There For You
A 16-year-old Mimi Tachikawa walked down the hallways of Odabai High School. Pausing to get
a drink from the water fountain, she put her books under her arms, and bent over.
The bell rang, and students rushed out of their classes, eager to get home, after a hard day of
school. As one of them passed Mimi, they shoved her, causing her to drop her books, and have
her face pushed into the water.
"Excuse me!" The boy yelled, as he walked out of the front doors of the school.
"Yeah…" Mimi muttered, drying herself off, and getting down on her knees to pick up her books.
"Need any help?" A voice asked. Mimi looked up, and saw a boy that looked about the same
age as she did, and he had dark brown eyes, and light brown eyes.
"Yeah, thanks," Mimi said, gathering up one of the many papers that were scattered around
the floor, and shoving them into her notebook.
The boy got down on his knees, and started helping Mimi. As soon as they had finished picking
everything up, he got up, and offered his hand to her. She took it, and helped herself up.
Taking up her books, she began to walk out the door.
"Hey!" The boy called to her.
She turned around. "What?"
"Your welcome."
Mimi sighed. "Thanks." She was almost out of the door, when she turned around. "Hey…" She
called to him.
The boy turned around, and looked at Mimi. "Wha?"
"You wanna get a drink or something?" She asked.
"Yeah, I guess," He responded, with a smile. "By the way, my names Michael."
"Mimi."
"So, where do you wanna go, Mimi?" He asked.
Later, both of them were sitting in a booth at a local restaurant, talking and laughing.
"That's so funny!" Mimi said, laughing hard, and almost spilling her drink. She took a sip of her
drink, and almost choked, because she was laughing too hard.
"Yeah, I know! I was cracking up when I heard that too!" Michael said, taking another sip of his
soda. He looked at his watch, and his smile dissolved. "Hey, I gotta go. See ya later maybe?"
He asked.
"Yeah," Mimi said. "Call me. You have my number."
Michael got up from the booth, kissed Mimi on the cheek, and walked out of the door.
Meanwhile, Matt was at home, on the phone.
"Who?" He asked the person the other end of the line.
"This guy named Michael… He is so CUTE!" The girl on the other line responded. "But I don't
think I have a CHANCE with him. I mean he's a huge flirt. I've seen him with almost all of the
girls in the school. Plus, he doesn't even know me."
"Uh huh, Jennifer…" Matt responded, lazily.
"Well I got to go," Jennifer replied. "I'll see you in school."
"Later," Matt said, as he heard a click, and then the dial tone. He put the phone down, and it
immediately rang again.
Sighing, he picked the phone up. "Hello?" He asked.
"Hi Matt!" Mimi said, an excited tone in her voice.
"Hey. What are you so excited about?" Matt asked, curiously.
"Well, I met this guy named Michael… He's so nice, and sweet, and funny…" Mimi trailed off.
"And I just wanted to tell everyone. So the first people I thought of were you and Sora. You
guys are my best friends." Mimi said. Over the years, all of the DigiDestined had gotten closer,
including Matt and Mimi.
"Hey, I'm happy for you," Matt responded sincerely. He really was.
"Thanks!" Mimi squealed. "Well anyway, there's another reason I called. Can you pick me up?"
"Sure," Matt said. "Where are you?"
"Well you know that place right by the gas station and the McDonalds? I'm right there."
"OK, I'll see you soon," Matt said, hanging up the phone. He hung up, and grabbed his keys.
'Hold on!' He thought. 'Michael? This is such a coincidence…'
"Nah, it couldn't be," He said aloud.
"Hey, Mimi!" Matt called, at the restaurant, looking around for her.
"Right here!" Mimi replied.
Matt looked around, for the source of the voice. He finally saw her in a booth, near the corner
of the restaurant.
He waved to her. "Hey, I'm here."
Mimi got up, walked over to Matt, and hugged him.
"How've you been?" She asked.
"Great. You?"
"Excellent! 'Specially today," Mimi responded.
"Cool. C'mon, let's go," Matt said, leading her to his car, in the crowded parking lot. They
walked to the car in silence.
When they were both in the car, Mimi got in the passenger side, while Matt started the car.
"So…" Mimi said, as they pulled on to the almost empty road.
"Tell me more about Michael, I guess," Matt said. "How'd you meet him?"
