(Odd’s POV)

Suntan? No - it’s the middle of December. Sunglasses? Of course; gotta look good. Money? No, I have parents.

I shuffled through my bag frenatically. What to bring? What not to bring? My side of the room was trashed. Do I really have this much stuff? Is that a cookie? Is it stale? So many questions. But I decided to bring the cookie anyway.

Ulrich, whose side of the room was in good shape, eyed me murkily. He was sitting on his bed and calmly reading a book. “Do you mind?” he asked, his voice wary. I was kind of making a racket throwing my stuff around.

I looked up from my pandemonium. I got off the floor and jumped on my bed. “I’m exhausted! I’ve been at this all day, Ulrich,” I whined, not getting an answer. Bummer - my roommate’s two small suitcases were placed neatly by his bed, and I was cramming all my belongings into a measly plastic bag.

Old man Delmas had decided to let all the Kadic students visit their families for the holiday. I was excited about seeing Mom and Dad, and my friends and my cat, Linabella. And, as has been implied, I was in the process of packing that night, while all the other students were totally prepared for the trip.

Outside of the day students like Yumi, the rest of us only get to see our families on two occasions each year: Thanksgiving and Christmas. Or if a relative dies or gets seriously injured. (Last month, Anouche Bedoyan was granted leave to see her family when her three uncles were involved in a construction accident. Even though we felt sorry for the girl, a lot of us envied Anouche’s leave. Thomas Jovilet, who always sits as close as he can to Aelita in chemistry class, thinks it was only a one-time thing and might not happen again.)

That Christmas, I was going back to my hometown of Ortona, Italy, a city near the sea. My friends and I always used to hang out near the beach and eat strawberry ice cream. Strawberry ice cream was like our trademark. Larina Corvetto and Mario Ruccini were the best friends a guy could ask for. I couldn’t wait to go back to Italy, my motherland, and let the salty sea air and the familiar refrains of the Italian language fill my senses. I guess that’s over-poetic lingo for someone like me to use, but it’s appropriate. You can’t use common talk for a wonderful place like Ortona.

I didn’t remember snuggling up to my pillow and falling fast asleep, but I do remember dreaming of my friends, my family, my Italy. That night I was home again.

- - -

(Ulrich’s POV)

The next morning was Monday, but luckily enough, we had Christmas Eve off. I woke up at 10:00 a.m. and spent about an hour staring at the ceiling, thinking. I wasn’t looking forward to the trip back to Koblenz. I didn’t want to see my family, or spend all of Christmas being sick. As usual, Mom would remain distant and say she loved me, and Dad would basically ask me if I was living up to his standards. He would snap at me about my grades, which were weighing me down as well today. Life in Germany had been gloomy. I felt like Yumi, Jeremie, Odd, and Aelita were my only family.

Germany was bringing me down, but that’s not all that was. I was also thinking about Yumi. Last week she said our relationship was going nowhere and she told me in the park that we were “running in circles.” I understood, though I didn’t want to. Yumi had given me a lot to think about. I had thought I loved her, now I had to consider that too.

I decided I was giving myself a headache; it was time to get up. Odd was still asleep, but I hopped out of bed, got dressed, and walked out the door, willing to start the day, knowing that I probably wasn’t ready.

Outside the sky was an overcast blanket over our world, and although it wasn’t raining, the air was moist and there were puddles to be seen throughout Kadic. Some random students were hanging out in the courtyard; I spotted Aelita talking with Tania Grandjean. Sissi and her slaves were by the vending machine, not far away, ruining my chances of getting something to drink. She waved to me and smiled, but I scowled at her and turned away. I was in no mood for my one-person fan club today.

I was just walking away when Sissi ran up to me, screaming, “Hey!”

She put her hands on my shoulders, not letting me walk away. “Would you get off of me?” I snapped, rather irritated.

“Ulrich! Didn’t Odd tell you?! We have a date tonight!”

First, I felt numbness. Then, shock. The idea of Odd and Sissi dating each other was one of those things that is silently unthinkable. You leave it alone because you know that it can never happen. Sissi and Odd have been at odds with each other - no pun intended - ever since he arrived here at Kadic Academy. The last time I saw those two together was last Saturday, when they were in some kind of fight regarding the currency in America. Now they were suddenly hooking up?

“Isn’t that great?” she continued. “We’re going to that splendid little cafe on Second. What do you think?”

“I pity Odd,” I said. She backed up to let me go me own way. When I stole a brief glance behind me, she looked genuinely hurt. Usually, concise comments like mine didn’t trouble her. What was up with Sissi Delmas?

- - -

(Aelita’s POV)

On the day before Christmas, I was on my way to the cafeteria when I crossed paths with my classmate Tania Grandjean, who gave me a courteous “Good morning, Aelita.” I returned her greeting.

“Do you know what assignments we have for chemistry on Thursday?” she asked. “I lost the paper.”

As I reminded Tania of everything we had in chemistry for both Thursday and Friday and discussed it with her, I happened to catch Ulrich come out of the dorm building. He seemed to be making his way towards the library/study hall when Sissi grabbed his attention. He whirled around and marched the opposite direction. Never taking “No!” for an answer, Sissi caught up with him and started screaming joyously. Ulrich said something, and she stepped out of the way. There was a look of pain on her face, but Ulrich didn’t seem to care very much.

“...when mixed with nitrogen, but that doesn’t make sense,” Tania was saying.

I tried to break away politely. “Excuse me, Tania, but my best friend is over there, and I think something’s up with him. You don’t mind, do you?” I slinked away and joined Ulrich, who did not look eager to chat.

“What’s up with Sissi?” I wondered aloud to him.

“She’s being a headache again.”

“What was she screaming about?”

“A date with Odd.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Sissi and Odd weren’t supposed to date each other. It wass ridiculous, impossible, unmentionable. But right now I was worried about Ulrich. “Are you okay? You don’t look like yourself today.”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t want to go back to Germany. Too many bad memories there,” he explained. I was empathetic, having learned more than what was necessary about memories.

“Well, why don’t I go with you?” I offered. Ulrich stopped walking and faced me.

“I thought you had to stay here, Aelita.”

“No...I could spend Christmas with Franz Hopper on Lyoko, wherever he is.” I rolled my eyes. I wanted to make the suggestion sound comical, but actually it wasn’t very amusing to me. My friends were going to see their families tomorrow. I could only remember spending one Christmas with my parents: many years ago in the mountainous region of Mayenne, when I was a little girl. That was the year I got Mister Puck. Now I only had a father, and he was lost in a virtual universe.

Ulrich seemed to be mulling over my proposal. He looked at the mud-splashed ground, a serious expression etched on his face. I noticed that it had started to drizzle. Finally he pronounced with a somber voice, “I think it would be much better if you stayed here.”

With that, Ulrich started off back to the dorm building, leaving me under the cold rain, which was turning into a downpour.

It could have just been the rain, but I imagined there was something forbidding in Ulrich’s tone and expression when he spoke of Germany that he never took when speaking of anything else.