Want to know what happened to Tommy's love of filming? Find out now.
Oh yeah, I don't own Rugrats, All Grown Up, or any other talking baby themed shows.
Chapter 2
The Lifton Way
Lifton High School was a two-story building in the shape of a semi-circle. The lower floor housed the freshman and sophomore lockers, some GHP and honors classrooms, the cafeteria, the library, the auditorium, and the all-important gym. To Kimi and her friends gym class was a torture sentence. To all the sports teams, it was heaven on Earth. Jocks considered gym to be their domain. Excluding a few special athletes, A.K.A Tommy and Chuck, most jocks at Lifton weren't very smart. Phys Ed was their time to shine. Needless to say, when the 3rd period gym class was told to go to the auditorium instead of the gymnasium, some were extremely agitated, while others were beyond happy.
Kimi and her best friend, Lillian – formally known as "Lil" - DeVille, entered the auditorium with glee and curiosity.
"I wonder what this is about." Lillian said as she plopped down in the seat next to Kimi.
"I know. Don't the teachers realize that by canceling gym for the day they are willingly unleashing the wrath of the jocks?" Kimi and Lillian cracked up at the joke. That was why the duo was best friends. They understood each other. The pair had a similar sense of humor – sarcasm - something most people either found annoying or confusing. Both girls also lived with Lifton jocks, but Kimi always considered herself lucky. As far as jocks go, Chuck was a down-to-earth, intelligent, all-around cool one. Kimi knew living with Chuck had to be a lot better than living with Phil, "The Man," DeVille.
Phil was unbearable. Lillian used to tell her horror stories. He left his clothing everywhere, all different articles too. He ate before the rest of the family was ready, and he usually ate twice as much. That all changed when Phil got a girlfriend. He kept his clothes in one big heap on the floor and waited for everyone else before eating. But he also started wearing cologne that smelled awful and he began hogging the phone because he was always talking to Nicole Boscorelli- that was her name. That was where his nickname, "The Man," came from. Nicole was the co-captain of the cheerleading squad and was known for wearing notoriously short skirts and tight shirts. After hearing those stories, it was clear to Kimi why Lillian refused to go by "Lil" anymore, it sounded way too much like Phil.
"Attention students! If this assembly goes quickly, then you may have some of your phys. ed. class." Mr. McGigger, the Principal stood alone onstage as he tried to quiet everyone down. A few seconds later, the students settled enough so the only remaining sound was the constant hum of the air conditioner. "The time has come for the annual Arts Contest." Most of the students sitting in the auditorium lost interest at that point and shifted in their seats to find a better sleeping position. "And now, without further ado, I would like to introduce Mr. Hent, the art director, and he will further explain the contest." Mr. McGigger strode off the stage while Mr. Hent casually took the administrator's place at the podium.
"As you all know, last year the contest was to write your own musical. This year the staff has decided to go with something more contemporary. This year, students can enter their own films into the contest!" Mr. Hent was clearly ecstatic about the idea, but the majority of the crowd was unimpressed by the concept, as usual. But two rather sarcastic girls had other thoughts.
"Wow. A film contest, that sounds pretty cool. At least I don't have to worry about melodies and harmonies this year," Kimi laughed, remembering how awful Lillian and
she were at composing music.
"Yeah, except we know next to nothing about producing films. I don't even have a video camera," Kimi was an absolute idealist, but Lillian had always been a realist.
"So we'll work with Dil. I feel bad that we blew him off last year, and besides, he probably knows a lot about filming."
"Why? Dil's not an artist. A work of art, maybe, but an award-winning director? I highly doubt it."
"That's not what I meant. I was talking about Tommy. He used to make short films all the time. Maybe Dil remembers some of his old techniques."
"Oh yeah, that's just what I want. To use the jock-jerk's method," Lillian was not a big Tommy Pickles fan.
"Fine. Then resign yourself to a life of losing," Kimi knew just how to get to Lillian. She had to bring up losing for the 2nd year in a row.
"Shoot, we will lose again. Alright, fine. We'll ask Dil when we see him at lunch today," Lillian would win this year, no matter what.
The girls gathered their belongings and left the auditorium feeling calm and comfortable with the Dil decision. But a certain 10th grade male sitting in the eleventh row with the rest of the baseball team was feeling weak in the knees and couldn't have felt more uncomfortable, and it wasn't because he was sitting on a pencil.
Tommy Pickles used to be an artist. He loved performing and watching others perform, but most of all he loved creating films. His camera bag went everywhere he did, but that was a long time ago. In 8th grade, the students were given an assembly about high school. At least half, if not more, of the meeting was about all the different sports teams. Tommy and his friends, especially Phil, were amazed by the different options. All the athletes seemed to have a glow about them, especially the baseball team. LHS was home to one of the best high school baseball teams in the county. Most of the 8th grade boys immediately wanted to share in the popularity, but the team made it very clear that only 5 spots were open this season. That was the day when Tommy made a decision that ended up being life-changing. He decided to try out for the baseball team, The Lifton Titans. At the try outs, Tommy learned what a great left hook he had. Before they knew what was happening, Tommy, Phil, and even Chuck, after hours and hours of practice, had all made the baseball team. Even though sports weren't Chuck's thing, he decided to try out with his friends. Chuck had remembered how popular the team was during his freshman year. The trio, along with the rest of the underclassmen last year, couldn't believe how different life was when baseball was in season. People treated the team like they were royalty. They were allowed to cut in line at lunch, they could go to the gym instead of class, and the players were even permitted to skip homework assignments and tests if practice had been especially brutal. Tommy knew this kind of special treatment was wrong, but he couldn't help enjoying it. He liked being able to cut the classes he didn't like, and he really liked missing tests and quizzes and not having to make them up later. Chuck, on the other hand, never liked being favored over other clubs. He thought it wasn't fair to the other organizations that worked just as hard as the sports teams do. Tommy and Phil, however, loved being popular and privileged so much that they decided to try out for the football team too. Now the pair rose above everyone else almost the entire school year! During this time, Tommy and Phil started to lose touch with some of their childhood friends. Almost all of them, actually, except Chuck - he was on the team with them - and Angelica - she was a cheerleader. Tommy may have given up his old friends, but he didn't want to give up his old hobby, filmmaking. He thought the team wouldn't care if he was into the arts and sports, but he was 100 wrong. Imagine how the sports teams were thought of at LHS. Now, imagine the exact opposite. That's how the art department was viewed. The A-wing (Art wing) kids were social outcasts who were known as freaks. When Tommy realized this, he knew he had to give up either his films or Lifton sports. He chose to pursue sports, obviously. Tommy had just gotten used to life without his camera. This was the last thing he needed or wanted.
"Hey! T! What are you doing? The stupid assembly-thing ended, like, 5 minutes ago. We can go to gym now," Phil jabbed Tommy in the side.
"What? Oh, sorry. I was out of it for a minute," Tommy stood up and grabbed his books.
"What else is new? Just kidding, bro. Seriously though, a film contest. That's almost as stupid as last year. T? Are you listening?"
"Huh? What, er – yeah, yeah, I'm listening."
"Don't you think so? What a lame idea."
Tommy paused for a moment. "Uh-huh. It is pretty stupid," Tommy glanced back towards the podium where the contest theme had been announced. "Come on. Let's get to gym," Tommy picked up his gym bag and looked at it for a second before slinging it over his shoulder.
"You are acting seriously weird today," Phil left the room with Tommy trailing behind.
"I just ate a bad breakfast."
What an idiot that Phil is.