"Well," Mimi said, getting excited all over again. "We were at school, and I was getting a drink
from the water fountain…"
"Uh huh…" Matt said, focusing on Mimi, and not the road.
"Well, this one guy had pushed me accidentally, and I dropped my books. I guess he saw it,
and he helped me pick them up. After that, to thank him, I asked him if he wanted to get a
drink or something."
Mimi looked out of the car window. "And I guess… Watch out!" She grabbed the steering
wheel, and turned it so that the car was at the side of the road. A truck passed them, and
beeped.
"Hey, sorry…" Matt apologized. "Just wasn't paying attention. Well go on." He got back on the
road, and his eyes were glued to the road.
"Well I really like him, and I wanna get to know him better," Mimi replied.
"Yeah, well I'm happy for you," Matt said again. "OK, we're here." He parked the car, and
waited for Mimi to get out.
"Thanks Matt!" Mimi said, as the opened the door.
"No problem," Matt replied.
Mimi hugged Matt one more time, and got out of the car. "See ya later, Matt!" She yelled, as
the car sped away.
The next day, Mimi was talking to Michael.
"Have you met Matt Ishida?" She asked.
"Uh, no. But I've heard of him," Michael responded. "Why?"
"I was just wondering. I think you guys would really like each other."
"Oh, you know Matt?" Michael asked. "He's one of the most popular people in the school!"
"Yeah, I know him." Mimi said. "He picked me up last night, after you left. We almost crashed,
'cuz I was telling him about you."
"Is he okay?" Michael asked. "He sounds pretty careless to me."
"He's okay. He's not careless, he wasn't just paying attention."
"Well enough about Matt, he sounds boring. What about you?" Michael asked, inquisitively.
"Nothing much happened, after that, if that's what you mean."
"Oh. OK."
Later, Matt was walking to his next class, when he saw Jennifer.
"Hey, over here Jennifer!" He said, waving. She turned around, and Matt saw that she was
with someone. He had dark brown hair, and was dressed in black jeans, and a blue T-shirt.
"Hi Matt. This is Michael," Jennifer said. "You know, that guy I was talking about…" She
whispered.
Matt nodded to Jennifer, and held his hand out to Michael. Michael took it, and they shook
hands.
"So, how'd you two meet. From what Jennifer told me, she didn't even know you."
"Well," Jennifer said, answering for Michael. "We met at this party I went to yesterday. That's
where I had to go yesterday. Remember?
Matt nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, he was there too, and he asked me to dance. Of course, I accepted. Tonight he asked
me to go with him to this restaurant on Saturday, at like 8:00. You know, the one that's by
your house."
Matt nodded again, as the bell rang, signaling for everyone to get to their next class. "Well I
gotta go." Matt said. "Have fun on your little date tonight!"
"We will," Jennifer said, turning back to Michael to give him a quick kiss. Michael hugged her,
and kissed her back.
Matt saw it. 'Coincidence?' He thought to himself. 'I don’t think so…'
A few days later, Matt had invited Mimi to his house.
"Can you hurry this up?" Mimi said impatiently. "I have to meet Michael somewhere."
"That's exactly what this is about. Michael. He is a RAT. He's seeing Jennifer."
"No he's not," Mimi said stubbornly. "I would know if he was. And if he was seeing Jennifer,
how would he get enough time to see me EVERYDAY?"
"I don't know but he is," Matt replied. "I'm just trying to look out for you. You are my best
friend."
"Man, you're just jealous," Mimi said. "That Michael and I are getting closer, and you and I are
getting farther apart."
"No," Matt responded. "I'm just trying to look out for you. But if you don't want my help, you
can just leave. Go see MICHAEL."
"That's what I was planning to do!" Mimi yelled, stomping out of the house, before Matt could
say another thing.
Matt sighed, and held his head in his hands.
"Matt, what time is it?" His Mom called from upstairs.
Matt looked at his watch. "It's 4:00," He yelled.
"Thanks!"
Matt looked at his watch again. Time. A plan formed in his mind.
"Eight o'clock…" He muttered. He had 4 hours.
Thirty minutes later, Mimi and Michael were at the mall, waiting in a line for a movie.
"Is this movie any good?" Mimi asked.
Michael put his arm around her. "Yeah. I heard it's scary too." Mimi squirmed.
