Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. (Except for my OCs)

Warnings: High School Alternate Universe. Digimon will NOT be present, but there will be mentions. Active pairings will be Tai/OC, Sorato, and OC/OC. Hints of and allusions to Takari, Koumi, and Kenyako.

A/N: So, this is my first Digimon fanfic. Expect your typical high school drama. Nothing too risqué, mind you, but not entirely innocent, either. Umm… what else? It's a slow romance, so no immediate hanky-panky. It's also rather OC heavy, but I could care less. Also, it uses some dance jargon that may be unfamiliar, but knowing what they mean isn't particularly necessary. Also-also, I'm not a dancer, but I did my best to do my research. Aaand, yep. That's about it. Happy reading!

xXx

- The Center of Everything -

xXx

Summary: One well-known, big-haired, former goggle-wearing teenager failing science class encounters one unknown, flat-haired, headband-wearing, computer-challenged adolescent dancer on his worst day ever (to date). But this serendipitous meeting ends up being more than just a reminder of Tai's high school woes. In retrospect, it becomes, perhaps, one of the best days of his life.

xXx

One

xXx

Tai's head was buried beneath his pillow, his arm dangling lifelessly at the side of his bed. A soft, wet circle of drool lay underneath his gaping mouth. His snores were muffled underneath his sheets. Footsteps shuffled outside of his closed bedroom door, and in the distance, some breakfast dishes clinked faintly.

A sudden, blaring buzz startled the rest of the household as Tai's alarm clock went off, and while the housecat ran off to a far corner of the apartment to elude the ringing, Tai remained unaffected, snores combating the new noise of his clock. His arm instinctively reached over and smacked the 'snooze' button. When the alarm went off again some time later, Tai still ignored it until, five minutes later, his ears were at last pierced by the racket.

Flailing, he shot up from his bed, narrowly missing knocking his skull against the bottom of the top bunk. A look of panic streaked his face when he turned to read the time.

"Crap."

Blindly, he searched the clutter on the bedroom floor for his wrinkled school uniform, rapidly disrobing and donning the white collared shirt and brown pants.

A soft knock tapped on his door.

"Come in!" he said whilst pushing his arms through his green jacket sleeves.

Kari entered the room, greeting her older brother with a smile before it faded at the mere sight of his disheveled hair and rumpled clothes.

"You don't honestly think that Mom will let you go to school looking like that?" Kari said. She was already dressed, her backpack slung over her petite shoulders.

Tai shoved his feet through a pair of socks.

"Well, she's going to have to," he grumbled. "We'll be late if she doesn't!"

Kari leaned against the door jamb and took a quick scan of the room. She hadn't gotten a good look at it when she woke, but now that there was sunlight pouring through the windows, the scene she had apparently missed was now laid bare before her.

Textbooks were scattered everywhere, some open, some closed. Pieces of cut paper, markers, pens, scissors were lain haphazardly about their room. Stuffed into one corner was a sorry piece of poster board. She thought she was looking at the remnants of a kindergarten class after craft hour.

"Just how late were you up last night?" she asked, the question unable to go unspoken.

"Too late," Tai muttered. "I had a stupid science project to finish."

Before Kari could ask what about, their conversation was interrupted by a pert, "Tai, honey, you awake now?"

Mrs. Kamiya stood in the doorway, a glass of orange juice in her hands. She had gone through the routine enough to know that her oldest child would have to skip breakfast for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah. Barely," said Tai, distracted. His hands were mindlessly stuffing his backpack with the school books he had sewn across the floor.

"Don't be in such a rush. You might forget something," Kari advised.

Mrs. Kamiya offered her son the glass in her hands.

"Your sister's right, Tai," she said. "Take it easy."

Tai swung his backpack over his shoulder, reached for the beverage and chugged it down in two swift gulps.

His mother frowned.

"I said take it easy. It's dribbling onto your uniform."

"What?" he said, mid slurp. He looked down at his shirt and saw blots of orange seep into the white fabric. "No one will notice." He grinned assuredly.

His mother sighed, giving him a silent, maternal glare before reaching for his messy collar and tidying it.

"Get going, then," she said. She took the empty glass and went into the kitchen. "You'll miss your bus!"

After saying a rushed goodbye to his mother, Tai grabbed Kari's hand and hauled themselves out the front door. As she was being dragged to the elevator, Kari realized something that her older brother, in his race to get to school, completely forgot about.

"Tai," she said, trying to get her arm free.

They reached the elevator and Tai punched buttons manically until the door opened and he rushed inside, where he proceeded to punch even more.

"Tai," Kari repeated, looking warily at the elevator door as it began to shut.

He ignored her.

"Come on," he muttered under his breath, a finger permanently pressed on the ground floor button. "Faster."

"Tai," she said again, louder this time.

"No time to talk, Kari. Our bus leaves soon."

"But..."

The elevator stopped three floors below theirs.

"Oh, come on!" Tai banged his forehead on a wall. The newest passenger walked into the elevator in time to witness him beat his brains on cold metal, and Kari could only be embarrassed for her stubborn sibling.

"He's had a bad morning," she explained.

They arrived at the end of the block just in time to catch the last bus to school and happily seated themselves in a booth. Both were panting from their unintended morning run, and they sat slumped in their seats.

"Next time," Kari began, pausing to catch her breath, "I ask you to wake up on time so we don't have to do this again."

"I thought that'd you'd be used to it by now," Tai replied, happy to provide comic relief now that he was on track to school. Once there, he'd turn in his science project, sit back in his seat, relax, and enjoy the rest of the day until the sweet ringing of the bell. He even forgot about the orange stain on his shirt.

Kari laughed and finally took the time to look around the bus, hoping to spot any of their friends. The majority of passengers were stone-faced adults commuting to their corporate jobs. There were a few student stragglers such as themselves, one of which had a very big poster board with him.

Turning back to Tai, Kari asked:

"Is that kid in your class, Tai?"

"Why would you ask that?"

When Kari said nothing, Tai turned to look at the kid in question, and, once seeing the poster board in the kid's hands, froze completely.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot," he grumbled, running his hands vigorously through his hair before banging his head (again) on the back of the seat in front of him. Kari bit her bottom lip. She laid a hand on her brother's shoulder.

"I tried to remind y—"

"Don't blame yourself, Kari," Tai interrupted, realizing what his sister had been trying to tell him in the elevator. "It's my fault for not listening."

"Are you going to be okay?"

Tai shook his head.

"I'm dead, Kari. I'm dead."

xXx

Matt looked anxiously from his wristwatch to the continuous stream of students headed to their classes. Judging by the amount of traffic, the bell was minutes away from ringing, and most were looking to avoid a tardy on their permanent records.

"Come on, Tai. Where are you?" he asked himself, his feet beginning to teeter.

As he looked down one direction of the hallway, a large mess of brown hair passed him, and he acknowledged the arrival of his long-awaited best friend with a happy grin.

"Tai!" Matt greeted, slapping his friend's shoulder. The big-haired teen continued to plod forward, his sneakered feet dragging despite Matt's hold on him.

Tai was not in any mood to be chatting. No project from him meant that he'd have to come up with an excuse. A bad excuse meant an irritated teacher, and an irritated teacher meant an irreversible final grade of 'F.' At this point in his schooling, he couldn't afford any flunks. He was only a couple years away from university—if he would even make it there.

"Tai!" Matt hailed again, this time getting his friend's attention.

"Yeah, Matt?" he said, blinking a few times. "What's up?"

Matt gave him a look.

"What's up?" he echoed, annoyed. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

Tai scratched his head.

"I take that as a no." Matt folded his arms over his chest. "I said I need a favor from you. I need some help posting up flyers for my band's show this weekend. I'd do it myself during lunch, but I made a bargain with the guidance counselor." He shook his head. "The things you do for a schedule change."

"Can't you get Izzy to do it?"

"I already did. I can't expect you to do everything. Anyway, the guidance counselor said she'd agree to my schedule change if I gave a new student a tour today. I guess someone hates giving tours more than I do."

"So… what? You going to follow this person around all day?"

"Pretty much. I have to show this kid where his classes will be, where the library, labs, and other important rooms are."

"Sounds pretty lame."

"Yeah, well, it beats having to take advanced trigonometry next semester with Mr. Sato."

Tai allowed a weak smirk.

"Sure, Matt. I'll put up some flyers."

The duo went off to class after the warning bell sounded, one significantly in lighter spirits than the other. Tai still could not get over the fact that he had forgotten his science project at home—the same science project he had worked on for a total of, say, three days (more nights, than days, really), and the very same that kept him up until three in the morning. A moan emanated from the back of his throat as he reluctantly walked closer and closer to his doom—a doom he could have prevented.

For a second, he looked down at his shoes and noticed the ugly orange stain on his shirt. He hadn't told Matt about his predicament, simply for the sake of keeping that truth unspoken. It wouldn't help him through the class if he kept on reiterating the fact that he had stupidly left his project behind, so he, for once, kept his mouth shut.

"Boy," he murmured to himself, "does this day su—"

"Watch it!"

With an 'oof!', Tai smacked into someone. There was an ensuing yelp and the image of a female student tripping over and sending not only a few books onto the ground, but a few (now bruised) knees. Tai endured the collision like a stiff oak tree and stayed where he was, wondering, for a few seconds, what had just happened.

"You should probably look where you're going," he said at last, picking up a fallen book and handing it to her.

"Likewise." She took the book with a short bow. Before Tai could even frown, she left promptly while rubbing a sore joint.

"Dude." This, from Matt. "Are you all right?"

"Huh?"

"I don't know. It could just be me," said Matt, grinning, "but you look like a little… preoccupied."

"You're observant," Tai retorted, resuming his walk to death row.

"Come on. Tell me what's going on."

After a few more persistent inquiries, Tai finally told Matt the full extent of his bad morning, and the latter could offer little to help what was destined to come for the former. Matt knew that excuses were not tolerated by their strict science teacher and that even if Tai had actually done the assignment, his hard work meant nothing if it wasn't handed to the teacher in physical form.

"Hey, it can't be that bad," heartened Matt. "You've faced bigger monsters. Literally."

The last bell rang and after taking in a large breath, Tai walked into Mr. Tokoya's classroom, the words "I'm dead… dead… dead…" circling within the globe of his brain.