KP – One Oh One : Part IV - Dead Trees and Dollar Signs
"This is criminal!"
Kim scowled deeply, holding the first item of her current quest in her small hands. It wasn't large and it certainly wasn't heavy, but apparently it was worth far more than it looked.
The crowds hadn't moved in quite yet, allowing her a better chance at getting everything she needed on the first visit. Still, once she got to the place she was told she would find it, her eyes just about bugged out of her head.
"Forty five dollars for a secondary workbook? In paperback?" Kim growled.
Ron waddled by with a stack of books cradled in his hands. "You'd think the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything was in here, at least for what these cost." He dropped the stack on a handy table, making notes on a running list. The growing figure at the bottom was staggering.
Kim went right up to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Hello to you too, college man." She set her one book down beside his stack and took his hand.
He gave it a good squeeze. It was a habit left over from high school, a gesture the kids called a 'hand hug.' It was supposed to convey everything that a good, long hug, a little kiss or even some good old fashioned lip smacking was, considering all those acts were prohibited by the Public Display of Affection rules.
"You know we don't have to do that any more." Kim giggled, returning the squeeze.
Ron just smiled at her, still holding her hand. "Doesn't mean we have to quit."
"No." She grinned, they leaned over and gave him a short kiss on the lips, making certain he could feel her tongue run across his bottom lip while she did it. "But we sure don't have to limit ourselves to that any more…Like we ever did before anyway." Her grin got even wider.
"Yeah, I seem to remember that attitude getting us in trouble at least once."
Kim inspected his pile of books. "Ron, every one of these is used."
"Yeah, I hear that's the way to go, plus it saves a little bit a claude." He rubbed his fingers together for effect.
Taking one off the top, Kim went back to the shelf it came from. "You sure don't save a lot that way. So, what's the deal? Why not just get a nice fresh copy?"
He took the book from her hands and flipped through it. Whole passages were highlighted and there were notes of all kinds scribbled in the margins. "That's the point. Somebody's already done half the work."
Kim crinkled her nose. "So, how do you know whoever had that book last wasn't a complete idiot?"
"Guess you've got a point, but hey, I still save some money. Maybe it's a college urban legend, but hey, it's worth a shot. Just like paying attention to which professors you sign up for."
Kim picked several more of the books she needed off the shelves, taking crisp new copies at full price rather than save a few buck on the dog-eared older copies. "So not the drama, Ron. That's just more 'Food Chain' stuff. This prof is cool, that one assigns too much work. Blah-blah, yadda-yadda. I'm so not falling into that trap again. Besides, do you know who happens to be a professor here?"
"I've already seen. I've got him for my History prof."
Kim looked genuinely surprised. "Really? I didn't know Doctor Snyder taught history too, I thought he was just English." Halfway through their Senior year of High School, Kim's English teacher was suddenly replaced by the ultra-demanding, hyper-intellectual literature professor.
"He's here? Okay, now that is just too freaky. Tell me you don't have his class."
"Not! I've got Doctor Hannibal this semester. Wait, if you're not talking about Snyder, then who?" She turned and saw the expression on his face. "Oh no, please no. Not here too."
"Yes, he's here." He moaned. "Seems Assistant Principal Steve Barkin is also moonlighting as a part-time associate professor here."
"Come on, Ron, it can't be that bad. It's not like we can't avoid him."
"Guess again, KP. I was supposed to have Professor Kaufman for History, but it seems there was some mishap involving a sliding blackboard and he's out for the semester, so they've got Barkin filling in for him. I swear, it's like I've got some curse hanging over me."
"Ron."
"I'm cursed. He even noticed me right off the bat! He was looking right at me the whole time, and you know what else he did?"
Kim rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess, pop-quiz?"
"Yeah! Two seconds in and he's already pounding us. I've even got homework."
She put her hand in the middle of his back, kneading gently. "It's okay, Ron. You've just got to deal with him for one semester, and we both are going to get lots of homework. Look on the bright side, he can't have too many morning classes and still hold down his job at MHS."
"I guess." He slumped his shoulders, still sulking.
Kim put the last of her selections in her pile. Other students were starting to file in. "Look at the bright side, Ronnie. You don't have to be back in his class until Wednesday and I don't have any big assignments yet. Why don't we blow this joint and spend some quality time?"
He smiled slightly. "Depends on the quality of that quality time."
"I'm thinking a little go home, close the hatch and make Dad wonder what we're doing quality time." She cooed.
Ron laughed softly. "We do that, and he's likely to get the key out and open your side door. That, or he's gonna fit me for a space suit again. You know they sent Frederick back up again, and your Dad's hinting he needs a partner."
"So not the drama." Kim held up her hand, twisting her ring almost absently. "I bet if I invited you to spend the whole night, he wouldn't even say a thing."
Ron groaned as he picked up his stack of books. There were enough that if he had to carry them all constantly, he'd need a hand truck, not a book bag. "I kinda think Mr. Dr. P's not quite ready for that, unless you've got your Mom in on it, running interference."
"He didn't say anything when we ran up to Durango together." She smiled at him warmly, with slightly hooded eyes.
"He just thought we went up there to ride the steam trains."
"There were trains? I didn't notice." Only weeks earlier they burned up the last couple nights of their planned two week vacation in the small Colorado resort town. What had begun as an extended road trip got sidetracked by a mission that ended with them saving the entire eastern seaboard (if not the whole planet) from an anti-matter weapon. They spent a few days at home recovering from what had happened before simply up and heading into the mountains. They were saving themselves for their wedding night, but they put that promise to a rather extreme test while they were there. That, and Ron spent almost five hours in front of a television watching a marathon of his favorite cartoon on the Mouse Ears channel.
Kim shrugged as she hefted her own weighty stack. "You're right. He's got this weird double standard about us now. Away, it's like he expects us to be making out and stuff. In the house, it's like I'm still sixteen."
"Out of sight, out of mind." Ron agreed.
Even though they were keeping a running total of their books, their jaws still dropped when they were rung up. Kim was certain what she was paying for books had to be as much as her parents paid in tuition just more than two decades earlier.
"Criminal." Kim groaned as they hoofed it to her car.
"Should' a brought my camping backpack." Ron griped as he struggled with his load. He started to grab Kim's stack as well, trying to be a gentleman, but she would have none of that. It was one thing for him to hold a car door for her on their dates, but the rest of the time she wanted to be treated purely as an equal. Not to mention, he'd have been so worn out by the time they got there they would have little chance for some one-on-one.
As it was, they were both going to enjoy a nice back-rub. That they could do without catching any glares from Kim's Dad.
Neither of them noticed the tall student watching them as they walked by. He was dressed much like the rest of the group he was standing with. That is, all in black. His skin was very fair, very much like Ron's, but it looked even paler with his jet black hair and black net shirt. Even though it was the waning days of Summer, he was wearing a ratty black trench coat with silver chains draped over his body in several places. Capping off his over-the-top Goth appearance was an eyebrow ring and a studded dog collar. Once the couple was out of sight, he simply walked away from the clutch of social rebels he temporarily glommed onto, speaking into a studded leather wrist band.
The game was afoot.
Kim arranged the last of her books on top of her chest of drawers. There certainly were a lot more of them than there had been at any point before, making her wonder if she needed to get a book shelf. Ron sat on the bed just watching her, or more exactly, watching her backside. It was something she noticed him doing more often since they had come back from their little getaway and at least in the privacy of her own room, she didn't mind it at all.
Walking behind her changing screen, she stripped out of her red jersey and cargo pants, changing into some cut-off shorts her mother made out of an old pair of her mission cargos. While she really didn't mind changing right in front of him any more, there was still a sort of decorum to be observed in her home. Ron even turned his head and covered his eyes as he had always done.
"I kinda think our dressing alike was a bit of a bust, considering we only saw each other for about five minutes before the book store." She sat down beside him, leaning back on her outstretched arms.
"Least we'll have time to eat lunch together tomorrow."
Kim pulled a face, sticking her tongue out slightly. "Did you see the caf? I think they must have trucked in some leftover mystery meat from MHS."
Ron scooted further back on the bed, crossing his legs and going to work on her shoulders. Moments later, she was making sounds sure to bring her father running up the stairs any moment.
"Oh, it's so worth having you in my life, just to do that." She moaned. "Most def benefits of having a boyfriend with big hands."
"I'm glad Ronald only had his hands on your shoulders when I heard you say that." James was just reaching the top of the stairs.
"Why, what on Earth would you mean by that." Kim asked with a sly smile, almost causing both Ron and her Dad to choke. "Where's Mom?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Haven't seen her. Guess she's still tied up at work. So, how did your first day go?"
"Pretty fair. Ron got a nasty surprise. Oh, here." She grudgingly pulled free of Ron's hands and rooted around in her discarded pants. Pulling out a receipt, she handed it to her Dad.
James' shoulders slumped. "Well, there goes a new Jag this year."
Kim wrapped her arms around her father. "Daddy, I don't think a few hundred dollars for books is going to break the bank."
"Tell me that again when you have to pay for them with your own money." He said good-naturedly.
