Hey, guys! I'm so sorry I was MIA for a few days-I know a lot of you were asking me to update already, so here it is. Hope you like this chapter! Credits to IfSacrificesWereEasy for suggesting that I include a POV of one of the gang.

A week later…. Jack's POV

Kim opens the envelope we found in her mailbox, and I watch her as she reads the letter.

"What did they say?" I ask her. Please, let them say that she can stay here.

Wordlessly, she hands the letter to me. I unfold it carefully.

Kim,

This is such amazing news! I am so proud of you. Your dad and I both want you to know that we are thrilled for you. I'm giving you my permission to stay in Japan- if you decide to, we'll just send your belongings to you. In the end, though, it's your choice whether you want to take the scholarship or not. Whatever decision you make, we will support you all the way. I believe in you, honey, and I know for sure that you'll make the right decision. Try not to worry about it too much, and I know this will sound cheesy, but follow your heart, okay? Don't turn the scholarship down just because you're worried about us.

I look up from the letter. "What does she mean by 'worried about us'?" I ask Kim.

"Oh, my dad lost his job last month, so I've been working a few jobs after school to help support my family, and my little sister in particular. Without that money, my little sister will have to quit her dance classes." She replies, looking down.

"Oh." I nod in understanding and sympathy. "I know how you feel." I go back to reading the letter.

We'll be fine, I promise. Remember, when there's a will, there's a way. Try and enjoy your time in Japan, okay, hun? I love you. Oh, and your sister drew you a picture. It should be in the envelope.

Lots of love, Mom.

I hand the letter back to Kim, who exchanges a small piece of paper for it. I unfold the paper. On it is a pencil sketch of Kim doing a roundhouse kick, and beside her, a little girl doing a pirouette. Both drawings look very lifelike.

"Your sister drew these?" I hold up the paper. Even though I've been to Kim's house countless times, I've never actually met her sister. Weird, huh? It's because she's almost always out of the house, I guess. Kim nods. "Wow, she's talented." Kim nods again. "You okay?" I ask, noticing how she's still looking down. Something's bothering her.

"I'm fine." She sighs heavily.

"No, you're not. I know you better than that. What's bugging you?"

She sighs again. "I really want to take this scholarship. Karate means everything to me. But so do my family, and the gang, and the Bobby Wasabi Dojo, and Seaford. I would accept in an instant, but… I don't know. It's like I can't, because my family and friends back in Seaford need me. I can't help but remember that each and every time someone asks me if I'm going to accept or not." A silent tear rolls down her cheek, and she wipes it away angrily.

Oh. "Kim, you've gotta stop worrying. Sometimes, you just have to go your own way. Anyways, if you keep on overthinking this, it's not going to help anything. Come on, let's go get a waffle or something." I stand up, but she doesn't move. "Chocolate chips….?" I tempt her. "Maple syrup… Sprinkles… Come on, you know you want to."

"Oh, all right." She gives in. "You win. Let's go."

Jerry's POV

Mmm… yummy waffle. Uh oh, I think I'm turning into Eddie. I take another crunchy bite of the waffle, and see Jack and Kim heading towards me with their own waffles. They're walking really close together- what's up with that?

"Hey, chica! Hey, Jack." I say, around a mouthful of waffle. This is the fifth waffle I've had in the last three hours. I think I'm addicted, but you can't really blame me. I've never tasted anything that swag before.

"Hi, Jerry." Jack says, but he's not looking at me. He's looking at Kim. Rude much, yo.

"Hey, Jerry. What's up?" Kim watches me as I wolf down the rest of my waffle.

"Have you noticed how many hot girls there are here? I'm gonna get me a Japanese girlfriend!" I tell them.

"I guess you're back to normal, then, Jerry." Kim smiles, and tucks her hair behind her ear.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I glance at her, quizzically.

"You're gonna hit on girls again. You haven't done that in months." She replies.

I stare at her blankly. She sighs. "Never mind."

Again, I notice how close together they're standing. I watch as their arms brush against each other for a brief second. Their eyes meet, then Kim quickly down. A second later, Jack looks away, too. He also coughs, and it's not the sick kind of cough. Then, Kim glances back at Jack, who also looks back at her. This time, they don't look away. Okay… that's confusing. What's going on here…? Why are they acting like that?

"Hey, what's up with you two?" I question. Might as well.

They abruptly end their staring contest.

"N-nothing." Kim shakes her head, a blush starting to creep onto her cheeks.

"What do you mean, what's up with us?" Jack asks.

"You guys are acting a little weird." I raise my eyebrows, smoothly. It's even pretty obvious to me that they're acting weird, and I even know I'm always confused. Wait, did that even make sense?

"No, we're not." Kim tilts her head to the side, and laughs really loudly. A few seconds later, the fake smile disappears from her face instantly. Something's bugging me about that laugh. Fake, that's what it was. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, just the fact that you guys are acting really weird."

"Okay…." Jack says. "We're not, but anyways, look, Jerry, there's a hot girl for you to hit on!" He points to a tall redhead.

The two of them are forgotten as I race over to the girl and introduce myself, Jerry style. She looks really familiar….

Jack's POV

Kim and I watch as Jerry goes to make a fool out of himself in front of Sam.

"Wasn't that sort of mean, Jack? Directing his attention to a girl who's very obviously out of his league?" Kim giggles. Whoa, Kim's giggling. That's a first.

"I guess. But he was going to do it eventually." I say.

"True." Kim nods. "Let's go somewhere else. I don't really feel like watching Jerry get rejected. It's almost… sad, how often it happens."

"Yeah." I agree, then I have an idea. "Hey, do you still use my skateboard?"

"Uh huh, I brought it with me. Why?"

"You wanna come skateboarding with me?" I suggest.

She bites her lip, then smiles."Sure. I bet you I'm almost as good as you now."

We start walking to the dorm rooms.

"I doubt it."

"You'll see."

"No, I really doubt it."

"No, I really think I'm as good as you."

"Nah. There's no way you can be. You've been skating for, what, three months?"

"Six!"

"Fine. But I still don't think you're as good as me."

"I'll prove it."

Kim's POV

Jack and I spend the last half hour of our afternoon free time trying to beat each other at skateboarding tricks. In the end, he was able to do more than me. I guess I'm not as good as him yet, but the day will come when I am.

It's around eight fifteen in the evening now. I wander through the quiet hallways of the student dorms. This floor is quieter than the floor above my room. They're always playing loud music and sometimes, it even sounds like a horde of elephants are up there. Talk about party animals.

I walk past the room Rudy and Milton are sharing, then stop and backtrack when I hear Rudy's voice.

"No, you can't evict me! I promise, I have the rent right here. I'll pay it as soon as I get back." He sounds pretty stressed. There's silence for a moment, and I'm about to move on, when he starts talking again.

"Please, please, please, I'm begging you. I may not be the best tenant, but I desperately need to keep this dojo. It means the world to me and my students."

What I'm getting from this is, the mall owner wants to kick us out of the dojo because Rudy's not paying rent.

"Let me scrape together enough money, and-" He pleads, but is cut off by the person on the other end of the line. "No, you don't understand, I really can't-"

A few more minutes pass, with Rudy trying several tactics- begging, pleading, asking nicely, even threatening- to try to convince the person on the other end that he has enough money to pay the rent, as long as he's given enough time. In the end, Rudy wins. He hangs up the phone with a loud groan that I can hear through the door.

"Where am I going to get that money?" He mutters to himself.

I start walking again, passing by Jack's room, where I was originally headed. I think I'm going to go practice, instead. I feel a strong need to beat up a dummy..

Fifteen minutes later….

I walk into the karate dojo, a black bag slung over my shoulder. I expected it to be dark, like the rest of the area, but the lights are on inside. I wonder who's here right now; most of the students are relaxing and hanging out at this time of the night.

"Milton?" I call, seeing him kicking and punching a dummy at an insane speed. He doesn't hear me. Finally, the dummy falls down, but he just stands it back up again and continues to brutally assault it. The poor dummy….

I run over and tap him on the shoulder. He turns around.

"Hey, Kim."

"Milton… why are you here so late? And are you trying to kill that dummy? Take it are you practicing so hard?"

"I need to train. I have to get my black belt within the next few months. I'm at a brown belt now, I ranked up last week. Rudy needs another black belt to win some tournaments, because he needs the prize money. I overheard him talking on the phone.

Kim, they're going to kick us out without money for the rent, and Rudy isn't enrolling you in very many tournaments because he doesn't want to wear you out. So I need this black belt. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a dummy to kill." He cracks a wan smile, then goes back to punching the dummy.

I watch him for a while, then drag a state-of-the-art punching dummy away from the wall. It's so cool, because it actually fights back. I stand in my favorite fighting stance, then start hitting the dummy. It swings a padded metal arm at me. I duck, tuning out the rest of the world as I spar with the dummy. I'm alone with my thoughts now.

Punch.

What will happen to the dojo if I move here?

Kick.

Rudy can't lose another student, much less his only black belt right now.

Kick. Jab. Duck.

Even if Milton ranks up, it still won't be enough. The dojo will still be struggling.

Punch. Duck.

And what about my family? What will happen to my sister's dance and drawing classes? If karate is my life, then dance is hers. Without the extra money I bring in, she'll have to quit those. She's not going to like that.

Kick. Duck. Ow. Kick.

What can I do? I'm torn in between what I want to do, and the people who need me. I can't just abandon Rudy, the guys, and my family like that. They need me more than I need this scholarship. Sure, this could guarantee a solid future in martial arts, but…. I don't know if I can take it. I'd be betraying the people I care about, after they've done so much for me.

Punch. Kick.

This is such a difficult decision.

Two days later..

Kim's POV

I stand outside the headmaster's office with Rudy, who's wringing his hands nervously. I'm nervous, too.

"You're sure that this is what you want?" he asks for what's got to be the hundredth time in the last hour.

"Yes, I'm sure." I nod, almost completely confident. I say almost because part of me doesn't want to do this.

"Okay, if you say so…." He replies, as the door opens.

"Come in, Rudy and Kim." The headmaster ushers us in, and tells us to sit down. He, too, sits down behind an organized wooden desk.

"So, Kim, I trust you have thought about the scholarship?" He leans forward, hands clasped, eyes on mine.

"Yes."

"And your final decision?" He questions.

"Well….." I hesitate. Am I really sure this is what I want to do? "I…"

Bwahahaha, I just had to end it there. I feel so evil…. But then again, I'm also sleep-deprived, so that accounts for part of it.

If you've got time, please check out my poll on my profile concerning the sequel to The Story Of Us. If you haven't read The Story Of Us, then I guess you can just ignore this.

Hope you enjoyed, and please review- pretty please with maple syrup on top? Thanks for reading!

Xoxo, lovelifeandwatermelons