Chapter 25: Book Talk

"Uh Ron, this is my overdue cheese book."

"Ahh," Ron said as he froze. As he looked back at the school library in horror, he said, "Oh! No!" right before the tornado of phantom monkey power engulfed the library.

"That was an interesting end to an eventful day. First there was library lockup, then having to stop whatever kind of tornado that came from that book. At least all we had to do was close the book up," said Kim as she and Ron were unwinding on the second floor patio of her house.

"All you had to do was close the book. I was the one getting chased by an army of phantom monkeys so you could get to the book. Why is it always MONKEYS? " replied Ron who was visibly exhausted.

Kim retorted, "At least you weren't on 'The Running of the Monkeys" again." Ron looks really beat. He's run around a lot more than that before without it even seeming to slow him down.

"I still haven't watched any of the cable channels since then," Ron responded after shuddering at the memory. Rufus confirmed his owner's statement.

"Anyways, thanks for looking for my overdue cheese book. Where did you find it?"

Ron head seemed to shrink into his shoulders. "Maybe the whole phantom monkey thing was karma."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kim inquired as she raised her right eyebrow.

Kim saw Ron's 'I really screwed up' guilt face as he said, "I found it…in my backpack."

She opened her mouth to vent… then closed it. Kim knew the words she wanted to say, but the passion she wanted to say them with wasn't there.

Kim didn't really understand it herself. She had been much angrier with Ron over similar things in the past including Ron's brief stint with the school newspaper, their fight at Bueno Nacho when they both got jobs there, Ron's initial attempts to be the school mascot, Ron going overboard with the muscle ring, the time after Ron's first Naco income check, and the time Ron signed her up for the talent show. This was something she would usually be borderline furious over, but yet she was only mildly angry at this revelation. In a stern, but not too overzealous tone, she asked, "Okay, how did it wind up there?"

Ron unsure as to why Kim seemed not quite as angry as he had expected, timidly replied, "I put it in my backpack right before we went on a mission."

Kim raised an eyebrow at this. There were too many missions that she had told Ron to hurry up on. "Which mission was that?"

Ron quickly tried hard to think one more time which one it was. He started to ramble. "I don't remember. At first I thought it might have been that one against Killigan. But after being tortured with sheep's lung cooked in its own stomach, I found out it wasn't there so I tried Drakkenr's lair next. We seem to get him often enough. Didn't find it there, though I remember some explosions as Wade and I left…"

Wade? Okay, I'm not exactly sure where this is going, thought Kim.

"…Not having any luck yet, I went to Dementor's lair. The posies there were horrible and the chrysanthemums had a real attitude problem…"

Well that explains Wade's strange behavior earlier today and why I thought I heard Ron screaming when I talked with Wade.

"… After that Wade and I went to one of Monkey Fist's castles. He was ranting about some monkey thing. Thought I saw the cheese book, but it was that phantom monkey book. Wound up slipping and the cheese book slipped out of my backpack. Rufus pulled some awesome moves and we got out of there with both books. You know, Monkey Fist was the only one who actually remembered my name. I mean, is it too much to ask just to be known?"

Well that explains why dodging phantom monkeys took so much out of Ron today. I guess we were equally tortured today. Kim pleasantly smiled as she said, "Well thanks for bringing the book back, even if you mixed the two up." Kim yawned and added, "Though you should probably head home now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Uh yeah, sure thing KP," a confused Ron replied. Ron went downstairs and left for home. As he walked he said to Rufus, "You know buddy, sometimes when I think I've got Kim all figured out, I find out I don't. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day for Ronster. For now I'm gonna get home and enjoy some well-deserved sleepage."

Before Kim turned in for the night, she pulled out her Kimmunicator. Wade came up on the screen.

"Hey Kim," Wade said before he took a sip from the cup.

"Wade, I just heard some interesting stories from Ron about his adventure today, including a little bit about posies and chrysanthemums."

'Uh yeah, you see, Ron wanted me to keep that between him and me for the time being."

"So instead of talking him out of it, you went with him?"

"Yeah, I sent my Wadebot 2.0. In addition to all the features of the first version, it has a stealth mode," Wade said with pride at the upgrade.

Kim inwardly cringed as Wade mentioning the first Wadebot made her think about the night she almost blushed herself out of existence. I really don't like thinking about that night too much. I was so reckless that night. Kim shook her head to try and clear the memory."So am I ever going to see this Wadebot 2.0?"

"I can send it over tomorrow. It's come a long way after I made it to keep my promise to you that I wouldn't put Ron in danger like that time with Monkey Fist again."

"That's a comforting thought, I guess." Kim replied. Wade sure is making me remember some memories I rather not think about tonight. First the blush thing and then Ron alone in a castle with Monkey Fist. She shook her head again.

"Are you alright Kim? You keep shaking your head."

"I'm just tired and trying to stay awake as I talk to you. I should just get some sleep. I'll talk with you tomorrow Wade."

"Okay Kim, goodnight," Wade replied with some suspicion in his tone.

As Kim got under her bed covers for the night, she found herself quickly falling asleep. Her last thought before she went to sleep was Even though Ron was responsible for me winding up in library lockup, it was pretty sweet of him to go through all of that to find the book. I didn't know it at the time, but I did have a feeling after talking with Wade in the library. Maybe that's why I wasn't so mad at Ron. Either way, it is all behind us now. I'll meet up with Ron tomorrow and we will just hang out as usual. Yeah that will be nice… Kim then drifted off into a peaceful slumber.