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Chapter 17

Melanie's POV

You know, school really sucks… wouldn't the world just be a lot better of a place if we didn't have school? If we didn't have to come sit in chairs and pretend to learn?

I contemplated this thought as I doodled a cool-looking animal I had never seen before on the inside of my math notebook. The bell hadn't even rung for school to start yet… and I was already bored. My cell phone vibrated.

And now, I'm not bored!

It was a text from William. Morning, Melonhead. I rolled my eyes. He was convinced that I had a childhood nickname, and when I didn't tell him what it was, he just made one up. Melonhead… what a loser.

Are you just waking up? I texted back, feeling jealous. I kind of wish I was still in the hospital… then I'd be able to sleep in. It was fun, spending the whole day there just hanging out with my friends and spending the nights just texting back and forth with William.

William and I had become pretty good friends in the time we spent at the hospital… and although he wasn't Ulrich-hot, he was pretty cute.

I could hear evil music erupt in the back of my head as my math teacher, Mr. Relliklaires, entered the room. His hair was slicked back way too much, his uni-brow needed some major plucking, and his greasy skin always gave me the shivers.

"Well hello, class," he said, his voice drawling as usual. He had this wild look to his eyes… it always made me jumpy. I almost screamed when my phone vibrated again.

Hello? Are you there? William had asked. I quickly typed, Yes loser, but I have math with Mr. Relliklaires right now… I don't want him catching me with my phone.

I could almost hear William laughing at me. Hahaha, have fun with that.

"Today class, I have a special surprise for you," he said with a creepy grin. He sounded amused. Save me! I typed quickly, hoping William would be able to come in time. I think every other person in the class was thinking the same thing; everyone's faces were pale and panicked looking.

But William wouldn't be able to save me, because Mr. Relliklaires was strolling around the classroom, meaning I had to turn off my phone. Uh oh.

"We have a new student joining us. Darling," Mr. Relliklaires said sweetly, making me and a few other people in the class shudder, "why don't you come out and introduce yourself?" I felt so bad for whoever that new person was.

But oddly enough, she entered the room with a gleeful smile on her face, looking perfectly at ease even though she was being stared at by 30-or-so teenagers and a half-man half-snake guy.

Her hair was almost a blinding silvery white, her skin fair against her bright yellow sundress. Little sun-shaped earrings dangled from her earlobes, casting light onto her excited sky blue eyes.

"Hello!" she said enthusiastically. "My name is Anna. Anna Xana."

I lip-sinked her name to myself a couple of times because it was fun to say, but then decided that I must look really weird and stopped.

"Anna," Mr. Relliklaires demanded, "take a seat next to Melanie please." She skipped over to the seat next to me, gently put her backpack on the ground, and sat down.

"Mr. Relliklaires is kind of creepy, don't you think?" I whispered to Anna. Anna Xana. Gosh, it's just so fun to say! Anna Xana, Anna Xana, Anna Xana….

She shrugged. "I don't know… he seems a little weird, but he's probably a good person deep down." I raised an eyebrow but she must've not noticed.

"Oh my goodness, I absolutely love your shoes!" she exclaimed, pointing down at the cute little shoes adorned with hearts that I was wearing today. I grinned. "Thanks."

The whole rest of the class period I filled her in about the high points of Kadic High and she responded happily with over-enthusiastic questions about classmates, places, and activities. She was pumped to be on the cheerleading team.

By the end of the hour, I was convinced that Anna Xana was the nicest, sunniest person I had ever met.

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Odd's POV

My phone buzzed beside me on my hospital bed, but I ignored it with a sigh. It was probably just Dora again… I swear, she was the most annoying of my 20 girlfriends at the moment. Well, technically I had 22 girlfriends… but 2 of them were best friends and I'm sure they'd figure out I was dating both of them in no time.

I picked up my TV remote and began flicking through channels but nothing was really on. The only good thing about being here instead of school was missing detention… and all of the girls, obviously.

My doorknob turned and I settled myself back in bed to prepare for a bunch of girls, but instead my bubble-gum haired best friend came in. Seeing Aelita was a thousand times better than a bunch of other girls.

I sat up. "Hey, Aelita. What's new?"

"Well, there's a new girl that came to our school today… her name's Anna Xana," she explained as she sat down on the chair next to my bed.

"Anna Xana…" I repeated. Hmmm… Xana… that name sounded really familiar…. "What's she like?" I asked.

Aelita shrugged. "I didn't get to meet her personally, but from what I heard she's super nice."

"Hey Aelita, it's your birthday next week, isn't it?" I asked. Crap, I still have to get her a present!

She looked a little surprised by my randomness, but happy. "Yep!" She sounded excited. "I'm having a birthday party next weekend… I think me and Yumi finally decided we're having it on the school roof, so almost everyone from Kadic will be there." Her eyes flickered to mine. "You'll be out of the hospital by then, right?"

Nope. "Don't worry Aelita, I'll be there," I confirmed.

"Okay Daisy," she said, giggling. I groaned. "Aw, I thought you'd forgotten about that!" She laughed and shook her head.

Aelita had started calling me Daisy when I told her that my parents were going to name me Daisy if I had been a girl. Luckily, she had agreed to stop when Sissi heard her call me it.

Aelita sighed. "Sissi must think you're insane."

"Speaking of Sissi," I asked, "does she still think she's Ulrich's secret crush?" It was the last thing I remembered before I fell down the stairs.

