned to disappointment when she found out just who had done that. "What's up?" she asked.
Herve stood there for a moment with both of his hands behind his back. "Um, Sissi can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.
Sissi sighed. "Sure, but can you make it quick? I have to meet someone here in a minute."
Herve's voice suddenly carried a lighter tone to it. "Actually," he said, "I need to talk to you privately."
Sissi's face changed to reflect a look of concern. Though she never really cared about him, the tone of voice and words used made this seem like a rather serious matter. She got up from her seat and followed Herve behind the bleachers. "What is it, Herve?" she asked.
"Well," he said as he pulled his collar away from his body. "I've kinda known you for quite some time now and..." He paused for a moment as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "Well, you're a really sweet girl and everything and..." He cleared his throat. "You're so beautiful that..."
Sissi had a confused look on her face. "What are you trying to say, Herve?"
Herve fidgeted. It was now or never. In a stroke of courage, he finally blurted out what he had always wanted to say ever since the first day they met. "I LOVE YOU, ELISABETH DELMAS!"
The team on the field had just scored a goal, causing the crowd to cheer as loudly as possible. While this also ensured that no one would hear what Herve proclaimed to the world, Sissi heard loud and clear. She put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down for a bit. "I'm sorry, Herve," she said in a soft tone, "but I just don't feel the same way." She began to walk away when Herve managed to grab her by the wrist. "What are you doing?" she asked with a tone of fear in her voice.
"No, please," Herve pleaded. His sadness at being rejected had quickly turned into delirium as tears began to flow down his face. "I've followed you for so long. I stood by while Ulrich rejected you day in and day out. If you gave me the word, I would have killed him where he stood. I..."
"Let me go!" she demanded. "You're scaring me."
"But Sissi, I..."
Sissi cocked back her free hand and let it fly towards Herve. Another goal scored by one of the teams on the field and the cheers that would follow drowned out the fierce sound of Sissi's open hand slapping Herve. The force was strong enough to both knock the glasses out of his face and knock him to the ground. The blow immediately caused him to let her go. She rubbed her wrist as she saw her friend lay on the ground, still reeling from blow he just took. "I'm sorry," she said as she quickly walked away from the scene.
Yumi and Ulrich had a good view of the whole scene. Ulrich stood there with his mouth agape as Yumi leaned over. "That didn't turn out good."
"Did I miss anything?"
Ulrich and Yumi turned around to see Odd coming towards them. Odd pulled down his hood and took a few breaths before calming down from his short run. "Woah," he said as he saw Herve laying on the ground. "What happened to Herve?"
"You don't want to know," Yumi responded, still not believing what she and Ulrich just witnessed.
Odd shrugged. "So did you give her the message?" he asked Ulrich.
Ulrich looked at Yumi who looked back at him. They couldn't tell him that the girl he was looking for could be Sissi. Besides, they weren't even sure that Sissi was even the one in question. "Sorry, man, she wasn't here."
"Oh, I see." Odd pulled his hood back up and walked away slowly, disappointed that he missed her once more.
Yumi turned to Ulrich. "You think that it was right we didn't tell him the truth?"
"Well," he started, "Better for him to never know than to be bitter about it." Yumi nodded in agreement before the both of them walked towards her house for the study date they had planned together. Halfway to the house, Ulrich decided to ask his good friend a question. "Hey Yumi?"
"Yeah?"
"Promise me that if ever get as hysterical as Herve, you bring me back to reality ASAP."
Yumi looked at him puzzled. Before she could say anything, Ulrich took her hand into his. She looked into his face and saw him blushing, which in turn made her blush. They both smiled as they spent the rest of the journey walking hand in hand.
Sissi locked her door as she sat down at her desk. The day was not kind to her so far. First she wasn't able to meet up with her date again. Then Herve's profession of love to her almost turned violent. She needed to do something to calm down her nerves. She fired up her computer and entered the chat room. As she did, she saw that OddDog was already there casually talking among the other chat room members. A feeling of unease hit her stomach as she knew she would have to talk to him eventually about what happened today. While she didn't want to talk about it, she felt it was better to get it out of the way now. She sent him a private chat request. A few moments later he had accepted.
LizzyKitty What happened to you today?
OddDog Long story, but in the end I got detention for an hour.
LizzyKitty Oh, I see.
OddDog I sent a friend of mine to give you a message but he said he couldn't find you.
LizzyKitty Yeah... that's a long story of my own.
OddDog What happened?
LizzyKitty Well, as I was waiting around for you, someone else I knew came up to me and confessed his love for me.
OddDog Oh.
LizzyKitty I told him I didn't feel the same way. Then he started to go crazy. Before I knew it he grabbed me by the wrist. I was thinking he would get violent so I slapped him then ran off.
OddDog Oh man. Are you ok?
LizzyKitty Yeah, I'm OK. I calmed down a bit.
LizzyKitty You know, I think we should just stop trying to meet up.
OddDog What? What brought this up?
LizzyKitty For the past two days, every time we try to meet up, something goes wrong that causes us to miss each other.
LizzyKitty It's like fate is telling us that it wasn't meant to be.
OddDog No, please, give it another chance.
LizzyKitty But...
OddDog I'm not a big believer in fate. I just think that all of this was bad timing, that's all.
LizzyKitty And if I give it another chance and we still can't meet up, what happens then?
OddDog Then I'll drop the subject and we never talk about it again.
OddDog But we have to try.
OddDog Just once more... please?
LizzyKitty thinks
LizzyKitty If I say yes, when and where?
OddDog After school in the park. No one ever goes there.
LizzyKitty And if I don't see you there?
OddDog Like I said, we don't talk about it ever again.
LizzyKitty Then you better be there. I don't take disappointment kindly.
OddDog I promise I'll be there.
Sissi exited the chat room. She folded her arms and placed them on her table, resting her chin on top of them. As she stared at the blank screen, she sighed. She hoped that things would go well tomorrow since having her emotions pulled was not how she wanted to remember him by.
