Author's Note: I apologize for the really late update, that was over a month! I can't help it though, college is a lot of fun! I felt like this chapter isn't as great quality as the past three, but I guess that up for you to judge. I'm looking forward to y'alls reviews! So please review tons :). Enjoy!

Cornered Thrice

"About what happened between you and Tai."

It was then that Mimi felt the air being sucked out of her lungs. Her mind raced, and her honey-colored eyes watered; she had not told anybody! This was supposed to be personal, between her and Tai Kamiya only. Why, then, did everyone in her class seemed to be so well informed? She lowered her gaze down to the table so that Sora wouldn't see the water pooling in her eyes. "I don't understand," was all that she was able to whisper for a while.

Sora, after sensing that she had hit tender territory, quieted down and waited for the brunette to continue speaking.

"Sora I didn't tell anyone!" She gave her friend a meaningful stare; if only someone could understand…

Their attention, though, was drawn to their quiet friend, Izzy, who stood from his chair and promptly said, "I forgot my textbook in my homeroom. I'll be back later." And without a glance he left the scene. Inwardly, both girls knew that he had not forgotten anything; he just wanted to allow them some privacy.

The older teen took Mimi's hands in hers, now giving Mimi the support she needed. "Then it must have been…" Sora stopped herself before the words left her mouth, and her wide-open eyes watched Mimi apprehensively.

Then it must have been Tai, Mimi thought to herself. All this time she had felt angsty about the incident, dreading Tai's reaction, while he had been, so very eagerly, publicizing the event. Was she supposed to be some sort of price to him, then? Mimi's head began to hurt. "I didn't tell anybody," she repeated. "I wasn't even ready to talk to Tai. I never imagined he would be this way." He was Tai, her Tai. Or at least she had believed so. "I didn't tell you because I wanted to talk to him first."

Sora inched closer to her and asked in an almost whisper, "How do you feel about it? How do you feel about him?"

Mimi Takchikawa just shook her head. She then quickly realized that, that had been the reason why Mai Liyong had been so distraught. Mai once told Mimi about her feelings for Tai, and often hinted Mimi to try to help her get with him. But Mimi had liked Tai for a really long time as well; was she supposed to give up on her affection on Tai because of her friendship with Mai? Was she not allowed to love and want to feel loved? Right now, though, she felt heartbroken. "Heartbroken," she sighed, and allowed her pooled tears to freely flow. Sora stood from her spot on the chair opposite from Mimi and sat on the seat next to her. "It was just sex to him," whispered Mimi while she allowed Sora to embrace her.

"I'm sorry Meems. But there's gotta be an explanation! We both know Tai… and we know he would never purposely hurt any of us. Forget about the school; who cares about what they think or say?" Mimi let out a sarcastic chuckle in response—Sora was right, she should not care, but her current feeling of vulnerability conquered her usual confidence, so she felt weak and exposed. Her tears soon after subsided thanks to Sora's comforting embrace, and the teens spent the rest of their lunch break exchanging brief, reassuring words about Mimi's dilemma, but both agreed, unanimously, that Mimi had to confront Tai.

~i~

With a last few scribbles Matt Ishida finished his timed essay. He let out a relieved sigh before walking up to his teacher and handing in his paper. Sure, Social Studies was among his favorite subjects, but writing essays for the class was a whole different story. Thankfully for him, and for the majority of his classmates, the school year had a mere four days left; the most dreadful four days, let us not forget. He felt something vibrating in one of his pockets and he had to stop his reaching arm from grabbing his cellular phone—using cell phones during class was a highly punishable offense. Matt let out an inaudible growl, now he would be extremely curious of the text message that he had received.

As if answering for his prayers, the loud—and much expected—school bell began to ring. Almost in queue, every one of his classmates packed their notebooks and bags and departed the room, with Matt included as well. He hastily opened his phone and read a text message from his girlfriend, Sora. Hi bb, meet me outside the locker rooms after class. The blond could not stop the grin that graced his face; text messages like these usually meant that Sora wanted to spend time with him, alone. While he merrily walked through the hallways on his way to the locker rooms he imagined the possibilities—maybe they were going to make out? His heart skipped a beat and he turned a corner.

While he walked he realized that this side of the school was much emptier. He, for example, was the only person walking on the hallway. This made him smile; he and Sora would be alone, indeed. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the jingling of key chains not far from him. His curious, cerulean eyes turned to look behind him and he was highly surprised when he saw none other than Mimi Takchikawa walking—almost trotting—towards his direction. He quickly deviated his gaze and tried to disregard the determined expression on her face. Matt noticed he was nearing one of the school's computer labs, so he decided to step in; maybe she just happened to be walking in the same direction as him, she was not following him… right? A lump settled on his stomach as he remembered the gossip that had been going around the school, and a guilty feeling crept to his very spine; he knew it was his fault all along for bringing Joshua Enna to Sweet 'N Salty with him. Was she about to confront him, then?

His fears were confirmed when she also entered the computer lab a couple seconds later. Mimi walked towards him and he felt cornered at once. The teen watched her apprehensively as she approached him. "Matt Ishida," the brunette finally said.

"I swear I didn't do anything," Matt lied; he knew everything was his fault; he just didn't want to have to argue about it now.

The girl just eyed him. "You look awfully suspicious Matt. What exactly should you be guilty about?" Mimi just spoke her words with a smirk, which made Matt think that the situation wasn't as bad as he thought.

"Oh—um, nothing. I don't feel guilty at all," again, he lied.

"Well, I just… need a tiny favor," the brunette pouted and she looked at him. Matt generally did not like favors, but he felt in debt to the girl before him. "I really really need you to accompany me tonight to a club close to Zepp Tokyo."

"Wha—why?" The blond had to admit that she had taken him by surprise. He imagined anything but this, and he immediately felt suspicious of the request.

Mimi shifted her weight from one leg to the other and bit her lip as she contemplated her answer. "Matt—can you please—I'm going to be part of a fashion show next Saturday and I have to attend daily meetings this week."

Matt arched an eyebrow in bewilderment, "And you want me to come with you because…?" He was not trying to sound mean, but taking Mimi wherever she wanted to go tonight sounded highly inconvenient to him, especially with his finals looming dangerously close.

"Because my mom won't let me go unless I go with you…"

"Oh," Matt immediately recognized her predicament; he had known Mimi long enough to know her mother's rules. "Why don't you ask Tai then, he has a car and everything!" But his suggestion sounded ridiculous at once—he was positive things between Mimi and Tai were still patchy to some extent. The brown haired girl gave him an exasperated look that quickly made Matt finally make up his mind. "Alright Mimi Takchikawa, I'll go with you tonight."

A gracious smile graced her lips and she gave him a quick, delighted hug. "Sweet! Thanks Matt!"

Now that things had been cleared, Matt remembered the other pressing matter he had to address; Sora was probably already waiting for him in the locker rooms. "Err… Meems, I have to go though. Why don't you call me later and tell me the details of this fashion show," said Matt as he stealthily stepped closer to the door of the computer lab.

It was mission accomplished for Mimi, so she really did not care if Matt was in a haste to run away from her. "Oh sure! See ya later, Matt," she said with a smile as she watched him walk away.

~i~

As he neared the parking spot closest to the building's elevator, Tai's cherry red car came to a stop and he hastily stepped out. The teen took a deep breath before heading to the elevators; this was it, he was going to see Mimi in person. Hopefully she arrived home from school already, so he planned to surprise her and avoid the dilly dallying they had to go through last weekend. He not only wanted to talk to her about his feelings and what had happened Friday night, but he was also preoccupied about the current gossip that had been going around the school. Tai refused to allow himself to be angered by the situation at school; surely Mimi had not gone around boasting about their private moment.

Tai Kamiya stood in front of the door of her apartment. He knocked once, twice, thrice, and no one answered. The boy lingered in front of the door for several minutes, disbelief rushing through his very veins. She was not home yet. What should he do now? His chocolate eyes finally turned away from the door and turned to look at the tiled floor. Subconsciously, he began walking back to the elevator. He was too distraught to think, so he just allowed his mind to wander.

The teen was too distracted to notice the elevator doors opening, and within seconds he was nearly a couple feet apart from none other than Mimi Takchikawa. It seemed as if both teenagers gasped at the sight of each other. Tai, though, recovered first. "Mimi," he whispered in sheer surprise.

Her honey-colored eyes searched his face, and he was able to identify surprise, disappointment, and anger among the many emotions in her eyes. The girl inched closer and gave him what seemed like a very hesitant and very weak slap across his face. Tai recoiled in surprise and quickly exclaimed, "What the hell was that for?"

Mimi faltered, but her attitude returned and she responded, "How dare you pretend like you don't know! I can't believe you, Tai Kamiya! What are you doing here anyways?" She held her nose up high and walked past him, towards her door.

Tai quickly grabbed her hand to stop her before she could be out of reach. "Why are you so upset? I came here because I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh yeah? To talk about how you told everyone and their moms that we had sex?" Her irritation made her words feel like venom to his heart. "Let go," said the girl as she jerked her hand free.

Tai's confusion was now vividly showing on his facial expression. "Whoa Mimi, I didn't tell anyone. Besides why would I? It's nobody's business; this is between you and me…" The tone of his voice diminished with every word, for he wanted to sound reasonable; he understood her feelings towards the gossip.

Mimi breathed heavily to relieve herself of her irritation. Something within her strongly believed his words, but she decided that it was just her unwavering affection towards the boy in front of her that made her want to trust him."Well you came at the wrong time; I'm about to go to Izzy's house to study for the exams." Half of her was immensely glad that he had come, but another part of her was not in the mood to even confront her own feelings.

"Mimi…" The brown haired teen was just speechless at her nerve.

The girl closed her eyes and shook her head, as if it pained her to do so. "I'm sorry, Tai," Mimi said as she unlocked her front door.

Again, he grabbed her hand. "I told you it wasn't me! This is no joke to me, Mimi." Tai had to do something, anything, to stop her from simply walking away.

"I will try to believe you," Mimi offered him a sincere, sad smile and then continued saying, "I just don't want to talk about it right now. Please." She gave his hand a tender squeeze before letting go. "You, too, should be worrying about the exams."

The teen ran his fingers through his messy hair and nodded in agreement. "So it's alright?" Tai didn't complete his sentence, for he knew that she understood what he meant.

Mimi simply nodded in response.

"Friends?"

"Friends," Mimi answered with a small smile. Her heart pounded as she turned away; she knew she was cheating herself of her feelings, but she also felt as if now was not the time.

Tai watched in disbelief as the girl before him entered her apartment and without a second glance closed the door behind her. He curled his hands into fists as he stood by her door, the memories of what had just happened speeding through his mind. His disappointment then turned to anger at himself; why did he have to make himself believe that she liked him more than just a friend? Mimi Takchikawa was simply confused. What had just happened was living proof of that. His anger then shifted to the very root of their aggravation, and he knew exactly how to vent his anger. Tai withdrew his phone from his pockets and dialed the number of the person that he knew would help him exert his 'retaliation.'

~i~

By late afternoon, the halls of Odaiba Preparatory School were nearly empty. Only the few students that belonged to different clubs or sport teams still lingered after school hours were over. Joshua Enna, being part of the school's Newspaper Crew, had to stay after school to fulfill his extracurricular duties. Today, though, he felt as though hanging around while the school was this empty was not exactly safe, especially since the soccer team also had practice after school, and especially when the subject of the gossip he had unintentionally created also happened to be the captain of said team.

Without saying any goodbyes to his fellow club members, Joshua hastily left the Newspaper Crew's room. Maybe he could sneak out through the locker rooms without being spotted? As he paced through the halls, Joshua decided he was being overly dramatic over the whole ordeal. Tai and Mimi probably did not even care that nearly everyone in the school was well aware of their personal life; after all, Mimi already seemed to him like she was attention needy anyways. Maybe she was even enjoying her moment of fame.

As he neared the exit of the locker rooms, his worries greatly diminished. He stepped through the back door and at long last he felt freed from the school. His relief did not last for long, though. Before he could even react, Tai Kamiya and Matt Ishida had him cornered behind the indoor sports' school building. "Enna," Tai sneered, his face now dangerously close, and Joshua had the fleeting thought of resisting, but he knew he would be no match for the bigger Tai.

"H—hey guys come on…"

"Don't play dumb with us, Joshua," said Matt as he, too, inched closer to the boy.

He felt helpless; all he was left to do to save his own skin was spill the truth. "Look, I totally didn't mean for that to happen, I swear."

"Oh yeah? Why don't you tell that to my knuckles," said Tai. He seemed to be enjoying the fear he was causing the shorter boy. Joshua was showered with relief as Matt made an effort to lower Tai's fist.

"I'm serious! I only told my girlfriend cause well… if you guys were doing it, then I kinda hinted that I wanted to do it with her, too. She must have told everyone…" Joshua's response made Matt burst into sniggers.

"Who the hell is your girlfriend?" Tai demanded.

"Uh—Aiko."

"Aiko who?"

"Aiko Takahashi…" Joshua finally said in an undertone. Fortunately for him, his answer got the reaction he desired; almost automatically, upon realization of who they were talking about, Matt and Tai backed away several inches. "Look, I know I shouldn't have told her—"

"No shit Sherlock, that girlfriend of yours has a big ass mouth. Everything you tell her will become headlines in the school within hours," said Tai spitefully. Joshua was too appalled by his own disposition to care about the way Tai was talking of his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, alright? Blame it on her…"

Matt then finally let out the laughs he had been trying to suppress all the while. "You actually—you actually told her cause you—you wanted in her pants," Tai, too, then joined in the jeering.

This seemed to greatly upset the younger teen. "Eff you guys," he exclaimed before squirming away from their grasp and simply walking away.

Digimon, and it's characters, do not belong to me. This was made for leisure and nonprofit purposes only.