Our Place in the Food Chain: Part XVI
Ron stuffed his backpack under his seat and took a few moments to refresh his memory of his class notes. He knew he had the time, the bell was still seven minutes away and Barkin wouldn't appear until mere moments before it rang. The man obviously knew the exact amount of time it took to walk in the door and be on station just as it rang. He imagined he would synchronize his watch with the bell every single morning, or at least had a really good watch.
He really didn't give Kim's abrupt dismissal of him a few minutes earlier at the lockers any more thought. She really wasn't acting peculiar, at least by his calendar. He had her schedule down to a science and knew that this was the absolute worst day imaginable to do anything that might upset her. If she wanted to walk around in a huff, he'd learned to let her. There was no good reason to try and make her mood any better. It would swing that way soon enough anyway and then, if everything fell accordingly, by midday tomorrow it would all be over and of course there was no reason for her to be late. She had been like clockwork for over two years now. Granted, they never discussed these things – Kim just plain didn't talk about it, even as close as they had gotten – but he knew, and knew quite well when and where certain things fell every twenty-eight days.
It was a survival technique, one all men who spent their lives with type-A personality women had to learn. Kim Possible with PMS was a very, very dangerous thing.
He had to admit she really wasn't that bad, at least, she wasn't when they regularly went on missions. There was always a way for her to channel her anger and aggression toward the myriad freaks they continually dealt with. Now Drakken was once again safely behind bars, Shego had seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth, Monkey Fist had been sent off with his non-existent tail between his legs, Duff Killagin was being inordinately quiet (being rumored to have taken up watching 'Football' – apparently the behavior of European soccer fans appealed to him.) With the exception of some random calls to take care of non-super-villain types things were still deathly quiet.
He knew he was being a little selfish thinking it was a good thing Barkin would be screening their calls while at school. At least that way one of the biggest distractions was gone. He used to sit and daydream in class that Kim would come running in, grab him by the shirt and haul him out to the entrance where some form of transportation would be waiting for them. As much as he enjoyed Kim's company, he always craved that little respite that came with their missions.
That was fine when he was a slacker, but in the interests of making Kim, her parents, his parents and himself proud he couldn't afford that attitude any more. Falling in love with Kim and having that love returned in kind was the kick in his pants he needed all these years. Too bad it couldn't come sooner.
He looked at his notes from the day before. It brought back memories of the first grade, when the teacher put a book in front of him and he realized that he could actually read. Before he always had his parents or Kim read everything to him because he just knew he wasn't capable. It always made him feel slow since the only real point of comparison was Kim herself. She could already read at a second grade level when they first met.
He had that light bulb moment the second day of classes, when Barkin had marched in and started his lecture and it made sense! So far he had aced every pop quiz (could they even be called that if he opened every single class that way?) and he was confident he knew the material for the day. They were still on the chapter titled Basic Properties of Numbers. It wasn't like they were doing math as he once thought of it. Instead of adding, subtracting and all that other jazz he always thought of (long division still gave him a headache but that was primarily because of the tedium involved) the last three quizzes had "Prove the following" with a list of mathematical statements. They were learning about how everything worked, not just working with the numbers themselves.
He was as ready as he could ever be, so he closed his notebook and was about to close his eyes, not to take a catnap but to meditate for a few minutes. Kim was actively trying make him recall what little they had been able to teach him at Yamanuchi, all the while applying what she knew during their workouts. The first day had just been some fun sparring, something to clear the cobwebs. Now she was trying to actually teach him some of her techniques. It was an interesting exercise in the dynamics or their relationship.
Ten minutes into the first routine he stopped, looked her dead in the eye and called her "Coach Possible." She got the message. Kim might know sixteen kinds of kung-fu, but she had learned it mostly by osmosis, by watching others and learning from them. She could pick up on anything that called for athletic ability almost immediately, but she was not and likely never would be a teacher. She didn't have the patience.
Then again maybe she would, at least eventually. Every time she got too bossy or tried to go to fast or push him too hard he switched to calling her CP instead of KP and she backed off. He thought of himself as the only person in the world who could get away with that.
His eyes never made it past half closed when the room suddenly went dark. It took him a couple moments to realize it was not the lights but a pair of small hands covering his eyes from behind. In the space of an instant he realized exactly who it was, simply because he literally recognized the perfume. Mandarin oranges and mangos. That combined with the natural scent of the young woman whose hands covered his face told him right off the bat.
"Guess who?" A voice, tinged with a Puerto Rican accent asked musically.
"Uh, the Ice Warrior of Whosiewhatsis?" he answered, trying desperately to remember what her character was in Everlot.
"Guess again, Ron." The hands dropped from his face and she hugged his shoulders from the back.
"The Wraith Master's queen?"
"Not in this lifetime, knave. I'm now the Dark Sorceress of Pangol Trell."
"Okay, let's pretend I don't know what that is." She finally let him go and he turned to face her.
She was a tiny young woman. Dark skinned, probably all of five foot one but still built a lot like Kim. Her hair was longer than the last time he saw her but other than that she looked about the same. She was a very beautiful young woman, the type he used to consider out of his league. That was, until he worked up the courage to ask her out. Didn't matter that once he thought he had the chance to do so, it turned out to be her night off from her job at the theater ticket booth.
Ron thought all hope was lost and he knew he wouldn't have the stones to go through with it again until he looked at who was sitting beside him in the theater. What he thought was a missed opportunity turned into a date of sorts. At least what he considered a date back then. He was at a movie with a lovely young woman who actually seemed interested in him.
They dated briefly, though he never would have exactly called her a girlfriend. Before things could progress that far her one of her parents got transferred and she moved away. He never even got the chance to find out where she lived.
"Zita? I thought you were gone. What are you doing back here?"
"I'm happy to see you too." She told him with her arms crossed, a half scolding, half pouting expression on her face. "So, you still hitting on ticket girls at the theater or are you still hanging around with those other girls?"
"Other girls? Oh, you mean Kim and Monique. Yeah, we're all pretty tight."
"The redhead still dragging you around everywhere?"
"Uh, didn't you see the TV during the Little Diablo thing? Kim's famous.
"I don't know, I don't watch TV that much. You know, I'm playing online pretty much all the time. When I'm not out with a guy, ya know."
"What happened to you. It's like one minute we're kinda dating, the next you're moving away and I don't see or hear from you any more."
"You didn't even ask. If just figured you weren't that into me, like, every other word out of your mouth was about that redhead. And yeah, I know you've been around her a long time so I figured if you weren't going to tell her you were into her you'd never get around to me."
"Uh, I just kind of figured we were…I dunno."
"That's just it Ron, I didn't know. You never once asked me on a real date, you just kinda always wanted to go to Bueno Nacho and stuff. I thought you liked me but you never said anything." She shrugged, though she never took her dark eyes off his.
"I didn't know there was a time limit. Zita, I'd never really gone on a date before you. Sure there was Kim back then but that wasn't dating, we were best friends."
"Ron, all you had to do was say 'let's go on a real date' and I would have. I like you and before I had to move to Go City I was thinking I really liked you. I kinda still do."
"Uh, well…I…uh, you liked me-liked me?"
"Stoppable, Flores!" Barkin cut into their conversation from the head of the class. "Would you care to join us or would the two of you like some time alone?"
Zita grabbed the seat behind him and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I learned a few things while I was in Go City. Would you like me to show you some time?"
Ron's mouth dropped open. The only person who ever spoke to him like that…ever…was Kim.
Kim.
He leaned back toward her. "Uh, Zita, you see, I'd like…"
Before he could complete the sentence Barkin was looming over him. "Perhaps a certain someone is backsliding into his old ways." He hissed, his hands clasped behind his back as he stood over the teen.
"No sir, Mister Barkin." He squeaked.
The assistant principal slash substitute teacher regarded him with a raised eyebrow. "I knew this was all too good to be true. He flipped the book open to the second chapter and pointed to the word problems at the end. "On my desk first thing in the morning, Stoppable. I've put too much work and too much time in for you to screw it up now.
"And Flores, as for you. I think you should find another seat."
"I'll be quiet." She said, shrinking down under his glare.
"Yes you will. Thomson, trade places with Flores."
Ron wasn't even sure if he had gotten the pop quiz correct he was so flustered. He liked Zita but there was absolutely no way he was going to entertain any of the thoughts she was trying to put in his head. He was so scared of what even a misunderstanding could do to his relationship with Kim he didn't even think to be flattered.
Still, he felt as if her eyes were on him from the back of the class the whole period. He didn't know whether to talk to her and tell her he was in a deep relationship with Kim or just beat a trail out of the room as fast as he could. He didn't remember seeing her at all the week before, yet here she was in his first period class. Had she just moved back and joined the school today? That didn't make much sense, most parents would make sure they got moved in time for their kids to start classes at a reasonable time, not a week late. Then again maybe that's the best they could do and she really hadn't missed that much.
The class went by in a blur. He certainly hoped he could get home and hit the material. His notes were a bizarre mess and likely would do him no good and he couldn't remember a word of the lecture. All he could think of was a petite Puerto Rican doing things that normally only Kim would and the thought made him almost physically ill. As the last minutes counted down he quietly stashed his work in his backpack, ready to make a break for the door, even hoping Barkin would actually get after him again and she would be forced to go on to her next class.
He risked a quick peek behind him as the final bell rang but in the tangle of students all trying to flee the classroom with great haste he couldn't see her.
Ron rode the wave of students out of the room, hoping they would propel him away. He was half way to the next class when he realized he would have been better off just flat out telling her Kim was his girlfriend.
No, not just that. Kim was his everything.
He set off to find her, hoping he could spot the girl before it was time for the next class.
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