Chapter 1 - New Problem

I said in my first Code Lyoko story that I was writing a story with an OC in it, so here it is! 8D



I don't own Code Lyoko (but I can always hope!), AnteFilm does. I DO own the OC (hence its meaning, Original Character.)



--- -- --- --



-Steady….aim….aim…. FIRE!- A paper football went sailing through the air, landing in front of the blonde-haired boy with glasses. Jeremie glanced down to see the small triangular object on top of his notebook. He glanced back to see Odd pointing to the paper football. Jeremie got the hint and unfolded the paper. On one side was a bunch of scrawled handwriting easily recognized as Odd's.



I heard there's a new student coming today! Have you seen anyone that you didn't see before?



Jeremie flipped the paper over and replied in his own neat print.



No, but I think that we'll see the new person soon, I heard that they're in our class! He folded it back up, and before the teacher could catch him, threw it back to Odd, who unfolded it quickly and read Jeremie's response. He then held it up for Ulrich and Yumi to see- for it was them who had brought up the subject.



“Settle down, students!” The classroom grew silent as the principal held up his hand. “Now then, while I have your attention, there is a new student coming into your class today. Her name is Kayla, and I want you to treat her kindly. I'm sure you all remember your first days here.”



“You bet I do,” Odd muttered. “I found a computer chip in the mystery meatloaf.”



Yumi and Ulrich stifled their laughter as the principal gazed sternly at them.



“Now then, come on in, Kayla,” the principal looked towards the doorway. The class heard someone scuffing their feet outside, then finally saw the new kid.



Kayla was a girl with shoulder-length blue hair, tucked behind her ears yet very messy. Her brown eyes very clearly showed that she was nervous about being in the room. Her long, sky-blue sweater covered her pink t-shirt and hung over her light purple shorts, which hung to her knees.



“Thank you, principal,” the teacher said, and the principal left the room. “Kayla, why don't you take a seat next to Odd.” The mentioned teen raised his hand, identifying himself to the new girl. She nodded slightly and quickly walked over to the vacant seat next to the boy with the purple spot in his hair.



“Hello,” Odd whispered just loud enough for Kayla to hear. “I'm Odd. Where you from?”



“I got transferred here after my family moved,” Kayla replied nervously, also speaking in a hushed tone of voice. “I'm scared- I've never gotten used to new schools, and I'm worried about making friends.”



“Ah, don't worry about it,” Odd said calmly. “You'll fit right in. Just so long as you're not a crazed psychopath bent on trying to destroy the world just to get revenge on someone you hate.”



The new girl giggled, and Odd smiled.



“Alright, class has started,” the teacher interrupted the noisy chatter that had arisen again. “Everyone, prepare to take notes. That includes you, Nicolas.” Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich and Yumi managed to keep straight faces as Nicolas fell off his chair trying to find a notebook.



Class went by even slower than usual to everyone. Even Jeremie had a hard time staying focused. He found himself constantly glancing back at the new girl, Kayla. Even though he knew it was highly unlikely, he had a thought lurking in the back of his head.



-What if Xana's launched another attack?- he wondered. -I know it's unlikely, but still…. after class, I'll ask Aelita if anything unusual has gone on in Lyoko.- But even so, the blonde smiled. -But she seems kinda nice.-



Ulrich and Yumi too were having problems paying attention to the boring lecture. Ulrich boredly tapped his pencil on the table, his eyes beginning to glaze over, taking on a dull expression. Yumi yawned, then pretended to take some notes while actually writing a letter to her friend across the country.



Odd had already given up trying to at least act like he was paying attention- he never found anything the teacher was saying useful. Slowly, he dragged the tip of his pencil across the blank sheet of paper in front of him. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Kayla was focused intently on her paper, the pencil she was holding moving swiftly. Curiosity got the better of him, and he looked over to see what she was doing- and gaped.



Kayla was sketching a picture of the teacher, and using just a pencil had managed to create a black and white image bearing the exact resemblance of the professor. Shadow effects made the picture seem almost lifelike, as if the picture were breathing and living. Odd was amazed at her talent.



