"Romance, and the quest for love, have inspired mankind for centuries. The greatest works have all involved romance and love, from Romeo and Juliet to the latest blockbuster movies. Romance, and the quest for love, drives every man and woman in some way."
"I can tell you, romance really drives me!"
Jason just glared at the smirking Matt. "Can you please be serious for just a couple minutes?"
"I am being serious, because I get to introduce Tara and the Middleton High cheerleading squad, who will be naming off the nominees for Best Romance Story!"
The lights onstage dim, the sounds thumping techno music blasting as the MHS Cheer Squad, sans Kim, Ron, and Bonnie, come springing and tumbling onto the floor. Tara, the blonde 'girl next door' begins the cheer that stole the Regionals, with slight modification.
"Go, Go Romance, Go-Go, Go Romance..."
The rest of the squad joined in, shaking it. Tara ended the rotine with a loud "Go Romance!", the other girls holding form. Tara, smiling brightly, spoke into the mike.
"I love romantic stories!" she squealed. The other girls squealed their agreement from behind her. "They're so... romancy! Ok, the nominees are...
A Few New Tricks, by immo…
"How did you do that?" Kim asked. It was something that never happened. She couldn't find an opening. The control that was so carefully balanced between the two had tipped into Shego's cup.
"Do you want to know?" Shego asked sweetly.
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT!" Kim pounded her fists on the floor again, wildly, enraged at how Shego was dancing around the subject.
In a split second, Shego was in front of Kim, crouched down in front of her. The redhead only had time to gasp in surprise before both her hands were caught in Shego's grip.
"Temper, temper, Kimmie." Shego's eyes burned with mischief. "Now... how do we ask for things?"
Her condescending tone grated on Kim's nerves.
"Kim!"
"Don't!" That one word stopped Ron in his tracks.
"How do we ask?" Shego's eyes hadn't left Kim's face. "Because if you don't ask me nicely, I won't give you what you want."
The fingers on her wrist tightened, and Kim let out a tiny cry of pain.
"Kim!" Rufus squeaked, and tried to rush out of Ron's pocket towards the redhead, but Ron's hand kept the rodent down. This was Kim's fight.
"How. Do. We. Ask?" Shego's green eyes bore into Kim's. Kim glared at Shego defiantly. Shego smiled, and leaned forward, pressing her lips against Kim's ear in a brief kiss, one that the struggling, but captive heroine could not refuse. Then the villainess let go of Kim and backflipped away from Kim gracefully. Picking up a couple of shopping bags she had left on the floor when she started causing ruckus, she smirked at the stricken heroine. As an after-thought, Shego
picked up the small green top she had wanted and slipped it into one of her bags.
Then Kim watched as she left the ruined store.
Nacho Boy and the Dragon Lady, by MrDrP…Ron took a deep breath. "Kim, I love you …"
"… difficult. Wait, did you just say …" her voice trailed off into a whisper.
"Yeah, I love you," he said earnestly.
Kim took his hands, then embraced him. "You're sweet, but you don't have to say that."
"I know I don't. I want to. I love you," he said in a tender voice. Kim began to cry, softly at first, but then more forcefully. Ron could feel her body shaking. He was lost, unsure of what to do. He couldn't take back what he'd just said. And he thought she'd felt the same way, especially in the days since Thanksgiving. But by uttering those three words, he'd obviously upset Kim, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
When Kim got her crying under control, she pulled back and gazed at Ron. She looked a bit nervous, as if she was about to take a leap over a giant ravine. "Ron, I, I love you, too," she said, sounding vulnerable and small, knowing that she was once again risking a broken heart, yet believing that this was a risk worth taking and suspecting that with Ron, there really wasn't a risk. She knew she'd been feeling this way for awhile and had been hoping that he felt the same way. Everything they'd been doing with each other said they were in love. I love you: three simple words. Words she had feared saying, because they were an invitation to affirmation – or rejection. But once again, Ron knew what to say to her at the right moment. He had already built a bridge for her and was leading her over the chasm.
Kim was now hugging him tightly, as if she was afraid that if she let him go, he'd never return. He sensed that and responded by gently stroking her hair and whispering into her ear, "I love you, Kim Possible. And don't you ever forget that."
They stood in their embrace, not needing to speak. Finally, Kim pulled back and gazed into Ron's eyes. With a smile, she said, "Okay, Ron Stoppable. I accept your invitation to move in. But on one condition."
"What?"
"I have access to your supply of bendy straws."
"Whoa! Those don't come cheap, you know. You want a straw, you gotta give me a kiss."
"With pleasure. Grande sized?"
"Please and thank you, Doctor."
The Twists and Turns of Love, by Zaratan…
Kim looked up to the sky, and took a deep breath. "Ron, we need to talk."
Ron had a look of panic on his face. "I'm so sorry about the drink KP. I was just…"
Kim just placed a comforting hand on his leg. "Ron, don't worry about it. That wasn't what I was going to bring up. It's just… we haven't exactly been talking as much as we usually do."
Ron just winced. "Yeah, I noticed that too. I don't know, everything just feels so different now, you know?"
"Yeah, I've been feeling the same thing. It is different. But I don't want to lose what we already have because we're doing this. I want us to be able to talk, like we always do!"
Ron cast his eyes downward. "I want the same thing. It's just… I don't want to say the wrong thing. I'm afraid that if I do, it might ruin what we have. I don't want to do that!"
