Hey guys! I hope you like this story. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Kickin' It, but I sure wish I did.
Jack was late. Of course, he hadn't meant to be this late, but the karate tournament had run over an hour after it was supposed to end because he and the Black Dragon Dojo's champion—not that Jack would call him that—Carson kept on fighting. Neither of them wanted to forfeit, seeing that whichever dojo won got the championship trophy, and the tournament had to have a winner. So, finally, after an hour of going head to head with Carson, Jack had finally flipped him off the mat. He didn't know how he still had the energy to do the flip. After an hour of sparring, Jack was dead tired. But the Wasabi Warriors had won the match, and seeing those happy looks on his friend's faces was worth the sore muscles. The only bad part about it was that Kim wasn't there to accept the trophy with them. Instead, she was at a mandatory football game. If she wasn't at the game, she'd be kicked off the team. The rest of the Warriors knew how much cheerleading meant to Kim, so they had told her to go to the game. After the tournament, the gang had gone out for ice cream to celebrate their victory. After that, the boys had gone their separate ways. This meant that Jack had to get home to go to his sister's piano recital. However, Rudy had a date, so he had asked Jack to stop by dojo to double check if it was locked, and Jack had agreed. Rudy had an annoying habit of forgetting to do really important things. So even though he was sore, tired, and late, Jack had to check on the dojo. He'd promised Rudy, and when Jack Brewer promises something, he always, under every circumstance, keeps that promise. That's what his grandfather taught him, the Wasabi Code: We swear by the light of the dragon's eye, to be loyal and honest and never say die.
On his way to the dojo, his thoughts wandered to Kim. Where was she right now? What was she doing? Was she alright? Although the blonde had told him not to worry about her, he still worried. He had noticed that his friend hadn't been herself lately. She kept getting lost in thought, punched the practice dummies more vigorously than usual, and disappeared after practice instead of hanging out at Falafel Phil's with them like she usually did. However, whenever Jack asked about it, she always brushed him off, saying that it was nothing. But it was something. Jack knew his best friend well, and he knew there was something bothering her. If only he could get her to tell him…
Lost in thought, Jack fiddled with the door of the dojo. Yep, it was locked. Huh, strange. He didn't think Rudy had remembered to lock it. But no time to wonder about that now. He still have to get home, change, and rush to his sister's recital. There was still enough time to make it if he left right now. His sister's recital started in half an hour. Luckily, her teacher's house was close to his own house. As Jack turned to leave, something caught his eye. Slowly, Jack turned 180 degrees to face the door of the dojo. Yep. It was still there. Why was there light streaming out from under the door of the girl's locker room? Sighing, Jack decided to check it out, giving himself less than five minutes to do it. If it was a burglar, he'd just knock the guy out quick and run all the way home. Using the keys Rudy had given him, Jack quietly unlocked the door and let himself in. He crept across the room and knocked on the locker room door. He heard a tiny squeak of surprise and the light turned off. Great. Now Jack couldn't see anything.
Jack knocked again. This time, nothing happened. Could he have imagined the whole thing? No, Jack decided. He was tired, but not that tired. Jack tried one more time, this time, adding, "Hello? It's Jack." He waited a minute, then heard some shuffling inside the locker room. The lights turned on, and the door opened, revealing one blonde girl who looked like she had been crying. Kim.
"Kim? What are you doing here? Are you okay? What's wrong?" Jack flooded his friend with questions.
Kim opened her mouth to speak, but instead of words, she began to sob. All thoughts of his sister's piano recital flew out of Jack's head. "Kim? What's wrong?" He opened his arms, and she threw herself into them, sobbing like crazy. Jack gathered his friend in his arms and took her to the bench in the dojo. After putting her down, he walked over to the control panel and switched on the main lights. Then, he walked back to the locker room and turned off that light. Finally, he sat on the bench with Kim, holding her in his arms, letting her cry. The dojo was silent, except for Kim's sobs.
Finally, Kim's cries died down, and she looked up at him. "Thanks for sitting through all that, Jack." she sniffed. "I needed it. Thanks for being there for me. Sorry for getting your shirt wet."
Her best friend smiled. "Of course. Anything for you, Kim." Then his expression changed. "Kim, will you tell me what's wrong?"
Kim sighed, then nodded, but she stayed silent. Not wanted to push her, Jack stayed silent as well. After ten minutes, Kim finally spoke up. "At the game today..." she trailed off. "Wait, no. That's not a very good place to start. Where to start this story?" she asked herself.
Jack gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Why don't you start from the beginning? For several weeks, you haven't been yourself. What caused it? I'm guessing it has something to do with all this." He gestured around himself and Kim.
Kim scrunched up her face as she thought about his question. "Well…I guess it started when I heard the rumor."
Jack simply said, "Which one?"
"The one about Brett dating another girl. I heard it from Grace, so I confronted Brett about it. He was hurt that I didn't trust him. He promised he would never do something like that to hurt me. And I thought about it, and I came to the conclusion that Brett wouldn't. So I tried to ignore my gut feeling."
"You have a gut feeling?" Jack interrupted. "What did it say?"
Kim rolled her eyes. "Jack, everyone has a gut feeling. And I felt that Brett was lying. At first, I didn't want to believe it, but after a while, I just had to know. So I sneaked around, trying to see if the rumor was true. But nothing happened. So I ignored the uneasy feeling I had. But a week later, I accidently caught Brett and Lindsay kissing at her locker. I was shocked. I was crushed. Since they hadn't seen me, I ran to the bathroom as fast as I could as the tears began to fall. Brett lied to me. He lied to me, Jack. And I was heartbroken."
Jack clenched his teeth. He could feel anger rising up in him. Brett had lied to his best friend and had broken her heart. He couldn't wait to pummel that jerk. No one messes with Kim Crawford without messing with Jack Brewer as well. Kim was Jack's friend, and he was going to defend her. He was going to make Brett pay for what he did.
"Jack? Jack? Are you listening?" Kim's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Jack? Hello? Anyone home?"
Her friend snapped back into focus, unclenching his teeth. "Huh? Oh, sorry. Go on. Why didn't you break up with Brett after you found out?"
"Because, I didn't want to believe it! I didn't want our relationship to end. I convinced myself that I had imagined it. And in the end, I believed that it was just a dream. But today, at the football game, I was on my way out onto the field to congratulate Brett on making the winning point. Just as I almost reached him, Lindsay ran up to him. He hugged her, picked her up, spun her around, and put her back onto the ground before kissing her. It was only until after they separated that he noticed me. And when he did, he didn't even bother to look guilty. All he said was—was—" Kim took a deep breath.
Jack gently rubbed her shoulders. "It's ok, Kim. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
Kim shook her head. "No, I want to tell someone about it. It feels good to finally let someone know." Kim took another deep breathe. "All he said was, 'Oh, hey, Kim. I was going to tell you earlier, but I didn't have time before the game. We're done.' My brain couldn't even process what he just said. I asked him what he meant, and he replied, 'It's over, Kim. I'm with Lindsay now.' I kind of broke down when I heard those words. I yelled at the boy standing in front of me, screaming hateful words at him, letting all my hurt and anger roll out of me. I didn't even care that I was making a scene. Finally, I collapsed on the field, too weak to move or say another word. Brett didn't even say good-bye to me. He just left me sitting on the football field and leisurely strolled away with Lindsay."
"Wow, Kim. I'm so sorry."
Kim sighed. "That's not even the worst part. As they were walking away, I heard Brett tell Lindsay that that she owed him five bucks. It turned out that Lindsay and Brett had never broken up. Lindsay had bet that Brett couldn't persuade me to go out with him and then break my heart. Brett said he could do it, and, well, I guess he did." Kim was silent for a moment, then growled in frustration. "That guy is such a jerk!"
"I know, I know, Kim. It's alright," Jack said, trying to sound calm. But inside, he was a raging monster. How could the jerk mess with his friend's feelings like that? Kim was more than his friend. She made him better. Wait. What? Why did he think that? Ok, alright, it's true. She did bring out the best in him. And maybe he had just a tiny crush on her. Maybe that's why he always teased Kim about her having a crush on him—because he had a crush on her. I'm so confused! Jack thought to himself. But he didn't want to say anything to Kim. What if she didn't feel the same way? He didn't want to ruin their friendship!
