Chapter 6: A Worthy Warrior?; General POV

By the time Aelita got back to her dorm, it was dark outside. She quietly opened the door, trying to avoid disturbing her roommate.

At the sound of the door opening, Lacey looked up from her science homework. Aelita quickly apologized and sat down on her bed.

"Have you been doing homework the entire time I was gone?" Aelita asked her roommate.

"The entire time, all right." Lacey lied. "Where were you, anyway?"

"Sorry. My friends and I had a bit of an emergency."

"Oh." Lacey replied. Time to get closer, she thought. "I just thought that maybe I was part of your little group now."

"Oh, don't worry. It wasn't important." Aelita lied.

"But you said it was an emergency?"

Aelita flushed at her mistake. "Oh, not that kind of emergency."

"What kind of emergency, then?"

"A…" Aelita took a minute to think. "Girl one."

"So you, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie all had a 'girl emergency'?" Lacey raised an eyebrow.

"No! Yes!" Aelita backtracked. "We... uh… It was actually only Yumi and me."

"You don't have to lie. I get it." Lacey let out a fake sigh. "You don't want me hanging around your group."

"No!" Aelita quickly replied. "It's not that! I do want you in my group!"

"You do?" Lacey questioned.

"Yes! Of course! You're my roommate; of course I would want you to hang out with me!"

"Okay then." Lacey, knowing the conversation could g on for hours, dropped it. "So.. what kind of girl talk?"

"Oh… It was nothing." Aelita avoided eye contact.

Lacey, on the other hand, continued acting like she had no idea where Aelita was. "Ooh, was it about guys?"

"Sure." Aelita nodded.

"You've got your eye on someone?" Lacey asked her as she wore a teasing look on her face.

"Maybe." Aelita stopped lying.

"Really? Who?!"

"Maybe I like Jeremie…" Aelita blushed.

Lacey gasped, dropping her act. "Jeremie?"

"I'm surprised you haven't heard about it. Everyone knows Jeremie and I like each other."

"Are you dating?"

Aelita looked thoughtful for a moment. "Not officially. But everyone knows how we feel about each other."

"What about Yumi?" Lacey asked her pink-haired roommate.

"What about her?"

"Who's she like?"

Aelita wondered for a moment whether Yumi would mind her telling Lacey. Well, everyone knows, anyway. It's not like it's a big secret. "She and Ulrich really like each other. They're not dating, though."

"What's up with this school and everyone liking each other, but not dating?" Lacey laughed. "Okay, that came out kind of wrong, but still."

"And it doesn't help that William really, really likes Yumi, too." Aelita added.

Lacey closed her science book, obviously enjoying the gossip. "Ooh, love triangle!"

Aelita giggled. "I guess it kind of is."

"I'll see you later!" Lacey waved to her friend on her way to the principal's office to review the rules again. The morning sun was bright and warm, making the air seem crisp.

Aelita waved to her and headed toward the cafeteria. As soon as she had gotten out of the line with her tray full of food, she could hear Jeremie calling her over to their table, where everyone except Yumi—who was apparently eating breakfast at home with her family—was sitting.

"No Lacey?" Ulrich asked his pink-haired friend as she sat down next to Jeremie.

"She has a meeting with Delmas about the rules of the campus." Aelita told her friends.

"He's probably telling her because he knows how well we follow them." Jeremie replied.

"In our defense, it's usually either follow the rules or save the planet." Ulrich answered.

"Yeah, we can't help being superheroes!" Odd exclaimed.

"What's this about superheroes?" Sissi approached the table.

"It's something you're not." Ulrich murmured.

Sissi huffed. "For you information, I once saved a kitten from drowning in a bird bath." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure glad the fate of the world isn't in your hands. We would all be doomed."

"For

"For your information—" Odd began before Jeremie kicked him. "Ow." He threw Jeremie a look.

"What was that?" Sissi questioned, putting a hand on her hip.

"Nothing." Odd mumbled, slumping in his seat.

Sissi huffed again and turned to walk away. "That's what I thought."

"I can't believe her." Odd commented as he watched her walk away. "After all the times we've saved her, too!"

"In case you've forgotten, Odd, Sissi doesn't remember any times that we've saved her." Jeremie reminded him.

"Besides, she's helped us, too." Ulrich added.

Aelita was looking steadily down at her food the entire time this was going on. And it didn't get unnoticed, either.

Ulrich looked at his friend. "Aelita, are you alright?"

"It's going to be too hard to hide Lyoko from my roommate. I think I have to tell her about Lyoko." Aelita avoided eye contact with all of her friends.

"Aelita, no!" Jeremie exclaimed. Ulrich and Odd also let out sounds of protest.

"I'm sorry guys, but I almost got caught last night. If it keeps happening, Lacey's going to get suspicious." Aelita quietly explained.

"That's what returns to the past are for!" Odd told Aelita.

"I know, but we don't always do a return to the past." Aelita replied.

"She has a point." Ulrich spoke up. "If we were to do a return to the past every battle, we'd probably have to every time we mentioned X.A.N.A. or Lyoko or anything related to that. And we all know what happens after too many returns the past."

"X.A.N.A. will only get stronger." Aelita said.

"I still think it's a bad idea." Jeremie mumbled.

"Well, I happen to agree with Aelita." Ulrich said. "It's one thing keeping it from our other friends or even Sissi, but it's another thing to keep it from a roommate."

"I don't think it's the best idea." Jeremie repeated. He looked at his blonde friend. "Odd, you've been surprisingly quiet. What do you think?"

"I happen to agree with Aelita." Odd said. "I couldn't imagine trying to hide that from Ulrich."

"Maybe Yumi will agree with me." Jeremie mumbled.

"Sorry, but I'm with Jeremie on this one." Yumi shrugged. "I think having a new warrior would be too dangerous, especially after what went down with William."

"Who says she would have to be a warrior?" Aelita said.

"She's going to be and you know it, Aelita." Yumi replied. "Sorry, but I just think it's safe."

"What if we trained her?" Odd asked.

"We tried with William, and that didn't exactly work out." Jeremie pointed out.

"We'll be more careful this time, I promise. And it was only me last time, remember? Maybe it'll help if all of us are there." Aelita suggested.

"Maybe." Yumi quietly responded.

"Come on, Jeremie." Ulrich said to him.

"I'll think about it." He replied. "Let's keep an eye on her for a while and make sure that she's worthy."

Yay! All done! And this story has been getting a lot more favorites and follows than reviews, which is GREAT accept I only have one person reviewing… yeah. SO THANK YOU nickyd125! (:

One more thing: this is BEFORE Code Lyoko Evolution, but I'm making it so that the characters can all deactivate the towers like in Evolution. Make sense? I just like the idea of that… Yep.

I probably won't see you until next week since I'm showing at my county fair this weekend. Plus I have a TON of homework I should be doing but I'd rather watch Code Lyoko and write… (:

See ya!