"A real friend is one who walk in when everyone else walks out."


Kim POV:

Exiting chemistry, I heard Donna Tobin and a couple other of her little airheads gossiping by my locker. Rolling my eyes, I dialed my locker combo and grabbed an apple out of my locker.

"Have you seen that new guy?" Alexis gushed, her eyes alight with the fervor I generally associated to Weaver Fever. Not that, I liked Ricky Weaver or anything..."He's so cute! He's got that adorable little dimple, and the little mole underneath his right eye!"

"I know right? He was in my government class second period," Macy agreed. Slamming my locker shut, I didn't even bother listening to the rest of their conversation, heading into the cafeteria. All girls at our school are completely shallow, which is probably why I spend so much time hanging out with guys. They don't make such a big deal out of everything. But lately, the guys at the Black Dragon haven't been letting me in on some of their conversations, and they keep going easy on me because I'm a girl.

Shaking my head, I unconsciously began throwing and catching my apple, wondering if Marge the Lunch Lady had finally managed to find something worth eating in the food stores. Usually I packed a lunch, but for now all I had was the apple. As I went through the cafeteria doors, I got distracted in my own thoughts and threw the apple too far forward. Lunging forward to try and catch it, my line of vision saw a foot catch the apple.

I'm serious. The foot. The apple balanced precariously on his foot for a moment, before the person kicked it up and caught it in their hands. That was pro, but I didn't want to admit it. I looked up to see who had saved my apple from the germ covered floors, and my eyes met large mocha colored eyes. I know it sounds like a really cheesy romantic movie moment, but it's true. He had a smirk on his face, although it came across as more friendly than cocky.

The boy had dark brown hair that brushed into his eyes, and under his right eye was the mole that Alexis had been talking about a minute ago. This must be the new kid. Snap out of it Kim. "Alright that was almost cool," I laughed, and he smiled back at me. "I'm Kim."

"I'm Jack," he introduced himself. "I'm new," he added, probably for my benefit.

"Yeah I can tell," I'd spoken without thinking again. Oops. "You've still got that new guy smell on you." Might as well make a joke out of it right?

Jack laughed too, before we both stared at each other for a second, unsure of what to say. I thought back to what the girls had been obsessing over back when I was at my locker. Jack was sort of cute in a way. Like the way his eye crinkled when he grinned, and-snap out of it Kim.

I forced myself to say something, and the first thing that popped into my head was, "Can I have my apple back?" The both of us looked at the red apple he'd caught moments before.

Jack seemed to snap out of a daze and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, sorry." He put the apple back into my hand. "Well maybe I'll see you around," he added, saving us from another awkward silence.

"Maybe you will," I replied, looking back into his big brown eyes one more time before turning away to go to another lunch time. I shook my head several to clear my mind of the new boy I'd just met. He is rather cute, but that's not the point. Most guys think that I can't handle myself and whatever. Jack probably thinks so too. My eyes swept across the room, seeing Jack join the dorks from the Bobby Wasabi dojo.

Thoroughly annoyed with the direction my thoughts were returning to, I took a huge bite into my apple and chewed. Grace was out with the flu today, so I was sitting with a bunch of jocks and cheerleaders. The 'We're-So-Cool" guys from the Black Dragon wouldn't let me sit with them because I was a girl and cheer captain. What was the big deal? Brian used to be a cheerleader too.

I turned to shoot a glare at Frank, the biggest douche of them all, just in time to see a confrontation going on. Frank had just stood up, the screech of his cafeteria seat moving back attracting a bit of attention. Jack was standing in front of him, and I felt bad for him. Usually, people who annoyed Frank would be making a trip to the nurse shortly after. He's such a show off, flailing his arms around to intimidate people.

Having half a mind to stand up and walk over to the pair of them, I was frozen to my seat for a second, horrified as I watched Jack turn and Frank's fist brush by his face. Watch out! So it's pretty much right to say I was completely shocked to see Jack block Frank's attempt to disfigure his rather adorable face. 'Rather adorable'? I've got to stop. I'm becoming way too preppy for this to be normal.

Everyone else in the cafeteria had seen the block as well. The crash was what brought me back to reality. Frank had just landed on the cafeteria table, and for the next thirty seconds, 5 guys went at it with each other, looking like characters in a Bobby Wasabi movie.

