Prologue: The Impulse
T.K's POV:
I pressed the stop button on Cody's phone, which I'd borrowed from him yesterday, today being the first day of Spring Break, laughing slightly to myself. I wasn't sure if I'd won or lost this time. Sure, I was free... But at what cost?
I could have known the price, known if I'd have to sleep out in the rain which currently pelted my head, if I hadn't acted on an impulse, and thrown my plans to the wind. Then again, I also would have had to wait an additional nine days to be free if I'd waited, and I wouldn't have had as strong an argument for the unaltered nature of the short sound clip I'd recorded of my mother kicking out of her house.
This way, at least, I could prove I wasn't a run away, I'd been doing exactly as my parent had asked me to. Whether or not she could actually legally kick me out was irrelevant; I was free now, or at the very least, free from her.
I remembered what had happened as I walked away from the place that had once supposed to be my sanctuary for the last time... Not that had been any kind of sanctuary in recent years. Not that it really mattered, I was free now. It had started with a conversation about me and my friend Kari going to a movie together.
"No." She'd said, firmly.
"Why not?" I asked, feverishly hoping she'd change her mind; if I couldn't talk to Kari, then my plans wouldn't really work. After all, I needed to know if I'd have somewhere to go, and my father's house was hardly within walking distance.
"Firstly, you aren't aloud to date until you are eighteen. Secondly, I don't like that girl, or her family."
My fist clenched, she'd just insulted my best friend, and her family, who I knew quite well. The only reason she disliked Kari was because my father, who my mother had divorced long ago, got along quite well with Kari's older brother, Tai, because Matt, my older brother, and Tai were best friends.
"It's not a date, and she's my best friend. Please, be fair." I said, having by now given up all hope of winning, and as I said 'be fair, I subtly shifted my hand in my pocket so my friend's cellphone began recording the conversation.
"No. You may NOT go to a movie with Kari." My mother said, decisively.
"Stop me." I said, trusting that my mother would over react, as I walked towards the door.
She did. "Takeru, if you so much as TOUCH that doorknob, you're not allowed back in my house."
I did, and she said, "Very well. You are not allowed in my house ever again."
"Fine." I replied, and left.
And that was how it had gotten this way. I realized now that I could have simply called Kari, before I'd cast the dice and gotten myself kicked out, but it was too late, as the dice were cast. Now, I'd be better off walking to her place and talking to her in person, at least that way I'd get to see a friendly face, which was support I very much needed.
And even knowing what I knew now, I wasn't sure I was wrong to simply walk away no matter what. I wasn't sure I could put up with another break living in my mother's household. She'd gotten to be incredibly restrictive; I couldn't date until I was 18, and I wasn't allowed to drive or have a cellphone. Or a computer.
Being 16, I was no child anymore, although I wasn't really an adult either. But this wasn't fair in the slightest. Apparently, I was mature enough to risk my life to save the world, as I'd done twice for two worlds, but I wasn't mature enough to use a cell-phone responsibly.
And it wasn't just that. Any one on one interaction I had with a girl, or two girls with me and another male were 'dates' in my mother's eyes. This meant me and my best friend Kari (who, I will admit, I would have LIKED to have dated), were not allowed to see each other, unless there were trustworthy adults around, and 'trustworthy adults' only meant my mother, as my mother trusted no one.
And recently, it had gotten even worse: I wasn't aloud to see anyone my mother didn't like. And me and my mother had VERY different tastes in people. That is to say, she didn't trust any of the Digidestined, and she didn't like any of their friends either. Which pretty much made up my circle of friends.
Now, there was one exception my mother had to disliking every Digidestined, even she couldn't manage to dislike Cody. That was mostly because everyone saw Cody as an honest, sweet, perfect little child. Cody liked it that way, it gave him far more flexibility (I vaguely envied him; it had never helped me). That said, Cody wasn't by any means irresponsible, but he wasn't perfect by any means. He had his secrets, most of which I didn't know, and he certainly was more then willing to help his friends get away with things, if, that is, he didn't have too much of a problem with what they were doing.
This was why I had Cody's phone at the moment, and also why I'd had an escape plan in the first place; because he'd assisted me, and because I knew he was trustworthy with secrets.
Indeed, I was willing to bet when Cody talked about greater flexibility granted by everyone seeing you as perfect was probably not just flexibility granted to him by adults, but also by his peers. After all, knowing that he was mostly trustworthy (and that he had a reputation to keep), had meant that I was willing to rely on him where I wouldn't rely on anyone else, even Kari.
And being reliable was a great trait to have in a friend... Especially someone who appears to be reliable to adults. So, it meant that Cody, who was actually physically rather weak (although he was skilled in martial arts, so he didn't have too much of a disadvantage when fighting), always had friends to stand up for him, and it meant he always had friends who he could ask for assistance, which I was sure was no end of useful, although I had no method of contacting my friends, so my friends has never been able to do much good for me... Well, excluding Cody, that is.
Now, I found myself at the door of Kari's house, and I rang the doorbell, hoping desperately that she'd be able to help me out... and that she'd be home, as the soaking rain was getting really old.
End Prologue