"That's what I told her on the way home, Mr. Dr. P." Ron sat up a little straighter, then leaned back on his arms like Kim had been earlier.
"Seems with all your money, maybe you should have paid for your fiancé's books yourself."
Ron grinned. "I would have been glad to, but Dad beat me to it this morning before I left. I can buy anything I need for school out of the account he set up, but that's it. Everything else is still stuck in the trust until we get married."
"I know, Ronald. Just joshing with you."
Kim looked around her room, paying special attention to the pile of clothes she just took off. "That's kind of strange. You didn't' pick up my room this afternoon, did you?"
James looked a little uncomfortable. "No, your mother usually does that. Why?"
"Well, I know it's not real good, but I kind of left my pajamas and the clothes I had on last night out. Or at least I thought I did. Are you sure Mom hasn't been home?"
He scratched his head. "You know, I think she said she was only working a half day. Maybe they paged her."
Kim pursed her lips. "Doesn't she usually leave a note when that happens."
"Hang on." He pulled out his cell phone and walked down the stairs. Moments later they heard him hang up and make another call.
"That's strange." He said as they followed him down to the second floor. "She signed out at noon today and left. She's not answering her cell either."
Kim was starting to get worried. She checked around the house. The clothes hamper was empty and the things she had been wearing the night before were in the dryer. She started pulling the clean items out, folding them as she thought. Ron joined in, having a little better time making a neat stack.
He held up a purple dress. "Hey, isn't this what Mrs. Dr. P was wearing this morning?"
She looked it over. "She's got half a dozen like that, Ron. I'm sure it's nothing, her lab coat's gone. She's probably over at the Medical Center right now following up on something and forgot to check in." Kim wished she was as confident as she thought she sounded. When it came to her career, Anne Possible was a meticulous perfectionist. One had to be to be a neurosurgeon.
What's more, her weirdar was going off. Too many things had happened to her to ignore that.
That prompted her to go over the house one more time, this time with a much more critical eye. Besides the signs that some housework had been done, nothing seemed amiss to her…
…until Ron went into his old room.
"KP, have you all been airing this room out? I know I could get a little, um, well, you know, when I've had too much Bueno Nacho, or your Mom's meatloaf, but hey, I've been out of here for a week."
Kim followed him into the room. Despite the amount of time they spent together while he was living there, she only rarely went in there. She never mentioned it to Ron, but the room did have a particular odor to it. It wasn't anything bad, only it reminded her of Grandpa Possible and it made her miss him all the more. That's where he sometimes stayed when she was little, before Nana briefly moved to Middleton after he passed away.
Not only was the window open, the vacuum cleaner was in the room, lying on its side, still plugged into the wall. That was something her fastidious mother never, ever did. Rushing over to the open window, she looked at the latch and the nearly undetectable security strip. Nothing looked damaged in any way.
She tried telling herself it was nothing. Her Mom had gotten home and was paged and had to run back to the hospital. It happened all the time. If it was an emergency, it was entirely possible she simply abandoned her housework and rushed back over there. That would explain the freshly laundered dress and her lab coat being gone. It wouldn't have mattered if she was in her cleaning togs, she would simply change into scrubs at the Medical Center if she had to.
Ron picked up something from the floor near the window. "Who chews gum?"
She looked at the silver inner wrapper in Ron's hand. Nobody in that house regular chewed any kind of gum. Her Mom detested the stuff, having cleaned enough of it out of Kim's hair when she was little, before banning the stuff outright when she got her braces. Candy was dandy, but gum would rot teeth faster than anything in her opinion.
Then it hit her.
Ron sometimes like watching old cop movies. In one of them, the lead actor demonstrated how he could use the metal foil from a wrapper to defeat certain kinds of security systems.
She raced back up the stairs, getting her cell phone out of her pants. There were just a few numbers in it that weren't programmed into her Kimmunicator. One of those was her mother's partner.
"Grace? Hi, This is Kim Possible. Can I speak to Doctor DiMaggio?" She waited a few heartbeats. "Doctor Di…Oh, hi Doctor Guberman, uh, you haven't seen my Mom, have you? She's not in the middle of a procedure or something, is she?...Okay, thanks…no, haven't heard from Kevin since grad…okay, bye."
Gritting her teeth, she pulled out the Kimmunicator and punched up Wade. "Wade, I need you to access the sensor logs for the house security."
"Huh? I don't really…"
"No time, Wade. If you can record cold germs getting transferred from the Tweebs to me, you can tell if somebody's been in here."
"Okay, but what am I looking for?"
"Guest bedroom window. We can't get a hold of Mom and I think something's wrong."
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