After watching a few TV shows, the phone rang. I quickly grabbed it off the charger.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Kari! I just got off the phone with Davis. You won't believe what he told me!" Yolei yelled.
"What? Hurry, tell me!" I was getting excited.
"He told me he decided to take my advice. Davis didn't leave the school. Said something about even though the only person he could believe in walked away from him didn't mean he had to walk away from her. Girl, he said I was right! Oh, before I forget, T.K. said Davis was smiling during the rest of the school day. He wouldn't tell T.K. why though."
"He still cares?"
"About you? Of course he does! You know that boy is crazy about you."
I sighed and leaned against the wall.
"You ok? Are you starting to worry about Davis again?"
"Yeah…"
"Don't worry, I told him if he needed anything to call me."
"You're going to fill me in on everything?"
"Duh! Ready for tomorrow?"
"When are we meeting T.K. at the pool?"
"Around two. Come early if you want to…I am."
"Tai will be leaving at the same time as I am."
"Your point?"
"He'll be there."
"That doesn't matter. Make sure you bring a change of clothes…We're going out for pizza after we're done at the pool."
"I think I'm ready for tomorrow right now!"
"Be patient! I only wish that Willis could be here to share this with us."
"Willis! That reminds me, I should call him."
"Ok, see you tomorrow."
"You will…And I'll be ready."
"Perfecto!" Yolei chirped as she hung up her phone.
"Yep," I smiled as I placed the phone down. I slowly walked to the bedroom and knocked on the door. I waited for Tai to answer.
The door opened. "Why'd you knock? It's your room to!"
"I know, but it's a privacy thing," I winked as I walked in.
"What do you need?"
"Is it ok if I call Willis? I haven't talk to him since the first day of school."
"No need to ask. Hey, invite him to T.K.'s pool party!" he laughed.
"Tai!" I yelled as I walked out of the room and slammed the door behind me.
"No need to be mean!" Tai shouted.
I quickly dialed Willis's number.
"Hello?" a woman answered the phone.
"Hello, may I please speak to Willis?" I asked.
"Willis? Just a second," I was placed on hold.
I softly hummed to myself as I waited for Willis to get to the phone.
"Hey, this is Willis!" he laughed.
"Willis? Hey, it's Kari," I said.
"Kari? You never call anymore!"
"I know, I've been busy."
"Fill me in on everything."
"You aren't busy?"
"No, not right now. I was just getting ready to go out, but you're more important right now."
"Well…T.K. came back from America and he's throwing a pool party. Want to come?"
"I wish! What about you?"
"I broke up with Davis," I mumbled.
"What? You're lying! You'd never do that, not in a million years! Right?" Willis was shocked.
"Don't worry…I'm going to talk to him tomorrow at the party. I'm going to tell him I made a mistake. Yolei thinks he'll understand once I explain it to him."
"Hmmm…You better make sure I know everything that happens! I hate being left out, and I won't be getting back to Japan until winter time! I feel so unwanted."
"Willis, you know we love you over here! I mean, what would we do without our American friend? At least, I miss you. I still think about everything that happened with you here. Sometimes, I sit up in bed and wonder what it would be like if you lived here."
"Aww, you're too much…"
"I don't want to keep you too long. Don't be afraid to call."
"Same to you!"
"Get ready to go out."
"Right, bye Kari," there was a click.
I slightly laughed and put the phone down.
"Is that laughing I hear out there?" Tai yelled from the bedroom.
I walked over to the door and walked in.
Tai smiled at me. "I haven't heard you laugh like that in days!"
"Sorry, I'll try to control myself," I winked.
He didn't say anything back, he just stared at my dresser.
"You were late when you got home. And you came in with a bag from shopping. What did you buy this time? You're not much of a shopper."
"You broke the picture frame with you and Davis in it. I bought you a new frame, but I wasn't thinking when I got it," he took out the frame. "Here…You can still have it."
It was a deep red frame with a heart in the upper, right corner. It was beautiful, and much better than the boring black frame I broke. I took out the picture from under a stack of papers and placed it in the new frame. "Thank you Tai…I love it."
"Kari, will you be ok?"
I stared into his eyes. They were full of sadness and fear. "I'm not that sure yet."
