"Alright, guys, your homework was to watch the video of the 'soaring crow' kata." Rudy explains to Kate and the others, who were currently stretching in the dojo. "Let's see what you got. And...Begin." They all began to do random moves, Jerry even made bird noises. Rudy facepalms and then outstretches his arms out of annoyance. "None of you watched the video?" 

"Sorry, Rudy." Kate apologizes. "We didn't have anytime to watch the video."

Jack nods in agreement. "We're really busy with school."

"We're really busy with school." Rudy said in a mocking tone, earning an eye roll from Jack. "You want to feel pressure? Wait 'till you're my age." He walks over to the mailman, who just walked in. He takes his mail from him and as the mailman left, he turns to face the gang. "Trust me, no one gives you an award for being an adult." As he read one of the letters he got in the mail, his eyes widen and he grins. "I don't believe it. I'm getting an award for being an adult!"

"Of course you are." Kate grumbled.

"What do you mean?" Eddie asked Rudy.

"Seaford High is inducting me into its hall of fame." Rudy explained.

"Why?" Kate and the boys questioned.

"I think they've lost their minds if they're inducting you into their hall of fame." Kate admitted, her friends either nodding in agreement or pointing at her in a sign of agreement.

Rudy starts to lose his balance, too excited and too much in disbelief. "Starting to lose it. Someone please read this." He sits down on one of the benches in the dojo. "Read it with some pizzazz."  

"'We are pleased to formally acknowledge your contribution to the youth of Seaford through your leadership and commitment to physical fitness'." Jack read the letter, sitting down on the bench by Rudy. 

Rudy smiles from ear to ear, looking up at the ceiling as he points up with both hands. "In your face, mother!"

"And they're giving you a black tie pork chop dinner!" Jack added.

Rudy starts to tear up and he takes the letter to read it. "Black tie? Pork chops? It's all happening so fast."

****

Later that day, Kate and the boys were hanging out at Falafel Phil's working on homework together. Kate sat at the end of the table since she had to pull a chair up so that they all could sit at the same booth together. Her attention was brought to the door of the restaurant when she noticed a familiar blonde-haired boy walk in. A dreamy expression formed on her face as she rested her chin on her hand, her elbow resting on her book. 

"Oh, no." Eddie sighs when he noticed Kate's look. "Kate's off in dreamland again." Lately, the boys (well, besides Jack), noticed that whenever Isaac Mercer, the team captain of the basketball team, was around Kate would only focus on him. 

Jack snaps his fingers in front of Kate's face, causing her to blink rapidly and shake her head to snap out of her daze before she looks over at him with a sheepish look. "Kate, you good?'

Kate blushes out of embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry."

"What were you staring at?" Jack asked.

Jerry snickers. "More like who was she staring at."

"Shut up." Kate glared at him, her cheeks flushed. She was so embarrassed the boys caught her staring at Isaac. Although she probably could've made it less noticeable she had been staring at him. 

"Come on," Milton chuckles. "It's obvious you got a crush on Isaac." 

Jack glances at Kate with surprise. "You have a crush on the team captain of the basketball team?"

"Yeah, he's cute." Kate grinned.

"I'm cute too but you're not fawning over me." Jerry complained, earning a small laugh from Kate.

"Of all people you could have a crush on, why him?" Jack asked Kate with disbelief, wondering why he felt a pang of jealousy. He couldn't be jealous, there was no reason for him to be jealous. He doesn't like his best friend that way...But if he doesn't then why did he feel a bit of jealousy when Kate kept staring at Isaac? 

"I mean, for one reason it's 'cause he's the team captain of the basketball team." Kate replies in an obvious tone. "He's a real gentleman! He's sweet, funny, charming, really good looking-" Kate listed off why she likes Isaac, her face turning pink as she spoke. 

"Okay, okay, we get it." Jack rolled his eyes. 

Kate's eyes widen when she realized something and she smiles teasingly at him, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him. "Are you jealous?"

"What?" Jack scoffs, looking at her with a scowl. "No, I'm not jealous."

"Hey, Kate! Come join us!" Isaac called out, waving her over to join him and his friends with a bright smile on his face. Kate perked up, smiling widely at him. She stood, saying goodbye to her friends. Jack watched with a scowl as Kate walked over to join the table Isaac and his friends are at.

