Chapter 2
Abandoned
Breaking into my subconscious was none other than the Subdigitals. Rolling over and hoping it would shut off on its own, I attempted to go back into my dream before it slipped away. Most of the time my dreams are all relatively the same but this one was different. I was on this, this mountainous area. Nothing like what's around here. There were these strange- looking monsters with symbols on them chasing after me, shooting lasers. I had no idea where to go when I saw this tower glowing red. The closer I got I was able to make out figures. One was Aelita and the other was a man I hadn't ever seen before. He looked like Aelita, almost like he could be her relative, maybe even her dad, but that was impossible. I've never even seen her dad. They called my name and told me to get to the tower, that Xana was coming.
"I'm trying!" I shouted into the distance. Then the man disappeared and Aelita was running into the tower.
"Wait!" I called out but it was no use. The man was gone and Aelita was already at the tower.
"Harmony?" The voice was distant and faded into the background of the dream. Then I was being shaken and the voice got louder. Opening my eyes I was greeted by Aelita, a nervous look on her face.
"What?" I asked the dream still fresh on my mind.
"Well you started to shout something and it's time to get up."
"Oh,sorry. Um, what was I shouting?"
"You were shouting for someone to wait."
"Oh, ok. Thank you for waking me up."
"You're welcome. You better hurry if you want a shower though. Sissy likes to take up all the hot water."
"Thanks for the advice." Smiling, Aelita walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Why was Aelita in my dream? She looked different, her outfit that is and her ears looked pointed as well. Where was I? But most importantly who is Xana and who is that man? Taking Aelita's advice, I grabbed my stuff and began my hunt for the bathroom.
After having to ask for directions, I finally found it. Hopping in the shower, I realized what Aelita meant: there was no hot water left. Quickly washing off, I brushed my long brown hair which matched my eyes and threw it in a braid. Going back to the room I found Aelita was waiting for me.
"You didn't have to wait, you know."
"It's no problem. So are you ready for your first official day?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
We both laughed and for the first time I knew what it was like to have a friend, a real friend. Grabbing our stuff, we walked outside to go meet up with the guys. Upon seeing us Jeremy smiled at Aelita and I could tell that I was going to have to get the scoop from Odd. Ulrich smiled not at us but at a girl with short black hair wearing all black.
"So this is the new student?"
"I guess I am. I'm Harmony."
"Hay I'm Yumi."
After talking for a few minutes we all went to the cafeteria to grab some breakfast. Yumi, who had already eaten, took her place at the table we sat at yesterday for dinner. A croissant and a small cup of hot chocolate were on the menu for today. Not terribly hungry due to my churning stomach I gave Odd my hot chocolate and took two bites of my croissant before deciding not to eat anymore. Sitting at the table I decided to ask Aelita about Xana on the off chance she would know anything.
Before I had time to change my mind I plunged forward, "Aelita? Do you… um know who or what Xana is?"
Everyone froze and Odd dropped his cup of hot chocolate, spilling it everywhere.
"What?" I asked confused. Everyone was looking at me as if I just killed their dog.
Jeremy was the first to speak. "Where did that come from?"
"Nothing… I just… never mind."
There was an awkward silence before anyone spoke.
"So why did you leave your old school?" Yumi asked.
"My parents thought I needed to be more sociable. Then they found out about Kadic Academy and decided the best way to do that would be to send me to a school where I would live on campus and have a roommate."
"That's stupid." Ulrich said.
"I couldn't agree more."
"Well I've got to go. If I'm late for Jim's class again the principal is going call my parents which means I'll be grounded and if…" Then she stopped suddenly and all eyes turned to me.
"We got it." Ulrich said and Yumi was off before I could ask why she stopped.
"We better get to class too." Jeremie said.
Standing up with our trays of uneaten food, we were stopped by none other than Sissy and the lost puppy dogs, who I now know to be and Hervé and Nicolas. Dumping our food into the trash can I turned around to see hot chocolate coming at me. Feeling the still hot liquid splash into me I immediately looked at my clothes to find them stained.
"Sorry. I have such bad aim maybe you could help me with that Ulrich dear."
"In your dreams, Sissy." Ulrich replied.
Sissy huffed and walked away, Hervé and Nicolas right behind her. Looking once again I decided I couldn't go to class like this but if I went back now I would be late.
"Great!" I shouted not meaning to be so loud.
"I've got it!" Odd said. He turned to face me. "Ok so we'll go back to the room so you can change and then I'll tell Mrs. Hertz that you got lost and I found you on the way to class."
"Or Aelita could take her back and tell Mrs. Hertz that she was helping Harmony adjust and that's why they were late." Jeremie said in a matter-of-fact tone. Odd frowned slightly at the idea of his plan not being considered a good one.
"All right. You guys go on ahead we'll catch up." Aelita said without missing a beat.
"Wait are you sure? I don't want you to get into trouble." I asked warily.
"Positive!"
Aelita and I ran back to our room and I quickly slipped into my knee length dress. As a gift for having me switch schools my mom bought me a salmon colored dress with yellow detailing as a way to 'soften the blow' as she put it. When I came out of the room Aelita just smiled at me.
"What," I asked confused, "Oh no! Is there still hot chocolate on me?" I started to examine my clothes and even spun around in an attempt to see the back of the dress. This made Aelita giggle.
"You look nice. That's why I was smiling."
"Thank you!" I've been told before I was pretty but I never let it get to my head. Besides it didn't matter how pretty people thought I was; they still ignored me, so I never believed it. However, Aelita seemed to mean it.
"We better hurry. If we're too late Mrs. Hertz won't believe the story."
"Right." I said and we started running down the hall.
