wow... okay, I know I haven't updated in like... a month... but this is a long chapter, so I hope you guys forgive me. I've just been super busy lately...

but I'll be updating more now that I'm not so busy. So I'm hoping to have the next chapter done by... next Friday? lol it will be exciting.

Yumi's POV

I took a deep breath, focusing on the floor tiles in front of me. I evened my breathing, listening to the pounding of my footsteps on the hard floor. I even began counting the teeny flakes of color on each square tile, but I knew it was hopeless. No amount of concentration could help me forget where I was. A hospital.

There was no logical reason to why a hospital should freak me out. I had never been in a hospital for anything hugely serious; I had been in for tons of broken bones and an ear infection or two, but nothing more. The only person I had ever visited in the hospital was Melanie's little brother when he had leukemia.

So now, as I walked down the hallway to visit Melanie, old memories resurfaced. Memories of the unwelcoming antiseptic smells, people being rolled around in wheel chairs, people knowing that they could die at any given minute…. I shook off the thoughts as I reached room 207, the room Melanie was staying in.

They had only kept her overnight for observations on her head injuries… an overnight that wasn't even fully necessary, as Melanie said on the phone last night. I shut my eyes tightly, turning the doorknob with shaky fingers. When I opened them, I sighed out in relief.

Melanie sat cross-legged on her bed underneath her thin white sheets. Part of her head had been wrapped up in white gauze, which scared me at first, until I saw how perfectly fine she looked. She was even wearing jeans under her hospital gown, I noticed, and all around her bed were tiny white paper cranes that I guessed she had been making almost the whole time she was here.

"Yumi!" she exclaimed, her face lighting up as she saw me. I waved slightly, giving her a weak smile. Her face fell a bit as she examined me. "God Yumi, what happened to you? Your face is as white as a sheet!"

She jumped off her bed, helping me to the chair beside her bed so I could sit down. I pushed her away gently, laughing a bit. "I just don't like hospitals much," I said with a shrug, taking a piece of square paper and sitting down. She sat down on her bed like before, and continued with her crane, giggling. "I almost forgot about how freaked out in hospitals you get."

I ignored her comment, beginning to fold the paper diagonally. Now that I could see Melanie was fine, I could feel the color in my face returning. "So," I asked conversationally, "how are you?" She rolled her eyes, muttering, "Fine."

She grinned as she looked over at me. "I'm doing better than William is anyway." She laughed, and I looked up at her, feeling nervous and guilty. "Sheesh Yumi, you really should see his eye… the swelling's gone down a bit, but it's still pretty black and blue." I felt my stomach sink.

"Is it really that bad?" I asked. Melanie shrugged. "It looks pretty awful, but William's taking it lightly. No brain damage or anything like that… he only has to stay here a few more days than I do." I raised an eyebrow. "How long are you staying here?"

She sighed. "I don't think the doctors like me much," she said, gesturing to the tiny paper cranes littering the floor, "so I think they're making me stay longer than they should. I have to stay two more days… just until Thursday. William has to stay until Sunday." She finished her little crane, grabbing a pink pen on the side of her bed to scribble a music note and the name of some Japanese band I didn't recognize on it.

"Why are they making you stay until Thursday?" I asked curiously as I folded up the head and tail of my crane. She shrugged again. "They want to run a bunch of memory tests on me, just to make sure I didn't damage anything. I couldn't remember almost anything from our day at the zoo, so they're worried I hit something bad up there." My eyes fell to the ground, remembering our day at the zoo, and how I had yelled at Ulrich. My fist clenched around the paper crane I was holding.

Melanie noticed my expression, and she gave me an anxious look. "What happened on the day at the zoo anyway?" I unclenched my fist, trying to repair the crane's damaged wings, and picked up Melanie's pen from her bed to doodle something on it. After a quick scribble I looked down, horrified, to see I had drawn a heart. Around a certain letter that came before V and after T.

Melanie leaned closer, waiting for a detailed explanation of the day at the zoo. And I knew, that sooner or later I would have to tell her about what was going on with me and Ulrich, even if she was his girlfriend. "Well Melanie, we-" I began slowly, my voice shaking, but I stopped abruptly when Melanie's hospital door swung open.

And can you guess who appeared in the doorway?

Tall, a bit overly handsome, a bit overly self-centered, much too cocky. Brown messy hair, eyes the color and warmth of melted chocolate… eyes that were now focused intently on me.

Ulrich walked up to me quickly, speaking urgently, knowing he would have under 10 seconds to say something to me before I left the room. But he wasn't going to get the chance to talk to me, because I wasn't going to listen.

"Yumi, we really need to talk," he said in a firm, confident voice. Isn't he ever going to give up?

I got up from my chair to leave the room as fast as I could, but I wasn't fast enough. Ulrich had grabbed my wrists, locking them tightly in his hands. Damn. He pulled me closer to him, so he could whisper something into my ear, but I jerked sharply away from him making us face to face.

