Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
A/N: Some readers have caught on! You'll know what I mean eventually. Here's another chapter!
My Best Friend's Girlfriend
Chapter 9: Tomo's Big Mistake
Mimi Tachikawa
"Tai Kamiya! I know you're there!" she shouted into the phone. "If you don't pick up right now, you're going to be very sorry! Do you hear me?"
The only answer she received on the other end of the line was silence.
"Let me guess," Yolei muttered. "He's not picking up, is he?"
Mimi turned to look at her friend and sighed. "No. Everytime I phone, the answering machine picks up. I hope that message I left gets his attention! Besides, I'm out of money."
"Me, too," Yolei groaned, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms. "Now what are we going to do? He's obviously avoiding us."
Mimi wrinkled her nose and hung up the receiver. "He's not actually avoiding us. He's avoiding Matt. The only reason he refuses to speak to us is because he's afraid that whatever he says will get back to Matt. I wish I hadn't forgotten my cellphone today."
The two of them were standing at one of the three pay phones that were located at the front of the school.
"There's only one thing we can do," she said with determination. "We're just going to have to go to Tai's house after school and make him talk to us!"
"Make who talk to you?"
Mimi let out a squeal of surprise at the sudden voice and turned to see Matt standing behind her.
"Matt!" she gasped, putting a hand over her heart. "You nearly scared me to death! Could you maybe give us a little warning next time instead of sneaking up on us like that?"
"Sorry," Matt replied, glancing between the two of them. "You didn't answer my question. Who are you trying to force into having a conversation with you?"
If we don't come up with something quick, he's going to find out that Tai skipped school to avoid him!
She sent Yolei a frantic look, and Yolei gave Matt a false smile.
"Well...um...you see...there's this guy that Mimi likes, but we think he's too shy to talk to her," the lavender haired Digidestined quickly supplied. "We've...um...decided to approach him instead to speed things up a little bit."
"That's right," she quickly added. "If I don't do something, he's never going to work up the courage to talk to me!"
"I hope he isn't anything like your last boyfriend," Matt said, his golden eyebrows narrowing into a frown.
Mimi rolled her eyes and exchanged a smile with Yolei. Shortly after moving back to Odaiba from New York, she had started dating a guy named Natsume Takamura who went to their school.
He had started out as a nice guy, but then he had ended up being a total jerk. Tai and Matt had never trusted him from the start, and the more he treated her badly, the more angry Matt and Tai had become. Fortunately the relationship had not lasted very long.
The whole thing had ended in a shouting match between Tai, Matt, and Natsume after her fellow Digidestined had found out that Natsume had been cheating on her.
She had broken up with him that very day before Tai and Matt had had a chance to go through with some of their more creative threats.
She still saw Natsume in the hallways occasionally between classes, but he never dared to come anywhere near her in case Matt or Tai showed up.
"Don't worry," she said with a laugh. "This guy is nothing like Natsume, trust me."
"He had better not be," Matt muttered, his sapphire eyes growing dark as he glanced suspiciously at every guy who walked past them. "So, does this guy have a name?"
Mimi's mind went blank, and she started to panic. "Um...I...er...can't tell you what his name is."
"Why not?" Matt asked, frowning in confusion.
She sent Yolei a helpless look, and the younger Digidestined grabbed Matt's arm to get his attention. "Mimi doesn't want to say who it is until she can find out whether or not he likes her back."
"That's right," she said, giving Yolei a grateful smile.
Matt crossed his arms and gave her a look. "You know I'm not going to stop bugging you until I find out who he is, right?"
"It's sweet of you to worry, but I'm not going to tell you no matter how much you bug me!" she laughed.
"I'll get it out of you eventually. If I don't, you know Tai will."
She threw her arms around him in a tight hug and hid her face against his chest. Oh, Matt. I'm so sorry for lying to you. I hope you'll be able to forgive me when you find out the truth.
Matt was going to find out eventually, but she hoped that did not happen until she had a chance to figure out what was going on with Tai. She had never felt so guilty over something in her whole life.
Matt's face turned bright red, and he stared at her in shock. "Mimi, what's wrong with you today? You're acting really strange."
"Well that's better than being insane!" she giggled, smiling at the sudden feel of Matt's heart beating against her cheek.
Yolei stared at them for a moment and sighed. "I think you guys would make a stunning couple. You look so good together, like a pair of supermodels. I swear, it should be illegal for anyone to look as good as you two do!"
Mimi felt her face turn pink, and she quickly pulled away from Matt. "Yolei! Have you forgotten that Matt's dating my best friend?"
"No," Yolei giggled. "And Sora thought I was flirting with Matt!"
"I wasn't flirting!" she shouted, blushing furiously. Has Yolei completely lost her mind? Matt and I are just friends. She knows very well that I don't like him that way. Sora would kill me if I did.
"Don't be stupid," Matt mumbled, looking embarrassed. "You already know that Mimi likes somebody else."
"Right," Yolei grinned. "I forgot!"
Mimi smacked her on the arm and gave Matt a weak smile. "Lets head to the lunchroom. I'm starving."
"That's actually why I'm here. Sora and Izzy sent me to look for you guys," Matt said with a smile.
"Lets hurry up then,"she replied.
They started off down the hallway, and Yolei leaned close to her with a grin on her face.
"Don't worry, I won't tell Sora," the younger Digidestined whispered in her ear.
"I wouldn't care if you did!" she mumbled. "I haven't done anything wrong, and you know it!"
So why do I feel really guilty all of a sudden?
She pushed that question to the back of her mind and entered the lunchroom. "Hey, Sora!" she called out, waving to her best friend.
Sora waved back and motioned them towards the table. "I was wondering what had happened to you guys. Have a seat."
Mimi sat down across from her best friend, next to Yolei, and Matt took the empty seat next to Sora.
"What took so long?" Sora asked, giving Matt a quick kiss on the lips.
Mimi bit her lip and quickly averted her eyes. Great. Now I really feel guilty. Why did I do that? I've never done something like that before!
"Mimi's been trying to chase down her new love interest," Matt snorted.
Sora turned to stare at her in surprise, and she sent the other girl a meaningful look.
Sora seemed to understand because the older female Digidestined smiled slightly and nodded.
That was the best thing about having a best friend. They could understand what you were trying to say without you even uttering a word.
"What's wrong with you, Izzy?" Yolei asked, frowning at the computer expert who sat across from her.
For once Izzy's laptop was nowhere to be seen, and the genius was gazing sullenly at the table.
"Where's your laptop?" Mimi asked.
"I don't know. Why don't you ask Matt?" Izzy mumbled, giving the blond a dark look.
Matt smiled innocently back at him and handed the computer expert a small stack of papers.
"Here. I sent your history essay to my email and printed it off on one of the school computers."
"You call that a history essay?" Sora asked, raising her eyebrows at Izzy. "It looks like a novel to me!"
"What about my laptop?" Izzy asked, gazing mournfully at the table.
"You'll get it back in a couple of weeks. Maybe by then you'll have learned your lesson!" Matt snorted.
"Do I want to know what's going on?" Mimi asked, glancing between the two of them.
"Probably not," Matt replied, giving her a small smile. "Even if you did want to know, I wouldn't tell you!"
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Why should I when you won't tell me who this guy is that you like!" he shot back.
She made a face at him and sent Yolei an exasperated look.
"Will you tell me?" Sora asked.
Matt exchanged a look with Izzy and shrugged.
"It's not important," the blond mumbled, avoiding Sora's eyes.
Mimi frowned at him and glanced suspiciously at Izzy. There was definitely something up with those two.
Sora gave Matt a rather hurt look, and Mimi sent her friend a sympathetic smile. Poor Sora. It must be tough having Matt for a boyfriend. It's so hard to get him to open up.
"We'll find out what you're hiding eventually," Yolei muttered, giving Matt a dirty look.
Sora continued to gaze at Matt with suspicion, but the blond refused to look at her.
Mimi was just about to ask Matt where he had hidden Izzy's laptop when she suddenly froze in horror.
Tomo had just come into the lunchroom with two other members of the soccer team.
She let out a gasp and elbowed Yolei in the ribs.
"What?" Yolei whispered.
"We're in big trouble," she moaned, nodding her head towards Tomo.
Yolei turned to see what she was looking at and let out a shriek.
"Now what's wrong with you two?" Matt asked, looking annoyed.
The blond had not yet seen Tomo, and Mimi was determined to keep it that way.
She waved her hand in the air to get Tomo's attention, and the soccer player finally looked at her.
He stared at her for a moment in confusion, and his eyes finally came to rest on Matt.
Mimi sent Tomo a meaningful look, and he quickly said something to his friends.
Sora's face was pure white as she gazed at Tomo with fear in her eyes.
Fortunately Tomo seemed to have gotten the message because he started to leave the lunchroom with his friends.
Mimi was about to let out a sigh of relief when Izzy suddenly spoke up.
"Hey look! It's Tomo! What's he doing here? I thought he was at a soccer game with Tai!"
Matt jerked around in his chair and stared at Tomo in shock. Tomo's eyes met Matt's eyes, and the sandy haired soccer player froze in his tracks.
"Matt, where are you going?" Sora gasped.
Matt had gotten out of his seat, and the blond was heading straight for Tomo.
Mimi slowly closed her eyes and let out a low moan. So much for trying to stop Matt from finding out about Tai!
She opened her eyes just in time to see Tomo send her an apologetic look.
"Should we go after him?" Sora whispered, gazing anxiously at the back of Matt's head.
"Oh no! I'm not going after him!" Yolei replied. "He's going to totally freak out! I intend to be as far away from him as possible when that happens!"
"We can't let Tomo face him all alone!" Sora insisted.
"Yes, we can!" Mimi muttered, sending Tomo an angry glare. "How could he have messed up our plans like that?"
"He deserves to face a little abuse from Matt!" Yolei muttered.
"What's going on?" Izzy asked, staring at each of them in confusion.
"Izzy, you idiot!" Mimi shrieked, hitting him over the head with her lunch tray. "Do you realize what you've done? You've ruined everything!"
"But I didn't do anything!" Izzy protested, rubbing his head and giving her a reproachful look.
"We have to do something!" Sora interrupted. "Tomo doesn't have a clue what's going on which is only going to make Matt even more upset!"
"Sora, if we get involved, Matt's going to find out that we've been hiding things from him. Can you imagine how that's going to him feel? We've known all along that Tai lied to him about having a soccer game today. When Matt finds that out, he's going to be mad at everyone, not just Tai!"
Izzy glanced between the three of them and managed a weak smile. "I've really messed something up, haven't I?"
"What was your first clue?" Yolei snorted.
Mimi watched Matt drag Tomo out of the lunchroom and groaned. I better get to Tai's house and warn him before Matt shows up on his doorstep. Hopefully Tai will be able to smooth things over before Matt has a chance to erupt.