Eddie laughs, smiling at Jack with amusement. "Hate to break it to you, man, but you're jealous." 

A few minutes later, Kate came back to the boys and she was beaming. Milton smiles with amusement. "Why are you in such a happy mood?" 

"'Cause Isaac just invited me to go to a movie with him and his friends tomorrow after school." Kate grinned.

"Oh," Jack forces a smile. "Cool." 

"So, did I miss anything?" Kate questioned, sitting down back at her place between Jack and Eddie.

"Yeah," Jerry nods. "Phil's niece, Mika," He points at her with a grin on his face. "She's hot, by the way." Kate laughs, looking at him with an amused glint in her eyes. "She's moving here so he wants us to show her around." Jerry explained.

"Awesome." Kate smiled. She raised her eyebrows when Rudy suddenly ran into the restaurant.

Rudy grins. "I just autographed my first baby."  He chuckles. "When his mom gets out of the bathroom, she is going to be so proud!"

Kate stares at him with wide eyes. "You autographed a baby without the mom's permission?"

Rudy nods. "Right across the face."

Kate scoffs. "Rudy, she's not gonna be proud, she's gonna be furious with you." 

Rudy shakes his head and smiles. "No, I'm sure she'll be thrilled that someone who's gonna be in Seaford Hall of Fame autographed her baby." He gets his phone out. "I got some more pictures of me from my induction video for the hall of fame."

"Rudy, I think we have enough." Milton tells him. "We went through your school records, photos, and videos."

"Yeah, we got a great five minutes." Jack smiled.

Rudy raises his eyebrows. "Five minutes?" He chuckles, waving a dismissive hand. "Oh, no, no, no, no. That's not gonna work. Don't forget, this night is about me and me alone." Rudy added.

"Well, at least you didn't let this getting into hall of fame thing go to your head." Kate sarcastically commented.

"Woah, this isn't good." Milton comments, gaining the group's attention. He stands, showing Rudy the paper he was looking at. "Rudy, you have a problem here. According to this, you missed five days in mandatory attendance in ninth grade."

Rudy shrugs. "Yeah, and?"

"That means..." Milton cringes. "Technically you didn't complete high school." Rudy furrowed his eyebrows.

"Wait," Eddie speaks up. "If he didn't graduate, then he's not eligible to be in the Seaford High hall of fame."

Kate laughs. "Looks like you're going back to high school if you wanna be in the hall of fame, cous." 

"What?" Rudy questioned, his voice laced with disbelief as he snatched the paper from Milton to look at it.

Kate jumps, startled at the sudden loud scream from outside. She cringes. "I think the mom of the baby you signed found out what you did." 

"What kind of animal would sign a baby's face?" The woman inquired, sounding angry.

"We should probably get him out of here." Jack suggested and his friends nodded in agreement, quickly jumping into action to pull Rudy away so he wouldn't try to talk to the woman. 

****

The next day at school, Kate was in the hallway with her friends when Isaac walked over to her. He smiles at her. "Hey, Kate. Just wanted to make sure, you still want to go to the movies with me and my friends."

"Yeah, of course." Kate smiles back at him. "Thanks for inviting me."

"No problem." Isaac responds. "Would you wanna hang out before the movies? Just us?" He smiles softly at her, nervously rubbing his neck. "I would honestly love to get to know you more."

Kate blushes faintly and immediately nods. "Yes!" She said, her blush growing a shade darker when she realized she said that too eagerly. Isaac didn't seem to mind, in fact, he chuckled lightly and continued to smile at her. "I-I mean," She shrugs, doing her best to play it cool. "Yeah, sure. Whatever." 

Isaac grins. "Okay, great. I'll text you when I'll come pick you up." Kate smiled and nodded in response, waving goodbye to him before he walked away.

"Ooh, someone has a date." Eddie teased and Kate rolled her eyes playfully, her face turning a light shade of pink.

"He gave you his number?" Jack asked her, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Yeah, yesterday we exchanged numbers so we can discuss when he should pick me up." Kate smiles. She then does double take after she thought she saw her cousin walking in the hallway. Her eyes widen in shock. "Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees him." Kate commented, walking over to Rudy along with the boys.

