Sunday afternoon Kim woke up and made her way to the bathroom, on the way there her mom stopped her in the hallway. She grabbed her by the chin and moved her head one way then the other, "Ron get a bit frisky last night?" she asked in a knowing tone.
Kim smiled, "He was nothing I couldn't handle." She said trying to reassure her mom.
Mrs. Dr. P nodded her head, "You better wear turtle necks for a while and stay away from your father, your lucky he went to bed early last night." She told her shaking her head.
Kim grinned and went into the bathroom and gasped at what she saw, "Oh my God! Hickeys, all over both sides of my neck and one going down towards my…ohhhhh boy we must have had a good time last night." She smiled remembering the night.
Kim looked at herself a little more closely in the mirror, "Let's see what the damage is, five over here and one in the center and 4 on my left…ten hickeys…Ron…ohhhhhh you just wait, I'll cover you the next time…No because you'd be running around showing them off…Stinker…My hair's a mess…now last night was fun." She thought smiling to herself.
Kim took a shower and then she found the only turtle neck suitable for wearing, it was time for shopping trip to Club Banana to buy a few more. She went downstairs and found her mom, "I need to make an emergency shopping trip mom, I need to borrow the keys to the car." Kim told her in an urgent whisper.
Kim's mom smiled, "Need to buy some more turtle necks do we?" she asked with a knowing grin.
Kim was in a hurry to hit the streets, "MOM, come on…I need to go now before the malls close." She told her with just a hint of whine in her voice.
Once her mom gave her the keys she was off to the mall and Club Banana, She knew Monique closes on Sunday and she was going to need help with the accessorizing and gossiping.
Kim arrived and saw that Monique was with a customer so she browsed around the store until she was finished. Monique walked over and looked at the turtle neck sweater, "Little early in the year to be pulling that out of the closet isn't it?" She asked smiling at her friend.
Kim gave her a sick grin, "Monique turtle necks are a fashion must have if you're going to be dating Ron Stoppable." She said while her eyes darted around to see if anyone was close enough to hear her.
Monique looked her over, "You and Ron got some play time last night, how bad did he get you?" she asked smiling.
Kim looked around and pulled the collar down on the sweater and showed Monique the hickeys. Monique let out a howl, "Girl friend it looks like Ron went nibbling on the Kimmie buffet last night." She said while clapping and laughing.
Kim turned bright red, "Monique this isn't funny, I need help here." She told her friend in an exasperated voice.
Monique was hopping up and down and waiving her hands in the air, "No, no first you got to tell me all about it…Was the girl at the club right, all hands and tongue…and teeth?" she asked giving Kim a wink.
Kim went through all the details of the date, especially the bad movie, and the trip to Quarry Lake and getting in at four in the morning. Monique was in awe, "Four in the morning? Ohhhh baby you and Ron must have had that little car rockin' last night…Don't come a knockin' when Kim and Ron are…" Monique never finished her rhyme.
Kim was in a panic, "NOOooooo, Monique it wasn't like that…I'm not going to let Ron do…that on a second date. What do you think I am?" She asked starting to get angry.
Monique held up her hands, "Sorry Kim, I got carried away…Four in the morning! What do you think of this?" She asked holding high neck shirt up for Kim.
Kim nodded, "That'll work, anything else? Hey Monique, when's the last time you ate with Ron?" She asked remembering that Ron hadn't eaten in a while.
Monique was sorting through cloths, "I ate with him on Friday, practically had to force feed him pizza….How about this?" she asked holding up a top.
Kim made a face and shook her head, "I got him to eat some popcorn last night but he's just not eating enough." She said while she looked over another rack of cloths.
Monique was still sorting cloths, "Kim he's got to see a doctor, we can't keep babysitting him…How about this little number." Monique said holding up a baby doll nightie.
Kim looked at her friend in shock, "Monique! I need turtle necks not nighties…Ron said he would go to the doctor after the cross country season was over." She said with a frown.
Monique pouted, "I figured you could use it the next time you decided to spend eight hours at Quarry Lake…You could put this on under a shirt, and then when ol' Ronnie goes to dine on the Kimmie buffet again…You could accidentally lose your shirt and oh my." She told her while putting a hand to her face in mock horror.
Kim had an outraged look on her face; she tried to talk but couldn't find her voice, "Monique…" Then Kim glanced around the store, and then she lifted an eyebrow, "Ok…How much is the nightie?" she asked conspiratorially.
Tuesday came and Ron still hadn't got much sleep, he did eat pretty well for two meals thanks to Monique and now he was sitting in his car in the parking lot of Swope Park where the meet was being held.
He had his bag with his gear in it; he had a water bottle with water in it. He leaned over and popped the glove compartment and pulled out the plastic sandwich bag with the pills in it. He took two pills out and put them in his mouth, swallowed them with some water and put the rest back in the glove compartment of the car.
There was about an hour left before the start, "Ok…I've had pretty good runs on Saturday and Sunday, I swallowed the pills J.D. gave me…I should be good…I don't want to let the team down again." He thought in a determined manor.
He found the area where his team was congregating at; he put his gym bag down and took another swallow of water. Then he turned and looked at all the other schools that were there today, they had some pretty tough looking competition.
J. D. and Wally walked up to Ron, "You good today?" J.D. asked.
Ron nodded, "I'm good, I even took what you gave me in the little bag to make sure." He said quietly.
J.D. nodded, "Good, good, when it gets close to our race me and Wally will get you cranked up a little more ok?"
Ron nodded, "Sounds good." He told them.
