Disclaimer: The day Xana declares his unending love for Jeremie is the day I own Code Lyoko...But even then I probably won't.

Chapter 9

"Yumi, you need to show Ulrich that he can't live without you," said Aelita. "Once he realizes that he'll confess."

"And how am I supposed to show him that?" asked Yumi.

"Don't talk to him," said Naomi.

"Don't kiss him," said Jean.

"Act like he doesn't even exist," said Lola.

"What. The. Hell. Are. You. Talking. About?" asked Yumi slowly. "I can't just ignore my boyfriend!"

"You can and you will," said Melanie sternly. "After a few days, the first time you talk to him he'll be screaming his love for you."

"This is the dumbest plan yet!" said Yumi. "There is no way I'm doing this!"

"You are," said Aelita.

"What if you had to ignore Jeremie for a few days, would you do it?" asked Yumi evenly.

"This isn't about me, this is about you," said Aelita. "I know you're going to miss him, but it's better than the idea Camille had."

"Which was?" asked Yumi. Anything was better than no contact with Ulrich.

"Making you a cheerleader," said Camille brightly. "Guys love that."

Yumi tried hard not to gag. Clothes that wouldn't fit her old dolls, making everything rhyme...It was just creepy. "I'll do it," said Yumi finally. "Sign me up."

"Are you insane?" asked Aelita loudly. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope," said Yumi reluctantly. "Who do I have to talk to about trying out?"

"Er...Sissi, she's head cheerleader," said Azra, waiting for the scream.

"Fine," said Yumi, standing up. "I'll go talk to her now."

"Have you forgotten that she hates you?" asked Heidi.

"No, but if I remember correctly, Caroline broke her leg, and the squad is one girl short," said Yumi. "Sissi's got to pick somebody. Why not me?"

"Because she hates you," reminded Aelita. "Yumi, you really think this is a better option?"

"Better than what you thought of," said Yumi shortly. "Knowing you, it has to be one or the other, right?"

"I was thinking you'd pick the same one I did, but yes," said Aelita, shrugging. Yumi exited the room and slammed the door shut.

"Did you know she was going to agree to that?" asked Emily.

"No, and to be honest, I'm a little worried this is going to undo the new couple," said Aelita.


Yumi gritted her teeth as she approached Sissi. The very idea of asking that moron for a favor was unspeakable, and she had to do it! Ulrich, you had better love me for this, Yumi thought to herself.

"Hey, Sissi!" called out Yumi.

"Oh, Yumi, what do you want?" asked Sissi ruefully.

"I-I hear you need another cheerleader--" started Yumi.

"And you were hoping I'd pick you? Ha!" scoffed Sissi.

"Look, Sissi, I know we don't have a great history together, but you need another girl and I need...an extracurricular activity for...college," finished Yumi lamely. Sissi would never let her join if she knew the real reason.

"Every girl in this school would die for a place on the squad," said Sissi. "Why should I give it to you?"

"Um, because..." Yumi racked her brains for a decent answer. "You can sit with us at lunch for a week!"

"Really?" asked Sissi, her face lighting up like a child's on Christmas morning.

"Er..." Yumi faltered. No, no, no, and no! she thought. "Really."

"Well, we'll see how well you do trying out," said Sissi, smirking. "I'll see you at lunch!"

"Right," said Yumi. "See you then."

Sissi practically skipped back to her dorm, and Yumi pulled out her cell phone. An entire lunch listening to Sissi trying to pick up her boyfriend. Just what she always dreamed of.

"Hey, Jeremie?" Yumi knew it would be best to warn him now. "No Lyoko talk at lunch, okay?"

"Uh, sure, but why not?" asked Jeremie.

"We're going to be having a guest," said Yumi.

"Who?" asked Jeremie.

"Sissi, bye!" said Yumi, ending the call quickly.


"Who was that?" asked Ulrich.

"Yumi," said Jeremie, trying to register what he heard.

"Was it...X?" asked Ulrich cautiously.

"What's X?" asked Christophe.

"Nothing, and no," said Jeremie. "We've got to make room for an extra person at lunch."

"Who?" asked Odd.

"Sissi," said Jeremie slowly. "I don't know if Yumi invited her or what, and she hung up before I could ask."

"Why would Yumi invite that?" asked Ulrich doubtfully.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Jeremie. "There's no use wondering about it, we have to talk about your next move."

