A High School Romance Turns High-Stakes Adventure: Love, Friendship, and XANA

Chapter 7
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As Ulrich gingerly placed the unconscious and now snoring Odd on his bed, he glanced at Yumi and Aelita and looked back at his boyfriend. The group, apart from Odd who (for some reason) fainted, were slightly shaken from witnessing Sero and Jeremie making out passionately in Jeremie's dorm room. The thing that surprised Ulrich was Odd's reaction. He thought that Odd's reaction would be more mature since the two have dated since the start of January. Their relationship has had many good and many bad events, such as the time when Jeremie fainted when he intruded upon the lovers during their first time having sex.

"Hey Ulrich, you do realize that you still have an entire lunch's worth of food on you right?" Aelita said with a small giggle which she covered.

"Oh crap I forgot completely, thanks Aelita. Hey, could you two possibly watch over Odd while I take a shower? I need to get this food off me." Ulrich said as he searched for a set of spare clothes, not before taking a towel. Babysitting a snoring, sleeping Odd with food on his shirt was something he did not want to do today.

"It's not a problem at all Ulrich, you helped us before, so we should return the favour. Now go before someone asks why you have shepherds' pie with milk on your shirt." Yumi said with a smile. Ulrich always liked having dependable friends for awkward times like these.

When Ulrich got to the empty shower room, he went to a stall near one of the four corners and stripped down nude, placing his clean, food-free clothes on the bench. Looking around, he turned on the shower and thought to himself. Taking the opportunity, he sat down on the tile floor and slowly started masturbating. Him and Odd haven't had the time to pleasure each other for the last two weeks due to testing, XANA attacks, and other events happening such as Sero becoming part of the gang.

Putting those thoughts aside, he focused on himself and his unreleased orgasm. Starting to speed up gradually, he moaned as he quickened. not long after, his hand rapidly moved up and down his shaft, moaning louder than he wished. Trying to focus his mind on something else to extend the time, he accidentally thought of Odd and him kissing each other, which made him moan loudly and ejaculate, spilling his seed which trickled into the drain. "Damn, Odd and I need to get more free time." Ulrich said to himself between breaths, noticing the rather large amount of semen he released. Remembering why he was in the showers, he quickly washed and cleaned his body. Turning off the shower, he dried himself off and swiftly dressed before someone could come in. After exiting the shower room, he took a look around before returning to his room.

Odd woke up with a shock. Rubbing his head, he remembered something about Jeremie and Sero doing something together. Looking around, he saw Aelita and Yumi sitting on Ulrich's bed watching something on Aelita's computer. When Yumi noticed that Odd was awake, she took her ear-buds out and tapped Aelita's shoulder, which silently told her to take her headphones off. Odd asked the lovers, "Wha-wh-what happened? Last thing I remember was Sero and Jeremie and-..."

"Nothing else. Don't worry about it, Rose just decided to joke with you, claiming that the school was out of food, making you faint." Aelita said, interrupting Odd in the process. "Are you sure? Because I remembered that something else was happening." Odd asked the lovers again, wanting more information. "Yeah, something else DID happen. When you fainted, you spilled all the food that you were going to give to Sero and Jeremie on ME!" Ulrich said, entering the room. "Thankfully, Yumi and Aelita agreed to watch over you if something bad would happen, so I took a fast shower to clean myself up." His boyfriend added with a slight look of disapproval at him. "Oh, and thank-you Aelita and Yumi for taking care of my sleeping Odd." He said in a lighter tone, smuggling a short kiss to Odd's cheek.

"No problem at all Ulrich. Well, I guess we'll go n-hold on, Jeremie sent me a message." Aelita said, focusing on her computer. "He says XANA is attacking, but he can't leave his room due to XANA trying to break it open! We need to go to the factory."

"Well what are we waiting for then? Aelita can activate the computer and the lovebirds can handle themselves, so let's hurry!" Odd said, wanting to have this day be over.

The lovebirds had no luck with the Polymorphic Clone which took the form of Sero, taunting him and his weak physical structure. If there was one thing Sero wasn't good at, it was self-defense and the only thing worse than that is now him fighting a much stronger version of himself. Nonetheless, Sero was holding his ground against XANA. "Jeremie, you need to get to the factory to help the others! I think I can hold off XANA." Sero said, quickly dodging a punch from the clone, if there was one advantage Sero had, it was his nimble speed and quick reactions. Jeremie only nodded in agreement and ran out the door, only to bump into the rest of the gang. "Jeremie, whats going on? Does Sero need he-LOOK OUT!" Sero interrupted Aelita. Jeremie looked behind him to see that Sero took a full-on shock from his clone. "NO!" Jeremie shouted, wanting to lunge at the clone, but was grabbed by Ulrich.

"Are you crazy Einstein? Sero can handle himself. we need to go to the factory, deactivate the tower, and return to the past!" Ulrich nearly shouted at him. "Jeremie, go! I can handle it." Sero said, getting back up from the ground with his clover-green shirt slightly charred from the electricity. The gang grabbed Jeremie and ran to the factory. Turning behind him, Sero lunged at the clone only to fly through him. "Okay, maybe I don't have this under control." Sero said, taking in a large inhale before running out of Jeremie's room and down the hallway. Looking behind him he saw XANA chasing him, after getting an idea he ran right towards the clone when it started charging an electro-ball. "I hope this plan works like I thought." He said to himself. After the Polymorph launched its electric attack, Sero quickly dodged the ball, side-stepping it. The clone looked angry when he saw his enemy do this, and decided to charge at him instead of launching another ball.

"Is that all you got XANA? I got plenty of energy left!" Sero said, gasping slightly. He was feeling his adrenaline pushing him to his peak condition, which still wasn't enough for him. XANA let out some laugher, morphing into a two Meter tall version of Sero, which looked more buff and athletic than before. "Well, shit." Sero said. Knowing that he can't keep dodging his attacks, he ran right past the clone, leading it into the school park. "Come at me XANA, I can do this all day!" Sero said, wheezing as he ran. Even though his adrenaline kept him going, Sero's Asthma was holding him back from his full potential. Unfortunately, Sero threw away his inhaler when he enrolled into Kadic high, since the air was much cleaner than the United States. Looking behind him, he saw the clone charging towards him with no trouble at all.

"Well, I'm not much of a climber but time to start trying." Sero said with more gasping as he slowly started climbing the tallest tree near him. When he reached a suitable spot on a thick branch, he sat down and held his hands to his chest in pain as if his lungs were on fire. After wheezing for enough air, he looked down to see the clone under the tree charging an electric ball. Gaining enough energy, he slowly climbed up to the top of the tree so the clone was out of his field of view. When the clone launched the electric ball, the tree shook, nearly making Sero fall but grabbed a branch for dear life, since it was easily a six meter drop from his feet. The Polymorphic Clone laughed as it launched another ball, but at the base of the tree instead of Sero. Hearing the tree snap and slowly collapse, he tried climbing the branch, but Sero's effort were in vain as him and the tree fell, with the largest branch falling on his legs, immobilizing him. The clone laughed as it readied a last ball of electricity.

"Tower deactivated." Aelita said when the activated way tower turned to a more friendly glow of blue.

"Return to the past now!" Jeremie said, almost in tears for leaving his boyfriend behind with XANA. He cried a single tear as the familiar white light covered the factory...

"Is that... All you got?" Sero said with extreme pain and wheezing, barely holding on life. his leg bones were completely shattered and bleeding profusely due to the fallen tree branch on his legs. The clone hovered the electric ball to his head, but luck smiled on Sero when the clone suddenly dispersed the energy ball as he flickered in and out of existence. Sero smiled when the clone became its true form as a Spectre of XANA, which floated away. "Thanks... Jeremie..." Sero said as he saw a bright light envelop him and the school.

When Sero found his conscious, he found himself bare-chested kissing Jeremie who had his shirt on the floor. "Hold on, mea amantur unum." Sero said, removing his lips from Jeremie's as he locked the door. "Now, where were we?" He said, putting his lips near Jeremie's. "We were at the part where you tried to unzip my pants. Sorry Sero, but my pants are staying on for now." Jeremie said with a smirk as he left the room with spare clothes to go to the shower. Sero groaned with anger since the return to the past not only saved his life, but cut his love session with Jeremie short.

Chapter 8
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I woke up peacefully with my iPod's musical alarm set at 5:30 AM, which woke me up with "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses. Once I grabbed my usual clothes which included a sanitary mouth cover in place of my hoodie, I gave the still-sleeping Jeremie a light kiss on the forehead, which made him mumble an unfamiliar theory in physics. After grabbing a towel, I slowly opened the door and closed it silently. Looking around, I made my way to the showers.

As I walked to the showers, I thought about the recent events that have happened to me. Today marked the third day and night (AN: not considering the night of the water pipe leak.) with my lover Jeremie being in the same room as me for longer than I ever wanted, which caused Odd to faint during our make-out session and made me experience how MUCH it hurts to have every single bone in your legs broken. Another bad coincidence was that we shared all of our classes, but it came with the advantage that we could work together on the worksheets and homework that gets sent to Jeremie's dorm during our ongoing sickness. Another decent thing was the rather mild symptoms of the flu, which was mostly just coughing, a runny nose, and a sore throat.

My mind returned to reality when I walked right into the door of the boy's showers. Rubbing my head in pain, I opened the door to the showers. When I looked at the mirrors, I noticed how much of my daily routine I forgot to keep maintaining: My Acne was nearly as bad as Herb's, my hair was all clumped into an eternal bed-head hairstyle, and even my natural green streak of hair was nearing my nostrils with the rest of my hair reaching right above my eyes.

"Great, no time for personal release..." I said with a sigh as I entered the showers to find a quiet corner. Placing my clothes for the day on the bench, I started washing myself, getting rid of my bed-head. Finishing my hair, I cleaned the rest of my body and put on my clothes, strapping on my sanitary face-mask. After applying my once-daily Acne treatment, I took one look at myself one last time before I exited the shower. I checked myself to see if I brought my wallet which was absent from my body. "Crap, now I have to go back to the room now." I said with no emotion in my voice as I went back to Jeremie's room.

After sneaking back into Jeremie's room for my wallet, I went to go get early breakfast from Rosa as it was nearing 6:20 AM. When I received my food, I ate it at such a speed to make even Odd jealous, for a second I thought I forgot something but I just ignored it. Wiping my face clean, I left the campus to get myself a haircut.

Looking around the streets near Kadic, I managed to find a barbershop called 'Mains, Ciseaux, et les cheveux'. Shrugging to myself, I entered the place to find a lone barber cleaning the various chairs. I looked above in curiosity when I heard a bell ring, alerting the owner to my presence. "Bonjour! Comment voulez-vous que votre coupe de cheveux?" He said to me in a genuine French accent. Unfortunately, I knew very little French besides my next phrase.

"Pouvez-vous parler anglais?" Even I couldn't say that phrase perfectly, not including my sanitary face mask muffling my voice. The barber initially looked confused but said "Oh, um yes. How would you like your hair cut?" Thinking it over, I said "I would like my main hair trimmed to about two centimetres and my green streak to end between my eyes, if it isn't a problem." The barber obviously wasn't great at English but he did understand my request to some extent.

"Very well then. If you could take a seat when you want me to start." He said, motioning towards the row of chairs facing the wall. Inhaling, I sat at the center chair and relaxed my body when he started cutting my hair...

"Il est parfait!" The barber said, admiring his work, and even I was impressed despite not knowing what he said. The way he cut my hair reminded me of how it looked when I first came to Kadic. "That will be €7.99." He said, kindly extending his hand out, waiting for his payment. I felt bad for his lack of business, so I decided to just give him a €20 banknote. "Keep the change, you need it." I said, placing the banknote in his hand. Apparently, he has never seen this amount of goodwill from a foreigner, saying "Many thanks!" His eyes full of glee. Showing a smile, I exited the barbershop.

I checked the time which said 6:40 AM, "Crap, I need to hurry back." I said to myself. After running as fast as my Asthma let me, I silently entered the cafeteria to see the group minus Yumi (Who was only a day student.) sitting at a table. Jeremie was sitting to the left of Aelita with Odd and Ulrich sitting opposite of them. Ulrich and Odd glanced at me to which I quickly made a silent "Hush" to them, telling them to secretly ignore me while I snuck behind my lover. "Sorry Jeremie I spaced out, what did you say?" Odd said to him while wiping his nose, trying his best to not notice me. "Sero just vanished! I have no idea where he is and I'm getting worried sick. I need to start looking for him or I'll go crazy!" Jeremie said, worried out of his mind. As soon as he got up and turned around, his face met with mine.

"So, did you find me yet?" I said with a slight smile which was covered by my sanitary mask. Jeremie's face was about to tear up when he saw me. "Wh-whe-where did you go? I was going crazy without you!" He said with his emotions unbound. "Don't worry about it. I just went off of the campus for a haircut since it was getting long." I said calmly, making a note to myself to tell Jeremie when I run off somewhere. "You still should've said something! But I do love your haircut..." He said, moving his hand through my hair. "Hey Jeremie, you do realize that you aren't in your room right?" Aelita said with a cough, breaking the moment. With me and my lover blushing, we sat down with the others.

"Do you want something to eat Sero?" Ulrich said, trying to offer a muffin which Odd thoughtlessly took from his hand. "I'm good, I ate before I went to get my haircut." I said, patting my full belly. "So, what else were you talking about besides my disappearance?" I asked the group. "Haven't you heard? The newest issue of the school paper is saying that since the flu has basically infected everyone now, the quarantine process is now canceled for the year!" Ulrich said, who had a sore throat but was happy that he doesn't have to hide from the flu. Upon hearing this, I yanked off my mask with happiness. "And some other news for you Sero, Jim came to the cafeteria earlier. He wanted to tell you that the water damage in your room is now mostly gone, so you can use your room soon." Aelita said, covering a cough.

"...Which means that you have to use your room now since your room is repaired..." Jeremie said with some disappointment. I wasn't sure how to take the news, I only want just one more day with him. "...But the good news is that they are still taking care of the smaller details, so we have one last day of awkward closeness with each other!" Jeremie said with a smile on his face. I couldn't believe the good and/or bad news. "And I think I'm ready to go to the next level..." Jeremie whispered to me in a sexy voice. The others couldn't hear what my lover said to me but they probably have an idea of what Jeremie said by looking at me blush to a new level.

"I can barely contain my excitement! This is just so gre-AHH!" I said, holding my head in agony. This isn't supposed to happen, but then I remembered. My medication... I forgot to take it this morning... Every noise... Every light... Pure torture to me... "Sero! Are you okay?!" Jeremie said with fear in his voice, clueless of what to do. "My Head... I need my... Meds.. Under the mattres-" Were my last words before my consciousness left me...