CHAPTER 1

I never thought I'd see the day when Jack lost a fight. I mean the kid's like a karate machine; he usually picked up stuff nearly twice as fast as me. I would never say it to his face, but he's got talent. Today started out normal enough…

I walked through the door of our dojo and immediately heard a loud crash. I sighed and hurried to the sparring room to see what Brantley broke this time. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the kid to death, but sometimes I wonder how many times the poor sap was dropped on his head. Just last week, Sensei just about had a heart attack when Brantley completely 'redecorated' his office. Let's just say, Sensei's still finding Japanese wood beetles and cotton candy everywhere.

I finally reached the sparring room, and I froze in shock in the doorway as I took in the scene before me. I saw Jack's grandfather, who also happened to be known as Sensei, in a defensive stance next to a gaping hole in the wall. Brantley was staring, wide-eyed, at the nun-chucks in his hand. I bet my bunnies that his so called 'deadly weapons' made that hole.

I could see that at any moment, Sensei was going to turn around and kick Brantley out of the dojo. So, being the good person that I am, I chose that moment to walk in.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I said brightly, flipping my long, wavy blonde hair over my shoulder.

Sensei turned to acknowledge me, momentarily distracted, so I glanced at Brantley, silently urging him to get his butt out of here.

As Brantley somewhat quietly scuttled to the locker room, Sensei bowed and said, "Ah, Kimberly, welcome to today's practice of martial arts."

Well, that's Sensei for you. He could probably kill a man with his thumb, but he was oblivious as a little kid.

"So, what are we going to do today?" I asked, after returning the bow.

"Well, I had planned for a couple of sparring sessions, but one of the students from my private classes wishes to join us. So, out of courtesy, we are going to welcome him into our class for today," he answered, just as Jack walked in.

"Oh we get a new kid? Looks like Kim gets to get beat up by a rookie today," he said, his eyes sparkling with humor.

I glared at him and punched him in the stomach, hard.

"Geez, Kim I was just kidding," he gasped as he doubled over.

"Oh man up, Jack."

"Children, children," Sensei interrupted before Jack had a chance to flip me, "I see that misunderstanding has clouded your minds, for this 'rookie' as you call him is a first-degree black belt."

"Finally, some competition!" I exclaimed with a pointed look at Jack.

"Ouch, that hurts right here," he said, pointing at his chest.

"Where? Your non-existent abs?" I said innocently, pretending to examine my nails.

"Oh that's it! When I get my hands on you-" Jack started towards me, but Sensei chose that moment to clap his hands and say, "Let's start warming up, my pupils."

I got a this-isn't-over glare from Jack as he moved into position. I happily stuck my tongue out at him before I did a couple of back walkovers to stretch out a kink in my spine.

Just as I straightened up, a kid with longish blond hair walked through the door with an arrogant smirk on his face. For some strange reason, this kid looked familiar, although I couldn't for the life of me place a name to his face.

He noticed me looking at him and winked before turning to Sensei. I felt my cheeks heat up and hoped no one had noticed.

Just then Jack looked up with an astonished look on his face, "Kai?"

" 'Sup Jack," Kai said with his smirk still plastered on his face, "Looks like I get to beat your butt today."

Suddenly, I remembered where I'd seen him and his arrogant smirk before. As everyone knows, I've known Jack pretty much since birth; so naturally, I've been to plenty of family dinners with him. A couple years ago, I was invited to one of his family's huge blow-out Thanksgiving dinners.

I knocked on his door and impatiently tapped my foot while waiting. That boy could really annoy a girl sometimes.

When he finally opened the door, he gave me a grin and said in a horrible British accent, "Right this way, m'lady. Allow me to escort you through our five-star establishment."

"Can it, Jack," I said laughing. I nestled my hand in the crook of his arm anyway as he 'led' me toward the dining room.

Since this was the first Thanksgiving I've spent at the Anderson household, I wasn't prepared at all when I walked into the formal dining room. In all the years I've known Jack and his family, I have not once seen them sit down to eat in their formal dining room, but apparently Thanksgiving was another matter.

The whole room (which was like HUGE) was decked out in fancy Thanksgiving decorations. There were straw scarecrows, fresh pumpkins, and a bunch of other stuff that I couldn't begin to describe all laid out in strategic locations.

I immediately recognized Mrs. Anderson's work. It seemed like she had a natural talent for world of art and design. It just wasn't fair, I was hopeless at anything vaguely related to art.

But, the decorations weren't what caught my attention. In the middle of the room, there was a huge, beautiful mahogany table with every kind of Thanksgiving food imaginable on it.

"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies," Jack said, grinning, clearly enjoying my shocked reaction.

I couldn't help smiling at that, well I was smiling more at the delicious looking food, but no need to tell him that.

I was just about to 'sample' some of the pecan pie when I heard a voice calling my name from behind me.

"Now, I just know that Kim would've known better then to dig her sticky little fingers into my fresh, homemade pie," Mr. Anderson scolded, with a stern finger pointed at me and a mock look of disapproval on his face.

"What? Me? I wouldn't dream of it," I said, faking surprise. "I was just looking."

"Well look in the other direction, missy," Jack's dad said laughing. He held out his arms and exclaimed, "And while you're busy NOT looking at my food, come give me a hug!"

I grinned and hugged him, breathing in the smell of fresh baked bread that clung to his apron.

"Dad! Kim gets a hug, but your own son doesn't? That doesn't sound right," Jack said, pouting.

"Get in here, son," Mr. Anderson said smiling.

I pulled away after a couple of seconds, and Mr. Anderson went back into the kitchen to get the turkey out of the oven.

I looked around the sea of people and suddenly felt intimidated. I couldn't see Jack anywhere and his comfortably familiar house had taken on an unfamiliar air. I finally forced my way to the table and caught a glimpse of Jack talking to a guy with blonde hair by the giant scarecrow. I made my way over to them.

Just as I walked up, I heard the other guy snort rudely and say, "You're still that little weakling that I used to beat up, Jacky."

"Yeah, well why don't you give yourself a chance and walk away before this gets messy?" Jack shot back with a determined look on his face.

The guy just gave Jack a nasty grin before flicking a piece of bread into his hair.

Naturally, I chose this moment to walk up and confront him. "Seriously dude, buzz off."

"Awwh, did little Jacky finally get a girlfriend?" Blondie snarled.

Jack immediately blushed but I just smiled sweetly at him. Right before bringing my hand out from behind my back and smashing a cupcake to his face.

"Lay off my friend," I snapped before grabbing Jack's arm and pulling him away.

"Who was that?" I whispered as soon as we were out of earshot.

"Oh him? Don't worry about it, it was just my cousin, Kai. He's all talk."

"Well, I don't think he'll be talking anytime soon," I said with a wink.

Jack laughed as he directed me back to the table, where he pulled out my chair and said in his British accent, "After you, m'lady."

"Why I'd be honoured, good sir," I grinned as I sat down.

I haven't thought about Kai in a couple of years, but seeing him brought back the memory of that Thanksgiving. I smiled as I remembered the look on his face when he was covered in icing. But, my smile immediately faded when I saw the cruel gleam for blood in Kai's eyes.

I involuntarily flinched when he glanced at me and hurried to prep Jack for his fight. I knew he'd never warm up right unless I was breathing down his neck.

I walked up to Jack, who was madly trying to get last minute practice in.

"For goodness' sake Jack, calm down!" I yelled as I narrowly dodged a flying spin kick.

"Sorry Kim but I have to win this, or I'll never live it down."

"Come on Jack, you know you got this. You're not half-bad and way better than your sorry excuse for a cousin," I said while handing him a water bottle.

He looked at me in surprise, because that was the closest I've ever come to admitting that he was some-what good at karate.

"Um thanks Kim," he said, still astonished, "Who knew that you could be nice once in a while?"

I grinned and punched him lightly on the shoulder before I said, "Don't get used to it, buddy."

"I knew it was too good to be true," he said, winking, before he got on the practice mat and faced Kai.

While they outlined the rules of their match, I decided to spar with one of the other students.

"Hey Riley, do you want to do a quick one?" I asked, gesturing toward an empty practice mat.

His eyes lit up with childish anticipation as he faced me on the mat. We both bowed and struck a ready pose. "You know I'm going to beat you, Crawford," he said, using my last name.

"We all know that's not true Riley," Grace, a tall brunette, said smirking.

I gave him a quick smile before I launched myself at him. It felt like it took a couple of minutes, but a fight is usually over in seconds. We ended up in our usual position, him face down on the mat with my foot on his back, holding him down.

"Fine! I give up! Just get off of me, you evil little girl!" he muttered. His voice was muffled by the mat, and I laughed before I removed my foot. He accepted the hand I held out and pulled himself to his feet.

"You know, one day, I'm going to beat you," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Keep dreaming Romeo," I smirked as I reached up and ruffled his jet-black hair.

"Hey! Not the hair," he exclaimed as he frantically smoothed it down. "And you know just because I like this one girl doesn't mean you have to call me Romeo."

"First of all, a more accurate word is obsessed, and second, you know you love it," I said as I bumped his shoulder with mine.

He made a face at me as we walked over to the sparring mat that Kai and Jack were sparring on.

As we walked up, the match started. At first, it seemed that Jack had the upper hand because he was tirelessly throwing punch after punch while Kai was doing nothing but avoiding them. But, after a couple more seconds of this I realized that Kai was getting used to Jack's fighting style. My hypothesis was proven correct when Kai suddenly caught Jack's kick and pushed his foot back, sending him stumbling backwards off the mat. He barreled right into me, knocking me into the lockers. I hit them with a loud CLANG and sat down hard, completely winded.

Riley pulled me up and supported me while I caught my breath. By the time my vision cleared, I saw Jack hurl himself at Kai. Kai was calmy standing there, waiting for Jack to come at him. I involuntarily gasped as Kai caught Jack's kick and used his momentum to flip him onto the mat. I automatically reached up to my neck and rubbed my good-luck necklace. Kai still had Jack's leg in his grasp, so he twisted it and pushed down.

I could see the pain in Jack's eyes as Kai pushed harder. By now I was furious, no true martial arts master fought with pain as his weapon. I was just about to go in there and drop-kick Kai into next week when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over and saw Sensei watching the match with a calm, slightly curious expression.

"We must let Jack overcome this alone."

Even though I hated to admit it, he was right. If I interrupted this match, Jack would never forgive me. Reluctantly, I nodded and nervously bit my bottom lip as I turned back to the mat. Jack was still struggling under Kai's iron grip. He raised his head and his eyes met mine for a quick moment.

Suddenly, Jack pushed himself up with his arms and swung his other leg around, knocking Kai's legs out from under him. He lost his balance and fell to the mat with a loud thump.

Happiness overcame me as it occured to me that Jack had won. I was just about to run onto the mat and congratulate him, when Kai grabbed Jack's foot and pulled it out from under him. Kai quickly got up and landed on top of Jack, holding him down for a full five seconds, the required time for someone to instantly win.

I stood there open-mouthed with shock, along with the rest of the dojo. Sensei just looked disappointed as he struck the gong that signaled the end of the match.

Jack quickly struggled out from Kai's death hold and clambered up, a look of utter-disbelief on his face.

"Congratulations Kai, that round goes to you," Sensei announced as he shook Kai's hand. "Now both of you close the match."

Kai had a triumphant look on his face as he bowed and looked around the dojo with a newly gained air of supremacy. Jack managed a quick bow and hobbled off toward the locker rooms. I finally recovered from the initial shock and intercepted him before he could make it to the door.

"Jack! You were gr-" I started to say before I looked up at his face.

His eyes were full of humiliation, pain, and something I've never seen on his face in the fourteen years that I have known him. Defeat. Utter defeat.

"He beat me Kim, nobody's ever beaten me in a formal match before," he said with a disheartened glance back in Kai's direction.

"Really Jack? 'Cause I clearly remember beating you yesterday," I said with a small smile on my face.

"Yeah, right." Even though he acted like the Jack that I knew and loved, I could tell that he wasn't going to let this one go for a while.

So, I decided to cheer him up by treating him to his favorite food. "Okay, why don't you go change and after that we can go to Harry's Burgers? I'll pay!" I offered, with a reassuring smile on my face.

"Nah, I actually don't feel like food right now. I think I'm going to go home," he said before turning around and entering the locker room.

I tried not to feel too hurt, because I knew that he probably needed some time alone. I sighed and headed out, grabbing my bag on the way to the door.


Hey guys! I had a lot of fun writing this story, and I hope you'll like it too! Anyone catch my movie reference? If you did, I salute you and your Disney knowledge! Until next time, review!

-Courtney(: