"Ok boys, do it like you mean it! That's it!" Jim was jumping around like a clumsy butterfly, blowing his whistle so often that his face was starting to turn red.

The soccer team was busy darting across the field, back and forth, working out new plays that Jim had concocted. Currently, Ulrich was a little annoyed with Nicholas's lack of common sense. If you're going to pass, make sure someone from the OTHER TEAM isn't right there, close enough to get it if you miss.

Despite Ulrich's mental criticism, that's exactly what Nicholas did. Passed it straight to Herve on the other team, giving them lots of time and opportunity to get another goal.

Herve to Charlie, Charlie to Theo, Theo past Tristan and into the net.

"Yeah!" He cheered, getting multiple high-fives. Ulrich scowled. This hadn't been the first time of the practice.

"Nice job Theo!" Jim exclaimed. "I was definitely right to make you our team captain."

"Thanks coach," he smiled.

"And nice assist Charlie. You're really getting the hang of this," Jim clapped a hand down on the boy's shoulder. "You know, this reminds me of the time I was in the FIFA world cup."

"Really Jim? You were in the FIFA games?" Nicholas asked.

"Yes actually, well I was more of an alternate—but, I don't have time to talk about it. Practice is over. Alright boys, go home and get some beauty sleep."

• • •

The next day classes continued normally, and it was all over much faster than they anticipated. Soon, everyone was back in their dorms studying, or whatever they did after school on a rainy day.

"Hey," Ulrich turned to Odd, who barely heard his pal past the music blaring through his headphones. He slipped them off, "Yeah?"

"You know, Jeremie and Aelita told me an interesting piece of news today," Ulrich began, with a cold, unforgiving look in his eye.

"Oh yeah?" Odd asked, not noticing.

"Yeah. You and Yumi."

The room suddenly exploded with silence, a bomb that had caught Odd by surprise like the trap it sort of was. He was now just a caged animal, with Ulrich poking and prodding him like a Doctor Shrank wanna-be.

"Oh," Odd's words, like his thoughts, stumbled over each other unsurely. "Um, yeah. What about it?"

"I thought we were friends, Odd. I thought I could trust you." Ulrich's eyes were inflamed with betrayal and spite.

"I'm not going out with her Ulrich!" He insisted.

"Oh yeah? Because that's what the school is saying, that's what SHE'S saying," the anger couldn't fully hide the hurt in his tone and expression.

"I'm telling you, buddy, we are not together," Odd said dead-serious.

"Really?" Ulrich asked, not having dropped it at all.

"Yes." Odd nodded honestly.

"I can't believe you." He got up, jaw clenched in new-found hatred, and left, probably for the forest. They both knew he'd be back, but not any time soon.

• • •

It was raining, but Ulrich didn't care. He stomped out into the downpour, barely past the cafeteria before he broke into a run. The forest had always been where he retreated to, a place of solitude, setting him in the frame of mind not unlike that of a monk's meditation.

Even before he reached the thicket, he was already drenched. As usual, he hopped up in his favourite tree, although it was slipperier this time, and took a long breath. Yumi.

Yumi and Odd. How did this happen?

He spent long minutes fighting with the issue, and with his own emotions, coming to the conclusion that he must be some kind of worthless piece of...

Thankful for the rain, his eyes started to moisten. But before he could shed a tear, he could have sworn he heard a small murmur, like someones voice past the falling rain.

It didn't matter, not really, and Ulrich wouldn't have payed attention to it had it not been getting louder and louder. Closer and closer.

He wiped away his glassy eyes, which were soon covered again by falling droplets, and strained to see who was speaking. Past the leaves that hadn't yet flown off and tree branches, he spotted a trio of people huddled under a dark umbrella.

"How are we going to get it?" he recognized the first voice as Nicholas'. Nobody else had a voice that dumb.

"Yeah, it's not like they grow on trees," Ulrich could see Herve's face clearly, or almost clearly, but still didn't know who the third person was. "It's a good idea, but how are we supposed to get that kind of money?"

'Money?' Ulrich mouthed to himself curiously. It seemed like those guys were going to a lot of trouble for something, and by the sound of it, something expencive. He wasn't sure he liked the sound of it.

"What if I told you..." he barely heard the third guy speak, partly because he had his back turned to Ulrich, and was behind the umbrella, and partly because he had a deep and low voice.

"That's great!" Nicholas exclaimed.

"It'll never work," Herve shook his head.

Ulrich didn't hear anything of how the other guy responded except murmurs, and shifted in the tree, trying to listen or at least get a glance past that huge umbrella (he couldn't even see the guy's hair colour). As he shifted he was able to catch a glimps of the guys outfit, but in doing so he shook the tree branch. The rain had slowly been letting up, and the chestnuts that fell from the tree and crackled suspiciously as they tumbled through the bushes bellow.

