Chapter 10:

Ulrich's POV:

I was heading to the Principals Office to do the last thing that would cut me off from them. I was going to get transferred. It's stupid, I know. I'm taking it too hard, I know. But... I couldn't befriend the one person that was making my life miserable. At least, miserable for me. For Lance, my life was perfect. And it wasn't until he took it away that I realized it. I guess that whole 'don't miss it till it's gone' thing is true...

"Hello, Ulrich. What can we do for you today?" the woman at the desk asked me when I walked in.

"I need to talk to the Principal." I said it in a way that made it seem like I was serious, yet it wasn't an emergency.

"Okay, dear. Go on in, he isn't seeing anyone. Just knock and walk in."

"Thank you," I said without any emotion. That was how I was ever since Lance came. I was void of any emotion.

I knocked on the door, just like she said, and walked in. I had been here many times, but to the Principal, I had only been a few. That whole 'rewinding time' thing really is good to have around...

"Oh, hello, Ulrich! What brings you here?" the Principal asked me, looking up from his desk. He was probably writing a report or something.

"Hello, Mr. Principal. I have a slight favor to ask of you."

"Yes, what is it?"

"Could I get transferred to another dorm?"

"Why would you want that? I thought you got along well with your dorm partner. I also believe that he is you best friend, am I right? Odd, was it?"

"Yes sir. Look, sir, I can't tell you why, but I don't think that I can stay in the same room as him. It's sort of that thing when you need time away from him, if you know what I mean..."

"Y'know, Ulrich, I'm not sure I believe in such a drastic move over a little annoyance. But, I understand that time away from your best friend would work miracles on the future friendship. I'm glad you took action before you both did something you would both regret later... I'll see what I can do. You're dismissed."

"Actually, sir. I'd like to move right away, if that's possible. I really feel like I need to get away from Odd. Sometimes, y'know, he just doesn't seem to know what stop means."

The Principal was quiet for a minute. Then he started writing on a piece of paper. He spoke, like he thought something fishy was up, but couldn't see what it was.

"Ulrich, I want you to go out to the lady at the desk up front and hand her this," He handed me the piece of paper. "And say that you're transferring to this room. I suggest that you move quickly. Then tell her that I need to see Lance Halsted. Now, you're dismissed!

"Thank you, sir. Have a nice day, sir."

I ran out of that room, unable to stand the thought that Lance was going to take my place, yet again. I would have normally changed my mind on changing rooms and fought for one of the last things in my life that was still mine, but what was the point? So he got my room, so what? He got Yumi, Odd, Jeremie, Lyoko, and for all I knew, Sissi! I've seen her eyeing him in the halls, but the only slightly enjoyable thought about that was that she was going to loose to Yumi yet again. So, what was the point on fighting for a room?

I got to Soon-To-Be-Only-Odd's room, pulling out boxes that I had stored in my closet from my move here. It was killing me yet again, but I knew that the pain would go away as soon as I moved on.

I had almost got everything packed when I heard someone at my door. I glanced quickly at him/her while the person was looking down.

It was Jeremie.

"Oh, sorry..." he muttered to the floor. His hand was on my door. It looked like he was about to close it.

I pretended that I didn't see him and kept pulling clothes out of my drawer. I could feel him glancing around the room and knew what was coming...

"You're moving?" he asked, obviously puzzled.

"Uh... yeah," I answered, trying to sound like he was being stupid.

"Why?" he asked idiotically. I guess he was.

I decided to play around with him a little bit. "Well, I figure, if I leave the gang, then that means that I'm not a part of the gang anymore." I was talking like I usually do to my little cousins when they come to visit. They always ask stupid questions so I pretend like the answers were very difficult. "So, if I'm not a part of the group anymore, then I shouldn't be sharing a room with a person that still is a part of the gang." I realized that he didn't understand very well, so I gave it up. I stood up straight and faced him; our eyes were locked onto each other. "I'm transferring to another room, Jer, so that I can get out of your hair completely. Got that?"

He certainly got it, but he wasn't happy about it.

"But... you don't need to..."

"I've already confirmed it with the Principal. I'm moving to another room. All I need to do is pack my stuff and unload it in the other dorm. So, if you'll excuse me..." I turned away from him, allowing the staring contest to finish. I continued to pack. I was determined to get my stuff outta there so that I could leave all of this behind me.

I heard Jeremie continue down the hall. I sighed inwardly. I was hurt yet again.

I didn't know what was wrong with me. I wanted some sense knocked into me. Literally. But I knew that Jeremie wouldn't do that. All this time I've been pushing my friends away every time they tried to talk me out of this. And when I was going to take the first step and just push them away, they actually didn't bother to try. It was like they didn't care anymore.

