AN/ Hi...I know it's been super long since I updated this story and I'm really sorry for it. Life has been really hectic and I barely have had any time to write... But on the bright side, things are looking better now:)

Thank you soo soo much for all of you who have read and reviewed.

I hope that you guys haven't forgotten this story completely in this time...

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it

Chapter 7

Friends with Secrets

"Okay that's it for today guys." Rudy said, seeming to be pretty satisfied with us. I had started to regain my strength and practise was getting easier. Although I'd only trained for a week I had already improved. Of course there was still a long way to go until I'd get as fit as I used to be, but it felt like I would get there in a not so far away future...

It's strange how close I was to just give up and go home on my first karate practise and now I'd been training like a maniac… It had become like a drug to me that was almost as effective as Kim. She was still the one thing that could bring total peace to my heart though and nothing could be compared to the wonderful mixture of love and happiness that would fill me as soon as she was around.

The exercise made me feel better though. I had something to concentrate on and I could forget about everything for a little while. Plus, with my karate skills returning, I didn't feel so vulnerable anymore. I would be able to defend myself. Something that I dreaded that I would have to do soon…

I hadn't heard anything yet from Mr Graham, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before he would call or show up and the wait made me feel beyond anxious.

People had asked me how it'd gone at the meeting with him, and I had only answered that everything went fine, that he'd just wanted me to clear up some things that happened that week at Mark's place. I hadn't told anyone about the way Mr Graham had doubted my story, how he had been convinced that I knew Tess and how he obviously didn't trust me. I feared that he would somehow find evidence that pointed towards me having committed a crime, even though I knew that wouldn't be possible. I hadn't had anything to do with Tess or Mark before any of this…

"Hey Jack," Philip said, pulling me back to reality. As much as I hated it he was a part of our dojo now, although thankfully he was only here twice a week. Apparently he had so many other activities to do the other days, just like the rest of the geeks I knew about… Being a nerd must be tough. I seriously don't know how they manage to keep everything going and still get straight A's…

"Jack?" he still panted slightly from the workout. Somehow the others had already gotten into the changing rooms, leaving me alone in the dojo with Philip. Of course that wasn't a coincident. I had started to get into a habit of just zoning out, making me sometimes lose track of what was going on around me which usually caused me to get a little left behind... And Philip being…Philip, was of course where I was.

His admiration of me hadn't faded one bit since the first time I saw him. He had become my tail in the dojo, watching every move I made, wanting me to show him new stuff and constantly asking me questions.

"Jack." I turned to face him, slightly annoyed with him repeatedly calling my name. "What are you gonna do now? I mean, for the rest of the day?" I shrugged.

"Hang out with Kim, I guess."

"Oh…" He seemed to be thinking for a moment, before a hopeful smile made it to his lips. "Can I hang with you?" I looked at him, not knowing what to answer. I didn't want him around, yet my stupid conscience would not let me say no just like that.

"Oh…eh…I…I mean we…" I stuttered, trying to come up with an excuse that wouldn't make him too upset. "We're gonna go out eating. I've already booked a table for two and I don't know if we can change that…" His smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of disappointment, which immediately made me feel bad. "Sorry…" I mumbled.

"It's okay," he said and turned away, walking towards the locker room. I shook my head in thoughts, glad to have gotten rid of him, but still not feeling completely good about it…

I was sitting on one of the chairs near the entrance, watching some stupid commercial on television as I waited for Kim to return from the changing room. I briefly wondered what took her so long. Usually she's the one who has to wait for me…

Voices came from behind me as Milton and Philip made their way across the mats, towards the exit. They were talking about some science thing that I'd never heard about and I didn't bother to even try to figure out what it was.

When they'd almost reached the place where I was sitting they must've spotted me, because they immediately got silent. Milton gave me a concerned look as he passed me. Feeling his gaze upon me I threw a quick glance at him.

"See you tomorrow, Jack," he said, smiling when he met my eyes.

"See you," I answered, watching him leave through the door with Philip following close by.

"Goodbye Jack," Philip said, hoping that I would answer.

"Bye," I muttered, not really bothering to hide my annoyance towards him. He smiled before hurrying after Milton across the courtyard.

I turned my attention back to the TV screen, continuing to watch it until Kim finally showed up.

"Hey, what took you so long?" I wondered as I rose to my feet.

"Sorry, I…" she mumbled, looking down. I frowned at the way she was avoiding my gaze. "I…I lost one of my earrings." She said and quickly grabbed my arm, pulling on me slightly to indicate that she wanted to get going.

"Did you find it?"

"Yes. Now, can we please go?" She said. "I'm starving."