We arrived to class five minutes late. After being told that this was unacceptable but seeing as I was a new student she would let it slide, I took my place beside Odd. He made a point to save me a space, leaving Ulrich to sit with another student in front of us. This left Aelita and Jeremie behind us, forming our own little group.
Despite it being my first day I kept talking to Odd even though you're supposed to be on your best behavior the first day. I almost felt bad for ignoring Mrs. Hertz but not bad enough to stop talking. Thankfully she didn't hear us. Counting down the minutes until the bell rang, Mrs. Hertz turned to directly talk to the class for the first time, other than asking questions periodically that is.
"For homework tonight you are to pair up with a person in this class and write a three page paper summarizing today's lesson." She was looking directly at odd and I. I guess she heard us after all and thought this would be a better punishment than detention.
People in the class started to echo 'what' and 'this is so stupid'.
"I could make it five pages but I'm being generous in light of our new student." She said obviously happy with the extreme distaste the class had for this assignment. Thankfully this was the last lesson I had at my old school otherwise I would officially be buried in the ground, metaphorically speaking that is.
Exiting the class we were quickly blocked by Sissy.
"You should have gotten in trouble!" She squealed. I could only assume she was talking to me and Aelita. "My father is going to hear about this!"
"Great idea! I'll go with you and then you can explain how you threw hot chocolate all over me and I had to change, making me late to class." The group laughed and I even heard the puppies, as I now refer to Hervé and Nicolas as, snicker.
"Shut up!" She yelled at all of us and stormed out of the rom the puppies quickly following. I turned to Odd, who seemed to be happy with my quick response, leading me to believe he usually said the comebacks. Once we were all outside Odd grabbed my hand to stop me and turned so he was looking me in the eyes. Not having much experience with guys I immediately started freaking out but managed to stay cool as a cucumber on the outside.
"So I was wondering if you wanted to work on the homework together?" Oh. Ok.
"Yeah. Totally!"
"Cool. We can work on it later." Before I could say anything else Ulrich shouted down the hall at us.
"Come love birds! You can talk more later!" I could feel myself turning the color of a tomato. Turning to Odd I saw he had changed to a similar color as well. Letting go of my hand, we bolted down the hall to catch up with Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich.
The rest of the day went by fast. Everyone I met was nice and helpful. I sat with Odd nearly every class but finally insisted he sit with Ulrich. I felt bad for stealing Odd way and instead sat with a girl named Heidi. We got to eat lunch with Yumi, but I didn't bother to ask why she stopped in the middle of her sentence this morning and looked to me. Odd and I worked on the project in his and Ulrich's room since Ulrich had gone to work on it with the person he sat by earlier.
After working on it for about an hour and a half we had finished the paper. I told Odd I had to go call my parents, but really I was going to the woods to practice my archery. When my parents and I took the tour Mr. Delmas told Jim of my interest in archery. Jim responded with excitement and told us how he was an archery champion but had to stop. When I asked he didn't tell me why, giving me the impression he did that a lot. Then Jim told me the gym was open any time for me to practice but I preferred to practice outside.
Grabbing my bow and arrows I started for the woods. It was a nice day outside to practice. I just had to be careful that nobody was out on a stroll, seeing how this would most definitely be against school rules. Finding a place far enough out I wouldn't run into anyone but could still find my way back, I pulled out one of my arrows out of the bag slung across my back and took aim for the skinniest tree I could spot. The first couple of times I shot I made it, that was until I saw an even skinnier tree. I knew I couldn't make it but I still had to try. Taking up aim I fired the arrow. It missed by less than an inch and went soaring past the tree further back into the woods.
"Great!" I yelled louder than I probably should have seeing as I'm not supposed to be back here doing this. I collected my arrows, throwing them and my bow into the bag. Following the direction of the arrow I took off further into the woods.
"There you are!" Picking up my arrow I noticed it had landed right next to a manhole. Normally I wouldn't have thought anything of it but this one caught my eye. It wasn't on all the way, slightly off to one side. Before I could exercise better judgment I moved the manhole all the way over and started climbing down, making sure to put the manhole cover back over in case anyone walked by. When I got to the bottom I saw three skateboards and two scooters.
"What in the world?" I said out loud. Putting down the now seemingly heavy archery equipment, I continued forward, determined to find out why people would want to come down here. Then again I did, so I guess I can't really judge. After what felt like forever I came to a ladder leading up to what I assumed was the surface. When I made it to the top moving the manhole cover I realized I was at an abandoned factory. Curiosity getting the best of me, I continued walking forward knowing I could get in trouble for trespassing, though by the looks of this place I thought it was very unlikely.
Reaching what used to be an entrance were ropes attached to some beams above. Latching on to one, I swung down and jumped to the floor.
"That was fun!" I giggled. Looking forward was an old elevator. I wondered if it would still work. Pressing the button, I could hear the elevator making its way to my level and soon after the doors slid open. However, you needed a password to get it to move anywhere. Maybe it's not as abandoned as I thought. Now completely and utterly dedicated to finding out what was here, I wandered around until I found another way down.
That's when I discovered a room with a whole computer system. Turning it on I decided to look through. Then I saw Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Aelita all on their very own card. It looked like a video game but that was impossible. Wasn't it? Going down to the next level I saw what reminded me of those tubes at banks where you put your check to send to the person inside, except these were much bigger and much more advanced. Finally going to the lowest level was a room with, well, something I couldn't even begin to describe. It looked an overgrown computer hard drive, obviously not for a video game. Hurrying back to the school I began considering what to do with this new found information. Then I came to the conclusion: I have to confront them about this and get the truth, the real truth.