"Great," said Ulrich sarcastically.

"We think we should show Yumi how special you are compared to other guys," said Jean-Baptiste. "So, we're going to team up and romance her."

"You're going to what?" asked Ulrich.

"We're going to created a secret admirer," said Thomas. "Alex has the best handwriting, so he'll write the love notes. Romain will buy the flowers, and Bastien's uncle owns the nearby jewelry store, so he can get a good price on a bracelet or something."

"No," said Ulrich. "I've done a lot of weird things, but I am not letting some mystery guy flirt with my girlfriend!"

"But we aren't some mystery guy, we're a bunch of normal guys!" said Alexandre.

"No!" said Ulrich. "You really expected me to go along with this?"

"No, we just wanted you to know," said Jeremie. "We're going to do it anyway, whether you like it or not. The plan is Yumi's going to feel guilty because another boy is after her heart, talk with you about it, and tell you how much more you mean to her. You pluck up the courage to tell her you love her, and everyone's happy."

"Is this what you do instead of sleeping?" asked Ulrich. "Make schemes only a crazy person would go through?"

"You don't have to go through it, Yumi does," Odd pointed out. "And there's nothing you can do that'll stop us."

"You're all deranged," Ulrich muttered.

"Sticks and stones," said Thomas carelessly. "You know Yumi, so you've gotta tell us what to write. We need to make sure she doesn't like her admirer, the last thing we want is for her to fall for him."

Ulrich rolled his eyes. This was getting downright ridiculous. He was smart enough to know that it wouldn't matter how much he protested, they would do it without him if need be. And he agreed with that last part. He didn't spend the last year and a half attempting to flirt with her and have it ruined by someone that didn't exist.

"I'm in," said Ulrich grudgingly.


Yumi noticed Sissi following her into the cafeteria. That meant she wouldn't have even a few minutes alone with her friends.

"You'll be introducing me, of course," said Sissi smugly.

"They already know you," Yumi reminded her. "Or is your brain too full of air to remember?"

"Watch your tongue," chided Sissi. Yumi bit down on the inside of her cheeks to keep from blurting out another insult.

"Hey, guys," said Yumi, dropping her tray on the table and sliding over for Sissi. "Hope you don't mind, but Sissi's gonna sit with us for a while."

Sissi smiled sweetly and positioned herself across from Ulrich. Ulrich glanced over at Yumi for some explanation, but she said nothing. Odd merely shrugged and dug into his meal ravenously. Jeremie and Aelita were having some silent conversation with each other.

"You five are usually so chatty," observed Sissi. "Did someone die?"

"Only your—I mean, no," said Odd, swallowing his remark when Yumi kicked him in the shin.

"So, Ulrich, do you want to come see a movie with me tonight?" asked Sissi, her voice like poisoned honey.

"No, because I was wondering if my girlfriend would want to hang out with me," said Ulrich.

"I'd be honored," said Sissi, grinning.

"He was talking to me," said Yumi coldly. "I'd love to."

"You and that string bean?" yelled Sissi indignantly.

"Hey, how about that baseball team!" spoke up Aelita, trying to spin the subject to something else. "I think they'll do pretty well this year, don't you?"

No one answered her. Ulrich's expression turned to one of alarm without apparent reason, while Sissi stared at him with dreamy eyes. Yumi starting thinking up any and all ways she could murder Sissi with her spork until Jeremie's laptop started beeping.

"Oh no," mumbled Jeremie. He nodded to the group and stood up.

"Uh, sorry, Sissi, this was great and all, but we gotta go," said Ulrich.

"I'll come with you!" said Sissi.

"That's not such a good idea," said Aelita. "You'd be very bored. We're going to do our...homework."

"You can do that later!" said Sissi, looking at Yumi.

"Look, we have to go!" said Yumi. "We'll see you tomorrow."

Sissi stomped her foot angrily and the group swiftly left the table. As soon as they were out of hearing distance, Ulrich, Jeremie, and Odd rounded on Yumi.

"Why are you bringing the school brat into our group?" asked Jeremie.

"I'm pretty sure Ulrich wasn't too happy with Sissi trying to play footsie with him," commented Odd.

"She what?" asked Yumi angrily.

"Exactly," said Jeremie. "If she hangs out with us she's going to find out about Lyoko."

