Hey guys! Thank you for all of your kind reviews! :) Here's the next chapter! Truthfully, I really didn't expect this to be this long, LOL. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy it? Happy reading! :)

"Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and almost always leads to love."

-John Steinbeck

Chapter 11: Stolen

"Um, Milly," Yumi called as the redhead kept up with her disturbing dance moves. She clenched her fists in irritation and exhaled deeply. "MILLY!" she hissed.

Yumi frowned as some students turned heads her way to send her glares. So much for not attracting attention. Meanwhile, Milly still didn't seem to hear, more so listen to her. Yumi sighed and creased her eyebrows as her concern for Aelita continued to grow.

Whistles from the Kadic boys and laughs from the Lyoko girls erupted from the crowd as Milly concluded her horrific dance with full-on jazz hands. Thankfully, the music had stopped, and Milly gave a deep bow to the audience, as if she really did impress them rather than provide them with laughable entertainment. Yumi cringed at the cheesiness of it all, then reached out and abrasively clamped her fingers around Milly's bony wrist. The redhead yelped in alarm, but Yumi didn't seem to care the slightest.

Yumi yanked Milly back into the crowd, away from the center of attention. When she was out of everyone's sights, Milly shifted her gaze to stare daggers at Yumi, who she thought was trying to take away the fabulous attention she was getting. Milly put her hands around the edges of her hips. She glared at Yumi. "That was so uncool," she whined, stomping her feet in irritation.

Yumi crossed her arms and glared back, not letting the younger girl get the best of her. She scoffed. "You should be thanking me, Milly," she retorted. "You were a laughingstock out there!"

Milly rose an eyebrow. "I was a star!" she shrieked, motioning towards the dance floor.

When Yumi looked up to the ceiling, Aelita was at their side in seconds. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line, and her hands were on her hips. She glared at Milly silently for a few seconds, then grabbed her wrist and dragged her out the doors of Du Gourmand. Yumi looked in its direction and shook her head in shame.

William sauntered over to Yumi before she even began her leave to help Aelita. He quickly planted a chaste kiss on her cheek, then began his way to the door. Yumi sent him a look of question. "Where are you going?" she asked, slightly unhappy by the fact that he was leaving even though she was as well.

"I have to go," he answered impassively -not depressed or happy the slightest. "Ulrich told me that since I wasn't invited by Jeremie, I'm not welcome around here. So it's best I leave."

"It didn't stop you from going before," Yumi pointed out. "And I don't think Jeremie-"

Before Yumi could finish her sentence, William grabbed her upper arm and pulled her close until their faces were mere inches apart. Yumi stared at him blankly for a few seconds, both thinking and hoping that he would kiss her, but instead, he pressed his finger against her glossed lips, silencing her. There was a look of seriousness upon his face as he then tenderly swept a strand of hair out of Yumi's eyes, revealing their brown brilliance. "I really want to stay with you, Yumi," he began. "You're wonderful, but if I stay, things will get really messy."

Unfortunately, Yumi wasn't given the chance to reply. She received from William one last kiss on the forehead, and he was out the door.

Yumi stared in daze in the direction from where he left. She didn't know what to think. That is, until Ulrich came walking through the door, acting as if nothing had ever happened. Yumi's mind immediately filled with thoughts of disdain.

Surprisingly and unnerving Yumi, he sauntered over to her and kindly offered a hand. Yumi looked down at it in question, debating over what the heck he was planning. She rose an eyebrow, still not moving an inch in his direction. Then, she frowned and looked away, her arms tightly crossed over her chest.

Ulrich stayed in his position, still not the slightest bit deterred. As if Yumi didn't understand the question, he went all out and asked, "Would you care to dance with me?"

"...I don't want to dance with you," Yumi spat. Ulrich's face fell in response, but he quickly receded back to impassiveness. "Besides, I have to help Aelita with Milly. The two of them left just a few minutes ago," she added.

Ulrich creased his eyebrows and straightened his posture. "Excuse me for a minute," he said, walking away. Then, he looked back and added, "Stay here."

Yumi frowned. How rude, especially since she had other things to do! "Fine," she sighed. "But I'll only give you a few minutes."

Ulrich nodded slowly then left. Emily approached behind her after with a smile on her face.

"Having fun?" she asked with a slight smirk.

Yumi scoffed and gazed blankly at the wall. "So much fun," she said sarcastically.

Emily peeked behind her. "Who was that, anyway?"

Yumi sent a glare his way. "Ulrich Stern," she muttered with pure repugnance.

"That's Ulrich?" Emily asked in surprise. She rose an eyebrow. "Yumi, he's gorgeous... And, clearly, he likes you."

Yumi put a hand on her hip and waved off Emily's remark. Ulrich? Gorgeous? She never saw it in him. "Oh, please..." she replied. "Plus, he probably just left so that he could prepare the prank he wants to set off on me."

Emily chuckled. "You're blushing," she pointed out.

Yumi's eye twitched, ticked off by the mere statement. "No, I'm not." She clenched and unclenched her fists as if she could easily channel out the anger she wanted to use on Emily. Unfortunately, she could now feel the blush creeping up on her cheeks and spreading to the tips of her ears, proving Emily right. She began to quickly run her fingers through her hair to play it off, but it only showed more of her false feelings for Ulrich. "No, I'm not," she repeated, more firm this time.

Emily nodded slowly and pointed behind her, a slight smirk on her face. "Oh, look, he's heading towards you," she said, a slight tone of tease behind it.

Yumi turned to look behind her in direction towards the dance floor. Proving Emily right once again, there was Ulrich, standing close to the stage, gazing back at Yumi attentively. He thrust his thumb in the direction of the dance floor and then walked onto it, disappearing to merge in with the rest of the crowd.

Yumi veered to look at Emily, slightly alarmed. "Am I supposed to follow him?" she asked.

"Yes, Yumi," she breathed out in reply. Taking the initiative, she started to nudge Yumi in direction towards the dance floor. "Will you just go?"

"But what about Aelita?" Yumi stepped out of Emily's grasp and began her way towards the doors. "I need to check on her."

Emily shook her head and walked ahead of Yumi. "I'll do it, don't worry" she assured, going out the door. "Have fun with Ulrich!"

Yumi sighed and slumped her shoulders. Was she really going to do this? For all she knew, Ulrich was the reason William left. He was the reason for her ruined night.

But despite her better judgment, her feet propelled themselves towards the dance floor, stopping in front of Ulrich against her own will. Yumi didn't know what to say, more less of where to start.

"Um, hi," she greeted impassively, lifting her hand in a half wave. It was like her words -her mind, had a conscience of their own. Like she had no control of her body. She was in a daze as Ulrich comfortably slipped his arms around her waist and unintentionally pulled her close until their faces were mere inches apart. Yumi found that Ulrich was thankfully a few inches taller than her, and he had to lower his head a little to level his gaze with hers.

Suddenly, a feeling Yumi didn't know what to call flourished between them by the mere motion of eye contact. It reluctantly rose inside her, giving her a feeling of.. warmth. It was much different from what she felt when she looked at William; Ulrich gave her a sense of comfort while William made her nervous, like she couldn't be comfortable acting like herself. She always felt like she had to work to impress him. As much as she didn't want to admit it, there was a wordless link she had with Ulrich, no matter how many times they fought...

Yumi, not knowing what she got herself into, was embracing with a guy she utterly disdained, loathed. But nevertheless, she couldn't bring herself to pull away.

"I see that you made it home okay the other night," Ulrich began, breaking the slightly uncomfortable, yet comfortable silence between them. Yumi's eye twitched at the smooth baritone of his voice -it was enough to almost set off the urge she had to lash out on him once again.

Yumi broke away from his gaze, angered at herself. She wasn't going to give him the impression that he was at good terms with her now! After all, his initial reaction to the fact that she was a scholarship student always managed to irk her to the point where her blood boiled. "Yes," she answered pungently, aggressively. "Thank you for worrying about me." Like he cared!

