I stood in the courtyard with Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich talking about Aelitas materialization program.

Yumi walked over to us, "Hey guys." everyone greeted Yumi, "Anna can I talk to you for a second?" I nodded and we walked away from the group.

"What's up?" I asked taking a sip from the hot chocolate I had purchased.

"I told Ulrich about William. That's why he was angry the other day. He said it didn't matter to him anyways and that he's happy for me. However, he did tell me something a bit more personal...something you should know..." I nodded. "Ulrich likes you." I almost choked on my hot chocolate.

I swallowed it and looked at her. She had a weak smile on her face. I was blushing and I knew it. The bell rang and Yumi waved goodbye. I couldn't stop thinking about what she had said.

The others caught up to me, "What was that about? You looked like you were about to faint." Odd said putting a hand on my forehead.

"Yumi was asking me if I- uh- knew anything about this new guy, William."

"Oooh. Is he that ugly then?" Odd said jokingly. We were quiet for a moment then he suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled me back, away from Jeremie and Ulrich.

I faced him, he was blushing, "A-are you okay?" he stammered.

"Yeah, are you?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well- uhm, I-"

"Anna! Odd! Let's go!" Jeremie beckoned.

"Never mind, I'll talk to you later," he said walking away.

During PE We were told to start with Soccer drills. I passed the soccer ball to Jeremie and Jeremie passed it to Ulrich, and Ulrich passed it to Odd. Odd wasn't paying attention and tripped over the ball, falling on his face. We all ran over to him.

"Are you okay Odd?" I asked restraining a giggle.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Just tired." He then laughed nervously.

'What's wrong with him today?'

After class Ulrich, Jeremie, Odd and I all sat in the courtyard talking about a new video game that came out, 'Year Walk'. It was mostly Ulrich, Jeremie and I who were talking. Odd seemed to be daydreaming. All conversation suddenly stopped when a scream could be heard across the courtyard. The groundskeeper ran through the courtyards a swarm of wasps pursuing him.

Jeremies laptop started beeping, "XANA." He said looking at us.

"You think the wasps are part of the attack?" I asked standing.

The wasps started spreading out and attacking students in the courtyard.

"Get him to the infirmary. Anna and I will distract the wasps." Ulrich and I took off running.

The wasps noticed and followed suit. Suddenly Yumi appeared around the corner and almost bumped into us.

"Follow me." She said taking off again.

We followed her to the administration building and we ran inside, tumbling over each other.

"Are you guys alright?" Yumi asked standing up.

"Yeah, but I got stung," I said holding out my palm, a large red spot was in the center.

"Are you okay?" Ulrich asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He helped me up and explained to Yumi what happened.

"Let's go to the nurse's office and see if they're alright." She said and we nodded.

We walked to the infirmary and found Odd and Jeremie.

"How is he?" I asked standing against the wall.

"He's fine, but one more sting and he could have died. Also, the XANA attack went away." Jeremie said.

"I gotta now guys. My parents want me home for dinner tonight. Keep me posted." Yumi said walking off.

Suddenly my phone rang, I stepped aside and answered it. "Anna, I want you to listen to what they say..." It was Yumi.

I listened to the guys, "I told you Odd, the note wasn't for you. It was for me." They were whispering slightly.

"Whatever hotshot. Go and ask her who it was for then." Odd sounded upset.

"Bye Anna." I hung up and put my phone in my back pocket and walked back to the guys.

"I need to go and work on my materialization program. Bye guys."

"Hey, Jeremie, can I help?" Jeremie was taken aback by Odds sudden interest.

"Sure..." They both left leaving Ulrich and I standing there.

"Anna, I need to ask you something. It's about the note."

"Ulrich I-"

"Please, let me finish. I need to know. Was it for me or Odd? You never said who it was for, so we just assumed, You know? So tell me, which of us do you have feelings for?"

"Ulrich. I didn't write either of you a note." I said quietly.

There was a sudden sound of laughter from behind us, "Kind of embarrassing if you ask me. She never sent a letter Ulrich" Sissi said then cackled.

"Well, no one asked you Sissi. Forget them, Ulrich. Its-"

"It doesn't matter. Leave me alone." He said walking away.

I followed him until he broke into a sprint and left me in the dust. I got a call from Odd, "There's another XANA attack, meet us at the Factory."

"Okay. I'll tell Ulrich."

I hung up and decided to check his room. I reached the boys' dormitory and found his room. The door was unlocked, so I went in. Sure enough, Ulrich was sitting on his bed, his head down.

"Go away Odd. The note wasn't for either of us. It was a prank from Sissi."

"Ulrich," I said sitting next to him.