"We'll just have to watch what we say for the next week," said Yumi sheepishly.

"A week with her?" asked Odd. "An entire week?"

"Look, I can't say why, but I need you guys to do me this favor," said Yumi.

"Sure, Yumi," said Aelita, nodding. "Come on, guys, we can do this for her."

"I should've known you'd be on her side," said Odd.

"It's one week," said Yumi pleadingly. "Please? Ulrich?"

"It's...only a few days, I guess," said Ulrich, his resolve crumbling.

"Lovesick," said Jeremie, smirking.

"Jeremie, she's not going to bug you," said Aelita, batting her eyelashes. She kissed him on the cheek and he groaned, realizing he was just as weak as Ulrich when it came to his girl.

"I'm outnumbered, I see," said Odd. "We can suck it up."

"Thanks, you guys," said Yumi gratefully.

"Let's go pull a yoo-hoo it's us!" said Odd, already pulling off the manhole in the park. "Ladies first."


"The tower is north," said Jeremie. "Can you see it?

"It sticks out like a sore thumb," said Ulrich, looking around at the forest sector.

"You've got blocks coming at you, though," warned Jeremie. "I'm sending your vehicles."

Ulrich dodged a laser from a block and jammed his saber into its weak point. Three more blocks remained. With a flick of her wrist Yumi took out one, and Odd mercilessly destroyed the last two.

"Nice job, but some hornets are flying your way," said Jeremie.

"You missed the Scyphozoa, Einstein!" said Odd. "Hola, Señor Jellyfish!"

"No time for jokes, Odd!" said Yumi, ducking to avoid another laser. A pesky hornet aimed at the Overwing and succeeded. "Aelita, jump!"

Yumi and Aelita landed on their feet. The Scyphozoa took its chance and glided towards the pink-haired girl. As if by instinct Aelita knew something was coming up behind her and started running.

"Leave her alone, Blubberface!" yelled Yumi, sending her fans towards the pale tentacles. She cursed softly when she missed. "Aelita, take cover!"

"Triplicate!" cried Ulrich, sending his two clones to handle the last of the hornets with Odd.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd shot three arrows at the wasp-like creature, getting shot in the chest twice.

"Odd, you've only got twenty life points left!" said Jeremie.

"That's nineteen more than I need!" said Odd, swerving another laser on the Overboard.

Aelita was already making her way to the tower to keep away from the Scyphozoa. She cried out when she felt herself being lifted off the ground and lost control of her body, unable to struggle in any way. Her mouth fell open as the creature began probing her mind.

"Get Aelita out of there!" ordered Jeremie. He was always scared out of his skin whenever she was caught by the monster, but now that they were finally together, it was ten times worse.

"We're doing our best!" Yumi told him, charging for the fiend. She threw her fans at the tentacles, and the Scyphozoa dropped Aelita while retreating.

"Thanks, Yumi," said Aelita breathlessly.

"No problem, let's get to that tower while Ulrich and Odd take care the hornets," said Yumi.

The pair ran the rest of the distance. Once Aelita was safely in the tower Odd and Ulrich allowed themselves to be devirtualized, smirking at the surrounding hornets as they did so. They came out of the scanners panting, but rejoiced over yet another victory.

AELITA

CODE: LYOKO

Jeremie sighed with relief. "I'm bringing you back in," he said, typing in the needed commands. "Don't worry, Odd, we still have a little time for lunch."

"All right!" cheered Odd. The scanner behind him reopened and Aelita dropped to her knees. "Hey, Princess, are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Aelita, taking his hand to stand up. "All of these late nights researching the antivirus are catching up with me."

"Aelita!" said Jeremie, running out of the elevator. Aelita grinned when he hugged her.

"Once again, we save the day, and no one will ever know," said Ulrich.

"You really want Sissi knowing you're a superhero on top of everything else?" asked Yumi.

"Good point," said Ulrich, pulling her into a kiss. Yumi smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Has everyone forgotten about lunch?" asked Odd.

"We're coming," said Jeremie. "At least we stopped Xana before he did any damage."

"Who's going to stop Sissi?" asked Ulrich, one arm firmly around Yumi's waist.


A/N: Before you ask, no I don't know where I'm going with this. Then again, I never have since I started writing this series, so it's nothing new.