New chapter! We're picking up right where we left off. Enjoy!

The next morning, Ulrich woke to Yumi's phone beeping with a text message, his girlfriend already awake and opening her phone.

Yumi yawned as she read the message. "My parents say they'll be home in half an hour," she said. "You should probably get back to school."

Ulrich reached his arms out to her. "Five more minutes?" Yumi laughed as she allowed herself to be dragged down with him, enjoying the embrace of soft blankets and Ulrich's gentle touch.

"We can't have my parents discovering you, you know." Her voice was a mere whisper as she drew circles on his chest, admiring the faint muscles there. "And as much as I love you, I love my self respect a bit more."

He laughed. "Fine, I'll go." They kissed once, twice, then a third time, each time hesitating more. Finally the naked buck stood, stumbling with fatigue as he searched from his clothes. Yumi went in for a quick shower as he dressed, re-emerging wrapped in only a towel, her dripping black hair making her face look thin, the smudged makeup from last night having been cleansed away. They kissed, and Yumi let the towel drop as he embraced her.

"I love you," she said with a mischievous smile as he took in her form.

Ulrich sighed. "You just love making it hard for me to stay away."

"Maybe I can stop by tomorrow," Yumi whispered.

"I'd like that," Ulrich whispered back. Another kiss, and he was gone. Yumi directed him to go out using the back door, and soon Ulrich was walking down the street towards the school with a wide grin stuck on his face. Back in her room, Yumi did a small victory dance before toweling off and pulling clothes on for the day. She would have to clean her room, but right now all she could focus on was what had happened last night. Ulrich replayed the night in his head over and over again as he walked up to his room, so lost in thought that he didn't notice Sissi till he ran into her.

"Watch where you're going!" she sneered.

Ulrich blinked, that same grin still on his face. "Huh? Oh, sorry Sissi."

Sissi glared suspiciously at him. "Where were you last night? I didn't see you anywhere on campus. You and Aelita signed out to be downtown, but she came back at eleven last night. Where were you, hmm?"

His good mood faded quickly. "Leave me alone," he huffed, moving to get past the annoying girl.

"You're not allowed to spend the night off campus without permission," Sissi declared. "Let me guess, you were with your string bean of a goth?"

Ulrich looked back at Sissi. "And so what if I was?"

"Well, imagine what would happen if the principal found out!" Sissi got close to Ulrich and sniffed his breath. "I think we all know what you did last night."

He turned red. "What the Hell?"

"How about this," Sissi said, backing away with a sadistic smile. "I'll keep your secret...and you owe me one."

Ulrich eyed the girl warily. "One what?"

She giggled. "Oh Ulrich dear, I can't tell you. That would ruin the surprise." She left the hall, and Ulrich stared at her with confusion and concern in his eyes. Once upstairs, Sissi smirked as she walked primly to her room.

"Sissi," Aelita called from her doorway. "Is there anything in the cafeteria this morning?"

The brunette giggled. "I don't know, Aelita. Maybe ask Ulrich - though after all the eating he did last night, I can't imagine he'd be hungry this morning." she cackled and walked away, leaving Aelita looking very confused.

At the Ishiyama household, Yumi greeted her parents with relief. "I was a bit worried," she confessed. "A lot of people had car crashes last night from the snow."

Yumi's mother laughed. "Dear, you know your father is a perfectly good driver."

Her father yawned and settled into an armchair. "So, how did you amuse yourself last night?"

"Um," Yumi fought to keep from blushing as memories of last night flooded her senses. "Just watched TV. We had dinner in Paris after Aelita's show, then she dropped me off here pretty late before going back to school with Ulrich."

"And you didn't have road trouble?" her mother asked curiously. "We heard everywhere was just horrendous last night."

Yumi nodded, thinking. "We got in right before the storm got really bad." her parents nodded, seemingly appeased. Yumi breathed a sigh of relief, going up to her room to clean up. Once her bedroom door was closed, Yumi couldn't help but let out a little giggle, flopping down on her bed and relishing the scent of Ulrich on her pillow. She typed in Aelita's number and waited patiently as the rings echoed in her ear.

"Hello?" Aelita said.

Yumi grinned. "Guess what I did last night."

In her room, Aelita paused to stare at the phone in concern. "Yumi? What did you do?"

She laughed. "The question is more who."

Aelita's eyes grew wide. "You and Ulrich?" she whispered. "You did it?"

"Uh huh!" Yumi laughed. "I couldn't wait till tomorrow to tell you."

"I'm glad you didn't!" Aelita exclaimed with a grin. "So, how was it? I want details."

"Geez," Yumi said with a nervous laugh. "I'm not sure where to start."

Aelita picked at her nails absentmindedly while pressing the phone to her ear with her shoulder. "Weren't you guys going to plan out a day over winter break for that?"

"We were," Yumi said, moving to the bathroom so she wouldn't be overheard by someone walking by in the hall. "But then my parents texted saying they were staying at hotel to avoid the bad weather, and I suggested a sleepover as a joke..."

"Wait," Aelita said. "Did he actually stay the night?"

Yumi grinned. "Yup!"

"Oh wow," Aelita breathed. "So...was it good?"

Yumi felt her cheeks redden. "I mean, yeah. Kind of awkward, but we mostly knew what we were doing." She laughed. "There was this one part, see, where I tried raising my leg in a different position and I strained a muscle and ended up somersaulting backwards off the bed...it took ten minutes for Ulrich to stop laughing."

Aelita laughed raucously. "That's hilarious," she said. Once the girls had finished their chuckles, Aelita decided to see how much more she could pry out of Yumi. "Did it hurt?"

