Look Before You Seek
Chapter 14
As Aelita walked towards the school gates, she noticed Ulrich standing, frozen, staring at someone who was heading into the school. When Aelita saw who it was, she froze to, unable to believe what she was seeing. It was Yumi, walking through the gates, with Minnie next to her.
Minnie seemed very frightened, suppressing a shiver of fear every now and then. As soon as they reached the gates, Minnie bolted to the direction of the dorms, face as white as a ghost's, her hair streaming out wildly behind her.
Ulrich glanced at Minnie fleeing from Yumi, and Aelita saw a glimpse of what appeared to be concern in his eyes, but that quickly left them as he turned towards Yumi. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to say something. When he finally shut it for good, Yumi turned away from him and walked away. He stared after her, as though he wanted to run after her, but he didn't. He looked down at his shoes and slowly walked away.
Aelita, who had been a witness to the whole confusing scene, didn't know what to do next. She wanted to go and talk to Yumi, but she was sure that it would only make a bad situation worse. She thought about talking to Ulrich, but he probably wouldn't talk to her. She felt sorry for Minnie, but also felt that Minnie needed some time alone. She couldn't really talk to Odd, so she went to Jeremie's dorm.
She knocked on the door once, twice, three times, before Jeremie opened it. His face was pale, and he had dark shadows under his eyes. He looked very tired and fed up, but his eyes lit up when he saw it was Aelita. He didn't say anything; he just opened the door and let her in, and then went back to his computer. Aelita sat on his bed, examination what he was doing.
Suddenly, he turned to her. "Is something wrong?" He asked, as though he had forgotten to ask before.
"Well," Aelita started, but then the computer Jeremie was working on started beeping. He turned to it, and quickly started typing in computer codes.
"Another activated tower. X.A.N.A.s getting faster. Go get Yumi, and I'll call Ulrich and Odd. We'll meet you down at the factory." This was Aelita's cue to leave.
She raced down the corridors, looking for Yumi. Finally, she rang Yumi's mobile. She was still running and puffing as the phone rang. Yumi didn't pick up. She tried 3 or 4 times before Yumi picked up.
"What?" Yumi said angrily into her mobile.
"We…need…you…at…the factory," Aelita managed to puff out.
"You seemed fine last time you went without me. Why don't you just get Minnie to go with you?" Yumi sounded very jealous indeed.
"We…need…you," Aelita repeated, trying to get her breath back.
"Well, I don't see why-" Yumi started, before Aelita interrupted.
"Just hurry up!" She yelled into the phone, and then she hung up. She stopped to rest against the wall for a few moments, before running in the direction of the factory. It wasn't like her to yell like that, but, then again, no one has really been himself or herself lately.
Aelita got to the factory to see Jeremie at the super computer by himself, typing in codes and such. She assumed that the others were just late, and so she waited, silently, with Jeremie. It seemed they were waiting for an eternity, before Yumi arrived.
"Where are the others?" She asked, as though she could bear to speak their names. Aelita and Yumi looked at Jeremie.
"Well," Jeremie said, rather nervously. "Odd said he would come. I'm not sure about Ulrich though." He didn't look at either of them as he said this.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Aelita asked him, but he didn't answer.
Just as the words left Aelita's mouth, they heard the elevator doors open, and out stepped Odd, followed by a very grumpy looking Ulrich. For a few moments, there was silence.
Then, very suddenly, Aelita couldn't here Jeremie tapping the keys on the keyboard, and she heard him take a sharp intake of breath.
"What is it Jeremie?" She asked, looking over his shoulder at the computer screen.
"The tower," He said, staring at the screen in disbelief. "It's deactivated itself."
Upon hearing the news that she was not needed anymore, Yumi headed straight towards the elevator. She brushed by Ulrich as she passed him, and he took a long, shaky breath. As the elevator doors closed, Ulrich quickly slipped inside with Yumi.
"What are you doing?" Yumi asked, looking him directly in the eyes. Ulrich could see that her eyes were full of anger, and he looked down at his shoes.
"Yumi, I'm sorr-" Ulrich didn't get to finish.
"If you're here to say sorry, don't. You already said it. Words won't change how I feel," she said stubbornly.
Ulrich looked up to see her still staring at him. He felt very nervous under her gaze.
"Yumi, I" He started, faltering slightly. "I love you."
The elevator door opened, and Yumi ran straight out. Ulrich called after her, but she didn't stop.
He's lying. She thought. He's lying. I'll bet that they set it all up so that they can get me to go back to Lyoko, to get me back into the group. He doesn't love me.
But, no matter how much she tried to convince herself, no matter how much she tried to hate him for what he had done, she couldn't deny that she loved him back.