Kim placed a hand tenderly on his chin, raising his face up to look at her. "You could never say the wrong thing."
Ron gave her a mischievous grin. "Are you sure about that? I mean, I know I have the whole "do I look fat in this" question down, but I usually don't have much control over what I say most of the time!"
Kim just laughed. "Fine, there's nothing you could say wrong that we can't work through, together!"
Ron just smiled at that. "Good, cause I just have one thing to say. KP, I love you!"
Her hand lovingly stroked his cheek. Her heart was doing flips inside her chest, amazed that he had said those words to her. "I love you too Ron!"
His hand moved up to press against hers on his cheek, and they looked deep into each other's eyes. Slowly, their eyes closed, and they moved forward. Their lips met, and Kim couldn't believe she could be any happier then she was at that very moment, held tight in the arms of the man she loved. Time became immaterial as they held each other, locked in embrace along the lakeshore. Nothing could ruin their perfect moment.
Then the rain started to fall.
Ron raised his head when he began to feel the drops. "Aw man. I can't have just one night?"
"And the winner is…
A Few New Tricks, by immo!"
immo walked out on to the stage nervously and waved in barely-concealed terror at the crowd. Decked out in casual clothes--a pair of nice jeans, white sneakers, a blue round-necked t-shirt (with the words 'WORLD WITHOUT STRANGERS' in big, black, bold font) and a black blazer--she walked up to the podium and stared out at the audience.
And stared.
And stared.
Tara nudged immo.
"What? Oh." immo shoved her hand into her left pocket and produced a couple of cue cards, sweat dotting her forehead. Wiping her hands on her pants, she started her acceptance speech.
"First, before anything else, I'd like to thank the people who voted for me and my fans who have followed 'a few new tricks' from the beginning to its coming end. Its been a long run, the longest fanfiction I've ever written in any fandom. And its you, my readers, that kept me going." The words were timid and slow at first, but immo seemed to gain more confidance as she spoke. "Through grammatical error, spelling error and postponed chapters, you guys have followed faithfully. Your reviews spurred me on and your encouragements, critizisms, suggestions and overall reviews made me continue. In fact, without my readers, 'a few new tricks' wouldn't have passed the one chapter mark. 'a few new tricks' was meant to be a one-shot, but because of your reviews, I've churned out up to 29 chapters now. That is how important a reader's reviews are to the author. Thank you so much for support."
The audience clapped at the heartfelt appreciation the author had for its readers, but then stopped in stunned silence as immo bypassed the award the squad was holding up and hefted Tara onto her shoulders like a sack of flour.
"What are you doing!" Tara shrieked.
"Collecting my prize?" immo blinked in surprise at the girl's outraged scream.
"Tara is so not the prize!" A brunette from the cheerleading squad caught a hold of Tara's arm and tried to pull her off, but immo kept a good grip on her 'prize'.
"What! That's bull! I was told I would get Tara and the cheerleading squad as a prize!" immo declared. immo had a tendency to skim letters and had obviously misread the invitation. She had also been so nervous (and was still a little awed that she got nominated) during the presentation of awards for previous award-winners that she hadn't noticed that none of the other authors got an award like the one she was claiming was hers right now. "A harem of cheerleaders is way too much estrogen to deal with so I'm graciously accepting the hottest
one!"
"The hottest one?" The cheerleaders all screeched together while Tara stopped struggling and craned her neck back to look at immo.
"Really? I'm the hottest one?" Tara asked hopefully.
"Oh yeah." immo nodded. Tara blushed at the compliment.
"Alright, I guess I'll totally go along with this." Tara was beyond flattered. Bonnie and Kim usually got the most attention on the cheerleading squad. It was nice to be appreciated for once!
"You can cook, right?" immo asked.
"Oh yeah," Tara nodded enthusiastically.
"Great!" immo beamed at the cheerleader. She was about to exit, but the squad had latched on to her.
"I'm the hottest one!" They all proclaimed, refusing to let go. No way were they going to accept being humiliated in front of the audience and not being taken as the 'prize'! "Take me!"
Trying to shake Middleton's cheerleading squad off of her, immo slowly exited stage left.
The entire place sat in stunned silence. Somewhere in the audience, a few people started clapping hesitantly, unsure of how to react, and the rest of the audience latched on to this decision. As the place filled with the sound of applause, one thought was going through almost everybody's head.
What had just happened?
Jason just stared in shock, quickly working to regain control. "Well… that was immo everybody! What did you think of her work? Matt? Are you there Matt?"
Matt just stared after immo and the cheerleaders, his jaw on the floor and his drool leaking onto the stage. "So many… women… together… boo… ooo… bies…"
Coughing loudly, Jason continues on. "Well, I think we've lost Matt for a little while, so let's go back to Smashmouth, with I'm a Believer!"
I thought love was
Only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else
But not for me
Love was out to get to me
That's the way it seems
Disappointment haunted
All my dreams
And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried
I thought love was
More or less a given thing
But the more I gave the less
I got, oh yeah
What's the use in trying
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine
I got rain
And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried
What's the use in trying
All you get is pain
When I wanted sunshine
I got rain
And then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
I'm in love
I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her
If I tried
Then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer
Not a trace
Of doubt in my mind
Now I'm a believer
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm a believer
I'm a believer
I'm a believer