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I guess you could say it's like a Christmas present

Though it has nothing to do with Christmas

Merry Christmas anyway

And have a happy new year!

No Matter What They Say

Chapter 13: The Rising Sun

Aelita opened her eyes a crack and slowly started to wake up. She blinked twice and rubbed her eyes. 6:15, her clock flashed as she glanced over. Her heart was racing. Today would be the day.

She slowly turned and sat up, draping her legs over the edge of her bed. She stretched out her arms and yawned.

Knock, knock

"Who is it?" Aelita asked as she stood up to get the door.

"It's Ulrich!"

"Come in. The door's unlocked," Aelita said and yawned again.

"Hey, Aelita."

"Hey," Aelita said quickly while looking for something to wear. "Is there something you wanted, Ulrich?"

"Um…well, have you thought about it?"

"Thought about what?"

"Odd and Jeremie."

"What about them?"

"They both seem to… um… want you." Ulrich said a little awkwardly.

"I know what you're getting at," Aelita said turning around. "They both seem to want me as a girlfriend. I don't care. I'm going to try to have fun on this trip. Odd and Jeremie can fight over me all they want, even though I wish they wouldn't, and it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to me." She turned back around to find an outfit.

"I'm just worried about you," Ulrich said sincerely after a long pause.

"Don't be. I can take care of myself."

"I'm just afraid that if you don't make a decision there will be trouble."

"Ulrich I appreciate your advice, but I'm afraid if I decide to quickly I will decide wrongly. I know that Odd loves me. I know he does, but I'm just not sure if I love him. I know I like Odd, and I know Jeremie isn't a bad person, but I'm not sure if I love either of them," Aelita said. "I'm just not sure, Ulrich. I don't want them to fight, but if they think they can win me over by fighting each other they've got the wrong idea. All I would want is them to just make me feel protected and cared for. That's all." Aelita turned around after she found the outfit she was going to wear. It was a pair of light jeans and a solid dark pink turtle-neck.

"Just, try not to do anything drastic on the trip. I wouldn't want you or anyone to get hurt," Ulrich said sweetly.

"Don't worry."

------m------

Yumi was heading out of her house. It was only 6: 30, but they had to be there extra early. The buses were going to leave at 7:15.

"Goodbye, Mom!" she yelled for the last time as she was trying to shut the door unsuccessfully while holding a suitcase, handbag, and wearing a backpack. Meanwhile, Hiroki just stares at his sister waiting impatiently.

"Wait! Let me help you!" Mrs. Ishiyama cried from the next room.

"It's ok, Mom, I got it!" Yumi yelled as she finally got it closed. "No thanks to you!" Yumi looked over at Hiroki.

"What?" Hiroki said innocently. "I'm just waiting for you. You're the one that took forever!"

"Just start walking! We don't want to be late!" Yumi yelled and pushed her brother in the direction of Kadic.

"No you just want to see Ulrich, your boyfriend," Hiroki said and a mischievous grin came on his face.
"Just keep walking," Yumi said in a huff. "Just keep walking."

------m------

"I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, Odd."

"I'm really hungry," Odd complained rubbing his growling stomach. He had surprisingly put up his hair today, even though Aelita liked it both ways. He wasn't quite used to it getting in his face so much.

"Well, you'll just have to wait until we get to the restaurant."

"But, we're not even on the bus yet, Jeremie. I don't think I can wait that long!" Odd complained dragging his suitcase in line with the rest of the 8th and 9th graders. Jeremie got in line behind him followed by Ulrich and William.

"Odd, it's not going to even be 10 minutes until we can board the bus," Ulrich said.

"There are 10 minutes until we can get on the bus. Then, there are 10 more minutes until we take off. Then, we have to drive all the way to the restaurant and wait to be seated and served! That's like 45 minutes!" Odd complained.

"Wow, Odd, who knew you were that good at math," Aelita said as she came up and got in line with the rest of them.

"Oh, hey, Aelita," Ulrich said.

"I am too good at math!"

"Very funny, Odd," Jeremie said laughing. "I don't consider an 81% good."

"When it involves food, Odd's good at anything," Ulrich said smiling.

"So, where's Yumi?" Aelita asked Ulrich. "Is she even here yet?"

"No, she's not here yet. She had to walk all the way from here house. It takes a while," Ulrich said in reply.

"HIROKI!" Yumi yelled as she came up.

"What? I didn't do anything!"

"Don't run off! Stay with your grade!"

