chapter 15

Kimi and Susie were both in Kimi's room. Kimi was in 7th grade, and Susie was in her freshman year of high school.

Susie turned in the chair at Kimi's desk, where she had been going over Kimi's homework. They had met up that day because Kimi's grades weren't doing well lately, and Chas and Kira asked her to help out.

~~~~~~

Chas at first blamed her grades on the way Kimi had been dressing in the past year, which resulted from the music she had been listening to, but Kira quickly disproved that. Kimi's new metal-head style that she had evolved into from her new-found love of heavy metal music shouldn't interfere with her grades (even if she did have a lot of piercing on her ears, and wore mostly leather clothes, as well as boots, and it gave some people a scared vibe around her.) But Kira and Chas both knew that, through and through, she was still their 'sweet little Kimi' and that she was just going through a phase right now with her grades. So they just asked Susie to help Kimi with her homework.

They were far from what they thought! This was no phase AT ALL!

~~~~~

After Susie saw how great Kimi's work was, but knowing her test grades weren't doing so well, she asked what was up with her.

"Seriously girl, if YOU tutored everyone in the gang, you'd ALL be getting 4.0 grade averages!" she said.

Kimi admitted to her that the reason she hadn't been doing so good in school lately was because she was thinking about a certain someone lately.

"And having all my classes with him does distract me, a lot!" she added.

At first, Susie thought it was her friend Z, but she knew that they only had a few classes together with him.

"Well, who is this special someone, Kimi?" Susie asked.

Kimi sighed as she sat up straight.

"It's…" she trailed off.

Susie turned even more towards her and focused all of her attention on her. She motioned for her to continue.

"It's…?" she questioned.

Kimi took a deep breath, summoning most of her will-power, and finally finished.

"It's Tommy, okay?"

Susie gasped a bit, but then smiled.

"Well, what about him?"

Kimi bit her lip in embarrassment.

"Well, it's just that-" she started.

She exhaled in exasperation, blowing some hair out of her face, and recomposed herself.

"So, okay; you remember that Halloween a few years ago when they found those initials I carved in our garage?" she asked.

Susie nodded.

"And that led to Chuckie and Tommy fighting so much that they almost broke their friendship, and then every guy in school was fighting to be Tommy's new friend" she replied.

"Yeah, who knew he was THAT popular?" Kimi asked.

She smiled a bit.

"I'm not so surprised though, he so handsome, so smart, so brave, and yet, so modest…"

She began to twirl some of her hair around her finger, a smile on her face.

Susie smirked at her.

"You were saying?" she said, wiggling her eye-brows a bit.

Kimi got out of her trance.

"Huh?"

She blushed.

"Oh yeah…" she said.

"Well, I told Tommy that I carved those and that I only liked him for a little bit when we were younger but, I was lying."

She smiled.

"I still like him, and I've always liked him!"

Then she frowned.

"And those feeling are just getting SO strong lately that I can't take it anymore!"

She almost groaned.

"I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't even THINK!"

She pulled her hair so hard that her scrunchies came out.

"I wanna tell him how I feel, and finally get these feelings off my chest but…"

She sighed and then fell back. She was lying sideways on her bed, and she put her feet on the window-sill, letting her head hang off the side of her bed.

"I don't know Susie, what if he doesn't like me back?" she asked.

Susie stood up and went to sit next to her, having her sit up-right on her bed so she could put an arm around her.

"Girl, I've known both you and Tommy since I was three, while you two were in diapers, so trust me; that boy's CRAZY for you, almost as much as you are for him."

"Just tell him, and I know you both could end up together."

Kimi smiled, but then she remembered something else.

"But, what about Chuckie?" she brought up "He was so furious last time this issue came up, I thought it would break up the entire group!"

"If I tell Tommy and he finds out, then it will happen to us ALL OVER AGAIN!"

She almost fell back, but Susie had put her arm behind her and had her sit up so fast that Kimi almost got whiplash.

"Girl, just tell Tommy already!" she insisted.

"Don't worry about Chuckie, heck, forget his entire existence when you tell Tommy!" Susie told her "If your brother truly cares about the both of you, and I know he does, he'll LOVE the fact of you two getting together."

She stood up and pulled Kimi up with her.

"Now, you get outta here and go tell him!"

She lightly pushed Kimi in the direction of the door. Kimi looked back nervously.

"No worries; I'll tell your parents that I checked over it and that you're doing fine."

