Prelude to Trouble

With her hair in a tight ponytail, Yumi skated slowly around the rink. She had a large smile that lit up her face as she held Theo's hand. The two of them were going much slower than everyone else since they were so preoccupied with each other.

As a fast paced song started, Yumi and Theo and slid off the floor. Coasting to a nearby table, Theo sat down opposite of her as he panted slightly. Hoisting himself to his feet after a moment, he said, "Want a drink?"

Nodding, she said, "A Pepsi sounds good."

Digging in pockets, Theo withdrew some money and nodded. It was enough. Once he was gone, Yumi leaned back into the bench to let her body rest. As she rested, she suddenly heard her phone beep.

Taking it out, she saw that she'd two text messages. The first was from her parents and the other was from Odd. Since neither rarely left her messages that often, she opened her parent's first.

Be home by 10,

Love Mom

A glance at her watch said 8:29. Good, she thought smiling. An hour left with Theo.

He's back!!

O.

That was all Odd's message said. Confused, Yumi tried to think of what and who Odd meant. Odd can be really odd, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time. Theo then returned with two Pepsis and a seducing smile. Yumi pushed Odd's message from her mind and enjoyed Theo's company.

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Focused on his computer screen, Jeremy didn't even notice that he had company. The endless lines of computer code scrolled down the monitor with Jeremy stopping whenever he saw an error.

"Jeremy?" a soft voice said.

Flinching, Jeremy glanced at another window that had opened. There he saw the pink haired girl of his dreams. Aelita was smiling pleasantly at him as he feverishly tried not to blush. "You startled me, Aelita."

"That's odd," she said brightly. "I've been here for at least five minutes watching you."

"Sorry," he said quietly. "I was just finishing my latest program. Once I've fixed a few of the remaining errors, curing you of Xana's virus will be much easier." A small yawn escaped him as he returned to his work.

"Jeremy, you should get some rest," Aelita said with concern. "You might miss something and—"

"Oh no!" Jeremy interrupted. The computer code suddenly began scrolling faster than he could follow. As he desperately tried to correct his error, he said, "This is going to take longer than I thought."

"What happened?"

"I entered an incorrect entry," Jeremy growled at himself. "That one entry has completely altered the program. I'll be fixing this for hours."

"Maybe you should get some sleep," Aelita suggested after a moment. Before Jeremy could reply or protest, another yawn escaped his lips.

Sighing resigned Jeremy glanced at the time. "Three in the morning? No wonder I'm tired," he admitted. "I guess you're right."

Saving his progress and closing down his program, he looked one last time at Aelita. He wished with all his heart that she were a real person. He loved her so much! He and his friends had sacrificed a lot to help her try to become a human, but Xana always seemed to be able to ruin anything that they had tried to put together.

The memory of Ulrich in his bed leapt to his mind and he smiled. "I've got some good news, Aelita. Ulrich is back!"

A look of surprise and happiness was alight on her face. Smiling, she cried, "Really? That's wonderful news! Please tell him hello for me."

Smiling himself, Jeremy nodded.

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"Where's Ulrich?" Jeremy asked as he noticed his friend's absence at the breakfast table.

Odd only shrugged as he ate his oatmeal. Coated with an almost sickeningly large layer of sugar, he devoured it greedily. Without his morning sugar boost, Odd felt himself acting in a way that was quite bizarre and almost scary to him: normal.

Once he finished his meal, Odd said, "I don't know where he is. When I got up, he was gone."

"Who was gone?" Yumi asked as she and Theo sat down at the table. With a happy gleam in her eyes, Yumi glanced lovingly at Theo every so often. Odd and Jeremy were surprised at this, but didn't mention it.

"Didn't you get my message?" Odd asked as the sugar began to take effect. With a foolish grin spreading on his face, he reached for his CD player and immersed himself in the music.

"Yeah, but—"

"Yumi," a cold sneering voice said behind them.

Facing Sissi, the general happiness that they had been sharing vanished instantly. Dressed in her usual outfit, Sissi held a smug smile as well as a breakfast tray. The look of devilish cunning was written on her face as clearly as the title of a book.

"What do you want?" Yumi demanded, not trying to hide her disgust.

"Would you trade your boyfriend for another?" Sissi asked with a wicked grin.

Yumi and the others were surprised by her directness. It wasn't like Sissi to jump straight to the chase without beating around the bush. Yumi paused only to consider her words, knowing Theo would be hanging onto her every syllable.

"Not that it's any of your business," Yumi growled. "But I would never do that without a very good reason."

Smiling broadly, Sissi walked away. She paused only long enough to say, "Good, as long as we know where you stand in that issue, Yumi."

Turning back to Jeremy, Yumi said, "Do you know what that about?"

Looking at Odd, who hadn't even noticed the confrontation, quietly answered, "Yes, I'm afraid." Looking anywhere but at Yumi, he pushed his tray of breakfast away, having lost his appetite. Seeing Jeremy's actions, Odd snatched the tray and started eating the remaining untouched food.

"Well, what is it, Jeremy?" Theo asked, growing impatient. While he ate his ate his eggs and bacon, he watched Jeremy's face, which was contorted with indecision and apprehension.

"I'll tell you later," Jeremy said as he stood up and left. Odd was moments behind, like a loving puppy following his owner.

"I just hope he takes this quietly," Jeremy mumbled as he headed for his first class. "For his sake."