Okay, this chapter might not really look like it has anything to do with the story, but it will tie in later. Sorry if you find this chapter boring.

Another chapter closer to the end!

ON WITH THE STORY

Look Before You Seek

Chapter 25

A consistent tapping sound echoed through Jeremie's room as his finger danced over the keyboard. To anyone else who might possibly hear the noises in his dorm would find them very annoying and a slight bit frustrating. Not many people could understand the complicated codes being typed into his computer, but if anyone was to see his face they would most probably think that he was actually getting somewhere, like all the meaningless words that he was typing actually had meaning, and they were affecting him in some way.

He suddenly jumped up, and stood leaning over his computer as he typed more codes into his computer at a much more rapid speed. Then something appeared on his screen that regular internet game users would know to be a loading window. When it reached 100, Jeremie sprinted out his door, leaving it wide open, and headed towards Aelita's dorm.

Aelita jumped off the door of her dorm when she heard quick knocks from the other side. She had been sitting against her door for at least an hour, making it around 10:00. She was still puzzled over Odd. She was caught completely off guard by Jeremie standing at her door, smiling and flustered.

"I did it," He announced happily. He sounded completely out of character.

"Did what?" Aelita said, now having his full attention.

"I did it," He repeated. "I did it! I did it, Aelita! I can materialize you completely! You won't be connected with the supercomputer anymore. I did it!" And with that, he gave Aelita a bear hug, which lifted her feet off the ground.

"Jeremie," Aelita gasped, as he was squeezing the breath out of her. He put her down.

"Sorry," he said quietly, looking at the floor. He meet her eyes briefly, and then returned his gaze to the floor, turning pink at the cheeks.

He then did something that was completely out of character for Jeremie. He took a quick step forward, lifted his head, and kissed Aelita lightly on the lips. It was so brief that Aelita didn't have any time to react before it was over. Jeremie walked swiftly away, seemingly embarrassed. He suddenly remembered something, and turned back to yell something to her from down the hall.

"Meet me at the factory. Don't bother about telling the others!" Then he was gone.

Aelita stared after him, still in shock.

Meanwhile, Minnie, who had just that moment reached the school grounds, (She had been strolling along very slowly, dawdling) and had gone to the Lunch room to get some breakfast. She was slightly down hearted when she found that they had just finished serving breakfast, and she would have to wait until Lunch. She still had a small amount of money, which she could spend on the vending machines, but she wouldn't be able to get any more money until she went home for the weekend next week. She decided she could go without breakfast, and wandered up to the dorm she shared with Aelita.

She reached the door, and found it lock. She figured that Aelita was with Jeremie or something like that, so she wasn't too surprised. The only problem was that she had left her key inside the dorm, and now had no way of getting in. She badly needed a shower and some fresh clothes, but it seemed that they would have to wait.

She wasn't sure what to do now, because what she really wanted was to go into her dorm and read. But that wasn't an option. She could go to one of the boy's dorms, but maybe they didn't really consider her a friend yet. Maybe they never would.

All of this was much too overwhelming for Minnie, and she sat down with her back resting on the door, Arms hugging her knees close to her, with her forehead resting on her knees. After a few minutes, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jerked her head up to see who it was, but the figure was blurry through her tearful eyes.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked. Minnie sniffed and wiped her eyes so she could see who it was better. The boy had blonde, almost brown hair, and looked a bit dopey.

"I'm fine," she replied, although it was obvious that she wasn't. She tried to look as if she was okay, but it failed miserably.

"Uhh, it doesn't look like your fine. Umm, maybe if you tell me I can help." The boy had a dopey voice to go with the face, but he seemed kind.

"Thanks, but I don't think you can help. I've locked myself out of my dorm, you see…" Minnie didn't finish what she was saying before the boy was talking again.

"Don't worry too much about that. I know how to unlock doors without the keys. But I need to get something first." The boy stood up, and offered Minnie a hand. She stared at it for a few seconds, before accepting the help. The boy was quite strong, and he was at least 3 inches taller than her. He led her down the hallway, to another girls dorm, and he knock on the door.

"Who is it?" A snobby voice called over the noise of a hairdryer, a voice Minnie recognized to belong to the girl who had pushed her on her first night here, the one Ulrich had called Sissi.

"Uhh, it's me,' the boy called back to her. The noise of the hairdryer stopped, and Minnie heard Sissi's footsteps getting closer and closer. Minnie was frightened, but stood her ground. The footsteps suddenly stopped, and the door swung open.

"What is it? You interrupted my beauty routine, so it better be important." Minnie had a good look at the girl, who probably didn't need to beautify herself on the outside, but needed to beautify her personality much more.

"Uhh, can I borrow a hair pin?" It seemed like a rather pathetic excuse, but he wasn't the brightest person, either.

"A hair pin? What on earth would you need a hair pin for?" Sissi seemed quite annoyed at the request.

"Uhh, this girl needs, uhh, she's lock out of her dorm, and, uhh, we need a hair pin to get back in." Once again, not the most convincing performance from the blonde boy. Sissi turned to look at Minnie.

"What's your name?" She asked in her superior tone.

"Minnie," Minnie replied. Sissi turned away.

"I'm not helping her." Sissi said.

"Uhh, but, uhh, but why?"

"Ulrich has written about her in his diary. There is no way I'm helping that girl." Sissi was talking like Minnie wasn't even in the room.

"You read his diary?" Minnie was so shocked that she didn't even realize that she had spoken out loud until it was too late.

"Well, it's not like he talks to me. But he'll talk to people like you and that Chinese girl. I doesn't make any sense." She seemed to think that reading someones diary was perfectly normal.

"But reading his diary? That's like, stalking!" Once again, Minnie had spoken before she knew what she was saying.

"Get out!" Sissi shrieked. "GET OUT NOW!" Minnie quickly rushed out, followed closely but the blonde boy.

"Well," Minnie said after they were safely outside. "That went well."

Uhh, yeah," said the blonde boy. He held up a hair pin. "It did." The blonde boy walked up to her door and jiggled it around for a few moments, before the lock caught and the door opened. Minnie almost squealed in delight.

"Thank you," She cried. "What was your name?"

"Nicolas," he relpied.

So what's Nicolas' role in the story? Find out in chapter , coming soon.

Please review. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanx

OcyTaviAh