If there are any readers that have stuck with me to see this chapter's upload, then you have no idea how grateful I am to you.

I understand if you haven't.

And I'm sorry to say that I fell past the point of excuses months ago…

JUST BE YOURSELF

CHAPTER FIVE

Monday morning had started out as normal as it ever was. This should have been a sign that things were not going to last, but, understandably, everyone was a little preoccupied. So no one saw this as something to worry about.

Matt had been so confident about his plan the night before when he'd explained it to TK, but he was surprised at hitting his first obstacle as early as Monday morning.

He'd planned to keep the whole thing a secret, (after all, the best way to deal with a woman is to make sure she thought the entire thing was her idea to begin with) but Sora saw his moment of hesitation when she suggested they hold hands as they walk down the hallway.

Matt almost missed Tai's fuming figure as they made their way to their first period class that they, coincidentally, all three had together. Almost. Unfortunately, Sora did miss it. Not that that matttered to Tai. Whether right or wrong, his glare hadn't been directed at Sora.

Lucky for Matt, he didn't happen to sit near Tai in this class. He wouldn't be forced to endure Tai's wrath. Not yet anyway.

…

Izzy was growing increasingly worried. He seemed to be alone now as Joe was no longer sure he wanted to help devise a master break-up plan.

But that wasn't the only thing that was bothering him. Tai had been undeniably hostile towards him that morning. Now the only question was, why? Didn't Tai know he was trying to help him?

Izzy sighed as he got his books out of his locker after first period. Due to his schedule of mostly advanced classes, he wouldn't see Tai much during the day. He would have no chance to watch him. Normally, he would have enlisted Joe or Matt for this job, but Joe wouldn't help him, and he couldn't ask Matt or Sora for obvious reasons.

That really only left Mimi, and she could be such a gossip that Izzy wasn't really sure he wanted to go there. He was trying to do everything he could to do his job as Tai's best friend without having anyone get hurt.

It wasn't looking like it was going to turn out so well.

…

Matt's luck held until lunch. He should have known. They had this together. They did not have it with Sora.

Ever since the first day Matt and Tai had sat together. Before that weekend there had been nothing strange or awkward about that. However, things had changed. They both sensed the tension as they sat down across from one another with their trays. Unfortunately, neither had thought to sit elsewhere.

For the first few minutes the two sat in silence. Matt would look up at his friend every few seconds, hoping the Tai would say something, hoping more that they hadn't hit the point of being former friends. But Tai refused to look at him.

"How are you?" Matt finally asked.

Silently, Tai bristled at the casual tone of the words. "Fine," he snapped stiffly.

"You don't sound it," Matt muttered. He wasn't quiet enough.

Tai's head snapped up to look him in the eyes. "What would you know about not being fine, Matt?" He nearly spat out the last word. "You don't seem to be having any problems. Been getting real friendly with everyone. Finally living up to your crest I see."

Matt shifted. Here we go… he thought.

"Listen, Tai, what's going on between Sora and me… it doesn't really concern you." He winced to himself. Words that had been so easy to rehearse weren't nearly as easy to say when faced with your fuming best friend.

"You asshole!" Tai and stood up and slammed his hands down on the table, attracting more than a couple stares. Slowly, Matt rose to join him. "It has everything to do with me!" Tai was outright screaming at him now. "Who was the one I went you first when I decided I was in love with Sora? Was it Izzy? Or Kari? No! Oh right! It was you! And then you just decide to ask her out on a date like that and think we'll still be cool?"

"If you were so in love with her maybe you should've done something about it!"

Just like the good old days… Tai yelling at him, him screaming back… Oh yes… it was all very familiar. Which was why Matt was expecting the fist when it collided with his face.

…

"What on earth were you thinking?"

Matt was nursing his bruised cheek when Sora came rushing into the nurse's office. Coincidentally, the nurse was not there. She'd gone to the principle's office to check on Tai as the adults in charge had decided it would not be the best idea to keep the two of them in the same room.

"Have you been to see Tai yet?" Maybe not the most tactful thing to say, but he wasn't exactly in the right mood for tact. The memories hadn't been quite as clear as he'd thought they were. He hadn't remembered correctly just how hard Tai could punch.

"No, and I'm not going to!" Sora huffed. "He's such a jerk sometimes! I asked him if he was okay with the two of us being together, and he said it was fine! Then he goes and pulls something like this…"

She let her words fall away, and Matt grimaced as she threw her arms around him. Nothing was going as he'd planned.

The nurse returned and left just as quickly to go care for some kid who'd sprained his ankle while playing soccer during gym class. However, to Matt's secret relief, she did have time to make sure Sora was on her way back to class before she left.

However, no sooner had the nurse left than Matt had another visitor.

"That looks terrible! Tai did that?"

"Hello, Mimi," Matt sighed. There were really only two states Mimi could be in at the moment. Either untolerably cheeful as she usually was, or annoyed with him, and he wasn't really in the mood for either of them.

"I thought you said things wouldn't get this bad for a while," she reminded him, sitting down on the bed opposite him, making herself at home.

"It wasn't supposed to," he grumbled. "Any idea if Sora's gone to see Tai yet?"

"I doubt it, and maybe it's better if she doesn't for a while. Tai's going to have enough trouble at home dealing with Kari without having to catch heat from Sora this early on."

This piqued Matt's interest. "What's wrong with Kari?"

Mimi lowered her voice as if there were anyone around to hear her news besides him. "Apparently, she went up to your brother and confessed her love for him."

Matt's mouth fell open. It wasn't exactly a secret, but he hadn't expected her to do anything about it for quite some time… Like brother like sister… But apparently, Kari had proved herself more corageous than her brother.

"So… what happened?"

"Well, that all would have been fine and dandy if it wasn't for TK's girlfriend."

"What girlfriend?"

"Exactly."

The nurse decided to walk back in at that moment, looking considerably more annoyed.

"Oh no," she said. "This isn't some kind of social hour. Shoo," she moved towards Mimi who leaped up to leave. "Tell the rest of the girls that you can all come visit your man after school."

Inwardly, Matt groaned and buried his face in his hands. The last thing he needed was for that rumor to get around the school too.

Oh, the things you do for your friends…

Review please!

Hope I'm not the only one who enjoyed the ending. Things are heating up on all sides…

I don't own Digimon.