IIIIIIII'MMMMMMMMMMMMMM BAAAAAAACK!!!!!

I never really went anywhere, but did ya miss me??? It's getting kinda late so I'm gonna get started with this chapter so I can just dive into it tomorrow morning.

I'm sorry for the REALLY late update but a lot of birthdays are in February and with that many sleepovers one needs to catch up on sleep and keep up with piano lessons.

Anyway, here's the disclaimer so let's get movin.

The all important Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko da tat da ta da. I do own Nikki, though, and the plot! Don't forget the plot!!!(Of this story)

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Aelita walked towards the bench that her boyfriend was sitting on, waiting for her. The pink haired girl's stomach was in knots, mostly because she knew what was coming, and she didn't know how she felt about it.

A few seconds later, her thinking time was up and she was standing beside him.

Brian's voice was soft and friendly, like always, "You can sit down you know."

Aelita forced herself to do as he said, "You wanted me to meet you?"

The boy next to her made a face, "Yeah."

Aelita sighed and looked up at his face, "I already know what you're going to say; you want to break up."

Brian frowned and nodded, "I'm sorry."

Aelita put her hand on his cheek to make him look at her, "Don't be, I was going to say the same thing."

"We all deserve a shot at love, right?" Brian forced a smile on his face.

Aelita let her hand drop and returned the smile, "Yeah, I guess we're not supposed to be more than friends."

"But if you don't mind, I still want to be your friend,"

Aelita nodded and stood up, "Of course. I'll see you later."

Brian waved as Aelita turned and walked away.

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Aelita met Yumi on the way to Nikki's room. When they got there, Nikki was walking out of the room hanging up her cell phone and putting it in her pocket.

"Who was that?" Aelita was trying to keep her voice steady after her recent breakup.

"Just my parents," Nikki explained casually.

Yumi seemed to see through her casual tone, "Is there something wrong?"

Nikki dismissed the idea quickly, "No, they just wanted to check in on me. I haven't called them in a while."

"Now that I think of it, you haven't," Aelita said thoughtfully.

Nikki cocked her head slightly and looked at Aelita as if she was telling the biggest lie in history, "Alright Aelita what gives? You're not acting like you normally do."

Aelita froze for a moment, weighing her chances of getting away with a white lie. Deciding against it, she said "Brian and I broke up."

Both of her friends' faces immediately turned empathetic.

"Are you okay?" Nikki asked, resting a hand on the pink haired girl's shoulder.

Aelita nodded, "I'm not really sure how I feel about it just yet, but I'll tell you when I figure it out."

Yumi glanced at her watch, "We better hurry, or we'll be late. And who knows what Odd's going to say if we're not on time."

"Yes because hanging out in the rec. room with the others and Odd's current girlfriend is such a formal occasion," Aelita joked.

Nikki frowned, "You two go ahead, I think I'm going to shoot some arrows by the track."

"Are you sure?" Yumi asked, seeming to realize Nikki's reasoning.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with everyone later."

Aelita eyed her suspiciously, "How are you going to shoot arrows if Jim has all the archery equipment locked up?"

Nikki grinned, "Mr. Delmas said that as long as I kept up a B average and I told Jim when I was borrowing the equipment, I could use it anytime outside of school hours."

"Alright, that's good enough for me. C'mon Aelita, lets go," Yumi was walking away and Aelita ran a few steps to catch up with her.

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When Aelita and Yumi got to the rec. room, Odd hadn't arrived yet. Ulrich and Jeremy were talking about something random before the girls sat down by them.

"Where's Nikki?" Ulrich asked, breaking from his and Jeremy's other conversation.

"Skipping the whole 'meet Odd's current girlfriend' thing I suppose?" Jeremy asked knowingly.

"Yep," Aelita replied, "I'm not really surprised, I mean it's not like we don't do this once or twice a month."

"True," Ulrich muttered.

That was when Odd walked through the door; a slight girl with bright red hair and green eyes following behind him.

"Hey everybody, I think that most of you already know Amelia," Odd's tone was light, as he flopped onto the empty couch.

"Hey everybody," Amelia sat next to Odd and he rested an arm around her shoulders.

Everyone returned the greeting and Yumi introduced herself. The next hour or so consisted of chatting and ping pong tournaments.

After a while, Amelia excused herself saying she still had homework to do.

