Pink and Green:Page 5
up the stairs, still in thought about the play, when she heard a familiar voice
coming from above. Erica quickly hid
behind a door. She knew who it was right away.
"No, thanks, Ken. I’m okay!" Erica heard Mimi scream from above.
Erica let her eyes wonder until she spotted a banana peel lying just beside the base of a
garbage can. She didn’t hesitate and
picked up the peel from the ground. Tiptoeing up the stairs, Erica placed the peel on the
third step of the stairs. Erica quickly
walked back to her hiding place, and peek. Perhaps if Mimi breaks her ankle, she wouldn’t
be able to participate for the play
tonight. Mimi was indeed on her way downstairs.
"Erica? What are you doing?"
Erica gasped and turned to look at Matt. "M-Matt?" she quickly straightened herself and
acted as though she were innocent.
"Nothing really!" she giggled in a phony way.
Matt only frowned and walked up the stairs.
"Hey wait!" Erica called to Matt. But it was too late.
Mimi had been humming a song when she stepped on the banana peel. Losing her balance,
Mimi immediately stumbled. She was
wearing her heels today so it was hard to keep balance. Mimi came rolling down the stairs.
Matt quickly saw her. As Mimi
continued to roll down, Matt came running and caught Mimi in his arms.
"Oh my gosh! How embarrassing!" Mimi exclaimed, blushing, as she quickly pulled away
from Matt’s grasps.
Matt picked up the banana peel sticking from Mimi’s shoe. "I think I know why you fell."
He told her firmly.
Mimi smiled at Matt. She smoothened out her uniform and continued down the stairs.
"Thank you, Matt."
"Uh, sure..." Matt replied with a friendly nod and continued up the stairs.
Erica caught Mimi’s gaze as she walked passed her. Erica couldn’t take it anymore.
Something had to be done now! Then she
smiled to herself when she thought of something. When Mimi disappeared, Erica quickly
followed Matt upstairs.
"I can’t believe it! I should be the one playing as the prince, Yoshizuki!" Ken exclaimed as
Matt entered his Music class.
Mr. Yoshizuki sat down on his desk and eyed Ken in annoyance. "Sit down, Kenji, before I
give you a detention!"
Matt sighed and rolled his eyes. Everyday Ken would complain about it. Everyday. And
Ken was always there to watch the
rehearsals for the past four weeks. It’s a wonder how Yoshizuki could still cope up with
him.
Mr. Yoshizuki smiled when he saw Matt. "Ishida, are you ready to perform for tonight?"
When Matt didn’t answer, Ken said quickly, "I can always be the prince in case Matt
quits! Right, Ishida?"
"Whatever..." Matt sighed. He took out his harmonica and placed it on his desk.
"Yamato, would you like to pass out the music sheets please?" Yoshizuki said.
Matt stood up and took the music sheets from Mr. Yoshizuki. Then Erica entered the class
and sat on the empty desk beside
Matt’s. Matt walked towards Erica and handed her a music sheet.
"Thank you, Matt!" Erica said in a tiny high voice.
Matt raised an eyebrow but didn’t answer. Oh well... Erica thought. She then noticed
Matt’s shiny harmonica sitting on his desk.
Erica quickly stole a glance at Matt’s direction. When she was sure that Matt wasn’t
looking, Erica quickly grabbed the
harmonica from his desk.
Mimi took a spoonful of her strawberry flavored yogurt. She was sitting at the cafeteria
right now at lunch. Beside her, there was
an empty seat, and that empty seat was the place for her expensive purse.
"Hi Mimi,"
Mimi looked up and was surprised to find Erica standing in front of her. She was holding a
small plastic bag in her hand. She
quickly rose to her feet and looked at her ex-best friend. "Oh... hi... Erica..." she muttered.
Erica lowered her gaze on the ground as if she was avoiding Mimi’s steady gaze. "I know
you probably hate me... after all what I
did... I just want to say that..." She stopped and looked at her in the eye. "I want to say
that I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it...
whatever I did to make you ignore me..."
"It doesn’t matter. I don’t care," Mimi replied, looking away from her.
Erica then extended her hand. "I want to wish you good luck for tonight."
Mimi then stared at Erica. She reluctantly accepted Erica’s hand and shook it. "Thanks, I
guess..."
Erica suddenly dropped her plastic bag on the ground. "Oops!" she exclaimed, taking her
hand away from Mimi’s. She made a
rather nervous laugh. "Stupid me! I dropped my lunch..."
She bent down and took her lunch that she had dropped on Mimi’s purse’s chair.
