Dedication: As always, to everyone who reviewed, thank you beyond all reckoning, because I simple can't thank you enough *GIANT HUG OF DOOM* I LOVE YOU! ^_^ HAPPY VALETNINES DAY!
Chapter 5
She had finally gotten a reply from Taichi and sadly, but not surprisingly, he hadn't caught any of her hints. He included a small something telling her not to worry; she would do great at TAGAT and the "team" was rooting for her but otherwise, it was business as usual and normal conversation resumed.
In fact, normal conversation abounded and most, if not all, of Sora's time was spent talking to Taichi. So by the time the week finally ended and it was time for orientation, Sora knew only two people: Meichico and…James. She mentioned this problem to Taichi and he assured her she would make more friends at orientation.
Orientation, however, was rough. The teens awoke at 5, got dressed, ate breakfast, walked from the dorms to the school, and were spilt into groups. Of course, Sora was in a group all by herself with no Meichi or James to keep her company.
It seemed to go on for hours as teachers droned on monotonously about the rules of the dorms, the rules of the school, lockers, books, classes, and every other boring thing that could possibly be droned on about. The school was huge; six flights of stairs with seemingly endless hallways. Sora felt lost and tiny as others laughed and joked with their friends. She sat by herself mostly, silently wishing the day would just hurry up and end.
12 hours later, it did, and a group of exhausted teens walked to dinner and then back to their dorms. Meichico, who usually stayed out late with her friends, fell face first onto her bed with a loud "Hmph!" Sora laughed lightly, too exhausted to do much else. "Sleeep," Meichico moaned.
"Yeah, I'm going to bed in a second," Sora said a little too late, Meichico was already fast asleep. The redhead smiled and tiredly pulled up the computer chair.
She had lost her schedule for tomorrow and one of the guidance counselors promised they would try to email it to her before the day was over. She wanted desperately to talk to Taichi but she knew he was spending the night at a friend's and wouldn't be able to get online. She scanned her buddylist for "SoccerStr07" in vain and conceded to checking her email for the schedule.
There it was, "Schedule for Ms.Takenouchi"…but right under it, "Yo :P" from sender "SoccerStr07". Tai had emailed her! He always knew just what to do to make her feel better. She quadruple clicked the link in excitement and growled at the speed of the school connection as she waited for it to load.
"man, all day i haven't been able to stop thinking about how awesome our
friendship is. i couldn't ask for anything more, you're truly the best
:) i just want to hug you so much right now; hope you had a good orientation
:]
Tai"
"Eh!" she squeaked joyfully, evoking a "Uuuhmphhhrrrrrrr" from somewhere in the room. "Sorry Meichico," she blushed, realizing her roommate was trying to sleep. She read over the email again but this time, squeaked only on the inside.
If Tai was anymore sweet, she would explode. In a brief moment of sanity, she reprimanded herself for her previous two squeaks. Was she letting Tai turn her into some…squeaky little love struck girl!? She read over the email again, and smiled, yup.
She quickly typed a reply, telling him how much she wanted to hug him, how incredibly much orientation had sucked, how much better it would have been if he had been there, and how horrible the next two years without him would be. It was a rant really, nothing more, made from desperately wanting to be away from this place…this stupid place that was so far from home.
She sent it off and climbed into bed, physically unable to get Tai off her mind. The clock blinked 7:33 and any other night she would still be awake, probably talking to Taichi. But something about this place…it drained the life out of you, left you feeling empty and hopeless. She was fairly certain without Taichi, it would eat her alive…but she would always have Tai and TAGAT was an automatic ticket to any college she wanted…
…still, she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe this wasn't the best decision after all.
~
"Homework on the first day," Sora said, shaking her head in disgust and dropping her fifty-pound book bag onto the floor with a thud.
"Tell me about it," Meichico grumbled, dropping her own book bag.
"That was insane," Sora whispered breathlessly, "Please tell me I wasn't the only one completely lost."
"No," Meichi agreed in a daze, "That was definitely crazy. I mean, how in the world can they expect us to do this?! I've already been assigned projects in almost all my classes!"
"I know, me too…and I'm probably going to have to get a new book bag," Sora said sadly, glancing down at her bag, which was just about ready to bust.
Meichi giggled from her place on the floor and slowly rolled over onto her stomach. "The homework calls to me…but my body refuses to answer," she yawned.
Sora smiled and sighed, "Mine knows it has to answer…" She unhappily unzipped her bag and yanked out a ten-pound global studies book, tossing it onto the bed.
"Mine too," Meichico admitted grumpily, taking great effort to pull herself from the floor. "I think I'm going to head to Gina's room to work on it, okay?" she asked but Sora knew she wasn't really asking.
"Sure," she smiled fakely, sensing a boring and lonely night of studying ahead of her.
"See you later," Meichi said, hoisting up her book bag and making her way out of the room.
The room was cold and empty. It was absolutely silent, allowing Sora to hear the laughter that seemed to be in every other dorm. It doesn't matter, she told herself, you have friends at home…you don't need friends here. As another burst of laughter cut into her, she repeated the words more determinedly, trying to force herself to believe them; I don't need friends here. She put on some headphones to drown out the laughing and opened her global studies book to page 301, "The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire"….It was going to be a long night….
Sora finished up all the homework that had to be done that night and left the rest untouched. She decided to skip dinner and instead, ravaged the pack of Oreos she had brought with her. She jumped on the computer around 7:06, exhausted, but anxious to tell Tai about her day.
She was greeted almost immediately by,
"SoccerStr07: Hey! :)"
"Hey" she typed back with a smile, Taichi's-semi-presences making her feel better already.
Two hours later, Meichico had come back to the dorm to find Sora still smiling happily at the computer. She mentioned she was going to bed and Sora only nodded in acknowledgement, busy with her conversation.
"Sora," Meichico said, not happy at being ignored, "We do have class tomorrow you know."
"I know," Sora laughed and she continued typing, "I'll go to bed soon, promise." Meichico sighed and put on her bed mask, at least she would get some sleep.
Seven hours later, Sora was still smiling happily at the computer, however, she realized 4:14 was not a good time to be awake when she had to get up at 6 the next day. Taichi, she typed, I should really go to bed… I've got class tomorrow.
Don't leave me!! Just stay a little longer! :`(, Tai typed back. She frowned, but in the end, he persuaded her to stay…if not merely by the fact that he wanted her to. She didn't want to leave Tai, but she was absolutely exhausted and really needed some rest.About an hour later, Sora had gotten back into the conversation and had forgotten about the time until she realized, AN: Okay, don't shoot me for the pathetic screen names :P
TnnisNrd: Oh my god,Tai, THE SUN IS OUT. THE SUN IS OUT. It is LIGHT out.
SoccerStr07: Yeah, here too
TnnisNrd: I can't believe we stayed up this late! I'm going to fall asleep during class…this is not good.
SoccerStr07: I don't know…it's kinda cool that we're both up to see the sun rise…like you're not so far away…
TnnisNrd: heh, yeah…I guess so :\
TnnisNrd: I really do have to go, if someone realizes I was up this late, I'll be in big trouble…I'm happy we got to talk though.
SoccerStr07: *jumps in front and takes bullet*
TnnisNrd: nerd ;P I'll talk to you later Taichi, night :)
SoccerStr07: Sweet dreams :)
She signed off quickly and ran to her bed, shoving her head under the pillow. Still, she knew it was no use. It was light out, her body knew it was morning, there was no way she would get even those 2 more hours of sleep. Stupid Tai, she thought grumpily as lay silently awake in her bed and waited for the day to begin.
~
"Started around 1348…wiped out half the population of Italy…" Sora mumbled as her hand began to cramp from writing the five-page paper on the Black Plague. "Why do I need to know this?" she questioned grumpily, lifting her head up from her notebook.
"Sora, it's our third week here, I think we all know they teach us everything….except what we need to know," Meichico joked from her seat next to the computer. Sora frowned slightly, jealous that Meichi was able to keep such high spirits.
Three weeks in and she was still Sora's only real friend. Sure, there were a few people who knew her name and would say hello as they passed by, but no one who would waste any more time on her then that.
Meichi, however, remained great friends with the group of kids from her school. By having them to laugh with, it seemed the school didn't get to her as much. Her friends seemed to shield her from the soul-sucking power TAGAT held but Sora, friendless, was feeling it's full effects.
She always reminded herself that she still had Taichi, Matt, Mimi, Izzy, Joe…even Kari and TK…but it just wasn't the same. They didn't understand the hell this place was; they couldn't. Not to mention, her late night talking sessions with Tai left her tired and irritable in the morning.
But she would never give those up; they were the only things that kept her sane. Three or four times they had stayed up past day break together and countless other times they had been up past 1. Conversations only ended when it absolutely essential for one of them to go to bed…and even then, the end was met with resistance. Sora remembered three nights ago when Tai had been pleading more then usual for her to stay on, but she simply couldn't. The next day, when she finally checked her email, Tai had written:
lalala :D
you left, but i still feel like talking to you
*tries really hard to think of something to say*
argh, cant think of anything :|
cant stop thinking about you,
Tai
Of course, she couldn't attribute her sanity solely to Tai. She had been talking a lot to Matt and Mimi and received the occasional email from the rest. Sometimes, when Tai went to get food or go to the bathroom, Kari would even pop on the computer and say hello.
As of late, she hadn't had much time to talk. Teachers were cramming projects in like mad and no matter how long she slept on the weekends, she always felt tired. Early on in the year, she had tried out for the school play and rehearsal had just recently began. It kept her at school until 7 at least and the director had already promised that on "tech week" they'd be as late as eleven o' clock.
Sora looked down sadly at her paper, not even half way through. She had just gotten up to stretch when the phone rang. "Moshi Moshi!" Meichico answered happily. She paused, listening to the voice on the other line. "Oh, yes she is, hold on one moment," Meichico covered the receiver with her hand, a surprised look on her face, "Sora, its for you."
Hah, Sora thought bitterly, she didn't think I had any friends.
"Hello?" Sora said picking up the phone.
"Hey, Sora, it's Mimi!" came the cheerful response from the other line.
"Hey!" Sora laughed, glad to hear from a friend. Of course…Mimi never made the most "tantalizing" conversation but Sora was fine with that…. She knew that her friends were busy with their own lives and didn't really have time to worry about her so she really appreciated when they took the time to call.
An hour or so later, Mimi was still droning on about how "Sandy had told Cindy but Cindy told Sally, but really, I was the first one with the pink handbag" and Sora was still working hard on her Black Plague essay, remembering every once and a while to add the appropriate "Mmhmm"'s and "Really?"'s to the conversation.
"But I guess what I'm really calling about…"
"Mhmm…" Sora said mindlessly as she quoted a primary source.
"Is well, I think I'm in love…"
"Really?" She mumbled, clearly uninterested, as she flipped around for the page number. Okay, yes, she had heard Mimi, and with any other person she would have been shocked at the use of the "l-word" but Mimi thought she was "in love" every other minute. She was in "love" with Joe back when they were younger, she was in "love" with Matt until he decided…he…er…well, wasn't too interested in girls, and just a week ago she had been "in love" with Izzy. She used the word so freely that it no longer held any real meaning.
It used to make Tai furious. "How can they even think they know what love is at this age? They'll be broken up by next week," he would growl at Mimi and Matt, off by themselves, cuddling and professing their love for each other. Sora would laugh, and agree, both of them claimed to be "totally against dating at this age". And she really did agree…but she had known Tai for such a long time…and it just seemed like most of the time, he was only person who really, honestly cared if she lived or died…and she wasn't even calling it "love"…she just knew it was the closest thing she had ever felt to it.
"No, really Sora," Mimi insisted, "This time…it's for real…"
"Mhmm…" Sora yawned, still not convinced. After all, Mimi had said it was "real" every time before.
"But he's so sweet and funny and caring and…just everything," Mimi sighed dreamily.
"Really?" Sora asked rhetorically. Hmm…so the plague spread to Italy when they flung the infected dead bodies into the city by catapult?
"Really, really." Mimi giggled, "I am really in love with Taichi Kamiya."
"…"
"…"
"Sa…say that again?" Sora squeaked fearfully, giving all her attention to the phone conversation.
"I am really in love with Taichi Kamiya," Mimi stated happily.
No. No. No. NO. Quick Sora, talk her out of it.
"Ha..hah…uh? You don't really like Tai! He's so…annoying! And he's always falling…and…" Sora whimpered, desperately searching for more of Tai's bad qualities.
"Oh but Sora, he's smart and caring and funny and sweet and caring…or wait…did I already say that?" she giggled again.
"No, Mimi, really…he's not the guy for you…I thought you liked Izzy anyway!" Sora reminded her franticly. This is couldn't be happening…. Mimi ruled over the male species with an iron fist. If she had her sights set on Taichi, she would get him.
"I am like, sooo over him Sora! You should know that! But like, ooohh my god, yesterday, Tai totally smiled at me and I knew I was in love and so like I messed up his hair and…"
Sora suddenly felt very ill, "Mimi…I've got to go…I'll talk to you later. Okay?"
"Oh, okay Sora, I'll talk to you later!" she replied, totally oblivious.
Don't worry Sora, she told herself, as she hung up the phone, Tai doesn't like Mimi…he won't cave to her girly powers…Tai had always thought Mimi was incredibly immature and annoying…but then, Mimi's "powers" had proved too strong for many a boy. The hair toss, the playful fighting, the hat stealing…how would Tai be able to resist without Sora there to roll her eyes at Mimi's flirting?! She knew she stood no chance against Mimi… she hadn't the slightest idea of how to flirt and she knew she wasn't the most gorgeous girl in the world.
She glanced over at her picture, now sitting in a frame beside her bed. Tai's goofy smile and his deep brown eyes locked confidently on hers gave her some reassurance. She smiled a bit hesitantly….No, she promised herself… her Taichi wouldn't fall.
Authors Notes: As you might be able to tell, I smushleded three really small chapters into one really big chapter because I've been putting small ones up for so long! :) Like I said, right now, its all pretty much fluff and will be…for like a chapter or so more…but then we start getting into the real stuff (thankfully ^_-). Honestly, I don't know what to think about this fic. Usually when I write I start with a backbone, a beginning, an end, a concept to work with…and then fill in using what "feels right". But with this fic, I have a backbone, a beginning, an end and not a concept…but an entire story that I'm basically writing down. While it makes the process a lot quicker…I don't really know if what I'm writing make sense or is necessary and sometimes, even when I know something is nonsensical or unnecessarily, I have to put it in, because that's what happened…it's all very strange it makes me nervous beyond all belief…but it is a story that must be told so be told it SHALL! ;)
Oh! Also, in chapter four, the "…"s got turned into periods. I'm going to try to fix that sometime…but not today ;)
Chapter 6:
A typhoon hits Sora's hometown and we approach a turning point. ^_-
Stay tuned but if you find yourself not liking this fic…don't hate me! I'm trying something different! ;)
Reviewers are always loved, appreciated, and huggled. ^_^
Love to all,
Soragirl
P.S. Thanks for the good luck Litanya! It helped! I aced all my exams! ^_-