"Ok, gosh," he said quickly and stuck out his tongue. He quickly turned around and headed toward his group. Yumi turned and headed toward hers.

"Oh, hey guys!" Yumi said as she got into line.

"You got here just in time, Yumi. It looks like Jim is starting to check bags," Aelita said pointing up to Jim moving a metal detector over all the bags.

"Great," Yumi said and smiled as she saw Sissi stomp onto the bus and have Herve sit down next to her. "What's wrong with Odd?" she asked as she glanced over at him holding his stomach.

"Oh, don't mind him," Ulrich said quickly. "Odd's hungry, but he's always hungry."

"We'll eat soon enough, Odd," Yumi said and smiled.

"That's what they want you to think. We'll be starved by the time we get there," Odd complained again and moved forward toward Jim and his metal detector.

------m------

"Hiroki! I've been waiting for forever for you!" Johnny said a bit aggravatedly.

"Sorry, Johnny, my sister took forever in the bathroom this morning!" Hiroki said and sighed as he saw Milly get on the bus a few people in front of him. Tamiya was with her.

"I told you to do it last night," Johnny muttered as soon as he saw where Hiroki was looking.

"What if she doesn't like me? What if she thinks I just a kid or I'm too young for her?" Hiroki wondered staring off in her direction.

"We went over that! You can prove that you're mature enough to go out with her," Johnny said smiling.

"I guess so." Hiroki was still staring at Milly as he moved forward in line to get on the bus. Milly had her hair up in two low pigtails, just like always. She was looking over at Tamiya laughing. Hiroki smiled when he saw this. He loved the way Milly looked when she laughed.

"Hiroki!" Johnny yelled trying to get his attention for the third time. Hiroki finally looked up just as it was his turn to check his bags. One of the chaperones quickly wanded them and set his suitcase aside to be put into the bus. He then walked onto the bus with his backpack.

They both looked for two seats next to each other that were open. They quickly found some diagonally behind Milly and Tamiya. They had a while to wait before the bus would take off. Hiroki soon was staring at Milly with a longing look in his eye. Johnny quickly noticed and leaned over toward him.

"Hiroki, you're my best friend. I know what's good for you," he said sincerely. He smiled concerned. "Don't let her get away," he whispered and turned to look out the window. "I never had a chance. She was way too old and out of my league." He said after a pause, and he turned to look back at him. "You have a chance. Go for it. The worst that could happen is that it wouldn't work out. That's the price you have to pay because it could work out." Johnny smiled and turned back toward the window.

Hiroki looked back over at Milly. She was so beautiful. Her skin was almost flawless as far as he could tell. He quickly got lost staring at her.

------m------

"We're finally on the bus," Ulrich said as he took his seat next to Yumi. She smiled and grabbed his hand. Aelita was in a seat in front of him. She had the window. Odd gladly took the seat next to her, forcing Jeremie to have the one across the aisle with William. Odd sat there in quiet triumph as he tried to quiet his stomach as well.

"Yeah," Yumi said smiling. She looked out the window at the gray blue sky that was just getting hit with the first rays of sunlight.

Ulrich slowly looked away from the window and stared at Yumi. He looked at her trying to resist the temptation to kiss her right now in front of everyone. He slowly leaned over onto her black turtle-neck. He brushed back her hair and quietly whispered into her ear. "I love you, and I promise that I will spend every minute of this trip with you."

Yumi turned and looked at Ulrich sweetly, yet a bit shocked. Her hair slipped away from behind her ear. She gently placed her lips to his ear and whispered very faintly. "No one could love you more than I do." Then as if nothing had happened, she turned back to the window to watch the rising sun.

------m------

Sissi looked as if she could hit Herve in the face if he tried to even look at her. She was trying to lean as far as she could to see Ulrich, 10 seats in front of her.

"Hey, Sissi," Herve said but quickly got cut off.

"If you so much as try to get me to talk to you, I am going to hurt you!" Sissi yelled as she turned back to try and hear Ulrich. "This is a 2 and a half hour ride and I will not be stuck hearing you the whole time! Ulrich's talking!"

"But, he's 10 rows ahead of you across the aisle," Nicholas chimed in from the seat behind her.

"If you two would shut up, I could hear Ulrich!" Sissi yelled and stared angrily ahead toward Yumi. Nicholas slowly sank back into his seat and tried to keep quiet as he twiddled his thumbs.

------m------

Hiroki soon woke up from his gaze as Milly looked over. He was in shock and couldn't hide his blush as he turned to look at his hands. Milly just turned back to Tamiya as if nothing had happened.

"I think Hiroki was looking at you," Tamiya said with a suspicious look on her face.

"Are you sure? He could have been staring at you," Milly replied surprised.

"I don't think so, Milly. He was definitely looking at you."

"You're not sure though, now are you?"

"No, I'm not entirely sure, but that's what it looked like. I mean did you see the way he blushed when he noticed you were looking over?" She said and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but that could mean anything. He doesn't like me," Milly said quickly and Tamiya raised an eyebrow even more. "Or does he?"

"It kind of looked like it," Tamiya smiled.

Milly blushed. "Doesn't he think I'm too old for him?"

"It's just one year Milly. Ulrich and Yumi have been going out and they're separated by a year. You wanted Ulrich and he's two years older than you," Tamiya countered.

"Yeah, I know. I know."

"Well, do you like him?" Tamiya pushed. Milly looked down, thinking.

"Well, we talked about this, Tamiya. You already thought he liked me," she said quickly.

"That didn't answer my question."

------m------

Odd: Pov

Aelita quietly hummed to herself as she waited for the bus to start moving. It should take off soon. I sat next to her not knowing wait to say. My stomach still growled, but I tried to muffle it because I didn't want Aelita to notice. She turned toward me and smiled without stopping humming. She must have heard me.

"Sorry," I muttered and she quietly laughed.

Why did Aelita have to look so beautiful? Why did we have to pretend to be cousins? I looked over at her and tried to remember what Ulrich had told me. Aelita wants someone to be her friend, just to be there for her. She said she doesn't need a boyfriend right now. I tried to keep smiling and not think about Jeremie. Though, it was pretty funny that he got stuck sitting next to William. Plus, Jeremie couldn't get in the way too much. Aelita didn't like Jeremie at all, or if she did she was just getting used to him again.

I'm pretty glad Aelita stopped crying though. It just seemed like she was always so different depending on the day. She could be happy, and then sad. Then she could be happy again, all in the matter of 5 minutes. I was starting to get confused. Maybe she's bipolar or something.

Just then, the bus started moving slowly pulling out of the parking lot and onto the street. An eruption of cheers burst out of the teens on the bus, happy to be gone. I looked over at Aelita. She suddenly looked solemn, like she wasn't happy to be leaving.

"What's wrong, Aelita?" I asked trying to be subtle.

"Oh, it's nothing, Odd," she said turning toward me, slightly smiling. "It's just I've never really left Kadic, or the city for that matter, and gone to the mountains since I was a little kid. You know," she paused and tilted her head, "since my dad and mom took me."

This caught me a little off. I didn't expect that. "Oh, right." It was the only thing I could think of at the time. She didn't seem to mind and smiled, turning around to smile at Yumi. I turned and looked as well. They seemed to just be sitting there holding hands. Yumi quickly looked up and smiled. I turned back around, and taking a risk, decided to take Aelita's hand. I looked at her to be sure she was ok with it, and she looked at our hands, then to my face, then back to our hands before she smiled. I guess that meant she was ok with it.

I guess I was right, because she kept my hand with her the whole time before we got to the restaurant. All we did was talk, mostly about how excited she was about going back to the mountains.

Aelita: Pov

I didn't know what to do. Jeremie looked upset, but I didn't really want to sit by him anyway. Then we were talking. Just Odd and me. Soon he took my hand. I didn't know what I wanted, but I didn't think holding his hand was bad because it felt so good. It could be just a friendship thing. His hand was so warm. I just kept it.

"What do you want to do when we get there?" I asked trying to keep conversation going.

"I don't know. I want to do it all. Nothing is too much or too powerful to defeat me!" He chanted.

I had to laugh at that comment. "I guess I want to take a walk in the snow, like I used to. That was always fun."
"We'll have to do that," he said sweetly. I looked at him and I saw that he saw more in the holding hands than I did. It was a good think we were at the restaurant. I stopped holding his hand as we turned into the parking lot at Dee's House of Home Cooking. Nurse Yolanda stood up and started to talk.

"I want you all on your best behavior. That means no throwing or taking other people's food. Please walk and don't push. Thank you," she said and stepped out of the bus.

We followed and were soon seated. It seemed as if we took up almost the entire restaurant. Yumi was to my right and Odd was at my left. I tried to be calm, but I was too tense. Maybe I wasn't ready for a big trip like this. Maybe I wasn't ready for this type of adventure. Maybe I'm not ready for any adventure other than Lyoko.

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