She held up her homework assignment. Kimi smiled, and with a thumbs-up, she left out the door.

She headed to Tommy's house with dedication, not giving up.

"I'm gonna tell him, I'm gonna tell him. I'm GONNA tell him!" she kept repeating to herself.

And finally, she came upon his house, and she stopped. Fear came back to her, and she almost turned around. She looked back, thinking about just giving up, but then she looked back at Tommy's house. She clenched her fists, looked down, closed her eyes, and with a deep breath, she looked up, and began moving forward, forcing herself along.

She came up to Tommy's door, summoned all her will, and rang the bell. After she rung the doorbell, she heard a few footsteps. She looked up and saw Tommy's mom answer the door.

"Well, hello there Kimi" Didi said with a smile "what brings you here?"

Kimi bit her lip and then sighed.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Pickles, I was, uh, just wondering if, um, Tommy was home?" she said.

Didi's smile faded a bit.

"Oh, I'm sorry, you just missed him; he, Dil, and Chuckie just went to the Java Lava with your dad."

Kimi wanted to groan in exasperation, but held back.

"Oh, okay, thanks anyway, Mrs. Pickles" she said, and turned to leave.

Didi could just tell by Kimi's body language why she had looked so nervous, and why she was disappointed at Tommy not being there.

"You're welcome, and sorry again, Kimi" she told her as she closed the door, watching Kimi leave, her head hung sadly.

Didi watched Kimi through the window, seeing that she was almost on the verge of tears.

"Looks like Kimi finally wants to get together with Tommy." she said to herself.

Didi sighed, and went to sit down in the living room. She took out a photo album from underneath the couch and flipped through a few pages until she found the right one. She remembered when she had taken this picture all those years ago…

~~~~~

Stu, Drew, Chas, Betty, Howard, and Lou had all just finished repaving the Finster's garage, as the old garage floor was a bit chipped and cracked, and Didi and Kira were both worried about the kids ever going in here, so most of the families had gathered together and told them that they'd take care of it.

They had left the garage to clean up, after using some of the left-over cement around the bottom of the walls for decoration (as they had finished re-paving the floor a few days ago, and it was completely dry.)

She saw Kimi head into the garage, as Stu, Drew, Chas, Howard, Betty, and Lou went to clean up. Kira was at the Java Lava, so Didi offered to watch the kids for her as she went to work.

Kimi looked a bit nervous, sneaking in there as if she was a spy on an undercover mission.

"Hmm, what's going on here?" Didi asked herself as she watched Kimi go in there. She walked over silently and looked in through a crack in the doorway. She had pushed it a bit more to get a better view, making the door creak a bit.

She saw Kimi quickly look over at the door nervously, but, since Didi had moved out of the light, Kimi shook it off.

"What are you doing, Kimi?" Didi asked silently.

She looked back, staying in the shadow of the doorway, so Kimi wouldn't notice her.

She saw Kimi take Tommy's old toy screw-driver out of her pocket, and then get on her knees near the wall. Didi watched as Kimi worked diligently on carving something in the wall. Even though there was barely any light in the garage, she could just barely see Kimi carve both Tommy's initials, and then her own below them. She put a plus sign in between them, and then drew a heart around them, an arrow going through the heart. Kimi kissed her fingertip and then touched the carving very lightly, as not to leave a mark. She put the screwdriver in her pocket, and left.

Didi had managed to move out of the way right when Kimi came through and went towards the sink, faking that she was washing dishes, even though the sink was dry and empty.

Kimi hadn't noticed a thing, as she went to join her friends in the living room.

Didi then went into the living room to grab a camera out of her purse. The kids barely noticed her, so she left them to their playing, and then went out into the garage.

She turned the light on a bit (every room in the Finster household had dimmer switches) and then looked right at the carving Kimi had just made. She smiled when she figured out she was correct down to the last detail; Kimi had made a carving of both her and Tommy's initials with a plus-sign in between them, which were inside a heart with an arrow going through it.

As she smiled, she sighed, and finally took a picture. After the light faded, she put the camera in her apron pocket and went back into the kitchen. She looked at the image through the digital screen and smiled once again.

A few weeks later, she had printed it out of Stu's computer and put it in her and Stu's personal photo album.

"Y'know Stu, I think we're gonna have to start getting ready for something" she told Stu as she showed him.

"Like what?" Stu asked her.

Didi shrugged.

"I don't know, but Lipchitz doesn't have anything on this in his books, he just started writing up books for non-toddlers but still young children, and hasn't had a topic like this in those books yet" she told him.

Stu closed the album.

"Well, Deed, until then, let's just keep this under-wraps for a bit, when this issue comes along, we'll just take it in stride, whether Lipchitz has anything on it or not" he told her, as he placed the album back underneath the couch.

"I don't think we'll be able to Stu, Kira and Chas know about this too, and I can tell this will be a big issue when it finally comes around."

Stu agreed, but then tried to shrug it off.

"Well, we all saw it, too, so Chas just put a box near the carving so no one'll see it."

They both sat on the couch.

"Stu, we can't keep this hidden forever" she told her husband.

Stu nodded.

"I know Deed, but we'll be able to handle it when it comes around."

Didi smiled, and then giggled.

"You know, I think Kimi and Tommy will make a cute couple when they get older" she told him.

Stu laughed a bit with her.

"I agree; so long as Tommy doesn't get my big nose" he said, poking his nose, making Didi laugh a bit more.

"Oh, Stu, your nose isn't that big, it's just the right size."

Stu laughed a bit more.

"Prove it!" he told her.

Didi kissed him tenderly on the lips.

"If it was too big, I wouldn't be able to do that." she said.

After their laughter died down a bit, she and Stu took the album back out again to look at the picture a bit more. After a while, they closed the album and put it back it back underneath the couch and left the living room to go to bed, turning the light off as they left, knowing that, some day, they'd have to face this issue.