"Want to do anything?"
"Aren't you doing homework?"
"I'll blow it off for you!"
"What do you want to do?"
"Hmm…I was thinking we could…Uh…Do what ever you want to do."
"I want to go outside and take a walk."
"Where to?"
"Maybe over to Yolei's?"
"Ok."
"No! I want to see Izzy!"
"Fine by me…Maybe he'll do my homework!" Tai laughed.
"You should just do your own homework."
"That's too much work for me."
"Aww, you're just too lazy!" I moaned as we walked out of the bedroom.
We slipped on our shoes and Tai wrote a quick note to Mom saying where we were going. I grabbed the keys to the door and we left.
We slowly walked down the road and found ourselves in front of Izzy's apartment building. We ran up the stairs and knocked on his door.
"Tai, Kari! Hey, come on in," Izzy smiled as he let us in.
We slowly walked into the living room.
"So, what are you guys doing here?" Izzy turned to me. "I haven't seen you in awhile. When was the last time I saw you…Before you left to get T.K.? I feel so left out!"
"Sorry Izzy…I've been busy," I smiled.
"Who cares…I've filled you in on everything. Now, what were we talking about…Oh yeah! You wanted to do my homework…Isn't that right?" Tai smiled.
"Of course…As long as you do mine," Izzy decided.
"What? That's not fair!"
"It's perfectly fair if you think about it. I get to do your homework while you do mine."
"Anybody want to do mine while we're talking about this?" I chimed in.
"You're only doing 8th grade work…That would be easy to do. Now, if you guys want to pay me a lovely fee of a dollar a problem…We have a deal!" Izzy laughed.
"Forget that! I don't have that kind of money!" Tai joined in the laughter.
I sighed and let out a small giggle.
"Oh, I almost forgot! Kari, how did it go with getting T.K. back? How mad was Mrs. Takaishi?" Izzy questioned.
"At first, Mrs. Takaishi was shocked that Yolei and I came. In the end, she gladly agreed to come back to Japan," I said.
"Really? It was that easy? Didn't T.K. argue?"
"No, when we walked into his room, he was so sad and miserable. T.K. said that he understood everything, and noticed that the guy they were living with was nothing like him."
"That's good."
"What kind of mom would lie to her son? It's so stupid!" Tai yelled.
"It is, but there's nothing we can do about it," I nodded.
"T.K. said he was having a pool party. I'm glad it's tomorrow and not Saturday!" Izzy sat down on the floor.
"What's so important about Saturday?" Tai demanded.
"You forgot? I told you two days ago. Every month Mimi and I make plans on Saturday. Most of the time we have a picnic and watch the stars until midnight."
"That's cute," I told him.
Tai scratched his head and stared at Izzy. "I don't remember you telling me any of this."
"You're hopeless!"
We heard the front door open.
"Izzy? Who's over?" Mrs. Izumi questioned.
"Come on, my mom's home. You should probably get going," Izzy smiled.
Mrs. Izumi walked up to us.
"Why didn't you tell me you were going to have company Izzy? Hello Kari, hello Tai," Mrs. Izumi greeted us with a sweet smile.
"They were just leaving," Izzy quickly said.
"Well, just because I came home doesn't mean you have to kick your friends out. Come on Izzy, I can't possibly be that bad!"
"No, I was just saying, it's getting late and their parents are probably getting worried."
"You guys stay as long as you want to. I'm getting ready to cook dinner. If you want to stay for dinner, that's fine by me."
"Mom probably won't be coming home until late," Tai nodded.
"We left a note, and if we didn't she'll get to calling over here," I agreed.
"Ok then, Mr. Izumi will be home soon, so we'll have dinner ready by then," Mrs. Izumi went to the kitchen.
"Come on, we can go outside for a little bit. I have something I want to show you guys," Izzy decided as he looked at the kitchen door. "Mom! We're going outside for a few minutes. Call me if we're not back for dinner!"
"Ok! Be careful honey," Mrs. Izumi called back.
"Right!" Izzy opened the front door and let us out.
"So, what did you want to show us?" Tai asked.
"Come on, it's over by the road," Izzy showed us the way.
We heard whistling. I looked over to see someone walking down the sidewalk.
