Chapter 8: Routine

Kaitlyn's POV

"It's now or never!" My cousin yelled from above.

I sighed deeply and drew my gun. Ulrich directed me to hide behind a tree. Like Odd, my weapon could shoot from a distance, so Ulrich gave me the Megatank. My most hated monster of all time, truth be told.

Yumi and Aelita bolted for the tower, while Odd, Ulrich, and I entertained XANA's guests.

As soon as the Megatank's eye got in perfect target with my gun, I cocked it. It prepared its laser, as I could see the eye pulsate.

I pulled the trigger, and I could see my bullet go straight for the eye. Except, XANA's little bowling ball fired first, causing me to get devirtualized.

The scanner door opened. I felt like I had died, and then came back to life. I walked slowly to the elevator; my hand on my head because I now had a headache.

I walked into the elevator, and pressed the button to go up into the laboratory.

I ascended up a level, with the doors opening to reveal my Einstein-Carnation of a cousin.

"It's okay, Aelita is in the tower." I heard Ulrich say.

"As usual guys, great job!" Jeremie said, smiling.

"That's right," Odd said. "Another XANA attack chopped up, and another tower deactivated."

"Get ready for the return trip to the past!"

I sat on the park bench with Yumi, waiting for my cousin and friends to get out of class.

"Actually, I prefer Odd! He's funny too." I heard a girl with short blonde hair say. I glared in her direction.

"Don't tell me you have a thing for Odd." Yumi said suddenly, startling me.

I jumped. "Uh… no. What gave you that idea?" I muttered.

Yumi scooted closer to me. "Kaitlyn, if looks could kill, Heidi would die on contact."

Just then, my cousin and friends lumbered into view.

"Hey, how was class today with Ms. Hertz?" Yumi asked, a smile on her face. "Was it fun?"

Ulrich rolled his eyes. "Same exact lesson as before the XANA attack so it was twice as boring."

"Once, twice, it doesn't matter. You'll never be any good at physics anyway," Jeremie teased, and had a seat next to me.

"Well, if it isn't Sissi." Odd mused. "Hello Ulrich dear, can we talk for a minute?!"

Odd's impression of Sissi was pretty spot on, and funny. I laughed.

"Hello Ulrich dear, can we talk for a minute?" Sissi said, in just the same way Odd did. He turned around and smiled big.

"First of all, I'm not your Ulrich dear. Second of all I will not go to your room to explain exercise B page fifty-two." Ulrich said, coldly.

Sissi's eyes widened, in disbelief. "But- how did you know that?" She asked, her expression shocked.

We all looked at her, smiling.

Sissi's face turned red in angst, as she walked away.

"A Sissi attack is just as bad as a XANA attack, but ten times more boring." Yumi mused.

"That's for sure," Ulrich agreed.

Just then my phone rang. Only to see it was my dad.

"Hello?" I picked up.

"Kaitlyn! Did you forget you had an eye appointment today?"

My smile turned into a frown. "Yes, dad. I forgot." I hated having my eyes checked.

"Well, are you ready? It's at 2pm."

I pulled an eye roll. "Yes, dad. When are you coming to pick me up?"

"I'll be there to get you at 1:30. Just be standing outside when I get there. Mr. Delmas already knows."

I checked the clock on my phone, only to see I had ten minutes to make it to the other side of the school where it lead into town.

"Okay dad, I'll be right there." I hung up.

"What was that all about?" Jeremie asked.

I took my glasses off and rubbed the lenses. They were a little dirty. "I have an eye appointment today," I turned my nose up. "I think I'm getting new glasses."

Jeremie snickered. "Have fun with that."

I looked at him. "Thanks, cuz." If there's one thing I hate more than Megatanks, it's getting my eyes checked. I remember the first time I got it done when I was about nine or ten years old. I couldn't stand it when I got told I needed glasses. Then again, I guess that was Karma on my end because I always used to pick on Jeremie when I was younger. I would rather have contacts, but my parents thought I was too young for them. I checked the time, and saw that it was about 1:25pm.

"Alright guys, I gotta go," I said, as I got up from the bench.

"Have fun at your appointment, Legal Assassin!" Odd mused.

I giggled at him. "Keep it up, Odd. When I get through with you, you'll see that I deliver!" I walked off to the gate.

Jeremie's POV

I watched Kaitlyn walk away, her long, almost white hair swishing behind her. She could use a haircut, too, I thought.

Later, we walked up to the gates.

Ulrich seemed to get an idea. "So, anyone feel like sneaking out and going into town for awhile?" He asked, sounding bored, but I couldn't be too sure.

"Count me out. I've got a heavy date with my pillow!" Odd exclaimed.

"And I'm going to work on my program for materializing Aelita!" I said, excitedly. "One of these days, I'm gonna do it!"

"What about you, Yumi? Want to go into town and have an ice cream?" He asked.

"No, not tonight, I've got to do a little studying…I'm way behind thanks to all these XANA attacks. See you tomorrow!" She said as she walked off.

Kaitlyn's POV

"Okay, Dad, see you later." I said, as I closed the door to the car. I was in a good mood surprisingly, I got new glasses that tinted up in sunlight to protect my eyes, and also a pair of contacts to go with them. Though, I only planned on wearing the contacts when I wanted to clean up a bit.

I had one of my earbuds in, that was playing Somethin' Bad by Miranda Lambert feat. Carrie Underwood.

"Got a real good feeling somethin' bad's about to happen." The song howled, repetitively.

I pulled my glasses off of my face, so I could get a good look of what I could see of them. I'm actually very far sighted, so I had to hold them at arm's length.

My dad spoiled me this time, he let me pick out my own designer frames. I picked out the pink leopard print ones, with black rimmed frames.

I put them back on, to see that they tinted up. This is really cool. I checked my phone for the time. 4:30pm. I guess I should head upstairs.

Nobody was around, it was almost like Kadic was a ghost town.

I opened the door to the stairwell, to see that it was dark thanks to my glasses. It takes them a good minute to go back to normal, recalling what the doctor said.

As I topped the stairs, there was a girl with long, dark brown hair and glasses walking down the hall. She wore two layered shirts from the look of it, and jeans. I think her name was Emily.

"Hey Kaitlyn, you haven't seen Jim around anywhere, have you?" She stopped me, and asked.

I looked off to the side. "Uh- no I have not." I said. I didn't really like making eye contact with people unless I was the dominant in the conversation.

"Oh. Okay thanks." She said. "I really like your glasses.. they look super cute on you."

I smiled. "Uh- thanks." I said. "I never caught your name. Emily, right?"

She giggled a bit. "Yeah. I'm a bit of an outcast here," she said. "Don't really belong to a group."

I nodded my head. "Oh." I said.

She smiled again. "It was nice talking to you, see you later." She said.

I waved, and watched her pass by me. The thing that got me though, was that she wouldn't stop looking at me. She kept looking back at me periodically; until she walked down into the stairwell.

Does she even like girls? My thoughts jackknifed to action.

My mind was now a whirlwind of thoughts. I couldn't help but to go back to those thoughts I had of me liking this girl back in Joplin a long time ago. Her name was the same as mine, except she spelled hers with a C instead of a K. I didn't think it was possible to crush on a girl, but looking back it was definitely a bad one. She was in my choir class, and every time she sang it made me melt. I was only eleven at the time, and I thought something was wrong with me.

Looking back at Emily, she kind of reminded me of Caitlyn in some areas. Her long dark brown hair was definitely a factor, and her piercing brown eyes definitely sparked a remembrance. Now I was officially confused. Did I find Emily attractive because she reminded me of Caitlyn? Or was it because I actually found Emily herself attractive? This was all I needed.

Miranda Lambert was still howling in my ear. "Got a real good feeling somethin' bad's about to happen."

Something bad? More like something horrible.

I turned down the hallway when I bumped into someone. "Kaitlyn, if you're going to be in Lalaland, do it in your room!"

"Oh! Uh- sorry Jim. By the way, Emily's looking for you." I said, walking away to Jeremie's.

I opened the door, only to see my cousin at where else? His computer of course.

I walked in, and closed the door behind me as I sat on my bed. I sighed deeply.

"Hang on, Aelita. I think something is wrong with Kaitlyn," he said, as he turned around in his computer chair. "How'd the eye appoint—OH! I like your glasses, Kaitlyn. They look really good on you." Jeremie tried to cheer me up.

"Thanks." I said, as I laid down. My mind was a big tornado right now. All I could think about was Odd and Emily both. It was weird. Also, I wasn't sure if I could tell Jeremie about this. When I was eleven, I thought it was just a phase, but now that it's come back I don't know what to make of it.

"Is something wrong, Kaitlyn?" Jeremie asked, as he went to sit on his bed.

I was a bit weary of telling Jeremie what was going on with me. Don't get me wrong, I love Jeremie. But, he was more of the logical type thinker in my eyes. I don't think he'd understand.

"Meh…" I said. I took a deep breath. "I'm just a little confused is all. I like two people at the same time. Well, the second one I'm not so sure because I've only talked to them once, and I don't really know much about them."

I could now see I had Jeremie's full attention, as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's no clue that one of them is Odd. Who's the other mystery guy?" Jeremie asked, smiling.

"I'm not comfortable with saying," I said. Emily isn't a guy. Then again, there was something about Odd that I wanted to get off my chest.

"I'm a little confused about Odd, too. I get the feeling he doesn't really like me.. that he isn't even the slightest bit interested in me. Yeah, he plays around with me but he does that with everyone."

"Don't worry, Kaitlyn. I'm sure Odd would understand if you tell him," he smiled.

I sighed. "Yeah, right. All he cares about is food, sleep, and other girls it seems."

Jeremie sighed. "Well…all you can do is try, Kaitlyn."

I sighed. I grabbed my pink pajama set and my showering supplies. "I'm gonna go take a shower," I said, as I walked out of the dorm.

I sighed in relief, glad not to see anyone so far as I lumbered down the hallway. There wasn't much rush to the shower.

I almost made it to the door when a blonde girl with a bunch of ponytails in her hair approached me. I recognized her as Heidi Klinger.

"Hi, Kaitlyn, you haven't seen Odd have you?" she asked, a big smile on her face.

"Not since after science class," I answered honestly. "He might be in his room with Ulrich."

She nodded her head. "Oh, okay," she said. "By the way, Emily wants to talk to you when you get the chance sometime soon."

My heart skipped a beat when I heard this. "Erm… why?" I asked.

"She wouldn't say, just wanted to talk to you," she smiled. "She seemed really psyched about something."

I nodded. "Okay, thanks, Heidi." I said, as I walked past her into the showers.

I went into one of the stalls, and started to undress. I pulled off my turtleneck, and took off my khaki pants.

I took off everything else, including my glasses.

I put my phone music on shuffle, I loved listening to music while showering. It's something I did all the time. It was also a way I got things off my mind.

I turned the shower on, and stood there for a while.

I started to relax when Acquainted by The Weeknd started playing.

"You got me touching on your body, oh you got me touching on your body. To say that we're in love is dangerous, but, girl, I'm so glad we're acquainted."

Hearing these lyrics made me cringe very badly, so I reached out of the shower and turned my music off altogether. That song is getting deleted. I wanted to throw up.

I was now officially annoyed and weirded out. Why would Emily want to talk to me all of a sudden? What could be the reason? There's no way she could like me with just being acquainted for five minutes. If she did like me, why? Was it my looks? My personality? No way…

But then again, I had been here for a couple of months. Maybe she was having a small crush on me. Nothing major.

As I thought about it more, that was a possibility. She was in my science class with Ms. Hertz; maybe she had been watching me for a long time and I didn't know it.

I thought about talking to Jeremie a little more about her. But then again, I didn't want him to get any ideas… yet.

Ah screw it.. I'll talk to him.

I made my way back to my room. I stayed concentrated on making it back to Jeremie's and nothing else. Coast was clear, not many people around.

I walked in, my cousin still hard at work at his computer.

"Oh, that's no one, Aelita, Kaitlyn just came in is all," Jeremie said.

"I see, Jeremie. I just don't want you to get into trouble." I heard her say over Jeremie's headset.

"It's okay. You were worried, that's all," he said reassuringly.

I sighed as I laid on my bed. Of course, he was too busy with Aelita. "Hey uh—Jeremie? Can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked, a little unsure.

Jeremie turned around in his computer chair. "Sure, Kaitlyn. One moment, Aelita." He turned around. "What's going on?"

"I—um… need to tell you something else about what I said earlier," I admitted.

Jeremie's eyebrow raised. "Oh?"

I could feel myself starting to sweat with nervousness. "I-I uh—um…" Okay, I'm just gonna come right out and say it. "I think I have a crush on a girl." I finally said.

A wide-eyed looked crossed his features. "That's the other person you were talking about?"

I nodded, bracing for impact.

"Oh, Kaitlyn… You don't have to be afraid. Mr. Delmas allows all sexualities here. You're safe," he smiled.

This was a relief, because back in Joplin, they didn't allow people of the same sex to love each other per se.

"And I'm your cousin, Kaitlyn. I would hate myself if I disowned you for something like that," he grinned, coming over to me and wrapping his arms around me.

I smiled. "Thanks, Jeremie." With that off my chest, I could finally relax and get some decent sleep. "Alright, Jeremie. I'm gonna get some sleep while I can."

He smiled. "Okay, Kaitlyn. Good night."

I smiled back. "Good night. You two geniuses keep it down, okay?"

Aelita laughed over the interface; Jeremie just blushed. "Sure, Kaitlyn." He said.

I removed my glasses from my face, and turned over on my back. Maybe tomorrow, I can sort out the mess that was my emotions.

I walked downstairs to the school courtyard. It was a bright, sunny morning and I could sport my new glasses with the tinting feature.

As soon as I got outside, my glasses got darker. I looked around, seeing how everything looked.. When I came across something that wasn't your everyday sight.

Ulrich and Emily laughing together.

What the hell is Emily doing with Ulrich? They don't look bored. I was now a little mad, stomping towards my cousin and another one of my crushes. "Hey, what kinda game does Ulrich think he's playing?!"

Odd turned around and looked at me. "He's just talking to her. You're not jealous, are you?"

"Of him?! Are you crazy? I can tell that he loves Yumi." I glared at him. "Speaking of Yumi, you better hope she doesn't see what's going on."

"Hello!" Yumi yelled out, obviously sounding angry. "What kind of a game does he think he's playing?"

"He's just talking to her, what are you, jealous, too?" Odd said.

Yumi got wide-eyed. "What?! Me jealous of Emily?! You've got to be kidding me. Anyway, she's a year older than him and that's a lot." She slammed her bag down and dug into it.

"Well, guess what. You're also a year older than him, Yumi," I said, my heart beating faster.

"Yeah? Well, it's not the same thing! I'm Ulrich's girlfriend—" My geisha friend's cheeks heated up and reddened. "Uh—I-I mean… I-I mean… I'm his good friend!"

I snickered under my breath. I also looked over at Ulrich and Emily laughing their heads off at whatever. I didn't exactly understand what's going on. Heidi told me Emily wanted to talk to me; I come outside hoping to find her. But no, what do I get? Ulrich Stern who's supposed to be in love with Yumi; talking to another girl that's apparently interested in me.

"Kaitlyn, are you okay?" Jeremie asked, shaking my arm.

I grumbled. "No, not really. I'm just going to walk away." I said, as I got up.

I walked off to the stairwell. I wasn't in the mood to deal with what I just saw. It's messed up for Ulrich to lead Yumi on like that, but it's also wrong for someone who apparently wanted to talk to me about something who's talking to someone else.

I took a seat on one of the stairs, and hopped on my phone. I wasn't in the mood to deal with shit.

I was surfing the web, when I saw Jeremie's picture pop up on my screen.

"Yes, Jeremie?" I said, as I picked up.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?"

I sighed. "Are you alone?"

"For the moment, why?" He asked.

"Because! You know what I told you last night? About me having a crush on a girl?" I said.

"Yeah, so?* Jeremie said.

"That girl—is the one Yumi's mad at."

"Wait… Emily? Are you serious?!" Jeremie yelled, sounding surprised.

"Yeah…" I said, unsure of what to say next.

"Well.. I don't know what to say, Kaitlyn. But listen, XANA's woken up."

I rolled my eyes. "Get Ulrich to help you. I have something I need to take care of."

"I can't. His phone seems to be turned off."

"That's okay! I'll go and get him!" I heard Yumi say over the speaker.

"Jeremie…I thought you said you were alone!" I whined.

"I was, Yumi came up at that moment when I said something about Ulrich's cell phone. You're good."

I sighed in relief. "Oh, okay. Talk to you later." I said, as I hung my phone up.

"See you later!" I heard Emily yell in the stairwell, her voice echoing off the walls.

I continued to sit on the stairs, waiting for her to come up.

Anger and excitement gripped me as I could hear her walking up the steps. I didn't know if I should be angry, or happy I'm about to talk to her.

I saw Emily's familiar figure walking up the steps.

"Oh! Kaitlyn! Just the person I wanted to see! I have something I need to tell you." Emily said, as she walked up the steps.

"Yeah? Like what?" I asked, trying for her sake to be gentle initially.

She took a seat next to me. "Well, I would—um…"

My eyebrow raised, as I looked at her. "Yes?"

She took a deep breath. "I would like to get to know you more."

My eyes widened. I couldn't believe what I just heard.

"...What?" I finally said.

Emily took another deep breath. "I like you, Kaitlyn. I've watched you for a long time since you first came to Kadic. I could never work up the guts to actually talk to you, but last night when I ran into you; there was definitely something still there. Besides, I've always had a thing for girls. Truth be told, my first crush here was Heidi Klinger. But then, you kind of came and took her place a bit. Besides, she's into Odd."

"Well… what about Ulrich?"

"The reason I talked to him was to ask him what you liked. He instead entertained me with a joke," she giggled. "That's why we ended up laughing as hard as we did. Something about a duck and a plumber."

I didn't know what joke she was talking about.

"It's okay if you don't know it, Kaitlyn. I can't even remember what it was," she giggled.

Part of me was still a bit confused. "Well, if you wanted to find out more about me, why didn't you go to Jeremie? He's my cousin. You started a big brawl in the group earlier." I still thought about how upset Yumi had gotten.

Emily sighed. "If I would've came out the blue and wanted to talk to Jeremie, it would have been too obvious. I know you're not interested in Ulrich, so I thought that was the best idea. Another thing is I ran into Ulrich last night looking for Jim. So I really didn't have a choice."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said, reassuring me.

I really didn't know how to feel right now. I was happy, but at the same time I was stumped.

"So… what now?" I anticipated.

She smiled softly. "Here…" She leaned over to my face, our lips pressing against each other.

Right away, my heart shot off fireworks, and I could feel the sparks flying. My mind felt as though it just went to heaven. Did she just kiss me?

RETURN TO THE PAST, NOW!

The next thing I knew, I was standing with Jeremie and the rest of the group. Ulrich and Emily were still laughing along.

Sissi came over to Yumi. "Quite a romance going on there! Two months already, that's not bad."

"Sissi… She is just laughing at a joke Ulrich had said—something about a duck and a plumber," I grinned, still not off my high from before the return trip.

I looked back over at Emily, who walked over to me. "Kaitlyn! Just the girl I wanted to see! I need to talk to you."

My heart started fluttering as it did before.

"Did I miss something?" Odd said, looking at Emily and I confused.

"Go ahead, Em. I'll catch up with you in a second," I said, smiling at her.

She giggled. "Okay. See you in the stairwell!" She walked off.

I turned around to face Odd, saying loud and proud, "Let's just say… I kissed a girl and I loved it!"

"Nothing wrong with that," Odd grinned. "By the way, you missed something on Lyoko, too. You're not the only one who got kissed, Kaitlyn."

"Oh? Who?" I asked, feeling slightly sly.

Yumi and Ulrich both blushed simultaneously. "Uh, we- Uh-"

I smiled. "It's okay," I said, cutting them off. "I won't tell a soul."

A/N LongHairedAelita: Thank you guys so much for the support! It means a lot! Also, thanks for the sweet reviews. It means a lot and it's a huge comeback from the original Code: Belpois. I've thought about taking it down, but it's what has made me known on FF. What do you guys think? Should I leave it or take it down?