Where Did the Time Go? : Part VI
"…and then when the Health Inspector saw Rufus he really didn't know what to think. They huddled together for a while and finally sent somebody to look up exactly what he is." Ron said animatedly
"And that is?" The man prompted.
"He's a naked mole rat." He said, as if that explained everything.
"So you're telling me that you had an African rodent actually helping serve gourmet food in your high school cafeteria?"
"Yes sir. In the end it was the rodent part they focused on. They said either he had to go or they'd shut me down."
The man nodded and scribbled more notes. "So then, why not just leave your pet at home and continue with what you were doing?"
Ron fought down the urge to rub the back of his neck. "I, uh, kinda got the impression I would have been hurting somebody if I went on like that."
The man looked up from his notes. "Let me get this straight. You not only took over the school cafeteria but turned it into a gourmet restaurant using only the poor quality equipment they have to work with there then you turned around and let it be shut down because it was hurting somebody? Mr. Stoppable, I'm a bit confused."
"Well, you see, Mr. Reynolds. Kim is used to pretty much being able to do anything. Turns out she can do anything but cook. Last summer she tried cooking me dinner, even got one of her friends to help and well, that didn't help."
"Cooking you dinner? Kim you said? That wouldn't happen to be Kim Possible, would it?"
"Yes sir. You know about Kim?"
"Who doesn't. You mean to tell me The Kim Possible was cooking you dinner?" He put his pen down, the notes forgotten for the moment.
"Uh, sure. I'd been paying for all of our dates so she decided it was her turn."
Mr. Reynolds narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the young man sitting across the desk from him. "You are dating Kim Possible?"
Ron's eyes narrowed a little at the tone of his question. "Um, yeah. We've been together ever since we took down Drakken last spring.
The man looked over his glasses at him. "Well I'll be. I'm afraid I didn't recognize you in person. You're…taller than I expected."
"Um, well, I did grow four inches since then and I went up a shirt size. Mom's been going nuts with my clothes, though it's a good thing I mostly wear really loose stuff."
His interviewer was now leaning on his desk. "So you are Kim Possible's sidekick. Amazing. My daughter is a really big fan of hers. Even dressed up as her on Halloween and she's been begging me to let her dye her hair red."
"Wow. Um, yeah, I'm her sidekick, though since we've been dating she calls me her partner."
"Huh. Maybe if you were wearing a black turtleneck or…" he smacked his forehead. "Your Mole Rat, why didn't I see that." He picked up his pen and considered it for a moment. "This makes what I've got to tell you rather uncomfortable."
Ron's heart sank. That didn't have the sound of well-boding.
"Mr. Stoppable…Ron. You have the most amazing raw talent I have seen in a long time and that is saying something, let me tell you. That alone has gotten you in the door. You see, the problem is in the numbers."
Ron started to get up. "I'm sorry if I've wasted your time."
"Ron, sit down, please. What I'm talking about, these numbers. I just can't get past them at the moment. Your grades this year are stellar. They almost beg the question whether you are the same person shown in the records from before.
"See, that's the problem. That's the numbers I just can't get around. Your late improvement notwithstanding, your grades, at least up until the first half of your Junior year were, quite frankly, terrible. I don't even know how you were promoted some years. However, given the kind of record you have shown in, I'd say, the last ten months to a year, combined with the talent you have demonstrated, merits at least some consideration.
"You are not wasting my time. I'm the one who has gone to bat for you and additionally let me assure you I had no idea of your affiliation with Kim Possible beforehand. I am keeping your file open right now, meaning you can still be considered for a spot in the school. That doesn't mean you are in. In fact you still have a fairly difficult road ahead of you.
"In three months I want to sit down with you again. If you can keep your grades where they are now or better and if you take the SATs again and get your score over a thousand, then I will recommend you to the acceptance board.
"You mean I have to take the SAT again?" Ron said, wrinkling his nose slightly.
Reynolds nodded. "I know, I know, it's just a standardized test and I wholeheartedly agree that it's not a good measure of a student's success. I've known students who scored in the high thirteens who have gone on to do poorly in college, while I've seen students with scores like yours excel but like I said, it all comes down to numbers. Give me something to work with and I'm going to go to bat for you. I'm on your side. I see the talent you've got and I don't want to see it get wasted."
Ron could barely hear him by that point. He was flashing back to last spring when Kim had almost bodily dragged him to the test. Of course, she scored in the high fifteens and wouldn't ever have to take the blasted thing again. He finished just under nine-hundred, doing better on the English portion than he did the math. It was only the weeks leading up to that test were not his favorite. He was dealing with the Yori issue and Kim had been fretting over the disappearance of the people who were usually willing to transport them all over the globe. Coupled with the fact he thought the two of them were starting to drift apart, it was a time he would rather not revisit.
Only now, no matter what Kim said to him that morning, he knew that she had a hard time being apart from him. In fact, it seemed she had a worse time of it than he did. When he had come home from Wannaweep as a small boy, all of the terror he experienced there overshadowed the fact she had been at home missing him terribly. They had been going to school together now since they were very small, even taking all of their classes together their Junior year. Even if he were going to the community college across town, it meant they would be spending more time apart than they ever did before and as much as he knew that would hurt him it would be worse on Kim. They had to go to school together, they just had to!
