Friday January 23, 2004
Ebacusta: Yo! I'm having a really bad day right now. I was going to have this up earlier but my brother wouldn't get off the computer. Just some quick announcements to my loyal reviewers.
One, since these parts are actually on really big chapter, I won't be thanking any of the reviews in my really public way until the second chapter. But I do appreciate the reviews. Thank you sooooooooo much.
Two, this one is directed to animefreak85 but the rest of you might also want to pay attention to this as well. In the preview chapter, which I have now replaced with the prologue, I made a couple mistakes. First of all, Kari was suppose to always have been seventeen, I was just thinking of something else and just wrote sixteen down instead. I apologize.
Three, the basketball scene was long I know, but this chapter, if you didn't think that the last chapter was like this, is mostly new stuff. There are some old things you may recognize mixed in with the rest, but this is mostly new stuff. Remember that. Once again, thankies for all your reviews.
Disclaimer: If I own Digimon, I must have died and gone to heaven.
Note: This chapter is in Normal POV.
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I took the ball and dribbled as fast as I could. I threw it to Satsuki, who threw it to Jonathan. He took and made the shot. Henry threw the ball into Julian. Julian drove down and passed it to Monica. Monica threw the ball to Bionca. Raven dived and intercepted the ball. She passed it to Jonathan as she fell. He took the ball and threw it to me. I passed it to Kei, who drove down the court and made a lay-up.
Harue screamed in frustration and then let out a long flow cuss words in French. T.K. slapped a hand to his mouth as he listened. I laughed remembering that his grandparents were French so he was fluent in the language. I had forgotten the Harue was a forth French as well.
Henry passed the ball to Harue and she drove down as fast as she could. She threw the ball harshly to Pierre, who made a three-pointer.
"Game over!" the boy said suddenly standing up. "Final score was 29 to 20. Jeff's team wins!" I smiled since my team had won.
"No!" Harue yelled before she began cursing rapidly in French. T.K. yelled at her in French. She glared at him and then stalked off. I smiled before I grabbed my water bottle, took a swig and walked with T.K. back to the building.
"What'd you say to her?" I asked curiously.
"Not to be such a sore loser," T.K. replied.
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"Man Kari you were awesome today," Satsuki said. "The way you got the ball down through the best defenders on the basketball team."
"Thank you. You weren't so bad yourself," Kari said as she pulled on her uniform over her wet body. She had just gotten out of the shower. " How are things going with Kei?"
"Oh, they're great," Satsuki commented happily at the thought of her boyfriend. Kei had carmel colored hair, was very fit, and had sparkling brown eyes. Like T.K. he was on the basketball team, and Satsuki often sat with Kari to watch the practice.
"I'll go get us a seat," Kari said, thinking about how many girls would come to watch the practice. Normally that was most of the girls in the grade.
"Okay," she waved, "meet ya there."
"Okay." Kari ran out and back into the gym where they had indoor basketball practice. Kari climbed up into the bleachers and sat down on the fourth row. Satsuki joined her in a second. When Kei, #17, and T.K., #24, came out of the boys' locker room wearing their jerseys, Kari and Satsuki grinned and waved. The boys grinned and waved back.
************
"Do you know what room we're suppose to meet in?" T.K. asked as Kari loaded her satchel with her necessary books. They were standing in the hallway after basketball. Kari rummaged through her locker.1
"No idea," she admitted. "I think the room where the dance would be held."
"Right," he agreed. "Where would that be?"
"I'm assuming the auditorium," Kari responded with a shrug. She stood up and slammed her locker shut. They walked into the auditorium. Juniors were milling about the huge room that was full of uncomfortable, small, sticky, plastic chairs. Kari dropped her stuff on the floor.
"I guess T.K. that we'll just walk home tonight after the dance then," Kari sighed.
"I guess so," T.K. answered. "Honestly, the teachers are trying to waste my Fridays. It's a conspiracy!" Kari giggled. "That's what they do during those teacher meetings too. They plot more ways they can ruin my Fridays."
