Kadic Academy Kids

Fall Break

Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Ninth grade student

"Really, I'm gonna be fine here alone this week, and I'm not really alone, I have Tovah here with me," Aelita smiled reassuringly as we walked to the front gate, "yeah, I think we all need a little break from each other," Odd said looking over at me, we hadn't really resolved things since we had decided not to be together romantically. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and looked away from Odd, "I hate to agree, but it's true, and XANA has been very quiet lately," I shrugged. "I have to go, my grandmother is coming over for dinner," Yumi waved goodbye to
us. "our bus is going to be here soon for soccer camp, we should start heading that way, Odd," Ulrich said as he looked at his watch, "you're right, a whole week with G.I Jim training away! Lucky us," Odd said sarcastically. "My dad is here, are you sure you don't want to come, guys? My parents won't mind, I mean, Tovah you are my cousin and my parents love you Aelita," Jeremy said tentatively. "You can trust us to behave, but I'm sleeping in your room, now go." I laughed winking then patting his shoulder. "Go on, we'll be fine! I don't want to bother your parents," Aelita said.
I guess Aelita and I both felt a bit bothersome and didn't want to be a burden to anyone, despite Yumi and Jeremy offering many times to have us stay during the break.
"Call me at the first sign of trouble," Jeremy told us as he was one foot in the car, "we'll be sure to get into lots of trouble! Bye, uncle Michael, bye Jeremy," Aelita and I waved them goodbye.

Aelita and I went back to our room and I got my things together, "I'm gonna go to Jeremy's room and read, maybe take a nap," I smiled thinking of all the restful sleep I was going to have. "Well I'm probably gonna work on some mixing, maybe we can get dinner tonight?" She asked as I packed my things, "yeah, that sounds nice,"

I unlocked the door to Jeremy's room and flopped down on the bed, "nice," I mumbled to myself. I closed my eyes and fell asleep pretty quickly.

Aelita Stones Kadic Academy Ninth grade student

I puttered around my room for a bit, trying on a new outfit or two and fixing my hair in a new style, it was a little boring being alone, it reminded me of being on Lyoko. I flopped back on my bed and rubbed my face, I was so lonely. I got up and went to find Tovah, I opened the door to Jeremy's door and sat on the end of the bed to see Tovah sleeping, "Tovah," I shook her, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What?" She asked. "I'm bored," I said as I sat on the bed, "what're you doing in here?" She asked sitting up putting her glasses on, "you want to go get ice cream?" I asked. She shrugged. "Sure, why not?" She pulled her shoes on and grabbed her coat and we started walking towards the ice cream shop. "So what's going on with you and Odd?" I asked. "Nothing now," she remarked looking up at the sky, "we went to the dance, and things kind of just...ended after that," she explained, "are you upset?" I asked. "I don't really know, I liked him, but now things are kind of awkward, but he texted me earlier, but I haven't opened it," she pulled her phone out and then shoved it back in her pocket. "Aren't you going to open it?" I asked. "Nah," she answered as we exited the school. We walked in silence for a while and finally made it to "I scream for Ice cream,"
"You should read it," I prodded. "Fine," she opened her phone and looked down at the phone, "it says, 'we should talk later,' what do you think he wants to talk about?" She asked. "You know last break when you guys went to that convention I went with Odd to his beach house, I think he liked me back then too, but I just don't think it's the time," she shrugged. We sat and ate our ice cream and she looked down at her mobile and slid it across the table "will you read it?" I took the phone and opened it, "it just says 'see you after the break,'" I shrugged and slid the phone back. "How about we go shopping? My parents sent me some money since they aren't coming back for a while and they wanted me to get some new clothes and you could use a new dress or two," Tovah smiled finishing her ice cream. "That's so sweet, but I couldn't use your money," I said shaking my head. "Think of it as an early or late birthday present, when is your birthday?" She asked. "I don't know," I said shaking my head, "I don't have that memory," I told her solemnly. "Well, we should throw you a big birthday party! Pick a day you like and we can have a party! We can get dressed up and we can ask to use the rec room," she suggested. "What day should it be?" I asked. "How about November 1st?" I suggested. "Yeah, you look like you were born in November," she laughed. "When is yours?" I asked. "December 19th, it's near Hanukkah, so usually my parents lump my presents together," she laughed. My phone rang and it was Jeremy, but I let it ring, I didn't really feel like chatting with him at the moment.
"Why didn't you go stay with your aunt and uncle? They are your family," I asked looking over at Tovah, she shrugged and sat back in her seat. "They're great and I love them, but they all seem so sad when they see me, they think about mom and they won't talk about her anymore to me, they think I don't want to hear or talk about it anymore. They keep trying to convince me 'what a lovely woman,' my stepmom is," she said turning to look out the window with tears welling in her eyes. "She's never going to be my mom," she clutched the plastic spoon tight in her hand. I put my hand over hers comforting, "I'm sorry," I tried to sound as soft as possible. "I think they're just trying to help," Tovah bit her lip keeping the tears back, she swallowed and set her spoon down. "Let's get out of here," she raised her eyebrows and nodded towards the door, we walked down the street to a little boutique and looked at dresses and skirts and shirts, Tovah picked up a dress and handed it to me, "you should try this on," she smiled. I took it in my hand, it was a burgundy dress with pockets, just my style. I went into the dressing room and my phone rang again, it was Jeremy. "Hello?" I answered. "Why did you send me to voice-mail earlier?" "Cause we're busy," "well there's an activated tower, for your information," "no trouble here," "ahh!" "Correction," I opened the curtain to the dressing room and saw a woman lunge at Tovah with the pole from the rack, she ducked avoiding being hit. "Gotta call you back-" I grabbed Tovah's hand and pulled her out of the store but the woman followed us down the empty street into the alley, we spotted one bike and hopped on, Tovah stood on the back as I pedaled fast as I could to the factory and Yumi was standing there waiting for us, "hey, came as fast as I could, what's the problem?" She asked. "That!" Tovah yelled pointing at the now two women chasing us, "oh!" She looked at us and we slid down the ropes and we got into the elevator. "Is Jeremy coming?" Yumi asked. "I don't know, I hung up on him," I replied. "Call him back," I reached in my pocket but my phone was gone. "My phone is gone," yumi called Jeremy as we got into the lab, "Tovah, can you virtualize us?" I asked. "Yes, I've done it a couple of times," she replied.

Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Ninth grade student

I sat in Jeremy's chair and typed in the virtualization code, "virtualize yumi, virtualize Aelita," I waited and watched as they were brought into the forest sector, "the tower is due east, you're gonna have to go on foot until I can figure out the vehicle situation," I looked through Jeremy's notes and then heard the elevator open behind me. "Oh-" I was slammed on the floor and my glasses flew off with the impact, "that's not playing fair!" I called out, I got back up and tried to run at the figure but it disappeared. I looked around and grabbed my cracked glasses off the ground. "Vehicles, I've got them," I typed in the code, "oh that was the over the bike and the overboard, sorry that's the best I can do," I said leaning in to look at the notes, suddenly a pair of hands slid around my neck and started squeezing, I began choking and gasping for air, things started to go foggy as I kicked when suddenly it stopped, I fell back into Odd and my eyes were wide as I looked at him, "I thought-" I struggled to speak as I was just being choked. "Yeah, the bus broke down." He smiled. "Can you send us in? Ulrich is waiting upstairs," I nodded and typed in the codes, I put the mic back in my ear "hey, Odd and Ulrich are on their way and two monsters are close by...so I guess watch your backs and your fronts," I looked over my shoulder in anticipation for another attack. "Virtualization," I hit the enter key and leaned back, relaxing a bit. I tapped my finger waiting as they approached the tower minutes later.
"Yeah!" I cheered as Aelita deactivated the tower. I went up to the scanners to welcome everyone back, "so, how was camp?" Yumi asked. "We only made it about a mile or two before one of the wheels busted, so it was easy to get away," Ulrich laughed rubbing his neck. "You?" He asked Yumi. "My grandmother chased my mom around the house directing her in a cleaning frenzy," she said as she returned his smile. "Well, we should probably get back before they notice we're gone," Odd said, "come on," he grabbed Ulrich's arm and they ran to the bus. "Yeah, I should go so I can make it to dinner," Yumi said waving bye. The two of us went back to our dorm room, "where was Jeremy?" I asked. "I don't know, maybe he couldn't get away," Aelita pulled her phone out and called Jeremy. "Hey, where were you? On a plane? I bet it was killing you to have someone else touch your keyboard, but you don't need to worry, Tovah did a great job," she listened as Jeremy spoke and nodded. "Mhm, well I have to go, me and Tovah have to make up for a lost time," she closed the phone and laid back on her bed. "He didn't beg you to stay on the phone a little longer?" I teased. "His darling Aelita?" She shrugged. "I know I owe him and stuff, but..." she bit her lip, "I don't know, I just don't really feel anything," she sat up and rubbed her forehead. "It just feels a little...forced," she confessed. "It's like sometimes I came out of the computer to be his...his girlfriend," I moved to sit next to her. "It's what you want to Aelita, you don't owe him anything," I soothingly patted her back. "I know, now I do," she nodded. "Well, who do you like?"
"It's a secret,"