If The World Crashes Down
Summary: Mimi is running for student President, too bad her nemesis, Tai, is also running against her. She likes Matt and he likes Sora (or so they think) and they reach a compromise to get what they want. But when a greater enemy surfaces, Tai and Mimi have to learn to forgive the past and truly accept each other. Their compromise falls apart, and love resurfaces in unexpected ways. A High School story about reconciliation and teenage love.
Pairings: MimixTai, SoraxMatt, and KairixT.K.
Theme Song: "If The World Crashes Down" by Enrique Iglesias
Tai's Challenge
Monday
-Mimi
Mimi Tachikawa clicked her tongue in annoyance when the pretty, blonde, stupid girl that was leading the school musical forgot her lines for the umpteenth time during rehearsal. Haku, a handsome senior that had landed the male's leading role waited for Mimi's reaction apprehensively, also annoyed himself at the girl that was to act as his love interest and as a modern-day Little Red Riding Hood. "You know what honey," she told her in the sweetest voice she could muster, so that her sarcasm would be obvious, "If learning the lines is too much of a bother, why don't you let any of the other girls act your role? I'm sure they'd do just as good a job, if not better…"
The stage was quiet.
"Bitch." The pretty blond often tried to pretend that she liked everyone in the theater group, but in moments like these her more spiteful side shone. Once again she did a poor job hiding her dislike towards Mimi, and the entire crew heard her.
Mimi continued to smile sweetly and turned around, walking towards the back of the stage and away from sight, exhaling loudly once she was out of ear-shot. She had time—they had time; there was no need to get in a fight with the lead of the musical this early in the production.
The brunette glanced over to the theater professor's office, and as usual, for it was still early in the morning, he was sound asleep on his desk. Probably spluttering drool all over his paperwork and notes. Mimi laughed soundly. It wasn't a secret that their theater professor was careless, if not a slob, but to her he was a genius. He was the one directing the musical, for obvious reasons, but he was more often than not absent, and Mimi had landed the role of "Assistant Director." Along with such a title came powers and responsibilities, courtesy of her professor, so she couldn't complain.
"Ahem," someone coughed behind her and Mimi was startled from her reverie. She turned to see Kari standing right behind her, smiling sheepishly.
"Oh hey you're here early!" Mimi wasn't surprised. Kari might be just a freshman, but she was always very enthusiastic about the extracurricular activities she partook in, and in this case, her enthusiasm was directed towards theater. Someday she would be at the top of the theater company in the school, like she was, Mimi thought.
Kari had a grim expression on her face. The sort of I'm-about-to-deliver-nasty-news-so-brace-yourself expression. "Meems, I've got news, and you're not gonna like this."
"Really? Did Yuu fall off stage and split her ankle in two?" She referred to the blond lead, winning herself a smile from Kari, who also wasn't fond of the girl. Heck no one was.
"Umm no. But give me a couple days and I'll make it happen," Kari winked jokingly.
"A couple days! That's too much—"
"Mimi!" Kari giggled, eager to get to the point of her news.
"Ok… Ok… shoot."
Kari withdrew a sheet of paper from her backpack and handed it to Mimi, her eyes apprehensive of Mimi's reaction.
Mimi fingered the slightly crumpled piece of paper as her eyes widened and her pulse quickened. "Vote President for Tai Kamiya" was written in big bold letters as a title to the piece of paper, and below, as a small subtitle read "He might just make a better and funner Student Council President. Kick the monotony that Mimi Tachikawa will be and embrace the change Tai Kamiya will bring!"
"Funner? FUNNER? That's not even a word!" Mimi wasn't hysterical about the obvious grammatical typo, or the blatant message against her, but the fact that none other than Tai Kamiya was challenging her by running against her. "What is this! Where did you find it?"
Kari cringed and shrugged. "It's all over the school. I snatched this one on the way here and almost had my ass chewed out by some pompous cheerleader that saw me. 'Don't touch that you little freshman blah blah…'" she mocked.
"Ugh!"
The short-haired freshman was wise enough to step back a couple inches.
"Your brother is such an insufferable ego-maniac! Tell me, what business does he have running against me! He has absolutely no experience in being in the student council, or leadership as a matter of fact."
"Well he is captain—" the younger girl was about to chirp in about the soccer team but Mimi quickly saw it coming. Mimi was also purposely not counting the fact that he was their leader in the Digital World…
"That doesn't count!"
Kari hung her hands up in defense and grimaced, feeling another one of Mimi's mad rants regarding Tai about to unfold.
"You know what this means, right?" Mimi paced in front of the sleeping professor's office back and forth.
"You guys are going to work nicely and overcome your differences and have a nice clean campaign?" Kari asked hopefully—almost helplessly.
"This means war."
333
-Matt
Matt was part of the majority of students that hated first period. It was way too early in the morning to absorb anything, let alone pay attention to dull professors that droned on and on about things most teenagers didn't give a rat's ass about. So he was sympathetic when everyone wailed and moaned about first period. To him, however, it wasn't so awful. In fact, to some extent he even felt privileged, for he had Sora in his first period class.
Merely moments after the first bell finished ringing, nearly the whole classroom was filled by sleepy students, and the seat next to him was occupied by a certain fiery-haired athlete. Sora Takenouchi moaned in annoyance as she slammed her General Chemistry textbook on top of their lab tables, clearly fazed by the instructions upon the blackboard, telling them to turn to page 245 for additional reading.
"Hey," Matt's lips twitched a pretty smile. The sort of smile he had subconsciously reserved for Sora and Sora only.
"Oh God. Acid-Base reactions. Again? I thought we'd finish this, what, ages ago?" The red-head nearly melted on top of her opened textbook dramatically, pretending to be miserable.
"Not unless you traveled to the future," Matt murmured a chuckle.
"Honestly, Matt, how do you enjoy this?" Sora asked while she idly drew doodles on his notebook.
And he erased them as soon as she was done drawing them, "I don't, but if you make it seem like torture, well then, it will be torture."
Sora simply moved a strand of her red hair behind her ear, smiling up at him, and the blond had to look away, lest she see the blush building up on his cheeks.
It wasn't until they were well into the lesson when Matt suddenly remembered the idea he had back when he was by his locker, sleepy and annoyed. He turned to Sora who seemed to be snoozing on top of her textbook for the tenth time today and poked her arm.
She hissed and glared at him, obviously annoyed that he had interrupted her nap. "Matt, I'll let you know the softball and the soccer coaches will kill you if I don't have enough energy today for practice."
"Didn't you get enough sleep last night," he rolled his eyes in boredom.
"Was surfing the web—"
"Surfing through porn? No doubt." She then punched his arm lightly in response, ducking out of view when the professor turned to look at her in suspicion.
Once the coast was clear, she looked back towards Matt, glaring playfully and saying, "I'm sure you didn't wake me from my chemistry-nap just to berate me about my porn-viewing ways?"
"'Course not; that's hot."
"Matt!"
This time the professor noticed, and he cleared his throat loudly and asked, "Is there a problem, Miss Takenouchi?"
Sora smirked before replying, "Oh no sir, it's just that these Acidic Hydrogens are giving me heart burn."
There was a soft murmur of laughter amongst the class, including Matt, and the professor hid a smirk before ordering her, "Get back to your reading, young lady."
They waited a couple more minutes before Sora asked, "So, what's up?"
Matt inched closer, so not to be heard by the professor, and said, "I miss hanging out with the group, you know, the whole group."
Sora's smile immediately fell. She hated talking about this. "I know, I miss it, too. But… there's not much we can do."
The blond before her chuckled in cynicism, "Tai's running for President."
"So I've heard. Mimi's probably livid."
"How long has it been since we've all hung out?" It was now Matt's turn to idly doodle right on top of Sora's notes, making her hiss and shove them right on top of her lap, out of view.
"This whole semester probably. At least Mimi didn't choose to endlessly wail and moan about Tai to you," Sora said jokingly and they both laughed.
Once or twice Matt had to stand his textbook up right and hide behind it, so that the professor didn't catch him snickering. "I want all of us to start hanging out again, Sora," he told her once she was able to control her silent giggles.
"Not possible. It's way too fucking impossible with those two, and we can't exclude them either, it's not right—" Sora's words were cut off by the bell, and the two teens jumped in excitement, shutting their textbooks with much pleasure. "Finally, God, can this class be any longer?"
"Don't wish it." Matt whispered right behind her amongst the pitter patter of students quickly shuffling out of class.
333
-Mimi
Mimi walked out from the Art hallway in a rush. Some sophomore had gotten in a fight with one of the techs in the theater production, and it was either she clean up their mess, or a teacher get involved and bring some hell on the production and on Mr. Watanabe, the theater professor. She preferred the former. So she was now late to her locker and possibly had even less time to get to her second period class.
The brunette rounded a corner in a hurry, waltzing in to the lockers hallway, and her face turned hot in annoyance when she saw none other than Tai Kamiya tossing a soccer ball on an unsuspecting freshman across the hall; a freshman who she clearly remembered being part of her musical production. "Tai Kamiya," her voice was icy and loud, and she felt overly satisfied when she saw him cringe at the sound of her voice. "You're twice his size and bullying him. Oh wait. That's just your need to make up for smaller things," Mimi smirked as she approached him.
His brown eyes almost glowed in annoyance when he saw her approach. A couple students had stopped their transit when they saw the beginning of their exchange, already knowing something was probably going down. "If it isn't Tachikawa, protector of the geeks," He smarted back. "Do you get pleasure from interfering in other people's business?"
Mimi had an internal battle of whether or not to be offended by his words. He'd called her a protector. Alas of the geek. Then she cursed herself inwardly and remembered this was Tai Kamiya; no compliment ever out of that mouth. "Do you get pleasure from attacking my freshmen with your stupid ball?" She mimicked his tone.
"Your freshmen?" Tai accentuated, not backing down from the Mimi that had walked dangerously close.
"Oh who would have guessed that Tai Kamiya could pass through grammar school. Good job, soccer star," She mocked, announcing it to the whole hallway, in which by now a considerable amount of students had stopped in curiosity.
"Wow I'm surprised, you have a sense of humor? I don't recall them teaching you that in bitch school," He leaned down in front of her, so that his face was inches away from hers.
"Why are you running for president?" She hissed now that he was so close to her.
He chuckled in her face then turned away, back to rummaging for things in his locker, as if unaffected by the exchange. "So this is what this is about? I was beginning to think you had a serious case of menopause," He eventually told her.
"Answer my damn question!" Mimi nearly yelled.
Tai swiftly turned around and told her loudly, startling her, "So that I don't have to take this shit from you, Mimi! The self-proclaimed queen of the art department now wants to be the self-proclaimed queen of the junior class? I think not."
"You've no idea what you're doing," Mimi said between clenched teeth, seemingly controlling herself from seething.
"Oh and you do?"
"I am your current Vice President, jackass. You can thank me and Joe for your stupid pep rallies and car washes and all that other crap." The hallway was now considerably thinning, seeing how the bell was merely minutes away from ringing.
"No. You mean I can thank Joe for the pep rallies and car washes and "all that other crap." If it were for you we'd have musicals and stupid show-casing galleries all year long." Now that he had his necessary books, Tai slammed his locker shut and rounded on her, saying, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to go to."
Without a last glance, Tai strolled away from her and out of sight, leaving her standing alone in the hallway. She cursed under her breath and swore to herself to get back at him, then rushed to another hallway, remembering that she, too, would be late to class.
333
-Matt
Matt was on his way from his locker to History when he saw Mimi and Tai talking—no, fighting, on the other side of the hallway, and thought it was best if he lingered, in case things got out of control. Things always got out of control, mind you, but just for the sake of his friends, he waited patiently. Out of sight, of course, in case either of them forced him to take a side.
He grimaced as he remembered a time when it wasn't like this, like when they were all best friends and going to the Digital World and hanging out every afternoon. Even when Mimi and Tai were dating, that was also kinda nice. Up until the break up that slowly spiraled out of control until they were both gnawing at each other's throats whenever they had a chance. If anyone wanted proof of why friends ought not to date, this was it. Now their group had split and everyone had to go their own ways.
Matt ducked behind a corner and out of sight when he saw Tai walking—scratch that—angrily marching his way. He re-emerged after the furious soccer player had strolled away and directed his attention towards Mimi. She seemed down, he decided, and by the expression on her face he could tell she'd lost this one. The blond adjusted his backpack and jogged to catch up to her. Maybe he'd walk her to class today. They did have, after all, History together.
"Hey, Meems, wait up," he'd caught up to her and she was surprised to see him. Her eyes were more sparkly than usual, had she been close to tears?
"Oh. Hi Matt," Her voice wasn't very enthusiastic but she had definitely cheered up after seeing him.
"Let's walk together—"
"Oh I don't feel like rushing there," Mimi quickly interrupted him in defeat.
"It's Ok. I don't mind being late." Matt smiled at her and her face considerably brightened. "So tell me, how's that musical going? Sora told me you're pretty much doing all the work."
"Yeah, I saw the booklet and I'm going to be credited as Assistant Director. Yay." That didn't sound too enthusiastic.
"Dude, I heard your teacher smokes weed and shit," He laughed just as the second period bell rang.
Mimi, too, couldn't help but laughing. "They do say that, though between me and you I can tell you that sometimes his bag and even his clothes smell like weed when he comes in during the afternoon."
Matt stared at her, wide eyed. Now that was a cool professor. "You're shitting me!"
"Haha, I know, right? But don't tell anyone, cause I love him to pieces!" Mimi gave him a playful, menacing glare and laughed along with him. He noticed how she had intertwined her arm into his as they walked, but he dismissed it as a friendly gesture. "Say Matt, I've been meaning to ask you, but was worried you'd think it'd be too silly to do."
"Sup?" He asked absentmindedly, his eyes on the door to History class across the hall.
"Would you and your band mind being part of the musical? I could talk to Mr. Watanabe and he totally wouldn't mind adjusting the script to squeeze you guys in. It'd be kinda cool…" Her voice trailed and diminished, as if she was already expecting him to reject the offer.
Matt pretended to be deep in thought for a while, but he was game from the beginning. "Hmm let me see… does it involve coming in after school?" He pondered aloud, as if it were a liability.
"Aw come on!" Mimi tugged on his arm playfully for a little while.
"Aight! Aight!"
Mimi's squeals of delight echoed throughout the entire hallway. She jumped up and pressed her lips hard against his cheek, leaving a pink lipstick mark upon it, and practically waltzed in to class moments before him.
333
-Sora
"So… Joe told me that I should probably start picking my Vice President and signing him up," Mimi commented casually before blowing on the cherry red nail polish she had applied to her left hand.
"Does the Vice President have to campaign with you? Do they have to be elected?" Sora was laying on the other side of Mimi's bedroom, her eyes on the television as she absentmindedly flipped through channels.
Now satisfied with her left hand, Mimi turned her attention to her right. "Not really. The moment the President wins their chosen Vice President gets in. That's how it was with me and Joe last year," she told her best friend.
"Oh right, forgot. I don't really keep up with Student Council, you know…" Sora flipped herself over to stare at the ceiling, seeing how there was nothing good on television.
"I want you to be my Vice President," Mimi suddenly stated.
Sora nearly choked on her own saliva. She wanted her to do what?
"Oh come on please please pleaseeee," Mimi suddenly crawled on top of the bed and was nearly on top of Sora, giving her the biggest puppy-dog eyes she could muster.
"Oh but Meems, why me? That's like, I won't be Switzerland anymore…" She told her brunette friend begrudgingly.
"Why would you want to be Switzerland anyways!" Mimi immediately flared up, as if she were the red-head and not Sora.
"Because whatever fight there's between you and Tai should just stay that way—between you and Tai," Sora wailed, her eyes on anything but Mimi.
"There wouldn't be any fight if he hadn't run against me in the elections! Sora he's such a conceited prick!"
And so are you, she thought of saying, but decided against it. Under any other circumstance she would have said it, but Tai was a delicate subject to Mimi.
"Please? With a cherry and sprinkles and caramel fudge and icing on top?" Mimi caught Sora's brown eyes and her gaze was captivating. "With blueberry frozen yogurt on top?" Oh Mimi had said it. This was her favorite.
"You'll treat me with frozen yogurt!" Mimi quickly nodded vigorously like a little child. "Every Friday for the duration of your presidency!" Again, Mimi didn't hesitate before nodding.
It was after a little while when the room fell silent that Sora began thinking again, not about Mimi and her quarrels with Tai, but about Matt. Something was so very captivating about him to her, but she thought herself wise and decided to learn from other people's mistakes. Ahem, Mimi's and Tai's mistakes.
The two broke up last semester, so by now it was safe to ask, "So Mimi, do you like anyone yet?" Sora asked in a singsong voice.
"Does Matt like anyone?" Mimi quickly asked, almost as if she had been waiting for Sora to bring up the topic of crushes. Sora's eyes narrowed, but she had been staring at the ceiling, so Mimi didn't see.
"Not that I know of, Meems…"
Mimi sighed and she commented in a blissful voice, "You know, I used to like him back when we first had our adventure in the Digital World."
"Aaaand you think you like him again now?" Sora knew her friend all too well.
Mimi immediately sat up and she casted a tragic expression on her face, "Is it too obvious, Sora?"
Sora just chuckled and answered, "No, Mimi, I just know you too well." Her answer made her get an enormous hug from the brunette.
"See if you can get out anything of him… maybe while you're in Chemistry… if he likes anyone…" Mimi whispered hopefully after a little while, and Sora nodded, almost automatically. Sora held the Crest of Love for a reason. Sure, she felt somewhat attracted to Matt, but also felt her loyalty and love for Mimi run deeper than her affection for him. She would not hurt Mimi's feelings over a silly love triangle. It was best if she stayed away from Matt anyways, that way they wouldn't end up like Mimi and Tai, she decided. And maybe, just maybe, Matt and Mimi were made for each other, and Mimi wouldn't end up gaining yet another mortal enemy…
Please leave a review :).