Thanks to all readers and to the reviewers of chapter 13: DuffKilliganFan, cpneb, Trombe, ZK Chromedragozoid, daywalkr82, whitem, MrDrP, AtomicFire, Jeriddian, Joe Stoppinghem, CastaS, continental-line, and dartblade.
Special thanks to MrDrP for beta reading.
Disclaimer: Disney owns most of these characters. Including that red-haired one who hasn't been in this story very much, Kim … Something-or-Other.
Chapter 14
Tara and Jess quickly finished changing into their swimsuits and cover-ups and went back out to the pool. Liz, Crystal and her boyfriend Craig were the early arrivals, along with two of the 'extra' boys: a golfer named Logan, who Liz was hoping would be her next BF, and a football player named Todd. Liz and Crystal were already dressed for the party, so the eight teens just stood around chatting for a while.
Soon a shiny, metallic bronze Jaguar sedan pulled up and disgorged a redheaded girl and a blond boy. "Thanks for the lift, Dad!" Kim Possible said through the open window after shutting the door, and the Jag drove off. Hand in hand, the couple joined the rest of the group.
Greetings were exchanged all around, then Crystal dropped her gaze to the large tote bags Kim and Ron carried. "Looks like you guys are packed for a two-week cruise," she commented.
"Yeah, we brought mission gear," replied the redhead, who was wearing one of her boyfriend's familiar red jerseys as a cover-up. "Never can tell when something will come up."
"Ooh, I hope you don't have to leave early," Tara said. "That'd be a shame."
"I'll say," Todd said, giving Ron a slap on the back. "How often does a guy get to come to the famous cheer squad party? Right, Ron-man?"
"Heh heh, you said it, big guy," Ron said, grinning goofily and rubbing the back of his neck, before his expression turned quizzical and he turned to Kim. "Hey, how come this is my first time being invited to this thing? I'm the Mad Dog, I've been part of the squad since sophomore year. I should've been to last year's."
The girls exchanged awkward looks. "Uhhhh …" Kim said, looking at her squadmates for help. They all looked away, and the teen hero was left in an unfamiliar position—she had nuthin'. "We–elll …"
As she fumbled for a response, a late-model SUV with deeply tinted windows pulled into the driveway, its powerful subwoofers thumping out the bass line of MC Honey's first hit single. "Oh look, here come some more people," she said excitedly, pointing.
"Whoa, that is one big truck. Whose is that?" Liz asked.
"Got me," Logan said.
Tara clutched Kevin's arm for security. "That's Jason Morgan's," she said in a trembling voice.
The group watched as Bonnie, Marcella, Tony the soccer player and a swimmer named Adam piled out of the truck. Then the driver's door opened and Tara's ex unfolded his long body from the seat.
Kevin put an arm around Tara's shoulders and pulled her close. "Who invited him here?"
"Bonnie. Who else?" Jess answered.
"What was that girl thinking?" Crystal wondered.
"Let's ask her," Kim said. "Wait here, Tara, I'll bring her over."
Forcing herself to smile, Kim stalked over to the new arrivals. "Hey you guys, great to see you, how's your summer been? Marcella, I love your sandals. Bonnie, come with me for a sec." She grabbed her co-captain's arm and steered her toward where Tara waited. Assuming there was squad business, Marcella followed.
"Ow, hold on, K, give me a chan–" Bonnie protested.
"Can it, B," Kim snarled, low enough so only Bonnie could hear. "You got some 'splainin' to do."
She deposited the struggling brunette in front of Tara, then turned to Craig, Todd and Logan, pointing toward the picnic table. "You guys, feel free to start getting the chips and stuff into those bowls. We need a moment here."
Realizing that the teen hero was giving orders, not suggestions, the three boys withdrew, leaving Kevin, Ron and the seven cheerleaders alone. With her BF by her side, Tara faced down her oldest friend as the rest looked on.
"Bonnie, what on Earth possessed you to ask Jason here? Don't you know I don't like him anymore?"
Bonnie had been expecting this from the moment she'd invited Jason. The new Confident Tara was not going to put her off her game this time. She affected a shocked expression. "Did you guys have a bad breakup, Tara? I swear I had absolutely no idea. You never told me the story—you've been so busy with Kevin all summer, we haven't had any chance to dish. I just assumed it was okay to invite him—you hardly ever mind if the rest of us date your exes."
Tara started to respond, but unfortunately, Bonnie had made a good point. Tara did usually stay on good terms with her exes, and rarely objected to her friends dating them. Which was good, considering how many high-status boys she'd gone out with in the past.
