Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
"She was supposed to be staying in your room? Why?" I asked as Sissi stood in my doorway.
"Daddy has constantly said something about sometimes having to do hard things that make you a better individual or something like that. Also that he wouldn't renew my Pretty Girl magazine subscription unless I let stupid Sadie sleep in my room." She replied.
"Did she say where she was going?" I asked.
"Something about the science lab with Yumi, but that makes no sense!" She cackled. "Probably sneaking out or something to get me in trouble!" Sissi shrugged.
"Yeah, presumably something like that." I tapped my fingers against my arm.
"Wait, what if she was gonna play a prank or something? My father said I was responsible for her!" Sissi grimaced. "We have to find her! Come on."
We put on our coats, not before being blocked by Aelita. "Where are you two going?" She asked.
"We have to stop that no-good Sadie from doing something absurd and keep me from getting in trouble!" Sissi spewed.
"I'll come," Aelita said.
We slinked outside and ran across the campus in the thick snow.
"Who's idea was this? It's freezing!" Sissi whined.
"Yours," Aelita and I said in unison.
"Well come on, we're close." I championed them along.
"I should have just let you two go," Sissi announced as we made it to the classrooms.
I pulled on the handle and it broke off into my hand. "Well, that's not good," I said inspecting the handle.
"What do we do now?" Aelita asked. "Call Jeremy, see if there's an active tower. I have a feeling that might be an issue..."
Aelita dialed her phone and it went right to voice-mail.
"I'll go ahead and go up to the dorms." I said, "you two will likely be more useful here, I figure I can conceivably sneak past Jim easier as well. He probably won't see me, not lurch here," I gestured at Sissi with a light laugh.
"We'll stay here and try and get the door open," Aelita told me.
"Good luck!"
Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
I tromped up to the dorms and scrambled to Jeremy's room.
"Where did you just come from?" He inquired.
"Trying to get Yumi out of the tundra," I answered.
"Well I was trying to call you, but it wasn't going through," Jeremy said swiveling in his chair.
"Well, what's the trouble?" I asked shedding my snow-covered coat.
"The usual, activated tower." He shrugged.
"So should I go get Aelita?" I implored.
"I'll ask Odd to go, you get Ulrich and head to the factory."
I commenced to Ulrich's room and as I was walking I heard a creak behind me.
"Hello?" I interrogated. "Is anyone there?" I turned around to see a vacant dorm room door begin to swing open and closed. Against my better judgment, I went to grab the handle, but as I closed it a black mist began to spew out from under the door. I backed away to the wall behind me, "no!" I startled.
I couldn't let this kind of thing happen to me again. I started down the hallway, trying to avoid XANA'S grip, I bumped into Herb and Nicholas, I probably looked demented.
"Sorry," I said standing up, gathering myself.
As I looked behind my shoulder I felt hands grab my arms, I looked over my shoulder and spotted the sign of XANA in Herb's eyes, then Nicholas's fist across my face.
I woke up alone in the forest sector, luckily this time it was just me. I stood up, wondering why I had been sent here.
"Anyone..." I wandered around, "anyone here?" I asked, "Is someone gonna grab me again?" It looked like I was just alone again.
Jeremy Belpois: Kadic Academy, tenth-grade student.
Just great, Sadie is coming.
Sadie was my older cousin we weren't close, she was the wild child of the family.
I got the news at Christmas when we sat at the mandatory kid's table.
Her father and mother were stage managers for various venues and whatever, so her parents were ferrying her to live at my school, they had previously lived near us but then they started living in some big city.
That was all going fine until she began getting kicked out of school, Sadie went to a public school, but recently she and the school had "creative differences", I always thought her parents were too easy on her, she was always getting in trouble.
I couldn't believe it, combatting XANA and fighting off my annoyance will be a big case.
It was the day of her arrival and Aelita was pacing in her room, "Everything alright?" I asked.
