Jeremy Belpois Kadic Academy Tenth-grade student
"We have to have babies?" I asked, raising my hand in health class.
"Yes, it's something that the principal thought we should introduce this year." Ms. Evans said as she passed out papers to us, they had names on the top of them. Mine said, "Belpois," I didn't have a partner. Other people started pairing up. I stood up and went to Ms. Evans's desk, "Why don't I have a partner?" I asked.
"We have an odd number, so I figured since you typically don't like working in pairs, you'd be fine being our one single dad." I turned and saw that Aelita and Odd had been paired together, and Tovah and Ulrich, how fun for us.
"I don't have a partner," I said, sitting next to Tovah.
"Well, you have always expressed your dislike for partners, you also have said how dumb we are and that we aren't good enough as partners, this should work out for you," Tovah said putting her things in her backpack.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"I have a doctor's appointment," Tovah said. "Jim is taking me, aren't I lucky?"
"Well, keep your phone on," I told her.
"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill."
-Ulrich Stern Kadic Academy Tenth-grade student
"You're just leaving me with the baby?" I asked as I walked Tovah to the front office.
"Robot baby, to be specific," she laughed. "What, am I supposed to take it to my doctor's appointment?Maybe, don't be ridiculous, you'll be fine." She said, pulling the front door to the main office open.
Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Tenth-grade student
"Ready to go, Pressman?" Jim asked, grabbing his backpack off his desk.
"Whenever you are." I was used to having these little trips with Jim, we had gotten pretty close, I could tell him my problems, and he was a good listener. People gave Jim a lot of grief, but he just wanted the best for us.
"How did the trip with your father go?" He asked as we got in the car.
"Better than expected, but I still don't think he gets it."
"I get what you mean. My father was a career military man, the meanest man you'd ever meet," he paused as he flipped the blinker on. "Dads can be hard to get a point across to."
Aelita Stones Kadic Academy Tenth-grade student
"Hi Yumi," I said, sitting down at the lunch table, my robot baby on my hip.
"What's with the fake baby? I keep seeing them everywhere." She asked.
"We got babies as an assignment in our health class, I'm the mom, and Odd is the dad, I suppose." I chuckled. "Jeremy is a little sour he doesn't have a partner."
"Why? He's the one who always complains about having a partner, I thought he would be overjoyed?"
"I guess the prospect of being a single parent to a robot baby is a little daunting?"
"What are you guys talking about?" Ulrich asked as he walked up, holding his Robo-baby.
"Just that you guys are all parents now," Yumi laughed.
"Oh yeah, I have the baby for the rest of the day because T is at a doctor's appointment."
"I guess you and Jeremy can bond over being single parents for a day." I laughed.
"Did you guys name your babies? Or are you just calling them, baby?" Yumi asked.
"Tovah and I named ours Eliza, we thought she looked like an Eliza, you know, as much as a fake kid can." Ulrich laughed.
"We named our baby Luke, I thought it was a nice name, and Odd said it's like Star Wars, so fair enough." I shrugged.
"Hey," Jeremy said, laying his baby on the table, carelessly, I may add.
"You know the babies have sensors in them, so the teacher is going to know if you don't take proper care of your baby," I warned him.
"It's a hunk of plastic that cries and fake pukes, I think I'll be fine." He said plainly.
"She said that this is a big grade," Ulrich said. "I figure this will be a chance to pick up my GPA, I've always been good with babies."
"It's a dumb project anyway," Jeremy said in a huff. "Health class is a blow-off really, so why are they suddenly acting like it's so important?"
"Jeremy, I watched you have a panic attack when we had to learn the recorder," I told him.
"Because that is more important than this!" He said, grabbing his Robo-baby by the arm and walking off.
"I can't tell who's the bigger baby, Jeremy or the robot?" Ulrich laughed.
-Odd Della Robbia Kadic Academy Tenth grade student-
"Tov?" I asked as I bounced the fake baby on my hip, I kept forgetting its name, not that it mattered, it didn't have feelings, but I wanted to get a better grade than Jeremy.
"What's up?" Tovah asked me, opening the door. It looked as though she had been crying.
"What's wrong?" I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder.
"Nothing, it's nothing." She assured me.
"If it's nothing, then why are you crying?" I asked, a little harshly.
"It's not your business, is it?" She challenged before closing the door on me.
-
I went back to my room where Aelita was waiting to take the baby.