Seeing Tara's hesitation, Bonnie continued. "And I mean, c'mon, people, the boy is Food Chain gold. Good looking, top sports star in our class, and just look at what he's driving around in. You should've known I'd ask him. I mean, hel–lo! We're talking about me here."
"She's got us there," Jess muttered.
"But tell you what, Tara, if you want, I'll go over there right now and tell him he has to leave. I'm totally serious, T, you just say the word and he's history."
"Spankin' idea, Bonnie," Kim said. "Do it."
Bonnie ignored the redhead and stared at Tara. "What do you say, Tara?"
Tara stared back at Bonnie, looked toward Jason, back to Bonnie, then cast her eyes downward. "No," she said in a soft voice, "don't do that, it would be rude to take back his invitation."
Kevin was surprised. "You sure about this, Tara?"
Tara nodded. "Yeah, Kev, I am. Unless you want him gone. It's your house …"
Kevin shook his head. "It's your call." Turning to Bonnie, he added, "Just keep him away from Tara."
"I'll do what I can, Kevin. I realize you're probably a little … insecure … around guys like Jason."
"Oh, thanks so much for reminding me, Bonnie," Tara snapped, her annoyance flaring again. "I also want to talk about the stuff you said to Kev earlier today."
"What do you mean, Tara? All I did was point out that you've dated a lot of guys. Did I say one thing that wasn't true?"
"Well, no … but that's all in the past, Bonnie. Kevin is my boyfriend now, and I'm –"
"I know, and I agree, he's quite the catch. Didn't I say that, Kevin? Didn't I tell you how good you were looking these days, how you'd have girls lining up to date you next year if things with Tara go south?"
"Well … kinda."
"There! Does that sound like I was dissing your BF, Tara?"
"I – I guess not."
"Of course not, T. We're BFFs, remember? Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. I just want what's best for you."
"Okay, Bonnie." Tara turned and beamed at Kevin as she continued, "As long as you realize that what's best for me is Kevin."
"Whatever you say, Tara."
There was a long pause, and then Crystal spoke up. "So, who are we still waiting for to start the party?"
Bonnie looked around and counted heads. "Well, all the extra guys are here …" Then she realized someone was missing. "Hey Jess, where's Steve?"
"Work. He'll be here later."
"Oh, that's such a shame," Bonnie said, suppressing a grin. Wait 'til I tell Jason Nerd Boy's missing his bodyguard. "Then I guess we're just waiting on Hope … and her mystery man."
"So nobody has a clue who she's bringing?" Marcella asked.
Liz shook her head. "She told me last night she wants to surprise us."
Ron smirked. "Oh, it'll be a surpri– … uhhh … did I say that out loud?"
Kim arched an eyebrow. "Ron? You know something you're not telling?"
"Who, me? Nah …" he said, refusing to make eye contact. "I – don't – know – a – thing …"
"Come on, Ron, spill," Tara implored.
"Tell us, Ron. Pretty please," Liz pleaded.
"You know you can't keep a secret from me, Ronnie," Kim said, her outthrust lower lip beginning to quiver and her eyes going round as saucers.
"Oh no! Not the Puppy Dog Pout!" he protested. He averted his eyes from Kim, only to see Tara making the same face. As was Crystal. And Marcella, and Liz, and Jess. Even Bonnie.
"Ahhh! So many Pouts!" He threw his hands in front of his face and began to back away. "How much pouting is one man supposed to take?"
"Pwease, Wonnie, tew us the secwet," the seven beautiful girls wheedled in chorus.
"Ron! Watch out!" Kevin shouted as Ron neared the edge of the pool.
But too late. Ron's right foot came down with only the toes on the flagstone patio, the heel dangling over the water. Before he could react, he felt himself falling backwards. Rufus managed to scamper out of his pocket to safety as Ron toppled into the water with a splash. The naked mole rat rolled on the ground laughing, clutching his sides in mirth.
Adam, who had lifeguard experience, hurried over to the pool, the rest of the boys on his heels, but Ron's head broke the surface and he got to his feet in the waist-deep water, sputtering.
The girls came over too; Kim smiled indulgently at her best friend/boyfriends antics.
"Ha ha, smooth move, Stoppable," Todd said.
Adam offered a hand to the blond to help him out of the water.
"Thanks, dude, but I think I'm safer in here," Ron said, waving him off. "Those girls'll make me talk if I come out."
"Relax, Ron," Kevin said. "The secret's out."