I let her lead me out of the dojo and across the courtyard, without saying a word. There was something about the way she acted –looking away and hurrying when there was really no need to rush- that seemed a bit…strange. I couldn't tell exactly what it was but I somehow got the feeling that something was wrong.

We walked through the doors of Falafel Phil's. There wasn't any line and we were able to order right away. I threw a glance out the window, hoping not to see Philip out in the courtyard. The thing that I told him earlier was partly a lie… Kim and I had planned to hang out and grab a meal. But we hadn't booked a table at any fancy restaurant. Only reason I said that was to get rid of him… Clearly things would be really awkward if he'd catch us here and I would have to come up with some excuse that would be another lie…

Relieved that I couldn't see anyone I recognized out there I turned around and made my order. Kim picked one of our usual tables-the ones with couches instead of chairs-. She took a seat so that she was facing the door and the windows and I sat down across from her. I would've rather sat where she sat so that I could have a clear view of what was going on outside, but she got to the table before me and I didn't want to make a fuzz about it. That would only add to the paranoia she already thought I had…

We ate, talked and joked around like we always used to do. I loved the fact that my life was starting to get back to normal. Even though my emotions were still a bit like a rollercoaster and I wrestled with the memories and the fear that something bad would happen to me again from time to time, things were starting to work for me. My ups were higher, longer and came more frequently and my lows weren't as bad anymore. They still came though…

"Did you see Jerry's face when he saw that picture of Grace?" Kim said, smiling in amusement. "He so likes her…"

"Yeah…" I chuckled slightly at the memory of Jerry's stunned look as he'd accidentally had stumbled upon a picture of Grace on Kim's phone. It was taken at the beach and she wore nothing more than a bikini. Jerry's interest for girls was well known but the way he'd been completely speechless when he saw it definitely told us that he liked her on a much deeper level. He totally had a crush on her.

As I saw Jerry's surprised expression before my eyes I suddenly came to think about the way I must've looked back at that horrible interrogation room back at the police station when Mr Graham had thrown those pictures in my face. I'd been so shocked and scared. Photos like that shouldn't exist. It was impossible for them to ever have been taken since the actions on them never had happened, unless I was going mental…

Maybe I was going mental. Maybe I was so beaten up that I couldn't really remember what my life was like before all of this. Maybe I had known Tess and my brain had shut the memory of her out due to the extreme stress that had been forced upon me. People who've been traumatized could forget things. It wasn't completely unusual, which left me with the disturbing fact that maybe Mr Graham's suspicions about me were right…

A warm hand suddenly reached across the table and grabbed mine, squeezing it gently. I looked up at the Blond sitting in front of me.

"Are you okay?" She asked concerned and I realized that I must've zoned out again. I sighed and took her hand, holding on to it.

"Yeah…" I said half heartedly. There was a moment of silence. I looked down at our hands. Mine was so much bigger, making Kim's hand almost disappear into its protective grasp… Ironically I was the one who needed comfort and protection though… I needed protection from my own thoughts and emotions.

Kim cocked her head to the side, watching me.

"What are you thinking about?" she wondered. I shrugged, not really knowing what to answer, still keeping my eyes on our hands. Kim moved her thumb, rubbing my knuckles caringly. A moment passed before I looked up at her.

"Do you believe I'm innocent?" I asked. Kim frowned in confusion.

"Of course, Jack," she answered. "Why would you ask me something like that?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. It's just…" I stopped myself, looking down again and shaking my head. "Never mind... Just forget it. It's not important." I said, regretting that I ever asked her that stupid question. I didn't want to talk about it now.

"Jack," Kim said softly. "Look at me." I lifted my gaze to meet her wonderful eyes. "What did you mean? Why wouldn't I believe you're innocent?" I sighed knowing that I couldn't just ignore her question.

"I don't know." Kim wrinkled her eyebrows, her expression getting more serious.

"There's no reason for me to not believe that…? You haven't done anything, have you?" I don't think that she actually thought that I had committed a crime or anything but there was none the less worry in her voice.

"Not that I know of…" I said, shrugging again. My answer didn't seem to calm her much.

"What's this about Jack?" She demanded to know. I exhaled.

"Back at the police station…" I started. "…when Mr Graham was talking to me…He asked me about my time…with Mark, of course." She nodded to show that she was paying attention and wanted me to go on to get to the point. "I told him my story believing that that was what he wanted. But during the conversation he…" I paused, not knowing how to put it into words.

"He what?" Kim urged me to continue.

"He made it feel like I was the suspect and not the victim." I said. "It was as if he tried to frame me."

"How?" She wondered.