"So why didn't Nikki show up?" Odd asked, breaking the momentary silence.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Yumi asked, taking a sip of the soda she had gotten.

Odd answered the question fervently, "I didn't want to mention it in front of Amelia. But where is she?"

"She told us that she was going to shoot some arrows down by the track. I can't be sure that she's still there though," Aelita explained calmly.

Odd didn't say anything; he merely stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

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Nikki pulled the bowstring back and let it snap back into place again; sending her last arrow soaring into the center of the target. Another perfect bull's eye.

The girl sighed and walked towards the target. She silently pulled the arrows out and placed them back into the quiver.

After she had put the equipment back, she returned to the track and lay on her back in the grass.

"Where the hell have you been?" An angry voice came from behind the girl.

Nikki sat up to see Odd coming towards her.

"What do you mean?" Nikki asked, knowing what he meant.

"You know what. We were all going to hang out in the rec. room, along with Amelia."

Nikki wasn't fazed by his anger, "I've already met Amelia, and she sits next to me in a few of my classes."

Odd frowned at her, "That's beside the point-"

Nikki stood, up, cutting him off "Then what is the point Odd; the fact that I didn't want to re-meet another of your girlfriends even though you're going to have a new one in less than a week?!"

"That's not what I meant! I just wanted to know why you didn't show up even though you already said that you would!" Odd shouted.

Nikki shouted back, but a tiny bit of hurt etched its way into her voice, "Dammit Odd! I didn't show up, because I was sick of it!!! I can't take doing this so often! It hurts too much!"

Odd didn't take fully take in what she had said, "Well if it's so painful don't put up with it!"

Tears were stinging Nikki's eyes but she didn't dare let them fall, "Maybe I won't!"

She raised a hand to slap him but she stopped inches before she made contact with his skin.

Odd froze, "Nikki, I-"

"No Odd," Nikki interrupted abruptly trying not to cringe, "Just don't say anything, it only makes it worse."

Before Odd could say anything, Nikki took off towards the dorms, determined to get away before Odd had a chance to see the hot tears streaming down her face.

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Ulrich was walking idly through the forest, kicking a people in front of him. Odd had disappeared after Amelia had left, Jeremy was working on another computer program, and he had no idea where the girls were.

Naturally, his thoughts drifted to Yumi.

Ulrich groaned and kicked the pebble as far as it would go. Lately his thoughts had been even more overcrowded with the Japanese girl. It wasn't a bad thing, until it became almost all he could think about. He knew he loved her, but what he didn't know was what she thought about him.

Before his thoughts could drift any further, Odd came through the trees on Ulrich's left. Odd's shirt sleeve got caught in the bush and he cursed in a frustrated tone.

"You're in a pleasant mood,"

Odd heard Ulrich's voice and looked at him, "You could say that, if you were okay with being a liar."

"Ouch, that hurt," Ulrich said, putting a hand over his heart, "But seriously, what's up? The look on your face says you've just had the worst breakup of your life."

"Not quite," Odd muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Realization hit Ulrich and his eyes widened slightly, "You fought with Nikki, didn't you?"

Odd winced when the girl's name was mentioned, and he nodded sourly.

After a moment, Odd slumped against a tree, his head in his hands, "I didn't mean to get mad, I don't know what happened."

Ulrich sat next to his friend and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "It'll be okay, she can't stay mad at you forever."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Odd muttered under his breath.

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Knock knock

Nikki looked at the closed door of her room. She wiped the tears from her face before saying "Come in."

The door opened to reveal Aelita and Yumi, both with concerned looks on their faces.

"What's up?" Nikki asked, trying to sound indifferent.

Yumi looked at her skeptically, "Don't bother with that, we saw you running back to the dorms."

Nikki responded with a light 'oh' before returning to folding the clothes on her bed.

Aelita sighed in irritation, "Out with it already, you know you're going to have to tell us at some point."

Nikki sighed but didn't look up at them, "Odd and I had a fight."

"About what? You guys never fight." Yumi asked, confused.

"I don't know! Odd came up to me all annoyed about me skipping out today and then I got mad and he got mad and we started yelling and I almost slapped him-"

"Wait," Aelita cut her off, "You slapped him?!" Her tone was incredulous.

"I almost did, I stopped. Then I ran away. I j-just couldn't do it!" A fresh batch of tears streaked down the girl's face as she shook her head.

Aelita and Yumi's faces immediately softened and they went to comfort their friend. Nikki never cried so they knew this had to be serious.

"Are you cleaning your room?" Yumi asked, changing the subject and directing it towards the pile of clothes on her friend's bed.

Nikki wiped her eyes again, "No," She said simply, "I'm packing."

Aelita and Yumi looked at her, shocked.

"Why are you packing?! You're not going home because of this fight are you?" Yumi's tone was surprised and slightly angry, but carefully in control.

Nikki managed to laugh a little bit, "No, of course not. My grandmother's and cousin's birthdays are this week and we're celebrating."

"But why didn't you tell us earlier?" Aelita asked.

Nikki shrugged and began putting the clothes into a suitcase. "I don't know, I didn't think I would be leaving until tomorrow, but when my parents sent me the train ticket, it was set for this afternoon."

"What time do you leave?" Aelita inquired, helping her friend pack.

"In a few hours," She said nonchalantly.

"Your not going to tell Odd, are you?" Yumi asked, picking up a shoe that had fallen on the floor.

Nikki looked down, "I wasn't planning on it," She said quietly.

"Tell you what, as long as you promise to clear up this whole fight when you get back, we'll tell him for you," Aelita said.

Nikki grinned her goofy grin and hugged her friends, "Sounds fair enough. And thanks, you guys are the best."

"We know," The girls said, returning the embrace.

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After Nikki left for the train station, Aelita left to go check on Jeremy in the factory leaving Yumi by herself.

Soon enough, she found Ulrich coming out of the forest.

"Hey," She said, smiling.

"Hey yourself," Ulrich replied, "Do you know what happened between Odd and-"

"Nikki? Yeah, I do. Speaking of Odd, where is he?"

"He left a while ago. I don't know if he's sulking or going to talk to her."

Yumi stared at the ground, "If he's trying to find her he won't."

Ulrich stared at her intently, "What do you mean?"

Yumi looked at him, her tone hushed, "She left just a few minutes ago."

Ulrich's eyes widened briefly, "Is she coming back?"

"Of course, she's only leaving to celebrate someone's birthday. She should be back in a few days," Yumi said reassuringly.

"This isn't going to go well," He muttered.

"Maybe, maybe not," Yumi replied nonchalantly.

"Hey Yumi?"

Yeah?"

Ulrich looked at the Japanese girl before him, "I've been trying to ask you tell you this for a long time, but I guess I just haven't been able to say it."

Yumi tensed slightly, "What is it?"

Ulrich rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I guess the simplest way to ask is this: would you want to go out with me sometime?"

Yumi's eyes widened, "Ulrich, I don't-"

Ulrich cut her off by putting a finger gently to her lips, "Don't answer yet. Answer this first, have you opened your Christmas present from me yet?"

Yumi pondered that for a moment before shaking her head.

Ulrich smiled knowingly and let his hand drop, "Open it first, then give me your answer when you know."

Yumi nodded and before she could say anything Ulrich had turned and walked away. She stared at him for a moment before spinning on her heels and running towards her house.

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Odd walked down the familiar hallways towards a door. Knocking briefly, he stood there, waiting.

Nothing

Odd knocked again, still getting no reply. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he pulled out his phone and dialed. It rang a few times, but he got the answering machine.

"Damn." Odd cursed under his breathe and took off towards the factory.

Inside, he found Aelita and Jeremy looking at the monitor for the supercomputer.

"Hey, have either of you seen Nikki? I can't find her anywhere," He asked, walking up to them.

Both geniuses turned to look at him, a hint of pity in their eyes.

"Odd," Aelita started.

Odd's eyes widened, "Is something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine," Aelita said.

"Then where is she?" Odd demanded.

The pink haired girl spoke hesitantly, "Odd, she left."

Odd took a few steps back.

"No, NO!"

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Yumi sat on her bed silently. A small, velvet, box with a green satin ribbon wrapped around it was in front of her.

Taking a deep breath, the girl opened it up and gasped. Inside was a silver chain with a shining, heart shaped locket was inside the box. Tiny crystals embedded into the front making another heart sparkled.

"Oh my god."

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Wow, things really picked up, didn't they?

Ha! That's the end of chapter 7!!! I know it's a cliffhanger but I updated, right? Anyway, I'll update asap but I have NO idea when that will be, sorry.

I apologize for the late update!!!!

review please!!!

spirit