I breathe. I've been leaning against this door for a good while now, and all I've heard is silence. Does that mean it's going well? I check my watch, observing the graceful ticking of the second hand. It's only been a few minutes. I tap my foot impatiently against the dusty tiles of the hallway. It probably wouldn't hurt for them to send the janitors around more often. Instinctively, I check my watch again. It's not like any time would have actually gone by, but it's become a habit.

"WOAH!" I hear from the other side, muffled against the door. I turn around and stare at the little glass window that I can't possibly see through, since it's covered by accordion style blinds hanging on the other side. "Ow! You said it wouldn't hurt! OW!"

That doesn't sound good. I want to knock, at least do something, but I can't. I wasn't allowed inside with her for obvious reasons, and I'm not sure I really want to be in there anyways. She doesn't seem to be enjoying herself, though… I press my ear against the door to get a better listen.

"Aelita, I can't do this unless you relax." I can tell Yolanda is trying to soothe her about it, but it's not doing much.

"HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO RELAX?" she snaps back at the nurse.

I scratch my head and quirk my lips downwards, wishing there was something I could do. I'll just have to be patient and be ready to console her when she's finally done in there. If she ever gets done, that is. I hear fussing and whining from the other side, and I can always tell when it's Aelita who's whimpering.

"I don't want to do this!"

"Aelita, you have to…"

"NO! STOP!"

I raise my eyebrows and my heart starts thudding against my boney chest. I press my ear harder against the wood, although she is yelling so loudly it's probably not necessary.

"Aelita, please, calm down."

"STOP IT!"

"I'm not doing anything!"

I hear a loud crash, the sound of tin and metal scuttling across the hard laminate flooring. More fidgeting and fussing, followed by a heavy, exhausted sigh from Yolanda. Sheesh, Aelita. The handle before me starts turning and I speedily jump away from the door. Nurse Yolanda approaches me with an interesting look of both annoyance and concern.

"I can't get anything done with her tensed up like this. Every time I approach her, she starts re-enacting the assault. Do you think you could calm her down?"

I scratch the back of my neck and shrug. "I can certainly try," I say.

Yolanda smiles at me and gestures me inside the room, where Aelita is curled up on the exam table, firmly squeezing her knees against her chest. I can almost feel her shaking as I walk up to her. I walk over to her and place my hand on her shoulder, rubbing it delicately before the tall nurse closes the door to give us a moment. Poor 'Lita is quivering against the tissue strewn across the table, one of her fists clenched in her hair with her face glistening in wetness. I lean down by her ears, using my hand pressed against the table to keep balance. She seems to listen better when I speak softly and kindly.

"Aelita," I gently whisper. "What's the matter?"

"She tried to stick that thing in me and it felt like the same night all over again. So I freaked out," she murmured through her shuddering lips.

"I understand," I mouth as I rub her back. The motion of my hands against the thin gown that covers her skin gets her to loosen up a bit, which is what Yolanda needed in the first place. "But Yolanda isn't going to hurt you, she's trying to help."

"It still hurt," she tearfully mumbles. I pout. I'm not really sure what to say. "I don't want to do it."

"I know you don't, but you have to, Aelita." She starts to quietly cry. Oh, boy. "Aelita, you can make it through this. I know you can. You're brave, and…" I skip over my words a bit. I wanted to say beautiful, but I just couldn't get it out. This is no time for cowardliness, Jeremie! "And, well, look at everything else you've gotten through just fine."

"But that's just it, Jeremie!" She wipes her arm along her cheekbones and springs up on the table, swinging her legs to the side. "I'm not fine. I'm tired of pretending that I am because I'm not. All this time I thought I was just a girl inside a computer. But now, now all of a sudden I'm human? I have parents whose names I can't even remember and thanks to my mad scientist of a father dragging me into a virtual universe we've got XANA trying to kill us off and I have no recollection of who I am now or who I once was. All of my documents are forged to make others believe I'm an orphan from Canada but outside of Kadic, I don't even exist. Because of this, I'm nothing, Jeremie. I'm no one."

