Chapter 37: Suspicions

Tuesday morning Ron, after his Tai Sheng Pek Kwar exercises, headed for school earlier than usual. He walked right by Kim's locker. Thinking of Kim made him even more suspicious. Very few students were around at this early hour, which made Ron's mission easier. He pulled pencil and paper out of his notebook, wrote a note, and slipped it into a certain locker. After that he ducked into a supply closet and pulled out his cell phone.

"Ron, what's up?" Wade answered his phone.

"Wade, this might just be me going weird but I want you to consider something."

"What's that, Ron?"

"Bueno Nacho, have you checked to see if Drakken might be part of the takeover?"

"Why would he do that?"

"Wade, you were the one who told me about all of the funny stuff with the new signs and I had a conversation that made me think about them. They're very expensive, very labor intensive, but they don't make much sense. Doesn't that sound like Drakken to you?"

"Maybe, but Ron, a fast food franchise?"

"Okay Wade, here's my big kicker. Bueno Nacho has franchises in almost every developed nation and on every continent except Antarctica."

Wade cut in, "so if it is Drakken, he would suddenly have a very impressive transmission network. I'm going to look into this."

"Thanks Wade, you rock."

"By the way, I'm going to check some of our other, known techno-villains. Let's not get so focused on Drakken that we miss something else. Do you have anything else for me?"

"I'm not sure Wade. I want to look into a couple of items here at school. Call me if you find something."

"You got it buddy."

Ron ducked out of the closet and headed for his locker. He was in the process of packing his morning books when Dessie contacted him from behind again. This time, instead of a full out collision, it was a spoon hug. Ron preferred this encounter to last morning's 'run in.'

"Hey Ron," she greeted him." Ready to deal with Tuesday?"

"You better believe it!" The two headed for their first class.

Bonnie's posse had apparently regrouped to a certain extent overnight. Several of the girls approached Dessie; Ron's manners forced him to make introductions. The posse girls inevitably told Dessie that there were plenty of cute guys in the school and that they would be happy to introduce her. Ron was touched that Dessie politely declined the first few offers, then started to become progressively less cordial.

"What is with them?" She asked Ron as they left their fourth period class.

"Whazzat?" Ron replied. He was a little preoccupied at the moment.

"The girls. Most of them are just trying to get to know me but some of them are determined to dictate my social life! That last girl came right up, looked at you like you were a piece of dirt, then flat out told me that she could find me a 'real' boy to show me around! Even if they want to tell me who I can be with, couldn't they show you some manners?"

"Not that bunch." Ron answered. "Dessie, let me be honest. I'm not what you could call a popular person and the social structure of this school adheres to the food chain pretty strong."

"The food chain?" She asked.

"Yeah, you know how the hot, successful and cool kids are at the top of the heap and the less attractive, less successful, and less cool you are the lower you are?" She nodded. "Well, I'm pretty close to the bottom."

"And this food chain thing dictates friendships and dating?"

"For a lot of the students here, yes. Even the kids who don't buy into it are affected by it. It's easy for me to say that I don't much care about it since I'm on the business end of it."

"But why are they bringing it up to me? I really don't care about it."

"Dessie, as attractive as you are, you could be near the top of the heap. The fact that you're associating with a bottom dweller makes the elite nervous. If the whole school sees you hanging with me it might mean that the food chain doesn't matter to you. If enough people get that attitude it will cease to exist. The elite don't much care for that."

"So what do the elite do about it?"

"They make an example of anyone who bucks the trend. Trust me, if you keep hanging with me you are going to be on the receiving end before too much longer. I guess it's sort of like feudal Europe. The elite are the nobility and bottom dwellers like me are the serfs. The nobility knows that if the serfs were to all get together and tell them to get lost, they'd be out. So they don't let the serfs band together. As soon as anybody, noble or serf, starts to buck the trend they strike. The food chain elite have just substituted barbed comments and innuendo for torture chambers."

Sue shook her head, "that's just stupid."

"I won't argue with you there. It's wrong but Middleton High's hallways did help me understand my European History class a whole lot better."

She looked at him. "Well I for one couldn't care less what they say. I'll hang with, and date, anybody I want to. Care to join me for lunch?"

"Lunch time's my time to hang with some friends, want to join us?"

Her smile faded just a bit. "No thanks, but catch you afterwards?"

"Absolutely."

Ron left Dessie and made his way to his locker. Monique was waiting for him there.

"I got your note," she said. "What is it you needed?"

Ron looked around. There were no other students nearby and the hallway noises would keep anybody else from overhearing them. "I need the services of the school's premier gossip-monger and dirt-digger."

Monique smiled wide. "You want to scope out Dessie, don't you?"

Ron dropped his head. Am I that obvious? Then he straightened up again. "Yes, but it probably isn't what you're thinking. She's hitting on me and it has me just a little suspicious. Happy and flattered, yes, but I'm still a little suspicious."

Monique gave him a disbelieving look. "You're going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Boy, that girl has got it going on! What's wrong with you?" And Kim flat out left you hanging; this is perfect for you, Blondie!

"Monique, just humor me on this one. I want to find out where she lives, what her folks do, and where they came from. When I tried asking some of these questions last night, she moved on to other topics very gracefully. The fact that she had me in brain-freeze made it a lot easier for her."

"Yes!" Monique pumped her arm in triumph.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"The rumors are true! I'd heard that the two of you went out last night. Boy, you are in for some questioning when we hit the Lunchroom. Not to mention Cindy owes me five bucks."

"Fine, now I'll make you a deal. If you dig up what you can, I'll give you a fairly spicy item that I haven't even told Kim about. It will also explain why I'm asking you to scope out Dessie."

"Are your folks back in town yet?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm off tonight so I'll meet you tonight, at your place, and let you know what I've found out. That way you can give me my tidbit in private."

"Deal!"

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Monique was nervous as she rang the Stoppable's doorbell. She was nervous because she just hadn't been able to dig up anything that she had promised Ron.

Ron, thinking of him brought a smile to her face. He had been subject to every bit as much good-natured kidding and interrogation as she had warned him to expect. By the end of lunch his face had been every bit as red as the tomatoes in his salad. But he had been a real sport about it, adding his own jokes and keeping the banter light. It was sad to think that this was one of the few times a group of students had ribbed him in fun, as opposed to the cruel heckling he was used to from Bonnie and her posse.

"Hello, Mrs. Stoppable," she greeted Ron's mother when she opened the door. "Is Ron home?"

"Yes Monique, he's down in the basement washing his workout clothes." The older woman shuddered at the thought of those clothes. "He should be up in a minute. You can wait in his room if you'd like."

This struck Monique as odd, even as she headed up the stairs to Ron's room. It didn't seem…proper. His 'rents forbade girls over when they weren't around but they let a girl go to his room? They must be so used to Kim and Ron being so close that they don't realize how unusual it is, she decided. Then she reached his room and looked around. She smiled to herself since this was her first unescorted foray into an unrelated, teenaged male's bedroom.

The first thing that she noticed was that it wasn't anywhere near as dirty and cluttered as Kim's stories had led her to believe it would be. Either Kim was exaggerating or Ron had shaped up some since Kim's last tale. The room wasn't exactly 'dress-right-dress' military orderly but it was actually tidier than her own room. Sure the clothes hamper was overflowing a little and the covers had been simply pulled up over the bed, but all the dirty clothes were in the hamper and all of the blankets were on the bed.

She looked at the various pictures and posters he had on his walls. There was a WWA poster featuring Pain King and Steel Toe but what dominated his room was pictures of Kim and Ron. Monique could almost track her two friends' growing up progress from these pictures despite the fact that none of them were dated. The earliest picture showed the two as just a year or two older than toddlers and the latest picture showed the two earlier this year. So close, she thought. Those two are sooo close. It's almost like they're twins. Kim, can you understand what you're risking by ignoring him? Or have you gotten so used to having this that you don't think about it any more? What I wouldn't give to be so close and special to another person like this.

She shook her head in envy and continued to study the pictures on his walls. One section of a wall seemed to be dedicated to the wrestling squad. She saw two school-paper cutouts of the entire squad posing behind trophies. The Divisional and Regional championships that the squad won this year, she realized after reading the accompanying articles. Another picture showed those who had qualified for the Sectional Tournament and another showed the four wrestlers who had qualified for the State Tournament. She continued her tour.

