Summary: It's TK and Kari's senior year in high school and they take a surprise Thanksgiving trip to America where things get super complicated. It doesn't look good for TK and Kari's relationship when Kari decides to move back to America and have nothing to do with TK. Can their relationship survive the test of time or will Kari's stubbornness keep them apart forever?
Hard to Love You
'Why Can't I'
(don't own Liz Phair either)
"Miss Kamiya! Miss Kamiya! Genevieve hit me again!" A little boy in a red shirt exclaimed.
Kari looked up from the stack of papers she was correcting at her desk to see a blond hair, blue eyed girl trying to act innocent as the boy in the red shirt next to her painfully rubbed his arm. She sighed as she got up from her desk and walked over to the two students.
Eight years had passed and Kari was now a kindergarten teacher at Degrassi, the same school she went to as a little girl. After she graduated from high school, Kari moved to America and went to college at the University of North Carolina. She lived with her brother Tai and his wife Sora only because Tai couldn't face the reality that Kari was a mature young woman that could live on her own. However Kari didn't mind, it was a free place to stay.
Tai and Sora were now married and expecting their second child. They had always kept in close contact with each other since Tai moved way from Japan back in the 5th grade. Tai had always been there for Sora through the good and the bad times. He even supported her while she dated Matt, even if he didn't like it. When Sora couldn't handle the pressure of being a rockstar's girlfriend, she broke up with Matt and unintentionally turned to Tai for moral support. Shortly after they both graduated high school, Tai gave Sora plane tickets to America to come see him. Sora later decided to move to America and a few years later, they were married. Tai still worked at Hendrick Motorsports and was now the head engineer. Sora also worked at HMS and was Rick Hendrick's personal secretary.
Tai and Sora kept in very close contact with all the digidestin. They updated Kari what was new in their friends' lives but Kari never wanted to hear about it. From what she knew, Matt was now a famous rockstar. He gained early fame and success with his band, The Teenage Wolves. A few years later, Matt left the band to pursue a solo singing career. He became even more famous and was now engaged to a world famous supermodel.
Izzy moved to New York City and was a very successful computer software engineer. He created a new and popular mobile phone application and was now very rich. He later married Mimi who was now a famous fashion designer. Many famous celebrities wore her clothes. You couldn't read a tabloid magazine without seeing at least one celebrity wearing an outfit of hers. Together, Izzy and Mimi had two children.
Joe had also moved to America and was a highly respected doctor. He had found a cure to a very deadly disease. Joe's research and discovery even won him the Noble Peace Prize! Joe was also married and had one child with his college sweetheart, Rebeckah.
Davis still lived in Japan and was now the owner of the most fancy and romantic restaurant in all of Tokyo. He married his high school sweetheart, Sarah. Sarah was the same girl Kari had set Davis up with at the Snowball Dance way back in the 9th grade. They were expecting their first child any day now.
Ken and Yolie were happily married with three kids. Ken become a detective and was a very good one too. He caught some of Japan's most wanted criminals. Yolie was a stay at home mom and claimed to be the best one in all of Japan.
Jake went to college to play college basketball and was now a famous, professional basketball player in Japan's top league. He was recently named Japan's hottest bachelor although he secretly had a fiancee and was going to marry her as soon as the season ended.
The youngest digidestin, Cody had just graduated law school. He was already working on important court cases and was gaining respect from many of his colleagues. He was currently dating a nice girl who he was getting ready to purpose to.
TK was the one digidestin Kari refused to hear about. He was ironically the digidestin Sora kept the closest contact with. They talked at least once every other day. Sora always wanted to tell Kari what was going on in TK's life but Kari never wanted to hear it. She knew TK became a journalist but that was all she wanted to know.
Kari felt so pathetic compared to the rest of the digidestin. They had all gone off, gotten married and had very successful careers. Kari was just an ordinary teacher at an ordinary school and made ordinary pay. She was twenty-five years old, almost twenty-six and single. Kari never went out much. She liked to stay home in Tai and Sora's basement and correct papers. It was what she considered 'fun'. Kari didn't socialize very much although Tai and Sora tried to get her go out often. She didn't date much either. Her last relationship was in college and it had lasted only two weeks. Her last date was almost two and a half years ago.
Kari wasn't the fun, bubbly, happy-go-lucky person she use to be in high school. When she moved away from Japan, she decided to start her life over. Her friends called and e-mailed her often but she would never reply. She changed her number and her e-mail address hoping they would stop contacting her. She got an e-mail from Yolie from time to time but she would never reply. Gatomon, Kari's faithful digimon, became so fed up with Kari's stubbornness and went to go live in the Digital World. She came back to visit Kari occasionally, but never stayed long on behalf of Kari's new unsocial lifestyle.
Kari still didn't like Nascar even though Tai and Sora worked for her old employer. She hadn't seen or been to a race since she went to the Homestead race when she was a senior in high school. Her NASCAR friends tried to keep in contact with her, but Kari ignored them too. The farther she pushed her driver friends away, the harder they tried to stay in contact. Some of the drivers sent their children to Degrassi just so they had a reason to talk to her at parent-teacher conferences. Other than the married drivers like Jeff and Jimmie, she hadn't talk to Brian, Kyle, Reed and Jamie in years.
"Genevieve Johnson! Do I have to call your parents for the third time this month?" Kari sternly asked the blonde, blue eyed girl.
"No!" Genevieve exclaimed, "it wasn't my fault!"
"Then what happened?" Kari asked curiously.
"Josh said my daddy sucked at Nascar and that Danica Patrick was better! And we all know that's not true! And I got mad and then my fist accidentally hit him," Genevieve simply explained.
"Genevieve, I can understand that ya got mad but ya can't hit people. I'm afraid I'm going to have to call your parents again," explained Kari to the little girl.
"No! Ya can't!" Genevieve exclaimed.
"And why can't I?" Kari asked.
"Because mommy and daddy are on vacation in the Bahahamahahas," replied Genevieve. Kari tried not to laugh as she struggled to say the word Bahamas. "Mommy and daddy wanted to squeeze in one last vacation before Speedweeks at Daytona."
"I see, I see. Well, who are ya staying with while your mom and dad are on vacation?" Kari asked.
"Uncle Brian," Genevieve replied.
Kari was confused. She was certain Jimmie or Chandra did not have a brother named Brian. Kari wasn't sure if Genevieve was joking or telling the truth.
"Your Uncle Brian?" Kari asked the little girl, "do ya have his number?"
"I have it in my cell phone. Can I go get it?" Genevieve asked.
"May I," Kari corrected her.
"Yeah! May I go get it Miss Kamiya?" Genevieve asked again and Kari nodded her head yes. When Genevieve came back with her cell phone she told Kari the number.
"Thank ya Genevieve," replied Kari as she walked out of the room to make the call. Her call was immediately directed to the voicemail which sounded very familiar.
"Hey, it's Brian. Ya know what to do," Kari had definitely heard this voicemail before, but yet she couldn't remember who had it.
"Hello, this is Genevieve's teacher Miss Kamiya. I am sorry to call ya like this but Genevieve was acting up in school today and I would like to have a talk with ya and Genevieve today after school. Normally I would call her parents but they are on vacation. If you have any questions or concerns, please call me back at the school at 555-2334. Thank ya, bye!"
Kari walked back into the classroom and told Genevieve she would be staying after school. She complained like she always did when she had to stay after school. When the final bell of the day ended, her classmates left the classroom while Genevieve pouted in her desk. Normally Jimmie and Chandra came right away after school when she got in trouble, but it wasn't until four o'clock when there was a knock on the classroom door. Kari got up to let her "uncle" in.
"Thank ya so much for meeting me today," Kari said to her uncle.
"It's no problem," he replied. "What did she do this time?"
"I didn't do anything!" Genevieve exclaimed from her desk.
"She got upset when one of her classmates said her dad wasn't a very good driver and then she hit that person," explained Kari.
"Josh said Danica Patrick was better than my daddy! Ya know thats not true, right Uncle Brian?"
"Genevieve...what am I going to do with ya?" Uncle Brian asked her and laughed.
"Take me out for ice cream?" She innocently replied.
"How bout ya go wait in the car huh?" Her uncle suggested and she obeyed. "I'm sorry about that. Jimmie and Chandra have a wild child on their hands."
"That's alright." Kari replied and smiled, "I didn't know Jimmie or Chandra had a brother named Brian?"
"Oh, I'm not their brother. I'm just a close family friend. Genevieve just likes to call me Uncle Brian," he explained. "My name is Brian, Brian Vickers."
Kari stood there shock stricken. It suddenly hit her now. She couldn't believe she didn't recognize him when he walked into the classroom. Kari couldn't believe he was standing here in her classroom.
"Took ya long enough to recognize me huh?" Brian asked, which made Kari blush.
"I, I, I can't believe it's you!" Kari stammered. She wanted to hug him yet knew it wouldn't be professional while she was still in school.
"Yeah, it's me." Brian coolly replied, "hey listen, do ya wanna go out sometime and catch up or something?"
"Yeah, that would be great!" Kari blushed as she blushed even more.
Brian still looked much the same as he did eight years ago. His hair was a bit longer with blonde highlights. He still had those piercing blue eyes and perfect smile.
"Awesome, how bout I pick ya up tonight around seven?" Brian asked.
"I'll see ya then," Kari replied and gave him her address.