Where Did the Time Go? : Part XL
"Really, Ron, I'm fine now." Kim shifted her cough drop from one side of her mouth to the other as her boyfriend put the back of his hand to her forehead.
"I dunno, KP, last night you really started hacking."
"Just a lingering cough. It'll go for a couple days then you'd never know I was even sick. You sure you're still feeling okay?" She put her own hand to his forehead after brushing his shaggy locks out of the way.
"I don't get sick, KP, you know that."
"Okay, then what was that after we went after Ray-X?"
"Sympathy symptoms? Hey, I've got an idea. When Doctor Director lets us go, why don't we call in a ride and have you go sneeze on Dementor and Motor Ed?"
"Let's not and say we did." Kim was flipping through her history book. The class was nearly done with the main textbook, having recently moved into recent events. Kim had already covered the material on the Vietnam War and was pushing ahead so she would be ready for the class discussions. "What do you think the assignment's going to be? The only time's I've been given detention Barkin was in charge and all he did was sit in the front and glower at us."
"Dunno, KP. Kinda freaked me out when she said it was going to be in here. Ah, the memories."
"Ron, we only moved on from the cooking portion of Home Ec a couple weeks ago and let me tell you, there isn't anyone more thankful than me. I'm going to have to ace the rest of the course to even come up with a B. I am so glad this course is pass/fail." She stopped as a photograph in her textbook caught her eye. Getting up, she went over to a cabinet and got out a magnifying glass. Not satisfied with that she pulled out her Kimmunicator. "Wade, can you enhance a photo for me?" She held the copy pickup over the picture.
"Sure thing, Kim, but it's not going to be easy. They use a pretty crude dot matrix printing method in those books…done!"
"Okay, Wade, enhance the three people at the far left of the group." The display changed, bringing the trio of soldiers in the picture into sharp relief.
Wade appeared in a small window on the tiny screen. "Want me to blow that up with the holographic projector?"
"Please and thank you." She waited until the image was floating in the air above the projector before getting Ron's attention. "Baby, when we first took Home Ec, where was it Barkin said he served?"
"Something like the jungles of Hi Guy." He looked at the picture and his eyes got huge.
"That was in my history book. It's a picture of a group of marines in a force recon unit during something called Operation Jai Alia."
"Kim, is that Barkin?" Wade asked.
"Yep." She nodded.
"Is that actually Doctor Director standing with him?"
"Yes, but not the one you're thinking of. Betty Director was already with GJ when this picture was taken. That's Wilma Director, our principal."
"Then who is the other guy?" Their tech master asked.
"Colonel Dean Snyder. My CO and you're English Teacher." Principal Director explained as she walked up behind the two teens. "Been doing a little digging on me?" She asked, tapping her foot.
Kim shut off the Kimmunicator. "Actually no." She held up the textbook, pointing to the photo.
"Interesting. I wasn't even aware that photo was in there. So, Miss Possible, what do you think about all that?"
"I think it's a ferociously strange coincidence the three of you served together in the Marines before all ending up in the same school some fifteen years later."
"What conclusion would you draw from that coincidence? You think we are all part of some conspiracy to keep an eye on you or to foil your activities?"
Ron held up his finger as if he were going to speak but Kim just laid a hand on his arm. "Right now I don't have enough information to jump to that kind of conclusion, but that would be a very interesting theory."
"So the fact I retired from the Marines over eight years ago, finished my doctorate in education and just happened to be assigned to this school by the board isn't a good enough explanation?" She cocked an eyebrow but otherwise didn't look upset by the direction of the conversation.
"That would be my hope, but in my line of work it pays to consider the other options."
"I see. So now I expect you are actually going to be doing that digging?"
Kim tapped the picture in the book for emphasis. "Whatever's in the public record is fair game."
"True enough." Wilma agreed. "So, once everyone is here we can get on with this."
"Who are we waiting for?" Ron asked.
"One more student and one guest. In the mean time, I have something you may be interested in
Mister Stoppable." She pulled an envelope out of her attaché. "Normally it takes several weeks for these results to come back, but a rush order was put in. After all, it's all done by computers anyway."
