A/N: Sorry for the long wait. This chapter was hell. Basically last chapter, this chapter, and the next chapter are probably the most connected of any chapter on here and I knew how this one needed to start and needed to end but I had no idea what to put on in the middle. That being said, I'm pretty excited for next chapter. It should get easier from here on out. Should.

Ulrich still hadn't told anybody about the garden, and Sissi seemed to unconsciously understand that it was completely and utterly off limits.

Because Ulrich had been spending a frighteningly large amount of time there and not once had he seen Sissi or even heard the sound of her feet meandering close to the garden or seen the shadow of a figure looking through the entrance to see if the coast was clear.

Probably because she knew that this was where Ulrich would be and for once, she didn't want to see him. Didn't want to face him.

Because Ulrich's grades sucked. And really, he had been prepared to play football for the rest of his life- a few more years of practice and fine-tuning and he could have had his pick of team to play for. (Or, in a more realistic sense, he would have had his pick of teams to try out for and eventually make back-up or practice squad. And then he would have worked his way up. Or something.)

After Lyoko, football was all he had. What he needed. The rush of adrenaline, the us vs them mentality, the euphoria of victory and the sting of defeat.

Ulrich Stern was competitive. And when he wasn't fighting for the fate of the world, fighting for the pride of his school (and himself) was the next best thing.

But nope, Sissi just had to come and in one afternoon ruin something that had taken years of grueling practices, careful monitoring of his diet (he wasn't Odd! He couldn't just eat and eat and eat), countless sacrifices, and really the only way to both deal with school and make his parents proud of him.

Yep, that was about the sum of it.

As time went on, most of Ulrich's not-so-noble aspirations went along with it. Bit by bit, he began to spend less time in the garden and more time with his friends. The damage, however, had been done. Sometime, between the three occasions where he locked Odd out of the room (and three times Odd locked him out of the room for being an ass) and the second time he snapped at Yumi, his friendship with the group had become strained.

He probably should have seen that coming. Maybe he was just spoiled by Lyoko- knowledge that no matter what he did they still needed him to save the world. Maybe he just thought they would give him time. Maybe they did, but months of cold shoulders and even colder stares could wear away even Aelita's patience.

And that girl had the patience of an angel.

But Ulrich's foresight sucked almost as much as his grades (yet his grades really only sucked because it took him until Kadic for his foresight to kick in and say that knowledge was somewhat, maybe, a little bit important. And by then the damage had been done).

So he hadn't thought about preserving any friendships- he hadn't even let Odd have any of his mashed potatoes in weeks or walk Yumi home from Kadic. He would rack his brains and try to find some event- some redeeming event that would prove even to himself he that he was justified.

And he had found some.

But they didn't outweigh the bad. So while he could easily say he was still friends with the other Lyoko Warriors, it had still been voted that he needed to have an re-initiation test. Odd had suggested mummifying the skeleton in the science department with almost a desperate look, but Ulrich had been too angry to even remember- let alone comment-on the particular idea. And by the time he had remembered, yet again, it had been too late. The world was playing a game of niceness and it wasn't looking that good for Ulrich.

(Niceness Score:
World- 136,793,207
Ulrich- 4)

He realized this, of course, as he was walking away from them and couldn't bring himself to turn around, walk up to them, laugh like an idiot, and walk away.

Instead, he gave the skeleton an Odd hairstyle and they both got detention.

It was worth it because the second Odd had walked into science to see a skeleton in his mirror image, a grin so large had split across his face that Ulrich was sure there was an Earthquake somewhere and a new fault line had just formed.

Odd was a little too forgiving but Ulrich wasn't going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Especially not when that mouth belonged to Odd. (He had seen the way Odd devoured breakfast- and just what he devoured- too many times to get that close.) And skeletons in the image of Odd happened to give him nightmares of all the things that could have gone wrong and that shook him up just a bit too much. Not that he would ever admit it.

And so then he had his best friend back. And that was when he realized that somehow he had missed part of their friends' lives.

He doesn't remember her name. She was plain, with brown hair in a loose ponytail and an oversized tan T-shirt. He wouldn't notice her if she had walked past him on a crowded street but apparently Odd did. Because they were going steady and Ulrich didn't know.

Apparently Theo had been Odd's wingman when they picked her up. And William had helped. Some new, terrible trio had formed and Ulrich wasn't even there to make it a quartet. He wouldn't mind doing barbershop. He would probably sound better than William (since he was superior to littlewillykins in every way, shape, and form) and he knew for a fact he sang better than Odd.

Theo, who was always averagely-perfect in everything, was an alright singer. Just like he got alright grades, told alright jokes, played alright football, and stole Ulrich's best friend. Ulrich was fairly positive that he sang worse than the other boy. But second, while not winning, was acceptable (in singing related things only). It's not like he had ever planned on a career in singing.

Though by now, he was just desperate enough to consider it.

It was okay though, because Odd was as forgiving or as oblivious (was there even really a difference between the two when it came to Odd?) as ever and as soon as Ulrich had opened his mouth (to apologize, to say 'je suis désolé' and 'mi dispiace' and 'I'm sorry' and maybe- just maybe- even ask for forgiveness), Odd had placed a hand on his shoulders and casually asked if he wanted to go get dinner and that they were serving lasagna so it'd be a bad idea to be late.

So Ulrich had accepted that forgiveness for what it was.

And moved on to the rest of his friends.

Jeremie had spent the first part of his life totally alone and the second part obsessed with warding off a sentient fluke of computer programming. He had no reason to talk about (let alone harbor a grudge against) Ulrich's recent behavior; and he didn't.