“Psst, Kayla,” he whispered, capturing the blue-haired girl's attention. She glanced towards him, listening. He asked her, “Where did you learn to draw like that? It's awesome!”



Kayla blushed lightly. “I've just always been a good artist, that's all,” she mumbled. “You like it?”



“Like it?” Odd asked in disbelief. “It's awesome! You're really talented!” At this, Kayla turned even brighter red than she already was.



“Alright class, that's all for today,” the teacher said suddenly. In a sudden rush, everyone gathered up their stuff, preparing to head outside to socialize during their few precious minutes of freedom. Finally, the teacher waved her hand, dismissing the class, who charged outside. Odd met up with Jeremie, Ulrich and Yumi right outside the room, where they began talking about how they felt the first class of the day went.



“I thought it would never end,” Ulrich groaned. “I could've sworn the clock stopped! Time just kept slowing down more…annnd mooooore……annnnnnnnnnddd moooooooooooreeeee…..” As Ulrich slowly pretended to collapse to the ground, the other three laughed. Ulrich then got up, grinning.



“Hey, Odd,” Jeremie suddenly asked, “what's the new girl like?”



“She's pretty cool,” Odd began, “and- hey wait a second! I almost forgot! Be right back!” He dashed off, looking for Kayla. Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie stood there, looking confused.



“What'd he forget this time?” Yumi finally asked after a few seconds of silence.



“Probably his brain,” Jeremie replied. After a second's pause, the three could barely keep themselves from laughing. Just then, they saw Odd running back towards them, with Kayla close behind him, holding a sheet of paper.



“She….drew that…” Odd was panting, trying to catch his breath again. “During class….show them, Kayla!”



Kayla shyly handed the paper to Ulrich, who was standing closest to her. Ulrich looked at it and grew wide-eyed in amazement. Yumi looked over Ulrich's shoulder and also looked amazed. Jeremie then glanced at the picture too. For exactly three seconds, there was silence amongst the small group. Then….



“Woah!” “No way!” “This is so cool! You drew this?” Kayla was suddenly flooded with compliments on her drawing. She turned slightly pink as she nodded. Jeremie, who had been holding the picture, handed it back to the blue-haired girl.



“Well, it seems that you know Odd,” Yumi struck up a conversation with Kayla. “But you don't know us, do you? I'm Yumi, this is Ulrich and that's Jeremie.”



“Hey.”



“Nice to meet you.”



“Yeah, nice to meet you to,” Kayla replied, still a little shy about being around the four who were treating her so kindly. But her nervousness began to evaporate- she could see that they were genuinely friendly.



Suddenly, Ulrich groaned. “Problem spotted at four o'clock and heading this way,” the brunette said, covering his eyes with one hand. The other four turned to see what was the problem- and Odd, Yumi and Jeremie scowled as Sissy approached them, followed by Herb and Nicolas.



“Hello, Ulrich,” the ebony-haired girl said in a fake sugary tone, shoving her way past Odd and Yumi. “Did you miss me?”



“I missed you about as much as I missed the maggots at my house,” Ulrich growled. Sissy huffed angrily. Odd, Yumi and Jeremie giggled; they knew that Ulrich never had maggots at his house, but if he had, then he would've done anything possible to get away from them.



“Hmph! You know that you missed me, you just don't want to admit it!” Sissy growled, anger making itself obvious in her voice. Then, she noticed Kayla standing off to the side, half hidden behind the other three members of the gang.



“Who's your new friend?” Sissy suddenly turned to face the blue-haired girl. “I saw her in class today; what's your name?”



“Uh… I'm Kayla…” Kayla's voice dwindled as Sissy approached her. Sissy gave off the aura that she was all-powerful, and that intimidated the blue-haired teen, who was always shy.



“You wouldn't want to hang around with these four,” Sissy said, referring to Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and Jeremie. “They're always getting into trouble, and they're very rude too. You wouldn't like them at ALL.”