That meant only one thing to him. He had to succeed. The smiling man sitting on the other side of the desk had spelled it out in black and white. If such a person recommended you to the acceptance board, that was almost a sure thing, at least to his mind. Keep up the grades, do better on the SAT. In fact, even if he tanked on the English portion, if he brought the Math part up high enough and they combined the better score for each, he would do it.
He was afraid, deathly afraid of taking the test again but he would do it anyway. Anything for Kim, anything to be with her.
"You can count on my, Mr. Reynolds. I'll take the test again and I'll do it so I won't even need my grades."
"Oh, don't be so cavalier about your grades. To me they're much more important than the test. I told you, you need both." Reynolds warned him. "Look, these spots are highly coveted. I'm going out on a limb for you. I see potential, more so than most but like it or no, I've got numbers to produce myself. Don't let me down, son."
"I won't sir. This fall, they're going to start saying 'Booyah' instead of 'Bam!' over there."
Reynolds nodded, smiling. He knew talent and drive when he saw it.
Steve Barkin rubbed his forehead as he fumbled for his key to the Teacher's Lounge. Despite the lack of Stoppable in his first period class, he was nursing the beginnings of a headache. No, that wasn't fair he told himself. Ron Stoppable had ceased being a thorn in his side and had become one of his greater successes of late. It pleased him immensely, though he wasn't going to breath a word of that to the boy until after he got handed his diploma.
The door finally opened and he stepped inside. Reflexes took over and his whole body became as rigid as a flag pole.
"Oh lord, are we going to go through this again?" Wilma Director said as she stirred her coffee.
"At ease, Major." Doctor Snyder said as he packed a stack of papers into his briefcase. "oh, and that's the last time I'm calling you Major, just like I've already told the Lt. Colonel here I'm not calling her that either. You both outrank me here."
"But Colonel…"
"Barkin, all three of us have been out of the service for over a decade. You can call me Doctor Snyder or Professor Snyder or in here just Dean."
"It won't do you any good." Wilma said, taking a sip of her brew. "He's still got a broom up his butt. Took me a month to get him to quit calling me by my former rank."
"Sir, what are you doing here anyway?" Barkin asked, still standing nearly at attention.
"Steve, you don't have to call me sir. If anything the both of you outrank me here. As for why I'm here, the School Board sent me in to fix a little mess you've got going on here."
Principal Director raised an eyebrow. "Mess, what do you mean?"
"You have to ask? Okay, so why don't you get on the horn and give your beloved little sister a call."
"You're talking about Possible, aren't you?" Barkin asked.
"Maybe. When was the last time she went on a mission?" He directed that question at Wilma.
"I don't know what she does in her spare time. All I know is I put a stop to her leaving campus during the school day to participate in these…missions."
"Uh huh. Mighty fine piece of work I might add. Do you have any idea what you've cost this country?"
"I don't really care. The way things were going here she was a danger to the school body and putting herself in danger as well. Everything I have done is according to Board of Education policy and Colorado State law."
"Okay, I'm here to teach AP English, not tell you how to do your job." He said, locking the briefcase.
"Are you saying I'm responsible for stifling her? If I were to allow her to go on a mission and she gets hurt, or she gets her boyfriend hurt, that is going to be on me, plus there was also the issue of her bringing dangerous equipment onto campus."
"Okay, Wilma, you made your point. You're the boss and it's your call."
"As far as Stoppable is concerned, all I can see is how much good this has done him. He's accomplished one of the best academic turnarounds I have ever seen."
"To be fair, Principal Director, he was already starting to turn around before you got here." Barkin said, pouring his own coffee. Noting it was a fresh pot, that meant it was probably made by one of them and considering their past together it promised to be much like he liked it…strong.
"So, Steve, you think all this has to do with his girlfriend?" She asked.
"That, and I would like to think I may have had some small part to play, not to toot my own horn." He replied.
Snyder pulled a pipe from his vest pocket and started tamping it with his thumb. The lounge was the only room in the whole school were smoking was still permitted since it was on a separate ventilation system. The Principal still shot him a withering glare out of habit.
"I don't know much about the boy myself, but it does seem an awful big shame to keep her down like this. The psyche profile I've read seems to suggest that she might start backsliding a little, or at least lose her edge if she's kept out of the game too much." He struck a match and lit the pipe, taking a few puffs of the highly aromatic blend. "Then again, that's not why I'm here."
"Why are you here…Dean?" She asked.
"Simple. I'm supposed to whip these AP kids into some semblance of real college students. Nothing more."
"So I suppose Mrs. McHenry wasn't doing that?"
"Wasn't my call. They assigned me here, I'm going to do my job." He said, leaning back and blowing a smoke ring.
Barkin sat down on opposite end of the couch where the principal was seated. Something was up. Wilma Director, a retired Lt. Colonel from his very unit being assigned here could have been a coincidence.
His former commanding officer suddenly appearing under the apparent pretense of teaching a college level class was too much to be one.
Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney