Chapter 6: That Night
(Chapter written by BlinknSkater)
Quin stood in that spot for what seemed like hours when in fact it had only been a matter of seconds.
“Lung cancer?” she repeated barley about a whisper.
Kim nodded sorrowfully. “I’m afraid so.”
Meanwhile, Drakken recovered from Quin’s attack and ran toward a door.
Grabbing the now barely-conscious Shego, he ran through the door and into the room that stored his get away vehicle. With a loud crash, he flew through the room and out of the building.
But neither Kim nor Quin cared.
Quin looked over at Ron and just stared at him. \\Why didn’t he tell us this before?// she wondered as she and Kim walked over to him.
“H-hey Ron.” Kim said.
“What’s up *cough* KP?” Ron asked, hearing the studder in her voice.
“Um, let’s not worry about that right now, ok Ron?” Kim replied.
“Yeah.” Quin agreed. “Let’s get back home first.”
“Okay.” Ron replied as Kim took out her Kimmunicator.
“Hey, Wade, can you get up a ride?” Kim asked.
“Sure, but it might take a few minutes.” Wade warned.
“That’s all right.” Kim replied as she turned off the small handheld.
A few minutes later, a jet came and took the three home.
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“So, Kim, are we going to tell him?” Quin asked on the phone after the three had gotten home. Quin was so close to falling asleep, but continued talking with Kim.
“I don’t know.” Kim replied. “I don’t know why he didn’t tell us this, but I’m not sure if we should tell him that we know.”
“Yeah.” Quin agreed, then she remembered something. “Hey Kim, don’t you have to go to the dance tonight?”
“Oh my gosh! I forgot about that!” Kim exclaimed. It was nearly seven already. The dance didn’t start until eight, but Josh had wanted to take Kim to dinner. “I gotta go Quin.”
“I understand. Bye.” Quin said.
“Bye.” Kim said quickly as she hung up the phone.
A sudden, overwhelming feeling of being helpless swept over Quin as she set the phone back in it’s cradle.
Quin never had liked feeling helpless and now here she was, knowing Ron’s secret and not being able to do a thing about it. She wasn’t even sure if she should tell Ron that she knew.
Quin let a frustrated grunt escape her as she flopped on her bed.
“Honey?” came a voice from outside her door.
“Yeah?” Quin asked.
Sarah peeked inside Quin’s door. “Are you all right?”
Quin shrugged. “Sarah, let’s say a friend was keeping a secret from you and you found out about that secret and that it’s a really uh. . .” Quin searched for the right word. “. . . serious secret. Not like a crush kind but a really serious secret - one that really affects not only the person who’s keeping it, but everyone who knows that person. Let’s also say that this friend usually tells things to his friends. Would you tell that person that you know their secret?”
Sarah had to think about what Quin had said - she had asked it so fast that she wasn’t sure that she had gotten it all. “Well,” she started. “I think that if this person usually tells their friends everything, then they were probably trying to protect those friends.”
“How would keeping a secret protect them?” Quin asked.
Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. They just think it will. Anyway, I think that the right thing to do would be to tell this friend.”
Quin sighed. “But what if it was really hard?”
Sarah shook her head. “That’s all up to you.”
“Um, we were talking about a friend, remember?” Quin asked.
“Oh right. I’m sorry.” Sarah replied as she kissed Quin’s head. “Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.”
“Thanks.” Quin said as Sarah walked out of Quin’s room.
When she was gone, Quin walked over to her computer and connected to the internet. She looked on her buddy list to see if anyone was on.
Ron was.
Before Ron could send her an instant message, Quin quickly disconnected. She couldn’t talk to Ron, not now.
Quin sat back down on her bed.
“Quin! Dinner’s ready!” Sarah called.
“Coming!” Quin called back as she walked down the stairs.
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Ron saw Quin get online, but then left before he could talk to her. In all this excitement, Ron had never had the chance to ask Quin to the dance.
Well, maybe that wasn’t because of all the excitement he had faced. More like a bad case of nerves.
