Chapter 2: The Day of the Dance

I don't own Kim Possible or anything related to it. Disney does. I do own the pants I'm wearing though. AND DISNEY DOESN'T OWN THOSE!

Chapter 2: The Day of the Dance!

Kim and Ron were walking the halls of Middleton High, chatting about their plans for the Dance and arguing about the recent mission against Dr. Drakken's Japanese robot.

"Kiiim, the mission didn't go that badly!" whined Ron Stoppable. "You're acting like we lost or something!"

"Ron! You tripped the security beams, got us captured in all of 3 seconds, and you kept insisting that Drakken was trying to steal Christmas, which he wasn't!" retorted Kim, her expression somewhere between exasperation and warm amusement.

"Okay, touche!" Ron held his hands up in defeat. "But if you could handle all of that, then you can totally handle this." said Ron as he motioned towards one of Josh Mankey's dance posters.

"Ron, I gotta tell ya; handling Drakken was EASY compared to this!" was Kim's exaggerated reply.

"Reality-check time, KP! If the Ronman, AKA the Froob, AKA the lo-ser at the bottom of the food chain can get a date for the Spirit Week Dance, so can Kim Possible!" crowed Ron, pumping his fist as he did.

Kim frowned at that. Every time she thought about Ron and Liz going on dates together, an icy feeling would develop in the pit of her stomach. The idea just unsettled her. "So, how's that going for you, Ron?"

"What, KP?" Ron's mind had already drifted off into other topics. There were probably medications for that.

"Your plans with Liz." she answered quietly, with a somewhat dark expression.

"Oh, yeah. She stopped over at my house yesterday and we made plans and stuff for tonight."

"She was at your house?" yelped Kim. What is that headband-wearing hussy doing at MY Ron's...okay Kim, amp it down. You're thinking like a crazy person.

"Yeah, she showed up right as I was heading out to Bueno Nacho." said Ron.

"You went to Bueno Nacho without me?" Kim's eyes went wide.

"Uh...heh." Ron rubbed the back of his neck.

Flashback ahoy! Thursday Night!

'Ron, your father and I are spending Friday and this weekend in Lake Tahoe at an actuarial conference. We would've told you earlier, but this is our way of telling you. We'll be back Tuesday morning. There's money in the envelope and food in the fridge. No parties and no staying out late.

Have fun at the dance, dear!

Love, Mom.'

Ron looked at the note and grumbled. "Jeez, couldn't they have at least told me when I woke up this morning?" Ron decided the best use of his time would be to play some Colliding Cadavers on his Nakasumi 1000 game system. Ron thought the game was a shameless, if excellent, rip-off of Demolition Derby of the Dead.

Around 6pm, Ron and Rufus both began experiencing the symptoms of 'Empty Tummy Syndrome' so Ron decided he'd jump onto his scooter and drive over to Bueno Nacho.

After cleaning out the envelope of cash his mother had left, of course.

Ron thought about calling Kim and asking if she wanted to go, before he realized she was probably preparing herself for tomorrow's dance or something.

Ron walked out of the house, locked the door, and went down the driveway towards his old blue scooter. Just as he was about to throw his leg over it and leave, a beeping horn from the street caught his attention.

Ron turned and saw a red Fontiac Sunflyer with a pink fuzzy steering wheel cover pulling to the curb in front of his house. A casually-dressed Liz got out and walked towards him.

"Hi Ron. Were you just leaving?"

"Yeah, but not to do anything important. Just planning on getting some snackage at Bueno Nacho."

"Oh. Snackage. Well... I came over here to see what you were going to wear to the dance."

"What I was going to wear?" Ron didn't quite see the connection.

"Yeah. I know it's casual but I still plan to look nice and try to harmonize with my date." said Liz matter-of-factly. "I also want to know where you think we should go have dinner before the dance tomorrow."

"Oh, ah...heh. I hadn't quite thought it out yet. I've been busy with missions and..." Ron nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"That's why I'm here now, Ron. Because I haven't had a chance to talk to you once since I agreed to go with you." Liz gave Ron a somewhat accusatory look as she said it.

"Right, well... I'll probably just wear a set of nicer clothes I'd normally wear to Temple. Slacks, tie, y'know." replied Ron.

"Okay. What about dinner?"

"Have you ever heard of Marco's?" asked Ron.

"No."

"It's a casual little place on DiMaggio Avenue. Marco doesn't get a ton of business, so getting a table won't be tough. It's a really nice little place though. Great atmosphere." If Ron was an expert on one thing, it was where to get his feed on in Middleton.

