It's now the 16th January, Kari's birthday. I've become good friends with her now; we even hang out together nearly every day. Of course I make time to see Ken too. I need to start making an effort to become friends with all of them, and hopefully this party will be the right way to do it.
"Autumn" Terriermon called to me from upstairs. "Where do you think all these balloons should go?"
"We already have plenty in the dining room, the living room and the kitchen. Why not just have them here in the main entrance?" I said as I looked up to see Terriermon peering over the banister. Despite the fact that there were two perfectly good stairwells, Terriermon stood on the banister and jumped, as he did so he stretched out his ears, using them as parachutes. I think he forgot the balloons had helium in them. Behold my best decoration yet, a floating dog/bunny thing with balloons attached. He looked so funny.
"Let go of the balloons Terriermon" I said with a giggle.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayy!" He said as he glided down with grace and... *SMACK* ouch, right into the door behind me, that's gotta hurt. He slid down the door and was now face down on the floor.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, I was trying hard not to laugh in case he was hurt.
"Yeah, I'm just practicing answering the door for when everyone arrives" his voice muffled by the floor. Lopmon was decorating the cakes. We couldn't decide on one big one or lots of small ones, what flavours to use or what decorations to put on them. So we had a huge assortment of cakes; vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, lemon and carrot cake. There were different flavoured fillings such as butter cream, whipped cream or jam, different toppings and different coloured icing. Then there was the master cake, a three tier tower of triple chocolate. The bottom layer was dark chocolate with orange, covered with chocolate sprinkles. The second layer was slightly smaller and was made with milk chocolate with mint and chocolate stars. Finally the smaller top layer was made with white chocolate and had white chocolate and milk chocolate hearts alternating around the edge. There was edible glitter, edible paper butterflies and flowers, all pink and purple. In pink icing were the words "Happy 14th Birthday Kari".
"That looks amazing, can I try it?" Terriermon asked with his eyes wide and drooling.
"No you have to wait. We're going to put it behind the curtain on the stage, and then we'll bring her through and open the curtains. With the rest of the food, I'm going to bring the long tables through to the dining room and well have it set out so that everyone can go up and get what they want. Like a buffet." I said.
"Good plan" Terriermon and Lopmon said in sync. With that we finished setting everything up. It was perfect. I had a quick shower and put on my dress. It was lilac, one strap over my right shoulder, knee length and the material was plain underneath then thin and delicate on top. I curled my blonde hair, put some makeup on and I was ready. Lopmon came out with a pretty little pink dress on which was similar to mine but with two straps, and obviously a lot smaller. Terriermon came out with a mini suit on and a black bow tie. The pair of them looked adorable.
The doorbell rang.
Terriermon stood on my left and Lopmon stood on my right. I opened the door and everyone was there.
"Welcome to my home everybody." I said with a smile.
"Would you like me to take any coats or hats?" Terriermon asked politely. I trained him well. They stood in awe of the landing. There were stairs on the left and stairs on the right, both leading up to the landing at the top. The corridor was split into three; one part went to the left, one part went to the right and one part when straight to the back. Below this was a huge marble statue of an angel. It was pure white marble; the angel's features were smooth and detailed. Her head was titled upwards, her hands clasped together as if in prayer and her wings came out and round to the front. Her dress was long and plain. Above the statue was a portrait of me as a five year old, my mother on the left and my father on the right. We looked so happy.
"Where are they" Cody asked me as he noticed me staring at the painting. Everyone looked to me.
"They passed away when I was 5. I suppose I ought to tell you guys about it" I felt hostility in my own voice, there was anger inside me and it was growing slightly as I recalled the last memory with my parents. We went through to the living room.
"I was born and raised in the Digiworld but we would sometimes come back home. My parents were both professors and they studied Digimon. My dad had a partner, called Impmon. Something went wrong; Impmon got a virus and Digivolved into Devimon. He killed them. I was taken in by a Digimon called Leomon. Then Lopmon and Terriermon came to me and we've been inseparable ever since. I became friends with other DigiDestined kids like me called Summer, Spring, Winter. Then Ren, Tora, Kaede, Raiden and Todd joined us. You can meet them sometime if you like? It would be nice to see them after such a long time." I explained in a sorrowful tone.
"Why have you not seen them recently?" Cody asked me.
