Chapter Text
Tommy’s POV
Sophomore year, back in middle school I always felt like high school would never come. Yet here we are, starting our second year. Can’t lie, I’m pretty nervous but I also can’t wait to see all the opportunities this year brings.
Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, Lil, Dil, and I have all been inseparable since we were babies, hard to believe we’re in high school now. My cousin Angelica has been with us since then, as well as our neighbor Susie who also helps look out for us. We’ve all changed over the years, growing up and maturing into our best selves. My love for film and photography has continued, so I joined the AV club freshman year and managed to become vice president of the AV club. I fought tooth and nail for it, competing with other classmen to get it. The position of president is reserved for sophomores and above, so I’ll be gunning for that position this year.
My little brother, Dil, is still a weirdo obsessed with aliens and the supernatural. He successfully started the Extraterrestrial club back in 7th grade and the club goes wherever he does. We all doubted the club would take off, but it became one of the most successful clubs in his middle school. Dil has some strange charisma which attracts people from every social clique. Plus, he also has become somewhat of a stoner now, let’s just say everyone wants to be friends with a guy who can get weed.
Chuckie really had his glow up in high school. He made a resolution to stop being such a wimp at the start of high school. Now, he’s a member of the wrestling team and he regularly brushes up with self-defense classes! He’s been hitting the gym 4 times a week and has become the most athletic guy in our group. His reason for doing it is so he can protect Kimi and all of us as well. He’s the official big brother/mom of the group, a title he is proud of. However, he has become a tad overprotective of Kimi. Ever since we started high school, he has been dead set on making sure no one takes advantage of her, and as a result she is the girl every guy wants but can’t have. Chuckie is still nerdy as hell though; he loves comics and video games and dreams of becoming a comic book writer.
As for Kimi, where do I start? I would say she had a glow up as well, but she’s always been stylish, attractive, and all round perfect. After she “matured” she began dressing a bit more provocatively. Her outfits hug her body, showing off her figure, and some of her skirts are very close to violating the dress code limit. I still remember the first time Kimi showed up to school in an outfit styled like a Japanese school uniform only with Kimi’s creative and sexy twist on it. Chuckie spent the whole day trying to cover her with his flannel and berating her for dressing like that, of course it doesn’t stop her. But she’s not all looks, she’s president of the Japanese club, vice president of the fashion club, and is in the top percent of our class.
It’s pretty obvious that I’m crushing on her, how could I not?. When we were kids, Kimi and I briefly had crushes on each other. Kimi even carved TP + KF into the Finster garage. This did not go over well with Chuckie and the whole thing nearly destroyed our friendship, but now that I’m crushing again, I can only wonder if she thinks the same. I don’t really date after that whole Rachel incident years ago. The drama of a relationship can be too much sometimes and it’s easier just not to. But if Kimi were to ask…
But I got sidetracked thinking about her, there’s also the twins Phil and Lil.
Phil became head chef of the cooking club, although he’s relaxed and chill when hanging out with us, he’s like a whole other person behind the stove. He would make Gordon Ramsey run home to his mom crying after Phil was done with him. He runs that kitchen military style. But he still enjoys chilling with us and partaking in Dil’s hash stash. The two of them spend Saturday afternoons in the treehouse completely stoned.
Lil is captain of the varsity soccer team! No one would have imagined a freshman could have pulled off becoming captain, but she was too good not to be granted the title. 8 colleges already have their eyes on her! Kimi, Angelica, Susie, and her all spend more time together, shopping or just being girls together. But she still makes time to hang out with us guys too.
My cousin Angelica is a senior and has matured a bit too, she’s somewhat of a stereotypical mean girl at school but she’s extremely cool with us now. She’s president of the fashion club and helps Susie out with her music career by serving as her unofficial manager, getting her gigs, and helping network. Despite teasing and tricking us when we were younger, she now cares and watches out for us, she also invites us to the hottest parties in town which is pretty awesome too.
Susie has been our next-door neighbor since we were babies as well, and she hasn’t let anything stop her. She’s enrolled in dual credit classes and plans to graduate with an associate degree. She is also president of the Mathletes club. She also became a small-time successful singer; Angelica gets her gigs via her mom’s connections. She really wants to get a record deal and record a full album, because of my skills with the camera I got to shoot all her music videos. So that’s the recap of all my friends.
12:00 pm High School
I hear the bell signaling lunch ring, Chuckie, Phil, and I collect our backpacks and make our way to the cafeteria. The three of us had our Monday morning classes together, which spelled trouble for our teacher as we just messed around all period.
“Finally! I’m starving!” Phil says clenching his rumbling stomach.
“You were eating chips from under your desk the entire class! How are you starving?” Chuckie was disturbed by Phil’s hunger.
“Come on Chuckie, Phil has an appetite which can never be sated” I say as I push through the crowd of teens trying to reach the cafeteria. As we push through, the three of us are waved over by Lil who has already got us a table.
“Hello Gentlemen! I welcome you to our table for the year! Claimed by yours truly.” Lil bows slightly as she presents the table to us.
“Thanks Lil, looks like you got us a good one!” I was amazed by the cleanliness of the table. Last year, we were the freshmen and the upperclassmen made sure the frosh never got to the nicer tables. This is a public school after all, so finding a table that wasn’t covered in old milk or food was a blessing.
“Of course! My soccer teammate owed me a favor and she nabbed this one for me during her free period.” Lil already had her food, and Chuckie packed his lunch so Phil and I set off for the lunch line. Phil was disgusted by the food served by the lunch ladies but avoided making a scene like last year.
“I cannot wait until the cooking club starts doing meals again, this slime is an insult to the culinary arts!” Phil was not only disgusted by the food, he was offended.
“No kidding, that casserole surprise from last year had a toenail in it, I spent all afternoon vomiting.” I still remember feeling it jab my tongue, yuck. Now I strictly stick to the fruit selection, pizza, and whatever food lets me easily identify what I’m eating.
We all took our seats at the table and awaited our other friends.
After a few bites I looked up to see Susie, waving at us and she was with Kimi… my jaw was on the floor. I hadn’t actually seen Kimi since last month. She spent the last of her summer break on a trip to Japan to visit her family. Somehow that one month made her more beautiful than she already was.
Kimi was wearing a light purple tartan skirt with a soft pink/white blouse, she completed the look with various silver accessories and black doc martens. Natural makeup with slight purple accents. Her hair was styled in a bun adorned with hair pins, it looked like she had grown her bangs out.
I was completely awestruck by her beauty! Before I realized how intensely I was staring at her we made direct eye contact. We exchanged a quick smile before I looked away not wanting to seem like a creep.
“KIMI! You’re back! And you look amazing!” Lil ran up and hugged Kimi, nearly knocking her down.
“It's good to see you Lil! I missed you all!” Kimi said as we all gathered around her for a group hug. As I got closer I could smell her perfume, it was sweet yet mature. I was completely enthralled by her!
We all return to our seats. We eat our food while Kimi fills us in on what Japan was like.
“... and I also got you guys gifts!” Kimi says ecstatically as she looks at all of us. She begins to pass out small gift boxes to everyone.
I eagerly accepted her gift, not breaking eye contact with her as she handed it to me. I open the small box to reveal an Olympus Camera! My eyes went wide, I had always wanted for the longest time. I looked up at Kimi amazed.
“Kimi! This is amazing! Thank you so much!” If I wasn’t mistaken I swear I saw her blush.
“No problem! I saw it and I remembered how you always wanted one of these cameras!” Kimi responded with that beautiful smile, I could already feel myself blushing so I turned back to the camera to try and hide my face.
Everyone else opened their gifts as well. Lil got a jersey from her favorite baseball team in Japan. Phil got a pair of gilded chopsticks with his name engraved on them. Susie got a limited edition japanese release of one of her favorite singers. Chuckie got a vintage collection of manga. Kimi revealed she got Dil a new sherpa hat and Angelica a pair of heels. Speaking of Angelica, she arrived shortly after.
“Well here are all my favorite sophomores, I thought you’d all get lost on the way here.” Angelica said sarcastically. Once she saw Kimi she went to hug her as well.
“Finster! Youre back! I missed you so so so much! You got my heels right?” Kimi handed her the bag containing her gift and she immediately sat, pushing Chuckie to the side as she went to try on her new heels.
“They’re gorgeous! Thank you Kimi, you’ve done the fashion club and I a huge favor!” Angelica said as she admired her new heels.
“Whatever you say Angelica” Kimi rolled her eyes as she said that and we all laughed.
I saw a familiar sherpa adorned head walking up to us, my little brother Dil took a seat next to me.
“Hello Earthlings! What a fine day it is.” Dil smiled at everyone.
“Hello Weirdo, this is a no freshman table” Angelica says shooing Dil away.
