I wish that by now, the big important lawyer peoples would realize that I have no intention of stealing the characters, okay?


It was a known fact that Ulrich Stern is a very handsome boy, and even more known that he is quite shy. But what perhaps is the most known fact, save one person, is that he is in love with one girl. And she is the only one who doesn't know. Seeing this... rather slow relationship take place, became too annoying to a certain group of people, which is why they formulated a plan to get them together, finally.

"I think we should just put a piece of mistletoe under them and consider it done," said Odd.

Cali whacked him in the head. "Yeah, except that's SO cliched, Odd," she said, shaking her head.

"Well, we've got to do something, they both look so forlorn when they see us together," said Aelita.

"Which is why I've come up with a little something," said Jeremie.

"Well, don't just sit there, tell us Remie!" said Cali.

"OK, well, I was thinking maybe I could..." explained Jeremie.

.:Next Day:.

Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, and Cali stayed together all that day, not bothering to include Ulrich or Yumi in their little escapade.

So Ulrich and Yumi hung around together, instead of trying to see why Jeremie, Cali, Aelita, and Odd wouldn't talk to them.

"Why are they ignoring us?" asked a fed-up Ulrich.

"I don't know, but they should have a very good reason for it, I'm sure," replied Yumi, both reassuring herself and Ulrich.

Classes went by, and finally it was the evening, Jeremie, Cali, Odd, and Aelita all went out, saying they were going on a double-date.

But what they were actually doing was setting up the necessary supplies for their little prank. Thank God for the Winter Dance coming up.

.:The Day Of The Dance:.

It had been almost a week since the four had separated themselves from Ulrich and Yumi. Cali and Odd's excuse is that they were working on making better scanners, and Jeremie and Aelita claimed that they were working on the Anti-virus.

But the four soon realized that if Ulrich had ever decided to check this out, they would be in a world of hurt, and make up even more lies. So they ended up staying up at night doing those things. Jeremie and Aelita were used to it, Jeremie because... well, he always worked on the anti-virus and pulled many all-nighters. Aelita because shw hadn't slept all of her life until she came to Earth, and didn't have to sleep that much anyways.

And Cali was sort of used to it because she never got much sleep at Pex's. It used to be the same for Odd, but it had been many years since then, and he was quite tired to help them out when they were putting the final touches of their plan up that afternoon.

Cali excused herself and took Odd by the wrist, taking him to his Dormitory.

"Odd, you're too tired to help us! Take a nap so you can be there at the dance with me."

"I want to help you, Cali," said Odd.

She took his hand. "You are. Go to sleep and you'll be helping even more than you think."

She turned to leave, but Odd called after her. "Hey, what about my good-night kiss?"

Cali rolled her eyes and turned to him. "You'd better be SO lucky that I love you," she said, giving him a peck on the lips.

Odd smiled. "I am Cali."

Cali returned to Jeremie and Aelita. But she interrupted them in quite a cozy predicament. They blushed, and said they weren't doing anything, but Cali just shook her head and smiled. She was happy for her brother. This was his once-in-a-lifetime girlfriend, and it was the other way around for Aelita.

"Hey Remie, how do we hide the mic?" She asked.

He turned to face Cali. "Put some garland on it or something." He was way too preoccupied with the wiring to do much else.

Cali sighed, turning to Aelita. She smiled, nodding at Cali's silent prodding, and slipped her arms around Jeremie's.

"Aelita..." He said. Although, you could definitely tell that he didn't mind one bit.

"Jeremie, someone needs to teach you the art of relaxation," She heard her say.

"Well, I don't think I'd mind if you taught it to me..." said Jeremie.

Cali shook her head, smiling, and returning to her original problem. Finally deciding that putting garland around it would be the best solution, she fluffed some around the mic, and you would never noticed it if you hadn't put it there yourself.

Cali ended up doing half of the wiring herself, due to the fact that jeremie seemed to be quite "busy" with Aelita at the moment. But she didn't mind it. In fact, she rather liked it this way. She knew exactly what she was doing, and could do it efficiently.

