“I still can’t believe you are going to do this.” Kelly frowned from the wall in the gym. She watched as David forced himself to do push ups, preparing for his rematch with Nicholas. With each thrust to the floor, he groaned hard, trying not to give up on it.

He smiled as he counted. “28…29…30.” He hopped off of the floor, staring back over at her. She made no sudden movements, except for the turning of her head and laying it on her knees. She looked kind of down. He began to wonder, “Is it my fault?”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” She said, her voice small and quiet. “What happens if you do get hurt this time?”

David walked over to her and kneeled down to her side, giving her a smile. She acted as if this thing was the end of the world. But then again, end of the world was much harder for an orphan; rather then a normal child and he knew that both of them weren’t normal in that term.

“Did you see how easily he went down the last time?” he laughed under his breath. She smiled back at him. “It will be easy to take him down, because I think it was pathetic to try at all to challenge me.”

Kelly was overlooking that part. She laughed as she thought of David beating Nicholas to the point where he looked unconscious. “I guess you are right.”

“Of course.” He lifted her chin with his finger. “I’ll get through it and you and I can worry less about Sissi and her goons hurting you.”

She smiled, looking up at his eyes. She found herself getting lost into his gaze, wishing that Sissi would never have come in and ruined their moment back on the soccer field. She leaned in and hugged him close to her, feeling her heart racing as her arms snaked around his waist and she rested her head onto his chest. Every breath she took, she didn’t feel unsafe anymore.

He smiled, getting a tired feeling, but had to focus on the upcoming fight. He didn’t want Sissi’s words to come back to him, thinking that it would be harder to fight with Kelly on him. She cared much, but didn’t want him lost or something during the battle. He envied that because this was the first love he had in well, forever.

“Do you want to come with me and get something to drink before the fight?” he asked, giving her a pat on back of her head as she listened to his breathing. She looked up and smiled, nodding quietly. She released him, allowing for him to take her hand and lift her up. She smiled, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before they left together.

-----------------------

The gang watched over everything as the students chatted. Things seemed too quiet. No X.A.N.A attacks to deal with now. But now they had to deal with Ulrich down about Kelly. He was still depressed even though it had been a while since Kelly had started hanging out with the new kid.

“This is so stupid.” Ulrich thought, acting too sensitive to the situation. “She didn’t have to go for that guy. He’s nothing special. Just a show off.”

“I wish that she wouldn’t look at us like that anymore.” Aelita said, sounding also a bit depressed. “I’m afraid. She just picks up and leaves us behind, and that’s sad.”

“Well, if she wants to be that way, I say good riddance.” Yumi snapped. “She thinks we’re psycho. I don’t think it matters anymore.”

Odd put his back against the pillar and let himself fall. “When did it all of a sudden become such a problem that she doesn’t want to be friends.” It was weird that he couldn’t even think of something funny to make this moment seem any better.

“Simple, Odd.” Jeremie said, his face looking off into the distance. “She knows about Lyoko now and we still don’t know how she can remember these returns to the past.”

“Well let’s just get her out of our minds for now.” Yumi said. “There’s no reason to dwell on it for no reason.”

From the side of the building, they noticed Kelly and David walking up to the drink machines. They stared at her, expecting to get a really nasty look, but instead, she saw them, blinked, and turned back to the boy she seemed to dream over. They seemed quite shocked about that, watching as David grabbed a cup and filled it.

“What was that?” Odd asked, getting up from his place and grabbing onto the pillar.

“She seemed to have been less of a jerk this time around.” Jeremie pointed out.

Ulrich frowned, glaring over at David. They met each other’s gaze, David watching as Ulrich sent him the angered message. David leaned over to Kelly and whispered something into her ear, his gaze never leaving Ulrich’s. Kelly stared at him for a moment, but Ulrich turned away, trying not to think of her and what she meant to him in his head.

“Can you believe this?” Sissi’s voice came from around the corner. “That David Gecko boy is actually going to beat Nicholas again.”

Ulrich couldn’t help but listen to the conversation. He slipped over to where the audio was coming in clearly.

“Well, you could be more helpful and well, root him on.” Herb said, trying to be helpful, even though he didn’t have much hope in Nicholas either, but he had to pretend it.

