a/n-I've always loved the Kim/Jared pairing, and one day I started writing a little story just for fun and it completely took off, so now I've finally decided to post it. I think updates will probably be about once a week, but maybe more often depending on how fast I write. Enjoy!

"Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses." –Ann Landers

Friendship on Fire

Chapter One

It was a universally acknowledged fact that Kim was a stalker—universally here meaning 'in her own head.'

But, while she was, admittedly, a stalker, she was the type that made sure her obsessions weren't noticed by the rest of the world. And really, when all was said and done, she really had only one obsession.

His name was Jared Cameron.

And, for the record, although she was a self-professed stalker, Kim often felt like 'stalker' was far too strong of a term.

Honestly, she only knew where his locker was because it was across the hall from hers. And their school was small, so if he wasn't in the same class as her, there were very few options of where else he could be, and she just happened to be very good at guessing…when it came to Jared. And really, it wasn't as if she knew where he slept at night, or anything—although she did know, for a fact, that his house was on the opposite side of the reservation from hers.

Little things—like knowing his favorite color (blue) and that he was always late for first period (History, their only shared class) on Monday and that his truck (a '92 Chevy, black not blue) had previously belonged to his dad—did not necessarily make her a stalker. It only made her keenly observant…of Jared. Just Jared.

Alright, so maybe the crush she'd had on him for years often got the best of her. But was any of it honestly that bad if she knew that it was all she'd really ever have of him? As creepy as it sounded, she knew she'd always be able to watch Jared, if from a distance. In all of their years living in such a small town and attending an even smaller school together, not once had Jared Cameron ever seemed to notice her. Even after sitting right next to each other for practically an entire year in History, Kim wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know her name.

But, even if she knew it would never actually happen, Kim was content as long as she got to dream about the day that Jared would finally notice her—and as long as she got to see him every day when he sat next to her in History.

Which was why Kim was slightly distressed one day, just less than a month before the end of the school year, when Jared failed to show up for class; it was a Wednesday. On Thursday, she was anxious as she made her way into first period History—exactly five minutes before the bell, as usual. And once again Jared failed to show up, and the same again on Friday.

Kim knew it wasn't just History. Rumors spread quickly in such a small school, and Kim quickly found out from other classmates gossiping that Jared had not been in any of his classes—let alone seen—since Tuesday.

She forced herself not to worry over the weekend. He was probably just sick; that's why he hadn't been at school…or in contact with any of his friends. He would probably be better by Monday.

Except then he wasn't at school on Monday. Or Tuesday. Or any other day for the rest of the week. Kim was officially concerned that something was seriously wrong with Jared.

There was nothing she could do, however. Ignoring the fact that she was actually quite shy around people she didn't know, doing something drastic like going to his house to make sure his parents hadn't murdered him would make her into an actual stalker…and she supposed accusing the Camerons of murdering their only son wouldn't be the best first impression, either.

No, she would wait it out. Jared would come back to school and everything would be just fine. Why was she wasting so much energy worrying over him anyway? Honestly, it wasn't as if her concern for his wellbeing would ever come to light. She should really just move on with her life and attempt to concentrate more in class, rather than worry about where Jared could be or what could possibly be wrong with him.

Who knew, maybe this would actually help her finally get over Jared. Jared's continued unexplained absence could be the thing to finally help her get over her hopeless crush on the boy once and for all; it wasn't as if anything was ever going to come of her crush, anyway. This really could be for the best.

And that was why Kim had to continually convince herself that she was just concerned for her classmate every time her mind happened to drift to Jared. Especially when there were other people around…

"Kim! Kimmie!" For what was at least the fifth time just that morning, Kim was pulled away from her thoughts of Jared by the sound of her little sister's voice. Unfortunately, this was the one time that the younger girl had been the first to notice that Kim was no longer paying attention.

"Huh?" Kim asked, redirecting her attention to the little girl walking beside her.

"You weren't listening to me," Kylie said with a pout. Kim was sure she would have crossed her arms for the extra effect, but she obviously knew from experience that there was no way her older sister would be letting go of her hand while they walked down the main road that led to the Quileute school, even if Kim didn't otherwise appear to be paying her any attention.

"Yes I was," Kim half-heartedly tried to convince the little girl. She already knew where this conversation was headed.

"No, you weren't," Kylie insisted. "You had that funny look on your face again."

