Etude 2: Saved by an Angel

A/N: Etude Two consists of multiple parts (at least two-maybe three) which covers what happens if Ron's stay in the closet is a few hours longer and goes on until after the dance before he is rescued by someone other than Kim. Needless to say, there will be more tension than there was in Etude One.

Approximately 9 PM that evening—Ron

As the sound of music playing, accompanied by the laughter of the students at the dance drifted into the tiny closet, Ron, after several vain attempts to attract attention, slumped on to the floor with his naked mole rat companion. "Well, Rufus. Looks like we're stuck here until someone decides to open the door. Knowing our luck, it won't be until Monday morning." Looking around, the somber young man spotted a janitor's sink. "Well," his lips turned up in a sad smile, "at least we won't die of thirst before they let us out." Feeling his stomach rumbling, his smile turned into a sullen frown, "Hunger's another matter." Looking down at his pet, the teen sidekick sighed, "Sorry, old friend. I ate the last of our snackage a while ago."

"Awwwww…"

Kim—approximately 8 PM at the dance

Wow! I'm dancing with Josh Mankey! Kim thought to herself as she swayed to the beat of the music, her eyes fixed on the handsome young man dancing with her. Her eyes drifting momentarily towards where her rival, Bonnie Rockwaller was dancing with her date, Brick Flagg, the redheaded teen gloated. Up yours, B! Who's the one dancing with Josh and who's the one…not.

Time stood still for Kim as she danced one song after another with her new hottie, but something kept nagging at the back of her mind. Something…someone…was out of place…was missing. Her eyes scanning the gym as she continued to sway to the music, awareness gradually dawned on the young redhead. "Ron."

"What, Kim?" Josh asked as the music paused. "What did you say?"

"Ron." Kim replied, her eyes still checking over the room. "I was sure he'd come."

"Maybe he went home?" Josh speculated.

"Maybe." Kim mused, "He might have felt down because he couldn't get a date and didn't want to come stag."

"That's a possibility." Josh agreed, "Are you worried about him? Whether he made it home safe or not?"

Thinking for a moment, Kim shook her head as a new tune played, "Nah. He's okay. He's probably at home playing the new Zombie Mayhem game or stuffing his face at BN. I'll give him a call tomorrow. Let's dance."

Ron—10:30 PM

Hearing the sound of music playing and people laughing, Ron once again banged on the door and called out only to have no one respond. "This has got to be the worst week in my life." The young man lamented to his pet mole-rat who tried in vain to comfort him by nuzzling up to his cheek. "I bet Kim's out there now dancing and having a great time with Josh. Everyone is but us." Slumping down to the floor, the blond sidekick moaned as tears began to flow down his cheeks, "There are times I really wish I'd never been born."

Kim—approximately 11:30 PM

"I had a wonderful time, Josh." Kim said in a soft voice as she looked up at her date and smiled.

"I did too, Kim." Josh replied as the two drew closer together.

Their lips meeting, they briefly kissed until the front porch light turned on in front of the Possible front door. "That's probably my Dad." Kim giggled, "I better go now. Good night."

"Good night." Josh responded before tentatively suggesting, "Maybe we can go out again? Dinner and a movie?"

"Yeah." Kim replied in a soft voice, "I think I'll like that." Swooning as her crush walked away, Kim glanced over at the house of her best friend, noticing that all the lights were out. "Hmmm…" She said to herself, "Ron must have turned in early. I wonder why he didn't show up at the dance. I hope he's okay." After a moment of indecision, her lips turned up in a smile, "I'm sure he's fine.

Crystal Edwards—After the Dance

"I'm sure there's a mop and bucket in the janitor's closet. I'll get it." The tawny skinned cheerleader volunteered

"Thanks, Crys! We'll get started picking up the trash." Maria and Courtney, Crystal's friends and co-volunteers on the cleanup crew responded as they got to work.

Opening the door to the janitor's closet, Crystal's eyes widened in astonishment at seeing Ron slumped down on the floor, sobbing into his hands, his naked-mole rat pet standing guard beside him, looking up at his human with worried eyes.

"Ron? Ron Stoppable?" The surprised cheerleader exclaimed, "What are you doing here? What happened to you?"

"I got locked in earlier in the afternoon." Ron sobbed as he sat on the floor.

