"What were you talking about?" Davis questioned.
"Last night I had a dream where T.K. was leaving. We were talking. I was telling him how we were really losing each other and that our friendship was dying. T.K. said that he was being foolish when he said that. He said that our friendship would never break. I asked him about Yolei, and he told me that his heart always belonged to me. I reminded him that he said he was over me and that he loved Yolei. T.K. ws saying things about he was just saying those things to make himself believe they were true, and that he would have to one day let his real feelings out. He said he loved me more than he could ever love Yolei. I reminded him that I was with you and I tried to tell him that we would never be anything other then friends. Before I could finish, T.K. told me to shut up, and he kissed me on the lips. I ended up kissing him back. He pulled away and said that he wanted to do that since we were nine. I told him that I shouldn't have done that. He said that you didn't have to know about it. He asked me if I enjoyed it. I ended up saying yes. Then, he pulled me closer and kissed me again. That time, I pushed him away and fell to the ground and yelled no. I was in tears. When I woke up, I was sweating and crying. I kept telling myself that it was just a dream, but it felt so much different," I told him.
"Kari, you're going to feel that way for awhile. When T.K. leaves, you're going to feel like your world is crashing down on you. Nothing's going to help the pain…You'll just one day get over it. It's not going to be easy. It never is. Even when Willis left to go back to America you were in tears. When T.K. leaves, you're going to feel that hurt, but it's going to take longer to get over it; some people don't. So, if kissing T.K. on the lips is the only way to keep the pain from coming, Kari, you kiss the boy like there is no tomorrow. You do whatever you need to do to help the pain. If you need to yell at someone, you can yell at me. If you need to hit something…You can use my pillow. If you need to scream, go ahead and scream. And, for the most important thing, if you need to cry, I will always have a free shoulder for you," Davis said.
We stopped in front of the school doors.
"Davis, this scares me more than the Dark World does," I whispered.
"You'll make it through," Davis said.
"Why couldn't T.K. and Yolei break up? I could have fixed that!" I yelled.
Davis opened the door. "Come on."
We walked into our classroom. T.K. was sitting in his desk. His face was lying on it.
I walked up to him.
"T.K., how did your night go?" I asked.
"It was the worse night in my whole entire life," T.K. mumbled.
I softly rubbed his back. "Did you lie to me when you said you were over me?"
T.K. quickly rose his head and looked at me. "What would make you think that?"
"He still likes you," Davis told me.
T.K. covered his face. "I'm a terrible friend and a terrible boyfriend!"
"Don't say that T.K.! You can't blame yourself…You can't control your heart," I told the boy.
"Don't kill yourself over it," Davis said.
T.K. lifted his head and looked at us. His eyes were red and tears dripped down his face.
I quickly hugged him. "And, things were just getting better."
"I'm going to lose all the things I love," T.K. told me.
"Our friendship will always last. I don't care how many oceans, lakes, or rivers come between us! Our friendship will always last!" I yelled.
"What about Yolei?"
"You guys were made for each other…Nothing and no one is going to get in the way of that; I'll make sure of that!"
"When are you leaving?" Davis questioned.
T.K. frowned. "Friday."
"Ok, then here's the plan. Today we're skipping detention, same with Thrusday. Friday, none of us are going to school. We're spending the rest of the time with you. Maybe we can even skip school tomorrow…Maybe even get Ken and all the other guys to skip too. Of course we'd have to get it okayed by our parents, but I don't think it will be much of a problem," Davis decided.
"I think that is a great idea. T.K., I have one final question for you…Did you tell Matt?" I asked.
T.K. nodded his head. "Right after I called you and before I called Davis. He was the second person on my list. Yolei would have been, but I was too scared to call her."
"I can't believe this is real-" I stopped when the door to the classroom quickly opened.
Yolei walked in and scanned the room. She saw us and walked over.
"Yolei, you shouldn't be here, you're going to be late," T.K. told the girl.
"I don't care! Let me be late…This is way more important than school will ever be!" Yolei yelled.
"But Yolei, I don't want you to get in trouble…Not because of this."
Yolei looked away. "Words could not even start to describe the way I felt when Kari gave me that phone call. As the tears fell down my face, I could only ask myself why, why did you have to leave, after what happened, I didn't think anything would ever get in our way again. Now, you're moving across the world to America. I didn't know that you and Matt had different dads. I didn't know anything that Kari told me last night. I understood that you were scared, I was too. I wanted to call you, but I could have never told you how I felt, not over the phone, not then. After I got off the phone, I stayed in my room for the rest of the night. I tried to get sleep, but every time I did fall asleep, I had another terrible nightmare. I did finally rest for a few hours after I cried myself to sleep when I thought about what my life would be like without you."