Aelita shrugged, looking away from me. "She's not Ulrich's crush anyway…."

I desperately tried to catch Aelita's eyesight, but she was looking the opposite way, her face screwed up in thought.

I gaped in incredulity. "You know who it is, don't you?" She looked back at me, panicked.

"No!" she answered way too quickly. I stared deep into her eyes, grinning. She looked right back and then groaned.

"Okay… so I know who it is… but I'm not telling."

"Is it… Melanie?" I asked.

"Nope."

"Emily?"

"Nope."

"Chelsea?"

"No!"

I pulled out the last edition of the Kadic newspaper, the one with a long list of girls who could possibly be Ulrich's crushes. I was about to start from the beginning of the list, but Aelita stopped me.

"She's not even on that list!" Aelita shouted. Then she quickly covered her mouth.

I looked over the list with wide eyes. It listed almost every girl in the entire grade… and girls in grades above and below us. It now even covered girls from other schools. How could she not even be on the list???

"Odd," Aelita said, "look, I'll only tell you if you swear not to tell anyone."

I grinned widely at her. "I won't tell a soul."

"Seriously, Odd," she said, her voice dropping a few tones quieter, "if you tell anyone and I mean anyone, she'll kill me."

I put my hands up in surrender. "I won't tell anyone!!"

"You promise?" she asked. It sounded sort of kiddish, but her voice was dead serious.

"Promise."

"Okay then…" she said, taking a deep breath, "it's Yumi."

My mind went totally blank. I blinked a few times. "Yumi? What's her last name?"

Aelita rolled her eyes. "Yumi Ishiyama," she said, "the only Yumi we know."

"Does Yumi have a cousin named Yumi?"

Aelita smacked her forehead. "NO! As in Yumi Ishiyama… the girl at our school who beat up William, long black hair, gray eyes… sporty, tough, my best friend."

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. "Does Yumi have an identical twin?" Aelita looked at me in disbelief.

"No, Odd! Ulrich's secret crush is Yumi, the Yumi he has hated ever since he has been born!" she exclaimed, sounding impatient with me.

…Whoa.

Aelita waved her hand in front of my unmoving face and unblinking eyes. "Hello? Odd?"

How could it have been Yumi, all this time? Yumi absolutely hates Ulrich… and Ulrich hates Yumi. But I guess he doesn't hate her anymore then… does he? As he said a few days ago, he would do anything for her.

Aelita was still waving her hand in front of my face desperately, looking worried, but I wasn't ready to come back to earth yet. Then suddenly, Sissi was standing next to her too, looking at me with concern. Sissi? Concerned?

What has the world come to?

"Aelita, I really need to talk to Odd… can you please leave?" Sissi asked, uncharacteristically politely. Aelita, looking as shocked as I was about Sissi being polite, left the room without a word.

I didn't want to talk to Sissi right now, I wanted to talk to Aelita. I wanted to ask her when Ulrich started liking Yumi, and how this was actually possible. But when I thought about it for a moment, Ulrich had been showing signs of liking Yumi for months now. Signs I was just too busy and unobservant to notice.

And then I grinned, realizing that I now had the information that would allow me to taunt Ulrich for the rest of his life.

Sissi sat down on the chair next to me, looking me over sadly. I had almost forgot she was there.

Then, she said something that I never thought she would ever say. Something so absolutely impossible, I thought she was bending reality. Something so earth-shattering, I forgot how to breath.

"I'm sorry."

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Milly's POV

"This is Milly and Tamiya of Kadic news, and we're sneaking into the hospital for an inside scoop on our latest story; Ulrich's Secret Crush," I announced in a hushed tone, watching Tamiya as I walked backwards to face the camera.

Tamiya gave me a thumbs up, signaling that the hallway behind me was clear so I could keep walking backwards without having to turn around. Pretty cool system, don't you think?

"Now," I began, feeling the intensity of a hard-hitting story, "we all know Ulrich's crush can't be-"

"WHAT?!" A thunderous shout erupted from the hospital room beside me, making me shriek in shock and jump away from the door. I helped Tamiya up from the ground, the loud noise had made her fall, and she readjusted her camera.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" Wait… was that Sissi's voice? Sissi? Saying she was sorry? Tamiya looked at me with wide eyes and flicked on her video camera. We pressed up against the door to listen.

"Odd, I swear I had no idea that would happen!" Sissi exclaimed. Wait, so Sissi was apologizing to Odd?

"Yeah, I'm sure you had no idea this would happen Sissi," Odd remarked back sarcastically. "You pushed me down the stairs!"

Tamiya and I looked at each other, are jaws dropped open in shock. Finding out Ulrich's crush was no simple task… but this? This was a scoop.

"I swear, it was an accident!!"

"You think you accidentally pushed me down the stairs?" Odd asked, sounding outraged. "God, Sissi!"

There was a brief silence and Sissi burst out, "I didn't mean for this to happen!"

Then, before me and Tamiya could react to what was happening, the door swung open to reveal a teary-eyed Sissi. Tamiya could only catch a couple seconds of the mascara trickling down her face and the red puffiness in her eyes and cheeks before we both burst away at a sprint.

This was hard-hitting reporting.

Yeah... I know, not my best I'm sorry...

Hey is anyone an Avatar fan? Am I just crazy, or is it really really weird that Aang is growing hair in Season 3?? I'm so freaking excited for the new episode though... I'm going to watch it right now!!!

Please review!!

--bRoK3n h3aRt--