And I woke up, shooting up and feeling a terrible pain in my neck. I looked down at myself and saw I was still fully clothed in the nightgown that Yolanda had me put on for the night. She was in the next room; I knew she was sleeping soundly, not a bad dream in sight.

I steadied my breathing and looked at the time; 3:18 A.M… I laid back down and stared at the dark ceiling until Yolanda woke up at 6. I rolled onto my side, facing the wall and closing my eyes. I couldn't believe that I would have a dream like that, I didn't understand why I would have a dream like that. I felt like it was completely random and ridiculous. It was the most terrifying dream… especially at the end.

What does dream rape mean? My subconscious had to have been trying to tell me something. But what? Don't work in the cinema club alone? Don't join at all? Get a cell phone so something like that doesn't happen? It could be anything or all of those things.

I heard Yolanda open her door and I rolled back onto my back and opened my eyes.

"Oh, did I wake you?" she asked me, seeing that I was up.

"No, I woke up a few minutes ago," I told her. "I'm an early riser by nature."

She nodded and chuckled. "So am I, you get a lot done if you wake up early. Can I check your vitals now or would you like me to wait?"

I let her do it and then she went to get me some breakfast. She gave me a juice cup, a banana, and a croissant. After I ate she told me that I could go back to my room. We made an appointment for my anxiety management before I left.

I walked to the dormitory building and managed to reach my room without anyone seeing me. I changed out of the night gown and set it to the side; Yolanda wanted me to bring it back to her later in the day. I put my robe on and walked to the bathroom with my usual things and took a shower, brushing my teeth and hair after as I normally did. I changed into my clothes for the day and left the bathroom. On my way out I spotted Aelita going into her room. She didn't see me.

I ran to her room and hugged her from behind, she spun around and hugged me back and we both immediately done into our holiday stories. She and Jeremie had spent a lot of time on his laptop working on programs and keeping an eye out for X.A.N.A. , but they'd also spent a lot of time experimenting and forming a stronger connection as a couple. I told her that Odd and I had done a lot of really amazing things in Italy. I left out the boob situation, and I also left out what happened with Sissi when we got back.

"Oh my god, I need to show you the pictures we took! Odd has the camera," I told her. When she finished unpacking her stuff, she and I ran upstairs to find that Odd was in Jeremie's room, already showing off pictures on Jeremie's computer.

"Hey!" I scolded. "We were going to show them together!" Aelita sat on Jeremie's lap and Jeremie went back to the first photo and they watched the slideshow while Odd and I watched them watch. Jeremie thought the pictures looked nice; Aelita was more detailed with her praise and went as far as to declare the photo of Odd and I dancing on the harbor to be her favorite.

"So how do you feel?" Odd asked me suddenly.

"Fine, Yolanda let me leave pretty early," I told him, blushing. I hadn't wanted Jeremie and Aelita to know about it…

"What happened?" Jeremie asked, sounding concerned.

"You spent the night in the infirmary?" Aelita asked.

"I passed out last night from a panic attack," I mumbled.

"She punched Sissi in the face," Odd said, not sounding proud, per se… but he definitely didn't sound like he was ashamed.

"Why?" Aelita asked.

"She was probably asking for it," Jeremie said. They both waited for me to explain.

So I did. "And I felt so bad… I knew I was about to get in a lot of trouble…" I said when I finished.

"Principal Delmas let you off easy though," Odd assured. "Because he could see how badly you felt about it."

"Wild," Aelita breathed. "From what it sounds like, she did kind of deserve it. She was trying to make you mad."

I shrugged. "I don't condone violence though, I have no idea what came over me…"

"You were defending me," Odd said, squeezing me around the waist, "I would do the same for you if someone was calling you names like she was calling me. I'll always protect you, and you protect me."

I nodded but the dream from the previous night flashed in my mind and I shivered. Odd noticed and held me tighter, as if to warm me.

The day went by slowly, I didn't see Sissi anywhere; she was probably hiding out in her room. Odd told me that she had a cast on her nose. Ulrich finally came home that night and the five of us hung out in his and Odd's room and we all talked about our Holiday. Ulrich seemed quiet, since he hadn't really done anything fun. He didn't stop us from talking about our fun though.

