Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up I have no excuse except procrastination.

Disclaimer: I don't own kickin it

Now onto the story


Music Room

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

"Okay that was a really good rehearsal, I'll say we're really learning how to work together as a team. I'm thinking at the rate we're going we'll be good enough to perform at the Bayview in two weeks." Eddie informed the group with a pleased grin

Eddie won't lie, the past two weeks having to learn as a group to work together have been...challenging to say the least. There was trying to work around Anastasia's, Milton's, and Eddie's own schedules, with the former beginning play practice soon and Milton's football practice and freshman president duties. Eddie himself had mascot duties and student council since he's a freshman representative. Luckily Anastasia hasn't begun play practice yet but she does this week which will make scheduling difficult. On top of that Eddie has to try and work with Anastasia's diva like personality as she pretty much demands to be the lead singer on all the songs and tries to take control of the band. Then there's Randy's constant jibes and comments as he consistently questions his authority and choices. All that's gone down and they've only had five productive rehearsals. He says productive because they've had eight in total to be precise but they didn't get much done in the first three. In their first rehearsal Milton had to leave twenty minutes in for football practice, Randy made constant underhanded remarks throughout it, and Anastasia kept arguing with him about what songs they were going to play. The next rehearsal went the same only this time Eddie had to leave early for a mascot thing, putting Milton in charge. It was the third one where Eddie tried to put his foot down and gain some sort of control and order over the group with Milton backing him up. He told Randy straight up that if he doesn't stop with his comments he will fire him from the band and made a compromise with Ana over the songs since he can't have her two of them managed to wrangle the group into finally having an actual practice after for the remainder of their scheduled time.

The next five practices were more productive then the first three by also finally managed to settle on a name by the end of the third rehearsal, they called themselves Ring Heart. It was a combination of two names that the group have been debating on, Ringleader and Heartstruck which Randy and Anastasia separately came up with and pushed to be the chosen one. Milton was the one who came up with the idea of combining the name for a compromise which both members were okay with though Eddie could tell Anastasia had more reluctance to agree to. The yellow belt had a flash of fear that this was just the beginning of Anastasia's diva like behaviour and wondered if he needed her voice that badly for the bad. He quickly answered his own question, he does need her that badly. She has an amazing voice and he needs real talent in order for this band to take him up the social ladder and impress Grace.

Eddie was in the midst of planning a big homecoming proposal for the Elite Member because some of the advice he sought out from Jerry was that girl's like Grace needed a big spectacle to interest them. He was also able to find out the boy she was talking about after choir class was Brad Wolfe thanks to Facebook stalking and the wonderful blog, SDL. He also pieced together that Brad was currently dating Sloane Jennings, the new girl in the dojo who's now the best which Jack hates. If he was being honest, he was surprised that Brad was dating someone like Sloane, and that wasn't him trying to be rude, just honest. Sloane was standoffish, on the quiet side, kinda rude, and just plain scary. Most importantly she low on the social hierarchy, pretty much an outcast, why would Brad Wolfe want to date someone like that? Especially when Grace freaking Overland was single and clearly has it bad for him. Doesn't matter, what's Brad lost is Eddie gain and he'll just have to help Grace get over Brad then she'll fall straight into his arms. First thing first the homecoming proposal.

"It's a good thing we're just doing cover songs or else we would more than likely suck spectacularly." Milton noted earning a nod of agreement from Stacey and Randy

"Actually, I wanted to propose something, if I may?" Ana spoke up, walking around the keyboard to the center of the room

"O-kay sure." Eddie granted permission, shooting her a quizzical look

Once she gained everyone's attention she shot them all a pleased grin, "Okay so I found out that Ember Chung is hosting a Halloween party yesterday when we were at the Country club because you know we're friends." Ana began with a smug smile

Randy rolled his eyes, "Get to the point." He rushed

"Okay well the party is October 27th and she's looking for a live band!" She finished excitedly

Murmurs broke out amongst the group while Eddie frowned, "That's the same day as Bayview's halloween party." He pointed out

"Yeah but c'mon the choice is pretty obvious, perform at an Elite party or in front of a bunch of kids." Ana reasoned, "And not to mention the party is invite only. Now I would've already gotten an invite since I'm dating Brett and all but I can't say the same for the rest of you. Besides Eddie this is your chance to hang with with The Elite and more importantly Grace." She tried to sweet talk

"I swear when you open your mouth you almost always make me wish I was deaf." Randy commented earning a chuckle from Stacey before she quickly covered it with a fake cough. Ana scowled at them.

