Chapter 7 : Friendly Competition/Body Language

Hello everyone, been a long time! I hope you will not be TOO disappointed with this chapter.

There are some small "hints" in here if you readers are able to pick them up, nothing too suggestive though.

Also, I need some help with thinking of a new lesson for Aelita to teach Odd regarding dating, so if you have any suggestions please feel free to drop one in!

DelaneyRose : Perhaps, it all ties into the plot twist I'm going to add, and no, sadly there is no Lyoko in this. :l They're all just regular kids.
moxie4evr : You're not supposed to get why she screamed yet, :D It will all come in later.
Shizuku Tsukishima749 : Haha, yes, they are pretty whacked. And thank you for the help. I hope I did it right o_x; I most likely didn't. xD

The next day...

After another boring class, the bell finally rung and sighs of relief ran through the school. Aelita was walking a few steps behind Odd as they were getting out of class. She wanted to remind him that she would be giving him another lesson today but he was far too busy talking to the other girls that he hadn't even noticed her presence. Sighing, Aelita walked faster until she passed him. Aelita was going to her locker to put away her books when she had seen Yumi.

"Hello there, Yumi." Aelita beamed at her. After the events of the past weekend, Odd's group became quite close to Aelita. Though, they weren't sure if they were able to call her a friend yet, and vice-versa. Yumi had just put away her books and slammed it shut.

"Oh, hello there Aelita," Yumi gave a smile, "how are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Aelita turned the combination lock carefully until she heard it snap open. "Are you going to the cafeteria?" Aelita asked as she dropped one of her books on accident. "We should go together, that is, if you're not already going with Ulrich," she said in a mischievous tone. "Speaking of," Aelita remembered, "what did you two do after you left yesterday?"

"Um, well..." It was clear that Yumi was taken back by the question, as she tensed up and blushed. Aelita looked at her with a curious face. "Well, let me tell you..." Yumi said in a hushed tone as she began to walk, Aelita quickly following after. "At first we decided to go back to Kadic, but then we walked by a park." Yumi looked down in embarrassment. "So, we took a walk, sat down next to each other on some benches, and then he picked me a flower."

Aelita sighed, "Sounds... romantic," she said sadly, her eyes on the floor. Yumi raised her head and laughed proudly.

"Something out of a book, eh?" She chuckled.

It was a simple conversation like that, that made it seem like Aelita wasn't so bad after all. Yumi never actually had a real friend that was female, after all, she only hung out with Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie all of her life. Yumi never told anyone about her relationship with Ulrich, she thought it just seemed like that it was her business only. Yumi thought about it, and now she was sure that she could call Aelita Stones her first female friend.

The two girls walked into the lively sounding lunchroom and got in line. "Would it be okay if I sat with you all, Yumi?" Aelita asked shyly. Since Aelita had been the new girl, Aelita wasn't sure if the others would be okay with her sitting at their table. Aelita hoped Yumi would say yes, it would have been so awkward to sit by herself.

"Of course!" Yumi exclaimed-- to Aelita's surprise-- without a second thought.

Aelita looked over at the new table she would be sitting at everyday, only to find Jeremie sitting alone, of course on his laptop. The two girls sat their trays down on the table, Aelita had been wondering where Ulrich and Odd were. She put her tray next to Yumi but stood up and sat down next to Jeremie and peeked over at what he was doing.

"Oh, you're playing a game?" Aelita asked, astonished. "I thought you were working on school work."

Jeremie looked at her, "I thought it was time for a break." Aelita stared at the small flash game on the laptop. "Do you mind, if I try?"

Jeremie looked at her in the corner of his eyes. "Sure go ahead, I doubt that you'll be able to finish the level though," he said as his character fell down and died. "There are a lot of puzzles and tricks that are placed quite strategically in this level."

Yumi chuckled and shook her head in amusement as she chewed her food.

Aelita looked offended by Jeremie's statement. "I take that as a challenge. How many times have you lost in this level then?"

Jeremie looked down, "about 20 times." "But this is one piece of work that has been laid out carefully with many surprised and intelligent traps!" Jeremie abruptly stated.

"Fine, I'll finish this in under 10 tries." Aelita smirked, "Scoot over now." Jeremie and Aelita switched places and before Aelita started, Jeremie told her the basics. He taught her how to jump, how to move, how to kill enemies by jumping on their heads, how to throw and pick up things. He also told her about the flag poles that indicated a save spot, and the large one that indicated the end of the level, and that if the small timer in the top right corner reached 0 it would be treated as another "death". (Seems like a very familiar game, no?)

Aelita cracked her fingers as she stretched them out. "Alright, let's get started shall we?" Aelita started to play and Yumi had immediately shifted sides to watch the "competition". Yumi laughed as she watched the small character accidentally fall into the spikes and Aelita had to start over from the beginning. It was hard for Aelita to determine whether she was going to be walking into a trap or if that's what the game maker wanted the player to think. Throughout the entire thing, Aelita's food had remained untouched. "Oh, darn this!" Aelita would exclaim after she had made the wrong decision. Although, to Jeremie's surprise Aelita was actually quite good, and had only died 4 times so far.

Odd walked through the door with his "ladies" and caressed one of the girl's faces, making her melt in the spot. "Now now ladies, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and that means I must go eat." The girls all sighed in disappointment as they wanted to spend more time with him but gave him winks and blew air kisses to him as they left. Much to his surprise, Odd saw Jeremie and Yumi all huddled around Aelita as she fiercely tapped keys on Jeremie's keyboard. "Now, what's this?" he said to himself as he walked out of line with his tray.

"Hey there, everyone." Odd greeted his friends as he sat down his tray next to what he assumed was Yumi's, which was on the side adjacent to everyone else. Aelita, startled by his presence, messed up and fell into some lava. "Look what you did Odd! Now I have only 5 more tries." Aelita sighed, half-angry that she had not been able to talk to him earlier, and another part angry that she was so close to the end, at least-- that's what her gut feeling told her. Odd looked confused as he took a bite out of a sloppy joe.

"Where's Ulrich?" Yumi asked almost immediately. "Oh, he's coming, he was talking to me but I was a bit, distracted." Odd smirked as he looked at a table of girls.

"Only 5 more tries, Aelita." Jeremie reminded her.

"Okay, jump that, duck under this, kill that..." Aelita trailed off as she tried to remind herself of the tricks laid out in the level.

"Come on, Aelita! You're almost there!" Yumi was almost jumping out of her seat.

"Hey there, everyone, what're you guys up to?" A voice asked.

"Ugh! Not again!" Aelita groaned as the character ran into a small monster that popped out of the ground.

"Oh! Hi there Ulrich." Yumi calmed herself down and smiled sweetly and went back to her seat (which happened to be across Ulrich's). They began to talk quietly to each other, probably about their relationship.

Odd looked at the two lovebirds in half-envy. He kept quiet during the whole time as he choked down his food.

"And," Aelita started as she leaned in closer to the screen. "There! I have it! I reached the end!" She happily exclaimed.

Jeremie, who was getting bored and was not paying attention, re-adjusted his glasses and stared in disbelief at the stage.

"Well, I'll be..." He said quietly as he watched the small character walk into another level. "You have it."

"In 7 tries too." Aelita smiled brightly. "Time to eat, I'm exhausted." Aelita sat down at her tray and looked at the empty space between herself and Odd. Yumi had moved to the unoccupied side of the table along with Ulrich.

Aelita scooted next to Odd who looked at her incredulously. "I knew you'd come on to me eventually." Odd snickered.

"Oh, please." Aelita squinted her eyes at him. She got in closer to his ear. "Let's start shall we? Body language." Odd sighed and laid down his fork for he knew it was pointless to argue against Aelita, and plus, he was going to get a date with her at the end of all this.

"Now, you see those two there?" Aelita whispered to him as she pointed to Yumi and Ulrich. "Take a look at their body language..." Odd stared at them, but couldn't get anything. "Yumi's legs are crossed, she is leaning in towards Ulrich, and she is resting her chin on the top of her hands."
"Now, in a normal situation, for example... math class. If you rest your head on your face that most likely means you are bored, correct?"

"Also, sometimes girls may cross their legs in disinterest for something, but many girls just do that to get into a comfortable position."
"But most likely, in a situation like this, it means that she is interested in either the guy, or the conversation that they're having, she's actively engaged and engrossed in whatever it is."

"Also, look at their eyes, they're both looking into each other's and are dilated." Aelita turned and looked into Odd's eyes. "That means that they are both paying attention to each other." Odd looked straight back at her and Aelita had not noticed how close their faces were until she could feel Odd's breath on her skin. "I see." Odd smirked.

Aelita looked away and turned the subject back on the "examples". Apparently, one of them had just told a joke and they were both laughing. "Oh, you see that?" Aelita whispered. "Ulrich just ran his hand through his hair. I don't know how this works in the "male world" but that's a good sign as well." Aelita smiled at Odd, "So good tips for you."

"Look, even after they stopped laughing they're still both smiling. They're still smiling when they're not even talking." Aelita held up her index finger. "That also means that they're interested."

Just then, the bell rang and it was time once again to go back to classes. "Well, then, until next time." Aelita said as she stood up from her seat. "What's next, Miss Aelita?" Odd asked jokingly. "You'll see."

Don't forget to drop a suggestion for lessons in a review. (If you would like.)