Chapter 25

"Jessie!" Jack cried, jumping into his best friend's arms.

Jack had been crushing on Jessica for years when they were younger and it originally had broken his heart to learn the girl of his dreams was gay.

That quickly faded, however, after getting to know Summer, who was also a lesbian and Jessica's other best friend.

The three are now great friends as they campaign through the sixth grade while Jack is somewhat dependant on them for help with bullies.

"What is it, Jackie?" Jessica asked worriedly as Summer appeared at her side.

"Quinten's being a jerk again!" Jack whined, burying his face in Jessica's chest.

"Oh look, my favourite freaks; Lesbo, No-Dad, and Girl-Boy!" Quinten snickered with a smirk as he approached them.

"They aren't freaks, Quinten!" Jack yelled angrily.

"Only freaks hang out with people like you, Girl-Boy." Quinten argued.

"I'm not a girl boy!" Jack blushed.

"Says the kid wearing girl's clothes right now." Quinten tugged hard on Jack's pink button up shirt.

"Pink was a 'boy' colour first, idiot." Jessica spoke up.

"Yeah, loser, read a history book. Or any book, for that matter!" Summer joined in.

"Ugh, losers... You're lucky you aren't the only freaks who need my attention today or I'd beat you all to a pulp..." Quinten rolled his eyes and turned to harass a poor guy down the hall from them.

"Thank you, Jessie... You too, Summer..." Jack sighed in relief, letting go of Jessica to take a few steps back.

"No problem, Jackie. Don't let him get to you, okay? He's just upset because you have better style than him." Jessica smirked.

"I'll remember that." Jack giggled and nodded.

Jack picked up his glitter notebooks and gel pens, hurriedly shoving them into his purple and blue kitty-cat backpack before walking towards his next period.

"It feels like Quinten hasn't gotten any nicer since I met him.." Summer shook her head.

"Well as someone who's known him since second grade, he wasn't nice to begin with." Jessica half-smiled.

"We're gonna be late to bio if we don't get going, lab partner." Summer nudged her and started walking towards their class.

"Grah! Wait for me!" Jessica said, pushing through a group of eighth graders as she struggled to catch up to her slightly taller friend.

"Gotta be quick to survive the stampede, little antelope!" Summer said, snickering as Jessica picked up her now trampled biology binder.

"Haha, very funny Miss 'Hold All My Stuff While I Fix My Damn Hair Again'." Jessica said sarcastically.

"Hey! I don't ask that often!" Summer blushed softly and pouted.

"Often enough that some seventh and eighth graders think I'm your personal assistant." Jessica smirked.

"Do I really come off as that entitled?!" Summer panicked.

"I'm just messing with you! It's fine, I promise." Jessica giggled and patted her on the back.

Summer huffed, blushing a bit deeper.

"You know I hate it when you tease me!" Summer whined, punching her friend roughly on the shoulder.

Jessica didn't notice, however, as she had begun scrolling through her phone.

"Marcus says to tell mom he won't need a ride today, he and Jonathan have hockey practice." Jessica said, sighing dreamily as she said the boy's name.

"Lay off your brother, he hasn't liked anyone since Vex rejected him. I think it's good he's finally into someone else after so long!" Summer stood up for the older boy.

Jessica just grinned and rolled her eyes at her blonde friend's words.

"Vex didn't really reject him though! Mark never even asked him out!" Jessica giggled, recalling that day.

(Flashback two years ago)

Jessica and Marcus were walking past an outdoor ice cream parlor when they saw Vex sitting alone at a table.

"Hey V-!" Marcus paused, lowering his hand from half waving.

A girl came and sat beside Vex, who blushed softly and started giggling.

The girl held out a spoonful of chocolate ice cream as Vex grinned and ate it, licking his lips.

The girl laughed and leaned forward, kissing Vex's cheek.

Marcus cleared his throat and turned, hiding his face from his sister's view.

"Let's go home..." he said softly.

"Wait, can I get some ice cream first?" fourth grade Jessica asked.

"I said let's go home. Now." Marcus said, his voice wavering.

Jessica grabbed his shoulder and spun her brother so their eyes met.

Jessica was shocked to see his eyes wet with unshed tears, his lips quivering.

"Yeah... Let's go home..." Jessica said softly, grabbing Marcus's hand as they walked back to their house.

(End flashback)

"True true... But wouldn't you be hurt if the person you liked started dating someone else?" Summer asked, trying to reason with her friend.

"No." Jessica hid a smirk.

"What? Why not?" Summer asked in confusion.

"Because the girl I like doesn't want to date anyone until highschool." Jessica said matter-of-factly.

Summer blushed deeply and paused her stride, her eyes widening.

"N-No fair!" Summer said, repeatedly punching Jessica in the back as the red head laughed and drew a lot of attention from passing peers.

"What's not fair, Summer?" Jessica asked, playing dumb.

"T-That you're pinning my own words against me like that!" Summer said.

"How so? It's not like you like anyone." Jessica shrugged once the punches stopped.

Summer growled and grabbed her friend, pinning her against the row of lockers to their side.

Jessica's eyes widened as Summer came close and kissed her, cupping her cheeks.

"I'm in love with an idiot, actually." Summer blushed and left without another word.