"Dear God!" Crystal gasped as she extended her hand, helping the young man to his feet, "How the hell did that happen?"

Shaking his head and sniffling, Ron stammered as he tried to get the words out, "Kim was…was scared about asking Josh Mankey to the dance…"

"Tell me about it." Crystal replied with a snort, "It was kinda hard to miss her slobbering over him every time she saw him."

"I know." Ron replied in a hushed tone.

"Right." Crystal nodded as she cracked a joke in an effort to lighten the mood, "You know, I almost slipped on all that drool she left behind while he was helping out in the gym. You remember? When you made your grand appearance and tore down that banner Josh was working on. So…?" she persisted, "How did you get locked in that closet?"

Taking a deep breath, Ron forced himself to continue. "This afternoon, we…Kim and I…were hanging out by the utility closet—we'd just gotten back from stopping Drakken from stealing Christmas…"

"Okay." Crystal drawled, "So…what next?"

"Wade was tracking Josh by GPS…"

"Kinda creepy and a little stalkerish…" Crystal commented with a grimace, "But go on."

"Well…she was freaking out again, so I drug her into the closet and kinda gave her a pep talk and then when he passed by, I shoved her at him."

"Points for doing a good deed." The tawny-skinned cheerleader remarked, "Then what?

"What's going on Crys?" Maria, checking up on her friend, asked as she saw Crystal talking with the blond youth.

"And what's Stoppable doing here?" Courteney, who had accompanied Maria, questioned with a dismissive snort until she got a good look at the forlorn expression on the face of the normally happy-go-lucky young man. Her scornful expression now replaced by one of concern, she inquired, "What the hell happened to you, Stoppable? You look like shit."

"Remember Barkin changing the locks to all the utility closets because everyone would sneak in there to make out?" Crystal remarked, her friends nodding their heads, "Well…Ron got locked in this afternoon and he's been in there ever since."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Maria exclaimed, "No one knew you were missing! Not even your parents or Kim?"

"Ron was just telling me what happened when you two showed up." Crystal explained, gesturing for the blond youth to continue, "Go on, Ron. You can tell my friends too. You shoved Kim at Mankey to get her to talk to him. What happened next?"

"Kim slammed the door shut on me and locked me in." Ron declared in a defeated tone.

"Us." Rufus added as he poked his head out of his human's pocket.

"Yeah." Ron amended as Rufus smiled warmly at his human's rescuers, "She locked us—me and Rufus—in. I thought I was going to be stuck here until the late night custodian or security guard came."

"How did Kim lock you in?" Maria asked.

"And more important…" Courteney added, "Why?"

"Well…" Ron sighed, "After I shoved her at Mankey, she finally got up the nerve to say more than two words to him and asked him to the dance and he said yes."

"Okay…" Crystal drawled, "But that still doesn't explain how you got locked in that closet."

"I was joking afterwards…you know me…" Ron trailed off, his expression now even more solemn and forlorn, "Sometimes I don't know when to keep my big mouth shut. Anyway, I made a joke about her and Josh picking me up and taking me to the dance and I guess she got mad at me and slammed the door in my face."

Maria remarked, shaking her head in disbelief, "Your timing sucked—but that's normal for you. That still doesn't excuse her slamming the door in your face like that. Didn't she even check up on you?"

Lowering his head, Ron somberly replied, "I guess she forgot about me."

"Didn't you try to call your parents?" Crystal asked

"I don't have a phone so I couldn't call them." Ron confessed.

"I'm sorry, Ron." Crystal replied in a soft voice as she and her friends led the young blond out of the closet. "I don't know what to say."

"Don't worry about it." Ron said as he tried to put a bright spin to it, "It's okay. She was just preoccupied."

"I still think it's shitty what she did." Crystal declared with a frown.

"No big." Ron shrugged his shoulders, "Like I said, she had other stuff on her mind." He then inquired, "I thought you went to the dance with Jeff?"

"I did." Crystal affirmed, "Not my idea—Bonnie pushed him on me. My real date's showing up later tonight at Edna's and we're going to a late night showing at the Old Town theater. I got an extended curfew from my dad so that we could catch it." Shaking her head, she growled, "I shouldn't have let Bonnie, Kim, and Tara talk me into going to this stupid dance. I should have done what I had planned and skipped the dance to go out with my real date instead of playing in another one of Bonnie's little status games. The prick couldn't keep his hands off me. Added to that, he bailed once the words 'clean up' were mentioned. So did just about everyone else. Me, Maria, and Courtney are the only ones here."

