Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko.

Chapter 12

"Why were you making such a commotion?" yelled Mr. Ishiyama. Jeremie and Ulrich kept their heads bowed and didn't answer. "Well? Yumi, did you know about this?"

"No, Dad," said Yumi, staring daggers at the two. "But I do know them. Unfortunately."

"You two look familiar," said Takeo, frowning. "You're those good-for-nothing friends of Yumi's, aren't you?"

"Uh, I suppose that's one way to put it," said Ulrich.

"And you decided to duke it out in front of my house, did you?" asked Mr. Ishiyama. "If you're fighting over my daughter like animals then don't waste your time."

"We weren't fighting over Yumi," said Jeremie quickly. "We weren't fighting at all...Ulrich overbalanced and knocked me over."

"If you're going to lie, put some effort into it," sneered Mr. Ishiyama. He walked over to the entertainment center and pulled out a few pieces of ripped white paper wedged between a shelf and various DVD's. "I've seen these blown out onto the sidewalk when I leave for work. Notes with pretty little poems and 'I love you's.' Jeremie, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Jeremie.

"It's clear to me that you've been trying to romance my daughter with these," said Takeo. "It's also quite obvious that Ulrich found out, and being Yumi's boyfriend, for now, decided he'd teach you a lesson. Thanks to you hooligans, unspeakable shame has been brought upon this house! What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Sir, I can honestly say I did not write those letters," said Jeremie. "I have a girlfriend, and I wouldn't risk our relationship for anything. I love her."

"At your age you don't know what love is," scolded Mr. Ishiyama. Jeremie, Ulrich, and even Yumi flinched, but said nothing. An awkward silence reigned over the room for minutes that felt like hours.

"Daddy, could I talk to them alone?" asked Yumi. "I think I could persuade them."

"Absolutely not," said her father.

"They're a bit scared of you," said Yumi, biting her lip. "I want to find out what's going on as much as you do."

"I know what's going on," said Mr. Ishiyama, brandishing the torn up letters.

"I'm certain it wasn't Jeremie," said Yumi. "Please, they're my best friends, I can get them to talk."

Takeo stared at her, then sighed. "I will be back with tea in a few minutes," he declared. "I expect an answer when I return. A truthful one." He left the room and Yumi stood up. There was no question that she was his daughter.

"I'd love to know what crap is stored in those heads of yours, because it's definitely not brains," said Yumi coldly, folding her arms. Jeremie looked at Ulrich, silently starting a conversation with him.

We should tell her.

Tell her and you die.

She loves you! She won't be angry if you tell her you love her too!

If you want to live to see Aelita, lie.

You want me to lie to your girlfriend?

I'd do it for you.

This is getting ridiculous.

"Are you just going to sit there?" asked Yumi.

"There is a very good explanation for this," said Jeremie.

"Great, let's hear it," said Yumi, pursing her lips.

"Well, the letters--" Ulrich started.

"How do you know about the letters?" asked Yumi.

"Er...that is an excellent question," said Ulrich lamely.

"And Jeremie, how do you fit into all of this?" asked Yumi.

"Another excellent question," said Jeremie. Yumi tossed one of the throw pillows nearby at his head.

"I'm wondering if I'm dreaming," muttered Yumi, shaking her head.

"Shaba laba ding dong," mumbled Ulrich. Yumi and Jeremie shot him queer stares until a soft ringtone rang out from Jeremie's pocket. He dug out his cellphone and answered.

"Hello?" Jeremie's face fell. "Great. Grab Odd and we'll meet you there. Love you, too."

"Xana?" asked Ulrich. Jeremie nodded.

"Let's go," said Jeremie, standing up.

"If you want my dad to think we're sneaking out to fool around, sure," said Yumi sarcastically.

"Ulrich and I have to go, Aelita needs protection and I need to get everyone on Lyoko," said Jeremie. "Can you stay here and make something up?"

"What am I supposed to say?" asked Yumi angrily. "Besides, I--"

"Yumi, what are they doing here?"

"Hiroki, go back to bed," said Yumi wearily, turning to her younger brother on the staircase.

"When Dad finds out you're sneaking boys in you're gonna be in so much trouble!" jeered Hiroki.

"He already knows they're here," said Yumi. "Them being the absolute numbskulls they are."

"We have these things called ears, Yumi," reminded Jeremie.

"Trade them in for some common sense," retorted Yumi. "What were you two doing, anyway?"

"Uh...I was taking a walk," said Jeremie. "Aelita made me to get off the computer. And Ulrich--"

"I was coming back from the movies," Ulrich jumped in quickly. "And...I thought he was William and he was going to try something. I kind of lost it and went after him. Sorry, Jeremie."

"Apology accepted," said Jeremie smoothly.

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" asked Yumi doubtfully.

"If you don't want to, you don't have to," said Jeremie, shrugging. "But it's the truth."

"Ulrich?" asked Yumi. "Look me in the eye and tell me that's the truth."

