Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't update. I have been quite busy lately. All the ideas in my head but I am lazy to type…. Oh well… here's chapter 3!

Chapter 3

Ulrich's p.o.v

"Oh…" I muttered, taking my clothes as I headed to shower. But I couldn't really bother about the Theo guy. I was more concerned about Yumi's reaction. She seemed shock but… I don't know, glad? She seemed to me that she was glad. But… she seemed so disinterested in everything. It's like she doesn't bother about the world. Aloof, that's the word to describe her. To put it bluntly, she couldn't give a damn.

"Hey roommate! Where are you from?" Odd asked.

"I'm from Germany. My parents own a petroleum company there. You?" I said, quickly changing the subject.

"Hmmm… lemme see… I'm Odd Della Robbia, my parents are both artists in Italy."

I nodded , trying to look thoughtful. I left the room after I took a bath, the warm water soothing my frazzled nerves.

I went out for a walk around the campus. With a sudden realisation, it was December. This academy started school at the start of the year. They had made us enter it 3 days before school starts. It was in the middle of winter, well almost into the middle of winter.

I somehow managed to find the way to get to the top of my dorm room. There was a ladder or should I say, step ladder up to the roof in the compartment where they kept the fire extinguisher. It was even colder up there without the obstruction of the wind.

I just sat there, quiet but my mind was idling.

After who knows how long, I went down and left to pick her up.

Yumi P.O.V

I spent my entire time in the dance studio watching the others do their grading. I didn't think about Ulrich, but about my parents. I didn't felt love from them. Their love was artificial. Our family is artificial. We are those who seem like the freaking perfect Martha Stewart family but it is all cloak-and-dagger. We don't quarrel of course, the paparazzi are outside of our mansion every day. That would affect the way the media thought of us. Coming from a family of high status and the eye of the social media, it is no doubt my family know how to act. We act perfect, we do perfect, we eat perfect, we shop perfect, and we seem perfect. Sabrina always tells Aelita and me "No matter where you are, you do not give the slightest leak of your weakness in whatever you do. You do not screw anything up, you do not seem hesitant. When you think you do not know, you make sure you find out. I will not tolerate any imperfection."

And maybe that's why, I set up defences around my heart, my emotions masked, and not giving a damn for anyone. Maybe that's why I find it difficult to show care and concern, and love others.

And every single moment, I wonder why I am living my life like this. I didn't love dance, I was forced into it. Sabrina picked that for me! I was pressed into strenuous training, doing stretches and stretches daily, pulled into ridiculous positions and it was never enough. It was never enough to appease my mother. I had wanted so badly to make her proud of me and after every recital, she would frown and tell me I could always do better. And now, I am forced into the world of fame, having met Sabrina's standards.

And maybe that's why I am afraid of losing out, to lose anything, to not meet expectations. And now, I am losing myself.

"Ladies, lessons are over. I hope to see you again. And please do your stretches every day." Prissy dismissed us with a bow.

I headed out to see that the snowflakes starting to litter the school. Ulrich was here, a picture of ease on his face.

"Hey." He smiled.

"Hi." I said frostily. He flinched and I felt tremendously sorry. "I'm sorry. I just-"

"It's fine." He said curtly. Was he mad at me? But I did apologise.

"Oh." I murmured. He drove us back in silence. I couldn't understand him. A complex person. One moment he kissed me and the next he is snappish.

I entered my dorm and changed into long-sleeved t-shirt and Levi's jeans. Aelita was all ready and good to go. I quickly pulled on my coat and left the room with Aelita for dinner.

"So… how was your practice?" Aelita asked cheerfully.

"It was… fine." I let her take the wheel now, too tired to concentrate on driving. I took a peek from the corner of my eye to see the house next to ours buggy has been gone. They have gone for dinner. Fine by me. If he doesn't want to be friends, he can get lost and die. I don't give a freaking damn.

Aelita didn't press on but nodded tightly. Both our faces looked 'happy' but it was just a show.

The cafeteria was rather empty when we got there, since we were early. Ulrich, Odd and Jeremy were by the table we were at for lunch, talking in low chatters.

I got in the queue. They were serving salmon in Italian-style. I could take fish. The lunch lady's name was Rosa. The ordinary plump lunch lady you would see in high school cafeterias.

Aelita and I took our food and left. She naturally headed to the table where the boys were. I pursed my lips, willing myself to make my feet walk there. I sat next to Aelita even though there was a seat next to Ulrich.

Slowly putting pieces of fish into my mouth, I bite gracefully, knowing the others were eyeing both me and him and the mood changes in us.

"So I was thinking of having a party tomorrow. For the New Year celebration since tomorrow is the last day of the year. We could invite the entire junior level." Odd suggested. It was obvious he was trying to make small talk in this awkward silence.

"I will do the invites. And I could ask the media art people to arrange the atmosphere and decide on the theme." Jeremy smiled.

"I will do the logistics like getting the décor once Jeremy has gotten the theme. And the tables and chairs…" Aelita started pulling a paper from a pocket of her coat and writing down the roles of everyone.

"I could get the food! But we would need everyone participating to pay at least five dollars to get the food ready! And since I'm the event chairman, I will seek permission from Dean Delmass to use the mass hall for the party right this instant." Odd practically inhaled the entire salmon and potatoes. He left quickly in the direction of the Dean's office.

"Well, Yumi? Ulrich?" Aelita asked hesitantly.