The offer was tempting, he's not going to lie, hanging out with The Elite, Grace but he wanted the band to be at it's best when they perform in front of them. He wants to impress them all enough that they want to let him into their group, that Grace wants to be with him without any persuasion. Right now the band is mediocre at best, still in need of a lot of practice before they can be called good. He's afraid that if they perform in front of them he'll just make a fool in front of them and all hopes of weaseling his way into the group and Grace's heart would be dashed. He wishes it would be easier to join them but it's not, he only has one chance to prove himself to them. He envies Brody, how easily he wormed his way in and Ana, who's slowly doing the same since she started dating Brett.

"Hell yeah we should definitely go for it, an Elite party what more could a guy ask for." Randy enthused

"When are auditions?" Stacey spoke up curiously

"Next weekend at the Civic center she didn't have a certain time yet though." The diva answered

"But I've already had this planned for nearly a month and I've confirmed it with the mall already. I can't just bail on them." The yellow belt argued

"You can tell them there's been a change of plans, I'm sure they'll understand." Ana assured his concerns dismissively

Randy rolled his eyes, "C'mon Jones are you really gonna pass up a chance to go to an Elite party so we can perform in front of snot nose kids?" Randy challenged

"We're not even up to par yet we still need a lot of practice. I want to be at our best when we perform in front of them." Eddie told them

"We'll be fine, we're only performing cover songs and we got most of them down already." Ana argued

"Yeah listen to the diva." Randy agreed, said girl glowered at him for the comment

"I'll take that as a compliment." She responded with a sniff, nose turned towards the air

"I don't feel comfortable bailing on an already scheduled performance, that's not a good way to begin out career." Eddie was still firmly against the idea

"Why don't we take a vote?" Stacey suggested, all eyes turned towards her

"I mean we're a team right? So we should all be apart of the decision making. A vote is fair." She finished a little hesitantly

"I'm for it." Milton was quick to agree

"Yeah." "Sure." Were the replies of the other members

"So, all in favor of performing at Ember's party?" Ana started off the voting

Seaford Corridor

"-So even though it's supposed to be a fall production it's more than likely gonna be opening in December because of how long it took to choose a play and the auditions. Today is going to be our first table read." Kim filled Jack in as they walked out of their shared 1st period English class

"Are you looking forward to it?" Jack asked her

"Yeah, we have two really good leads going by the community plays they were in and I heard amazing things about Ms. Evanheart as a director." The blonde enthused

"Well that's good, I already know that Addams Family is going to be amazing." Jack told her with a smile

The two walked towards Jack locker to swap out his 2nd period supplies for his third. Kim leaned against the locker right of his, "You know we'll need some extra hands for building sets and stuff." She informed his casually

Jack glanced at her, a smile forming on his lips again, "Is that so?"

Kim nodded, "Yes, we'll need all the help we can get." She nudged giving him her best puppy dog eyes

The shaggy haired boy felt himself about to cave when a thought suddenly struck him making all his happiness quickly disappear. "Isn't Brody going to be a part of the play?"

The blonde dropped her puppy dog face at that, turning serious quickly. "Yeah but I'm not going to let him ruin my experience of being a party of my first play. The best I'll be is cordial to him because I don't want to spend my time fighting." She answered him

"He doesn't deserve cordial." Jack nearly snarled

"Maybe not but it's been two years and I'm just tired of fighting. I want this play to go off without a hitch, which means I need to play nice," Kim retorted as she tucked a stray strand of honey blonde hair behind her ear

Jack hummed, he could see her reasoning and knew that, that was the best choice to make but he still disagreed with it. Brody didn't deserve forgiveness that easily, two years or not he played Kim for a fool and is now walking around the dojo like he owns the place. If it wasn't for Sloane he'll be the best karate member, another thing he doesn't deserve. Jack knew these weren't good thoughts to have, his mom and youth pastor would be very disappointed in him but he doesn't care.

"So." Kim began walking closer to him to lock her fingers around the back of his neck and rest her forearms on his shoulders

"Do you think you can help with the sets and play nice with Brody?" She continued, giving him her puppy eyes again

Jack debated on, one hand he wanted desperately to say heck no, he would rather spend his free time watching a Horse Tamer movie with Audrey than with Brody. But on another, he would get to spend extra time with Kim and he was kind of curious to what it would be like to work on a play behind the scenes. Besides isn't doing something you don't really like to make your girlfriend happy what boyfriends usually do? It's called compromising and that's key to keeping healthy relationships, at least that's what Milton and his mom said. Only his parents had trouble doing that which is a big reason for their divorce. Anyway, Kim and him are dating, at least he thinks they are so Kim's his girlfriend.