He looked at me, "I already know what you're going tell me and I don't want to hear it." He said getting off the bed and walked towards the door.

"Ulrich you can't let Sissi come between us. Our friendship is too strong." I felt tears welling up in my eyes. "I'm sorry Ulrich," I said the tears started falling. "We have to go though. XANA's attacking. If you don't want to go and help. I understand." I pushed passed him and opened the door. I wiped the tears from my eyes and made my way to the factory. When I reached the entrance to the tunnel, Jeremie, Yumi, and Odd were there with a weird a machine.

Yumi spotted me first, "Hey, Anna. Great timing. The bugs are in the tunnel."

"So how do we get through?"

"My robot. I will distract it." Jeremie said holding up a metal contraption.

Just then Ulrich walked up, "Oh, hey Ulrich. Where have you been?" Ulrich didn't answer. "Well, then let's go." Jeremie set the machine on the floor of the tunnel. The bugs moved as far away as possible. We all ran to the other side and up the latter.

I was halfway up when it stopped and the bugs started moving in on us, "Uh, Jeremie...It stopped."

"Oops, Batteries are dead."

"What?!"

We climbed up faster, but the bugs were faster and clouded around Yumi. She climbed faster and we covered the hole quickly after she got out. She was breathing heavily and had red marks on her arms and face. "Let's go." She said running into the factory.

We eventually made into the scanner room mostly unscathed. Odd, Ulrich, and I got in the pods and waited.

"Scanner Odd, scanner Ulrich, scanner Anna. Transfer Odd, transfer Ulrich, transfer Anna. Virtualization." There was a blast of cool air and then we were weightless, above the greenery that was the Forest Sector. We dropped down and readied our weapons.

"Yumi will join you in a second." There were no monsters in sight and no Aelita either.

"Do any of you see Aelita anywhere?" Jeremie asked.

Yumi dropped down beside me, "No Jeremie."

I couldn't keep my mind off of Ulrich, even though he was standing behind me.

"Three swarms of Hornets headed your way. Careful." Jeremie warned.

Odd and Yumi readied themselves, but I didn't have the will to move. The first swarm arrived and started shooting at us, 'Their aim is horrible.' I thought watching them intently, only moving in order to dodge a laser. Ulrich hadn't moved from behind me. I watched the three Hornets get destroyed by Yumi and Odd and the next ones arrived. This time Odd and Yumi weren't as coordinated and got hit several times.

"Forty life points left you two, be careful!"

"Ulrich! Anna! Enemy at three o'clock!" Odd said firing at one of the Hornets.

I didn't move, I watched the Hornet try to shoot us. I teleported behind it and killed it with my scythe. Odd got the last one of this wave and Yumi went to find Aelita.

"Laser Arrow!" Odd killed the last one without missing a beat. The next wave appeared faster than the last and converged on Yumi. Yumi, unaware of the Hornets, finally found Aelita and was struck with lasers.

"Ten life points left Yumi!" Jeremie sounded scared and angry. Yumi was shot again and got devirtualized and the hornets retreated. "Wait, they're circling back!" Jeremie warned. one started shooting at Ulrich and I. I blocked the lasers and protected Ulrich until it retaliated again.

"Ulrich, you need to snap out of it!" Odd said angrily.

Ulrich's eyes fixed on something in the distance and Odd followed his gaze and saw the last hornet. The monster started releasing a green ooze and Odd went after it.

"One... two...THREE!" Odd was submerged with the liquid but still managed to kill the hornet. Odd devertualized and Aelita ran over to us.

I turned to Ulrich, "Ulrich I know you're unhappy, but I-we-Aelita needs you right now." I blushed slightly.

Ulrich pulled out his saber and looked at me, "Get Aelita to the tower." I smiled at him, "Go." He said and super sprinted passed me and battled another hornet.

Aelita ran to the tower and the last hornet appeared from behind it. I got shot twice by the foul monster.

"Seventy Life points left Anna." The hornet started oozing green liquid like the last. Droplets hit me stinging my skin, " Ten life points Anna. That stuff must be corrosive!" Jeremie said.

Suddenly an orange blur passed in from of me, "Impact!" he yelled and the hornet exploded. I looked up and saw Ulrich standing there saber in hand. He helped me up and a bright light appeared, "Return to the past now."

I walked behind Sissi as quietly as possible, she was about to slip a note under Odd and Ulrich's door. Suddenly the door opened revealing Odd and Ulrich standing there smiling at Sissi.

"Well, hello there Sissi," Odd said taking the note.

"That's pretty embarrassing if you ask me." I mocked.

She looked at me then at Ulrich and Odd."Uhm- Uh wrong-wrong door." She snatched the note out of Odds hand and ran away.

We all laughed and watched her flee.