Where the heck had Jack learned all those moves from? Most of them were black belt level, and some of them even I didn't know how to do yet. He ran onto the top of my table and dodged as Brian ran at him, causing Brian to flatten like a pancake onto the floor. As Jack looked away, his gaze caught mine, and I waved, moving a lunch tray so he wouldn't trip on it.

He smiled, before spiraling off the table to avoid a kick from Tim, shoving Tim's face into a pudding bowl. After proceeding to shove meatballs into Frank's face, he ran out of the cafeteria quickly before the Principal managed to get into it.

A short silence followed his hasty exit, before Milton said, "That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life." Agreed.


After afternoon classes ended, I went to my locker to see Donna Tobin and her friends gushing about the incident at lunch. Deja vu much? "I wonder if he has a six pack?" Ashley asked, twirling one of her braids.

"I know! Did you see him? He's so-" I pushed past them to get to my locker and grabbed my backpack before walking out of the school. Airheads.

I headed over to the Black Dragon, hearing the usual mindless chanting as the green belts finished up their exercises for the hour. Black belts were up after them, so I saw Frank, Tim, Peter, and Brian, whom had been beaten up during lunchtime. I stifled my laughter when I saw that Brian had received a black eye, and was nursing it with an ice pack.

Our sensei walked over to us, we must have been an odd sight. I was trying not to laugh, and then there were four wincing guys lying on the ground. "Are you four alright?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Frank's bandaged arm, Brian's black eye, Peter's neck brace, and Tim's band-aid on his forehead.

Frank grumbled, but chose not to respond.

"They're just bitter because the new kid at school Jack managed to beat them up single-handedly," I announced, loving those words.

"Single-handedly?" Sensei asked, surprise etched on his face. The four of them muttered something about having not warmed up yet, but failed to find a real excuse to why they had lost. "You're telling me that some new boy managed to take out four of my best black belts."

I nodded, not even bothering to conceal my laughter at the sight of their faces.

"I gotta meet this kid and get him to join our dojo!" Sensei muttered. After a moment's pause, he looked at me. "Kim you say you know Jack?"

"Not well, but I know him," I said reluctantly, already knowing what his plan was.

"Excellent." Crap.


"I can't believe he joined the Bobby Wasabi dojo!" I ranted to Grace over my cellphone. "Those guys never win! How did they convince him to join them?"

Grace's reply didn't exactly make me feel any better. "Why would you care Kim? Unless of course-"

"I don't like him!" I defended, already knowing what she was thinking. "I'm just upset, because it makes it harder for me to convince him to come train at the Black Dragon." Convincing.

"I didn't say you did," she backtracked quickly. "I'm just saying. Why don't you just ask him to come over to the Black Dragon? He'll see how much better it is over there or whatever, and he'll join right?"

"Oh hey that'll work! Thanks Grace! I gotta go. Talk to you later." I hung up, pressing the end button on my phone screen before heading into the mall to go see if I could track down Jack. After checking the Bobby Wasabi dojo and a couple other stores, I caught sight of him sitting with a couple other guys at Falafel Phil's.

Pushing the restaurant door open, I heard the bell ding as I entered, and Phil looked up at me hopefully, as if expecting me to order food. Please, have you seen how much oil they use in that stuff? "Hey Jack," I said, getting the attention of four boys.

Jack's eyes lit up when he saw me, and he shot me a smile. He began to reply, but it got drowned out by the three others drawling, "Hellooo Kim." Weirdos.

Shrugging it off, I asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah sure," came four responses.

Seriously, these Bobby Wasabi dorks are so peculiar. "Guys can you give me a sec?" Jack asked, obviously a little annoyed. "Vamoose!" He made a motion that signified that they were supposed to go, but the three others were still staring at me. It was getting a little creepy. "That means go."

The word go seemed to register, and the three of them resignedly got up to leave, Jerry trailing behind as he sputtered out his indigence in Spanish.

I took a seat in the space that the boys had left behind. I wasn't really sure what to say to Jack, after seeing what he'd done at lunch the other day. "So you know a little something about karate." Understatement of the year.

He shrugged modestly. "A little bit." And suddenly I'm in second place.

"So what are you doing at Bobby Wasabi?" My distaste was probably showing through, but I didn't really care. I had to convince him to come to the Black Dragon. "You should be training at the best dojo in town."

"Really?" he asked, looking a bit surprised. "What do you know about karate?"

Typical.

I seized the opportunity to drag him to the Black Dragon. Leading him over to the set up board, I took a look at his doubtful face, even though he'd seen my gi and black belt. Raising my hand up in the air, I brought it back down in a deadly arc, breaking the two boards easily.

I looked over smugly at Jack's impressed face. "I guess you do know a little something about karate," he laughed, leaning over to peek at the two boards I'd just broken in half.

"This place made me a black belt. Everything at the Black Dragon is best of the best." Hey maybe I was bragging a bit, but how else was I supposed to convince him to join? Why do you care so much about him joining? Shut up voice in my head.

"Can I have a try?" Jack asked eagerly. I smirked, knowing I'd caught his attention. As he lifted his arm to try and break the boards, Sensei interrupted us.

"Jack!" he called, strolling over from the other side of the room, followed by a smirking Frank. Douchebag. "I've heard so much about you." I took a step back, since I'd done my job. I'd gotten Jack to the Black Dragon. "I want you to know that if you join this dojo, you'll become fast, dangerous, like a cobra, and quite comfortable sleeping in a basket."

Basket? Really? I touched Jack's elbow, seeing he was confused. "What Sensei's trying to say is, if you train here, we'll make you a champion." He smiled lightly at me, but I could tell he wasn't fully convinced that this was a good idea.

Obviously Sensei had cottoned on as well, because he took Frank's bow staff. "Check out this bow staff. It's four ounces of perfectly balanced graphite." I could see the awe in Jack's face as he looked at it. He took it hesitantly. "It's the same one the astronauts use."

Astronauts have to use bow staffs? Sensing our confusion, Sensei added, "When they need a bow staff in space." Right, because astronauts need bowstaffs in space.

Jack took a step away, and began spinning it easily. You could see the joy in his face as he moved. We were so close to convincing him. "So what do you think Jack?" I asked. "Will you join the Black Dragon?"

He shrugged. "I'd like to, but I can't."

My smile turned into a frown in an instant. "Jack come on!" I sighed frustratedly. "Bobby Wasabi is a joke!"

His calm demeanor turned into a flash of anger. "Come on it's not a joke to me! I gave my word," he said, his brown eyes wide. "It's the Wasabi Code."

I could see where Jack was coming from. If I gave my word, I probably wouldn't want to back down either. But Frank didn't. "The Wasabi Code," he mocked.

"Shut up Frank!" Sensei shouted before I could.

"Well," Jack sighed resignedly, making a motion to give back the bow staff. "Here you go."

Sensei didn't take it back. "Keep it. Let it be a reminder that you're always welcome here."

I watched him leave the Black Dragon, spinning the bow staff around.


Still a little annoyed with Jack for denying the offer to train at the Black Dragon, I didn't see him again until the Advancement Tournament.

In the back room before the tournament began, I ran into Jack, who was dressed in his gi. It was weird seeing him wearing a white belt when he had skills beyond some black belts. But that's how karate works. You have to work your way up to the top. "Hey good luck today," I smiled.

Jack looked a little surprised to see me. "Thanks. You too," he smiled, before hurrying to join the three others, whose names I'd learned to be Jerry, Milton, and Eddie. He looked a little nervous, his hair was messier than usual, and the back of my mind couldn't help thinking about how adorable he looked. I think I'm going soft.

It was for that reason that I couldn't help adding an extra kick and punch when we entered the fighting area, so as not to feel like a helpless Southern girl. As the Wasabi Warriors entered the room, I was one of the few from the Black Dragon who actually clapped.

As the competition started, it was Chris versus Eddie. I felt a bit bad for Eddie. While Chris isn't one of our best fighters, he makes up brains by having brawn. He's six foot four and around 280 pounds.

I fought back a laugh as I looked over to see Eddie kneeling on the floor, looking like he was praying for a miracle. Jack joined him on the floor, saying something to Eddie, before turning to see Chris grimacing menacingly down at them. "Wow! What do they feed you brother?" Jack asked, eyes huge.

My sentiments exactly.

I have no idea what Jack whispered to Eddie next, but Eddie knocked Chris down like a bowling pin when it came time to fight.

Two fights later, it was time for Jack and I to go against each other. We stood facing one another, and I couldn't help but taunt him a bit. Hey it was all part of the game right? "I was hoping we'd be on the same team Jack. But now-" I grinned. "I'm going to have to take you down!"

We both bent down to bow. "You know I think you have a little crush on me," he raised his eyebrows knowingly.

"Ew no!" I said, perhaps a little hastily. We crossed each other.

"Yeah, I think you do!" Jack smiled. I crossed the room to hide my impending blush. I don't like him. Keep telling yourself that.

As we stood across from each other, corner to corner, I could only watch horrified, as Frank kicked the back of Jack's leg, a move that was generally not used, because it could cause real damage to the opponent.

As everyone rushed over to see if Jack was alright, I stood frozen, wondering why on earth Frank would've done that. He's not completely stupid. "That is so wrong!" Sensei yelled dramatically. "You are banished from this dojo. Banished I say!"

Instantly, I knew who had ordered the uncalled for attack.

Sensei.

I crossed the room to go see if Jack was okay, and I saw him limp away with his friends. "Alright scorpion," he told me. "Go kick out that peg so we can say goodbye to Bobby Wasabi forever."

I looked at him, and then back at Jack, who was sitting, screwing up his face from the pain. The answer rose to my lips. "I'm not going to do it. I quit!"

"What?" my ex-Sensei asked, an angry look on his face.

"You're nothing but a cheater and a big baby!"

"Nu-uh!" he said, ironically sounding remarkably like a baby. "Take that back, take that back!" his voice cracked.

To signify my point, I took my black belt and threw it at the floor. Walking away from my old sensei, I watched Jack limp over to the starting point.

"So, are you going to be able to do this?" I asked hesitantly.

He looked up at the high peg. "I don't know," he sighed.

"You're whole dojo's counting on you!" I exclaimed. A mischevious spark glinted in his eye for a moment.

"If I do it, would you admit you have a crush on me?"

I threw my hands up in the air, thoroughly frustrated for the time being. "I do not have a crush on you!"

He raised his hands up in defeat, before walking away. I turned away just to see five disbelieving faces looking at me. "Mhmm."

As I sat down on the bench, I watched with the other 25 people in the room, as Jack stood at the starting point.

An indescribable look crossed his face for a moment, before determination took its place. He jumped as if doing a handstand, before flipping over completely, and bringing the peg down. The peg proceeded to move almost as if in slow motion, before hitting Milton's dad in the face.

And so Bobby Wasabi could continue.


After collecting all my belongings from the Black Dragon, I left for good, and walked into the Bobby Wasabi dojo for the first time. I heard Jack say, "C'mon guys let's get to work."

I took a peek around at the dojo. It was nice, obviously not quite as good as the Black Dragon, but the people there were better. Jack was throwing and catching an apple, like I had been the day we first met. Then, here comes the irony: he fumbled a catch, and I stuck out my foot, balancing the apple on my green converse.

I flicked my foot and caught it in my hand, smirking.

"Kim!" Jack said, looking extremely surprised and slightly happy to see me. "What are you doing here?"

"I quit the Black Dragon. You guys were alright at the tournament, but the way I see it, you need all the help you can get." I handed the apple back to Jack.

He laughed, taking the apple back.

"Whoa whoa whoa," a new voice said. "You can't just walk in here and assume you're going to be a part of our dojo." A boy taller than Jack, who I identified as Jerry sauntered forward. "You have to pass a test."

I shrugged. "Okay." Turning around, I took out three of their practice dummies in one go. Turning back to the four boys, I grinned at their stunned faces.

"What do you think guys?" Jerry asked, trying to act impassive.

"She's in."

"Got my vote."

"A-plus."

I smiled, feeling that maybe things would be a lot different now.


A/N: Hey so this is just a little written version of the first episode of Kickin it. After this, it'll probably be chapters of things that I want to elaborate on, like little moments in episodes, little moments that I can imagine happening in my head, etc. I've read a couple Kickin It fanfictions, but a lot of them are making Jack and Kim's relationship a little too mature in my opinion. They're 13 or 14, they aren't in love or anything. But I do think they have a crush on each other, and they'll be fun characters to write about. :) Review if you liked it, or if you have any suggestions for one-shots or anything, I'm all ears. :)