Ron sat down; he was starting to feel weird. He felt like he had electrical current running through his body and that he didn't dare shut his eyes. He licked his lips and stood back up, "I think the pills are starting to work now." He thought to himself.
The coach called for a team meeting, he gave a good pep talk and told everyone what a great year they had and then they handed out the letters and awards. Ron was puffing up full of steam. He received his letter and two individual awards, best race finish and a sportsmanship award. Ron carefully took the awards back to the car and put them in his trunk. He would make the run over to Rosner's after the race to get his jacket completed.
Ron was excited and pumped up, he was ready to run and the little extra kick in the butt from the pills was starting to work, "Let's go, I'm ready…Get that jacket, let Kim wear it…this is going to be cool." He thought excitedly.
J.D. and Wally walked up to him, "You ready?" They asked.
Ron nodded, "Oh yea, I think I could run three races today…I'm jacked up and ready to go.' Ron was so excited he was almost hopping.
Wally looked over at Ron, "How many of those pills did you take?" he asked quietly.
Ron shook his head, "I took two like J.D. told me too." Ron answered sitting on the ground and starting to do his stretches.
Wally shot a nervous glance over at J.D., "Man you've got him wired enough to run three races…Why'd you tell him to take two for?" He asked his friend in a whisper.
J.D. smiled, "Extreme cases call for extreme measures…Isn't that right Ron?" He asked shouting at Ron.
Ron nodded, "Oh yea, ready to run now…when do we race?" he asked excitedly.
J.D. laughed, "Were up next." He told him.
Wally shook his head, "When he starts coming down tomorrow, he's gonna be hell on wheels…Glad I won't have to be around him." He whispered shaking his head.
Ron was starting to walk in circles, J.D. came up and put his arm around him, "Save it for the race, remember they'll be more guys running but it's just another race. Try to stay top five, run like you been running start off slow and kick it in the but at the end…got it?" He asked Ron.
Wally came up on the other side, "You ever ran the Swope Park course?" Ron shook his head that he hadn't.
Wally nodded, "Stay back a little follow the lead runners, when we come out of the tree line over there pour it on." He told Ron as he pointed towards a stand of trees some 300 yards away.
They lined up and waited for the start of the race, there were about thirty runners in all, this was the largest field that Ron ever ran in. The race started quickly and caught Ron by surprise he took off just a bit late and was well behind the other runners.
Ron was mid pack and was working his way back up towards the front, he worked his way into tenth place and held steady. He looked up a head and realized he was still in the lead group, "If the group thins out, I'll start to move forward." He thought to himself.
The group started to thin out and Ron picked up two more spots, "I can see why they told me to follow for a while, this course is tough to read." His planning had worked out and he found himself in fifth place just behind Wally.
Ron kicked out and ran up next to Wally so he could see that he was with his group. Wally looked over and nodded and then Ron pushed up into fourth. He was close to the front, he could see J.D. leading and two other schools runners in second and third. He didn't pay attention to the names of the schools; he was totally focused on the race.
They came around the tree line towards the finish, Ron turned lose with all he had, "This is tougher than what it looks; the finish is actually on an uphill slope." Ron thought as he realized there were other runners beside him.
Ron was running hard and focusing on the finish, he came across the line and had no idea where he finished. He knew J.D. had won, and Ron believed he was in third but couldn't tell. The finish was very close.
Ron caught up with J.D., "Ron where did you finish?" he asked gasping for breath and walking slowly.
Ron shook his head, "Third…I think, it was close." He told him honestly.
Wally walked up beside him, "Ron you got second, I got fourth." He told Ron excitedly.
Ron shook his head, "Second? How did I do that?" he asked in amazement.
Wally was laughing, "You was kickin' it, that's how." He told Ron as he slapped him on the back.
J.D. took a swig from his water bottle, "Ok, I think it's safe to say we won our group…That should give us a good seed for Saturday in Go City." He said excitedly.
Ron's eyes lit up, "Go City?" he asked.
Wally laughed, "State, Ron, State, we got a good shot at the 4A State Championship" Then Wally's mood became more serious, "Ron…that stuff you took…you may want to avoid people tomorrow…the stuff makes you mean…ok." He told Ron in a low voice.
Ron blinked, "Mean?" he asked looking at Wally.
Wally nodded, "Mean" he told him a little more sternly.
Ron let out a deep breath and nodded, "I'll have to avoid Kim and Monique tomorrow; I don't want to be mean to them." He thought to himself sadly.
After the meet Ron received a trophy, t-shirt, and a medal for second place, he put the prizes in the back seat of his car and went to back to the bus for another team meeting. The coach congratulated them on winning the Regional and let them know that the team would meet at 9:30am on Saturday for the trip up to Go City for the State Championship. He also let the team know that all members would ride the bus, no personal vehicles will be allowed for the trip.
Ron nodded, "Have to write this down and put the pills in the bag." He thought to himself. Once the meeting was over Ron went back to his car and slid in behind the wheel and started the engine.
He started to put his hands on the steering wheel and thought that it was strange the wheel was vibrating so much, "The wheels not vibrating…I'm shaking, ohhhhh man." He thought nervously to himself.
Ron drove over to Rosner's Sporting Goods and finished up the details for the letterman's jacket, while inside the store he kept scratching at his stomach. It felt as if his skin was starting to crawl Ron quickly finished his business with Rosner's and headed for home, "I've got to hide out, it feels as if my skin is moving on it's own." he regretted taking the pills, now he was scared.