How We Met
Ulrich stared at the crumpled sheet of paper in his hand.
Room #202
Where's 202? he asked himself as he pulled his suitcase down the hall. His parents had decided that boarding school would be a better experience for him. As he searched for the room, he felt a finger tap his shoulder. He turned around to see a girl with long black hair pulled back by a yellow headband behind him. She was wearing a pink shirt and deep maroon pants. Because of the way she had her hands on her hips and because of the way she was eyeing him, he thought that said high-maintenance. And he was right.
"Need help?" she asked as she smiled. He almost said yes, but when two boys appeared behind her, he shook his head and kept on walking. That confirmed the theory.
"You sure?" she called out.
"Trust me," he said, "I'm sure." She clenched her fists and walked away grumbling. The two boys, whom Ulrich had taken to be her cronies, and he was right, followed her down the hall.
309, 307, 305, 303, 301. He looked to his right. 308, 306, 304, 302, 300. After climbing and descending many flights of stairs, he found his room. He opened the door and looked around. The walls were pale green and there was a dresser on one side. To its side was a bed with dark green covers that were wrinkled and hanging off the side. The pillow was on the thickly carpeted floor and something black was sticking out from under the bed. Ulrich, curious as to what it was, reached for it and pulled it out. It was a guitar case. He shoved it back under. Another bed, on the other side of the wall, had the covers smoothed out and pulled up to the pillow and folded back. He threw his duffle bag on the floor and sat on the bed. Soon, the door opened to reveal a blond boy in all purple.
"You must be my new roommate," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Odd."
"Ulrich," Ulrich said as he shook Odd's hand. "I have chemistry first. Where's-"
"Relax," Odd said. "I'll show you where everything is. Besides, since you're new, the teachers don't expect you to know where anything is. No offense."
"None taken."
"Shall we begin?" Odd asked. Ulrich nodded. Odd led him through the courtyard, and, to Ulrich's disappointment, ran into the girl he had met earlier.
"Watch where you're going!" she shouted. When she saw Ulrich, her face softened. "I mean, excuse me, better be careful so it doesn't happen again." She walked off and her two cronies followed her.
"That's Sissy," Odd said.
"Do those two always follow her around?" Ulrich asked.
"Yeah," Odd said. "Herb only follows her cause he likes her, it scares us all, and no one really knows why Nicholas follows her."
They continued walking and Ulrich noticed a girl with short black hair. She was dressed in all black, but she wasn't gothic. He couldn't help but stare at her.
"What are you looking at?" Odd asked when he noticed Ulrich was completely distracted.
"Nothing," Ulrich said.
"Well, that nothing is Yumi Ishiyama."
Yumi...
When she saw them, Yumi waved and Odd returned the gesture.
"You know her?" Ulrich asked.
"We met at a music camp. I play guitar and she sings."
"Hey Odd," Yumi said as she approached them.
"Oh, hey Yumi. This is Ulrich, he's new here."
"I guess you're stuck as Odd's roommate." she said.
"Yeah, but I think I can handle it," Ulrich said.
"What's wrong with that?" Odd asked.
"Have you told him about Kiwi?" Yumi asked.
"No."
"He'll find out soon enough," Yumi said as she walked away.
After paying for lunch, Odd and Ulrich sat a table where a blond boy with glasses was furiously typing on his laptop. His food was untouched.
"Hey, are you going to eat that, Jeremie?" Odd asked as he reached for the roll on his tray. Jeremie slapped his hand back and continued typing. After about five minutes he closed his laptop and acknowledged the fact that there were two others at the table.
"So who's Kiwi?" Ulrich asked as he took a sip of his soda.
"He doesn't know about Kiwi?" Jeremie asked.
"Does everybody know about him?" Ulrich asked.
"No," Odd said. "Jeremie heard noises from my room and found him there, and Yumi was in my room when she found him. He was sleeping though."
"His old roommate left because of Kiwi," Jeremie said.
"That's only because he thought that everything Kiwi did was done by rats. He was terrified of rats," Odd said. He eyed the roll on Jeremie's tray. "Are you going to eat that?"
"Take it."
The bell rang and they left the cafeteria.
"Where's math?" Ulrich asked.
"You have math next?" Odd asked. Ulrich nodded. "Me and Jeremie do too."
After math, English, and history, the three went inside and came to Jeremie's dorm and Ulrich looked inside. There were the same walls and carpet, but only one bed. A poster of Albert Eienstein was on the wall and a huge computer sat with all sorts of wires coming from the sides sat on a wooden desk.
"See you guys tomorrow," Jeremie said.
Odd and Ulrich headed to their dorm.
"It's not even dark out," Ulrich said, "so why is he going to bed now?"
"Jeremie has been spending a lot of time on his computer lately. After classes are over for the day he just goes in his room doing who-knows-what on his computer. He even stays up after curfew working on some project. It's hooked up to his laptop too."
"Oh."
