Phil was in the driveway working on his car when Kimi approached the Deville home in her light blue jogging suit. He was busy fixing something on the hood that he didn't even look up until she was right next to him. "Hey Phil," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "What's up Phil?"

His brown hair was matted to his forehead with sweat and so were his palms so he wiped them on his pants. His shirt was balled up on the grass nearby, but as Kimi looked at his chest she could see that he was developing a little six pack from working out in the gym once a week during the summer. Although Lil's tan she had gotten was fading away, Phil's was still gleaming.

He looks good. He looks really good.

"Nothing, just working on this old car for Ronny so that he can sell it," he replied, speaking of a new friend that he made after Tommy moved. Kimi noticed how he wasn't looking at her face, but her body. She smiled inside, knowing that it was her diet that made her look good.

What was wrong with her diet before? She ate whenever she was hungry and twice a month she would go work out at the spa. Wasn't that good enough? Did she really have to throw up what she ate to look good? Maybe all of this wasn't about looking good. Maybe she was doing this for attention.

"What are you looking at?" she asked him, cocking her head to the side and smiling.

Quickly he turned his attention back to the hood of the car. "Nothing," he said guiltily. "I'm just, checking the washer fluid—I mean making sure there's enough oil. I know you didn't come here to spend time with me though so—"

"How do you know I didn't come to hang out with you?" she asked him. She actually was surprised he was being so nice to her. She was sure that he knew about the incident with Lil and would be pissed off at her. Maybe, somehow, he didn't find out.

Phil ignored her question and instead asked, "Did you come here to apologize to Lil?" So much for him not knowing. Kimi couldn't tell if he sounded upset about it, or if he just didn't care. It sort of caught her off guard, but at the same time it was good that he reminded her her motive for being there.

"What if I just came to see you? I haven't even seen you around school." Kimi let Phil think his comment didn't faze her.

"But speaking of your sister, is she in the house?"

Phil grinned at her before putting his attention back on the car. "She went out for a little bit. She said she was going running on the beach or something."

Lil never runs, or at least she didn't use to. Of course that was before Hawaii. Kimi shook out her black hair. "Well, I'll just wait for her here," she said and then she smiled at him. "Well, I heard just about all of Lil's Hawaiian story. What about yours?"

"It was alright," he said without looking at her.

"Alright?" Kimi asked. "I mean come on, you were in Hawaii for Christ's sake. How was your dad's home?"

"It was nice," Phil said, "he was nice, Janine was cool I guess."

"Well, what did you do? Did you go surfing? Meet some new people? Phil come on."

"Listen, Kimi I don't want to talk about Hawaii," Phil snapped. "Just…go please. I need to get this done and you—you're just making this worse. I'll tell Lil you came by."

Kimi took a step back and stared at Phil in disbelief. What was his problem? Obviously something was bothering him. "Phil, if you're still upset about the divorce, I understand. I went through the same thing when my parents separated, but some things are under your control and this isn't."

"This isn't about that," Phil told her quietly. "This is about Lil, Tommy, and just…all of us. Lil's changed, Tommy's mad at me, and I feel so…overwhelmed now. I have so much responsibility now that Dad's gone, and I'm worried about Mom."

Kimi took a deep breath and stared at the back of Phil's sweaty neck. Something about him was so appealing to her. It was definitely going to be fun getting reacquainted with him. Then she shook her head and thought back to what Phil had said. He didn't need a girlfriend right now, but a friend. He needed someone to talk to.

Of course, in a way Kimi felt the same thing. Lil was a big problem of hers, Tommy was just as much of a problem, and everything seemed even worse with Kira and Chas separated. She really missed having Chuckie home. Exams would definitely be coming up, she had college to think about, cheerleading tryouts, and the whole shebang. He needed to find a therapy method. Kimi had already found hers.

"Why is Tommy mad at you?" she asked him.

"He thinks that before he moved we had something going on and he thinks I'm some type of traitor."

"Screw his bitch ass," Kimi said bitterly. "He gets on my nerves too. Lil's been bugging me too."

"Yeah well, I'm worried about her," he said, but before Kimi could ask more you could hear footsteps on the sidewalk. Kimi looked up and saw Lil running towards them, her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"I'll talk to you later Phil," Kimi said, placing her hands on her hips and walking towards the end of the driveway to meet Lil. She could tell that Lil's face had a mixture of anger and surprise on it, probably because Kimi had the nerve to come by.

"What do you want?" Lil asked her when she came up to her.

"I want to apologize," Kimi said. "I'm sorry for the things I said in class to you. Those things…it should've just stayed between us. Besides, most of it was lies anyway."

Lil scratched her head. "I know. I talked to Tommy."

"Yeah well, that's why I came by," Kimi said uncomfortably. Was that really all Lil was going to say? She wasn't going to apologize back? After all, she was the one who started it. She crossed her arms over her chest and then looked back at Phil. "Your brother looks really good. I wish we did have something going on back in the day."

Lil laughed. "He spent most of his time away from home in Hawaii. I barely saw him myself. I think he was secretly hooking up with this girl there, but I didn't have enough evidence."

"He's just upset," Kimi said seriously. "He has a lot going on, and he doesn't know how to handle it all. I guess he wishes your dad was still around."

Lil rolled her eyes. "Man Kimi, he really needs to get over that," she said and then followed it with an annoyed sigh. "He thinks he has a lot going on. Well, what about me? My mom isn't a very good role model right now. I keep telling him that Dad is remarried; he can't come back even if he wanted to. Of course, I know he doesn't want to. He'd better be glad they aren't fighting anymore."

"It must just be hard for him. I know it was hard for you."

"I'm just glad they aren't fighting like they used to. It's more peaceful now that they're divorced. Yeah, I miss having Dad around, but I got over it. Dad is over it. Mom is over it. The only person we're waiting on is my brother."

Kimi decided to change the subject. "So, do you have the routine memorized for cheerleading tryouts tomorrow?" Kimi asked her.

Lil shook her head. "I'm not doing it. I want to spend most of my time with Tommy instead of two hours of practice after school. It's really a waste of time anyway."

"It's not a waste of time," Kimi argued. "Don't put it down just because you aren't doing it. In fact, you used to be more excited about it then I was before your jackass of a boyfriend came back."

"Kimi," Lil said, "let's not start this. You know what, I have homework tonight and then I'm going to shower and go to bed. I'm really tired and…I don't want to argue with you again."

Kimi looked back at Phil before she looked at her friend. "Okay Lil, you're right. I'll see you tomorrow."

Without saying another word Kimi walked back to the direction of her house. Sometimes Lil wasn't even worth anything but two dead flies crushed in a windowsill.


Author's Note: I am so sorry it took me so long to update. This chapter has just been sitting on my computer for the longest time because I swear I thought I had updated. I am so sorry about everything.

Benji's Riot Gurl: I would love for you to help me out with some of this. I looked on your profile page for your email a while ago and I didn't see it and then I had to remember what your name thingy was. My email is or Thanks so much for your offer.