Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

HAILEE 

“Oi, fucker!” 

I reeled my arm back and let the rock fly. It ricocheted off his thick skull, not doing any damage, but it sure as hell caught his attention. He turned from the villagers he had been terrorising to face me. Quite the fugly beast he was, basically a big crab, with two enormous front claws. 

“Who are you?” His gaze shifted between them and me, trying to decide if I was worth his time. 

“Me?” I stretched my arms behind my head. “I’m the bitch who's gonna serve your arse on a platter.” 

He took a step forward, snapping his pincers. “You? Kill me?” 

I grinned. It was always so much funner when they put up a fight. “That’s right, you great bloody crab.” 

Apparently, that was the final straw and he charged at me with surprising speed. 

“Crab? I’m not a crab!” 

“Fuck!” I dove head-first into the sand to avoid being chopped in half. 

I wiped the sand from my mouth and dashed towards the water. The beast growled and lunged at me again, hot breath on my heels. Exactly as I wanted, he only had eyes for me. 

I flipped him off and threw myself into a clumsy somersault. Now I needed to keep him—

“Awesome!” a small voice cheered. Shit. One squat bird peeked out of the large hut in the village centre. Too late, someone yanked him inside. The Ebidramon reared his ugly head, remembering the little sooks that encouraged his rampage in the first place. 

I backed up a couple of steps, raced forward and sprang at him, not giving him the chance to choose. I landed squarely on his ugly snout and punched him in the eye. 

“Would you prefer lobster?” 

“How dare you!” He shook his head, trying to throw me off, but I held fast to his horns. “I am a Dramon-type!” 

“You sure?” I cracked up. “You’re lookin’ more like a nice juicy prawn to me.” 

He grabbed me round the middle with his pincer and jerked me into the air, making me lose my breath. 

“Who's serving who on a platter now?” He growled, tightening his grip. 

I burst out laughing. “Yeah, nah, I literally eat you all the time.” I squirmed, feeling around for weak spots. “You know, with butter and lemon. Grilled, boiled—”

“Or how about with fire?” A voice cut in. She leapt over the Ebidramon and landed in front of him. Infernomon, in all her glory. Tall and lithe, and bloody cool. Basically like if a kangaroo walked into a tattoo parlour and came out with sick flames everywhere. 

“Great timing, fucking terrible comeback,” I wheezed, and she grinned up at me. 

“Nah, timing’s not great either. Those Muchomon didn't want me to leave them." 

“Shit-heads. It’s their own fault they're always getting attacked, with their loud-ass dance parties and—” 

“Shut up!” The Ebidramon shook me like a rag doll. “I’m about to kill you, why are you talking so much?!” 

Infernomon and I shared a glance. 

“Mate’s got real issues.” My fingers brushed a soft bit of skin between the two pincers. “Doesn’t even know he’s a crab.”

“I am not a crab!” He squeezed harder. 

“Aw, poor guy.” Infernomon shook her head. 

“Let’s get this over with, shall we?” 

I whipped out my switchblade and shoved it right into his soft skin. He screamed and shook me out of his hand. Infernomon leapt up to catch me in her enormous paws. She landed neatly and placed me between her and the seething Ebidramon. 

“Let’s finish this,” I called, glancing at her. Her rabbit nose twitched and she raised her arms to her face. She opened her mouth and belched a pillar of thick lilac flames up and down. The fire caught and licked its way up to her fists. I charged at the Ebidramon but as he snapped his pincers at me, I ducked and rolled underneath him, crawling out between two of his legs. I turned around to see Infernomon grab hold of one of his pincers. She dug her fiery claws into his flesh, making him scream. 

“Alright mate, have a nice trip.” I waved at him. Infernomon grabbed his other pincer and blasted his face in with fire. His data broke down and finally disappeared. “Too easy.” 

“Yeah, almost too easy,” Infernomon tossed her long ears over her shoulder. 

“That’s what I said, mate,” I chuckled, scooping up my knife. 

Infernomon bent and shrunk down to her rookie form, Roomon. Infernomon only came out to play when we were fighting bigger baddies. She still had the floppy ears and long snout, but looked more like a doggish rabbit, being about dog size and hopping around on four legs. 

“Ya know, these dickheads are barely even a challenge anymore. Points for the battle scar, anyway.” 

I lifted my shirt to reveal the red welt across my midsection, from where the Ebidramon had grabbed me. 

“Ooh, that is nice,” Roomon said, with a nod of approval. 

“You wanna rustle up some trouble elsewhere?” I scanned the area only to spot the entire population of the Muchomon village thundering towards us, like some fucked version of March of the Penguins. 

“Aw, hell.” 

“We’re saved!” 

“Our heroes!” 

“Thank you!”

They crowded around us, reaching out with their stubby wings. 

“No wuckas,” I grunted, backing away from them. “Just doing our job.” 

“I made up a song about you. Wanna hear it?” One of them squawked, grabbing my leg. He had to be the one who had almost ruined things earlier. 

“Yeah, nah, mate.” I shoved him off and he fell laughing into a group of his friends. 

“You must stay for a fiesta in your honour!” boomed an especially fat Muchomon, who wore a stupid flowery headdress. “We will sing and dance late into the night!” 

I shared a glance with Roomon. 

“Shit, sounds like a riot. Too bad we got places to be.” 

The whole host of Muchomon groaned dejectedly.

“Thanks for your hospitality,” Roomon added. The Muchomon, an extremely hospitable bunch, beamed at this. Smart little bitch. 

“Maybe another time, then?” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” I answered, beginning to wade through the crowd. 

“Bye!” Roomon called to them, hopping after me. 

I led us down the beach, not looking back.

“What should we do?” Roomon hopped beside me, keeping the same pace. 

“Not sure." 

The Ebidramon had been a decent warm-up, but I needed something more substantial. I shaded my eyes and looked around for any signs of trouble, adrenaline still coursing through my body. The beach stretched out forever in front of us, and to our left it faded into the wide and grassy plains. Aside from the Muchomon’s celebrations behind us, all seemed calm. 

“Shit, there’s gotta be something. We can’t waste today.” 

“You’re right!”

My stomach gurgled loudly and I slapped it, annoyed. 

“Ebidramon bastard made me hungry. I wonder how he woulda tasted?” 

“Ew,” Roomon laughed. “You can’t eat Digimon, Hail.” 

“Betcha no one’s ever tried. Maybe I’ll be the first.” 

A soft growl rumbled down the plain and made me stop in my tracks. Roomon eyed me. 

“Was that you?” 

“Nah.” We shared a glance. “See anything?” 

She looked around for a second before perking her ears up and pointing her nose straight ahead of us. 

“There!” 

I knelt and followed her gaze. Meters away, I could make out dark red eyes in the patch of tall grass ahead. Something was staring right at us. Hunting us. My heart rate spiked and my empty stomach twinged.

“Huh, guess we’ve found it.” I stood up, putting my hands on my hips. 

“Trouble?” 

“Dinner,” I said with a crooked grin. “Let’s get 'em.” 

“Shut up!” Roomon laughed, following me. The thick grass grew way above my head, not the best place for a fight. A little flame could do big damage here. I kept him in view, but he ducked out of sight. I shot Roomon a look and we eased forward. 

“Oi!” The eyes appeared again a few meters away. “You ready for some pain?” 

The Digimon stood, revealing more of his features. He stood upright, green reptilian scales covering his body. Despite his muscular limbs and sharp claws, because of his size he must've been a rookie. Even though I hadn’t seen his type before, something about him struck me as familiar. 

He stared at us, large ear flaps twitching. 

“Easy.” 

Before I could respond, he launched himself onto all fours and charged. 

“Fuck!”

Roo and I sprang apart and let him plough through the grass between us. I spun around to see him charging again. I let him get closer this time and kicked him straight in the jaw. He fell back and I signaled at Roo to torch the grass. She let a stream of purple flame fly and ignited it. He crashed out into the open, unphased. He growled and charged at me again. 

“Shit, you're really serious,” I cart-wheeled away from him. “What's your deal?” 

“Stay still!”  

Roomon leapt at him, attempting to scratch at him with her claws. He shoved her aside and turned his red eyes, full of determination, on me. My throat went dry as he stalked closer. Despite being ten times smaller than the Ebidramon, he was actually menacing. I knew I felt something in my gut about him. 

Roomon leapt up, opening her mouth to blast him. Mostly just sparks flew out. She was losing steam. He punched her in the snout before she could get much else out and she stumbled back. 

“Fuck off!” I forced myself forward, but he evaded me, making me fall hard on my hands and knees. 

In a split second, he had me by the arm, sharp claws digging in. He yanked it behind my body and began dragging me through the dirt. I struggled wildly on my arse, pulling on my arm to test his grip. Iron. Lovely. 

“Where the fuck are you–?” 

My heart fell straight out of my arsehole as I realised. The desert. We were headed straight for the desert. Roomon rushed for me, but she wouldn’t make it in time. With my free arm, I struggled to reach for my knife. I snatched it up and jammed it into the back of his leg. He cried out and I ripped out of his grasp. 

I staggered up and kicked him right in his injured leg, and while he reeled, I kicked him in the gut. He fell hard on his back and I threw myself on him, pinning him down. 

“You got him!” Roomon hopped up behind me. 

“What the hell do you want?” I growled, holding my knife to his neck. He trained his blood-red eyes on me and my hand shook. In that instant, he threw me and took off running on all fours. 

“No!” I cried, jumping up. 

The world spun around me as I pushed myself forward. Roomon blasted another round of sparks. Even with his injured leg, he was faster. He reached the edge of the plain, but my muscles were heavy, forcing me to slow down. By the time the dirt and rough grass had faded into the rocky sand, I had stopped completely. 

“Fuck!” I cried out, kicking at a clod of dirt. The golden sand stretched out forever before him, making him look tiny. I could almost feel the heat and the dry air close in around him as he disappeared behind a sand dune. The same dryness captured my throat, but my insides were ice. 

“That was a Komodomon, I think,” Roomon said. “I thought they lived on an island, or something.” 

“Bloody waste of time, that’s what he was,” I ripped away from the swirling sand and balled up my fists. “We’ve gotta find something else.” 

My stomach grumbled even louder than before. I groaned, hitting myself. 

“Yeah, I’m feeling it too,” Roomon laughed. “Wanna refuel and come back?" 

“Fucks sake.” I hated to leave unsatisfied, but I wanted to be at the top of my game. If we left now, we would still have the rest of the night to find a big, fat fight. “Fine.” 

★    ★    ★

As usual, we arrived in my bedroom via my shitty laptop. Along with sweat, blood, and heaps dirt, I brought back my frustration from the Digital World. 

It wasn’t one of my better days. The Ebidramon was too much of a fucktard to take seriously. And that fucking Komodomon… he wasn’t even worth my time. I needed something big, something real. Something I could be proud of defeating. 

I pushed myself up onto my sore arse and got to work unlacing my knee-high Converse. Most annoying of all, I didn’t have much time before I had to go back to hell. Now the whole holiday felt like a waste. 

“Is there anything to eat here?” Roo yawned. She bowed and shrank into her smaller form, Kanemon. About the size and shape of a head of lettuce, she acted as the travel-sized version of Roomon that only ever appeared out of convenience or lack of food. 

“Better be.” I tossed my shoes towards my wardrobe, deploying a cloud of dirt which settled nicely in my heaps of laundry. “Not going to The Place today, I’ll just be roped into working.” 

I scooped her up and got to my feet. I caught a glimpse of my dishevelled self in the mirror but kept walking. I could look like total shit today and no one would bitch about it, might as well enjoy it while I could. 

I threw open my bedroom door and walked down the hall. As usual, the lights were all off and the house quiet as. Just the way I liked it. I set Kanemon on the counter of our tiny kitchen and began foraging. The cabinets and fridge combined gave me a sick-ass bounty of half a jar of Vegemite, two stale butt pieces of bread, a shrivelled tomato from Sandy’s garden, and best of all, two eggs. 

I got to work whipping the scraps into something edible. While the bread toasted, I mixed the eggs with chopped bits of tomato and fried it up as an omelette. The bread popped up and I scraped a thin layer of vegemite onto each piece. Finally, I flipped the omelette in half and placed it atop the bread. 

“Not bad, eh?” I cut in two and offered half to Kanemon, who dug in eagerly. But before I could take a bite, the front door crashed open. I jumped and my sandwich slipped through my fingers, splattering all over the floor. I fell to my knees. 

“Fuckin’ bloody bollocks!” 

“See? I told you she was home!” My cousin Oliver shouted.

“Hailee, are you okay?” came Sandy’s much quieter voice. 

“You cunts killed my sanga,” I called, standing. 

