A/N—Wow, another update. Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 20

Despite the immense snow that had accumulated during the Christmas holidays, the roads were clean and fit to drive on. Thus, Ron's prayers of having a few extra snow days tagged on to Winter vacation went unanswered. It was a small loss, considering all that he had gained. As had been usual for the past few weeks, Ron stopped at Bonnie's house to pick her up. She groggily got in, clearly lacking sleep.

It was a dark and chilly morning, and no one had wanted to go back to school. Ron drove on in silence for a few more minutes, just enjoying the hum and warmth of his heater.

"Ron, are you ready for the last semester of high school?" Bonnie asked in a drowsy voice.

"Are you kidding? I've been waiting for high school to end for ages."

"You know, I was scared of the last day of high school before I met you. I was scared that everything I had built up would just disappear."

"Do you still believe it will?"

"Of course, but now I know it doesn't matter anyway. I have you, and that's all I really needed anyway." Ron looked over at her and saw her smiling that cute smile of hers, revealing pearly white teeth. Her eyes were only half open as she struggled to stay awake in the comfortable atmosphere.

"So what do you want do after high school?"

"I'm really not sure. So much has changed these past few weeks, and I don't know where I'm headed. What about you?"

"I'm not sure either. I'm in the same boat as you; so much has changed for me these past few weeks. I always thought that…never mind." Bonnie didn't press the issue. They rode on in silence for a few more minutes before arriving at Middleton High School. Crowds of sleepy people were slowly making their way through the doors. Ron parked his car, and he and Bonnie stepped out and slowly made their way into the building. Bonnie silently slipped her hand into Ron's on the way. Despite everyone's sleepiness, whispers swept through the crowd as everyone stared at Ron and Bonnie as they made their way down the halls.

"…is that Bonnie…"

"…and Stoppable?"

"…who's that…"

"…loser…"

"…holding hands…"

No one was more stunned than a certain redhead that was four lockers down from Ron's. She stared wide-eyed and in dismay and barely noticed her boyfriend putting an arm around her.

"Anything wrong honey?" Kim snapped out of her trance.

"No, it's nothing, just…"

"Hey! What's Bonnie doing with Ron?" Kim heard the condescending tone in Josh's voice, something she had failed to notice months before. Kim didn't reply as Josh led her away to her first class.

Lunch

"Wow, this has definitely been an interesting day," Ron said, taking a seat next to Bonnie.

"Tell me about it. I don't know how many people asked me if I was going out with you."

"How long do you think they'll get used to it?"

"Who cares? I have you and you have me. What else matters?" Ron smiled genuinely, thanking the gods that he finally found a girl like Bonnie. She excused herself to the restroom, leaving Ron alone at the table temporarily. He saw the shadow of a hulking Brick Flag creep over him. Secretly, Brick had had a huge crush on Bonnie for the longest time and seeing her with Stoppable was too much.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing Stoppable?" he asked harshly.

"Eating," came the calm reply.

"Don't play games with me bitch. Stay away from Bonnie, if you know what's best for you."

"Does threatening people like that ever work?"

"Shut up Stoppable. I'm not playing games. She's my girl, and it's going to be that way."

"Whatever," came Ron's glib reply. Brick was about to say something else when he saw Bonnie returning to the table.

"You better watch yourself," he said threateningly before he left. Bonnie sat down a few seconds later.

"So why was Brick just here?"

"Oh you know, just being his charming self."

"Was it about us?"

"Isn't everything?"

"Good point. You want my pudding? You've been staring at it nonstop after you finished yours."

"Thanks," said Ron sheepishly, as he took her bowl of pudding. His appetite had been insane ever since he got 'enhanced,' and he realized it was probably due to the intense muscle building his body had been experiencing. Quite frankly, he had eaten everything in sight and would still be hungry. When the lunch bell rang, he was still eating but stopped and threw away his trash. He wiped his hands and face and took Bonnie's hand into his and walked out of the cafeteria.

He felt an odd sensation and ducked on instinct. He saw Brick Flag's huge fist fortunately miss its intended target: his head.

"Brick, what the Hell?!" asked Bonnie in a frenzy, clearly worried for her boyfriend's safety. She found herself dragged away from Ron as a circle formed around Ron and Brick as chants of 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' rang through the crowd. At that moment, Kim and Josh had just made their way out of the cafeteria. Seeing Ron in trouble, Kim was about to leap into action before a voice in her head stopped her.

