“You’re going to go undercover for me at Middleton High School, Shego!”
High school.
“Hey look! It’s the freak girl with the glowing green hands!”
“Isn’t she supposed to be, like, a superhero or something?”
School.
“What? Superhero?”
“Yeah – Team Go or something like that!”
She was going to go back to school.
“I don’t think so, man.”
“Hey! Let’s attack her! We’ll find out for sure that way!”
The last time she’d been to school…
“Did you hear?”
“What?”
“They broke up!”
“What”
“Who broke up?”
“No way!”
“Are you serious?”
“That’s terrible!”
“Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable broke up?”
“Hmmph. Figures.”
“They broke up?”
“Seriously? Man, that sucks. I feel sorry for them.”
“Hah! I knew they couldn’t keep their relationship together! Just what she gets for dating that loser!”
“Hey, I can make my move on her now!”
“They broke up?”
“No way!”
“Wait, I’m confused – they broke up? Or he proposed to her?”
“They’re getting married?”
“No! They’re not getting married! Where the hell did you hear that from?”
“Yeah, they ain’t gettin'’ married!”
“So they did break up?”
“Yeah. They’re splitsville now.”
“Damn. Sucks for him…”
“She’s free? Hell yes!”
“Damn. Sucks for her…”
“He’s free? Hell yes!”
“Hmmph. Like I’ve always said, he shouldn’t have been dating her. How the hell did they end up becoming friends in the first place? He’s such a loser!”
“Hey, lay off them, Bonnie!”
“Yeah, Bonnie – she still can kick your ass, you know. I wouldn’t talk that shit around her.”
“Oh, just shut up, Mankey!”
“Waitaminute! How are they gonna, like, save the world and stuff now?”
“BY STAYING FRIENDS, DAMMIT!”
The entire cafeteria went silent as everyone turned around to look at Monique, sitting at the table in the center of the room – along with Kim and Ron. And even Kim and Ron were cowering back at the rage of fire that was boiling through the eyes of their mutual friend as Monique stared down everyone in the cafeteria. Even the lunch lady looked like she was going to dive under the counter in fear at any moment.
“Now, will y’all kindly stop talking about my two best friends like they’re goddamn Bennifer? Good lord, people, it’s not like they can’t hear you, y’know. So they broke up. It’s so not the big deal! They’ve already gotten over it. Why don’t all of you do the same? Jeezus…” With that, Monique was finished with her spat. She sat back down – however, the anger wasn’t completely gone from her face.
Everyone else turned back around and went back to finishing their meals – none of their conversations being on the topic that had just been discussed.
“Thank you, Monique…” Kim sighed as she returned to her meal.
“No prob, girlfriend – that’s what friends are for, right?”
“At least they’re not letting Bonnie’s bullshit fly anymore,” said Ron.
“Hah hah, yeah, you really handed her her ass at the Prom, didn’t you guys?” Monique laughed. “I swear, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone’s circle go kaput so fast. She’s so pissed at you guys.”
“Well, considering even all the kids at Middleton Middle School know her track record with Brick, it kinda makes this situation a little more difficult for her to snipe at us about,” Kim chimed in.
“What was it at last count?” asked Ron. “Forty times since they first hooked up Sophomore year?”
“Ron, don’t be cruel,” Kim sighed. “It’s only been twenty-five times.”
“Oh, right, yeah…”
“And she does have another valid reason for being angry with me.”
“Yeah, the ones she makes u- oh, right - the whole getting-kicked-off-the-cheer-squad thing. You know, until that happened, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as corking your pom-poms.”
“So, you found a replacement for her yet, Kim?” asked Monique.
“Tryouts aren’t for another week, Mo. And can we stop talking about Bonnie like this? Considering what you just screamed to everyone a few seconds ago, we’re being really hypocritical right now.”
“Shego! Stay still! My de-ageing ray won’t work if you keep shaking like that!”
“Oh. Sorry, Dr. D. – but if this damn thing ends up making me look like Grandmama Go, you’re going to be pushin’ up daisies in Greenland – ya’ got that?”
“I’m well aware of my thin ice status, Shego.”
“Guess that explains the funeral home card that was on the counter this morning.”
“But you agreed to this plan, mind!”
Shego forced herself to stay quiet. There was no use arguing at the moment. “Just get on with it, Dr. D.”
“Ok, girl, what’s the news on that Drakken dude?” Monique asked as the 3 teens cleaned up their table.
Ron cringed. “Oh, god – don’t get her started, Monique…”
“Didn’t he, like, get out of jail a few days ago?”
Kim glared as she dumped her whole lunch tray in the trash. “Yeah – on a mistrial.”
“A mistrial? What? Girl, that can’t be right!” Monique took Ron’s empty lunch tray and returned it to the slot above the trash can along with hers. It was still a full 20 minutes before lunch period was over, but they’d decided it’d be easier to chat away from the cafeteria.
“It’s true, Monique – check the websites!” chimed Ron. “Even FOX News agrees it’s pretty ridiculous.”
Kim blinked. “Wow.”
“Yeah, really,” said Ron. “Guess if anything’s possible for you, anything’s possible for them, too.”
“Shego, too,” Kim noted with gritted teeth.
“That woman with the green fire in her hands?” asked Monique.
“Yeah, that one. Though, really, I do feel sort of sorry for her.”
“Whoahwhoah, what? Stop the presses!” Ron looked completely shocked. “How can you feel sorry for her, Kim? She’s only tried to kill you and I, what – oh, jeez, I don’t even know where to start counting!”
“Yeah, Ron, but from the barbs we exchanged last time, apparently Drakken didn’t tell her jack diddly about his plan until like right before he set off the signal for the Diablos in Middleton. She was just as clueless as I was as to what his big, gigantic evil plan was gonna be.”
“And that means…what?” shot Ron. “She still stayed on as his crony, didn’t she?”
“Yeah, but why?” Kim sighed. “I don’t know, Ron. My head’s not been on straight for the last couple of days, what with the both of us are still recovering from the breakup and all.” She looked at Ron. It hadn’t been more than a week since that day. She missed the kisses…the cuddling… but they couldn’t get back together. They just couldn’t. There was still love, but they worked best when that love was platonic. And the both of them knew that. She looked down. “I just…kinda feel sorry for her. I mean, we know from when we fought Aviarius that she used to be a hero – a real, honest-to-god superhero. Then something happened that turned her evil. I just wish I knew what it was.”
“Hold on there, Kim!” Monique waved her hands. “She used to be a superhero? A hero?”
“Yeah, Monique – don’t tell me you haven’t heard of Team Go.”
“She used to be part of Team Go?”
“Uh, hello?” Ron cut in. “Hego, Mego, Wego 1 and Wego 2 – does the naming pattern strike a bell?”
Monique thought it over – and slapped her forehead. “Wow, I can’t believe it was that obvious.”
“Yeah, well, from what we heard from them, she wasn’t exactly any less nasty while she was a hero.”
“So she was kind of like an anti-hero?”
“Well, I’ll put it this way for you, Monique,” Ron said. “On a colour slider between green and black, she was kinda between Forest Green and Olive.”
“Interesting description, Ron,” Kim smirked. “However, it’s pretty accurate.”
Ron grinned slyly. “Booyah.”
“The car is ready?”
“Idling away.”
“You have the documents?”
Shego handed Drakken the papers.
“Good. Now let’s get to Go City, er-” Drakken, looking at the first of the documents, raised his eyebrow. “…Shannon?”
Shego sighed with annoyance. “Look at it again, you blue-headed numbskull.”
Drakken looked at the document again. And again. And once more. And even more again, once more. “Are you sure this isn’t a typo you made, Shego?” he said, putting on his reading glasses and squinting.
“If I wasn’t positive I hadn’t made a mistake on this, would I have given it to you just now?”
Drakken sighed. “No, you wouldn’t have.” He put away the reading glasses. “Fine, then! Let’s just get in the car and go over to Go City already – or else you won’t properly exist – Shennen G. O’Reilly.”
END CHAPTER TWO