"Yeah T.K., I'm sure that's what they do," Kari replied. "In their teacher's meetings when they make their lesson plans they conspire against you."
"You bet they do," T.K. agreed. Their math teacher, Ms. Fujiyama (Foo-Gee-Ya-Ma) came out onto the stage.
"Oh great," T.K. groaned. "Here comes the slave driver."
***************
"Now class, we want to start by moving out these chairs, so we can bring in the tables where we'll set up refreshments. We then want to bring in some smaller tables for people to sit at while eating, socializing, or resting. We'll then spilt up into smaller groups and start the actual decorating of the room," Ms. Fujiyama announced.
"I thought we were suppose to be getting a snack before we did all this," T.K. whispered to Kari.
"Me too. Maybe we get it after we've already done a little work," Kari reasoned.
"But I'm hungry now," T.K. whined.
Kari smiled, "You know, you act just like a child sometimes."
"Okay, we'll take the extra chairs to the cafeteria," Ms. Fujiyama proclaimed loudly. "Now let's get started. Stack up the chairs and get moving!"
Kari and T.K. began stacking up the back row. Once they had two decently sized stacks, they began dragging the chairs out of the auditorium.
"This is slave labor," Kari complained.
"I told you that the slave driver was coming didn't I?" T.K. asked as he grunted with effort. The sound of chairs scrapping the tile floors filled the halls as the juniors dragged the chairs towards the cafeteria.
"Could they have picked a farther place to have us take the chairs?" T.K. complained. "God, the cafeteria is on the other side of the school!"
"Yeah," Kari grunted. "The seniors don't even deserve a Graduation Dance much less a catered Graduation Dance. If any grade deserves that, we do! The second years of Odaiba High deserve it more than the third years."
"Yeah. Besides, all the guys do is flirt with the girls of all the grades, and all the girls do is flirt with the guys on the basketball team. Especially the cheerleaders. They've probably flirted with every boy in the whole school at some point," T.K. agreed. They began pushing the chairs down the hall rather than pulling them.
"This isn't working," Kari moaned. They went back to pulling them. "Man," Kari and T.K. gasped after they had finally got the chairs into the corner of the cafeteria.
"YOU TWO!" Ms. Fujiyama yelled at them with a blow horn.
"Ahhhh!" Kari screamed. "Is that really necessary? You're standing like two feet away from us!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she yelled without bothering to lower the white instrument amplifying her voice.
"We're resting, what does it look like we're doing?" T.K. asked.
"GET BACK TO WORK!" Ms. Fujiyama yelled ignoring him completely.
"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO? MAKE ME DEAF?" Kari yelled over the noise in the cafeteria.
"THERE ARE STILL MORE CHAIRS IN THE AUDITORIUM! GO NOW!" Ms. Fujiyama yelled.
"All right we're going, we're going," T.K. said as he and Kari began walking away. "Man, what a stickler."
"What's that? I can't hear you. My ears are still ringing," Kari replied. They walked back into the auditorium and went to get another stack of chairs when Mr. Gahachido (GA-ha-CHEE-dough), their Japanese teacher, blasted them in the ear with another blow horn, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I TOLD YOU TO GO GET TABLES FROM THE PHOTO CLUB ROOM?" Davis passed them and waved. Kari smiled at him.
"Okay, okay," Kari said as she and T.K. backed away from the stack.
"GOOOOOOOOOO!!" he yelled. They ran out into the hall.
"Man, is it just me, or are the teachers getting creepier and creepier everyday?" Kari asked.
"It's not just you, it's definitely happening," T.K. replied.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST WALKING DOWN THE HALL WITHOUT ANY CHAIRS? GO BACK TO THE AUDITORIUM AND GET THE DARN CHAIRS!" Ms. Fujiyama screamed into the bullhorn. It screeched loudly and T.K. and Kari made a dash for the auditorium.
"She's got devil horns hidden some where in that big mess of hair. I know she does. She has to!" T.K. exclaimed. They ran into the auditorium to grab a stack of chairs.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING? YOU DIDN'T BRING BACK ANY TABLES!!!" Mr. Gahachido yelled.
