Hey people! It's time for the second chapter! As I said in the first one, even chapters are from Sora's POV. I hope you enjoy reading it! Don't forget to leave a review after you finish reading.
Chapter 2: Making Up
I laced my hands together behind my back as I anxiously waited for someone to answer the door from the Ishida apartment that morning. After a conversation with my mother, I was able to understand Yamato's disappointment at me because of the event from yesterday. I knew I had to talk to him before school and apologize for what I did, and maybe hope he'd agree to walk to school with me. I was leaned over the balcony admiring the view when Mr. Ishida opened the door. I immediately turned around and greeted him with a smile on my lips.
"Good morning, Mr. Ishida!" I said cheerfully. "Is Yamato still there?"
"Good morning to you too, Sora. Nice to see you around." Mr. Ishida replied as he lit up a cigarette. "I'm afraid he's not. He said he had to clean the classroom today, so he left earlier."
"Oh I see." I tried to hide my suspicions as much as I could. "I guess I'll talk to him at school then. Thanks, Mr. Ishida! Have a nice day!"
"You too, Sora. Drop by anytime you want."
"I will." I said over my shoulder and the disappeared in the hall.
"She's gone." Mr. Ishida said from the outside.
"Thanks for covering for me." Yamato stopped beside him.
"I don't know what happened, but you need to talk to her and let her explain. Especially seeing you so upset last night, even after you talked to Gabumon. Sora seemed genuinely sorry."
"I know, dad." He looked towards the stairs. "I just wasn't expecting her to show up right now."
"What difference does it make at what time you two talk about it?"
"I just don't want to risk running into Taichi and having him being the focus once again."
"You realize she will figure out everything as soon as she arrives at school and doesn't see you there, don't you?"
Yamato bit his lower lip. It was obvious that detail slipped him. "Actually, no. I didn't think about it. Oh well, I guess I was caught in my lie already."
"Yamato, are you sure you see Sora only as a friend?" Mr. Ishida asked. "I mean, I know you are childhood friends and obviously you care a lot about each other. But sometimes things change, you know?"
"No, dad… not you too." Yamato rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yes, I only see Sora as my friend and I hope it stays that way. It would be weird if we start dating."
"If you say so."
"Mom asks the same question almost whenever we see each other, and Sora's mother did a few times as well. Honestly, I'm sure Sora agrees with me. There's no way she can look at me as a potential boyfriend. And I can fully affirm I don't see her as a girlfriend for me."
"Alright." Mr. Ishida finished his cigarette and headed towards the door. "I should go to work."
"And I'm leaving for school before I am late." Yamato followed his father inside.
.
On my way to school, I couldn't keep my mind off what Mr. Ishida told me about Yamato having to clean the classroom. Something wasn't clicking, and I was pretty sure he was only supposed to do it next week. So he was actually avoiding me because I chose to walk home with Taichi instead of him. I didn't blame him for being upset about that, I did actually break our tradition. I had no idea he would be this upset, though. I sighed deeply at the same time I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Yamato?!" I quickly turned around, hoping to see him with the same foolish smile he has whenever he scares me like that. It wasn't him this time, though, and my disappointment was very visible. "Oh hey, Mimi."
"I'm sorry I'm not your blonde Prince Charming." Mimi said playfully. "Good morning!"
"Good morning to you too." I smiled softly to her. "I'm sorry for thinking you were Yamato."
"It's okay, Sora. You were probably waiting for him. By the way, I love the fact you didn't even deny he's your Prince Charming."
"Why does everyone keep suggesting I like him or he likes me?" I said frustrated. "It's very possible for a boy and a girl to be only good friends."
"I know, but you two look so cute!" Mimi squealed happily. "I find it amazing and beautiful that you are childhood friends. It's very rare to find this kind of friendship nowadays."
"Thanks." I smiled softly. "I guess Yamato and I have a one-of-a-kind friendship. I thank our mothers for being teenage friends and making it last so many years. We've literally known each other since we were babies. So…" I tried to change the subject. "I thought you'd only come to Japan for summer vacation."
"Yeah, but Taichi's birthday is coming up and I thought I could throw him a surprise party, since I have missed his last few birthdays."
"That sounds a good idea, Mimi!" I said excitedly. "I'm sure he'll love it."
"Would you help me planning it?"
"Eh…" I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head. "Yeah, sure!"
"Great!" Mimi clapped her hands together. "Can I stop by your house later, so we can talk about it?"
"I'll be a little busy today. Can we do it tomorrow?"
"Yes, no problem! We can go straight from school, if that's okay for you."
"It is. I'm sure my mother will love to see you again."
"I can't wait to see her and eat her delicious food."
I couldn't help but laugh. "I'll tell her to buy some candies to put in your food."