"Yeah." Maria agreed, "Our dates took off too."

"Just as well." Courteney scowled, "They were also morons."

"Didn't Kim stick around?" Ron asked, his eyes darting about in search of his best friend. "She's always the first to volunteer for this type of stuff."

"She's not here. Surprised me too—she's usually good about pitching in. But then…" Crystal remarked acidly, "After what she did to you, I shouldn't be surprised." Taking her phone out of her purse, the attractive cheerleader handed it to Ron, "Here. Give your parents a call to let them know that you're okay." Pausing for a moment, she hesitatingly suggested, "Look…I know I and the others haven't treated you well, and I'm sorry about that. And I don't blame you if you want to go straight home. But…if you want…we're really shorthanded and could use some help cleaning up. The normal cleaning staff decided to take the three day weekend off, so if we don't get the gym cleaned up, you know Barkin will pitch a hissy fit on Monday and no more dances."

"Yeah." Ron nodded, "Barkin's like that." His goofy grin returning, the blond youth joked, "You're in luck!

Besides being a bondiggedty good dancer, I'm great with a push broom and mop and you should see my trash picking up skills."

"Cool! We'll put them to use." Crystal laughed, "Right after we finish cleaning up, we're planning on going to Edna's Diner for coffee and a late night snack. You're welcome to come with—our treat."

"Yeah." Maria agreed, "Edna makes a great blueberry pie."

"Call your folks, let 'em know you're okay and that you're with us and ask them if they'd extend your curfew for a couple of hours, and if they say it's okay, come join us." Courteney encouraged.

Taking the phone, Ron dialed his parents' number. "Hello Mom? Yeah, I'm fine. No, she's not with me. She went out on a date with someone else. No. It's okay. Don't worry. I'm here with Crystal, Maria, and Courtney. They're doing cleanup and they're a little shorthanded. I was wondering if it would be all right if I pitched in and helped them out. It is?" A smile appeared on his face, "Thanks. Ummm…Mom…they also said that after getting done with cleanup, they were planning on going to Edna's for a late night snack. I was wondering if I could get my curfew extended so that I could go with them? Yeah…sure, I'll put her on." Turning to Crystal, Ron held out the phone, "Mom wants to speak with you."

"Okay." Crystal replied as she took the phone and spoke into it. "Hello? Mrs. Stoppable. Yeah. This is Crystal Edwards. Not a problem. My date's meeting me at Edna's and we can drop Ron off on our way to Old Town. It's no imposition at all. I'm glad to. Thanks." Handing the phone back to Ron, the attractive blonde smiled, "She says it's okay, but she wants to talk to you."

"Hi Mom." Ron said as he took the phone, "I'll be home by then. Promise. Thanks." Handing the phone back to its owner, the blond teen announced, "Mom said it's okay for me stay out later."

"Great!" Crystal smiled, "So, Ron…ready to help us clean up?"

A smile slowly appearing on his face, the blond youth responded, "What are we waiting for?"

As the group made their way back to the gym, Maria, walking next to Crystal, whispered, "You know you're taking a big chance on Stoppable—don't you? Once he sees your date…"

"I think I can trust him to keep it quiet." Crystal replied, "Besides…" she said as her gaze went to the forlorn young man walking near Courtney, staying well outside her personal space, "Look at him. That boy needs some friends."

Edna's Diner after cleanup

"You were right, Crystal." Ron smiled as he took another bite of Edna's homemade blueberry pie, "This is good." Looking down at his plate, the young man's smile vanished to be replaced by a forlorn look, "Thanks girls. I mean it. I know you didn't have to do this and that you don't like me…"

"Ron." Crystal sighed as she and her friends looked down at their plates, "It's not that we don't like you…" seeing the disconsolate and skeptical look on the young man's face, Crystal again heaved a sigh, "Okay, Ron…how honest do you want us to be?"

"Just tell me the truth." Ron flatly responded, "If I can take dodging Shego's plasma balls and Drakken's henchmen trying to beat me up, and…" he momentarily choked up, "…getting locked in a closet by my best friend, then I can take what you're going to tell me without whining for once. So…" a defiant look now replaced the miserable expression he previously had on his face, "Let me have it."