Not that Jeremie couldn't do it. She didn't think that at all. But she had more experience, and could do it faster, and he well... He couldn't. He was never trained. He had never lived that fear of not getting something done fast enough. It wasn't his fault, Cali would have much preferred it that she could do it better with a lot of practice, instead of under a lot of pressure and fear. But that wasn't the case, and however much hell it had seemed at the time didn't really calculate much anymore. It had taught her to do a lot of things well and fast. But again, she wished out of practice.

Eventually though, being the work-horse that Jeremie was, he and Aelita pulled away, and helped Cali finish, felling rather guilty that she had already done so much to begin with. She left them to it, leaving to hook the wires up to the speaker in the gym.

"Cali? Ready to go, or not?" asked Yumi, looking into her room. Cali smiled, and twirled around in her blue dress.

"I think so."

Yumi was genuinely happy. Aelita and Cali were with her, and she had missed them that week. And she couldn't hide her smile. She and Ulrich had come to an agreement that they would escort each other to the dance. Yumi couldn't help but fantasize about what might happen between them.

Their dates arrived, and they left to the dance, talking merrily about how things were and how much work they had done at the factory. It was a cold night, and Jeremie offered his coat to Aelita. Taking the lead, Odd offered his coat to Cali, and hesitantly, Ulrich offered his to Yumi.

She smiled and took it gratefully.

"Looks like Ulrich's taking the bait easier than I thought," whispered Cali.

Odd nodded. "You don't hear him murmuring in his dreams about how much he wanted to hold her..."

Cali smacked him. "I'm surprised you woke up, Odd."

"And miss going to the dance with you? Never," he answered simply, lacing his fingers in hers and walking faster.

They finally arrived at the Dance, and it was a spectacular sight. Garland hung around the ceiling, with some sprigs of mistletoe, which everyone stood well out of the way of. There were millions of paper snowflakes, and it almost made the ceiling look like a massive chunk of ice. Red and green velvets draped over the tables, and there were croissants and cheeses, eggnog and, by popular demand, chicken.

It was deliriously warm, and coats hung on chairs, left forgotten by the children. Upbeat music pumped through the speakers. Kids were dancing, laughing, and enjoying life. Wouldn't you be enjoying life if you got to spend Winter in France?

Odd instantly helped himself from the fabulous foods on the table, and Cali went off to talk to Sissi. She didn't want to, but it was part of the plan.

"Er, Sissi?" asked Cali, making her way through the maze of students to reach Sissi. She was dressed in a hideous red dress that peculiarly resembled "Mrs. Claus."

She looked up, and was surprised to see Cali standing in front of her. "What do you want?" she sneered. Sissi had never told a living soul, but she had been jealous of both Cali and Aelita. She knew the two girls had family ties to Ulrich's group, but it wasn't fair. Ulrich's group was by far the most well known group in the school. Not Sissi's, but Ulrich's. And they always were plotting something, it seemed. Always disappearing and not coming back until the early hours of the morning. Yeah, she had been spying on them. But she had to! How else could she black-mail them into accepting her into the group?

"I have something to tell you."

"Well, are you dumb? Get on with it?"

Cali had a hard time suppressing a sneer. "It's just that Ulrich wanted me to tell you that..." she paused for a moment, building up suspense. "Meet him in the broom closet in fifteen minutes."

And Cali had turned and left. Everyone knew that the broom closet was a small enclosure with a door where kids go into to get some "privacy." There was always a little group who met around the door for a rousing game of Seven Minutes of Heaven every time there was a dance. And that was Cali and Odd's job, to keep the students away from the closet. While Jeremie and Aelita handled the technical stuff. So Cali had joined Odd later. He had told all the kids that someone had placed a stink bomb in there, and that you'd suffocate before you got "to it."

"Hey Cal," he said, taking her hands and putting his head against her hair. "Wanna dance?"

Cali knew they were on a mission, but one dance couldn't hurt anything, she just nodded, and Odd swept her onto the dance floor. A swing number began playing, and many people left the dance floor. Odd laughed, and brought Cali to him. "Let's show them how to swing, shall we?"

Cali laughed and nodded, and Odd began swinging her around.

They made quite a spectacle of themselves. While Cali was living at the SS, they had offered dance lessons, and, bored out of her mind, Cali attended them. She had learned to swing, and enjoyed every minute of it. She was a little rusty, but it all came flowing back to her after a few moments.

