Okay, everyone, here is the last chapter. I'm sorry the story was kinda short, but really if I dragged it out any longer you'd probably yell at me for murdering the time. So, here it is, and I sincerely hope you enjoy!

Note: I don't actually understand soccer myself, so any soccer scenes will, most likely, be told from Jérémie's point of view. All info on football has been obtained from the film Bend it Like Beckham which is really, really good.

Harry Potter Mania: P-O-S-T-I-N-G! P-O-S-T-I-N-G! P-O-S-T-I-N-G!

Kay: Thankee kindly!

Boomishkittish: Yeah, we all adore Ulrich really. Julian and Pandora are mostly there because I thought that it would be unlikely that our heroes wouldn't have any friends outside their group. A lot of Yumi's lines come from a friend of mine, the perfect dingo. It's like her dialogue, or something. (Totally understand when you say you have trouble waking up in the mornings… my snooze button is the most pressed in the world!)

BlueWolf: Just wanted to say that I really love your review!

Angels 'n Dreams: Yup, yup, yup, absolutely correct! Milly and Tamiya are younger than the characters, so they wouldn't be at Kadic yet, and so I needed to add some journalists… Milly's big sister just seemed like a very good choice!

HvonM: Indeed they are, but seen as Milly and Tamiya are younger then the gang they wouldn't have arrived yet, would they? Don't worry: Christy and Toya can be just as annoying…

Lyoko Lover: A young Beckham, yes, but without the weird hair styles. And Ulrich's smarter. Thank you very much for your support; I'm drafting an 'angry letter' as we speak to S4C and if that don't work it's petition time! (And if that doesn't work, could I borrow your gun?)

Otritzi: He'll need more than luck… ;-)

Mousewolf: Giggle. I hope Mouse doesn't hurt you too bad!

tehrandomkitten: Mostly, Manga is just circles. Once you get the hang of it it's really fun! I'm really glad you like the jokes: I'm not the most comedic person, but I do try.

starting to run out of names: (just call yourself Wombat!) It's not exactly Cardiff: it's chav. Y'know, like Alice Ll. when she was being Sadie in the re-write of A Midsummer Night's Dream? It's supposed to sound like that. Supposed to.

Amaherst: Thank you!

Mystic Dragon: Did they? I thought they'd only named a few of the classmates… thank you! Julian and Pandora are mainly just little miscellaneous people who pop up occasionally, while Christy and Toya are just there until Milly and Tamiya are old enough. No, none of them are Mary Sues! (Jérémie's 'innocent front'? Never trust glasses. They do something to your brain…)

midnightgoth9: I'm really, truly glad that you like them!

Now, the grand finale!

Jérémie B.

It's strange how such a small and frankly insignificant event can mean so much to the student body; three students in particular.

I want Ulrich to finish the tryouts in one piece. Yumi wants him to show up James if he can, but mostly just get through without too serious injuries. I'm not quite sure what Ulrich wants – to make the team, presumably – but I'm sure he also, at least partly, wants to survive.

Yumi's fidgeting. Her forehead's creased in worry as she watches Ulrich join the other boys around Jim.

I put a hand on her shoulder. 'He's going to be fine,' I say.

'Yeah,' she says, 'and if you had some way of proving that I'd… I'd…'

'You'll tell me what you and Ulrich did when I walked in on you?'

She turns a very delicate shade of pink. 'We looked at my art book and… talked.'

I grin evilly. 'Sure you did. Talk. That's why for the last few days you've been blushing every time you look at each other…'

Her reaction isn't as spectacular as Ulrich's. 'Yes, Jérémie, talk. We are friends and talked about friendly things. Would you like me to recite our conversation?'

I pat her shoulder. 'That's not necessary. I'm glad you like each other, that's all.' She looks at me a bit suspiciously at the word 'like', but doesn't say anything. 'It'd be hard to be the best friend of two people who hate each other's guts.'