"Okay!" Liz seemed pleased with this. "Get in the house, I want to see what you plan to wear." said Liz as she spun Ron around and shoved him towards the house.

"Agh! Hey! I'm going I'm going!" Ron was justifiably irritated.

Liz looked around with some slight disgust as she surveyed Ron's room. It was a geek's paradise. A rather disheveled geek who enjoyed eating Bueno Nacho take-out and then leaving the wrappers and remains in his bedroom. Maybe Bonnie wasn't totally wrong about Stoppable.

Ron grabbed a nice set of olive pants and a black shirt from his closet. "This."

"That'll work." said Liz. "Alright, I guess I'll get out of here. I still need to eat dinner."

"Hey! You want to go to Bueno Nacho with me and Rufus? It's on me." said Ron.

"Hmm...sure, why not?" smiled Liz.

At Bueno Nacho, Ron and Rufus ate in their typical fashion. Like barbarians. Liz tried to position herself on the bench so most people wouldn't see that it was her Ron was eating with. Globe-trotting sidekick or not, his table manners were disgusting!

'Ugh...Kim, he's a nice guy but get him on a leash." thought Liz as she ate her Chimirito and tried to avoid flying nacho cheese.

Meanwhile, Ron was kind of disappointed with the conversation with Liz, or the lack thereof. 'She's not very chatty.' thought Ron.

Later, after the trip to Bueno Nacho, Liz dropped Ron back off at his house. Before closing the door to Liz's car Ron turned to her. "Yeah, I've only got the moped and a learner's permit, so..."

"...so I'll be driving us to the dance?" asked Liz.

"Uh, yyyeeeeaaaahhh, I think so." said Ron, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"I figured as much. See you later, Ron." Liz sped off as soon as Ron closed the door.

"You not only went to Bueno Nacho without me, but you went with Liz?" Kim was aghast.

"Yeah, but it was pretty dull. I'd rather eat there with you anyday." said Ron, not quite sure of what Kim was getting at. She seemed awfully irritated over a simple trip to Bueno Nacho.

Thankfully, Kim's glare turned into a beaming smile at his words, but before she could reply, the Kimmunicator beeped.

"Kim! Josh Mankey just passed the library and he's heading your way!"said an excited Wade.

Kim panicked and looked around, before jumping into the janitor's closet.

Ron just stood there dumbly before Kim threw the door back open, reached out, and yanked him into the closet with her. "Hey!" Ron looked out of the window blind which was inexplicably placed on the also inexplicably placed window of the door of said janitor's closet. "Okay, I think you've crossed a line here."

"I can't do this!" said Kim. 'I can't ask Josh out, I can't stand to see you at the dance with Liz, I can't do anything today.' thought Kim miserably.

"Kim, Josh is closing in at 20 meters! 10 meters! Kim, he's right on top of you!" Wade was getting frantic.

Kim groaned. "Maybe I should just give up."

Ron pulled his megaphone out of nowhere (Literally. Where exactly was he keeping it?) and offered some words of encouragement. "YOU CAN DO THIS!" before shoving Kim out the door, right in front of Josh.

A bit of awkward teenaged talk between the opposite sexes later, and Kim had secured herself a date to the dance with one Joshua Wendell Mankey. Kim felt good, though not as excited about it as she thought she would be a the prospect of taking Josh to the dance.

"So, I'll pick you up around seven." said Josh as he and Kim walked away.

"LIZ AND I WILL SEE YOU GUYS AT THE DANCE." said Ron cheerfully as the two walked past. Kim growled and without thinking slammed the door in Ron's face with her foot. "OR NOT?" Ron tried the doorknob. "Hey! This thing is locked!" Ron pulled on the door with all his might. "Rufus! Try to pick the lock!"

The little mole-rat did his best but in the end the door proved superior. As it should have since any door standing between thieves and the school's valuable slop buckets and vacuum cleaners needed to be bank-vault tough.

So, Ron and Rufus opted for plan B.

"LET US OUT OF HERE! IT SMELLS FUNNY AND IT'S DARK AND THERE ARE SPIDERS!" screamed Ron into his megaphone as he and Rufus pounded on the door.

Suddenly, the door popped open and Ron found himself sprawled at the feet of three cheerleaders. Jessica, Tara, and Liz were looking down at Ron, wondering what was going on.

