Code: Lyoko

Pass the Ball

By: Chibi

Disclaimer: Chibi does not own the characters of Code: Lyoko. Though she is unsure of the people who DO, she's positive that it isn't her.

Summary: As an end-of-term fever buzzes around every student, the Principal, pressured by Sissi, agrees to throw a 'ball' of sorts, in honor of the students who would be graduating that year and all of their accomplishments. Everyone has their eyes set on someone but complicated measurements may keep them from going with who they want to go with. These measurements in turn lead to some of the most crazy matchmaking mix-ups possible. More of a social fic than a XANA-attacks-Earth-and-almost-kills-off-an-important-character fic.

Warning: Includes Yumi/Ulriche, Odd/Sam, and possibly Jeremy/Aealita. Also a good amount of Sissi-scheming.

---

Chapter Four

---

"Please Jeremy?" Ulriche asked his friend (AGAIN) the next day as the two were heading out to meet Yumi at the bench, "Just this once; I swear I'll never ask again but this time it's really important that I get a second chance."

"Forget it, Ulriche. I told you yesteryday; and you know just as well as I do that the 'Time Reversal' program can only be used after a XANA attack and do YOU see any XANA activity around here? No? I didn't think so." Jeremy sighed. He'd gotten about two hours of sleep this morning before Ulriche had rampaged into his room, begging to use the Super Computer to return to the past for some reason, "What's so important that you'd need to go back this badly anyway?"

Ulriche turned scarlet and muttered something but Jeremy couldn't make it out. Odd had gone to hang with Sam that morning before seeing her off to class and the two of them were heading towards their usual meeting place to meet up with Yumi. Ulriche was finally about to answer when his eyes widened and then formed a slightly obvious glare over towards the maple trees.

There was Yumi... And Theo.

"Well, you can't blame her for wanting to interact with her friends. I'm sure that they're just discussing homework or something." Jeremy stated. At that point in time, the two in question broke up and Theo headed in their direction. He smiled at the two and there was something about it that Ulriche gathered was along the lines of victory.

"Yeah; I'm sure that it's nothing." He stated dejectedly. Yumi waved them over and they joined her for their usual morning chat, "So, what was that about?"

"What was what about?" She asked, plainly confused.

"Well, you know, you and Theo, hanging out together. That's not normal, is it?" Okay, he was jealous, he admitted that. But did Yumi have to be so obvious when trying to deny him the information he wanted?

"Normal? I wouldn't exactly dub it as normal or abnormal. We were just talking about the dance. He asked me a few days back and I told him that I'd get back with him today." She turned slightly pink and Ulriche knew that what she said next wasn't going to be good, "I told him yes, and that I'd meet him there at eight."

It pained Ulriche to see her looking even the slightest bit excited about going to the dance with someone else, let alone HIM. Theo's former attraction to Sissi, which had been diverted by Odd into an attraction to Yumi, had always stuck with her ever since his arrival. It had always been pretty obvious and, Ulriche had thought, one-sided. However that didn't seem to be the case anymore. Jeremy caught sight of him flexing his fists, but he hid them from Yumi so she didn't notice.

"That's great Yumi." Jeremy stated, catching Ulriche's eye and silently warning him not to say anything stupid. He'd never known that that ship had sailed the night before or that it was about to make a round-a-bout trip, "I'm sure that you two will enjoy yourselves." Ulriche was seething... And he knew that if he didn't get out of here soon, he was going to let every ounce of self-injury he'd committed on himself in the last week to be taken out on her.

Unfortunately, just as he made a move to leave and find somewhere to let off his steam, he caught sight of Sissi bounding from the dorm doors and in his direction just like she did every morning. And that was when everything started to go wrong.

"Ulriche, darling! I was hoping that you'd still be here! I was running a little late this morning; I hope that you forgive me!" She sounded as though it wouldn't matter what his answer was and jumped on him right there, "I was hoping that you'd finally decided what you were going to do about the dance, who you were going to go with. I hear that Yumi here--," At this moment she glanced almost repulsively at her, "--all ready has a date so I suppose that that's out of the question." Ulriche was about ready to tell her that it had never been in the question in the first place when she continued once again, "Well, as they say, good things come to those who wait, and I suppose that you have waited long enough to be rid of her--" He didn't know what had happened but he had finally exploded.