Yumi still looks suspicious, then sighs in a slightly dreamy manner and turns to look at the field; or, more specifically, one of the people on it. 'I can tell you now,' she says, 'that is the last thing I feel right now.'

I look from her to Ulrich and realise that, for the next few years, I am going to have to put up with this at least once a week. Maybe it would have been better if they did hate each other. At least then they wouldn't keep making doe-eyes at each other and sighing.

Still, I suppose it could be worse. They could be constantly glued to each other. At least their shyness will prevent that… for now, at any rate.

Jim blows his whistle and the boys get into pairs. They start passing a ball to each other, slowly and rather boringly.

'So how exactly do you play football; I mean, soccer?' I ask casually.

'Hmm? I don't know the exact rules,' Yumi says, not looking away from a player with spiky brown hair, 'but I think you just have to score goals and stop the other team from scoring more. That's the general idea, at least.'

I nod. 'How do you score goals?'

The boys have started running up and down part of the pitch, trying to stop their partner from getting the ball. Pointless exercise. It's obvious Ulrich isn't going to let anyone nick the white-and-black thing he's passing from one foot to the other.

Yumi turns to me, looking absolutely incredulous. 'You really don't know? Jérémie Belpois, smartest kid in the universe, doesn't know how to score a goal?'

'Come now, Yumi,' I say in a hurt voice. 'Football hasn't really played a major role in my life.'

Yumi sighs. 'Okay. You see that thing over there with the white net? Yes, that. That's the goal. There's another one over there. There are two teams, and each team has a goal. See, the boys are splitting up now, and – oh, bollocks,' she says in a gob-smacked voice, 'Ulrich and James are on opposite teams. Oh, no.'

Ulrich and James stand parallel each other on opposite ends of the pitch. Yumi's swearing under her breath in every language she can think of; hearing her when she's in a bad mood is an education.

'Ulrich, you baka, move… play somewhere else… why not goalkeeper? What's wrong with goalkeeper? Move, you suicidal git…'

And so on and so forth.

'Right, you lot,' Jim says, 'I want a nice clean game. This is just a six-a-side practice, so no need to play as if your life depends on it, okay? This is a friendly.'

As if anyone believes him. The boys on the pitch are glaring at each other so much I'm surprised the grass hasn't caught fire.

Jim places the ball on the ground between two of the players and blows his whistle. Ulrich's side gets it first; their centre player is a black haired youth who I think is a boarder. He passes it to Ulrich, who passes it back, who passes it to Ulrich again, (what was the earthly point of that?) who scores.

'YES!' Yumi shouts, jumping up in the air. When she notices both Sissi and Christy looking at her she sits back down and tries to sink into her seat.

Ulrich gives her the thumbs up sign. Yumi grins and waves. I mimic her when she isn't looking, earning a sign from Ulrich. I don't really need to describe it; use your imagination.

The players head back to their original positions and the ball is placed in the centre circle again. Jim blows his whistle again, and this time James's side gets the ball. Except Ulrich steals the ball right from under James's feet and kicks it to another player on his side, where the ball is passed down the pitch until it nearly reaches the opposite team's goal, where it is intercepted by James's team, and it just goes on and on. Eventually I stop trying to keep score and make a mental note to bring a book to the next game.

I yawn widely and Yumi shoots a glare at me. 'You can at least pretend to be interested,' she says testily.

'I am,' I say. 'I'm just not a very good actor.'

'Jérémie,' she says, taking her eyes off the game, 'a friend of ours is out there and – what's happened?'

For Jim has blows his whistle and the players are gathered around someone on the pitch. Yumi vaults over the player's bench in front and runs to that point. At a much more sensible pace, I follow.

By the time I reach them Yumi's fought her way to the centre of the circle and is kneeling next to the casualty, not noticing the mud she's getting on her trousers. It probably won't surprise you much to learn that the unfortunate is Ulrich, or that James is the one being accused of foul play; to be specific, accused of stamping a hole in Ulrich's leg with his football boots.

'You git!' Yumi screams as she puts an arm around Ulrich. He's got his face screwed up with pain and he's clutching his leg. 'James, what was the bloody point in that! Why the f–'

'Language, Yumi,' I say.

Yumi rolls her eyes. 'Whatever. Why did you do that, James?'

Ulrich tries not to make a sound but can't stop a groan of pain escaping. Yumi's attention is immediately transferred to him, and she puts her other arm around him. 'You okay? No, stupid question, you've got a dirty great hole in your leg. Hasn't anyone got a First Aid kit or something?'

'Jim's gone to fetch one,' one of the boys says.

Yumi nods. 'Good.' In a much more gentle tone of voice she says to Ulrich, 'Can you stand? Here, I'll help.'

Rather shakily Ulrich gets to his feet, practically hanging off Yumi. 'It's okay,' she says soothingly. 'It's okay, someone's going to get Nurse Dorothy, and then you can spend the next few days lazing around in your room playing Fatal Glory or Solitaire or something…'

Ulrich shakes his head. 'No.'

'What do you mean, "no"? Got something against Solitaire?'

'I meant no one's to get Nurse Dorothy. Just put a bandage on it or something; I'll be fine.'

Yumi looks at him incredulously. He hardly looks fine. His legs are plastered with mud from his fall and one of them has a continuous stream of blood trickling down it from a hole underneath his knee. I can see a bit of white amongst the blood. James was very angry.

'Ulrich,' Yumi says, 'now is not the time to go all heroic. You're injured, and it'd be best for everyone if you just sit down and stop being so stupid! This is not Middle-Earth!'

'And you're not bloody Arwen! You can't tell me what to do!'

Uh-oh. First fight. Not good.

They glare at each other. Then Yumi sighs and closes her eyes, putting her head next to Ulrich's. 'You're right, of course,' she says. 'If you want to risk your neck then whatever, it's your skin. But will you at least let me clean the blood away?'

She looks at him with an almost pleading look in her eyes. He smiles and says, 'You think I was going to trust Jim to do it?'

He limps back to the player's bench, and Yumi takes the green First Aid kit out of a stunned Jim's hands on the way past. Ulrich sits down and Yumi kneels in front of him, carefully cleaning the blood away with a piece of cotton wool dabbed with disinfectant.

Christy and her cameraman friend are on their way over. 'Jérémie,' Yumi says calmly, as she wipes a bit of blood away, 'will you please keep the press busy?'

I groan (for of course I have followed them back to the benches). 'Do I have to? I'm allergic to journalists.'

'Yes, Jérémie, you have to.'

Yumi puts another piece of cotton wool on the wound and starts securing it in place with a bandage. I sigh and turn to face the media.

'Exciting new development at the junior soccer tryouts!' Christy shouts breathlessly. 'Ulrich Stern, who everyone was so sure would get in the team, appears unlikely to complete the tryout because of a knee injury!'

'It isn't an ordinary knee injury,' I say. 'It's a knee injury caused by James Moriarty and his spiky football studs, which are actually banned in most clubs; I'm surprised Kadic allows them.'

Christy turns to me as if noticing me for the first time. 'You are a friend of Ulrich's, correct?'

'Yes. I'm Jérémie Belpois. We share a dorm.'

'And how do you think Ulrich's going to react to not getting on the team?'

'Very badly, considering he's about to try and play with a hole in his knee.'

Christy blinks. 'Pardon?'

'That's right. Ulrich's still going to play.'

'Toya, get a shot of this!' Christy says to the cameraman. 'Ulrich's still going to play! He's either very brave or very, very stupid!'

'Or he's trying to impress a certain someone in the audience,' Toya says, nodding toward Yumi.

Christy looks from Yumi (who's tying the bandage) to Ulrich to the camera and back again. Then her face splits into a grin. 'Oh ho ho,' she says. 'Seems Ulrich's first week at Kadic has been extremely eventful.'

