Chapter 8: School Life

Jeri’s POV

It was Monday and Takato and I had to go to school. I dragged myself out of bed and to the bathroom. I stepped into the shower and let the warm water flow over my body. The water freshened me up for the new day. I dried myself with a towel and wrapped a robe over myself as I stepped out of the bathroom. I dressed quickly, grabbed my school bag and made for the kitchen. But the moment I reached the dining hall, I saw breakfast already ready. It was a plate of sizzling bacon and eggs.

I stood there stunned staring at the table. How?

Just then Takato wheeled his way towards me with a tray of food on his lap.

“Good morning my princess.” He grinned as he wheeled past me.

“Good morning Takato, did you cook this?”I asked him.

“Yes…Is my cooking really that bad?”

“No. It’s just that, how did you cook all this? I mean you’re…handicapped.”

Takato wiggled his eyebrows mysteriously and smiled, “It’s a secret. Just sit down and eat. We’re going to be late soon.”

I snapped out of my dazing and quickly ate my breakfast. It tasted good…

Takato and I headed for school together for obvious reasons. At the school gate we bumped into Kazu and Kenta, the two goofs of the group.

“Hi Takato. Hi beautiful.” Said Kazu, as usual aloof.

I blushed at the fact that Kazu had called me beautiful

“Ah shut it. You’re lucky I’m in this state….And keep away from Jeri.” retorted Takato

I was touched that Takato was so protective of me…

“Why? Jealous Takato?” I taunted him.

He blushed deeply and replied, “No…It’s just that…I…you…you…like Kazu?”

“No! Of course not. Ha ha ha ha…you’re jealous…”

“I am not!” he exclaimed blushing profusely.

“Yeah…right…”

“Hey guys…I’m still here you know…”complained Kazu.

I had completely forgotten about Kazu and Kenta being there. I blushed a hue to match Takato’s own.

We were about to enter the school grounds when a couple greeted us. It was Henry and Alice. Henry had his arm around her waist and they were making eyes at one another.

Ryo and Rika weren’t here because they attended another school but we were still friends all the same…

“Hi guys…what’s up?”

“Hi Henry, nothing lets go…”replied Takato.

Our group broke up for our various classes. My first class was Geography with Takato. I had him in all my classes except for 2 subjects, Physical Sciences and Music. I guess that it was good that we were in the same classes most of the time as I could help Takato get around and I could spend time with him more often…But in the classes where I couldn’t be with him, he would have to rely on Henry who was in his class.

As we stepped into the noisy classroom and took our seats at the back of the class, I kept thinking about him.

I looked at Takato affectionately. He was my knight in shining armour. He was all I had ever dreamed of. Ever since the day we met, I could feel a sense of attraction to him, I just didn’t know what it was then. Now I do, that feeling was love.

Takato’s POV

As I sat in the classroom, waiting for class to start, I felt myself thinking about her. How perfect she was. How wonderful a girl Jeri was…

Jeri has a little weird in the beginning when she had carried the puppet of hers around. But after the encounter with the D-reapers, she stopped touching it altogether. Now, she was the most wonderful girl to walk on this face of the Earth. She was beautiful, intelligent, kind….and she was the most innocent girl I had ever seen…

Just then I felt her gaze on me. I turned to face her and looked into those beautiful brown orbs. I moved my face closer to hers. I could feel her warm breath against my jaw line. I closed my eyes, moved forward and…

“Hi guys!” came an all too familiar annoying voice.

It was Kazu who had decided to pop in and spoil the moment.

We broke apart, faces redder than tomatoes.

“So…what were you doing…”asked Kazu with a devilish grin on his face.

“N…Nothing…Nothing at all.”I replied.

“Yeah…right…”said Kazu, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Kazu…leave them alone. They’re embarrassed enough already…”came Kenta.

“All right. All right…but…”

Kazu didn’t have a chance to complete his statement as the teacher Mr Gavin had entered the class.

As the teacher droned on, I grasped less and less of the subject. I looked at Jeri. She was busily copying down the notes that Mr Gavin was writing on the board.

“Takato…Why aren’t you copying down the notes?” she hissed at me in a hushed tone.

“I don’t see why I should copy it down when I just don’t understand it.” I whispered back.

She groaned and replied, “Just copy the notes down and I’ll explain them later.”

I did as she told, picked up my pen and started copying it down without much enthusiasm.

A few hours later at lunchtime…

Takato’s POV

The day so far has been sooooo boring. I had almost fallen asleep in most of my lessons except for Japanese and Math because the Japanese teacher was so strict that it was impossible to sleep and I couldn’t understand most of what the teachers were saying except for Maths.

I grabbed my tray of food and wheeled over to the table where everyone was seated at. Jeri had offered to help me but I declined it. I couldn’t have her waiting on me all the time!

“Hi Takato.” Said Henry as I approached them.