"All right." Crystal sighed, "You asked for the truth and that's what we're going to give you. First off, you're not a bad looking guy, Ron."

"Yeah." Courtney agreed, clarifying further, "Since you want us to be honest with you, you're going to get it. You're not what we would call a hottie like…"

"Josh Mankey." Ron interjected.

"Okay…" Courtney conceded, "Yeah. He's a good looking boy—no mistake—but he wasn't so good looking that any of us here fell to pieces over him…"

"Unlike Kim, Bonnie, Amelia, and a lot of the other girls." Maria declared, picking up the conversation, "If Josh had asked me out, would I have said yeah? Sure. But does that mean he's going to get a second date?" she shrugged her shoulders, "Whether he does or not he does depends on a bunch of other things."

"Believe it or not, Ron, we don't just judge a boy by how hot he is. At least most of us whose names aren't Kim or Bonnie don't." Courtney explained, "There's a bunch of other stuff involved too."

Chuckling as an attractive young Asian woman with luxurious long dark hair entered the diner, Maria quipped as Crystal waved her over to their table, "Same for me. And not everyone's definition of hottie is the same…" she quipped, as she gave her cheerleader friend a playful poke in the ribs, "Right, Crystal?"

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked with a confused look on his face as the Asian woman drew closer.

"Hey, babe." The Asian woman grinned as she gave the tawny-skinned cheerleader a kiss on the cheek, much to the surprise and shock of the blond youth seated across from her "How was the dance?"

"Meh." Crystal shrugged her shoulders as she slipped over on the bench so that the newcomer could sit down beside her, "Would have been better if you were there."

"I wish I could have come, Sweetie." The Asian woman responded, "But I had to pull a double shift tonight."

"Zoe works parttime as a hostess at Renee's." Crystal explained before making introductions, "Ron…this is Zoe. My girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Ron exclaimed.

"Girlfriend?" Rufus echoed, popping his head up out from his master's pocket, his attention drawn to the Asian woman seated close to his master's new cheerleader friend.

"Yeah. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm gay." Crystal replied, slipping her arm around her girlfriend's shoulders. "Maria, Courtney, and now you are the only ones from our school who know that and know that Zoe is my girlfriend. We'd like to keep it that way for now—okay?"

"Sure." Ron replied as his mind worked feverishly to process the information it had just received, "Believe it or not, I can keep a secret. But…why?"

Heaving a sigh, Zoe responded, "Because not everyone at your school would be so understanding."

"Like Bonnie." Crystal pointed out, "Or most of the other cheerleaders—and I'm not excluding Kim from that list. The only cheerleaders on that squad I trust are Jessica and Liz and they don't even know I'm gay—although I think they suspect it. Tara's nice and sweet and would never do anything to deliberately hurt anyone…" the tawny-skinned cheerleader qualified, "But she's Bonnie's best friend and she can't keep her big mouth shut if her life depended on it. And then there are the jocks like Jeff or Jason Morgan. You could imagine the crap I'd have to put up with from everyone if I just came out."

"Yeah. I guess so." Ron sighed, "But you're wrong about Kim. She'd understand if you told her."

"Maybe…maybe not." Crystal bluntly stated, "But you've gotta admit, right now her track record's not very good. I can't take the risk. As it is, I'm taking a big chance with you."

"I'm not going to let you down." Ron vowed, "I promised to keep your secret and I will. I won't even tell Kim."

"Thank you." Crystal replied, her smile returning as her hand went to her girlfriend's thigh, "Anyway, we're a lot more open outside the high school and teen hangouts like the mall or Bueno Nachos. Just about everyone in Old Town knows about us and all of Zoe's friends at the College do. It's just that we're a little more careful around the school and people we don't know."

"I guess I see your point." Ron conceded, "I wish it didn't have to be this way."

"So do we." Crystal replied, before steering the discussion back to the original topic, "Look, Ron. We can talk more about it later if you want, but right now, we're talking about your situation."

"Like Crys said earlier…" Courtney continued, "You're not bad looking, Ron. You might not be a hottie, but you're not chopped liver either. None of us would have had a problem going out on a date with you if we decided strictly on appearance. Like we've been saying, other things come into play."

"Like what?" Ron asked as he took a sip from his coffee. "What did…am…I doing wrong?"