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going to be in the gossip column of the Kadic Gazette for the next couple of months.

'There,' Yumi says softly, 'finished. Are you absolutely sure?'

Ulrich nods. 'Yes.' He tries to stand up, but just ends up falling. Yumi catches him and holds him steady until he's found his balance.

'Good luck, then,' she whispers, and hugs him.

'Aw,' Christy says, and Toya zooms in on my friends.

Ulrich limps over to the rest of the players and I walk over to Yumi. She's watching Ulrich as if he's heading off to war or something.

'Come on,' I say. 'Let's sit down.'

Yumi nods, but doesn't say anything. She's paler than usual. Oh dear.

We sit down, but Yumi still doesn't really relax. She's shaking so much I'm surprised she doesn't fall off the bench.

Someone pokes her in the back. She turns her head slightly but doesn't take her eyes off the game. Considering what happened last time she did that, it's no surprise she won't stop watching, even if soccer is the most boring thing since cricket.

'What is it?' Yumi asks.

'Why did you help him?' Sissi asks, as if by bandaging Ulrich Yumi's caused some terrible insult to Miss Delmas. 'I mean, you're not even that pretty…'

Yumi smiles. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Now will you please shut up so I can watch the game?'

Sissi closes her mouth and frowns at Yumi, who doesn't notice and cups her chin in her hands, watching the game intently, as if nothing else matters in the entire world. She has quite a talent for making enemies.

'He'll be okay,' I say.

'He better be,' Yumi says earnestly. 'Otherwise James will not be a happy bunny…'

I open my mouth to say something along the lines of violence not being the answer to everything, but give up when I see the look on Yumi's face. When a girl looks like that, there is no arguing with her.

It looks as if Jim's given up arguing with Ulrich too, and has just sent the players into their starting positions, undoubtedly muttering about his job not being worth his meagre pay and how, if Ulrich's parents sue, Jim is not going to be the one paying.

Jim blows his whistle.

I don't know the names of Ulrich's team mates, so I will refer to them as Centre (the guy who starts off in the little circle), Front Left (name explains), Back Right (ditto), Back Left (ditto again) and Goalkeeper, a blonde boy who doesn't really seem to do anything except glare gloomily at the floor and the opposite end of the pitch. Front Right is Ulrich. The same goes for the opposite team, except they'll be Opposite Front Right and so on, except for James, who is Opposite Front Left.

Opposite Centre gets the ball and passes to James, who's run forward and almost barrelled into Ulrich. I don't know why Mister Moriarty is being allowed back in the game after the injury he caused Ulrich, but I also don't know why every atomic bomb isn't just destroyed or launched into space and forgotten about. I don't know why George Bush was re-elected as President of the United States, or why dogs insist on chasing cats up trees, or why humans are on this planet in the first place, but the amount of things I do not know is pretty much the same as the amount of things I do know, and what I do know is that Ulrich has just taken the ball from James and is passing it to Centre, who has passed it to Front Left.

Opposite Front Right runs forward, so Front Left uses a complicated move that passes the ball backwards to Back Left. Back Left runs with the ball for a bit, is tackled by James, falls over, swears, and gets up, looking very annoyed. (But, I may add, not as annoyed as Yumi, who has just muttered a string of obscenities about James's ancestry that are most likely untrue, for they bend all rules of anatomy, but, if they are fact, they do explain a lot).

James tries to score but Goalkeeper has snapped into action and grabs the ball out of the air. He kicks the ball to Centre, who head butts it to Ulrich. Ulrich starts dribbling the ball (I think that's the word… if it isn't, then he just runs with the ball), heading towards the goal.

'Come on, Ulrich,' Yumi whispers.

Ulrich winces as his injured leg is placed on the ground and James takes the opportunity to try and steal the ball. However Ulrich notices the attack and kicks the ball to Front Left.

