Kim Possible Rides Again - Prologue Ch7.

- MEANWHILE IN EUGENE -

“Kimmie, it’s your mother again.  I know you are trying your best to assert your independence and all but it would be nice if you would take some time out of your schedule and say hey to the family every once in a quarter.  Give me a call back when you get a chance.  Love you!”

“Whatever.”  Kim sighed as she deleted the message and continued to jog around the walking track.

“Your mom again?”  Haley asked as her roommate ran to catch up.

“Yeah, I think she’s bored. Ever since my father went away on a year-long mission to the space station that he’s been working on my mom has been calling me at least once a week.”

“Awh, I think she’s lonely,” Haley sympathetically replied. “When was the last time you talked to her?”

Kim scrunched up her face in disapproval of the impending lecture she felt was coming. “My birthday.”

“Kim, you can’t go that long without talking to your mom. That’s just cold and mean!”

“I know, but I’m still steamed at her over the whole spring break thing.”

“You’re honestly going to hold a grudge against your mother because she got mad at you for deciding to spend a week on the shores of Cabo Wabo over being home with your family helping them move back into your rebuilt home?”

“Well, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Kim defended.  “Would you have passed up an all-expense paid trip to one of the most exclusive beaches in Mexico? Especially, when it just happened to be with the hottest guy in your organic chemistry class?”

“If I knew that two months later I would be sitting on my bed crying my eyes out on the account of said hot guy cheating on me over Memorial Day; you bet I would,”  Haley shot back.

Kim grit her teeth in disdain. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Jerk.”

“Let’s not forget how her precious Kimmie decided to get herself inked while she was down there.” Haley smirked while eyeing the small tattoo across Kim’s wrist.

“Oh, she doesn’t know about the tat yet,”  Kim replied.

“Well, I’m sure that one is going to be a fun conversation whenever she does.”  

“Not unless she wants to be a hypocrite,”  Kim said smugly as she looked down from her stride and admired the small cluster of stars which now adorned her inner wrist. “I’ve seen her little piece she’s got on her hip that she thinks nobody knows she has.”

“No way!  Your mom has ink?!”

“Yep, it’s of the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society logo.  I’ve always assumed she got it sometime in med school.  She never shows it off so I’m assuming it’s a personal affect of hers or she regrets getting it.”

“That’s so cool. I never took your mom as a rebel.”

“Don’t, she’s still a ‘square’.”

“Now, Kimbo, you shouldn’t talk about your mom like that.”

“Hey, her words, not mine,”  Kim defended as she uploaded some photos to her MyFaceSpace account from a hike she took earlier in the week.  “It’s not like she can do anything about it now, it’s kind of permanent you know.”

“Yeah but you never know with those neurosurgeons. Out of spite she might lobotomize you in your sleep next time you go home to visit.”

“True. But I’m not planning on going back to that concrete, reinforced compound they call a home anytime soon, so I’m sure my frontal lobes are fine.”

“Well, still you should keep in touch with them better. There are some of us who didn’t have caring moms to bug us all the time you know?”

“I’ll talk to her later, it’s so not the drama,” Kim answered in her famous catchphrase as she stopped to stretch out her hamstrings. “Besides, we’d probably just get into another argument about time management or something and it’ll put me in a bad mood before the End of Summer Session party at the Delta house tonight.”

“I can’t believe you’re actually going up to that clubhouse full of mouth-breathing neanderthals,” Haley said somewhat concerned before taking a gulp of water. “Those parties aren’t like the Kappas. There are no standards, no oversight and the cops always seem to make an appearance.”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle, Haley. I’ve been tied to missiles, left for dead countless times in pits of lava and buried alive under water in a chest full of holes. A simple summer party ranks up there somewhere around rescuing a cat out of a tree in terms of danger.  Besides, after that stats final today I need to blow off some steam.”

“Yeah but isn’t that why we’ve been running for the last hour?”

“No, we run so we keep a whole lot of gone between us and the freshman fifteen.”

“Yeah but we’re sophomores now. Well I ... uh ... I mean, I am at least,”  Haley replied, stretching her shoulders.

“And so am I. It’s just a technicality that I’m still a freshman. Once I get those three credit hours from these summer sessions, I’ll be as much a sophomore as you.”