I saw the sadness in his eyes as he watched me struggle, so he released his hands from my wrists and slid them down into my palms. He held my hands in his for a moment. Holy shit, his hands were warm. The warmth felt good on my cold skin.

His eyes found mine, and I actually could feel myself getting lost in them. But he got more caught up in the little moment than I did, so I broke away from him easily, feeling immensely exposed and vulnerable.

I ran out of the room leaving behind a dazed Ulrich and a no doubt dumbfounded Melanie.

I really needed to go talk to Aelita.

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Odd's POV

Do you think that maybe, if you erase something for long enough, even if it isn't erasable, it will erase?

I have been sitting here in detention for a solid 2 hours now, resting my chin on the hand connected to my propped up elbow, slowly moving the eraser of my pencil back and forth on the table with my other hand. I sat at the very end of one long table, a few yards away from the desk that Mr. Delmas sat at. He would scribble something on his paper furiously, then look up every ten seconds to give me a quick, icy stare, and then going back to his paper. Sheesh, go get some anger management, buddy.

But back to my thought before… it I actually sat here every day for my detention and erased at precisely the same spot, would I begin to erase the table? I had another 3 months of detention... it was possible, right?

Mr. Delmas looked up at the clock, furrowing his brows. He waved and grunted a little bit, which I assume meant that he was dismissing me. I ran out the door as quickly as I could, screaming "Freedom!" once I had reached the middle of the busy hall, feeling like I could fly if I really wanted to. A group of girls walking by giggled, so I winked at them, beginning to approach them.

Suddenly, I was wrenched back by the pull of someone else's hand on my shoulder. The familiarity of the sickly sweet scent sent my mind spinning, falling…. I turned around to face none other than Sissi Delmas. At the moment I decided I wouldn't bother erasing the table during detention… if I had to erase anything that seemed un-erasable, it would be herface.

"So, Odd…" she said, a smile playing at her lips, "how was your first day of detention?" She tossed her hair back, blasting her overly-powerful aroma into my face. I plugged my nose with one hand, waving the scent away with the other. "God Elizabeth, you stink." She smells like shit.

Her cheeks turned the color of her dark pink halter top. "My name is Sissi!" she thundered. Then her face calmed. I began walking away from her, hoping our conversation was over, but she followed, walking beside me.

"So, you like my new perfume? It's for Ulrich, of course." She battered her eyebrows. That made me snicker, knowing what Ulrich was in for. I actually felt sort of bad for him.

Just ahead of me, I saw Herve laying on the tiled hallway floor. I had absolutely no idea what he was doing there, or why he had decided to lie on his back in the middle of the hallway and look up at the ceiling, but it all brought a brilliant idea to my mind.

I looked past Sissi out the window for a moment, then feigned looking surprised. I pointed shouting, "Holy shit, Sissi, it's a flying pig!" I watched her eyes light up with excitement, as her face turned. "Where?" she asked in that stupid voice.

She continued walking of course, not looking where she was going. Just a few more steps….

BAM! She fell right over Herve, colliding face first with the hard school floors. I doubled over, cracking up, hoping I wouldn't break any ribs from laughing so hard.

"Herve, what are you doing there!?" Sissi shrieked, sounding embarrassed and irritated.

"I… uh…."

"You were what!?"

Herve hesitated, not wanting to say what he was about to say. "I… was pretending to be a squished ant… I'm doing a science project on ants, and well, I-" he began, but Sissi cut him off. "You are so… so…" she said, trying to find the proper wording. She gave up and just shouted, "STUPID!" which made me laugh harder.

Just then Ulrich came up to me, his face looking urgent. He opened his mouth to speak, but then sniffed and plugged his nose, looking revolted. "What is that smell?"

Sissi popped up right between Ulrich and I, reminding me of a jack-in-the-box. The stupid song the jack-in-the-box plays begins echoing in my head. Doo, do do do do dododo do, do dodo do do doo do….

"It's my new perfume, Ulrich darling!" she exclaimed answering Ulrich's question about the smell. Her face was superbly happy, just looking at Ulrich. All of her anger at Herve was gone. Speaking of Herve….

Herve stood up behind Sissi, gently prodding her shoulder with his finger. "Uh, Sissi…" he stammered. Sissi's face became angry, and she flipped around violently to face him. "Do you mind? I'm trying to talk to my Ulrich dear."

Herve began mumbling Sissi an apology, giving Ulrich and me a chance to escape. We walked down the hall quickly, trying to put as much distance between us and her. And the smell.

I looked over at Ulrich, who was running his fingers through his hair, the way he always does when he's stressed out.

"So," I asked casually, "what's up?" He's hesitant, and I get the feeling he's going to say something that he's going to regret later.