"I'm here to get Luke, I think I'm going to take him on a stroll. Do babies like that?" She asked. I was a wiz with babies, I had a million siblings; also I was once a baby, so I know what they need.
"Yeah, I mean, babies need fresh air, but don't let Luke, yes that's his name, get too chilly, and remember to give him his bottle." I said, handing over the baby, "Maybe I should go with you." I suggested.
"Odd, this is my baby too, I'll be fine." She waved me off.
I did some homework in my room, sitting at my desk, drumming my pencil. I was trying to figure out why Tovah was so upset.
"Hey, are you studying?" Ulrich doubted, laying Eliza on the bed. "I think my baby is broken. It hasn't cried all day, just always hungry, kind of like you." He chuckled.
"Did Tovah say anything to you?" I asked.
"Usually, when someone walks in a room, you say, hi or hello, but maybe I'm just old-fashioned. Why do you care what T said?" He asked.
"I went to go see her earlier, and she was in a bad mood," I sighed.
"Oh yeah, she told me what happened." He explained.
"Why would she tell you and not me?" I asked.
"We're good friends, I mean, why not?"
"Oh, and it just so happens that you're also co-parenting with her? Did you ask the teacher to make you partners?" I snapped.
"She assigned us to who we sit next to in class, you sit next to Aelita, I sit next to T, it's always been like that." He crossed his arms. "Why are you so freaked out? I guessed that you and Tovah were just friends?" We hadn't told anyone about us, not that there was anything to say, she never dubbed me her boyfriend and I never dubbed her my girlfriend, we weren't even truly dating, were we?
"Yeah, but I just thought we were close." I sighed. "What did she tell you that made her so upset?"
"It's her business. If she wants to tell you or not, it's not mine to share."
-Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Tenth grade student-
I walked down the hallway, I was a mixture of upset and angry. Why did it always have to be like this? I could never just be ordinary, I had to be the disabled girl, the short girl, I mean, not to sound like poor me or anything, but I just wanted to feel like everyone else. I already felt like I wasn't as good of a fighter against XANA, I mean, I wasn't as fast or as strong, and I wasn't like Yumi or Aelita, I mean, Jeremy had to program special plates for me on Lyoko, my zero gravity plates so that I could go faster.
At the doctor, they said the screw in my knee had broke, it had the possibility of backing out of my knee, that it would have to come out, and the surgery wouldn't have that long of recovery time, but it just really took the wind out of my sails that it had to happen at all. I try never to have those, "Why me?" Moments, I feel like they aren't helpful, and I feel like they aren't doing anything except making me sad, usually, I see being disabled as a badge of honor, and I've had to go through so much to get here. But sometimes at night, I just wish I could be like everyone else, not that I'm some horrible monster, I just am slower and shorter than everyone.
My cross to bear, I suppose.
-
-THE NEXT DAY-
"Hey, are you in a better mood today?" Odd asked, sitting next to me at breakfast, I wrinkled my nose at him as I held the robot baby in my lap.
"What?" I asked wondering where he got the audacity.
"You slammed the door in my face yesterday?" He asked.
"You don't have to know everything about me," I said, looking at the fake baby in my lap.
"Well, I thought we were kind of like, together?" He whispered.
"Why is it such a secret?" I asked.
"I thought we didn't want to tell people?" He asked.
"You know what? Odd, why don't you go talk to Naomi or Regina or something like that?" I stood up walking outside. Everything was so annoying right now! Why didn't Odd even want to tell people that we were together?
I went to class, just like normal, I figured I just had to get through today.
-Yumi Ishiyama Kadic Academy Eleventh-grade student
"She's been brooding all day. She's skipping dinner," Aelita said, "Does anyone know what's wrong?" I asked.
"Yeah," Ulrich said. "I came into her room when I had to give her Eliza. She was crying, and she told me what was wrong."
"Which is?" I asked.
"She's having her sixteenth surgery, and she's just upset she has to do it again. She said it's frustrating and that she feels like no one gets what she's going through. I likely didn't tell you guys what she said correctly."
"Well, we should go comfort her," I told them.
"I think she wants to be alone," Odd said. "She hasn't wished to speak to me,"
"I'm gonna go see her now," I said, dumping my tray, walking outside, and going up to Tovah's room.
"Hey," I said, knocking on her door. "It's Yumi, can I come in?" I heard screaming, I threw the door open, and Tovah's robot baby had XANA's sign in its eyes. It was standing and walking around the room. Tovah hurled a pillow at it, and it fell over for a moment, then lunged at me. I booted it, moving to grab her hand and pulling her out of the room.
"Oh great," Tovah let out. "This is just what I wanted tonight," she spoke, kicking the door closed hard.
"Come on, I bet the cafeteria is swarming with robot babies," we heard it scratching at the door, so we started down the stairs.
"Wait," Tovah began. "Never mind," we started down the stairs, Tovahs knee buckled, tripping down the stairs.
"What happened?" I asked, helping her up.
"My leg, my doctor said to not use the stairs cause of my leg, but I'm fine." she got up, and we began sprinting towards the cafeteria.
"Jeremy," we stopped as I answered my phone. "To the factory?" I pointed to the factory to Tovah. She took a second, looking at me.
"Yeah, I'll follow you, go ahead." She waved me forward. I ran to the factory and started up the computer.
-Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Tenth-grade student
I felt a sharp pain in my knee, I knew from experience that was the pain of a pin in my leg that was battling its way through my skin.
"Shit," I murmured to myself, but I had to get to the factory, I couldn't be the screw-up again. (No pun intended)
I started running, dismissing the white-hot pain in my knee, I was going to push through this.
-Odd Della Robbia Kadic Academy Tenth-grade student-
"Where's Tovah?" I raised the question once we made it to the factory.
"She was right behind me. Is she not with you?" Yumi requested. "Oh no," she groaned
"What?" Aelita asked.
"She said to go on without her, but she stumbled down the stairs earlier, I think maybe that something may have happened with her leg or something like that, I don't know. I'll go find her." Yumi declared.
"No, I'll do it. We got into a bit of an argument, so I think I need to fix things." I ran out of the factory, dialing her phone.
"Come on, pick up!" I groaned but straight to voice mail.
"Odd!" Tovah cried out to me, she explained was trying to make it to the gym to use the secret passage, but her leg got worse. She was holding onto the inner part of her knee. Blood was falling in drops through her fingers.
"What happened in the cafeteria?" She asked.
"Robot babies started biting at people and running, probably other stuff, but Ulrich stayed behind to fight them, I mean, they're just babies."
"Help me up," she asked me.
"What?" I asked. "No, you're hurt."
"Odd, I'm not going to be the helpless disabled character, I want to go to Lyoko and help." I groaned but helped her up, positioning my arm around her to help her walk.
"You're very convincing, Pressman," I said as I helped her get to the factory.
-
Once we got there, Yumi had already been devirtualized.
"You guys ready to go in?" Jeremy asked. "Wait, T, you're bleeding!"
"I'm fine, send me in." She brushed him off.
"Fine, but take it easy." Jeremy knew that Tovah wasn't easy to talk to sometimes.
-
"Thank goodness you're here," Aelita said, hiding behind a boulder.
"We're here as backup, don't worry," Tovah said, taking her blaster out. "I'm on it,"
-
Tovah wiped out all the monsters in our sight, I couldn't even get a Lazer arrow in.
"Your tower is served," Tovah said, gesturing to Aelita.
"Tower deactivated,"
-
We got out of the scanners, and Tovah fell out of it, her knee bleeding more.
"Tell Jeremy I need a return to the past, like now!" She yelled.
"Already on it!" Jeremy shouted to us.
"Return to the past now!"
-Tovah Pressman Kadic Academy Tenth grade student-
"So what happened?" Odd asked me as we walked to class.
"Nothing, I'm just in my head about a lot of stuff," I shrugged him off, even though I wanted to talk about it, something in me just didn't feel ready to talk about it.
"I mean, no offense, you just kind of lost it on Lyoko, I mean, what was that? Also, what happened to your leg?" He asked.
"I said I didn't want to talk about it," I said as we sat down.
Ulrich set Eliza on the table.
"I'm really glad this project is over, I mean, it was nice until it wasn't."
"Yeah, I think I didn't bond with it because I knew all along it was evil." Jeremy laughed.
"Or you just didn't because you were sore about not having a partner," Ulrich suggested.
"No, I think it was my keen XANA sense," he said, brushing us off.
"Sure, Einstein," I laughed.
I was going to have to talk to everyone about what was going on eventually, for now, I just wanted to be "normal," But for me, that never lasted long, especially because the next day was pre-op, and everyone was bound to notice I was gone.