"He asked me if I'd known Tess before all of this. He made it feel like that would have been a crime…" Kim thought for a moment, letting my words sink in.

"But you didn't know her so everything should be clear, right?"

"I told him so, but it felt like he didn't believe me." Kim's brown orbs looked far into mine and she cocked her head to the side. There was something calm about her, like all the worry she'd felt just a moment ago suddenly had disappeared.

"Jack, listen to me," She gave me a smile, having figured out exactly what was worrying me and how to reassure me that everything would be fine. "You're innocent. They won't find anything on you because you've done nothing wrong. Trust me, you've got nothing to worry about." She gave my hand another squeeze. "If they held you responsible for something they would've contacted you by now. They're not after you." She said,

I sighed deeply, nodding. She was right, of course, as always…

"Thank you," I said, grateful that she once again helped me ease my mind. Kim smiled at me, letting go of my hand to grab her fork and continue to eat. I watched as she stuffed her mouth with a falafel ball, thinking about how lucky I was to have someone like her around.

Kim noticed my gaze and looked up, her right cheek big as a tennis ball as she'd shoved the entire falafel ball into it. She looked so cute and funny I just had to smile. When she saw me brightened up she smiled back, resulting in her looking even funnier and I chuckled.

Kim's eyes suddenly focused on something behind me and her smile faded as if she was beginning to drift off in thoughts. I turned around curiously.

A woman had just entered the restaurant and since she was the only one to be seen I assumed it was her Kim was looking at. She seemed familiar but I couldn't tell from where. Not until she shot me a glance, meeting my eyes for a second did I see who it was.

It was the same woman I'd bumped into at school last week. I'd almost forgotten about her until now.

She gave me a discreet nod as if to say 'hi'. I knew then that she remembered me too, but she was unsure if she should act as if we'd met before or not. I nodded back, before she walked passed us up to the counter to make her order, her blond hair bouncing as she moved.

Frowning slightly I turned back to Kim who'd been watching the woman as well, but quickly averted her gaze as she noticed me looking at her.

"You know her?" I wondered, nodding in the direction of the woman. Kim's eyes widened slightly as if she was startled by my question, but quickly regained her normal expression again and shook her head.

"No,"

I nodded and got back to my meal. But before I had a chance to start eating the door behind me opened once again. This time Kim's face lightened up and I instantly got the feeling that it was someone I knew who'd entered. I turned around just to see two very familiar teenage boys walking in our direction. Unconsciously I sank down in my seat as I realized that it was Milton and Philip.

"Hi Kim," Milton said and sat down on the couch next to me, putting a notebook carelessly on the table as he did. If I hadn't known my friends so well that I did, I would've probably not noticed anything but I swear I saw Kim giving him a warning look. Milton jerked ever so slightly and pulled the folder towards him while looking at me as if he suddenly got reminded of something.

"Hi Jack," he said.

"Hey," I said, frowning slightly as the feeling of them hiding something from me started to come back. I didn't have time to linger too much on those suspicions though as Philip plumped down next to Kim.

"Hi," he said with a huge grin, seeming to be as excited as always. Looking between me and Kim for a moment, his expression became puzzled. "Weren't you supposed to go eat somewhere fancy?" he asked. Kim gave him a questioning look.

"We changed our minds," I blurted out so quick that it was obvious I lied. Luckily no one commented on it, although Kim raised her eyebrow at me.

Philip nodded and turned to look at the blond beauty next to him. A smile formed on his lips at the sight of her and I felt how my instincts told me to jump him. I held myself back though, since it would be highly inappropriate to do something like that…in public…

"So…" Milton started, beginning to feel the tension that had started to grow around the table. Kim looked at him with interest, ignoring the looks that she was receiving from Philip. "I got this for you." The ginger haired boy handed the folder across the table to Kim. Philip's face suddenly got serious as he reluctantly turned his attention away from the girl to eye the item switching owner. It almost looked like he wanted to reach out and grab it. Meanwhile Kim and Milton had slightly uncertain looks on their faces.

"What's that?" I wondered, nodding towards the folder. They all looked up at me, freezing for a moment as if I'd just said the weirdest of things.

"Oh you mean this?" Kim said, being the first to find her voice as she held it up. "It's a…It's…"
"It's just a few documents me and Philip got for her science project." Milton explained.

"Science project?" I wrinkled my forehead slightly. How come I didn't know about that? Kim always used to tell me everything.

"Yeah, we got the assignment yesterday and I asked Milton to help me with some research." Kim said, talking fast. "I didn't know that you would bring me this so fast though." She turned to Milton. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Milton shrugged. I watched as Kim put the folder away, debating whether I should ask more about it or not. Something told me that it wasn't for her science project at all…

I decided to let it go for now though as I thought I would have a better chance to find out what it was if I asked Kim when the two of us were alone. Kim returned to her meal to finish it up as I kept my gaze on the nerd sitting next to her. He had started to look at her again in a far too friendly way…

Kim was noticing him too and she awkwardly put her elbow up on the table, resting her neck against her hand while turning slightly away from him. Her thumb moved around, playing unconsciously with the necklace that she wore. I smiled at the way she acted towards him. She was obviously uncomfortable with the attention he was giving her, which meant that she didn't like him…

Philip would've done best to leave her alone, but being the clumsy and inappropriate person that he was; he had to open his mouth…

"You know my dad have done a lot of studies of social behaviour." He said, making both me and Milton look at him. Kim preferred to keep ignoring him though as his eyes were still fixed on her. "He says that when a girl fondles nervously with her neck it means she likes someone she knows is watching her." I barely managed to keep my jaw from dropping while Kim almost choked on her food. Quickly she put her hand down, disconnecting it from her neck which caused Philip's rather smug smile to fade.

"Are you done Jack?" Kim asked me and looked at the clock on the wall. "I think we should get going. I promised mum that we wouldn't take too long…"

"Yeah," I nodded, knowing that she wanted to get out of here and away from Philip as fast as possible, which was fine by me because that was exactly what I wanted too…

The two boys stood up and let us out.

"Kim," Milton said, catching the blonde's attention. "Are you guys going to your place?"

"Yes," She nodded as she moved away from Philip and over to me. I immediately put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards me. Kim belonged with me.

"Is it okay if I come with you to pick up that book on astronomy that your father told me I could borrow?" Milton wondered.

"Sure," Kim said, pressing the folder against her chest while holding onto my waist. I could almost see Kim mentally face palming herself when she realized what she'd just agreed to. By inviting Milton to come along she'd accidentally invited Philip too.

"That's awesome." Milton said, his whole face brightening up. "I've been dying to read it."

With that all four of us left Phil's and started the walk to Kim's house. As we made it through the parking lot a black vehicle caught my attention. I'd seen it from the corner of my eye and I almost instantly knew what it was. Turning my head I saw the black Volvo clearly. My stomach twisted as I kept my eyes on it. There didn't seem to be any person in it and it would have been the perfect time for me to sneak up and take a closer look at it if it hadn't been for the fact that I wasn't alone.

Kim kept a steady pace next to me and I had to do the same not to fall behind. She didn't seem to notice that I was looking at the car, which was good. I preferred her to not know about it until I knew for sure if I should be worried or not.

However Philip walking behind me did notice me looking. Following my gaze his eyes soon found the car too. Nothing I ever did seemed to pass by unnoticed by him.

I turned my attention back to the road ahead of us, squeezing Kim's shoulder slightly. I'd kept my arm around Kim the entire time, not wanting Philip to get a chance to try to make another move on her.

Philip thankfully didn't bother us much during our way as he was in a deep conversation with Milton, talking about the brain functions of a pessimistic person vs an optimistic person. I didn't bother to tune in and listen to them. It would take too much effort to try and understand what they were talking about.

Once at the Crawford's house Kim ran away to get the book for Milton. I kicked off my shoes since I intended to stay, while Milton and Philip stood waiting at the door. Philip was looking around the place, his head turning in every direction. He'd never been here before so in a way I could understand his curiousness, but his way of scanning the room was so obvious it almost seemed rude, as if he was trying to find something wrong with the place. I didn't care too much about it though as I knew that this was just Philips way of being and he didn't really mean anything by it.

"Nice place," he stated after a moment. Me and Milton just nodded in agreement before I heard the familiar steps of my girlfriend coming back.

"Here you go," Kim smiled while handing the book to Milton.

"Thanks Kim," He said and took it, looking at it in awe. "You're the best."

"You're welcome."

Milton turned to leave.

"See you tomorrow guys," he said about to go through the door, expecting Philip to come with him. He didn't however. Instead he turned to Kim with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

"Could I use the bathroom?" the short nerd wondered.

"Sure…" Kim said emotionless. I could tell that she wasn't completely thrilled to let Philip inside, still she didn't want to be rude. "It's over there, to the left." She pointed to a door further into the house.

"Thank you," Philip said and took off his shoes before quickly making it to the bathroom.

That's all for now guys... Next chapter will have a bit more KICK in it... And I think that I will be able to post it pretty soon if there are still someone who reads this story... Don't know if you all have forgotten about this one by now...

Anyway, reviews are always appreciated...

See you hopefully at the next chappie:)
/MJ