During dinner, while I was happily munching on my chicken patty, Jeremy said that Aelita can stay on Earth instead of going to Lyoko to check for towers.

"I've created a new system," he explained. "that instantly detects activated towers. So now you can stay at campus with us."

"Oh that's wonderful!" Aelita exclaimed. "I can't believe it!"

"And, I'm working on a program that should help us fight XANA better," Jeremy said.

"Wow, how do you even know all this stuff?" Odd asked, wolfing down his burger.

"Because, unlike you, I don't fall asleep in class and I study." he quipped.

I snickered. "That's true."

"You should talk. Who was it who fell asleep in Science?" Ulrich said.

I blushed. "Well, I couldn't sleep that well last night. Gimme a break."

Everyone in my circle of friends, including me, laughed slightly.

"So, how was detention? Did Jim bore you to death with his lecture?" Odd questioned.

"Yeah, but right after, he fell asleep. It was pretty funny. But he snores way to loud," I said, wrinkling my nose in annoyance.

After dinner, Yumi left for her house and we stopped by Aelita's room and it was pretty nice. Once we helped her settle in, we all said good night and headed our separate ways. I snuggled into my bed and quickly fell asleep. However, instead of dreaming about Lyoko, I dreamed about Ulrich and Alex. Well, it wasn't exactly a dream. More like continuous flashbacks with them. It switched back and forth from Ulrich to Alex. It was as if my subconscious wanted me to decided who to choose. I awoke from the bizarre dream, blinked several times, shook my head and fell into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.

A few mornings later, Sissi decided to take an extra long shower, draining the hot water and creating a long line of all the girls. I didn't notice Aelita until I saw her suddenly heading her way upstairs. I looked behind me and assumed Sissi told her to go up to the boys' shower as a prank. Before she could get any farther, I managed to grab her arm and stop her without giving up my spot in line.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Sissi said there were more showers upstairs," Aelita told me.

"No - Well there are but don't listen to her. The showers upstairs are for the boys. She was trying to trick you." I glared at Sissi as I spoke. "Don't listen to her. She's a real jerk. She acts like she's soo perfect when she's really not."

I pulled her so she stood in front of me. "As long as you stay with me or Yumi, or the others, you'll be fine." I said.

She smiled and thanked me. After our showers, we met the boys and Yumi at breakfast. Aelita brought up the shower incident, and they pretty much said what I did. I noticed they were acting kind of strange, but didn't question it. Soon breakfast ended and school offically began.

As I made my way to the track alone, the boys and Aelita said they had something to take care of and would meet me there, two hands wrapped around my waist. Not in an attacking way, more like a playful way.

"Good morning,

"Good morning. Well, this is different. What's the occasion?"

"It's your birthday today, isn't it,"Alex replied matter-of-factly.

I stared at him surprised. "How'd you know?"

"I know a lot of things," He said slyly, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, I got you something."

He reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a small box. Inside was a sterling sliver bracelet with dozens of little hearts, flowers and other girly items.

I wasn't really into girly items, but I was a sucker for jewlery and it was beautiful and free! And who wouldn't say yes to a free gift!

"Oh, wow, Alex!" I gasped in awe. "It's beautiful! This must've cost you a fortune!"

"Eh, just my allowance," he said, fastening it to my left wrist.

I played with the hearts and flowers as we walked to the gym for Phys. Ed. I went into the locker room to change and Sissi was leaning against a locker, a smug look on her face as usual.

I ignored her and quickly changed into my gym clothes.

"It seems your getting quite comfortable with Rider, huh," she sneered.

I stopped and turned to her. "We're friends. Something you wouldn't know about."

Her cheeks flushed pink in anger for a moment but she composed herself. "There's a fall dance coming up in a few weeks. Are you going to go with him?"

I hadn't know anything about a dance, nor did I care. So, instead of answering her, I walked out of the locker room.

For once, I was really excited for Phys. Ed specifically because of what we were playing.

"Dodge ball is as simple game, really," Jim explained the rules. "If you get hit with a ball anywhere below your head, you are out, unless the ball flys into the air and your teammate catches it. If you throw a ball and a person on the other team catches it, the thrower is out. If a person catches a ball then drops it, he is out. The last person standing wins or the team with the most people when the time is up wins."