~~~~~

"And it looks like the issue is happening now." Didi said to herself.

She went to consult her collection of Lipchitz books, but, for the first time in her life, she decided against it.

"No, each child is different, and I'm not gonna rely on a generic description for my child."

She got a determined stare.

"I'm gonna do this MY way!"

She then picked up the telephone, and punched in a phone number.

After a few rings, she heard the pick-up tone.

"Hello, Kira?"

She heard a reply.

"It's happening; Kimi's finally going to tell Tommy…"

Kimi went back home, and told Susie that Tommy wasn't there.

"And he and Dil are at the Java Lava with CHUCKIE of all people, and I can't go down there and tell him now!" she said.

She fell face first onto her bed and groaned into the mattress.

Susie sat at her side, and helped calm her down. Afterwards, she had Kimi sit up straight and sat next to her.

"Kimi, don't get so bummed out, this isn't your last chance, I'll help you when they get back from the Java Lava, after all, they can't stay there forever!" she told her friend.

Kimi smiled and nodded.

"Thanks Susie" she said.

"Oh, by the way, what did my mom say about me leaving right after doing my homework?" she asked.

Susie waved her hand a bit.

"Oh, when I showed her how you did, she said she didn't mind, but she does want to see some improvement on your tests."

"What else?" Kimi asked.

Susie shrugged.

"Not much else, she got a phone call right after I told her, and I didn't wanna intrude."

They let that subject drop out of the air, and went to talking of other things.

But, an hour later, though, they heard Chas's car pull up. Susie looked out of Kimi's window, and could just barely see the drive-way, where Chas parked and she saw Chuckie and Tommy get out of there.

"Kimi, get ready for this" Susie told her, as Kimi stood up.

Kimi got nervous and began biting her nails.

"I don't know Susie, I used up a lot of my determination just getting over there earlier" she told Susie, and then went back to biting her nails.

Susie grabbed Kimi's wrist and pulled it to get her finger-tips out of her mouth, and then had Kimi look directly at her.

"You're a determined girl Kimi!" she told her "you can do this!"

Kimi looked unsure.

"Who else but you would steal a pair of walkie-talkie's in a crowded water-park just to find an old man?" Susie asked.

This got Kimi to smile.

"And if you can do something like that, you can tell Tommy that you like him, it'll be easy as pie!" Susie told her "When Chuckie get's upstairs and into his room, and Tommy and Dil head home, you get down there and go tell him!"

Kimi looked Susie squarely in the eye, and her determination returned.

"I will Susie, I will!" she said.

And they both fist-bumped.

Susie helped Kimi keep watch, and once Chuckie went into his room (stopping by just to say 'hi' to them) Chas went into his home office, and Tommy went home with Dil, Susie sent Kimi off.

"Just go for it and tell him already, girl!" Susie told her, and shoved her out the doorway.

Kimi headed downstairs and saw her mom near the doorway, dusting off the table near the entryway, having just hung up the phone.

