Code Lyoko: The New Girl (BK 1)

Chapter 51

Thank you for reading and voting!

Yumi rubbed her hands together and bounced on the heels of her boots. She stood by the gates of Kadic, watching for Ulrich, Jeremie, and Aelita. Off to the side, Saphire and Odd stood huddled close together. Saphire had a book open in her hands and Odd was leaning his head in to catch a glimpse of the tiny print scattered over the yellowed with age pages. Yumi had caught a peek of the title when Saphire had walked past her: The Basics of Understanding and Studying Behavioral Neuroscience, Edition 3, 1987. Yumi nearly snorted out loud; as if a book from three decades ago would be able to teach Saphire how to be normal.

Yumi checked the time on her phone. Her teeth were chattering and her midriff had gone numb. She wanted to escape back into the heated Kadic halls, but her parents were expecting her and the group to show up for dinner. She had texted the group to meet up by Kadic's gates at 5pm sharp, and yet, when Yumi arrived, the only member of the group present was the one she was least excited to see: Saphire — standing to the far-left of the gates, eyes trained towards the forest, and clutching a thick book to her chest.

There had been no wind then, save for a small breeze that scattered a few leaves on the ground in front of Saphire and sent the trees shaking and rustling. When Yumi had greeted Saphire with a short "hey", Saphire spun around on her heels, and that's when a cold, harsh wind slapped her right in the face. Saphire's long dark hair flew into her face, as did Yumi's cropped short locks, so for a few seconds, Yumi was blind to the world. Through the blur of cold tears in her eyes, Yumi saw bits and pieces of yellow- and red-colored leaves blowing past the sides of her head.

That wasn't all Yumi had seen though. Before she had to shut her eyes to avoid being nicked with dirt and leaves, Yumi thought she had caught a glimpse of Saphire's pupils — not the effervescent blue orbs she sported, but two smoky coals, not unlike the pair Yumi had seen in her dream, as feverishly penned down in her diary. But with two harsh blinks that burned her eyeballs, Yumi's eyes cleared, and she saw nothing but an innocent look on Saphire's face and her usual blue eyes.

Yumi wondered where her head had wandered off to; what was it doing, bringing her crazy dreams into her present world?

To distract herself from the awkward silence that was stretching past the two-minute mark, Yumi focused on something other than Saphire's unusually creepy eyes.

"What's wrong with your feet?" Yumi nodded towards Saphire's legs, which she couldn't seem to keep still; she kept shifting from one foot to the other, each time grimacing slightly. It was different from the way Yumi was moving her own legs though; she was trying to keep the skin beneath her thin clothes from rising with goosebumps due to the suddenly freezing autumn air, whereas Saphire looked like every second her feet touched the ground was too torturous to bear.

Saphire seemed stunned by Yumi's observation. She took her time answering, and Yumi wondered what was going on in her head.

"A little sore." She answered quietly.

It wasn't that Yumi thought she was lying; it was more like Saphire wasn't telling her the full truth. She didn't keep her eyes on Yumi's, instead keeping them downcast at the ground where a torn leaf was struggling to float off the ground. Yumi watched it too, hoping to catch the next blast of wind before it hit her. Saphire shut her eyes, and the leaf seemed to give up trying to take flight, lying back limply.

Yumi practically had to tear her gaze from the leaf. Her mind felt hazy and woozy, as if she had exerted as much strength as the leaf had and was now ready to lie down for a nap, which was weird, considering five minutes earlier, Yumi was buzzing with energy (mostly nerves of having Saphire back at her home).