TP 20
Ron's overwhelming feeling of glee was cut short when he remembered; he still had to apologize to Kim for Saturday night. He calmed himself and started over, "About Saturday…"
Kim wasn't listening, she stood staring down the hall, her eyes fixed in a thousand-yard stare. Ron noticed and glanced down the hallway, half expecting to see Andrew Mathews; or maybe even Mankey, although that possibility was much less likely. Ron shrugged his shoulders when he saw that there was no one in her line of sight. "KP?" he asked.
Kim didn't respond, so he asked again, "KP?" He waved his hand in her face and whistled a two note tune. That finally got her attention, she snapped back to reality.
"Huh, oh what?" Kim asked, an ever so slight blush on her face.
"About Saturday," Ron started yet again. "I'm so sorry about leaving you hanging like that. I should have let you know where I was, I'm sorry."
"Where were you anyway?" Kim asked, already knowing full well where he had been.
"I went to Bueno Nacho to grab some study food." Ron shifted his weight slightly as he continued his explanation. "And, sort of ran into Tara."
"Tara?" Kim asked, in a half I-already-knew-that tone.
"Yeah, Tara. Anyways she asked me if I could keep her company. She's been through a lot lately, what with the whole…thing." Ron didn't feel the need to say exactly what thing she had been through, everyone already knew.
"The Brick thing." Kim clarified, needlessly.
"Right, and I knew she needed someone to talk to and…"
"One thing lead to another and before you knew it, it was way later than you thought." Kim finished for him.
Ron stammered a bit, "Yeah, that's it exactly. How'd you…"
"Because you've done the same for me." Ron looked, lost, so Kim explained it to him. "When Walter Nelson dumped me. When Matt Bowman moved away. When I dumped Josh…" Kim took hold of his hand. "You helped me get over them, just like you're helping Tara get over Brick." She gave him a slight peck on the cheek, "That's for being such a nice guy."
Ron blushed, smiling back at her, and ran his fingers over the spot on his cheek. "Thanks Kim. I knew you'd understand."
'Next time kiss her back,' The little voice inside his head said, 'and maybe cop a feel too.'
'Shut up.'
Kim pulled a folded piece of paper out of her notebook and handed it to Ron.
"What's this?" He asked as he opened it.
"The answers to today's Trig homework." She said quietly.
"Sweet!" Ron celebrated, the answers from KP that had to be an 'A' for sure. "Thanks KP."
"I did it up so you'd get a C minus, didn't want to make it look too obvious."
Ron's happy mood dulled a bit, "C minus?" Tara had given him a B minus. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'KP doesn't like cheating. So of course she wouldn't want to make it obvious.' Ron stuffed Kim's note into his pocket along with the one Tara had given him earlier.
The period bell rang and Kim, along with Ron, headed for Chemistry. Neither of them noticed Bonnie stepping around the corner, an evil smile stretching across her face.
Current
Bonnie was still smirking as she sat down into her seat in Current Events, a chump class to say the least.
"What's got you so happy today Bonnie?" Tara asked.
Bonnie turned to her fellow cheerleader, "Kim and Ron."
"What about them?" Tara asked, since when did Kim and Ron do anything that could make Bonnie happy.
"They're in for a surprise when they get to Trig class. It turns out that Kimmie, get this, is helping the loser cheat on his homework."
"Kim wouldn't do that." Tara said.
"I know what I heard and saw," Bonnie explained. "She gave him the answers. Of course it's only a 'C minus' but it's still cheating. Mr. Barkin is going to rip them apart." Bonnie smiled, seeing Kim humiliated would make her day.
"You already told him?" Tara asked.
"Yep." Bonnie replied smugly. "So you weren't at Bobby's party Friday night. What'd you do, stay home again?" Tara needed to get over herself. What Brick had done to her paled in comparison to what he had done with Bonnie. Although no one knew, and no one would ever know (if Bonnie had her way) the truth.
"No. I hung out at Bueno Nacho with Monique and Ron…" Tara almost caught herself, but it was too late, Bonnie heard.
Bonnie's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You hung out with the freak?"
"Ron isn't a freak Bonnie." Tara said indignantly, attempting to defend him. "He's a really nice guy…" Her voice trailed off, noticing the other students listening in on her conversation, admitting. "He's a bit eccentric…"
"Eccentric?" Bonnie snapped, her face twisted with displeasure. "He's got that freaky naked rat thing…"
"Rufus." Tara said soothingly.
"Whatever!" Bonnie threw her hands out in a dismissive wave, grumbling. "It's disgusting!"
"I think he's cute."
Bonnie shuddered and felt a chill rush through her body as she remembered all the times that Rufus had even touched her, and that ever so freaky dream she had about him. "Ugh."
Home Economics
Ron and Kim parted ways after Chemistry, she had dropped Home Ec to take Photography. "See you later Ron."
"Later KP." Ron said as he stepped into the classroom, turning for one last look at Kim's back as she walked away down the hall.
'Shake it baby.'
'Shut up.'
"Hey, Ron?" Ron turned from his staring to see Tara standing looking him over.
"Oh, hi Tara." He said as he walked to his seat, sitting down.
"We need to talk."