She looked up, and saw Kimi nervously heading for the door.

"Oh, Kimi-Chan, where are you going?" she asked.

Kimi looked up nervously.

"Oh, I wanted to talk to Tommy earlier, but he wasn't home, so now I'm going again since he's back; I need to tell him something." she replied.

Kira smiled, as if she knew. This sent a shiver down Kimi's spine, but she still kept up her determination.

"Oh, okay, have fun" Kira told her.

Kimi nodded, and left, but heard her mom say something before she left.

"But not too much fun, okay honey?" she asked, again, as if she knew why Kimi was leaving.

Kimi turned and nodded, ignoring another shiver that went down her back.

"Okay, mom" she told her, and closed the door.

Kimi went over to Tommy's house again and repeated the whole process again; almost thinking about going back, shaking off the fear, and forcing herself to ring the bell. But this time, Dil answered the door.

"Oh, hey there Kimi, what's going on?" he asked.

Kimi smiled this time, not having to be nervous around one of her friends.

"Oh, hey Dil." she said.

She nodded upstairs behind him.

"Is Tommy home?" she asked.

Dil nodded.

"Yeah, he's in his room." he told her, pointing upstairs.

He kept talking.

"He and I just came back from the Java Lava with Chuckie and your dad" he told her "We would've invited you, but your mom told us that you and Susie were still working on your homework, sorry."

Kimi nodded, looking past him.

"It's alright, uh, can I go and see him?" she asked.

Dil got a look of realization on his face.

"Oh, oh yeah, sorry" he said, and moved out of the way so she could come in.

She thanked him, and then headed straight upstairs.

Didi and Stu noticed this and crossed their fingers as they saw her head upstairs.

"Let's hope this all goes over alright, Deed" Stu told her.

"Oh, I hope they get together," Didi said with a smile "they'd look so right as a couple."

Tommy was sitting on his bed, strumming an acoustic guitar, when he heard a knock on his door. He set the guitar down and opened the door. He saw Kimi there.

"Oh hey Kimi, my mom just told me that you stopped by earlier." he told her, smiling.

Kimi looked at him, and saw that smile almost made her melt.

"Come on in, have a seat" he told her, and slid out the chair from his desk for her to sit down on.

Even with a limited amount of stuff to use, Tommy was still a gentleman to offer her a seat.

'Oh god, do I want him to be mine!' she thought.

She looked and saw that he was missing a few pictures. Tommy saw her looking, as he sat back on his bed in front of her, and pointed up at them.

"Oh yeah, I took down some of my pictures since Rachel moved away" he told her "I hate to admit it, but she was never really mine, and well, I have to move on."

Kimi's heart skipped a beat. This just gave her an even better chance for them to get together.

But as she saw the look on Tommy's face, she held back. Why should she try to get Tommy all to herself when he had lost a girl he really liked? He couldn't get over someone like that so fast, especially after the whole fiasco that they had set up.

She felt so selfish right then.

She sighed sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry Tommy, I forgot that you were still sad about her moving away." she told him, leaning over and placing a comforting hand on his lap.

Tommy looked up and shook his head.

"Nah, I'm not all that sad, I'm fine." he told her, smiling again, and Kimi could tell this was sincere.

She nearly melted once more.

"So; what's up?" he asked.

Kimi got up from her seat and sat next to him, getting his full attention. She looked up at him.

"Look Tommy, these past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about a certain something important, and well, you've probably been hearing about my grades lately." she told him.

Tommy nodded.

"Yeah, I heard our parents talking about your test scores a few weeks ago, and that's why Susie's been tutoring you lately."

Kimi nodded, scooting a bit closer to him.

"But there's a reason to that" she told him "You see, I have a problem, and you're the only person I can talk to about it, because well, it involves you."

Tommy put an arm around her, and Kimi just about lost her breath.

"Well, I'm here for you Kimi, always, just tell me whatever you need to tell me" he told her.

Many things went through Kimi's mind at that moment; she remembered all the way back to when they were babies when she first moved to America, waking up from their first group naptime together and finding her with her arm around Tommy. She remembered the ski trip and how excited Tommy was about getting his first kiss from that girl Olivia. She remembered Tommy's film festival when he apologized to his friends for catching them at their most embarrassing moments through a new film. And she thought of how great a friend Tommy was for always looking out for everyone in the group, and even what he had just said to her.

She looked up at him, and finally did what she had been wanting to do for years; she grabbed Tommy by the back of his neck, pulled him closer to her, and before he could react, she kissed him, right on the lips!

At first Tommy was a bit shocked by this, but then he returned the kiss, putting a hand on her shoulder. After a few seconds, they broke the kiss, and after a few moments of silence, Kimi spilled her guts!

"Tommy, I lied a few years ago about just liking you for a second when we were little" she told him "I've always liked you, and keeping this a secret from you has just been so unbearable that I haven't been able to do anything lately; I can't eat, I can't sleep, and I can't focus on my tests or my schoolwork without getting you on my mind!"

She looked directly at him.

"I really like you Thomas Pickles, heck, I believe whole-heartedly that I LOVE you, and I just had to do that thing right now, I couldn't hold it in any longer!"

She saw the shocked look on Tommy's face, and looked away, ashamed.

"Now that I've just unloaded on you, I can understand if you don't wanna talk to me anymore" she told him.

She was about to stand to leave, but that's when Tommy snapped out of his shocked state and grabbed her wrist.

"Kimi" he said, having her hang back.

She looked back at him.

"I'm so happy that you just told me that because well, I like you too, a lot" he told her, blushing a bit.

Kim smiled, beginning to blush as well.

"Really?" she asked.

Tommy stood up with her.

"Really" he answered, nodding.

Kimi looked him in the eye.

"Like me enough to tell me that you, maybe even, sorta…" she let the question hang.

Tommy cocked an eyebrow.

"Love you?" he asked.

She nodded, almost in excitement.

"Of course" he said to her, with that smile that almost made her melt again.

And at that, she threw her arms around him.

"Oh, Tommy!" she almost cried, a few tears going down her face "You've just made me the happiest girl in the world!"

Tommy hugged her back.

"And you've made me the happiest young man."

Kimi pulled back so she could look at him, still keeping an arm around his neck, his hands still on her waist. She began to finger-walk her hand up his chest, putting a flirty smile on her face.

"So Tommy, how forward would it be if I asked you to be my boyfriend right about now?" she asked.

Tommy blushed a bit at her being so flirty with him right off the bat after hooking up.

"I'd say that you just beat me to the punch of asking you to be my girlfriend" he told her.

Kimi smiled even more.

"Well then, who am I to turn down such a great offer?" she questioned, shrugging.

And, with that, they both embraced in a kiss once more.

They both got lost in the sensation, until they heard Tommy's door open, and saw a flash! They both unwillingly broke their kiss and saw Tommy's parents there, along with Dil, and Didi was holding a camera, which is what she took a picture with.

"Oh man, congratulations, champ!" Stu told him, pulling him into a hug.

"Yeah, way to go bro!" Dil said, punching him on the shoulder, after Stu let go of him.

Didi nearly squealed as she put the camera in her pocket.

"Oh, my little man finally has a girlfriend!" she said, wrapping her arms around him, kissing him on both his cheeks, twice.

Tommy whole face had turned red in embarrassment and anger, and seeing Kimi laugh at this only made him even more embarrassed.

"Guys! C'mon, can't we get a little privacy!" he said, yanking his mom's arms off, and wiping her lipstick off his cheeks.

Kimi laughed again.

"Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself Tommy, we just hooked up" she told him "You might wanna give that part a few years before we get there!"

That got Tommy to blush again as both of his parents and his brother laughed at that.

"Oh, I can't believe this is finally happening, you two are finally together!" Didi said "We've been expecting this for years ever since I saw Kimi carve those initials, but seeing this happen is just too much to bear!"

A few tears came to Didi's eyes, and she wiped them away before they all saw.

Kimi's eyes went wide.

"You saw me do that?!" she asked.

Didi nodded, sniffling a bit.

Kimi snapped her fingers.

"Dangit, I KNEW I heard that door creak!"

"Wow, you remember back that far, that's impressive!" Dil said as he was trying to take the excited vibe out of the air, as Tommy was still blushing in embarrassment.

Tommy eyed the camera in his mother's pocket.

"Please tell me that you're not gonna put what we just did online!"

"Nah, bro, they know about what happened when you two found those initials, and well-" Dil started.

"We're gonna leave that up to you the both of you about how you'll tell Chuckie." Stu told him.

After a few more congratulations and happy comments, they all left Tommy and Kimi to be alone.

Kimi finally groaned as she realized something.

"Ah man, I forgot about Chuckie and how he acted last time!" she said, face-palming.

