Chapter 30

(Feb. 15, 2006, 5:28pm)

Kim and the rest of the Drama class group came off the stage. She led the walk up to the Glee Three, whom were sitting in the front row.

"So how did we do?" she asked.

Laramie huffed, "Meh, a small improvement, Possible."

"More like a B-minus!" Cara retorted.

Vance added, "That dance scene was so awful that it would make the 'Breakdancing for B-List Actor' show look like a professional ballet company!"

"Don't you even remember, Possible..." Cara reminded Kim, "...that every single thing must be perfect for the night of the performance, even if it takes us weeks to do it!"

"Look, I'm no fortune-teller or whatever, but you cannot predict that everything is going to swimmingly for this play!" Kim insisted, " What if someone gets sick or if there is a loose nail in the background? There are a multitude of sitches that can go wrong!"

"We have the credentials to back it up." Vance replied smugly. "We've done Our Town, King Lear, To Kill A Mockingbird, and a whole host of other plays that would take us all night to list in our lives. And each one of them was perfect down to the smallest detail."

"I wish if we had more time arguing about this..." Kim sneered, "...but I've got more...family matters...to tend to." She was talking about the upcoming vacation to Nebraska to see her mom's parents.

"Okay, people!" Barkin exclaimed, "Now that we are done with Act I, we are going to do the first three scenes from Act II tomorrow. I expect everyone to be in the main auditorium tomorrow at 4pm sharp."

Kim sighed, "Great...more painful practice..."

"You know, KP, there is an old saying. 'No pain, no gain'!" Ron insisted.

"Ron, can you please not make it more complicated than it is?" Kim asked before hearing a voice from the seats.

"Hey, Kim! Glad that I came along!"

Kim then turned to the rows of seats and did see a familiar face, the only one rather, aside from Barkin and the students.

It was Professor Acitas. She subsituted her scientist outfit for a blouse and jeans.

"Professor, what are you doing here?" Kim asked, "Shouldn't you be with Professor Acuna?"

Acitas replied with a smile "Oh yes, he indeed is here. We just wanted to catch a break in-between insect conferences from Europe to here in the US, so, being a minor in Shakespeare studies, I stumbled upon your Romeo and Juliet play and...here I am."

"What about Acuna?" Ron asked.

"You know him!" Acitas giggled, "He's studying the insects that reside within the walls of Middleton High!"

"Ewww..." Ron insisted, "I hope he doesn't study the mystery meat."

"Getting back to the topic at hand..." Acitas asked, "...has there been any update on the insect helmet?"

"Sadly, we have very little to go on." Kim said, putting her hands in her overall pockets, "Drakken and Shego are definitely not the ones behind the theft. So that would leave us with either Killigan who, again, stole the device before or Professor Dementor. Or maybe it could be some super villain who we haven't even faced off before."

"I hope if you two could find it soon." Acitas sighed. "That device would be devastating if it were to fall into the wrong hands."

(6:18pm)

Kim and Ron got a ride to the Possible house with the help of Monique's mom.

"Well, guess I'll try and pack up for the weekend to get to Nebraska to visit Mom's 'rents as well as study some of the lines from Act II." Kim replied. "What about you, Ron?"

"I'm gonna do the same as well, KP." Ron insisted. "Rufus seems to be set."

Rufus held up a little briefcase and squeaked, "Packed!"

"Okay..." Kim replied with a shrug of her shoulders, "...so what are we gonna do about dinner?"

"Well, there's either Mom's tuna casserole or..." Ron said before he anticipated what Kim was going to say.

"Bueno Nacho?" Kim guessed.

"You read my mind, KP!" Ron said with a laugh. "I would rather feed that to the cat lady who lives next door rather than eat it myself."

Kim entered through the door.

"Hey, Kimmie-cub!" James said with a smile.

"How was your day at school?" Ann asked.

The parents were in their usual work outfits.

The two of them were starting to pack up for the weekend trip to Nebraska, judging from the suitcases at the master bedroom upstairs.

"It was spankin', Mom. We did manage to get through Act I of Romeo and Juliet today." Kim replied.

"What about Ronald?" James then inquired.

"Ron managed to get through it okay. He stuttered on a few lines, though." Kim replied. She did not want to tell the news of her kiss with Ron for fear that it would seep to the Tweebs.

Kim then noticed the suitcases upstairs.

"So, Mom, where's my suitcase?" she then asked.

"It should be in the closet at the end of the hallway, where your brothers' suitcases are." Ann replied.

