Hello, everyone! This is my first story. I hope you really like it. Please let me know what you think. I am working on the next chapter as you are reading this and will post as soon as it is finished.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin it or any of the characters.

CHAPTER ONE

JACK'S POV

I look back on my life and where I was just 2 years ago and I almost cannot believe how much things have changed. I am so lucky to have the friends and family that I have in my life. I never really knew life could be any other way until I meet Kim and found out what she went through. I only wish I could have done more for her, changed things in her life before they got so out of control, been her HERO. But I'm getting ahead of myself…. Let me tell you were this all began.

***************************** 2 YEARS EARLIER *********************************

"Jack, Hurry up! You don't want to be late for the first day," Mom yelled up the stairs at me.

"I'm coming, Mom," I said as I walked down the stairs. "I would have been done sooner if SOMEONE hadn't used all the hot water this morning!" I glared at my sister, Carly.

"Oh please. I have to look my best because I am starting out at a new school as a Senior. This totally sucks, Mom! I just want to make sure that you know how much you have disrupted my life!" Carly glared at our mother.

Mom was upset and I could see it all over her face. She excused herself from the room and I am pretty sure that she went to cry in the kitchen so that we couldn't see her.

"Why did you do that? You know how hard all of this has been for her. She moved us here so that we could be closer to Dad's base so that when he is home, we can actually spend time as a family again," I scolded my sister. Carly just glared back at me.

Sometimes she can be so selfish. My dad is a Commander in the Elite Navy SEALs. He is gone a lot, but is currently stationed out of the North Island Naval Complex in San Diego, CA. This is why we moved to the big town of Seaford. I'm cool with it because with Dad in the services, we have moved A LOT, but my sister is a different story. I guess I can understand her being upset, but I'm just excited that we will be closer to Dad and I hate seeing Mom upset. Mom has had to take care of everything on her own a lot and never complains because she loves Dad and all of us so much. She moved us here 3 weeks ago so that she was closer to his base and to her sister and that's when Carly decided to become so delightful to deal with.

Coming out of the kitchen with two lunch sacks, Mom looked better. "Lets go, guys. Get in the car so that we are not late."

"Great! Another first day, I'm so excited!" Carly said sarcastically.

"You are right, Sis. We are really lucky to have this opportunity!" I quickly agreed. This earned me another glare from Carly and I just smirked back at her. We loaded up in Carly's car, a red Lexus IS250. She's so spoiled, but whatever it'll be my turn as soon as Dad is back from his mission.

KIM'S POV

I woke up to my alarm going off softly at 5:30 am. It wasn't that I wanted to get up this early on the first day of school so that I could look fabulous, I wish that was the reason. I woke up this early so that I could avoid Samantha, my mother (If you can call her that!), and David, her latest live-in boyfriend. I needed to take a shower, get completely ready, pack lunches, get the kids ready, and get all of us to our schools in time for me to not be late.

When I stood up, it hit me all over again. I remembered how bad the beating was last night as I stumbled across my floor and went into the bathroom to start my daily routine of covering up what my life was really like. I let the hot water roll down my back, it stung in some places but helped to relax my aching body. When I got out of the shower, I quickly got dressed in a purple tank top with a dark purple sheer over-shirt with long sleeves and a pair of black skinny jeans. This way I was completely covered so that no one would see my bruises, but wouldn't completely sweat to death either. I expertly covered all the visible bruises with makeup. It is really sad that I can actually cover up just about anything and still look natural.

I quickly made my way to each of my 3 siblings bedrooms and woke them all up. I woke up Kyle and Keith first. They are 5 year old identical twins who as different as day and night in personality. Kyle is a total sports nut. He may only be five, but already he plays soccer and softball and desperately wants to learn karate just like me. Keith is my little snugglebug. He is so creative and loves art. Keith woke up easily and knew to be quiet while getting ready. Kyle, on the other hand, was not so cooperative. He is not a morning person, but he quickly remembers that it's the first day so he jumps up because he can't wait to start kindergarten. I went to Kassie's room last. She is only 3 and she is my little peanut. I woke her up and got her dressed.

We all went downstairs together and I got them all cereal. I started coffee for Samantha and David. I packed lunches and snacks for each of the kids and myself. I heard footsteps upstairs and quickly washed all of the dishes.

"Come on guys, we have to go get in the car now. We don't want to be late." I told all of them.

"Kim, I'm still hungry." Kyle complained.

"Here, take this poptart and eat it in the car." I told him hurriedly.

"Ok, I guess that will work." Kyle answered.

"Grab your backpacks and lunches. I have everything you need in there for school today." I said.

"Thank you, Kimmy." They all said together.

I heard someone coming downstairs and I pushed the kids out the door to the garage. I quickly buckled Kassie up in her car seat and the boys got in their booster seats and buckled up fast, hearing the stress in my voice. I started up the Hyundai Sante Fe SUV, that is supposedly mine. This vehicle is really the only nice thing Samantha has gotten for me, but even it had severe consequences from David because she spent too much money on it for "a little tramp like me" that's what he always calls me. I would take whatever he dished out over this car though because it made it possible for me to take the kids to all of their activities and even keep them safe at times. As I backed out of the garage, David came out and yelled something that the kid's couldn't hear because I had my radio up already.

"Phew. We just made it in time," I said quietly under my breath.

Keith looked up at me through the rear view mirror with concern on his face. I know that they know what is happening to me even though I try to shield them from all of it. I don't want this to affect their childhood. If only our Dad was still alive, none of this would be happening. I miss him so much.

"Kimmy, are you okay?" Keith asked me.

"I'm fine. You know I always get a little nervous on the first day of school." I told my little brother as convincingly as I could.

"Ok. I just want to tell you thank you for taking such good care of us and I love you so much." Keith said so sweetly.

"I love you, too. You are my little snugglebug." I replied to Keith.

I pulled up to Kassie's preschool first. I came around the car and unbuckled her.

"Boys, I will be right back. Don't move." I told them and then quickly turned to grab Kassie's hand. I led her into the school. After I checked her in, I made sure that they had my cell phone as the emergency contact and reminded them that I would be there around 4:30 to pick her up. Thank God that they have an after school program here that I enrolled Kassie for, this gives me time to get Kyle to soccer and Keith to art class at the library. All of the ladies there knew me and were great about everything. I kissed Kassie on the head and she squeezed me tight.

"I'm a wittle scared, Kimmy! Do I look good enough? Will everyone like me in my new class?" Kassie asked quietely.

"Kass, you have a lot of the same kids in your group this year that you had last year at daycare. I made sure of it for you. I talked to Miss Lynn and arranged it that way. You look adorable and everyone loves you, especially me!" I told her and gave her another kiss on the top of her head, while I lead her into her classroom.

Kassie looked back at me and then one of her friends from last year ran up and told her how cute her dress was. With that, she smiled at me and ran off to play.

I ran back out to the boys and repeated this entire situation at the elementary school. I walked them to their classroom and gave their teacher, Mrs. Raines, all of their paperwork. I made sure she knew to contact me if she needed anything for the twins.

Once all of the kids were taken care of, I headed towards the high school. I quickly parked in my spot and spotted Grace, Julie, and Kelsey. I got out and they all ran over to me very excited.

"Hey, girly. I missed you so much while I was gone on vaca." Kelsey squealed.

"I missed you too. Did you have a nice trip? You look so nice and tan." I complemented her.

"Why thank you. It was amazing. I love the Caribbean and my parents pretty much let me lay out as much as I wanted. Look at you, Kim. You look amazing in that outfit. You are so lucky that your Mom lets you buy such nice clothes." Kelsey replied.

Grace quickly looked at me with an "I'm sorry" look in her eyes. Grace was my best friend and the only one who really knew what my life was like. I just smiled the best I could and grabbed Grace's arm and we all started to head to the school.

"So did you have a nice visit with your Aunt, Julie? We all missed you the last two weeks, too." Grace asked Julie trying to change the subject.

"I had a great time. She is so cool. She actually bought me this outfit for today. She told me she was sure that I could get a certain someone to notice me in it. I love having an Aunt that works in fashion in New York. We had a blast. She said that during Spring Break she would actually like to have all of us come and model in one of their teen line shows." Julie shouted.

"OMG," we all shouted back. I may like doing karate and am a bit of a tomboy at times, but I am a girl, too. It would be awesome to go to New York with my friends.

JACK'S POV

We pulled in to the parking lot and there were teenagers everywhere. I got out of the car and when I turned around I saw her. She was with a small group of girls. I don't know what it was that caught my attention, maybe the way the sun hit her honey blonde curls or the smile that I could see from all the way across the parking lot, but I knew I had to meet her.

"See you later, Carly. Have fun today." I told my sister as I headed towards the school.

"Where are you rushing off to? You don't even know anyone here." Carly spat back at me.

"Well I gotta start somewhere so I figured I would go introduce myself before first period." I told her.

"Fine, whatever. I will see you after school." Carly huffed.

I headed up to the group of girls and overheard one of them talking about them all being models in New York over spring break. I know just what to say to that, but I was beat by an average sized Latino kid with dark hair. He strolled up to all of them and threw his arms around two of them.

"How de do, ladies! Did I hear something about you lovely ladies doing some modeling? I am so lucky to have all of you fine honeys in my life." the guy stated.

"Really, Jerry! You are such a goof sometimes. Where are Milton and Eddie?" the gorgeous blonde smirked back.

I saw my opportunity and stepped up to their little group. "Hi. I'm Jack. I just moved here and wanted to introduce myself."

Just then two more guys walked up. A red headed gangly guy held out his hand to me, " I'm Milton. I was going to be your welcoming committee anyway so I'm glad that you found me. This is Eddie, Jerry, Kelsey, Julie, Grace, and Kim."

And now I had a name for her, sweet success! "Nice to meet you guys. So I'm dying to know what you guys do for fun around here." I asked.

And almost everyone of them answered in unison, "The Beach!" "And parties, of course," Jerry added.

Kim and the girl I believe he said was named Grace were having their own little conversation. I turned to look at them when a group of guys in black warm ups walked up. One grabbed Kim's arm and the other threw an arm around Grace's waist.

"What in the hell do you want, Frank?" Kim glared at the guy.

"Just wanted to tell you how nice you look today, Kim. Are you guys going to Brody's back to school beach bash tonight?" Frank asked her.

"Of course she's coming." another guy with a letterman's jacket on spouted off as he pushed Frank away from her and put his arm around her waist.

"Ok, guys. Enough is enough. I might be there and I might not. You will all just have to wait and see. The one thing I do know is that if one more of you puts your hands on me like you own me, I will break your arm." With that Kim shoved the jock's arm off of her and Grace did the same thing to the other idiot.

The jock wasn't fully convinced so he started poking her in the side playfully, but I saw a look in Kim's eye for just a second that looked like severe pain and then it went away. I wasn't sure, but it seemed like she was hiding something. The guy named Eddie stepped up to the idiots and said, "Listen,we don't want any trouble, but the girls want to be left alone."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the jock's fist head toward Eddie's face. I couldn't help myself so I put my hand out and caught his fist in midair. "You probably shouldn't have done that!" I said with a smirk.

"Holy Christmas Nuts," Milton yelled.

The jock looked at me in shock as well as everyone else, except for Kim. She had a gleam in her eyes and a small smirk of her own on her face. I couldn't help but feel excited by the fact that I had just made some points with this girl. The jock started to say something, but Kim quickly shut him up.

"Brody, Eddie's right we don't want any trouble and we really don't want your pretty little face to be all bruised up for your own party tonight. So leave us alone and Jack here won't have to use his karate on you," Kim's smile grew with her statement.

"Ok fine, but just this time. Jack, is it? You are new here so I will let this go this time, but don't ever get in my way again." He shouted at me like he was something.

I laughed quietly and said very sarcastically, "Yeah, sure, Man! I'll see you around."

I turned around just in time to see Kim and Grace walk off toward the school building. After all of this, I knew I had to get to know her better. Gorgeous and tough and she knew that I did karate. Impressive to say the least.

"Well that was exciting. We really need to get to the office and get your schedule, Jack. The bell will ring in a few minutes." Milton said trying to calm himself.

As we headed into the school, Kim turned her head around and smiled in my direction. "See you later, guys." she said quickly before disappearing into the building. Milton lead me to the office and luckily I had a lot of my morning classes with him so I wasn't late to any of them and didn't have to guess where to go or look at some lame map. We went to first period and Milton graciously sat in the back of the room with me. Right before the bell rang, Kim and Grace came in and sat in the empty lab table next to us. I can handle sophomore year with this girl around.

KIM'S POV

"What was that?" Grace asked me as we walked into the school.

"I don't know what you are talking about. " I stated with a smile growing on my face.

"You like him! Don't you? Kimberly Anne Crawford, just admit it!" Grace saw the smile across my face and let out a girly giggle. She couldn't keep a straight face and pretend to be mad at me, we had been through way too much together.

We continued to walk and she continued to tease me. We walked in to Chemistry and the only empty lab table just happened to be next to the interesting and slightly adorable new guy, Jack. Damn the luck. I thought as I looked back at Grace and she smacked me softly in the back. Even though she was very gentle, it still sent a sting of pain through my body. I tried to hide it on my face, hopefully no one will notice.

Mrs. Dugan came in and said, "Get out your lab books for today. We are going to do a very basic experiment today to review from Biology last year and see how much you remember. Now for this I need you to pair up into groups of 4 so that you can get everything done during the class time."

I looked over at the table next to us and nodded toward Milton and Jack. We were going to work together and this was going to be a fun class period. Jack and Milton, being the gentlemen that they are, brought their stools over to our table and we all started working.

"This will be a piece of cake with you and Milton together," Grace stated.

"Thank you, Grace. I don't think that it would have been all that difficult anyway." Milton clarified.

We actually got the experiment done really fast and filled out all of our worksheets so we spent the rest of the period just talking and getting to know Jack.

"So how long have you been doing karate, Jack?" I asked.

"All of my life, actually. My grandfather was Bobby Wasabi's sensei and trained him for all of his movies. I really want to get to the dojo that is here in town and see about signing up." Jack answered.

"Well isn't that interesting," Grace pointed out.

"Why do you say that, Grace?" Jack asked.

"That's where Kim and I train." Milton answered.

"Really? You guys both do karate there. That's awesome. When do you guys have practice next?" Jack said excitedly.

"We have practice every night right after school," I answered him quickly. Jack leaned in closer to me. I could feel his warm breath on my neck and it sent chills down my spine.

"How long have you been doing karate, Kim? What level are you at?" he asked practically whispering in my ear.

I turned my head slightly in his direction and melted into his eyes. They were chocolately brown and really intoxicating. "I have been doing karate for 10 years now. I am a 1st degree black belt, almost 2nd degree. My Dad was the one that got me started in it and I kind of became addicted. I'm sure you know what I mean. Right, Jack?" I answered him.

JACK'S POV

I was frozen listening to her. She was so close to me. I could feel her warm breath as she answered my question and I felt amazing sensations run through my body while she spoke to me, but what really got me were her gorgeous hazel eyes. I actually got lost in them and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to kiss her. We were so close that I would only have to lean forward about an inch and our lips would be touching. Of course, I couldn't do that because she barely knows me and we are in class. I would never cross lines like that, but I sure would love too.

"Jack, are you okay?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just listening to you. And I do know what you mean. When I started training with my Grandfather, I was really young and my mom continually told my Dad that she didn't think it was a good idea at such a young age; but once I had started, there was no stopping me." I told her. "Do you and your Dad still train together?"

"My Dad died around 4 years ago." Kim answered sadly.

"I'm really sorry. I mean… I wouldn't of…I'm sorry!" I stammered.

"It's okay. You didn't know. I miss him a lot, but I wouldn't have karate or my brothers and sister in my life if it wasn't for him. He was the best and I literally miss him terribly every day, but doing karate helps. It was our special father/daughter time for just the two of us and I will always cherish it. He took time out of his schedule every day to practice with me." Kim explained.

"That's amazing. He sounds like a great guy. I wish I could have met him. It sounds like he loved you all a lot. So tell me about your siblings." I continued.

"I have twin 5 year old brothers, Kyle and Keith, and a 3 year old sister, Kassie. Kyle is a sporty little guy and Keith is the polar opposite. He is really artsy. Kassie is my little princess. Them, the guys at the dojo, Grace, Julie, and Kelsey are my whole world." She told me.

"What about your Mom?" I asked.

"Samantha is more like a teenager than me most of the time. She is a model and travels all over the world so its kind of just me and the kiddos most of the time. The girls and guys help me out as much as they can." Kim explained almost coldly, but there was something else she wanted to say but she stopped herself for some reason.

"So is there anyone else in your life?"I questioned trying to find out if she had a boyfriend.

She smiled and answered quickly, "No not really unless you count Samantha's lastest live-in, David. No one else."

There was something about the way that she said his name that didn't sit well with me, but I tried to just brush it off for now. I looked into her eyes again and it was like time just stood still.

"So I hate to ask this, but I don't have my car yet. My Dad wanted me to wait and pick it out with him. Would you mind if I rode with you to the dojo after school? I'd really like to get started as soon as possible. My sister, Carly, won't want to take me over there. She's still furious about having to move for her senior year." I asked her and then shot her a pleading look with one of my famous smirks.

"I guess that would be fine, but I have to get out of here fast because I have to pick up the boys and get them to their programs so we can get to the dojo on time. They will love meeting you, especially Kyle. I will meet you at your locker as soon as last period is over." She told me.

YES! I thought to myself, even with munchkins it would be great to spend some more time with Kim. We were having this fabulous and kind of private conversation. Honestly, I had forgotten all about being in class and that Milton and Grace were setting here with us. I have met a lot of different girls at all of the schools I have been to, but I have never met anyone who instantly drew me in like Kim. Her ability to make me feel like we were the only two people on the planet was something I had never experienced before. When I realized that I hadn't spoken to or even acknowledged Milton or Grace in quite awhile, I felt bad and tried harder to include them in our conversation. Things were just so easy with Kim from the very beginning.

I leaned back and asked Milton some questions about his karate and Grace took the opportunity to steal Kim's attention. Right before the bell rang, Mrs. Dugan announced for us to turn in our papers and put our stools back where they belonged. We put everything back and gathered our stuff to head to our next class. I overheard Kim and Grace talking about how they were looking forward to French next period. This move has been the best thing that has ever happened to me, so far I have both 1st and 2nd period with Kim. I think my opinion toward French class has just drastically changed. The bell rang and we all headed out of class.