The sun began to rise in Angel Grove and a woman and her husband began to wake up. The woman has about average height and she light brown hair. Her husband was tall and he hard dark brown hair. James got up and laid his clothes for work. He looked at picture of their son. They adopted him when he was only a few months old previously laying on the dresser. He had shoulder length brown hair and he wore a lot of green. Tommy was the same age as their friend Caroline Hart's daughter Kimberly. Both of their children were really close and inseparable. A few moved in with Oliver's a few weeks previously after Caroline's husband Andrew passed. She was having trouble coping, making ends meet, and being a single parent.
"Morning, James," greeted Caroline. She walked over to her husband and stood in front of the dresser. "What are you thinking about?"
"Just Kimberly and Tommy," answered James. "I can't believe they are friends now. A year ago they hated each other."
"They just thought that they came from two different backgrounds," reminded Jan. She looked at the other picture on the dresser. It was a recent picture of Kimberly and Tommy. "They became friends after Caroline had to go out of town for training."
Flash Back
Jan was waiting in her car, waiting for her son to get out of school. When the bell rang, a tall little boy about the age of seven came out of school. He had brown shoulder length hair and was in jeans, a white Henley, and a green jacket. Tommy got in his mom's car and shut the door behind him.
"How was school?"
"Mom, you'll never believe what happened today."
"What happened? Did you and CJ get into another argument?"
"This is even worse! And I know that you'll agree with me."
"What could be worse than you and CJ getting into an argument? I've already been called by the principal three times this year because you and CJ got into over something. What happened today?"
"We got new tables and chairs today. And we got to pick where we sat. I just sat down at a table and Kimberly decided she wants to sit next to me. I'm stuck sitting next to her for the rest of the. I couldn't get up and move because the teacher said once we sat down, we couldn't move to another table."
"I was best friends with her mom growing up. They live next door."
"Mom, don't remind me. I'm stuck sitting next to her all year. When I asked her why she wanted to sit next to me, she said she wanted a friend. And she wanted to be friends with me."
"That's wonderful, I'm glad you've got someone to play with."
"I asked her if she had anyone else that she'd rather sit with. She said that the only time that she's wanted by other children is during gymnastics practice and during gymnastics competitions. When there isn't anything gymnastics related going on, no one wants to be around her."
Jan pulled into the Oliver's drive way and Tommy got out of the car. When Jan got home, the school bus stopped at the house next door. A girl with shoulder length brown hair got off the bus. The girl wasn't as tall as Tommy was. She had was wearing overalls and a pink tee shirt.
"Looks like Kimberly is getting home from school," smiled Jan. "You should go over to her house and spend time with her."
Tommy looked up and saw Kimberly walking across the yard to over to his house. She was headed in his direction. "Mom, she's coming over here," complained Tommy. Kimberly walked over to him and threw her arms around him. "I don't like to be hugged. Please let go of me."
"Tommy, you're going to be nice her," warned Jan. Kimberly walked over to Tommy and threw her arms around him.
"I like you," answered Kimberly. "You're my best friend."He shoved her off of him and she looked offended.
"Mrs. Oliver, why doesn't Tommy liked to be hugged?" questioned Kimberly.
"He doesn't like for anyone to hug him," explained Jan. "He won't even let me and James hug or kiss him. For some reason, he can't stand it. At times, we wonder if it is because he's angry because he's adopted. He lost his brother and parents in an accident shortly after he was born. I was really close to his birth mother. She was close to your mom and me. I was Tommy's god mother; after he lost his parents, I got a copy of his parents' will. If anything was to happen to them, they wanted James and me to adopt him."
"At school, he has trouble making friends. He's already been in trouble for fighting with a kid named CJ," revealed Kimberly.
"I know," answered Jan.
"I hope Tommy and I can became friends. The only time the kids want me around is during gymnastics. "
"Maybe, the reason why no one wants you around is because you're annoying and odd," Tommy said angrily.
"Tommy, that's enough!" scolded Jan.
"Mom, it's true," declared Tommy. "Kimberly is annoying. She's been following me around for as long as I can remember. At recess she chases me all over the play ground."
Tommy walked inside his house and slammed the door. Jan could tell that he really hurt Kimberly because he left her in tears. She walked over and hugged the little girl.
