Disclaimer: I own nothing of code Lyoko or anything else to do with any series I may write about.

Chapter One

Code: Cameron

Two months prior to the events of Xana Awakens . . .

"So far, my attempts to correct the program's bugs have been unsuccessful, I suspect that I'm going to have to start from scratch before the robot will be functional, but -"

A sound oddly reminiscent of a battering ram against Jeremie's door pulled the genius away from his computer, as he wondered what Jim could possibly want with him. When the door swung open, the boy found Jim standing with another boy who looked close to Jeremie's age holding a suitcase.

Jim lowered his hand from where he was prepared to knock on Jeremie's door again, "Oh. Hello there Jeremie, nice to see you." He gestured briefly to the boy behind him, "This here is Cameron, a new transfer to Kadic Academy. I was hoping that you could show him around?"

Jeremie nodded slowly, "Of course, that's no problem. Uh, where's hi-" Jeremie caught himself talking about the boy as if he weren't there, "Sorry, Cameron. Where's your room? We should get you settled in before giving you a tour around the campus."

For a moment, Cameron looked very lost, and Jim looked as though he were delivering an awkward bit of news. When he spoke, Jeremie learned why.

"Well, you see, Jeremie," Jim began, "We don't have any rooms available at the moment and so far there's no indication that any are about to open up. So I'm afraid that your room is going to have to undergo some . . . remodeling."

Jeremie blinked, "No offense meant to Cameron, but you're taking a new boarder without a room to put them in?"

"Cameron . . ." Jim paused, "He's a special case. His father is an old friend of the principal and several members of the faculty, myself included. If you're particularly averse to having a roommate, then I suppose we can find a different room for him."

"No, no it's fine." Jeremie said quickly, "I can work with a roommate, it isn't a problem. I was just curious. So, should we get out while you get to work?"

Jim nodded, and Jeremie stepped aside to let Cameron set his suitcase in the room before he gestured for the boy to follow him. As they walked down the hallway, Jeremie took a moment to get a closer look at his new roommate. Cameron had slightly shaggy, dark brown hair that brushed the nape of his neck and was combed just enough to keep it out of his eyes. Over a white t-shirt and jeans, the boy wore a black jacket that ended just above his knees, and his pants covered the top portion of black boots that - even adding a good inch to Cameron's height - left the boy a couple of inches shorter than Jeremie.

"Finished staring?" The corner of Cameron's mouth was turned up in a smile as he observed Jeremie's startled response to the simple question. He raised a hand to forestall any response, "It's alright. I'm used to people trying to figure me out before they try any conversation. Anything in particular you want to know, or shall we just skip the formalities?"

Jeremie's tongue stumbled over itself for a few moments before the boy caught himself and cleared his throat, "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." He paused to consider his question, then threw it straight out into the open, "Jim mentioned that your father was a good friend of his. If you don't mind me asking, who was he? And how did they know each other?"

Cameron shrugged briefly, "I wouldn't know. My father's name is Jean Terrence at the moment. Before that it was Coren McVay. Before that, which I believe is the one that your gym teacher mentioned, his name was Franz Hopper. He's the first one that I can remember, so he's the one that I consider to actually be my 'father,' and it's his name that I go by - Hopper." The boy shrugged again, "Prior to that is only my birth parents. All I know about them is that they lost control of their car and it went into a river, and my mother drowned saving me. As for how Jim and the staff here know my father, like I said, I wouldn't know. I haven't seen Franz in the past eight years. I'm afraid that I don't know him as well as I could."

For a moment, Jeremie was silent, processing that he was now sharing a room with a boy orphaned three times over. He didn't even want to think of what that must have done to Cameron's psyche. Cameron looked perfectly fine discussing the loss of three sets of parents, though that wasn't entirely reassuring to Jeremie. He let the pause continue a moment longer, as they stepped onto the stairs, "Well, I hope you'll be okay with rooming with me. Our school's robot fair is coming up soon, so I'm usually up late working on that."

Another shrug was Cameron's response - he seemed to be fond of doing that - before he said, "I should be fine. My family has a few other foster kids, and three of us sleep in the same room. I've got a mask and earplugs that should let me sleep through whatever you can do." Part of Jeremie's statement seemed to register, and a grin split his features, "Wait, did you say robot fair? Where can I sign up?"

"Ehh . . ." Jeremie sighed apologetically, "The late signups were last week. Sorry, you'll have to wait until next year."

Cameron sighed, "Just my luck. Oh well, maybe I can help fine-tune your robot then, or get to work building one of my own. I don't usually have the time to work on side projects like that, but Kadic seems like a pretty laid-back place." The grin that had come over him at the thought of a robot fair had diminished into a simple smile, "It's a short walk from home, too. I think I'll like it here."

Jeremie nodded slightly, though wondered for a moment why Cameron didn't stay at home if it was close by. Then he brushed the thought aside, there had to be a logical reason, and if Cameron wanted to share it, then he would. He pushed open the door to the campus, "Well, Jim said I was supposed to show you around, so that's what I plan to do. It's probably better if we leave before Sissi gets here; she's the Principal's daughter, and . . . not particularly nice. So she'll probably pick on you and give you a hard time for being stuck with me. But if we get out first, then there's a whole school to avoid her in."

Cameron smiled faintly, "Well then let's go. I'm always ready for a tour of a new place."

()()()()

Two hours later, Jeremie and Cameron discovered that not only was Jim good with tools, but the room was neater than it had been since Jeremie started working on his robots. All of Jeremie's 'bots were stowed safely under his desk, and there was a pile of boxes on the right bed.

"Oh good, that's probably my stuff. I hope that Jim didn't break anything moving them." Cameron said bluntly, moving to inspect the boxes.

"What all's in there? Any tech?" Jeremie questioned, peering over Cameron's shoulder.

Cameron started to shrug again, caught himself, and opened one of the boxes, "A little bit. My computer's new, and pretty good." He pulled out the drawer underneath his bed and began storing clothes in it, "Decent battery life, but I only take notes on it if I can take them near an outlet."

"I thought you said decent battery life?" Jeremie pulled the rest of Cameron's clothes out of the box and set them neatly on the bed before tossing the box over his shoulder.

"Well, most of the time." Cameron said, as he shut the drawer and moved to the second box, "It lasts about three hours, but then I need to plug it in. I usually keep it on and open to a fresh document since teachers seem to not like waiting on one kid's laptop." He picked up the - significantly larger - box and moved over to the closet, opening it with a foot before setting the box down and popping it open.

"Oh, yeah, I see. Mrs. Hertz definitely wouldn't wait. She's our science teacher." Jeremie said. "Anything else?"

"Oh, mini TV, Xbox, GameCube, wireless headset, controllers, and a few games for each." Cameron said, pulling several of said items out of the box and placing them into his closet as he spoke. "Apart from those, I also have an electronic keyboard that's still in pretty good shape. Plays like just about any piano you can name - plus a few other instruments - as well as taking disks."

Jeremie's eyebrow went up slightly "Those must have been expensive."

Cameron shrugged and a smirk crossed his features, "Oh, I wouldn't know. What I would know is that it's remarkably easy to manipulate new parents into buying you things. Pulling the 'oh please pity me I'm an orphan' act seems to work on everyone over the age of twenty."

"Really?" Jeremie asked, "You don't seem like the type to want pity. Don't seem like the type to invoke it either."

"You'd be surprised." Cameron responded, "Like I said. Anyone over the age of twenty. I only bother when they've got money and a conscience that's screaming at them to take care of me." His smirk had yet to vanish, though it seemed less evil and more prideful, "They're going to pity me whether I like it or not. If I can't avoid their sympathy, I may as well take advantage of it."

"That's . . . uh," Jeremie paused, trying to come up with a response for that, "that's kind of harsh."

"Losing three sets of parents is harsh. It's a harsh world, I've just learned to manage it." Cameron straightened up and looked Jeremie dead in the eye, "I wonder . . . do you think you can change it?"

End Chapter One