The Protagonist System
346 Coming Together Part Five

Since there were so many people coming over for supper, I went with the tried and true main dish of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread on the side. I wasn't surprised that I also had an eager audience with Tara's mom and the cheerleaders crowded around the kitchen table and the counter.

Their eyes followed me as I worked, as if they were entranced cats and I was an extremely interesting dot of red laser light. Even their heads moved in sync as they watched me. It was amusing to me that they stayed there for the entire time I mixed the ground hamburger and mulched crackers together and rolled them into meatballs, set them to cook in the oven, and prepared the sauce at the same time.

Once that was going, I set a pot of water to boil and then added the spaghetti. I broke it up slightly, too. The strands were too long as they were and would be difficult to handle when scooped up with a fork. I let that boil away and stirred the homemade sauce. The smells of the spices had most of the girls drooling, with the only exceptions being Tara's mom and Kim Possible.

I had been politely surprised that Kim hadn't waited until after supper to show up for cheer practice, actually. Tara's mom on the other hand, had that same determined look on her face that she had that morning after eating the breakfast I made. It was kind of the downside of impressing a woman and gaining her interest, since that wasn't my intent.

The occasionally whispered 'no' from Tara kept a smile on my face as I continued to move and cooked a meal for them all. Eight cheerleaders, two parents, an invited guest, and myself, ended up needing a lot of food to satisfy them all.

When the meatballs were done, I added them to the sauce and turned it down to simmer for the last ten minutes for the spaghetti to cook. I then put the mozzarella cheese-covered garlic bread onto a cookie sheet in the still hot oven to let them cook for ten minutes, too.

“We have about eight minutes left before it's ready.” I warned them and stirred the pasta.

“Tara, help me set up the dining room.” Tara's mom said and quickly left the room. Tara followed her out of the kitchen and gave Bonnie a pointed look, implying she was to keep me safe, and Bonnie nodded.

“How can you cook so well?” Jessica suddenly asked.

I turned away from the stove and stepped back just enough that nothing could splash me or have any part of my clothing hook the pot or touch any of the burners. “You all found out recently that I was a latchkey kid, right?”

Jessica looked embarrassed. “S-sorry, Ron. I forgot about that.”

I waved her apology away. “It's all right, Jess. I accepted it a long time ago that my parents were emotionless jerks.” I said and turned back to the stove to stir the spaghetti again. “I learned to cook for myself years ago and the best way to make good food is to practice, practice, and practice some more.”

“Just like cheerleading.” Monique commented.

“Exactly. There's no way you can do a cheer only once and it's perfect. It takes work, time, and dedication to make yourselves better.” I said and stepped away from the dangerous stove again, then I let my eyes roam over their different faces and smiled at them. “Everyone has to admit that you girls are the best cheerleaders in the state, because you all work so hard.”

They all looked happy to hear that, even Kim, then she stopped smiling and squinted her eyes at me. I ignored her and checked the spaghetti by plucking a single strand out of the boiling water, making the girls gasp at possibly burning myself, and I tossed the medium length strand into my mouth to taste it.

“Perfect.” I said and turned off all the burners and the oven, grabbed a strainer, and brought it over to the sink. A quick drain of the starch stained water, a glob of butter to slick the noodles up, and it was ready to be dished up. I set it back on the stove temporarily and pretended to pull a serving cart from the pantry.

I put the pot of pasta and the pot of sauce on the top and the cookie sheet of garlic bread on the under-shelf. The girls suddenly realized they were actually going to be served and scrambled out of the kitchen and ran to the dining room.

I chuckled at their reaction and added two large serving forks to the pasta, a ladle to the sauce, and tongs to the cookie sheet. I pushed the cart out of the kitchen just as I heard the door to the garage open and Mr. King entered the kitchen. I stopped and moved aside and nodded at the man, then saw the exotic beauty just behind him.