The guy stopped in mid sentence, and Herve stated the obvious with his squawky, annoying voice. "Somebody's here."

Ulrich froze, trying to still the tree, and didn't make a sound. He was happy that his attire (while not rain-proof) was decent camouflage.

"I told you guys this was a bad idea," Nicholas complained, looking around with wide eyes.

"Let's go before we get caught," the third guy suggested, Ulrich having an even stronger feeling of deja vu, when hearing his voice.

As they ran off, Ulrich began to put two and two together as best he could. The deep voice, the dark umbrella, the top-to-bottom black outfit; there was only one person he could think of that fit that description. Charlie Muler.

• • •

Aelita lay in her bed, half sitting against propped up pillows with her chemistry homework in hand. It was going fine, and she almost enjoyed listening to the pitter-patter of the raindrops against her window. Although at the same time, she was content with not being caught outside in such a storm. It would be getting caught up the creek without a paddle, the metaphoric paddle being a thick, cozy rain coat.

Right then Aelita thought she smelled something a little different in her room. It was a bizzare smell, but it only lasted for a moment and knowing the old heater in her room, she wouldn't be surprised if it was burning dust again or something.

For some reason the rain made her think of the wizard of oz. Probably because of how the wicked witch melted because of just a bucket of water. It was almost kind of funny the way people thought about mythical creatures, always so skeptical and harsh, or the complete opposite. Some people were head over heels, with common sense out the window, and very committed to the creature they studied. Aelita herself wouldn't be at all surprised if witches did exist. Or werewolves, or aliens. Stranger things have been proven true; like Jeremie and Odd for example.

• • •

After taking a shower (and drying off his clothes), Ulrich ended up with Jeremie in the latter's dorm, venting his feelings with a fiery passion. Despite time and effort, the feelings were still fresh, churning in his mind like some evil sticky mound of butter.

"How could he do such a thing? Doesn't he get that me and Yumi are together already?" Ulrich asked indignantly, sitting on the bed with his face rested on his hands.

"But you're not," His brainy friend reminded him, while not missing a key as he typed. After years and years of practice, multitasking had just become an automatic thing for Jeremie. He probably had XANA to thank for that.

"What?" Ulrich was confused.

"You're not together."

"Well—but," he was cut off.

"You're not dating, you're not in any type of relationship really. Why are you so surprised?" Jeremie's bluntness was so...blunt.

"Wh— no, this isn't Yumi's fault. This isn't about her."

"Isn't it? It takes two to tango," he reminded, turning his chair around to face him. "And besides, didn't Odd say Yumi was the one into him, not the other way around?"

"You excpect me to trust that liar?!" Ulrich exclaimed angrily, jumping to his feet.

"How many times has he lied to you, or any of us, before?" Jeremie reasonably asked (despite Odd's whole denial of vampirism that only he and Aelita had witnessed).

"That's not the point!" Ulrich yelled.

"So it's Odd's fault for being so attractive?"

Ulrich paced slowly across the width of the room until he thought of something. "No." He scowled, soon coming up with a better idea. "It's Theo's fault."

'Oh boy, can't wait to hear this one,' Jeremie thought to himself a little cruely.

"If he hadn't shown up at the Halloween dance with his two bit Romeo act, I wouldn't have had to step in, then Yumi wouldn't have gotten upset, then Odd wouldnt have ..." He almost hissed as he spoke through his gritted teeth, "gone out with her."

Jeremie flipped back around in his seat. There was a small silence that lasted only long enough for the tension to drop, and Ulrich to just calm down, and find himself sitting on the bed again. "Urgh this is unbelieveable..." he groaned, long and hard, as if it would magically make all his problems go away.

"You know Ulrich, moaning like that isn't going to solve all your problems," Jeremie quipped.

"Does it look like I care?" he stopped, instead turning around and hitting his head against the wall.

It was Jeremie's turn to sigh, and try to tune out the pounding of his pal against he wall, enough to concentrate on typing. He mumbled to himself, "I'm almost sorry I got involved."

A few minutes later, Jeremie's phone rang with an incoming call. "Does everyone need my advice today or what?" He asked no one in particular.

Ulrich ceased banging his head into the wall to quip a sarcastic comment. "Maybe you should start your own blog."

"Ha ha," he replied before answering the call. "Hello?"

"Jeremie!" It was Aelita's voice, or at least a panicky version of it.

"What is it Aelita? What's wrong?"

"Are you in your room!?"

"Yes, why?" Her voice was staring to freak Jeremie out too, and he still just wanted to know what was going on.

Even Ulrich had turned around wondering what the deal was.

Aelita screamed into the receiver, "Get out! GET OUT NOW!"