OddObsessed- Thanks for for the correction! Will change it ASAP. Yumi is over-reacting, but would you really expect anything less from her after what just happened? Don't worry, everything will work itself out. At least, I think it will. You never can tell when a story has a mind of it's own... Thank you for reviewing!

ON WITH THE STORY!

Look Before You Seek

Chapter 11

Minnie avoided Yumi after their short encounter in the corridor. Yumi frightened her more than any other person ever had. It was obvious that Yumi hated her, but Minnie wasn't sure what Yumi could, or would do. Aelita had told her that Yumi was a mean fighter, and Minnie didn't want to get in her way for fear of getting hurt.

Not only was she avoiding Yumi, but it seemed that she was avoiding the others too. She didn't usually talk to them much, but now she just completely blanked on them. She sat as far away from them as she could get, and acted like they didn't exist. It seemed that she was taking Yumi's threat very seriously.

At break time, Minnie sat at her desk, slowly packing her things away. She was terrified to go out in case she was confronted with Yumi again. She didn't leave the classroom until break was over. She was relieved to see that Aelita hadn't waited for her again, as she didn't want her to know about her fear of Yumi, and she didn't really feel like being pestered.

Between break and Lunch, she kept her head down, focused on her work, only looking up when the teacher spoke. Aelita kept giving her worried glances, but Minnie never saw any of them.

"Ulrich," she whispered. "I'm worried about Minnie. She hasn't talked to us since breakfast." Aelita's eyes were filled with concern.

Ulrich mumbled something without looking at her. It didn't sound very nice.

"What?" Aelita whispered. "Look, somethings up with her. What do you think?"

"I don't really care, Aelita. She's not our friend." Ulrich's words were harsh, even if they were true. Yet, Aelita still felt like she should be nice to Minnie. After all, she hadn't even been there a week, and she was already in over her head, and had made enemies before making any real friends. So, Aelita defended Minnie.

"Hey, you were the one who convinced us to take her to Lyoko," Aelita whispered.

"Well, that was only to make up numbers," Ulrich whispered back in defense.

"Sure it was," Aelita whispered, and said no more.

Suddenly, Ulrich wondered why he was so quick in letting Minnie come with them. I mean, she had been in the school for less than one day at the time. But Minnie had been stubborn and determined. Ulrich hadn't known then that letting Minnie go to Lyoko with them would be such a big mistake. Now Yumi didn't trust any of them, and it seemed that Minnie was Yumi's enemy before they'd even met. He felt like it was all his fault.

Minnie was quick to leave when the bell rung for lunch. She didn't even go to the Lunch room to eat. Instead, she took a salad her mother had prepared earlier and put in a freezer bag for her,to keep it as fresh a possible. She took her lunch down to the woods, where she ate and read until the bell went for the end of lunch.

Today was a Thursday. Tomorrow, she would be able to go home for the weekend. Her mother had said that she would send her packed lunches and new sheets, provided she brought the old ones back. But tomorrow, Minnie would go home for good. She hated it at Kadic. She knew she would from the moment she stepped in the gate. It was a place of secrets that were not meant to be reveled, and place were dreams turn into nightmares. A place where one girl can make you fear for your life...

Maybe Minnie was being to drastic, but you must understand that she was a very sensitive girl. In almost every movie, she would cry. She even cried over th sadder scenes in some of the books that she read. She cried whenever anyone yelled at her, or made her feel horrible inside. But she was just as easily turned happy as she was sad. Yumi made her feel horrible on the inside. Yumi made her feel like all she had brought with her to Kadic was catastrophe and pain. She was the reason that Minnie needed to leave. Yumi terrified her. She scared her to the bone. She was the reason that Minnie had to leave. Minnie felt like leaving was the only way to make things right. Like the only way to fix a problem was to run away and wait for it to fix itself.

Minnie made it through the rest of that day without seeing Yumi. When the bell rang to signal the end of school, she bolted to the dorm she shared with Aelita and stayed there for the rest of the night. She didn't even come out for dinner. She just sat and read, trying to escape into the world of words...

Meanwhile, Ulrich was desperately trying to get Yumi's attention for the entire day.

During break, she had stay away from them completely, foiling Ulrich's plot of trying to get her to forgive him casually.

Then, during lunch, she sat at a table with some smaller children, who were blowing bubbles in their drinks with straws, and having contest to see how much food they could stuff in their mouths without swallowing. Then, when they had finished their lunch, he tried to catch her outside, but she had already disappeared, and Ulrich had no idea where she could have been.

As it was, Yumi was in the woods during lunch, crying her heart out, because her only friends had betrayed her. She appear strong and stubborn on the outside, but everyone has feelings. Yumi just needed to express hers alone. It was just lucky that Minnie wasn't wandering that lunchtime, as Minnie would have surely stumbled upon Yumi crying, and who knows how it could have ended.

Ulrich then tried catching her before she left, but she was gone before he even got to the gates. Ulrich was depressed. He wanted Yumi to know how sorry he was, to forgive him, but he immediately felt horrible for think this. She was the one who had been betrayed, and he wanted her to understand how he felt? Could he be anymore selfish? He should be trying to show empathy towards her, not trying to make her feel sorry for him.

But life is always changing. No day is ever the same. Each day brings new things, new experiences. Each new day brings new ope. Things are always changing, and the next day changed many things, and affected many things too. Whether it be for better or for worse, I'll let you decided that. All I can tell you was that things changed.

Ooo! What changes? Will tell you in the next chapter. Please review.

Thanx!

OcyTaviAh