"Odd," he begins, closing his eyes, "have you ever liked someone… like, really liked someone… but they don't like you back? And every time you try to get closer to them, they just keep pushing you away?" His eyes shoot open, staring intently into mine. Holy shit… whoever this girl is, he's pretty damn serious about her.

He closes his eyes again, turning his head away. "What I mean is…" he pauses, thinking hard. "Have you ever wanted a girl so much that you'd do… anything for her?" Wow Ulrich, way to be dramatic.

My mind skims over the girls he's been spending time with lately. Emily? No… he hasn't talked to her in over 2 months. Sissi? I put my fist over my mouth to prevent myself from laughing. Melanie? She is his girlfriend after all… but he never really seemed that into her….

Who???

"Odd?" he asks, looking at me desperately for an answer. I smirk, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Ulrich," I begin, but a loud screeching sound makes me turn around.

"ULRICHHHHHH!" Sissi screeches, running towards us.

"RUN!" I shout to Ulrich, bursting down the hall at a full sprint, not bothering if Ulrich was following or not.

I would rather do anything than face the wrath of Sissi.

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Ulrich hasn't said anything about his little mystery girl since our talk when Sissi interrupted us. I've been asking everyone about it, and no one knows. No one knew Ulrich even had a mystery girl.

So of course, word got around. I only told like 5 people… maybe 20, and now the whole school knows. Figures.

"What the hell is this?!" Ulrich shouts, storming up to me. Shit.

He's holding up the Kadic news paper. I take it from him, backing away a few steps so I don't have to hear his furious intakes and outtakes of breath. Of course, he just comes up even closer to me. I'm glad I'm short- I don't want to have to look him in the eye.

The front page of the Kadic news stated in huge, bold letters "Ulrich: Secret Crush?!" Underneath was a picture of him, a short description of what had been heard about his secret love (I tried not to laugh when I skimmed over the rumor that said Ulrich had asked her to marry him… Ulrich? Getting married??), and there was a list of names with small pictures of nearly every girl in the entire school- his "possible loves".

The corners of my mouth twitched. "So," I said, hoping Ulrich wouldn't kill me, "when's the wedding?" His eyes narrowed and he shoved past me, rattling off a long list of swear words. "Come on, Ulrich," I called after him, "I was only kidding!"

Then I was bombarded by people from all sides interrogating me about Ulrich's secret love. "Does she go to our school?" "Is she in 10th grade?" "Is it me?"

I looked over at the redhead who had asked if Ulrich's secret crush was her, and winced when seconds later she was being pummeled by girls who claimed it was them.

Only one girl stood out of the fight, watching them all, her face radiating waves of extreme joy. I strolled up to her, sighing. "You honestly don't think you're his crush, do you?"

"Hmph." She flipped her hair. "Who else could it be?"

"Sissi, it's more likely to be Mrs. Hertz than it is to be you."

"What's that, Odd?" came a voice from behind me. I turned around and there Mrs. Hertz stood, looking annoyed. She must've heard me say her name.

"Uhhh… just that… you look lovely today!" I stammered quickly, and she glared at me. Guess I'm not as charming today as I normally am.

I walked away from the scene quickly, hoping to not get attacked by girls asked about Ulrich or Mrs. Hertz. Unfortunately, I got something worse from walking away; Sissi following me.

"You're going to take back what you said about me not being Ulrich's crush," she said simply as she walked beside me down the empty hall.

I raised an eyebrow. "And why, Sissi, would I do that?"

"Because you know Ulrich is in love with me."

I rolled my eyes. Yes Sissi, he's madly in love with you… that's exactly why he told you to fuck off a couple days ago when you tried talking to him, I thought to myself sarcastically.

"Sissi," I said, "no one would ever fall in love with you. No one even remotely likes you."

I didn't hold the door open for her as we left the hallway to begin descending down the stairs. Before I got to put my foot on the first step she turned me around, stopping me.

"Take that back, Odd," she said through gritted teeth. It's a good thing looks don't kill, because if they did I would be rolling on the ground screaming.

I was about to open my mouth to respond, but I guess I hadn't been fast enough. She took me by the shoulders and shoved me back, with a force I'd never thought possible for her. That's weird… Sissi doesn't have muscle.

I didn't have any time to make a remark about her lack of muscle though because my head hit something hard. I felt myself cry out in shock, but I kept falling. Things were colliding into me on all sides but I had no idea where I was because everything was such a blur.

When I stopped falling I tried to move to get up, but moaned in pain. Everything hurt… why did everything hurt so much?

I could hear Sissi's voice faintly… a few other voices too. But they were drifting away… my world was falling into a world of darkness and silence.

Then there was nothing.

((gasp)) Sissi pushed Odd down the stairs! ((mouth drops open in shock)) ...actually, I sort of knew that was coming lol. but I hope it surprised some of you!

So... anyone have a guess about who Ulrich's secret crush is? lol

Write me a review if you love me!! ...or if you don't love me, haha I don't care.

--bRoK3n h3aRt--