Another section of the wall supported pictures of his other friends. Monique stifled a giggle when she came across a picture of her, Kim, Felix and Ron. She remembered when Kim's mother had taken that shot. The four of them had just finished an entire Saturday on a volunteer park cleanup. Monique had lain across Felix's lap, Kim was standing behind his wheelchair and Ron was sitting in front of it. The smiles were huge. A couple of other pictures showed him and Felix playing video games. A final one showed Felix, Ron, and Oscar fishing. He really appreciates his friends.

Monique finally came to a section of wall away from the door. The so-called 'I love me' wall. Here was the small placard that Ron had received when his teammates had voted him 'most improved.' Below the placard was his varsity letter and below that was a strip of cloth with eleven, decorated safety pins. Below the pins were pictures of the presentation ceremonies at the five tournaments at which he had placed. Two first-place and three-second place finishes. That's pretty impressive for his first year.

I wonder if this is some sort of insight into his mind, Monique thought. He displays his personal triumphs in an out-of-the way place, but dominates his room with pictures of himself spending time with his friends. Her musings were cut short by Ron's arrival.

"Oh, hi Monique," he said, looking somewhat startled. "I wasn't expecting you so soon."

"OHY." Ron looked confused. "Oh, hi yourself. I'm a little bit early because I haven't been able to find out much about your dreamgirl."

"That just might answer my questions after all." Ron looked troubled. "Just what have you found out?"

"Only that she's female!" Monique was exasperated. "I mean she hasn't given out any meaningful information to anybody. Every time anybody I know has tried to get her to open up, she just gives her the slip. About the only thing that we know is that she comes to school from the east."

"That's about all I could figure out, as well." Groused Ron, "and that has me worried."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you think that it's a little weird that a hot girl shows up and starts hitting on me?"

"I don't follow you."

"Drop-dead gorgeous girls just don't crush on guys like me like that. A jock, like Brick, or a hot guy, like Josh, I could understand. Why me?"

Monique shook her head, confused. "You don't think any girl would want to date you? C'mon you dated Sue, and I heard that Tara had a crush on you a while back. And didn't Kim say that that cute Japanese girl, Yori, was crushing as well?"

Ron set one thigh across his desk and leaned back against the wall. "Believe it or not, I'm not in a pity-fest here. I know that I'm potential date material for at least some girls, even attractive girls, but not at first sight. Let's look at the three examples you gave me. All three of those girls got to know me before they showed any…romantic interest in me. Dessie just showed up out of the blue and started to hit on me."

"And you have a problem with this, why?"

Ron stood up, turned to the wall, and gathered his thoughts. "Monique, you're hot so you might not understand my side of it." Ron missed Monique's eyes widening. He turned around to face her again, his arms held slightly out to his sides. "Look at me and pretend that you have just stepped into Middleton High for the first time ever. I'm the first guy who greets you. Do you start hitting on me, right away, or do you at least check out some other guys first?"

"Ron…I…uh," she stammered.

"Be honest, you aren't going to hurt my feelings."

Monique really studied him for the first time in that light. She saw a very average looking guy with a friendly, goofy face and oversized ears. He wasn't buff; in fact he looked a little undersized. His clothing covered the wiry, athletic body that Monique's knew he possessed. No, Ron's initial, physical, presentation wasn't anything special. His attractiveness came from his friendliness, his sense of humor, his upbeat personality and above all his utterly boundless loyalty.

He isn't the kind of guy you plan a two-week fling with, Monique realized. He's the kind of guy you plan a future with. Or the kind of guy you stay close to for a dozen years, from childhood to adolescence.

"You're right, Ron." She admitted. "I don't just throw myself at you. At least not right away."

Monique did catch Ron's eyes flashing wide for a moment. But he gamely continued, "that's my point. Her coming on to me just isn't normal. Hot girls don't just crush on me without an ulterior motive."

"Oh, and what kind of experience do you have with these mysterious ulterior motives?" Monique was being just a little more sarcastic than she had intended.

Ron pulled his chair out from his desk, turned it to face her, and sat down. "There have been a couple of…incidents," he said, with his face down and his voice sorrowful.

Monique sat down on the bed. Here comes the tidbit!