Chapter 5

Answer and a problem

"'But…' What?" Aelita asked.

"But… I kind of feel bad for William…" Yumi answered. Aelita looked wide-eyed at Yumi.

"Yumi! How could you feel bad?" She asked. "Your going to the dance with the guy you wanted too, the guy you hate got beat up… What else is there?

"William…He used to be a family friend of ours. I felt bad when I sort of… Told him he wasn't my friend!" Yumi answered. "I pretty much said: 'Hey, you're a loser, I like this guy instead.'"

"Yumi! You didn't say that!" Aelita replied. Suddenly the phone rings again. Aelita looked at Yumi. "Your turn." Yumi lazily walked to the phone.

"Room 214. Yumi Ishiyama speaking." She paused and smiled. "Ulrich! I'll go to the dance with you!" She paused and frowned. "Ulrich, Ulrich! Slow down, I can't understand you! Breathe, Ulrich. Breathe."

"That little jerk went to the office and said I picked a fight with him!" Ulrich said.

"What? William?"

"Yes, Yumi! He told! Now I can't go to the dance!" He said. He sounded like he was crying.

"It's okay, Ulrich. Don't worry. I'll talk to Mr. Delmas. C'mon, It's okay. And you'll go, I'm sure of it." Yumi said.

Thursday Afternoon

"Mr. Delmas! Mr. Delmas, can I talk to you?" Yumi yelled when she found Jim.

"Miss. Ishiyama… I need to talk to you too." Mr. Delmas replied, using her last name instead, the proper way.

"That fight… It wasn't Ulrich's fault. He didn't do anything wrong!" Yumi yelled in the middle of the hallway.

"Miss. Ishiyama, let's go to my office instead…err…Just so not everyone in the school knows." Mr. Delmas said quietly. Yumi nodded and they went to his office. "That's what I needed to talk to you about too, though. That fight. Go on with your story."

"Ulrich did not do anything wrong! He was defending…. Someone." Yumi started. "It's that stupid dance."

"Miss. Ishiyama, wait. Defending? Whom was he defending?" Mr. Delmas said properly.

"Uhh…" Yumi said. Sissi is Mr. Delmas' daughter. If she told him that Ulrich was defending her, Sissi might find out in some secret way. Then it'd be a whole big problem and Sissi wouldn't leave anyone alone about it.

"Miss. Ishiya----" Delmas started.

"Yumi, if you'd like, sir." Yumi said quietly, sick of hearing 'Miss. Ishiyama' all the time. Mr. Delmas cleared his throat.

"Yumi. I need to find out who he was defending and why." He said. Yumi sighed.

"Me… Sir."

"Oh, I see. Now, why was he?" Mr. Delmas asked.

"Well… William wanted to go to that dance tomorrow with me. When I told him there was someone else, he uhh… he umm…" Yumi started.

"'He umm…' what? What did William do?" Delmas replied.

"He uhh… Forced a kiss on me. I was trying to yell and I was looking at Ulrich wide-eyed saying 'help' and he reacted. He told William to stop and when he didn't, Ulrich pulled him off and he fell. That's when William was the one to react. He started punching Ulrich and that's when Ulrich had to defend himself by fighting back. Ulrich's just a whole lot stronger and William got hurt worse…" Yumi said truthfully.

"Thank you, Yumi. I'll get back to you later to tell you the results. You may go." Mr. Delmas said nodding.

"Thank you sir."