Heyy! Check it out! I updated on Friday, just like I promised!! I'm so amazing. lol

Chapter 16

Ulrich's POV

The hospital had become an oddly busy place in these past couple days… the doctors had actually begun to set limits on how many students from Kadic could visit their friends at one time.

Of course there was Melanie… loads of her friends visited. I think a couple had even come from Japan just to see her… her room was becoming a bit of a hang out. It's a good thing she's leaving today, because I actually heard that her doctor threatened her Japanese friends with a surgical knife when they refused to leave.

William's room had become a bit of a hotspot too… but he didn't get nearly as many people as Melanie. Most of the people he had visit him were family… damn, he has a lot of cousins. So he hangs out in Melanie's room with the rest of the crowd… another reason why her room is a complete disaster.

And to top that off, Odd had gotten himself in the hospital. When I asked him how he had managed to get himself there, he said he didn't really remember, but that apparently Sissi was at the scene and witnessed him falling down three flights of stairs. Which sounds a little suspicious to me… but oh well.

If you're sitting there, feeling awful for the blonde and purple spiky haired kid who has broken a leg and wrist, fractured a hell of a lot of bones in his body, and is covered in bruises the size of Jeremie's rather large brain, then seriously, don't. He is having the time of his life, believe it or not.

If Melanie had a lot of visitors from school, Odd's had three times as many. And yeah, maybe a good 35 come to ask about me and my mysterious crush (I still have to kill Odd for that), but once they see Odd all bruised and broken and in a wheel chair, they couldn't care less about me.

From the last time I visited Odd, this morning, he said he has 7 girlfriends. From when I called a couple hours ago, he said he has 11. He's only been in the hospital for overnight and half a day! And the half of the day he was in the hospital was a school day… but he had still managed to get some dates with girls.

School just let out for the day, today was Wednesday so we got out early, and I'm on my way down to the hospital again. If you think I'm going back to visit Odd, you're partly right, but partly wrong. Really, I'm just going to see if Yumi's there with William or Melanie again, but if she isn't then I'll probably visit Odd.

Yumi….

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When I ask the lady at the desk if I can go see Odd, his nurse interrupts the receptionist from telling me the room number.

"Odd Della Robbia requested me to prevent any more visitors from seeing him until later tonight," the nurse said quickly. "He needs his rest."

I raised an eyebrow at the nurse, knowing Odd would never stop the flow of girls from coming to his room. The blonde nurse shrugged and walked away swiftly, but a smile tugged at her lips as if she was hiding something.

I remembered the general direction in which Odd's room was, so I just went there by memory from what I saw this morning. When I got to his room I wasn't surprised to see the lights on and hear a girl giggling, as well as his all-too-familiar laugh. I peered into the room, with no intention of disturbing them, just wondering who it was.

I saw the back of Aelita's bubble-gum pink head, sitting next to Odd's bed. He lay there, sitting up, hooked to a couple machines, wrapped up in bandages, arm in a sling, his scrawny body looking strangely fragile. But his face was different- it was full of happiness and joy, as if he'd rather do nothing else in the world than talk to Aelita. I'm betting her face looked exactly the same.

I'm beginning to wonder if those two are just friends….

"Ulrich?" I heard a voice from behind me. I turned and saw Melanie, in jeans and a sweatshirt. Her eyes were scanning mine as if they were trying to pry information from me.

I blinked in surprise. "Yeah?"

"Could I talk to you for a sec?" I nodded, and followed her as she led me down the hospital corridor. "So," I said, gesturing to her clothes, "are they letting you out today?"

"Nope, not until tomorrow," she said, sounding irritated as she lifted up her sweatshirt to reveal a hospital gown tucked underneath. "But these hospitals are freezing! I don't see how they can expect you to just wear these flimsy little gowns," she complained.

I smiled at her distantly- Melanie's similarities to Yumi only brought my mind back to my secret crush.

She brought me into her hospital room, closing the door behind us, and sat down on her bed, patting the spot next to her. I sat down next to her, suddenly realizing that this was my first time really visiting her in the hospital. Gosh, and I'm supposed to be her boyfriend...

"Ulrich," she began in an even tone, "this boyfriend- girlfriend thing really isn't working out between us." I looked up at her in shock. Was she breaking up with me?

She gave me a sympathetic look. "I know you really haven't ever liked me that much, and I probably should've gotten to know you a little better before I agreed to go out with you… the only thing I was thinking when I said yes was, 'Damn, he's hot'." I smiled a bit at this.