"You weren't the only person crying yourself to sleep. I ended up doing the same, but when I woke up from my dream, I took a walk. I passed your apartment building…I ended up walking up to Davis's door. I sat to wait for him, but I fell asleep. It's a terrible shame that T.K. has to leave. Worse of all, it was right after you guys started to get better," I frowned.
"Right."
The door opened again. This time, Matt was the one walking through the door.
Matt sat down in a desk by us. "I can't believe Mom would do this to any of us. She's taking you away from you girlfriend, your best friend, your brother, and all your other friends. How could anyone do that? What is so important that she has to move to America?"
"T.K., you didn't tell him why," I whispered in T.K.'s ear.
"There's a reason, but Mom told me not to tell you," T.K. said.
"I'm your brother; I should be able to know everything!" Matt yelled.
"Matt…She found my real father," T.K. softly said.
"I guess she really did love him more than she did my dad. No wonder she only took you. No wonder she didn't care if we never saw each other again," Matt frowned.
"I never thought about that," T.K. said as the classroom filled with kids.
Josh walked up to us.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" Josh asked.
T.K. stood up. "You're going to need to partner up with Al for the project. I won't be here Monday. I won't be here Friday either."
"Why? Where are you going?"
"I'm moving to America."
Josh frowned. "What about your life here? After all that stuff you told me yesterday…About having a great girlfriend and having a really caring brother…Why would you leave?"
"He really didn't have a say in the whole thing. Our mom found his real dad, so they're leaving to go to him," Matt told the both.
"You're Matt Ishida…What are you doing in this school…You're in high school!"
"I'm T.K.'s brother," Matt tried to smile.
"Some people just couldn't wait until after school to see him," Yolei explained.
"And, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?" Josh questioned.
"I'm Yolei Inoue."
"You're T.K.'s girlfriend, but I've never seen you around the school."
"I don't go to this school anymore."
"Oh."
"You guys better get going," Davis told Matt and Yolei.
"Davis is right, you're going to be real late for school," I agreed.
"Yes, very late," Mrs. Shing crossly said.
Everyone turned to look at the teacher.
"Yamato Ishida and Miyako Inoue, why are you here in my classroom? Both of you graduated from this school. Neither of you should be here," Mrs. Shing told them.
"We have very good reasons for being here Mrs. Shing!" Matt quickly said.
"Explain."
"Because Matt is T.K.'s brother and I'm his girlfriend…If that isn't enough for you, I don't care! Why we are here is more important than any class or teacher. More important than anything you could teach. If you don't believe me, I bet anyone of us would be more than happy to explain to you," Yolei said.
"Then someone better start explaining."
Everyone looked at me. I stared at my friends and frowned. "Friends are the key to life. Without them you will be lonely and sour. They are always there for you. Then, you have family, an important element in life. There is this thing we called destiny, some say it is written for you, others say you get to choose it. I believe both…You have to choose the written path, one is good, the other is bad. Sometimes you can't tell. What I'm really trying to say is, is it really right to take someone from their home and friends just because you found someone that was once part of the family? Someone that was never there. T.K. is moving, and each of us are an important element for his life. I'm his best friend, Yolei is his girlfriend, Matt is his brother, Davis and Josh are his friends. Is it really right to stop us from talking when he's moving across an ocean to a new place, to America. No it isn't. So if you don't like the fact that we're talking to each other and that Yolei and Matt are here too…You can just deal with it because right now, this is the most important thing in our lives!"
Mrs. Shing crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
T.K. stood up and smiled. "And if you're mad at Kari for yelling at you, you better be mad at all of us. We don't stand as a single person, we stand together as a team!"
"I'm with both of them; we're standing together as a team, not as a line of people," Davis agreed.
"Are you guys done?" Mrs. Shing asked.
"Nope, this is just the beginning!" Yolei decided.
"Yolei and Matt, call your school and tell them you won't be coming in today. Your reasoning is because your 8th grade teacher requested to see you. I'm not going to make any of you guys do the biography project. That will include Al. T.K., write a list of your friends names. I will call their teachers and send them to the gym," Mrs. Shing told us.
Yolei and Matt walked over to the phone.
"Can these people be in other schools…In a different town?" T.K. asked.
"I'll see what I can do," Mrs. Shing smiled.
I handed T.K. a piece of paper and a pen. "Start writing."
"Right! Cody Hida, Liz, Joe Kido, Lilly, Tai Kamiya, Izzy Izumi, Sora Takenouchi, Mimi Tachikawa, Sidney, Ken Ichijouji, and Jordan…Should I put K.C. and Terry?" T.K. questioned.
"It's up to you T.K.; it's your choice," Davis told the boy.
"I won't…Did I get everyone?" T.K. handed me the paper.
I smiled. "Everyone that isn't here."
T.K. took the paper from me and gave it to Mrs. Shing. He walked back over to us.
"Mrs. Shing said to go to the gym, and that we don't have to go to detention anymore," T.K. said.
"No detention is great, but that won't fix this," I frowned.
"Josh and Al are coming with us. It's not going to be that bad Kari," T.K. told me.
"I guess your right…I'll have friends with me here, but you won't. At least you're closer to Willis…I guess," I tried to smile, but it was too hard.
"Come on Kari," Davis took my hand and pulled me out of the room.
T.K., Yolei, Matt, Josh, and Al followed behind us.
"Mrs. Shing is being nice to you guys, you're pretty lucky T.K.; she must have turned soft," Matt said as we walked into the gym.
"You never told him you got detention, did you?" I asked T.K.
"I might have forgotten to mention that," T.K. laughed.
"Ok, we're going to tell you the good things about you leaving and the bad things," Davis decided.
"There isn't anything good about T.K. leaving," Yolei told him.
"Good reasons are, no more detention, no biography project, and getting out of school for a few days. The bad things are, we're losing a friend, we're losing a friend, we're losing a friend, and did I mention…We're losing a friend," Davis explained.
"You sure do know how to make a boy feel special," T.K. smiled.
"To some, T.K. is just a friend, to another, he was a boyfriend, to me, he was my best friend. So, we are losing more than a friend, we're losing a part of our lives, and a piece of our hearts," I frowned.
T.K. was blushing. "You really know how to make me feel bad about moving, but you know even better how to embarrass a guy."
"Kari, you should have waited for everyone to get here before you said that. It was really touching. I bet everyone would have loved to here that," Matt told me.
"I can repeat it when they get here," I decided.
"That sounds like a good idea," Al agreed.
"What sounds like a good idea?" I heard Sora ask from the gym door.
"Sora!" T.K. smiled.
"Hey there, I heard the bad news," Sora said as she walked towards the boy.
"Are the others coming?" T.K. questioned.
"Yeah…They're just slow," she laughed and turned to Matt. "You had Sidney worried sick! Why didn't you come to school!"
"Sorry Sora, I had to see my brother," Matt explained.
She frowned. "I know. It just made everyone a little scared."
The others walked in.
"T.K.!" Mimi came running up to the boy and hugged him. "I can't believe you're leaving…And right after I moved back."
"It's…Ok…Mimi…But…You're…Choking…Me!" T.K. tried to break free.
Mimi let go. "I'm sorry, I guess I don't know my own strength!"
"It's ok, I can breath now," he smiled.
I saw Tai slowly walking towards me. I hid behind Josh. "Don't let him see me."
"Ok," Josh whispered.
"Move," Tai told the boy.
"Why would you want me to do that?" Josh asked.
"I need to talk to my sister."
"I don't know who you're talking about."
"Kari Kamiya…She's hiding behind you."
"You can't prove it!"
Tai started to laugh. "I can if you move."
Josh looked around the room and stepped to the side. "Sorry Kari."
"It's ok," I frowned.
"Who are you anyways?" Tai asked Josh.
"I'm Josh…I met Kari after she politely hit me," Josh explained.
"Right…Kari…Why did you leave?" Tai questioned me.
"I had to get out of the house, I couldn't go back to bed," I said.
"You scared Mom and me," Tai told me.
"Oh! You're Tai Kamiya…The guy who got hit by the car last year during a soccer club meeting!" Josh quickly said.
Tai looked at his wrists. "I almost forgot about that."
"Anyways Tai, you and Mom were worried and all that good stuff…At least I called," I smiled.
"You called from Davis's! You fell asleep outside his apartment door!" Tai yelled.
"Well, right now I don't think that is really important!" I shouted.
"It is very important! You don't know what could have happened to you!"
"Well, nothing did happen to me! And for the record…T.K. is much more important than me or you or anyone else to me right now!"
Tai put his hands on my shoulders and shook me. "I know that, but that doesn't me I still can't worry about you!"
I pushed him away and started to walk away. "Leave me alone Tai! You'll never understand what I'm going through!"
I walked up to T.K., he was talking to Cody.
T.K. quickly looked at me.
"Kari, what's wrong?" Cody asked me.