"Wow." Jack said with surprise. "Rudy, you've actually come back to school."

"Yeah," Rudy smirks. "I was the king here, once."

Kate snickers, earning a glare from Rudy. "Sorry, thought you were saying a joke." Kate remarked and she chuckled along with her friends.

Rudy rolls his eyes and shakes his head. He smirks. "Figured I'd spend five days back on the throne. 

"Oh, my father once spent five days on the throne after he had cajun food." Eddie spoke.

"Well, guys. You got one week to learn all you can from the king of cool." Rudy smiled. He then did a spin before walking over to the wall of lockers. Kate watched with amusement as Rudy had trouble opening a locker. 

He turns to face the others with a frustrated look. "Will one of you guys please help me?"

"I thought we were supposed to learn from the king of cool." Kate chuckled, walking over to help out her cousin open the locker.

"Ha ha, very funny." Rudy sarcastically commented.

****

"I remember health class." Rudy says, walking into the classroom with Jack and Kate. "I wonder if my old girlfriend's still here."

Kate and Jack shared a look. Kate cringes. "Not for sure if I wanna know who or what your old girlfriend was." Jack nodded in agreement.

Rudy opens the cabinet at the back of the room with a grin. He nods. "There she is." He pulls out the dummy the health class used to learn how to do CPR. "Hello, beautiful." Everyone looked at him weirdly as he carried the dummy over to the big table. 

"Rudy, I wouldn't touch that thing." Jack commented. "It's a forty ear old slobberbag." 

"Yeah, it's disgusting." Kate agreed.

"This doll is not disgusting or a slobberbag." Rudy rolls his eyes. "It's designed to teach you CPR." He smirks. "Watch and learn."

"Rudy, I-"

"Jack," Rudy interrupts Jack. "After pinching her nostrils, you use your breath to fill her lungs with life."

"Uh, Rudy-" Kate tried getting his attention, but her voice falls upon deaf ears as he began to do CPR on the dummy.

"Rudy, are you sure you're doing this right?" Jack asked after Rudy blew air into the dummy's mouth. 

"Yes," Rudy replies, glancing at him with offense. "Now, her stomach is filling up with air, gently apply some pressure."

"I am not touching-"

"Do it!" Rudy demands, interrupting Jack. "There's a life at stake!" Jack pressed the stomach of the dummy, maybe a bit too hard since some kind of yellow goop shot out of the dummy's mouth, right at Rudy's face. Kate gagged along wtih the rest of the students, glad that she was far away enough so she didn't get sprayed, but part of Jack's arm and hand got covered with the yellow goop.

Rudy glares at Jack. "Little too much pressure, Jack."

"What is going on here?"

Everyone quickly got into their seats when the health teacher walked in. Kate sat behind Jack and next to Jerry, watching as Rudy talked with the teacher.

"Learning." Rudy responds, wiping the goop off of his mouth. "Learning's going on here. And who might..." He grimaces at the smell of the goop. "You be?"

Miss Applebaum puts her hands on her hips, raising her eyebrows at him. "I'm Bethany Applebaum, the teacher."

Rudy smiles. "I'm Rudy Gillespie, the teacher's pet."

Miss Applebaum chuckles. "Oh, right. You're the student who came back to graduate. Finishing your education, that is so...Adorable." She grabs a Kleenex and walks over to Rudy with a smile. "Come here." She then started cleaning his face.

Coach then walks in, clearing his throat. "Hello, Bethany." He laughs when he noticed Rudy. "Who's this loser?"

"He's not a loser, Martin." Miss Applebaum tells him. "He's my student."

"I'm Coach Funderburk." Coach Funderburk introduces himself to Rudy, putting his hands on his hips. He smiles, gesturing between him and Miss Applebaum. "Me and Bethany kind of have a thing."

"No!" Miss Applebaum immediately denies, shaking her head. "No. We don't." She chuckles. "There is no thing-"

"Pretty big thing." Coach Funderburk interrupts her. He grins. "Everybody's talking about it.

Miss Applebaum's eyes widen when she noticed something. "Uh, Rudy, I think you're having a reaction to that forty-year-old phlegm?'

"So, Bethany, you want to split a panini?" Coach Funderberk asked her.

"I already ate, Martin." Miss Applebaum rolled her eyes.

