*sigh* Hey everyone. I'm a little worn out right now -_- I have to do a final project for my socials class, and it's really getting to me. I can't concentrate right now so I'm taking a break to right this chapter. I know that it has taken so long to get to this part of the fic. I'm sorry bout that. The stuff that I have written so far, is more like the intro of the story. The really boring stuff. I hope that things will get more exciting from now on and I hope that you guys/gals are enjoying the fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or any of it's characters. I only own the story
' + Italics = thoughts
Mask of Deception
Chapter 8: Fitting in with "The crowd"
Sojuku High
Thursday 10:59 AM
"…and this is the process of photosynthesis." The teacher explained to the students.
Ring!
"Remember. There is a test tomorrow on all that we learned today" The teacher called out to the retreating students.
'Finaly' TK thought to himself. The class had been so boring that he fell asleep. Luckily for him, the teacher didn't notice.
"Hey, Takaishi." A boy from his class called out to him. "You want to hang out at lunch?" TK was about to refuse his offer when he remembered that he was now at work, and that he needed to follow orders. "Sure." He said with the best fake smile he could come up with and he went to join the boy and his friends.
"Since we don't know each other that well, I will reintroduce everyone." The boy said, gesturing to his friends. "That is Sarumi Akaze," He said, pointing to a blond haired boy, "This is Inoe Miyako." The purpled hair girl gave a recognizing nod. "That's Morizaku Yakiro" He gestured to a brunette boy. "And I am Motomiya Daisuke." He said pointing to himself. "Kari is usually here too, but she's sick today. Now your turn." "Takaishi Takeru, but you guys can call me TK." "Well, now that that is done, I guess we can go."
"So TK, are you planning on joining any clubs?" Akaze asked him as they all walked down the hall. "Actually, I was thinking of signing up today." He told the boy. "Really? What sport do you play?" He gave it a little bit of thought, then said. "I was thinking about joining the basketball club." "The basketball club eh? Yakiro's in it. Aren't you Yuki?" The boy just gave a small nod, almost unnoticeable. "We have a practice today." Yakiro informed TK. Meet me at the entrance of the gym after school and I'll take you to the coach. Oh yeah, and come in your gym strip. The couch will probably want you to practice with us." "Thanks." TK replied.
"Forget about clubs, tell us a little about yourself." Miyako interupted. "There's not much to tell." TK told her. "But I'll try. I lived here in Odaiba until I was around four, then I moved to Hokkaido. Lived there for then years of my life and now, I'm back here. My life is pretty much as boring as anything can get." "I'm sure it's not that bad." Daisuke added in.
"Wait!" Akaze yelled out of nowhere. Everyone looked at him questioningly. "What's up man?" Daisuke asked. "What day is it today?" Everyone gave him another questioning look. "TELL ME WHAT DAY IT IS!!" "Thursday, why?" "@#$!!" "I'm supposed to be at a meeting!!! The coach is gonna hang me for this." And Akaze ran down the hall and out of site. Everyone laughed at his sudden outburst.
"So what club is he in?" TK asked. "Akaze? Let's see, Track, Baseball, swim team and tennis." Daisuke informed. "Whoa, I don't think I would be able to keep up with him." TK chuckled.
"Let's have lunch shall we?" Miyako asked as they entered the cafeteria.
The group walked over to an even bigger group, made up of seniors, juniors, and even freshmen. TK guessed that all of them were the "popular" ones but followed the others obediently.
"Hey everyone, This is TC." Daisuke announced. TK felt a bit of annoyance. "Actually it's TK" he corrected him. "Oh sorry bout that man, I'm really bad with names. Right Mizaki?" Miyako hit Daisuke across the head with her fist. "MI-YA-KO" She corrected, and everyone laughed at the show that Daisuke was giving.
"Where's Kaze-kun, Dai-chan? " A girl called out. "K-kun? He's at some meeting." "Aww." The disappointment in the girls voice apparent. "He was supposed to help me with math." She pouted.
"I'll help you." Daisuke said, edging closer to the girl. "In your dreams Motomiya. First of all, you suck at math, second of all, you are nowhere near qualified to be with me."
"What about TK here?" Miyako suggested. "He's really good at math."
Everyone's attention was now on TK."N-not really" He said with an uneasy laugh. "Oh come on, don't lie. I saw you solve that math problem on the board the other day. I couldn't even get it, and I'm smarter than these guys." She gestured towards Daisuke and "Well, I guess, I'll give it a try."
He went over to the girl who needed help with her math. She was obviously a senior but didn't squirm as he walked closer as she did to Daisuke. He took a look at the question. "Whoa this is some pretty deep stuff" he said, but took a seat and started writing. After about two minutes he was done. Everyone gaped at how fast he did it. "Are you sure that you got it right?" One of the guys asked. "I'm pretty sure, but not entirely. Here, let me explain the question to you."
TK started to explain and show the girl how to do the question.
After a while…
"Oh my gosh!!" The girl exclaimed. "What? What's wrong?!" TK said a little bit alarmed. "I understand it!" The girl said happily. "I actually understand it." She clapped with excitement. "I'm glad" TK said with an encouraging smile that caused the girl to blush.