He severed the class equally into two and I realized Jeremy wasn't here.

"Hey, where is Jeremy?" I whispered to Odd.

"Einstein is at the factory working on some new program for Aelita's virus," he told me. "Plus, he hates dodge ball."

Lucky for me, Sissi was on the other team and for the whole game, every ball I threw would always nail her directly in the stomach. Each time she would win and complain, earning a smirk on my face. At one point during the game, the only two people standing, were me and Alex.

In the crowd, people chanted both mine and his name. I waited patiently for Alex to attack, but to my surprise he casually threw the ball at me. I only had an instant to decided whether to catch it or let it hit me.

So, I caught it.

Jim blew his whistle and declared that he was out. He gave me a short wave before walking off the court. As I watched him walk away, Ulrich, Odd and a bunch of other kids congratulated me. I thanked them and went to get a 'drink'. And by 'drink', I meant go talk to Alex.

"Nice job out there," he complimented. "You've got a great arm."

"Why did you let me win?" I demanded.

"What? Can't a guy do a nice thing for someone on their birthday?"

"Well, yeah, but I wanted to win fair and square,"

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know."

I frowned at him for a moment, then smiled and sat down next to him.

Once Phys. Ed ended, I said good bye to Alex and headed to my next class.

"Einstein called," Odd informed me. "He wants us to head to the factory at lunch. Apparently he finished what ever he was working on."

"Alright."

Our next classes flew by fast and Aelita was getting used to the school little by little. We all continued to help her adapt. Soon it was lunch and we headed to the factory. We got Aelita a scooter so she could ride to the factory like the rest of us. We arrived at the computer lab and Jeremy told us to head to Lyoko. We did and he transfered Yumi, Aelita and I first, then Odd and Ulrich. We all appeared in the desert sector.

"What's going on, Jeremy?" Aelita inquired.

"I created vehicles for you to use on Lyoko," he explained. "Here they come, try them out."

A one-wheeled motorcycle, two hover skateboards and a hover scooter appeared.

"These are the Overbike, the Overboards and the Overwing," Jeremy said. "Your new vehicles. Take them for a test spin."

"Gladly!" I said, hopping on one of the Overboards. I didn't like the fact that it was pink, but I ignored it for the time being. "Odd! Ulrich! I'll race you!"

"You're on!" they replied and climbed on their vehicles.

Ulrich took the Overbike while Odd took the other Overboard. Yumi climbed on the Overwing and Aelita climbed on with her. They took off somewhere and Odd, Ulrich and I began our race. 1st place varied between us. For a while it was Ulrich, then it would switch to me, then Odd, then back to Ulrich and go in an entire circle. I was in the lead for a while and was about to win the race when a stray red beam hit my Overboard. The Overboard devirtualized and I fell, shrieking in surprise. Luckily, Odd swooped in and saved me.

"Thanks," I breathed.

"No problem," Odd said.

He landed on the ground and I got off. I scanned the area but no monster was in sight.

"Jeremy, what was that?"

"I don't know. There's a monster approaching. Strange. I don't recognize it," he replied.

In the distance we could see a strange creature approaching us. The creature resembled a giant semi-organic spider with four jointed legs and six small red eyes on the tip of its head where the Eye of XANA was located.

"XANA must have just created it," Aelita said.

"Guys, be careful!" Jeremy warned us. "This thing has higher life points than the other creatures."

The strange creature got up on its hind legs, it's front legs aiming at us. Aelita ran for cover and we prepared ourselves. The spider began shooting at us and Ulrich started deflecting the beams as we scattered around it. I fired off a few shots at it, but my bullets merely bounced off. The creature turned its attention towards me and started firing.

I performed a few cartwheels, dodging a few beams but got hit in the chest. I slid on the ground, groaning slightly.

"You just lost twenty life points, Dialla," Jeremy told me. "What a powerful laser."

I quickly got back on my feet and grabbed my boomerang and threw it at it. At the same time, Yumi threw her fans. The arachnid aimed its legs at our weapons and fired. It's aim was incredibly accurate as it deflected our weapons. The creature fired at me and I was struck again in the chest and got devirtualized. Aelita quickly got into a tower and Jeremy rematerialized her. Soon after, the rest of the Lyoko Warriors got devirutlaized by the strange creature.

