A/N: It's been so long, and a horribly long haitus, and I do apologise, but I'm back, and I'll try and continue with this story. A lot's going on in my life, as I'm sure is with yours. Enjoy, and I hope you are still interested ^^.

Chapter 4: Benign Chatter and Boredom

[P]

Phil hadn't been skiing for long, but his legs were getting weaker, and weaker. As he struggled out of Chuckie's car, with the whole gang laughing at him, he kept reminding himself why he was trying so hard. The answer wasn't deep, nor did it require Freud to figure it out. Like the little boy that he was, he wanted to be good so he could impress Kimi.

When he thought about the ski trip, which was getting closer and closer, he had millions of scenarios playing out in his head. All sorts of cheesy, romantic scenes with Kimi and he together as the snow fell. Had he told his younger self this, his younger self probably would have vomited, then smacked him around for being such a chick. And that was coming from a kid who liked to roll around in mud! Snow was definitely the most romantic weather, no doubt about it.

God, damn it, Phil, he thought, grimacing at himself as he struggled toward the house. What the hell happened to you?

He waved goodbye to the gang, and Lil pushed him out of the way. "What the hell, Lillian?" he complained. "What was that for?"

Lillian turned, and she was looking very pleased with herself. "I have things to do, Phil," she explained to him, and he felt like he was being lectured by a school teacher. "I can't wait whilst you limp around like an old man without his cane."

Phil opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off. "You can't complain," she said. "You're the one who sucks at balance."

"That's not my fault," he sulked, watching Chuckie's car pull away, and through the back window at Kimi. "I can't help being useless at it."

Lil mumbled something about him being an idiot, and pushed their front door open. "We're home, mom and dad," she called.

"I heard the door!" they heard their mom call. "I'm not that old, for goodness sake! I'm not losing my hearing just yet."

They heard their mother trot through the house towards them. As she appeared, she instantly turned her head to Phil. "What happened to you?" she asked. "You look like you've been the wars."

Phil knew his mom was teasing; she and Lil had a lot of fun poking fun at him. "You break any bones, Philly?" she continued. "Do we need to rush you down the hospital."

"I'm fine," he said.

"Don't forget, you need to go upstairs and do all your homework," she said, as she always did when Phil got home.

"I know, I know," he grumbled. "Lil has work to do, too. How come I always get reminded."

"'cause your sister's not a lazy runt," she laughed, reaching up and rapping him on the head with her knuckle. "And you are."

Phil was a funny chap, and though he could see a lot of things that others couldn't, he sometimes forgot some things which were staring him right in the face. When did he get so tall? His mother, who was a large lady, herself, was now shorter than him, and he was looking down at her. When the hell did that happen? "You need a haircut, Phil, you look like a girl?" his mom complained, pulling, gently, at one of the locks, which were starting to curl.

"I know, I know," he grumbled, watching his sister hurry upstairs. "I get Chuckie to drop me off, tomorrow."

"Good to hear it," she said. "Well, what you waiting for? Get upstairs and hit the books."

He saluted. "Yes, sir!"

"That's ma'am, to you!" she called, as Phil hurried up the stairs, "and don't you forget it!"

The first thing Phil did, when he got to his room, was collapse onto his bed, face in his pillow. It had been a while, now, since Kimi's old obsession, Edward, had left. She hadn't mentioned him for a while, and he hoped Kimi had forgotten about him. That's wishful thinking, there, Phil! His subconscious told him.

Thank you, he found himself thinking back.

Hey, you know that trip you're looking forward to? His mind asked.

Of course I do. He replied. (A/N: Phil is not schizophrenic, he's just thinking ^^) It had been all he was thing about.

Well, what if you go, and instead of the movie like scenes you imagine, Kimi finds another Edward and you're shunted to the side again?

His own brain was laughing at him, that's absolutely fantastic. This had crossed his mind, much more than once. Not going to happen, he assured himself. Somehow, I doubt she'll be meeting another Edward, you don't meet many like him.

Don't be so arrogant, you think you're only beaten by Edward? His worrying head taunted.

This was true. He knew he wasn't good looking, with his quite round face and messy hair (which got worse the more you combed it). He wasn't muscular, sporty and certainly not in Kimi's league. He tried to ignore them, as it made him want to break something, but Kimi got more than passing glances from the other guys at school.

"Phil," his sister called, in her most childish voice, "mummy asked you to work!"

"I am!" he called back.

"No, you're not!" she returned. He heard her rush round to bust him. He tried getting up, but he just ended up rolling off the bed, landing on the floor. "Nice try," Lil said.