"Uh?" Ulrich felt her hand on his chin bringing his face up to see her. The soft glow from a nearby lamp illuminated her chocolate brown eyes. He couldn't lie to her when she looked at him like that. "I--"

A loud crash came from down the hall, resembling the sound of breaking china.

"Dad!" Yumi yelled, sprinting for the kitchen. She was thrown back into the room on her back by a jolt of lightening.

"Yumi!" Ulrich watched Takeo Ishiyama come barreling into the living room with a grunt. His eyes were flickering with a most notorious logo.

"Hiroki, go to your parents' bedroom and barricade the door," said Jeremie. "Hurry!"

"What's wrong with my dad?" asked Hiroki.

"Hiroki, go!" yelled Ulrich. "I'll help you pass the seventh level of Blaster Dragon Ninja Three if you do!"

Mr. Ishiyama lunged for Ulrich but missed, and Hiroki obeyed. Yumi staggered to her feet and opened the door, pointing outside. Ulrich felt Takeo's fist connect with his jaw.

"I knew you never liked me," said Ulrich, wincing at the pain.

"Bless that virus," muttered Yumi. One return to the past and her father wouldn't know a thing. Then she could beat the truth out of Ulrich and Jeremie. "Come on, guys! Ulrich, what are you doing?"

"I thought you might take it the wrong way if I decked your dad!" shouted Ulrich. It was true, he hadn't thrown a single punch at Takeo, and wasn't looking too good.

"Unbelievable," Yumi yanked him by the back of his shirt out of the way of another lethal blow. "We have to get out of here!"

Yumi reached for the closest thing at hand, her mother's favorite vase, and crashed it over Mr. Ishiyama's head. He fell to the ground with a thud.

"That's how it's done," said Yumi triumphantly. "My mom and Hiroki should be okay. Come on."

Ulrich and Jeremie said nothing and started the routine dash to the factory. That didn't mean they were off the hook, however.

"So, is that really what happened, Ulrich?" asked Yumi. "It's pretty hard to mistake Jeremie for William."

"Yeah, but I guess jealousy was clouding my vision," said Ulrich, sighing. "Sorry."

"All that time I spent trying to make my dad like you, and you screw it up!" chided Yumi.

"He never liked me, Yumes," reminded Ulrich. "He won't remember anything, anyway."

"Fine, then how did you know about the letters?" asked Yumi.

"I told him," said Jeremie quickly, panting to keep up.

"Wait, how did you know about it?" asked Yumi.

"Alexandre has a crush on you," said Jeremie, snickering. "He asked me to look over one of those letters he wrote. I tried telling him about Ulrich, but he wouldn't listen. I felt obligated to let Romeo over here know."

"I have to say, I'm a bit hurt you tried to keep this from me," said Ulrich indignantly. Yumi's expression quickly turned to one of remorse.

"I thought you'd be upset," said Yumi softly.

"I was a little at first, but I can't really blame Alexandre for liking you," said Ulrich. He saw Jeremie shoot him a thumbs up and smiled. Yumi blushed.

"I'm sorry," Yumi apologized. "I should've told you."

"It's okay," said Ulrich, stopping in his tracks and pulling her closer. Her hair was a mess, her pajamas were wrinkled, she was half-asleep, and she was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She leaned in and met his lips, smelling of jasmine tea.

"Okay, guys, let's put our tongues away!" Jeremie clamped his hand on Ulrich's shoulder and pulled him out of the embrace. "We're almost at the factory. After the attack you can do whatever you want."

Yumi turned red as she went down the manhole into the sewers. Ulrich scowled at Jeremie, who raised an eyebrow.

"That was close," Ulrich muttered, grabbing his skateboard. "Thanks for backing me up."

"No problem," said Jeremie.

"We never break you and Aelita up, you know," said Ulrich.

"We don't make out during an attack," replied Jeremie.

"Point taken," said Ulrich. "I feel kind of weird, though. Like a part of me just died or something."

"That's what you get for lying," said Jeremie teasingly.

"Jeremie?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Yumi stretched and pushed herself out of bed. "It's a big day today," she muttered, rubbing her eyes and shutting off her alarm clock.

Going through the usual To Do List in the morning, she hoped the events of two nights ago could be erased from her mind as they were her father's. She didn't completely buy Jeremie and Ulrich's story, but she didn't bring it up with either of them, still feeling guilty about hiding the love letters from Ulrich. Something just didn't seem right with their explanation.

There wasn't a doubt in her mind that the angels had been smiling on them that night. But once Xana was gone, they couldn't use a Return To The Past to fix whatever messes were made. And they might not be so lucky next time, whether the supercomputer was turned on or not.

"This had better not end up blowing up in my face," said Yumi, slipping her arms through her backpack.

She had never hated a Thursday as much as she did now.

Ulrich took a bite out of his corn dog and sat between Odd and Jeremie in the bleachers. The other students were cheering in hopes that the Kadic team would win the basketball game. Life was good. He and Yumi had never been better, mainly since Jeremie had canceled the idiotic plan of making her a secret admirer.

"Jeremie, what's the big deal about coming to the game?" asked Ulrich. "I'm surprised you're so ecstatic about sports."

"Aelita's never seen a game of basketball before," said Jeremie.

"And I insisted he come," chirped Aelita.

"Okay, and Odd, why do you have a camera?" asked Ulrich.

"You'll see," said Odd mischievously. Ulrich frowned. Something was up.

The double doors to the gymnasium opened and the cheerleaders came out, screaming in rhyme and waving their pom-poms, Sissi in the lead. Said girl winked at Ulrich, who pretended to gag. The routine didn't look quite right, though. Sissi seemed to be doing her very best to stand in front of another girl, who was hiding her face with her pom-poms. The only thing anyone could see was her black hair.

"A shy cheerleader?" asked Ulrich, surprised. "That's new."

"Sissi doesn't seem to like her," said Jeremie.

"She looks...a little like Yumi," said Ulrich, judging with the briefest of glimpses he could get of her face. "Where is Yumi, anyway?"

"Closer than you think," said Aelita.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Ulrich. She shrugged.

Everyone else had noticed the mysterious rivalry between Sissi and the Unknown Cheerleader. Yumi wished they would keep their eyes on anyone else besides her. So far no one seemed to recognize her, and she planned on keeping it that way. Sissi sneered at her over her shoulder.

"Keep up!" she hissed.

"I'm doing my best!" said Yumi, ducking her head to hide her face.

"Do better!" snapped Sissi. Yumi bit her tongue and didn't reply.

"It's just like Sissi to pick a fight at the worst time," said Ulrich. "Does she think she's going to seem better by doing that?"

"Poor girl," said Aelita sympathetically. "I wonder who she is."

Yumi swore in Japanese when Sissi began correcting her again. She wasn't even doing anything wrong; Sissi was just trying to make her look bad.

"Stop it!" said Yumi. "I'm doing fine!"

"Keep your head up!" ordered Sissi. Yumi raised her chin and the pom-pom in front of her head. "Both arms, too!"

"Sissi, cut it out!" said Yumi.

Sissi groaned and turned completely around to straighten Yumi's arms, exposing her face. Yumi bit down hard on her lip and swallowed a scream. The gym was hushed until whispers spread like wildfire. She glared at Sissi, as if saying Look what you did! Yumi glanced at the other girls and nodded, and they quickly finished the routine.

"Did...did you guys see what I just saw?" asked Ulrich slowly.

"What, Yumi cheerleading? Sure did!" said Odd, snapping instant photographs.

"Give me that!" Ulrich snatched the photos. No doubt, Yumi was in uniform. She had become a cheerleader, but why? "Odd, give me all of those photos."

"Why, so you can drool over them later?" asked Odd, grinning.

"No, so I can feed them to Kiwi," said Ulrich. "You are not blackmailing Yumi."

"Who'd have thought Yumi was into cheerleading?" asked Jeremie innocently.

"She's very good, I wonder if she's been doing it long," said Aelita, smiling.

"I wonder why she didn't tell me," said Ulrich. "It explains why Sissi was acting so weird, though."

Yumi charged into the girl's locker room as soon as the game started. She went to the sink and splashed cold water on her face. She heard the door swing open and looked up, seeing Sissi's reflection in the mirror.

"What do you want?" asked Yumi, clutching both sides of the porcelain sink.

"If you can't take a little constructive criticism then you'll have to be replaced," said Sissi.

"Constructive criticism?" spat Yumi. "You spent half the time telling me how lousy I was instead of cheering! What is your problem?"

"I know why you really joined," said Sissi. "You're trying to get Ulrich to notice you."

"I don't need Ulrich to notice me," said Yumi. "We're best friend and a couple. He's noticed me."

"Like I haven't realized that?" asked Sissi darkly. "For your information, my Ulrich is only going out with you to make me jealous."

"Sissi, what do I have to do to make you understand?" asked Yumi exasperatedly. "He's not your Ulrich! He doesn't care if you're jealous or not! And he's going out with me because...because..."

"Because why, huh?" asked Sissi. "What does he see in you?"

"I don't know!" shouted Yumi. "Just leave me alone!"

"Why would he pick you over me?" asked Sissi.

"Maybe it's because I'm not a selfish, conceited, stuck-up brat who's used half the rain forest to stuff herself!" shot back Yumi. "Look, I'll stick it out the rest of the game, but afterwards, I quit."

"Do you know how many strings I had to pull to get you on the squad?" asked Sissi angrily.

"What strings? You're in charge!" said Yumi. "And we both know I was the best out of anyone else who tried out. But I'm not going to let you humiliate me every game we have just so you can try to win my boyfriend over!"

"I...I..." Sissi stumbled over her words. Yumi turned to face her and folded her arms, waiting for her reply. When none came she sighed, willing herself to calm down.

"Come on," said Yumi, holding the door open for her.

"You know Ulrich is going to dump you for me, don't you?" asked Sissi. "I'm the obvious choice."

"Sure he will," said Yumi pleasantly. "Oh, and Sissi?"

"What?" asked Sissi, plastering on a smile for the crowd. Yumi did the same.

"Screw you."

It wasn't easy for Sissi to keep smiling after that remark.