"Excuse me! Sorry about that, Mimi!" Erica said quickly when she finally picked up her
lunch. Mimi watched as Erica flew away
from her quickly.
Strange... what IS up with her? Mimi asked herself silently.
Matt didn’t want to talk to anybody at all. He didn’t want to see anyone at all. He silently
walked to the crowded and noisy
cafeteria. He was mad. He lost his harmonica. He couldn’t even remember the last place
where he was when he lost it. He didn’t
even remember anything at all. It just disappeared somehow.
He continued to walk until he spotted Mimi sitting by herself. He was about to join her
when Joe suddenly came up to her and
sat across from Mimi. Matt sighed and started to walk away when he heard somebody
yelling his name. Matt turned to look and
saw Joe waving for him to come.
Matt sighed and agreed and approached Mimi and Joe’s table.
"Hi guys..." Matt said in a soft voice.
"Mimi and I were just talking about the play for tonight," Joe said to him. "I hope you
guys perform well!"
Matt managed a tiny smile. He really wasn’t in the right mood to talk about the play he and
Mimi were in. He looked down and
thought he saw something shiny inside Mimi’s purse. Matt’s eyebrows furrowed and he
looked at his harmonica in shocked. His
pride possession was inside Mimi’s purse! But how in the world did it find its way there?
Mimi would never do such a thing!
Could she have possibly stolen his harmonica? But why?
"Earth to Matt!" Mimi called out.
Matt turned to Mimi and scowled. "How could you do this to me, Mimi?! Why?!" Matt
shouted.
"H-huh... do what?" Mimi looked taken aback.
"Matt! What are you talking about?" Joe asked, quickly defending innocent Mimi. "Don’t
yell at Mimi!"
"Stay out of this, Joe!" Matt yelled.
Mimi looked like she was about to cry when she realized that Matt was seriously angry.
"M-Matt... w-why are you yelling at me
like this? Why are you so mad?" Mimi’s tears streamed down her cheeks. She really
didn’t know why Matt was suddenly yelling
like that. Just a second ago, he was acting like a good friend, but now...
Matt lowered his gaze, a guilty feeling inside him. He was about to apologize, but somehow
nothing came out of his mouth. He
quickly walked away without a word.
"Fine! Be that way!" Mimi cried as Matt disappeared.
"Mimi, are you okay?" Joe asked in concern.
"No I’m not!" Mimi yelled in between sobs. She then stormed out of the cafeteria as well,
following Matt’s direction.
"H-hey wait!" Joe called, running to follow her.
Ken watched Joe running after Mimi and just shook his head. Poor Joe... that guy would
never get a chance with Mimi. Hey,
what am I saying even I couldn’t even get a chance with Mimi! He watched as Joe once
again bumped into another group of
girls. But it seemed as if Mimi likes that nerd more than me! Me! When I’m the popular
one here! Joe and Mimi seemed
pretty close... But that Yamato... ugh! What’s with him? Ken squinted when he saw
something on a chair. He quickly ran up
and noticed that it was Mimi’s purse. Inside he noticed Matt’s harmonica. I see what the
problem is, he thought.
Ken suddenly smiled when he thought of something. Ha ha! Matt has Chemistry with me
after this! Ken said inside his head.
The bell rang, indicating that lunchtime was over. Ken grabbed Mimi’s purse and quickly
ran up the stairs. He ran and ran until
he finally reached the chemistry lab.
He had a lot of ideas popping out of his mind.
"Ken, you’re early today!" one of the girls from his Chemistry class, Mina, implied.
"Don’t rub it in!" Ken replied as he squished Mimi’s purse in his knapsack.
Mina looked suspiciously at Ken. "What are you up to now?" she asked.
"Nothing," he answered.
Many other students came in, including Tai and Sora. The two had both changed their
schedule so that they could be in the same
class. They weren’t in Matt’s Chemistry class before, but since the principal could
accommodate them for this class, they had
agreed to choose Mr. Seto’s Chemistry class.
"Sora! I’m picking you up tonight, right?" Tai asked her.
Sora smiled at him. "Of course, Tai."
Tai sat closely beside Sora. He was about to lean forward when Gina arrived. "Get a
room!" Gina yelled at the couple.
Tai quickly pulled away from Sora in surprised. "Gina!"
Gina only rolled her eyes. "Oh. Sorry!" she stated sarcastically.
It wasn’t that long when Matt arrived as well.
"Hi Matt," Sora greeted as he walked passed her.