"What was that thing? It was like a Trantula!" Odd exclaimed.

"Looks like we found a name for it," Yumi commented.

"Yeah," Jeremy agreed.

"Hey, Jeremy," I said. "Do you think there is anyway you can improve my gun? My bullets didn't do anything against the Trantula."

"I can try but I can't really promise anything," he replied.

"Thanks,"

"Alright can we go to lunch now?" Odd whined. "I'm starving!"

"You're a walking stomach, Odd," Jeremy quipped.

"And you're a walking brain," Odd replied. "See? We compliment each other."

I smiled and walked back to the school with the gang.

During free period, I was sitting on my bed, studying my History book. There was a major test coming up and my grade in History was slipping. There was a knock on my door and I answered it and found Dan standing in front of me. I reigned over him by a foot or so.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Mom and Dad want you to come home around six so we can celebrate your birthday," he answered.

"I thought they were going to a meeting."

"They rescheduled the meeting."

"That's a first."

"So, you'll be there at six?"

"Yeah, sure. Goodbye."

I shut the door and went back to my studying.

Odd's POV

I was hanging out with Ulrich and Yumi at the vending machine, sipping some soda when Dialla's little brother came up to us. Jeremy and Aelita were at the factory working on Lyoko.

"She'll be there," he informed us.

"Alright," Ulrich said. "Thanks."

"Why is it so important she be there anyway?" he questioned.

"We're planning a surprise party for her since it's her birthday," Yumi responded.

"Ooh. Okay," he said and walked off.

"That sure was nice of Dan to do that," I commented.

"Yeah, anyway, let's head to her house," Ulrich ordered. "Yumi, do you have the things?"

She held out a plastic bag. "Yep. The cake is at my house."

"I'll call Einstein and tell them to meet us at D's house," I suggested and dialled his number.

I explained everything to him and he agreed to meet us at Dialla's house at 5:30. Then we headed to her house and began setting things up.

Dialla's POV

Time flew by and it was 5:50. I shut my history book and made my way to my house. It was a short walk so I arrived there at 6:00. However, when I stepped inside, all the lights were off.

"Why are all the lights off? I can't see a thing,"

A second after I said that, the lights turned on. I flinched, shut my eyes for a moment.

"Surprise!!!"

I opened my eyes in surprise to see all of my friends standing in front of me. The entire inside of my house was decorated with balloons, streamers, everything and anything that's at a birthday party. I stared at them, my mouth hanging wide open.

"Oh my... How did you...."

Anything I wanted to say never came out because two hands clamped on my shoulders.

"C'mon, Dialla," Ulrich said on my right.

"The cake is ready," Odd finished on my left.

They half led, half pushed me into the kitchen where a chocolate and vanilla cake was waiting. Written in blue frosting was HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIALLA. Fourteen candles illuminated the area around me as I thought of a wish. Then, I took a deep breath and blew them all out.

Everyone cheered and clapped and we all laughed.

We began eating and the cake was delicious. Odd kept hogging all the cake and Yumi scolded him. Once we finished, it was getting late, so we quickly cleaned the place up but decided to leave the decorations up since we're lazy. I said good bye to Yumi, thanked her for coming and quickly caught up with my friends. Odd, Jeremy and Aelita were a few yards ahead of Ulrich and I, who hung in the back. I had started walking, but Ulrich grabbed my wrist.

"Wait, I've got something for you," he said.

"Huh?"

Ulrich reached into his pocket and pulled out a package wrapped in blue paper with a red bow. I looked from him to the present and grabbed it. I opened it and in my hands I held a black box, slightly larger than the one Alex got me. I lifted the lid and the box revealed a sterling silver necklace with a saphire charm and matching earrings. I gasped and stared at Ulrich, who's cheeks were a faint pink.

"Oh, wow! They're beautiful! Thank you so much, Ulrich!" I said and, without thinking, kissed him on the cheek. I quickly stepped back, blushing slightly.

His blush deepend a little. "Uh, well, your welcome."

I shut the box and hugged him quickly.

"I love it. Thank you," I said when I released him.

"Anytime," he replied, relaxing a little.

There was a moment of awkward silence and thankfully Odd broke it by yelling at us to hurry up.

"Coming!" I called and I jogged slightly, then slowed to a walk as I caught up with them; Ulrich followed us.