He wanted to call Quin and ask her if she would go with him, but his hand never quite made it to the phone. He couldn’t believe how nervous he was. It was only Quin.
But that’s exactly why he was so nervous.
Finally, he got the nerves to pick up the phone.
“So far so good.” Ron muttered to Rufus.
He started dialing Quin’s number when he stopped.
“She’s not going to say yes.” Ron said.
Rufus took it upon himself to dial the number.
It started ringing.
“Hello?” came the voice on the other line.
“Is Quin there?” Ron asked, sweating.
“Yes. Hold on a minute.” Quin’s mother said.
Ron took a deep breath. \\Here goes nothing.//
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“Quin! Phone!” Sarah said.
Quin got up out of her seat at the table.
\\Who could be calling at this time?// Quin thought as she picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Hey Quin.” came the voice on the other side.
“Ron!” Quin exclaimed. “W-why are you calling?”
“Well, I uh, wanted to ask you if. . .” his voice trailed off.
“Ask if I’d what?” Quin asked.
“This may sound stupid and I know it’s also short notice-”
“Ron stop stalling. Spit it out.”
“Do you want to go to the dance with me?” Ron asked quickly.
Quin stood there for a moment dumbfounded. She regained her wits and answered: “I’d love to.”
“That’s okay then. I under-” Ron started, sounding depressed. Then, as if realizing what Quin had said, said: “Really?”
“Sure. Let me get changed.” Quin said.
“Alright.” Ron said. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
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“Booyah!” Ron called out as he hung up the phone. However, he started coughing. “Okay. I gotta stop that.” he gasped when he was done. Rufus nodded in agreement.
Ron rummaged through his closet, throwing out clothes that he thought wouldn’t work for the dance.
“Nothing.” Ron muttered to himself. \\Man, I’m getting worse than a girl.// he added to himself as he continued to rummage through his room.
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Meanwhile, Quin was doing the exact same thing. Clothes were flying as Quin threw them out of her closet.
“Why don’t I have something nice to wear?!” she complained to herself as she flung out some more clothes.
She was almost through all of them when she spied a dress in the back of her closet. It was a long, blue dress that had a rose in the middle of it. The ends were designed to look tattered, but Quin didn’t ever remember having the dress.
Then she figured that it must have been something Sarah put in there.
Quin quickly put the dress on and sighed in frustration when she looked in the mirror and saw that her hair was a total disaster.
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Half and hour later, the doorbell rang.
“Quin! Ron’s here!” Sarah called. She turned to Ron. “Come on in Ron. Quin will be down in a sec.”
“Thanks.” Ron said as he sat down on the couch.
“Can I get you something?” Sarah asked.
Ron shook his head. “No thanks.”
“Are you sure? Do you want something to eat?” Sarah asked.
“No. I’m good.” Ron replied.
Sarah eyed him questioningly for a moment. It was not like Ron to turn down free food.
But then she figured that he was probably nervous about taking Quin to the dance.
Meanwhile, up in her room, Quin fixed the last details of her ensemble. She looked up in the mirror, a curled piece of her hair hanging in her face. Her hair was pulled up in a neat bun, something Quin really hadn’t done before.
She turned to walk downstairs and froze.
\\What about Ron and his secret?// Quin asked herself. She wondered why she said yes to him if she couldn’t even chat with him online.
But this was the first dance a guy had ever asked her too.
Slowly, she made her way down the stairs. She spied Ron in the living room.
“H-hey Ron.” Quin said when she made her way down the stairs.
“Hey Quin.” Ron replied. “You look really nice.”
Quin smiled. “And you look handsome.”
“Well, should we get going?” Ron asked.
“Okay.” Quin replied.
“Have fun Quin.” Sarah said as the two made their way toward the door. “And Ron.”
“Yeah?” Ron asked.
“Make sure she’s back by eleven.” Sarah replied.
“No problem.” Ron replied as he and Quin walked out of the front door.
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