Shego stared at Kim and Ron, bewildered as to their odd behavior. “What the hell has gotten into you two?” she asked.
Shushing noises came from the row in back of them. Shego glared daggers at them, but in the darkened theater the people behind her couldn't really appreciate it.
“It's Bonnie,” Kim hissed.
“Bon - “ Shego growled as more shushing noises echoed from the back. “Bonnie?” she grudgingly whispered. “Wait, you mean that Bonnie you were telling me about? The one who gave Dr. Drakken your schedule?”
“Bonnie did what?” Ron said, shocked.
“Yes, that's her,” Kim muttered. “Monique told me she was studying ballet in Boston, but I never imagined she'd show up here! I thought she was still in school!”
“Guess Justine's not the only girl on the accelerated program,” Shego said.
They lapsed into silence because there was nothing more to say on the matter. Kim was forced to watch as her most hated rival from high school pranced about the stage.
The worst part was, she was good. She was really good.
Kim had never seen Bonnie's performance in the Middleton Talent Show, having been somewhat occupied with Drakken and Shego. She knew Bonnie had taken ballet classes for years before her junior year, however, and obviously Bonnie had only gotten better.
As she watched Bonnie effortlessly glide about, she sank miserably into her seat. Why had Bonnie always viewed Kim as a threat? Couldn't she understand how deeply Kim had envied her at times? What was Ms. Possible next to Ms. Popularity? Bonnie's normal life allowed her to have time for things that Kim, thanks to her website, could never commit to.
Now, however, she could almost hate Bonnie. Life could only have gotten easier for her. Bonnie obviously was going to be a star in the world of ballet. And of course, there was Josh. Monique had warned her that Bonnie and Josh were an item now. It was one more reminder of the things Bonnie could have that Kim couldn't.
Kim's life, meanwhile, was in never-ending turmoil. Her questions about her education and career seemed to be unanswerable. The memory of the woman she'd been forced to kill was never far from her mind. And while Bonnie and Josh could have an all-American wedding some day, Kim and Shego…
Kim glanced at Shego. The dark-haired beauty lounged in her seat, evidently bored by the whole thing. Ballet would never have the appeal for Shego that, say, professional boxing would.
She couldn't regret her deepening relationship with Shego. She was Kim's opposite in so many ways, and yet her twin in so many others. They had a connection she'd never had with Josh, and Kim suspected she never could have found in Josh what she'd found in Shego.
That didn't mean she couldn't regret the difficulties her same-sex relationship would cause for her, for Shego, and for her family and friends. Why did everything have to be so hard?!
The lights became brighter, and Kim realized they'd already arrived at an intermission. She was prepared to bolt from the theater - Ron and Shego definitely wouldn't mind - but she looked once more for Professor Dementor and saw something.
Dementor was on his feet, applauding as loudly as anyone else. But his eyes were fixated in the direction Bonnie had left.
Was this just sincere appreciation for a talented young dancer, or was it something more?
“Whoa,” she breathed.
“Kim, can we go now?” Ron pleaded.
“Not yet,” Kim said. “I think maybe Professor Dementor has feelings for Bonnie.”
Rufus spoke for them all when he poked his head out of Ron's pocket, squeezed his eyes shut, and held his nose.
“Bravissimo!”
Professor Dementor's cry carried forth before anyone else could speak as the final curtain fell on the performance. It went unnoticed by the rest of the audience, which quickly followed suit with their praise, but not by Kim, Ron, and Shego. Nor did the trio fail to notice how he tossed his bouquet at Bonnie's feet when she came out to take her bow.
“How hard do you think it is to sneak backstage?” Kim asked.
“I'm guessing not as hard as that cookie factory in Texas,” Shego said dryly.
“Did she say cookie?” Ron asked as Kim led the way downstairs.
They easily slipped backstage without anyone noticing and hid themselves in the curtains. Eventually they spotted Bonnie walking imperiously past them to a small room. She opened the door and then closed it behind her.
“Bonnie gets her own dressing room?” Kim said.
“Yeah, that's our Bonnie,” Ron said.
They were about to head for Bonnie's room when Shego pulled them back. “Try not to bump into the mad scientist,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.
Professor Dementor passed their hiding place a moment later. He would have bumped right into them if Shego hadn't pulled Kim and Ron back. “Good eyes,” Kim whispered.
“They are among my best features,” Shego said casually. Kim caught the gleam in her dark eyes and shivered.
Dementor knocked on Bonnie's door.
“Do you mind?! My feet are killing me!”
“But Fraulein Rockwaller, you were simply magnificent tonight! You were even better than last time. I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes.”
Bonnie opened the door and glared at Dementor angrily. “Look, Doc, this is the tenth time you've followed me backstage. I don't need you telling me how great I was. I know how great I was. I don't need you here, period.”
“But my dear, I am only your devoted fan, and I have been utterly entranced by your skill - and your beauty.”
“I already have a boyfriend,” Bonnie said, poking his chest. “And even if I didn't, I certainly wouldn't go out with a guy who wears a mask!”
“Especially when he's a convicted felon with a serious megalomania problem.”
Professor Dementor whirled around, momentarily blocking Bonnie's view. “You!” he shouted.
“I,” Kim replied. She stepped out of the shadows, and Shego and Ron appeared beside her.
Bonnie shoved Dementor aside and stared at the new arrivals. “Kim Possible?!”
Dementor looked at her. “Wait, you know Kim Possible?”
“You know Kim Possible?”
“Hey, there are other people in the room,” Shego said irritably.
“Nice show, Bonnie,” Kim said.
Bonnie folded her arms and leaned against the doorjamb. She smiled evilly. “Well, well. Kim Possible. I thought this theater had people to keep the riffraff out.”
“Look, Bonnie,” Kim sighed, “you can't let this guy anywhere near you. His name is Professor Dementor, and he's tried to take over the world a few times.”
Professor Dementor waved a hand. “That is ancient history, Miss Possible. I am a respectable college professor now. With tenure, I might add.”
“You're also the prime suspect in a robbery that took place recently at a Harvard research lab,” Kim told him.
“Me?” he asked, placing a hand on his chest. “I have committed no such robbery. I understand why you would think I did it, but why would I need a device that creates those useless little time portals?”
“I didn't say what was stolen,” Kim said quietly.
He paused for a second, his nostrils flaring. “The local scientific community is all abuzz, Kim Possible,” he replied. “News travels quickly in a college town.”
Shego stepped past Kim. “How about I just beat you senseless for what you pulled in my apartment a few weeks ago?” she asked.
Professor Dementor cringed. “It was a lark,” he said. “I had heard the Acceptables were gone, and I contacted some of my former cohorts in crime. It was nostalgia, nothing more! And believe me, considering some of the bruises I had afterwards, it came at a high price.”
“You make the oddest friends, Kimmie,” Bonnie sneered. “I don't think she's had her rabies shots yet.”
Shego snarled at Bonnie, but Kim held her back. She looked distastefully at Bonnie. “You don't know what real friends are, Bonnie,” she said.
“Oh, I think Josh Mankey would disagree with that. You do remember Josh, right? You had this hopeless puppy love for him but nothing ever came of it,” Bonnie said maliciously. “While he and I have become just the closest friends.”
Dementor drooped at the mention of his rival's name, while Kim clenched her fists. Bonnie was awakening in Kim all the ways she'd made her feel in high school - angry, insulted, at times powerless or envious.
Shego, however, grew quite tense at the mention of Kim's old crush. As the former object of Kim's affections, he was someone Shego despised instantly, and her jealous streak flared up. “You heard her,” she told Dementor. “Leave her alone, she's taken.”
Kim stared at Shego. Why did she care about Bonnie's love life?
Maybe because, it occurred to her a moment later, if Bonnie broke up with Josh, Shego thought Kim would pursue him. As irritated as Kim already was with Bonnie, this only exacerbated her tension.
“I don't really care who you're friends with, Bon-Bon,” Kim said, resurrecting the hated nickname Mrs. Rockwaller used to call her daughter. Bonnie resentfully narrowed her eyes. “I'm just trying to be a good Samaritan here. This guy is dangerous. As for you,” she added, looking at the professor, “for now I'll believe you. But we'll keep an eye on you, and if I think you're lying about Justine Flanner's invention, then you're going to wish I let Shego pummel you just now.”
He paled but said nothing.
“Gee, thanks Kim,” Bonnie said sarcastically. “Although if you two don't like each other, he can't be all bad.”
“Considering the kind of person you are, Bonnie,” Ron said, “maybe the two of you are perfect for each other. He's really top-rate husband material, you know.”
Dementor now grew crimson while Bonnie turned her laser-like gaze upon Ron. “Christ, Ron Stoppable, still Kimmie's lapdog? If Kim didn't have you around to kiss her rear, what would she do?”
“Forget it, Ron,” Kim said, throwing her hands in the air. “I never should have bothered. You'll spite yourself to spite me, Bonnie. You deserve that dressing room. You've already got the ‘demanding prima donna’ routine down pat.” She ignored Bonnie's indignant squawk as she turned and walked away. Ron followed quickly; he couldn't wait to get away from Bonnie soon enough.
Shego waited behind for a moment. “Kim doesn't like you,” she told Bonnie. “So I don't like you.”
“Ooh, scary words from the pasty-faced girl in the neon clothing,” Bonnie replied, smirking. “What will I do without the friendship of a freak like you?”
“Ask him,” Shego said icily as she turned on her heel and left.
“Kim was always a circus sideshow,” Bonnie sniffed.
“Do not underestimate Shego,” Professor Dementor warned her, patting his brow. “She could tear you to pieces in an instant. And she would have no compunction not to.”
Bonnie looked at him. “Are you still here?”
“Damn that Kim Possible,” he said suddenly. “Always acting like she tells me what to do. I took orders from that damned Acceptable family for years, and now she dares to do the same?!”
“You really don't like her, do you?” she said slowly.
He shook his head stiffly. “Neither do you, obviously.”
She shrugged. “Still, what does that matter? What's a lowly college teacher going to do if the high-and-mighty Kim Possible decides she doesn't like you?”
Dementor turned on Bonnie, outraged. “A lowly teacher?! My dear, I will have you know that I am on the verge of a breakthrough that will give me domination over both Kim Possible, and the entire world!”
Bonnie just smiled.
Professor Dementor realized he'd just exposed himself. “Er… that is… I meant to say…”
“Yeah, I'm seeing why you lost to her all those times.”
“You won't tell her?” he asked anxiously.
“Do you really think I'd make Kim's life easier?” Bonnie asked.
“Thank you.”
“Show your gratitude by leaving me alone.”
“But why do you scorn me so?”
She massaged the bridge of her nose. “You're twice my age, you're short, and again, I already have a boyfriend!”
“But could this ‘Josh Mankey’ make you the most famous ballet dancer ever?”
Bonnie looked up. “What?”
“When the world is mine, I will erect the world's largest theater, and you will be the star in every show. I will make you immortal!”
She slammed the door in his face, making him jump back.
“Forget it!” she called through the door. “I can become a star on my own, and anyway, you'll never take over the world. Not with Kim Possible around!”
His posture slumped as he sighed and walked away.
“So do we believe him?” Kim asked as they left the theater via the back door.
“No,” Shego said instantly.
Ron nodded. “She's right. There's a reason his name is Dementor. He's nuts.”
“That makes three of us,” Kim said. “We'll have to stay in Boston for a couple more days. If he has the device, sooner or later he's going to use it, and we'll be there when he does.”
“Kim? Kim Possible?”
Kim spun around. “Josh?!”
Josh Mankey was standing by a car in the parking lot, evidently waiting for Bonnie to leave. Kim saw that the last five years had made him even more handsome, adding inches to his height and muscles to his lanky frame. He still radiated that aura of serenity that marked him as a man who was fazed by very little. “I can't believe it,” he said, smiling. “What's it been, five years?”
“More,” Kim said, going over to him and hugging him briefly. “How are you?”
He shrugged. “Can't complain. Been painting mostly. I didn't know you were in Boston. Did you come to see Bonnie's show?”
“Sort of,” Kim replied, her excitement ebbing as Josh's words reminded her that he was here as Bonnie's boyfriend. How could he have gotten involved with her? What had he been thinking?
“Hey Josh,” Ron said, and Kim realized she'd momentarily forgotten about him and Shego.
“Stoppable? Did someone hold a Middleton High class reunion without telling me?” Josh asked, grinning. He shook Ron's hand.
“And this is Shego. She's a friend of mine.” Kim glanced at Shego and felt her smile slipping. Shego had assumed an air of indifference, but by now Kim knew Shego's body language perfectly. She didn't like Josh - not one bit.
Kim was right. Even if Bonnie hadn't brought up Kim's earlier infatuation with Josh Mankey, Shego would have recognized him from the night Drakken had attempted to embarrass Kim into nonexistence. She'd approved of him at the time, but now was different. Now Kim was hers. Josh was a possible threat. And Shego preferred to deal with threats directly and forcefully. Kim's friendship with Josh prevented her from doing so, and she was forced to seethe internally while she waited for this farce to end.
“We're here on a mission,” Kim added. “Someone stole an invention from Justine Flanner's lab.”
“Flanner - wow, I haven't heard any of these names in years,” he said. “Still saving the world, I guess?”
She nodded. “Well, we'd better go. You're obviously waiting for Bonnie, and - “
“Wait,” he said, and Kim blinked. “Bonnie and I have plans tonight, but why don't the three of you come by our apartment tomorrow night? We could have dinner, just the five of us. Reminisce, catch up with each other - I meant it as a joke before, but why not have our very own miniature high school reunion?”
Kim felt like her smile was plastered to her face as she thought about what was probably a disastrous idea. An evening with Bonnie? And she could tell Shego wouldn't find dinner with Josh any more enjoyable.
But he'd always been a genuinely sweet guy, and she didn't want to punish him for Shego's jealousy or Bonnie's spite. And she really was interested in hearing what his life had been like since high school.
Still, “no” was probably the best answer.
“Okay, fine,” Kim said. She wanted to smack herself. Had she just accepted? She looked again at Shego, whose eyes seemed to smolder.
“Great,” Josh replied. “I'll tell Bonnie when I see her. We'll order in.” He looked knowingly at Ron. “How does Mexican sound?”
“Boo-yah!” Ron agreed, his concern about dinner with Bonnie evaporating.
Josh patted his pockets for a pen. “Guess you need the address.”
“Here,” Kim told him, extracting her Kimmunicator. “Just type it in here.”
As Kim and Josh leaned over the Kimmunicator while Shego did a slow burn, Dementor watched from the shadows. “So you're Bonnie's boyfriend,” he murmured. “I know that if I could defeat Kim Possible, that would impress Bonnie. But you would still be in my way. The only logical conclusion is that I must destroy both of you. Then I can take over the world, and Bonnie Rockwaller will have no reason to spurn my gifts.” He smiled evilly. “And this impromptu dinner party sounds like the perfect opportunity.”
He backed away and vanished into the darkness.
To be continued…