Sigh. Time for the clichéd apology for taking so long to update. But seriously, my teachers have no hearts. The amount of work they give me. It is pure insanity. It's like they wait until you are the busiest a human can physically get, and then they decide it's time for a few more assessments. Oh, and they only count for 50 percent of your overall mark. Which means if you do badly, you are going to FAIL LIFE AND DIE A MISERABLE COLD DEATH WITH NO FRIENDS BECAUSE YOU HAD TO BECOME ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO WADE AROUND IN SEWAGE LOOKING FOR THINGS PEOPLE HAVE ACCIDENTALLY FLUSHED. But other than that, it doesn't matter that much. As IF! (Can you tell I'm Queen of Hearts in the school production of Alice in Wonderland?)

Golden Truths

Mimi wandered inside. She felt sick. She was going to be sick. Her world was spinning. She needed to sit down. She needed some alcohol. It was too much. Too much. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. This wasn't right. She was so confused.

She realised she was pacing and stopped. Then she realised she was hyperventilating. Her heart was beating faster than she had ever experienced before. It was fluttering in her chest. She truly felt sick. Her heart hurt. She had never been in as much pain, not even when she was giving birth. She felt like she was going to be faint if she didn't sit down. Eyes rapidly scanning the room, she saw the open bar.

Racing over almost as fast as she had run when Jamie had fallen off his tricycle the first time, Mimi reached the bar stool. She fell onto it, grabbed a champagne flute and drank all of the golden liquid in one go. She was reaching for another when Tai appeared beside her.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Tachikawa! How ya going Mi?

Mimi's toes were curled in so tight her foot was cramping, and her heart was still beating a thousand times to the second. "Peachy keen jellybean. How about you Tai?"

"Well, my best friend knocked up the only girl I ever loved, then married her. So all in all, I'm just fantastic." Tai's chipper mood broke as he slumped into the second bar stool and thudded his head on the wooden bar top.

Mimi threw the second dose of champagne down her throat. "Seems like we're united in our troubles then."

Tai, whose head was currently getting well acquainted with the bar, replied in a slightly muffled voice, "Are we now? Well then, I think that this news deserves some accompaniment. Ready to knock them dead on the dance floor?"

Mimi had just finished her third glass of champagne, and was grabbing for a vodka and orange. "I hope you're not being literal."

"Never. Certainly not in public."

Mimi slammed the empty vodka and orange glass down on the table. The alcohol was starting to affect her senses now. "Okay."

She accepted his offered arm and he escorted her to the dance floor. Mimi giggled, something that now only ever occurred when she was particularly tipsy. She could see TK dancing with Kari. They were very good, as he swirled and twirled and dipped her. She also saw Davis trying to cut in. TK was very tolerant. Mimi giggled some more. Davis was so silly. Didn't he know that you can't break up the meant to be? Silly Davis. Then Mimi saw Yolei and Ken dancing. They weren't as good as TK and Kari. Ken was too self-conscious. He was afraid to try any extravagant moves. Silly Ken.

Then she saw Matt and Sora dancing. She suddenly stopped giggling. She wanted to cry. She had never cried about losing Matt, but here, on the dance floor, with Tai wrapped around her, she just wanted to break down. Tai must have sensed her change in mood, or felt her shaking, or heard her muffled sobs. Whatever it was, he pulled her in tighter and held her as she cried into his chest. Sitting his chin on the top of her head, he murmured in a voice so low only she could hear it.

"Don't worry Mimi. Everything will work itself out soon. It has to."

Mimi continued to sniffle as she swayed with Tai across the shiny dance floor. Her view only allowed her to see Tai's shirt, and a small portion of his deep red tie, so she couldn't have known that Matt's eyes were following her wherever she went. She couldn't have seen Sora kick her partner quite hard in the shin to try and get his attention back.

After the dancing was over, Mimi was blindly escorted by Tai and Joe to a taxi because she was far too drunk to drive. As she tripped over her heels while piling into the backseat after Tai, she didn't see Matt run after her with her purse. She didn't see him as he stood at the side of the road after her cab drove off. She didn't see him waiting there, watching her car disappear, for nearly five minutes. She didn't hear his words, whispered after her into the early morning air.

"Mimi… you have no idea how much I still love you… I'll fix this. I promise you, I'll fix this."

Emma's useless facts about nothing in particular

Our eyes are the same size from birth, but our ears and nose keep growing forever.