"Focus it. Take your time," I told Yumi.
"This is getting... tough..." she strained out through gritted teeth.
"A few more seconds," I told her. She strained with holding the object with one hand.
"Ok, drop it," I said after a few seconds. With a grunt, the boulder fell to the ground. She held her knees as she looked at the ground. "That was good. Decent progress."
"Tell me again... why am I the only one going through this?" Yumi panted.
"Because you're the only one who has anything to really improve on. Your telekinesis is very useful, but it's not that useful if you can't defend yourself or attack anything while you're doing it. If you get this down, you can fling a Mega Tank with one hand while reflecting lasers with the other," I explained to her.
"Alright, that does sound pretty useful. But I have to say, I do want to be able to enjoy my summer break, you know," Yumi said, putting hands on her hips while looking at me.
"Oh, I know that. And I'll allow you that. We'll just pick up on it every now and again. So let's get back," I said as I drew a sword in each hand and stabbing both of us so that we devirtualized.
I stepped out of the scanner before blowing out a puff of breath and smoothing my hair that refused to stop bunching together in annoying little knots. Some people called it curls. I call it an irritation.
"The others'll be leaving in a few minutes," I said as I checked my watch. I tried not to think about who the watch was from. "We should go say our goodbyes."
"I agree. Maybe I'll let them know how much hell you're going to put me through during this vacation," Yumi said with a smirk. I chuckled a little.
"Trust me, I know how to give you real hell. This is child's play dear," I said with a haughty tone before walking out of the factory with her.
The both of us went to Ulrich and Odd's dorm, walking in on them packing their stuff. Yumi did a type of whistle to get their attention, and the both of us waved casually.
"Oh, hey you two. How'd training go?" Ulrich asked.
"She's getting better at the telekinesis thing," I told him.
"I can barely hold a rock with one hand for thirty seconds," Yumi said dryly.
"I said 'better.' I didn't say 'substantially better.' There's a difference," I said, making the room ring with laughter. Though my own was not included. I couldn't even manage a grin. It felt weird. I sounded serious, which I think is what caused the laughter to cut off as fast as it did.
"Umm... yeah. So our parents should be here in a few minutes. We should head on outside," Ulrich said, somewhat awkwardly. I nodded in agreement as we walked out of the dorm. We made our way to the front of the school where tons of students were saying their goodbyes to their friends and such. I didn't see Emily, which was actually a relief.
"Ulrich!" I looked over where the shout was and saw his parents gesture him over. He then turned to us.
"Make sure to given XANA plenty of kicks up the ass for me while I'm gone," Ulrich said before we clapped hands and pulled in for a bro hug. I smiled a little.
"Wouldn't have it any other way. Though for Christmas, I'm taking your place," I told him with a grin.
"Deal. It'll take a lot of camouflage, but we can make it happen," Ulrich said before waving at the others. "See ya guys."
"Bye," Yumi said with a wave. Odd and Ulrich had a bro hug before he walked off towards his parents, his mother receiving him warmly with a hug. I put my hands in my pockets as I looked at Odd.
"You see your parents yet?" I asked.
"Not yet. But where is Aelita and Jeremy?" Odd said before smirking. "You think they're..."
"If they are, bout damn time," I said before yawning. "Nice to know he's having good luck in the relationship department."
Odd instantly closed his mouth at my sentence and Yumi gave me a sideways glance.
"I mean that. It's..." I sighed in a flat manner. "It's fine. I'll get over it." The looks that Odd and Yumi gave me showed me that they weren't necessarily reassured by my words. I don't blame them. I did spend hours crying my eyes out a few nights ago. I think that got it out for the most part, but there were still some uneasy thoughts.
"Hey!" Jeremy exclaimed, jogging up to us. "Thought you would've told me you were about to leave."
"Sorry. Kind of slipped our minds," I said before rubbing my temples a little. "Where's Aelita?"
"I thought she would've been with you," Jeremy said before pulling out his laptop and checking for towers. My thoughts exactly. "No tower is active. Where is she?"
"There," Yumi suddenly said while pointing. I turned my head to see her wave before walking over to us. That was odd. Not to mention weirdly convenient timing.
"Where were you?" Jeremy asked her.
"The factory. Was working on something," Aelita said simply.
"What?" I asked. I don't remember Aelita ever working on a project by herself. My memory wasn't the greatest, but I think I would've remembered something like that.
"I'll talk about it later. Right now, I think Odd has visitors," Aelita said with a finger pointed in a direction. I turned to the direction her finger was, and there were Odd's parents. I can see where Odd got his unnaturally wide grin from.
"Oh, great," Odd said moodily.
"They're still not finding any of your wrongs, huh?" Jeremy asked.
"Of course not. Makes me wonder if I were to commit a crime would they still not find any fault with me," Odd said.
"They'd probably have to see you do it," I told him with a grin. He grinned back before, just like with Ulrich, we grabbed hands and pulled in for a bro hug.
"You think you can handle XANA without me?" he questioned.
"I'm sure we'll cope," Yumi said with a smirk.
"You get XANA for two months, and I get my parents. Is it bad that I want to trade?" Odd questioned.
"Yes. Yes it is," me, Jeremy, and Aelita said at the same time.
"Just get along with them while you're gone. Trust me. Ride out the pampering that they give you. Enjoy yourself," I told him.
"Have I ever told you that you are the best for pointing out the ups in situations?" Odd said.
"What can I say? I'm-" My grin faded as I looked past Odd's shoulder. Emily was struggling with two of her bags and was waiting near the entrance lot for cars. I could swear my face felt like all the blood had been sucked out of it. "Um... I think... I'll be right back."
With my feet feeling like they were going towards Death Row rather than towards a person, I walked over towards Emily. I was amazed that the others didn't try and stop me. I mean, they would've definitely gotten me to stop if they had just asked me if I really wanted to go over there. One of those situations where if anyone questioned it, I would lose the confidence to do it. Again, I was not that lucky.
"Um, can I help with that?" I asked Emily hesitantly. She stopped in her struggling and looked towards me. Her face seemed to grow a little paler and her eyes fell a little as soon as she laid eyes on me.
"Um... sure. I mean... that is..."
"No, it's fine," I said quickly before grabbing her bags and holding them in one hand.
"Still, uh... still strong I see," Emily said with a nervous smile.
"Yeah. I still keep in shape a little," I said, raising the bags up and down.
"Look, um... I hate to bring up the elephant in this situation, but what are you doing over here?" Emily asked, causing my mood to somehow drop even lower than it already was. And apparently, it showed.
"I mean..." Emily hurriedly said. "It's just..."
"I saw you struggling. Thought I'd come help," I said before sighing. "Yet at the same time, I don't even know why I came over here. I mean that was the reason I came over here initially, but now it just feels like an excuse."
I saw Emily's lips pursue slightly at my sentence, and I immediately knew what was on her mind. Once again, there were moments where I just felt like an absolute shithead. This was one of them.
"I don't know how many times I'll end up saying this, but I would like to say I'm sorry. Again. I put you in the middle of my situation, and expected you to cope with it. That's not right," I told her.
She was silent at my words. I opted for looking down at the ground when I felt her gaze slowly move towards mine. You could seriously feel the awkward. Not to mention the unspoken words that were in the air. It was a situation I couldn't properly cope with.
Then there was a honk that caused the both of us to jump. We looked at the side and saw Emily's parents in a car. Jesus, she was a carbon copy of her mother. That... made me pretty uncomfortable.
"That's your ride," I said with a hesitant grin. I walked over to the car and her parents popped the trunk for me. I put her bags in the car before looking back towards her. I closed the trunk and without a word, my feet shuffled past her. I couldn't bring myself to say another word.
"That was fucking awful," I said as I walked back to join the others. "Then again, what should I have expected? Closure?" I sat down on the steps and put a hand on my forehead. I felt multiple hands touch my shoulders, but I shook them off.
"Just let me have a moment," I said before closing my eyes with my hand still on my forehead.
"So we have months, possibly years before XANA dies. Great. I just have to avoid getting into another relationship before then. That shouldn't be very hard. After all, I am me after all," I thought to myself. Again, my mood dropped. Felt like I was on the brink of depression. I wasn't going to trade in eating and sleeping habits. No, I just felt upset a lot. I didn't get this feeling a lot, so I couldn't really tell if it was normal or not.
"Is it normal to feel this upset? I mean, I've cried about it. I've accepted that it happened. Is it still natural that I still feel like shit on the inside?" I said, pounding the palms of my hands on my forehead.
"Don't do that," Aelita said, grabbing my hands and pulling them down.
"And yes. It is normal to be upset after a breakup," Jeremy told me.
"Shit sucks," I said before standing to my feet. "I think, um... I think I'll just lay in my dorm for a few until we go down to Yumi's. Your parents won't be here for another few hours, right?"
"Yeah," Yumi said somewhat hesitantly.
"Then I'll do that. I have all my bags packed already. I'll just... yeah," I said, heading into the building.
A/N: This was just a short chapter. I'll get more into what I have planned for the summer vacation chapters later on.