"I'd get in on that panini." Rudy chimed in.

Coach Funderberk glares at him. "You're not touching my panini. So...Step off."

"Yeah, I think you should probably get to the nurse's office." Miss Applebaum suggested, looking at Rudy with concern.

"Yeah, you should go." Coach Funderberk nodded.

"Alright, I'll go." Rudy agrees. He smiles at Miss Applebaum. "But because m'lady asked me." He glares at Coach Funderberk. "Not because of you and certainly not because of the excruciating, burning sensation that is taking over my entire face." As he began to walk backwards towards the door, Kate could finally see the reaction Miss Applebaum was talking about. Her eyes widen upon seeing the redness around Rudy's mouth and she looked at him with concern. Rudy quickly left the classroom and after he closed the door, he screamed in pain.

****

Kate had a great time with Isaac and his friends. Before the movie and before Isaac's friends arrived, her and Isaac spent some playing Wii at his house and getting to know each other. The next day at lunch, Kate wouldn't stop gushing about how her night with Isaac went. Jack was happy for her, but he just couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy as she kept rambling on about how great Isaac is. Although he had to admit he was happy to know that after spending time with Isaac and his friends, her crush started to go away. Milton then informed his friends on what happened in his gym class and how during doge ball Coach Funderberk threw a ball directly at Rudy's face. Kate honestly never liked Coach Funderberk and the way he was bullying her cousin made her not like him even more. 

"I gotta give Rudy credit." Milton admits. "This hall of fame thing is really important to him and he's really hanging in there."

"Rudy's tough." Jack chimes in. "He'll never let you see it's getting to him."

Kate grimaces. "Yeah, that's what you think." She grew up with Rudy so she knew him better than the others and while what Jack said was true, sometimes Rudy had his moments where he just couldn't hide that he was suffering. Kate glanced over at the door when she noticed her cousin limp into the cafeteria which made her frown. After getting hit with the ball, he now had a red mark on the side of his face where the ball hit him. Kate grimaced, rolling her eyes as Coach Funderberk tripped Rudy, causing him to fall down and drop his tray.

Coach Funderberk laughs. "Pudy! Pudy!" Everyone (besides Kate and her friends) then began chanting that name along with him.

Rudy stands, glaring at everyone. "Aw, shut it! That's it! Stupid classes. Stupid school! Stupid..." His eyes widen in realization and he winces. "Fork jammed into my thigh!" Kate winces after spotting the fork jammed into his thigh. She figured it must've happened when he was tripped. Rudy whimpers as he pulls the fork out of his thigh. "I'm done. I'm dropping out of high school."

****

"Come on, Rudy. You can't drop out of school." Milton said as he, Eddie, Kate, and Jack followed Rudy into the dojo after school. "You won't get into the hall of fame."

"I don't care." Rudy shakes his head. "School is a mean, dark place." He points at the group. "And if you kids had half a brain in your heads, you'd drop out too!"

"We would if our parents wouldn't be in trouble with us." Kate chuckled.

"Rudy, I had a teacher once. And he always taught me that no matter how difficult something is, you can't quit." Jack said, sitting on the bench Rudy now sat on. "School seems difficult now, but in a couple of days you'll be through it and in the hall of fame."

"You've helped us all." Eddie cut in. "And tons of other kids. You should be in the hall of fame."

"And I'll help you get there." Jack added with a smile.

"We'll all help you." Milton corrected.

"Yeah, we know how important this is to you and if we wanted to quit something important you helped us realize we have to keep pushing through to be done with it." Kate chimes in, smiling at her cousin. "I know that you'll be able to graduate high school."

Rudy smiles at everyone. "Thanks, guys. It really means a lot."

****

In health class the next day at school, the class was talking as Miss Applebaum wrote on the board. "Class!" She calls out, but everyone continued to talk. "Stop talking, please!" Suddenly, Kate noticed a boy at the back of the class threw a paper airplane at Miss Applebaum.

"Miss Applebaum!" Kate warned, her eyes widening with surprise. 

Miss Applebaum turns around to face her, her eyes widening upon seeing the paper airplane heading right for her. Then Rudy catches the paper airplane bfeore it could hit her. He glares at the class. "Hey. Your teacher said stop talking. Punks!" Everyone jumped, leaning back since they were startled and slightly intimidated by Rudy now.

