A/N: Heyheyhey! So, I've seen a lot of people doing this ... A series of one-shots that are somewhat - or not at all - connected, and I figured I should give it a try myself. I've had this first one finished for quite a while, but I was kinda nervous about posting it. Oh, and yeah, it's not as long as I would've wanted, but since it's my first I'm guess I'm okay with it.
Happy reading!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kickin' It, unfortunately.
Kim Crawford wasn't her usual sarcastic, nice and funny-self today, but she didn't want anyone to notice. She hated feeling weak, hated people's pity, hated off-days.
And what did she hate even more than that? – Many things, actually, but right now she totally despised headaches, with a passion.
Seriously, her head was pounding like crazy, and also her vision was blurry. And just to make it even worse, it was like every single, little sound was enhanced by a thousand.
And yet, the blonde didn't want anyone to know. Yeah, that girl and her stupid pride.
"Kim!" The blonde picked up her pace at the familiar voice, but he caught up to her of course.
"Didn't you hear me call your name?" Jack Anderson, one of the blonde's best friends, asked curiously.
"No, sorry, I didn't," Kim took this excuse without hesitation.
Jack nodded slightly, unsure whether he should believe his best friend. After all, even if she was still horrible, she had gotten a lot better at lying.
"Kim, are you okay?" he asked.
The blonde merely nodded; she was worried he'd know she was lying if she started talking.
Jack nodded slightly as well.
"Whatever, you heading to practice?" he changed the subject, although he still didn't fully believe her.
"Yeah, but I need to swing by Captain Corndog first…" was the blonde's answer.
She didn't even bother to ask Jack why he was wondering this, and instead she just kept walking, knowing Jack was walking right beside her.
"I'll walk with you." Jack stated as they both spotted Captain Corndog a few feet away.
"No, duh," Kim said sarcastically, walking up to the door of the shop.
Yeah, she managed to give a sarcastic comment, but she was worried Jack had noticed her heart wasn't really in it.
The blonde swung the door open and entered the shop. She was kind of in a hurry, practice started in ten minutes, but she allowed herself a look around the place before shouting into what seemed like nothingness, "Grace? You here?"
A tall, slender, beautiful brunette appeared in a door that Kim assumed lead to the kitchen or something, "Ah, you're here!"
Kim decided to drop a sarcastic comment this time. She might've fooled Jack, but she couldn't fool Grace, ever. The two girls were too close.
"Oh, and hello to you too, Jack!" Grace, being her oh-so-friendly self, said to the brunet who stood a few feet away from the duo.
Kim reached her hand in her sports bag and pulled out a black iPhone 4S with a pink cover.
"Here you go," Kim said as she handed it to the brunette. Grace gladly accepted, and she pulled her best friend into a quick hug.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, I so love you, Kimmy!" Grace said with a grin on her face.
The blonde simply rolled her eyes at this, "Whoa, take it easy, it's just a phone. And don't call me Kimmy, you idiot."
Now it was Grace's turn to roll her eyes. The two girls shared one last hug before Kim and Jack walked out and headed for the dojo.
The two teenagers walked in silence for a little while, both of them unsure of what to say.
"That was…" Jack began, but his voice trailed off.
"Awkward? Weird?" Kim suggested as she looked up at him with a slight smile.
Jack just nodded.
Kim reached her hand to her temple; simply because it hurt so bad it was unbelievable.
"Kim, seriously, are you okay?" Jack asked, noticing her little hand-movement.
Kim sighed.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, trying her best not to show him she was lying.
The two friends entered the Bobby Wasabi dojo, and Kim wasn't exactly sure if Jack believed her or not, to find their three other best friends already dressed, and stretching on the mat.
"Hello y'all," Kim greeted, her southern accent showing.
All of the guys greeted back with a smile.
After some exchanges of a few words and some short conversations Kim sat down on one of the benches.
She started breathing calmly to try and relax, although she knew it wouldn't really work.
"Kim, you okay?" Jerry asked the blonde.
Wow, if even Jerry could notice the blonde's change of behavior, then she certainly hadn't hid it as good as she'd thought.
Kim closed her eyes at the loud sound of Jerry's voice – in her head it sounded like he was literally yelling in her ear.
"Yeah, Jerry, I'm perfectly fine."
"Kim, are you sure? You really don't seem fine," Milton stated.
Kim rolled her eyes.
"The perks of having a smart friend," she muttered sarcastically, later praying the guys hadn't heard her.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," was all Kim said as she pulled her water bottle out of her bag and took a huge sip.
Water was supposed to help, but it didn't. She'd already drink a lot more than necessary, and eventually she'd given up on the water-thing.
Jack sighed, "Look, guys, if Kim said she's fine, then she's fine. I would say that she'd never lie to us, but we all know she would," the guys laughed at this. "So instead I'm gonna say that Kim knows to take care of herself, or so she says, and she wouldn't worry us unless needed to, okay?"
Was it just something the blonde was imagining, or did Jack look directly at her when he said the last part of that speech?
Kim shook her head. She was really losing it.
Or was she? – Jack had basically said he thought they were good enough friends for Kim to be able to tell them if something was wrong, and yet, she still hadn't said anything about the horrible headache.
Some friend she was.
But, wasn't it better if they didn't know? At least on Kim's behalf? – They'd think of her as weak, a girly-girl, someone who couldn't handle something as simple as a headache.
Was she really willing to take that risk, after working so hard on her "reputation" when it came to the guys? – No.
The answer came to her mind in a split second.
No, she couldn't risk them feeling differently about her, she just couldn't.
Hastily, she met Jack's eyes, he gave her a reassuring smile, and she gave him a "thank you for standing up for me and making those idiots shut up"-look.
"Guys, I'm gonna go change," Kim slowly said before breaking the eye-contact with those oh-so-chocolate-y eyes.
Kim headed off to the girls' locker room with slow and calm steps; her head was still pounding like crazy.
"Hey, Kim!" Jack interrupted.
Kim somehow managed not to cover her ears when she heard Jack speak – or almost yell – and she also managed not to shoot him a death glare.
"Yeah, Jack?" she said, not turning around to actually face him.
"You'll tell me if there's something wrong, right?" he asked hesitantly.
Kim couldn't answer that question, she really couldn't.
Jack meant that you could tell your best friends anything, no matter what it was – but Kim meant that she couldn't tell anyone when something was wrong, because she hated feeling like a weak, little girl.
So, instead of answering the question she just carried on with her walk to the locker room, ignoring Jack calling out her name several times.
She'd tried her best to cover it up when walking with Jack and talking to Grace and the guys, but now it felt like the headache had backfired on her.
The second the door closed behind her, a wave of dizziness caught her. She desperately reached her arms out to try and catch something to hold on to, but it was useless, she was in the middle of the room.
It was like the whole freaking room was spinning and the blonde felt like she had to throw up.
Then, it was like an elephant was dropped on her head, and she was on the floor before she even knew what had happened.
"Oh god," was all she was able to get out.
She'd been able to reduce her fall just a little though, so luckily she didn't pass out.
But now that she thought about it, passing out would've been better.
She didn't see a thing; everything was a blur, her left ankle hurt like crazy and it was like her head was attempting to pound her to death.
And maybe, her stupid head would actually succeed.
Now she'd wished she'd told Jack when he asked her the very first time. Or that she'd thrown a sarcastic comment at Grace so she'd figure it out. Or that she'd told the truth when the guys gained up on her.
She just wished she'd told someone.
But no, she was all alone in the girls' locker room, with the door locked, on the floor, her own head trying to murder her.
She realized she couldn't exactly let her head win, she had to do something.
Kim hastily sat up, everything still hurting like crazy.
She grabbed a t-shirt of hers from the sports bag that was, thankfully and loyally, lying on the floor next to her, and tied it around her ankle to apply pressure. It wasn't like she was new to this kind of thing (ankle-injuries that is).
Then, with shaky hands, she put her hair up in a ponytail. Now she looked around in the room, unsure of what to do next.
"I'll give you that, you actually do know how to take care of yourself."
The sound voice made Kim jump and she almost covered her ears at the sound as well, almost.
Hastily, she turned around to face the source of the voice that'd made her jump like ten thousand feet in the air.
Jack Anderson.
"How much did you witness?" Kim asked coldly.
How could he spy on her? – Some friend he is.
Suddenly, Kim was happy she hadn't told anyone. She didn't feel sorry for herself anymore; she didn't feel like a bad friend.
She'd been able to handle it herself when she needed, so she hadn't needed to tell anyone about it at all.
"More than enough," the brunet answered.
Kim rolled her eyes, "What kind of an answer is that, you idiot?"
Jack merely shrugged, making the blonde roll her eyes again and turn away from him.
Jack sighed, "Kim, I'm sorry … Rudy wanted me to check in on you, since everyone else was sparring. I heard a thump, and the door wasn't locked for some weird reason, so I went in. And believe me, I was just about to rush forward and help you when you sat up like nothing had happened."
Kim smiled at this statement. How nice of him, well, sort of.
"Well, it ain't that bad." Unfortunately, her voice went like three vocals higher when saying this, so he knew she was lying.
"Mmhhmmm," Jack said sarcastically.
Kim looked down, her back still facing Jack.
"Okay, so it's bad," Kim stated, praying Jack wouldn't throw in another sarcastic comment.
"Kim, look at me," Jack simply said.
Kim hesitated for a couple of seconds before turning to meet the brunet's eyes.
Jack didn't say anything, and this was aggravating to the blonde, "What, Jack?"
Jack smirked, "Kim, you need to go home."
It wasn't a question, but a statement.
Kim sighed in defeat.
"Fine, I guess you're-" here she cut herself off.
Jack rolled his eyes; he wondered how long it would take for that girl to be able to admit that he was right about something.
"Jack?" Kim quickly changed the subject.
"Yeah, Kim?" Jack snapped out of his thoughts and met the blonde's eyes.
Kim sighed, "Help me up, will you."
Jack laughed slightly.
So she wasn't able to say he was right about something, but at least she didn't have a problem asking him for help, thank god.
"Sure Kim, anything for you," he said sarcastically, although he did help her up.
He also held her by the waist as she halted out of the locker room. All of the guys looked at Kim in raw surprise, but the blonde just rolled her eyes at them, and Jack mouthed something about telling them later.
"Jack?" Kim said.
"Hmm?" Jack said.
Kim held her hand out in front of him, "I think you owe me money to take the bus, unless you want me walking the long way home with a headahe of ourse."
Jack rolled his eyes at her as he reached his free hand in his pocket and handed his best friend a ten dollar bill.
Kim grabbed the bill, pulled away from Jack and started walking/halting to the exit.
"You're not even gonna say 'thank you'?" Jack questioned.
"Thank you," the blonde retorted before the door closed behind her.
A/N: Well, that's it for mah first one-shot in this story, and I hope you enjoyed it! I'll update when I get the chance, by the way.
Oh, and reviews are greatly appriciated, thank you!
- Brooke.