I fell into T.K.'s arm and started to cry. "Tai's a jerk. An insensitive jerk that will never understand anything that I ever go through. Not this, not the Dark World, not anything."
"What happen Kari?" T.K. demanded.
"I woke up from a dream and took a walk and I ended up falling asleep in front of Davis's door and Tai was yelling at me because of it," I explained.
"Was it a bad dream? What was it about?" T.K. questioned.
I looked him in the eyes. "It was a bad dream…And it was about you and me."
T.K. scanned me. "Dreams are dreams, they don't mean anything."
"I don't want you to leave," I whispered.
"I don't want to leave either, but I don't have a choice," T.K. told me.
"Why was I first on your list?" I asked.
T.K. hesitated.
"T.K., I need to know," I said.
"Uh…Come into the hall," T.K. decided.
We quickly went out in the hall.
"T.K., will you tell me now?" I questioned.
T.K. looked around the room. "After what happened last year between us…I never thought our friendship would be broken or be lost. After what you told me in the hallway…After all of that stuff we went through…I never thought I would lose you."
"That doesn't really explain why I was the first person you called," I told him.
"I guess you were first on my list because you're the only one that I really thought deserved to know…Or maybe it's because I lied last year when I said I was over you. I'm not that sure," he frowned.
"You know I only have friendship for you," I reminded him.
"I know, and I'm with Yolei, but my heart will-" T.K. started.
"Don't say it! Don't say it! Just stop there…I don't want to know anymore!" I yelled.
"I was just going to say that my heart will always have spot for you," he whispered.
I stared at him. "You were?"
"Yeah…What did you think I was going to say?"
"I thought you were going to say that your heart would always belong to me."
"What would make you think that?"
"The dream I had last night."
"Kari, we're going to need to talk about this…Do you think you'll be able to come over for dinner at my house tonight?" T.K. wondered.
"Dinner…Tonight? I'll be there," I smiled.
"We'll figure all of this out, and things will finally be straight," T.K. smiled.
I nodded my head and saw Ken, Jordan, Joe, and Lilly walking towards us. "Right"
"I told you guys I knew where I was going," Jordan smiled when she saw us.
"Hey guys, I'm glad you could make it," T.K. told them.
"I had a major test that I got out of…Thank you; I so wasn't ready," Lilly said.
"Just be glad I was in this school last year…If I wasn't, we would have been totally lost," Jordan explained to us.
"Why? Joe was in this school," I remembered.
"Yeah, in 8th grade…That was over four years ago," Joe frowned.
"But, where are the others, and shouldn't you guys be in the gym?" Ken asked.
T.K. nervously laughed. "Yeah, they're in the gym, we were just going in."
Lilly opened the gym door and walked in. "Come on."
Yolei walked up to us. "Kari, everyone is here…You should tell them what you said earlier."
"Of course," I smiled. I walked into the center of the gym.
"Excuse me," I quietly said.
"Let me do the honor," Matt told me. "Hey everyone! Shut your mouths! Kari has something important to say!"
"Thanks Matt," I frowned.
"All eyes are on you," he smiled.
I looked at everyone. "Today we are gathered together in this gym for T.K. To some, T.K. is just a friend, to another, he is a boyfriend, to me, he was my best friend. So, we are losing more than a friend, we're losing a part of our lives, and a piece of our hearts."
Izzy walked up to me. "And to some he was a brother. A person we can't ever replace."
"So, let us remember what happened the past year with T.K.," Mimi decided.
"We had Willis come and visit," Yolei yelled out.
"We had some hearts broken!" Cody remembered.
"We had crushes told and secrets revealed," I pointed out.
"We had Mimi moving back to Japan," Tai said.
"We had Tai get hit by a car," Sora reminded us.
"We had that huge concert!" Matt blurted.
"And we all found a girlfriend or a boyfriend," Ken smiled.
"I guess the only thing that is left is that our new friends know our secrets," I decided.
Ken walked up to me. "If you want to, I'll support you all the way."
I looked around the room and nodded my head. "It's time."
"Kari, just take it one step at a time," Izzy told me.
"Listen up people. Kari and I haven't been so truthful to the new comers. We have a couple of secrets that we need to tell you," Ken said.
Jordan looked confused.
"Um…Lets start with something that isn't too big…Ken and I both suffer from depression," I confessed to everyone.
"And the other thing is probably bigger to us, but we'll need Davis up here," Ken said.
Davis walked up to us. "Are you sure you guys are ready for this?"
"After finding out T.K. is moving, I'm ready for anything," I told him.
