"Code: Insomnia"
By cdc100
Summary: Jeremie is having fits in his sleep. Aelita wants to know what's wrong with him and he insists that nothing is wrong. Find out what happens.
Disclaimer: This is a work of pure non-profit fan fiction. I do not own any of the characters, their weapons, their abilities, or any of their universes, nor do I own any of the lyrics that will appear in later chapters, or any of the products mentioned in the story such as Coca-Cola, or Playstation. If anybody is wondering about the night terror thing, I got it from Boston Legal. I might use more story points from Boston Legal.
Note: I don't know if I'm spelling Jeremie's name right. I've seen it spelled, "Jeremie," and "Jeremy," so just bear with me. If anyone thinks I should change the spelling, send me a review. Yolande is pronounced, "Yo-lawn-duh." And if you're going to read this story, PLEASE at least have the decency to leave a review!
Chapter Twelve
"The Beginning of a Break"
"I guess I'm really not the only one who needs a break," said Jeremie, when he spoke to the gang at their usual table.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you mind if I tell them, Aelita?" asked Jeremie.
"Uh, no. Go ahead."
"Aelita had her usual nightmare last night. Her mother was taken away, and a wolf bounded toward her. And then I got stabbed in the heart."
"I had a nightmare, too," said Yumi. "William came up to me, and stabbed me a bunch of times."
Ulrich spoke up.
"I had a nightmare about being at the top of the Empire State Building. I was hanging onto a flagpole, and it was starting to bend."
"I had a nightmare that all the food in the cafeteria had been Xanafied," said Odd. "WORST! NIGHTMARE! EVER!"
Jeremie shook his head.
"Jeez. Xana's really starting to get to us in the worst way possible."
"Remember those phony prescriptions that the doctor gave you, Jeremie?" asked Ulrich.
"What about them?" asked Jeremie.
"I think now would be a good time to use them. We need to get out of this place for a while."
"What if Xana attacks?" asked Jeremie.
"We'll come racing back here," said Ulrich.
Jeremie pondered for a moment, but finally nodded.
"Okay. Why don't you come to my room? I'll call my dad and see about using the prescriptions."
The gang followed Jeremie to his room, and dialed the number for his parents' house. The phone rang a few times, and his father picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, dad," said Jeremie.
"Hey, son. How are you?" asked Mr. Belpois in a cheerful tone.
"We wanted to talk to you about something. By the way, just so you know, you're on speaker."
"Your friends are there with you, too?"
"Yep."
"How are you all today?"
"Good," they all said in unison.
"Ulrich, how did last weekend's soccer game go?"
"Not too bad, Mr. Belpois. We won by two points."
"Good. Yumi, how's the family?"
"Everyone's fine, Mr. Belpois, but my brother's as annoying as ever."
"I know what you mean. I have a younger brother, too. How did your tour with the Subdigitals go, Aelita?"
"They included the song I mixed in their latest album."
"I'll have to pick up the CD. How's Kiwi, Odd?"
"He's fine, Mr. Belpois."
"So, what can I do for you all?"
"Well… It's something that I think both you and mom should hear," said Jeremie.
"Oh. Okay. I'll get her. Honey! Jeremie's on the phone!"
They heard faint footsteps, and Mrs. Belpois spoke.
"Jeremie?"
"Hi, mom."
"How's school going?"
"Not too bad," said Jeremie, "but… things have been happening for the past few days that I thought you two should know about."
"What is that, dear?" asked Mrs. Belpois.
"Well… you remember when I was eight, and I started having night terrors?"
"Please tell me you haven't started having them again," said Mrs. Belpois, in a worried tone.
"I would love to, but you guys told me never to lie to you," said Jeremie.
"Good God. You wait at the school, and we'll take you to see the doctor," said Mr. Belpois.
"I already saw one," said Jeremie. "Yesterday. He did an MRI on me, and he suggested that I take a vacation."
"A vacation?"
"He said that my night terrors could be a side effect of stress. See, I called you guys because I wanted to know if you had anything planned."
"Well, me and your mother were planning on going to Canada to celebrate our anniversary. We could take you with us, if you like."
"Well, I would love that, but I wondered if you would mind bringing the others as well."
"Well, I don't know about that," said Mr. Belpois.
"The doctor gave the rest of us phony prescriptions so that we could go with Jeremie on this break of his," said Odd.
"What does that mean?" asked Mrs. Belpois.
"It means the doctor wants them to come with me, he feels that friends would help with the remedial process, he gave them fake prescriptions and there is absolutely nothing to be gained in asking how or why."
"He did what?" asked Mr. Belpois.