"Oh, come on. It won't be that bad!" Michael said, kissing her.
Michael turned. "Two please," He said, handing over the money. He grabbed the tickets, and
Mimi's hand. "Let's go!" He said, running into the theater.
Meanwhile, Matt was busy. He walked to a restaurant near his house. A "HELP WANTED" sign
hung in the window. Matt entered the building.
'Why am I doing this for her in the first place?' Matt thought to himself. 'It's 'cause I don’t want
her to get hurt… I still don't know why I'm doing this. Sometimes, I can hardly STAND her. But
she's still my best friend. Nothing more…'
"Excuse me sir," A man in a black suit said, politely.
"Oh, sorry," Matt replied. "Hey, do you know where the front desk is?"
The man pointed to a desk that was lit very brightly. A well-dressed man sat behind it.
Matt walked up the desk.
"How can I help you?" The man said lazily.
"Yeah, um I'm here about the job opening," Matt said, politley.
"Step into my office…" He said sarcastically, mentioning to a chair.
Matt pulled the chair so that it was in front of the desk. "Um, I was just here to see about the
job opening. I was wondering if-"
"You have any experience?" The man asked, sighing.
"Um, I worked at McDonalds for a-"
"You've got the job," The man said, cutting him off.
"Isn't that a little fast? Shouldn't-" Matt started.
"Hey, do you want the job or not?" The man asked.
"Uh, yeah, I guess," Matt answered.
"Thought so," The man replied. "You start tonight. Ask him for your uniform." He pointed to a
man nearby,
"Thanks, I guess," Matt said.
An hour and 30 minutes later, Mimi and Michael were just coming out of the theater.
"Wasn't that movie great?" Michael asked. "I told you it would be."
"I didn't like it… It was a little to bloody for me," Mimi replied.
"Oh well," Michael said, hugging her lightly. "I'm sure you'll like the next movie we'll go to." Mimi
just sighed.
Michael looked at his watch. It was 6:00. "Mimi," He said, "I have to go, but maybe I'll see you
tomorrow." Michael kissed Mimi, and walked off.
It was then that Mimi realized she had no ride.
At the same time, Matt was busy cleaning the house, looking for his camera.
"Man, where is it?" He muttered, looking through pike after pile of old toys.
Finally, an idea struck him. "Mom!" He yelled. "Where's my camera? I'm looking for it!" Matt
waited for his mom to answer.
His mother walked into the room where Matt was searching. "Last time I checked," She said,
"IT was in that box right there." She pointed to a big box.
"Thanks mom!" He yelled, running over to it. He carelessly tossed out everything, until he got
to the bottom of the box.
"Yes, I got it…" Matt said quietly. He looked at his watch. 6:45. He had to get to work.
He grabbed his suit and camera, changed quickly, and ran out the door.
Thunder boomed as Matt got out of his car, to his job. He was dressed in a black suit, with a
white shirt and black tie. He hurriedly walked to the building, before it started to rain.
He entered the back door, and hid his camera in his suit.
"Hey, you!" A chef called, as soon as he walked in.
"What?" Matt asked.
"Take this to table 5."
Matt complied.
After an hour of work, Matt was just about ready to go home. But hr remembered his plan. His
watched beeped, and he took yet another tray. Walking out of the kitchen, he delivered the
food, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jennifer, with Michael. They were seated, and
ordered their food. Around 10 minutes later, they got their food.
Matt got orders to deliver food to the table right next to theirs. He grabbed his camera from his
pocket with one hand, and the tray with the other.
After he delivered the food, he circled his way back, and hid behind a plant, so that no one
could see him. He grabbed his camera, and took a couple of pictures of Michael, and Jennifer.
After he was done, he walked calmly back to the kitchen.
"Ugh…" He said, grabbing his stomach. "Can I go home?"
The head chef looked over him sternly. "Go ahead."
Matt walked out of the door, and into his car, smiling.
The next day, Matt called the restaurant, and quit. His excuse was "The job isn't exciting
enough for me."
While he was waiting to get his pictures developed, he stared outside the window, looking into
space. After a while, he went to pick up his photos. He picked up his keys from the counter, and
saw a message from his mom. It read:
Matt,
Mimi called. She said to call her back, and that she was sorry for something. She also said to
meet her in the park at around 3:00.
Mom
Matt picked up the note, folded it, and put it in his pocket.
'Sorry, huh?' Matt thought to himself. 'I'm not believing this.'
He got into his car, and drove to the picture place.
Later, Mimi was in the park, waiting for Matt. She saw his car, and waved to him.
"Hey Matt," She said, softly, when Matt had gotten to the bench she was sitting on. "I just
wanted to say I was sorry, about yesterday. I was kind of upset… and the whole thing with
Michael didn't help. I admit, he is KIND of annoying, I mean he accidentally left me at the
movies without a ride yesterday, but he's really sweet, and I'm really lucky I met him."
"Yeah," Matt responded. "But you know that whole think I told you about Matt seeing Jennifer?
Well I have proof! Yesterday, I got some pictures of them at-"
"You don't know when to get over it!" Mimi said, getting mad all over again. "I try my best to
forgive you, but you just try to prove to me that Michael is a fake or whatever! I can't believe
you!"
Matt looked shock. He pulled his pictures from out of his pocket. He he'd them up. "It's right
here! Trust me!" He pulled out some of the photos and showed them to Mimi.
"This isn't even any proof!" Mimi yelled at him. "It's just a plane, with Jennifer behind it." Mimi
flipped through the pictures. "That's all there is!" She screamed.
"There's Michael right there, if you don't believe me!" Michael yelled back at her. He pointed to
a spot near the edge of the picture.
"That doesn't look a THING like him!" Mimi exploded. "And anyway, I have to go. I hope you
have a nice LIFE." She said the last part bitterly, as she stormed away from him.
"Here we go again…" Matt said, sighing. What was he going to do?
Matt looked up to the sky. It was filled with gray clouds, and thunder boomed. And to top off
the day, it was going to rain.
Mimi ran. She ran away from everything. Matt… 'Who did he think he was?' She thought to
herself. 'Why was he trying to convince her that Michael was a fake? I mean Michael is a really nice
guy. Annoying at times, but I still love him…'
Mimi stopped for a while, to catch her breath. Where was she? She looked around, as thunder
boomed one more time, and it began to drizzle. She shivered. Why didn't she bring a coat?
Mimi's eyes stopped on a familiar figure. She saw Michael… with Jennifer. She saw as they
laughed happily, running under a tree for cover. She saw as he hugged her, tightly. She saw as
he kissed her…
Mimi's heart broke. As the rain got harder, she felt tears well up in her eyes. The rain began to
trickle on her face, and she started to cry.
Matt ran after Mimi. The thunder rumbled in the sky, as he ran faster trying to catch up to Mimi.
Why was he doing this for Mimi anyway? He just had this feeling… Like he had to protect her…
Matt shook his head, as the rain totally soaked his hair. He didn't know why, but he had this
weird feeling about Mimi, that something was wrong with her. He ran faster.
Mimi held her head down, as she continued to rain. The rain continued to fall on her, and she
sniffed, as she choked yet another sob.
"Mimi?" She heard a voice behind her. She turned around, to see Matt behind her, a concerned
look on his face.
"You okay?" He asked. He looked around. What was Mimi's problem? His eyes fell on Michael
and Jennifer running to a car.
Me jogged towards her, and hugged her. She just hugged him back, and cried on his shoulder.
They just stood there, holding each other.
"Don't worry about him…" Matt said after a while.
"I won't…" Mimi said, softly. She smiled ruefully. "I must have been such a fool… I didn't know…
It was so obvious…"
"Don't say that Mimi, you're not a fool," Matt said, running his hand through his soaked hair.
"You can do much better than him. And never forget- I'm there for you." He smiled at her.
"Whatever…" Mimi said, sniffing.
Matt took her chin, and moved her head, so that she was looking right at him. "Listen to me.
Forget about him. You can do much better than him!"
As Mimi looked into his deep blue eyes, she felt herself getting closer to him. They moved
closer, and their lips eventually touched.
Matt broke the kiss after a moment. "See," he said softly. "You can do better."
Mimi smiled at him. "I guess you're right." She kissed him one more time, and hugged him.
"So, you wanna get a drink or something?" Matt asked. The rain had stopped, and the sun had
made its way into the sky.
"Yeah," Mimi said, smiling happily.
Matt finally knew what that feeling was. It was called… Love.
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