Chapter 1: Starting Now; Lacey's POV

"Perfect." I stepped out of the cab. "Thank you." I gave the driver the money I owed him and he nodded, driving off.

I sighed and turned around. Looking around the school, I let yet another deep, slightly anxious breath out. I knew that this would be my home for the next few months—or weeks. The sooner I can get out of here, the better.

Some students whispered as I walked by. I could hear "new girl" being thrown back and forth in the conversation, along with other topics, such as where I came from, what grade I was in, and my name. I continued walking, purple suitcase behind me, ignoring them all. Now, I partially wished I had my earbuds in my ears, to fully block out all of the murmurs.

My mobile buzzed, altering me that someone was calling. When I plucked it out of my leather jacket's pocket, I saw the symbol I had become all too familiar with. I hesitated slightly before answering it.

"Find the group I assigned you to." My father's possessed voice came from the other line. It almost hurt to hear that he was still inhabited by my new boss. "Now!"

"I need the pictures you gave me and they're in my suitcase." I weakly explained.

"The purple one is just ahead of you." Not-Dad responded.

"You can see through my phone?" I asked as I looked around. Sure enough, there was a boy whom I recognized from the pictures—the blonde one.

"Of course I can; it's technology, isn't it?" The voice impatiently replied. "Now, hurry! Time is ticking, you know."

"I know." I sighed and hung up, approaching the blonde boy and thinking of a reason to do so as I walked. "Excuse me?"

"Yes?" He asked. He eyed me, mainly because this was the first time he had seen me on campus—or anyone had seen me on campus.

"I'm new and totally lost. How the heck do I get to the girls' dormitories?"

"Oh, classic rookie mistake." The blonde chuckled. "I'll walk you over there."

"Thanks so much." I smiled, hoping it looked real. Of course I knew where the girls' building was—I had gotten the map in the packet of acceptance papers. "I'm Lacey, by the way."

"Odd." He responded.

"Excuse me? Are you making fun of—"

"No," He chuckled. "My name is Odd. So, actually you're making fun of my name."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. I recognized the name now that I heard it. It was just a matter of matching it with the face on the pictures X.A.N.A. had given me.

"Really." He confirmed. "There's a ton of unique names around here."

"Well," I began. "I guess it is France." I weakly joked, but soon stopped smiling, realizing I could have offended him. To my surprise, Odd laughed.

Odd finished laughing and asked, "Who's your roommate, anyway?"

"Aelita Stones. Do you know her?"

"Actually, she's one of my best friends." Odd replied. "Isn't her room one of the smaller ones, though?"

"I guess it was the only one left." I shrugged. In reality, X.A.N.A.—through my father—had made sure that I was with one of my "victims" as he called them, though I preferred he didn't. I wasn't completely sure how he had done it, so all I knew was that I was Aelita's roommate now.

"I'm sure there are plenty of other—"

"Is this it?" I asked, purposely stopping him midsentence.

"It is." Odd responded, seemingly forgetting about the whole room situation. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped when an older man dressed in a red jogging suit approached us.

"Larissa Xavier?" He asked, sounding slightly cranky.

"That would be me." I responded. "But I'd prefer to be called 'Lacey', please."

"I had a teammate in the paranormal investigation group I was in named Lacey." The older man answered.

"You were a paranormal investigator, Jim?" Odd questioned.

"I'd rather not talk about it." The man—Jim, I guessed—replied. "Lacey, follow me to your room, then."

I gave Odd a small wave as I followed Jim. He waved back and ran to catch up with two teens I identified from the pictures—the boy who always wore green and the Japanese girl who wore black. I felt slightly bad, after seeing how nice Odd was to me.

I could tell already that this wasn't going to turn out very well.

So I hope that was okay… I'm feeling pretty confident about this story. (:

And both reviews—thanks for that by the way! (: - that I received asked if there was going to be pairings. The answer is: yes, to some extent. I am a HUGE Ulrich and Yumi fan (who never kissed :P) and I kinda like Jeremie and Aelita… But I'll consider some REASONABLE requests (I.E. No X.A.N.A. monsters with a Lyoko warrior…)

Thanks SO much for reading! (:

xx