“Why bother, that Gecko kid will totally crush him.” She shook her head. “Nicholas feels so confident about it, he’s off “training” for it now.”

“And by training you mean….” He questioned.

“Doing unsuccessful, punches and kicks into the wall in your room.” She frowned sympathetically. “I was watching him.”

“Have you seen with that Gecko kid does?”

“Well, let’s say whatever Nicholas doesn’t do.” She sat down on the ground, pushing her back against the wall and rubbing her temples with her fingers. “This is going to be so embarrassing.”

Ulrich smiled to himself. A chance to watch Sissi’s idiot friend go down, but at the same time, he’d have to watch Kelly’s new boyfriend become a hero and continue to protect her and love her the way he kind of wanted to.

“I wish there was a chance for me to be the damsel right now so that he would notice me.” Sissi said.

“What do you mean?” Herb crossed his arms.

“I never really realized it.” She began. “But maybe David is kind of cute. I don’t understand why he would be all over a girl like Kelly.”

“Because Kelly is like him and she is tough and fast like him and pretty and-“ he was cut off by Sissi slapping her hand over his mouth.

“Ok, you better shut up before you will be put in the ring with Nicholas.” She threatened, shutting him up.

“There has to be a way to keep him from being the hero of the day.” Ulrich thought to himself. He needed a way to keep him from being so great during battle. Something that would make him uncoordinated, something that would make him almost drunk. But he didn’t want to do anything that would hurt the guy. He didn’t want to depress Kelly. Of all things that is what he didn’t want to do.

-----------------------

Ulrich walked around the hallways, thinking of how he could make David less then what he seemed. He passed every room, looking inside for ideas.

“This is too hard.” He thought. “What is around here?”

A voice came from the janitor, who seemed to be almost slurred and dizzy. “When did they say I couldn’t bring in my own drinks?” Ulrich walked to the side of the door and watched as the janitor left, locking the door before seeing him staring.

“Good day to you.” He said, trying to put his keys into his back pocket, but dropping them as he walked. Ulrich quickly picked them up, about to yell back to him about the keys, but a different thought came into mind. He was talking about drinks; maybe alcohol or something was what he meant, something that would make David sick during the fight. He turned to the door and grabbed onto the door in one quick motion and tried the first key he saw.

It didn’t work, nor did the second, third, or fourth one. On the fifth try though, he heard a tiny click as he turned it. He looked left and then to the right to make sure no one was watching, and swiftly entered the room, shutting the door quickly behind him and putting the keys in his pocket.

The room was bigger then most of them. It had cleaning supplies the lined each end of the room, mops, brooms and dustpans that lined the corner of the room. It had a desk and chair at the side with a phone, computer and papers that covered it.

“For a janitor, he doesn’t really clean up much.” Ulrich said to himself, looking at the papers. They were mostly bills for landscaping and things for the school. He tisked at the $500 for something from “The Winery”. He put it down and started to rummage through drawers and other items he was afraid to find out about.

In one of the lowers drawers, he found something that really caught onto his eye. It was a large green bottle with a red label that said “Premium Liquor” on it. He shook the bottle, hearing that it was nearly full to the top with the alcoholic drink. It was perfect for bringing down the pretty boy who was too good for anyone to beat.

“I got to get out to there fast.” He said, quickly rushing out and dropping the keys in front of the door so the janitor suspected nothing.

-----------------------

“You’ll need this now.” Kelly said, handing David a water bottle. He took it but not as eagerly as she expected.

“Thanks, Kelly.” He said, taking her hand. “You ready to watch someone go down hard?”

She laughed at his confidence. “Of course. I can’t wait.”

He put his water bottle down on the table and told Kelly to come with him for a moment to just stand still and let him practice with her before the battle. Kelly was growing much stronger now, even though it hadn’t been too long since they were on the soccer field. She understood what he had meant by all of the things he had told her earlier. And now she would be a good partner to practice.

Ulrich watched from over by the pillars, waiting until they weren’t looking before sneaking over to his water bottle. He looked over the table quickly and snatched the water bottle. He popped the top off of the bottle and let some of the water run out before he poured a good amount of the alcoholic beverage into the clear bottle. The color didn’t change, but the heavy scent of the liquor lingered in the air by it. Before he had a chance to get caught, he moved quickly behind the pillar again to watch.

David made his way over to the bottle and took a small swig of the “water” but made a slight face at the taste. Kelly looked at him, seeing the disgust and wondering what had happened, nervously thinking it what her fault.

“Is everything okay, David?” she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I never knew that bottled water tasted so…funny.” He said, but didn’t care because of his thirst. He gulped it down quickly; only thinking of the match ahead, even thought there was a slightly sick feeling emerging in his lower stomach. He could feel himself becoming weaker by the second, his knees falling inward and his arms getting heavier.

He didn’t want to Kelly to notice his weakness or she would get worried and force him not to fight. He needed to fight, but he couldn’t fight feeling as he did.

“There is no choice.” He thought, feeling his hands beginning to shake. “I cannot turn down this fight, not when I train so hard. I will not give up.”

Kelly watched him as he slowed down to a more sluggish pace, worried now because of it. “David, are you ok? You look ill.”

“Probably something I ate for lunch.” He said to worry her less. “I’ll be ok enough to fight I promise.”

She didn’t trust it; he looked like he was going to pass out. But she couldn’t say for him to back down. It wasn’t in her. She needed to let him do what he thought was best for him because he wouldn’t agree to her anyways.

-----------------------

Out in the courtyard of the school, Nicholas, Sissi and Herb stood waiting for David to take his position. A group of students who had heard about the fight were waiting to watch them, a few of them happening to be Odd, Ulrich and Aelita, who waited with nervous faces. Ulrich was anxious to see the kind of fighting that David could do with alcohol in his system. Kelly let go of him and watched him as he entered between the many students who wanted to watch.

“One side here…hey move it…. friend of the fighter here.” She pushed her way though the crowd to the front where she had full view of her beloved friend, whom was taking up all of power just to keep himself from swaying, which he wasn’t doing such a good job at.

Nicholas stood in front of him, watching as his opponent swayed and began to fall one way and then the other trying to keep himself straight and strong. He stared as David’s cheeks went red and he looked almost totally relaxed, his eyes growing heavy and his movements becoming more and more shaky.

“What is wrong with you?” Nicholas put his fists down.

“I think the question e-as,” David slurred. “What e-as wrong with, hic, youuuuu?”

“Are you going to fight or what?” Nicholas asked, getting closer to his opponent.

“I’m notta waitin’ for a bus.” David said, and without a second to waste, threw several fast and hard blows at Nicholas, knocking him backwards off of his feet.

“OH YE-YAH!” David yelled out, falling over to his right. “WHOSE A FY-YA-TA?”

Nicholas couldn’t believe that his technique had changed since the last time he had fought David. The guy could barely stand and he didn’t even sound human anymore. What happened?

It didn’t matter. Nicholas jumped to his feet and while David was still in his celebration of the so-called “defeat”, he hit David from behind several times, causing the drunken fighter to fall onto his face on the ground. There were many gasps from the crowd behind them, especially the almost scream from Kelly in panic. But David didn’t go down so easily, and tripped Nicholas while he was still close enough to the ground.

“Youuuuu didn’t think dat I’d goo dow-en like, hic, dat didja?” David hiccupped jumping to his feet. Nicholas didn’t answer. Instead, he jumped up and threw a few punches at the tougher fighter, but David blocked them quickly, and spun, sending a kick to Nicholas’ side that was nearly impossible to block. Nicholas didn’t bother to grab his side even though there was a great deal to bear.

With a quick movement, David ran over at Nicholas and threw several punches, each one faster then the other one and each harder then the last. Nicholas was having it harder each time a blow hit him but there was no way to try to give in now. He blocked himself the best he could, but he was less then successful to keep from getting hit in the chest, stomach, and face.

“He’s so much faster then before.” Nicholas though. “I’m going to have to get out of here fast if I don’t want to get killed.”

Nicholas quick spun back, kicking David in the leg, but he didn’t stop the blows.

“What happened to you?” Nicholas asked through the hits and pain, as he tried to hit David back, but his tries came to nothing. David didn’t answer, he seemed almost crazy, fighting like a mad man, but Nicholas, like everyone else, could see that something was wrong with him. Nicholas couldn’t with stand the blows anymore. With a last blow to the face, he fell again like a ton of bricks. David stepped back, but then jumped into the air.

“I WIN!” he screamed. “I WON! WHOSE DA, hic, MAN!”

Everyone stood in shock. David had just took down a guy for the second time, but then again, he was sickly weird at the moment.

“I cant believe that happened…again.” Kelly said. “But what happened to him to make him act so freakish.”

David seemed to happy, but as he celebrated, a suddenly sick and dizzy look came over his face, and the fighter fell backwards. Kelly ran over to him and picked up his head, scared so badly, that she was ready to call 911.

“David, are you ok?” she said softly to him. “Please say you are ok.”

David stirred, blinking and still shaking, “O course I am fy-ne, babe! Wh-ya would I not beeeeeeee?”  

On his breath, she could smell the sour scent of the liquor that had been used. She couldn’t quite tell it was liquor, but she knew the scent. It was definantly alcohol, because the scent was the same from when she had passed by women who use to drink a lot at the orphanage.

“David, your drunk!” She said. “It must have been the water. You said it tasted funny, it must have been alcohol.”

She picked him up beneath the arm, still questioning the reason why he had gotten drunk in the first place. She carried him up to the school, and took him into their room, laying him gently on the bed.

“Poor thing,” she said, stroking his hair and kissing his forehead. “You are going to have a nasty hangover soon so I think you may want to rest.”

She walked to the door, shutting off the lights, and stared back to him. “Hopefully things will be better for you tomorrow.”

-----------------------

Kelly walked down to the courtyard of the school, thinking of things. She couldn’t feel happy the David won that fight against Nicholas, especially when he was drunk and sick at the moment. She looked around and saw the gang standing by the pillars again. David’s words returned to her at that moment.

“You shouldn’t judge people by what they say, they probably just had something they couldn’t tell you.” Were his words on the matter. She thought about it, she couldn’t hold a grudge. She thought that maybe they did deserve a second chance. Maybe it was a good time to ask for their forgiveness.

She walked over, placing her hands into her pockets, and giving a friendly smile. Sadly, none of them took it.

“What do you want, Kelly?” Jeremie asked, a look of anger on his face.

“Is it ok to ask an old friend for an apology?” she asked, kind of feeling stupid for asking.

“Sorry, Kelly.” Yumi said, folding her arms across. “It will take a lot more time before we would ever be able to give you our trust again.”

“I’m sorry I acted that way to you guys.” Kelly frowned, staring down at her feet. “I should never have acted that way, especially to you, Ulrich.”

Ulrich stared up, but turned away in anger. “Why should I care after you called me psycho?”

“Because I trust you.” She said, going to his side and kneeling down next to him. “I was just afraid and I thought you were lying to me. I guess you don’t need to tell me everything, but I trust you still. Please forgive me.”

Ulrich couldn’t believe that she really trusted him already. He smiled, nodding slightly. She looked over to the rest of the gang, after hearing what she had to say, they were all nodding. She stood up, dusting herself off.

“Um, Kelly, may I ask you something?” Aelita asked her. She nodded slowly. “What happened to that boy you were hanging out with today, during that fight with Nicholas?”

Kelly frowned. “He was...drunken fist fighting. He was given a kind of liquor I am more familiar with, and right now he’s asleep in our room, because I’m afraid of him receiving a painful hangover right now.”

“He’s kind of cute.” Aelita giggled beneath her breath. “What’s his name, because we have pretty much been referring to him as ‘the new kid’.”

“David Gecko.” Kelly laughed after hearing it. “He’s sweet, but I don’t think he’d want visitors at a time like this.”

“Well maybe later we should meet him.” Odd said. “If anything, it would be smart to meet someone who can fight like that. He’d be perfect on Lyo-“ But he was cut off by the stares he was getting from the group.

“Well, Kelly, do bring him around sometime after he’s feeling well again.” Jeremie said, patting Kelly on the back.

Kelly smiled and nodded. “I bet it will be cool to have us all become friends.”