"Oh, thank you ladies! I thought I was going to be trapped in there all weekend!" ranted a very relieved Ron at the cheerleaders' shoes. He was still sprawled on the floor.

"What happened?" asked Tara.

"Kim slammed the door in my face and it locked!" Ron didn't go into detail about why he and Kim were in the closet in the first place, and the other cheerleaders didn't ask.

Ron looked at Liz "So, about 7, then?"

"Sounds good to me, Ron." she said as she helped him up. "I've got to go to class, so I'll see you tonight." Ron agreed about having to be in class and made to leave in the opposite direction.

Liz bade Ron farewell and walked away with her two cheer buddies. As they did Tara turned to her. "Do you think you and Ron are going to go on any more dates after the dance?"

Liz paused for a moment. "Probably not. He's not a bad guy, but he's not for me."

Tara just nodded, glancing over shoulder at Ron's retreating figure as she did.

At the dance:

Josh frowned. He had been surprised when Kim had asked him to the dance, but the good kind of surprised. Unfortunately, this date was just going badly. Kim seemed distracted, and Josh knew the reason why.

As soon as they'd entered the dance, Ron had shocked everyone by getting in Kim's face and giving her an earful about locking him in the closet.

"...and there were spiders BIGGER THAN RUFUS!"

Kim obviously felt horrible about it once she'd realized what she'd done, but Ron hadn't given her a chance to apologize, instead stalking off to resume his evening with Liz.

Not that it looked like Liz and Ron were having a great time either, but at least they seemed to be able to keep their attention on each other.

"Ow!" Kim had stepped on Josh's foot for the 8th time, while glancing over at Ron and Liz. Kim thought she was being covert about it, but Josh had picked up on her roving eyes quickly.

"I'm sorry, Josh!" said Kim for the 8th time, looking sheepish. "I guess I'm just a little...distracted tonight."

"S'okay." smiled Josh in his totally-cool manner. "Maybe we should sit down for a bit." he motioned to a table. Before you break all of my toes. "Why don't you grab a table and I'll get some drinks." Kim obliged.

As Kim sat down, she chanced another look over at Ron and Liz. They were having a better time that she was, but not much, she gathered, judging by the looks on their faces.

Ron was nicely dressed in a black button-up shirt, olive khakis, and his 'good' black sneakers. Liz had coordinated by wearing a black skirt and a dark green top. Kim grumbled. 'Ron never once dressed decently for any of the dances he and I went to.' she thought darkly.

Josh returned with two glasses of all-natural gluten-free fruit punch. "Here." He sat down and the two of them drank in awkward silence.

"Ouch! Ron!" Liz had just had her toes stepped on for the second time.

Ron hadn't been lying about being a bon-diggety dancer. His moves during the fast songs were flashy, fancy, and defied imitation. Everyone had been awed. A few had even clapped quietly.

Unfortunately, it was quite clear that Ron had never in his life held a girl and danced a slow song with her, and Liz's toes were taking the brunt of the punishment.

"Heh-heh. Sorry. Maybe we should sit." said a sheepish Ron. He'd watched Kim and Josh sit down and drink a glass of punch, before apparently leaving early. Now Ron was thinking he'd like to do the same thing.

The date had started out okay. Liz had picked him up and the two had driven to Marco's. The food was fantastic, but Ron's table manners most certainly were not.

Liz had gotten after him a bit severely for being a total slob after he'd splattered a little marinara on her top. And then she'd chewed him out a bit for bringing Rufus along, effectively putting a damper on the mood of the whole evening. Now, only about 3 hours into the date, Ron was ready to go home and play video games with Rufus while downing nachos and a grande-sized Slurpster.

"Do you want something to drink?" asked Ron as the two of them grabbed a table.

"Maybe...maybe we should just go home, Ron." said Liz as politely and quietly as she could.

Ron was immediately on his feet. "Uh, yeah. Heh. That would probably be a good idea." he said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

The two drove towards Ron's house in silence. Ron said good night and was just about to leave the car when Liz spoke.

"Ron...you're a nice guy and all, and definitely...er...interesting, but...I don't think there's going to be a second date." Ron wasn't nearly as bothered by this as she thought he might be, much to her relief.

"You know Liz, the Rondo is like, so totally down with that." he said, offering a weak smile. "And, uh...sorry about your shirt."

"Oh, I'm sure it'll wash out. Good night, Ron." said Liz. As soon as Ron slammed the door, she zoomed away.

"This night completely tanked."

That is it for chapter 2. Only one more left.

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