Chapter 4

The Call

"Riiiiiiiinnnngg!" The phone rang. "Riiiiiiinnnngg!"

"Aelita! Can you get that, please?" Yumi yelled. After that big fight, she didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Lazy bum! Fine." Aelita said from her room, not knowing about the fight. She walked to the phone. "Room 214, Aelita speaking." (That's how they were supposed to answer the phone, in case it was the office or something.)

"Oh hey, Aelita. Yumi there?" Ulrich said, from the other line.

"Oh hi. Um, yea, she's here. I don't know if she'll talk though… She's being lazy today." Aelita answered.

"Isn't she always?" Ulrich said laughing.

"Ha-ha. Yea, pretty much!" Aelita answered laughing. "But let me go get her…" She covered the receiver side of the phone. "YUMI! Get your lazy butt up and come get the phone!"

"Who is it?" She asked. When Aelita wouldn't tell her, "Oh fine…Fine…" She jumped up and grabbed the phone from Aelita. "Hello?"

"Yumi? Hi."

"Oh… Ulrich…" Yumi said, trying to sound annoyed from earlier. She actually was happy about what Ulrich did for her, but confused about the dance.

"About today… I'm sorry, Yumi. That was totally out of line but you seemed like you d—" Ulrich said.

"Ulrich, it's alright. You weren't out of line, William was." Yumi answered.

"So…Your not mad at me?" Ulrich asked.

"No… I'm mad at William. Hey, thanks for sticking up for me today. I did seem how you thought. Couldn't you tell?"

"It looked like you didn't like what he was doing. So…I did the best I could…"

"Ulrich, you did a great job. But before he showed up, I was gonna say something… Remember?" Yumi said.

"Oh yea… What was it?"

"Well, Tuesday you seemed pretty upset, especially when you left when William showed up. I wanted to tell you that…" Yumi looked around. "I wasn't going with William. I never wanted too, either." Yumi said. Ulrich was silent.

"Guess I shouldn't of jumped to conclusions…" He answered.

"Yea, you shouldn't of…" Yumi said.

"Just to finally do this and the next time I try, William will probably pop up so… Do you still want to go to the dance Friday?"

"Yea, of course. But I don't know if I should." She answered.

"Well, if you do, I'd like you to go with me…" Ulrich said, and paused. "I'll let you think about it and if you'd like to, call me tomorrow. 'K?"

"Okay. I'll let you know tomorrow." Yumi answered.

"Okay, but I gotta go. So… Talk to you tomorrow?" Ulrich said.

"Yea, alright. Tomorrow. See ya!" Yumi said.

"See ya."

Yumi hung up the phone smiling. "Well, I know my answer!" Yumi said. She already knew that she wanted to go with Ulrich. She walked out of the kitchen and on to the couch smiling.

"Someone's not so lazy anymore!" Aelita said in childish voice. Yumi smiled.

"No, someone isn't! So Aelita, who are you going to the dance with?" Yumi answered.

"Oh, Odd…" Aelita answered. Yumi's jaw dropped. "I'm kidding! Gosh, Yumi! You are so gullible!"

"Aelita! I was so scared for a minute! Don't do that! Man, that was freaky! Jeremy, right?" Yumi said. Aelita nodded. "Good."

"And you, Miss. Gullible?" Aelita asked.

"It's Mrs. Stern, to you." Yumi answered. Aelita cracked up.

"Ulrich? Really?" Aelita asked. Yumi nodded.

"Yup. He asked today and told me to call him tomorrow for the for-sure answer." Yumi said. Aelita hit Yumi.

"Told ya! I knew he'd ask!" Aelita said.

"But…"