She took her hand off her face, looked up at Tommy, and smiled with a bit of a blush.

"I, well, got kinda sidetracked what with spilling my guts out to you and all."

Tommy smiled back, but then got serious.

"But we do need to tell Chuckie about this" he told her.

He grabbed both her hands.

"About us" he corrected himself.

Kimi nodded back, closing her eyes, almost feeling regret. She looked back up at her [now] boyfriend.

"How though, Tommy?" she asked.

Tommy shook his head, unsure.

"I don't know Kimi, but we'll find a way…"

Later on, after sharing yet another kiss, they finally (regrettably) told each other good-bye as Kimi went home. Kimi thought of how she was gonna tell Chuckie, but had a hard time thinking of this, as she mostly focused on how happy she was to finally be together with Tommy. She was happier than she had ever felt before!

It was as if she was in a fairy tale and she was the princess with a happily ever after! She actually spun in a circle as she came up in front of her house, a smile on her face and her arms in the air. She nearly wanted to proclaim her happiness out loud, but it was getting dark and it would disturb the neighborhood.

As she finally made it home, she saw her mom and Chas waiting for her in the living room as she walked in. And, before she could ask, they answered the question on her mind.

"We just heard" Chas told her.

"And we're so happy about it!" Kira said.

She put her arms around Kimi.

"My baby's growing up!" she said, almost crying.

This time, Kimi went red in embarrassment.

"Aw, c'mon guys!" she said.

"It's not all that-" she started.

"Oh, we saw that love-struck look on your face, and how you spun around," Chas interrupted "don't tell us that it isn't that great."

"What isn't that great?" they heard a new voice say.

All eyes turned to the entrance of the room, and they saw Chuckie there, a Sony PSP in his hand, and he was just shutting it down as he heard what they had all just said.

They had all dropped the whole 'embarrassing Kimi about hooking up with Tommy' situation once they saw him.

"Oh, that Kimi's finally doing better on her tests again." Chas made up.

Chuckie smiled.

"Really?" he asked.

Kira nodded.

"Yeah, I'm guessing it was just a phase" she told him.

Chuckie had gone over to Kimi and hugged her lightly, which made her stiff up a bit.

"Congratulations, little sister" he told her.

"Uh, yeah, thanks Chuck" she said, returning the hug back, lightly.

He nodded and headed back upstairs.

Kimi immediately turned around. She didn't even need to ask.

"We're not gonna tell Chuckie about this, we know about what happened last time" Chas told her.

Kira leaned down almost on one knee, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"We're going to leave that up to you and Tommy, but don't hold it off to long, because if Chuckie finds out to late, I don't know if we can help you then" she told her.

Kimi closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I understand guys, and don't worry; Tommy and I will tell him!" she told them.

She went to head up to her room, but Chas and Kira pulled her back.

"Again though-" Chas started, as they both put their arms around her.

"-Congratulations, Kimi-Chan" Kira told her, sniffling a bit.

Kimi smiled and hugged them back.

"Thanks mom and dad, thanks…" she said.

The next day, as the whole group took the bus to school, Kimi sat next to Tommy, while Phil and Lil sat behind them, Dil behind them, and then Chuckie came and joined them, so Kimi had moved to the seat across from them.

Chuckie was talking to Tommy about some new video game that had come out, and Tommy nodded so Chuckie would think he was still listening. But as Chuckie went on, Tommy leaned a bit forward so he could look at Kimi.

Both of them were a bit worried, and they could tell by the look in each other's eyes, but they both nodded, knowing that they would have to talk about it later.

Before Chuckie could see though, Kimi blew Tommy a quick kiss, and he smiled, leaning back as Chuckie still went on, a smile coming across Tommy's face.

Later that day, Lil and Kimi were eating lunch at the same table, Phil, Dil, Tommy, and Chuckie not so far from them, playing two-on-two basketball near a half-court on the blacktop.

Kimi was watching Tommy playing, her eyes following him as he moved around, barely touching her lunch. She let out a dreamy sigh, and that managed to get Lil to look away from one of the boys she was looking at. She saw Kimi still staring at Tommy. She looked at the both of them a few times, and then smiled, knowing what was going on.

"Finally!" she said.

"Huh?" Kimi asked her enchanted trance breaking.

Lil put her arms around Kimi, pulling her closer to her as she hugged her.

"You and Tommy are finally together!" she said.

"What?!" Kimi said, her face flushing red.