"The last time I saw them was in the Digital world and we went our separate ways, it changed after... Well after Ken." My voice went quiet, knowing that reminding Ken of all the bad stuff that happened would upset him. I looked over to him and him looked down, ashamed, and didn't utter a word. I felt guilty for mentioning it. "I started to drift away from them a bit because, well I wanted to try and help Ken but there were Digimon that needed help first so that occupied my time. I still helped them but I was trying to help Ken... Then you guys came, Ken joined you and then so did I." I paused, looking at everyone who was just staring back at me in shocked silence. "I'm sorry" I began again "I need some air". I turned and left to go to the garden. It was huge, with a fountain in the centre and beds of flowers everywhere, a rainbow of colours. I sat down on the swing and began to rock slowly back and forth.
"Autumn" a voice called to me while I was in my strange trance of reflection.
"Oh, Wormmon" I said as I looked down. "Kari, Yolei, what's going on?" I asked them.
"We're you're friends, we came to make sure you were okay." Kari said, in a calming voice.
"I can see his pain. I can feel it. I hate seeing him like that. If I could I'd take it all away. The thing is, I don't care what he's done because I've known all along that the Ken here with us; the Ken that took me out on Boxing Day is the real Ken. I saw through the Digimon Emperor. I always liked him." I said, they knew who I was talking about anyway; I didn't have to say his name.
"I'm sure Davis will cheer Ken up soon. Come back inside, we'll all make him feel better" Kari said as she put her hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, maybe I'm just overreacting" I smiled. We went back inside and there was Davis talking to Ken at the front of the room, Cody and the Digimon were talking amongst each other.
Ken looked over to me and managed a weak smile. I smiled back at him. He looked back at Davis and then Davis came over.
"He's fine, he just needs some cake!" Davis assured me. I went over to Ken.
"I'm sorry Ken." I said
"You don't have to apologise. I'm fine." He said with a blank expression. I think he feels bad for making me feel bad. I hugged him tightly and he hugged me back. I leant my head on his shoulder and his right hand stroked the back of my head. I stepped back again to speak.
"I know you haven't forgiven yourself yet, but I did a long time ago. Please don't be upset, Ken. I don't like seeing you like this." I held back the tears. I hugged him then looked into his blue eyes. "Come on, let's have some cake" I smiled to him. As planned I went up onto the stage. Terriermon supported Lopmon on his shoulders so she could grab the rope.
"Okay Lopmon, now!" I said and started pulling. As we pulled, the curtains parted to reveal the magnificent cake. The room filled with gasps of awe. I lit the candles on the cake and Kari came up onto the stage. We started singing Happy Birthday to her and she blew out the candles in one. We sliced the cake and shared the pieces between us equally. There was a lot of food, even between us. Kari started to open her presents. Makeup from Yolei, a cute top from me, shoes from TK, hair accessories from Ken, a teddy bear from Davis, nail vanish and a nail art kit from Cody. Gatomon got her some clothes for dancing. There were some more expensive presents I got her; a laptop, mobile phone, a dress, some other new clothes and jewellery.
"This is too much, Autumn!" she exclaimed
"Kari, it's fine, it's not much. I was thinking of getting you a car when you're ready to drive." I smiled sincerely.
"You are all welcome to sleep over if you wish" I told everyone
"It would be nice to have company" said Terriermon
"Just to warn ya, Terriermon's snoring sounds like Ogremon with a sore throat!" Lopmon burst out. Everyone laughed except Terriermon. Then the two started play fighting. They were a typical sibling pair.
"That's enough you two" Ken said as he came over and picked up Terriermon. Terriermon's ears lowered as he relaxed. I picked up Lopmon and we all went outside. I sat down on the grass next to some flowers. The Digimon were playing with the swings and toys. Ken and the others were admiring the fountain. Wormmon came over to me, then Yolei and Kari.
"Hey, what are they doing over there?" Davis asked the guys
"Probably just having a girl chat, you know what they're like" TK said.
"Probably talking about us" said Cody
"Probably talking about Ken" said Davis as he put both hands behind his head, trying to strike a cool pose as he looked at Ken. It would have worked if he hadn't fallen in the fountain. We all had a good laugh about it.
"Terriermon will take you upstairs, there's some spare clothes you can wear" I shouted over to him. Terriermon and Davis went back inside. I turned to the girls and Wormmon.
"So what should I do? He said it was a date, does that mean he likes me or was he just being nice?" I asked.
"Guys don't take girls out for the day, call it a date and kiss you for no reason" Yolei winked at me
"It's true. I know I don't show it but I do like Davis, I just want him to prove that he's worth my time. You know how goofy he is most of the time." Kari sighed.
"Do you want me to ask him for you Autumn?" Wormmon said as he came closer to me. "I have a strong feeling he does, and if he really does I can find out why he's holding back and not asked you to be his girlfriend" I couldn't help but blush slightly.