“Hi Henry…Hi guys.”I replied.

“Takato, did you hear about the upcoming school dance?”

“Dance? No I didn’t. What dance?” I felt my heart drop. Another thing I couldn’t do.

I saw Jeri looking concerned, staring my way.

I turned to her and grinned, “Hey Jeri, you hear that? A dance, great huh?”

She smiled back, “Yeah Takato, that’s just brilliant.” She probably knew what was on my mind…nevertheless…

“Hey Takato, you know what else? We were planning on making a trip to the digital world today after school for a picnic or something? You want to come along?”

A trip? To the digital world? That would mean seeing Guilmon again. It had been so long since we had last saw our digimon partners. That was something I could do…

But then I thought of Jeri. Leomon, her partner was gone. How would she feel amongst our rejoicing?

I was just about to disagree with Henry’s idea to go to the digital world when I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. It was Jeri!

As if she could read my mind, she said, “Takato, It’s ok, stop worrying about me. Go visit Guilmon. I’ll go with you too.” She added with a smile.

In the end we agreed to meet at Hypnos where we would be transported to the digital world an hour after school to allow us time to get ready.

The rest of the day sped by as school finally ended. Jeri and I went home alone. I knew that she still missed Leomon but kept her sadness within herself.

“Jeri?”

“Yes, Takato?”

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to you know…”

“I want to…”

“Don’t try and lie to me Jeri. You may be able to fool the rest but not me. You still miss him don’t you?”

She stopped in her tracks and so did I.

“I miss him so much…” she said starting to cry.

“Jeri…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I know Takato.” She sniffed, wiping her tears away, “and that’s why you have to go later, because you love Guilmon and you know it. Stay with them for as long as possible, don’t end up like me…”

“Jeri, if it pains you to see us like that then don’t come along.”

“No Takato, Just because Leomon’s not around anymore doesn’t mean that I don’t care about the rest of them. I’m going to visit Guilmon, Terriermon and the rest of them. I’m fine Takato, so stop worrying about me.”

“Ok. Jeri, I’m glad.”I said reassured.

“Takato?”

“Yeah Jeri?”

“You can’t fool me either by acting all calm in front of the rest just now, and don’t think I forgot about it…”

I sighed, she was right…she was the only person besides my parents who could truly understand me…

“Takato, are you feeling alright? I mean about the dance thing…”

“Yeah Jeri, I’m fine…Listen, I can’t go to the dance with you, I know that so do you, as much as I want to…so go with someone else…ok…”

“Takato, I…”

“Hey, Jeri. Do you mind if we stop by my parent’s bakery for a while? I need to get some Guilmon bread for Guilmon. You know how much he loves it.” I said changing the topic not wanting to deal with this anymore

Jeri averted her eyes and replied, “Yeah…”

I got worried that I had hurt her feelings so I asked, “Jeri are you ok?”

“Yeah…I’m ok Takato, I’m fine… can you let me push you to the bakery? You’ll take forever to get there alone.” She said turning to face me.

“Hey…are you saying that I’m slow?”

“I could be…”replied Jeri with the slightest bit of humor in her voice.

“Oh yeah? Race you there.”

“You’re on Takato.” And then we raced against each other to the bakery, she ran while I wheeled myself there.

By the time we had reached the entrance of the bakery, we were both panting away.

“Ha ha, I win Takato.” Laughed Jeri.

“It wasn’t a fair race.” I complained.

“I still won.” She said sticking out her tongue.

“Let’s just go inside…”

As we entered the bakery, a familiar aroma of freshly baked bread filled my lungs. It brought back old memories of my past.

“Welcome to…oh Takato! Jeri! What are you doing here?”

“Hi mom, hi dad.” I said with a grin as I wheeled over to hug my mother.

“Hello, Mr and Mrs Matsuki.”

“Hello, Jeri dear. Why are the both of you so sweaty?” my mom inquired.

“We raced here mom.”

“Oh…right…”

“Hey mom? Can we have some guilmon bread please?”

After Guilmon left, they continued making that bread and sold it. It had become a huge hit with their customers.

“Are you two going there again?”

“Yes mom, we’re going there with Henry and the others.”

“Ok…but Takato, there are only 10 pieces left. Is that ok? You know what that dinosaur of yours is like….”

“Yeah… I guess. Oh. And can we have some other pieces of bread too, we’ll need them for our own food.”

“Help yourself dear.”

I wheeled past the main counter and into the main bakery where they stored most of their unsold bread. I selected some and dumped them into a bag which Jeri was holding.

“Takato, are you sure you don’t want to shower first, the two of you look so sticky…”

“Yes mom. We’re fine. We got to go…Bye mom, bye dad.”

“Be careful and visit us more often…ok?”

“Will do mom…”I yelled after her.

Jeri and I took some time to travel but not before long, we were staring at the twin towers of Hypnos…