"Hey, Beverly," said Odd. "mind if we sit here?" I shook my head numbly. "aelita?" I asked. "Jeremy?" "hey, Beverly," said Jeremie. Never had the nasally challenged voice of a nerd been more welcome. "Hello," said Aelita, seating herself next to Odd. The next to sit was the kid with brown hair. "Hi," he said, extending a hand around Jeremie's back. "I don't believe we've met. My name is Ulrich." I shook in a daze, nodding. "and I'm Yumi," said the girl in black.

"you're all real," I breathed. "Yup," said Odd cheerfully. "So, what did you think of Lyoko?" "can I go back?" I blurted, then blushed. "maybe," said the Ulrich dude. "we've never had a new member before." "I've never had friends before," I said without thinking. I must have left my brain in Lyoko.

"well then, we'll be your first," said Odd, not skipping a beat. I shook my head to clear the questions. "yesterday really happened," I stated, just to make sure. "uh-huh," said the Yumi girl. "yesterday happened." It wasn't really yesterday, more like a glimpse into the future, but what else can you call it? The vision of today's possible disaster?

I picked up my sugar-free purple jello in a cup and spooned some into my mouth."So let me get this straight. I spent yesterday in a virtual world, then you used a back-in-time machine to send me back to the day I already lived?" "uh-huh," said Ulrich with a nod. boy, am I gonna need a lot of counseling to get over this one.

"don't look now, but Sissi's headed this way," Odd hissed at me. I busied myself studying the slightly wilted salad I had been given. "Hey, Ulrich," said Sissi in a voice coated with sugar. "hey, Yumi,"she spat. "hey, whats your name again. yeah, you, the charity case," Sissi said, voice full of contempt. "at least I have real friends instead of minions who'd ditch me given half the chance," I said.

Sissi stared at me, mouth open. "uh," she said. "how rude. don't you know better than to talk to the principal's own daughter like that?" "And don't you know better than to make people hate you by picking on them?" I asked. "go hassle some other poor victim. and take the shrimp and the gorilla with you, jaguar girl."

needless to say, she stomped off.

"all right!" said Odd, offering his hand for a high five. I complied. "way to go," said Yumi. "thanks," I shrugged. "mind telling me why she dislikes you?" "Cause, ulrich spends so much time with her." Odd ducked the play-slap Yumi sent his direction. "what?" said Aelita. "he's only telling the truth."

we all laughed except for the blushing couple.

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

I was following some instructions down a complicated hall. the Lyoko gang told me to meet them in Jeremy's room. I was early, and I hoped I wouldn't be first. I couldn't wait to learn more about lyoko.

suddenly I heard voices. I headed towards a hardly-cracked door that the voices seemed to be coming from. "We don't know if we can trust her," said a girl. Yumi! "she helped me," said a docile voice I knew belonged to Aelita. "but we don't know her well enough to trust her," said Jeremy. "Come on, you guys! She went into a flooding building to help me!" said Odd. "I mean, we can't let just anyone know, I understand that, but she saved hundreds of lives! isn't that enough?"

I tried to lean forwards to peek but instead tripped over a piece of badly installed carpet. I fell through the doorway. "oh, uh, hi, Beverly," said Jeremy, putting on a we-weren't-just-talking-about-you-behind-your-back face. "I heard every word," I said coldly.

they all put on their best 'OOPS' faces.

"you could have told me you didn't want me around," I said. "I would have taken the hint. I'm not as deaf as you think I am." I felt upset; betrayed. so many places, and the people were all the same. I turned away, but felt a hand on my sleeve. "Beverly, wait," It was Odd. "We shouldn't have been talking about you like that behind your back," he said. "we're sorry."

"are they sorry?" I asked, nodding towards the others. "Yes, Beverly,"said Aelita. the rest nodded. I sighed. "okay then." I pulled my sleeve from Odds grasp. "Beverly, where are you going?" asked Odd. "you don't want me. Its fine; nobody does."

and with that, I ran.

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I was in my room, on my bed. I wasn't crying: I never cried. I was staring at the picture of my family before. before the fire that stole them away. they could have been more careful: they shouldn't have left the oven mitt on the burner. but they did, and they paid the price.

I had gone to the park that was only a quarter of a block away from my house. I wasn't supposed to go alone, but I did. I headed down towards the creek. I could see my house from where I sat. I looked for a little while, then noticed smoke, seeming to come from the backyard. 'must be cooking out,' I had thought to myself. I noticed the smoke went towards Larry's window. 'they ought to be more careful. he's only a baby,' I remember thinking. then sparks rose in the air, a mini BOOM sounding throughout the neighborhood. they had tried to beat the fire with a towel, and it had caught on fire. mother tossed it away, and It fell into the garage and landed on the gasoline we kept for the lawn mower. luckily it was almost empty.

then, then the fire alarm went off. I could hear it through the open windows. then did I stand from the rock I had rested on. I ran to the house. When I got to the front yard, the neighbors were standing in their lawns and watching. the tree in front of our house was burning like a candle. I ran towards the house, feeling sparks gently nibble at me skin. "MOMMY!" I cried. "DADDY! LARRY!" the Ash made it so I could hardly see an inch in front of my face.

the fire department got there what seemed like and eternity later. I was covered in soot, my hands black and grimy, my face smeared with ash. they went in. What they dragged out next wasn't even Human anymore. Their bodies were grotesque, and the only break from the ash covering them was the blood from the third degree burns. they never even found Larry.

I settled down to sleep, there on my soft bed in Kadic, and heard a voice. "the stars are wishes waiting to be granted. when a wish is granted, the star falls."

'night, mommy,' I thought to the empty air.