For the whole journey, Kim rethought with tears in her eyes about that interview. At what meant. What implied. She knew that for the media Ron was not a great star, due to his humble and playful, often goofy appearance...but it was for that that she liked him...and she was conscious that it was her the one who attracted more the attention. She also knew that there were those who did not remember his name, Drakken was the first of the list, and sometimes his name was mispelled, which annoyed him, but he never did more than complaining, and she closed the matter with a few words, sure that the world would not fall for that...what a stupid, what a stupid, what a stupid...but never, ever, she would have thought that the issue was so heavy to him being forgotten. Ok, he lost pants quite a lot, he seldom had exaggerated reactions, sometimes his ideas were weird and dictated more from fantasy than other, but she hoped that everything passed in second place in front of the evidence of his good job. Yeah, ok, he got kidnapped and she had to rescue him, but it wasn't that the opposite never occurred. Her cousin Joss had been clear, courage wasn't not having fear, but having it and still going on, and between the two of them it was without doubt Ron the one with more fears and so the bravest one. Yet she...if she was in more lucid conditions, probably she would have believed her thoughts to be tainted by the situation, but as of now she could not help but believe herself a despicable and irresponsible person: all those adventures, that running between death traps, bring perfect strangers out of the most varied situations with methods worthy of McGyver, declaring to be a simple girl with just a lot of will to be helpful, keeping repeat "no big, anyone could" when NO! Not anybody could, very few could! Global Justice does not take the first pompom girls with some more self defence knowledge! But her parents taught her the values not only of hard work and determination, but also of humility. For this she tried not to live a starlette life, under the spotlight: she wanted to send the message "I can, so you too", not "I can, you can't". Now, instead, that dark sensation that was taking her had finally taken shape, that awareness so tenaciously refused could not be denied anymore: the reason why Ron was not remembered...the reason why he saw denied all his successes, that were not few...was her!
Looking at everything with critical eye, the situation was painfully clear: Kimberly Anne Possible, daughter of an important space scientist and an accomplished neurosurgeon, she has been head cheerleader for all the duration of high school, member of a lot of school clubs, president too of quite some of them, beautiful, athletic, great grades, on top of the "food chain" of Middleton high school, role model student and person, popular, brave, full of talents, has been also a fashion icon, fighting crimes she became even the idol of emancipated girls, everyone wanted to be her, she came out without a scratch from fights with the worst criminals of the globe, henchmen feared her, the strongest respected her...ok, most of all Shego respected her, but she was the most dangerous, so she counted...on the other side: Ronald Stoppable, eternal child, imaginative, joking, gluttonous, lacking almost every common inhibitor brake, full of fears, surely not attractive according to the common canons, clumsy, not athletic, lazy, preferred to stay far from any kind of duty and responsibility in order to spend time to play, was insecure and without self-esteem, grew every worry until it became a tragedy, uncapable of keeping his mouth shut and definitely did not understand girls...even his parents told him things that would change his life only after doing them because "that was their way to tell him"...Kim was forced from the evidence to confess to herself that a person like this could not shine unless it was of reflected light, standing near someone like...like her! But she was sure that it was not for this that he stayed near her, his loyalty was too deep. ...That's true, Ron was not completely deprived of good points, he was loyal to the marrow, selfless, thought about the others before himself, did not care about opinions of society preferring to be who he wanted to be without worrying how he appeared but only to not lose his 'essential Ronness'...that way of him to be so unique and unimitable that after so much time convinced her to make him the man of his life...he also knew hot to cook godly, while she could not even cook a damn fried egg...but why people admired so much a warrior woman, but appointed as a weirdo a cooking boy? Unless it was a starred chef, and the only restaurant he had was the one that time at school...or the Naco! He invented Bueno Nacho's top product! But nooo, beans, sauce, tortillas and so on were not considered "in", it would have been a bad example to show to the teenagers...but, but, he has also been runningback of the football squad! Winner of too many games to be ignored, and just this should retroactively undo those mentions of clumsiness from before, creator of a successful mascotte (that she and her embarass did not nearly saw out, how she has been so imbecile…), so why was Ron such on the damn bottom of the social ladder? Once again, Kim found to blame herself: for her, Ron has been so influenced from her "no big" to diminish himself all for not appearing too superb, and sadly there were previous instances: the Seniors, the 99 millions...what if...what if he decided to deny his own successes to avoid other similar situations? But no, now she was exaggerating...and yet…
"Kim, we're almost arrived." Wade warned her softly. The monitor has been stayed shut until then. How much time has she spent pondering? Not even she knew. But there was still a hope, something that could give her confirmation that this was all just a huge misunderstanding, a bad dream from which she would wake up and come back to her happy troubleless life. All she needed was something that she knew to be at her parents' house. "Thanks Wade, you rock." "Kim..." Wade did not have the courage to confess to the friend that TriCityTV had as usual started the live stream, so he knew all that happened in London; instead he simply said "...thanks." and closed the communication, also because he too was unsure what to say to her and worried he could make the matter worse.
Once landed on the home alleyway, Kim shot out of the car and into the living room. No tweebs. She did not asked where they were, she did not even say hello, she had other priorities. "Dad, the cut-out chest, where is it?" "Uuh...in the basement, dear." And there Kimberly ran like an arrow. Her mother tried to call her back: "Kim, wait..." But was all useless. Kim took out the chest and before opening it stayed a moment to a dmire it hopeful. She took a deep breath.
If there was a possibility to slap in the face of any deprecative scoundrel the answer to the repulsive question about who was Ron, it was in that chest.