'Let him fight his own fights.'

'He'll get hurt!'

'So?'

'So?! Brick's going to tear him up!'

'Ron isn't your business anymore.'

'But if he gets hurt it'll be my fault…'

'No, he chose to do this. Besides, maybe Brick will knock some sense into him..'

Kim felt disgusted at her thoughts but nonetheless didn't intervene. She wasn't chanting or yelling anything, but she just watched on in nervous anticipation.

'Maybe I should help him…'

'No! Let him realize just how hard life can be without you protecting him.'

'But…'

'You realized how hard it is without him. He needs to realize it to.'

'But this isn't right! He's going to get hurt!

'And you didn't? You're suspended this whole week because of him! He ruined Christmas!'

'But still…'

'He needs to realize…'

'Realize what?'

'That we need each other.'

In the end, restraint won over Kim as she prayed that Ron would realize just how much they needed each other after this.

Bonnie desperately tried to make her way into the circle to stop Brick. She frantically screamed at Brick to try to stop this fight, but she knew it was of no use. She tried once again to leap into the fight, but Brick's friends held her back. She could only watch in horror as Brick through the first punch.

No! How could I let this happen? I promised I'd protect him! She felt tears brimming in her eyes as she yelled futilely for Brick to stop.

Ron was trying his best to avert this fight. It wasn't just his dislike for violence, but he also didn't think it was going to be fair. After all, he was basically a super soldier. He saw Brick throw a punch, but to him it came in slow motion. He easily dodged it and headed towards the crowd, intent on walking away from the fight. The crowd gasped as Brick hit air and as Ron calmly made his way into the crowd. Now with wounded pride and heart, Brick was intent on making sure this fight lasted as long and as painful as possible. He grabbed Ron by the back of his shirt before Ron could make his way through the crowd and yanked with all two hundred twenty pounds of muscle. Instead of jerking Ron to the ground however, the loose shirt cleanly came off.

The crowd fell silent as they stared at the shirtless figure of the perennial 'loser.' A bulging six pack made its way up to finely developed pectorals. Veins ran down his bulky, toned arms. Without turning around, Ron took advantage of the surprise by making his way through the crowd. That simple action jerked Brick back into action. Yelling like a frenzied animal, he grabbed Ron before he could escape and threw him back into the middle of the circle.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" yelled Brick in a rage, throwing punch after powerful punch at Ron. Seeing that he had no choice, Ron dodged every one and prayed that someone would stop the fight before anyone got hurt. Seeing that Brick was getting nowhere, one of his buddies snuck up behind Ron and tried to hit him. Ron easily sidestepped as he silently thanked Drakken for this 'gift.' The stunned crowd was now completely silent.

After another minute of dodging, Mr. Barkin arrived on the scene. He easily made his way through the shocked crowd and found himself witnessing two football players trying to hit the school loser…and failing at it. When Brick's friend saw Mr. Barkin, he quickly fled from the scene and prayed that he wouldn't get in trouble. That just left an enraged Brick trying to demolish Stoppable. Using his military training, he grabbed Brick by the arm and pinned him to the ground.

"Stoppable! Flag! My office, NOW!"

"Mr. Barkin, it wasn't Ron's fault! He was just defe—"

"Rockwaller, I don't need your input right now! If I want to hear your story I will call you down! Now head to class!"

"Yes, sir," Bonnie said, reluctantly heading to her next period.

"Possible! It's time to return to your ISS!"

"Yes, sir," Kim said, giving Josh a peck on the cheek before setting off with the trio. Now she really needed to talk to Ron.

Ron, Kim, and Brick walked behind Barkin in silence before Kim opened her mouth.

"Ron, I—"

"Can it, KP." She abruptly shut up, realizing that this was not a good time to talk about them.

After School

"What happened?" asked a worried Bonnie in front of Ron's car.

"Nothing much. Brick got suspended for a few days."

"And you?"

"Nothing. Barkin called down all these witnesses and let me off the hook."

"Well, mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Depends. You can ask me on the way home." The couple got into the car and sped off, leaving the general population of Middleton High with enough to talk about for weeks.

A/N—This was definitely a fast chapter to write. I'm going to do a crossover about Justice League hopefully.