"Who's that?" I looked at Izzy.
"Beats me!" Izzy laughed.
"Hmm…Is that…Sidney?" Tai wondered. "Sidney!"
The person walked over to us and smiled softly. It was Sidney.
"What are you doing all the way over here?" Tai questioned.
"I'm just taking a little walk. I sometimes get a little bored at my place. Anyways, I like to just walk around…It gives me something to do," Sidney explained.
"Makes sense," I nodded.
"What about you dorks?" she winked.
Tai slightly pushed Sidney. "We're taking a walk…No, we're following Izzy. He was going to show us something, but you interrupted it."
"Don't be mean Tai. Want to come with us?" Izzy asked.
"Sounds great! I can keep Kari busy because I know how much she hates hanging out with you two. And, I could use someone to talk to," Sindey smiled as we began to walk again.
We stopped by a tree. I slightly smiled. We were at the same tree that Davis and I climb a year ago when we had the water fight with the others.
"We need to climb it," Izzy explained as he went up the tree.
Izzy helped me up the tree and Tai followed. He help Sidney get up and we sat at the top.
"What's up with being in the tree?" Tai questioned.
"The sun is starting to set," Sidney pointed out.
"Perfect view!" I giggled.
"Uh…The sun set?" Tai was confused.
"Wait a few minutes," Izzy said.
After a few minutes, the sun was gone and the stars were out.
"Right there!" Izzy shot his arm out. "That star!"
"A star? Wow, that's really important," Tai rolled his eyes.
"Not just any star, it's the group's star. I got it named for us. It's called friends forever. I thought it would be cool to have something there for us until we die. You see, it won't turn into a black hole for at least a hundred years. By then we'll be dead!"
"That's so cool!" Sidney laughed.
"It was a great idea. How much did it cost?" I wondered.
"Oh, not that much," Izzy smiled.
"How much?" I demanded.
"Just a hundred dollars, but it will forever be ours. It was really worth it."
"It's great Izzy," Tai nodded. "Though, you didn't need to spend that much money on the team."
"It was a present…We need one once in awhile. Anyways, we should be getting back. Would you like to come over for dinner Sidney?" Izzy asked.
"Sure, as long as it's ok with your parents," she said.
"Of course!" Izzy stood on the branch, but he lost his balance and began to fall.
"Izzy!" I cried.
"Ah!" he screamed and there was a thud.
"Izzy!" everyone climbed after him.
I ran over to him. He was knocked out. I grabbed his cell phone and called his mom to come get him so he could be brought to the hospital. Tai, Sidney, and I all went with them. Once at the hospital, Izzy went to get checked on. We had to wait while Mrs. Izumi went with the doctor.
I was pacing the waiting room. "I hope Izzy's ok. This is terrible! What if he's really hurt? Could we have done something to prevent this from happening?"
"Calm down Kari…You're making me nervous!" Tai shouted.
"Young man, please lower your voice," a nurse hissed at Tai.
"Sorry," he looked away.
"Kari, I'm sure Izzy will be fine. He's a strong boy. Just try to calm down. You know everything will be ok," Sidney reassured me.
"I just can't help it…I hate seeing my friends hurt." I was are the edge of crying.
Mrs. Izumi walked up to us. "Come, on, would you guys like to see Izzy?"
I slightly smiled and nodded. Sidney and Tai followed me into Izzy's room.
Izzy was lying in the bed. His head and left arm were wrapped. His eyes were barely open, but he saw us when we came in and smiled.
"How are you doing?" I questioned.
"It hurts…Everything hurts so much," Izzy mumbled.
"Hang in there, you'll be ok," Tai reassured him.
"I just hope I'll be ok for tomorrow…I want to go to T.K.'s party."
"You will, you will," Sidney smiled.
"I'm sorry…I ruined our night. It was so fun until I fell. Stupid tree…No good, stupid tree."
I walked up towards Izzy. I softly smiled. "Tonight was great, just what I needed after what happened between Davis and me."
"You really think so?" he wondered.
"Of course!"
"Hey! What do you mean? What happened between you and Davis?" Sidney demanded.
"Kari broke up with him," Tai simply answered.
Sidney was shocked. "Wh-what!
"Don't worry, everything will be better by tomorrow. Right Izzy?" I questioned.
"Yeah! Tomorrow will be a good day!" Izzy laughed.
"I'm glad we got you to laugh. I would know that after getting hurt, laughter is the hardest thing to find," Tai softly explained.
"Is Tai being sympathetic?" Sidney joked. "That's something you don't see everyday!"
Mrs. Izumi walked into the room. "Are you guys ready to go home? Izzy is free to go now."
Izzy got up and I finally noticed something. I already saw the wraps on his arm and even his head, but what I didn't notice was that he was hurt. He was in the same possession as Tai was when he got hit by the car. Finally, it all came to me. I remembered about the day Mom and Dad got in a fight over my depression. It was because I opened my big mouth after I figured out about Tai's surgery! He never explained to me why he had it. I was never told, and now that I remembered about it, I wanted to know!
"Why did you have surgery Tai?" I mumbled.
"Huh?" he turned to look at me.
"I want to know now! Tell me why you were keeping it from me! And, Taichi, don't tell me because you didn't want me to be scared. I want the real reason!" I snapped.
"I-it's not important right n-now," Tai stuttered.
"Yes it is! Taichi Kamiya, tell me right now! I need to know!" I raised my fist.
"Kari!" Izzy held me back. "Don't do this right now. It's been too long, you've been doing too good. Calm down, don't have another outburst. Don't snap like you did last year…It's not worth it!"
"Kari," Sidney tried to place her hand on my shoulder, but I pulled away from her and Izzy.
"You're right, it's not worth it. Nothings worth anything anymore! We just live a world built on lies and hate. All it brings is misery and sadness. Why even try anymore? To try to find happiness? Love? None of that exists! Nothing's really real in this world, we're just a bunch of fakes…Meaningless fakes. Why do we even try to live in this world? We know nothing's going to get better. That's what I've decided. I'm giving up! Nothings worth it anymore! Nothing!" I fell to my knees in tears.
Izzy's cell phone began to ring. "Hello? Hold on. Tai, it's your mom."
"Hello?" Tai took the phone. "She what? At the hospital. Maybe…Yes! I will Mom, don't worry."
"Tai? What did your mother need?" Mrs. Izumi calmly asked.
"She found Kari's anti-depressants' bottle. Kari…Hasn't been taking them."
"I don't need them anymore! I don't want them! You said yourself that I don't need them!" I yelled.
"After what happened between you and Davis, you need more than those pills. You need some therapy!" Tai shouted at me.
My eyes widened. "What happened between Davis and me is none of your business!"
"Anything that happens to you is my business."
"No! This is something that happened between Davis and me, nothing with you."
"I don't care!"
"Well, you be-"
"Shut up!" Sidney screamed. I turned to her. "I don't care what you're fighting about, but it must stop. We're in a hospital, this is no place to fight. Can't you see, Izzy got hurt and all you care about right now is your family issues. Yes, they're important, but you should also be caring about Izzy. Tai, you need to calm yourself down. You have no right to be budding into other people's business. Kari, you shouldn't have stopped taking your medician. No matter how happy you may feel, you need to keep taking it until the doctors tell you to stop. I hate when people are like this. You're supposed to be brother and sister, but the way you've been acting, you seen like an old grandpa and grandma who have been married fifty years! Now, stop acting like a bunch of fools and start acting the way you should!"
"I'm sorry Izzy," Tai mumbled.
I looked to the door. "Is it ok if I go home now?"
"I'll walk with you. Mom, could you drive Sidney and Tai home? I'll meet up with you later," Izzy decided for us.
"Are you sure you're up to walking?" Mrs. Izumi questioned.
"I'll be fine! Lets get going Kari," he opened the door and walked out. I followed him.
Slowly, we began to walk out of the hospital. Soon, we were on the way to my apartment building.
It was dark out, not a single star lit the sky. Izzy stayed close to me as we tried to find our way through the darkness. I looked over to him. Trying to find the right words to say, I opened my mouth. Sadly, no words came out.
"Don't say anything," Izzy glanced at me.
His words stung. I felt my heart pounding in my chest.
"Uh, that came out the wrong way. Kari, I quess I'm a little stressed out."