"A new girl is coming today and I'm supposed to show her around, Mr.Delmas said she's been a bit of a trouble maker at her other schools, but I want to give her the benefit of the doubt." She said as she stopped her pacing, she sat on her bed.
"That's crazy, I wonder who you're showing around, my cousin is coming today."
Odd walked in and sat on the ground, "you've never mentioned your cousin before," he said. "What are they like?" He asked.
"Um, in a word, a horror." I rolled my eyes.
"I'm sure they're not all that bad." Aelita sighed.
"When I was younger, my family used to go on camping trips, I have another cousin who's our age, she would hide our glasses and hide my inhaler and my cousin Tovah's epilepsy medication, by throwing them in the lake, then she'd tell us 'swim for it'." I rolled my eyes.
"Well, I'm sure she's grown up a lot by now." Aelita said, "I bet you're not the same person you were then. Anyway, I should be going, I don't want to be late. It is an honor to be trusted with such a big responsibility when Sissi showed me around the campus...well I guess she didn't show me around. She just said, 'here." Aelita stated.
I watched as she left and then I ambled back to my room, I heard my phone begin to buzz, it was Jim, phoning to tell me that the new student was there.
Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
"I guess I'll just sit here, wait," I said as I sat in the middle of an inactive tower. I closed my eyes, trying to do that thing that Aelita did to get in contact with Jeremy on Lyoko.
I rested my hands on my thighs, breathing in deeply.
"Jeremy, please hear me," I said quietly.
"Nothing?" I announced impatiently.
I stood up pacing the tower. "You've got to be gagging me, no communication with the outside world, and I'm trapped in this situation again, for what?" I thought why would XANA want to trap me on Lyoko again? What does he have to gain from me being here? He doesn't need my memory and he's already tried this before. I decided to stay put and keep trying to contact Jeremy.
Too bad I wasn't patient.
Ulrich Stern Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
"Who's the new girl?" I asked.
"Yeah she's hot, but also looks a little unhinged. My type." Odd laughed.
"My cousin," Jeremy sighed as we watched Aelita bitterly following behind her.
"I told you about her earlier, is your memory that bad?" Jeremy asked.
"You didn't say if they were a boy or a girl, and actually, I wasn't listening to that carefully." He pointed out.
"Dumbbell." I laughed.
"What?" Odd flung his hands in the air. "Why don't you give an introduction to us, Einstein?" Odd asked, pushing him forward.
I walked behind Odd and Jeremy as we approached his cousin.
"Um, hey Sadie," Jeremy muttered. "These are my friends, Odd and Ulrich." He practically groaned. "But I imagine you'll be busy making your friends, so you want to need to memorize those names." He shrugged.
"Wow, great to see you too Jeremy, this kid huh? What a super warm introduction." She laughed putting her arm around his shoulder. "So, tell me, where are the coolest places to hang out?" She asked.
"Need I remind you this is school?" Jeremy asked his hands on his hips.
"This is school," she said mockingly. "You're so lame. How about tonight I show you and your friends how to party?" She asked.
LATER
Sadie Belpois Kadic Academy Eleventh grade student
I sat in my room after lights out, I heard GI-Jim strolling around the hallways doing bedroom checks.
Once I heard the footsteps stop, I snuck out of my room and went to Aelita's room.
"Welcome to the first stop on the tour," I smirked.
We then stopped at Ulrich and Odd's room, then Jeremy's.
"This is such a bad idea," Jeremy whimpered as we walked down the hall.
"We're gonna get-" he was cut off by the sound of a thud.
"You worry way too much," I giggled. "What's the worst that can happen?" I inquired "we get sent back to our rooms?"
A light fog started filling the halls, I looked around, wondering where it was coming from.
"This school is so dumb, I mean, fix your air conditioning," I said looking at the thickening fog.
"I don't think that's the air conditioning," Ulrich said.
"What do you think it is? A ghost," I chuckled.