"Believe me, Dad. I was just as surprised as you were. You're not mad, are you?"
"Mad? Of course not, son. This would give us sufficient reason to take them out of school. Have you told the principal about this?"
"No. But, we were going to. We just wanted to get the okay from you first, and we still have Odd's, Ulrich's and Yumi's parents to worry about."
"Let me worry about them, Jeremie," said Mr. Belpois. "You just go talk to Mr. Delmas about it. Have you spoken to Mr. and Mrs. Stones?"
"Yeah. They okayed Aelita to come with us."
"Okay. Like I said, go talk to Mr. Delmas, I'll handle everything else."
"What were you two planning on doing in Canada, anyway?" asked Jeremie.
"Well, really, we're doing the vacation in thirds. First, we're going on a fishing trip in the wilderness, then we were going to go to Calgary. After that, we're going to take a trip to Dutch Harbor in Alaska."
"A fishing trip?" asked Jeremie.
"There's great fishing in Canada, son."
"I can imagine," said Jeremie. "I know how you like to fish, dad."
"Anyway, just call us after you talk to Mr. Delmas, and I'll call your friends' parents," said Mr. Belpois. "Be sure to have everything packed up when I get there. I'll see you all later."
"Goodbye, dad," said Jeremie.
"Goodbye, Mr. Belpois," said Aelita.
"Okay, before I hang up, I want to tell you the first rule of the trip," said Mr. Belpois.
"What is that?" asked Ulrich.
"You guys have to stop calling me Mr. Belpois. Call me Michael."
"Okay, Michael," said Aelita. "We'll see you later."
"Goodbye, everyone," said Mrs. Belpois.
"Goodbye, uh…" said Odd, trying to decide whether to call her Mrs. Belpois or by her first name.
"Rachel."
"Oh. Okay. We'll see you in a while, Rachel," said Ulrich.
"See you in a while."
They hung up the phone, and Jeremie clicked the speaker button off.
"Well, guys. Let's go talk to the principal."
As they made their way to the principal's office, they met Sissi. Odd reacted in no time.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up," he said, from the moment they walked out of Jeremie's room to the point where they walked out the door.
"What was that about?" asked Ulrich.
"I just thought I'd keep her from making any snide comments. The consecutive shut up works every time."
They made their way to the receptionist's desk.
"May I help you?" she asked.
"We came here to see Mr. Delmas," said Jeremie.
"Go on in. He shouldn't be busy at the moment."
"Thank you."
He opened the door and found Mr. Delmas typing on his computer.
"Good morning, Mr. Delmas."
"How may I help you, Belpois?" he asked.
"We wanted to talk to you about taking a break from school."
"A break? How long do you intend on?"
"A few weeks."
"Huh. Is there a specific reason?"
"You remember my uh… night terror problem?"
"Does this have something to do with it?"
"I got a doctor's note, telling me to take a vacation from school."
Jeremie handed the note to Mr. Delmas who examined it thoroughly.
"My friends also got doctor's notes for different conditions."
They each handed Mr. Delmas their notes, and he looked them all over.
"These all seem to be in order. I'll be more than happy to let you take time off, Jeremie."
"Thank you, Mr. Delmas. I need one more thing, though."
"What's that?"
"Do you think you could have our teachers e-mail our homework to us?"
"Of course."
He filled out a slip, and handed it to Jeremie.
"We look forward to your healthy and safe return, Jeremie."
"Thank you, sir."
Jeremie walked out of the room, with his friends in toe.
"That was easier than I thought it would be," said Jeremie.
"What next?" asked Ulrich.
"We call my dad, and he comes to pick us up," said Jeremie, dialing on his phone. "Yeah, dad, we just got done talking to the principal. He's okay with the break. He'll have our teachers e-mail our homework to us. They okayed it? Okay. We'll be out in a bit to meet you. See you."
The group each went to their rooms to pack up their things, and met on the school grounds. Jeremie's father drove up in a long, black car.
"Hello, everyone."
"Hey, Michael," said Yumi, throwing her suitcase in the trunk. "We're ready to go."
"Okay, everyone. Hop in."
The gang did as they were told, and hopped into the car as soon as their luggage was packed.
"I must say, it's good to officially meet all of you," said Michael, shaking each of their hands. He then put the car into gear and started driving.
"So, what's on our agenda, Michael?" asked Ulrich.
"Well, you guys can stay at our house for the first two days, and then we'll leave for Canada. We'll be leaving at six for the airport, so, be sure to go to bed early, okay?"
Everyone nodded.
"You'll see, you kids are going to have a blast."
To Be Continued…