"Yay!" Mimi said cheerfully. "Alright, I'm going to the mall to see if I can find him a good present. I'll talk to you later."
"Have fun! Bye!"
.
When I entered the class, Taichi was already there, much to my surprise. I smiled at him as we exchanged glasses. As I made my way to our desk, I looked around searching for Yamato, but he wasn't there yet. The smile on my face was replaced by a frown as I realized my suspicions from earlier were right. It wasn't indeed his time to clean the classroom, so he lied to me. In all of these years of friendship, he had never lied to me. Not even once. I had to talk to him about it. I shook my head, trying to get rid of these thoughts and put up a smile back when I sat down beside Taichi.
"Good morning!"
"Good morning to you too." He smiled back at me. "You're in a good mood today, it seems."
"I am." I nodded positively. "Spring always makes me happy. Seeing trees full of flowers warms my heart. Plus, it's good to have warm temperatures after a freezing winter."
"That's true. I'm not a fan of cold weather too. I can barely wait for summer."
"Me neither." I was about to say something else when Yamato walked in and I followed him with my eyes. He passed by me without saying a word, which made me sigh deeply. "What do you think we should do for August 1st this year?"
"The same thing we always do, I guess." Taichi shrugged after he glanced over to Yamato and then back at me. "It became a tradition now anyway. I doubt anyone would want to do something different. It's the only time we can see our partners."
"You have a point."
"By the way, you don't have to pretend everything's okay."
"Huh?" I raised my eyebrow at him. "But it is."
"I've seen the way you reacted when Yamato walked in." Taichi grabbed my hand as he said in a reassuring tone. "You can talk to me about it if you want to."
"Thanks, Taichi." I replied looking at his brown eyes. "But I don't think it will be good if I do. I'm sorry. Everything will be fine though. I have no doubt we can work this out and go back to being friends again."
"I hope so."
"Thanks, Taichi. You're a good friend."
"So are you, Sora. I'm glad we're friends."
"Me too." I replied with a sweet smile.
.
Just like yesterday, the school day went by in the blinking of an eye. I was now making my way out of Odaiba Junior High building and glanced over the court. The last tennis class for the day was about to finish and, before I realized it, I was heading towards it. When I was sure it was finally over and the girl was already collected her belongings, I walked to the coach.
"Hello." I said politely and bowed down in a respectful way. "I'm Takenouchi Sora and I would like to sign for tennis classes this year."
"Nice to meet you, Sora." She smiled at me. "I'm Miharu Matsumoto."
"Nice to meet you too." I smiled in return.
"All you have to do is fill in these papers." Mrs. Matsumoto took off a form from her bag and handed it to me. "And bring it back as soon as you can. We have tennis classes three times a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The sooner you hand back the form fully filled up, the sooner you can start your classes."
"Great!" I picked up the form and put it inside a notebook in my bag. Then I turned my attention to Mrs. Matsumoto and bowed down again. "Thank you so much for your time and attention. I'm looking forward to starting my training."
"We'll be happy to have you as part of the team, Miss Takenouchi."
.
As I was heading towards the school entrance, the happy smile on my face and the proud sensation in my chest were replaced by worry and anxiety. I looked over my shoulder, in hopes Yamato somehow got held up and had to stay behind for a while. Deep down I knew it wouldn't be like that at all. I sighed in frustration as I continued my way out of school. I finally looked up when I stepped in the sidewalk and noticed he was talking to a small group of people. A small group of girls from our class, actually. I raised my eyebrows confusedly because I knew Yamato has trouble socializing sometimes, yet that didn't seem to be the problem at the moment. I stopped beside him and placed my right hand in his lower back.
"Hey." I said simply and drew everyone's attention to me. I turned my head to the right and met his intent baby blue eyes. "I thought you'd be long gone now, but I'm glad you're here."
"Hey, Sora." Yamato put his hand behind his head and gave an embarrassing laugh. "I was just talking to them for a while."
"Oh cool." I said dully, and managed to break eye contact with him to look at the girls for a moment before looking back at him. "I was wondering if we can walk home today and maybe do our English homework together? How does that sound?"
I could definitely tell my invitation caught him by surprise as he suddenly felt tense and his cheeks became a little pink. Maybe I was too rushed in blurting it out like that, but the words simply came out before I could control them. I didn't care about it at all though. All I wanted to do was spending some time alone with my best friend like the old times.
"So…?" I asked him again with the pleading eyes I knew he couldn't say no to.
"That sounds good, I guess." Yamato was finally able to say and then became more embarrassed realizing the girls were still watching him. I mean, us.
"Okay, so let's go." Grinning widely, I slid my hand towards his and pulled him away from the group. I looked over my shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, girls."
.
