Ron walked through the rest of the school day with a stunned look on his face. He could hardly believe he even made it through the rest of the day. Kim’s words dug into his mind like nails on chalkboard.
“Consider this the end of our friendship – FOREVER!”
Kim had barely paid attention to him for the rest of the day. The most she had, it was an “accidental” cleat in the face in Gym while they played football (the PE teacher forbade them to call it soccer), and the other was giving the correct answer to a question after he’d got it wrong in Barkin’s class.
He slumped into his normal booth at Bueno Nacho after school. “The end of our friendship…forever…”
“FOREVER!”
These had been the words of the woman who, not a week ago, he’d woken up to find snuggled in his arms, playfully teasing with his hair, taunting him to wake up. The woman who’d he kissed many times-
“No.” He clutched his head. “Shove it out of your mind. It’s over. You can forget her. You can move o- daww, what the hell am I thinking?” He looked at Rufus. “I can’t forget her, Rufus. I mean, who could?”
Rufus nodded his appreciation. “Uh-huh, uh-huh!” the mole rat chittered.
Ron slumped over. “This, my non-hairy little friend – this is what I’d call one hell of a very bad sitch.” He sighed. “Enh, let’s go home, buddy. Maybe there’s an interesting story or two on the evening news.”
“Where are the vehicles?”
“Dude, these are, like, the most seriously tricked out rides EVER, man! Seriously! There’s no way we’re givin’ em to you before we take ‘em out for a lil’ test run first!”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, seriously, man. We’re rippin’ ‘em down the Jersey Turnpike tomorrow mornin’. Hey - wanna watch, dude? It’s the coolest thing ever – seriously. The smell of the asphalt, the engine smoke…aw, dude, it’s such a beautiful experience. So don’t worry, dude. We’ll get them to you. Seriously. We will.”
“Oh, I know you will. But just for some insurance-”
VROOM! VROOM!
“Whoah, dude! Hold on – seriously! Was that my bike I just heard in the background?”
“Indeed it was. Hold on-”
SPLASH!
“Hey now – I just heard water splash. You in the tub or somethin’? Seriously, dude - that’s not right.”
“Wasn’t water. ‘Tis Kerosene.”
“Oh, cool, dude. Seriously.”
SKRATCH!
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing. Just a match.”
“Ah, cool, du – hey, waitaminute…”
FWOOSH!
“What are you doing to my bike, dude? Seriously?”
“Seriously? Oh, nothing.”
KA-BOOM!
“Just using it to cover my tracks in the Bavarian Alps, is all.”
“YOU TRASHED MY BIKE, DUDE? SERIOUSLY?”
“Oh, let me tell you seriously? I am capable of doing much more than that – provided, of course, you and your boys aren’t willing to change your minds on your road trip down the Jersey Turnpike tomorrow…”
“Uh – ok, alright, dude! We’ll get the vehicles to ya’ - ASAP! Seriously, we will. Seriously.”
“You better.”
BEEP.
“Freaks…”
Kim thanked god that her mom had decided to come home from work early as she burst through the front door. “MOMMMMMM!” She ran bawling to the other room – where Mrs. Possible was sitting, watching the early evening news - like a 2-year old and wrapped herself around her mother, still crying.
“Goodness, Kimmie!” exclaimed Mrs. Possible. “What happened?”
“I so totally did the stupidest thing in the world - EVER - today, Mom!” Kim wailed. “I told Ron our friendship was over – FOREVER!” She cried some more. “Ohhh, I feel so stupid right now! I don’t do things like that! I don’t push my friends away even if they’re being jerk-ish! Oh, Mom, I was so OOC!”
“OOC?” asked Mrs. Possible.
“Out of Character,” Shego noted, appearing in the room’s doorway. “Lemme tell ya’, the volume when she screamed at him? An atom bomb could’ve dropped on the school and no one woulda’ noticed.”
“Could we have some privacy here, Shennen?” Mrs. Possible glared.
Shego gulped. “Ah, yeah! Right. Sorry about that…” She walked away, towards the guest room.
Mrs. Possible waited until she was sure their new tenant was gone, then looked at her daughter. For the first time since Kim had begun preschool, she looked completely helpless. The pain that shone through the girl’s tears was astounding. Mrs. Possible hugged her tightly. “Okay, Kimmie – tell me everything.”
Outside, the weather went from overcast to stormy as the new front moved in over Middleton.
Bonnie Rockwaller walked away from her house, furious. Not running away, just furious. Arguing with one’s parents over some stupid thing such as getting suspended from school tended to make her just that.
The clouds darkened. Bonnie looked up. Then the rain began. “Aw, dammit…” Bonnie grumbled as the water pelted her face… No way was she going to go back to her house to grab a coat when she’d just stormed out of it in a hissy fit. Defeating the purpose of storming out angrily aside, Bonnie knew her stupid sisters would just keep her locked out, and that her parents wouldn’t care. But she had to find shelter somewhere. She looked to her left. There was a small section trees that looked like good shelter. She ran across the road at the next crosswalk, and tested the grass. It was dry. Perfect. She sat down.
“Oh, the first moment I see Kim Possible…BAM!” she growled to herself. “That bitch is gettin'’ a fist to the face.” It didn’t matter that she knew Kim had nothing to do with it – she just wanted to hit Kim once.
