The morning went by fast for Tommy. He hardly concentrated on anything but his schoolwork. Lil came and left Tommy's mind a couple of times, but that was it. Before he knew it, it was already lunchtime. Tommy took his time going to the cafeteria. There wasn't anything special there, just some snobbish girls and his friends, who he really didn't feel like talking to. He came awfully close to telling the nurse he was sick so he didn't have to deal with the rest of the day. He finally decided against it. How foolish would it be to go home sick on the second day of school?

Tommy spotted Chuckie at a table. Today, Phil and Kimi had beaten Tommy there. He was the last one at the table and he managed to hear the beginning of Phil's conversation.

"Yeah, so Tommy and I are in homeroom, right? And I was on my way out of there after the bell rang, and guess who grabs my sleeve to try and talk with me?"

The gang had a stupefied look on their faces.

"Lillian!" Phil said angrily. "And you know what she had the nerve to stop me for? She hasn't talked to any of us in a month and a half, and she grabs me and, ready for this guys, she asks me if I knew what was wrong with Tommy's eye!"

Tommy almost choked when he heard Phil say that.

"The nerve! Out of all of us, she's been treating him the worse! I can't believe it!" Phil ended his conversation while shaking his head in amazement.

"So, what did you do?" Chuckie asked.

"What did I do? I'll tell you what I did, I told her off! That's exactly what I did. First of all, I don't even know why Tommy's got a black eye, so what the hell am I supposed to tell her? Second of all, why would I tell her, even if I did know? So she could spread gossip all over the school? It's not like she even cares!"

Tommy had been sitting quietly throughout Phil's whole speech. He wasn't going to say anything. He didn't even know that that had happened this morning. Where was he? Oh, yeah. He was so anxious to get out of there.

"You don't have to be too hard on her, Phil." Kimi said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Phil nearly hissed.

"Well, I'm just saying she used to be our friend and..."

"Does it look like she's our friend now? Does it look like she's even acknowledging us as human beings? She sticks up her nose everytime she passes us in the hallway. I'm her brother, for Christsakes, and she doesn't say a single word to me anymore. We don't even bicker like we used to." Phil looked at his tray sadly. "I miss my sister." He said softly.

Kimi looked a little upset.

"I'm sorry, Phil. I didn't mean to upset you or anything, but you're not the only one who lost her! She was my best friend aside from Suzie! I miss her, too! But, atleast I'm trying to make amends! As a matter of fact, we're supposed to get together this afternoon! Can anyone of you guys say that you even attempted to talk to her? Don't tell me, Phillip, that you miss her, when you haven't even tried to get through to her!"

With that, Kimi picked up her full tray and stormed off.

Chuckie and Tommy looked at a very angry Phil.

"Kimi doesn't even know what the hell she's talking about! How can she tell me that I haven't tried to get through to my own sister? Of course I have! I've tried and tried until I realized that it was no use. She doesn't want me in her life anymore, and even if I'm not okay with that, it's something that I have to deal with whether I like it or not."

Phil looked down at his lunch tray once more.

"I have to go."

Phil picked up his lunch tray and made his way as far out of the cafeteria as possible.

"Boy, Tommy, Lil is really tearing up our little group. I wouldn't be surprised if Phil and Kimi stop talking. Gosh, it would be great if things could just go back to the way they used to be."

All Tommy did was nod.

He and Chuckie left the cafeteria together and parted to go to their separate classes.

Tommy entered his fifth period algebra class. Again, he was the first one there. He sat in his assigned seat and waited for class to begin.

Within the next five minutes students piled in. Everyone who was supposed to be there was there, including Marley and Lil. Tommy wasn't too worried about being in that class anymore, as he was referring to how good it went yesterday. He didn't think that Lil would be a big problem. Unbeknownst to him, Lil was in a much happier mood than she was in during yesterday's fifth period class.

"Could anybody tell us what the square root of 289 is divided by 3 and multiplied by 27?"

Tommy raised his hand almost immediately. He was very good at math.

"Ooh. Teacher's pet got an answer!" Lil snickered with her friend.

"Thomas?"

"Um..." Tommy was starting to feel a little self-conscience with all the comments that Lil was making.

"The answer is..."

"Come on, Tommy. Spit it out. You know everything, don't you?" Lil interrupted.

"Actually, I don't know. Sorry."

Marley raised his hand.

"The answer is 2,601."

"That is correct, Marley."

The teacher went on teaching the lesson while Tommy went on feeling like crap.

Lil continued to make snide remarks throughout the rest of the class period. She never ceased to make a fool out of him when she had the chance. Lately, anyway.

The bell rang not a minute too soon and Tommy shot himself out of that class like a loose cannon. He wasn't looking forward to his next class, either, but atleast he didn't have to deal with Lil.

Tommy met up with Kimi in his biology class and they sat next to each other at a lab station.

"Boy, you don't know how relieved I am to see you." He whispered to her.

She smiled.

"Are you okay, anyway?" He asked her with concern, thinking back to when she stormed out of the cafeteria.

Kimi nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't like Phil talking about Lil like that. She's not really a bad person. She's just got a lot of issues going on right now. I feel kind of bad for her."

"Yeah, but, Kimi, you know that..."

At that moment, the class started and they had to make themselves quiet.

Tommy always thought that Kimi was a lot of fun to hang out with. But she was always so attentive in class. Whenever he and Lil used to have classes together they would constantly pass notes to each other, until they got into trouble.

Tommy noticed the girl Amanda in front of them. He groaned. He didn't really want to deal with her this class. He nudged Kimi.

"That's the girl who hit on me yesterday."

"Ooh." Kimi teased. "She's cute."

Tommy shrugged.

Yeah, he thought she was cute. He just didn't feel right about thinking that, though.

The class droned on and on, never seeming to end. Then, two minutes before the bell was about to ring, Amanda spun around in her seat.

"Hey, Tommy." She said flirtatiously.

"Hey." Tommy said back, rolling his eyes to Kimi.

Kimi giggled and Amanda glared at her.

"So, have you thought about my offer?"

Tommy wondered what offer she was talking about before it dawned on him.

"Yeah, I thought about it." He said casually.

"So...What do you think? You wanna give it a go?"

"I don't know..."

Tommy didn't trust his feelings. He was still hooked up on Lil, whether he liked it or not.

"Come on, Tommy." Kimi encouraged him. "A little date wouldn't hurt either one of you."

Tommy shrugged.

"I guess a date wouldn't hurt."

"Great!" Amanda grinned. She wrote down her address. "Pick me up at 7:00. Don't be late." She winked at him before walking out of the classroom as the bell rang.

"Score one for Tommy Pickles, huh?" Kimi teased.

"Yeah." Tommy laughed nervously as they made their way out of the classroom. "Look, Kimi, I'm sorry. About a couple years ago. I never meant to..."

"Um...Tommy? Could we just forget about that? I mean it's fine. Really."

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for hurting you. I never wanted to."

"Thanks, Tommy."

Tommy gave Kimi a gentle hug before they finished making their separate ways to their classes.

Tommy made it to woodshop as soon as the late bell rang.

"Just in time, T!" Phil grinned.

Tommy sat next to him at their workstation.

"So, are we still finishing up our projects?" Tommy asked Phil.

"Yup. We're in advanced woodshop. Remember, Tommy. We don't have to spend a week going over rules."

"Uh huh. So, what was with your blow up earlier, Phil? You don't have to get so mad at Kimi. She was only trying to defend her friend." Tommy flinched as he said that last part.

"Hey, you rhymed." Phil laughed as he tried to avoid Tommy's statement.

"I rhyme all the time. There was another one, Phil. Now why were you so angry this afternoon? You never get so mad. What was with you?"

Phil clenched his fists. "I just can't stand Lillian treating us like we're the dog crap that she has to walk all over. I don't think it's fair. I mean..."

"Phil, you should go apologize to Kimi, too."

"But, I didn't even do anything to her! She's the one who blew up at me.'

"Phil, if you want to salvage your friendship with her, you should apologize, anyway."

"Fine." Phil muttered.

The two continued their last class in silence. They didn't say anything else until the last bell rang.

"Are you coming on the bus today, Tommy?" Phil asked him.

Tommy nodded. "Yeah. I just had some business that I had to attend to yesterday. I should be on the bus from now on." Tommy answered him as if Phil should know that.

"Sorry." Phil snapped. "Anyway, tell your grandpa that I'm not going on the bus today. I'm going to walk with Chuckie down to the Java Lave. My mom's having some tests done at the hospital. My dad asked me to help out down there. C'ya."

Phil ran off to find Chuckie, leaving Tommy to walk to the bus himself.

Once he arrived on the bus he saw Kimi there.

"Hey, Kimi." He greeted her as he sat in the seat in behind her.

"Hey. So, are you exited about your date tonight?" Kimi asked.

"Oh, man. I haven't even thought about that. Yeah, I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

The bus starting moving.

"Did I just hear something about my baby cousin having a date?" Angelica teased.

"Angie, I'm in the tenth grade, for Christsakes. And, I might inform you that this is not my first date. I've gone on many a date before." He said with an accent.

"How corny can you get?" Angelica teased and rolled her eyes.

"So, who's this new interest?" Susie asked. "Anybody we know?"

"Her names Amanda. I'm not sure what her last name is. She was flirting with me yesterday, though. I don't know why."

Susie, Angelica, and Kimi all rolled their eyes. They all knew that Tommy was one of the hottest guys in school. Tommy wasn't just shoving it in their faces, he was just really modest. He didn't really like the attention he got from girls. Sure, he liked them, who doesn't? But enough is enough.

"Anyway, where are you taking her?" Angelica asked.

"I don't know. Probably just down to the Java Lava. Where else?"

The three girls gave themselves worrisome looks.

"Anywhere else, Tommy." Suzie commented.

"Yeah, what if Lil shows up? After all, her mother owns half of it. She'd probably torment you to no end. She's really changed, Tommy." Angelica said.

Kimi looked to the floor.

Lou stopped at Angelica's house.

"Bye, grandpa." Angelica said as she walked off the bus.

"Just, take her somewhere else, Tommy. Take her to a movie or something. I love Lil, I really do, but Angelica's right. She's changed and you don't want to subject your date to any drama if you run into her." Suzie told him.

Tommy nodded. "I guess you're right. I'll just take her to a movie tonight."

Lou stopped at the Deville's house.

"Um...Grandpa, no one is on..."

Just as he was about to say that no one was getting off there, Kimi stood up and walked off. She walked right over to Phil and Lil's house.

"Why is she going to their house?" Tommy asked. "Phil is at work and Lil isn't..."

Tommy shuddered as he thought of Kimi falling into the wrong crowd.

Susie's stop was next.

"Just, have fun on your date, Tommy. Don't stress too much."