"Aelita…" I stutter. I don't even know what to say, I sit there with my mouth gaping open as she starts to weep more openly. She buries her hands into her face and lets the tears pool into her palms. I rest my fingers on her chin and tilt her head towards me. "Why didn't you say something sooner?" I ask.

"Because," she muffles into my shirt. "I don't like complaining. I should be thankful for all that I have instead of-"

"Aelita," I interrupt. "You're not 'nothing.' In fact, you're absolutely everything. Not only to me, but to the Yumi and the others as well. I know things are rough now, but… once we find this creep and then shut down XANA, you can start over. You'll have a whole new life, a brand new life."

She sniffles, and wraps her arms around herself. I hop onto the exam table, sitting next to her. She immediately leans her head against my shoulder, and I rest my arm around her whilst rubbing her sides. She looks over to the sink and softly moans, taking note of the intimidating speculum sitting on the counter. It is rather creepy looking. I'm thankful I'm not a girl. The door gradually opens up, and the nurse steps back into the room.

"Are you ready?" she asks. Aelita hugs herself tighter and cringes, and I am booted out of the room.

Once again, I'm leaning against the door, daydreaming as I wait for the exam to finish. I've heard a few yips, but it doesn't sound like Aelita is throwing things onto the ground this time.

"Oh, sweet XANA that's cold!"

"…sweet what?"

"Uh, nothing."

I snicker. That's a funny phrase, maybe I'll have to start using that myself. My phone buzzes inside of my pocket, and I inquiringly check for the source of the vibration. It's a message from Ulrich.

"We've got a problem," it states. Uh-oh.

"XANA?" I reply, before slipping my phone back into my pocket. Ulrich is usually a slow texter, unless of course Yumi is the one on the other line. I don't expect to receive a response very hastily, but part of my abdomen tightens up as I become slightly nervous as to what caused him to say that. I check my watch. Aelita's been in there about ten minutes. My phone goes off again.

"No, but there is a cop here who is looking for Aelita and he is interrogating all of us. Just got done questioning me." I am actually slightly relieved. It must be the police that Delmas called. Although, you would think that he would've told them she was with Yolanda in the infirmary. Maybe they wanted to contact us first, though. Makes sense.

"That's not bad at all," I type onto my phone's screen. "Delmas called them. Aelita told today."

The door behind me opens to my surprise, and because I was leaning against it, I fall backwards into the infirmary. I look up and see the face of a perplexed Nurse Yolanda, and I nervously smile before scuttling myself off of the floor. I brush the dust off of my clothing and place my phone back inside my pants. Aelita is sitting on the end of the table, wearing her original outfit and swinging her legs off of the edge. She seems pretty okay.

"How did it go?" I ask.

Yolanda starts jotting something onto her clip board. "She doesn't have any STDs or infections."

Phew. "That's great!" I happily say, wiping my forehead in relief.

"Yes, it is. But she has a very extensive amount of cuts and tears that need to be taken care of before the do become infected."

"Oh." I itch my head. "Uh, how?"

"Well," she begins flipping through the pages on her wooden clipboard. "I can provide an ointment for some of the more external wounds, but, as far as the deeper ones go… she'll just have to be careful. I'll tell Jim to remove her from P.E. for the next month. They'll heal with time, but make sure she doesn't do too much running or physical activity, stretches, definitely not any splits… any of that could keep re-opening her cuts. "

Uh-oh. That's going to make fighting against XANA difficult. No running? Can she even climb down into the sewers?

"I also have set her up an appointment with the school psychologist. I think it would really help her. It seems as if she has trouble sleeping now, and is constantly re-living the event."

"You could say that again…" I mumble as I look past Yolanda and see Aelita aimlessly staring at her feet as she strikes them against the bed.

"You know, Jeremie, it's very kind of you to be taking such good care of her."

"Oh," I blush, tensely rubbing my arm. "It's not a problem…"

She giggles a little and then scrawls her signature on her paperwork. "You can take her back to her room now."

Later, Aelita and I are hanging out in my room when Odd comes along and welcomes himself inside. I don't mind of course, in fact I haven't seen much of him lately and I'm actually happy that he's stopped by. I feel like Aelita is the only person I see anymore and I'm afraid I may start to get tired of her. I have to make sure that doesn't happen. Suddenly, there is a tapping on my door and Odd gets up to look through the peep hole.

"It's the police guys from earlier," he informs as he turns his head to me and immediately invites them inside. They nod their heads at me. I stand up, attempting to be as polite as possible, while Aelita grunts in confusion and tilts her head.

"Good afternoon, officers," I say. They are both fairly tall and fit, probably about 6 foot even. Both are clean shaven and in their neatly tucked navy blue uniforms, several classy looking guns draped around their belt. The one on the left has a fair face and blue eyes, and under his police hat I can see some strawberry blonde strands of hair. The one on the right is a bit tanner, and I think his hair is black. Maybe brown, it's hard to tell, but I can picture him with black hair. There really isn't a significant difference between the two, though. I always thought most cops look exactly the same.

"Afternoon, I understand you're Mr. Belpois?" The blonde speaks first. The other stands inaudibly with his wrists resting against his hips.

"I am." I align my posture and fold my hands behind my back. I think I'm even starting to sweat; my heart muscle is getting a serious work out from thumping so harshly inside my chest. I know I'm not in any kind of trouble, but being around cops is always intimidating.

"I'm Officer Rose," he reaches out to shake my hand, "and this is my partner, Officer Petty. Are you Aelita Stones?" He looks over at Aelita, who is quietly sitting in my computer chair. Upon the calling of her name, she pipes her head up and directs her attention towards the policemen.

"Am… am I in trouble?" She clasps her hands over her mouth.

"Not at all," Rose confirms. "We're simply here to ask you some questions and try and get a lead on the guy who did this to you."

The other Officer with the darker hair, who apparently is titled 'Petty," turns towards Odd and I. "Would it be alright if we asked you two gentlemen to leave the room for a bit?" he asks. We aren't going to say no, of course, and so we exit the room and reluctantly leave Aelita behind. I'm so nervous whenever she isn't around me. I don't want to be too overprotective, though.

"Want to go back to your dorm?" I ask Odd as the door clicks shut behind me.

"We can't," he groans. "Ulrich and Yumi have taken over. That's why I came over in the first place. I don't wanna be around that!"

I snicker. "So does that mean they are finally official?"

"Good question. Who knows anymore?"

We both chuckle and lean against the wall, relaxing in the hallway. It shouldn't take too long, right? I hope not.

"So, what about you and Aelita, huh?" Odd nudges my shoulder and winks. I already know what he's getting at. Or at least, I think I do. Either way, my face is still red with heat.

"Uh, what about us?"

"When are you gonna become official, huh?"

"I… don't know what you're talking about." Is he talking about dating? Is he asking when Aelita and I are going to start dating? Why would we date? How should I know? Why is he asking me this? Why am I asking myself all of this?

"Oh, come on! You're not gonna pull an Ulrich too, are you? I don't understand what it is with you people and just spilling the beans! Getting it over with, you know?" Pull an Ulrich?! What is that supposed to mean?

"Uh... Well, I…"

He pats me on the back. "Okay Romeo, I get it. Maybe another day."

"Wha? Romeo?" Romeo? What kind of a name is that? A ridiculous one, that's what. I'm no Romeo, and Aelita is certainly no Juliet. And when I say that I just mean she's not going to poison herself over me, plus we've known each other far longer than 3 days, although she is as pretty as Juliet. Although, Juliet wasn't really all that good looking. Then again, no one is really good looking compared to Aelita. Wow, my thoughts are all over the place right now. How does Odd manage to do this to people? Now I see why Ulrich gets so annoyed when he brings up him and Yumi. This is awkward. Change the subject, Jeremie. Change the subject! Hello? WORDS! USE THEM! I tug at my sweater. The wool is clinging to my sweating neck and it's uncomfortable. Why am I so nervous? He's right; you should really just tell her how you feel, Jeremie. Am I giving myself relationship advice? Nice one, Jeremie.