"You mean?" Kim and Ron asked together.
"It's your SAT results. Considering the lateness of the date it's a good thing the testing companies were amenable to the request." She set the tan colored envelope down on the table in front of him.
Ron stared at it for a moment. Ever since Saturday he had been steeling himself to wait the expected two to three weeks before they came back. It seemed easy to consider such a thing as being out of sight and out of mind. Now it was sitting on the desk in front of him as if it were about to come to life like the totem pole and attack him. Inside was a number that would mean he still had a chance of getting into the most prestigious school in the area or whether he was doomed to some lesser institution. Sweat broke out on his forehead, though it didn't have anything to do with the pleasant temperatures outside.
"Get the score over one thousand." His interviewer had said back in the Winter. With a glance at Kim, who was already biting her lower lip, he reached for the envelope. His fingers almost wouldn't work as he pulled the tear-away strip off. Trying to make his heart slow down he unfolded it and looked.
His face fell once his eyes centered on the number.
Nine hundred ninety nine.
"So close." He whispered, letting the slip of paper fall back to the table. As Kim's hand touched his arm he realized he was actually trembling.
"Let me see that." Kim picked it up and examined the results. "Ron, you improved your math portion over two hundred points. The only thing that brought your total score down was the English portion."
"So." He dropped his head down onto his arms. "Just goes to show I spent too much time on the math and not enough on the other. Still means it isn't good enough. They guy said it had to be over a thousands to even consider me. One point, one lousy freaking point! Booyah denied by one little point."
Rufus climbed out onto his shoulder and started stroking his ear.
"Let me see that." Wilma said, taking the paper from Kim's outstretched hand. "You said he improved the math portion by two hundred? If I remember correctly, wasn't your previous score eight hundred thirty?"
"Something like that." Ron said dejectedly.
"Ron." The older woman started, trying to get his attention using just his first name. "Did you know that you can combine your two top scores for the actual total?"
"Huh? I don't get it." His head rose just a bit from his arms.
Kim activated her Kimmunicator and punched a few buttons before handing it to the principal. "Those are his old scores."
She took it and looked at both sets of scores. "Well, Mister Stoppable, according to this, your final SAT score is one thousand forty." She handed the paper back to him and set the Kimmunicator on the table in front of Kim.
He sat there for a moment that seemed like an hour but was only about a minute. Finally he looked up at Kim who was positively beaming. "You did it, Baby." She said softly.
"I'm going to go see if our guest is here yet." Wilma gave Kim a solid wink before walking out, closing the door behind her.
Ron barely got out of his chair before Kim planted a huge kiss on his lips. Then she grabbed his shoulders and started hopping up and down. She kissed him again until she heard the doorknob rattling inordinately loudly. They jumped back into their seats as the principal came back into the room.
"The other student is still tied up with her sixth period teacher and she'll be here in a moment. Our guest is running a little late and should be here shortly as well. Since It's now after three o'clock I don't see why we can't begin." She went over to the large refrigerator that served the classroom, pulling out a brown grocery bag with her name written in magic marker.
"Normally, detention is supposed to simply be a quiet time that students should best use for study, though how anybody can concentrate on anything with Steve Barkin staring at them, I have no clue. Now, even though that is what he usually does when he is in charge, assignments are still within the authority of the faculty member in charge. Be that as it may, the assignments I have prepared for the two of you are completely voluntary considering their nature. If you wish to complete them, you may leave as soon as they are complete. If not, then we will begin the standard hour of detention.
"Mister Stoppable, your assignment is, to the best of your ability using these facilities, recreate one of the meals you prepared at the Middleton Days Festival for five." She opened the bag and laid out the contents. "Do you think you can do that?"
He looked at the meat and other ingredients she had. "I think we've got some of the things we need left. I'll have to broil it since we don't have a real grill here, but I can manage something."
"So you agree to this assignment."
"Yes, yes, yes!" He said brightly, already heading for the kitchen area.
"Please tell me you don't want me to cook too?" Kim glanced over at the bank of ovens, where Ron was already tying on an apron.