Kim headed upstairs and did find her luggage exactly where Ann pointed out.

"I'll try and start packing up." she said as she was carrying the suitcase up the stairs to her room.

However, Jim and Tim then emerged from their bedroom with a remote control car.

Kim raised her eyebrow with suspicion.

"What do you want this time, Tweebs?"

"We were going to the backyard to see if..." Jim began.

"...our remote control car would fly, given the..." Tim then added the middle to the sentence.

"...changes we made to it." Jim then finished it up.

"You know, finishing each other's sentences is really freaky." Kim said, "Now, if you don't mind, we're going to have to pack up for Mom's 'rents this weekend."

"Whatever, we won't start packing..." Jim began the reply.

"...until tomorrow." Tim finished.

Kim motioned her eyes to them.

"You'd better not damage anything outside." she warned.

Jim and Tim went downstairs with the RC car while Kim climbed the final few steps to her bedroom, suitcase in hand.

Kim laid out the four pairs of Club Banana baggy overalls on her bed that she planned to wear. Two were dark denim, the third was railroad stripe, and the fourth one was khaki, similar to what she was currently wearing. Since she had 20 pairs of overalls to choose from (of which more than half were dark denim), she decided to go with a little bit of variety.

"Alright, now that I organized them, I'll have to choose the tops next." Kim said to herself, "Since Nebraska's gonna be cold this time of the year, I'll go with the long sleeved tops. Maybe add a coat to it to keep myself warm."

She then looked at the railroad stripe overalls, which usually served as a go-to for babysitting duties. However, the right strap clasp was bent a little from a babysitting gig she did a month ago, and thus was prone to slipping off the button. Kim normally alleviated this by going the one-strap route.

Kim went through her drawers to accessorize the outfits before leaving with her family to head to Bueno Nacho to meet with Ron.

(7:30pm)

Ashley A, along with Ashley B, Hope, and Amanda, arrived at the garage over at the Rockwaller house. Aside from Ashley A doing up one of the overall straps earlier, none of the other girls made changes to their bib-down overalls.

"Can you try and call her to see if Bonnie's home?" Hope asked.

"She texted me 15 minutes ago and said that she was finishing up ballet practice." Amanda replied. Bonnie usually had ballet practice once a week on Wednesdays. "She should be at the house soon."

Veronica then opened the front door.

"Why, hello, girls! Would you like to come in? It's getting a bit cold outside." she asked.

"Sure thing, Mrs. Rockwaller." Ashley B replied with a smile. The girls went inside the Rockwaller house.

"Would you like anything to eat or drink?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah, some cookies and milk would be good." Ashley A replied, "Since Ashley T isn't here, of course."

The other girls followed behind Veronica into the house.

"Is there anyone else here?" Hope asked.

"Just Jonnie." Veronica replied, referring to the youngest member of the Rockwaller family. "Donnie's at the station right now and Connie and Lonnie are out of town."

Veronica then heard another motor from the thick walls of the house.

"That must be Bonnie!" she giggled while putting the plate of cookies and pitcher of milk on the kitchen table.

"How did you know?" Amanda asked.

"Let's just say us mothers have a sixth sense about things!" Veronica said with a smile.

Bonnie came through the front door, exhausted. The only change she made to the undone overall outfit was that she was not exposing the rim of her CB boxers. She was holding a large tote bag containing her ballet costume. The brunette quickly collapsed on the couch.

"Aww...did Bonnie have a hard day at ballet?" Veronica questioned.

"Don't even ask, Mother." Bonnie muttered. "Stupid ballet teacher kept us there longer than normal."

"You do have some company." Veronica giggled, "Some of your friends are here!"

Bonnie's exhausted look turned to that of glee.

"Where are they?"

"In the kitchen. I gave them some freshly-baked cookies from the oven and milk."

"I could go for some right now."

Bonnie went into the kitchen and saw the four girls there, eating the cookies.

"Hey, my girls. I thought you would come a bit later than usual." she said.

"We decided to arrive a bit earlier, hoping you would be here." Ashley B replied.

"Yeah. We got a few...important matters...to tend to." Ashley A insisted, winking at Bonnie.

Bonnie then remembered what she meant earlier, "Oh right, I know what you mean!"

Veronica giggled, "You girls go ahead and talk about cute boys and fashion! I'll be in the master bedroom waiting for Donnie!" She headed towards the hallway.

Seeing that the coast was clear, Bonnie said to the other girls. "Head to my bedroom after you finish the cookies."

The other girls nodded their heads in agreement.