“Hail!” Oliver bounded across the room towards me, sending his blonde curls flying in every direction. He opened his arms wide, threatening to envelop me in the blinding pink of his Hawaiian shirt. I ducked and punched his shoulder. He laughed and hit me back. 

“Hey, sorry for barging in,” Sandy said, tucking one of her thick, frizzy curls into her bandana. That, combined with her long green skirt and favourite top, made her much more dressed up than usual. When she got the full view of me, clearly she thought the opposite. Her thick eyebrows and freckled nose scrunched up, and even though she quickly smiled, I could see the worry written across her face. “We were just wondering where you were.” 

“So, you been home this whole time or were you…ya know?” Oliver gave me a wide-eyed look. “In the Digital World?” 

“Oliver,” Sandy murmured.

“Yeah.” I didn’t talk much about the Digital World with them, mostly because they got weird.

“Sick as,” Oliver breathed. 

“So what? That’s where I’ve been for the whole holiday.” 

Sandy gave a gentle smile. “Did you forget?” 

I blinked at her as the pieces started falling into place. The surprise visit, the nice clothes, it all pointed to one thing. The thing that had completely escaped my mind until this bloody second. 

“I forgot.” I slapped my hands over my eyes and groaned. “I forgot my own motherfucking birthday party.” 

“Told ya we should’ve made her the birthday cunt crown like we always used to,” Oliver told Sandy. “Then she wouldn’t’ve forgotten! Reckon Auntie Mel is gonna be pretty mad.” 

“It doesn’t matter,” Sandy put a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” 

 “Fuuuuck.” I pulled away, rubbing my forehead. As much as I wanted to jump straight back into the computer, I was in deep enough shit already. “I’ve gotta get ready.” 

“Okay, no worries. Want some help?” 

“'Kay.” I rushed back towards my bedroom. 

“I’ll wait here!” Oliver called. “Me and Roo will hang.” 

I slammed the door closed behind us and threw myself down to dig through my piles of clothes on the floor. This wasn’t how I wanted to spend my last hours of freedom. Sandy walked to my wardrobe and peered inside. 

“Like either of these?” She held up two of my dresses. 

“Hm, nah.” I grabbed my capsicum and chilli patterned dress from the bottom of a pile instead. I threw it on my bed and set my Digivice beside it. I peeled off my dirty clothes, raining more sand and dirt over the floor. 

“Sorry, we should’ve checked on you earlier. You’ve been busy.” 

“Nah, I wouldn’t have been home anyway.” 

“Right. The Digital World.” 

“Yeah.”

“Did it go okay?”

She stared at me. With my bruised mid-section and scraped up arms and knees, it maybe wasn’t the best time to strip in front of Sandy. 

“Aw, shit, this is nothing, Tibs.” I threw the dress over my head and grabbed my Digivice. “You know I can handle myself.” 

“Yeah, I know. I’m sure the party will be scarier than anything you face in the Digital World.” 

“Fucking truth.” I laughed and pulled out my ponytail. My hair fell out into a tangled mass above my shoulders, another round of golden sand pouring out. “Ugh.” 

She smiled. “At least it goes with your hair.”

Grabbing my chilli earrings, choker, and Doc Martens, I checked out my final look. Still a disaster, but at least I was a sixteen-year-old disaster. 

I led the way into the lounge room to find Oliver tossing Kanemon up into the air and catching her like a ball. 

“You mates ready?” He tossed her at me. I caught her and tucked her under my arm. “Goal! Or score? Whatever they say in basketball.” 

“I hope you weren’t dribbling her, Ol.” I rolled my eyes. “Guess I’m ready as I’ll ever be.” 

We stepped out into the late arvo sunshine. Sandy and Oliver’s bikes stood next to mine, which lay in the overgrown grass. I tossed Kanemon and my Digivice in the basket and took off down the footpath. I would've gotten rid of it ages ago if it weren’t so fucking handy. After strapping on their helmets, the two of them peddled up behind me. 

“Let’s motor.” 

I jumped the curve and swerved onto the road. The salty breeze rustled through my hair, making me feel a bit more alive. To the left, through all the trees, the ocean came into view. It, along with our killer beaches and our convenient location an hour away from Sydney, put the tourist in our sleepy little tourist trap. Thank fuck we were in off-season. The crowds were long gone, making it possible to speed through the streets without committing mass murder. 

Oliver and Sandy flanked me on either side, only able to keep up with me because of their long legs. A real dick move they were so much taller. As we zoomed by my own personal hell, Oliver gave a big sigh. 

“Can you guys believe we have to—”

I scrunched up my face. 

“No! Not yet.” 

“Okay, let’s just focus on fun tonight!” He laughed. 

“Yeah, lemme know when you find that, mate.” 

“At least there will be food?” Sandy offered. 

I gave her a crooked grin. “You always know just what to say.” 

“Let’s focus on the food!” Oliver sang. 

I sped through one more intersection and we were in downtown Avalon, a sizable strip lined with shops, restaurants, and other boring businesses. On this Sunday arvo, it happened to be abso-bloody-lutely empty. The Little’s Place lay ahead, between the fish shop and some law office. Normally, there’d at least be a few regulars parked out front, but Dad had closed up just for this. My stomach grumbled, more out of dread than hunger at this point. 

I swallowed as I pulled into the alley, trying to get some moisture in my dry-ass throat. No turning back now. We parked our bikes between the SUV and Aunt Martha’s minivan and stood in the alley for a moment. 

I felt trapped in a sandwich. Bad fights and birthday parties on one side and hell looming over me on the other, and me, the dead meat squished in the middle. Hopefully the party would run short so I would have enough time to head back after. 

“Here we fucking go.” With Kanemon in the crook of my arm and Sandy and Oliver behind me, I pulled open the heavy alley door, and we slipped into the kitchen. 

“Look who we found!” Oliver called out. Instantly, six pairs of eyes were on me. I strolled forward, pretending like I wasn’t headed for the gallows. I leaned against the centre island. 

“Howdy.” 

Mum, with Dori on her heels, walked across the kitchen towards me. Martha, John, and Grandpa only stared. Dad broke the tense silence. 

“Nice of you to show.” He grinned as he pulled various dishes from the massive oven. “We’ve got everything all ready, Chilo!”

I hated that he still called me that, after the time I ate an ungodly number of chilis when I was seven. But it was nice to have at least one friendly face here. I smiled at him, trying to avoid Mum’s death glare. 

“To what do we owe the pleasure?” she asked, crossing her arms. 

“Can’t miss my own party, can I?” I said, straightening up under her stern gaze. “Er, Happy Birthday to me?”

“It’s like you’re aging backwards,” Dori scoffed from behind Mum. “Less and less mature every year.” 

My sister, ladies and gentleman, the most pretentious twelve-year-old of the fucking century. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. As badly as I wanted to lash out, to scream about how I shouldn’t have to take this abuse, I knew the punishment wouldn’t be worth it. 

“So, who's hungry?” I edged my way towards Dad and the food. 

“What’s so important that you have to keep your family waiting?” Mum continued. “You look such a mess, too. Honestly, Hailee.” 

Dad put a hand on Mum’s shoulder. “I’m sure she has a good reason, which we can discuss in great length later, yeah?” 

He looked back and forth between us. I nodded vigorously and Mum gave a weary sigh. 

“I suppose we’ve waited long enough for dinner.” 

Much to my relief, the buffet got moving after that. Even though there wasn’t crab, it looked fucking delicious. I loaded my plate up with grilled lemon chicken, cheesy mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and salad. 

“You okay?” Sandy asked as she went through behind me, piling her plate with just salad. 

“Mm hm,” I answered, pouring myself some strawberry lemonade. “Nothing unusual here.” 

“Ollie, what do you want on your plate?” Martha asked, bustling up behind Sandy. 

“Martha, please,” John sighed in his monotone voice. “We’ve talked about this.” 

“Nonsense!” 

Oliver laughed breezily from between his parents. Poor kid. 

I led Sandy through the swinging doors that divided the restaurant and into the dining room. A few of the small tables had been pushed together in the centre of the room to create one long banquet table. At the end, an assortment of presents and some letter balloons spelled out “Happy Hailee” 

“Shit.” I stood there for a moment unwilling to move closer, but my stomach growled again, so I took a seat near the end. I set Kanemon on the table and tore off bits of food for her, then dug in.

“Sorry about the balloons,” Sandy said, glancing up at them. “They ran out of letters at the party place.” 

“Bet my Mum planned that. Trying to mind-control me or some shit.” 

“Want me to take them down?” Sandy fidgeted with her locket. 

The Cooper clan walked into the room along with Grandpa, who was basically a Cooper since he lived with them. Oliver grabbed his plate from his Mum and sat right across from me. 

“Look at all those presents!” Oliver marvelled. 

“You want them?”

“At least the one I got you,” he laughed. “It’s ripper.” 

Mum, Dad, and Dori followed and filled up the rest of the table. 

“So, you kids head back to school tomorrow, right?” Grandpa asked, looking at me over his glasses. 

“Please, gramps,” I groaned, but quieted down as Mum shot me a look. Sandy patted me on the shoulder. 

“Yes, that’s right,” she answered. “Can’t believe we’re into term two already.” 

“School’s a lot better now that I’m with you two again,” Oliver piped up. “But I still wish I could go back to primary.”  

“I don’t want to see that kind of attitude,” John said. “You’ve got to apply yourself this term.” 

“Yeah, what’s so great about primary?” Dori asked. “I can’t wait to go to high school next year.” 

The thought made me choke on my lemonade. The school conversation went on for a bit, but I zoned out and kept working on my food. My exhaustion had set in and I begrudgingly let go of the idea of going back. I wanted to sleep, but sleep meant school. But at least if I survived school I could—

“Hailee?” 

I looked up to see everyone staring at me. 

“Eh?” 

“I said, are you ready to open your presents?” Mum asked. 

“Oh. Yeah.” I stumbled up from my chair and stood over the present table. 

“Open mine first!” Oliver whispered, though for Oliver that meant using his inside voice. At the top of the stack sat a little orange present. The card read “From Calvin.” I promptly tossed it aside and picked up Oliver’s present instead. I ripped it open to find a small square case. 

“Theme Park for the DS?” I grinned at Ol. “Thanks, mate.” 

Aside from the gift itself, the most hilarious part was I didn’t even have a DS. 

“You can play it on my DS anytime!” 

I went for Sandy’s present next. I untied the string and opened the box to find a tiny crocheted burger keychain, also known as the cutest fucking thing I had ever seen. 

“You made that?” 

“I thought you could put it on your backpack, make school tomorrow more fun.” 

“Thanks, mate, I love it.” 

Sandy’s face lit the fuck up. I ploughed through the rest of the gifts. Barrenjoey sweatshirt from Martha and John I would never wear, touristy books from Grandpa I would never read, and finally a cellphone from Mum and Dad. Nice gift and all, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Mum had put a tracker in it or something. 

After that, I endured everyone singing to me, and stuffing my face a second time with cake. Finally, after that, the party started winding down. As Mum, Dad, and Martha cleaned up and John and Grandpa talked politics, we were able to slip into the kitchen. 

“Finally,” I groaned. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” 

“That was so ripper, wasn’t it?” Oliver asked. 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

“Sorry, if you didn’t have any fun,” Sandy said. 

“Yep.” I heaved open the door and led us out into the dark alleyway. I was tired, but not just physically. I was tired of constantly having to keep myself in check. 

“Don’t worry too much about tomorrow, okay?” Sandy said gently. “I bet we can find some ways to make it more fun, yeah?” 

“Whatever,” I snapped. Shit, I hadn't meant to sound so harsh. I sighed and turned to look at them. “Thanks. You wanna meet here tomorrow like usual?” 

“Hell yeah!” Oliver pumped his fist in the air. 

Sandy smiled. “We’ll survive together." 

“Damn right.” 

Chapter Text

HAILEE 

I grabbed my knife and sliced through the soft, oozing flesh. It was nice to know that if I ever needed to hide a body, I had the knife skills to do it. But bodies weren’t exactly piling up for me here.

I finished the tomato by cutting it into rough chunks. My hands were so used to the work that I barely paid attention as I splashed the sliced tomatoes in olive oil and threw them into the pan. They sizzled there nicely, along with the bacon and eggs. 

“Ready?” Dad appeared beside me. I tipped my frying pan over the empty plate in his hand, my order sliding perfectly into place. He hurried over to the pickup counter and set everything down. “I’m gonna run over and see what Dale’s got fresh for lunch, can you get the next one?” 

“No wuckas.” 

“Thanks, Hail!” Dad smiled and headed out the back door. 

I hopped from my step stool and grabbed the ticket. “Toast, fried eggs. Boring motherfucker.” 

I threw two pieces of wheat toast in the toaster and got to work on the eggs. The clock above me read 8:45. Shit. 

“Give it back!” Shrilled a voice. I cracked a smile. The dining room door swung open and I stepped back as Roomon raced in, a blue school hat clenched in her mouth. Dori chased after her, red in the face. 

Roomon giggled and skidded behind the centre island. Dori stopped, panting heavily. 

“Alright, Doro?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. My sister hated nothing more than being the butt of a joke. But that’s what made her so fun to fuck with. 

“No,” she huffed. “Why can’t you control that stupid dog of yours?” 

I grinned over at where Roomon was hiding, seizing the opportunity to distract myself from my impending doom. 

“I can help you. You just have to call her by her true title.” I dumped the eggs on a plate and threw the toast beside it. Dori eyed me as I walked it over to the pickup counter. 

“Roomon?” 

“Nah, it’s Roomon the powerful dog bitch.” 

“Stop making fun of me.”

“Am not! Bitch is what you call girl dogs, isn’t it?” 

Dori frowned at me, her face still red up to the roots of her tightly plaited pigtails. But then she slowly walked up to Roomon. 

“Would you please give me my hat, Roomon the...powerful-dog-bitch?” 

Roo and I burst out laughing. 

“Oi, toss it here, doggo-bitch!” 

“Catch, doggo-bitch!” Roomon yelled back. She leapt into the air from behind the benchtop, swung her head back, and released the hat. I caught it and Dori turned towards me, a murderous look in her eye. 

Mum and Dad walked in, Dad carrying a wooden crate and Mum carrying her bag.  

“Mummy, Hailee stole my hat and called me a bitch!” Dori wailed, rushing over to Mum.

I narrowed my eyes at her. She was ready for it. Dad raised an eyebrow, but Mum gave a frustrated sigh as she looked at me. 

“Hailee?” 

“It was a joke.” I crossed my arms. 

“I really don’t have time for this right now. Just be here when I get back.” Mum fished into her purse for her keys. “Behave at school. And leave your knife behind, please.” 

My jaw tightened. “Always do.” 

Dori snatched her hat and stuffed it on her head. She turned to Mum, smiling brightly. 

“We’d better go, Mummy. Don’t want you to be late for work!” 

Even though Mum had just started her fancy new bank job, it hadn’t changed her habit of dropping Dori off at Primary school every morning. Mum smiled and took Dori’s hand. With their perfect waves, tanned skin, and matching evil expressions, they were the spitting image of each other. 

“You’re right, let's go.” She waved to us. “See you two tonight.” 

“Have a good day,” Dad called. 

I turned towards the pickup area and pounded the bell with my fist. Not even Lorraine could miss that. 

“So, what was that about?” Dad asked, setting the crate on the benchtop and cracking it open. The familiar smell of fresh fish filled the air. 

“Nothing.” I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Just having some fun with the little prick.”

“Chilo, you really shouldn’t call your sister a prick.” He pulled a fish from the crate and gutted it with his favourite knife. 

“Let’s save the scolding for tonight, shall we?” I leaned against the counter. “Sure Mum’s got heaps to say.” 

“I’m not scolding you,” Dad chuckled, pulling out another fish. “But our goal right now should be keeping peace in the family. I know things are a little difficult right now with...so little help in the kitchen. Which means we’ve all got to work harder to keep things going round here.” 

My goal was to stay away from the family as much as possible, but I nodded. 

“That said, Dori really could benefit from having some fun.” 

I half-smiled at him. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” a gravelly voice called. Lorraine, the absolute raisin-arse of a waitress, burst into the kitchen. She set down three more tickets and heaved the plates into her arms. “Holy mother of god, Frank sure has a mouth on him.” 

Dad and I exchanged a knowing glance. I had known her my whole life, but the old chook still looked exactly the same. She headed out at her usual 1 kilometre per hour. 

“Raisin,” Roomon whispered, and I snickered. 

“Alright,” Dad said. “I’m gonna keep working on the fish. Can you get those next tickets?” 

The door flung open before I could grab them, and Oliver and Sandy popped their heads in. 

 “Hello, hello!” Oliver called. 

“Ah, never mind.” Dad glanced up with a smile. “Morning, you two.” 

“Oi, cunts.” I smiled at them, fighting the urge to yak. It was time. 

“Morning!” Sandy said cheerfully. 

“What's up, unc?” Oliver asked, peering into the bucket of fish guts. 

“Blood and guts,” Dad answered, putting down his knife and wiping his hands on his apron. “Ya know, the usual.” 

Oliver laughed.

“You ready?” Sandy asked, absently straightening Oliver’s rumpled collar. 

“Nahh.” I groaned, ripping off my apron. “Can’t I stay here? You look like you need a lot of help.” 

“No worries, I’ve got it handled.” Dad laughed and handed me a paper sack. “I’ve made you a little something for lunch! I can whip up something else if either of you wants?” 

I stuffed it into my backpack, taking a second to check for my knife. 

Sandy smiled. “Thanks, but I’ve made my own lunch.” 

“And I’ve got canteen money!” 

“Righto, have a good day!”

“I won’t,” I sighed, shutting the door behind us. “Roomon, ya mind?” 

“Oh, right.” She scrunched up and quickly transformed into Kanemon. I scooped her up and set her in my basket. Together we pedalled out of the alley and onto Old Barrenjoey Road. 

The sun shone down from the bright blue sky, and I took a deep breath as it warmed my face. In this fleeting moment of freedom, I could almost forget where we were going. We veered off the main road and onto the smaller, quieter road we called the Tunnel. Named cuz of the large trees on either side of the road that curved inwards and blocked out the sunlight. 

“How are you mates feeling?” Sandy asked. 

“I’m feeling like it was the shortest holiday ever!” Oliver answered. 

“Might actually kill myself.” I took my hands off the handlebars and placed them behind my head. 

“But then you could come back as a zombie and infect the whole school.” Oliver laughed. “Like that one movie we watched.” 

“Maybe we need to figure out something to look forward to.” Sandy pedalled up beside me. “What if we did something together after?” 

“Ooh, yeah! Let’s!” Oliver jerked his handlebars excitedly as he talked. “I’ve got it! We should totally go to the beach like we did last year! On my first day, remember?” 

I couldn’t help but grin. “How could I forget your first day?” 

“Could be fun,” Sandy agreed. “It’s been a while since we’ve done that. What do you think, Hail?” 

“Well, the thing is…” Escaping into the Digital World to kill the shit out of some monsters was the only thing keeping me going. But I couldn’t ignore their fucking puppy dog eyes. “I dunno. I mean, I’ve got stuff to do, but I could put it off. Maybe.” 

“Stuff to do in the Digital World?” Oliver asked, and I nodded. “Ripper! It’s gotta be so fun there if that’s where you spent the whole break!” 

“It wouldn’t have to be a big thing if you’re busy,” Sandy added. “Just something little after school?” 

“Yeah, okay.” I couldn’t help but smile as the two of them grinned at each other. “Let’s do it.”

“Wish we could hang out with you in the Digital World!” 

I laughed at the thought, but it got caught in my throat. The Barrenjoey gate loomed ahead. “Fuck, I’m actually going to die.” 

The closer we got, the more daunting it seemed to be. I had spent my break battling monsters, but they were nothing compared to the monsters inside those walls. We turned at the old stone Barrenjoey High School sign that marked the entrance. I forced myself forward. 

A swarm of maroon enveloped me as soon as I entered. I gripped my handlebars a little tighter. Everyone had on their fall jumpers and blazers with their uniforms now. The senior students could be easily picked out of the crowd, as most of them wore their specially made leavers' jackets. 

A pack of boys trampled across the path in pursuit of a fucking ball. I kept my eyes straight ahead as I led my friends deeper into the fray. The girls who had bullied Sandy and me since primary stood in a large circle in the grass discussing fuck knows what. On the other side, a group of Year 7s wandered around, the light still in their eyes. Buncha fuckwits the lot of them. 

Finally we made it up the rack. I let out a breath of relief as I pushed my bike in and retrieved Kanemon from the basket. Ripping open my backpack, I stuffed some cinnamon chewie into my mouth. I shoved the rest in with Kanemon and zipped it up. 

“See ya soon.” 

We stood there for a moment, facing the main building. 

“Shit, cunts, you ready?” I asked, blowing a bubble. Oliver grinned and Sandy nodded solemnly. “Follow me.” 

I led them up the front steps and into the main building, the pit of dread in my stomach growing. Stepping through this door, I was expected to give up all autonomy and blindly follow the rules. In other words, willingly throwing myself into the depths of hell. And after weeks of freedom, I was not ready. 

The hallway seemed to shrink smaller and smaller as we walked, threatening to choke the life out of me. The school colours, maroon and grey, were slathered on every surface, overwhelming my eyes. I ground my chewie in my teeth. 

“Assembly.” The auditorium doors came into view as we rounded the corner. “Bloody fuck.” 

“At least we’ll get good seats if we’re early,” Sandy said. 

“Yeah, we can sit way at the back!” 

The bell rang, startling us. I shoved us towards the lockers, on high alert. If we didn’t watch the fuck out, we were gonna become someone’s next meal. A steady stream of kids poured in from both the door behind us and the courtyard ahead of us. Talking loudly, their identical school-approved shoes slapping against the floor.

I waved my friends forward, not wanting to get lost in the sea of mindless drones. We slipped through the double doors into the dimly lit auditorium beyond. As if we were being chased, I cut across the aisles of chairs and led Sandy and Oliver into the left corner of the room. 

I scanned the room as the rest of the student body filed inside. The Year 7 students clumped together at the front, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. They weren’t threats, but still good to avoid. Towards the middle, in the prime seats, the senior crowd. The popular asshats who owned the school. Worst among them the rugby team, Dickerton and his gang of Dick-Suckers. Best to avoid them at all costs. Finally, my eyes landed on the other students at the back of the room with us, though thankfully not occupying any of the seats beside us. The social outcasts, nerds, and psychos. Just like us, except worse. 

“Oh, mates! We should totally go to the ice cream shop near the beach!” Oliver said, leaning over Sandy and grinning.  “Remember the really good—” 

“Not that we’ve decided if we’re going yet.” Sandy patted his shoulder. 

“Yeah, let’s survive the day first,” I said, leaning back in my seat and doing my best to relax. We were safe for the moment, but still had a long way to go. “Then we’ll talk.” 

Oliver just laughed. “I dunno, I think we’ve got a pretty good chance of surviving.” 

“Don’t jinx it, mate.” 

At that, the stage lights turned on and Principal Pine stepped on in all her tyrannical glory. 

“Good morning and welcome to term two. A special welcome to our new students. It is a joy and a privilege to see all of your faces before me.” 

The good thing about our principal: her speeches were always short. But she was also a fucking dictator. Her eagle eyes swept over the crowd as she finished up. 

“We hope you take advantage of everything Barrenjoey has to offer you. Have an educational day.” 

She stepped off, and we were free to face the horrors of the day. Or everyone else was. I made sure we stayed in our seats, so we wouldn’t have to mingle with the crowd. 

“Huh, do you guys know what class I’m going to?” Oliver asked, as we finally stumbled up from our seats in peace. He began digging around in his pack. 

“Let me think.” Sandy, the de facto schedule checker, piped up. “Hailee, you’re English lit; Oliver, you’re continuing biology, and I’ve got maths.”  

“Hell nah, not English lit,” I groaned, following them up the row. “Why the fuck did I have to pick randomly?” 

Sandy gave a knowing smile. “At least Mr. Hardiker is nice.” 

“Good ole Hard-dicker.” 

I halted in the doorway, Sandy and Oliver behind me. The endless stream of fuckers filled the hallway, blocking our path. 

“Yeah, right,” I scoffed, kicking at the door frame. “It’s as useless as everything else in this place. Fuck education.” 

“Yeah!” Oliver pulled out a piece of paper and squinted at it. “Hey! Oh, looks like I have a biology project due…today. Oops, totally forgot.” 

“Oh, no.” Sandy fiddled with one of her long auburn plaits. “I wish I had known, I would’ve helped you. Maybe they’ll let you make it up?”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Fuck education, right mates?” 

Sandy and I exchanged a glance. I didn’t want to lie to the kid. I hated school, but I knew enough to pass. Oliver just plain didn’t worry about it. He’d only made it this far cuz of Sandy’s help. 

“I guess I should go,” Oliver shrugged, heading back up the hall towards the labs. 

“You’ve got this!” Sandy called. 

“Kick arse!” I added, unable to come up with anything else. 

“Got it! I’ll see you guys later!” Oliver said, waving as he cut through the stream of students.

“He’s gonna get killed in there,” I muttered. 

“I can’t believe he forgot. I mean, I can, but I’m worried about him.” She turned to look at me. “Sorry if we’re bugging you too much about the beach, by the way. It’s fine if you don’t want to.” 

“No wuckas,” I shrugged. “It just feels like I’m not gonna make it out of here.” 

“You will.” She smiled, touching my shoulder. “I’ll see you at lunch, okay?” 

“It’s been an honour serving with you, Sergeant Tibs,” I said, clutching my chest. 

She laughed. “Until we meet again, Captain Hail.” 

Sandy waved to me and disappeared down the hall. Bloody English time. I ducked my head and began slinking through the crowd. Being small had its advantages. 

In my experience, high school students and Virus Digimon were much alike in the way they enjoyed dominating smaller creatures. That’s where the similarities ended, as I couldn’t exactly beat the shit out of my schoolmates. Not that I would get any glory here, anyway. Everything I needed was in the Digital World. 

Some acne-covered bloke laughed and nearly shoved his mate into me, but I expertly dodged them. I slipped right past a group of laughing girls and dashed across the hall. I was doing alright, but my classroom sat way at the end of the building. The best way to go would be to cut through the library. Woulda been easy except for the three fucks blocking the hallway. Two senior blokes stood in the way of some girl, waving a piece of paper above her head. 

“Give it back,” she said firmly, speaking with an American accent. “I need to find the English room and unless you have any intention of helping me, I will need to look at my schedule.” 

“Hold on, we just wanna talk!” The stout bloke with the big mole on his cheek laughed. 

“Yeah, new girl, what’s the rush?” The other gangly freak asked. 

I had every intention of slipping past undetected. After all, she wasn’t in any real danger. But then I heard the name. 

“Oi, Adam!” Gangly called out. I half-turned and caught sight of that bloody ranga. 

“Fucking onion bollocks,” I whispered. 

The fucking ruler of the roost, Dickerton himself, swaggered down the hall straight towards us, surrounded by his Dick-Suckers. He stood taller than most of them and took up nearly half the hallway with his bloody broad shoulders. 

I bristled as he caught sight of the girl and tugged at the collar of his senior jacket. Like a giant virus eyeing his prey. She had no idea what she was in for, just an innocent fucking Digimon. Every muscle in my body itched to jump in and take down the threat. I balled up my fists. I wasn't in the Digital World, but I had to do something. 

I leapt to her side, snatching her hand and yanking her into the library. 

“What are you doing?” she gasped. 

“I’m saving your fucking arse,” I hissed, pulling her through the rows of books. 

“Saving? I had it perfectly handled.”

Realising I was still clenching her hand, I dropped it and stopped, face burning. I had to figure out how to turn off my fucking Digidestined instincts. 

“Right.” I rolled my eyes. “You had Dickerton handled, did ya?” 

“Dickerton?” 

“Adam. The huge ranga back there?” glanced around to make sure that we hadn’t been followed before finally meeting her gaze. She was Asian and stood taller than me, dark eyes staring intensely at me from behind glasses. It struck me with that face, and that silky hair, and those big tits of hers, she was exactly his type. I flushed and crossed my arms over my chest. 

“He's proof so long as you've got looks and money, people don't care how big of a dick you are. Also, it helps to actually have a big dick, but that's just according to every moll in this school.” 

I gagged, hoping she had got the message. 

“I see.” She still stared down at me unblinkingly.

“School is bad enough on its own, but when you put Adam and his gang into the mix, things can get hellish fast. Especially for girls like you.” 

I turned and began heading for the other library door. 

“Girls like me?” 

“Er, never mind.” I waved my hand dismissively, not about to explain. “I’m headed to English too.” 

“Oh.” 

I opened the door to find Gangly towering over us. Holy piss. I backed up, only to find Big Mole behind us, blocking our only escape.

“There you are, new girl. We were looking for you!” he laughed, holding up her stolen school schedule. 

My brain sped through a million ways to take them down. After all, I’d fought things much bigger. I could use their size against them, targeting their legs. Or I could just whip out my knife—

“What’re you wankers doing?” 

My heart fell out of my arse. Adam and his entire gang were outside. No fucking way was this happening. I shrunk down as the lot of them surrounded us, blood-red jackets hurting my eyes. I wasn’t used to feeling this helpless, and I fucking hated it. Why did I have to take this? I gritted my teeth, crushing the urge to grab my knife. 

“We were talking to the new girl,” Big Mole said, shoving us through the doorway.

Adam’s gaze swept over me, but then quickly focused on the other girl. 

“Hey. New girl, huh?” He sauntered closer, giving us a big whiff of his cologne. I clenched my fists. Don’t punch, don’t punch. “Makes sense. I would’ve remembered seeing you before.” 

“I saw her first!” The mole bloke tried to push forward through the crowd. 

“Shut it, Paul. Are these idiots bothering you?” His voice lowered in an attempt to sound alluring or whatever. He reached out and placed a finger under her chin, tilting her face up slightly to meet his gaze. “Don’t worry about that.” 

“Excuse me!” she huffed, backing up into me. 

“I can show you around. I know everything there is to know about this place,” Adam continued with a smirk. “What’s your name?”  

“Wilhelmina Fu,” she answered stiffly. “You’re Adam Dickerton?”

My mouth fell open. Again, I wished I had my knife in hand, this time to stab myself. 

“Excuse me?”

Adam raised an eyebrow, but his prime Dick-Sucker, Taylor, stepped up. 

“Where do you get off calling him that?” 

“Dickerton? This girl told me it was your name.” She pointed to me.

 I felt their eyes on me but kept mine on my boots. I was completely surrounded. Forced to endure this torture. What a sick fucking joke. 

“Based upon your reactions, I assume it isn’t your real name. It’s safe to say she invented the nickname because of your behaviour towards the opposite sex, which you seem to be displaying now. I would prefer if you left me alone. I have no interest in male attention.” 

The Dick-Suckers laughed and I tugged on my pigtails. Fuck me sideways. Going the lesbo route was not going to help our situation any. But then, Adam scoffed and turned away. 

“Shut the fuck up.” They shut the fuck up. “This bitch isn’t worth my time.”

I watched Adam strut away with wide eyes. With a glare at us, Taylor and the rest of his groupies followed him.

“What an unpleasant bunch,” the girl murmured, straightening her glasses.

I looked back at her, still about to yank my pigtails out of my skull. I’d never seen anything like it. Despite being the hottest cunt in school, her weirdness had turned the lot of them off in seconds. “The fuck was that?” 

She merely stared at me, a hint of a smile on her face. “I told you, I had it handled. Now, shall we get to class?” 

“Whatever.” I started down the hall, annoyed by the sudden heat in my cheeks. Who did this chick think she was? 

I led the way into the classroom, ducking down and speeding towards my usual desk at the back. I plopped down to see the girl was standing at the door, looking around the classroom with that same intense stare. I cringed. Why the fuck wasn’t she sitting down? 

Mr. Hardiker got up from his desk. 

“Morning, students.” Hard-dicker was an older bloke. Nice enough, but fucking boring. “We have someone new with us today. Come over here, dear.” 

She took a couple of steps towards his desk and faced the class, face blank and body rigid. 

“This is Wilhelmina Fu. She comes all the way from America. Is there anything you’d like to say, Wilhelmina?”

She nodded. “Well, actually, I was born here, in Australia. But I don’t consider myself to be Australian, as I have been travelling the world my entire life. We moved here from Cambodia. Before that Thailand, then India, then Ethiopia, then Angola, I believe. I’ve been to over one hundred different countries throughout my life—”

There she went again, looking like she could talk forever, but Hardiker inserted himself. 

“Sounds like you’ve led quite a fascinating life so far, Wilhelmina. Welcome back to Australia, we hope you feel as welcome here as you did everywhere else. Why don’t you find your seat and we’ll get started?” 

“Alright.” Her dark eyes swept across the classroom and locked on mine. Head held high, she walked straight for me, taking the desk to my right. I slumped down in my chair and avoided her gaze. Hopefully she didn’t think we were friends or some shit. 

“Now students, if you would please take out your copy of The Grapes of Wrath. Hopefully, you did your reading over holiday. Now it’s time to pair up for your collaborative book reports.” He paused to look at the class. “I don’t want a repeat of last time, so I’ll let you choose your partners. Wilhelmina, this is your first day, so you’ll be excused from this assignment.” 

Murmuring ensued as students rose from their desks to pair up. I slid down even lower in my chair. There wasn’t one person in this room I would willingly write a bloody book report with. But at least I didn’t have to worry about—

“Pardon me.” Beside me, her voice rang out again. “There isn’t any reason why I should be excused.” 

“That’s alright. This book’s a bit difficult to get through in a short amount of time.” 

“I’ve read The Grapes of Wrath three times. It is one of many great literary works that I have studied in my time of schooling myself. I would like to participate.” 

Hardiker gaped. “Ah, of course! Please, find a partner.” 

She turned and headed straight for me, eyes burning through my skull.  “What’s your name?” 

I sighed and gave her a side-long glance. At the very least she seemed to hate Dickerton as much as I did. That was better than most of the school. I hooked my arm over the back of my chair and turned towards her.  “Hailee. Hailee Little And you’re…Wizzo?” 

“No. I’m Wilhelmina. Now, would you like to be my partner, Hailee Little?” 

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Just know I wasn’t trying to make friends or anything, ya know, back there?” 

“Really?” She tilted her head, making her hair fall in front of her face. “You must’ve had some reason to grab me like that.” 

I glared at her, cheeks going hot again. “It was just instinct. You looked pretty helpless.” 

 “You’re peculiar.” 

“Me?” I scoffed and tossed my head. “What about you? World-travelling, male-attention hating, new girl? You’re fucking peculiar.” 

“Perhaps.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Don’t worry, I don’t wish to be friends either. I simply thought you would make a suitable partner. You seem to know how to think for yourself at least.” 

I huffed. “Oh yeah?” 

She continued talking, not paying my incredulousness any mind. “I think we should start this collaborative process by discussing the major themes of the novel. From there we can look at character motivations, focusing on Tom Joad, of course.” 

This chick really thought she was the shit. “Mate, I could barely get through that monster once. Not with the way those idiots talked.” 

“Well, I cannot expect everyone to understand the beauty and extraordinary fluency behind Steineck’s colloquialism. Though based upon the way you speak, I thought you would have.” 

I crossed my arms. “‘Scuze me?” 

“Nevermind,” she answered with a small smile. “Now, if you’re ready?” 

I stared at her, clenching my jaw. This was gonna be the longest class of my life. “Fire away, Wizzo.” 

“It’s Wilhelmina.” 

★    ★    ★

“It’s been a fucking day,” I said, mouth full. Dad had made me chicken wraps using the leftovers from my birthday dinner, possibly the only good thing about my school day so far. I tore into it again. “That grape girl, mate. She was so high up on herself. And don’t even get me started on Dickerton.” 

I banged my fist on the table. 

Sandy shook her head sympathetically. “I’m sorry. That's way too much to go through on your first day.”  

“I’m so fucking done, Sand. I just wanna get the hell outta here.” 

“I was going to wait to slip this in your locker, but maybe I’ll just give it to you now.” I cocked my head as she pulled a delicately folded piece of paper and a small packet of Fruit Tingles. “Here.” 

I snatched the note and unfolded it: 

You are the best-dressed student in Barrenjoey. Literally too cool for school. Lucky to have you as my best friend. ❤︎ Sandy 

I didn’t know what, but something about it irked me. Maybe it was the overly nice text clashing with my mood, but reading it had me feeling all the worse. Guilt twinged in my stomach as I looked up at her. 

“You’re so right.” I managed a smile. “Everyone looks like shit compared to me.” 

“Sorry, if it’s stupid.” She picked at her salad, a sheepish look on her freckled face.

“Shut up, it’s sick,” I insisted, unwrapping a red lolly and tossing it into my mouth. 

“I, er, also wrote one for Oliver, since I figured he’s probably having a bad day, too. Reminds me of his first day like we were talking about.” 

“Oh, yeah?” I leaned my cheek on my fist. 

“Not that I’m saying we have to go to the beach. Er, wanna see?” 

“Why not.” 

She smiled and pulled out another note: 

 Ol, keep your chin up! No matter what happens, we’re here for you! Can’t wait to have fun with you after school, ❤︎ Sandy 

Once again, it left me annoyed. I knew I had kinda promised to spend time with them after school, but clearly I wasn't gonna be much fun to be around. Maybe escaping into the Digital World would be the best thing for everyone. 

“Tibs, it’s nice and all, but he’s probably not even sad. You know Oliver.” 

“Oh yeah, you’re probably right.” 

“I totally am. I’ll write him something that’ll make him laugh.” 

I ripped out a piece of paper from my notebook and scribbled out a new message: 

Hey, you shitass failure! Oh well! Even though you totally bombed and will probably get kicked out of school, once school is over you can do whatever the fuck your little heart desires ❤︎ Hail

I handed it to Sandy, and she smiled hopefully at me. 

“That’s really sweet. I think he’ll like it.” 

“Come on.” I stuffed the rest of my wrap in my mouth and hopped up. “This’ll make up for the shit day I've had so far. Let’s go bung this in his locker!” 

“Glad to see you excited about something,” Sandy laughed, tossing her note and the rest of our stuff in the rubbish bin. We hurried into the hallway. 

“Where’s his locker?” I asked, trying to remember where we had first stopped this morning. 

“262?” Sandy said, pointing to the one up ahead. “Oliver’s a C.”

“He sure is,” I laughed. “Reckon it’s 247.” 

She nodded as I reached up to slip it in. Right then, Adam and his gang came around the corner. Time seemed to slow down as I let it fall into the locker. I froze, my fingers still stuck through the crack. 

“Hey!” Taylor shouted. “What are you doing with Adam’s locker?” 

“Hailee, what do we do?” Sandy asked, taking hold of my arm. 

I looked at Sandy, then back at the approaching group, eyes bulging out of my skull. I needed to run, but I couldn’t move or speak or do anything. Oliver's note was in Adam’s locker, and I hadn’t put his name on it. I jokingly signed it with a heart. If I ran, Adam would think I liked him. 

I turned and began spinning Adam’s locker dial like mad. I needed that fucking note. 

“She’s the little twat from earlier. Is she obsessed with you?” Taylor said. “She’s literally put a note in your locker.” 

“I don’t have time for this,” came Adam’s voice right behind me. “Hey.” 

Panic tore through me. I looked over my shoulder to see him standing there, larger than life, giving me his full attention. Staring down at me with a perplexed expression on his chiselled fucking face. My knees shook involuntarily. 

“What are you doing?” 

I opened my mouth to shout whatever foul thing I could think of, but all that came out was a pathetic squeak. 

“Did you hear me, rodent?”

My face burned. Everyone in his group laughed, but Adam looked at me with a cool indifference. He stepped forward, the scent of his cologne wafting over me. I backed up against his locker. 

“Hailee, let’s go!” Sandy called, but I ignored her. 

 “Never seen it before, now it’s showing up everywhere.” 

His friends laughed at this remark. 

 “Where’s your friend?” Big Mole piped up. 

 “Like I said, she’s obsessed,” Taylor repeated. 

 “Must’ve been a love note.” Mila, Adam’s latest busty senior conquest, placed a hand on his shoulder. “Aw, that’s so cute.” 

Adam scoffed at the idea and rolled his eyes. 

 “N-no!” I clenched my fists, the fire within me igniting with rage. Why did I have to fucking take this? If a Digimon ever treated me this way, I would send ‘em straight to Primary Village. 

Taylor kept going. “Oh my god, she doesn't just look like a primary student, she’s as dense as one, too.” Everyone laughed again. 

 “C’mon, Adam. I think you’re scaring her.” Mila smiled down at me like I was four. Rage flared up inside of me. Adam stared at me condescendingly, expecting me to leave, but I stood my ground.

“She’s not worth my time. Get her out of here.” 

Obeying in an instant, Taylor grabbed me and pushed me across the hall, laughing. I stumbled up and turned to see a large group of students had gathered to look on. Oliver pushed his way to the front, looking at me curiously. 

“Hailee!” He and Sandy rushed over to me. The two of them grabbed me, but I pulled away. Adam finished his combination and pulled open his locker. Something snapped inside of me. I wasn’t gonna take this anymore. 

Unleashing everything I was shoving down, the fire inside me exploded. I dashed and sprang at Adam like some kind of bloody psychotic cat. I landed halfway up his back, clinging to his jacket. 

 “Fuck!” Adam gasped. I reached up for his neck, but before I could do any real damage, Taylor grabbed my legs. 

“Get off!” Taylor cried, pulling me to the ground. I landed hard, but instantly whipped around and kicked Taylor as hard as I possibly could in the balls. What a fucking rush. He crumpled onto the floor like the pathetic bastard he was. A wide circle had formed around us, as nobody else dared to come closer. I turned to Adam, who still stood in the way of his open locker. He stared at me, fear in his eyes. 

With a scream that would’ve scared the devil himself, I ran at him as hard as I could. I rammed into him and locked my arms around the back of his knees, hurtling the both of us to the floor. I threw out my arms to break my fall, but he ended up cushioning it nicely. Eyes flashing open, I found myself nose-to-nose with him. I didn’t take any time to process the anger and utter humiliation on his face before I jumped up towards the locker. 

Books and papers rained down, but I wouldn’t stop until I had it. Digging through his locker, I felt alive again. They would think twice before messing with me again. Now I just had to find that fucking note. 

Finally, I spotted it. It had fallen into a small cardboard box at the back. I grabbed at it, knocking the box out. Along with the note, a bunch of computer parts spilled across the floor. I threw myself down to grab the note in the mess, but someone had me by the arm. 

“Stop! Fucking stop!” Adam bellowed, his face almost as red as his hair. I froze, coming back to reality. “Goddammit, what the hell is wrong with you?!” 

He let me go, and I fell on the floor again. They all stared, murmuring. Staring at Adam, staring at the computer parts, and staring at me. This wasn’t the Digital World. I had just lost my fucking mind in front of the entire school. 

“This stuff…” Adam seemed to realise everyone’s eyes were on him as well. “This stuff isn’t even fucking mine!” 

Without another thought, I pushed myself through the crowds and took off running down the hall. The first day of school and my life was already over.

Chapter Text

SANDY

I had been cautiously optimistic about today. A new school term meant a new beginning, a chance to spend more time with Hailee. It had started well, with her agreeing to an after-school hangout. But now my hopes for the day had vanished, swallowed up alongside Hailee in the churning mass of students. 

By the time I wove my way out of the crowd, she was already far across campus, and still running. 

“Hail, wait for us!” Oliver blundered into me, but I caught his arm. 

“Oliver, stop.” 

“Huh?” He turned wide blue eyes to me. “But—she’s leaving without us!” 

As much as I wanted to run after her and tell her things would be okay, that would probably make things worse. I grasped at the locket around my neck. 

“I think she just needs some space.” I pulled on a smile I hoped Oliver couldn’t see through. “I reckon our mums wouldn’t be too keen on us skipping school, either.” 

He shrugged his shoulder, the crease in his brow instantly evaporating. “Yeah, guess you’re right.” 

But my stomach sank as she disappeared behind the buildings. I had never seen her lash out like that before, but could I blame her after the day she’d had? My efforts to improve things seemed so fruitless now. The keychain, the beach outing, the note…if it weren’t for the note, none of this would have happened. 

“Oi, we might be in trouble,” Oliver said in a loud whisper. 

Behind me, Mr. Miller, one of the science teachers, was trying to sort through the chaos of the situation. No one was leading a manhunt for Hailee, at least not yet. The best thing to do was head for class and hope nobody stopped us. 

Adam dodged out in front of me before I could move. I skittered out of his way, but he rushed past, ignoring me and Oliver completely. 

“What is all that, anyway, mate?” Taylor called after him, his face still contorted with pain. “I thought you stopped with all that nerdy shit in primary school.” 

“Fuck off.” Adam quickly rounded the corner. I felt a bit of the tension in my shoulders subside as he disappeared. The three of us were no strangers to bullying, but the way he and his friends treated Hailee was despicable. 

“Mate!” Taylor huffed, then glanced at me. “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing!” I squeaked, grabbing Oliver’s arm and pulling him down the hall and away from the scene. “You have technology next, right?”

Oliver was staring off into space, scratching his curls. “Where do you think she went? Reckon she’s in the Digital World?”

“She might be,” I said, though I was almost certain. She spent most of her free time there. Any mention of the place thrilled Oliver, but it always made me a tad uneasy. It wasn’t fair of me, but I wished she didn’t spend so much time there. Now, after what happened today, she might never want to leave again. 

I shook the thought away.

“Shit, I wish I could go with her. It’s so lame to be stuck at school.”

I tried to pull him around the corner towards the art room, my next class, but he jumped away from me and started walking backward down the hall. 

“I mean, it would be lame if it wasn’t for Hail beating the shit outta those bullies! Wasn’t that just the sickest thing you’ve ever seen?” He clenched his fists in excitement. “The way she was just like ‘fuck education!’ and then—” he proceeded to mime Hailee fighting with exaggerated noises. 

I cringed. I couldn’t deny it had been amazing to watch, even if the whole thing still had my stomach in knots. The image of Hailee hurtling into Adam Beckerton would be burned into my brain forever. “I haven’t seen her fight like that since…well, since Mitchel Moore.” 

“Reckon you’re right! That was back in primary? No wonder Mitchie changed schools.” Oliver laughed.

I nodded, smiling slightly. Mitchel made fun of the training wheels on my bike and my frizzy hair—that is, until Hailee gave him a black eye on the playground. We had been best friends ever since. 

The warning bell sounded, and I glanced around at the practically empty hallway. 

“We should probably get to—” 

A bright flash of light, then Oliver screamed.

“Oliver, what’s wrong?” I raced over to see him staring down at a yellow device in his hand. “Is someone…calling you?” 

I felt a static shock in my hand. My fingers were wrapped around a glowing object.

I jumped, flinging it to the ground with a clatter. 

“You too?” Oliver gaped at his device, then mine. “What are these things?” 

I was afraid I knew exactly what they were. I felt that same sinking in my stomach as I knelt to examine the device—light green and pear-shaped, with a small square screen. Hailee had one almost exactly like it. 

The realisation seemed to hit Oliver just after me. 

“Oh my gosh…are we…D-Digimon—Digi—” Oliver sputtered in excitement.

 “Digidestined.” My vision went a little blurry.

What did this mean? As far as I knew, Hailee was the only Digidestined in Avalon. Now, all of a sudden, Oliver and I? It had to be a mistake. More than ever, I wished Hailee was here with us. 

There was a mumble, and I turned to see a pale, slouching boy glancing warily at me and Oliver. Probably wondering what we were going on about.

I quickly stood and tucked the Digivice behind my back. “Erm, sorry, just getting to class.” I waved Oliver to follow.

“Wait!” The boy’s strangled cry forced me to whirl around. He stared up at me, tired eyes hidden under messy dark hair. 

When he only stood there, I asked, “Are you okay?” 

“Erm.” He looked down at his feet, his hands twitching at his sides. “I—” 

“Reckon he’s gonna spew!” Oliver whispered loudly, looking far too delighted. “We’ll have to skip class now!”

“Ollie, please.” I faced the boy again. “We can take you to the sick bay if you—” 

“No, I-I’m not okay. I mean, I am okay.” He glanced between Oliver and me. “That.” He pointed to Oliver’s hand, clearly clutching his Digivice. 

Oliver held it up proudly. “Oh, this thing? It’s my Digivice!”

“Oliver…” I whispered, but the boy nodded. 

“I saw that you—it’s only that I—well, I wanted to ask if you…er, here.” He removed his backpack and fumbled to unzip it. Finally, he pulled out what looked to be a fuzzy grey ball. When it blinked its eyes open, I realised with a start what it was—a Digimon. What was going on here? 

“Whoa, you’re one too?!” Oliver cried. “Sweet as, mate! I’m Oliver, this is Sandy!”

“Jason.” The boy bobbed his head. “This is Pinkumon.” 

“Er, nice to meet you. But we’re not really Digidestined,” I hurried to explain. “I think it’s some kind of mistake. I mean, we don’t even have Digimon.” 

“Yeah, where are they?” Oliver glanced around at his feet, as if one might have escaped his notice. 

“Erm, I dunno.” Jason’s dropped. “But, er, my friend and I—well, she’s not exactly my friend, but er…anyway, we were kinda looking for other, you know…so maybe you guys would want to hang out with us…or something…” His voice got smaller as he talked, fidgeting with his hands. 

“You want to…hang out?” 

He nodded, not looking up. 

My heart softened. This extremely shy boy was trying his hardest to talk to us because, in some capacity, he wanted to be friends. For a moment, I considered it. 

But it was only because he thought we were Digidestined. Which we weren’t, not truly. Besides, I already had Hailee and Oliver. “That’s nice of you to offer, but—” 

“Wait a minute! ” Oliver practically shouted. “Can these things take us into the Digital World?” 

Jason flinched. “Er, yeah.” 

“No way! Are you shitting me?!” 

“Sorry, he just gets a bit excited.” As bad as it made me feel, maybe it would be better if we scared him off.

“Well, er, if we find a computer…” Jason gestured down the hall, “maybe your Digimon…er, they’re probably…” 

“Of course they’re in the computer!” Oliver smacked his forehead. “What are we waiting for?” 

I grabbed his arm, my chest tightening. “I really don’t think this is a good idea. We need to wait until we can talk to Hailee.” 

A wide grin spread across his face. “Well, she’s in the Digital World, right? We can find her, too!”

On the surface, the idea seemed nice. Joining Hailee on her adventures instead of just waiting around for her to return. But I knew the truth. Whatever Hailee did in the Digital World, she preferred to do it alone. If we showed up there, it would spoil everything for her. No, we had to stop this before it even began. 

Surprisingly, Jason spoke up before I could say anything else. “Erm, my friend—I think she’s in the library. She’ll know what to do.” 

“The other Digidestined?” I asked. “You think she could help us fix this?” 

Jason nodded. “I reckon. She knows a lot about this, er, stuff.” 

We didn’t have Hailee. But maybe this other girl could explain things, tell me how I could undo it.

“Oh yeah, I’ve been waiting my whole life for this!” Oliver cried, taking off down the hall. “I’m going to meet my motherfucking Digimon!” 

Jason and I glanced at each other, then awkwardly set off.  

“Er, so, I’m not sure if I’ve seen you around,” I said, eager to break the silence. “Have you been at Barrenjoey long?”

“Er, yeah. Reckon we’re in art together.” 

“Oh.” I flushed. “I’m sorry, I guess I didn’t—” 

“Nah.” He shrugged. “I, er…I sit in the back.” 

“Hopefully I haven’t been blocking the board from you. I’ve been told I do that.” 

Jason gave a half-hearted chuckle as we entered the library. A handful of students sat here and there, at tables or in armchairs, quietly enjoying their study period. Or they would have been, anyway, if it wasn’t for Oliver.

“Hello?” he called. At least he was using his inside voice. “Are there any ‘mons in here?” 

 A girl with glossy dark hair put down a book and turned to him in annoyance. “Excuse me, would you kindly quiet down?”

“Sorry, but have you seen any—”

“Wilhemina,” Jason said, shuffling over to her. “I brought...” 

“Oh, hello, Jason.” The girl looked up at him, her dark eyes sparking with curiosity. “Is she Chosen?” 

Jason nodded and gestured to Oliver. “Him too.” 

She frowned slightly. “Oh.” 

“This is your friend, Jason?” Oliver’s eyes widened as he stared at her pretty face unabashedly. I grimaced. “Hey, I’m Oliver. How ya going?” 

He gave an attempt at a charming smile, which the girl called Wilhelmina didn’t acknowledge. Instead, she gave a business-like nod and stood from her chair. 

“Excellent work. I must admit, I did not expect us to find anyone so soon.”

“Er, yeah,” Jason said. “Me neither.” 

The way they talked about us made me uneasy, like they had been waiting for this to happen. “Erm, I’m Sandy. Can I ask what you mean by Chosen?” 

“Chosen Children,” the girl said, “or Digidestined, as they’re more colloquially known, are children with Digimon partners. As I gather you both are.” 

“Well, we don’t have Digimon exactly.” Oliver looked at his Digivice. “At least not yet.” 

Wilhelmina tilted her head. “That is unusual.”

“Well, we just got our Digivices like two seconds ago.” 

 “Even more unusual.” She adjusted her eyeglasses, contemplating. “We must remedy this at once.”

We followed her to the back of the library, where a computer sat between the wall and a large bookcase. 

“Er, before we do anything, can we just talk about this whole Chosen thing?” I asked, my heart banging around in my ribcage as the other three gathered around the computer. This was all happening way too fast. “I mean…you two both have Digimon, huh? Is that how you met?” 

Wilhelmina glanced back at me, as if unsure whether to be annoyed by my question. My stomach squirmed under her intense gaze. 

“I moved here recently. I encountered Jason on a walk through my neighbourhood, as he lives quite close. Our Digimon struck up a bond immediately. I trust he told you about our plans to meet together?” 

“Erm, sort of.” She clearly wasn’t going to help like I’d hoped. Attempting to turn Jason down had been bad enough; turning Wilhelmina down terrified me. The bookshelves loomed around us, blocking my view of the door. “But maybe we could just have some time to think about this. Oliver and I are already late for class and—”

Wilhelmina whirled around. “It is not your choice to make,” she said tersely. “You have received a Digivice. Fate has already begun its course.” 

Jason shifted uncomfortably beside her. “Wilhelmina—” 

“I think she’s right!” Oliver held up his Digivice to the computer like he had seen Hailee do before. When nothing happened, he started shaking it. “Er, how do I get it to—” 

A pinprick of blue light appeared on the screen and exploded into a blinding flash. I shielded my eyes, imagining Hailee appearing in front of us. I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed when I saw a squat red bird standing there holding a comically large egg.

I could only stare as he opened his beak and sang, “I’m Muuuuchooomoooon!”  His loud voice echoed across the library, but this time Wilhelmina didn’t seem to mind. 

“Oh!” A smile warmed her face. “Welcome! It is a pleasure to meet you.” 

“It is a pleaasuure to meeeeet you!”  Muchomon echoed. 

“Muchomon!” Oliver cried, throwing himself down to hug the bird. “Oh my god, this is the best day of my life! We’re gonna be best mates forever!”

“Wha! Get off, kid!” Muchomon swatted him away with one stubby clawed wing, the egg balancing precariously in the other. “Watch the egg!”

“Er, sorry.” Oliver sat back in surprise. “But aren’t you my Digimon?” 

Upon instinct, I skittered forward and stopped the egg from falling out of Muchomon’s grasp. “Careful.” 

“You!” He called, bright eyes focused on me. 

“Me?” I was so startled I almost let the egg drop. 

I glanced at Oliver, disappointed, and Jason, bewildered. But it was Wilhelmina who spoke.

“I believe he is your partner.” 

“That’s right!” Muchomon squawked. “Uh, no offense to this other kid—” he gave Oliver a sidelong glance, “—but you’re my human partner! Ha cha cha!” 

The loud, vibrant Digimon looked up at me expectantly. He belonged…to me? 

“Are you sure?” I blurted.

“Of course, my tree-like friend!”

“Erm, it’s Sandy.” 

Muchomon glanced around the room. “Doesn’t look too sandy to me. And I would know, I live on the beach!” 

“What about me?” Oliver pleaded, his voice cracking. 

“Oh, yeah, I almost forgot!”

Muchomon placed the egg in Oliver’s trembling hands. It was the size of a small melon and covered in a squiggly yellow pattern. 

Oliver stared between Muchomon and the egg in wonder. “Did you lay this, eh?” 

“This kid!” He laughed heartily and hit Oliver’s shoulder. “Eggs don’t come from Digimon!”

 I gasped as a crack appeared across the shell. 

“Is this normal?” I asked Jason, who shrugged apologetically. 

Wilhelmina shushed me, watching intently as the egg hatched.  

I tried to recall what had happened when Hailee met Roomon for the first time, but I couldn’t remember much. We were little girls then, and at first I worried that the strange creature she brought everywhere would take my place as her best friend. Roomon had since become a normal part of our lives, but I had never imagined I would get a Digimon too. 

Slowly, the shell lifted to reveal a white face with large black eyes. 

“Hey!” Oliver cried, and the Digimon immediately ducked back inside. “C’mon, mate, I won’t hurt you!”

Seeing the tiny creature inside the egg calmed the turmoil inside me for a moment. This was just an innocent creature who needed to be taken care of, just like the plants in my garden. Maybe these Digimon weren’t as strange as they seemed. 

A thunderous crash, followed by a blood-curdling scream, made my blood run cold. 

“Oi, what was that?” Oliver asked, his tiny companion cowering into his chest. “Someone got to a scary part in their book or something?” 

I pulled him to his feet, my heart beating erratically as we all scrambled to the end of the bookshelf to see what was going on.

In the middle of the library stood a very tall, very inhuman thing. 

My breath caught in my throat, legs giving out from under me. I flailed to catch myself on the bookshelf, knocking out an entire section of books before crashing painfully to my knees.

The creature’s reptilian head swiveled in our direction, blood-red eyes dilating. My vision swam as I struggled to pull myself up.

“You okay?” Jason asked, he and Wilhelmina pulling me to my feet. 

“He saw us. That thing saw us,” I panted. 

“Quiet. Over here,” Wilhelmina whispered. 

We huddled towards the computer, nowhere for us to run. I grabbed Oliver’s hand and locked eyes with him, trying to cut down the invasive panic growing inside of me. If anything happened, I was going to make sure he was safe. 

“Stay with me, okay?” 

Oliver stared back at me, wide-eyed. “Is that a Digimon? Like the bad kind?” 

Wilhelmina put a finger to her lips and nodded, but I had a sinking feeling it was too late.

The bookshelves began to rattle, threatening the creature’s approach. 

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Came a raspy voice. The creature’s head crested the bookshelf, horns scraping the ceiling as he stared down on us. I was gripping Oliver’s hand so tightly my fingers were numb. 

“What do you want with us?” Wilhelmina called. “If your intentions are for evil, we are Chosen Children and we are prepared to stand our ground.”

Her confidence calmed me, if only momentarily. But then the creature’s mild disinterest seemed to transform into something sinister. His mouth spread into a sickening grin, baring rows of razor-sharp teeth. He lifted an enormous claw, knocking over the bookshelf that barred us from him like it was a piece of paper. 

He loomed over us on two legs, thick tail swishing behind him. This wasn’t a cute little creature like the ones we had just met. This was a monster.

A flash and a small lanky creature appeared in Jason’s arms—what did Hailee call it, Digivolving?

“Slothmon, go!” 

The Digimon leapt and latched himself onto the creature’s thick forearm. It startled him, allowing us to rush out of his grasp. 

“ ATTACK!” Muchomon yelled, bolting away from my side and towards the creature’s leg.

I gasped. “Be careful!” 

“Fuck, are we in Jurassic Park or something?” Oliver cried. I yanked him forward, following Wilhelmina’s lead and hunkering down behind another bookshelf.

“What about the Digimon?” I whispered.

“They can handle themselves. At least until we figure out a plan.” 

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the sound of the creature's steps. He was looking for us. More than ever, I wished Hailee were here. 

The earth-shattered thud of a nearby bookshelf told me he was close. 

“If we can make it back to the computer, perhaps one of us can send him back to the Digital World through a portal,” Wilhelmina whispered. 

“Good idea,” Jason breathed, looking positively ghostly. “The only problem is, the closest computer is—” 

He pointed across the library where a row of them sat out in the open. 

“Ooh, I’m fast!” Oliver fumbled with his Digivice as he stood. 

“Oliver, wait!” I hissed, but it was too late. He was already bolting across the room towards the computers.

“Does he know what he’s doing?” Wilhelmina breathed. 

I watched, frozen, as the creature shook off our Muchomon and Slothmon’s attacks and headed straight for Oliver.

“H-hey!” I cried, throwing myself out into the open. The creature swerved, its red eyes narrowing on me once again. My heart nearly stopped as I waited for him to rush at me. 

A loud grunt from behind caused us both to look towards the half-demolished library door.

Sharp dread pierced me as an identical creature peered through. But it didn’t even acknowledge us. Instead, it simply locked eyes with the other and nodded. 

The one that had been chasing us nodded back, and together they disappeared into the hallway. 

“Where are they going?” Oliver asked, dumbfounded.

“We need to find out,” Wilhelmina said, pulling herself up. 

With Muchomon and Slothmon right behind us, the four of us hurried out of the library, passing a group of students hunkered under a table. My pulse roared in my ears, my hands sweaty as I held onto Oliver. I didn’t want to follow those things, but at the same time, I felt safest with Wilhelmina and Jason. 

The school emergency alarm blared at us as we raced down vacant hallways. Classroom doors were marred with claw marks or broken glass, some doors missing altogether. It got worse the farther we went.

The Digimon were incredibly fast, and we lost them around a corner.

“This had better be it,” Wilhelmina panted, rounding the bend. I gasped as we reached the computer lab.

The door was nonexistent, leaving a gaping hole where the Digimon had presumably crashed through. Inside, half of the computers lay in a broken heap on the floor. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

An eerie red light filled the entire room, the centre of the light swirling and glitching, like it was going to devour us whole. 

The two Digimon hurdled through the doorway and disappeared into the light. The red glow shrank away, closing in on itself, until it left only a red computer screen. Soon it too went blank. 

“Whoa, fuck, shit,” Oliver breathed, running both hands through his hair.

“It’s okay,” I murmured, touching his shoulder. “They’re gone.” 

“That was….the coolest fucking thing ever!” he shouted, bursting out of my grasp. “I can’t believe I got to see a real life Digimon battle! Hailee’s gonna flip!” 

I turned back to Wilhelmina and Jason, who both looked deep in thought. 

“What just happened?” I asked, clasping a hand to my still-racing heart. 

“It is truly unusual,” Wilhelmina said calmly, stepping into the rubble of the computer lab. “Pursuing us without clear intent…the marks on the doorways, as if they were searching for something…the abrupt exit…and most of all, that portal.” She stopped to examine the computer that the Digimon had vanished into.

“Yeah, normally they’re not so…” Jason shrugged, “er, weird and creepy.” 

“I have never seen one that colour, nor one quite so erratic in shape. And why was it staying open on its own? It’s practically unheard of.” 

“You don’t think they were looking for us? Like…Digidestined?” I managed. The thought of the wicked smile on his face made nausea rise in my throat. 

“It’s certainly possible,” Wilhelmina said. “But why leave once they found us?” 

I didn’t want to think about those creatures or the awful portal for another second. “Erm, maybe we should go and hide somewhere…you know, so we won’t be out in the open when they try to evacuate everyone.” 

Wilhelmina sighed. “I suppose you’re right. The investigation will have to wait.” She turned away from the destruction and faced Oliver and me. “Have you two made up your minds about meeting with us?” 

“Yeah!”

“No…”

Oliver and I said at once. We looked at each other.

“Erm, we might just need a bit more time,” I said, not able to bring myself to turn them down now. 

“Fine. Call me if you do.” 

She and Oliver exchanged phone numbers, much to Oliver’s excitement, and he and I went off to hide in the girls’ bathroom. Jason raised his hand in a small wave as we left, and I felt a stab in my heart. We probably wouldn’t see him again. 

“Wait up!” Muchomon said, waddling after me. “You and I, we’re partners for life, amigo! Now, what’s your name again?” 

“Sandy.” I gave him a feeble smile. I had no idea what I was going to do with him, but for now, he would just have to tag along. 

“Sandy, why can’t we hang out with them?” Oliver asked as we slipped into the bathroom.

“Because…” We both had Digimon, and had been attacked by a giant lizard man. The thought of explaining all of this to Hailee just made me feel like throwing up. “It’s complicated, Oliver.”

I shut us into the big stall and Oliver sat down on the toilet lid. “Why?” 

He didn’t understand the weight of it all. Of being a “Chosen Child,” of Hailee’s feelings, of the danger we had faced today. I touched his shoulder. “Because…being a Digidestined…it’s kind of Hailee’s thing, you know?” 

“Yeah, I know. But we’re her best friends!” 

I smiled gently. “That’s right. I just don’t think this is something she wants to share with us.” 

“Nah, she’ll come round. We can find her after school and tell her everything! You’ll see.” 

I squeezed my locket, its surface cooling my fingers and calming my heart, just slightly. “Maybe…” 

“Oi, you mind if I pee?” 

Chapter Text

HAILEE 

The way home was a blur. Running, then biking, then more running. I didn’t come to my senses until I sat before my laptop, Digivice in hand. The Digi-Port opened, blue and bright, and I stepped inside. I squeezed my eyes shut as I floated away from my world and towards the Digital World. 

I stepped through the portal to find myself back on the beach. I stood still for a second, but now that I was safe, everything came rushing back uninhibited.

Fully giving in to my instincts. I tore my fingers through my bangs. Tackling Adam to the ground. I grabbed at my throat and pulled off my tie. Adam finally losing it and yelling at me. I collapsed onto my hands and knees, panting. Then, of course, everyone staring at me as I ran away. I crossed a line, and I could never go back.

I grabbed two fistfuls of sand and let out a guttural scream. 

“Hailee?”

I snapped back, realising she was behind me. “Hey Roo," I said, forcing my breathing to slow. 

Her orange eyes burned with curiosity as she looked up at me. “What’s going on?” 

I ran my hands through my bangs again and shook my head. “I’m in deep shit.” I gripped my hair, ready to pull it out of my skull. “Like the deepest. I’m so fucked.” 

She stepped closer and leaned against me. “What happened?” 

“I was a Digidestined. I was a motherfucking Digidestined at school.” I fell back in the sand. Saying it out loud only made it more real. “I went feral on those arseholes. Fucked ‘em up like they were Digimon.” 

“You did?” She gaped at me. 

“I don’t think I can go back.” I gripped my Digivice tightly. “Bet they’ll expel me. But that’s nothing compared to what Mum will do.” 

“So we get to stay here, in the Digital World?” 

I turned on my side to look at her. When she put it that way, it didn’t sound so bad. “Guess so.” 

The thought had crossed my mind before, but only in passing. After all, I had family, friends, school. But maybe today, for all its total humiliation, was good for something. Maybe it proved I belonged here, doing what I loved. I sat up quickly, a smile creeping onto my face.

“What the hell, right?” I squeezed my Digivice in my fist“Who needs consequences or rules, or any of that shit when we can just stay here? We can focus everything on fighting the biggest baddies! We’ll become legends!” 

“Yeah!” Roomon laughed. 

I glanced around at our empty surroundings. Of course, it would take time to find threats that were worth something. But now, we had nothing but time. 

“Shall we start at the Twigs?” My eyes passed over the desert and landed on the straggly forest to the right of the plains. Virus Digimon could sometimes be found there, sleeping in the shade. 

“Let’s do it!” 

We took off running together. I lunged into a handspring, but slid forward on the sand instead of sticking the landing. I laughed and kept running. This was it. This was my life now. And the best part? Nobody could mess it up for me here. 

“Hailee Little!”

I stopped in my tracks. For a split second, I thought it was him. The only other person I knew who could come into the Digital World. But turning around proved that idea false. Thank fuck. 

Instead, a tall, serious-looking bloke stood in what had just been empty space a second ago. He wore tan robes and had his brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Now, normally I would’ve freaked the hell out, cuz there aren’t any adult Digidestined. But I recognised this guy. I’d seen him once before. I exchanged a look with Roomon. 

“You,” I answered, placing my hands on my hips. “I’ve met you before.” 

“You have.” He smiled and walked closer. “I believe we met in Sydney. Christmas 2002? You were one of the many young Digidestined fighting to save the world that day.” 

I nodded slowly, the events coming back to me. The first time Roomon Digivolved to Champion, the first time I’d gotten to fight. It was when I realised how much I loved being a Digidestined. I stared up at him, my heart racing. 

“My name is Gennai. But you might know me better as Hogan.” He took another step forward and stopped. “I am a servant of the Digital World and to Digidestined. That’s why I was there six years ago. And that is why I am here today.” 

“Yeah?” I said, rocking back on my heels. I had a feeling something big was coming. 

His smile faded, and he sighed. “Do you know anything about the original Chosen Children? From Japan?” 

I blinked up at him, a little at a loss. “Er, yeah. Of course. They were like the first ones to go into the Digital World and shit. I even met two of ‘em, tall guy and some bowlcut kid? What about ‘em?” 

“They were chosen for a specific purpose by—well, my boss, Homeostasis, the guardian of the Digital World. The world needed saving, and they were the ones chosen to save it. They fulfilled the prophecy and eventually defeated the embodiment of evil and chaos, Apocalymon. Everything happened as foretold.” 

He was getting a little worked up now, so I just nodded, confused. 

“Most Digidestined aren’t chosen for a purpose; they simply are. Until now, the original children were the only true Chosen Ones. All of this to say,” he took a deep breath, “Hailee Little, you have been chosen for a greater purpose.” 

My mouth fell open and I heard Roomon gasp beside me. “Huh?” 

He nodded understandingly.  “I didn’t know how best to explain it to you. But I’m afraid I don’t have much time. You see, Homeostasis has just recently discovered a new threat. A threat which has the potential to destroy your world as you know it. I know what you must be thinking, shouldn’t the original Chosen Children be contacted to—” 

I interrupted him with a scream. All of his words were finally making sense to me. This was fucking it. No more running around trying to find something worthy enough to fight me. Finally, the big fucking threat I had been waiting for. Where had this arsehole been all my life? 

“Holy fuck! Holy fuck!” I screamed, turning to Roomon. I grabbed her front paws and started jumping up and down. “This is it! This is our bloody fucking shot! Look mate, just tell me where it is and I’ll knock it out in no time! I’ve been fucking training for this for years!” 

“All right.” Hogan closed his eyes and put two fingers on the bridge of his nose. “Forgive me, but I hope you’ve chosen correctly.” 

He composed himself and looked down at me once again. 

“I have something for you.” He reached into his robe and pulled out a shiny golden necklace with a rectangular locket on the end. “Do you know what this is?” 

“Motherfucking bloody cocks!” I cried, reaching for it. This kept getting better and better. As far as I knew, only eight existed. “A crest tag!” 

He nodded, still looking worried. 

“So you’re familiar, good.” He lowered his hand and gave it to me. I threw it on excitedly. “As I’m sure you’re aware, the original Chosen Children were given crest tags to aid them in saving the world. After sensing the threat, Homeostasis requested I create more.” 

He began to pace. “This crest functions similarly to the originals, in that it will evolve your Digimon into its Ultimate form. But it is up to you to unlock the specific crest within, which may require a change from you. Do you accept?” 

“Er, yeah?” 

He stopped pacing and reached into his pocket again. “Then I suppose you are ready for these.” To my absolute horror, he pulled out a tangle of crest tags and held them out to me. 

“What?” I stared at them, then at his completely serious face, and couldn’t help but crack up. “You’re not fucking serious, mate.” 

“I’m afraid I am.” 

“Look, I’m the only Digidestined I know!” I threw my arms up, gesturing to the empty space around us. 

“What about your brother?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Uni,” I snapped.

“And the other Chosen Children there that day?” 

“None of them are from around here,” I answered. “Like I said. I’m the only fucking one.” 

“Well, there were six new crests made in total. If I understand things correctly, then Homeostasis is choosing the other five very soon. And though we may not always understand their choices, they have never been wrong before when it comes to matters such as these.”

“Look, you said whatever it was, chose me . That’s a fucking good choice. I can handle this on my own. I always have and I always will.” I lowered my eyebrows. “I don’t need those.” 

He sighed. “Seeing as we have met before, and you seemed to be quite accomplished, I thought I would seek you out and give you the task of assembling the Digidestined.” He made a move to put them back in his pocket. “But if you’re not willing, I suppose I will have to seek them out myself.” 

“Wait!” I called out, almost certain I would regret this. “Whatever, fine. I’ll take them.” 

Hogan smiled, looking relieved. He handed them to me, and I shoved them into my backpack. 

“Excellent. So, Hailee Little, your task, as I said, is to assemble a team of Digidestined, unlock your crests, and defeat the threat. It will be targeting your world, your home . Very soon. The last bit of information I can offer is this threat isn’t something new or trivial, but an ancient darkness, waiting to swallow you and your realm whole.” 

He looked down at me gravely. “I wish I could offer more help, but Homeostasis will be watching over you. I am confident you will put a stop to this, just like Chosen Children before you.” 

I watched in stunned silence as he walked off down the beach. Slowly, Roo and I looked at each other. 

“What the hell just happened?” I asked, feeling like I had just been on a bloody roller coaster. With so much information shoved in my face, two things stood out to me.

First, I finally had my shot. Defeating a threat of fucking enormous proportions would make me the most powerful Digidestined of all time. Second, there were five other Digidestined out there, ready to take that shot away from me. 

“What are you going to do with those crests?” Roomon asked, reading my mind. 

“Simple.” I shrugged. “I’m gonna keep ‘em. Nobody else has to know.” 

We smiled at each other. Somehow, everything changed in a matter of minutes. 

“I can’t believe it. Ancient evil, homo guy, crests? We’re like Chosen Ones!” she said, jumping up. “Like those original kids!” 

“Except cooler and more powerful,” I grinned. “Once we unlock our crest, you’ll finally be able to Digivolve past Champion! We’ll really be able to kick some arse then!” 

“Woo!” 

I paused and looked behind us. The idea of staying in the Digital World now seemed so stupid now. My biggest challenge yet was waiting for me in my world. 

“Well, so much for staying here. We’ve got much bigger fish to fry.” 

I waved at her to follow and took off towards the computer monitor. What happened earlier seemed so insignificant. I was meant to be a Digidestined in both worlds, it seemed.

★    ★    ★

The golden necklace swung at my neck, glinting in the sun, as I wove through the cluttered neighbourhoods. My crest tag.

I pushed myself up and pedalled hard down the hill. Roomon raced beside me, bounding high into the air. As I picked up speed, I closed my eyes, letting the wind rush through me. I opened my eyes as I reached the bottom of the hill and leaned so I could make the sharp turn. I had just escaped, but now I had never felt so free. A laugh exploded out of me as I rode my way down the next hill. We glided the rest of the way down Main Street and into the alleyway. 

In the two seconds I thought about it before jumping on my bike, coming to The Little’s Place seemed right. It had a central location. Plus, the second anything happened in town, you could count on all the oldies to gather up and gossip. What I hadn’t stopped to consider was Dad. He probably wasn’t gonna buy that school ended a couple hours early. 

“Are we going in?” Roo asked, standing beside me. 

“Eh, yeah, I’ll make something up.”

I shrugged and pushed open the door. He wasn’t the real problem, anyway. I just had to make sure he could keep a secret. 

I slipped inside, running through some standard excuses in my head. Dad stood with his back towards us, wrapped up in a phone call. Looks like I had a little more time. 

As expected, all was quiet in the lull between lunch and dinner. Dad usually used this time for cleaning and prep, but by the state of the place, he’d been busy with other things. 

I threw on an apron and approached the bag of potatoes, waiting to be turned into chips. A little buttering up could never hurt. I heaved the sack over to the sink and dumped them inside. At the sound, Dad whirled around, his face even paler than usual. 

“Hailee, she—she’s turned up!” He slammed the phone back on the wall and hurried over, his forehead creasing with concern. I tensed up as he put his hands on my shoulders and looked down at me. “Are you alright?”

I blinked up at him, trying to gauge the situation. “Am I in trouble?” 

He laughed and pulled me into a quick hug. “One of your teachers called me,” he breathed, holding onto the benchtop for support. “He told me everything. The attack, and how the whole school is in a panic. They were gathering up all the kids and calling parents, but no one could find you.” 

I grabbed my face as the blood rushed to it at full force. The attack? They were calling my outburst “the attack?” By beating up Dickerton, I sent the entire school into a frenzy? My throat dried up. Being grounded would make it pretty impossible to fight off a mega threat. I took a breath and focused on Dad. If I could spin the story before it got to Mum, maybe I could avoid the worst of it. 

“Dad, hear me out. I only tackled him, okay? No injuries, no damage to school property…so, could it really be called an attack? I don’t think so.” I smiled at him confidently, but he only stared back. I pushed on, undeterred by his non-reaction. “And yeah, I wagged school after that, but I had to. It’s not a big deal. Please, can we not make a big deal to Mum about this?” 

“You tackled a Digimon at school, then ran away? And I know for a fact there was damage—lots and lots of damage, Hailee. They’re closing down the school because of the attack. Everyone at Barrenjoey is terrified and once the news gets out, it’s safe to say the whole town will be too. And you’re saying it’s not a big deal?” 

It was my turn to look at him with a blank stare. “Digimon? Digimon at school?” 

Dad furrowed his eyebrows. “You don’t know. You left school before it happened.” Relieved but still very confused, Dad shook his head. “He didn’t say Digimon, but what else would giant lizards rampaging about be?” 

My mouth fell open. I looked down at Roomon. “It’s happening!” 

“Just like Hogan said!” 

They had to pick Barren-fucking-Joey. Just my luck. 

“Are they still here?” I asked Dad. “They aren’t like rampaging the town yet, are they?” 

I raced to the door and grabbed the handle. 

“Sorry! I’ve gotta—” I flung it open to find myself face to face with Sandy and Oliver. They jumped back in surprise, breathing heavily. With their wind-blown hair and rumpled uniforms, they looked almost as wild as me. 

“Shit, cunts!” I pulled them inside. “Did you come from the attack? Did you see it? What happened?” 

They both nodded, too breathless to answer. 

“Give them some room,” Dad said, pulling up stools for them to sit in. He grabbed two glasses and filled them with water. “Have your parents been called? Never mind, I’ll call them.” 

While Dad rushed back to the phone, I waited for them to finish tossing water down their gullets. 

“C’mon, mates!” I grabbed their arms. “What fucking happened?” 

“So glad you’re okay. We were worried after you ran off.” Sandy set down her cup and got shakily to her feet. “We did see the attack. But we have to—”

Oliver jumped up from his stool, water dripping down his chin. 

“Bloody ripper! Huge lizard blokes! Coming through the computer lab and rampaging around! Best day of my life!” 

“This is fucking wild, I didn’t think it would happen so fast!” I breathed. “I gotta find them!”

“Hailee,” Sandy’s voice was soft and serious, forcing me to focus on her. She clasped her hands tightly together. “Sorry. Something else happened. Something bad…”

Her voice faded to a whisper. I raised an eyebrow. 

“What? What’s wrong?” 

She glanced at Oliver and nodded. He smiled and unzipped Sandy’s backpack pocket. Reaching inside, he pulled out two brightly coloured objects. My breath hitched like I got a punch to the windpipe. 

“We got these right after you left! Just appeared in our hands!” 

I took a step back, the edges of my vision going dark. Digivices.

“No.” 

“We helped fight off the monsters with our Digimon and—” 

“ No. ” 

“Hail, please,” Sandy said, eyes wide with desperation. She reached out for me, but I took another step back. “It doesn’t mean anything! Let us explain!” 

“Oliver, your mum is on her way,” Dad called. “Sandy, I can’t seem to get hold of your mum.” 

“Isn’t it crazy, Hail?” Oliver said, his eyes getting wider. “We’re Digidestined like you now!” 

“I can’t believe this,” I muttered. These were the Digidestined Hogan talked about? My only friends in the world? “Fuck this.”

“Please, Hailee.” 

I turned and fled, ignoring Sandy’s desperate pleas. Hopping on my bike, I headed straight for Barrenjoey. I had to see it for myself. As excited as I should’ve been about my school being destroyed by Digimon, part of me wished it was all a lie. 

Kids, parents, and teachers crowded the front lawn and the courtyard. Four police cars, two fire trucks, and an ambulance blocked off the street. I was too far away to make out any of the damage Dad mentioned, but from the way some of these people were crying, it had to be pretty bad. By my third ride by, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get in there until they were all gone, so I took us home.

★    ★    ★

I tried to busy myself with packing my bag full of supplies and putting together a good outfit, but even then I had heaps of time. I paced the length of my bedroom, kicking shit out of the way as I went. Roomon lay on my bed, head resting on her paws. 

“Lizards come through the computer lab,” I muttered, stopping at the wall and turning around. “Attack the school and… get defeated.” 

It was hard to go over all the details when I would’ve paid big money to have some removed from my head. An image of Oliver and Sandy taking down a Digimon flashed through my mind. I took a strangled breath, not knowing if I wanted to laugh or vomit. 

“It doesn’t make sense,” Roomon said quietly. 

“I know.” I paused in the middle of the room. 

“Why would they choose Sandy and Oliver? I mean, they’ve never hurt a fly.” 

“Makes sense for my shitty life!” I kicked my bed frame. “I thought I was being fucked over when I learned there were more of us. But then I’m like, maybe it’s okay! I can ignore them! Well, fuck me, it’s gotta be the only two people I actually like being around!” 

“Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.” Roomon sat up. “Ya know, working with them?”

“Roo.” I gave her a hard look. “You know we do this alone or not at all, right?” 

“I know. I’m just saying it would be different from…I mean, they actually listen to you. They're your best friends.” 

“I’m not making that mistake again.” I turned away and popped a piece of cinnamon chewie into my mouth. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” 

The evening air felt nice on my overheated skin. I glanced across the way at Sandy’s house as I jumped on my bike. Her bedroom glowed with warm light. I could picture her sitting on her bed and feeling miserable. But she wasn’t just my friend sitting in there anymore—she was a Digidestined. That made her the enemy. I turned and zipped down the road, the pit in my stomach growing. 

I flew through the empty roads and curved into The Tunnel. The trees stood eerily still on either side, blocking out the light from the setting sun. 

“What do you think we’ll find?” Roomon asked, ears flying behind her as she ran beside me. 

“No idea,” I answered, leaning forward and pedalling faster. As much bad had happened today, I couldn’t let myself get distracted. We were onto something big. “Hopefully, some kind of clue to what we’re up against. It can’t just be some random lizards, hey?” 

“Right!” 

Up ahead, the tunnel curved to reveal the entrance of Barrenjoey, lamps on either side casting an eerie glow. I screeched to a stop, on high alert. Parked right out front was a singular cop car. From the dim light, I could make out two cops just sitting in there. 

“Bastards.” I slipped off my bike and yanked it off the road into the bushes. “C’mon.” 

“They’re guarding the place?” Roomon followed me as I got on my hands and knees and shoved my way through the underbrush. 

“What good would they be against rampaging Digimon, anyway?” I laughed, but it dried up in my throat. I crawled on, shielding my face through the scratchiest of branches. This wasn’t my first time avoiding detection down here, so I knew where to go. 

The bushes thinned as we came upon the main building. It was all plastered up with yellow police tape, daring someone to break in. I shared a glance with Roomon and slipped out into the open air. 

I held my breath and slunk into the cop’s field of vision. Hopefully I would look like a possum to them, crawling around in the dim light. But the ground seemed to stretch before us. Squeezing my eyes shut, I dove behind a tree and pressed my back against it. I waited for spotlights and helicopters for a long second, but nothing came. 

“Ready?” I led the way around the main building and into the centre courtyard, the adrenaline soothing my nerves. The open-air hallways of all the buildings made access almost too easy. 

“Computer lab is in building one?” 

I was looking at the place with fresh eyes. Dark, mysterious, and best of all, Roo and I were alone in here. I pulled out my torch, shining it around as I strutted down the centre of the hallway. 

“It seems smaller than usual,” Roomon remarked. “Or I was smaller.”

“We both were. Always having to hide? But look at us now. We own this fucking place.” 

To prove my point, I allowed a quick stop to carve a dick on locker 247. Soon enough, we reached the end of the hall. I slowed to a stop in front of it, eyes widening. The computer lab gaped open, its door lying ripped off its hinges across the hall. 

Scratch marks and glass decorated the walls, ceilings, and floors. I stepped forward, my Creepers crunching on glass, and peered into the computer lab. The place was a mess; some of its tables turned over and all kinds of shit littering the floor. 

“Okay.” I shone my torch from the computer lab and back to the hall. “So lizard types get transported here. It happens.” 

The main way in and out of the Digital World was with a Digivice, but sometimes funny business would occur, and a Digimon would end up over here. Based on what Hogan had said, though, this was anything but funny business. 

“They were lizards, huh?” Roomon said, sniffing the floor. 

“And not that big, either,” I answered, glancing at the very much intact ceilings. 

“They bust through the door, mess up the hallway, and… get defeated.” I took another look around the room. “But what the fuck were they after?” 

“Maybe they were trying to scare people or cause a distraction or something.” Roomon trotted forward. “If they were here to attack, do you really think Sandy and Oliver could’ve taken them?” 

I frowned. Even if she just said it to make me feel better, she had a point. 

“That makes sense.” I shone my torch on the floor and caught sight of an overturned backpack. “There’s gotta be more to it. Something else is pulling the strings. Something ancient and evil, apparently.” 

I knelt and grabbed the backpack, spilling its contents all over the floor. Papers, a random scrap of metal, a red notebook, and a can of body spray. 

I grabbed the notebook. One look inside showed me it belonged to a fucking nerd bastard, since it was chokers with mathematical equations and complicated diagrams. Most damning of all, where there should be writing, there were a bunch of ones and zeroes. I recognised it from maths. Fucking binary code. 

I groaned and shuffled through the papers. More of the same. 

The piece of metal caught my eye as I glanced down. It looked familiar. I grabbed it and examined it closer in the light. Flat and green, a bunch of little black pieces on top. I’d seen a million other parts like it earlier today. 

“No way,” I breathed. I scooped up the can of Dark Temptation body spray and sprayed it in the air. A familiar musky scent filled the room and my heart with dread. “No fucking way.” 

Roo looked at me. 

“This stuff is Dickerton’s,” I said, standing up. The computer shit, the notes, the way he hid it all in his locker. 

“So?” Roomon cocked her head. “You beat him up, yeah? 

“His stuff is at the scene of the crime.” I began pacing. “Wait, so I show the whole school his stuff and he gets super mad and runs away? Straight to the computer lab? Where lizards happen to break out seconds later? This can’t be a fucking coincidence.” 

“Are you serious?” Roomon asked. “That would mean he’s a Digidestined.” 

“ Him?” I practically gagged. “Fuck, they’ll let anyone is these days. But I guess with all this computer stuff, it kinda makes sense.” 

“But he’s some kid. How could he be the big threat Hogan was talking about?” 

“You said it yourself—this wasn’t exactly a big evil attack. Just a distraction. Something bigger is happening here, and Dickerton is involved.” 

I let the thought sink in. As if today couldn’t get any worse. Somehow, the biggest dick in highschool was my only fucking lead.