"No, we can't make it obvious. Wait, Autumn, does he know you like him?" Yolei was off "We have to think of the best way to go about this. He could be holding back so he doesn't seem desperate? Maybe he's never had a girlfriend before and doesn't know what to do? He might not be sure how he feels. Or he could be holding back because he's not sure how you feel and doesn't want to embarrass himself. He could be waiting for the right moment. Perhaps you could subtly hint that you like him? But be careful, you don't want to come across as clingy" Is she going to stop... "I think the most important part is..." apparently not "That you just be yourself." She finished. Just in time too because Ken was heading this way!
"You guys are talking about me, aren't you?" he asked. There was a sense of worry in his voice, as if he thought we were talking about him in a bad way.
"Well, uh, actually we..." I struggled for an explanation. Then I looked over to where Davis just appeared from.
"Davis when I said there were spare clothes for you I meant shorts and a shirt! Not my cheerleading outfit!" I screamed at him in shock, fury and oh my goodness he even put my makeup on.
"How do I look guys, pretty cute huh? Give me a 'D', give me a..." he started cheering, even using pompoms.
"We already know how to spell 'dork'" I said in a joking manner. I wasn't mad anymore, it was actually quite funny. He spent the rest of the time wearing it.
"I admire the way Davis is with you Kari" picking up where we left off from the girl talk "He's so open about how he feels about you; he'll say it in front of everyone. Ken doesn't. It feels like he waits for you guys to leave to actually make any kind of move"
"He's just worried what everyone will think about it, he's still getting used to having friends, and he will open up at some point, I'm sure of it" said Wormmon.
"Thank you Wormmon" I smiled at him, took him in my arms and we joined the others in watching Davis's impressions of what I think was something from a comedy show he'd been watching.
This had turned out to be a really great day. I know I've got Kari, Yolei and Wormmon to confide in; Davis isn't really that much of a dork. He just likes making people laugh. I still need to make more of an effort with TK and Cody but I don't want Ken to get jealous. Terriermon and Lopmon have really grown; they're becoming good friends with the other Digimon. I think I've grown too. I miss my other friends, but I'm not alone, I have these guys by my side. Full of cake we went upstairs and Kari suggested we played spin the bottle.
"Cody, truth or dare?" Kari asked him.
"Dare" was his response
"OK Cody, I dare you to make a prank call to Yolie's house!" Davis shouted out.
"Davis... Really?" Cody asked as he lowered his head. It was obvious he didn't want to as he had a lot of respect for Yolie and her family.
"Yeah really!" Davis laughed.
Cody began to dial the number.
*ring ring* "Hello, Inoue residence" Yolei's Father answered.
"Hello" Cody said in a high pitched voice "Can I be your bread because I love loafing around" He hung up.
"Haha that was embarrassing" I said. "Okay Ken, you spin the bottle now." He spun the bottle and it landed on me.
"Autumn" He said to me and I looked up. "Truth or dare?" This was a tough decision.
"I pick... truth" I said, already regretted my choice.
"Do you like me" Ken asked. OH MY GOODNESS! How could he just ask me like that in front of everybody?
"I changed my mind, I pick dare." I said thinking I'd saved myself.
"I dare you to answer the question" Ken said to me. He was determined to get an answer. I looked over at Yolei, she nodded. I looked over at Kari, and she nodded. I looked at Wormmon and he nodded too.
"Yes." I said quietly. I spun the bottle to move on quickly. Of all people it would land on Ken.
"Truth" he said immediately. Was this the right time? Was I supposed to ask him the same question he asked me? I felt compelled to...
"Tell you truth, do you like me back?" I asked him and everyone looked at Ken intently.
"Yes, I do." He said. He spun the bottle again but this time it landed on Kari. The game carried on in a similar fashion for the rest of the night until we all found out who liked who. TK spun the bottle and for the final time it landed on Ken.
"Dare" again he answered immediately.
"I dare you to take Autumn out on a date" TK said, winking at me. Thanks TK.
"We already went on a date." Ken answered, looking over at me.
"Go on another one then, how's about a four-coupled date? Instead of it being a double date there are four couples? You and Autumn, Kari and Davis, me and Yolei..." he trailed off, realising that Cody would be left out.
"I don't really like anyone TK so it's fine. Plus I have assignments to catch up on." Cody said to TK, it seemed like he was half bothered and half not bothered.
"Well actually.." I thought of someone. "My friend Summer is going to be in the area soon. I can ask her to come, I have a feeling you two might like each other".
"Okay, I guess it couldn't hurt" Cody said with a slight smile forming from his lips.
We left it to the guys to decide among themselves where they'd take us. It was quite exciting and me and Kari and Yolei were secretly emailing each other talking about it. Eventually we all fell asleep.