Matt didn’t reply. He slowly headed for his own desk. He still wasn’t over with what
happened at lunchtime at the cafeteria. He
sat and watched Mr. Seto with his long boring lecture about organic chemistry. He wasn’t
even paying anymore attention. He
could see Mr. Seto teaching them, but he couldn’t hear what he was saying. Matt thought
about Mimi and how he had yelled at
her like that earlier. It wasn’t right. That wasn’t very gentle. That was really harsh.
"Yamato!"
Matt quickly looked up. He noticed that everyone in class was looking at him strangely.
Matt could feel his face turning red.
"I think you just woke him up, Mr. Seto," Mina said, looking at Matt with a smile.
This girl always likes to rub it in, Matt thought to himself in embarrassment.
He heard Ken laughing. "Matt! Why don’t you answer his question?!" he said.
Matt groaned and stared at his notes.
"Would you like me to repeat my question, Yamato?" Mr. Seto offered.
"Sure, I guess..." Matt replied lazily.
Before Seto could answer, the bell rang to end the class.
"Woo-hoo! Save by the bell!" Ken exclaimed as he stood up, wearing his knapsack. He
walked up to Matt, who busied himself
as he packed his stuff.
"Well, well, here’s Cinderella’s prince!" Ken said sarcastically, trying to annoy him.
Matt sighed and glared back at him. "Are you trying to be a pest?" he asked.
Ken laughed. "Me? A pest?! No way!"
Matt shook his head. "Got anything better to do, Ken?"
"What’s your problem man?" Ken asked. "Are you trying to keep your cool? I know
you’re mad!"
When Matt finally finished with his packing, he looked at the door and saw Mimi coming
in. Oh that’s right Mimi has
Chemistry after me... Matt thought to himself.
"Get out of my way," Matt said firmly to Ken. When Ken saw Matt’s expression, he
quickly moved away.
Mimi stood by the door and she watched as Matt started heading towards her. Mimi
quickly stepped in front of Matt. "Matt!
I-I’m really... sorry..." she stammered.
Matt nodded. "Forget it!" he replied back harshly and left.
"Yo Ken!" It was Mina.
"What?" Ken asked.
"Can I borrow your Physics text book?" she asked politely.
"Well... sure!" Ken replied. He placed his knapsack on Matt’s desk, and opened up his
knapsack again. Man, look how messy
I am! Ken thought as he rummaged through his stuff. His bag was in fact very full that he
had to take out everything he got. His
three-inched- binders, his books, his socks. Even including Mimi’s purse that he dropped
on the floor, which he didn’t notice.
"Huh? Tai wait..." Sora stopped him. They were already about to leave when Sora saw
something from Ken’s bag.
"What is it, Sora?" Tai asked, looking at her.
But Sora was only watching Ken. Just what is Ken doing with Mimi’s purse anyway? Sora
asked herself. Tai studied her for
a moment, still confused.
"Sora, what’s the matter?" Tai asked.
"Thanks Ken!" Mina exclaimed, quickly leaving the classroom.
"Sure!" Ken called out. He gave a quick glance at Sora and Tai before he ran out of the
lab.
Sora then ran up to Matt’s desk where on the floor lied Mimi’s purse. She bent down and
picked it up. "I knew it! This really
looks familiar. This is Mimi’s purse!" Sora said to Tai.
Tai frowned. "Huh? But what’s Ken doing with that?"
Sora looked at him carefully. "That’s what I wanna find out. Come on!"
A Cinderella Night...
Mimi sighed as she fixed her costume for the fourth time. She was waiting in the dressing
room with the other actresses for the
play. They only had about twenty minutes before the show begins. She studied herself at
the mirror and fixed her long strand of
mahogany hair. She was in a bad mood. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right that she felt like this
before her show. It just didn’t feel
right because... because Matt, her prince, was still mad at her. And besides that, she forgot
her purse in the cafeteria that day.
When Mimi had returned to look for it, it was already gone. Fortunately, she only had her
make-up and lunch in there. It was a
good thing that she had her wallet in her pocket.
"Hey Mimi," it was Sassy. She was one of the actresses who got the part as one of the
three ugly sisters. Although Sassy wasn’t
very happy with the role she got, she was pretty satisfied that she got a part at least. "Are
you ready for the big night?"
Mimi tried to smile, but even with her little smile was no mask to hide her sadness.
"Sure..." she whispered.
Sassy studied Mimi’s costume. "Oh look! Let me fix that button." Sassy offered as she
bent down and buttoned Mimi’s costume.
"Thanks Sassy," Mimi replied blankly.
Sassy seemed to sense Mimi’s mood that she looked at her more closely. "Mimi, what’s
the matter?"