Our walking home was uncomfortably quiet, as neither one of us wanted to risk saying something we would regret later and make things even worse.
"What was that about?" Yamato finally had the courage to ask me as we stopped by the door of my apartment. "You never did anything like that before."
"It was the only way I thought of that could make you talk to me for real." I replied as I looked into his eyes with a serious expression. "Why did you lie to me this morning?"
"What are you talking about?"
I frowned, refusing to believe he actually played dumb to me. He should have known better than that. He should have known I wouldn't fall in this small act of his. "It wasn't your turn to clean our classroom, that's only next week." I stated. "So there was another reason as to why you avoided me when I stopped by at your house before school this morning."
"Sora…"
"Don't do this, Yamato." I cut him off firmly. "Every time you say my name like that is because you want me to forget about this. Sorry, not gonna happen this time."
"Fine." He said and shoved his hands into his pants' pockets. "I wanted to talk to you, but I didn't want to risk running into Taichi accidentally and having you ditching me because of him one more time."
"Yeah." I sighed. "I figured you'd still be upset over this. I didn't realize you'd be this jealous though."
"I wasn't jealous." He made a face when I rolled my eyes at him. "Alright, I was. But can you blame me?" He followed me inside when I finally opened the door.
"No. I did blow our tradition." The words left a bitter taste in my mouth when they came out. "That's why I wanted to spend this whole afternoon with my best friend."
Our eyes met when Yamato walked back into the kitchen after leaving his bag on the couch. I couldn't help but smile at how comfortable he always feels when he's in my house. Somehow I thought his baby blue eyes were more hypnotizing and dazzling than usual, and I found it hard to look away. It was only when the bowl I was holding almost slipped my hands that I was finally able to change my focus. Or more like forced to.
"You should be more careful." He stated in a playful way and approached me. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah." I could feel my cheeks burning red and had no idea why. In a desperate way to get away from his sight, I turned around and went to the other side of the kitchen. I could still feel his eyes on me, but I was happy we weren't facing each other directly. "I made these cookies last night as a way to say how sorry I was about everything. I figured maybe I wouldn't be able to put my plan into action like I intended to and thought I might as well keep some of them in the fridge and heat them now."
"Ohhh cookies!" Yamato said happily and stopped beside me once again. He reached out for a cookie. "What are they of?"
"Chocolate chip with hazelnuts, your favorite. And they are frozen." I took it away from him and put it back on the tray. "You might break your teeth and we don't want that to happen to a musician, do we?"
"No, we don't. And I'm not a musician."
"Not yet." I said as I put the tray full of cookies in the oven and stood up again. "But it's just a matter of time until someone realizes your full potential."
"I admire your optimism, but I'm just a teenager who only knows how to play harmonica."
"The way you think so lowly of yourself makes me said." I looked at his eyes. "I think you're amazing."
"Look who's talking." He turned around and followed me with his eyes as I passed by him and went to the living room. "You're not that different than me."
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes. "You can make yourself comfortable while I go get something in my room. I'll be right back."
"Alright."
.
I walked into my bedroom and immediately grabbed the photo album over my drawer. I couldn't help but look at my reflection in the mirror. I sighed a little frustrated for not realizing how messy my hair was. I grabbed my comb and started brushing it softly. Sometimes I still can't believe how long it is. Three months ago it was above my shoulders and now it's in the middle of my back. I smiled as I tied my hair in a high pigtail before returning to the living room with the photo album.
As soon as I entered the living room, I could feel Yamato's eyes examining me carefully like I was someone completely different now. That made me feel incredibly uneasy and vulnerable and, for the second time since we came to my house, I found myself blushing heavily for reasons unknown to me. I shook my head as I forced myself to sit down beside him. "What?"
"Nothing. I just thought you looked… different." He looked down at the photo album in my lap. "What's that?"
"It's a photo album?" I said like it was the most obvious thing. "Different in a good way?"
"I don't know, Sora. Just different." He replied annoyed and shifted swiftly in his seat. I knew it was time to stop with the inquiring.
"I thought we could look at some childhood pictures while the cookies aren't ready." I opened the album and smiled instantly.
"That sounds like fun." Yamato got closer to me and I could even smell his cologne.
I tried my best to focus on the object in my hands, but his perfume was getting the best of me. I was very grateful that he wasn't paying attention to me, or he was hiding it pretty well. It took me a lot of effort to look down at the photos, but eventually I got to change the focus.
"You were such a cute baby. And beautiful too." He stated as he pointed to a picture of me in my wooden crib. I had a curious look on my face as I looked up at the camera my father was holding before he took this photo.
"Thank you." I smiled kindly, without taking my eyes off the picture.
"I don't remember you as a baby, as I was only a few months old when you were born, but my mother still says that whenever she's looking at old pictures.
