.:/AN/:. Conscience: You did it agan.

Did what? Hey, what are you doing here again?

Conscience: I knew you'd lie about being late on updating.

You're a stalker. That's all there is to it. Go away.

Conscience: Whose name is 'painin uranus'

Obviously, it should be you!

Conscience: Well, you stole it...

Right. Thanks for letting me know. I'll give it to you after I'm done with it.

Conscience: Thanks! Hey, aren't you going to tell them why you didn't update earlier?

Uhh...

Conscience: I guess your train of thought is still boarding at the station.

I already used that joke. Sorry, bucko.

Conscience: Fine. Either give them their next chapter or make like an egg and beat it.

That is so old. Here's the next chapter, for you guys that are just bored stiff. Later.

Conscience: Your name should now me P.U. because you stink!

I don't stink! You're just smelling yourself, which is really nasty... and FYI, buddy, my name is P.U. I just don't like to use it.

Conscience: Whatever...

I'm gonna kill you...

Chapter 11: Time Goes By When You're Having A Hard Time.

Ulrich's POV:

And that's how it went on for a while. For some 'odd' reason, I was able to remember all of the attacks of X.A.N.A. even after we went back in time. The clones, the stalkers, the comas, the torturing viruses... It took me awhile to get use to it because being somewhere, and then suddenly being somewhere else was kind of hard to get used to. But I did and that's all that mattered.

I saw Odd and Jeremie every once in awhile. Mostly just a 'hi' during passing in the halls or when we were 'lucky' enough to be assigned partners for projects. But that was it. I was just a face in the past. Lance was with them all the time. On the grounds, sitting near them in class, in their rooms... he was like glued them. As for Yumi...

Lance was always with her. No matter where she went. It was like he was her bodyguard or something. When she went to the bathroom, he was standing outside of it. When she was in her class, he would make sure that he was to check up on her every 10 minutes (he couldn't miss class for her, could he?). Yeah, he was being over-protective. I never got to see her without Lance. Every time I tried, Lance was able to get her away from me.

And Sissi...

She wouldn't get off my back. She kept coming up to me saying how Yumi deserted me, and how she would never do that to me. Just to get her to shut up, I joined her little cronies. Just like in my dream. I left my friends and joined her. All I could think afterwards was: now what?

----------------------

"So she came up to me and said she was sorry. Well, I told her: If you ever come near me with a glass of cranberry juice, I'll make sure that you can never face anyone again. She of course got the picture and went back to her little friends."

Herb and Nick were nodding their heads and saying that she sure showed her. I was leaning against the brick column (you know, those things that... do that... thing? I can't explain it...), yawning and looking bored. It was times like this that I thought 'how could someone like her be popular?'

I felt someone nudge me in the ribs and I glanced at Nick. He nodded pointedly at Sissi. I took the hint.

"Yeah, good job, Sissi. Yeah, you never know who'd want to stain your shirt next," I said, faking an approving voice. "Way to go..." my voice drifted off, because at that moment, I saw Yumi.

And she was alone.

No Lance. No teachers. No Odd and Jeremie. No one.

She looked the same as always, but I hadn't got much of a chance to see her fully. Now, I could. And she was beautiful. Stunning. Radiating loveliness. A goddess. Perfect.

Someone's testing me, I know it...

"Ulrich? Ulrich, yoo-hoo! Ulrich, dear, can you hear me? Hello-o-o."

"Huh? What do you want, Sissi?"

"Why are you staring at Yumi? I thought you would've figured out by now that she's over you! Don't go torturing yourself and pay attention to what I'm saying."

I was about to scream at her, telling her that I didn't give a damn about her and that Yumi would always be in my heart and that no one could take her place, but, for once, she was right. Yumi didn't care about me anymore. She proved that by not speaking to me since that little 'talk' we had in my room. I still had nightmares from that day. Or was it night? I never knew...

Yeah, I was torturing myself.

"S-Sorry Sissi," I said calmly, even though it tasted like poison. Apologizing to Sissi was not high on my priority list, but, then again, neither was joining her little pathetic gang.

"Wow. You must really be over with those guys to be saying sorry to-" Nick was cut off my Sissi whacking him over his head.

"Jerk! I accept your apology, Ulrich. Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I said to my father, "this product is perfect for my rare kind of hair. It maintains my soft feel, yet allows my hair to breathe (I have no idea what that means.)." He says, "But, princess, I already bought a similar type of shampoo..."

The bell rang, thankfully, and we headed to class. I never went to talk to her. There went one of my rare chances of actually talking to Yumi without Lance or anyone around and I didn't take it. I guess I failed that test...

"What the hell is wrong with me?" I asked myself quietly. "Why am I acting this way? Why can't I handle it?"

"Maybe you just need someone to talk to," a familiar voice said to me.

I turned slightly and I saw Odd leaning on the drinking fountain.

"What do you want?" I asked him, a little less rude than last time.

"I've got to hurry with this, Lance will be back any moment. Look, Ulrich, there's something wrong here."

"What do you mean?" I asked him. I was happy that I was finally talking to Odd after avoiding him for the longest time.

"Lance-," was all he was able to say before Lance showed up.

"Speak of the devil," I said under my breath.

"Oh, uh, hey, Lance!" said a surprised Odd.

"Hey. Is Ulrich bothering you?" he asked Odd.

"Uh, no everything is just fine. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he replied, giving me a murderous glare. I put on my bored look and brushed it off easy.

"Right... well, better get to class, then, eh?"

"I'll be there in a second, Odd. Just give me a minute."

With that, Odd shrugged, turned and walked off. Odd turned and gave me that look that meant 'I'm sorry, I'll talk to ya later.' I nodded to him and turned to head to my class. History.

Lance grabbed my arm and made me face him. He was smiling. Or more like, smirking.

"What do you want, Lance?" I asked him, my bored voice matching my face.

"I want to just tell you this: say goodbye to them."

Then he let go of me and headed after Odd. I pretended that I didn't hear him and continued my way to my class.

Even though I kept my bored look on my face, I was still confused. What did Odd mean, there's something wrong with Lance? Yeah, he was being a little over-protective, but that's just how some people are, right? And what did Lance mean 'say goodbye to them'? What the hell was that all about?

I sat in my chair near the window and got ready for class.

What's wrong with being over-protective of your friends?

The teacher called for order and began her (is their teacher a she? Do they even have History?) speech on some war that took place before I was born.

Well, there was that one time where Lance was a little off in the halls, but he hated me. Of course he would be off, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to hate someone... then again, neither am I...

The teacher began to pass out a piece of paper to everyone.

'Say goodbye to them'... what the hell did he mean? Who is 'them'?

I was broke from my thoughts when I saw four figures running out on the grounds. The gang.

X.A.N.A. must have launched an attack. Funny, nothing strange has happened here...

Right when I thought that, one of the kids started to sing. It was a guy. A guy in history was singing. And it sounded a lot like...

"I love you! You love me! We're a happy family. With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you! Won't you say you love me, too! I love you..."

The whole class started to crack up. I didn't get it. Everyone stopped laughing once the person that was sitting next to the kid that was singing went over to the teacher and slapped her.

I jumped out of my chair and ran towards the door. I didn't want to be around to see the effect of that move.

Down the hall, all of the doors that had classrooms behind them, had noise of some sort coming from them. I guess X.A.N.A. was able to get some device to hack into that one part of the mind that made you do things that you always wanted to do, or to do crazy things period. But, who would want to sing the Barney theme song in front of everyone? Idiots that still watch it.

Just then, I saw Sissi run into one of the guys that were in the halls with me. She just ran up to him and gave him a big smooch on the lips and ran down the hall laughing and having what seemed to be a good time. The guy that she kissed didn't move for a while, and then he started to dance around going "la lala lala..." Yup, he was happy.

I ran by him and found out it was Herb. Now, I knew that he was happy. I didn't know where I was going, but I did know that I wanted to get away from these crazy people. And I knew just the place.

.:/AN/:. Yeah, okay, I realize that this doesn't make any sense, but I swear, it will! You just gotta trust me! So, yeah... anyway, I'd like to celebrate because I just got my 50th review. WHOO-HOO!!!! I didn't even think I'd get that much! I'd like to thank all of them. Maybe in the next chapter I'll thank everyone. Or maybe the next chapter will be thanking everyone... don't understand? Oh, well. Well, someone said they liked the announcer thing, so here you go dude/dudette: What did Odd mean, "There is something wrong"? What did X.A.N.A. do to those poor innocent kids (phtt, yeah right.)? Where is Ulrich heading to? Will Yumi, Odd, Jeremie, and Lance be able to stop X.A.N.A.? What is the big picture anyway? What is with all the 'W' questions? Will I ever stop? Who knows? HHHEEELLLPPPP!!!! Oh, yeah: Tune in next time on One Door Opens As Another Door Closes by painin uranus. Now, if you'll exscuse me, I need to go beat up my conscience.