"Rudy," Miss Applebaum smiles widely at him. "You've come back." She giggled.

Rudy smiles at her. "Yes, I did. And I just wanted you to know that after class I was hoping to...Clap your erasers."

"Oh. I'd like that." Miss Applebaum nods, continuing to smile. "I'd like that a lot."

"I, uh, brought you this." Rudy handed Miss Applebaum an apple and she took a bite of it. Back and forth they continued to take a bite of the apple.

Kate gags, her face contorted with disgust as she watched Rudy and her teacher interact. She rests her head on her crossed arms on her desk. "I don't wanna see my cousin flirting with my teacher." Jack chuckled lightly, glancing back at her with a sympathetic smile.

"Is anybody else as creeped out as I am?" Jack inquired with a grimaced expression. Everyone, including Kate, raised their hand in response.

****

The last thing Rudy had to do was complete P.E. class. So for his final exam, he had to climb the rope. Despite the fact this wasn't their gym class, Eddie, Kate, Jack, and Jerry were in class to encourage Rudy. 

As Rudy was making it up the rope, Coach Funderberk blows a whistle suddenly. "Listen up, class." He pushes the cart of dodge balls in front of the group of teens. "The first person to knock Pudy off of that rope with one of these balls doesn't have to run laps for the rest of the year!" Immediately everyone (besides Milton, Kate, Jack, Jerry) grabbed a ball and began throwing at Rudy.

Milton quickly goes over to stop Eddie from grabbing a ball. "Woah, woah, woah, Eddie! Eddie! Are you really gonna knock Rudy off that rope?"

"To get out of running laps, I'd knock my mother off that rope." Eddie confessed and he tried to throw the ball, but Milton stopped him. Meanwhile, Kate, Jack, and Jerry tried stopping the rest of the class from hitting Rudy but it wasn't working that well.

"Jack, he's not gonna make it if they keep throwing the balls at him." Kate worriedly said to Jack, noticing Rudy was beginning to slip. "We have to do something."

"I'm on it." Jack reassured her and rushed over to the other rope. He climbed up the rope and Kate had to admit she was impressed with how effortlessly he made it look. As Coach Funderberk instructed the rest of the class to keep hitting Rudy, Jack would block the hits by kicking or hitting the balls out of the way. 

Kate watches worriedly when Rudy lost his grip with one hand, now only holding on the rope with one hand. "I don't think I can do it, Jack." Rudy admitted.

"Don't you quit on me now, Rudy. You're so close. You gotta keep going." Jack encouraged.

Rudy grunts as he continues to climb up the rope. Kate tried to stop Coach Funderberk from grabbing a ball, stumbling out of the way when he pushed her to the side. Miss Applebaum helped steady Kate from stumbling, asking her if she was okay as she looked at her with concern. Kate smiled reassuringly at her and nodded in response. Coach Funderberk threw the ball at Rudy, aiming for his face. Jack leaned sideways, kicking the ball away from Rudy's face.

Kate couldn't help the snicker that left her lips when Coach Funderberk got hit in the face with the ball and fell to the ground. She begins to cheer with the others as Rudy made it to the top and rang the bell. Rudy raises his arms in victory and grins. "Yes!" He didn't exactly think that through since then he fell on the matt. Everyone winced as he landed on the matt.

****

Now it was the night where Rudy would be put into Seaford Hall of Fame. "Wow. That was one amazing story, Dr. Hanft." The host comments after one of the contestants said her speech. "You saved more than a village, you saved ten thousand lives. Up next is Rudy Gillespie, a karate guy." 

Rudy stands behind the podium, smiling at the crowd that applauded him. "Thank you so much, chairman. Um, I could begin the story of my life by starting wtih the day I was born, but that wouldn't be fair to you...For my story begins when my great, great, great grandfather Jebbidiah Gillespie came to America with nothing in his pocket, but a spare pocket in case the first one ripped. And ripped it did."

By the time Rudy was done with his speech, everyone but Miss Applebaum left. 

A/N yay jack is finally starting to realize his feelings for kate :) just to clarify,  despite the fact kate has feelings for jack, she still had a crush on isaac. & that's all it was, just a crush, but her feelings for jack go much deeper than just a crush