The next day I decided to look for Hope. I had to try to convince her that Aelita wasn't the virus, Xana was. It was confusing enough as it was, her think Xana was good and knowing about Lyoko, I didn't think I could explain it, but I had to find a way to tell her the truth. The real truth; I groan as I walked upto her door, I knew that this wouldn't be easy and that we'd both end up with head aches. I knocked on the door.

"It's open!" Hope called.

I walked in and found her washing some dishes in her kitchen.

"Hey…" I said

"Oh, hi Odd." She said with a smile, "What's up?"

"Where's Joel?" I scanned the kitchen for the baby.

"He's with Tom." Her smile dimmed for a moment as she wiped her hands on a towel.

"Oh…" God, I have no clue how I'm going to tell her all this!

"Let's go into the living room." She said after putting the towel down.

We walked into the barren living room, the place where me and Hope first kissed, where all of this started.

"So," Hope said, sitting on the couch, "what brings you here?"

"I…I kind of have to talk to you…" I started to rub my arm and I saw Hope's eyes darken.

"…About what?" Something in her voice was different, like she was preparing for the worse or something.

"Lyoko..." I muttered.

"So when's that dance again?" I knew she was trying to change the subject, but I couldn't let her, this was too important.

"It's Friday. Hope, I over heard you talking to Samantha. Aelita isn't a virus."

Hope shot up from her seat and yelled, "You were spying on me!"

"No, well, kind of. When you ran off with Anna Yumi thought something was up-"

"So that makes it okay to spy on me? Cause your friend thought my friend couldn't be trusted?"

"Hope that's not what I mean." I was almost yelling now

"Then what do you mean?"

I took a breath, "I mean Aelita's not a virus, Xana is, Xana's trying to destroy Lyoko!"

"Shut up!" Hope snapped

"Don't tell me to shut up!" I snapped back

"Then don't lie to me!"

"I'm not lying!" I shouted

"Oh no, you would never lie to me, you'd only spy on me and listen to what me and my friends have to say, then tell me it's a bunch of bull!"

"Hope just hear me out!"

I knew this wouldn't end well, this was only the beginning, and I was scared to see how it ended.

"Why should I?" She yelled, "Why don't I just let you spy on me again?"

"Hope this is stupid!"

"Stupid? Me being upset you spied on me is stupid?" She barked

"No, you and me fighting, that's what's stupid."

"Well maybe if you would have left me and my friends alone we wouldn't be fighting!"

"I don't want to fight you Hope!" I choked back tears now.

I really didn't want to fight her. I knew I had no right to ease drop on her, I didn't have an excuse… hell, there was no excuse, and I felt so guilty about it. I'd do anything for Hope. I'd known her for such a short time, but it felt like I've known her forever.

"Let me go!" She shouted as I put my arms around her, "Let go!"

I felt her moving around in my arms, trying to get away, but I couldn't let her go.

"I'm sorry Hope." I croaked, "I know I shouldn't have done what I did and I'm sorry, but you have to know the truth."

"Idiot…" Hope had stopped squirming and was clinging to me now, "Moron…. She used her song on you…"

"No, I have no idea what Xana could have done to make you think he was good, but he's a virus."

"That's not true; Aelita's making you think that, she used her song to make you believe her." She started shaking.

"Xana's a virus Hope." I wisped.

"Get off her!" I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder and rip me away from Hope.

I looked up to see Samantha and Rei behind me. Rei ran over to Hope and started to hug her as she cried.

"Get out!" Samantha barked as she pushed me towards the door. "You don't know what the hell we've been through, you have no right to tell us who Xana is or to tell Hope what to believe!"

"Just listen to me!" I begged as I looked towards Hope

"Out!" Samantha shoved me out the door and locked it.

Later that night I told Ulrich what happened at Hope's. I was crying again, and a good thing about Ulrich is he'll let you cry when he knows how bad you feel. He patted my shoulder as I cried going through every event.

"Man," He said, "That's rough…"

"I was almost through to her…" I sobbed, "We were almost on the same page, and then Samantha and Rei had to come along and kick me out…"

I stopped trying to wipe the tears away; even when I did try it wasn't doing any good. I let my tears soak my pillow as I clutched it closer to me.

"…What now?" He asked after being silent.

"I don't know…" I muttered, "I might try talking to her tomorrow… If I can find her…"

"Alright, I'll go with you if you want." He offered.

"That's okay, I need to talk to her alone."

"Okay," He glanced at the clock, "It's past midnight, want to hit the sack?"

I nodded and laid down. Ulrich flipped the light off and muttered good night. It took me forever, but I finally fell asleep.