This chapter is dedicated to my wonderful I-pod Fiyero Rose. Who came back from the dead today to make this an awesome day : ) Yes, I did name my I-pod and I named it after a Wicked Character. Those of you that don't like it can redirect all complaints to my phone Draco or my Camera Jasper. Where Rocket Man you ask? Well he comes in the form of my Nintendo DS.
It was amazing really, to sit and watch her sister as she sang various Broadway tunes. It was incredible how She could switch from one character to another. It didn't even take a moment of thought; she just sort of melted into it. Kiki watched from the couch with her mom and dad, clapping as each song ended. They sang songs from Wicked, Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, She Loves Me, Spring Awakening and more. This had been one of the Evans family's favorite activities before Kiki had gone to school.
After about two hours of songs Kiki excused herself and went up to her room. She plopped down on her bed and dug out her book. Ryan had finally convinced her to read Wicked by Gregory Maguire. She lay on her stomach and crossed her ankles in the air, reading the green-paged book. She read about three chapters before she got a call, reaching into her pocket she pulled out the phone not even having to glance at the screen.
"Hey Rocket man." She said. The week before Jimmie had programmed in his own ring tone. He decided 'Jenn Je T'aime' was too girly for his tastes. He replaced it with a Fall Out Boy song that Kiki hadn't heard of until he'd put it on her phone.
"Hey LP." He greeted. The team had shorted Little Princess to LP.
"What's up?" She asked, turning a page in the book.
"Just wondering if you wanted to come over. My parents are out and Donny was suppose to come, alone, but now he's bringing Larissa and I don't want to deal with those two alone." He explained. Kiki thought about it a minute.
"Sure." She shrugged. She didn't have anything else to do tonight.
"Awesome, bring your favorite scary movie and some popcorn and anything else you want to bring." Jimmie said. Kiki hung up and turned onto her back with a groan.
"I'm getting too old for this." She muttered, getting up and going to her movie shelf. It was the only shelf in the room that wasn't filled with books. She picked the only scary movie on the shelf, Dead Silence. Ryan had borrowed Stay Alive and she'd yet to get it back. She grabbed her body pillow and a green fleece blanket as well, heading downstairs.
"Kiki what are you doing?" Catherine asked as Kiki came out of the garage, having put the pillow and blanket in her car.
"I'm going to Jimmie's. Larissa and Donny are going and we're going to watch Scary movies."
"You and that Jimmie guy are getting pretty close huh?" Catherine asked, leaning forward.
"Who?" Vance Evans looked up from his paper.
"Jimmie Zara AKA Rocket Man. He's on Kiki's basketball team." Sharpay answered, her pink painted fingernails swiftly moving over the keyboard of her pink laptop, finishing up an essay she had been meaning to work on.
"And they've been spending a lot of time together." Catherine added, sipping her diet coke.
"Because we're friends." Kiki rolled her eyes, climbing up on the counter to reach the popcorn.
"Good, I don't like this Zara Fellow." Vance said gruffly. Kiki whipped her head around and nearly fell off the counter.
"Shi- why not? You've never even met him."
"Oh he's not going to like any guy who has his eye on little Kiely." Sharpay rolled her eyes, still typing.
"Bite me Fido." Kiki growled. Sharpay looked up, glaring at her sister and her use of the hated childhood nickname. Kiki hopped down from the counter, popcorn in hand.
"Make sure you put the top up though, the weather man says it's supposed to storm." Catherine advised. Kiki's hand paused on the doorknob.
"Storm?" She asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Yeah. Good thing too, my flowers were starting to look a little dry. Have fun sweetheart." Kiki nodded stiffly and went back into the garage, tossing the popcorn in the back with the other things and put the top up on the car before opening the garage door and backing out.
She got to Jimmie's house in about ten minutes and quickly hopped out, it was already starting to rain. She knocked on the door and about ten seconds later it was wrenched open by none other than Rocket Man himself.
"Hey LP." He grinned as she walked in. "Nice… pajamas?" Kiki smiled, looking down at her tank top and pajama pants.
"Yep. I figure as long as I'm bringing this stuff I should be comfy." She shrugged, following him as he led her to where they'd be watching the movies.
"Larissa and Donny aren't here yet." He said, sitting on the couch. "And you make a good point, I'll be back." He got back up and hurried off. Kiki dropped her stuff and decided to look at the pictures around the room. One of Jimmie at about three years old, sitting on a little white stool in front of a blue background. There were a few school photos as well as a camp photo and his Basketball photos from the past two years.
"What do you think?"
"I think you were a cute kid. Something must have gone terribly, terribly wrong." Kiki turned around smiling cheekily.
"You're hilarious." Jimmie rolled his eyes. He had changed into a wife beater and blue flannel pajama pants.
