Friday morning the day the fundraiser was scheduled to take place, Kim woke up early to the incessant ringing and pinging of her phone and tablet. Last time it happened she was outed as the one third of the Kicky triangle. Weary, she grabbed her phone first. There were bunch of missed calls and messages form unknown numbers and at least four messages from Brett. They were friendly after the break-up. Mostly she thought it was because neither of their feelings were engaged and therefore not hurt during the brief dating and break-up. Plus, he was on the football team and she was on cheer squad. They remained friendly and professional, for lack of the better word. Him contacting her was unexpected. His latest messages read: "I'm sorry for this, but I have honestly did not realize that this was going to happen." She squinted at his message, not really knowing what he meant by that and wondered if she should reply or not.

She checked her tablet. She previously set up alerts whenever her name was mentioned, both Crawford and Wasabi. What she saw made her curse out and she wanted to punch something, someone, in the face, because the headlines had her name in them.

Ex-boyfriend reveals all: How I was used for manipulation by a clever blonde. Kim Crawford's ex reveals that she used him to make Jack jealous. And he is not the only one.

Conniving Kim: Is she using boys to advance herself in life?

Was Kick Planned by Kim All Along?

Quarterback, Rising Star, Pop Idol. Who's next for Scheming Kim?

The ground zero for all the articles seemed to be the post on GossipGirls dot com by Eric Stormer:

We here at GossipGirl have the latest scoop on Kim Crawford (Wasabi), whose meteoric rise into celebrity status was propelled by her real and rumored romances with famous young men. It would seem that Ms. Crawford has a taste for rich and famous, or even simply popular guys. Our reporter interviewed sources close to Kim and we discovered that she left a string of broken hearts and disappointed hopes in her wake. She is a serial dater and prefers young men, who have some clout. Her latest mark - Ricky Weaver, who is expected to join Kim at the fundraiser she is organizing.

The article proceeded to mention every guy that Kim even stood near in the effort to paint her as a social climber, who only went for somehow popular, famous or rich guys. It also implied that the food poisoning and the dead puppy were suspect, as she - Kim - directly benefited from it. Apparently, attention whore that she was, would stage something like that.

This must be why Brett was apologizing. She called him ready to bite his head off.

"Brett! What the hell?" She did not bother with pleasantries.

"Good morning to you too, Kim. I guess you saw the articles..." he sounded kind of afraid.

"These are not articles. These are slander and speculation. What possessed you to talk about me with a reporter? I did not think there were any hard feelings between us."

"I didn't! I did not talk to anyone. Well, I talked to guys, you know, locker room chatter, when the whole Kim Wasabi and then Ricky stories started coming up. Guys were just curious about us and I told them a little. But I did not think any of it will be heard by any reporters," he sounded genuine enough and Kim just growled in frustration.

"Fuck this life. This is the third time that Eric sniffed around and then came up with utter bullshit. How does he do that? Who talks to him?" She was venting and Brett was making sympathetic noises.

Kim was quiet now still looking at articles and wondering what to do.

"Kim, are you still there?" Brett ventured and Kim made affirmative sound. "Are you mad at me? Do you think Jack is mad at me? I mean, its not entirely my fault, right?"

"Are you afraid Jack will pummel you?"

"No, I am afraid you will. He can be reasoned with. And you, you have mad temper..." Brett trailed off realizing what he was saying to Kim. "I mean, you are, like, passionate and all, and you have black belt."

"Don't worry. I won't injure our quarterback."

"Thank you Kim. See you at school."

Comments under each article were like the pit full of vipers. Everyone was agreeing that she must be looking only at rich and famous. There were few, who pointed out that as Bobby Wasabi's daughter, she really did not need money. Most agreed that she was so not worth anyone's attention, but especially not of Ricky's and Jack's. These two were pitied for falling for such obvious fame-hungry hussy.

Like deja vu, she called Jack to alert him of this development.

"Just so you know, you are only a stepping stone in my plan to conquer the world." She announced, when Jack answered a phone.

"OOOK. Why do you want to conquer the world exactly? I am on your side, of course."

"Because I want all the fame and all the money." Kim offered. "Jack, take a look at GossipGirls site."

"What the hell? Where do they get these stories? And Brett? Brody? Even Frank is mentioned. You never gave him time of day."

"Brett talked to guys at school about us dating, when the Kim Wasabi story first broke. Someone either overheard, or talked to the reporter. Brett swears it wasn't him."

"If you want, I can issue denials."

"And nobody will buy it, because they never do with official statements. Plus, you are under my thrall. You'd do anything for me, according to the gossip rags." Kim said sarcastically.

"I would do anything for you." Jack was serious and his voice had the gravitas of the oath.

"I know... Don't worry about me, I'll think of something. It's not that bad. You and I know the truth. So do our friends. And all this attention will be good tonight at the fundraiser. This is free publicity."

"I'll come and pick you up. You want Bobby to send ninjas?"

"We would need them tonight. For now, I think you and I can handle any of those vultures by ourselves."

They hang up and Kim went to check her social media pages. Her latest post, which was yesterday was a picture of the fundraiser invitation that had a stylized puppy cuddling with a kitten, with a tagline: Hope to see you guys there.

The post had thousands likes, but the messages changed tone from supportive to questioning to accusatory some time in the early morning hours.

Blackbeltkimc at blackbeltkimc: wow, I went on couple of dates years ago, it became news yesterday and people are now mad. good morning to you all. Please don't forget to support Pawtastic Pets tonight.

She closed her accounts and got ready for school.


It was weird again. The whispering, the gawking, not too quiet conversations about the articles, but Kim was uses to it by now and shrugged it all off. She was assigned a new locker and was nearing it, when Donna approached her.

"Oh, look at our local drama queen. Why are you here and not in LA with Ricky?"

"What do you want, Donna?"

"I think it's disgusting that you get all the credit for the fundraiser, when all of us were doing it. Just because you got some attention, now the school, the cheer squad, even the shelter are singing you praises. You only got it because of who you sleep with. I bet that food poisoning was just your puking because you are pregnant. Do you even know whose is it?"

"Donna, don't judge others by your own measure. I pitched the idea for the fundraiser. And others volunteered. You didn't have to. As for the attention, you can have it. Don't forget it comes with oodles of threats, hate, and no privacy. Buh-bye Donna."

Kim slammed the door and went down the hallway to her next class, silently fuming over the scene with Donna. She knew such talk already went around, but the articles made such a convincing portrait of a manipulative fame whore that she expected it to get much worse soon.

Jack was waiting for her by the door to the classroom and saw that she was pissed off. "Who was it this time?"

"Donna, the French braid to the left, Donna." Kim bit out quietly.

"Oh..."

"In case you are wondering: you are the baby daddy to my yet unborn child." Kim added and Jack's mouth hung open and he paled considerably.

"Whaaaaat?" he croaked and his eyes darted to her abdomen.

"Jack!" Kim shouted and punched his solar plex. "Its the latest of rumors that Donna is spreading."

"Oh... Oh... Of course. Why exactly she thinks you are, you know..." here Jack waived his hand in the general vicinity of her abdomen.

"Because she is vicious? Because the article suggested I am making shit up, including food poisoning? Because she hates me?"

"What are we going to do about it?"

"Well, this particular rumor is local only and in a few months it would be obvious it's not true. I say, let it go and ignore that viper if possible."


After school, the whole gang and a bunch of volunteers were preparing school for the fundraiser. There were decorations, prizes, games, photo booth, food donated by various vendors and, as a surprise, a performance by Izzy and his band. The cheer squad prepared a new routine and the arts and drama clubs were ready with their own entertainment.

Kevin showed up with some volunteers and was grumbling about how much he hated dealing with peoples as opposed to animals.

Kim Instagrammed candid photos of preparations periodically, hoping to entice more people to this shindig. She was finishing her last post when she saw a message from Ricky.

therealrickyweaver at blackbeltkimc: just saw the tabloids. Sorry. Wow. I say that a lot to you. On plus side, I might show up there after all. Add me to the program if you can. Might as well use fame for smth good.

blackbeltkimc at the therealrickyweaver: will you perform?

therealrickyweaver at blackbeltkimc: i can if you need me too. probably not the latest songs tho:-) don't want Jack or press get wrong ideas.

blackbeltkimc: agreed. not recent songs.

blackbeltkimc at blackbeltkimc: Just confirmed - Ricky W. will be at the fundraiser and agreed to perform. He and Bobby Wasabi also pledged to match all donations. So don't forget your checkbooks!-)


rw4ever: omg, RW will be at Seaford High to perform at a fundraiser.

weavermagic: what? how?

rw4ever: that Kim girl is planning a fundraiser for the animal shelter.

weavermagic: I can't decide if I hate her or admire her.

rw4ever: as long as she is w/ Jack and not RW, then I don't hate her.