"Okay, I'll play nice." He reluctantly agreed after a beat of silence

Kim granted him with a dazzling grin, then leaned forward to peck him on the cheek and pulled away with both of them blushing at the act. They've been on two dates but haven't but haven't properly kissed each other yet, and by that he means on the mouth. They were still trying to find a new equilibrium with one another now that they were dating so they've been slow on the PDA. The most that they've done is occasionally hold hands and when Jack works up enough courage, throw an arm over her shoulder when they're sitting near each other. At the end of their bowling date last Saturday Jack finally threw caution to the wind and kiss the girl on the cheek when they were waiting for their respective parents to pick them up. It left them both with the same reaction they had just now, blushing, studiously trying to not look at one another but at the same time sneaking a look and blushing harder when they made eye contact. That was the only kiss they had up until now.

Kim unlocked her fingers as she took a step back from him, creating distance with her cheeks still red. She looked absolutely adorable. "Thank you! And um, just go to Mrs. Evanheart's room whenever you're free to tell her and sign up."

The shaggy haired boy nodded, "Will do."

"Okay good, um I should go to my locker and swap my stuff out before the bell rings. I'll uh, see you later." She gave him a hesitant smile as she slowly backed away in the opposite direction of Jack

Jack's lips were still frozen in a goofy smile at the kiss, "Yeah, for sure."

Kim gave him another smile before turning around to walk more quickly towards her locker. The fourteen year old watched her up until she disappeared from his line of sight then closed his locker. His eyes wandered over to a homecoming flyers that was hanging on the wall next to his locker. He bit his lower lip in thought, Jack didn't really do dances, the whole cotillion disaster two years ago proved that. The idea of dressing in a monkey suit in a room full of people that he doesn't really know listening to the top forties just didn't sound appealing to him. Plus not to mention he can't dance and the Wizard of Oz theme seemed lame so there's that. Despite all those reasons he was toying with the idea of asking Kim to go to homecoming, he knew she liked that type of thing and she's been eyeing the homecoming flyers hung up around the school.

Jack sighed, if he asks her though will, he also have to do one of those corny homecoming proposals? He really didn't want to go through all that, he personally thought that if you're already dating the other person then you shouldn't need to do that. Only if you're crushing on the other person and wants to woo them should you make a huge spectacle. And Jack believes that Kim and him are dating so he shouldn't have to do the big proposal, besides he doesn't think Kim is the type to like big corny spectacles. In fact, he thinks she makes fun of them, which is another reason he likes her. Maybe he should just do a small scale proposal, something subtle but romantic that would put a bashful smile on her face as she rolled her eyes at him. That was one of his favorite smiles on her. He made a mental note to ask Milton and/or Donna, and Kelsey for any ideas on how to do that.

The shaggy haired brunette eyed the flyer once more with a lingering glance before leaving the area to head towards his civics class. His thoughts strayed towards Sunday, a few hours after his mom, Audrey, and him left church Jack got a call from his dad. He was pleasantly surprised by the call but was quick to answer, the last few times his dad went on a tour keeping in touch with him was difficult. Whenever they send emails or try to call him it took weeks if not, sometimes months to get a reply back from him. Despite the pleasant surprise, he was hesitant to hope that this time would be different, that he'll keep in touch frequently but allowed himself to be happy that he's talking to him. He spent around twenty minutes talking about random topics- school, karate, church, Kim, and his upcoming birthday. He ended the call with his dad promising to call him on his birthday and send him a present before Jack handed his phone to Audrey to they could talk for a bit.

His happiness slowly faded when he started to question how long his dad keeping in contact with him and his family in general will last. This has happened before, his dad made promises of keeping in contact but it only ever lasted two weeks max then he goes mute on them. As much as his mom tried to hide it, Jack knew that whenever dad went on tour she hated it just as much as he did, especially when he hardly keeps in contact with them. She tried to hide her distress behind too wide smiles, extra cheerfulness, and distracting herself with church outings and her job but Jack could see through it. He was only around eight or nine at the time but he knew something was wrong with his mother, he heard the heated arguments behind her closed bedroom door at night when he was supposed to be sleeping.

It will only be a matter of time before his dad stops contacting them, leaving Audrey and him devastated while his mom, he's not really sure about her. The two of them are finally in a good place, the first two years after the divorce they pretended that things were okay between them but Jack was old enough to tell that they were faking it. She probably won't be as torn up over it, just annoyed possibly, but Audrey, she'll be so upset. This is just so unfair.

The sound of familiar cruel laughter, followed by a crash into a locker drew Jack out of his darkening thoughts. He walked towards the staircase area to see Frank and his goons towering over a smaller boy on the ground that looks to be a seventh grader. Jack scowled then stalked over to Frank anger quickly overtaking his previous sadness.

"Hey Frank!" Jack called out as he neared the cronies, hands balling into fists as his eyes narrowed

Ryan rolled his eyes, "Here we go again." He muttered to Victor who shared an equally annoyed look

Once Jack reached the trio he pushed his way through Victor and Ryan then pushed Frank away from the smaller boy that was on the floor. He stood in front of the scared boy to protect him, meeting Frank's gaze with a challenging look.

"Pick on someone your own size." Jack growled to the curly haired bully before turning around to help the boy up who shot him a grateful smile .The scrawny boy was up to Jack's neck in height has pale skinned and spiky black hair.

"But where's the fun in that?" Frank

"Besides we weren't really picking on him, it was just friendly teasing, right?" Ryan addressed the last part to the now standing boy who gave a quick fearful glance to Ryan before lowering his eyes to the floor

"Yeah." He fearfully muttered with a jerky head nod

Ryan shot Jack a smug grin, "See?"

Jack gave him a filthy look then turned his attention back to the smaller boy and clapped his shoulder comfortingly. "You should get to class before your late." He quietly suggested. The boy nodded his agreement then left to do just that leaving Jack with the Black Dragons.

"You guys are pathetic." Jack snarled to them

"Wow those are some pretty mean words, what would Jesus say?" Victor mocked

The Wasabi Warrior stared flatly at him, "Wow how original." He deadpanned, "Maybe if you put the same effort as you do into bullying and mocking into karate you would've won your kata division at the tournament last weekend."

Just as he suspected, the comment hit Victor where it hurts judging by the narrowed eyes, curled fists and how he stalked closer to Jack's face.

"You know what Brewer-"

"I'm sure you're about to say some really creative threat but I have to get to class." Jack interrupted the fuming boy then walked around him

"Until next time." Jack called over his shoulder with a smug grin formed on his lips

6th Period

Algebra 1

"Now with your table groups I want you to discuss the answers you have gotten on the first page and see if they match with one another's. If they don't discuss how you gotten the answers and see who is correct." The Algebra teacher instructed the class

Eddie looked down at his paper, he only did half of the equations before giving up on trying to focus altogether.

Kim looked to her left then leaned forward to look past Eddie, "Is Art club getting a float for the Homecoming Parade?" She asked Donna

The girl in question shook her head, "Sadly no, Mr. Taylor just wanted to help out work on other floats instead because he has too much on his plate."

The honey blonde girl nodded her understanding, "Makes sense, are you planning on helping out with the class float?"

Donna shrugged, "As much as I despise the idea of staying at school longer than I have too, with people I mostly hate. Probably because staying at school is better than staying at home with my mom." Bitterness seeped into her voice when she said the last sentence and her face hardened

Kim shot her a sympathetic look before quickly wiping it off when Donna looked back at her. Donna absolutely hated pity and anyone showing her any type of concern declaring that it makes her feel like a broken girl that needs saving.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to work on the class float with Addams Family rehearsals starting and karate practice but I'm a try. Our class float needs to look awesome." Kim declared

Donna nodded her agreement, "Yeah, hopefully Grace and Company will be too busy with the Pearl of Seaford pageant to be there. Apparently the winner will get a crown and go to England for a month to represent Seaford."

Kim waved her hand dismissively, "I don't care about crowns or England."

Donna grinned slyly, "Kelsey might enter for the chance to go to England and see Dan and Phil."

Kelsey is absolutely obsessed with the two British Youtubers, Danisnotonfire and the AmazingPhil. She started watching them a year ago and has been in love since, rewatching all their old videos while being on constant look out for a new one of theirs. Not to mention she also 'shipped' the two of them hard.

"Don't say that as if you don't also love Dan." Kim gently chided

Donna shrugged, "Never said I wouldn't, Dan is hot as hell and Phil is absolutely adorable. But anyway, while we're kinda still on the topic of Homecoming, how much you wanna bet that you were voted to be on Homecoming Court?"

Kim rolled her eyes, "Shut up."

"Don't play coy, c'mon as much as you don't like to admit you're pretty popular, cheerleader and all. Kelsey and I voted for you and I bet when they announce the court Friday-"

"Guys I have a serious problem!" Eddie exclaimed, interrupting Donna's sentence earning a glare from the girl

"When don't you have one?" She mumbled rhetorically under her breath

"What is it Eddie?" Kim patiently asked

"My band! It's not going how I thought it will."

"Imagine that." Donna mused, taking Eddie's paper without him knowing, deciding to get started on their assignment

"What happened?" Kim probed

"I told Bayview Mall that my band was going to perform at the annual elementary halloween party. But Ana just told the band today at band practice that Ember is having a halloween party and is looking for a live band."

The honey blonde girl cocked her head to the side, confusion written on her face. "Okay?" She commented, drawing out the word questioningly

"No it's not okay, her party is the same day as Bayview's and I already made a commitment to them." Eddie impatiently explained

"And I'm assuming the band members don't want to go to Bayview mall." Kim remarked

Eddie shook his head, "No they don't, we took a vote and they voted to audition for Ember's party."

Kim's face scrunched in confusion, "Why'd you take a vote?"

"So it'll be fair." The boy in question explained

"Eddie you're the leader and founder of the band, you should be able to do what you wanna without needing a vote."

"But then they might get mad at me and want to quit."

The blonde rolled her eyes, "If they can't handle a little authority then let them quit."

"Don't listen to a single word she's saying, you won't have a band if you do." Donna spoke up from Eddie's left causing the girl to glower at her

"All I'm saying is you're the founder grow some balls and act like it or stop complaining." Kim continued

Eddie flinched, he forget this was one of the reasons he doesn't really come to her for help, she's too harsh.

"Why don't you want to audition for Ember's party anyway? I'm sure Grace will be there." Donna asked

"That's the exact reason why! I want the group to be at their best so I can impress her."

"Like I said before man up or shut up." Kim advised, "Now we need to really get started on our work."

Eddie pressed his lips together in disagreement but nodded his head anyway. He'll just ask Milton for help instead, he's more gentler.

Bayview Mall

Falafel's Phil

"Phil's new falafel balls are delicious." Jerry praised before shoving another one of the balls in his mouth and moaned in pleasure

"Totally." Randy agreed with the Columbian's assessment as he too shoved his face with the dish. Once he took a breather, he sat still for a second before letting out a long and loud burp

Jack, who sat across from the two other boys, curled his lips in disgust before rubbing his temples. His appetite was now officially gone, so much for finishing his meal. Oh well, he'll still finish his drink.

"Oh my God that was totally swawsome! I wanna try." Jerry enthused then shoved more falafel balls in his mouth then sat back waiting and let out a similar long and disgusting burp. Randy laughed delightedly at the action.

"Let's see who can have the longest burp." Jerry suggested and Randy nodded

"Okay!" Jack exclaimed, drawing the two boys attentions

"I didn't call you guys hear so you can have burping competition." Jack continued, slightly chiding the two

"Then why did you call us here Jack?" Randy questioned

"I want to pull a prank on Frank and I need you two's help." Jack bluntly replied

The two boys shared a surprise glance with one another before looking back at the boy across from them in the booth. Falafel balls and belching long forgotten now.

"What now?" Jerry asked, not sure he was hearing correctly

Jack closed his eyes then inhaled a deep breath, trying to gather some patience, "I want to pull a prank on Frank and I need you two's help." he repeated slowly as if he was talking to two children, not like there was a big difference.

Randy whistled, "Wow, Jack Brewer, church boy wants to pull a prank on Frank? I never thought I'd live to see the day."

Jerry snickered into his around his straw, "Prank on Frank, that rhymes."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean I'm some saint or whatever." He was really getting tired of having to explain, so what he's a Christian, he's also still a 14 year-old boy!

"Yeah, yeah sure." Randy nodded, "What type of prank are you talking about, are you going to put itch cream in his jock strap?" he teased

Jack glared at him, "No, something better than that, something that'll make him think twice before messing with the Wasabi Warriors ever again."

Jerry frowned, "But he hasn't messed with us in a while." he pointed out

"And I want it to stay that way." Jack countered

Randy grinned, "Well you came to the right people. Even though I'm not a Wasabi Warrior, I'm all for a good prank."

Jack nodded, despite the two boys' oblivious and immature personalities, the two were pros when it came to pranks. Right up there if not better, than Truman Bobbitt. They were exactly what he needed to get back at Frank, something he knew that desperately needed to happen. Frank has been terrorizing the group and younger boys for far too long. It was time he got a taste of his own medicine. Frank needed to be taken down a notch, and Jack was going to be the one to do it.

Let the games begin! Please let me tell what you all think about this chapter if you don't mind! XOXO