"It feels so… wrong to be here right now." Kim sighed as she sat down next to Milton and Jerry on the bench by their lockers. They had decided that getting back to school would provide some semblance of distraction, but she couldn't take her eyes off of Jack's locker door. It had been decorated with notes, cards, even balloons and stuffed animals all tacked up by students of Seaford High.

"I know…" Jerry ran a hand through his hair. "It's like I'm missing a part of me."

"It's hard." Milton agreed. "But, Jack wouldn't want us to sit around a sulk. He'd want us to keep our chins up and look out for each other."

"You're right." Kim nodded. "But… he's already been gone for three days. And after forty-eight hours the chances of finding a missing person-"

"Kim," Milton grabbed her by the shoulders and made her face him, "don't think about that. He's not a statistic, he's Jack."

"Hey, Milton's right." Jerry put an arm around each of his friends' shoulders. "The FBI is doing everything they can to track him down. They find people all the time. And remember what we said at the dojo the other day. This is Jack Brewer we're talking about."

"This is Jack Brewer we're talking about." A mocking tone followed by the popping of a balloon made the trio's heads whip back to Jack's locker. Stood in front of it was Kai.

"Kai, what the hell are you doing?!" Kim leaped up with Jerry and Milton close behind.

"This is pointless." Kai grabbed a fistful of notes and tore them off of the locker. "He'll never get to read these."

"That's it!" Kim began her charge but was quickly restrained by Milton and Jerry. "Let me at him!"

"No, Kim, ignore him." Milton tried to reason as he struggled to keep Kim from lunging.

"He's just trying to cause trouble!" Jerry added on.

"I DON'T CARE!" Kim nearly broke free with her scream.

"You guys really think he'll come back?" Kai laughed. "They're gonna find him dead in a ditch somewhere."

"Shut up Kai!" Jerry snapped back, tempted to go after the asshole himself.

"You do realize you're talking about an actual person right?" Milton was seething. "A person that you know! A person you're related to! Jack is your goddamn cousin!"

"I'm just telling you the truth." Kai took a step forward, taunting the restrained Kim. "If he couldn't take down the geezer to begin with, how is he gonna get away?"

"FUCK YOU!" Kim screeched and wrenched her arm out of Milton's grip, which gave her enough leeway to land a sloppy kick to Kai's nose.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" Principal Funderburk appeared from around the corner.

"Kim broke my nose!" Kai pointed dramatically as he attempted to staunch the bleeding.

"Because he was destroying Jack's locker!" Jerry jumped in.

"And slandering Jack!" Milton finished.

"Kai." Funderburk seethed. "My office. Now."

"But-"

"NOW!" Kai glared at the trio as he stalked away and Funderburk turned back to the others. "I hope you kids are doing alright. Stay strong, okay?"

"Thanks, Principal Funderburk." Milton nodded. "We'll try our best."

"That's all you can do." Funderburk smiled before turning on his heel and following Kai.

"Well, we should probably clean this up." Kim dragged her feet over to Jack's locker and slowly knelt down to start picking up the crumpled papers.

"You okay?" Jerry asked when he saw tears brimming in Kim's eyes.

"Yeah, fine." She sniffed defiantly and blinked the tears away.

"Kim, don't listen to Kai." Milton gathered some notes and cards. "He's just a jerk who thinks he's cool for kicking people when they're already down."

"You don't think I know that?" Kim stood and started taping the wrinkly messages back to Jack's locker with a bit more force than she needed. "I just… I can't believe someone can be so cruel."

"I know." Milton agreed as he tacked up a stuffed panda that was wearing a tiny gi. "I can't imagine saying something like that about my own family.

"That guy is seriously disturbed." Jerry nodded.

"I wasn't talking about Kai." Kim tried not to let her shaking fingers further crumple the notes she was holding. "His own stepfather… I can't..." she stuck the last note in her hand up and began speed walking away.

"Where are you going?" Jerry called.

"The dojo."


Isn't Kai just thew worst? I love writing asshole characters, they're the most fun to work with.

Anyway. I hope you are all still enjoying this trainwreck! I'm certainly having fun cleaning it up. Leave me a comment if you feel like it or want to chat! (I have no friends so like, help me be less lonely lol)