Kayla managed to mumble, “They seem kinda nice….” She averted her gaze away from Sissy, who was scaring Kayla badly, though the blue-haired girl managed to hide the fact very well.



“They only SEEM nice,” Sissy began using lies. “In fact, they're some of the meanest kids in the entire school. Trust me; I've known them way longer than you!”



“Hey, that's a lie and you know it!” Yumi exclaimed angrily. Sissy smirked.



“You see? They have such horrible tempers, you'd be always ridiculed. Why bother hanging with them?”



“You know what?” Kayla suddenly spoke up. “I think you're lying. I think I'd rather hang out with them instead of you. They complimented me for my artistic talent; you haven't done anything but intimidate me.”



Cheers were heard from the gang behind Sissy, and she grew incredibly angry.



“You know you're making a mistake,” she growled through her clenched teeth, pushing past Kayla to walk away. Herb and Nicolas quickly followed her.



“Hey, you survived Hurricane Sissy,” Odd said. “You'll definitely fit in here!”



The semi-large group laughed. A few seconds later, the bell rang, indicating that it was time for the next class. After learning that they had the same class, Odd, Jeremie, Yumi and Ulrich decided to help Kayla find the classroom. Passing by one of the only water fountains in the entire school, Kayla stopped to get a drink- but before she could quench her thirst, someone shoved her over, causing her to fall on the ground painfully. The water from the fountain splashed around her, dampening her hair. She looked up to see Sissy walking past her, smirking.



“Well, that was the quickest time Sissy's ever tried to achieve vengeance,” Yumi said simply. Kayla picked herself off the ground. Her normally calm expression was gone, and instead was replaced by a look of pure anger. She managed to calm herself down before she internally exploded- figuratively speaking, of course.



“Please don't say she's in the same class as us…” Kayla murmured, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.



“Okay, we won't say it,” Ulrich replied. As the five walked down the hall to physics class (the one class that Odd WAS good at,) they didn't notice a black cloud-like substance float out from the electrical socket and drift into the water fountain. For a second, the small puddle of water had a watery image similar to that of an eye, then it disappeared.



---



“Wow, are we lucky or what,” Odd said unenthusiastically as he plopped down at a table, his lunch tray covered with mashed potatoes with the accursed mystery meatloaf. “We get mystery meatloaf again. Amazing.”



“One of these days I'm going to bring my own lunch,” Yumi said, disgusted. Poking her meatloaf with a fork, she suddenly said, “I think it moved!”



“They should just call this meal Mystery Meatloaf Monday, since that's the only day we ever get this meal,” Ulrich groaned. “I bet that they pick it up from the sewers by the factory.”



“Which reminds me,” Jeremie began, “it's been real quiet lately. You think everything's alright on Lyoko?”



At the mentioning of the virtual world they had so often visited, the other three perked up.



“Maybe Xana's finally given up,” Yumi said hopefully. Too often she had been the target of his attacks.



“Not likely,” Ulrich replied, “but maybe he's decided to wait a while. Hopefully he hasn't launched an attack or plans to launch one today.”



“What makes you said that, Ulrich?” Odd asked, leaning over the table, pushing away his inedible lunch.



“Well, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't really like my first day of school in a new place to end up being disastrous because some psychotic computer program tried to take over the world. If the new girl, Kayla, ever found out about Xana and Lyoko the hard way, don't you think it would seriously mess with her head?”



There were times when Ulrich was so serious and logical, he seemed wiser than Jeremie to his friends. This was definitely one of those times.



“Ulrich, you make so much sense that even I can understand it,” Odd spoke calmly, leaning back in his chair. “You should be a public speaker.”



“Um, is it okay if I sit with you guys?” The four friends looked up to see Kayla standing there, holding a tray of food. Almost instantly, Odd (who was sitting closest to where Kayla was standing) scooted over, making room for the blue-haired girl.



“Sure, no problem,” Odd said, smiling. Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie all looked at the two, then towards each other, and fought to control their sudden burst of giggles. Odd looked over to his three friends. “What's so funny?”



“Oh, nothing,” Ulrich said, biting his bottom lip to prevent him from laughing. Yumi covered her mouth with her hand, and Jeremie felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Odd stared at them suspiciously, and the three felt it getting harder and harder to control themselves. Finally, Odd looked away, and Yumi, Ulrich and Jeremie quietly sighed with relief- another second and they would have burst out laughing.



“Hey, Ulrich, do you mind if I ask you a question?” Kayla asked Ulrich. The brunette shook his head no. “Why does Sissy like you?”



Ulrich darkened. “Because she thinks I'm the cutest thing on the face of the earth right after herself,” he stated angrily. “She's been trying to get me to date her since she first saw me. At one time she even stole my journal and threatened to tell everyone about Ly-” Ulrich stopped himself just in time; he had almost blurted about Lyoko to Kayla. She looked confused.



“About what?”



“He was going to say about how he feels about liberty for Tibet,” Odd suddenly said, covering for Ulrich. “It's a touchy subject around here. Say the wrong thing and the whole school hates you. That's why he was forced to date her.” Leaning backwards in his chair, he sighed and smiled as he continued. “It was the most beautiful unwilling romance anyone had ever seen.”



Ulrich took the opportunity to flick meatloaf at Odd's face.



“Hey!”



“You deserved that.”



Kayla giggled, Yumi laughed, and Jeremie shook his head, smiling. Suddenly, from across the cafeteria, a loud crash was heard. All noise stopped as everyone's head turned to the source of the noise. One of the seventh grade girls lay on the ground, unconscious. Beside her was her friend, shaking her, trying to wake up the girl.



“Mayla? Mayla, wake up!” her friend shouted desperately. The unconscious girl didn't stir. Beside her lay her half-empty water bottle, opened, with water splashing lightly onto the ground.



“Alright, what's going on here?” Jim's voice carried through the cafeteria. All heads turned towards the large gym teacher, who was standing at the doorway that led back into the school building. Jeremie quickly tugged on the backs of Yumi's, Ulrich's, and Odd's shirt, quickly getting their attention.



“Guys, I think Xana might be behind this,” the computer genius spoke. “People don't just faint for no reason during lunch.”



“You may be right,” Yumi agreed. “I say we should ask Aelita if anything's going on in Lyoko.”



“Looks like we may be going to pay Lyoko a little visit,” Odd spoke cheerfully. No one could deny his ability to find the positive side of things.



“So let's go, while everyone's distracted!” Ulrich spoke quickly with a sense of urgency in his voice. And with that, the four quickly left the room. Kayla noticed a door closing, and she could see Ulrich's messy brown hair in the window. Glancing towards the unconscious girl- and everyone surrounding her- she decided to see where the others were going. Quietly running towards the door where Jeremie, Yumi, Odd and Ulrich had previously exited, Kayla snuck out unnoticed.



However, when she looked around, she didn't see them around anywhere. Sighing, she noticed the water fountain. Realizing how incredibly thirsty she was, she approached the water fountain- but stopped when she noticed that it was flooding. Looking into the water that had not fallen to the floor, Kayla grew wide-eyed as she noticed a glowing red symbol that she thought looked like an eye, shimmering and wavy due to the rippling of the water.



“How strange….” she murmured. But suddenly she screamed in terror- for the water suddenly seemed to grow arms and reach for her!



“AIEEEEE!” she shrieked, ducking just in time for the water to go flying over her. Without another thought, she took off running, being closely pursued by the watery demon, the glowing eye in the center of the now murkier liquid.



Kayla managed to outrun it easily for a little bit, but she felt herself growing tired. Quickly scanning the hallway she was in, she noticed that they were all doors leading to the rooms that the students boarded in. Seeing how close the monster was to her, she reached for the nearest door, hoping desperately it was unlocked.



--- -- --- --



Mwahaha! CLIFFHANGER! I'm so evil. You know, reviews and comments would bring chapter two faster…. -hint-



But fear not! I shall write chapter two quickly!

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment