Code Lyoko: The New Girl (BK 1)

Chapter 40

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Yumi couldn't believe it.

Even after ostracizing Saphire and forcing her to sit at a lunch table on her own, people were still drawn to her!

"I can't believe it." She echoed her thoughts, shaking her head bitterly as she watched Priscilla and her small girl-gang stroll over to Saphire and make conversation with her. "Why can't they just leave her alone? What is just so great about her that makes everyone with a pulse fly over to her like a moth drawn to a flame?"

"Well, like I said before: she's new." Odd shoved a whole croissant into his mouth, biting down on half of it and munching loudly, talking with his whole mouth open. "People are interested in her. It's just natural. Plus, she's real pretty, too."

"She's pretty suspect is what she is." Yumi grumbled before downing her water.

So far her plan was working out well. She had managed to convince Aelita that Saphire had agreed with her plan and she felt it was right to sit away from them so as not to draw attention to the group as a whole. Ulrich didn't seem to believe her though and kept giving her weird glances, but he kept his mouth shut, and Odd and Jeremie hadn't contradicted her either.

The first few days would be difficult, of course, but they'd get used to it eventually. When William got abducted by X.A.N.A. and was forced to join the dark side, they all got accustomed to it and were able to move past it. So why couldn't they do the same with Saphire?

"That's it, I can't just sit here and let her be upset. She doesn't deserve this." Odd got up with a start. He was too far out of Yumi's reach for her to stop him, so all she could do was watch as he started to make his way over to her.

Thankfully, he was back a minute later, but he was snappier and when Yumi asked him what happened, he slammed back down into his seat and went on eating instead of answering her.

"I just got chewed out by Prissy Priscilla and her self-righteous group of kindergarteners." Odd fumed after a few minutes of angry eating. "She's a senior hanging out with freshman! Like some kind of dumb cult leader."

"Did Saphire say anything?" Aelita asked Odd with a wobbly voice. "Is she upset that I..."

"No, she didn't mention you," Odd replied in the middle of chugging down his hot chocolate. "Just told me to go away."

"You shouldn't have gone over there, Odd." Yumi reprimanded him. "I told you: this is how we're going to be doing things from now."

"Yeah, well, who died and made you so great?"

Yumi frowned at his words, but said nothing more to him or the others. She just wanted to have a nice, normal breakfast with her friends. She was just about to tell them about the invitation to dinner at her parents' house when all hell broke loose in the cafeteria.

When Odd had mentioned that Magali hated Saphire, Yumi could never have imagined she hated her enough to dump her lunch on her and humiliate her in front of everyone. Yumi hated being a watchful bystander when the whole thing went down, but going over to Saphire and Magali would only stir up more trouble. So she kept a tight grip on Aelita and Ulrich's arms and tried to keep from looking over at the gruesome scene.

Yumi held her breath as she waited for Saphire to react to being laughed at by a whole cafeteria full of students, including the ones who had fawned all over her. Yumi had expected her to cry. Yumi had expected a teacher to come save her. Yumi had expected Saphire to just walk away. Instead, Saphire launched herself at Magali and slammed her to the ground, bashing her head to the floor so loud, Yumi grimaced at the sound. The group was too far behind and students were clamoring to the front to get a good view of the free-for-all girl fight that Yumi couldn't get a clear glimpse of the whole thing.