Look Before You Seek
Chapter 13
Minnie stood, frozen, staring at Yumi, who was waving to her parents as she walked out the door. Yumi turned away from her house, and her eyes met with Minnie's. She froze, startled to see her, of all people, standing across the street. But she got over this shock very quickly, and anger rose inside of her, like a pot of hot water ready to boil over.
What Yumi did next was purely out of anger. She ran towards Minnie in a blind rage. All thoughts and emotions had left her. She now had only one objective: to hurt Minnie. She wanted to make Minnie hurt as much as she hurt.
Minnie, upon seeing Yumi running towards her, screeching a battle cry, had become unfrozen. She didn't run, because she knew that Yumi was much faster than she was, so she did the only thing she could think of in defence. She curled up into a little ball, put her hands over her head, squeezed her eyes shut tight, and prayed that she might live to see tomorrow.
When Yumi saw Minnie huddle into a ball, she stopped, surprised. She had never come up against anyone in a fight who didn't fight back, and she was at a loss. She looked at the girl that she despised more than anyone else (even Sissi), and she pitied her. Yumi took a few steps back, to try and signal that she wasn't going to fight, but Minnie didn't take any note of this. Yumi couldn't hear her, but she was muttering a silent prayer under her breath, and was oblivious to the world around her at that moment.
"Get up," Yumi said, gruffly.
Slowly, Minnie rose to her feet, shaking like a drenched puppy that was left in the rain. For the first time, Yumi registered the necklace hanging around Minnie's neck. It was a gold chain with a strange 't' shape hanging from it. The 't' was studded with diamonds, and it looked very expensive. Minnie could sense Yumi staring at her cross, and she fingered it absentmindedly.
"What is that?" She asked Minnie, in the same gruff tone that she had used before.
"It's a cross," Minnie said, still fiddling with it. "It symbolizes Christian faith and belief." Minnie couldn't think of any other way to explain it to Yumi, who would most probably follow her family's traditional religion.
"Oh," Yumi replied. "Why are you here?"
"I kind of got lost," Minnie said, feeling very nervous.
"How?" Yumi said very quickly, in a tone that made Minnie feel like she was under questioning.
"Well, I was- You see, it was my drink bottle. It rolled all the way here and I followed it." Minnie examined the grass, which was extremely green, as she said this.
"Your drink bottle rolled all the way here? It's a bit far to roll, don't you think. And it happened to end up right outside my house. Sounds like a bit more than a coincidence, don't you think?" Minnie came to the sudden realization that Yumi thought she was stalking her.
"Yeah, strange," She said, trying to hide her nervousness with a giggle. "Well, I'd better be off now. Don't want to be late for class." Minnie looked to her left, and then to her right, unsure of which way to go. All this time, Yumi was watching her. Minnie gave a nervous chuckle, and then headed in the direction she thought the school was in.
"Wrong way," Yumi said plainly, almost as though she was bored, after Minnie had taken a total of 4 steps. Minnie gave another nervous chuckle, then headed off in the right direction. Yumi walked beside her, silently showing her the right way. They said nothing the entire way there.
Back at school, Aelita had woken, once again, with no idea where Minnie was. She tried convincing herself that she would turn up at breakfast, or at class, but she still couldn't help worrying.
At breakfast, Ulrich was unusually quiet, concentrating on his food with a sour expression on his face. Odd was also silent, as though her was trying not to get Ulrich upset about something, and it was obvious to Aelita that that something was a someone called Yumi, and so she stayed silent too, although she was itching to ask about Minnie. But somehow, she felt that asking about her would only make things worse.
"Have you seen Jeremie?" She asked instead.
"Nope, haven't seen him," Odd said, trying to fake his usual happy self. "He's probably working on his computers." Odd's expression changed as he said this, and he looked away from Aelita. From is expression, it seemed as though he wanted to say more, but Aelia didn't pressure him. Friends didn't do that sort of thing.
Ulrich mumbled something about Yumi, and he walked out o the lunch room, leaving half a tray of food, which Odd quickly devoured.
"Is something the matter with Ulrich?" She asked Odd, even though it was obvious there was.
"Well yeah. Yumi is one problem, and Minnie is another. I think he's having a silent struggle over two girls," Odd said, as though it was as casual as getting new shoes because the old ones are too small and have holes in them.
"What?" Aelita said, shocked. "You think that Ulrich likes Minnie more than Yumi? He doesn't even like Minnie!"
"I don't think, I know. He does like Minnie. If you remember, it was him who finally folded and let her come with us that night, and now he's acting like it's everyone else's fault except him, and he's pretending to hate Minnie. Maybe he's trying to hate Minnie, so he won't have to deal with himself liking her, and he can get on with liking Yumi," Odd said, taking another mouthful of Ulrich's breakfast.
"I'm sure that's not true," Aelita said, sounding more sure than she was.
"Well, you're a girl. You're not expected to know how our minds work. And I know Ulrich. He'll try and hide his feelings, masking them with another emotion sometimes. Still, it's obvious when he likes someone. You can hear it in his voice when he talks about them." Odd did not look at Aelita as he said all this, more concentrated on his food than the conversation.
"What about when you like a girl?" Aelita asked sneakily.
"Who said I did?" Odd said defensively, almost sounding nervous.
"Oh, come on Odd. You've been out with almost all the girls in our grade," Aelita said, finishing off her food.
"It doesn't mean I like them. I mean, they're just pretty girls," Odd said nervously.
"You mean that you've never had any feelings for a girl that weren't just physical? That is so shallow, Odd!" Aelita said, although she wasn't surprised.
"I didn't say that I didn't like any of them, I'm just saying they weren't right for me." Odd had suddenly had trouble swallowing his food, and he choked and coughed once or twice.
"I'm going to see if Yumi's here yet," Aelita said, getting up and walking away.
"I like you," Odd said quietly, but it was too late, and he knew it. She was too far away to hear him now.