Once curfew was called, they went to their dorm.
"So can I finally meet Kiwi?" Ulrich asked. Odd headed over to the dresser and Ulrich noticed for the first time that it was full of holes and cracks. Big ones too. Odd opened it and a small white dog jumped out. When he saw Ulrich he jumped on the bed beside him and started licking his face.
"So what's the big secret?" Ulrich asked.
"Pets aren't allowed," Odd said, "but Kiwi isn't a pet, he's family. Isn't that right boy?"
Kiwi barked and started running around in circles. They watched Kiwi's antics and laughed, until they heard footsteps.
"Jim!" Odd said. He picked up Kiwi and put him back in the dresser. He pulled a treat from his backpack and threw it in to keep Kiwi quiet. Sure enough, four loud knocks rattled the door and Odd opened it.
"Oh, hi Jim," Odd said. "What brings you here?"
Jim was not happy about having to patrol the corridors at night, much less about having some reason to stay awake. He usually slept during this time, but he was a light sleeper and heard the barking coming from Odd's room.
"What's going on in there?" Jim asked as he looked around the room.
"Just trying to sleep, sir," Odd said.
"Who's that?" Jim asked, pointing to Ulrich.
"Ulrich's new here, Jim," Odd said. Jim nodded and turned to leave, seeing nothing suspicious, when Kiwi barked from inside the dresser.
"What was that noise?" Jim asked. He was too tired to search the room.
"That was my stomach," Ulrich said. "Forgot to take my medicine." Jim nodded and left.
Jeremie burst through the door in Odd and Ulrich's dorm.
"I did it!" he said excitedly.
"What?" Ulrich asked as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked at his clock. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" The clock read 12:15.
"12:15 AM here," he said. "1:15 PM Aleutian Islands, 7:15 PM Venezuela, 6:15 AM Vietnam, 1:00 PM Chatham Islands, 5:15 PM Saskatchewan, 1:15 AM Lithuania, 8-"
"I get the point," Ulrich said pulling the covers over his head. "Just show us in the morning."
"Alright," Jeremie said as he shut the door.
Jeremie was eager to show them his accomplishment, so they left lunch early and headed to his dorm. He turned on the computer and the image of a girl appeared onto the screen. Her soft pink hair formed around her head so that it looked like a heart.
"Hello Jeremie," she said.
"What's this?" Odd asked. "Some sort virtual girlfriend for you, Jeremie?"
"This is Aelita," he said proudly.
"Who's Aelita?" a voice asked. They turned around and saw Yumi step into the dorm.
"It's okay, Jeremie," Odd said. "Yumi won't tell anyone." He could tell that Jeremie wanted this to be a secret.
"Yeah, I promise," she said. "So, who's Aelita?" She approached the screen. Aelita smiled.
"Jeremie's told me a lot about you two," she said. "Ulrich and Odd. Which one's which?"
"I'm Odd," Odd said as he stepped forward, "and he's Ulrich."
"I'm Yumi," Yumi said. "Yumi Ishiyama."
"Nice to meet you," Aelita said. "So to speak."
"So what exactly is Aelita?" Ulrich asked.
"She lives in a virtual world," Jeremie said. "I guess you could say she's like a guardian. I've been doing some research and it just so happens that we can be transported to this world."
"How?" Ulrich asked.
"There's an old building with scanners. These scanners can transfer and virtualize living beings and transport them there. We can check it out tomorrow."
The next day, as promised, Jeremie took them to the old building. They went into the woods by the cafeteria at Kadic and down a sewage tunnel. They came to a large passage. After walking the whole way, they were exhausted.
"Remind me to bring my skateboard down here next time," Ulrich said.
They came to a room with a huge computer.
"I think this is it," Jeremie said. Odd started walking around and soon called out, "Jeremie! Are these the scanners you were talking about?"
Jeremie ran to Odd. "Yes! You found them!" The others rushed over.
"Jeremie," Yumi said. "There's just one problem."
"What's that?" he asked.
"There are four of us and only three scanners."
Jeremie brooded over this thought for days and finally came to a conclusion. They met in his room after lunch. Aelita too.
"Only three of us will be able to visit Lyoko," he said.
"Lyoko?" Odd asked.
"It's the name of the virtual world. The three scanners are connected to a computer, so they all have memory files. Only three of us will be able to go. The fourth must remain and work the computer."
"I hate to say it Jeremie," Ulrich said. "But I think that you'll be the one who has to stay."
Jeremie had been so excited, and it was true. Out of the four of them, Jeremie was the only one capable of working the computer at the building. It was decided.
"Okay," Jeremie said. "We'll go tomorrow."
ONE YEAR LATER…
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY AELITA!" they all called out. Yumi pulled back a cloth to reveal a cake.
"We've known you for a year," she said. "Happy Birthday!"
AN-okay…the ending is taken from the episode I saw…they had a cake for her and everything…hope you Code Lyoko fans enjoyed it…