Jessica stood there stunned for the next few minutes until the bell rang and she sprinted to class.

~~~

"Ooh!" Naomi said in awe, watching yet another romance movie.

Little Winter huffed and continued eating her sandwich, ignoring the screen with disinterest.

"No more!" Winter groaned, covering her face.

"Nuh uh, Winny! You picked movies aaaaaall day yesterday! It's my turn!" the other four year old argued.

"Well this is icky, Nayo! I wanna watch somethin' better!" Winter said sternly.

"It's boodifull and we're gonna watch it, Winny!" Naomi huffed and turned back to the movie.

"It isn't even real words!" Winter said.

"It's French, Winny! The lang-ish of love!" Naomi squealed.

"You don't even know French!" Winter crossed her arms, pouting.

"Pour toi, mon amour, je déplacerais la terre et le ciel!" Naomi recited along with the man on screen, already knowing the black and white film by heart. For you, my love, I would move the earth and the sky!

"Mais Winston, tu me connais à peine!" Naomi copied the woman dramatically. But Winston, you hardly know me!

"Questo film è spazzatura..." Winter shook her head. This movie is stupid...

Naomi stuck her tongue out, Winter copying the action from her seat on the couch.

"Hey hey hey, what's going on in here?" Monty asked, coming back from a phone call.

"She started it!" Both girls exclaimed, pointing at each other.

"Avenir pas de vie-er." Naomi grunted. Future no life-er.

"Sorella noiosa..." Winter muttered back. Boring sister...

"Hey! Both of you apologise to each other right now!" Monty said in astonishment.

"Sorry." Both children muttered.

"Winter... Quando hai imparato l'italiano?" Monty asked, sitting beside her on the couch. When did you learn Italian?

"Mama sung me songs when I was little... So I started listening to Italiano songs and stuff by myself." Winter shrugged.

Monty hummed and nodded, shifting his attention to the little girl diligently watching the movie on the floor.

"Hey, Nayo... Comment connaissez-vous le français?" He asked. How do you know French?

"Movies." Naomi said simply, not tearing her eyes from the screen for a moment.

"Help me... We watching this movie all day..." Winter whispered to her uncle.

Monty chuckled and ruffled her hair as Winter grunted and slapped his hand away angrily.

"Naomi, mon tendre, why not watch another movie? If you watch a movie too much in one day, you'll get bored of it! You don't want that, do you?" Monty asked, kneeling down to the violet haired girl's height. my sweet

Naomi shook her head slowly as she looked up at him, humming.

Monty grinned and pressed pause, carefully taking the DVD out of the machine and placing it back in its case.

"Who wants to watch one of Uncle Monty's movies?" Monty asked, grabbing a movie off of the shelf.

Both girls nodded in agreement as Monty slipped the movie in and sat between them on the couch.

The girls looked at the movie with interest, watching the opening scene of the action movie with unblinking eyes.

~~~

Nimani sat alone at her table, sighing softly.

After simple testing as a child, her adoptive parents learned that Nimani was a child genius, allowing her to skip a few grades to match with her grade level.

She stared dreamily at a table of sixth graders, eating her lunch with her eyes locked on a certain blonde boy.

"See you later, Jackie!" Jessica, who Nimani had met a few times during her stay with her "true" parents, called before standing and leaving.

'Jack Murphey....' she thought, sighing softly as she rested her chin in her hand.

The boy looked over at the fifth grader and offered a timid wave, causing Nimani to squeak and look away with a pink tinted face.

Jack shrugged and waved to the other kids at the table before picking up his trash and leaving the table.

"I'm Jack, by the way." Jack grinned at Nimani.

"I-I-I know...." Nimani murmured, gulping.

"Heh... Well... What's your name?" Jack asked, trying to be friendly to the girl who was sitting alone.

"N-N-Nimani.... Nimani C-Chandler-Sawyer...." Nimani stuttered out.

"Nice to meet you, Nimani! Would you like to have lunch with me and my friends tomorrow?" Jack offered, grinning widely.

Nimani squeaked and nodded slowly with wide eyes.

"R-Really..?" Nimani asked in disbelief.

"Of course! I'm sure they won't mind and you seem nice!" Jack giggled.

Nimani smiled, her heart fluttering at the sound.

"O-Okay! S-See you tomorrow!" Nimani waved, standing as the bell rang.

"Yeah! Oh, and another thing!" Jack called as Nimani turned to him.

"I like your monster truck backpack! It goes well with your Bigfoot shirt!" Jack said, making Nimani turn at least two shades deeper.

"T-Thank you..." she muttered.

Jack giggled and turned, skipping away towards Summer, who was leaning against a wall waiting for him.

"What took you so long? Jessica's already in math and you know Quinten has that class with us!" Summer said worriedly.

"Sorry! I was making a friend!" Jack said proudly.

"Of course you were." Summer smirked and rolled her eyes, glancing towards the pinkette with knowing eyes.

Nimani turned and ran once their eyes locked, not stopping until she reached her next class.

The bell rang moments after as the girl let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm gonna eat lunch with him!" Nimani whispered to herself, grinning widely, "Best. Day. Ever..."

~~~

(I know this is a Natsuri book but I thought some of you would wanna see how our favourite little kiddos are doing these days lol

Question!! Who's your favourite kid? Summer, Vex, Jessica, Marcus, Jack, Nimani, Quinten, Naomi or Winter????)