Snapping furiously, he ripped off her hold on his arm and started on her, "My friends have been telling me that I shouldn't be letting you try and get the better of me when I'm in the middle of something and I've finally chosen to agree with them. Sissi, I don't like you that way, or haven't you been able to tell? I could never really like you when all you do is talk about how high-and-mighty you are and hurt people who have tried to be nothing but nice and friendly to you. I don't want to see you right now so just... Get outta here!" Looking mortally wounded, she nodded, completely silent for once, and stumbled off in the direction of the cafeteria.

But Ulriche wasn't finished yet; his attitude was still in the process of a brewing flame and, not seeing anyone else to turn on, he looked straight at Yumi and began talking. He wasn't as loud with her but, with his voice sounding like a merciless mutter of inquiry, it was just as bad, if not worse, "Is he so wonderful to hang out with that you'd better enjoy going together to the dance with him, rather than someone you've known for as long as-as long as you've known me? I can't believe you Yumi; how could you let yourself do this?"

"Hey, wait a minute! One, why are you getting on my case just because a FRIEND of mine asked me out and, two, why does it even matter to you?" Yumi didn't want to get into it this early in the morning but things were all ready getting blown out of proportion.

Matter? Of course it mattered! And he'd thought that she'd known that after that one time in Lyoko when they'd almost... After hearing her ask him why he should care, he finally realized just how close he was coming to admitting something to her that he wasn't even fully aware of yet himself.

"I... Nothing Yumi, it's too late for me to worry about it anyway." And he turned, picked up his bag, and without even acknowledging Jeremy, headed towards his dorm room. He didn't even seem to care that he had classes starting in ten minutes.

Jeremy turned to look at Yumi, who stared back then stood as well, gathered up her things, and said, "What? Why should I have to wait for him to figure it out if it's going to take him forever? I can't be waiting that long if he doesn't want to admit anything." And she started walking in the completely opposite direction.

Jeremy stayed silent, standing alone for once in the middle of the school courtyard.

---

It was amazing how many things you could mess up when you weren't even aware of what you were doing with yourself, as Ulriche soon found out later that day at lunch. Yumi had ignored him as best she could, catching his eye only once before glaring and turning back to the book she had been reading at that time.

As for him, he didn't even remember most of what he'd said to her, or Sissi for that matter. She didn't seem to be as fazed as Yumi had, her "I'm queen and can win anything I want" attitude overcoming his obvious words of hate. He'd spent a good two hours in his dorm room, listening to nothing but a rogue cricket that had probably gotten through the window when Odd had forgotten to shut it the night before, missing two classes as well. The absolute silence around that was eminent... And sickening. He swore that it was mocking him everytime he tried to think about how badly he'd just messed up.

What's more was that Jim(BO) had dismissed him from two soccer practices because of his playing hookey, and right before the championships. He supposed that it wasn't all bad, as he sat watching his team members run around the soccer field, giving him reproachful glances and carrying the weight of a five pound (lb.) bag of sand on each of their backs. Not that it meant anything but Jim(BO) had referred to this new training regime as: 'RAOF'; Rounding abs over flab.

Why should he have let this bother him? It wasn't like this hadn't helped any. Now he knew exactly where he stood in his relationship with Yumi: A friend and nothing more or less. He should feel appreciative that the whole mess had been cleared up. If he'd kept trying so many times to draw out a new relationship from her, she might have gotten even more annoyed and decided to quit interacting with him as his friend all together.

He wasn't bothering to pay attention to the world anymore. He felt like he'd just lost a very important part of his life to one of his peers. It was one of those moments when someone in 'love' would take the time to consider another's happiness over their own and, Ulriche believed, that with Yumi's decision, she had been made as happy as was possible.

But he chose to refuse that the facts pointed in another direction entirely. She would stop showing up to wait in the morning, not that he had really wanted to see her at that time everyday. She had stopped going to lunch at the school, choosing to make her house her sort of private sanctuary. She had even started spending all of her extra time away from the Lyoko group. Now she was hanging out with that Theo; actually, he'd highlighted THAT point pretty well.

"I need to stop feeling sorry for myself." He whispered, getting up from the bench beside the soccer field and heading back inside the second dorm building. He just wanted to get away from everything and the only place to do that would be his room.

That was when his cell phone began ringing.

"Ulriche, I need you down at The Factory, pronto. It's important, okay? So hurry up." Jeremy's voice sounded urgent.

"What, Jeremy? Is it XANA again? What's he up to?" He asked.

"There's no time to explain, all right? It's got nothing to do with XANA but I still need your help, so could you stop asking questions about it and actually get down here? Odd's all ready waiting and Yumi's on her way as well." Ulriche was silent. Yumi? The one person he'd been wanting to avoid and now he was going to be forced to see her again all ready?

"Fine Jeremy... I'll be down there in a few." He hung up.

Jeremy, down in The Factory at that point, let out a breath of air. He'd finally managed something the night before and he was going to use it to get Aealita out of Lyoko for about three days. It was a certain digital medicine for the virus that XANA had infected her with. As most would know, viruses, unlike bacterial illnesses, couldn't be destroyed by medicine, they could only be pressured into a coma of sorts. Using that knowledge of medicinal remedies, he'd constructed a program that would enable Aealita to temporarily overcome that viral infection and live on Earth for a maximum of three days, meaning until the day AFTER the dance.

He would pull her out the day before it and... And then he'd ask her to...

He shook his head as he acknowledged the slightly red tint appearing on his cheeks.

This wasn't the time to be blushing about spending personal time with Aealita. Believe it or not, he was taking every bit of time spent with her to heart these days and he wanted to end it off with a finale for the gallery books this time around. He was only hoping that she would agree to It when he asked her.

And there was actually something else that he'd been wanting to say to Ulriche and Yumi in particular.

---

"Glad that you could all make it." Jeremy stated, watching as Ulriche and Yumi stood on opposite walls, never once looking in the others direction. Odd was the moderate, standing in the center and waiting for whatever he had to say. The other two seemed to be attempting to ignore the entire world and, purpose serving, they were doing an excellent job at it, "I wanted to talk about tomorrow." Tomorrow; the day before the dance, the day he would ask Aealita, the day that he would bring her back to Earth, if only temporarily.

"What about it?" Ulriche asked coldly, still focusing his eyes on Jeremy and nowhere else.

"Well, the dance is the day after, for one thing... Yumi," He turned to her, "I have a favor to ask you." She looked up at him as well and waited for him to continue. Ulriche's eyes glimmered with something but, a moment later, any evidence that he'd made a reaction had gone, "I've planned on bringing Aealita back for the dance and I was hoping that she could spend a couple days with you."

"For the dance?" She asked, and she actually smiled, "Good for you Jeremy; I see that you're finally going to do something about the way you feel for her. Well, sure, I'm behind you one hundred percent and I'm positive that my parents wouldn't mind having her as company since she was so polite when they met her last time."

"Good, now I also wanted to talk to you two--" He was cut off by Ulriche, who, for one, didn't want to hear anything having to do with the mistakes he'd obviously made.

"Forget it Jeremy, there's no way I'm going to listen to your trying to get us to talk again. I realize that we may be affecting your friendship with us but there's no way to stop the process of friends breaking apart." This caught Yumi's attention and she looked at him for an explanation.

"Excuse me? Are you telling me that you don't even want to be my friend anymore? It's just a date to the dance! It's nothing serious! Or does this go much deeper than that? At least tell me why you seem to hate me just because I accepted to go out with the only person who asked me." She stressed the last few words of her sentence.

"I'll see you tomorrow Jeremy; Odd." He nodded to them and walked out.

Jeremy sighed and collapsed into his chair. Odd walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"There, there, Lover Boy. Let's just let the newly-weds settle things on their own." (A/N: Yumi was still there but she felt incapable of commenting about his choice of words.), "Besides, you have to get ready for your, dare I say it, big date with Aealita!" He laughed as Jeremy turned red and followed the boisterous boy from their secret hideway and only connection to Lyoko.

Yumi followed, looking very upset for an obvious reason.

---

A/N: Yes, I know. That was horrible. I was trying to keep them in character but, to bring out the plot I want to use them for, I had to do this. Don't worry, I've finally gotten the whole plot written down on an imaginary notepad in my head. Everything's ready to put down and I can promise you that Ulriche/Yumi lovers, ESPECIALLY, will love it. Of course, Odd/Sam and Jeremy/Aealita lovers are probably well on their way by now...

Heh.

Chibi ending transmission.