"Nothing!" she answered, standing up quickly. "Come on. Everyone’s waiting!"
They left the dressing room and found their drama and music instructor, Mr. Yoshizuki,
speaking with the popular jock, Ken.
"What do you mean Matt is not gonna show up?!" Mr. Yoshizuki yelled at him.
"I’m sorry, Yoshi, but he said that he didn’t want to be part of this stupid play anymore,"
Ken replied. "So... if I were you, you’d
better decide who you want to play the prince as..."
"What IS going on here?!" Mimi screamed running up to them.
"Mimi?" Yoshizuki looked at her.
Mimi quickly ran up to Ken. "What do you mean ‘he didn’t want to be part of this stupid
play’? Huh?! What do you mean by
that?!" she couldn’t take it anymore. She had waited so long for this night to come, and
Matt only blew it. This wasn’t what she
had been expected to come out at all! Mimi grabbed Ken by his collar again and glared at
him. "Are you telling me that Matt
chickened out?!"
"Mimi, please let me explain! If you could just let go of me..."
Mimi suddenly let go of him, causing Ken to land flat on his bum. "Put a sock in it! I won’t
hear it anymore!"
"But Mr. Yoshizuki, what are we gonna do if Matt doesn’t show up? Who’s gonna play the
prince?" Sassy asked in a worried
tone.
Mimi quickly turned to him expecting a good answer. Mr. Yoshizuki scratched his head. He
really didn’t know how to answer
that one. "I... well... I really don’t know what to do, Sassy..."
Mimi looked like she was about to cry again. "This can’t be happening! Matt IS gonna
show up in any second now! We’ll wait
for him, right Mr. Yoshizuki?"
The teacher, however, was afraid to answer.
"RIGHT?!" Mimi pushed once again. "Come ON! Answer me!"
Ken slowly got up. "I can always take over..."
"Shut up, Ken! We’re NOT talking to you!" Mimi yelled at him.
"Whoa, cool it, Cinderella. It was only a suggestion!" Ken shot back.
"Enough Ken! We’ll wait ten minutes for Matt!" Mr. Yoshizuki said.
Mimi sighed and looked down. Oh Matt... please, you have to show up! You have to! Mimi
pleaded silently.
"And if he doesn’t show by then, we’ll have to start the show," Mr. Yoshizuki concluded.
Matt sat all by himself in his bedroom. He knew that he was supposed to be acting for the
play tonight, but he didn’t feel like
going anymore. It wasn’t because he was too nervous or anything like that, it’s just that he
had too many things muddled up on
his mind. He couldn’t control his problems anymore. That’s exactly what he felt right now.
Mimi, I... I’m sorry! Matt thought. I can’t believe I was such a jerk. I can’t believe I acted
like that. He thought about how
he had yelled at Mimi that morning. I bet she’s probably happy that I didn’t show up at the
play. He glanced at his watch and
noticed that the play had already started twenty minutes ago. Oh well...
A knock on his door suddenly interrupted Matt from his thoughts. The door opened and
TK came barging in and looked at his
brother in surprised.
"Matt! What are you still doing here? Don’t you have to act for the Cinderella play at your
school tonight?" he asked. TK himself
was already to leave with their parents to watch the play. "Come on, Matt! This is the only
time that Dad could watch you! Be
happy that he took a day off just to watch you!"
TK was right. His dad usually worked late. He was a workaholic after all. And he was
grateful enough to take a day off just to
see the play he was supposed to perform in.
Matt rose to his feet and turned to his little brother. "TK, what are you still doing here? I
thought you guys left a while ago!"
"Well, I left the flowers I was supposed to give to Mimi," TK replied. "Oh and by the way,
do you think I could borrow your
pager just for tonight?"
Matt nodded his head and sat back down on his bed. "Whatever... it’s under my bed, I
think."
TK bent down and picked up Matt’s pager on the floor. "Man, you’re so messy." TK
commented.
TK then headed for the door. But he gave Matt another look and said, "By the way, Matt,
Mimi is really great back there. I
really love her voice. So you better hurry and go before your scene comes on! Mimi needs
her prince!"
"What..." but TK was already out when Matt said that. Mimi... I... I’m sorry...
Oh man... I hope I convinced Matt to come to the play tonight, TK thought silently as he
walked out of the house. He turned
back but Matt was still nowhere in sight. TK sighed again and started to walked towards
the car to where his Dad was waiting.
"Where is Matt?" Mr. Ishida asked him.
"Oh, he said he’ll find a way to get there. He’s not ready yet," TK lied.
"TK! Wait!" a voice called out.