I guess I was kind of happy that he didn't ask where I was moving. That way, we didn't go into that stuff on how they were going to talk to me and try to find out what was wrong with me. I didn't like all this detective work. I wasn't some book that you could read to find out my problem. I also wasn't some case where a simple undercover could find the answer. I was much more complex than that. I didn't just let people walk into my mind and help me. They had to prove themselves worthy of it. They had to be the ones that could actually do it not just try and fail. I hate failure. That's why I was mad at myself for loosing my life to Lance...

I finished packing. I did what the Principal said. I closed my door and locked it, not even bothering to stay around and wait for Jim and some other idiots to move my stuff, and headed to my next class. Math.

I was walking down the deserted hall, buried deep in my thoughts when I could hear another person in the hall with me. I looked up and there was Lance, not even 5 feet away from me. We just stared at each other. It wasn't out of friendliness or curiosity. It was hatred. Pure hatred. Which somewhat surprised me, since all of the others said that Lance liked me, even though I didn't like him. There also seemed to be something off with him, but I couldn't put my finger on it

"What do you want?" I asked in my low, husky voice that I only used for people I despised.

"We need to talk," he replied, matching my gruff voice.

"What's there to talk about?" I didn't know why he wanted to talk to me and I knew that I didn't want to talk to him, so I didn't want to go into this calmly.

"Let's just say this: you're making this too easy. You'll regret these actions later."

I didn't understand where he was going with this.

"What do you mean?" I asked, anger rising inside of me.

There it goes again... this is getting old...

"You'll see soon enough," was all he said.

I was about to hit him and threaten him to explain, but Jeremie decided to come back from his walk then.

"Uh... Lance? What are you doing?" I heard Jeremie ask, hesitant on disturbing this little staring contest that Lance and I were having.

Then it was like he just snapped out of it. I can't explain it any better than that. Maybe 'suddenly came to' would be good, but he wasn't unconscious.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I was just talking to Ulrich," he said happily, all of the hatred disappearing.

"About what?" Jeremie asked, and I could tell he was trying not to sound suspicious.

"Oh, just the next class. I asked him where he was sitting and he hasn't answered me yet."

They both stared at me. I knew that Jeremie's wasn't saying anything, but I knew that Lance's was. He was telling me through that little gaze of his: agree or you'll pay.

I stared at him. He was lying. That sonofabitch was lying! I wanted to hit him. No, I felt like I needed to hit him.

"You lying son of a bitch," I growled at him. Then I said louder for Jeremie, "Near the window... sit there and I'll send you through it." I hadn't lifted my dangerous voice.

I don't know why I played along with that asshole, but I didn't understand what any of it meant, so I wasn't going to draw attention to myself.

"Oh, thanks! I'll keep that in mind the next time I don't want to use the door," Lance replied coolly.

We stared at each other again, and I knew that if I kept it up, I would have sent him through the walls of the building all the way to the Eiffel (?) Tower for him to hang from.

Jeremie obviously realized the danger his new 'friend' was in, because he said, "C'mon, Lance, we don't want to be late for class." He took a step towards Lance, and then added, "You should go, too, Ulrich, or you'll get into a lot of trouble."

I didn't know if he was threatening me or not, so I just continued my way to the Math classroom.

I could hear faintly behind me Lance talking to Jeremie.

"Sure, Jer, I'm so lucky to have a friend like you, unlike someone I can think of!"

I heard that last part, but I pretended that it hadn't affected me. But it did inside. I didn't like having my best friends hating me. And I didn't like hating them either. It felt wrong. It felt like it wasn't right at all. It felt demented.

Later---

"Class! Class, settle down, please! Just because there's five minutes left of class, doesn't mean you can act like a bunch of wild monkeys!"

The class was doing a project in Science, so they took the time to goof off after a careless glance at the clock from Odd.

Odd started to make monkey noises, and I decided to join in. I started to scratch my underarm in my monkey-fashion. It didn't mean anything though. I would've done it even if Sissi were sitting there doing the monkey noises. Of course, I'd take a picture first, but I would've joined in, nonetheless.

I noticed that Odd had stopped making noises and was digging in his pocket. He pulled out his cell and I could see the X.A.N.A. sign on it.

So, X.A.N.A. is taking advantage of this situation and launched an attack, huh? Well, Lance better be good enough to help them out. Better than me, at the least, I thought, and then snorted. 'Better than me'... yeah, right.

I could tell that Odd was going to turn to tell me, but I could guess he realized what he was doing because he stopped in the middle of it. I didn't know what his face looked like, but I could see that Jeremie, who was across from us, was ashamed. But I didn't care. It wasn't my problem anymore.

I watched dully as Jeremie paged Yumi. He was about to put his cell away, and I was surprised. Then he took it again and paged Lance. I brushed it off and started to put my stuff away in my pack. The bell would ring soon.

He had just forgotten... no reason to get your hopes up like that... they'll just come crashing down... don't do it again... I told myself over and over.

The bell rang and I watched as the gang walked quickly out of the classroom. And I silently wished them good luck.