"So you punched Sissi in the face?" Ulrich asked me, eyes wide with surprise. "I would have never pegged you as the fighting type."

"I'm not! She made me so mad last night!" I exclaimed. "I felt so bad about it after… Yolanda wants me to see her once a week for anxiety control."

"Hopefully that doesn't interfere with Lyoko business," Jeremie said, crossing his fingers. "Speaking of which…"

"We get to go play on Lyoko?" Odd asked excited. "I miss Lyoko!"

I rolled my eyes. "I think you just miss your Overboard."

"I have a vehicle for you, Emma," Jeremie interrupted. "Aelita and I developed it over the break. We think you'll like it. We've christened it The Overmorph."

"We want to go to Lyoko so everybody can practice on each other's vehicles, that way we're all familiar with them just in case one of you need to ride someone else's vehicle," Aelita told us. "The new vehicle should be easy enough."

I raised an eyebrow but they wouldn't say more about it. I rolled my eyes and spoke up. "Well hopefully X.A.N.A. doesn't attack tomorrow. I've got detention after school," I told them. "After detention I'll go to the factory. For now, I think I'll go to my room. I want to send a letter home."

"You still write letters?" Ulrich asked. Odd gave him a look and he made a slight choking noise and held up his hands. "I mean, it's nice you still write letters…"

I smiled. "It's fine, Ulrich. I do wish I had a cell phone though, it seems that would help if X.A.N.A. attacked and we need to stay in touch…"

"Emma, let's go to your room together," Aelita offered. "We haven't really had a chance to talk, just us girls, yet."

So we left the room, kissing our respective boyfriends goodnight. While we were walking up the stairs, I thought about cell phones, then I thought about my dream. It was eating at me, I had to ask:

"Aelita? Has X.A.N.A. ever attacked any of you… sexually?" I bit my lip, blushing when I asked. She stopped walking then and looked at me, confusion on her face.

"No, I don't think X.A.N.A. quite grasps the concept of sex, or erotic behavior. I think X.A.N.A. has a very literal knowledge of the human body, probably only thinks of sex as a way to reproduce, not a way to attack someone. Why do you ask?"

"I had a dream the other night… X.A.N.A. possessed a man and he chased me through the art building and trapped me in a dark room… I was totally alone and I couldn't contact any of you," I paused. She was watching me closely, worry written in her eyes. "He raped me. Someone tried getting to me then but it was too late. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep…"

"Oh, my!" She hugged me. She let go and pulled me along with her and we went into my room. We sat on my bed. "That sounds like it was a horrible nightmare!"

I nodded weakly. "I don't understand it… I've never had a dream nearly as.. erotic, and I've never even dreamed a X.A.N.A. dream either. Usually my dreams are just vague dreams of whatever I did the day before. I never have weird dreams."

"Well it's over, and I don't think it's likely that X.A.N.A. would make that sort of attack," Aelita assured me. "But if you're still worried, I suggest you just avoid being alone. I think that's all you can really do at this point."

"Alright," I told her. "You want to hang out for a bit while I write my letter? I won't be long," I told her. I went to my desk and pulled a piece of paper out of a notebook and started writing. She just sat on my bed and read a book I had on the floor, it was a French version of a comic book from America. Spider Man. Odd had lent it to me.

When I finished writing my letter Aelita and I talked for a few hours, discussing such topics as her love life, my love life, Lyoko, X.A.N.A. , music, and film. She thought it was a great idea for me to join the Cinema Club. She also suggested I check out her new music mix sometime. I told her I would and when we seemed to be out of things to talk about, she left my room to go to bed, I changed out of my day clothes and into my sleeping attire and went to sleep as well, finding it much easier than the night before.

I had the same dream, only this time I wasn't in the Studio; I was in the forest, just outside of a house. I woke up in a cold sweat and saw that it was only 4:32 in the morning.

I gritted my teeth. "Is this going to become a habit of mine?" I muttered. I rolled onto my belly and managed to get another hour of sleep before I went to the showers to clean up before breakfast. When I finished my shower there were girls staring at me, Sissi lingered in the background and I understood why the other girls were staring apprehensively at me. I ignored them as I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I decided to brush my hair in my room. I thought about the dream the whole time I spent getting ready for the day. And then I left, trying to put on a smile to hide my uneasiness.