Hello. Again, despite all my going on about, "I'm done writing" and all that, I am coming back again. I know, I sound like Brett Favre. I promise, I won't pull a stunt like that again. Anyway, enough of that. Here's my newest story. It's a Taiora fic called "Don't Stop Believing," after my favorite song. It's set in an AU. Enjoy! Once again, it's time for my least favorite thing about writing; the infamous disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. It's property of Toei.

I: Back in School

"He's running... He's running... He shoots... He SCORES!" The announcer shouted over the PA system. "Taichi "Tai" Kaimiya kicks the game winning goal!" Tai had just kicked the winning goal in the Japanese national high school championship game. The crowd all rose up out of their seats and cheered at the top of their lungs and waved their arms. Odaiba had fallen behind early, but had mounted a furious comeback. Tai held his right hand high up in the air and extended his index finger to signal that he and his team were number one. The opposing team hung their heads low in defeat. To come this far only to suffer a heart-breaking loss was just almost too much to take. Tai's teammates rushed up to him. They picked Tai up and held him up above. The team walked past the bleachers to wave at the fans and then paraded into the locked room. Once inside, the coach spoke to the team. He praised them for their performance, and made especially sure to mention Tai. As much as Tai loved to be in the limelight, he couldn't help but be a little bashful. The coach dismissed the team and they walked out of the locker room. Out in the hallway, one of the players spoke up and said, "Dinner for the whole team, on me!" The hallway broke out into a loud roar. Tai was about to follow his teammates to the restaurant, but he heart a very familiar voice call his name. It was Sora.

"Tai!" Sora called out, trying to get Tai's attention before he left.

Tai turned and saw Sora trying to catch up to him. "Hey, Sora!" Tai said as he walked over towards Sora.

"That was some game," Sora said, putting her arms behind her back.

"Wasn't it! Just think, I scored the winning goal in THE championship game!" Tai's eyes lit up. "Soccer teams from all around are going to hear about this and want me to play on their team! This is so cool!"

"I know, cool, right? That was a daring shot you made back there. It was almost blocked."

"No guts, no glory!" Tai said, flashing one of his trademark cheesy grins.

"Then let me show you something even more gutsy."

"What could be more gutsy than that shot I pulled off?" Tai got his answer in the form of a long, passionate kiss. A shocked Tai tried to pull away at first, but then gave up. Even though the kiss was out of nowhere, he kind of liked it. Sora finally let Tai go after several seconds. As Sora let Tai go, he lost his balance and almost fell. "Whoa..."

"Hello! Earth to Tai!"

"Huh!" Tai suddenly snapped back to his senses. He had been daydreaming.

"Being a night owl caught up to you, eh?" Kari, Tai's younger sister, laughed.

"Laugh all you want, I've seen you staying up late, reading your tween magazines under your cover with a flashlight."

Kari stared at Tai, surprised. "I don't know what you're talking about." Kari tried to avoid eye contact with Tai.

"Yeah, you do."

Kari sighed. "Okay, you caught me." Tai snickered. He then started staring at his breakfast again. "Tai, you's best hurry up and eat. Today is the first day of school."

"Don't remind me..."

Kari giggled at her brother. "The first day is usually the easiest."

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm still going back to school."

Kari rolled her eyes. "I, for one, am happy to be going back to school."

"You're just happy you get to see Tk again."

"Am not!" Kari huffed.

Tai put his plate in the sink and grabbed his backpack. "Let's go."

Kari got her backpack as well, and the two set off for school. The walk was silent for the most part, which was a bit of an oddity for the two siblings. Tai, his mind being on the fact that he was going back school, was disinterested and Kari couldn't think of anything interesting to talk about. Tai started thinking about earlier, about his daydream. Tai dreaming of doing something heroic like kicking the game-winning goal in a big soccer match was nothing new. But he couldn't figure out the part with Sora. Come to think of it, Tai had been having daydreams about Sora a lot lately. He wondered why, but Tai couldn't figure it out. Tai's thoughts were interrupted though, as he and Kari had reached the middle school where Kari attended. "Well, this is where I depart."

"Okay, I'll see you after school."

Kari started walking towards the middle school, while Tai kept heading for the high school. It was a short walk from the middle school. Tai walked up and saw a crowd at the front door to the building. Great, I have to wade through that... I hope this isn't an omen of whats to come. He thought. Tai worked his way through the mess at the front door. He got his schedule and read it while he walked down the hallway. While he was reading, he heard a familiar voice call out from behind. It was his friend since childhood, Yamato "Matt" Ishda.

"Well, if it isn't my best tall-haired buddy!" Matt said.

Tai turned around to face Matt. "I could make a lot of jokes about your hair."

Matt coolly ran his hand through his bushy blonde hair. "Your just jealous. I haven't been here but about 20 minutes, and I have already had three girls ask me out. All thanks to the awesome due."

Tai rolled his eyes. "You live your life between your legs, Matt."

"You're just hating on me because I always have a girlfriend, and you never do."

Tai shook his head. "Uh-huh. Well, class starts in a few. Better get going."

"'Kay, see ya later, dude."

The two boys went their separate ways. It turned out that Tai's first class was all the way on the other side of the school. Tai had less than five minutes to get there. 'Just my luck.' he said under his breath. This day was turning out to be a disaster. Tai started running to make it on time. Thanks to his background in soccer, Tai managed to make with only a few seconds to spare.

Tai's day got a little bit better as it went along. Most of the classes, the teacher just discussed class expectations and the material that they were going to be going over. Pretty much, there had been no actual teaching. That was, until Mr. Fujiyama's algebra class. Mr. Fujiyama was the worst math instructor this side of the universe. He gave the most difficult assignments and was so ignorant about how the work was to be done.

Tai sat through Mr. Fujiyama's annoying, boring ramble for the majority of class. Unlike the previous classes, Mr. Fujiyama had given a lesson instead of just going over everything. It seemed as though he was trying his hardest to be rough on the students. At one point, he bitched out a student because he was breathing too loud. Another student got yelled at for tapping his fingers on his desk. Tai couldn't believe how hard he was being on the students. Another student got yelled at for tapping his fingers on his desk. Needless to say, everyone in the room was completely miserable. Things couldn't get much worse. Finally, the bell rang, but the torture wasn't over yet.

"There's the bell," Mr. Fujiyama said as he paced around the room. Yeah, dummy. What, do you think we're too stupid to know that ourselves or something? Tai thought. Mr. Fujiyama slowly walked back to his desk at the front of the room. He picked up a stack of papers and handed them out to the rows of students. "This is you assignment for this week." Mr. Fujiyama finished handing out the assignments and then walked back to his desk and sat down. "It's due on Friday. And when I say it's due on Friday, I mean you had best turn it on on Friday. I do not accept late homework. You want credit for this assignment, you turn it in on time. No credit for late work." A collective groan went around the classroom. Mr. Fujiyama simply ignored the groaning. He put his feet up his desk and sat back in his chair. "Write your work only in no. 2 pencil. If work is turned in written down in anything other than no. 2 pencil, I will count off for that. When you do the problems, write down each and every step. Leave out a step, I will count off for that. And, it hardly needs to be said, but please, write legibly. I will count off for sloppy handwriting. There is nothing more annoying than trying to grade an assignment with sloppy writing." Oh, I can think of something more annoying... Mr. Fujiyama sat and tapped his foot for a moment. "I guess that's all for now. Have a nice day. Dismissed." All of the students in the room quickly got out of their seats and got out of the room as fast as they could. Thanks to Mr. Fujiyama keeping that little bit of extra time to go over the assignment, they were probably going to be late to their next class.

I have never been through a more depressing class... Tai thought as he jogged to his next class, which was his last of the day. I don't see how that guy keeps his job here. Not only did he break the 'first day' rule where you only go over everything and don't teach, he also gave out homework on the first day. That is a serious no-no. At least the day is almost over.

Kari stood at her locker. She hadn't quite gotten it arranged like the wanted for the semester yet. Her books were stacked in the wrong order, she hadn't put her picture of her and Tai up in the door yet. She rushed to get everything in order so she wouldn't be late to her next class. She got to a certain point and then decided that would be good for now. She could finished tomorrow. She closed the door to her locker. She looked up and saw he had been standing behind it, waiting for her to close it. Who was he? Davis. "Hi, Kari..." The way Davis said her name was... creepy, to say the lest.

"Oh, Davis..."

"What's with this, 'oh, Davis' stuff? What, are you not happy to see me or something?"

NO! Kari thought. "It's not that, you just... you know, surprised me."

"Oh, sorry about that." Davis leaned up against the row of lockers and stared up at the celing. "So, how are you liking school so far?"

"It's been pretty good so far."

"Cool."

"So uh, I'll see you after school?"

Kari pretended she didn't hear Davis' question. She walked away as fast as she could. Ug... I had three classes with that guy last semester. He creeps me out. He acts like he knows everything about me, and he doesn't know the first thing about me. I wish he wouldn't bother me.

Tai happily exited the school building. He was so glad that he was done with school for the day. He looked out in the parking lot at all the students who had their own cars. Tai couldn't help but envy them. He couldn't wait until he got to start driving. It would only be another year or two, but that was far too long for Tai. Not only would Tai be more independent, if you had your own car, you were in the 'in' crowd. That was for another day, though. Tai continued on his way home. While he walked, he noticed that he had not had a class with Sora, which was odd. They usually had at least three classes together. Tai was sad that he had not gotten to see her today. Suddenly, he heard that old, familiar giggling. That giggle that could only belong to one person; Mimi. Tai looked and saw Mimi walking along talking to non other than Sora.

"Mimi! Sora!" Tai said as he ran up to them.

"Well, hi there, Tai," Mimi cheerfully greeted.

"Hey, Tai," Sora said.

"Some first day, huh?" Tai asked.

"Yeah, I didn't have one of my teachers from last semester. I was disappointed," Mimi said.

"I had Mr. Fujiyama..." Tai said.

"Oh, you poor thing," Sora said. "How are you still alive?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. One guy in class got yelled at for breathing to loud."

Mimi and Sora looked at each other. "Wow, that guy must have been bullied as a child or something," Mimi said.

"I had that loser last year," Sora said. "He was so sure I was going to fail the class. You should have seen the pissed off look he had on his face when I graduated. Lord, that man has the most strict rules of anyone I know."

"Yeah. Prisoners would have more freedom than a student in his class," Tai said. Mimi and Sora laughed.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Mimi said. "Well, I think I am going to go home now."

"Okay, see you tomorrow, Mimi," Sora said. Sora gave Mimi a hug before she left.

"Can you believe we didn't have a class together?" Tai asked after Mimi walked away.

"We didn't?" Sora asked. She thought back on the day's events. "Yeah, you're right, we didn't have a class together. How strange."

"I know. We usually have a couple each semester."

"Yeah. That really sucks."

The two teens started walking together. "How were the rest of your classes?" Sora asked.

"Pretty good," Tai replied. "It was just the first day though. I'm sure it will get worse and worse as the semester goes along."

"Why do you always look at school with such disdain?" Sora asked.

"Because, it's school."

"That's not an answer."

"Well..."

"Yes?"

Tai thought about it for a moment. "I don't know. Why don't you hate school?"

"Because, it gives me an opportunity to become smarter. Plus, I get to see my friends."

"Uh-huh..." Tai thought about what Sora said. "I never thought about that before."

"If you would have a more positive outlook on school, you would do better and like it more."

Silence fell between the two friends. Tai suddenly started thinking of his daydream this morning at breakfast. He was still curious why he had imagined the part where Sora kissed him. He only thought of Sora as a friend. The two had been friends for as long as either could remember. In fact, it was Sora who had introduced Tai to soccer when he was young. Tai looked over at Sora. It wasn't until just then that he had noticed just how pretty she really was. Her pretty, bright, red hair. Her eyes. That charming smile.

"Think you're going to survive Mr. Fujiyama's class this year?" Sora asked.

Tai shook his head to try and clear his mind. "I uh... don't know. His class is pretty tough."

"Just remember; when he tries to get to you, ignore him. It makes him so mad if you don't pay attention to him while he's trying to intimidate you. Keep you chin up, and before you know it, the class will be over."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." The two teens walked on in silence for a moment. "Hey, Sora, you wanna come over and play video games for a while?"

Sora stopped walking and put her hand on her chin."Well... I would love to, but mom wants me at the flower shop."

"Ah, man, that sucks."

"Yeah. Don't worry, we can play games later."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well, I gotta go. See you tomorrow."

"'Kay. Bye."

The two teens went their separate ways. Tai made his way back to his house. He walked in to find his mother and Kari sitting on the couch watching T.V. "What held you up?" Mrs. Kamiya asked.

"I was talking to Sora."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a crush on her!" Kari teased.

"Do not!" Tai blurted, trying to hide a small blush.

Mrs. Kamiya stared sternly at Tai "Is there something I should know about?"

"Of course not, mom!" Tai said, shaking his hands as he spoke. At least I don't think so...

"Okay." Mrs. Kamiya went back to watching her soap opera with Kari. "Oh, you son of a bitch! How dare you cheat on her! How low!" Mrs. Kamiya shouted as she watched. "She loves you with all her heart, and you go and pull a stunt like that! Oh, that makes me mad."

"How typical," Kari said. "One woman just isn't enough. They have to have two or three."

Tai tried his best to ignore girl time in the living room and quickly made his way to his room. "Some first day..." He muttered to himself.

Good to be back writing once again. I hope you enjoyed that. I worked especially hard on the part with Mr. Fujiyama. I'm sure we've all had a math teacher like that at some point in our lives. Anyway, please R&R. See you next chapter.