Author's Note: Forgot to place this at the end of the last chapter, but more references were made, to two All Grown Up episodes and one of my Fan Fic stories in the last chapter. The All Grown Up episodes referenced were All Broke Up and Curse of Reptar, and the story I wrote that was referenced, was A Thanksgiving to Remember. Also, the OC's of Isic and Alex, who should have been Ivan and Alex, woops? Not fixing it now, well, they're OC's of mine, who will be eventually introduced in a story I have yet to release called Bombs and Zits, which I hope to release sometime in 2016, though a tiny flashback to the events of that story will be taking place in this next chapter. Also, while the last two chapters have mostly focused on Zack with a small hint of Kimi, thought I'd focus more on Kimi in this chapter, with a small hint of Zack at the very end.

Chapter 12, A Christmas of Unanswered Questions

Thirteen-year-old Kimi lay in a large grassy clearing, beneath a starry lit sky, as Tommy lay next to her, holding her close. The two teenagers shared a kiss, as they playfully rolled over together in the grass, laughing and giggling, having a good time. Soon, they were lying side by side on their backs next to each other, looking up into the starry lit sky.

"This has to be the most beautiful Christmas eve, I ever witnessed! And the stars are just, so perfect!" Exclaimed Kimi, as she turned to Tommy and shot him a small smile.

"Just the way I ordered it, thankfully, it was warm this year on Christmas eve, and the stars thought to join us." Said Tommy with a smile.

"Yeah." Said Kimi with a relax sigh, as she closed her eyes, and took in the sweet cent of the night air.

"Gosh, I can't remember a night so peaceful and relaxing since the last time I took Rachel out on a date before she moved away." Tommy said to himself, only it was loud enough for Kimi to hear.

The teenage female, fed up with Tommy still not being quite over Rachel, sat up and slapped Tommy in the face. Tommy bolted upright and stared back at Kimi.

"Hey! What was that for?" Tommy asked irritably.

"Your comment about Rachel. You dated her like, over two years ago. And news slash, you never had a Christmas with her because the girl is Jewish. She'd probably think your split family was stupid, if she even knew. Good thing she never found out. Now, enough with Rachel! Aren't I the girl who saved your school career? The girl you've been kissing for the last ten months? Like, get over her already!" Kimi screamed at the top of her lungs through clinched teeth.

"Ok ok, I'm sorry." Said Tommy.

Kimi took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Sorry. I guess, well, it's just…" Kimi started to say, but trailed off, as thoughts of Zack plagued her again.

She didn't want Tommy to know she was possibly being a two timer, though she still hadn't made it official with Zack that they were a couple, even though something deep down told her that Zack might be the one, she hadn't spoken to him since before the incident that took place back in February when it all happened.

Flashback to February, around Valentine's Day

Kimi POV

It all started, roughly a week before Valentine's Day, when we were suppose to have the winter carnival dance. Five days before the dance, a bomb threat was issued at our school, right after we all got an assignment in our seventh grade English class, to do a project on current events in the news. Tommy as usual, took it upon himself to use this opportunity, to make another movie, since he was at a loss of ideas for new films at the time. When the bomb threat happened, during our evacuation, he secretly snuck back into the school with his camera, to film the investigation, only to be caught by Vice Principal Pangborn, and being suspected of commiting the bomb threat, he was expelled.

I was horrified by this, while Lil and I were pretty upset that the dance we had worked so hard to decorate for, was canceled, until some answers were given. While heading to school the following day, I couldn't help but overhear the group known as Z.I.A. out in the back of the school, laughing and giggling about the whole bomb threat. This group consisted of Z, Ivan and Alex. I even overheard them admit plain as day to one another that they caused the bomb threat, just to get out of taking a Chemistry midterm. Unknown to any of them, when I overheard this suspicious giggling, I secretly took out my cell phone, and took a video of the conversation, to which I'd later use as evidence, to prove that Tommy was innocent.

A couple of days passed, as I showed it to Tommy and Peter, who arranged a plan for us to all appear at the hearing, at which I convinced Z to come to, as at that time, he thought I might still have a thing for him, and he was originally, my date to that dance. Well, this all changed in court, when the evidence of my video were presented, and Z confessed to going along with this plan. In the end, he, along with Ivan and Alex were expelled, and thanks to me, Tommy got to return to school. It was then when I found out that Tommy didn't have a date to the dance, and he hadn't been going with anybody since the breakup with Rachel the previous year. And I, too, was dateless, because as I told Z, even if he hadn't been expelled, I wasn't about to go out with somebody who would stoop that low to get out of taking a midterm, because not only did he ruin things for himself, he ruined things for the whole school.

Luckily though, once the mystery of who committed the bomb threat was solved, we got our dance back, and Tommy and I officially started going out after that. And before you think that this caused tension between him and Chuckie, it's obvious that a lot of maturity has taken place over the last couple of years, though for some of us, we still have to learn that it's what's on the inside of a person that counts, and a pimple is the last reason to skip out on a dance.

On the same night that Tommy and I shared our first kiss and started going out, Chuckie and Nicole Boscerelli also shared their first kiss, making their relationship official. She even told him that if Tommy and I ever got married, that would make him and Tommy brother-in-laws, and Chuckie thought the idea sounded cute.

Of course, this only happened after Tommy convinced Chuckie to get over himself over his first zit, which had broken out earlier that week, and go to the dance, at which time, he found out Nicole also had a zit too, and the two of them, connected the zitty dots, laughing about it, and became an official couple that night. After that, we've been going on double dates most weekends, and as for that blond Zack? Well, I try to only think about him when Tommy isn't around, but the more I think about him, the more I keep asking myself, am I only using Tommy while I wait for Zack to return? And does Tommy really like me? Or is he just being nice because I saved him from having to go to alternative school for the rest of his life? That's when I decided to find out for myself. However, I'm not doing this over the phone or some video chat thing on the computer. I have to find out in person. Seeing I'd be graduating at the end of the school year from middle school, I decided to invite Zack to my eighth grade graduation. Here's hoping he shows.

End of Kimi POV

End of Flashback

Soon, it was starting to get late, as Tommy and Kimi continued to cradle one another in each other's arms, as Kimi tried to block all thoughts of Zack out of her head, when Tommy spoke up.

"Hey Kimi, why don't we head inside and watch Christmas Holiday together on DVD while we dine on some popcorn. I garentee, you're gonna love that movie!" Said Tommy, as he stood up and brushed some dirt off of his pants.

"Well, ok." Said Kimi, as she stood up and they raced one another out of the grassy clearing back to Kimi's house, where they found Chuckie and Nicole were cuddled up in front of the TV, watching Miracle on Thirty-fourth Street.

"Do you mind?" Kimi snapped at her brother, yanking at one of his strands of long red hair to get his attention.

"Ow!" Chuckie exclaimed, as he bolted up right and turned around to face Kimi, who was hanging over the back of the couch.

"What, Kimi? What do you want?" Chuckie snapped back.

"Can't Tommy and I have a turn?" Kimi asked.

"Nicole and I just started watching this movie. Go to your room and watch your movie." Chuckie snapped, as he turned his attention back to Nicole and the movie.

"Come on Tommy." Kimi quietly hissed, as she led him up to her room, where she sat him down on the bed, and started rummaging through her closet, until she found her portable DVD player, and placed it on the nightstand.

While she was rummaging around, looking for her portable DVD player, Tommy couldn't help but notice a picture of Zack in a frame on her dresser.

"Wow Kimi, you still talk to Zack?" Tommy asked, as Kimi stood up from searching through her closet and turned to stare at him.

"Zack? What do you mean? I haven't seen Zack since the fifth grade." Said Kimi firmly, her hands on her hips.

"Hey, don't have a cow, I was just, asking." Tommy replied.

Not wanting to talk anymore about Zack, she ran over to her dresser, snatched up the picture, and shoved it into her sock drawer.

"Ok, well, I found my DVD player. Let me get it set up and we can watch our movie." Said Kimi, as she got things ready.

"Ok. Come to think of it, my barmitspha's coming up. Maybe I ought to invite Zack to come to that. I mean, we haven't seen him in years, and he was a close friend back in our elementary school days." Said Tommy.

"First Rachel? Now Zack?" Kimi snapped.

"What? Is there anything wrong with me inviting Zack to my barmitspha?" Tommy asked.

"No, I guess not. I was thinking of inviting him to our eighth grade graduation at the end of the year, if that's all right with you." Said Kimi.

"It's fine by me. I mean, it's not like, you're two timing, are you?" Tommy asked.

Kimi looked down at the floor before responding.

"No I guess not." Kimi lied, as she muttered quietly, down at the floor.

"What was that?" Tommy asked.

"No! I'm not!" Kimi shouted at the top of her lungs, as she picked up the DVD copy of Christmas Holiday off of a pile of assorted things in the corner of her room, and tossed it at Tommy, who caught it mid air.

"Ok ok. Do you want me to leave? Cuz you're getting a bit, too emotional for me to deal with tonight." Said Tommy.

"Well, you keep talking about Zack. I don't wanna talk about Zack, ok? Just, avoid the subject of Zack! Please?" Kimi begged.

"Ok ok, I won't talk about Zack anymore." Said Tommy, as he put the movie into the portable DVD player, and started it.

Kimi just sat down on the bed next to him, as the two of them, not making any contact what so ever with one another, watched the movie in silence. Little did one another know what had already happened. Kimi had long since decided to invite Zack to her eighth grade graduation, knowing that poor Zack wouldn't get a graduation until his senior year in high school, so she sent off the invitation earlier in December, while Tommy's parents had already unknowingly invited both, Zack and his aunt to attend Tommy's barmitspha, provided Celeste could get some time off of work, and it wouldn't effect school for Zack, as they knew the year started and ended at a slightly different time out where he lived than it did out in California.

After the movie ended, Kimi had curled up on her bed, pretending to fall asleep, hoping that would get Tommy to leave.

"I'm sorry Kimi." Tommy whispered, as he tucked in who he thought to be a sleeping Kimi, turned out the lights, and left for home, as it was getting near his curfew, and he didn't wish to get in trouble over holiday break.

Once Kimi couldn't hear a single noise, except for her brother's snoring in the next room, proving that Nicole had long since gone home, and he too, was now in bed, she got up, switched on her light, and pulled the picture of Zack out of her sock drawer, studying it for a very long time.

"Oh Zachary, I love you more than anything, but how can I love you and love Tommy? I'm being a two timing back stabber, and I just, don't know how to get myself out of this jam. Here's hoping you can come to my graduation, and we can work something out. I think I can spare to put up with this secret love triangle that's in my head for now for another six months, before going public. The only question, who's heart to break on graduation day? Tommy's? Who I've known since before I moved away from Paris? Or yours Zack, the one who I have to call my true best friend since we were babies." Kimi thought to herself, as she placed the picture of Zack back into her sock drawer, then pulled out her phone, and composed a text message to Zachary.

She simply wrote, Merry Christmas Zachary in the message, and sent it off. She would have loved to have called him, but she had resorted to texting only since she and Tommy started going out, so that nobody would suspect anything. But deep down, she knew eventually, she wouldn't be able to keep up with these charades, and she only hoped by next Christmas, she'd finally be together with the boy she admired most, and the one she had to let dangle, would have moved on to find another.

Meanwhile, Zack was getting to enjoy the Christmas party that year, as his aunt was hosting it, causing all of his aunts, great aunts and uncles, cousins, and maternal grandparents to attend. He was enjoying some of his great aunt Vicky's pumpkin spiced eggnog, when he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket, while the stereo was softly playing Silent Night. He picked it up to see he had a text from Kimi, wishing him a Merry Christmas. Excited to finally see a text from Kimi, as he hadn't seen anything all day, he looked up from his phone and smiled, just as Vicky approached him with a refil of eggnog.

"Somebody seems acceptionally cheerful this evening." Said Vicky, as she refilled Zack's glass.

"That's because I just received a text from a very good friend." Said Zack, as he took a sip of his drink.

"Was it from Kimi sweetie?" Celeste asked, as she sat down across from him in the room in an easy chair, eating some fruit cake.

"Yep." Zack replied.

"Oh, that reminds me, I have some good news." Said Celeste.

"What is it?" Zack asked.

"Recall last week, we received two invitations in the mail, one inviting us to Tommy's barmitspha, and another, inviting us to Kimi's eighth grade graduation, and you asked me if we could go, I said I'd have to think about it, and put in the time off work?" Celeste asked.

"Uh huh, what about that?" Zack responded.

"Well, earlier today, I spoke with my boss, and he said it would be ok for me to take off for those two weekends in May and June of next year. So, we're going." Said Celeste.

Zack was so excited at hearing this news, he nearly dropped his eggnog on the floor. He couldn't believe he'd finally get to see Kimi again in person, after being away for nearly three years.

"Maybe now I can finally confess my true feelings for Kimi next summer. And maybe, just maybe, I can finally talk to her again, and find out why she's resorted to text messenging for so long, as it does seem a bit strange. We were talking on the phone nearly everyday in January, then, come Valentine's Day, the conversations just, stopped. No matter, texts are better than nothing at all, so I'll be happy for what I do have." Zack thought to himself, as he took a sip of his eggnog, and tried to enjoy the rest of his holiday, as he got out his phone, and shot Kimi a text message back, wishing her, a very Merry Christmas.

By the time the alert went off on Kimi's end though, she had long since fallen asleep, thus, she wouldn't see it until the following morning.

And this, ends chapter 12. So, what will the verdict of this possibly soon to be romantic couple be by the following Christmas? Find out tomorrow, when we return, another year later, post the events of Kimi's eighth grade graduation, and Tommy's hbarmitspha.

Author's Note: Some of the events foreshadowed in this chapter, were looked back at in the first chapter of my story, Driving Disaster.