Aelita, who had been trapped in a virtual world, was with Jeremie when Ulrich mumbled through an apology (it wasn't very good, he ended up using a metaphor about ostriches and corn that didn't make any sense- even to him), and she had just shrugged and said something to the tune of 'I knew you'd get over yourself.'

Yumi though, Yumi would be the problem, Ulrich figured. And he was right. Yumi who hadn't had any friends until she forced herself onto their secret. Yumi who had seen Lyoko as a second chance. Yumi who had confided in him.

Yumi who was more stubborn than a mule.

She wouldn't forgive him easily. When he tried during practice, she had kicked him in the side, knocked him down, and stormed away.

When he had asked her later in the courtyard (in hindsight, practice had been a terrible idea), she had kicked him in the side, knocked him down, and stormed away.

He wasn't about to try the direct approach a third time.

That, of course, did not mean he was prepared to give up. He had been through near-death and almost-kisses and secret-smiles and- dammit- an entire virtual world with her and he wasn't going to let their whole…whatever they had together get completely ruined just because his worst also happened to bring out the worst of Yumi.

So he and his new little quartet, along with the pair of Einsteins, came up with a plan of action. Ulrich and Yumi would go on a little date. Nothing big or fancy, Odd had pointed out, they didn't want to scare Yumi away.

Ulrich, who was still rubbing his sore side and who had been diagnosed with a minor concussion from when he hit a rock on the ground., didn't believe that asking Yumi on a date would scare her (turn her into a real menace, more likely).

Ulrich's idea had been to take her to the garden. It was secluded and pretty and even though Yumi was intimidating, he knew for a fact she also thought Kiwi was cute and sometimes rewatched Disney Princess movies so a romantic date in a nice garden would not be unwelcome.

It was when he was considering this idea that he was also walking down a deserted hallway of Kadic. Suddenly, the door to the chemistry lab opened and Sissi walked out. Her T-shirt seemed a little bit too big for her and her face was pale. While usually perfectly modeled, it seemed that she had shoveled her hair into an easy ponytail.

She had missed all of her classes for the last week, he remembered, so he supposed that she had been sick. She certainly looked it.

"Ulrich," she said. Her eyes were wide and she was quickly combing her hair with her fingers. "What are you doing here?"

"Just walking," Ulrich said, not impolitely. But nowhere near kindly. "You making up some work or something?"

"Oh uh- yeah," Sissi said. "I had the flu or something. It was terrible. And Hertz, the old bag, came to visit me while I was on the brink of death in the infirmary and told me I had to make up the work in class as soon as I could."

They came to the end of the hallway (thankfully) and Sissi smiled at Ulrich. "Bye Ulrich, dear. You're lucky I'm not going to tell my father that you were wandering around the school buildings without the required permission."

"Wow. Thanks."

Sissi didn't smile. Instead, she looked him dead in the eye. "Now we're even." And then, looking around the grounds to make sure no one was in sight (probably trying to hide her shabby appearance, Ulrich reasoned) she quickly walked away.

It didn't escape Ulrich's notice that she went in the opposite direction of the dorms, instead going back towards his garden- which had probably been hers originally.

So she had taken the garden back, hadn't she.

Well that certainly threw his plan out the window.

In the end, Yumi and Ulrich did get their…meeting. It wasn't easy and it had been Odd and Aelita's setup. They had figured that they could invite everyone in their group to their favorite restaurant. It was cheap and casual and the waitress always mixed up their names but they loved it anyway.

However, one by one they had each bailed out, until it was only Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd who had snuck out one Saturday evening. Odd had walked with them halfway to the restaurant when he suddenly remembered that he had gotten detention that evening and that Jim was going to kill him.

And with no other explanation, he had scampered off and left the two of them together.

"Odd's not very discreet," Yumi said as she walked into the restaurant and pushed it open for Ulrich.

"What do you mean by that?"

Yumi turned around to face him and rolled her eyes. "Odd is about as good at secrecy as you are at lying."

Ulrich felt his face warm and Yumi turned around to talk to the hostess. So far, the plan was going terribly.

He wondered if it was too late to call Odd and get some backup. His hand was reaching for his phone when Yumi's came out of nowhere and grasped it. "Oh no you don't," she hissed threateningly. "You go to all this trouble to be able to talk to me, then I'm going to let you."

Ulrich swallowed as Yumi lead them to their table.

They sat down and pretended to read the menus.

"You know," Yumi said at long last. "I don't think this is going to work."

"This?"

"You know what I'm talking about." She motioned to the two of them. "You. Me. Us. I just don't think it's going to work out. I mean, we've been trying for how long?"

"We were a bit too preoccupied saving the world," Ulrich said. "This is different."

"Yeah. Because now there's nothing tying us together," Yumi pointed out. "Last year, if you had injured your leg like you did a few months ago, you would have been angry and you would have sulked but you also would have eventually let. us. in."

Ulrich's mouth opened and shut like a closed fish but Yumi held her hand up. "Ulrich, listen. I had thought things would be different at Lyoko. I had thought- hoped- that maybe something would happen between us. But it's not going to work and it's not fair to either of us."

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I wish it had been different," she muttered.

And Ulrich was (despite his grades) a smart boy. He knew when a fight was lost (though his intelligence didn't quite extend to actually giving up), he knew when skipping school was worth it (something Odd had never learned), and he knew when there was no arguing with Yumi (possibly the only subject that he never needed any help with).

This was one of those times, so instead, in a hoarse voice, he whispered. "Still friends, right?"

And while Yumi didn't hug him (she wasn't usually a hugging person and she had already used up all her allotted affection for the evening) she did the Yumi equivalent of it. She tapped his cheek (right where she had kissed him) and then gently knocked him on the forehead.

"That was never a question."

And unknown to them, a few blocks away, sirens were wailing and someone was screaming.