"And after a while," Kim's voice once again brought Jack back to the present. He really needed to start paying better attention to his best friend. "Grace tried to cheer me up, but I shrugged her off and ran here. The door was unlocked—"
"Ah-ha!" Jack cried out. "I thought it was strange that Rudy had remembered to lock the door!"
Kim glared at her friend, and he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Please go on."
"—so I locked the door and locked myself in the locker room, where I cried some more. I must have fallen asleep, because next thing I knew, someone was knocking on the door. I freaked out. I didn't know who it was, so I quickly turned off the lights and stayed quiet. I was so scared!" Kim gave Jack an accusatory glance.
"Sorry, Kim. I didn't know it was you. In my defense, I thought someone broke into the dojo or something. Sorry that I scared you."
Kim gave him a crooked smile. "You're forgiven, Jack. So yeah, that's what's wrong."
Jack was quiet for a moment.
"Jack?"
He looked up. "Yeah Kim?"
"Aren't you going to say anything? You practically begged me to tell you what was wrong, and now you're not saying anything. Maybe I should have told you!" Kim said, getting worked up again.
"Kim, calm down. I'm just thinking."
"About what?"
"About how cute you look when you get mad." He smirked, letting her know he was joking.
"Jack!" she yelled, punching his arm.
"Ow! Kim!"
She narrowed her eyes. "Still think I'm cute when I'm mad?"
Jack quickly shook his head. "I was really thinking about how my fist has an appointed in Brett's face."
"Really?" Kim asked sarcastically. "When?"
"First thing tomorrow," Jack answered innocently. "You like?" He looked at Kim for approval.
The blonde shook her head. Jack's face fell. Kim spoke up. "No, it can't be at school. You'll get in trouble, Jack! Besides, his face will heal rather quickly from that appointment. I want to leave a mark that will last longer."
Jack's face lit up at her words. "I like that idea. It's time for revenge! Watch out Brett! Here we come! Wait, what are we doing? And can my fist please still keep its appointment? But maybe not first thing tomorrow?"
Kim smirked. "Alright, Jack, but just this once."
Jack punched his fist into the air. "Yes! Oh! I have an idea! What if we get him to come to the dojo? We could do something there. I'm sure Rudy and the guys won't mind…"
"Great idea. What do we do?"
"Well, I can make him angry enough to challenge me to a spar here at the dojo. I know how to make him mad. He knows karate, of course, since he used to be with the Black Dragons. And he will challenge me, because he's the type of guy that doesn't know when to back off. Then, we can spar, and after I beat him up, you can make your move, which will be…?" Jack trailed off when he saw a distant look in his friend's eye. He laughed and watched Kim's head pop up in alarm.
"What is it?" she asked, looking up at him.
He smirked. "Looks like I'm not the only one who likes to daydream when others talk. Did you hear a word I said?"
Kim gave him a guilty look. "Sorry, Jack. What did you just say?" Jack repeated his plan for her. After a moment, she said, "That's perfect, Jack! And I can film the whole thing. But you have to be cool about it. I don't want people blaming you for beating him up. After the match, you make sure he's still up for a fight, because I'd like to beat that jerk up myself. You record our spar, and we can post the whole thing on the internet!"
Jack held out his hand. "Alright, Kim. It's a deal." The two shook on it.
"Thanks for helping me with this, Jack," Kim said, leaning in a bit closer.
Her best friend smiled. "I'm always here for you, Kim." He locked eyes with her. Neither of them moved away. She's so cute. Jack thought. She's so cute, funny, nice, awesome, tough…the list goes on and on and on. She makes him feel complete. She makes him feel special. She makes him feel something that no one else makes him feel. Kim's…perfect. Jack leaned in a bit closer, and closed the gap. Their lips met. Jack felt Kim stiffen, and he pulled away. What had he done?
Jack looked down. What if he had just ruined their friendship forever? What if she hated him?
That's when he felt Kim's hands on his chin, lifting his face up to met hers, forcing him to look into her eyes once more. He did not see hatred. Instead, her eyes were shinning.
Kim kissed him.
So what did you think? Please review! :) Thanks for reading!