Girl Chat is dedicated to Megan, Kat, Kate, Milly and Leria, the best friends a girl could ever have. I love you all to bits x x x this story's for you.


Chapter One – The Accusation

His fists were clenched. He took a step closer. His chocolate-brown eyes were narrowed.

"You are nothing next to me. Haven't you figured that out by now?"

Her lips twisted into a sardonic smile. "Oh yes?"

"You will never defeat me," he snarled.

A strand of auburn hair flopped over her rich crimson eyes. She raised a single eyebrow. "We'll see."

"Ok!" yelled another voice. "Less talk, more action! Get moving, you two!" The shrill blast of a whistle ripped through the air. Tai Kamiya sprang forward, aiming a kick for the football in front of him, but he wasn't fast enough. Quick as lightning, Sora Takenouchi slipped around him to steal the ball and shot down the field to her goal.

"No way!" Tai yelled at her retreating back. Charging forward, he caught up and executed a perfect sliding tackle, kicked the ball from her control and started off in the other direction.

"Looking good, Kamiya!" yelled the coach from the sidelines.

"Oh, no you don't!" Sora sprinted across the pitch until she was level with him, and, in retaliation, raced right across his path, between him and the goal. Thrown off balance, Tai's concentration lapsed as he fumbled not to crash into her. It was the break Sora needed – stealing the ball from him once more, she left him standing panting as she ducked behind him and slammed the ball straight into the goal.

"Wonderful!" jogging up to the two teenagers, Mitsumi-sensei beamed and threw an arm around each of their shoulders. "Excellent defence, both of you. Great goal, Sora. You two are going to be the stars of the side this year."

"Thank you, sensei," they both said simultaneously. Tai threw a sulky look at Sora, but couldn't help but grin when he saw the twinkle in his best friend's eye.

Grabbing two cans of coke from her bag, Sora tossed one to Tai, who caught it easily in mid-air, and snapped open the other for herself with one hand as she strolled back to the rest of her team mates.

"Nice going, Sora!" Daisuke high-fived her. "Not everyone leaves Tai Kamiya in the dust like that!"

"Hey, I let her win," Tai said coolly as he took a swig of soda. "You were lucky, Takenouchi."

Sora held back a smile. "What about at the park last weekend? And I beat you at Street Fighter yesterday, too!"

"Only because you knew that secret special move!" Tai protested.

"I don't think so. I think it was my superior skill, don't you agree?"

"No" he shot back, "I think you cheated."

"Oh yeah?" she challenged.

"Yeah!" Flinging his empty can into a bin, Tai dived for her and tackled her to the ground, wrenching her arms behind her so she couldn't move. Sora yelped and kicked, laughing breathlessly - boys' playfights were rough, she'd learnt that much over the years. But she wasn't harmless either. Yanking her arms out of his grasp, she rolled over and kneed him swiftly in the groin. Tai buckled immediately, and the rest of the team gave a collective wince.

"Duuude..." Daisuke bit his lip, trying not to laugh. "That's evil, Sora, that's really evil."

"Yeah, you're a girl, you don't know what it's like," Hiro Ikaru, another team member, said crossing his legs.

"Sora's no girl!" Tai spat painfully, carefully getting to his feet and acknowledging in grudging admiration that Sora had won. "I'd beat a girl easy!"

Everyone fell silent. "Er, excuse me?" Sora said, confused. "If I'm not a girl, then what am I? Chopped liver?"

Tai laughed, moving his legs around and wincing a bit. "Well, yeah… I suppose you're female, in that way. But… you know what I mean. You're not really a girl, are you?"

"Oh, I'm a hermaphrodite now, am I?" Sora muttered, brushing herself off.

Tai laughed again. "Well, in a way, I guess. You're not a guy, but you're not girly either."

"Oh. I see."

"Leave it, Tai," Daisuke warned, looking anxiously at Sora's disgruntled expression.

"What?" said Tai blankly.

"Ok team, practice over!" shouted Mitsumi-sensei. "Same time next week!"

"Hey, isn't that Matt?" Daisuke squinted across the field.

Tai glanced over his shoulder from where he was getting his things together. "Yeah, he's probably here to meet TK after basketball practice. You wanna catch up with them?"

"Sure," said Daisuke, heading off towards him. Sora slung her bag over her shoulder and turned to leave the other way.

"Hey, Sora, are you coming?" Tai called after her.

"No, I'm meeting Mimi at the shopping centre." She told him, turning round and pushing her hair behind her ear.

"Shopping?" Tai teased. "That's not usually your scene."

"Yeah," she replied in a slightly cold tone Tai couldn't place. "Bit too girly for the likes of me. Tell Matt hi from me, ok?"

"Sure," Tai said, a little confused. "I'll phone you later, then."

"Ok."

Though he didn't quite know why, Tai couldn't help feeling the tiniest bit hollow in the pit of his stomach as he watched her walk away. Did I say something wrong?


"…and they're having a sale at Lipsy, I got these adorable boots there, knee high with chunky heels, you know? Knee boots are so hot at the moment, they had tan ones in stock but I got the white, don't you think it suits my complexion?" Mimi Tachikawa paused for a split second to sip her latté. "Of course I had to get the matching bag, theyjust don't make an outfit without accessories. They'll go so well with my pink miniskirt, you know the one I got last week with Meduri? Oh my god, while we're on the subject of Meduri, she'sseeing the most divine guy – some Uni guy, I think – you have to see him, you'll just die, but the problem is Chanika likes him too and she's so angry at Meduri for going out with him…"

Mimi stopped her flow of gossip as she noticed Sora wasn't responding, only sitting picking absently at her chips. "Sora? Is anything wrong?"

"What?" Startled out of her daydream, Sora jerked her head up as if noticing Mimi for the first time. "Sorry, Mimi… I'm just sort of preoccupied."

"Whassup?" Mimi asked cheerfully. "Anything I can help with?"

"Oh, well... I dunno."

"C'mon, Sora, we've been friends for ages. You can tell me anything," Mimi coaxed.

Sora took a deep breath. "Well…"

"What?" Mimi prompted.

"D'you think you could…"

"Yes…?"

"I need you to…" she trailed off.

"Oh, just tell me!"

"Can you teach me how to be a girl?" Sora blurted out.

"Teach you how to be a girl?" repeated Mimi, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well…" Sora began to explain about football practice, the playfight between her and Tai, and what he'd said. When she'd finished, Mimi sat back, her painted sugar-pink mouth open slightly.

"Tai said that? He really said that?" she asked in disbelief.

Sora nodded ruefully. "But he's right. Look at me!" She indicated herself with a sigh. "I'm just Sora, one of the boys. No wonder no guys ever like me. I don't feel like I'm part of either side, I'm just some kind of unisex being!"

Mimi trained an experienced eye over Sora from head to foot. She was wearing white trainers, a small pair of soft, stretchy black drawstring shorts and a sports vest top – an outfit that showed off her long, tanned legs and toned body kept fit and strong by years of tennis and football. Her short red hair was unadorned and tucked behind her ears, but soft and shiny. Her golden skin was smooth and spot-free. "Sora, there's nothing wrong with what you look like, I think it's more what you act like."

Sora looked confused. "What?"

"It's all a question of attitude," Mimi went on authoritatively. "The fact is, you're a pretty girl who's taken care of herself very well, all that sport and exercise has kept you really in shape and it's given you a tan, too. Not to mention preventing any skin outbreaks. Aren't you at least a little bit glad you don't have spots? There's not one blemish on your skin, you lucky bi… um, girl." She grinned.

Sora considered it. "I s'pose I do keep myself healthy, but…"

"The thing is, you've grown up with Tai all your life, you play sports that are mostly played by boys, and you have loads of male friends that you hang out with all the time. There's nothing wrong with male friends, but it's almost like you've tutored them into accepting you as a boy, and now you're even starting to believe it yourself."

"I don't know." Sora slumped further into her seat dejectedly. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love how they're really comfortable around me and everything. I don't want them to walk on eggshells around me like they do with you, but it gets a bit depressing when they actually ask me to compete in their pissing-up-the-wall contests."

"Their... They actually have those?"

"It gets worse."

Mimi put her hands over her ears. "Stop, stop, STOP. I don't want to know that. But what I do want to know is: what exactly makes you feel so un-girlish?"

Sora nibbled one of her chips. "I suppose… it's partly how I'm treated, but it's partly how I look, too. I know I'm healthy, but I haven't exactly got a very female figure, have I?"

Mimi frowned. "What do you mean? Even I'm jealous of those legs. That takes a lot. And you've got a flat stomach – what's wrong with the way you look?"

"I think ideally I'd like to be a bit bigger up top."

"Well, what size are you?" Mimi asked, business-like, drinking the last of her latté.

"Barely a B-cup. I hate being flat-chested."

Mimi laughed. "Sora, you're not flat-chested! Ok, so you're not the bustiest of girls, but you're still very attractive, it's not hindering you any. I'm only a B myself."

Sora looked doubtful. "But it makes me feel even more boyish, you know?"

"Sora, listen to me." Mimi leaned forward earnestly. "It's not how big they are, it's how you show them off that counts. Look at this." Searching through one of the many shopping bags that surrounded her seat, Mimi pulled out a magazine and flipped through it until she came to a picture of a beautiful model in a stunning dress with a plunging neckline that barely left anything to the imagination. She handed the picture to Sora. "Kate Moss, one of the most successful supermodels in the world. You know what size she is?"

"Um…"

"Double A."

"She's gorgeous." Sora looked at the photo in amazement.

"Yes, she is. Half the male population of the entire world drool over her, and she's the smallest bra-size you can get. It's just a question of what you wear and how you wear it."

"But it's even the smallest things that someone like you can do easily without even noticing it," Sora argued in frustration. "Things like standing the right way, giving out the subtle signals with body language, choosing clothes that flatter you, colours of makeup that suit you. I've never even worn makeup, let alone been able to put it on properly or co-ordinate lipstick with eyeshadow or know what type of mascara to use and stuff. I can't do any of that to save my life, but it comes to you so naturally."

"Ok, Sora, listen to me." Mimi leant forward decisively. "You think being a princess comes naturally? Do you?"

"Well, princess is going a bit far, I was aiming for just feminine, but…"

"No, it doesn't," Mimi continued, ignoring her. "It's like everything else in the world, including football. You put in the effort, the work, and it's only when you've done that that you manage to get the score, get the ball in the basket, you know?"

"Goal."

"Whatever. Look, Sora, take me, for example. How much time d'you think I spend every morning pampering myself?"

Sora frowned. "I have no idea. Half an hour?"

"Three hours."

"What?" Sora yelled. People turned to look. Blushing, she lowered her voice. "Mimi, there is no way I'm getting up three hours earlier every morning to exfoliate my skin to perfection. I'm sorry, but I like my sleep."

"I'm not saying you have to do that, Sora," Mimi said patiently. "I just do it because I'm more dedicated to myself than most. The point is, like everything in life, if you want to get good results you have to be prepared to spend a little time. Your body is a temple, Sora."

"Is it?"

"Yes." Mimi clapped her hands together briskly. "Don't worry, Sora. I know exactly what to do with you." She gotup abruptly and started gathering up the sea of shopping bags that surrounded her chair.

"Do what with me? Where are you going?" Sora asked warily.

"We," declared Mimi, "are going back to my house, then I'll make you some real Italian mocha, then we're going to phone Kari and Yolei and plan the biggest and best girly day of pampering you could ever imagine. We'll make you female yet."

"But I'm not really the type of person to spend hours having manicures over coffee and stuff," Sora protested. "I think –"

"No!" Mimi cut her off, holding up her hand. "No, Sora, we do not think. Thought is for mortals. We," she indicated to herself dramatically, "are women." She drew a deep breath, thrust out her chest and headed out of the food court.

Sora muttered to herself as she caught up her bag and ran to follow her. "Oh God, what have I gotten myself into…"


Rumms: What indeed.