Fantastic, all these nice reviews; thank you. Please keep them coming if you like it, or tell me anything you don't like. All constructive comments are welcome.

I do like cookies, although I think I may have eaten a few too many today. Otherwise I am finding time to write (to my own surprise) so I should be able to update this as often as I hoped.

A note to all those reading this on the other website it calls home (you know who you are and where it is) It should be updated there within the next two days, if all goes well.

Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy this.

"I'm very disappointed in both of you." The Principle said, using the stern voice he applied to anyone other than his own daughter; his thick moustache twitching as he spoke. "Breaking the school rules is bad enough, but to break the same one twice in a week is almost beyond belief."

Principle Delmus stared down at the pair of them. After Aelita had been escorted back to her room by Jim, both had received quite a surprise when he had taken them before breakfast to this office; an office they knew better than they should; where Aelita and Jeremie found themselves stood in front of Delmus' desk, with Jim standing guard behind them as though they were captured fugitives. The Principle always liked to look down on pupils he was punishing, to emphasise who was in charge; another thing they were all too familiar with.

Jeremie focused on staring at the floor. He knew Aelita was doing the same, but didn't dare to glance at her; when dealing with Delmus it was often best to keep quite and let him say his bit, there was little else you could do.

"Behaviour such as this is absolutely not acceptable, and especially from our two brightest students." Delmus continued; he liked leaving pauses, it always gave a moment for the statement to sink in. "You're are intelligent enough to know that the girls and boys are on different floors for a reason; which makes your actions completely inappropriate."

"But we-" Jeremie found himself blurting out before his mind had even contemplated what he was about to say. He was saved the need to think of something as the Principle simply cut across him.

"And don't tell me you were only studying!" For the first time his voice wasn't level, it held a hint of anger; something which was rare for the Principle to show, and always held some fear for Jeremie. "I have worked at this school for many years and I have heard that excuse many times, and once before from yourselves. You were not studying at that hour of the morning."

Jeremie didn't want to say anymore; but Aelita spoke up beside him, "It's true, that's all we were doing. Honestly."

Jim let out a single, short, harsh laugh. "It didn't look like studying to me." He said; sounding quite jovial; if there was on thing that made Jim happy, it was catching students who were misbehaving.

Jeremie realised what Jim must've seen; Aelita leaning toward him definitely did not look anything like studying. A heat filled his face as he realised what the Principle and Jim thought they'd caught, and he knew he must be blushing. This time he did glance at Aelita and saw that her face too had gone a shade of red.

"It doesn't matter what you were doing;" the Principle said, his voice back to its calm yet stern tone. "The fact it that you have simply flouted the school rules and must be punished severely."

-------------

"Yumi," Ulrich began; his voice slightly shaky. "I wondered… If you'd want to… to go to the dance with me?" He paused, "No, that won't do at all; I sound like Jeremie."

He gave a shaky laugh and wondered if Jeremie had actually managed to ask Aelita yet or not. It was a daft idea, those two would probably enjoy working away at the supercomputer in the factory more than dancing; come to think of it, could either of them actually dance? He laughed again, this time it actually sounded like a laugh; as he imagined how Jeremie might dance.

Then again, another thought intruded, Jeremie would probably have an easier time; he wasn't the one hiding behind the cafeteria practicing how to ask Yumi to go with him. With Jeremie it wouldn't matter how he asked, Ulrich knew Aelita would say yes in a heartbeat; but Yumi was a different question. She was the one, after all, who said that they should 'just be friends'; he felt a little twitch of anger at the thought; did she even like him, and how would she respond if he told her exactly how he thought they should be?

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, there was no need to worry about that now; he should focus on asking her to the dance first. He cleared his throat, "Yumi," Ulrich said, trying to speak smoothly, "Would you go to the dance with me?"

"I'd love to." Ulrich span round the moment he heard the voice; his heart seemed to jump into his throat. He knew the voice wasn't Yumi's, but it had still caught him completely off guard.

"Odd!" He exclaimed, in a voice that was half filled with shock and half with anger. His friend was standing right behind him, leaning nonchalantly on the wall of the cafeteria; his face was a single huge, mischievous grin; something that was not unusual.

"How long have you been standing there?" Ulrich growled; he never liked being caught unaware; especially when he was expressing his emotions, he was supposed to be the tough one of the group.

"Long enough." Odd responded, giving him a playful little smirk; Ulrich had to restrain himself from wiping it off his face. "You know, I could give you a few pointers."

"If I want relationship advice from you; it'll be when I'm trying to break up with someone." Ulrich said savagely, it felt better to get back at Odd; although they were friends, he could be very annoying at times, and they both knew that Odd couldn't hold a relationship with a girl for more than a week.

"At least I know how to ask them out in the first place;" Odd continued, not put off at all, "And you're right; you do sound like Einstein."

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"I didn't want you to miss breakfast." Odd put on an innocent looking face, which fooled Ulrich not at all; and this time he smirked back at Odd.

"Liar."

------

They were in the cafeteria for not even five minutes before Yumi joined them; taking a seat opposite Odd, who was proceeding to drop food on the table around. To Ulrich's annoyance, she sat beside him; and Odd looked up from his pile of food, much bigger than anyone else's, just long enough to flash a smirk and a wink across the table at Ulrich. It made him feel slightly uncomfortable to sit next to her like this; but he didn't show it; and, to his disappointment, neither did she.

"Hi guys." She said pleasantly; and the both responded in kind, Odd muffled with his mouth full of food and Ulrich simply grunting something which sounded like 'hi'. "Glad to see everyone's in such a happy mood today." she added sarcastically, "What's the problem?"

"Nothing." Ulrich lied, although the truth was he didn't know what was wrong; it was just that everything about the way Yumi was acting annoyed him immensely. He stabbed a sausage savagely with his fork, only to have it fall in half as he lifted it.

"Okay." Yumi said slowly, glancing over at Odd. "So, where are Jeremie and Aelita?"

Ulrich didn't respond, he was too occupied in trying to get the remaining halves of his sausage to hold into the fork; so Odd was forced to stop eating for long enough to speak.

"They're in the principle's office." He said simply, before returning to his food.

"The principle's office? Why?" Yumi sounded surprised, and Ulrich knew why; it was not often for Jeremie and Aelita to get into trouble like that.

"Because Jim caught Aelita in Jeremie's room last night." Ulrich responded; most of the school knew by now, not only because gossip spread fast at Kadic but also because Jim had woken up half the landing with his shouting.

Yumi groaned, "Not again, those two are going to be in serious trouble this time. What were they doing anyway?"

"One guess."

"The supercomputer," she sighed, Ulrich nodded. It seemed that all Jeremie and Aelita ever did was work on the supercomputer and fighting Xana; Ulrich sometimes wondered how they managed to have fun, but they both seemed to enjoy nothing more. It amazed him, what were the odds of finding two people so alike who knew each other?

"Speaking of which." Odd spoke up, "Look who's just arrived."

Ulrich didn't even bother looking round, he knew who it was. Sure enough, just seconds later, Jeremie and Aelita walked up to the table and sat, taking the two places next to Odd. Both looked absolutely down, staring at the floor, they didn't even greet their friends; and both were noticeable by the lack of trays and food.

"How did it go?" Ulrich enquired, doing his best to sound casual; despite the fact that he feared the worst.

"Well, you know the Principle," Jeremie started in a deadpan, expressionless voice. "He made his usual little speeches about how disappointed he was in us-"

"How we were a blemish on the school's reputation-" Aelita added.

"How our behaviour was completely terrible-" Jeremie continued.

"Unacceptable-"

"Inappropriate." Jeremie finished; and the two exchanged a look and a smile which sent Odd into a string of jokes, picking on them in the same way he liked to pick on Ulrich and Yumi… well, it would've; had he been looking.

"So, what's going to happen?" Ulrich asked impatiently.

"We've been given four hours detention every day for a week." Jeremie responded seriously; both of them had stopped smiling.

"That's it?" Ulrich was surprised, Principle Delmus was quite strict; and detention seemed a bit lenient given the circumstances. "We thought you'd be suspended at the least."

"Nope, just detention." Jeremie said happily, smiling broadly. "The Principle said he was being lenient because… er… how did he say it?"

"Because," Aelita chipped in; an equally broad smile on her face. "We're the 'best two students he has ever had'."

Ulrich was quite honestly astonished, but pleased at the same time. He knew what level of trouble they'd be in if Aelita and Jeremie had been suspended; Aelita had nowhere else to go for a start, then they'd have to fight Xana without them for a while, which was impossible.

"Sometimes I don't believe you two." Yumi said, distracting everyone's attention away from Jeremie and Aelita; there was a clear note of anger in her voice. "Do you realise how close we just came to disaster? If Delmus had suspended you, I'm sure you know what would've happened."

The smiles had been wiped from Jeremie and Aelita's faces; and Ulrich could tell from their expressions that they felt like they were up in front of the Principle again.

"Hey Yumi; let up." Ulrich said, in his best calming voice; but Yumi was having none of it.

"Be quiet Ulrich;" she snapped at him, before returning to scowl at the other two. "How can you sit here and take it so lightly? You've got to change this before you do get suspended." Jeremie opened his mouth to speak, but Yumi got the point before he had even started, "I know you have to work on ways to fight Xana; but can you break a few less school rules in the process? For a few weeks, whilst Jim calms down, you two have got to go to bed at a decent hour; stay in your own rooms; oh, and no more late night trips to the factory."

The groups sat silent for a moment; even Odd had stopped eating just to listen to Yumi's rant. Yumi wasn't often like this, but she was the oldest of the group; and had some quite motherly qualities.

"Yumi's right." Aelita said, after the pause. "We've got to start being more careful."

Jeremie nodded slowly; "I suppose." he turned to her, "Come on, we'd best get ready for school." And the two of them stood to leave.

"Hang on, aren't you going to have breakfast?" Ulrich asked as they began to walk away.

Jeremie turned for a moment, and said, "No. Someone took our portions." He said it with a note of bitterness in his voice; and Ulrich instantly knew why as Odd gave him a guilty grin.

------

It must have been ten minutes after Jeremie and Aelita left; ten minutes that the remaining three spent in complete silence… Well other than the sound of Odd eating three full breakfasts in a rather noisy manner. Ten minutes until Ulrich finally decided to say what was on his mind.

"You know," He said to Yumi, "You didn't have to be so harsh with them."

"I guess not," Yumi responded, and Ulrich was glad to hear that she sounded genuinely sorry. "But they've got to understand."

"I know, but they are the most intelligent kids in the school. Surely they've figured it out for themselves."

"They can be pretty stupid sometimes."

"I guess so." Ulrich smiled; he they had known Jeremie and Aelita to do some pretty daft things, mostly when the other was in trouble with on of Xana's plots; they could get quite reckless then. "We'd better be off as well, in about five minutes the bell will ring and we-"

Ulrich was interrupted by the school bell, ringing out its loud, shrill noise across the school. He frowned, checking the clock on his mobile; there was no doubt about it, the bell was five minutes early. He exchanged a puzzled glance with Yumi, and a quick look told him that the cafeteria was filled with others doing the same thing; many bemused looking students checking their watches. Odd had looked up from the remnants of his food again, to listen to the still ringing bell- wait… the bell shouldn't still be ringing should it?

It seemed to hit all three at the same time, what they were hearing, and they all said in unison "Fire alarm."