The others looked at Kevin inquiringly, then followed his gaze up to the skies above the Guberman home, where a strange object had appeared. It was a flying chair—a wheelchair to be precise, its wheels tipped horizontal and glowing blue—with two occupants, soaring over the old farmhouse and descending to the patio.
The chair settled to the ground and Hope unwrapped her arms from Felix Renton's neck and climbed off his lap. She turned to face fourteen very surprised faces—plus one grinning, dripping wet one.
"Hey, gang. Wow, I never made such a dramatic entrance to a party before. Thanks, Felix," she said, and she bent down and kissed him on the cheek.
Leaving Ron to get himself out of the pool, the crowd of teens quickly surrounded the new couple and began to pepper them with questions.
"Whoa, whoa, guys," Hope said, holding up her hands in a 'stop' gesture. "We can talk later. Right now, I think we ought to get the party officially started."
The girls moved over to the end of the pool area, away from the boys, and huddled together to set up their swimsuit show. But the subject of Hope's surprise date proved difficult to let go. With Felix wearing a tank top, the girls were seeing him in a new light.
"I never noticed before, but that boy has great triceps," Liz said. "And those shoulders!"
"Mmmm, I haven't gotten to the shoulders yet," Crystal said. "I'm still stuck on the forearms."
"They are nice arms. I like Steve's better, though."
"Of course you do, Jess," Marcella said, rolling her eyes.
"I wonder what he does for exercise?" Tara said. "I've never seen him in the weight room."
"Yeah, Wheelman has this, like, jungle gym hanging from his ceiling for getting himself in and out of his chair," came a nearby voice from beneath a towel. "It goes from his bed all the way to his bathroom. You should see him on it, he's like a monkey … only not in a sick and wrong way, like when that amulet turned K–"
"RON!" Kim interrupted. "What are you doing over here?"
"Had to dry off, KP."
"Well, take your towel and get over there." She pointed him toward the boys. "We have to set up … unless you were planning to be part of the show, Mad Dog?"
Girlish giggling ensued as Ron blushed crimson.
"Heh heh, I'll be going now," he said.
Bonnie was having trouble controlling her temper. K and the loser, okay, anyone could see that coming. But Hope? Tara's nerd is bad enough, but at least he can walk … "Can we please get this thing started now?"
Apparently not.
"Y'know, I'm kinda surprised at your BF, Tara," Hope said. "I heard he was a skinny little guy, nobody told me he was so … buff."
"He wasn't," Jess said, grinning. "You're seeing him after six weeks of Tara's 'Build Your Own Hunk' project."
This prompted another round of giggling.
Bonnie looked ready to boil over, so Kim spoke up. "C'mon, you guys, Bonnie's right," she said. "We should get set up and start. Then we can talk about BFs all day."
Tara pointed to a spot on the far side of the rectangular pool. "I think that's a good spot for us to use, with the mountains in the background. The boys can watch from right there by the snacks."
"Okay," Bonnie said. "Now, the order …"
As the Beach Bash was a very old tradition, certain procedures and protocols had developed over the decades to determine in what order the girls would reveal their swimsuits. They started with the ones who had boyfriends, in descending order of the length of the relationship.
"Well, Crystal's been with Craig since Winter Formal …" Liz said.
"Yeah, but Steve's not here, so the 'boyfriend not present' rule says Jess goes first," Marcella pointed out.
"That's right," Hope said. "So the first five are Jess, Crystal, Kim, Tara and me."
"I'm invoking Captain's Prerogative," Kim said. "I'll go at the end."
"You still go before me, K," Bonnie said. "A co-captain without a boyfriend goes after one with, and that …" she tilted her head in Ron's direction, "qualifies as a boyfriend … technically."
"Not funny, Bonnie …" Kim snarled.
Tara shot Bonnie a look. "Okay, that sets the first four and the last two. That leaves … Liz and Marcella, right?"
There was no procedure to decide between those two, so a quick round of Rock, Paper, Scissors was played. Liz won and chose to follow Hope.
The order set, Bonnie plugged her mePod into a docking station that Crystal had provided, so the music used to kick off every Beach Bash since the summer of '65—a medley of hits from The Mountain Men ("Give Me a Hand, Wanda," "Games, Games, Games," and "Colorado Girls")—could accompany them.
The boys watched in anticipation as Jessica walked to the chosen spot to lead off.
