Chapter 13
"So, how was your night?" April asked as she walked over to Odd and Ulrich in the cafeteria. She sat down her tray of food next to Odd's and sat down.
"Xana attacked, didn't he?" Odd asked, unsure if it had been a dream or not.
"Yes. I got to go to Lyoko." April said.
"What?!" Ulrich exclaimed.
"Yes." April said, nodding her head. "I do not think it was Jérémie's first chose, but I am glad I went. Oh, and I noticed you are wearing flip flops."
"Ya, thanks for the idea." Odd said.
"That was you that gave him the idea?!" Ulrich exclaimed.
"It works." April said, shrugging her shoulders.
"OK, it just smells bad for the rest of us." Ulrich whined.
"I cannot help that." April said. "Maybe a little bit of cologne?"
"It might take a bit more than a little bit." Ulrich said, holding his nose.
"Salut, tout le monde." Aélita said as she came over and sat down with her food.
"Practicing your English?" April guessed, looking at the girl across the table from her.
"Oui, pourquel pas?"
April shrugged and took a bite out of her toast.
"You're here early." Odd said, his mouth full of banana. "What, did Sissi finish early?"
"No, I got up early." Aélita said.
"What do you mean?" April asked.
"Sissi takes up the showers every morning and afternoon." Aélita explained. "She thinks they're hers personally."
"If you want, you can use my shower." April said. "No lines and all the hot water you could want."
"You kidding me!" Odd exclaimed.
"No. There is a water heater just for my apartment." April said.
"Do you mind if we use it, too?" Ulrich asked.
"Sure. As long as Maggie does not say no."
"Hey April." Jérémie said as he came over. "Joro sent me a message through Lyoko. He found Xana's passage." Jérémie handed April a printout page for her to read.
"He says there are multiple channels he has been using, but the strongest one was a direct link through the web from Xanadu to Lyoko." April said, reading the paper as Jérémie sat down next to Aélita.
"Maybe soon we'll be able to go from Lyoko to Xanadu." Odd said.
"That's what we're trying to do." Jérémie said.
"Jérémie, I have a question." April started.
"Hum?"
"Do you ever go to Lyoko?"
"Not really." Jérémie admitted, shaking his head. "Why?"
"Just wondering." April said. "My group, we kind of rotate who is on Earth, and who is on Xanadu. But then again, Xanadu is so simple, anyone could work it. The hardest thing to remember is how to turn back time."
"Hey, when are we going to work on my cartoon?" Odd asked, almost done with his food.
"Well, Ms. Hertz canceled class today, so I think we can do it during first period." Ulrich said.
"Your teachers can cancel class?!" April asked, surprised.
"They don't do it much, but ya, they can." Aélita said.
"To bad Yumi doesn't have Ms. Hertz for first period." Ulrich said.
"That would make it too easy." Odd said. "Come on! I want to put it all together before April leaves."
"Give me a moment to finish my breakfast, Odd!" Aélita said with a smile.
"This may sound really random, but it just hit me." April started, finishing her breakfast. She put her arm behind the chair and sat back, looking at her friends. "Not to be cruel to you French people, but my friends always make jokes how the French are more perverted then we are, and also a lot are gay. Yet, at your school, I haven't seen a single gay couple, or even heard a perverted joke."
"I think that's more of Americans stereotyping us." Jérémie said. "I don't think I know one perverted joke or one gay person."
"I've always heard that Americans were the same way." Ulrich said.
"Well, it is true. The president is more of a celebrity than anything. The news focused on the fact that they thought he was wearing girl's jeans more than what he has been doing, or well, not doing." April said. "I still say more countries need to do what Germany is doing."
"What? Kicking everyone out that doesn't speak German and isn't a Christian?" Ulrich asked.
"Precisely! I am tired of the fact I have to know more Spanish than English!" April said. "No, I do not have a problem with the other religions, even if I am a Christian. I have a friend who is a Satanist and I have many friends who are atheists. I do not promote their religion, but the Bible says that we should treat everyone like our brothers."
"Is this how your conversations go back home?" Aélita asked.
"Close to it, why?" April said, surprised.
"We just never talk about things like this." Odd said.
"At least it is better than some of the conversations Irish Guy likes to have."
"Irish Guy?" Ulrich asked.
"It a nickname. I do not know his full name. But his conversations go down the gutter all the time."
"Down the gutter?" Jérémie asked.
"To put it kindly, he is one big pervert. At my lunch table we cannot eat a turkey sub, milk, apples, or anything that may and can be taken the wrong way."
"You've got some weird friends." Odd said.
"You're one to talk, Odd." Aélita said.
"Odd is not all that bad." April admitted, standing up. "Come on, do we not have a cartoon to make?"
"Not that bad, you haven't heard his jokes." Ulrich exclaimed, getting up.
-.-.-.-
Yumi walked onto campus with her little brother, Hiroki, and was glad to walk away from him to find her friends.
She walked over to the dormitory and went up to Odd and Ulrich's room. Yumi smiled as she remembered Ulrich's call telling her about them recording voices for the cartoon today.
Yumi put her ear to the door to hear if they were actually recording so that she could open the door without messing up the voices.
"...is Franz Hopper really an old science teacher from here?" April asked.
Yumi noticed that that wasn't in the script and opened the door. She saw Odd sitting on his bed as he explained to April next to him. "Ya. I told you. Every person in my movies are real people."
"So, all this actually happened?" April asked.
"Ya, you're actually in Sissi's place, but she said a while back that it was a stupid idea for a movie." Yumi said, sitting next to Ulrich on his bed.
"I took Lyoko out of it, but other than that, it's as good as I could get it." Odd said.
"And our band died a long while back." Ulrich said.
"I never even got to hear your song." Aélita said, remembering she was on Lyoko when the Pop Rock Progresses were alive.
"You don't want to." Yumi said, shaking her head. "The song was terrible. We had Jim on a trombone!"
"I can't believe that was already three years ago." Jérémie said.
"You have been fighting Xana for three years?!" April asked, surprised.
"Actually, three and a half." Jérémie said.
Ring!
"Zut! I'm late!" Yumi exclaimed, grabbing her bag and standing up from beside Ulrich.
"Do not worry!" April said, standing up. She grabbed Yumi's arm and said, "You will be there in a flash! Teleportation!"
A green light turned around the two girls before they disappeared.
"YUMI!" Ulrich cried.