"Uh, hello?" Odd stands on his tiptoes to knock on my head. "It seems the train of Jeremie's thoughts has left the station. Or should I say, train wreck."

I groan. "Very funny, Odd."

I hear the omniscient creaking of a dormitory door and look down the hall to see the two officers walking away. Odd and I scurry back into my room, and Aelita is still in the chair, tapping her fingers against my desk.

"How did it go?" I ask.

She shrugs. "They had me describe what he looked like and drew a picture. It was pretty accurate, too. He's a good artist."

"Great!" Odd yells, fist pumping into the air. "Now that they know what he looks like, they're already in the lead. See? I told you everything would be okay." He walks over to her and puts his hand on her, beaming down at her. She sniggers very lightly.

"Wow," I say as I open the blinds to my room. "It got dark quick."

"What time is it!?" Odd perches up, starting to freak out.

"Uh, 8:12." Somehow, I get the feeling he's about to complain about how he procrastinated.

"Oh no!" He shouts. "I have a paper due tomorrow and I haven't even started it!"

Yep, I was right. "Well, what's it over?"

"Uh, umm… Oh, no! I can't even remember!" He starts tugging at his hair, causing the perfected spike to start falling out. "This is a disaster; I can't afford to miss any more work for that class!"

"Okay, calm down. Want me to help you with it?"

Odd grins and wraps his scrawny arms around me. "You're the best, Einstein!"

I smile, and notice Aelita is stretching herself and heading towards my door. "I think I'm going to go hang out in my room for a while," she quietly says. "Read a book or something."

"Are you okay?" I ask. Odd lets go of me and takes note of Aelita.

"Yes. I just want to go lie down, besides, it looks like you two are about to have a lot of work to do."

"Do you want me to walk you there?"

"No," she smiles. "You've done enough for me." Does that mean she thinks I'm being too clingy? I knew it.

"Aelita, if you don't feel comfortable walking alone, it's not a problem…"

"It's okay, Jeremie. My door is only a few down. I'll be fine." She smiles again and waves at me before politely closing the door behind her. I think I'm swooning.

"If you would just tell her, Jer…"

"Tell her what?" I blurt, still staring at the door. I then shake myself out of my daze. "Oh, right."

Odd laughs at me before rummaging through my desk for some paper. Eventually, he remembers that his paper was for History, and was over the American Civil War. Just one of the boring research papers we are always assigned. He's blabbing something in my ear, and I'm intuitively spitting out answers without really thinking about it. The only thing that's truly on my mind right now is Aelita. I hear another knock. Is it Aelita? I sprint away from the desk and eagerly open the door. Oh, it's another police officer.

"Uh, hi," I say. He doesn't look like either of the others. He's a lot taller and a lot more muscular, but the hallway has darkened at this point because of how late it is and I can't really make out his facial features. If they've dimmed the lights, it must be like… 10 o clock at least. I don't know. I'm still not really paying attention…

"Hello," he mumbles. He's not as friendly sounding as the others and his voice is extremely deep and rugged. He is probably just tired though if it's late. Why is he here so late? "I'm looking for Ms. Stones."

"Aelita? How come?"

"I just want to ask her some things and try and get some information about what happened," he smiles down at me and clears his throat before suspiciously looking around the hallway.

"Uh… but there were some officers here earlier already."

"Ah, yes, my good companions. There are a couple things they missed, though, and I figured I'd stay later for my shift and come back to pick up the missing pieces. It'll get us started faster."

"Oh, sure," I say. It makes sense, after all. And he did say he was friends with the other cops. So he must be legit, right? I'm still really only thinking about Aelita. I keep thinking about what Odd said earlier and I'm wondering if he's right. Should I just go and tell her? Then I remember there's a cop in front of me waiting for a response. Oh, yeah. I point to the left. "Her room is the 4th on the left down there."

