Look Before You Seek
Chapter 17
Ulrich wondered about Minnie for the rest of the day. She showed up at class after lunch, but she didn't do any work. She just sat, staring straight ahead. Ulrich occasionally glanced at her, not wanting to be caught staring at her. But Odd caught him looking at her anyway.
"Where did you really go when you said you had to go to the toilets?" Odd whispered. Ulrich looked at him.
"To the toilets," He replied.
"No, really, where did you go?" Odd knew that he really didn't go to the toilets, because he was gone all lunchtime too.
"I went to see Minnie," He said, trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal. But, instead of the shocked outburst that he expected, Odd smirked, as though he had known all along that that was where he had gone. "What?" Ulrich asked, annoyed.
"You like her," Odd whispered as a reply.
"I don't," Ulrich insisted.
"You do," Odd whispered back. Ulrich sighed.
"She's afraid of me."
"How do you know?" Odd asked suspiciously.
"I could see it in her eyes," Ulrich whispered.
"Uh huh. What colour are her eyes?" Odd asked sneakily.
"They're a bluey-grey, like the colour of storm clouds," Ulrich said dreamily.
"So you do like her," Odd concluded.
"I never said that," Ulrich said, a little too loud, making a few people give him funny looks.
"All I can say is that you better choose between Minnie and Yumi. And, since it seems Yumi is currently unavailable, you should choose Minnie."
"Thanks for the advice," Ulrich replied, turning towards the window and gazing out, still pondering about Minnie.
Later that day, after school, Aelita and Jeremie joined Odd and Ulrich in their dorm. Ulrich wanted to ask Aelita about Minnie, but he didn't want Odd launching into a big explanation to why Ulrich is asking, so he tried to ask about Yumi, but he couldn't. Every time he thought of her, his mouth went dry, and angry boil in him, as well as pain, when he thought of her with the dark-haired boy.
Fortunately, Aelita brought up both Minnie and Yumi in the conversation, making things slightly easier for Ulrich. She had discovered that the dark-haired boy was in Yumi's class, and was called William. She also informed them that Minnie would be staying at school for the weekend. Odd gave a sideway glance to Ulrich, who thought about kicking him, but figured it would look too conspicuous.
It turned out that he didn't have to worry about looking conspicuous, as Odd thought he might share to the others what he had learnt today. They both looked at him, shocked, seeing by his downwards glance and his flushed cheeks that Odd was telling the truth.
"What about Yumi?" Aelita said, still shocked.
"I never said that I don't still like Yumi," Ulrich said, still looking at the ground.
"But you can't like both of them!" Jeremie was almost yelling at him. It was unusual for Jeremie to act this way, as he was the computer genius, not an expert on girls at all.
"I know! I know." Ulrich wasn't sure what else to say. His friends had found him out before he could understand how he felt himself. He liked Yumi. He had always liked Yumi, but Minnie was different. Ulrich shook his head. He didn't understand girls at all.
"You need to talk to them," Aelita said to him quietly. She did really want to mention Yumi to much, but he did need to talk to her.
"I already talked to Minnie," he replied quietly. Aelita looked at him with surprise.
"What did you say? What did she say?"
"I said sorry," he replied plainly.
"And?" Aelita said persistently.
"She didn't say much. She kept running away. She left her drink bottle behind, too."
"She ran away?" Jeremie asked, puzzled.
"Ulrich thinks she's afraid of him," Odd said like it was no big deal.
"Could we please stop talking about this?" Ulrich said, slightly annoyed.
Just as the words left his mouth, Jeremie's laptop started bleeping. A tower had been activated.