Chapter 4: Adjustments

Ron stood at the corner and waited for KP to show up so that they could walk to school. It had been four weeks now since she had taken his advice about balancing time between her boyfriend and best friend. Ron walked with her to school every morning and back home after school every afternoon. She spent Friday night and/or Saturday with Josh, whenever she felt like going out. She spent Sundays with Ron, doing all of the goofy stuff that they had done since before Kindergarten. Ron had admitted to himself that he had a crush on her. He also acknowledged to himself that she was waaaaayy out of his league in that department. Once he had made that admission he was able to view his situation with her in a more positive light. While he wasn't exactly happy about sharing KP, he was content that she still spent time with him. So he had decided to keep busy in order to keep from thinking about it too much.

Every weekday morning he slipped out of his room at 5:00 AM and practiced Tai Sheng Pek Kwar until seven. Then he slipped back inside so that his mother was 'forced' to wake him up. He would get ready and walk to school with Kim. School lasted until 3:30 in the afternoon. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday he worked out with the wrestling team and on Tuesdays and Thursdays he worked out with the cheerleading squad. Workouts ended at 5:30 PM. He would walk back home with Kim. Once at his house he would drop his workout clothes in the washer (the first time his mother had caught a whiff of his sweaty wrestling clothes she had informed him he was washing them from now on.) and get ready for dinner. After dinner he would do homework until 9:00 PM then go to bed.

Saturdays had been lonely without KP around, but he had gotten in the habit of hanging around with Felix and/or Oscar. He would go to Temple in the morning, then spend his two hours on Tai Sheng Pek Kwar. After this he would finish any schoolwork from the week then call one, or both, of the two. Oscar would show him wrestling moves and give him some pointers. He and Felix would either shoot baskets or play Zombie Mayhem. Oscar loved to fish and took both of them up to Lake Middleton once where the three boys had pulled in five walleye. That night Oscar had cleaned the fish and Ron had made them the centerpiece of one of his famous feasts. His parents had promptly urged Ron to go fishing with Oscar again, soon.

Sundays Ron tended to sleep in late then do a last review of his schoolwork. KP usually called around one and they would do the best friend thing. They talked a lot, rode bikes, saw movies, all of the things that they had done for years. She would also insist on checking to make sure that his homework was done. She was getting increasingly irritated that it was almost always done and correct. She was also somewhat incensed that Ron now limited himself to one Bueno Nacho meal a week and that it was usually a salad. She had tried, for years, to get him to eat better and now he was doing just that with no input from her.

Both Coach Winters and Oscar had suggested that Ron lay off the junk food. Since he had already decided to act more mature, Ron had done so. He had contacted Wade to see if the genius could help. Wade called in some favors had had some equipment dropped off at Ron's house. Every other week, Ron drew a small sample of blood and left it out on his back door. Ron didn't know, and didn't want to think about, how the samples got picked up or where they went. All that he knew was that Wade would have them analyzed then generate a food list to give Ron the perfect balance of carbs, vitamins, protein, minerals, etc.

It was up to Ron to prepare his menu, which he did with all of his 'boy chef' genius. He now packed most of his lunches for school. These were heavy on the veggies, fruits and lean meat. He had learned to pack extra food since friends and teammates liked to sample his wares. As a result of his improved diet, Ron's slight case of acne had vanished and he had initially lost some weight but was now putting weight back on.

Thus it was a happier Ron Stoppable who was waiting at the corner for Kim to show up this Thursday morning. When he spotted her he knew that she was irritated. Ten plus years of friendship meant that he could read her like a book from a distance. She wasn't mad enough to yell. She wasn't even mad enough to deliver barbed comments. Ron judged her posture and guessed that he would have about a fifty- percent chance of getting her to open up before they got to school.

"Morning, KP." He greeted her.

"Humph!" She simply snorted in reply then kept on walking. Ron fell into step beside her. They walked for a short time until Ron felt that is was the right time to find out what was bothering her.

"May I assume that your sunny disposition is due to something I've done?" He asked.

She glared at him for a long moment before her expression softened. "No, it's not you." She said, and continued to walk.

"Something I can help with?" He asked after giving her a few minutes.

"Oh, so now you're the expert on everything Mr. Wrestler!"

"Whoa, KP! Never said I was the expert on anything. Just asking if I could help. I take that as a no."

She glared at him for several long moments before her face fell. "I'm sorry, I just...don't feel like talking about it."

"That's cool, KP. Just as long as you know I'm here if and when you do feel like talking."

"Thanks, Ron," it was hardly more than a whisper. "Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you ever come to my house anymore? Mom's asking about you."

Because I don't want to make your boyfriend jealous and have you tell me to stay away. He thought, then he said, "It's your mom's bon-diggity breakfasts. I gotta keep the weight down for the team and you know how I handle temptation."

She gave him a searching look, almost pleading. But by this time they had reached school. As was his habit, Ron accompanied her until they met Josh. At that time he greeted Kim's boyfriend and politely excused himself. He forced himself to display his goofy smile and have a spring in his step even as he left her with him.