Davis nodded his head and pulled up his sleeve. I pulled off the glove that covered my right arm. I looked at the palm of my hand and noticed that the cut was gone.
"Davis, it isn't there," I whispered.
He looked at his arm. "Neither is mine."
I walked over to Ken and moved his hair so I could see the back of his neck. "Gone."
"Um…We'll be back in a few minutes, we need to, uh, talk about something!" Ken pulled us into the hallway.
"I think I have an idea about why the cuts aren't there," I said.
"What?" Davis questioned.
"The day they came back, I was blaming myself for everything. When the cuts were gone, I wasn't blaming myself anymore. I think they have a connection," I explained.
"That sounds good…I think you're the link to all the cuts. Your feelings and emotions trigger them," Ken agreed.
"Maybe we should wait to tell them about the Dark World; one day it will just slip out, and they'll ask, and we'll explain," I decided.
"Sounds like a great plan," Davis smiled.
We walked back into the gym.
"So, we're waiting for this other secret," Jordan told us.
"That secret, well, before I really got to know you…I didn't like you because you were taking time away from me and my best friend," Davis smiled.
"You're lying, but I'll let it go…For now," she laughed.
"One day we'll tell you, just, today isn't the day," Ken frowned.
Jordan shook her head and looked at me. "I give him my love, and he keeps secrets from me."
"Just give us time, then we'll tell you all about it. I promise Jordan," I smiled.
"Right," Ken nodded.
"So Davis…You didn't like me at first," Jordan said.
"About that, I'll tell you all about it," Davis decided as they walked off.
"I never thought the Dark World was so confusing," I told Ken.
"You're talking about the Dark World, just saying the name confuses me," Ken admitted.
I looked over and saw Al staring at us. I looked at Ken. "Told you that one day it would just slip out. I just didn't think it would be so soon."
"What's her name?" Ken asked.
"Al."
"Hey Al, come over here, we're going to need to talk," Ken called her.
Al slowly walked over to us.
"I didn't mean to hear your conversation, you guys were just kind of being loud," Al admitted.
"You don't need to do the explaining…We do," Ken decided.
"Yeah, when you were listening to us you must have heard us say the Dark World," I said.
"I did," she agreed.
"The Dark World is where Kari and I go sometimes when we touch," Ken tried to explain.
"I'll explain it better. The Dark World is a place Ken and I would go to when we would sometimes touch last year. We think it is a part of our minds and that we created the place because of our depression," I told her.
"Oh, now I remember, it was when we had the same though and we were touching. We also had cuts from this place, but they randomly come and go," Ken smiled.
"Ok, I think I understand," Al nodded her head and walked away.
"That was awkward," Ken frowned.
"Just a little," I agreed.
"So, how are you taking T.K.'s move?" Ken asked me.
"I'm going to go over to his apartment for dinner tonight, and I'm going to feel so out of place there," I admitted.
"He's your best friend, why would you feel out of place?"
"I never went over to his house for dinner, and I never really was there when his mom was, so I don't want any weird conversation topics to come up…Also, T.K. has some things he needs to tell me, which kind of makes me shaky."
"I'm sure everything will be fine, don't worry so much about it," Ken told me.
"I hope you're right," I smiled.
"Come on Kari, be a little optimistic," Ken said.
"I'm trying my hardest," I blushed.
"Come on, the others are having fun, we should too," Ken decided.
He pulled me over to Cody, Liz, Yolei, T.K., and Jordan.
"Hey Kari," Liz smiled.
"Hey," I softly said.
"Something's wrong Kari, what is it?" T.K. asked me.
"I'm fine," I lied.
"Lying doesn't get you anywhere in life. Why don't you tell us the truth?" Cody questioned.
"It's nothing, really," I frowned.
Jordan walked up to me and put her hand on my cheek. "Are you sure? You're looking pale and you're burning up."
"Kari, Kari, Kari, no, this can't be happening. Come on Kari, you're sitting down," T.K. told me.
"Do you think it's possible T.K.?" Yolei asked him.
"It's pretty likely," he frowned.
"Guys, I'm fine…Really," I tried to smile.
"She's not going to come easy," Cody told them.
"Ladies, stay here while we bring Kari to a chair," T.K. said.
"We'll be right back. Ok, come on Kari," Ken picked me off the ground.
"I have no idea about what's going on," Liz said.
"Neither do I, but I've learned that both Kari and Ken have some kind of weird bond that they won't tell me about, so I've learned to trust them," Jordan explained.
"We'll be back as soon as we can," Cody smiled.
"Yolei, keep them entertained, we'll take care of Kari," T.K. said as we walked off.