Wilma shook her head. "I'm not stupid. No, you and I are going to sit down and have a little talk with somebody while Mister Stoppable works. Same conditions apply. You can choose to have this little sit-down or you can sit in here and study."
"Let me guess. The other student we're waiting for is Bonnie?"
"That is correct."
Kim frowned, looking at the door like her doom was about to walk through it. "This isn't going to be one of those 'lock us in a room and only one comes out' things, is it?"
"No. I am going to be in the room as well. I want a civilized discussion about what is going on between the two of you. I will only be there to moderate."
"Okay. I'll talk to her."
"Very well. Follow me."
Bonnie was already sitting at a desk in the classroom next door. "Miss Rockwaller, I'll give you the same offer I gave Miss Possible. You can either serve a standard detention period or the three of us can have a little chat."
"I don't have anything to say to her." Ice dripped from her voice as she crossed her arms angrily.
"I rather suspect you do." The principal said calmly.
Bonnie just glared at Kim.
"If you chose the detention, it goes on your record as such. If you chose my first option, this is the end of the matter. What's it going to be?"
"Fine, I'll talk." She tightened her arms, shooting Kim a look that said, well?
Kim turned a desk around to face the other cheerleader, then turned to the principal before she sat down. "Some things may need to be said that might not sit too well with you. If we're going to try and clear the air, they need to be said."
Wilma took a seat at the Teacher's desk. "Say what you need to. I reserve the option to act if I learn something that requires it, but otherwise, what is said in here will not leave this room."
Looking Bonnie right in the eye, Kim started. "Did you go through my bags at Wannaweep?"
The brunette looked at Kim, then at the principal, who simply gave her a look that said go on.
She forced herself to look her rival in the eyes. "Yes."
"Why?" Kim kept her eyes locked on her.
"It was just for spite. I…I was just curious, that's all. Like I told those other people, I didn't take your suit, I swear." She turned toward Wilma. "I mean it, I didn't take it."
Kim kept her voice very even. "I know that. I suspected it, but now I know that was just a very unfortunate coincidence. That's beside the point. You found something in there, something very personal…" She turned around and spoke to Principal Director. "It's completely legal and legitimate, just personal."
"I understand."
She turned back to her. "The only people who knew about that before were my mother and my doctor. Ron knew about them only in the most general terms. You went and told your friends about it, completely misunderstanding the reason. You violated my privacy and spread it as rumor just to hurt me. Am I right or am I wrong?"
Bonnie just nodded, glancing every so often at the older woman.
Kim went on. "Then you told that same person I overheard you talking to you wanted Ron for yourself. You made him think you wanted to be his friend but you used that just to get him away from me. Why? Was it just another way you wanted to hurt me, to get back at me for something I've never even done to you?"
"You're wrong, Kim. I wanted your Ron to be my friend and I wanted my own Ron but after I got back from Yamanuchi I realized there is only one. I know a friend was all he could ever be to me but I still had to try."
"They why did you make him promise to keep it all a secret? Do you know what kind of hurt that did? Do you know what it did to him when you blew up at him for telling me something as simple as the two of you being friends? Are you so caught up in your 'food chain' that being his friend is less important than what other people think of you?"
"NO! That's not it at all!" Bonnie shrieked. "Not it at all." She whispered, sinking back down to her seat.
"Then what? You threw his friendship back in his face and hurt him. You hurt him because he puts his love for me first and I used that to force him to tell me. You got that? I forced him to tell me what that secret is and I'm sorry I did. I made the man I love break a solemn vow he made in good faith just because I was too insecure to trust him."
Bonnie looked at the wall. "I made him promise me because I thought I was falling in love with him."
"You love him?" Kim said with open eyed shock.
"I don't know. I really don't know any more. I don't know if I was falling in love with him or the idea of him or I just wanted what the two of you have. It's not that simple, not that cut and dried. If I knew, I'd just tell him."
They sat there for a few minutes, neither of them looking at the other.
"Bonnie, did you take that picture of Ron and me?"
She nodded, still not looking at her.
"Why?" Kim asked softly, guessing what the answer probably was.
"Because you had me arrested for stealing that suit!" She growled back.
"Bonnie, look at me." Kim ordered. "I told Global Justice you knew what was in my bags and the only way you would have known that was to go into them. I did not tell them to arrest you. They simply acted like the police. You had opportunity and motive and until they figured out there was no way you were the one with it, they had to do something. I'm sorry as I can be everyone misunderstood the facts, but I was bound to tell them as I knew them. I wasn't out to get you or punish you or anything like that. I never have been save for stupid little things like unplugging your alarm clock or using up the hot water. That was too serious for me to even consider something so petty. So there you go. I'm sorry. I was wrong though I was acting in good faith."
"Then I'm sorry I took that picture." She looked away again, slumping down in the seat.
Kim got up and walked over to Principal Director's temporary desk. "As the chair of the Yearbook Committee, I formally request Bonnie Rockwaller be restored to the yearbook staff and in addition I personally request it include being restored to the school paper as well."
"Are you certain?" Wilma asked, looking the teen directly in the eyes.
"Yes."
"Very well. It's done, on the condition it is a probationary restoration. Any other incidents and you will be off the staff permanently. Is that understood, Miss Rockwaller."
"Yes ma'am." She said quickly.
"Okay. Miss Possible, please take your seat. We've heard your grievances. Now it's your turn Miss Rockwaller."
"I…really don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said." She replied, though she was looking Kim right in the eye. "I just want to know why you did that."
"It's simple. I love Ron very much and he has been asking me to end this feud with you for months. Hopefully it can end here. I'm not your friend but I don't have to be your enemy either. You were being punished for taking that picture and I want you to know that was not something I did to get revenge. In the end Ron and I haven't come to harm over it and you said you were sorry. So you're forgiven and we don't need to speak of this ever again. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
"Very well." Wilma said, getting up from her seat. "I believe we are done here. Let's go see how Mister Stoppable is progressing with his…punishment."
"One more thing." Kim said, looking straight at Bonnie. "I think there is one more person who needs to be apologized to."
Bonnie nodded. "I will. Just let me do it in private, okay."
"Fair enough." Kim rose as the principal guided the two teens out of the room.
Ron was working so furiously in the kitchen he didn't notice the man who had entered the room. He stood off to the side, watching him with keen interest. To his practiced eye he knew what the young man was doing and he marveled at his inventiveness, using terribly inferior equipment to literally create art.
He shook the three women's hands as they entered the room. "Mister Reynolds, this is Bonnie Rockwaller and Kim Possible, students here at Middleton High School. Ladies, this is Frank Reynolds, the chairman of the admissions committee at Middleton College.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Possible." He shook her hand again. "My daughter is absolutely nuts about you."
"Reynolds? Are you he gentleman who interviewed Ron last January?"
"Yes indeed. I know I was supposed to meet with him in a few weeks, but Wilma here invited me for a little snack this afternoon and, considering some events that have recently taken place, I readily agreed."
Kim's eyes lit up. "We just got Ron's SAT results. He did very well!"
"Fantastic. That certainly means my decision was the right one."
She cocked her head at him, listening intently.
"A week ago Friday I took my kids to the fair at the Middleton Days Festival. We were standing in line at the ice cream and cotton candy stand when my daughter spotted you so she whisked us right out of that line and into the one you were in. What I didn't realize at first was that you weren't in the line, you were acting as Hostess. Then we sat down and actually had the best dinner I've ever had at a fair.
"The next day I started making some calls. Since you were there, I assumed your boyfriend was as well. What surprised me was finding out he actually put all that together himself. What utterly shocked me was how he managed to do it in less than two days. Let me tell you. I know that business. What he did is nothing short of a miracle.
"Taking that into consideration, Monday I went ahead and made a formal recommendation to my board that Mister Stoppable be offered a spot in our program next fall, pending financials. Since I'm the chairman, it's all a rubber-stamp from this point."
"Ron's going to Middleton this fall?"
He nodded in response.
"YES!" Kim screamed, leaping at him and wrapping her arms around him.
Ron finally looked up from his work as he plated out five cuts of meat and a rice side. The first thing he saw was the look of utter joy on Kim's face.
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