"It's ok," I mumbled. "I haven't been myself either."
"That rough without him?" he questioned.
"What?"
"Without Davis. Is it hard not having him around?"
"He'll always be around. I can feel him breathing on me every second of the day. No matter where we might be, he'll be there. We may be apart physically, but mentally, we'll always be together," I explained to him.
"Oh, that makes sense," Izzy nodded as we made our way up the stairs to the door of my apartment.
"Well, you can come in and wait for your mom," I smiled.
"Nah, I'll wait downstairs."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll be fine!" he laughed and headed back down.
"Ok then, bye," I waved.
"Bye," Izzy slightly smiled and waved back.
I walked into the apartment.
"Kari! Where's Tai?" my mom asked.
"He'll be here shortly. I left before him," I told her.
"By yourself?"
"Izzy walked me home."
"Oh, ok," she went back to the kitchen.
"Mom, I'm sorry," I admitted.
She turned to me. "For what?"
"I haven't been myself lately. Have I? I shouldn't have stopped taking my medicine. I just felt like I didn't need it anymore. I was so happy, I felt like I could get off of it. I was wrong, wasn't I? I've just been going through a lot, but you wouldn't know. I stopped telling you everything. That's the worse thing I have ever done. Mom, I'm sorry for doing all the wrong things. I'll try harder to go back to normal. It will be hard, but I'll try. I promise you Mom!" I began to let tears flow down my cheeks.
My mother held me. Softly, she tried to calm me down.
"I don't want to be stuck all alone. I don't want to be scared all of my life. Everytime I seem to gain something, I lose something else in the process. Why does it always happen to me? Why can't I just be happy for once? Why can't I just be normal?" I whimpered.
"You're not alone dear. There will always be someone here for you. No matter what happens, I'll always care about you. And, Tai and even Davis will always be here for you. Make something good out of what you lose. You don't have to be scared all your life, Kari, you have to force yourself to be stronger. It will be very hard, but it's all you can do. This happens to everyone, even Tai. You'll be happy, you just have to let yourself be. Kari, you're as normal as the next person, don't let anyone make you feel any different," my mom explained to me.
I closed my eyes and held back another set of tears. "I broke up with Davis."
Her grip became tighter around me. My words shocked her as much as they had shocked Davis. The silence made me know she couldn't find the right words to say to my comment. Finally, the front door crashed open and I knew Tai came home. Slowly, Mom let go of me. She was relieved that someone came to help her out a little.
"Tai! You're finally home," she let out a airy giggle.
Tai looked at me. He scanned up and down my body. He sensed that something was wrong with me. His eyes grew wide and he pulled up his arm. Slowly, he tried to reach for me.
"What's wrong with Kari?" Tai demanded.
"Nothing, it's fine Tai," she lied.
"It's not close to fine," I blurted.
Tai placed his arm on my sholder. "Don't worry Kari, it will be ok."
"No, it won't," I frowned before passing out.
I opened my eyes. I couldn't tell where I was or it was reality or not. I was covered with blanks and was on a bed. For some odd reason, I felt really safe. There was a wet towel on my forehead. I remembered the night when Tai came home and took care of me. After what happened between Ken and me, I was scared, but he was there for me. I pulled my arm up and touched the towel. It was cold, I was hot. I felt alone, I couldn't see anyone around me. I quietly began to moan. I wanted to know if someone was there.
"Kari, you're awake. I'm glad, I was scared," I heard someone speak.
"Davis," I mumbled. "Davis!"
"Kari!" a hand was placed on my cheek. "Snap out of it. Get up!"
"I want Davis! Where is he?" I demanded.
"You broke up with Davis! He won't be coming any time soon!"
My eyes widened. I was brought back to reality. Tears formed in my eyes. "Why did I do it?"
I finally noticed it was Tai that was talking to me. "I don't know, you never told me. I don't think you told anyone…"
"Yolei knows, I had to tell her…"
"So, you must have a reason."
"I do Tai, I really do. I'm just too scared to let anyone know. I don't want to admit my mistake."
"That makes sense Kari."
"I know you want me to tell you, and I know I can trust you with a secret like this, but I can't. Don't worry, you'll figure it out sooner or later. I promise you, you'll end up knowing what I'm hiding."
"What happen to no more secrets?" Tai wondered.
I slightly smiled. "Sometimes, just sometimes, you have to take back the things you say. This has been one of those times."
"That's understandable. Well, Kari, thanks for telling me that. I've been feeling like we were losing are communication. You know what I mean?"
"Even if I'm not talking to you, it doesn't mean I don't want to. Sometimes, you have to force me to talk. I like to lock things inside, you should know that by now," I winked.
Tai messed up my hair. "I know that, I've only lived with you my whole life." He began to walk out the door.
"Uh, Tai…Before you go, could you tell me something?"
"Sure."
"Where are we?"
"You're in the bedroom," Tai laughed.
"I am?" I jumped off the bed. A sharp pain shot my head. "Ah!" I fell to my knees.
"What's wrong? Come on Kari, talk to me," Tai pleaded.
"My head! It's pounding so hard! Why won't the throbbing stop?"
"Uh…Kari, hold on. Just calm down and take some deep breathes," he couched me.
I slowly inhaled and held my breathe. Trying to keep myself from screaming in pain, I let out the air. "Please tell me that ringing is the phone!"
"Kari," there was knocking on the door, "Yolei's on the phone for you."
Tai opened the door and got the phone for me. He then handed it to me.
"Hello?" I weakly said.
"Kari? You sound out of it," Yolei chirped.
"Sorry, I'm not feeling so good right now."
"Izzy called me. I also talked to Davis."
My face lit up. "Really?"
"Yep! He needed help with his homework."
"Yolei! I thought you got more information."
"Sorry, sorry. Izzy told me what happened. He can be so stupid sometimes! I mean, it must take a lot of talent to fall out of a tree."
"Yeah…"
"What's wrong Kari? You need to stop worrying about Davis. He'll be fine! I promise you, everything will be fine."
"I know, but it's difficult to believe it."
"Have some confidence! Don't be so down."
"I'll try Yolei, I promise."
"Good, get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye," I hung up the phone.
"You should get some sleep. It's starting to get late," Tai smiled at me.
"Are you going to stay in here with me?" I wondered.
"Huh? What? You want me to stay in here?" he questioned.
"Please, stay in here until I fall asleep…I don't want to be alone right now."
Reaching out his arm, Tai patted my head. "I'm going to go to bed too. We should leave early to get to T.K.'s little party."
"Thank you," I smiled as I walked over to the bed.
Tai climbed up to the top bunk after turning off the light.
"Good night Tai," I whispered up to him.
"Night Kari," he softly said back.
I smiled and drifted off to sleep. It was the first sleep I had that was restful. No nightmares, no tossing or turning, no waking up in a cold sweat, just calm dreams of nothing.
The phone began to ring and woke me up from my sleep.
"Phone," I mumbled. "Phone!" I jumped out of bed and picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey Kari, I just wanted to call to make sure you remembered about my pool party today," T.K. softly said across the phone.
"Thanks for the wake up call. If you didn't call, I might have slept all day. I remember the party, don't worry. I'm going to wake up Tai and then get ready. We should be there in less than an hour if Tai goes fast enough," I smiled.
"Don't rush yourself. Kari, before you go, are you ok? I haven't had a chance to talk to you since you left school yesterday."
"I'll be fine T.K., don't worry! All I need is to go for a nice swim."
"If you say so! I'll talk to you later then."
"Bye," I hung up the phone and went to wake up Tai.
Letting out a yawn, Tai smiled and looked at me. "Morning already?"
"Come on, we have to get ready for that pool party!" I turned away from him and began to search through my dresser.
"Do you even own a bathing suit? You didn't go swimming all summer," Tai joined me.
"I do," I stared at the two piece bathing suit.
"What about the Dark World?" Tai wondered.
My heart began to pound at the thought. Was Ken going to be at the party as well? "What about the Dark World?"
"The cut, is it still there?"
"It will be fine! I'll just say I got cut by something. Anyways, most of the people there know about the Dark World thing."
He nodded as he reached for his swimming trunks. "That's a good plan. You can get ready in the bedroom. I'll be waiting in the living room for you."
"Thank you," I waved him out of the room.