People were clapping and whooping, and Odd and Cali continued. The song ended though, and Cali and Odd returned to their post at the broom closet, after throwing a couple out and shooing them away. Everyone was kind of scared of Odd after the trial, if he could stand up to Pex, what made them think they could match him?

Remembering that they had two minutes left, Cali bid a good-bye to Odd. She had to get Yumi near the speakers, and out of sight of the broom closet. Jeremie was handling Ulrich.

"Yumi!" called Cali, grabbing her wrist and dragging her closer to the stage, where the speakers were. Come on, let's go... dance!" said Cali.

"What?" asked Yumi.

"Come on, it's the Electric Slide. Everyone dances the electric slide!" said Cali. She grabbed her wrist and began dancing. Yumi gave up, and began dancing too.

But then the music was cut off, and Yumi was about to head to the punch bowl again, to sulk about not having a boyfriend.

"Wait!" said Cali, keeping a firm grip on her wrist.

Yumi squirmed. "Cali, what's with you?"

But then a familiar voice was heard on the speakers. Ulrich's.

"Um, hi Sissi."

"Ulrich! Come on, I'm right here, plant one on me!"

"Sissi, I don't want to kiss you. I don't know who sent you in here, but it was not my idea."

"Why don't you want to kiss me? Do I repulse you? Is it my breath? My hair? My clothes? 'Cause I can change that!"

"No Sissi. I like Yumi. Not you."

Cali smiled at Yumi's sharp intake of breath.

"And the only thing I'd ever want you to change is in the inside, not the outside. One of the hardest things to change, or so I've heard."

There was a buzz of talk from that, and another song came on the speakers. Yumi looked at Cali.

"I have to go."

Cali and Odd and Jeremie and Aelita all observed as Yumi walked over to Ulrich.

"What were you doing in that closet with Sissi?" asked Yumi, her arms folded across her chest.

"You saw that? Yumi it was- I can explain myself, I-"

"Shut up," said Yumi, putting her lips on his.

High-fiving each other, they all made their way over to Yumi and Ulrich.

"You did this, didn't you?" asked Yumi.

The conniving four nodded.

"We're glad you did," said Yumi.

Ulrich smiled at Odd and Jeremie. "Now I've got my girl!"

Yumi laughed and slipped her hand in Ulrich's. "You've always had her," she said.

Cali excused herself from the group, and went over to the DJ. She whispered something to him, then came back. She was grinning.

Not even five seconds later, that Crazy Frog song came on.

EVERYONE burst out laughing at that. People were jumping and being crazy. Cali and Odd jumped around. Aelita and Jeremie sort of swayed around, and Ulrich and Yumi were kissing each other.

"God, were we like that?" asked Cali.

"No," said Jeremie, walking over. "You guys were worse."

"Shut up Remie. It's not like you and Aelita were much better." countered Cali.

"Well, we didn't go around making out in public,"argued Jeremie.

"Yes you did!" said Cali and Odd in perfect unison.


A/N: Well, there's the eleventh chapter. I wanted to fit in a bit of Holiday Spirit. The dance was originally a "Christmas Dance" but I changed it because there are probably people on this website who practice a much different religion. So I put a little bit of "Christmas" stuff in there, like Mistletoe and red and green, but I tried to stray off of Christmas. Also, I had been completely neglecting Ulrich and Yumi, and I felt bad. I'll try to keep it all equal, but it's a little hard. So here's the long overdue love connection between UxY. Don't worry, the major part of this story is coming, so don't get too fed up with the happy-go-lucky front I'm putting up, because the plot is coming up soon. Only took eleven chapter to lead up to it. :)

I've learned that we can no longer do review response, but I would to put everyone's name in here, at least.

So, a thanks to: Ocean Kitten; Dark Angel1000; lyokolady; renayumi; American-Kitty; Long lost sorrow; Didgi girl; jalepeno1011; Rycr; Angels 'n Dreams; Raymanly73; lostmoonchild; Otritzi; JAZZG; Yumi Stern; RainingHeart; hppartygirl; CrazyCreator33; KajiMori; and the-gothic-furby for reviewing. Many thanks!