They're in a white half-circle now, and Front Left has a perfect opportunity to score. However, for some bizarre reason (another thing to add to the list of the things I do not know) he does not take the chance, but instead passes to Ulrich.

In a move that defies the laws of physics Ulrich jumps off his injured leg and twists his body to kick the ball. He lands on his side and swears in pain. Yet his cry is drowned out by a much louder cry from James as the Opposite Goalkeeper misses and lets the ball hit the back of the net.

Jim blows his whistle. 'That's enough. If you've made the team, you will be told.'

(Oh, that's right… this was only the tryouts, wasn't it? I'd forgotten. Seemed a lot more intense).

Front Left's congratulating Ulrich and helps my friend stand up. Ulrich staggers, blinks, and grins at his fellow team member.

I turn to smile at Yumi. 'See?' I begin. 'He's – Yumi!'

Yumi isn't sitting next to me. She isn't even near me. She must have started running as soon as Jim blew the whistle, because she's three quarters of the way across the pitch to Ulrich before I've even noticed she's gone.

Trying not to grin in an 'I-told-you-so' manner, I follow.

By the time I reach them Yumi's flung her arms around Ulrich and is hugging him so tightly I'm surprised broken ribs aren't added to his list of injuries. Front Left (note to self: learn his name) waves at me and walks away, where he is ambushed by Christy and her partner in crime.

'Ulrich, you did it!' Yumi crows in an uncharacteristically high voice. 'You genius; suicidal genius, but whatever! James is going to be SO annoyed! Oh, Ulrich, I could kiss you right now!'

He doesn't say it, but you can see it written on every single one of Ulrich's features: the words 'why don't you?'

Maybe Yumi gets the message, or maybe she just decides to for her own reasons. At any rate, she puts her hands either side of Ulrich's head and brings his lips up to hers. It's hardly a romantic first kiss – more a sort of attack of the lips – but when Yumi pulls back they're looking at each other as though they've just gotten married, or something.

Until, that is, Yumi grins, laughs, and hugs Ulrich again.

I pat Ulrich on the back. 'Well done,' I say. 'Now your afternoons are going to be filled with the activity the Americans call soccer while Britain and the rest of the world call it football, although technically the correct name for it is soccer-football, although no one actually calls it that.'

'Shut up, Jérémie,' Yumi says brightly. Ulrich's still too dazed to speak; it'll probably several pints of coffee to bring him out of his stupor.

Or a visit from the Kadic King of Chavs.

James walks up to us, three of his friends walking with him. They hardly look forgiving.

'You think you is so tough, don't cha, Ulrich?' James says. 'Jus' because you win this game, you is think–'

'Oh, shut up, James,' Ulrich says. 'Give it a rest, why don't you?'

James's eyes widen in surprise. 'Is you knowin' who you is…?'

'Yes, James, I do know who I am talking to. And frankly, I don't really care. You lost. Deal with it.' He turns to me and Yumi now and puts his arms around the two of us. 'Coming?'

'Where?' I ask.

'My house,' Yumi says suddenly. 'We can have a sort of party to celebrate!' (Celebrate what? Erm... that fact that Ulrich's still alive, maybe?)'Yeah, I think we still have some of the mini-pizzas left… and we have plenty of marshmallows…'

'Marshmallows?' I perk up. 'Then what are we waiting for?'

And James and his gang watch dumbfounded as me and my two friends walk off the pitch and out of the gates, arms around each other, and laughing so much it's a wonder our lungs don't burst.

(However, our happiness does not end there… a week later the names of the Kadic Junior Soccer Team are revealed on a poster outside the gymnasium. We find that Ulrich has been made captain, and that a certain student has been kicked off the team entirely. Life simply cannot get any better.)

Fini

Thank you to all readers and reviewers; basically, anyone who thought this story was worth reading! I really hope you enjoyed it. Your support really does mean a lot to me, and really, all you guys (and gals) out there really, really made me feel a lot happier. As they say in France: merci! And I hope to hear from you as I continue with more Code Lyoko stories!