“In that case, I’ll just let my guy know you’re not cool anymore and you can find another dealer.” Dil gives her a devious smile and she pouts before going back to her heels.
“Anyways, make sure you guys stop by the first meeting of the Extraterrestrial Club this thursday!” Dil handed each of us a flier club.
“You know Dil, there are a lot of other clubs you could join that would have a bit more academic merit.” Susie said gently
“Yah, ones that won’t make you look like a total freak!” Angelica quipped causing Susie to glare at her.
“You guys are wasting your time, Dil won’t abandon that club, built it with his sweat and blood all of middle school” I say to defend my brother.
“Thanks T, and I appreciate the concern Susie but believe me, when people realize how awesome the club is they’ll be begging to join.
“I think it’s cool, the whole point of clubs is to express things you're interested in. Angelica, you and I are in the fashion club, it won’t look great on a resume but we do it because it's fun and we like fashion.” Kimi interjects defending Dil as well.
Dil gives her a thumbs up, “this one gets it”
“Whatever, this conversation is boring me so let's talk about the amazing party we’re all going to this Friday instead” Angelica changes the subject.
“A party! Awesome!” the twins say in unison
“Party? Isn't it the first week of school?” Chuckie says confused
“Yah, and some teens from East Highland are throwing a semester kickoff. I know you’re out of touch with how socialism works Chuckie but anyone who is anyone is going to this party! So you are welcome.” Angelica sneered at the confused ginger.
“That's not what socialism is Angelica." Kimi said annoyed
"And as much as I don’t like agreeing with her Chuck, but she's right. This party is gonna be huge. I won’t be missing it.” Kimi says in agreement with Angelica.
“Neither will we!” Lil says with Phil nodding in agreement.
“Come on Chuckie, it'll be fun!” I say patting him on the back. Despite the muscles and wrestling medals, Chuckie is still a total introvert and I really want him to feel included.
“Oh Alright, but I’m not drinking.” Chuckie says as he smiles back at me.
“I don’t know guys, it is the first week of school, I have a lot to do.” Susie says concerned.
Angelica gives her a mischievous look, “Okay Carmichael, I guess you won’t get to rub shoulders with all the rich kids with music producer parents looking for fresh talent.”
Susie’s eyes widened at Angelica's comment. “Actually, I think I can schedule some time for that!”
“Good we’re all in agreement then! You can come to Dil, but bring the stuff and don’t be weird!” Angelica says as she stands and storms off to another table of popular kids.
Dil flicks her off as she leaves, getting a laugh out of all of us.
After lunch concludes an announcement on the loudspeaker lets us know our lockers had been assigned for the semester. We used to be able to pick out our own lockers but after an incident involving a firecracker and some of the seniors it was decided to have them assigned to us from now on. We left lunch to collect our locker cards. My locker was going to be 347, so I made my way over to it. I was excited to unload all the supplies from my backpack.
I finished setting up my locker for the semester, all the supplies, textbooks, and camera gear perfectly organized. I confidently slam the locker shut, ready for the semester!
“You really shouldn’t slam lockers, Tommy. Do you want to get written up on the first day?” A sarcastic voice spoke from behind me.
I turn around to see Kimi leaning against the lockers across mine. The sight of her makes me all weak in the knees. I was crushing hard on her but I was able to hide it. The light from the nearby windows made her glow, her purple hair glimmering in the sun. She looked completely stunning!
“Kimi? What are you doing here?”
She walks over to locker 348 and opens it up revealing all her supplies.
“Looks like we're locker buddies this year!” She says smiling at me.
“Awesome!” I do my best to sound excited yet not too excited.
Holy crap this has to be a joke. First I redevelop my crush on Kimi, she gives me my dream camera, and then the universe puts her locker right next to mine. But I can’t date her because of Chuckie, the universe is a cruel mistress.
We both make eye contact for a moment, it’s slightly awkward. I can feel myself blushing slightly and immediately lose eye contact, looking towards the floor. Our awkward moment was interrupted by the sound of Chuckie, Phil, and Lil talking and walking towards us.
“Hey guys!” all three say at the same time.
“Yo Tommy! Check this out!” Phil snatches the small card that Chuckie had been clutching.
“Wait Phil, I wanted to show him!” Chuckie says as he chases after Phil. Lil stands back, chuckles, and rolls her eyes.
But Chuckie is too late as Phil shoves the item in my face. I take hold of it and analyze it. It’s Chuckie’s driver’s license!
“Woah! Dude when did you get this!” I ask Chuckie.
“I just got it yesterday! It finally came in the mail!” Chuckie says with utter joy on his face.
“Charles here has been so excited for the last few weeks, he made sure I didn’t tell any of you about the driving test over the summer.” Kimi interjects using Chuckie’s government name to tease him.
“Come on Kimi! This is a pretty big deal! Now we can go wherever we want… with my new car!” Chuckie smiled bigger than I’ve ever seen before.
We all congratulated Chuckie on his new car and license. I have to admit it’s pretty cool that one of us can actually drive us around, we can finally stop relying on Angelica and Susie for rides around to parties or to hang out.
“Sorry for keeping it a secret, it's been a few weeks and I wanted to surprise you all today, but I forgot to mention it at lunch! Now you all have a ride to the party at least.” Chuckie awkwardly scratched his head.
We all cheered and gave Chuckie a dog pile hug. We all stumbled over and broke out into laughter. This year is going to be amazing.
After my last class, during free period, I attended the A.V. Club meeting, we spent the entire meeting welcoming new members and then setting up the schedule for this year’s events and projects. All in all, a pretty eventful day.
Chuckie said he would give me a ride home, I headed back to my locker to put away my camera gear and meet him in the parking lot, however, I spotted a familiar purple haired girl looking into her locker.
Kimi’s POV
4:45
I look into the mirror of my locker trying to keep my cool and retouch my makeup. I can’t believe I landed a locker ight next to Tommy… I’m the luckiest girl in the world!
We’ve known each other since we were babies, I never used to be worried about what he thought about me until I started to crush on him. Falling for my brother’s best friend was not part of the plan but I couldn’t help myself.
Tommy was so confident and a natural leader, and he was naturally hot as hell. I don’t mean to sound shallow but Tommy had good style, an awesome personality, and he has gotten more physically attractive in high school, not that he wasn’t before. But he started going to the gym with the boys of the group, he had a slim yet muscular body that definitely got noticed by me and other girls.
A lot of girls asked him out after the whole situation with Rachel but he vowed to never date again till college because he didn’t want to deal with all the drama. I can’t really blame him though, Rachel seemed to make him happy till she dumped him, twice. It wasn’t really his fault! Rachel didn’t think she could do long distance but then changed her mind and tried to surprise him and so when he found a rebound girl named Anita, they both dumped him over a misunderstanding. Truth is when they dumped him, I felt happy, I hate to admit it but I thought I’d finally have a chance with him. I thought my crush on him would just go away, but it has gotten worse. I can’t stop thinking about him all the time. Having the locker next to him is a mixed blessing, hopefully I can make it through this semester with him next to me, I really hope that-
“Hey Kimi!”
My romantic daydreams are then interrupted by none other than the boy of my dreams.
I slam my locker and turn to face him, his purple hair was in its casual swept back style, he had grown it out a bit, looking a bit more like his dad's hair but more tame. He wore a light gray pullover sweater with a light green logo. Stonewashed jeans with white sneakers with dark green accents. His style was so casual yet cool, he knew what looked good on him which is rare for a guy.
“Hey Tommy! Fancy meeting you here. How was AV Club?” I say trying to play it off.
“It went well! Everything for the semester is being planned. I’m excited! How about Japanese club and Fashion club?” he says with that perfect smile.
“Japanese Club went great! Lots of new Japanese American freshmen who joined. I’m excited for them!” I was really proud of how far the club has come.
“Angelica rejected almost everyone who wanted to join the fashion club, but we managed to get through the meeting without her hating every event idea” I say slightly rolling my eyes.
That got a little chuckle out of Tommy, “Yup, she’s a diva. But I’m sure you’ll manage Kimi.” I blush at the comment.
“Thanks Tommy, I know you’ll manage too.” I look away towards the window making sure he can’t see me blush.
When I look back at Tommy he is staring in the opposite direction avoiding eye contact with me. There’s a slight awkward tension between the two of us… but before I continue to ponder it Tommy speaks.
“So… I assume Chuckie is driving you home too?”
“Yah! I had no idea he was giving you a ride too.” Chuckie never mentioned giving Tommy a ride home, leave it to him to unintentionally dangle Tommy in front of me like this.
Me and Tommy discuss Chuckie’s license and his driving ability for a few minutes before Chuckie finally arrives, however, he has a nervous look on his face.
“Hey guys, I’m sorry to keep you waiting and… I’m even more sorry I have to cancel the plans to drive you both home.” Chuckie says that last part in a deflated manner.
