Highs and Lows
Chapter Five: Slim Defeat
- Criquett
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon
It was a particularly cold Friday morning. Maya shivered uncontrollably as she shut the windows to the art room. She lingered close to the kiln, which still emitted a little heat. It was her independent study block so the room was familiarly empty. Ms. Kameda trusted her favorite student enough to leave her in the classroom unattended as she went about her business around the school.
Maya swept her long black hair into a loose ponytail, gathering her dirty paintbrushes and walked towards the sink. She ran the fine hairs through the warm water, glancing up at the clock, which was fixed above the open classroom door directly across from her. She felt a nerve twitch as she saw a familiar brown-haired boy stroll past. He carried a folded bright green hall pass in his hand. Maya rolled her eyes. Green was last semester's hall pass color. Her shoulders stiffened as he met her glare.
Tai smiled genuinely. An innocent, boyish smile; eyes gleaming brightly. He looked around the classroom briefly before entering. "Morning!"
Maya held her tongue, clenching her teeth as her fierce blue eyes narrowed in on him. She watched him hop on top of a table, dangling his feet back and forth. She wiped her hands on the apron tied around her waist, ignoring him.
Tai wasn't quick to catch on. "What's up M-dog?" he joked.
"What's up?" She asked back in more of a question than a greeting. "You really have the nerve to ask me what's up?" Her voice shaking slightly.
Tai shrugged. "Yes?"
Maya fumed. She placed an angry hand on her hip. "So this is how it's going to be? Well, you may have fooled my best friend with your stupid act but you're not kidding me!"
Tai bowled over. "What are you talking about?"
The black-haired girl flared. She grabbed a chunk of cold, red clay and began tearing pieces of it off. "I'll tell you what I'm talking about!" She began chucking them as hard as she could, one by one towards the indolent teen across from her.
"Hey!" Tai yelled, trying to bat the balls of clay away with his hand.
"You have some guts!" She continued, ignoring his frequent protests. "Some ugly, putrid, rotten, molded guts! How can you be so insensitive?"
Tai had now ducked behind a paint palette, using as it as a shield to protect himself from the missiles of clay. "Whoa! Maya! Calm down, would you just stop for a second!" Thankfully she drew a deep breath and lowered her hand. "Okay, now seriously, what's going on?"
"You. Lied!" She said through clenched teeth, flinging the last slab of clay in his direction.
"About what?"
"Chemistry!" Maya shrieked, resorting in paintbrushes now that the clay was all used up. "You knew she had a huge report the next day!"
Tai's eyes widened behind the now dented palette. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief. He waved it back and forth above his head as a sign of surrender. He peeked over the rim of the palette and when he saw Maya lay down the brush in her hand, he spoke. "I'm guessing this is about Sora then?"
"Cut the crap Tai! Honestly, chemistry? Couldn't you have asked her for help in a class you're actually in?"
Tai stared at Maya's shoes. "Who told you?" He asked quietly.
"I told me Tai! You were in my chemistry class last semester!"
Tai sighed, mentally kicking himself in the head. "Okay, okay! I screwed up!"
"Yeah you did!" Maya said. "And don't even get me started about yesterday!"
Tai looked up and met her gaze. "Yesterday?" He gulped.
Maya's eyes widened in disbelief. "Sora and I were at soccer practice!"
Tai continued to stare at her, his expression unchanged. He thought over her last words until finally it dawned upon him. "Mimi! Oh my god, you didn't see … that… did you?"
Maya let out a deep breath. "You know what Tai," she said tiredly. "Stay the hell away from us." She threw a dirty paintbrush in the sink and proceeded to walk out of the door. Her throat was parched from all the yelling.
"Maya wait!" Tai called. Running up to her as he grabbed her arm to prevent her from moving further. He was a little surprised when she obediently stayed and didn't fight against his hold. He lessened his grip on her slim arm before continuing. "I don't want you to hate me, and I don't want Sora to hate me. I know I shouldn't have lied, but I couldn't think of any other reason for her to hang out with me."
"So you didn't want to get in her pants?"
"Well, not right away-" He saw Maya roll her eyes in disgust and impulsively tightened his grasp on her so she wouldn't storm off. "Kidding! No, I just wanted to get to know her. I don't really hang around people like her often."
"You mean smart people?" Maya asked thinking of Davis.
He ignored the comment. "Come on, you're her best friend, how can I make her forgive me?"
"You can't make anyone forgive you. You have to giver her a reason to. Or in your case several."
"Well okay, but how?"
Maya turned and faced him. He was a good deal taller than she was but she continued to look into him. "Why don't you start with exactly what you just told me." She wriggled free from his grip and proceeded out the door towards the water fountains.
Tai now stared at the empty space in front of him. 'Okay, now to remember exactly what I just told her…' He thought. '…..' "Maya!"
Davis was unusually quiet at lunch that day. He poked around at his food, not really aware that it was there in front of him. He looked up and groaned loudly when he saw a group of girls putting up posters in the cafeteria.
"What's his problem?" Mimi asked aloud.
Jun rolled her eyes. "He's trying to think of a way to ask Maya to the spring concert. He's getting all antsy now that posters are going up for it."
Mimi smirked. "Poor guy."
"Where's Tai?"
Mimi shrugged, tossing her bright pink hair to the side. "I don't know. Don't really care either. I had my share of fun, plus… lookie what I got us!" She reached into her purse and pulled out two gold-foil tickets with the letters VIP stamped on the back.
Jun squealed. "Oh my god! You got them!"
"Told ya I would!" Mimi boasted, handing her friend a pass. "I'm going shopping today after school, wanna come?"
"I can't. I have to stay after school today and make up an exam I missed." Jun said. "Why are you going shopping so early? The dance is still two weeks away."
"I know, but EVERYONE will go shopping next week. Can you imagine how horrifying it would be if someone showed up in the same dress?" Mimi shrieked.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom." Davis announced moodily, startling the two girls next to him. He rose from his chair and slumped out of the cafeteria. He pushed the door to the men's room open and saw Tai pacing back and forth. "Tai?"
The brown-eyed boy was jerked from his thoughts. "Huh? Oh, hey Davis."
"What are you doing?" Davis asked.
"Sora knows," was all he had to say for Davis to nod in comprehension. "She found out from Maya. God I completely forgot she used to be in my chem class!" He saw his friend's eyes cast down at the mention of Maya's name. "Still haven't asked her?"
Davis nodded. "No. Who am I kidding? I have no chance with her!"
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
"What are you going to do about Sora?"
Tai shrugged his shoulders heavily. "I never see her during the day."
"She has a yearbook meeting today after school. I heard her talking about it. You could try talking to her after practice today."
"Yeah, but what am I going to say? I doubt she'll let me off easy, she didn't even really want to come over in the first place."
Davis shook his head. "Why us man?"
Sora was thankful that she was finally in her last class for the day. She was even more grateful for the day being a Friday. She stared ahead at the chalkboard, mindlessly copying down the notes that were dustily scribbled all over it. She came to a halt when she noticed the bright yellow flyer hanging on the end of the board. It was for the spring dance. Sora grimaced. She hated the color yellow, but the rest of the board protested when she suggested another color. 'It matches Yamato's hair!' All the girls argued.
She heard the bell ring loudly through the classroom. After gathering her things together she strolled out of the classroom, throwing the yellow flyer another disgusted look. She saw her two best friends waiting for her at the end of the hall.
"Hi Sora," Izzy smiled. She nodded in return.
"Are you coming with us Izzy?" She asked referring to the yearbook meeting she and Maya had.
"No, I can't. I have a tech club meeting in the lab today. I just wanted to give you the CDs you wanted to borrow." Izzy said, handing her a small stack of CD discs.
"Oh, thanks! You want to go catch a movie or something later?"
"Sure, sounds great. I'll call you later," Izzy said, waving to the two girls as he headed towards the math wing.
Maya was quiet the whole way to the cafeteria. "What's the matter?" Sora asked.
"It's nothing." She said flatly. She pushed open the double doors of the cafeteria and saw a few of their friends settling down.
Sora followed the black-haired girl inside when she heard her a voice call out. She turned and was taken aback. An attractive, young, blonde-haired boy stood a few feet away from her, gesturing for her to come over. Sora turned and whispered, "You go on, I'll just be a minute." Maya nodded slowly, keeping a curious eye on her friend.
"Hi Matt," Sora said. She had to admit she was nervous. They had never really spoken to each other before.
The boy smiled and walked up to her, holding out a hand, "Hello Sora."
She took his hand and shook it gently. He had a firm grip and a warm touch. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, Miss Narita, the yearbook sponsor, wants pictures taken of the spring dance, so she asked me to stop by today, but I have rehearsal in a few minutes. So, I was wondering if you could tell her that I'm sorry, and that I am giving you a pass so you can come a steal a few shots of the band and the Arena before show time, if that's ok with you that is." Matt said with a genuine look as he pulled out a square of sturdy gold foil with the letters VIP imprinted on it.
Sora was stunned. She felt her hand reach out and retrieve the ticket from his hand, yet it all felt so surreal. "F-fine. That's fine…" She stuttered, getting lost in his intense blue eyes. 'Why couldn't we have made the flyers blue?' She thought.
Matt smiled. "Great! So I guess I'll see you then?"
Sora nodded, shaking herself loose from the trance-like aura he gave off. "Yeah, thanks."
"No problem," He nodded and turned, heading out the main doors into the bright sunlight. Sora stared down at the pass in her hand. She guided her slightly wobbly feet back into the cafeteria, slipping into an empty seat next to Maya. She gaped at the sight of Sora's ticket.
"Matt gave it to me. He wants me to take pictures!" Sora said in more of a squeal. She remained in a daze for the remainder of the meeting, not really absorbing anything that was being said. She replayed the incident over and over in her mind. 'God, I must have looked like such an idiot just standing there, gawking at him! I bet my mouth was hanging open and everything!' She groaned to herself. She felt Maya rustle about next to her. She turned her head and realized that the snacks were being set out. Sora rose out of her chair and floated towards everyone else.
Maya couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the redhead standing in line in front of her. She was jerked out of her fun when she noticed a big blob of brown hair in the front foyer. She immediately tensed up and hurriedly rushed towards the door. "Be right back!" Sora heard her call out. Maya quietly sneaked out the cafeteria doors, shutting them gently behind her. She saw Tai, still in his soccer uniform, leaning against a vending machine. "What are you doing here?" She hissed.
"I came to talk to Sora," He said plainly, inserting a few coins into the slot.
"You can't, we have a yearbook meeting!"
"So?" Tai asked, bending over to pull out a sports drink. "I'll just wait here 'til you guys are done." He took a long drink from his bottle.
Maya looked over her shoulder anxiously. She quickly shoved him on the other side of the vending machine, hoping they wouldn't be seen.
"Hey!" He said angrily as a bit of his drink sloshed onto his jersey.
"Sorry," Maya said quickly, peering around the vending machine checking to see if anyone was watching.
"I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little tired of our secret meetings," Tai said looking down at the girl next to him.
"Sorry, but I don't want Sora to know…" Her voice trailed off, trying to find the right words.
"That we're friends?" Tai asked, trying to finish her train of thought. Maya frowned a little. "Come on, it's not that bad, is it?"
She frowned harder, "Listen, now may not be the best time to talk to Sora."
"Why?"
"Well first of all, she hates you, and second of all Matt just gave her a ticket to his concert at the dance!" Maya said matter-o-factly.
Tai crossed his arms, assuming his position against the vending machine. "What?" Maya smiled nervously at him. "Why'd he give it to Sora, why not you?"
"Trust me, I'm just as sorry as you are that I wasn't there!"
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"I don't know Tai, just let her be I guess. All of this will blow over sooner and later.
"But I don't want it to just … blow over!" Tai replied angrily.
"Why not?"
"Because! I like her!" Tai blurted out.
Maya looked scandalized. "What? You just met her the other day and you already have feelings for her?"
"They're not feelings Maya!" Tai mocked. "I just like her… as a friend! And friends don't stay mad at each other."
"Yeah, they also don't lie to each other." Maya stated. "I have to go, I'll talk to you later." She walked past without looking back.
Tai sighed heavily. 'Fantastic, now how am I supposed to apologize? She's all head-over-heels for Matt now… great!' He downed the last bit of his drink, tossing it into a nearby trashcan. Tai ran an aggravated hand through his tousled his hair as he walked away, morally defeated.
Awww… only 5 reviews for the last chapter? sniff THANK YOU VERY MUCH to the 5 who DID review. JyouraKoumi, crest-of-music, JelieBeane, Anon, and guiltshow this chapter was for YOU!