Chapter 35: New Students.
Ron stared ahead as he walked to school. It was another Monday, just a week since he had been prepared to ask Kim for a date. How could so much change in just a week? He wanted to cram his hands in his pockets, slump his shoulders and stare at his shoes. No way, he wouldn't allow himself to look defeated. After all, he hadn't even fought so how could he have been beaten?
She had been her usual smiling, cheerful self when he walked her to school last Monday but she had seemed very down when Ron walked her home. He tried to get her to talk but she would only say that she had had 'a bad Locker Room talk.' All day Tuesday she was depressed. She kept looking at him with a mixture of sadness and guilt. She wasn't flirting with him anymore and their Kung Fu training was very subdued. Had she realized what she was doing? Then came Wednesday, Ron ground his teeth just thinking of that day.
Ron had a Dentist Appointment over his lunch break on Wednesday, so he took his scooter to school. Kim was distant. She didn't want to ride with him to school and she didn't want to hang around and talk at her locker like she usually did. When Ron tried to hang out with her she told him that he was going to be late for Homeroom if he didn't hurry and get his books. Ron knew a brush-off when he heard one.
Ron did his best to keep his mind on his classes until the lunch break. On his way back from the dentist he nearly collided with another boy, on a scooter, pulling into the school parking lot. Ron parked his scooter and went to meet the other boy. "Excuse me," he said, "you must be new here. You just drove in the exit and I nearly crashed into you. That would be a real pity since your machine is a whole lot better than mine."
The other boy took off his helmet. He had looks and a build that Ron could only dream of ever possessing. "Sorry about that," he said, "I am new here. In fact, it's my first day and I'm late."
"Since I'm heading that way, mind if I show you the way to the office?"
"That would be great, thanks, my name's Eric by the way."
"Ron. Nice to meet you." The two boys shook hands and went inside.
On the way to the office they encountered Kim, busy pulling books out of her locker.
"Hey Kim!" Ron greeted his friend. She looked up at him, then at Eric. "Oh, introductions. Kim, I'd like you to meet Eric, a new student. Eric, this is Kim, my best friend."
"Hello," Eric looked at Kim in wide-eyed wonder.
"Uh…er...hi," Kim replied with a flustered look.
Ron knew that look. It was a wide-eyed gaze with a too-wide grin, accompanied by indecisive stammering.
Ron's heart had plummeted to his stomach.
So here he was, walking to school while coming to terms with the fact that he had personally introduced Kim to her new crush and obviously soon to be next boyfriend. Eric had already asked her to the prom and she had accepted. The only good thing to come out of this, for Ron at least was that Bonnie and her posse were even more steamed than he was.
But it really tanked! He knew that Kim and he had been so close to stepping past being just friends. He knew that she had been looking at him the way she had used to look at Josh and the way she was now looking at Eric. What had happened to change all of that? Sure, Eric was waaaaayyy better looking than he was but Kim had started to brush him off before even meeting the new boy. What was up with that?
It must have been the Ron Factor looking out for me again. He decided. I'm down enough the way it is. Imagine what I would be like right now if I had asked her to the prom, she had said yes, then she dumped me for the new guy. I wouldn't have been able to force my head up. I'm such an idiot! I had learned my lesson when she was with Josh. Once should have been enough but nooooo! Dumb Ron's gotta set himself up all over again. Maybe this time the lesson will stick. But it still tanked!
This morning had been the lowest yet. He had shown up to walk Kim to school, like always, and she had already caught a ride on Eric's scooter. I wasn't even worth a phone call. It's not even like she had to punch all seven numbers. I'm on her speed dial. At least I was last week. Mrs. Dr. P had seemed very upset by the fact that Kim hadn't called but Ron had attempted to pass it off as 'no big.' After all, there was sure to be worse to come.
By Friday of last week, Bonnie and her posse had pretty much figured out that Kim and Eric were in a mutual crush. They had also known that Kim had been flirting with Ron for a couple of weeks prior to that. The posse was steamed about Kim finding a hottie and he, Ron, was the only available target for their irritation. The barbed comments had started hitting Ron that afternoon. The whole posse had had the entire weekend to polish up their wits. Ron knew that he would be in for it today. He also knew that he would have a harder time if he had to see Kim with Eric, so he walked around the school and deliberately avoided the hall by her locker.
He kept his head up and his stride deliberate. He refused to slump and shamble. He simply marched up to his locker and started shuffling his books for his morning classes. He remembered back to when Kim was dating Josh. He would handle this the same way. He would keep busy and keep his mind occupied. Tonight, Wednesday, and Friday he would put in two hours on the weights. Tuesday and Thursday he would work out with Oscar and a couple other hard-core wrestlers. He would continue hisTai Sheng Pek Kwar training in the mornings. And he would go to his prom on Saturday, even if it meant going 'stag.'
Ron had just thrown his backpack over his shoulder and closed his locker when a running mass plowed into him from behind. He hadn't been attacked. His experience with high school bullies, hired thugs, and off-kilter villains had taught him the difference between an attack and an accidental collision. He heard a shriek, stumbled forward, put one foot under him, then spun around. He caught a glimpse of a flying book bag and a falling mass of brunette hair.
Ron snapped his left hand out and caught the book bag, and caught the brunette with his right arm. She, and Ron could now see that it was a girl, grabbed his shoulders to steady herself. She then looked up at him and Ron's heart cranked up to a 'run away from Shego' rate while his eyebrows made a valiant attempt to slap the top of his scalp. The brunette's hair had settled, in a soft wave, around a tanned and lovely face, which itself surrounded a pair of wide, impossibly deep blue eyes. Her full lips opened and closed, obviously trying to say something. A faint blush appeared on her incredibly smooth, soft cheeks.
"I…er…uh…a…are you alright?" He finally managed to stammer out. He was sure that he was breaking out in a major blush himself but he didn't much care right now.
"Y-Y-Yes. S-Sorry about that, I don't know the way to my classroom and I was running and not paying much attention. Thank you." She removed her hands, slowly, from Ron's shoulders while he took his arm from around her waist with equal reluctance. He then returned her book bag. "Thanks again."
"No big," he replied. "You must be new here. First period is always Homeroom, who do you have as a teacher?"
"Mr. Barkin."
"So do I. His room is just down the hall and we have a few minutes before the bell rings. If you don't mind, we could go to Homeroom then you can tell me the rest of your classes and I can show you the way to your other classrooms."
"Mind? That would be sweet of you! I heard that the boys in the Midwest were gentlemen. I guess it's true."
Ron smiled and guided her towards their Homeroom. "I don't know about the gentleman part but it's my pleasure to help. By the way, my name is Ron."
"Well Ron, you sure seem like a gentleman. My name is Dessie."
"Nice to meet you, Dessie, here we are." The two teens had reached Mr. Barkin's Homeroom. Ron introduced the new girl to Mr. Barkin, who assigned her a seat. Ron joined her and they reviewed her upcoming classes. It turned out that they had five classes together. For the other two classes, their rooms were close by, which would allow Ron to show her to these rooms.
"It looks like I ran into the perfect guy on my first day of school today." She gushed at him. Ron figured that whatever generated his blushes would break down from overwork soon. "I-I-I'm just glad to help out, y'know?" He managed to reply.
"By the way, Stoppable?" Mr. Barkin interrupted. "I was watching the hallway when the two of you had your little collision." He looked meaningfully at Dessie. "Nice catch, Stoppable."
Both Dessie and Ron blushed furiously. Ron went to his seat while additional students started to file into Homeroom.
By lunchtime Bonnie Rockwaller was fuming. Just last week everything was going perfectly. She had managed to head off Possible's and Stoppable's 'soon to be' relationship, making both of them miserable. Then some gorgeous hunk appears out of nowhere and falls for Possible. Bonnie had been back to the website but hottieingreen wasn't answering her emails and Bonnie's own schemes hadn't been able to break up Kim and Eric. Her last hope had been to heckle Ron to tears but several students had observed Ron's 'nice catch' that morning and Dessie was politely brushing off conversation attempts from any boy other than Ron. Bonnie had emailed hottieingreen again, but she still hadn't answered. What was with that girl? It was almost as if she didn't mind Possible and Stoppable being happy, as long as they weren't together.