"What funny look?" Kim asked, hoping that Kylie wasn't about to say what Kim thought she was about to say.

"That look you get when you're thinking about your boyfriend!" Kylie replied, a grin suddenly lighting up the eight-year-old's face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kim said, shaking her head emphatically. "I didn't think I had a boyfriend."

As she had expected, this got a giggle out of Kylie.

"And would you look at that," Kim said, finally releasing Kylie's hand, "Here we are: another day at school."

"I don't think it's going to be a very good day," Kylie stated, suddenly serious.

"Of course it will be," Kim insisted. She pushed Kylie lightly in the direction of the entrance to the elementary school. "Now get in there. You don't want to be late and miss the good coloring sheet, do you?"

Suddenly, there was the briefest sensation of a pair of small arms throwing themselves around Kim's waist, a hurried, "Bye Kim!" and then Kylie was a blur of pigtails and pink backpack as she rushed into school.

At a slower pace, Kim made her way towards her own destination. This would be day fifteen without Jared…not that she was keeping count or anything. No, not at all. Fifteen was just a rough estimate. Completely correct, but an estimate nonetheless. Obviously.

But no matter how many days it had been since she had seen him, Kim really just hadn't been looking forward to school today. Most of it had to do with her first period history class, and surprisingly not because Jared wouldn't be there. No, there was a test today. Kim was definitely not a fan of tests, even if she did almost always ace them.

Fifteen minutes later found her seated in her assigned seat, test before her and pencil in hand, attempting not to rush through the exam before she forgot everything they'd learned in the past month. This was why she couldn't help but glance up in frustration when someone entered the classroom five minutes into the period and closed the door loudly behind them. Her angry glance turned into an awestruck stare rather quickly, however, when she saw who it was that had entered the room.

Jared.

Jared was back. But he looked different now. He'd had a bit of a growth spurt and filled out a bit in the weeks leading up to his absence, but this was something…different. Clearly he'd had one of those sicknesses that didn't leave you looking as if you'd just been on death's doorstep. Because, quite frankly, Jared looked good. There really were no words to describe just how good he looked. And the hair…he'd cut his hair. Kim couldn't help but admire him as he stood before the teacher's desk, having a whispered conversation with her.

Except now she was pointing him towards his empty seat next to Kim and he was turning around. Kim quickly put her head back down and attempted to concentrate on her work. So intent was she on making sure she didn't blatantly stare at the returned (quite possibly from the dead) object of her affections, Kim was surprised when she came to the end of the test. Funny…those usually took longer. Well, hopefully she'd actually filled all of the bubbles in correctly and hadn't just attempted to spell out Jared's name on her answer sheet…

Still avoiding looking at him, Kim stood up and made her way up to the front of the room to turn her test in.

"Thank you, dear," Mrs. Reynolds said with a warm smile as she accepted the test from Kim. "Could you do me a favor and let Jared copy your notes from the past few classes? I think it would help him catch up on all of the work he's missed."

Kim nodded silently and made her way back to her seat. But inside she was reeling.

Share her notes with Jared?! Jared was going to use Kim's notes? Oh no! She hadn't doodled his initials in her notebook had she? Wait…no. She always made sure never to do that in history. He might see that. And then he would finally know she was basically his stalker. Yes, it was safe to share her notes with Jared. Ah! She was going to share her notes with Jared!

And yes, Kim was fully aware of how over-excited this was making her. But it would mark the first time that she and Jared had actually interacted with each other all year. Or quite possibly in the entire time they had known each other; Kim's early childhood memories were rather dim, but she doubted that she and Jared had ever had any interaction with each other even then.

With a small smile on her lips, Kim sat back in her seat and reached into her bag, pulling her history notebook out. Then she looked over at him and bit her lip. He had his textbook open on his desk to the beginning of the chapter—obviously Mrs. Reynolds had told him to read it while everyone took the test—but he had fallen asleep with his head in his palm and his elbow resting on the desk. No matter how good he might look, he clearly wasn't recovered completely from his bout of sickness. And Kim would hate to bother him.

Softly, Kim slid her notebook on top of his textbook. Clearly it wasn't soft enough though, as Jared's eyes opened with a start.

"Mrs. Reynolds said to lend you my notes," Kim whispered.

For a moment, Kim wasn't sure that she had actually spoken loud enough for him to hear. But then he turned his head to look over at her, his mouth opening to presumably say a word of thanks, and then he made eye contact and froze.