I was about to apologize to her for our relationship going bad, but she stopped me. "It's Yumi, isn't it?"

This caught me off-guard. How did she know about me and Yumi? She laughed at my surprise. "It's really not too hard to figure out the whole situation between you guys."

Then she put her hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes. "Ulrich," she said softly, "Yumi says she hates you, but she feels something different for you deep down… really deep down." Melanie shrugs. "She just doesn't know it yet."

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Relief washes over me. "Thanks, Melanie," I say gratefully.

She smiles. "But for the record, I'm on her side in this whole war between you and Yumi. She's my cousin and my best friend, so there's no way I'm ever siding against her." She grinned as she stood up to leave the room.

"I'll be rooting for you, though."

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Aelita's POV

It was a relief to see Yumi again… even if she was clutching on to me as if in any minute I was going to be sucked into a never-ending vortex. She's been calling me her 'bodyguard' ever since her last encounter with Ulrich at this hospital. I had wanted to spend more time with Odd, but Yumi had dragged me from his room down to the hospital lobby. And when I say she dragged me down here, I mean that literally.

"Oh my god, Aelita, what if he's plotting with Melanie to attack me?" she asked in a panicked voice. I rested my arm around her shoulders. She had seen Ulrich and Melanie going off to Melanie's hospital room to talk, and now she was freaking out.

"Yumi, I think you're making too much out of this."

Yumi began another frantic search of the hospital lobby for Melanie or Ulrich, but spotted someone else and muttered something about magnets under her breath.

I was about to ask her what she was talking about when someone came up from behind me and put their arm around me. I dropped my arm from Yumi's shoulders and turned to see Jeremie standing next to me, blushing. He kissed me on the cheek, which only made his face redden more. "Hey, Aelita."

I smiled at him, feeling my cheeks heat up too from his greeting. "Hi, Jeremie." He beamed at me.

"So… what have you been doing since school let out?" he asked curiously.

"I just came here… to visit Odd."

His face tightened a bit at that, and he took back his arm from around me. "Odd?" he asked. I felt my eyebrows come together in confusion. "Yes," I confirmed. His fist clenched.

"Aelita… I uh… have to go," he said coldly. Then he turned his back and left the hospital before I could say another word.

"What was that about?" I asked Yumi, but she just shrugged, looking as bewildered as I was.

"Oh shit," Yumi mumbled quickly, yanking me in front of her, like a protective shield.

I groaned as I watched Melanie and Ulrich approach. They weren't walking with each other, they had put a fair amount of distance between each other, but they had the same destination- us.

"Hey guys," Melanie greeted, approaching us before Ulrich. Ulrich stepped forward towards us hesitantly, but caught Melanie's eyes. The two exchanged a meaningful glance and Ulrich walked away following Jeremie's path out the hospital doors.

I scrutinized Yumi's expression, whose suspicious look told me she had noticed the look exchanged by them as well. "We broke up," Melanie said quickly, answering our unasked question.

"Oh?" Yumi asked, trying to sound indifferent but excitement leaked through her voice. "Yeah," Melanie said with a shrug. "He's kind of a jerk."

Yumi's eyes lit up, and I could see how happy she was that Melanie was on her side. "He really is an ass hole, isn't he?"

Melanie laughed, and listened as Yumi began listing thousands of awful things he had said and done.

I sighed, watching the doors where both Jeremie and Ulrich had exited the hospital. "Hey guys… I think I'm going to go upstairs and hang out with Odd again," I explained.

Yumi briefly stopped her flow of Ulrich-hating phrases then looked at me, shooting me a grin. "Have fun!" She and Melanie went right back to their Ulrich insulting. Sheesh.

I smiled as I thought of talking with Odd again, and hurried back up the stairs to him, hoping he hadn't allowed the flow of girls back into his room.

Horray!! Ugh, I don' t know how often I'll be able to update with school just starting up for me... man, I have an unbelievible amount of homework.

But yeah. I actually do have the next chapter already written, but it still needs mucho editing. I could put it up... mabye next weekend? I'm not sure...

I will give you a sneak peek of the next chapter... lol just to torture you.

"Then, she said something that I never thought she would ever say. Something so absolutely impossible, I thought this must all be a dream. Something so earth-shattering, I forgot how to breath."

Hehe.

It's not what you think though... so don't get too excited.

--bRoK3n h3aRt--