Yumi creased her eyebrows. She was utterly confused; the reason why Ulrich was suddenly so nice to her was beyond her own field of knowledge. It maddened her. The nicer he got, the lesser the reasons she had to hate him.

Looking around everywhere but in Ulrich's direction, Yumi found herself to be looking at at least half a dozen girls with narrowed eyes directed towards her. She also couldn't believe it when some of them had clenched their fists, their faces scrunched in envy. Yumi sighed.

"Just so you know, Aelita's alright," Ulrich randomly brought up, causing Yumi to shoot her gaze right back at him. "Jeremie's trying his best to keep her company."

Yumi nodded, a hesitant smile on her face. "Thank you," she whispered almost inaudibly, reluctantly. "I was worried."

Ulrich nodded, the slightest glint of expression failing to stand out in his brown eyes.

For the next several minutes, they swayed slowly to the music in silence. It was the piano piece that Ulrich was playing back at the cottage, a song that Yumi didn't recognize. She almost gasped at the surprise when she saw the piano player slightly stumble over the keys, much less talented and smooth than Ulrich.

Yumi realized before that Ulrich played the piece impeccably. She shook her head at the thought and chose to ignore it. Instead, she chose to focus on the scenario at hand. Dancing with Ulrich didn't seem like something she would ever dream or think of. "..I can't figure you out at all, Ulrich," Yumi admitted, hardening the stare she kept on him. "You make absolutely no sense."

"And you do?" he retorted, raising an eyebrow.

"It's just that..." Yumi lowered her gaze to show that she was deep in thought. "The whole situation with William seems bizarre, you know? Why did you make him leave?" That was when Yumi decided to lift her gaze again, narrowing her eyes at the mere sight of the guy. "You can't act like nothing happened back there."

"Can we talk about something that doesn't end in an argument?"

"The last time I checked, that was established as close to impossible."

Ulrich sighed in defeat, slightly annoyed. "William Dunbar..." He spat the name like it was bile in his mouth. "He's not the kind of person for someone to be hanging around with."

Yumi took a deep breath, trying her best to calm herself. "Why not?" she asked coldly.

"He's really good at making friends," Ulrich began, his facial expression gradually turning into that of pity, "but keeping them has always been the problem."

Yumi's eyes flashed with anger. "And why is that?" she seethed. She pulled away from Ulrich, turned her back to him, and clenched her fists. "Is it because he's a scholarship student that makes him someone who's not 'worthy' of your time?" She scoffed. "I was right about you. You, just like everyone else, have a problem with people that don't have money."

Ulrich slightly flinched from the remark. Yumi blurted it out so quickly, she didn't stop to realize how cruel and unfair she was being towards Ulrich. But she didn't care. Ulrich looked down towards the floor. "I guess you really don't understand me at all," he said quietly. He then lifted his gaze and glared at Yumi. "But I don't have to explain myself to you."

"That's totally fine with me," Yumi fired back. "I guess we're a lost cause." She turned sharply on her heel and swiftly walked out the door, leaving Ulrich behind.

Will they ever get along without one single argument? Yumi sighed at the thought, exhausted.

With her fists clenched, Yumi entered the chilly winter night outside of Le Cheval Blanc. Despite the cold eating away at her skin, she could feel nothing but heat rising to her face and spreading everywhere on her body. She was angered at how everyone was against her being with William. Was he really all that bad? No, he wasn't. And why was Ulrich always acting like the innocent one? If only he would just explain himself, maybe she'd like him. But his way of keeping secrets was the way he wanted to go, so Yumi had no choice but to hate him.

All thoughts of Ulrich were cast aside when Yumi spotted Aelita and Jeremie on the curb, sitting next to one another. The pinkette was hugging herself, partially to protect herself from the cold, but mostly to keep herself from bursting and going insane from the embarrassment caused my Milly. Her face was wretched into that of mortification as Jeremie tried his best to comfort her, his left arm wrapped around her fragile body.

Yumi walked over to them and bent down so that she was at Aelita's eye level. She put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey.." Yumi said, slightly frowning. "You okay?"

