Chapter 6
Daydreams…
On warm spring days, the streets of New York City were bursting with the diverse sights, sounds, and smells of different lives intersecting and in constant motion. This changed with colder or wetter days, when it seemed that life, though still bustling, was fewer, and in less of hurry and more in a state of weariness.
The skylines of the city, in contrast to its streets were more constant in its days and seasons. Sometimes it rained. Sometimes it shined. But never did it bustle or burst with life. Here, life did nothing but bide its time, shifting and changing as slowly as it allowed.
This was a realization Strabimon reached while leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the part of the city the people here called 'brook-lin'.
Looking at the city from this view point made him marvel at the tall buildings, called 'skyscrapers', the numerous shops along every street, the scent of smoke and cuisine that was at once strange and intoxicating, and the little patches of green used as parks. All encompassed inside an almost never ending concrete jungle.
Strabimon wondered if all of the human world looked like this, so foreign and so unlike the vast mountains, plains, hills and forests he was used to in the Digital World. Compared to back home, where everything was open and no one particularly struggled for want of much of anything, it seemed humanity existed solely to struggle. They were all so close in proximity to each other, it would amaze him if there was such a thing called solitude in this world. Whereas the Digital World burst in color, this world seemed to be nothing but shades of grey, with more dark colors added to the mix.
But this was not the most miserable aspect of the Human World. The humans themselves were a fragile race, both in physicality and, from what he had seen, mentality. They stole from each other, kept secrets from one another, hurt each other (with words or with weapons; different wounds, same effect), and seemed wary of their very shadows. Fear, and sadness were in many of their eyes, and few were willing to go out of the way to help another down on his luck, for fear of his own person. Yes, if Strabimon were to decide, the humans were the most miserable beings he had ever encountered, and in many ways, he felt genuine empathy for them.
In other ways, however, he envied them.
Despite being weak in physicality, some humans seemed to transcend their fault of mental breakability. They understood the hardships of the world, so they did their best to live as they could. Despite the many who committed vices against one another, more often than not, they were out of anger or disappointment in a person they loved, or out of a necessity to live another day. Some made sure to repair those wounds, and those who couldn't at least attempted to live decently never repeat their crime. Though many held dread and melancholy in their eyes, many more held hope and a desire to simply be happy with what they had. In a world of greys, they managed to find and, if need be, create color. They had more to struggle against, but that seemed to be only a test, of whether or not they would rise to that challenge and surpass their limits, or fall prey to the typical "Only the strong succeed" adage in which many digimon whole heartedly believed. They seemed to act out every fabric of their being, whether for better or for worse, in their relatively short lives. They only had one, after all. As a result, though digimon lived more in terms of numbers and chronology, humanity seemed to live more concerning matters of the heart.
So really, was humanity such a miserable race? Or was it digimon that were to be pitied?
Strabimon debated the merits and sides of this argument while continuing his trek, 'strolling' through this strange world, in a strange city, in an even stranger quarter called 'brook-lin'.
The only conclusion he could make from this internal debate: Humans were as strange and paradoxical as the world in which they lived. Like that blue streaked human girl. The wolf like digimon's thoughts to the human girl who, just a few days ago, had helped to heal Joltmon and save his life.
She most definitely was strange. However, something told him that she was considered to be an oddity even amongst an odd enough race. After all, most humans had either blond, black, brown, or red hair, on occasion. Never before had he seen a human with blue hair. Granted, it was blue hair mixed in with black, but that did nothing to alter the fact that it was unordinary.
In addition to her unusual appearance, there was also the more pressing matter. Why hadn't she told anyone what she had seen? He had, at first, thought it was out of shock, and that she would eventually tell someone within a couple of hours. But those hours had passed and had turned into days, and she had yet to inform anyone of what she saw. He also considered the possibility of her actually seeking to gain a reward from this fiasco, withholding what she knew so she would be paid more. But she didn't seem to be the type to stoop that low. And then there was the third option: she had withheld what she had seen because she simply didn't want to tell anyone.
This posed a rather perplexing problem. If she wasn't telling anyone, did that mean she was an ally? Or was she a loose end that was just waiting for the right moment to inform someone? On one hand, she could be a good source of information on this world, could help him figure out his own personal dilemma, and maybe, just maybe, be a friend. On the other hand, she could wish nothing but harm on him and Joltmon, striving to get rid of these terrifying monsters from her world. In either case, he'd have to do something. But finding her and talking to her again could prove difficult, given the circumstances under which they met, and he absolutely refused to simply 'get rid' of her. Digimon at least could be reincarnated, if you didn't destroy their digi-egg, but humans could not. They only had one life, and then they were gone forever. No matter how dangerous it became for him or Joltmon, Strabimon absolutely refused to permanently end the life a human, consequences be damned.
Weighing the options in his mind, Strabimon almost didn't hear a vaguely familiar voice in the midst of a conversation down in the street. Almost.
"I can't believe the school got shut down."
"And by another 'incident' too. Now that can't be a coincidence."
"I think we've already established that Lu. The point is that stuff like this has been going on for months and we still don't know who or what's causing it."
"I have to admit, it's kind of scary. What do you think, Kaya?"
"I…just think it's weird."
The last voice in the conversation caught the digimon's attention. It sounded just like her.
Jumping into a secluded alleyway, Strabimon strained to listen to the dialogue of the girl (who was apparently named 'Kaya') and her friends.
"Well, look on the bright side. We have no school until they can repair the major damage to the school, so we have an extended spring break. And since they don't really know when it's going to be done, it could take longer than two weeks."
"Oh! I didn't think about that! So that pretty much means we have a super duper long vacation that doesn't end for a while! Meaning more fun, more parties, and more shopping!"
"You do realize this also means that they need to make up school days because of this, right? Meaning a longer school year and less time for summer vacation."
"Oh, quit being so down, Ellie. At least we have more time to ourselves now."
"Why, Courtney, I thought it was common knowledge that I was the Queen of Pessimism?"
"I thought you said, and I quote, 'I am the reigning Queen of Sarcasm.' Never have I heard you say that you also held dominion over pessimism. In fact, you said that Michael was the King of Pessimism."
"…I hate you so much, Mali."
"Hey, I'm just trying to preserve accuracy."
"She got you there, El. But since you just claimed to be the Queen of Pessimism, and had said that Michael was the King of Pessimism, wouldn't that make you two-"
"OH MY GOD, WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP?! ESPECIALLY YOU, SANDERS!"
As he heard them laughing over their friend's woe, Strabimon concluded that 'Kaya' had not told them about her meeting with the digimon, since she feigned obliviousness to the incident.
Strabimon stayed in the shadow of the alley, deciding that, whatever this girl's reasons were, she wasn't telling anyone about what she had witnessed.
Kaya Sanders did not like acting.
It wasn't as if she didn't like actors so to speak; two of her closest friends could be considered ones. And she truly did have an appreciation for good acting, plays movies, and the entire profession in general. She, herself, simply did not have a talent for it. Or, in a more colloquial phrasing, she sucked at it.
At least, she thought she sucked at it.
Until a couple of days ago, where a certain incident had forced her to act as if she knew nothing of what had transpired at Alexander Fuller Middle School. In other words, lie.
She had given a pretty convincing performance so far, managing to convince the two aforementioned thespians, the hacker, the jock, and all of her other friends and acquaintances. Her mother, when she had come home, had been slightly worried, having heard about the demolition of the school through the radio while she was coming home. Kaya had assured her that she was fine and that she wasn't present when it had happened. It was after school, after all, and Kaya usually came home at 3 (her mother didn't need to know about the whole 'pranking resulting in detention' part). Her father, coming home on Friday, had asked if she was alright. After giving him the same spiel that she had given her mother, Kaya had thought she was finally in the clear. Nobody knew she had been there, so no more questions had been asked. Besides, the whole thing was just her overactive imagination playing tricks on her. She thought. She hoped. She prayed.
The school, as a result of the whole attack and its extensive damage, had been shut down indefinitely for the rest of the time before spring break, and it was a strong possibility that it would be closed for several days after spring break.
The majority of the seventh and eighth grades (the sixth graders were barred due to the usual "older grades get preference" custom found at most schools) traditionally had a beginning of spring break party on the eve of the first day of spring break, or the last night of school before spring break. This was normally at the front lawn of the school, starting at around 7 p.m. However, because of the great damage on the campus, the school had cancelled the bash, saying that it was too dangerous for a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds to be running around on it.
This served to annoy both grades to no end. The eighth grade especially felt cheated, due to it being the last year they attended middle school. So, instead, they came up with a new location for their habitual celebration. 67 Park Street, to be exact.
It was, in reality, an old parking lot that no one used. At all. And through the begging of several neighboring blocks and the permission of the local police stationed there (courtesy of Nicholas Suarez, son of the captain of the police department), the students of AFMS had the right to host their yearly celebration at 67 Park Street.
It was at this party that one could find Kaya Sanders and her friends at 7:30 P.M (Lulu had insisted that they be 'fashionably late').
The entire block had been transformed into an outdoor festivity. Bright strings of light had been hung all over the block, giving it a wholesome, summery feel to the whole celebration. Various tables had been set up, with chips, salsa, soda, and other foods and refreshments. The students had been mingling with each other for some time now, with the occasional kid from a neighboring school or block dropping by. All in all, it was a gala fit for middle schoolers.
As Kaya talked with her friends (minus Ellie) by the snack table, they all took note of who was at the party and who wasn't, consisting of the usual suspects. One off the list: Jack Dumont.
The boy was, along with Lulu, the center of a good party. He always had a good sense of humor and an even better sense of fashion. As such, he and Lulu got along beautifully. But tonight he was nowhere to be found.
The four girls began to discuss what exactly happened to Jack when they heard two people arguing.
"Asshole."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I offend you by telling you the awful truth?"
"You better watch your step, Knight or I'll-"
"You'll what, Lancaster? Make a film about how awful and dumb I am? I'm sure people will kill to see that crap."
Ellie was currently arguing with the infamous Michael Knight. Otherwise known as the person who has been the object of her ire since the second grade.
Despite being an all-round jackass (in Ellie's opinion) Michael was actually a relatively okay guy, from what Kaya and the others could see. He had been Courtney's lab partner in the sixth grade and, as such, had gotten to know their small group well enough to be considered a friend by all of them.
"Fuck off, jackass."
Well, almost all of them.
Ever since the second grade, Ellie and Michael had had a relationship of intense mutual loathing that no one could actually quite figure out. They had both made it each other's mission in life to annoy the living hell out of the other. Even as they grew older, they both stuck to this promise of hate and annoyance.
Michael was, by no means, an unattractive guy. With short blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and a rather tall physique, he was actually rather handsome. On top of the fact that he was the captain of the boys' soccer team, he was arguably the most popular boy at school. Girls practically drooled over him in the hallways at AFMS.
Yet, despite this and his friendship with Kaya and the others, he always seemed to gravitate towards Ellie. And always seemed to end up in an argument with Ellie.
"Oh please, Carrot Top. As if you could make me."
Many simply acknowledged the relationship between the two as one of reciprocal antipathy. However, the people who knew them best suspected it was less of a hostile association and more of a tense romantic stalemate. Of course, neither Ellie nor Michael were going to admit to something like that, so for now, they were content with verbally sparring whenever chance they got.
"How about I make you go home with some broken bones and a bloody nose?"
"You can try, if you want to so badly."
As the two totally not-lovers quarreled over some little issue, the four girls by the table talked over the missing Jack Woods.
Courtney looked concerned. "Maybe he was grounded."
Kaya just scoffed. "Sweet old Jack? No way. His mother would sooner keel over and die before punishing him."
Lulu whined, "I just hope he gets here. Who am I supposed to gossip with about the latest collection from Oscar?"
"You could always talk to Zuri," Mali suggested.
"Yeah, but without Jack, Zuri, and I would feel incomplete. We're the Fabulous Fashion Trio, and we cannot discuss such delicate issues without all three inputs."
"Then I guess it's a good thing that I stopped at Jack In the Box's here," a new voice added.
The four girls turned around to face two boys. One was a boy who looked to be as dark as licorice, dressed in clothes that, from the eyes of an individual familiar with these sorts of matters, was from the Spring collection of Armani. A purple button down shirt, a grey vest, and black slacks, with a grey fedora to top off the look. A short individual compared to his peers, he was wearing a bright smile that rivaled Lulu's, and deep black eyes that, on anyone else would look rather intimidating. On him, however, it only served to make him look more jovial.
The other boy was smiling as well, though in more of a manner reminiscent to the Cheshire Cat. He looked to be Hispanic in ethnicity, with his tan skin and shaggy raven black hair. His eyes were a steel gray that looked almost silver in a certain light. He was dressed rather casually, in blue jeans and a simple brown shirt with black motifs on it.
Nick Suarez, the Hispanic boy, continued his statement.
"'Cause I would hate to see the Fabulous Trio be left out of the proverbial loop. Especially on a night like this."
Lulu practically squealed.
"Oh my God, Jack! Z and I were worried you wouldn't make it!"
At this, Jack looked offended.
"Of course not, Lulu! What do you take me for? Britney Spears in 2007? I would be crazy if I missed this party! It always has so many opportunities for seeing new couples."
"And new gossip," Lulu added.
"AND NEW FASHION!" They both squealed.
Running in the direction of their mutual friend, Zuri, Jack and Lulu had left the rest of the group to their own devices.
"So why did Jack not come sooner?" Courtney began.
Nick sighed good-naturedly. "He was freaking out over what to wear. So he called me and told me to make him come out of the house whether or not he approved of his outfit. You know how he gets with these kind of things."
"Typical Jack, always freaking out over outfits. Honestly, he, Zuri, and Lulu were practically meant to be siblings. The only reason God couldn't let that happen was because he knew that they'd choke the rest of their family with their overly abundant rays of cheer. So He settled on them being best friends instead," Kaya commented.
Mali smiled and looked at Nick. "Well, at least Lulu and Zuri won't be moping for the rest of the night. Lord knows what would've happened had you not dragged Jack out of his house."
"It's no big deal. Just all in a day's work for me. You know, helping cats out of trees, carrying heavy bags for little old ladies, forcing my fashion conscious super sassy gay best friend out of his apartment to go to a party he's waited for all year…"
The three girls and Nick all shared a laugh.
"By the way, oh all powerful thespians, what's going to happen to Cinderella now that the school's shut down?" Nick inquired.
"Yeah, I'm kind of curious about that myself," Kaya added.
"Well, Ms. Kaczynski said that it was cancelled. Everyone had already made plans for Spring break and she felt it was unfair to make everyone stay behind and change all their plans. But the Drama Club is still going to do their whole Summer Festival Montage at the end of school, so a couple of numbers from the play will be thrown in," Courtney explained.
"In other words, it'll be a shortened version of the entire thing," Mali finalized.
Nick smiled. "Oh thank goodness. I was worried I wouldn't be able to hear Courtney's melodic voice and Mali's professional piano playing."
The aforementioned blonde smiled. Mali smiled too, but with a hint of a blush.
Just as his last name suggested, Nick Suarez was, for lack of a better word, suave. He was polite to adults, friendly to his peers, and (in the opinion of many girls) absolutely charming. Never in his life had he faced a situation he couldn't talk his way out of. This came in handy, considering he had a rather mischievous streak and even helped Kaya and Ellie in their pranking ventures.
Nick had known all of them for a while, but he had known Mali the longest. They had been the best of friends when they were little, cooties be damned. Though age and hormones had distanced them a bit, they still managed to be the best opposite gender friends anyone knew of. Besides Lulu, Jack, and Zuri of course.
The two's separate interests eventually brought them back into each other's spheres. Nick, a talented sketcher and painter, had to design the set for the play in fifth grade. Mali, being in the production, naturally ran into him from time to time, eventually resulting in them hanging out more often like they used to.
Yes, indeed, Malia Nakahara and Nicholas Suarez were probably the best example of opposite gender best friends without at least one being gay. Well, to most people they were.
Kaya, despite her cousin concealing it well enough to fool the rest of her friends, had a sinking suspicion that Mali liked Nick as more than a friend. Whenever he complimented her, she usually smiled and said nothing. This wasn't particularly unusual to most people, but they never bothered to look at Mali's eyes, unlike Kaya. When stuff like that happened, the violet almost seemed to brighten in hue, and flecks of amber could be seen within the iris.
The blue streaked writer also suspected that Nick thought of Mali in a light that was different from his other friends. Every time Mali suggested something, Nick always backed her up, giving valid reasons to support it. In addition, whereas Nick seemed to find humor in just about everything, he only seemed to act slightly more mature around Mali.
Nudging Courtney lightly with her elbow, Kaya and the blonde belle discreetly left the two friends/'absolutely not anything more' by the table, slowly edging their way towards the other side of the block. The two girls observed their redheaded friend, still embroiled in an argument with her sworn enemy, from a distance. It looked like Ellie was about to kill someone.
"Do you think we should stop her?" the blonde asked.
The blue streaked ravenette snorted. "Are you kidding me? This is getting better by the second. I should've brought popcorn. Besides, it gives the Fabulous Trio more to gossip about."
Courtney giggled. "True. I just wish those two would get over their egos and just confess to each other. It's like…"
"A really bad soap opera where the couple is so obviously meant for each other but, due to forces outside their control, totally random plot twists, and their own inflated pride, they don't get together until one of them is severely injured and close to death?"
"Basically."
The two girls eventually left the feuding lovers be and took advantage of the party scene. They mingled, ate, drank, and danced until their feet were sore. But the party showed no signs of stopping any time soon, and all five girls, at different locations on the block decided that they might as well take advantage of this taste of freedom for as long as they could.
Everything was going seamlessly. Kaya was dancing, laughing, and having fun. Her friends were enjoying themselves. Everyone was happy. No one knew what she was hiding. And, for a couple of fleeting moments, she had forgotten the very incident that had nearly cost her life and was beginning to cost her sleep and sanity.
But, as a wise man once said…
Crash! Crack! Slam! "Aahhhhhhh!"
…All good things must come to an end.
Sorry I haven't been on the grand old interweb for a while, but I've just been really been busy with school, sports, and all that typical life stuff. So here's a chapter on Easter! Yay!
