Digimon does not belong to meeee!! Well, guess what? We're officially at the half-way mark!! That's right! From here on, we're taking a look from the other side of the story, which is Sora's perspective! So, thankyou once again for all the reviews and support, everyone! Please keep reading and reviewing! ^_^ emichii

Having friends is a great thing. Being a friend to someone else is great too. However, maintaining a friendship can sometimes be hard. Because there are some things we like to call the unofficial but universally recognized laws of friendship…

Chapter 10: The Universally Recognized Laws of Friendship

It was Friday morning. Sora hurriedly slung her school bag over her shoulder and quickly walked down the hallway, glancing back to look at the clock on the wall. Suddenly, she patted her pocket to find out she'd left her mobile phone behind. Running lightly back to her room, she smiled to herself seeing that her phone was vibrating and belting out a tune already at 8 o'clock in the morning.

Feigning annoyance, she lifted the phone to her ear. "What is it, Mimi? First thing in the morning?"

Sora chuckled as Mimi let loose with a very long winded description on everything that was happening today and how it was all destined to go wrong. Even though it was impossible to shut Mimi up, she was always so much fun to be with and talk to. She was so dramatic, and today, she was bordering on hysterical.

"This is stupid! Why do I have to go out with that jerk??"

"Why didn't you just say no, Mimi?" Sora said reasonably as she made her way down the street, in a cheerful mood.

"You don't get it! The bastard does whatever he wants! He was just like: 'I'll take you out on Friday', and I'm like, 'Whaaaat--?', and he's like, 'Okay, I'll see you then at 5pm outside the movie cinema.' and then he walks away and I didn't even get a chance to say anything! So I tried to tell him it'd be a cold day in hell before I'd go anywhere with him but he just turns around and gives me this stupid little smirky smile as if he's the hottest thing on the planet, as if he's doing me a bloody favor by taking me out! That's what he's always like, he keeps butting in, interrupting every time I talk to Shin, and he drags me away, and makes unreasonable demands! What is wrong with him?? ARGH! I HATE HIM!!"

Sora couldn't help laughing as she kept walking. The morning was fresh and cool today, and the street was pretty empty, so she was relaxed.

"It's not funny!!" Mimi was protesting from the other end of the line. Now she really did sound upset. "Shin had just invited me out to do something, but he just had to come and ruin everything!!"

"From what you've told me so far," Sora said casually, "it sounds like he's jealous."

For once, there was dead silence on the other end of the phone.

"Maybe the great Matt Ishida… likes you?" Sora grinned wickedly into the receiver.

Once again, there was no reply from Mimi.

And then there was such a loud burst of swear words that Sora had to pull the phone abruptly away from her ears.

"Anyway," Sora said good-naturedly once the swearing had died down, "I've got to go. I'll see you soon!"

Sora put the phone away in her pocket and stopped walking, looking up at the apartment complex where the Kamiyas lived. Any moment now, she thought, Tai will have woken up late as usual, and be stumbling out the building, still swallowing his breakfast and trying to put his school blazer on.

"Hey, Sora!!" He yelled out as sure enough, he rushed out of the building, struggling to get his arms into the sleeves of his green blazer.

She was standing outside the apartment building today, out next to the road. Tai started to jog the last distance from the front entrance to her. Suddenly, she felt her mobile beep with a message and she sighed as she dug it out from her pocket, expecting another rant from Mimi. However, it was not Mimi at all.

Do you think he'll finally talk to me today? Catherine.

Sora looked at the message for moment, before smiling a tiny smile to herself as she texted back.

"Sorry for making you wait!" Tai panted as he arrived beside her. "Were you here long?"

"Nope!" She looked up at her best friend and smiled a big delightful grin.

Definitely. He'll definitely talk to you. Sora.

In response to her cheerful smile, Tai looked mortally wounded for a moment, standing there with his messy brown hair, his hand loosely holding onto his soccer gearbag strap. Sora saw all that, she could always read the brief hurt that flickered in his deep brown eyes before he struggled to compose himself and smile back.

"Shall we go?" He asked, suddenly cheerful as he took a large stride onto the footpath.

As she followed him slowly, she gazed up at her best friend. He was cheerful again, the dense goofball with his messy brown hair that stuck up in every direction, his long lanky arms and his slightly wrinkled green blazer. He was tall, energetically walking along ahead of her. His steps were much longer than hers, Sora noticed.

There was one rule in the unofficial but universally recognized laws of friendship that everyone knew. It was a rule that girls swore by, even guys would never dare to hurt a mate in such a way.

"Sora, are you coming or not?" Tai joked as he turned around to look at her, dawdling behind him.

Sora looked up at him, at his friendly and caring face. "Yeah!" She said, as she picked up the pace and ran on ahead of Tai, still thinking about the text message she had gotten.

"Hey! Why are you running??" Tai cried.

You are not allowed to fall for the same person your friend is in love with.

---

"Tai!! You're actually here on time!" Tai's soccer teammate looked amazed.

Tai laughed as he clumsily ran a hand through his messy brown hair. "Yeah," he said. He put down his gearbag onto the bleachers. "Sorry for being late to so many sessions in the past weeks. I promise it won't happen again,"

Tai's friend grinned and whacked him cheerfully on the arm. "It's all right, Captain!"

Tai smiled.

"Oh," piped up another one of the soccer players, who was sitting on the grass, lacing up his boots. "Here come the girls!"

Tai looked up in the direction that he pointed. Surely enough, as it was after school, there was a gaggle of girls giggling and hanging onto each other as they made their way across the field. He watched as Mimi, with her long pink hair flounced ahead of the others, a huge frown on her face, complaining loudly to Sora beside her. Sora looked somewhat amused and was fighting back a smile. Then he noticed the girl trailing behind them.

She had long blonde hair, and was hesitant as she followed after Sora and Mimi, constantly looking back over her shoulder at the soccer field as though looking for someone.

And then it clicked in Tai's brain. The girl was Catherine, Sora's friend.

Suddenly, the blonde girl looked straight at Tai and their eyes met. She froze, she didn't look away or keep scanning the field and then Tai knew, he knew that the person she'd been looking for was him.

Tai watched Catherine's eyes lower and her face turn pink.

"I think she likes you," He remembered Sora's singsong voice and her teasing grin.

She stopped walking, just stood there beside the field, now bowing her head and looking down at her hands, which were clutched together in front of her. Her long blonde hair fell delicately over her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Tai."

He watched as Sora paused and looked back at Catherine. She was watching Catherine with a funny expression on her face, it was endearing, yet at the same time, she looked in pain.

"You're my best friend, Tai. I just can't… I just can't start thinking of you as more than that."

Tai closed his eyes briefly, tried to find his step again. Sora was still standing nearby, waiting for Catherine, it seemed, who still hadn't moved.

"Tai, would you… do a favor for me?"

And Tai started walking towards Catherine.

---

Matt was standing at the cinema, studying the large promotional posters displayed on the wall. He glanced down at his watch; it was just after school, about 4 o'clock. The date with Mimi wasn't until 5, but he wasn't worried at all. He was a pretty much a pro after all, he had it all down. Matt smirked to himslef and watched his good-looking face smile cheekily back at him in the reflection on the shiny wall.

He had it in the bag. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Matt had been on dates with a numerous number of girls, he would now choose and buy the two movie tickets and then hurry back home, fix up his hair a little bit, hmm, actually it looked a little flat; maybe find a different coloured shirt, then saunter back here just in time to meet Mimi.

But Mimi… Matt found himself shiver a little bit. Oh bloody hell, he was meeting Mimi. What had he been thinking??

Matt shook himself out of it. It had just been a passing notion in his head, nothing more than that. He wasn't even interested in her, not that he was ever really interested in more than one date with a girl. Seriously, he couldn't even stand the girl!

He heard the distant muffled giggles from a group of girls gathered in the corner. They were looking at him and whispering excitedly to each other, perhaps trying to pluck up the nerve to approach him. Matt gave a slight shrug and as he walked past them, he gave them a enigmatic, flirtatious smile. Two of them instantly melted and had to hold onto each other to prevent themselves from choking on their popcorn.

Hah. What had he, Yamato Ishida, to be afraid of?

As he moved up in the queue, a girl walking past the clear glass door of the theatre caught his eye. She had a pretty, slightly flushed face and a cute smile. She had glossy black hair and very pale blue nail polish. A boy had his arm slung over her shoulders as they walked briskly past.

Matt froze.

The girl was Joe's girlfriend.

But the boy was not Joe.

---

Sora was watching as her best friend Tai made his way towards Catherine. Catherine's face lit up with surprise and delight. The brown-haired soccer player stopped in front of her and gave her an endearingly shy smile, clumsily running a hand through his hair.

Sora stood still and watched them. Tai did not look even once in her direction.

Tai said something, and Catherine giggled, her face blushing as she held her hands up together in front of her mouth.

"You're my best friend, Tai. I just can't… I just can't start thinking of you as more than that."

Sora smiled to herself as she turned away from them, her best friend and her friend, leaving them together on the oval.

It was the one rule in the unofficial but universally recognized laws of friendship that everyone knew.

Hey, Tai… Her smile didn't fade. She didn't look back as she walked on, by herself. Do you still remember what I told you that day?

She could still hear Tai and Catherine's voices behind her, slowly fading out. Sora kept walking.

The very ultimate rule: You are not allowed to fall for the same person your friend is in love with.

Sora kept her head high, her steps light, nonchalant.

"I only think of you as a friend, Tai."

I was lying.

Aha!! Well, I've had all that planned for quite a while now. Apart from the little part with Joe's girlfriend, it's a sub-plot that came up just recently. I'd like to focus a bit on Izzy too, but I haven't got any ideas for him. There will be some spotlight on Kari and TK too, I expect. Anyway, sorry for the long wait, I've been away! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Reviews totally make my day, so please review!