Course, doing so was easier said than done. Bonnie knew Kim would have her flat on her back in less than a second. She did happen to routinely fight people who trying to kill her on a semi-daily basis…
No…It’s not her fault. It’s mine. I got myself suspended from school. I’m the stupid one who made the stupid choice. Don’t blame her for everything that goes wrong in your life. Just the times when your reputation ends up in the shitter ‘cause she had to go and save the world – AGAIN - during the Prom…
“Lost in thought, Miss Rockwaller?”
Bonnie spun around. “W-who’s there?”
“That’s a need-to-know basis. Now, if you would be so kind as to join us-”
An unmarked van pulled up to the curb.
“-this won’t be any trouble for either of us. Choose to not cooperate - and I can’t guarantee anything.”
Bonnie stood up. “Oh yeah, asshole? I’ll let you know I’m not exactly in the best of moods, so I’d move along if I were you. I ain’t goin’ nowhere, especially in joyrides with strangers driving unmarked vans.”
“Hmm…Good safety tips - parents taught you well - but just remember? Condoms can’t protect you from everything!”
Bonnie glared. “What makes you think I’ll be hitching a ride with a coward who won’t show his face?”
CHIK.
“5 henchmen and 72 rounds.”
Bonnie’s spine suddenly became very cold.
“-and I feel so TERRIBLE about it all, Mom!” Kim wailed.
“Oh, Kimmie…I bet you do…” Mrs. Possible.
There was a light rapping on the door frame. “Uh – is this still private family time, or can I watch the news in here now?” Shego asked from out of their view. “The Tweebs have the internet tied up playing some “Everlot” game, or something like that.”
“I’m calmed down enough,” Kim sniffed. Mrs. Possible looked at her. “No, Mom, I am. Seriously. Yeah, you can come in here now, Shennen.”
Shego did just that, sitting on the couch as Mrs. Possible stood up. “I think I’ll go start on dinner, then. Pasta okay for tonight?” Shego and Kim nodded, as Shego found the remote and turned up the volume on the TV to levels one could actually hear. Orders confirmed, Mrs. Possible headed into the kitchen.
Kim sat on the other side of the couch, sniffling every now and then. Shego sighed. “Ugh, how redundant – lessee what’s on the sports channel, shall w-” Without warning, Kim suddenly leaned over and hugged her at the waist. “What the - Kim, what the hell are you doing?” Shego asked, dropping the remote. “Hey, human paperweight? Ya’ listening to me? What the hell are you doing?”
“Shennen?” Kim’s voice still shook as she spoke; her lip still trembled. She looked directly into Shego’s eyes with her own tear-filled ones – eyes that still projected the torturous pain twisting inside her.
Shego sighed. Have to play nice… “What?” she asked.
Kim rested her head on Shego’s legs. It wasn’t Ron, but it was good for now. “How did it feel when you lost your parents and grandmother?”
Shego sighed. “Look, Kim, if you wanna draw a comparison between losing your friendship with your ex and me losing my parents and my grandmother – lemme just say that those two incidents are not comparable.”
“I know,” Kim said. “I just wanna know how you felt.”
Great. What the hell have you gotten yourself into this time, Shego?
“Well, Kim, I-”
Before she answered, the TV interrupted. “This is a breaking news story for Middleton 10 news at Five.”
“Shh! I’ll tell ya’ in a minute, Kim,” Shego noted, turning up the TV.“And now we go live to Linda, in Europe. Linda?”
“Thanks, Jim. I am here in the Bavarian Alps, outside the lair of noted supervillain Professor Dementor - who was not long ago found inside, brutally murdered along with all of his henchmen and two genetically mutated Dachshunds.”
Kim sat up in shock. Shego’s eyes flew open. Murdered?
“Murdered?” Kim asked.
“Murdered?”
Ron sat up in his chair, now listening intently to the news.
“Are there any suspects so far, Linda?”
“Yes, there are, Jim. The Bavarian Police have informed us that the evidence from the break-in and a subsequent search inside the building has turned up clues leading to two suspects. The first suspect is Shego, the accomplice of Dr. Drakken’s in the infamous Lil’ Diablo incident 6 months ago – however, she seems to have disappeared off the face of the Earth since that case’s mistrial ruling a week ago-”
WHAT? Shego’s eyes went as wide as they could go. Kim looked over at her.
“And the other suspect – and every police officer I’ve talked to has told me they don’t believe it either, but they can’t be biased in their work – is…Middleton’s own world-famous teen hero, Kim Possible.”
“ME?” Kim shrieked.
“KIM?”
Ron gasped. Kim and Shego, both suspected of murder? Rufus’ jaw was wide open in shock. “But Kim would never kill!” Ron protested, looking at Rufus – who frantically nodded in aggreement wth him. Ron stopped, and pondered a bit. “But then again, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shego kill anyone, either…” He thought some more. His eyes went wide. “Oh, snap…” He looked at Rufus. “Rufus, my friend-” He looked back at the TV. “Maybe I was being a little jealous douche back there.” He looked down. “Maybe Shennen isn’t Shego after all…”
END CHAPTER EIGHT