"I know." Kiki stuck her tongue out. Jimmie narrowed his eyes and dove for her. Kiki dodged at just the right time, running around to the other side of the couch. Jimmie scrambled up and stared, faking left then jumping right. She tried to run, but quite frankly Jimmie was faster than her. He caught her around the waist as she tried to get out the door and pulled her back in, tickling her side.
"Ha! Now who's hilarious?"
"Stop! Ah! Okay, you win. You're hilarious." Kiki screeched, trying to get away from him. His sat down on her stomach straddling her and still tickling.
"And who's still cute?"
"No! Quit it! Jimmie!" Kiki laughed, rolling around.
"Who's still cute?" He repeated.
"Okay! Okay! You are." She gave in; tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks.
"I'm what?" he asked. Neither heard the door open.
"You're cute! Now get off." He stopped when they heard a loud 'Ahem' from the door. They both looked up at Donny and Larissa, who had weird looks on their faces. Jimmie got up and held out and hand to help Kiki, who wiped her cheeks and fixed her tank top, which had ridden up while he tickled her.
"Should we like, give you two a minute?" Larissa asked. Kiki glared at her.
"Shut up." She turned and headed for the couch. Larissa grabbed the popcorn and Kiki's hand.
"We're going to go make popcorn." She smiled, dragging Kiki away.
"Ow, you're going to rip my arm out of the socket." Kiki complained as they got to the kitchen.
"So what was that?" Larissa asked, ignoring Kiki's comment.
"What?"
"You two, on the floor?"
"You mean him assaulting me? Yeah that was great." Kiki rolled her eyes. Larissa got out a thing of popcorn and put it in the microwave.
"Whatever, you looked like you were enjoying it." Kiki glared at her.
"Shut up. I did not."
"Okay." Larissa said in a singsong voice. Kiki narrowed her eyes and looked around for a bowl for the popcorn. She found a big blue one and the girls made about three bags of popcorn to fill it. When they last bag was done they went back to the TV room where Donny and Jimmie were setting everything up. Kiki grabbed her pillow and blanket, stealing a corner of the couch. Jimmie sat next to her while Donny and Larissa took the love seat.
"What are we watching first?" Kiki asked, grabbing a handful of popcorn.
"The ring." Jimmie answered, tossing a piece of popcorn in the air and catching it in his mouth.
They were about halfway through the movie when the thunder started. It was soft as first, barely noticeable, but when the lightning joined in it got louder. Finally, just as they were going in the well and the hand grabbed Naomi Watt's arm there was a loud crash of thunder and a bolt of lightning that made Kiki jump and she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.
"Relax LP, it's just a movie." Jimmie laughed. Kiki nodded.
"Right." She looked back at the screen. Okay, coming here was a bad idea. No one knew about her fear of thunderstorms, not even her family. It was a recent development, after a tornado threatened her boarding school and… it was just terrifying, totally justifiable. She just didn't want people to know it. They finished the movie and had just put in Larissa's movie, The Others, when a crash of thunder, louder than ever filled the sky and the power went out. Kiki couldn't stop herself from screaming this time.
"Larissa?" Donny asked in alarm.
"Wasn't me." Larissa said. After a moment Jimmie looked to the side.
"Kiki?" All he got in reply was a small whimper. He reached over and touched her leg. She was shaking. "Keeks are you okay?" He asked.
"Fine." She squeaked.
"I'm going to get flashlights." Jimmie said, getting up.
"I'll come with you." Donny deciding, standing and tripping over the table. "Ow." He muttered.
"You okay man?" Jimmie asked.
"Yeah I'm good." Donny waited for a flash of lightning before moving around the table. After they left Larissa moved to the couch, next to Kiki.
"I didn't know you were afraid of storms." She said gently.
"I'm not." Kiki argued.
"Kiki."
"I'm not."
"Kiki."
"Okay maybe a little. Before I left school there was a tornado and… it's a little traumatizing. I know the chances of a tornado in New Mexico are slim, but still…"
"It's fine Kiki. You don't have to explain. I'm afraid of horses. No reason, they just scare the crap out of me." Larissa shrugged.
"I'm afraid of cornfields. Ever seen Children of the Corn?" They looked up to see Donny. He held a flashlight.
"Spiders. I don't do spiders." Jimmie appeared and walked in. Larissa went back to the loveseat and Jimmie took the spot on the couch. "So, movie's over. Now what?"
"Once Upon a Time…" Larissa started telling a ghost story and after a while Donny and Jimmie turned the flashlights off. Once they were off, Kiki readjusted, resting her head on Jimmie's shoulder. Jimmie wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they got comfy, listening to Larissa's retelling of The Others.