"...a little. We took things really slowly, but I'm still kind of sore." She blushed, and unconsciously pressed her legs together.

Aelita giggled. "Well alright. I'm guessing Ulrich lasted all of two minutes."

Yumi gasped in mock outrage. "Hey! Give my boyfriend a bit of credit!"

"Never!" Aelita cackled.

The older girl sighed with disappointment. "Anyway," she said with emphasis. "How did the meeting go?"

Aelita shrugged. "It was just marketing stuff. We're going to make a music video in a month or so, and there are arrangements to be made like who to hire, the meaning of the song, all that. I was actually wondering if you would be willing to be in the video with me, maybe Ulrich and Odd too."

"Seriously?" Yumi raised her eyebrows, glancing in the mirror. "I'm not sure I'm music video material."

"You're fine," Aelita said. "Plus it'll be more fun with you all there. Maybe you could even do some backup vocals, the song could use some more variety in that area."

"Sure," Yumi said. "I'll ask Ulrich about it."

Ulrich stared at his history notes with intense focus, glaring at the pages till the words started to blur together. He sighed and shut the notebook with frustration, deciding to work on his math project before starting on the history paper. He had a project in every class, even drawing. On top of all that, the coaches wanted him to stay in shape so he had to fit a workout into his schedule every day. The college counselor had suggested he make a schedule for each day of his winter break so he would stay on top of things, and now it hung above his desk. He started and ended every day with a workout, then studied and worked on projects all day, with scheduled breaks for food as the counselor was not confident in Ulrich's ability to remember to eat.

"This is ridiculous," Ulrich muttered. His phone rang, and Ulrich groaned at the sight of the caller ID. He opened the phone and prepared for the worst. "Hey dad."

"Ulrich. How are your studies? Are you on top of things?" His father's voice was clipped and aggressive, always direct and blunt.

"Yes," Ulrich said unsteadily. "I'm trying my best."

"You know how important this year is," his father said. "Your GPA fell by almost an eighth of a point last month - we can't afford mistakes. Maybe you need tutoring to bring your grades up."

"Dad, I'm getting straight A's." Ulrich's voice was desperate as he ran a hand through his hair.

"No, you got a B on a quiz in your German class last week." His father grew angry. "Dammit Ulrich, is it always going to be a struggle to get you to be more than average?"

Ulrich grew quiet as he slumped in his desk chair. "I'm trying." The waste bin was piled high with empty coffee cups and napkins from taking sandwiches over from the cafeteria. The desk and bed were covered by binders, notebooks, and various projects.

"Not hard enough," his father grumbled. He returned to a business-like manner with his son. "I'm signing you up for History of Religion next semester, as well as an advanced biology class. It'll make you seem more well rounded."

"Dad, how can I possibly take more classes? I'm already taking more than the school allows!" Ulrich's voice was desperate as he began to pace the room, hands shaking from stress.

"Let me handle that," his father said. "I'm also going to arrange for you to be tutored every night for the second semester - your grades need to get better."

Ulrich felt close to crying. "Dad, I'm getting straight A's..."

"There have been a fair number of B's in there," his father said, chastising his son. "It's nothing to be ashamed of son, not everyone has book smarts. The tutor will help you develop those skills."

"I...ok." Ulrich admitted defeat with these words.

"Very good. I have a meeting, concentrate on your work." His father hung up without saying goodbye, and Ulrich fell into his chair in a slump. He could barely handle the course load he had now...how would two more classes and a nightly tutoring session fit in?

A light knock on the door echoed in the room, snapping Ulrich out of his thoughts. "It's open," He called, surprised as he did not expect visitors.

Yumi poked her head in, wearing a cheerful smile. "Hey! Want some dinner?"

Ulrich smiled weakly. "What are you doing here?"

"We had leftover takeout at my house, and I figured I'd give some to you." Yumi gave her boyfriend a peck on the cheek before pausing to survey the room, seeing the mess of schoolwork everywhere. "Geez. You've been busy."

Ulrich nodded with a mournful sigh. "You have no idea."

"You know, you really don't need to be taking all these classes," Yumi said gently.

"Not according to my dad," Ulrich muttered darkly, glaring at the floor

Yumi put her arms around him, leaning in to pull Ulrich into a hug. "Did your dad call?" Ulrich nodded, and Yumi sighed with a tsk. "Well whatever he said, he's wrong."

Ulrich laughed. "I'm sure he'd love to hear that."

"Well it's the truth," Yumi said with a teasing grin. "Now, will we eat on the floor?"

The teens set up a mock picnic on the wooden floor of Ulrich's dorm room, spreading napkins to catch the mess that was inevitably created from dripping sauces. Chinese takeout had become a tradition for the couple, sharing fried rice, noodles, and chicken with lots of sweet and sour sauce. As Yumi cleaned the containers and napkins away, Ulrich moved his schoolwork back into his bag so he might be able to sleep in his bed tonight.

"So," Yumi said coyly. "What now?"

Ulrich grinned as they kissed. "I was supposed to workout tonight..."

"Sounds great," Yumi whispered.

"It helps me get rid of stress," Ulrich said.

Yumi pushed her boyfriend back onto his bed before straddling him and removing her shirt. "Ulrich," she said, kissing him seductively before sliding to her knees. "Tonight, I'll be your stress relief." His head hit the mattress as Yumi went to work, and soon they were kissing passionately again, their clothes littering the floor.

"Ready?" Ulrich said, moving on top of his girlfriend.

She bit her lip. "Go."

And that's it for this chapter! We'll check in with Jeremy next time, see how he's doing. For now, leave reviews!