"XANA," Aelita mumbled.
"Santa?" I asked. "Now you're just talking crazy." I shook my head.
"We need to get to the factory," Jeremy said.
"Factory?" I challenged. "You guys have lost it,"
They broke out into a sprint out of the building.
"Wait up!" I said following after them. They ran to this abandoned factory, totally weird.
"Someone call Yumi," Jeremy said.
"Why?" I asked.
They all ran ahead of me, ignoring my questions.
Quickly they dispersed, too fast for me to catch up, I was caught in a whirlwind of havoc.
I stood at the entrance of the factory, thankful to see Yumi.
"Finally, someone normal. What is with all this crazy stuff?" I asked as she started to breeze past me.
"Hey, explain what's going on!" I demanded.
"Yeah, sorry, but you're not part of this." She shrugged, seemingly pleased with herself.
I huffed, maybe I could finally get Jeremy in trouble. He wasn't supposed to be in a dangerous factory late at night, was he? What would the principal have to say about this?
I snuck back onto campus and saw Sissi peak outside of her dorm.
"Hey new girl, you know you're supposed to be in your dorm, right? You know my father will have my-" I cut her off.
"I overhead that you don't like Jeremy and his crew? That you want to get them busted?" I asked.
"Where did you hear that?" She whispered.
"I have ears everywhere." I smiled.
"So, what is this gossip you have?" She asked as we fast-walked to Jim's room.
"Jeremy and his group all go hang out at an abandoned factory and I don't know, to make drugs or bombs or something, or drug bombs," I explained.
"That's the craziest story I ever heard." Sissi laughed. "But I have a policy to always trust people one time, and if you get me in trouble, I have a backup plan to let you fry. So I reckon I'm up for this." She leaned forward knocking on Jim's door.
"Why are you two out of bed at this hour?" We asked, his voice sneaking up behind us.
"Why are you?" I expected.
"I'm an adult," he shook his head. "I can do what I want, on the other hand, you two cannot." He crossed his arms looking down at us.
"Sadie and I saw Jeremy and his gang sneaking out of their rooms, towards the woods to that abandoned factory." Sissi piped up.
"I seem to remember my father saying that wasn't allowed." She tapped her chin.
"Well, it was good of you to tell me." He nodded. "Now go back to your room, I'll-" we turned as we heard a thump-thump-thump.
"What was that!" Sissi yelled.
Aelita Stones Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
"This way!" I pointed out, "the forest sector." I looked in the direction and then saw a girl running towards us.
"Hey Jeremy, did you program a girl in your past time?" Yumi asked.
"Um, no." He replied. "It pops up as an error on my computer window, move forward with caution." He warned.
She ran towards the four of us, looking as though she were glad to see us.
"Finally!" She leaned down, her hands on her knees. "I feel like I've been out here for days, no matter what I do, I can't be devirtualized, no matter how hard I try!" We looked at each other, confusion playing over our expressions.
"I'm just gonna say it," Odd started. "Who are you?" He asked.
"Are you kidding me?" She asked. "You guys know me, I'm Jeremy's cousin, I go to school with you guys. I'm Aelita's roommate." She said pleading. "How can you not remember me? That doesn't make any sense!" She waved her arms around, becoming more visibly annoyed.
"That doesn't-" wasps began to shoot at us as we spoke.
"Well, even if you don't remember me, I know where the tower is, it's this way." She gestured forward.
We looked at each other and followed her to the tower, but I had a sneaking suspicion this could be a trap.
Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
"So you guys seriously don't remember who I am?" I asked as we ran down the sector, Aelita trailed closely behind me, I could feel her virtual breath on my neck. I wondered what she thought was going on, I had to convince them I was who I said I was.
"Not really," Ulrich said as he ran ahead of the group.
"I dated you." I pointed to Ulrich. "I've kissed you." I pointed to Odd, even if they didn't remember anything, I didn't want this to be how the group found out Odd and I were dating.