"Thank you, Mr. Belpois." He nods at me and walks away, and I shut the door.

"Uh, that guy seems creepy," Odd mentions.

"How so? Makes sense to me."

"I guess, but, I don't know…"

"Well anyways, where were we?"

I lean against the table as Odd sits in my chair and squiggles away everything I say to him. Occasionally he'll wildly start flicking through Google tabs to try and find more answers if I get stuck. I'm really not concentrating at all. It's usually not this difficult for me to accomplish school work, but, tonight… I don't know. I keep thinking about Aelita and how beautiful she looks even when she's covered in bruises. How pretty her hair always is even when it's a mess. And how happy she looks when she wears pink. The color really suits her. I can feel my heart pace quickening every time my own thoughts utter her name.

"Uhm, hello? Jeremie? You're supposed to be helping me, here…"

"Oh, right," I cough against my fist and clear my throat. "Uhhh… The election of Lincoln in November 1860 was the final trigger for secession. Efforts at compromise, including the "Corwin Amendment" and the "Crittenden Compromise", failed."

"The who and the what?"

"Huh?" I'm daydreaming again.

"Jeremie, just go tell her."

"Do you really think I should?"

"Yeah! It's not like she doesn't feel the same way. She just needs to hear it from you, first. That's how girls are."

I pause for a moment, my eyes fixed on the door in front of me. "But what time is it?"

"Uh," Odd leans in towards the computer and looks at the little digital clock. "Midnight."

"She's probably asleep. I should wait until morning, shouldn't I?"

"Well, I guess, but you probably won't be able to sleep anyways, and I'm sure she isn't sleeping either."

I stiffen my back and take a deep breath. "You're right," I agree. "You're right. I'm going to do it."

"Really? Right now?"

"Yeah!" I shout, feeling very confident. "Why not? Like you said, gotta get it over with. Spill the beans."

"Go for it, Einstein!" Odd shouts with glee and I walk out of my door, confidently charging down the hallway. He's right. Why not just spill the beans? Tell her how I feel? What's the worst that could happen? I'm gonna do it. I think we've both waited long enough. I've known how I felt since I first turned on the supercomputer, and right now I finally feel poised enough to tell her. I might not feel like this again, so gotta take advantage of the situation. The light in front of me starts flickering, distracting me. I pause and look upwards, and then I hear feet scampering behind me. It's just Odd, running behind me.

"I gotta be there for this," he defends.

"Hey Odd, what time did you say it was?" I tilt my nose towards the dying light, watching it go from a deathly overcast, to a vibrant glow, and then back to darkness in milliseconds.

"Midnight."

I snap my head towards him and raise an eyebrow. Uh, what? Midnight? "How did that cop get in here? Delmas is not around this late to accept his admission."

Odd shrugs and rolls his eyes. "I told you the guy seemed sketchy."

My heart starts to thump heavier and I feel my stomach boiling and slowly sinking down. I listen intently as the soft humming of the flickering light fills the silence of the empty hall. I think, I'm not sure, but I think, that I just heard a muffled scream.

And just like earlier at the nurse's… I can always tell when Aelita's the one screaming.

I sprint down the hall and grab ahold of the door handle, but it's locked. I tug and jerk but it's not budging. Now, Aelita always locks her door, but I still feel uneasy. I step back and plunge my body at the door, forcing it open immediately. Odd rushes in behind me.

Aelita is not there.

Her bedspread has been tossed onto the floor; her room looks as if a fought had been put up. The window is wide open. The curtains are blowing in the wind.

A small sheet of paper drifts onto the floor, landing by my right foot. I bend down and pick it up. The writing is very sloppily scribbled, as if it was done in panic-stricken urgency.

"I told her to keep her mouth shut,"it reads.

No. No… No!

The wind crinkles the edges of the paper downwards, pulling it out of my weak grasp. It falls back onto the floor where Odd picks it up and reads it for himself, exchanging the same horrified look that's plastered on my face.

I… I led him straight to her.

What have I done?