"It's just that…sometimes…okay…a lot of the time…" Maria explained, "You either come on too strong…"

"Or not confident enough." Courtney chimed in. "And like we mentioned earlier, your timing often sucks."

"What do you mean…my timing sucks?" Ron asked as Rufus listened intently to the discussion.

"Just that." Maria flatly stated before explaining, "It's like…remember when you asked us to the dance?"

"All three of you turned me down flat." Ron responded morosely, looking down at his pie. "After meeting Zoe, I can understand why Crystal turned me down and all. But why did you two turn me down?"

"Ron!" Maria sighed, "It was because you asked us one right after the other in front of each other and in front of all our friends and most of the school! You put us on the spot."

"And added to that, you asked us after asking almost every other girl in the school!" Courtney added. "How do you think that makes us feel?"

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Crystal attempted to explain to the young man what he did wrong, "Listen, Ron. No girl likes to feel like they're your second or third or tenth choice."

"We've got eyes and ears, Ron." Courtney declared, "We all saw and heard about you asking every other girl in the school before even coming to us."

"Yeah." Ron sighed, conceding the point, "You're right. I screwed that up. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." Maria smiled before launching into point two, "Also, Ron, like I said, no girl likes to be put on the spot by being asked out in front of her friends who had just turned you down."

"And point three, don't ask a girl out at the last minute." Courtney further advised, explaining, "By the time you asked us, Ron, assuming any of us wanted to go out with you in the first place…"

"Would you have?" Ron asked in a mixture of doubt and curiosity.

"We don't know." Maria answered honestly, "Maybe yes…maybe no. Like we're talking about now—it depends on a lot of stuff."

"Anyway…" Courtney said, picking up from where she left off, "By the time you asked us, we already had dates lined up."

"Why did you let her do it?" Ron asked, genuinely surprised.

"It's the food chain crap. That's one of the reasons Kim was all gaga over Mankey. Yeah…most of it was because she was crushing on him, but part of it was because she was worried about Bonnie scoring points in their little battle over who's on top of the food chain." Crystal replied as her girlfriend snorted in derision.

"Some things never change." Zoe huffed, "I had to deal with it at my school too. I had to play that game as well."

"Yeah." Maria snorted, "Too bad we let Bonnie and her little clique choose the dates for us. Last time I'm going to do that."

"If you'd have asked me or Maria earlier and done it the right way, maybe you'd have gotten a date." Courtney declared.

"So…" Ron asked, "How should I have asked you? What is the right way?"

"That brings us to our next point." Courtney sighed, "You've got a Kim-sized weight hanging around your neck. That instantly scares off many of us before you even say a word."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, "Kim's my best friend." Shaking his head he declared earnestly, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to ditch my best friend just to go out on a date."

"No one's asking you to ditch Kim." Maria declared in a placatory tone. "What we're trying to say is that all of the girls at the school see the two of you together all the time. Now…what sort of conclusion would you draw if you were us?"

His head drooping, Ron admitted, "That Kim and I were going out with each other…even though we're not. I overheard her talking to someone…I'm not sure who…I think it might have been one of the dark haired cheerleaders…"

"Hope or Marcella." Crystal nodded, "Yeah…you're not very high on their list of favorite people. So…you were saying?"

"Right." Ron sighed, "She was talking to one of them and told whoever it was that I'm not boyfriend material. That made everything clear to me."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ron." Maria consoled in a sympathetic voice, "And for the record, she's wrong. You are boyfriend material. She's just too blind to see that."

"Zoe?" Crystal prompted, speaking to her girlfriend, "You got anything to add?"

"Not really." Zoe answered, "Not knowing your friend or his situation, there's not much to say except that to me…"

"Ron." The blond youth interjected.

"Right." Zoe nodded, "Sorry, Ron. It seems that what you're lacking most is confidence and experience. A lot of times the one will come with the other. Of course…" the Asian woman's lips turned up in a crooked grin, "That's gonna mean you're going to have a lot of screw ups along the way."

"Like this one?" Ron replied with a sarcastic grin.

"Yep." Zoe responded.

"So…Ron." Crystal asked in a worried tone, "You feeling better?"

"Yeah. A little." Ron replied, "I'm still not ready to see or talk to Kim right now though."

"That's understandable." The tawny skinned cheerleader responded with an encouraging grin, "She's not exactly at the top of our list of people we want to talk to right now either…"

"Except maybe for our shit list." Maria interjected with a smile.