TK looked around and found Joe running towards him.
"Joe! What are you doing here?" TK asked in surprised.
"G-got-ta... s-p-eak... to M-Matt!" Joe almost choked out. It was obvious that he had been
running.
"Uh, I left the door open. He should be in his room right now," TK answered.
"Thanks!" Joe quickly answered as he quickly ran inside the house.
"Matt! Are you in there?! Matt!" a voice called out just outside Matt’s room.
Matt thought that he heard that voice before. He opened the door to his bedroom and
found who it was. Joe approached him,
panting heavily, struggling to catch his own breath.
"Joe, are you okay?" Matt asked him. "What's up, man? And how did you get here?"
Joe took a deep breath before he answered. "I... I... I really need to talk to you!"
Matt frowned. "About what? Is there some kind of problem?"
Joe shook his head. "Well... actually, there is... I just need to get something straight..."
"What's wrong?"
"I want to talk to you about Mimi..." Joe replied, looking at him carefully.
Matt then avoided Joe's gaze and sighed. He looked at the ground and stared at it. He
didn't want to talk about Mimi... well, at
least not yet. Not now. He had other things to think about. He shook his head and turned
away from Joe and started to walk
away, about to leave his bedroom.
"Hey, wait Matt! Don't leave yet!" Joe called out.
"Joe, please... I need to be alone," Matt answered, still walking away.
Oh great, how am I gonna explain this to Mimi? She was counting on me... Joe thought. He
just couldn't give up now. He
then followed behind Matt towards the kitchen.
"Matt, I believe that you know about the rumor going around between you and Mimi," Joe
said. "And I don't blame you...
because... it's not true... is it?"
"That was a long time ago, and what would you know anyway?" Matt replied coldly.
"Come on, Matt. Let's discuss this rationally, okay?" Joe told him. "I just want to help."
"I don't want or need your help, Joe," Matt said as he suddenly stopped. "Mimi doesn't
like me... I know it."
Joe stopped as well, and stood behind Matt. "How can you be sure about that? Did she tell
you that or what?"
Matt sighed. "She didn't have to tell me. It's so obvious. Mimi really hates me..." after all
what I’ve done...
"Matt, let's not forget that she's your friend... our friend," Joe assured him. "We're all
friends here. And you didn't even do
anything that would make Mimi hate you so much."
Matt then suddenly turned around and faced Joe. "That's NOT true! I did something! I
did! Look what I've done! I yelled at her
this morning! I kissed her just so I could get my twenty bucks from Tai! I knew from the
beginning that it was wrong and yet... I
still..." his voice slowly lowered and he made a fist as he stared at the ground. Yelling at
Joe wouldn't get him anywhere either.
Joe studied his friend. He wished that he could help, but he knew that Matt would have to
do everything on his own. He smiled.
"Think about it, Matt. Is that the only reason why you kissed her? Or is there more?"
Matt turned to Joe in surprised. "Huh?! You don't mean..."
"Think about it..." Joe told him with a smile. He then walked away, leaving Matt
wondering on his own.
"Oh man, the whole play is ruined!" Tai stated. He was sitting beside Kari and Sora who
had been watching the whole thing
since the very beginning. Now the play was almost over...
"I can’t believe that they replaced Matt for Ken! Ken couldn’t even get his lines right!"
Kari added.
On the stage, Ken was acting as the prince. Sassy, who was one of the step-sisters walked
up to the prince to present herself.
Sassy bowed in respect at the prince.
"Nice dress, Sassy!" Ken commented aloud.
The whole audience laughed at his comment. Sassy glared at Ken in anger. Man, this jerk
really does know how to screw up!
Sassy thought. She was very aware that she wasn’t supposed to say anything and yet she
did.
"Thank YOU, Ken!" Sassy replied with a hint of sarcasm. She then ran back to the right of
the stage and exit.
Sassy found Mimi at the very corner all by herself, sobbing. Sassy felt sorry for her that
she quickly ran up to Mimi.
"Oh Mimi, are you all right?" Sassy asked.
Mimi looked up at Sassy. Mimi was now wearing the very beautiful Cinderella gown. It was
exactly like the dress that Cinderella
wore from the movie. Only this one was pink rather than blue. Sassy nearly gasped when
she saw the puffed-eyed Mimi. She
didn’t think that she was crying this hard.
"Mimi, don’t cry. You’re almost up soon," Sassy told her gently.
"Ken ruined the whole play! It’s not fair! Matt should’ve been here!" Mimi cried.
Sassy scratched her head. She really didn’t know what to say.
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