"What?" Odd asked. "When did I become interested in short girls?" He laughed.
"Yeah, and how do we know that you aren't just some new thing made by XANA?" Yumi asked. "I mean a space girl? A little basic." She shrugged.
"What?" I asked. "If I wasn't someone you knew, ask me something only I would know," I said stopping on the path.
"Like what?" Aelita asked.
"Like," I tapped my chin, anything I said might sound manufactured or like it was supposed to be said. I got an idea though.
Jeremy Belpois Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
I heard the elevator ascending the shaft to me, I looked over as it opened to the floor and my eyes opened wide as Sadie, Sissi, Mr.Delmas, and Jim.
"What is this Jeremy?"
I glared at Sadie as she stood there, scowling at me.
I was about to say something sarcastic and annoyed, something along the lines about how they wouldn't recall it anyway. But a blinding light came over us.
Aelita Stones Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
"So you're serious?" Odd questioned. "You got trapped in the computer during a snow storm.
"That's a little ridiculous," Yumi laughed.
"How much can you remember before you "met" my cousin Sadie for the first time?" She asked.
I paced back and forth, "I suppose you're right, I don't recall anything before waking up that morning and getting ready to show Sadie around." I said.
"So, we're all clear on this? I'm not a XANA attack? Let's go." Tovah ushered me into the tower.
"Tower deactivated."
-
"Return to the past now!"
Jeremy Belpois Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
"Yeah, that's my cousin Sadie." I singled out her out amongst the crowd.
"So do you like her?" Odd asked.
"No," I said crossing my arms.
"You didn't like Tovah when she first got here." Yumi pointed out.
"Yeah, but I'm great, she's...a demon." Tovah laughed. "It's not a big series of lots miscommunication, no she's just a jerk. She's more than a jerk, she's a jerk time ten." Tovah replied.
"I think it would just be best if we stayed away from her." We all looked over at Sadie as she sat with a group of girls, it looked as if she was gonna leave us alone.
"At least she's not in our class," Odd said.
"Yes, and I mean, we don't have to hang out and make friends with her, we just need to be careful she doesn't get curious about what we're doing," Aelita said.
"Agreed." We all laughed.
Odd Della Robbia Kadic Academy Tenth grade student
Tovah walked out of the cafeteria, her headphones on, looking as if she was enveloped by what she was listening to. I felt a little bad interrupting.
"Hey," I said tapping her shoulder.
"Hey yourself." She smiled, pulled her headphones down around her neck, and looked into my eyes.
"You're so pretty," I said as I brushed her hair out of her face.
"You're too sweet." She laughed nudging me.
I leaned in kissing her, we tried to keep PDA to a minimum, but sometimes we couldn't help it. But boy did I live to regret it when a blinding light pierced through my closed eyes.
I opened my eyes to see Milly and Tamia standing there, Milly with a tape recorder in hand and Tamia with the camera.
"Wow!" Milly started, "scoop of the century, someone has finally locked down the edgy and elusive Tovah Pressman, and it's none other than Kadic's resident heart breaker, Odd Dell Robbia! Any word for the paper?" Milly asked.
"What?" Tov stammered. "No, it's not what it looks like, we were just rehearsing for a show." She replied.
"What show?" Tamia asked.
"One we're writing, we're still in the draft phase. So it's super secret." I said looking at Tovah.
We didn't want to tell our friends yet.
We weren't ready yet, we liked it just being us, just our secret.
They nodded, not totally buying our secret. "Alright, say we believe you, when you're done with your new script your working on, email it to us." Milly said as she turned of her device.
"What a waste of time." Tamia said as they began walking away, "they're dating, I'm sure of it."
"Why did you say that?" Tovah asked as we walked in the other direction. "Now they're going to be extra suspicious of us." She said as she side stepped an extra foot away.
"I panicked, I'm not a good liar!" I said.
"Let me do the talking next time." She groaned.