Part Two: His Secret
Chapter Twelve: Things left unsaid
The weekend had gone in far too quick for Kari's liking. Largely due to the fact that she had only started enjoying them again two weeks ago. Prior to that, they had been long, arduous periods of time, that she had spent alone with her own thoughts periodically attacking her. At least during the week, she'd had school to distract her. Perhaps the only silver lining to it had been that she'd inevitably spent more time on her homework or studying, resulting in her grades improving from a mix of B+ and A-, to straight A's across the board come her end of year report card. Her parents had been so proud that they'd bought her a present of her choosing; she'd picked a proper set of headphones. Regardless, she found herself out of her clothing and back into her green sailor suit school uniform far sooner than she would have liked.
It had been a good one, Kari mused as her eyes drifted away from her textbook and up to the clock that hung on the classroom wall. It would be lunchtime in a matter of minutes. After thoroughly trouncing Davis at Mario Kart, much to his shock and everyone else's amusement, she had walked home while listening to Wish You Were Here. The album had been receiving regular plays and was quickly becoming one of her favourites. Leading her to wonder what other wonders Pink Floyd had in their extensive back catalogue. When she'd finally arrived home, she'd found Tai waiting up for her on the sofa. They'd talked about their respective evenings while playing Mario Kart and she'd told him about talking to TK. He had then surprised her with questions regarding a hypothetical situation in which he felt the same way about her as she did about him. It had seemed a bit odd, but she had satisfied his curiosity. Reasoning that talking about it would help prevent any possible slip back into the dark pit of despair she had only just escaped. It had been late by the time they'd eventually said goodnight and gone to bed. After sleeping in on Sunday morning, Kari had received a call from Yolei, asking if she wanted to come over so they could finish homework together. She'd leapt at the chance to spend more time with her best friend. And was surprised to find that the pair were now on a much more even footing when it came to school work.
The chime to signal the start of lunch sounded and at the teacher's behest, the students of Kari's class rose as one and began packing away their things. Unlike Yolei, the other girls that had once comprised her circle of friends had been less forgiving when the lavender haired girl had asked her to sit with them at lunch the day after they had made up. To say it had been awkward would be like saying Piedmon had been slightly troublesome to take down. The group were still very much into the latest trends and so she'd found herself with little to offer by way of conversation that would not sound argumentative. She'd spoken to Yolei afterwards and they had agreed that they would spend time together away from the group. Resulting in her returning to eating lunch by herself with her headphones on.
Withdrawing the sturdy black plastic cans from her bag, Kari pulled them over her ears and found Tubular Bell's II on her music player. Hitting play, she pocketed the device, picked up her bag and left the classroom; she was the last one out. Lost in the opening passage of the music, she made her way to the lunchroom and headed for an empty table towards the rear of the room. About halfway there she stopped dead when a hand caught her wrist. Her head spun around to face the assailant only to be confronted by the smiling face of Davis.
She slipped her headphones off in time to hear him say, "We saved you a seat."
A look of confusion spread across Kari's face as her eyes wandered from Davis to the other occupants of the table. It was Cody and Yolei. "I don't understand," she said, eyes darting between the three smiling faces.
"We all had such a good time on Saturday that we decided to sit together at lunch today. Just like old times," Yolei said indicating the empty chair beside her. "You are going to sit with us?"
Kari responded by backpedalling and sitting down in the offered seat. "When did you guys decide this?" she asked, still feeling a little confused.
"Last night," Cody answered.
"We thought we'd surprise you," Davis added.
She looked between the two boys before asking, "but why? You all have your own friends to hang with."
"We know," Yolei said with a smile. "But Saturday reminded us that we're also friends with each other. And it's all thanks to you, Kari."
"Yeah, Kari. You really are the jelly that keeps the bread of our peanut butter sandwich together."
She along with both Cody and Yolei gave Davis a look that said, 'that makes no sense whatsoever'.
"What," the boy said indignantly as his eyes moved from one face to the next. "The jelly is what keeps a peanut butter sandwich together. Just like Kari is the one who keeps our group together."
They collectively shook their heads at him.
"I think what Davis is trying, but failing miserably to say is, that without you we all stopped spending time together and drifted apart. You're the one who keeps us together, Kari, and it's good to have you back."
"That's exactly what I said!" Davis said indignantly, causing all three of them to laugh.
Packing away her headphones and taking out her bento box, Kari found her eyes drifting to the table opposite theirs. Amongst the chattering huddled heads of the schools creative writing group, she caught sight of the blonde hair of TK. Whether it was coincidence or fate, the boy looked up in time to catch her staring. They made eye contact for a brief moment before she watched him survey her companions. She gave him a gentle smile and a small wave, but this only caused him to lower his head back into the huddle.
"…So we were thinking of making this a weekly thing…"
"Hmmm?" Kari said, upon realising that someone had just said something.
"I said that we're thinking of doing this once a week," Yolei said, sounding slightly irritated at having to repeat herself.
"Sorry," Kari replied quickly, "I must have zoned out for a sec."
"So what do you think?" Cody asked as all eyes looked to her.
"I think it's a great idea," she replied without hesitation. Then she sighed, "but it's not the same without TK."
Davis gave her a look that suggested he disagreed with that viewpoint, however, it was Yolei who said, "if you'd like, I can try talking to him. Maybe give him an open invitation to join us if he ever feels like it."
Kari thought about this for a moment and decided that, while it was a good idea in principle, one aspect of it needed to change. "I'll tell him about it myself," she replied firmly. "He at least talked to me last week and I don't want him to think that I'm sending other people to try and talk him around. If the two of us are to ever get on again, I need to be the one talking to him."
"If you're sure," Yolei then said, giving her a look that suggested she questioned her sanity.
"I'm sure."
They laughed and joked while they ate lunch, however, Kari could not help but think about TK. Last weeks heated conversation, followed by the subsequent trip to the hospital had left her unsure if relations between them had improved, deteriorated further or remained the same. She had given him space for the rest of the week, even though she'd wanted to ask him if his wrist was ok. Granted she had needed it too. For what she had learned from the interaction was that, despite what she had thought, she had not made peace with the whole affair. In that respect, it was here, having lunch with the other DigiDestined, that she made the decision to try again.
##
In a replay of the previous Monday, come the end of the official school day, Kari sat working on some homework until about ten minutes before the creative writing club were due to finish their weekly meeting. Packing away her things, she left the classroom and made her way through the corridors. The whole affair gave her an unsurprising feeling of déjà vu as she waited in the exact same spot as last week. Soon the bodies started leaving the room, but after a minute or two, there was no sign of TK. Perhaps he had stayed behind to finish something, she pondered. Only one way to find out. Walking to the door, Kari poked her head inside the room. Towards the back, she found the blonde haired boy unsuccessfully trying to stuff his laptop into its case one-handed.
"Stupid…" he cursed, not noticing her approach.
Kari reached out a hand and held the case open for him, "here let me help."
TK looked up at her. "I don't need your help, Kamiya," he said as he angrily shoved the laptop inside. "Or your pity."
Kari chose not to let the harsh nature of his words rile her. If she could stay calm and polite, hopefully, it would help him to cool down too. "How's your wrist?" she asked.
TK clumsily shouldered his laptop case and picked up his school bag. "It doesn't hurt if that's what you're asking."
"How long will it take to heal?"
"A couple of weeks," the boy replied as he headed for the door.
Kari walked beside him. While his tone might have been short, he was at least talking to her in a more civilised manner. A vast improvement over how last week's conversation had started. "So what have you been writing recently?" she probed, more interested in how he would react to the question than getting a detailed answer.
"The club's been working on writing styles recently. We collectively came up with a set of characters and are each writing a short story about them while adhering to a set of rules we came up with. The idea is to see if we can tell who wrote which story once we're all finished."
A small smile formed on Kari's lips. She had hoped that asking about his writing would get him talking and it seemed to have done just that. TK had always been so passionate about it and loved to discuss it; especially with her. "That sounds interesting," she replied, however, before she could say anything else, he continued of his own volition.
"It is, but I've been spending way more time working on my own project."
"Tell me about it," Kari replied quickly as they left the classroom.
Without hesitating, TK continued, "I've been making a lot of notes on our adventures in the Digital world. I'm planning on…" he stopped abruptly and turned to look at her. The expression on his face clearly told her that he'd only just realised how openly he'd been talking. "Why am I even telling you this?" he asked, although it sounded every bit a question for himself as it was for her. He then looked her straight in the eyes, his face expressionless. Kari met his gaze and though his blue orbs looked icy, she could see that it was starting to melt. "What do you want from me, Kamiya."
"Something that you want too, only you're too afraid to let go of your anger," she replied, her voice strong and unwavering.
"What would you know about my anger?" TK spat back.
Kari held her ground and did not relinquish his gaze. "I know that you're scared to let it go. Scared that if you do and you get too close to me, you'll end up getting hurt again." She felt the urge to take hold of his hand but resisted it. For doing so would most likely bring about a backlash. Instead, she tried to convey the same warmth and kindness with her eyes.
TK broke off the stare and turned away from her. They walked in silence for a full thirty seconds before he finally said, "what do you want me to do, Kari? Forget that you ripped my heart out, skewered it on a spit and then roasted it over an open flame?"
"I know you can't forget, TK, and I would never ask you to try," Kari said softly, allowing any anger she may have felt to slip away. "However, we both lost something that predated our romantic relationship."
"And what is that?"
This time she did take hold of his hand and turned him around to face her. Looking him directly in the eyes, she said softly, "our friendship. I've missed it, TK, and so have you."
The boy's blue eyes remained icy as he spoke, "you know until you spoke to me last week, I was content to hate you and never talk to you again. In fact, hating you was the only thing that stopped me trying to futilely win you back." He pulled his hand out of her grip. "So why did you have to stir the pot, Kari? Why did you have to remind me that I lost more than just my girlfriend that night?"
"Because hating each other is the easy thing to do… but it's not the right thing," Kari said, finally knowing the correct answer. "It will be hard at first, but I truly believe that we can be friends again. Only we both have to be willing to give it a shot for it to work." She held out her hand. "Do you want to give it a try."
She watched as his eyes glanced down at her offered hand. For a moment she saw his own tremble by his side, however, it didn't move. "I'm sorry, Kari, I just can't."
Kari allowed her hand to fall slowly back to her side. She had been afraid that this might be too much for him. That being around her would cause him too much pain. "I understand," she said softly, lowering her head. When he turned to walk away she called after him, "the others miss you too. We hung out on Saturday and again at lunch today, but it wasn't the same without you. We're planning on having lunch together once a week. If you ever want to join us, you're more than welcome. And you'll always be invited if we decide to get together out with school."
She watched as TK took a few more steps and then, surprisingly, stopped. "I miss all of you too, including that ass, Davis." There was a moment's silence before he added, "but don't hold your breath waiting on me joining you guys." He then let out a genuine laugh that made her smile. "See you next Monday, Kari."
The smile lingered on her lips as she watched him turn a corner and disappear from view. Turning, she headed in the opposite direction to an exit that led out to the bike racks. Unlike last week, she now knew one thing for certain, while time had the ability to heal it could not do the job alone. You needed to put in a lot of hard work and effort. And it seemed like Monday evenings were the perfect time to do both.