“What! Why?” I say, slightly annoyed at Chuckies last minute cancellation.
Chuckie awkwardly scratches the back of his head before responding
“Look I’m sorry, but the captain of the wrestling team said he needed help moving some weights to his house, and I kinda offered without remembering I already had other plans. I would cancel but I don’t want to get on the captain’s bad side!`` Despite Chuckie beating guys up for looking at me the wrong way he still has that soft side that comes out when he gets nervous.
“It was a simple mistake Chuckie, don’t get so worked up, we can just walk home.” Tommy immediately speaks up trying to calm down Chuckie. Chuckie smiles warmly but then looks towards me and frowns.
“Thanks Tommy but… could you make sure Kimi gets home okay? It’ll be dark soon and I don’t want anything happening to her.”
“WHAT!? I can take care of myself Charles! Besides, it's almost five o clock not nine!”
I know Chuckie cares about me but I can’t stand this overprotective side of him. As crime rates increased and horror stories about things that have happened to other girls in our school spread, Chuckie keeps a close eye on me. If I go out in the evening, he tags along, even to girl nights. If I want to hang out with friends, they can’t be guys unless Chuckie vets them, even then he’s always paranoid about boys who aren’t Phil, Dil, or Tommy. Even if I wanted to be in a relationship there’s no way it would work with Chuckie breathing down my neck. Especially with Tommy. Last time I had a crush on him it nearly ruined their friendship.
“I know you can Kimi, but I’m your brother, it's my job to worry about you! please let Tommy walk you home, just to be safe!” Chuckie begs me.
Normally I would refuse, but getting to spend some alone time with Tommy would be nice, even if nothing comes of it. “Fine, he can walk me home. But you need to let up on the overprotectiveness Charles!” I say in a somewhat dramatic fashion.
Before Chuckie can properly respond he pulls me into a hug, thanks Tommy, and runs off back towards the gym.
“Well, let’s get a move on Tommy!” I grab Tommy’s hand and run towards the exit. The warmth of his hand immediately makes me blush.
Tommy’s POV
I couldn’t believe my luck, walking Kimi home, even if she wasn’t too thrilled about it. Getting back to our houses should only take about 30 minutes, so I intend to enjoy this alone time with Kimi as much as possible. On our walk home we discussed our club’s plans for this semester, classes, and our family life… I thought the walk home would be easy going until Kimi asked me something I didn’t expect.
“Hey Tommy… Can I ask you something?”
“Yah, sure Kimi”
“Why haven’t you had a girlfriend since Rachel?” her voice is tender as she says this.
I was a bit taken back by this question which was completely out of the blue, but I do my best to answer anyway.
“Well, I guess I’m just afraid of getting my heart broken again.” I say somberly.
“Forgive me if I’m out of line Tommy, but did you really care about her that much? When she initially broke up with you… it didn’t even phase you. You had to fake all the tears and sadness.” Kimi stops walking as she says this to me, looking me straight in the eyes.
I ponder what she says for a few seconds and think about it before answering.
“You’re right. I never really liked Rachel… I was just drawn to her. I don’t know how to describe it but I never really met anyone like her, so I was just sorta attracted to her for that reason. Our whole relationship was based on me lying to her though. I lied about my dad being a Rabbi, I lied about liking Hebrew school, and when we broke up, I had to lie to everyone about feeling sad about the breakup. Thinking about it now, I couldn’t really be myself with her, she was just too high maintenance and egotistical. As bad as it might sound, her novelty had just worn off…
After Anita and her dumped me, at the same time too; I felt bad because I had realized what a shitty thing it was to do, lying like that to everyone. I felt bad cause I lied to my friends. I lied to you Kimi. I’m sorry for that, I don’t think I ever apologized to you for that.” The words came out of my mouth and I felt sort of numb. I never talked about the breakup that much and I kinda just let these feelings sit with me for 3 years.
Kimi stared at me for a moment, then pulled me into a hug. I couldn’t help but blush as she did.
“I understand Tommy, but I forgave you for that long ago. You’re my friend and I see this is something that deeply affects you! If you ever need to talk, I’m always here for you.” Kimi says in a soft and empathetic voice.
“Thank you, Kimi… that means a lot.”
With that she releases the hug and we finish the walk home in silence, not an awkward silence but just a friendly silence. I walk Kimi to her house and we say our goodbyes.
“That was Amazing” I say to myself after Kimi shuts her door.
Kimi’s POV
“That was Amazing” I say laying up against my door.