The title is an acronym because it was too long:

Chap 11- Journey to the center of the heart

"You really care?" I asked, my voice cracking just a little bit.

Relief seemed to wash over Yumi's face.

"Of course Odd!" Jeremie said it as if it were obvious, but it wasn't to me.

"That's what we've been trying to tell you!" Ulrich explained, his grip on Yumi loosening to pretty much nothing.

"Odd!" Yumi was really happy, for some reason.

Then the bell rang.

"Oh no, classes," Yumi was worried, and disappointed, which I still didn't understand.

"Go." Ulrich told her.

"But-"

"Go!" he said. Reluctantly, she left.

"Come on," Jeremie told me. Mindlessly, I followed.

As I walked to class, I had no clear thoughts. I was confused. My perception of, the world, might actually be wrong. I didn't know what to think anymore. Everything I thought I knew went out the window, leaving my feelings raw, and exposed. I felt light as a feather, my feet no longer firmly planted on, anything. I couldn't understand, anything.

I was lead to class, but it didn't much make a difference to me. Once the teacher had started, I was already back in the world of my blank mind. I thought about Yumi, and how she treated me. It was almost like, she acted as if she were my sister. It's funny when you think about it, considering I have five sisters of my own and none of them treat me like that. And what about Jeremie and Ulrich? Like brothers, probably. I didnt know 'cause I don't have any. Though they were kind of bizarre aswell.

Jeremie almost seemed like the type, like me, to get picked on but he isn't. Not that I can see. I guess he surrounded himself with the right people. Ulrich on the other hand is the strong silent personality, meaning no one with bad intentions comes near him, for fear of being pencak cilat-ed. Same, or simmilar enough goes for Yumi. I guess they even each other out. Or in other words, make a good team. I've never been in a team like that before.

%%%

At dead of night, not a sound could be heard. Except the tiniest sound of a door clicking open. Like a streak of light, Ulrich was out of the building. He dashed off the property, down the street and rounded the corner to Yumi's house.

He went around the side of the house and picked up a small pebble on the ground. He tossed it at the window, and a second later Yumi's silloette could be seen.

She slid open the window and creeped out, jumping the last 8 feet of the house's ground floor. Ulrich steadied her, upon landing and they started off again.

Two streaks of light now, roaming the empty night. Sprinting to the school, not a word was said, yet Ulrich had something on his mind.

They passed under the school arch, and slowed to a jog.

"Yumi," he began between slightly staggered breaths, "How are you so good at this?"

She whispered back, "Let's just say I know how it feels when no one cares about you, and I don't want it to happen to anyone else."

"But Yumi, we care about you, you know that right?"

"I was talking about before I met you and Jeremie."

"Oh." He paused. "What was it like then?"

She sighed, "It's just a long and dreary story, besides, we've got something more important to do tonight."

Ulrich nodded.

They snuck back into the school and the boys' dorm without being spotted or heard. Soundlessly, Yumi and Ulrich crept into the room, lowering themselves onto Ulrich's bed. A few silent, still minutes later, a light knock, almost unheard, was at the door.

Tap. Tap-tap, tap.

Ulrich got up, turning the doorknob really slowly, and letting their four-eyed friend in.

"Finally," Jeremie whispered under his breath.

Yumi smiled. She looked at the sleeping Odd. His breaths were silent and calm. Yumi was worried it wouldn't last. They watched him for a little longer. His face looked at ease, his small shoulders curled inward. He lay on his side, facing toward them. So innocent, so unexpecting. So, desperate. Was this really the right thing to do? Of course, thought Yumi. "Well... Ready?"

They nodded.

Ulrich went on his knees, onto the floor. He shimmied over and reached out a hand, gently touching Odd's shoulder.

"Odd," he whispered, "Odd, wake up."

Odd's eyes began to flutter open, after multiple blinks and a tired groan. They could see he was a bit confused to see them when his eyes adjusted. He groaned again, propping himself up on his elbow and with the other hand rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"What is this? Everybody-wake-up-Ulrich's-roommate-at-some-uneart hly-hour day?" he asked groggily.

"Heh, not quite," Ulrich smiled lightly.

"Oh no? 'Cause it seems an awful lot like it." He said in a grumbly voice. They were just happy to see that Odd was back to his normal self for the most part.

"Odd," Yumi kept whispering, "I, I don't know how to say this.."

"Well, if you're about to tell me I've won the lottery, chances are I won't believe you." Couldn't they see that one of Odd's defense mechanisms was his distracting humor?

Yumi giggled quietly, "No, I dont think you've won the lottery this time."

Jeremie, it seemed, was in a very right-to-the-point mood. "Odd, we came here to talk to you."

"That's kind of obvious isn't it?"

It was getting hard to address the issue with Odd constantly on the defensive. And sarcastically, no less.

Ulrich sighed, "Odd, don't you get it?"

Odd looked questioningly at them.

"We want to help you," Yumi finally spit it out.

"But in order to do that we have to know how," Ulrich explained. "So..."

"That's what this is all about?" Odd asked in a normal volume.

Nods came his way.

"You guys are that desperate? You have to come wandering in at the dark of night, just to interrogate me?" Odd's voice was slowly getting louder, and you could hear the edge in his tone.

"Shhh, you're going to wake someone up," Jeremie warned.

Odd simply didn't listen. "Sure. Great. Maybe they can get you to leave me alone!"

"Odd! Quiet!" Ulrich urged, whisper-yelling.

"No. Let them come!" Odd was almost yelling now.

"That's it." Ulrich grabbed Odd and covered his mouth. Odd put up a fight, flailing his arms and legs, and trying to yell and scream. Jeremie and Yumi had to pin down his hands at Ulrich's request.

Then, they heard footsteps outside the door. They all froze on Odd's bed.

Odd, strategically, licked the hand that covered his mouth, figuring that it would disgust Ulrich as it had Odd's sisters multiple times. But he was wrong. Iron-willed Ulrich never moved a muscle, until the footsteps were long gone.

That's when everyone stopped holding their breath, and let go of Odd.

"You're really disgusting when you want to be," Ulrich whispered, rubbing the slobbered hand on his pants.

Odd kind of ignored that comment, "So, what? Are you guys going to tie me up and torture me until I let you help me?" He sounded more disgusted than Ulrich.

"Well there's an idea," Ulrich said.

"If you let us, we won't have to," Jeremie tried his persuasive power, to no avail.

"No." Odd answered. "I'm not going to tell you anything.

Yumi looked disappointed, "At least tell us why."

"Yeah, you owe us at least that," Jeremie agreed.

It didn't sound too too appealing to Odd but he did owe them that, at least.

"Fine. But only that. Then, you all leave." Odd listed his conditions and began.

~END~