Do I Know You? by Yaoi Girl
I glance at the note in the corner of my assignment notebook and smile as I begin to doodle, totally ignoring the math lesson, because today's the day I've been looking forward to since the day he left for the student exchange program.
'Taichi's homecoming.'
I can hardly believe that's he's been in America for a year now.
We've kept in touch through e-mail and occasionally on the phone, but…it's not the same.
Nothing's been the same since the day he left. Everyone's noticed; our friends, his family, the soccer team…boy, do they suck this year.
I've tired hanging out with the other Chosen Children more often, but none of them are anywhere near Taichi's happy-go-lucky and dense personality.
Takeru said that I'm the one that misses him the most, even more so than his own parents. He must be right; Hikari even agrees with him.
The bell rings, signaling the end of the day, and I all but run out of the room and to my locker. I quickly throw my books that I've been hauling around into my locker, thinking happily, 'No homework and Taichi's back!'
The whole weekend together, just him and me. No parents, no siblings…
I just hope I don't do something stupid and push him away from me. With him being away this long, who knows how much he's changed, especially his feelings. Not that we had anything more than friendship before he left, mind you.
I know he's made new friends and probably dated a couple people from America, so I don't know how close we are anymore, but it's not like he won't talk to me. He's been looking forward to coming home soon after he got there. And in his last e-mail, he promised me that we would spend this weekend alone together.
I have to walk out of the school because of the stupid hall monitors; don't want to get detention and miss seeing Taichi!
As soon as I'm out the doors I start running down the sidewalk towards the park where we agreed to meet.
He would've came to school late today when he got home, but he wanted to spend some time with his family and rest before he seen me, so Hikari wasn't at school either.
Half way to my destination, I pause to catch my breath, and then start walking.
I finally arrive at the park, looking around and over people's heads to find him.
I should've known it wouldn't be easy to find him with all these kids running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.
After looking for about ten minutes or so, I sigh and look around to find a place to sit. Who knows, maybe he's still spending a little more time with his family.
All the benches are occupied with little kids trading cards and the like, except for one with a boy that looks about my age sitting down. I'm sure he won't mind I'm there if I sit at the far end.
Even thought the plan -was- to sit as far away as possible, I plopped down fairly close to him anyway. For some reason, I feel comfortable around him, even though he's a total stranger.
He glances at me, but says nothing and turns his attention back to the pigeons scurrying about on the ground.
In a way, he reminds me a lot of Taichi. He has the same color hair, but his is short and slightly messy. And I noticed that his eyes were blue when he looked at me. So I know he's not Taichi.
"Where the hell are you, Yagami?" I mumble, slightly annoyed.
The boy looks back up at me again, confused.
I turn to him and seen his expression, my eyes widening slightly. "Sorry. I was supposed to meet my friend here today."
"Oh?" he simply said, turning away again.
"He just got back from America today, so we were gonna meet and hang out all this weekend. We're gonna have a blast! I've got all this really cool stuff planned out for just the two of us."
It was then that I realized I was rambling to a stranger and apologized. "Sorry. It's just that you remind me a lot of my friend. You two kinda look alike."
"So, what do you have planned for us this weekend?"
I snap my attention away from the birds and to the direction of Taichi's voice, my eyes falling on the boy next to me. "Taichi?"
"The one and only!" the boy replied, turning his head and giving one of his goofy grins.
"You can't be Taichi!" I protest. It just can't be him.
"Oh, come on, Yama. Why do you think you're so comfortable around me?"
He said my name, and I hadn't introduced myself to him, so I know for a fact that it is Taichi. But the hair and eyes?
"I know what you're going to ask. I got my hair cut because I kept getting made fun of, that and this style is in over there. And these," he said, holding his eyelids and putting a finger in his eye and moving something around a bit for proof, "are contacts. I wanted to get blue because they were something different for me, and they remind me of your eyes."
"No wonder I couldn't find you! You look nothing like you did when you left."
"What? You don't like it?"
"Yeah, I like your eyes and hair now. You look good like that. It's just gonna take some adjusting to get used to you like this." I look him over fully, realizing how much better he really does look like this. "What did you parents say when they seen you?"
Taichi laughed. "They almost wouldn't let me in the door! I stood outside and knocked, and my mom answered it. She was like 'can I help you?' and I told her it was me, but in English just for fun. I don't think she really understood me, so she called for my dad and he didn't recognize me either. Hikari told them that it was me, because I had told her what I had done to my hair, but they wouldn't believe her either. So I ended up having to take out my old school ID and show them. Both of them went wide-eyed and apologized."
"That would've been something to see."
"So, what are we gonna do first?" he asks as he grabs his bag and we stand.
"How about we get out of here and go somewhere quiet?"
TBC
I know; I should be working on It's Not That Bad, but I've got a writers block on that story!!! My friend Nikoa will give me ideas though! She always does! If you know anything I can use for INTB, or any of my neglected stories including thing one, e-mail me!! yaoi_girl@kiaka.net