"I'm so sorry," apologized Jan. "I've raised my son better than that. I have never been so embarrassed."
"Mrs. Oliver, I think Tommy doesn't like to me around," sobbed Kimberly.
"I think he does," confessed Jan. "He said he had a crush on a little girl who loves pink. I'm certain it's you."
"He acts like he doesn't want to be around me," informed Kimberly. She wanted to him to bond with Kimberly so they'd both have a friend. Caroline told Jan she was going to be out of town for a few weeks; she needed someone to take care of Kimberly. Jan agreed to take care of Kimberly.
Caroline brought Kimberly over to the Oliver's house. She had brought a lot of clothes, pajamas, gymnastic clothes, and her school stuff. Jan sat up a folding cot and a sleeping bag for Kimberly to use, while she was staying in the Oliver's house. Tommy was in his room playing video games, when he saw Kimberly walk into his room.
"Mom, what is she doing her?" asked Tommy.
"Her mom has to go out of 's going to be staying here for a few weeks and she's going to be in the same room," explained Jan. Tommy went to his closet and got out a sleeping bag and a suit case. "Why are you packing a suit case?" asked Jan.
"I'm going to live in my tree house while she is here," answered Tommy, as he packed his suit case.
"That's not an option," smiled Jan. "You're going to stay in this room with Kimberly. Both of you are going to watch TV together, sleep in the same room, and do all of your activities together. I think you'll end up being friends."
"Mom, I'd rather have a boy as a best friend," confirmed Tommy. "She's a girl and it's uncool to have girl for your best friend. If I had a boy for a best friend, I could play video games with them, we could have sleep overs, we could go to the water park together, we could go do fun thing that I can't do with a girl."
Jan walked out of the room and Tommy turned on the TV, since he didn't want Kimberly playing with his video games. He sat down on the bed and stretched out. Kimberly really did want Tommy as her friend and she was willing to do whatever it took. She walked over to his bed and sat down next to him, but he pushed her off the bed. So, she sat on the floor next to his bed.
Around dinner time, Jan brought up a small table and two chairs. She sat them down in the middle of the room and James brought up two personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut. "I thought you said that I couldn't eat up here," gasped Tommy.
"Your father and I decided that you're going to spend all your time with Kimberly," informed Jan.
"We feel like it will give you two some bonding time," added James.
Shortly after dinner, they took showers and got ready for bed. In the middle of the night, Kimberly got scared. She got up and pushed her folding cot next to Tommy's bed. When Kimberly turned off her flash light and in the sleeping bag, Tommy woke up. He saw her cot was right next to his bed, which he didn't like; he rolled over and went back to sleep.
The following morning, Jan woke the children up for school. She brought up blueberry pan cakes and orange juice on a tray, and she sat it down on the table. Tommy got up, took a seat on the table, and began to eat. Kimberly moved her chair next to him and sat down. "I wanted to sit by you. My mom is always having to get ready for work and doesn't get to eat breakfast with me, " Kimberly explained."And my dad is rarely home in the mornings. It's nice having someone to eat breakfast with."
After Tommy ate he got out jeans, a green tee shirt, and a tan flannel shirt. He went into the bathroom to change. Kimberly got out a pair jeans and a pink tee shirt. After Kimberly got dressed she met Tommy down stairs.
"Are you ready for school?" asked Jan.
"I'm ready," answered Tommy.
"I'm ready to go," smiled Kimberly.
They got in Jan's car and she drove them to school. When they got to school, Tommy quickly got out of the car. He didn't want anyone to see him walk in with Kimberly. Jan just rolled her eyes and didn't say anything. Kimberly got out of the car and followed Tommy into school."
End of Jan's Flash Back
"Caroline recently thanked me for the second time for keeping Kimberly," Jan smiled as she continued to look at the picture. The two children were in the new swimming pool that was just completed. They were on an inflatable swan aqua lounge. Both of the children had their arms around each other. "She says that Tommy has been giving her a lot of comfort, since Andrew passed." She put an arm around her husband. Andrew Hart was James' best friend since the time they were small children. Jan and James walked out of their bedroom and walked across the hall. They opened the door and walked instead the room.
Jan saw that Kimberly and Tommy were still fast asleep. Both of them had a smile on their face and they had their arms around each other. "I think they were able to sleep well last night," smiled Jan as she exchanged looks with James. "I can tell our son loves his best friend so much." She turned on the lamp and woke the children up.
"Did you sleep well?" asked James.
"We both slept well," answered Tommy. He sat up in bed next to Kimberly.
"It's 6:00, you both need to get up and get your showers, get dressed, and come down stairs for breakfast," informed Jan, as she walked out of the room. "Don't forget that you have PE today. You need to pack your swimsuits. And yes, Tommy you still have wear your PE uniform to school. Your teacher sent a note home and said that you'd be having a two hour PE class. The first half is regular PE and the next half is swimming." Jan walked out of the room and Tommy sat down on his bed. He knew that they had to pick a swimming buddy and he sick the day before. So, he didn't get to pick his.
"What if I don't get paired up with you?" Tommy asked.
"I signed up to be your swimming buddy," Kimberly reassured. She took a seat next to him. "I told everyone else that you already had your swimming buddy."
"That is the only good thing about PE this year," answered Tommy as he pulled her into a tight hug. "And we became best friends after an incident that happened in PE."
Tommy's Flash Back
Tommy was almost in the school building and he saw Kimberly running to catch up with him. She wanted to walk into school with him. They ended up walking through the door at the same time. He knew when they walked through the door, he could run because he'd get in trouble. And he had already been in trouble twice for running in the hall, just so he could get away from Kimberly. She followed him all the way to the class room and they took their seats. For the next few weeks he was stuck with her 24/7.
About two and a half hours later, they had PE. They had a free day and could do what ever they wanted. Kimberly wanted to practice on the balance beam and she wanted Tommy to watch. Grudgingly, he went over to balance beam. A girl on the gymnastics team was trying to get her off the team. She stole butter from the teacher's mini refrigerator and rubbed it on the balance beam. Tommy happened to see the girl do it, but Kimberly got up on the balance beam before he say anything to her.
Even though he didn't like Kimberly, he felt like he had to do some thing. The main reason was because his mom would be mad if he didn't. When she got up on the balance beam, she tried to do a cart wheel and she messed up because of the butter. Kimberly ended up hurting her ankle and she landed on Tommy. That caused him to hit his head on the balance beam and pass out. Jan was called to come get both of them and she had to have someone take her place at work. She took both of them to the doctor as soon as she picked them up. Tommy just had a concussion and Kimberly's ankle was broken.
All Tommy needed was to be supervised for the next 24 to 48 hours. Kimberly had her ankle put in a cast and she crutches to help her move around. Jan was given ice packs to keep on Tommy's head. She took them back home and both of them changed into pajamas. Both of them went into Tommy's room to lay down. Tommy got in his bed and Kimberly laid down on the folding cot. Jan brought in an extra pillow for Kimberly to rest her foot on. She laid the TV remote on Tommy's night stand.
"Please don't fight over the TV remote," begged Jan.
"We won't," answered Tommy. Jan left the room, once she was gone Tommy grabbed the remote. He started flipping through the channels and saw that Rugrats was on Nickelodeon station 1, Hey Arnold was on Nickelodeon was on station 2, Boy Meets World was on Disney Channel, 101 Dalmatians' the Series was on Toon Disney, and The Land Before Time II was on Cartoon Network.
"What are we watching?" asked Kimberly.
"Either Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Boy Meets World, 101 Dalmatians the Series, or the Land Before Time II," answered Tommy. "I see that Hey Arnold and Rugrats are almost over."
"What comes on after them?" questioned Kimberly.
"SpongeBob on both Nickelodeon stations," answered Tommy. "I'm not allowed to watch that show, but I was never really into Sponge Bob too much anyway."
Tommy flipped over Cartoon Network and saw the missed Land Before Time II. Cow and Chicken was coming up next, but his mom and dad didn't like that show for some reason. They made it clear to him that he wasn't allowed to watch it. He flipped over to Toon Disney and saw there was more 101 Dalmatians' the Series coming up next. And there was more Boy Meets World coming up next.
"What do you want to watch?" asked Tommy.
"101 Dalmatians the Series," answered Kimberly. "It's one of my favorite shows, even though it is new. I've seen all of the episodes of Boy Meets World Season 1. I'm waiting for the second season."
"I am too," gasped Tommy. "I also like 101 Dalmatian's' the Series."
Since the TV was right in front of his bed, he could see it better. Tommy got off the bed and lifted Kimberly on to his bed so she could see the TV better. He got an extra pillow for her to lay her head on. Then he got a quilt out of the closet to cover them both up. He prompted her foot on the pillow Jan gave he and covered them both up. Kimberly moved closer to where Tommy was and they were using the same pillow. He just put the extra pillow behind the one they were using to help prompt them up more.
"When I fell of the balance beam, you caught me. Why did you do that?" asked Kimberly.
"I didn't like how Olivia put the butter on the balance beam and I didn't want you to get hurt," answered Tommy. "And as much as I hate to admit it, I really like you."
"I knew you did," smiled Kimberly. "Olivia and I have always had a rivalry over gymnastics. We always tried to be the best on the team. I guess she has it now that I'm off the team. And it seems like I won't be able to go to PE or recess for awhile. I know I can't go gymnastics for awhile."
"I got kicked out of karate for fighting with CJ," stated Tommy. "I have a black belt anyway."
A commercial came on TV. It said the magical world of toon's movie night was on Friday. That Friday the Land Before Time II was going to be on TV. "Are we going to watch that?" gasped Kimberly. "I like those movies."
"Yes we are. I like those movies," answered Tommy. "I'm into dinosaurs. My favorite dinosaur is brachiosaurs. But I also really like the stegosaurs and the saurolophus."
"I like dinosuars too," said Kimberly. "I like the pterodactyl the best. And I also like the stegosaurs and the saurolophus."
"I'm also interested in falcons and cranes, I enjoy playing video games, and I love swimming," added Tommy.
"I like all of those things too!" gasped Kimberly.
Tommy noticed Kimberly had rolled over on her side and was laying as close to him. She wrapped both of her arms around him. Jan was walking up the stairs to bring them something to drink. She was standing outside the room and heard the talking.
"So, we're officially friends now?" asked Kimberly.
"Yes, we are," answered Tommy. "I'm not going to recess, when we go back to school."
"Why not?" questioned Kimberly.
"I won't have you to play with or you to chase me around," replied Tommy.
"I'm not going to chase you anymore," confessed Kimberly. "The only reason why I did was because I wanted you to be my friend."
Jan walked into the room and laid two bottle of water on the night stand.
"I knew you'd end up being friends with her," smiled Jan.
"Mom, can she start riding to school with us in the mornings?" asked Tommy. "That way she won't have to worry about being made fun of on the school bus."
"I'm sure Caroline will let her do that," answered Jan.
"Can we have sleepover, when my mom comes back?" questioned Kimberly.
"Yes, and I'm sure Caroline will allow it too," stated Jan.
She changed out Tommy's ice pack, since he had in his for the last few hours. Then she left the room. As soon as Jan left, Kimberly realized that their teacher would never let them stay inside recess unless they were sick, had a cast on an arm or a leg, didn't bring a jacket, etc. She wondered how Tommy would be able to stay in at recess with her spent a lot of time with Kimberly at school, while she was recovering from having a broken ankle. The teacher let them get out board games such as Shoots and Ladders, Candy Land, and Checkers. Both of them enjoyed getting stay in because they were away from the other children who gave them trouble. Once she got the cast off her ankle, they had to on out side and play.
End Of Tommy's Flash Back
"Well, I got you out of the deal," Tommy confessed. "So, you're right. PE hasn't been all that bad. Hopefully swimming will be better than running laps around the gym." He got up from the bed and packed his green swimming trunks in his backpack. Then he got out his black jogging pants, a white shirt with the school logo printed in green, and a green hooded sweat shirt with the school logo. He took his shower, got dressed, and brushed his teeth. When he went dressed he went down for breakfast. When he got down stairs, Kimberly was already at the table. She was dressed like Tommy, but her shirt had the logo printed in pink and she was in a pink hooded sweatshirt. After breakfast Jan drove them to school. When they got to school, they began to get teased by some of their classmates because they were swimming buddies. And they were told it was uncool for a boy and a girl to be uncool.