The pretty woman was obviously of Hawaiian nationality and looked a little out of her depth, despite the fact her thoughts were concentrating on her upcoming interview with a potential new boss. Since she was only an intern, her loyalty to the company wasn't set in stone and she wondered if her luck with how many other jobs she's had would finally change.

Then she saw me and both gasped and nearly tripped over her own feet. Thankfully, she caught herself with a hand on the kitchen counter and hadn't plowed into Mr. King's back and possibly knocked him over.

“Supper was about to be served, sir.” I said and bowed slightly and motioned towards the formal dining room. “The other guests have already been seated and await your pleasure.”

Mr. King chuckled and patted my shoulder. “That's some nice sucking up, Stoppable.”

I grinned at him. “Thank you, sir.”

He nodded and turned to the young woman. “I'll introduce you after we join the others.”

“Yes, sir.” The Hawaiian woman responded with respect.

I motioned for her to pass me as well and both of them took in long sniffs as they walked by the cart and both of them looked hungry. I followed them and pushed the cart into the dining room as Mr. King sat Nani down across from his wife. He sat down and introduced the intern as I started serving up the food, starting with his plate.

“I would like you all to meet Miss Nani Pelekai.” Mr. King said. “She moved here after a recent incident back in her hometown that forced her and her sister to flee the repercussions, both legal and extra-legal.”

Nani sighed and sat down near the end of the table. “Now I really do regret being completely honest with you about what happened, Mr. King.”

A few of the cheerleaders laughed, clearly getting the implication that this wasn't the first time he had shared something about her background with people he shouldn't have.

“I'm sorry to hear you had to move away because circumstances forced you to.” I said and served her. I completely understood her situation since I had just had to move, too.

Nani gave me a grateful look and I proceeded down that side of the table to serve the girls, whom had turned their heads and looked right at Kim. The looks weren't accusing or anything; but, she blushed anyway and ducked her head down and started eating without saying a word.

I held in my laugh and moved up the other side of the table and served the rest of the girls and Tara's mom before I served myself. I set the cart off to the side for easy access to refill people's requests for more, because I knew they were going to ask as soon as they could.

The sounds most of them made as they ate, were quite the compliment, and more than a few of them glanced at the huge pot of sauce. I had made a lot and they knew there was quite a bit left after serving everyone a generous helping. The best part about serving them separately, you could store them without contamination or making the spaghetti soggy or soft from absorbing the sauce.

I had to pause my own eating twice to serve Mr. King more meatballs and Tara wanted more spaghetti. Her appetite was bigger with all of the calories we had been burning off lately. None of the other cheerleaders asked for more, to my surprise.

When the meal was over, all of the cheerleaders except Kim grumbled about not being able to eat as much as they wanted because of cheer practice, which they had to do in the backyard. Of course, this made me promise to do up doggie bags for them all and they all brightened up and left the dining room.

Both Mr. King and his wife gave me pointed looks and I chuckled as I whispered there was plenty left as leftovers that they could raid tonight as a midnight snack or have tomorrow for lunch. I was going to cheat, of course. I would do up one tupperware container of meatballs and sauce, and another with spaghetti, and just copy them to spread around. None of them would realize it would end up being much more than the original amount I made.

*

Bonnie tried to hide her excitement as cheerleading practice went even better than she expected. Ron had been both attentive and didn't disrupt them when they were doing their group routines. How he managed that and still performed his tasks to make them stand out when they did they special moves, still baffled her.

However, the last time they did they big finish ending, with her being tossed into the air to do the splits and being caught by him, worked perfectly. Bonnie's worries about straining herself doing such a risky move or possibly slipping as Ron caught her, were unwarranted and unfounded and everyone cheered for her.

It really had her blood pumping and Bonnie couldn't stop her face from showing off a huge smile as she and the girls celebrated their success. Friday's practice would be just making sure they could still perform at the same peak performance and then Saturday's big game would show the whole school how much they had improved.

Bonnie glanced around to look for Ron as the other cheerleaders left, only to see him talking with the Hawaiian girl over by the patio. She had stayed around to interview for an adviser role or something, even though Ron was hiring a secretary slash assistant already.

Her sigh caught Tara's attention and the blonde leaned in to whisper that Nani was 19, had tons of different jobs before being hired as an intern at her dad's company, and was moving on to Ron's company. She also had a little sister to take care of and Mr. King wouldn't tell Tara about the incident that made Nani move to Middleton.

Bonnie nodded and her eyes moved around and saw Kim standing off to the side of the backyard and she stared intensely at Ron. No, not only at him. She was staring at the new girl, too. Is that jealousy? She asked herself and smirked, then motioned Tara to look at what she was seeing.

Tara turned to look and her eyes narrowed. “I think we need to have a talk with her.” She whispered and took Bonnie's hand. “She needs someone to point a few things out to her.”

The pair walked over to where Kim was trying to not look like she was staring at how closely Ron and Nani were standing next to each other. In fact, Kim was so focused on them that she didn't notice Bonnie and Tara until they stood in front of her and blocked her view.

“What's your damage?” Kim asked them and crossed her arms, ready for a confrontation.

“That's what we'd like to know.” Bonnie said and crossed her own arms and gave her a good glare. “Your eyes are burning a hole through Stoppable's butt.”

“Wh-what?” Kim asked, surprised. “It's not like that! I... I was just...”

“If there was any more heat in your gaze, you could turn the new girl's body to ash.” Bonnie cut her off. “So, what's going on? Why are you so focused on Tara's boyfriend?”

Kim did not miss the emphasis of Tara's name. “I'm not! I was only... I wanted to... if I could...”

Bonnie sighed. “You want him to be a villain in order to talk to him? Is that it?”

“No!” Kim gasped. “I thought he was already and that caused this whole mess!”

Bonnie and Tara exchanged looks and looked back at her.

“You actually are jealous that he's becoming successful.” Bonnie commented.

“No, I'm not! He's acting way different from his normal behavior and I had to do something to stop him before he fell to evil.” Kim defended herself. “It's not my fault the Attitudinator didn't work and he didn't go back to normal.”

Tara gave her a pointed look. “That's worse than jealously. You want your doofus back so you can ignore everything you did to him like you usually do, and he'll accept it because it's always been that way.”

Kim closed her mouth on her hot retort and composed herself. “We've been best friends since we were kids. I've never thought... that he... was... a... doofus.”

“I see you're recalling all the guys you've dated that did call him that, how you act towards him during missions, and how it's always his fault when things happen and get screwed up, only for you to come though in the end and save everyone.” Tara said and Kim's eyes widened. “Yes, he's told me all about his career as your partner, only we all know it's only him that ever sees it that way.”

“Wh-what way?” Kim asked before she could stop herself.

“A partnership.” Bonnie said. “According to Tara, he thinks you've always been in it together. But, that's not true, is it? All you've ever seen is a bumbling sidekick, even though he's kept up with you the entire time while he bumbles and stumbles.”

Kim blinked her eyes at her and wasn't sure what to say. Ron had screwed up a bunch of things during missions and he also did a lot more than any normal person could have.

“But, that's kind of immaterial about what we're talking about.” Bonnie said and nodded to Tara.

“Ron is a very loving person and he's highly forgiving.” Tara said and Bonnie had to look away to hide her flushed face. “All you have to do is actually apologize for wronging him...”

“He killed Drakken!” Kim said, a little loudly.

“...and he'll forgive you.” Tara finished and saw the indignant look on her friend's face. “You're not going to apologize, are you? Would you lose a life-long friendship with someone that loves you, changing both of your lives forever, just because he did something you morally object to?”

Kim frowned. “Murder is wrong.”

“Putting down a mad dog isn't murder.” Bonnie said, echoing Ron's examples about necessary circumstances. “It's necessary.”

Kim shook her head. “There is always a better way than taking a life.”

Tara and Bonnie uncrossed their arms and stepped back from Kim, making her frown.

“I can't believe it.” Bonnie said and gave Tara a smug look. “Stoppable was right.”

“About what?” