Friends?
"Where have you been?" Ken scolded Kitty for her tardiness.
"I was with Matt."
"Why were you with him?"
"Well, I thought you said I'm supposed to like him."
"...ok, but don't do anything drastic." Ken sat on his bed watching her
"Uh, I ran into Tai on my way..." she began a little uneasy
"And?"
"Well, I think I broke his heart." she finished quickly and shut her eyes, expecting another lecture, but instead, she heard laughter.
"That's brilliant!"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!" He stood up and paced around his spotless room
"You'll break them apart and ruin their friendship." he snapped his fingers
The faint hooting of an owl from outside reminded them that night was upon them. Ken walked out of the room and came back in with a couple of blankets in his hands.
"Take my bed. Wormmon and I will sleep on the floor."
Kitty nodded and climbed in bed; not bothering to change her clothes. The only goodnight was bid by Wormmon but was received by darkness and silence.
Next morning...
Rays of sunlight peered through the curtains of Tai's bedroom. The warmth enveloped him; telling him to get up. His wakening eyes squinted at the light and he buried his face in his covers.
"Time to wake up." an unidentified voice sang
"Wake up or you'll be late for school."
Tai grunted and forcibly picked himself up. His disoriented vision caused him to see everything in a blur. The sight of brown, pink, and yellow straighten to reveal Kari standing before him.
"Your eyes are red." she lifted one of his eye lids as he shrugged her hand away
He got up and headed to the bathroom. "Leave me alone." he coldly replied over his shoulder
Kari watched the door close and leaned against it; arms folded across her chest and her leg against the door "What's wrong?" she questioned
"I said leave me alone!" the running water muffled his voice
"Is it about Sora?" she straightened up as the door opened and Tai stepped out while drying his face with a towel
"Shut up." he rudely commanded while glaring at her as he passed by
The tension was too much and Kari quickly exited the room. Tai stood still, listening to her footsteps, fading away with each step. His eyes examined the room. Trash, a broken clock, and a couple of shattered picture frames from the night before when he had been so furious with Sora and Matt that he trashed his room were scattered around the floor. He walked to his closet and in the process, he stepped on a broken frame with a scrunched up photograph next to it. He bent over and picked it up. It was a picture of Sora wearing the hair clip he had given her for her birthday. (Yes, the infamous hair clip of the Digimon movie that led everyone to believe that Sora liked Tai) Tai's lips curved into a sad smile.
"Tai, you're going to be late for school!" a voice came from the kitchen, his mother's.
Tai changed into his school uniform, grabbed his backpack and headed out the door. "Bye mom!"
"I'll see you later!" Tai heard a soft voice through the corridors of the apartment building.
Not wanting to walk with her to school, nor talk to her, or even meet her gaze, Tai ran to the elevator and immediately press the button to close the doors. Sora spotted him and ran to the lift.
"Tai, wait!" she pleaded as the doors closed, concealing Tai's cold stare.
Confused, Sora took the stairs to catch up with Tai at the bottom.
When she reached the ground floor, she noticed that no one was in the lift. She walked a couple steps more and spotted Tai turning the corner.
"Tai!" she scurried
"Tai, please..." she caught up to him and tugged his arm
"What's wr-" She froze when Tai quickly spun around with cold eyes that shot daggers through her heart
"What!" he shouted
"Why are you ignoring me?"
"Do me a favor and don't talk to me. Don't talk to me, don't even look at me...we're no longer friends."
"What?"
"You heard me! Now get out of my way, I see your boyfriend coming and I don't want to be here to witness all your lovey-dovey crap." he shoved past her and kept walking to school.
"My boyfriend?" she turned to see Matt walking up the street
"Hey." she tried to befriend him as he passed by
He didn't bother to look at her. He kept on walking, one hand in his pocket and the other holding a guitar case.
"Matt!" Sora shouted and Matt stopped walking
It seemed as though he was going to turn back and speak to her, but instead he bent over and picked up a piece of paper her had dropped. He then regained his posture and kept walking without looking back.
"What did I do?" Sora cried
At school, Tai and Matt managed to ignore Sora. At lunch they were no where to be seen. She searched the cafeteria. Nothing. She walked through the foot ball field and the basketball and tennis courts. Nothing. The music room, the soccer field. Nothing.
"Where could they be!" she gritted her teeth
She spotted Izzy in the crowd and ran to him. "Izzy! Have you seen Matt or Tai?"
Izzy heard her but tried to suppress it and kept on walking.
"Izzy, come on, I know you heard me." Sora pulled him out of the crowd
She looked at him with pleading eyes and he felt pity. "Sorry Sora, I'm not supposed to be talking to you." He sheepishly replied
"Huh? Why not?"
"What did I do?"
"I don't know but from the way Tai was acting, it's pretty bad."
"You spoke to Tai?"
"Yeah, he said something about you guys not being friends anymore and that I'm not suppose to talk to you."
"What about Matt? Have you seen or-" Sora was interrupted by hollering and cheers from a crowd that had formed in the courtyard.
Izzy and Sora made their way through. The source of attention: a fight between Matt and Tai.
"FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!" Chanting filled the cafeteria and didn't cease to stop
Matt got a couple of good punches and a tackle before Sora came. "Stop!" she shouted
Matt and Tai in a head lock when they stopped and looked up. Matt seemed to loosen his grip on Tai's neck and his eyes softened as he caught Sora's sight. Tai noticed the look they shared and felt a twinge of anger and jealousy pierce through him. He gathered his strength and took the opportunity to knock Matt down and began to punch him with burning rage.
"Stop! Please stop!" Sora grabbed Tai's arm
He growled at her touch and pushed her hard enough to knock her from her feet. Every one fell silent as she hit the floor; time stopped. A small cry was heard from the red-head. She held her right arm close to her chest as she tried to get up.
Izzy was the only one who stepped forward to help her up. "Your arm?" he touched it lightly.
Sora nodded through a pained expression. They walked down the hall heading to the nurses' office as the crowd cleared a path for them.
Tai watched them retreat. He felt a wave of guilt overpower his anger and his eyes watered. Still under him, Matt squirmed and violently pushed Tai off of him. He wiped the blood that trickled from his lip and walked away. The crowd began to scatter and then it disappeared. The only one left was Tai. Still on the floor, he watched the hall into which Sora and Izzy had disappeared through.
TBC...