Aelita shook her head, her short hair ruffling in the breeze. She looked like a helpless little girl. "I'm so humiliated," she despondently replied. She shifted her gaze to look into Jeremie's blue eyes. "I'm so sorry all this had to happen during your party, Jeremie."

He nodded, the faintest of smiles resting on his face. "It's fine, really, Aelita," he replied. "She's young, after all."

"Where is Milly, anyway?" Yumi asked.

"She ran off when she I was trying to coax her to calm down," Aelita replied. She sighed and looked up into the stars. "I don't know where she is. She has no respect for anything -me, you, Jeremie, the school..."

"Are you ready to come back inside?"

"No." Aelita placed the back of her hand atop her forehead. "I think I have a bit of a headache. It'd be best if I just left."

Yumi shook her head. "I'll come with you," she offered. "Just let me get my coat from the rack."

The dark-haired girl handed the tickets over to the coat check person, who responded with an impassive nod and disappeared into the back to retrieve her coat. Yumi, at the meantime, waited impatiently, her arms crossed over her chest. The cold continued to uncomfortably nip at her skin while she tapped her foot against the concrete. She frowned in annoyance.

The lady who worked at the stand came back to the front, biting her lip. Yumi rose an eyebrow when she found her hands empty. Her coat was no where to be seen. "I'm sorry, but the coat isn't here."

Yumi widened her eyes. "B-but I gave you the ticket," she replied, a little shocked. "It has to be back there."

"Can you describe it?" she asked.

Yumi took a deep breath. "It looks like a trench coat, though made of cotton. It's black."

She widened her eyes and swallowed hard. "What brand was it?"

Instantly, Jeremie, Ulrich, and Herve walked up behind her. What great timing... Yumi took a deep breath. "It was K-Mart," she answered. Her Japanese relative who immigrated to the U.S gave it to her as a Christmas present when they visited Yumi's family in Japan. She swallowed and clenched fists. There's no use in hiding it.

"What happened?" Jeremie asked.

The lady was chalk white at this point. She shifted her gaze to Jeremie. "Um.. I can't find her coat," she said. "...A few girls did come out to retrieve their coats a few minutes ago, and... they identified her coat as theirs. I just thought that... well.."

Yumi understood. No one would lie that they had a coat like hers, especially a coat not that grand. They would never be caught dead in anything they would call 'the charity cases' prized possessions.'

That mere statement caused Jeremie's facial expression to darken immediately. "What?" he said, shocked. He walked to the back of the stand, grabbed the ticket, and began to search for Yumi's coat himself. He emerged with his hands empty as well. "I can't believe that something like this happen during my party," he said, appalled. "I want to see the manager."

"That isn't necessary," the lady said, paler now.

"Just forget about it," Yumi said, barely able to stiffen her jaw. She clenched her fists even tighter. "It wasn't my favorite anyway."

Jeremie turned to look at her. "I'm so sorry, Yumi," he apologized. Jeremie then pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and began to dig into it for a few euro bills. "Just at least let me pay for it."

Herve began to shrug off his jacket. "And take this," he insisted.

Yumi waved off their offers. "I don't need it," she said. "But thank you."

"But you don't have any sleeves on you," Herve pointed out. "You'll freeze."

"I'll manage," Yumi replied. "I'm just going to go now. Thank you for inviting us, Jeremie."

As Yumi and Aelita walked home, she couldn't help but get maddened at the entire situation. Once again, her lack of money was used to her classmates' advantages, and now, they'd stolen from her.

The cold air pierced through Yumi's skin, causing her teeth to chatter.

Out of all the things they could've done, this was the worst.

Author's Note: I'm really sorry to all the people who were getting really impatient on Ulrich and Yumi's relationship. Yes, they're not exactly growing as chums yet -they still hate each other, more so Yumi hates Ulrich, but Ulrich is just trying to be nice.. So yeah. I apologize for that! Hopefully, I will be able to put up my next update pretty quickly. (:

Thanks for reading, guys! (: