“So what did the doctor have to say?” Kim asked Ron over the phone.
“Yeah?” Quin asked adding to their three-way conversation.
“Well, he uh . . .” Ron studdered. “Well, it’s like this . . .”
“Ron? What’s wrong?” Kim asked.
“Oh, nothing. Nothing. It was all just a routine checkup.” Ron lied, not able to tell them what the doctor had told him and his mother.
“Are you sure Ron? You don’t sound like you normally do.” Quin said.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Ron replied. “Listen guys, I’ve gotta go. See you at school tomorrow.”
“Alright.” Kim said. “Bye.”
“Bye Ron.” Quin said.
“Bye guys.” Ron replied as he hung up the phone and leaned back onto his bed. He sighed. What was he going to do? Was he going to keep this from Kim and Quin?
Rufus poked his head out of Ron’s pocket.
“Hey buddy.” Ron said sadly. Rufus walked up to him and laid down on the pillow next to Ron - he knew what was going on.
Ron sighed as he put his head in his hands. He had never been so scared before - true, he had been scared - but never ever like this. This wasn’t some mission where he knew Kim could save him . . . this was something only the doctors could attempt to do.
\\What am I going to do?//
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After Ron hung up, Kim and Quin kept on talking.
“I wonder what’s up with Ron.” Kim wondered.
“Yeah.” Quin agreed. “He sounded so . . . so . . . confused.”
“Yeah. I’ve never heard him talk like that before and I’ve known him since pre-k!” Kim exclaimed.
Quin sighed. “I really hope that it’s just because he’s tired.” Quin hoped.
“Yeah, me too.” Kim agreed. There was a pause and, in the background, Quin heard Kim’s mother call her. Kim came back on the phone. “Hey, I got to go. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Bye.” Quin replied.
“Bye.” Kim said as she hung up the phone.
Quin sighed as she put the receiver back into it’s cradle. She had only known Ron and Kim for a few months and knew that she really couldn’t tell how one of them was supposed to act like. She didn’t know Kim nor Ron well enough to make that judgment.
That and she didn’t trust her judgements very well . . . after all, she made a judgement that Drakken and Shego were the ones who cared for her before.
And she was way wrong on that!
“Quin, time for bed!” Sarah Carman, Quin’s adoptive mother, called up the stairs.
“Alright!” Quin called back as she turned off the lights.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A ring woke Quin up the next morning. She rolled over an hit the snooze button and groaned as she muttered: “Five more minutes!”
“Quin! Are you up?” Mrs. Carman called down the stairs.
“Yeah.” Quin said back as she forced herself out of her bed and stumbled into the bathroom. She felt like falling asleep right there. She’d been up late, worrying about Ron.
\\Oh stop it. It’s probably nothing. I mean, if something was wrong, he would have told us.// Quin thought to herself as she combed her jet black hair back and put it up in a pony tail after she finished getting dressed.
Quin made her way downstairs and snagged a piece of fruit on her way out the door.
“Bye!” Quin called to Mrs. Carman.
“Hey, you haven’t eaten breakfast young lady!” Mrs. Carman scolded her.
“I only want an apple!” Quin called back.
“Fine, but don’t blame me if you get hungry before lunch.” Mrs. Carman said.
“I won’t. Bye!” Quin replied as she walked out of the door. Standing out on the sidewalk was Kim. “Hey Kim!”
“Hey Quin!” Kim called back.
Quin walked up to her. “Where’s Ron?”
“Oh, I haven’t gotten over there yet. I was just going over there.” Kim replied.
“Alright.” Quin said as they walked over to Ron’s house. Kim knocked on the door. Ron’s mother opened the door. “Hello Kimberly, Quin.”
“Is Ron here? He’s going to be late for school if he doesn’t hurry.” Kim asked.
“Oh, didn’t Ron -” Mrs. Stoppable started but was interrupted by Ron.
“Mom!” he complained. “Oh, hey KP. Hey Quin.”
“Hey Ron.” Quin replied with a small smile.
“Ron, come on before your late for school.” Kim said.
“I’m coming! Bye mom!” Ron said quickly as he jumped down the porch steps.
“But son!” Mrs. Stoppable called back, but Ron ignored her as he pulled Quin and Kim down the street.
Once he was well away from his house, he slowed down a little.
“Ron, what’s up with you?” Kim asked.
“What are you talkin’ about KP? The Ron man’s fine.” Ron replied.
“Ron, is something wrong? You know you can tell us anything.” Quin said, a worried expression on her face.
\\Yeah, I can tell you anything, except this.// he sighed as he shook his head. “Everything’s cool.” He knew he hadn’t satisfied either of them. \\Man, do I hate lying to them. But I can’t worry them - especially Quin. She’s been though enough already.//
Ron sighed. Things had changed in a hurry. Only two days ago he was worried about asking Quin to the dance - now he was worried about if he was going to live to see the dance.
The dance. He’d totally forgotten about that. Josh Mankey had asked Kim to the dance and of course, she had accepted. He remembered trying to figure out what he was going to say to Quin.
\\That seemed like years ago.// he thought.
“Ron are you sure you’re alright?” Quin asked.
“Yeah. Never better.” Ron replied.
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