Locker Room Chats

The next morning, Shelly was ready for school. As usual, she'd gone to the apartment, sat down, watched TV, wondered around it's sterile confines, surfed on the internet, and then gone to bed. A typical day in her life, she supposed. Shelly sighed as she lay down in the bed. Maybe this school would be different. Maybe she would at least stay here long enough to remember some of the people. She was always forgetting their faces.

At the entrance to the school, she found Felix, not Monique. Shelly blinked.

"Did I?" she started, trying to remember if she'd done anything wrong.

"Nah, I have classes with you." Felix shrugged, "I was helping a friend yesterday, so I took a sick day."

"Oh."

Felix grinned, "So, shall we?" His chair whirred forward.

"That's… a weird, um… chair." Shelly said, looking at the wheelchair.

"Yeah, well Mom's a cyberneticists, so she tricked the chair out—that's what I'm going to do, cybernetic augmentations." He grinned, "She started when I was five years old." Shelly blinked at that.

"You've." She bit her lip before the idiotic words escaped. Felix didn't seem annoyed.

"Yep—hit by a car when I was four, severed the lower spine cleanly." He shrugged, "Unfortunately, nerve tissue doesn't regenerate."

So idiot, why don't you ask if he's had any agonizing infections recently?

"Still, it has it's advantages—who else gets the official right to have something in the school that can fly and go from zero to one hundred in ten seconds." Felix grinned at her. Shelly realized that he'd known exactly what she was going to say.

The unease passed as the day continued. Shelly found that most of the kids liked Felix and Monique (who showed up later) and were perfectly happy to talk with shelly. She avoided the subject of her (lack of a) home, and kept to generalities. Most of those added up to the fact that she was nuts to try and join the cheerleading team, since Bonnie was a dragon queen. That often led to remembering the days of the maddog mascot, which resulted in everyone getting uncomfortable and changing the subject. At the end of the day, after a brief science class, which ended when the teacher unexpectedly found out that Nigerian dancing weasels really didn't like his toupee, Felix and Shelly found themselves sitting in the gym, waiting for the cheerleaders to show up.

"Oh." Bonnie said, "You made it." She sighed. "Well, given that there isn't anyone else I can think of who would be worse…why don't you try it?" Shelly paused.

"What about Kim?"

"Well," Bonnie frowned, "I Guess we can wait." She consulted her watch, but there was no Kim. Finally, she frowned and then spoke. "OK…we'll delay the tryouts until after practice." There were groans at that, but Bonnie glared at them. "You want to be cheerleaders, you expect some sacrifices. This is one of them." Felix shrugged and grinned.

"So… I'd better go- I have lab, but I figured I could wait until the tryouts were over…" Shelly shrugged. "Don't worry about it." She said. As Felix left she watched after him. He was cute…maybe she should ask… Then, over the sound of the cheerleaders, she heard something…or maybe not. It was more a feeling than anything else.

Ignored by everyone else, Shelly went into the girls locker room. She heard something.

"Hello?" Nothing. She walked past the lockers, and than heard it again. Shelly turned the corner and saw, crutches leaning up against the wall, Kim Possible. Holding a cheerleader outfit on her lap.

Crying.

"Hello?" Shelly paused, "Kim? Are you ok?" stupid question. Felix and Monique would probably say that she should leave her alone.

Screw that.

"Hey, Kim…what's wrong?" Kim suddenly noticed her and looked over at her, her tear streaked face wan.

"Oh, Hi, um…"

"Shelly."

"Shelly." She paused, "When are the tryouts?"

"At the end of practice." Kim looked up and blinked.

"Ohmigod…" She said, "I'm late…late again…can't I do anything right?"

"Whose uniform?" Shelly asked.

"Mine… I, uh…decided to clean things out after today." She sighed and closed her eyes. "It doesn't' really matter anymore, not after yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"The physical therapist…said that I'm slowing up in improvement… they don't know, but I may need these…" She indicated the crutches, "forever." She shook her head, "Not that I don't deserve it."

"Deserve it…why?" Shelly shook her head. "I'm new here, remember? So you had an accident—that happens."

"It wasn't an accident." Kim said. "It was…well it was Shego's trap, but my fault. My fault all the way."

"It was my fault." Kim repeated softly. "We'd been getting so many calls, so many places, and were so…tired. Every place there were goons, and even when we beat them, there was always another call." She said, "Ron wanted to hold back—but I couldn't. Even if GJ would cover it, what would it look like for the "girl who can do anything" to flake. Her face twisted, self loathing in it. "And so we kept getting beaten up, more tired…I flunked my first test… and then…then we found out why."

"Why?"

"Shego." Kim said, and Shelly had never heard such a depth of hate. "All of it had been Shego…getting us tired, getting us beaten up…and when she showed…we were captured." Shelly looked at Kim. The cheerleading outfit was twisted in her hands.

"She wanted to beat you up?"

"No. She wanted to break us. And she did break me."

Why is she telling me this? Shelly wondered. But then, looking at Kim, she realized why. Shelly didn't know her. Maybe she could talk to Shelly in a way she couldn't talk to her friends. Kim closed her eyes, as if she was remembering something else.

"All you have to do is say "uncle" Ronnie." Shego said, grinning. "Of course, then the boys will take out any left over energy on Kimmie there." Kim struggled, trying to free herself. The bonds were tight. Then Shego continued talking. They'd been captured, but there were no death traps, no Drakken… in fact just this room, with a few cells, barely more than kennels, where Kim and Ron had woken up, unable to even stand upright in them. Now they were out of them, Kim tied to a post and Ron with his hands bound, standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by goons…but scarier goons then she'd ever seen before.

"But I think that'd be too bad—I have other plans for Kimmie. Still, if you consider her pain less important then yours…like I said, all you have to do is call out…one word, Ronnie."

"Ron, I can take it!" Kim shouted through her exhaustion and pain. Those guys were built like dump trucks and Ron was covered with bruises, and neither one of them had slept in a week. He gave her a grin.

"Don't worry, KP… I'll handle it." And then they fell on him. Ron might have been able to win…but for the fact that his hands were still bound…and even so, he did good. But one of the goons got him from behind and held him, while another started punching away. Ron gasped and sagged, before a blow snapped his head back.

"Ron!" Kim screamed, "Say it! They'll kill you!" Ron didn't say anything, just kept struggling. Kept struggling until he fell to the ground, curled up, as the men kicked him again and again and again, Kim's screams ringing in the room.

Finally, Shego called them off and strolled over to Ron, slapping him once or twice. The semi conscious boy groaned.

"Gee, Kimmie, he's alive…who would have thought…" Kim started to curse Shego, then shut up as Shego hauled back and kicked Ron.

"Very good, Kimmie… you're beginning to understand… not completely…but don't worry, we have a lot more time to learn…"

"Kim?" Shelly asked. Kim had zoned, and when she'd touched her, suddenly the red heads eyes had snapped open and she'd almost fallen off the bench. She shook her head.

"It's…nothing." Kim said. "Let's go see how you do on the trials… if anyone's left still." She had difficulty hauling herself up, but Shelly didn't offer to help. If Kim was torn up about her physical condition she didn't need to be reminded of it. Outside, they found Ron waiting for them.

"Hey KP…Bonnie's about ready to have a melt down."

"Oh…" Kim said. Shelly frowned.

"A meltdown…why, it's only ten minutes since I went in?"

"Ah, you do not know our Bonnie." Ron said, "You will get to know her if you join the team…"

"Is that a good thing?"

"Sure!" Ron paused, "Well…depending on your definition of good." She said, winking at her from his one eye.

To be continued.