Ha so guess what? I finished chapter four :). And surprise, it's longer! If you still find it short, just bear with me, I'm doing my best. Thanks goes out to everyone who reviewed. Keep them coming.


What, is it morning already? Takuya thought as he was being blinded by the sun's rays. He got up from his bed and closed the curtains. A week of school had passed without anything even remotely significant happening. He would have stayed in bed longer but he promised JP and Zoe that they would all meet before school started and hang out.
---

"Took you long enough." Zoe said to Takuya when he finally met up her and JP outside the school.
"Sorry." Takuya said, still a little dazed from lack of sleep. His hair wasn't combed and his uniform was sloppy. Zoe thought it was actually a good look for him.
"Hey, what are those flyers doing every where?" Takuya asked pointing at the colourful papers all over the school.
"Oh, those. They had that last year too. It's the 'Annual Freshman Dance'." JP told him.
"Yeah, JP was just telling me about it before you came. Sounds pretty lame if you ask me."
"There's a dance? Already? But it's only the second week of school. I barely even know anybody besides you and Zoe."
"Well that's the whole point of the dance."
"I'm not following you."
"It's supposed to bring people together. You know, step out of your comfort zone and approach others. Get to know people."
"Told you it was lame."

Takuya did want something exciting to happen, but this was not what he had in mind. Dances scared the hell out him. Ooh junior high flashbacks: Takuya accidentally spilling punch on a girl, girl slapping Takuya, Takuya dancing with zipper open, Takuya spilling punch on himself, people laughing at Takuya, Takuya dancing by himself. Oh the memories.

"Uhh, earth to Takuya? Are you there?" Zoe said waving her hand in his face.
"Huh, what?" Takuya said when his flashbacks were over.
"You just kind of zoned out there a second ago."
"Oh. Sorry."
"So JP, how did the dance go last year?"
"I pretty much stood in the corner alone the whole time eating chocolate bars. The music was good though."
---

After his enlightening conversation with JP and Zoe, Takuya couldn't focus all day. This whole dance thing was really bothering him. He could just not show up, but then again, if he was too scared to go to this dance he might end up being too scared to go to all the dances, and he'd miss out on a big part of the high school experience.

Takuya mentally scanned all the girls in his previous classes. There had to be at least one girl with enough potential to go to the dance with him. When he realized that there wasn't, he gave up. He couldn't see himself with any of them. He knew exactly who he wanted to go to the dance with, but he wasn't sure if she would feel the same way. Takuya didn't even know if he would have the guts to ask her. The sad part was that this girl was sitting right beside him.

"Hey Takuya, I was wondering something." Zoe said to Takuya in class.
"What is it?"
"Well you know this whole dance thing. It's got me thinking. What if both of us can't find any dates? That would like really suck."
"Uh, yeah, I guess it would..." he didn't see where she was going with this.
"Exactly. So I was thinking, that you know, if none of us can find anyone to go with, maybe, I don't know, me and you could go together, to the dance, if you want?" What Zoe was saying just then may have been hard to follow, but did Takuya just hear what he thought he heard? Did Zoe just ask him to go to the dance with her? He was thrilled, but he didn't want Zoe to go to the dance with him only because she couldn't find anybody else to go with. He wanted her to go to the dance with him because she wanted to go with him.
"Um, thanks for the offer Zoe, but the whole point of this dance is to try and meet new people. And I don't think I'll have the incentive to find someone if I just have you as a back up."
"Oh. Right, well that makes sense. Ok so just pretend like I didn't ask you that then." Zoe tried to smile. She was a little disappointed. She hadn't expected him to say that. She remembered when Takuya had told her that he liked her back in the digital world. Maybe he had meant it just as a friend.
---

It was after school and Zoe was heading for her locker to put away her stuff. Someone was already at the locker beside hers.
"Hey, I think you dropped this." Zoe said picking up a book that had fallen down and handed it to her locker neighbour.
"Oh. Thanks." said the guy. He was about Zoe's height, maybe an inch taller. When he smiled at her she could see that he was wearing braces, but he didn't look like a nerd or anything, Zoe actually thought he was kind of cute.
"Your name is Zoe, right?" he asked her.
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"You're in my health class. I sit a few rows behind you."
"Really? I don't think I've seen you there before. Actually I don't think I've seen you at all, until now."
"Well our lockers are right beside each other."
"Oh, wow. I must look really stupid." Zoe said embarrassed. She was never good at remembering people.
"Don't worry about it." He laughed. As he was putting away the book that he dropped back in his locker, Zoe got a chance to read what was on the cover. 'English to Italian Dictionary'.
"You speak Italian?" Zoe asked sounding impressed.
"I wish. I went to Italy last summer with my parents and now I'm totally obsessed with everything Italian."
"Really? What a coincidence. I actually used to live in Italy before I moved here."
"Wow, that is so cool. I knew I was going to like you."
"Hey, you know I could teach you some Italian if you wanted."
"Sure, that would be great. But I don't think I'd be able to concentrate with a teacher as pretty as you." he winked at her. "I'm Lucas by the way."
"I'm Zoe. Oh wait you already knew that." Zoe felt her cheeks start to turn pink. Lucas laughed.
"I should be getting home now. It was nice meeting you. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Ok, bye. It was nice meeting you too."

Zoe couldn't help herself, she felt like skipping all the home.