“I hope so. You took a bit of a slide there at the end of last semester. So how was that stats final today?”

“I’d prefer to focus on finishing up this 8k,” Kim responded changing the subject.

“That bad?”

“64.”

“Ouch, maybe it’ll come up with the curve?”

“That was with the curve.”

“Oh, that stinks.”

“No big, D means done.”

"What’s going on with the slips?  You were doing so good for a while.”

“Not sure. I am finding it hard to concentrate lately. Almost like I can’t see the lecture notes on the boards.”

“Do you think you need glasses? By the way you talk about your mission days, you seemed to have taken a lot of bumps over the years.”

“I hope not.  I don’t think it’s just that either.”

“You um … don’t think that it might be in part that you’re spending a lot of time clubbing, partying and staying up to the wee hours of the night on weekdays would it?”  Haley carefully asked.

“I don’t do anything until after I have done my studies and homework. I know how to manage my time,” Kim responded after taking a swig from her own water bottle. “Besides, wasn’t it you who told me to quit being a bump on a log and to get out and, what was the term?  ‘Capitalize’ on my freedom from the dead weight of high school?”  

“Well, yeah. But in moderation. Sometimes it kind of feels like you went from one end of the spectrum to the other.  And then the whole spring break trip. I ...”

“Hey!” Kim shut her off. “I thought we agreed not to discuss what happened over spring break.”

“Fine,” said a resigned Haley. “But I still think you should probably cool it down a bit with the partying. I don’t want you to fall back on academic probation like you did before.”

“I’m fine, Haley,” Kim said again, getting increasingly annoyed with her roommate’s attempts at intervention. “Don’t you remember I’m the girl that can do anything???  Now keep up!” she finished as she turned up her running and began to sprint away from her gasping roommate as she struggled to keep up with Kim’s pace.

“I *huff* know you can do anything *huff huff*, but that *huff* includes failing at things too,” Haley mutter to herself as she keeled over.

----THE NEXT AFTERNOON

*BEEP*

“Kimberly Ann Possible, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but if you think tha-”

A severely hung over Kim rolled over and killed the voicemail on her phone then rolled back over into her bed sheets.

Seconds later she shot straight up in bed, glanced frantically around the room, making sure it was her room, and then looked at her clock. Three in the afternoon.  She threw off her bed sheets to see what she was wearing. She was still in her khaki shorts, which upon further inspection turned out to be somewhat damp.  She didn’t recognize the shirt she was wearing. It was an extra large t-shirt emblazoned with some sort of tribal tattoo design and had the sleeves cut off.  She continued to inspect herself, and found her bra was missing.  

Fearing that she got a little carried away last night and quite possibly did something she would regret, she jumped off her bed. She rushed to her dresser and quickly threw on some new clothes and shoes and then hurried out into the hall to try to find Haley.

Kim searched every hallway and kitchenette in her dorm without any luck so she decided to turn her search to the student union where Haley had a tendency to frequent on Sunday afternoons.  As she made her way out of the dorm, through the lobby and out into the main campus, she began to notice how everyone around her seemed to be staring at her. At first she just wrote it off as an impairment of the hangover but the longer she walked, the more she noticed it.  Eventually her speculation got traction as she caught sight of a couple of girls gossipping with each other as she walked by. They had their hands over their mouths in an attempt to prevent her from seeing their conversation.  Another time she swore she heard the sound of a cameraphone clicking off an image from behind her.  

Kim’s stride turned into a sprint as she grew increasingly paranoid. She made her way to the student union and continued her search.  Again, her roommate was nowhere to be found as she checked every concourse, study area and food court she came across.  Hope had begun to fade that she would find Haley and took the opportunity of being near a food court to grab some lunch.  She grabbed herself a salad and took it to the checkout counter where she was greeted by a large, pimple-laden cashier named Clyde.

“Hey dayer,” Clyde said with a crooked, creepy smile as he rung her up her salad.

“Hello,” Kim replied trying to be nice.

“You’re that Kim Possible girl right? The one that’s been on the news?”

“I … guess?  It’s been a while since I’ve done any interviews or anything though,” she replied confused.

“Nah, nah, I meant like today,”  he said as his goofy smile flashed bigger and bigger.

“Today?”

“Man you are like, one crazy chica,” Clyde replied laughing. “I so wish I was thayer last night.”

Kim was really starting to worry. “Last night?”

“Hoooo yeah. Shoot. It’s all over tv today,” he snorted.  “Hey, this is probably weird, but are you single?  ‘Cause if not, I could b-”

“No, I think I’ll just be going out with this salad and juice,”  Kim said handing him her Campus Cash card.

“Your loss,” Clyde said keeping with his Cheshire grin intact as he handed her card back to her.

Knowing that something had happened, but not knowing what, Kim grabbed her food and got out of the food court area as fast as she could.  She sought refuge on an upper floor of the union where she sat at a remote table and began to eat.

“That’s the girl on the news!” she heard a voice whisper behind her.

“You’re right, it is,” another whispered back.

Kim swung around trying to see who said that and noticed a small group of girls walking down the hallway, their backs to her.  It was when she turned her head back around and her eyes caught one of the televisions which hung above the study area that her pupils dilated and her stomach sank into her pelvis.

Broadcasting across the screen on a national 24-hour newscast were pictures of her from the night before. She was completely inebriated in the pictures and they were accompanied with a graphic which said, “TEEN HERO FALLS FROM GRACE.”

“Oh no!”  Kim shrieked as she stood on her chair to turn up the volume on the monitor to hear what the reporters were saying.

“... attendees at the summer party said that 19-year old Kimberly Possible, the retired crime fighter and local town hero of Middleton, Oregon, appeared to be extremely intoxicated after only an hour of her arrival at the party.  She apparently consented to having her picture taken making out with several male party goers …”

“Oh my gosh!”

“... as well as a few FEMALE party goers …”

“OH. MY. GOD!”

“... before finally completely hitting rock bottom and participating in a makeshift wet t-shirt contest. As these, edited-for-television, photos obtained by Action News show she apparently wasn’t afraid to show off her assets to win that contest.”

“We now go to news correspondent Summer Gale who is in Middleton at the Possible’s home attempting to get a reaction from Kim’s mother and renowned neurosurgeon, Dr. Ann Possible, MD.”

“No, not Mom!”

“Dr. Possible, Summer Gale Action News.  What do you have to say about the scandal surrounding your daughter allegedly partaking in underage drinking and unacceptable behavior at college?”

“Well, considering I just found out about it an hour ago from a slew of other reporters and am still in shock, I really don’t know what to say.  Other than if it’s true it’s highly disappointing and we will handle it as a family matter. Thank you.”

“Dr. Possible, do you think your parenting skills had anything to do with this behavior?”

“What?! EXCUSE ME?!  I raised my daughter to know right and wrong, and how to handle herself.  Don’t you DARE accuse me of being negligent in her rearing!”

“Hey Mom!  Stand back, Jim’s going to take care of those annoying reporters with his new stink drone!”

“JIM!  TIM! DOOO-” *SIGNAL LOST*

“Well Summer it seems that we have lost your signal, but I think it’s safe to say that whatever is going on in Middleton … STINKS!”

“Oh, that was way too simple of a joke there, Harold. Tisk. Tisk.  Speaking of simple things as we continue to cover ‘Kimgate - 2008’ we have received video taken earlier today including reaction from Kim’s former sidekick and apparent ex-boyfriend, Jon Stoppable.”

“I think his name was Ron.”

“Whatever Kate…”

“Ron?  Oh, no …”

“Mister Stoppable, do you have any comments regarding the photos showing the outlandish behavior of Kim Possible that surfaced late last night?”

“Photos? She was being outlandish?”

“Photos have surfaced about her being possibly intoxicated and participating in lewd behavior.”

“That can’t be KP, she doesn’t drink or do anything lewd like that.”

“Well, we have pictures that say otherwise.”

“You do?”

“Ron, when can you say was the last time you two were together?”

“Uh, about a year ago.”

“Do you think that maybe since you two broke up, her life has been in a downward spiral?”

“Listen. I don’t know what you think you have, but Kim Possible would never do that stuff. If you’ll excuse me I have a class that I need to get to.”

“Well, it seems that everyone involved in this story appears to be unhinged or in a state of denial.”

“Indeed, Kate, It seems we can chalk Kim Possible up to another sad statistic of a teenage, pop culture icon whose light burned too bright, too fast during her four years of fame.  Perhaps she couldn’t handle the limelight, the popularity, the constant punning of her name.  It’s such a sad thing to see.”

“That it is Harold. Hopefully Miley Cyrus is out there paying attention.”

“Ha haaaa, so very true. After the break, we take you calls and opinions on this busy Sunday afternoon as we continue our coverage of ‘Kimgate ’08.”

“Holy ...”

“Shhhh! We’re trying to study over here!” A couple of grad students scolded from across the room. Reeling Kim back into reality.

Kim was floored.  She stood beside her table and continued to look at the screen with wide eyes and a blank stare as an ad for Coco Moo ran.  Her mind was numb as she continued to run through her head the images of her doing things she would have never thought she was capable of doing. How said things had drug her family and Ron into the mess, compounding it even more.

“I’m ruined,”  she managed to push out of her swelling throat.  “All of that work. All of those missions. All of my studies. Gone in an evening. What have I done?”

She left her uneaten salad on the table and slowly turned around to leave when she noticed a group of about fifteen people amassing behind her, including Clyde who apparently was on break.  They exchanged looks between each other across the room.  Some frowned at Kim, other shook their heads in dismay, and some of the guys clicked off pictures with their phones.  Kim finally regained enough feeling in her body that she started to sidestep around the onlookers and then once she scuttled to the adjacent hallway, turned heel and sprinted down it.  

She hit the fire escape and jumped down the flights of stairs, ran out the side door and began sprinting back to her dorm room.

“I have to get out of here!”  she kept saying to herself over and over as she made the trek.  “Need to lay low!”  

Back at the dorm, Kim bypassed the elevators and headed straight for the stairs and ran up 8 flights to her floor and continued sprinting before reaching the safety confines of her room.  She ran into the room and slammed the door behind her in a panic.

“Well, look who’s finally awake,” Haley, who had returned while Kim was away, said.

“Haley!  I’m screwed!”

“Eh?”

“The party last night … I’m … I’m all over the news!”

“You are? Let me check,” she said as she opened up a browser on her computer.
“OH MY GOD Kim!”  

“What am I going to do?  The drinking, the university … my parents … I can’t show my face around here! I am so screwed!”

“Okay, okay let’s take a step back and take a deep breath and analyze the situation and see if we can right the plane.”

“Haley, the plane has crashed into mountain!  I am ruined!  They’ve attached ‘gate’ to the end of my name. They only do that for the biggest of scandals!”

“Yeah and they do that also when they want to tear down a public figure. Just chill and let me think for a minute.”

“I can’t show my face around here,”  Kim cried as she paced across the room.

“Okay. Okay, at least this happened at the end of the summer session.  That makes it a little easier to lie low for a bit. No need to attend any classes, or go out in public.  So at least you had good timing.”

“Haley …”

“Okay, sorry. Hmmm, hey! I’ve got an idea!”

“What’s that?”

“Well, you have always said that you wanted to study abroad. What better time to go overseas for a semester than needing to lay low and out of sight for a long period of time?”

“Hmmm, that could work. Wait, no it wouldn’t.  The registration deadline for studying abroad for this fall was months ago.  Plus my grades. I wouldn’t have been eligible anyways.”

“That may be true. However, not everyone has a little fat computer nerd at their disposal.”

“Wade?”

“Exactamundo. I’m sure he could probably hack into the school’s system and make a few edits to get you on the list.  Not to mention maybe bump up that GPA of yours a few points while he was at it.”

“I’m sure he could, but I would be asking him to commit a cardinal sin.  Can you imagine what would happen if we got caught?”

“Not sure but fairly certain disciplinary action on a student who was allegedly drinking while underage and already familiar with the probationary office couldn’t be any worse.  Besides, Wade’s a pro. Nobody would know other than us and my lips are sealed.”  

“I don’t like it, but I’m up against a wall.” Kim resigned as she kneeled down at her bed and pulled out an old cardboard box from beneath it. She started rummaging through the old clothes, books and personal items she had stored in it until she finally came across her old Kimmunicator.

“Please still work!”  she begged as she dusted the device off and powered it up.  Soon the red LED lit up and the screen began to boot as her old “KP” logo flashed across the interface.

“Wade?  Wade are you there?”

“Kim?”  A familiar voice replied.  “Kim is that you?”

“Yes, Wade, it’s me. I need your help, I am in one, enormous sitch.”

The screen began to lighten as Wade began pulling things away that he had thrown over his mothballed monitor and then proceeded to wipe the screen clean.

“Long time no see Kim, so how’s it going?” he asked with shifty eyes fully aware of the escapades of his former partner.

“Wade, have you seen the news?  Have you seen the pictures of me that they have been plastered all over TV today?”

Wade glanced at another one of his monitors, his eyes widened briefly as he clicked and minimized a hidden window.  “Um, no, Kim. I can’t say that I have.”

“Wade …”

“Okay, okay, maybe I saw a little of the coverage.”

“You have the pictures on your hard drive don’t you?”

“No. I didn’t say that,” Wade replied somewhat sweating.

“Uh huh.”

“So, you said you needed something?”  he asked quickly changing the subject.

“I need a big fav from you Wade. I need to get away for a while. I need to lay low until this whole thing blows over.”

“I don’t know what we can do Kim. We’ve used up all of our favors and the website was mothballed so nothing new is coming in.  I’m not really sure what I can do.”

“That’s okay, we’ve come up with a plan and need your help to pull it off.”

“Pull it off?  Sounds more like a job than a favor,” Wade replied suspiciously.

“I need you to hack into Oregon’s registrar server and put my name on a list for studying abroad for the fall semester.  I also, might need you to kinda tweak my GPA up a few points too.”

“Might?”

“Okay, need.”

“Kim, this is some pretty heavy stuff you’re asking me to do.  I thought we agreed that we would never use my hacking skills for personal gain.”

“Wade, this isn’t for personal gain. This is for personal survival!  If I don’t find a way to get out of here and lay low for a few months I might never recover!”

There was a long pause on the other end of the transmission as Wade struggled with the moral implications of what was being asked of him.  

“Fine, I’ll do it,”  Wade sighed.

“Thanks Wade, you don’t know how big of a deal this is for me.  I owe you one.”

“I don’t think you know how big of a deal this is for me,”  Wade grumbled back.  “And you don’t owe me anything for this one.”

“For reals?”

“Yeah for reals. Because if this is how it’s going to be between us, I’m going to have to take a step back and no longer offer my services to you.”

“Oh,” Kim replied sadly.

“I’m sorry Kim, this isn’t what I signed up for. Fixing grades and doing damage control. After this you’re on your own.”

“I understand, I know I’m asking a lot of you.”

“That you are,”  Wade grumbled “Okay, finished.  Since you were close to it anyways, I tweaked your GPA to 3.0, which is the bare minimum requirement for studying abroad status.”

“And for going abroad?”

“Well, since we are so late in registering, there were only a handful of openings left.  And I figured the Glasgow one was too close to Killigan for your liking, and Vancouver doesn’t really get you far away enough.”

“So the winner is?”

“Prague, you’ll be spending the fall in Prague.”

“Prague?”

“You’ll love it Kim, cool in the summer, warm in the winter, drinking age is 18.  It’s perfect.”

“Was that a knock Wade?”

“Lets just hope you make the most of this second chance Kim, not everyone gets one.”

“I will.”

“Okay then, it appears my work here is done. And you’re scheduled to ship out next Saturday. It’s been a real privilege working with you Kim.”

“Likewise Wade, and again, thanks for everything.”

“Once I sign off, the Kimmunicator’s primary functions will be disabled, but some basic functions will still remain.  MP3 player, alarm clock, night light. That sort of thing.  Consider it a parting gift.  Best of luck, Kim.”

“Goodbye, Wade,” Kim replied somberly.

The Kimmunicator’s screen went dark and Kim laid back on the floor and pressed her hands to her face.  Both relieved and heartbroken at the same time knowing this big decision had cost her one of closest and oldest friendships she had.

-END-