Everyone was looking at him in amazement. "You must be one heck of a teacher Takaishi, cause no one has ever been able to teach Shuuko anything. EVER!!" "Ah, so that's your name." He said looking at the girl. "Well, glad I could be of help Shuuko-chan." He said, causing the girl blush again.
The next thing TK knew, all the girls around the table were asking him to help them with their math, pushing and shoving each other to get to TK. 'Oh brother' He put his hands in front of him to protect himself from the crowd of girls. "Now, now, girls. No need to push," TK said.
He looked at Yakiro for help. He just turned his head, pretending that he didn't notice. He then looked at Miyako who had a big teasing smile plastered on her face. He knew that she enjoyed watching him squirm. When he looked at Daisuke, he and a group of other boys were laughing, while some of the guys looked like they were ready to pound on TK for grabbing the girls' attention.
Meanwhile, Tai was………
"…and everybody, this is Yagami Taichi" "You can call me Tai." He told the group.
Sora had taken him from group to group, introducing Tai to an enormous amount of people. When Sora said that she was going to introduce him to some of her friends, he didn't realize that she meant all of them, especially all in one day.
As they said their farewells to the group Sora announced that they would go to the cafeteria next. "Sora?" "Yeah Tai? Is there something wrong?" "No…it's not that. I was just wondering if we could stop for the day. I've met so many people today and I'm already starting to forget names."
She gave it a little bit of thought, then decided that he was right. "Why don't we go outside then? It's such a nice day, I just have to get out of here." "Fine with me." Tai agreed.
They walked out of the big school and out into the courtyard. It was a big opening of space with benches and flowers everywhere. A lot of people were reading and eating their lunches in the sunlight. Everyone looked so radiant and happy outside.
"Anyway." She said breaking the silence as the two took a seat on a bench. "I was thinking that you could meet my group tomorrow." She said cheerfully.
Tai was a bit puzzled. "Didn't I just meet 'your group'?"
"Yes they are my friends, but that is not 'my group.' The people I hang with are usually in the cafeteria, the people we were going to go see just now."
"That's a lot of people."
Sora laughed a bit. "Yeah, a lot of people, and I think you'll get to meet my boyfriend tomorrow."
"You seem pretty eager for me to meet him. Any reason?" He asked.
"Not really, I just thought that you two would make good friends, that's all."
Just then, two girls came up to Tai and Sora.
"Yagami-san?" One of the girls asked.
"Yes?"
"W-we j-just want-ted to give you t-this" The girl said, holding out a pink envelope.
Tai looked a little bit confused but accepted the letter. When he took the letter from the girls, they ran of saying things like, "He talked to us!!" and "He is so cool!!"
"Looks like you have some admirers" Sora teased. This comment made Tai blush a little.
Ring! Went the lunch bell, and everyone started heading back to class, including Tai and Sora.
[Next is TK's Basketball tryout. If you don't want to read it, skip down to the next day]
Sojuku High Gymnasium
Thursday 3:15 PM
It was fifteen minutes before practice, and TK patiently waited for Yakiro to make his appearance. Why he chose the basketball team? He didn't know. He would have decided on something else but…
"Takaishi" Yakiro said while running down the corridor of the gym entrance. "Sorry that it took me a while, Daisuke ran off with my shoe, so I had to chase him.
"That's okay." TK laughed.
"Well, should we go?"
"Yeah sure."
They walked through the doors and into the Gym. There were a number of guys, already practicing. TK watched as a group on boys scrimmaged for the ball, while another group practiced plays.
"Kurata-Sensei, this is Takaishi Takeru. He would like to join the Basketball team."
"Takaishi eh?" The coach asked.
"Yes sir." TK replied.
"I guess we'll try you out for today then."
"Thank you sir." TK said with a bow.
The coach blew his whistle and called all the boys over.
"Everybody, today we have someone joining us. If he does well, he's on the team. Treat him with respect."
Everyone chorused a, "Yes sir"
"Then let's begin!"
They started up with a few warm ups and drills. Then, they went into a game.
"Takaishi," the coach called him over.
"Yes sir?"
"What position do you play?"
"I play point guard and center."
"Then lets try you out as point guard."
"Okay"
They started with a jump, and the opposite team got possession of the ball. TK headed toward his check, but thought of a good way to get the ball. He lagged behind his check a bit, so that he wouldn't notice him. He knew that the ball was going to him, he just need the right time. He looked around the court and noticed that all of the offenders were blocked accept for his check. That's when the ball was release. He made a dash for his check and intercepted the pass. When he grabbed hold of the ball, he ran in the opposite direction. He saw one of his fellow team mates open, so he passed the ball. The coach called him over.
"Why didn't you shoot Takaishi?"
"He was open so…"
"So?"
"I didn't want to be a ball hog sir."
"Well, at least you're a fair guy, but now I can't tell your full ability. Here's what I'll do."
He blew the whistle and called everyone over.
"Who's up for a one on one challenge?"
"With who?" one of the guys asked.
"With Takaishi over here. Well give him a little test. All who want to challenge him, line up over there."
About half (six) of the boys went to the other side of the gym, waiting to challenge the newcomer.
"Takaishi? Think of this as a challenge. Lets see how many people you can beat. The record so far is four players, set by Yamada over there." He pointed to a tall buff guy.
TK gulped, then got into position.
"You guys will play full court. One basket elimination. Start!"
The first up was a guy of about the same height and build of TK. They started off with a jump ball. TK had first possession, and before the other guy knew it, TK had already sunk a basket.
"NEXT!" the coach bellowed.
The same process went on for a while. TK beat them all with ease, beating the record of four, he was now at six and just starting the seventh.
The last one was the tall buff guy, identified as Yamada.
They started off with a jump ball again. Unfortunately, TK couldn't beat his height. He ran after the ball, determined to get to it. Yamada was about to take a shot, when from out of nowhere, TK jumped as high as he could, and blocked the shot. He grabbed the ball and protectively held on to it. When he caught his breath, he slowly started to dribble, his opponent cautiously backing up. When TK saw that he was relaxed, he made a mad dash for the basket, faking him out and taking a lay-up. The ball rolled around the rim, everyone watching in anticipation, and finally, the ball went in.
The guys gave a small cheer and ran up to TK. "Man, you're so good!" A guy exclaimed. "Where did you learn all of those moves?" another asked.
Yamada came over to shake TK's hand. "You're really good. Hope we can have a rematch some time."
"Congratulations Takaishi. You have just earned yourself a spot on the basketball team." Then he addressed the whole team.
"We have a game coming up next week. Practice over the weekend, and I'll see you guys on Tuesday."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sojuku High
Friday 10:59 AM
'c'mon' Tai thought while tapping his foot. "…therefor, X equals 62."
Ring!
'Finally! Lunch time'
The teacher sighed and said, "We will continue this on Monday."
Tai picked up his books and headed for his locker. When he opened his locker, a whole pile of letters fell out. A few people were looking at him and whispering to their friends. He just ignored them and stuffed the letters, as well as his things, into the locker.
"Tai!"
"Hm?" Tai turned his head to face the direction of the voice. "C'mon, we're supposed to meet my friends in the cafeteria remember?" "Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Sojuku High Cafeteria
Friday 11:05 AM
"There they are." Sora pointed to a large crowd in the corner of the cafeteria. She ran ahead where everyone at the table greeted her. "Where's Kari and Matt?" She asked some of the guys. "Oh, he told us to tell you that, he has practice again." "Again?" "Yeah, but he said he would meet you at the club tonight. As for Kari, she's at a photography club thing."
"Who cares about Matt," a girl said as Sora realized that Tai had caught up. "Who's that cutie beside you Sora? Trying to take all of the guys?" Both Tai and Sora started to blush. "No" Sora said through clenched teeth. "Actually, everyone, this is Yagami Taichi, he's new here so I thought I would introduce him to some people." "Are you single?" A girl shouted" "I'm free" another said.
"By the way," Sora inquired. "Where's Motomiya and the others, I heard that he was hanging with a new guy too. I wanna see who it is.
Just then, Daisuke and his crew, including TK, came up to the group.
"Oh hey Sora, didn't see you yesterday. You missed my introduction of the new guy." He pointed to TK. "This is Takaishi Takeru." "Pleased to meet you. You can call me TK" he told her. "Takenouchi Sora" She said back. "Oh, hey Tai." TK said, noticing his friend. "Hey TK, I see you've made a few friends." "Likewise." He replied. "You guys know each other? Sora asked. "You can say that."
"So, who is this guy?" Daisuke asked. "Yagami Taichi, but Tai's fine." "Oh, cool. I'm Motomiya Daisuke, These guys are Miyako, Akaze and Yakiro.
They all talked together during the entire lunch, until it was time to go back to class.
Before everyone left for classes, A guy called out to TK and Tai. "Hey, Yagami, Takaishi. You feel like hanging out tonight Some of us were thinking of going to the "Twister"?"
"The twister?"
"Yeah, a club for teens, fourteen to eighteen. You guys up to it?"
"What time?" They asked.
"Meet us there around six thirty."
They looked each other, then decided, "Sure, sounds like fun."
"Cool. One of our friends are in the band that is going to play there tonight. It'll be a blast," he told them as he handed them the address. See you there tonight."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally!!! Just a note. The note that I wrote up at the top, *points to the top* was written a few days ago. I started this chapter a few days ago, and was too lazy to change it so… I am actually done my socials project now. I get out of school tomorrow!!! So to celibrate, I brought you this chapter, and I will try to give you the next chapter tomorrow too. I want to get to the night club scene!! I thought of something good. I don't know if you guys will like it though.
Answer to some questions:
Yes Tai is going to be a soccer star
And Kari is coming, don't you worry!
Cya in the next chapter!!!
Next Chapter: The night club…What's going to happen? Who's the guy in the band that looks so familiar to TK? Watch next time to find out on the next digimon, digital monsters!!
