3-2: Cruel Truth

I would like to give credit to The Bringer of Good Cheer for inspiring me to make Sissy so evil. For those of you who read Meredith Ann Pierce, here's my tribute to her Firebringer series (I encourage everyone who can read to check out her works).

(((-2-)))

Ulrich saw Sissy batting her lashes in his direction. He rolled his eyes and went back to reading. She wasn't dissuaded. "Yoo-hoo! What are you doing, Ulrich? That must be a good book if it's worth your time. What's it called? Birth of the Firebringer, huh?"

"It's pretty good. Janika lent it to me."

Wisps of steam wafted out of her ears, but she regained her composure quickly. "You mean to say you haven't heard about her? There have been papers circulating all over—"

He cut her off. "I talk to her every day. Why do I need to hear about her from you?"

"Every...day?" she asked through clenched teeth. "You don't even talk to me every day."

"Probably because I don't want to talk to you every day. She's my friend. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm nearing the climax." He paused and squinted at her. "You know what? You really remind me of the evil queen in this story. Yep, just add some scales and you'd definitely look like a wyvern."

Sissy didn't know what a 'wyvern' was, but she knew it wasn't a compliment. He returned to his reading, pointedly ignoring her outraged face.

"Sure, sure. I'll let you get back to the book my cousin lent you. I wouldn't want to bother you. There are plenty of other things for me to do. No matter that she's been telling everyone that you two have been going steady."

Ulrich was on his feet in an instant. "What?"

"But I don't want to bother you. Bye!"

She began to skip away, certain he would follow her to find out the details. After she had gone a few yards, he still hadn't come up demanding to know the truth. Sissy turned around and saw Ulrich running toward the dorms. Her eyes narrowed.

"Grrrrrrrr!" These things never worked out the way she planned!

The dark-haired boy passed several groups of students who laughed loudly as he came close. His cheeks were taking on a pink tinge. What had she done? Students on the third floor were whispering excitedly among themselves until he appeared. Some ran off covering their mouths while others stood and watched with amused expressions.

Anxiously, he knocked. Janika peered through the spy-hole and saw it was him. Her face reddened as she let him in then quickly closed the door. With a hopeless sigh she leaned against it, being sure to pull the deadbolt.

"I'm so sorry, Ulrich."

"That you've been telling the whole school we've been dating?" he demanded angrily.

Confusion crossed her face. "What? I never said that! Someone stole my bookbag and has been handing out pamphlets Xeroxed from my diary. Some girls have already tried to beat me up, okay? I don't need this from you too!"

Ulrich calmed down. "I apologize, but what exactly did you say?"

Her face rouged and she stuttered. "W-well...it's k-kinda hard ta say, sorta, maybe I mentioned...the night we walked—"

Someone pounded on the door. Janika ran gratefully over and peered out. Sighing with relief, she let Jeremy inside.

"Oh, hi Ulrich," the blonde boy said nervously. "Uh, could you let me talk to Janika alone?"

"I guess so. Where's Odd?"

"He's at the snack machine. Oh, if you see any weird papers floating around, don't read them." Ulrich agreed and left. Jeremy gazed at her. "Do you really think I'm a klutz?"

"I wrote that back before I knew you. Sissy said you were weird and oafish. First impressions, you know, after I snuck into your room and toyed with your computer. I thought...never mind."

He shook his head. "You really shouldn't have written those things."

Janika threw up her hands and exploded, "Why not? It was my diary! At least I didn't jabber on about Lyoko! Would you rather I had? It probably would have made less of an impression on your school!

He was getting fed up too and didn't like her attitude. "Well, maybe if you opened your eyes once in a while instead of just staring at Ulrich all the time you'd notice he already likes someone!"

His words echoed in her head. "I want you out of my room right this instant." Her voice was calm and composed but her eyes were sea-green fire.

Jeremy hurried to the door and ran outside. The girls were all gone, but Ulrich was standing there tapping his foot. "So you broke it to her that I like Yumi, huh? Did it ever occur to you that maybe I should tell her, Jeremy?"

"Well, I wasn't sure you knew that she..." He trailed off. "Sorry."

"I can deal with it!" Ulrich stopped and realized how harsh he sounded. "I'm sorry too. I honestly don't know what to do about her. You want to go check out the comic books at the corner store?"

"Why not?"

The dreary day has hardly begun. Mwahahahahaha!