Best friends can't stay mad at each other for long...if you catch my drift. And it's always good for a brother and a sister to talk.

Do you need a disclaimer? If so, call 1-800 Disclaimer! (Ensures no infringement or stealing of ideas from writers and/or producers, much like this very story)

Chapter 12

A Guru or Something

Susie Carmichael had an "old soul." People who were her friends and even some who weren't constantly came to her for advice, it almost became her second job; she even had a schedule. Anyone could come anytime, excluding Saturdays. Susie and her family went out every Saturday, they never missed one. Her mom had started the tradition before Susie's sister went to college, as family-bonding-time, and the idea stuck. But every other day of the week people came from all over to talk to Susie, except Kimi. Even though she and Susie were close friends, Kimi was never comfortable asking for help. So when someone unexpected rang the doorbell to the Carmichael's home on a Saturday morning, Susie knew something was very wrong.

Susie swung open the wooden door leading inside her house. The moment she saw who was standing on the other side, her expression immediately changed.

Tommy slept in on Saturday. Around 11:00, he stirred in his sleep and woke up partially.

"Finally, you're awake."

Tommy screamed. He jumped out of bed and saw Dil sitting on the floor reading a book and giving Tommy one of the best "you're a freak" stares he'd ever seen. "Don't do that! Were you, like, watching me sleep?"

"Don't flatter yourself. I just need to talk to you." Dil stretched and stood up.

"Okay...about what?"

"Kimi's a mess. Lillian was really mean to her. She was a wreck at lunch yesterday."

Tommy cringed when he thought about Friday's lunch, mainly because of what he said regarding Kimi. "Man, that's rough."

Dil shook his head in disbelief. "And yet another brilliant problem-solving statement from the Einstein. Talk to her genius."

"Dil, I can't do that...It'd be weird."

"Yeah, I forgot, you can't talk to a girl unless she needs a chisel to get all her make-up off," Dil was getting irritated with his brother.

"Shut up, that's not why."

Dil knew the sports star was lying. "Enlighten me then."

Tommy sighed. "What do you want me to do?

"Something besides sleep," Dil headed for the doorway.

"Dil, wait!"

He turned around to face his older brother. "What?"

Tommy turned away. "Forget it." As he watched Dil leave the room, Tommy had to bite his lip to keep himself from speaking his mind, but he couldn't change things even more. No, Tommy was positive his life was better off how it was now, being a jock. Maybe that's because he barely remembered what it was like before.

"Hey, Suz. What's up?"

"Kimi?! What's wrong?" Susie couldn't believe the person on the other side of her front door was Kimi Finster. Her clothes were dirty and wrinkled, as was her hair. She looked like she hadn't slept at all the previous night. But the nose ring made Susie certain she was, in fact, staring at a very ratty version of her friend.

"I know it's your family Saturday and everything, but I just need to talk to you and Lillian's gone, and Chuckie followed her...and I just-"

"It's all good, my family canceled for the day, my Mom's sick. Come on, we'll go to my room," Kimi followed Susie upstairs all the while rambling on about Lillian, Chuckie, or Dil. Susie thought she'd even heard Tommy Pickles' name a couple of times. "So, what's wrong? Spit it out."

"I dunno, Tommy Pickles likes me, I like him too, Lillian hates me for it, she's going out with Chuckie who trashed the gym, I'm sure you knew that one but anyway, Dil has this whole other life that I never bothered to ask about, Tommy told his friends I was ugly after telling me I'm pretty...get all that?" Kimi breathed deeply. It was all out on the table now; everything she'd been going through was no longer hers to hide.

"Someone's been busy."

"Yeah, just a little. Stuff was a whole lot easier a couple months ago when nobody was trying to be something they're not, or trying to prove things to people they don't need to be proven to. It was just better when people weren't, I dunno, changing."

"You guys all think I'm like this...advice guru or something when I'm not. Yeah, I'm a couple years older, but I haven't done all the same stuff. I mean, I never kissed a jock I was supposed to hate and then lied to my best friend about it. I really don't know what tell you on this one, sorry."

"I never said I kissed him!"

"I'm not stupid." Susie smirked at Kimi.

"I know...you're just a guru," Kimi laughed and hugged Susie before leaving. She felt rejuvenated and ready to handle just about anything, so why not start with Lillian.

Chuckie was torn between his sister and his girlfriend. He knew it shouldn't be a competition, blood was thicker than water. But he couldn't help but struggle with the situation. First his girlfriend and his sister were best friends; then they're mortal enemies. But there was something about their fight that Chuckie found hilarious, it revolved around Tommy Pickles. After almost 5 years of hardly speaking to him, suddenly Tommy was a part of both Kimi and Lillian's lives. Even Chuckie's life was different now. He'd resorted back to his nerd ways, broken the law, was grounded for the fist time, and lost all contact with Phil. It didn't matter that Chuckie was somewhat disappointed with the first 3 and celebrated the fourth one. They were still changes in a life Chuckie always thought would be bland and boring. In some miniscule fraction of his mind, he was proud he'd broken the law, for doing something bold. Chuckie was proud of himself for the first time. It only took him seventeen years.

Kimi knocked on the door to the DeVille home. She was amazed by how different she felt from the last time she was here.

"Hel-oh, hello Kimi. What can I do for you?" Mrs. Betty DeVille answered. Kimi could immediately tell Lillian had told her about the fight. Mrs. Deville's face dropped as soon as she saw her. Kimi now knew for sure that Charlotte Pickles was the only parent in the neighborhood with Botox.

"Um, is Lillian here?"

"I don't know if she wants to see you, but she's in her room either way," Mrs. DeVille held the door open for the unwelcome guest.

Kimi looked around briefly. Everything was exactly the same. There were random papers scattered throughout the house, shoes were lying aimlessly on the floor trying to find their partners, and Phil's laundry was piled so high you'd probably get a nosebleed if you attempted to climb it. She made her way upstairs and knocked on Lillian's door. She remembered precisely where it was; the second door on the right with the "Jocks unwelcome!" sign taped to the molding.

"Go away," Lillian shouted from behind her closed door.

"Lillian, it's Kimi."

Lillian half-snorted, half-sneered. "In that case, I actually mean it. Go away."

"I can't. I need to talk to you. Just give me 5 minutes," Kimi pushed open the door, disregarding Lillian's instructions.

Lillian glared at her former friend. "Hey! I could've been changing or something."

"Then I guess it's a good thing you weren't."

"What do you want?"

This is where things could begin getting awkward. Kimi had made it past entering, now she just wished she knew what to say. "You, uh, weren't at lunch last week."

"Well I'm not dead or anything, so don't worry your slutty little head about me." Lillian's sarcasm stung Kimi.

Kimi sighed. "Come on, Lillian, just stop already."

Lillian stood up; she was staring fiercely at her visitor. Kimi wasn't sure if she'd ever seen Lillian angrier. "Are you serious? You come into my house, barge into my room, after I told you to leave me the hell alone. And now you actually think you can tell me to stop. Guess what, you don't get to be mad at me. You don't deserve to be mad at me."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

Kimi stumbled, she had no response to Lillian's blunt comebacks.

"Can't talk your way outta this one.

"I screwed up, I know."

"You have no idea," Lillian mumbled and turned away from Kimi.

"I didn't think about-"

Lillian whirled back around. Kimi was taken back by the volume of her voice. "No! It's not about you...it's not about you. Kimi, you just don't get it. You know how messed up my house is. No one ever takes a break from Phil unless they're yelling at me. I don't talk to my family. You were like my family, and now I can't talk to you either. You lied to me Kimi, you lied to my face about stupid Tommy Pickles." Tears were streaming down Lillian's face. She hadn't been that open with anyone, even Kimi, for a long time.

"Lillian, what am I supposed to say?"

"I mean, if it was something important, like, some family secret or something, I'd get it. But Tommy Pickles...so stupid. And I can't forgive you for that, I'm almost sorry too."

"Yeah I know, but I thought you'd kill me if you knew I liked Tommy. It was just...easier to pretend I didn't like him and wait for it to go away, I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you're just picture perfect now."

"Hardly."

Lillian cocked her head to the side. "Why not?"

"He said I was ugly. He told his friends I was ugly and I heard him say it. Ugh, he's so two-faced."

"Sorry."

"What?"

"Even if you are a jerk, that's still pretty bad."

"Look, I know I was a jerk. I lied to you, I said some harsh stuff, so yeah, it's been proven that I'm I jerk. But I'm sorry. Really, really sorry. And jerks aren't usually sorry. I'm so friggin' sorry it hurts, but I can't do anything else," Kimi looked at Lillian with pleading eyes, but she was silent, "Okay, bye Lillian. Have a nice life, seriously, I mean it."

Lillian watched Kimi as she turned to leave. Kimi tried, she really did. Lillian knew Kimi valued their friendship, Lillian did too; Kimi just messed up, but she was still mad. She thought about what Kimi had to say about Tommy and life in general. I'm so friggin' sorry it hurts... She had to decide what was more important, her friendship, or her pride."Kimi!"

"What?"

"You like Tommy?"

Kimi wrinkled her forehead, she was incredibly confused. "Yeah."

"'K'," Lillian returned to her homework.

"Lillian."

"Yeah?"

"See you tomorrow."

Lillian nodded. "I'll be there."

Dil had volunteered to finish the video, at least it gave him something to do. Entrees were due in a couple days, but Dil wasn't satisfied with their finished product. He played the film over and over again on his computer, but he still thought something was missing. What else is there? Oh, duh, music! Dil wasted no time. He went right to work flipping through his massive CD collection, but nothing seemed to fit the mood of the video. He sat down on his bed after nearly 45 minutes of searching. His eyes wandered casually around the room and rested on an orange notebook on his dresser. My song lyrics. Do I really want to use this? Dil skimmed the contents of the book, there was only one song worth using, his perfect song. I can't. Dil dropped his lyricson the ground and left. He just needed to go somewhere to figure out the missing piece. What he didn't need was for someone else to read the song in his absence.

Kimi arrived home, threw her shoes on the cold tile floor, and raced up the stairs. She stopped in front of the 3rd door on the left and knocked one, two, three, four times. "Chuckie? it's Kimi."

Chuckie peered into the hallway from behind his door. "Oh, hey. One minute," Chuckie shut his door and made several frusterated grunting noises. Kimi swore he was moving a dead body. "Okay, all good."

Kimi gawked at the room. Chuckie's belongings were scattered on his bed, and his furniture was all over the place. "What are you doing?"

"Rearranging. I felt like cleaning," Kimi just stared at Chuckie, she even used her famous, or infamous, 'You're strange' eyebrow raise, "That weird, huh?"

"No...well, yeah."

"So, did you want something...?"

"Does Tommy ever talk about Dil?" Kimi inquired suddenly.

"Uh...no, not really, why?"

"'Cause, just talking to Dil, I think he wishes they were friends, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess, but they're both different now. Tommy never really talks about his family, but I think he misses them too."

Kimi thought of her interview with Tommy and his words about losing old friends. "Yeah...you think we're friends?"

"I dunno, I mean, we're related."

"I think Tommy and Dil have shown that doesn't really matter," Kimi chuckled quietly.

"We're not Tommy and Dil."

"It's a good thing too, otherwise I'd be living with a normal jock instead of a criminal; criminals are way more exciting," Kimi began to lighten the mood, but Chuckie brought it right back down.

"Kimi, about what Tommy said the other day; I'm assuming you heard him..." Chuckie trailed off; he didn't know how to deal with the awkward situation. But once again, his sister was there to joke it off.

"Don't sweat it. I just picked up the broken pieces of my heart and trekked onward," Kimi pretended to cry while Chuckie was cracking up at his sister's sarcasm.

Kimi and Chuckie caught up with each other for a few more hours. They hadn't talked like that, like buddies, in the longest time. Kimi left Chuckie's room feeling like not only his sister, but his friend too. It was a feeling Kimi had missed for many years. Two down, one to go. Kimi took a deep breath and headed for the Pickle's house. She could already tell by the feeling in her stomach that she wouldn't be breathing much on the way.

Kimi and Lillian are friends again and all is right with the world...for this chapter anyway. Next chapter is the moment of truth...the film contest, but as they say in "Big Brother," expect the unexpected.