Though Jess still felt like she was considered the squad's 'other blonde' sometimes, that hadn't been true for a while, now that her figure had filled out and especially since she'd discovered Yvette's shop and begun wearing the tiniest bikinis of any teen in Middleton. She slowly unbuttoned the button-front retro baseball jersey she'd borrowed from Steve and let it fall from her shoulders, revealing her multicolored bandeau bikini. Narrow bands circled her taut, willowy body at chest and hips, leaving little to the imagination. Even though her heart wasn't in it without Steve around, there were several audible intakes of breath from the boys at the sight. She gave the boys a 'Dream on' look, then picked up her cover-up and glided back to the rest of the girls and settled onto a lounge.
Crystal stepped forward next. With a smile for her beau, the exotic-looking, jade-eyed brunette, known for her superb figure and willingness to show it off, pulled Craig's number four lacrosse jersey over her curly hair. Surprisingly, she'd chosen a white, one-piece suit today—but it was not in the least demure, most of it being mesh, strategically lined for modesty. The high-cut legs accented her curves, and the boys liked her suit as much as they'd liked Jess's.
That brought Tara up. She took a tentative step forward, fixed her beautiful azure eyes on Kevin and slipped off the chess t-shirt to reveal … her familiar orchid print bikini. But somehow, everyone could tell this wasn't the old, familiar Tara. 'Sex appeal is found in the bearing, the attitude,' Yvette had said, and this afternoon, Tara had attitude to spare. Usually she seemed self-conscious about the attention her figure brought her, especially in swimwear. Today, she sizzled, she smoldered—and everybody knew the reason: the small, sandy-haired boy smiling back at her from across the water.
She never looked at me like that, Jason Morgan thought as he stared at his ex-girlfriend, envy, covetousness and lust seething within him.
Next came Hope. Though the petite Vietnamese-American teen was considered an exceptional beauty by a great many boys, her swimsuits were the most modest around. Her parents were very strict—it had taken a great deal of convincing by the cheer squad's advisor for them to okay her wearing the midriff-baring uniform when she'd joined the squad—and they had doubtless inspected her before they'd allowed her out of the house. So everyone was taken aback when she removed the green and gold jersey she'd borrowed from Felix to reveal a very attractive red and white striped bikini. She blew a kiss to Felix and rejoined the squad.
Liz shook her head ruefully as she took Hope's place. And I chose to follow that?
If Jessica sometimes thought of herself as the 'other blonde,' Liz certainly felt like the 'other redhead.' Kim Possible was a world famous hero, after all—and besides, Liz couldn't help feeling that her riot of carrot-colored curls and deep-set, dark eyes compared unfavorably to Kim's lustrous auburn hair and huge, emerald green orbs. But at least she was reasonably happy with her figure. Not that she was likely to make the other girls feel inadequate, but her days of passing for a tall ten-year-old were in the past. And she was pleased that Logan the golfer seemed to be returning her interest. So, with a smile, she stepped forward and shed her MHS T-shirt to reveal a navy blue bikini with white polka dots, did a little curtsey and returned to the group.
Marcella was last before the captains. Anticipation was high, as the raven-haired Latina's bikinis had heated up many a Lake Middleton summer day—and night. She unfastened the sash that held her cover-up closed and shed it to reveal a daring red and yellow salsa print suit. She shimmied her hips to the music and danced back to the squad to the delight of the audience.
Now only the co-captains remained.
Kim Possible had always considered the swimsuit show sexist—tawdry, even. The female body should be admired for its strength and agility, after all, not for how it filled out a bikini. When she became varsity cheer captain, she'd suggested they put an end to it. But she'd had to yield to the protests of the others, several of whose mothers, aunts and older sisters—even a grandmother in one case—had been cheerleaders and who wouldn't hear of changing the hallowed tradition. So, despite her well-known control-freak tendencies, Kim had been happy to let Bonnie plan the Beach Bash. The year before, she'd worn a simple one-piece suit, and the look in her emerald eyes as she removed her oversize t-shirt had promised pain to any jock who dared ogle her.
This year she had a new boyfriend, and a somewhat different attitude. She didn't mind being ogled. A little. By Ron, at least.
The teen hero took her place and looked over the assembled boys, before settling her gaze on her best friend/boyfriend. Smiling shyly, she peeled off the red jersey to reveal her bikini. Most of the boys had seen the emerald green suit at the lake already that summer, but some things merit repeated viewings. Kim Possible in a sexy swimsuit was definitely one of them.
After letting Ron and the others have a good look, she went back to the other girls.
"Feeling a little flat, K?" Bonnie asked with a smirk. "Let me show you how it's done."
Just as the tanned brunette was about to walk to the appointed spot to close out the show, though, Kim's tote bag emitted a piercing beep beep be-beep.
to be concluded …