"But Ms. Fujiyama told us to get chairs," Kari said. At this rate, she would definitely be deaf by the end of the day. Her head was throbbing.
"Tell Ms. Fujiyama I sent you to get tables. Some other students are going to finish up with the chairs," he said.
"Yes sensei," they said and went back out into the hall.
"T.K., my head is ringing," Kari complained. They saw Ms. Fujiyama.
"Mr. Gahachido told us to go get tables from the Photo Club room," T.K. and Kari blurted holding up her hands before the teacher could get her mouth open good.
She stared at them skeptically. "You can asked him," Kari replied.
"I think I will," Ms. Fujiyama said as she walked down the hall.
"Why can't the teachers ever trust the students? They always have to go make sure," Kari said as they passed Davis and Kei carrying a table.
"Hey," Davis said. Kei smiled.
"Hey," T.K. and Kari answered.
"I know," T.K. replied.
"T.S., You better stay away from my girl!" Davis said grinning.
"You gonna make me?" T.K. challenged playfully. Kari smiled knowing as well that Davis was playing too. T.K. and Davis had become closer friends and Davis now just called T.K. names like T.S., T.L., and T.A. as a way to remind T.K. how they met and that they were still friends. The two broke into a jog and went down the hall a little more to the Photo Clubroom. They entered.
Ms. Hara (HAR-A), the English teacher, was directing some students into how the tables were to be marked. The other teachers had sent some students to mark with tape which tables belonged in which room. She looked up when they entered.
"Can I help you?" she asked. She was the only teacher walking around without a bullhorn.
"Yes," Kari said. "Mr. Gahachido asked us to come get some tables."
"Oh. Yes, take a table that's already been marked please," she said and then went back to directing the students. T.K. and Kari began to check underneath the tables for a piece of tape and a number telling them that it had already been marked. They found one over under the window and picked it up.
They moved the table carefully through the door and began down the hall. "Ms. Hara is my favorite teacher," Kari said.
"Mine too," T.K. replied. "She's the only one who isn't always suspecting and expecting me to get into trouble." Kari giggled.
"Hey, you want to try and run this thing down to the auditorium?" T.K. asked.
"It's worth a shot," Kari replied. She had changed a lot in the five years it had been since their adventures in the digital world. She still got sick easily, but she had grown physically stronger. Her personality had changed a lot too, especially when she entered high school. She still kept a lot of things inside, but she had opened up more. She didn't keep as many things inside. T.K. had become a rebel for a while back when they were First years, but he was back to normal, even though his rebel side did make it's appearances randomly.
She had also become more of a daredevil. She and T.K. began jogging down the hall. They couldn't exactly run because Kari couldn't run backwards, but she was relying on T.K. to guide her through the halls so she didn't hit anyone or anything. They made it back to auditorium within seconds considering the Photo Clubroom was only a little ways down the hall.
"Put the table over there," Ms. Kine (Key-NAY), the Science teacher, instructed when they entered the auditorium. She was pointing over to a line of tables that was obviously to be the refreshment tables. They moved and sat it down next to the tables. They moved as two more tables came and a desk.
"Takaishi! Yagami!" Mr. Raider yelled across the large room. "You're in Ms. Hara's group. Report to her at once. She's in the Photo Club room!" T.K. and Kari quickly ran out of the room and back into the Photo Clubroom. Ken was there.
"Okay group, I want you to spilt into groups of twos. I'll come and number off your group." T.K. and Kari were grouping three.
"We're going to go get the decorations from the student council room," she said.
She walked out of the room and the kids followed her. "Hey, where's Yolei?" Kari asked.
"She's in charge of decorating the refreshment area. Our big group is responsible for the hall to the auditorium, the stage, cleaning, and various other tasks. Our group also sends a few members to help when they decide to set out the refreshments and all that stuff," Ken told her.
"Oh, I see, they give us all the heavy duty stuff because the teachers are always complaining about how we have to much energy," T.K. reasoned. "It all makes sense now!"
"What is he talking about?" Ken chuckled.
"Don't listen to him. He's convinced that the teachers conspire against him during their teachers' meetings," Kari said laughing.
"They are. How else would they have come up with so many ways to disrupt my Fridays so many times in a row?" T.K. asked.
"T.K., the last like five times was your fault because you got yourself detention," Kari said.
"Oh, so you're siding with the teachers are you? And you call yourself my best friend," T.K. accused her.
"I tell ya, he's gone crazy," Kari sighed. Ken chuckled again. "I'm inclined to agree with you on that one Kari."
"You too, huh? You too?" T.K. said quietly as he shook his head slowly from side to side. Kari smiled at Ken behind T.K.'s back. They stopped in a white room with a circle of tables and chairs, Boxes were stacked on tables, chairs, and on the floor.
"T.K., Kari, you two are in charge of the stage and the things you'll need are somewhere in the room. It's marked with a 3," she told them. They nodded and went over. They began moving boxes around the room and off the tables. Their four boxes, which were of good size, labeled with a "3" were at the back of the room. Kari and T.K. each took two stacking them one on top the other and moaned as the picked up the heavy boxes.
"You know T.K.," Kari gasped as she and T.K. went back down the hall. "I'm inclined to agree with you about giving us the heavy duty work because they think we have to much energy."
"See what'd I tell you?" T.K. asked. They grunted as they carried the boxes into the auditorium. They dropped them on the stage. They then heaved themselves onto the stage. There were ladders waiting for them. Kari and T.K. opened them and then unloaded the things in the boxes. They twisted two different colored streamers together and then when it was right taped it together and climbed up the ladders.
"I can't believe they'd make me do this kind of work in a skirt," Kari said to T.K. as they hung the streamers. They quickly did another one with two more different colors and hung those too. They hung a "Happy Graduation!" banner up and then climbed down and set up the speakers for the band. They climbed off the stage and began to blow up balloons.
Kari handed them to T.K. as she blew them up one by one. T.K. made three bunches and together the two climbed back on the stage and up the ladders. Kari and T.K. leaned out and began hanging up the balloons on the streamers and around the banner. Kari leaned out farther. She had to reach the hook.
"Kari, do you have it?" T.K. asked.
"Almost," Kari grunted. She reached out farther. She felt unbalanced. "Just a little farther," she told herself. She stretched herself out farther. She reached for it. Her body was dangerously unbalanced now. As she reached out farther to grab it, her stomach gave a sickening lurch as she leaned a little bit farther than she had wanted. She tried to straighten herself, but seeing how close she was reached out instead.
She had almost grabbed it in her hand when her body tipped off the ladder. Her stomach dropped as she fell towards the ground. She screamed.
"Kari!" T.K. yelled. He got on his knees and thrust down his hand, grabbing hers. The rest of the juniors as well as the teachers stared as Kari dangled from T.K.'s hand.
"Please don't let go T.K.," Kari whimpered.
"I won't," he assured her. Their hands were sweaty and Kari felt sure that anytime now she would slip and fall. She slipped a little ways down.
"T.K.," Kari whimpered. His veins were bulging as he tried to get a good grip on her hand. The rest of the students were watching with baited breath. He slowly reached down with his right hand. She slipped out of his grasp just as it got there. A scream escaped her lips. The students and teachers gasped. Determined to help her back up, T.K.'s right hand grabbed her elbow. He was now lying on his stomach.
He slowly transferred her back to his left hand. Kari reached up with her left hand to hold onto his. Slowly, T.K. pulled Kari up. His arm muscles were clearly visible as he pulled her. When she was high enough up, he grasped her around her middle and pulled her up onto his ladder. The juniors heaved a sigh of relief to see that Kari was safe again.
"Are you okay?" T.K. asked.
"Yeah, thanks to you," Kari replied. She looked up into his ocean blue eyes. She was drowning and fell backwards. He caught her before she fell off the ladder.
"Are you sure? You almost fainted just now," T.K. said.
"Oh yeah," Kari said snapping out of her trance. "Sorry." She smiled at him. Her eyes searched his face. He was so cute whenever he was worried about something. "Thanks," Kari said. He nodded and slowly they climbed down the ladder. They retreated back to blow up more balloons. After making two more bunches, they attached them to the side of the stage and at the doors to the auditorium.
"Okay students! We're going to take a break for a snack!" Ms. Fujiyama yelled through her bullhorn. The students cheered.
"Finally," T.K. said. "I'm starved."
"Hey T.K. can I wear your hat?" Kari asked. He pulled it off his head and put it on securely on hers. He and Kari joined the rest of the kids heading towards the cafeteria. T.K. and Kari ran through the halls, sliding through clumps of students. They ran into the cafeteria and snagged a snack, cookies and juice. They sat down at a table and pulled out their books and began to do homework.
"Man, I hate this," T.K. groaned. "Now I really am one of those nerds." Kari slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "T.K.!" she scolded.
"It's the truth," he defended himself.
"Whatever," Kari giggled. An hour later Ms. Fujiyama, who had been handing out the uniforms, yelled, "Go home, get dressed in these and come back! Girls, I want you wearing nice, black high heels! Boys, nice dress shoes! Get back here thirty minutes! Go! Run!" Kari and T.K. gathered their books. Ms. Fujiyama chased them out of the cafeteria. They were then chased to their lockers where they threw in the books they didn't needed by Mr. Raider. Mr. Gahachido chased them out of the school.
"T.K.," Kari rasped when they slowed down. "Did you realize we're the only ones the teachers chased out of the school."
T.K. nodded, "I can't believe they didn't think we'd come back. I feel personally insulted." Kari looked at the "uniform" she held in her hands. She held it up to her body. A black spaghetti strap knee length dress. Kari suddenly groaned.
"What?" T.K. asked.
"I just remembered that the only pair of black high heels I have are this pair with a whole bunch of smaller straps," Kari told him. Ken and Yolei caught up with them.
"Hey T.K., can I dress at your house?" Ken asked. "I mean mine's so far away, I'd never make it back in time."
"Yeah sure," T.K. agreed. Yolei giggled.
"What is it Yolei?" Kari asked.
"Nothing," Yolei said giggling harder.
"Well, it must be a pretty funny 'nothing' because you're laughing pretty hard," Ken said. Yolei punched him softly on the shoulder.
"Ken," she scolded him. Kari smiled. She had an idea of what Yolei was giggling about.
"Yolei, how was setting up the refreshment stand?" Kari asked.
"Horrible," Yolei confessed. "I've never done such boring work in my life. On top of that, I was with all the geeks."
"You guys are so mean to the anti-social smart people!" Kari exclaimed.
"Kari, they have a name," T.K. interrupted. After a silence he continued, "They're called nerds."
"T.K.!" Kari screeched.
"Calm down," Ken said. "You'll get us arrested for disturbing the peace."
"Sorry," Kari apologized.
"Hey Kari, by the way, are you okay?" Yolei asked. "I mean you fell and everything."
"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine, my arm just hurts a little," Kari told them.
"I'm sorry," T.K. said.
"No, no. There's no need for you to be apologizing to me. If you hadn't caught me, I'd probably be at the hospital right now," Kari said waving her hands in front of her face.
"We're glad you're all right though," Yolei said looking thoughtfully at her boyfriend, Ken. He nodded.
"Hey well, this is my stop. I'll catch up with you guys a little later then?" Kari said as they stopped momentarily in front of her apartment building. They nodded.
"All right, bye," she waved as she turned around and ran up the stairs.
"Bye!" they yelled up after her. She stopped and grinned down at them before she disappeared into her apartment.
***************
T.K. stood in front of Kari's apartment. He knocked. He was dressed in black pants and a crisp white button up shirt. Tai opened the door.
"T.K.!" Tai exclaimed. T.K. knew that Tai was visiting from college as were the other older Digidestined.
"Hey Tai," T.K. replied. "Is Kari ready?"
"I don't know. Where are you going?" Tai asked.
"To the dance," T.K. said.
"Dance really? You asked her?" Tai asked grinning.
"No, not for us. We're slaves at this dance. It's for the graduating seniors," T.K. informed him.
"Oh, I see," Tai acknowledged. "We didn't get juniors as slaves at our graduation dance."
"They wanted to try something new this year," T.K. admitted. "Which is conveniently the one year I'm ready for Spring Break." Tai smiled.
"Sorry, sorry," Kari suddenly exclaimed from behind Tai. "I know, we are going to be late, but I got the brush stuck in my hair and I couldn't get it out." She squeezed around Tai and smiled apologetically.
T.K. was blown away. The black dress hugged Kari's well-developed figure. On her small feet she wore black high heels with thin straps criss-crossing over her foot. Her lips were shiny and pink, as she wore lip-gloss on them, and her hair was brushed to a gloss. It lay limply on her shoulders.
"Ready to go?" Kari asked.
"What?" T.K. asked as she snapped out of a trance.
"You we're kind of just staring into space," Kari said. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah." T.K. smiled. "Yeah." She smiled back and then said, "Well then, let's go." The two left.
"Bye! Have fun!" Tai yelled after them. They waved to show that they'd heard. "Be careful Kari!" he yelled after her. Kari gave him the thumbs up sign behind her back. He smiled and closed the door. "Those two, those two," Tai said quietly. He looked at the clock. Oh no he was late! He ran and grabbed his red cell off the counter. He clipped it on his waistband, pulled on his shoes and left.
***************
"You look beautiful," T.K. blurted. He blushed when he realized what he had said.
"Thank you. You look pretty hot yourself," she replied.
"Thanks. So, is Tai going to meet Izzy, Mimi, Sora, Matt, and the others?" T.K. asked.
"Yeah," Kari nodded. "Do you know what they were going to do?"
"I think they were going to have dinner together, hang out at the mall, and then go to a late night movie," T.K. answered after thinking a bit.
"Lucky. I'm jealous," Kari said. "Especially of Cody. He doesn't have to do this retarded catering because he's only a First Year."
"Yeah I know. I'm jealous too," T.K. agreed.
"What's Matt doing afterwards?" Kari asked.
"He has band practice. What is Tai doing?"
"He and Sora were going to go out for ice cream and meet Izzy and Mimi to take a walk on the beach," Kari told him.
"Cool," T.K. replied.
"Where's Ken and Yolei?" Kari asked.
"They went ahead," T.K. said. When they arrived at them school Mr. Gahachido ambushed them. "You're late!"
"Only by like five seconds," Kari defended them.
"You're late," Mr. Gahachido repeated.
"Do be such a grouch," T.K. muttered loud enough so only Kari could hear. She giggled silently.
"What was that Takaishi?" Mr. Gahachido inquired loudly.
"Nothing," T.K. replied with a straight face.
"Good. Yagami! You're going to help set up the Refreshment's table. Taikaishi, you're going to help the band finish setting up," Mr. Gahachido said loudly. They nodded. "NOW RUN!" They began walking. "I SAID RUN!"
"I can't run in high heels," Kari complained. Suddenly, T.K. picked her up and he ran, holding her, to the auditorium. He set her down.
"Thanks T.K.," she thanked him.
"No prob," T.K. said shrugging it off.
"See you in a few," she said waving.
"Same to you," T.K. replied. Kari walked off over to the refreshments table.
"Okay," Ms. Kine instructed. "We want to arrange the food in an attractive manner..." Kari listened to the rest of the uninteresting blurb. Just as Kari finished setting up the last platter of cookies Ms. Fujiyama came up behind her. "Kari, you're going to sing 'Find Me A Man' by Toni Braxton as the first song when the band starts playing. Later on, whenever they're ready for you, you'll sing Truly, Madly, Deeply. Anyway, go study the lyrics." She walked off.
Kari walked clumsily, almost blindly to the side of the stage. She climbed the stairs and walked over to T.K.
"T.K." He looked up. "I have to sing the first song of the dance."
"I have to sing the last song of the dance," he replied. "You'll do fine." She gulped and nodded slowly. She retreated to go study the lyrics.
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ebacusta *~.^*
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