"I'll do the invites with Jeremy too." I said quietly. "He will need some help writing it out overnight alone. Aelita nodded and started scribbling down my roles.

Too my surprise, Ulrich yelled, "Are you trying to make me jealous Yumi? 'Cause forget about it! I won't be!"

I rose my eyebrows delicately, remembering the disgusted look my mother always gave to the paps whenever they do something absurd. I rearranged my features to that expression.

"Excuse me?" I asked with an amused edge to my voice. It was the perfect tone for a shock yet disgusted person.

"Don't you dare play dumb! You media whores are all the same. Flirting around and messing with people." He sprung out of his seat, totally upset.

"Oh yes. I'm a whore. So what?" I spread my arms and crossed my legs, leaning back in my seat after taking a sip of my Coke.

He glared at me. I was inwardly sobbing. He called me a whore. But of course I couldn't do that physically. No matter where you are, you do not give the slightest leak of your weakness in whatever you do.

"Simmer down you two. Don't need to get so heated up." Jeremy said quickly.

"I wasn't heated up." I said simply. I finished my salmon and dumped the plate away. I headed back to the table but to Jeremy. Ulrich was still fuming and his salmon was getting cold.

"Okay Jeremy. Let's go get the invites done. I'll get the student name list while you get the materials ready in your room. Meet you there." I smiled and left the cafeteria.

~~~~ At Jeremy's Dorm~~~~~~~~

"You know Yumi, you shouldn't really have done that." Jeremy said as he gathered more materials he bought from the bookshop and dump it on the floor where I was.

"Oh yeah?" I said as I drafted the invite.

"Ulrich was so mad. He seriously cares for you." He snickered.

My heart skipped a beat at his last sentence. "He seriously hates me." I muttered, showing him my draft.

We worked well, completing the invites, with the help of Jeremy's photocopier machine of course and we dropped them off the dorms all before 2am.

I woke up the next day to find the room stacked up with balloons that are not blown yet of course, streamers and plenty of bottles of spray cans. It was a Sunday so we were allowed to go out to the shops. I bought myself those kind of coloured hairspray. The kind that are washable.

I went back for breakfast. The others were there except for Ulrich. Whatever. Like anyone cares.

"We have collected money from at least three-quarters of the level. And we are gonna decorate the hall after breakfast." Aelita grinned.

"I'll help you." I offered.

"Great. We need all the help we can get. Ulrich offered to help Odd get the foos from the caterers in the evening. The three of us will decorate the hall. Uh, that's with the other students who offered their help too." Jeremy said.

"Okay." I quickly ate finish and followed Aelita and Jeremy who went to our dorm to collect the décor materials.

We soon started decorating the mass hall. With much help, we finished the decorations in three hours, just in time for lunch. The hall looked beautiful after we decorated it. It was suited to the theme of "A Formal New Year party". After all, this is a prestigious academy.

We started getting ready for the party after eating, going through everything. They had gotten a guy to be our resident DJ since he had the machine.

I took a long bath, picked out my Dolce and Gabbana sleeveless satin dress that was a hint of dusky pink in colour. It was above my knees. Three dainty crystal loops ran over my right shoulder. Satin ruched to gather at my waist, making the dress looked simple and chic.

Aelita wore a Christian Dior silk dress that went to her knees, it was beige in colour and it matched her pink hair. Little pieces of diamonds were over her waist, and two layers of transparent silk flowed from underneath her skirt, a timeless classic.

We took turns to style each other's hair. Aelita curled my hair a little so that it would match with the style of the dress. Then she sprayed it with gold hairspray that I bought at the front of my hair where she gathered.

I sprayed her hair silver at the tips after straightening it with the iron and tying it into a ponytail. It looked classic.

"I love it." Aelita smiled. "Thanks Yumi!"

"Welcome." I smiled as she started to apply make-up on me expertly. Aelita had a love for dressing up and is a make-up expert. I was forced into it and well, I could be considered as one too.

We wore on golden heels with those ankle straps. It was glittering because of the shiny crystals embedded on the straps of the heels.

After four whole hours, we were ready to go. It was about five. The party started at 8 though. But we had to go get everything ready.

I ate a bar of snickers that I got from Odd. He was already in his tux. A very nice change from his usual appearance. Jeremy was also in tuxedos. It seems like every guy was in tuxes.

"Wow. You two look gorgeous." Odd stated. I smiled and Aelita blushed.

But I was searching for someone else. There he is, at the front of the stage, adjusting the lighting with Jeremy. I walked around the hall, and while I was at the front of the stage area, Jeremy called out to me.

"Hey Yumi."

"Hi Jeremy. What are you doing?" I took quick small steps up to the stage.

"I'm making sure I can connect to the network where the television stations are so I can play it when the countdown is starting." He mentioned.

I ignored that Ulrich was here, looking oh so perfect in his tuxedo. I pretended he didn't exist.

"Oh wow, thanks for making the effort Jeremy." I said sweetly. And I turned away sharply with a click of my heels.

Aelita was rearranging some of the loose ends of the streamers and Odd was gone. Probably calling to make sure the caterer got our orders right.

It was about 6.45 when we finalised everything. I sat down by one of the chairs, my hands on my lap, staring into space.

I must have sat there for ages, daydreaming because the crowd started to trickled in and the hall was filled with excited chatters and the smell of perfume and cologne. I stood up and I went out, seeming out of place with the animated crowd inside, who were hanging out with their friends. I went back to my room and started to sulk.

I sighed in resignation. It would be just like every year, where I would be alone once again.