Phil looked over to his sister, who's hair looked more combed than it was before. "You going out again?" he asked.

"Yeah, Brad's picking me up," she said.

"Him again?" Phil said.

"Yeah, is that a problem," Lil asked.

"Actually, there is," Phil replied. "He's an idiot."

Lil glared at him. "He's not an idiot," she growled. "Just because he not a genius, that doesn't make him an idiot."

"True," Phil admitted. "But I'm not saying he's an idiot because he's not a genius, I'm saying he is an idiot, because he is one."

"You just shut your face, or I'll tell him you said that," she threatened.

Brad might have been an idiot, but since he was a footballer, and one of the most popular jocks, he was huge, and could easily knock Phil on his back. "You'd really turn in your own brother?" he asked. There was something wrong, here. Despite Lil's glare, she didn't look too fussed. Maybe she wasn't as interested in Brad as she pretended.

"I would if you made me," Lil retorted. That was true, Lil had got him in trouble a lot through their life together; that was just what sister's were for.

[T]

"Hurry up, Chuckie," Kimi groaned.

Despite Kimi's best efforts, she couldn't stop Chuckie from stopping at the local store to grab a comic book and computer magazine. Whilst Chuckie searched through the magazine section, Tommy and Kimi stood at the candy isle, aimlessly looking at them. "Are we going to buy something?" Tommy asked, scratching his head.

"If anything jumps out, then yeah!" Kimi told him, her thumb on her chin.

Tommy looked over, seeing Kimi deep in thought. "You're really giving chocolate a lot of thought," he laughed.

"Yep," she smiled. "You have a lot on your mind, too!"

Tommy frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

Kimi looked over, a mischievous grin on her face. "Oh, come on, dude," she said. "You don't have to be an egghead to figure you out." Tommy just stared at her, blank faced. "It doesn't matter," she said.

Tommy, hoping she wasn't talking about what he really was thinking about, didn't press. "Not long now," he sighed, glad that he was right. "Just think, in a week's time, we'll be travelling away from this school, all the way to Colorado!"

"I know!" Kimi squealed, her eyes lighting up. "I can't wait!"

"Are you going to be a girly girl?" Tommy asked. "You know, go to the spa? The mud baths? Get your nails done?"

Kimi grimaced. "How long have you known me, Tommy Pickles?" she asked.

"Too long," Tommy grinned. He wasn't really listening, too busy thinking about Lil. The quips between the two of them were almost rehearsed, now.

"That's right," she said. "I'm not Angelica, or Lil. I love sports, and snow, and watching Phil fall off cliffs."

"He is so screwed," Tommy commented. "The guy cannot even balance when he's not moving! Falling off a cliff is a bit much, don't you think?"

"He'll be fine," she laughed. "There's enough snow to catch him." Her head turned, rapidly, in the direction of Chuckie. Tommy followed her eyes. If it had been anyone else, you would think they were taking the mickey out of someone. Chuckie was flicking through a magazine, eyes darting around the pages. He looked a bit like a robot.

"Chuckie!" Kimi called.

"Give me a second!" Chuckie growled.

"Alright, alright," Kimi mocked. "Keep your hair on, tough guy."

"Watch out, Kimi," Tommy whispered, not wanting to offend his best friend. "He'll turn completely pink, and become the Incredible Sulk."

Kimi burst out laughing. "I wish I could draw!" she said. "We could make a comic book series!"

"Stranger things have been made," Tommy noted. "I don't think Chuckie ever got over the Armadillo series, even though he said he did."

"True," she nodded. "Your camera is falling out," she said, pointing.

Tommy looked down at his bag, and saw she was right. "Crap," Tommy said, grabbing it. "Thanks, Kimi, my parents would skin me alive if I broke this."

"Are you going to film us forever?" she sighed.

"I'm not at the moment," he said. Tommy, who was getting very concerned about how fast his life was passing, and wanted to capture it. He had been recording as much as he could, and editing it. "When we're all eighty, and complaining all the time, it will be fun to look back."

"Not really," Kimi said, finally reaching down and grabbing a chocolate bar. "Being a kid sucks."

"Yeah, it must suck to be able to take a holiday to Aspen," Chuckie said. He had found what he had wanted... finally.

"Oh, you're done, are you?" Kimi asked.

"Yes," Chuckie replied, as stiffly as he always did. He pushed his glasses up his face, and reminded Tommy that he had taped them together. He showed them the computer magazine, with a very interesting front cover: "Ten things you didn't know about Windows 7: Ultimate!".

"Well, I don't know what I would do without that knowledge," Kimi said. Chuckie nodded and Tommy grinned: one of the most funny characteristic of Chuckie's personality was that he sometimes didn't know when people weren't interested, or were pretending to be. "You know, you can get all of that online?"

"Yes," he said. "But, as you know, I have a magazine collection."

"That's really, really interesting," Kimi told him. "But, can you buy this so we can get out of here. I have T.V to watch, and homework not to do!"

"Yes, yes, I'm on it," Chuckie said. "I suppose you want me to buy that, too." He gestured toward the chocolate bar in Kimi's hand.

"You know me so well," she grinned. "Catch!" she said, throwing it to him. Despite what she thought, Chuckie caught it. "Nice catch!"

"I have my moments," he commented, and headed over to the counter.

[K]

Chuckie's old car grumbled to a halt outside of Tommy's house, and he made for the door. "I feel like a walk," Kimi said.

"After all of that work skiing?" Chuckie asked. "How can you not be tired?"

"I'm just not. You two want to go?" she asked.

Kimi could be a clever little minx, as she put it, when she wanted to be. She was no Hannibal Lecter, she just wanted a chat with Tommy, and didn't want to offend Chuckie. "I could walk," Tommy said. "Got nothing better to do."

"You've got maths work," Kimi noted, grinning.

"It can wait. I can always get Phil to do it," Tommy replied.

"I don't know about that," Kimi said.

"You want to stay here then, Kimi?" Chuckie asked. "Sorry, but I can't come back and pick you up."

"That's fine," Kimi said. "I can walk back. Need to get rid of the calories from that chocolate."

"You're such a girl, Kimi," Tommy said.

"Hey, I know guys who care about their weight, too!" she said, getting out of the car. "See you later, Chuckie, tell mom and dad I'll be back later."

"Will do," he said. "Bye Tommy."

"See you tomorrow, Chuckie," he said, tapping the car as it pulled away down the road.

After a second of silence, Tommy looked over to Kimi. "So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"What makes you think I have an agenda?" she asked. He was right, of course, she wanted to talk to him. But, it was less about a specific thing, and more about how she hadn't spoken to Tommy, one to one, in ages.

"That comment," he grinned. "I was just guessing."

"Damn you, Tommy Pickles," she said. "Come on," she gestured over to the path ahead of her.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked, after a while.

"Not a lot, just wanted to chat," Kimi admitted. "We haven't spoken in ages."

"Kimi, we just spent over two hours skiing, what do you mean we haven't spoken?"

"When was the last time it was just the two of us?" she asked.

Tommy had to think about that one for a while. "Yeah, actually, you're right. We are usually in a pack," he nodded. "All right then, Kimi, I'll play along. How have you been?"

"It feels like we're on a chat room, or something," she noted. "You know that stupid first thing people say. It's always: Hello, how are you? Then you say, I'm good, thanks, and then say what about you?"

"You're rambling, Kimi," Tommy said.

"I know."

"So," Tommy said, looking at the floor. "How you feeling about... you know?"

"About Edward?" Kimi asked. "I'm all right about that. I mean, come on, it was only about two weeks."

Kimi was very conflicted about Edward. She connected with him, and liked that he, like her, didn't fit in, didn't like doing as he was told. She was always 'into' that kind of guy. But things were never that simple. She did miss him, but her feelings were shifting. The more she thought about it, the more she realised she never did get over Phil. Maybe she channelled that love into Edward, as she knew she couldn't be with Phil. Was it that simple.

"You're deep in thought again, Kimi," Tommy said. Kimi had been so deep in thought, she had forgotten where she was. "Is it chocolate this time, too?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," she replied. "It feels weird."

"You don't use that noggin' often," Tommy said, poking her head.

"Hey, hey!" she said, gently slapping his hand away. "I have my moments."

"Yeah, I've heard that before," Tommy said. "Look at Dil, he's pretty brilliant sometimes, bu he believes that he is in direct contact with aliens!"

"What if he really is," Kimi said. "Have we ever really considered that."

Tommy raised his eyebrow at her.

"I mean, think about it," she said. "We know that Dil's a smart kid, and he is a little..." she paused. "Well, he is a little bit on the crazy side. But, since he's clever, maybe he really is talking to aliens."

"I really hope you're joking," Tommy said. "Or has somebody put something in your drink?"

[D]

BZZ BZZ!

Dil's alarm clock shouted in his ears. "Good morning, world," he said, standing, and pulling off the headphones he had been wearing. Dil, unlike most people, slept with headphones on, which would mean his alarm would only wake him. "Been up to anything interesting, while I was asleep?"

Dil looked around his room, at the mess: the socks on his t.v aerial, and smiled. "Everything's just as I left it." He then looked to his computer, with unfinished homework laying in a disordered pile. "Perfect," he commented.

Dil hadn't forgotten about the fact that his parents, and school, wanted him to move up into high school. He figured that, if he stopped doing homework, and maintained a solid B average, they would leave him alone.

"You know what?" Dil muttered, as he stumbled out of his bedroom and down the hall. "I'm really, really bored at the moment! Really, really bored."

After Dil had showered, not combed his hair, and pulled the nearest clothes to him over his body, he headed back to his computer. It had crossed his mind that things might be more interesting, and maybe it wuld be, but being the young kid in a school filled with 'hormone controlled robots' didn't sound like much fun, and he knew his older brother wouldn't want to hang with him; he would be alone.

"You woke me, Dil... again," Dil heard a weary voice behind him complain. He turned, seeing a tired Tommy, rubbing his eyes, looking cross.

"I tried, bro, I really did," Dil told him. "I'm still wearing the headphones," he gestured to them.

"Yeah, well, you talking to yourself was what did it this time."

"Oh," Dil said, switching his computer on. "You heard that?"

"I did," Tommy whispered, realising that his parents were still asleep. His mother was a real gargoyle if you woke her up. "What do you mean by "really bored at the moment.""

"I mean I am," Dil admitted. "But don't tell Mum and Dad. They will just use it as an excuse to push me up into high school."

"Don't worry, Dil, I got that," Tommy replied. "Why are you bored, then?"

Dil turned. "Everything's just the same, you know?" he explained, sighing. "I don't get it. A few years ago, everything was interesting. But now..." he trailed off.

"Well, firstly, don't go telling Mum about this. Not only will she force you into high school, but she might also take you to another shild psychologist," Tommy told him.

Dil groaned. "I remember last time." When Dil had been younger, his mother had verbally assaulted his headteacher for, basically, calling Dil odd and making it a problem. However, she still always wanted to make sure he was happy, and successful, and her weapon of choice was getting him to talk to a specialist.

"And also, everyone's bored, Dil," he explained. "I get like it all the time."

"Thanks for helping," he mumbled, losing interest and turning back to his computer.

Tommy laughed. "You wait until High school," he said, as he headed down to the bathroom. "Not only will you be bored, but you;ll also be under a lot of pressure!"

I'll look forward to it, Dil thought to himself.

[D]

"Blah Blah Blah Blah" was all Dil heard in his class room when the other kids talked. They didn't say anything, really, just rambled on about things. Dil was silent, folding a piece of paper (he had learnt origami when he was younger) and eyeing the empty seat beside him. Dil's oddities had always isolated him, and it had never bothered him (he used to think he had a higher calling). Now, it did.

"OK then, that's enough," their loud, sometimes rude, teacher Mr. Thompson called. "Mouths shut, asses on seats."

This caused the class to laugh as they followed his order. "I'm sure lots and lots of interesting, fantastic things happened in the 24 hours since you were last here," he said sarcastically. As a english teacher, he seemed to follow the crowd by being a good speaker, but Dil always thought he cared to much about what the kids thought of him. "So, did you all..."

Much to Mr. Thompson's annoyance, he was cut off by three knocks at the door. "Enter!" he said, in his usual manner.

It was the headteacher, a stern faced, powerful women named Mrs. Primm, followed by a small girl. A kid, taking the mickey, stood up sarcastically, and saluted. The rest of the class giggled under their breath. "Sit down, Josh," she scolded. "Unless you want to come back with me to my office."

"Sorry, miss," he said, sitting down and looking around (making sure everyone else had seen him). Dil shook his head. Come on, he sighed, Are you that fussed about what everyone thought. Dil wasn't interested in what Mrs. Prim was going to say, so he got back to folding the piece of paper, which was forming nicely into a bird.

"Well, Mr. Thompson and the rest of you," Mrs. Primm announced. "You have a new student." She gestured to the girl behind her, who waved, seeming pretty uninterested in the fact that everyone was looking at her, judging her on her every move.

When Dil heard new student, his ears pricked up and he followed them,. Looking toward the new girl. The first thing he noticed was that... well, she was very, very pretty. Her hair was very wavy, and bright blonde. Not bleached, it didn't glow white. Her eyes were blue, and her cheeks were sharp. She wore a blue top and black joggers, but Dil could tell, from her figure, that she was sporty. What was weird was that she didn't seem to care about being watched. Could she be a performer of some sort?

"So, what's your name, then?" Mr. Thompson asked.

"I'm Valentina," she said.

Interesting, Dil thought. On top of everything else, she's Russian.