"Yeah." Crystal agreed, "Right now, she's pretty high up there on that list."

"Please!" Ron begged, "Don't take it out on Kim. I don't think she was even aware of what happened."

"We know." Courtney responded, "It was more thoughtless than anything else. But…it still wouldn't hurt for Ms. 'I can do anything' to be taken down a peg or two."

"Yeah." Maria added, "Like we've all been saying, in her own way, she's as bad as Bonnie."

"Maybe that's why the two of them can't stand each other." Crystal chuckled. Her laughter now replaced by a serious expression, the cheerleader declared, "I gotta go with Courtney and Maria on this, Ron. It wouldn't hurt for Kim to learn that she's human just like the rest of us. You need to call her out on what she did. You can't let it slide."

"If you don't mind an outsider stepping in…" Zoe interjected, "If you don't clear the air now, it'll just eat at you until it finally becomes too much to take and once that happens—there goes your friendship."

"Yeah." Ron sighed, "I guess you're right. I'm going to have to talk to her about it. It's just…I gotta think about how I'm gonna do it and what I'm gonna say." Glancing at his watch, the young man prompted, "Ummm…I'm sorry, but it's getting close to my curfew."

"That's okay." Crystal smiled, "We'll take care of the tab and then me and Zoe'll run you home. We'll get you back in plenty of time to avoid getting grounded."

"Thanks." Ron smiled warmly at his new friends, "For everything."

"Hey." Courtney grinned, "Don't mention it."

"Yeah." Maria added, "That's what friends do for each other."

"And…" Courtney suggested with a friendly grin, "If you want ask me to go see a movie or something like that—do it the right way and I might just say yes."

"Same goes for me." Maria declared with a smile of her own, cautioning the young man, "Now…don't read this as a boyfriend/girlfriend thing or anything like that."

"Right." Courtney nodded, "If we go out, it's a friend date, although I'm not closing any doors yet. We'll just have to see how it goes."

"Same goes with me." Maria added before cautioning, "And if we hear one word about you bragging about having a harem with us in it…"

"And if you do, we will find out." Courtney added with a warning glare.

"We'll kick your ass all the way to Upperton."

"And me and Zoe will help them." Crystal added.

"Harem?" Ron cringed, "That's so wrong-sick it's not even funny! I'd never say anything bad about you or even want a harem or anything like that."

"We're glad to hear that, Ron." Courtney chuckled as she handed the blond youth a slip of paper, "So…if you want to go to a movie with me this weekend, just give me a call. Here's my number."

"And here's mine." Maria said as she also handed Ron her phone number. "Give me a call and maybe we can do something next week."

"Thanks, girls." Ron smiled, his naked mole rat pet smiling as well as giving his master's new friends a thumbs up. "I'll do that. And…thank you for the talk. I think I needed to hear that."

"Anytime, Ron."

A/N: I had originally planned to do this in one part but decided to break it up into different movements. This part deals with the lock in and immediately after his release. The next part will cover the first day of school afterwards and Kim trying to piece together what happened. Depending on length, part 2 will either end with their eventual reconciliation (as events post story here will pretty much follow canon) or will end with them still estranged but working towards reconciliation which will take place in part 3.

A question some of you might be asking is: Why did I pick the cheerleader who rescued Ron that I picked instead of the other one? Well...It's because a certain other cheerleader is usually the one who does the rescuing in these sort of situations and I wanted to switch things up a bit. Also, I did deliberately bring in a Double Entendre tie in by retaining the relationship Ron's rescuer has with another person-an OC. I'm doing this for a couple of reasons in that it does set these stories in an alternate time frame for the "Pan-Dimensional Sitch in Time" DE storyline I'll be doing, and also by using this cheerleader and her romantic interest, I'm at once ruling out the possibility of a Ron/rescuer 'ship. You'll see why when you see the cheerleader and her love interest. As I stated, events after this story will proceed pretty much according to canon.

Beginning in Etude 3, events will take a darker and less canonical turn as we ask the question: What happens if he's not released until 1 or 2 in the morning and is caught trying to sneak in by the 'rents? Does he squeal on Kim or does he say nothing and take the heat? A lot hinges on the decision he makes and both directions will be explored in Etude 3.

But for now, while the road is rockier, the ending will still be a happy one.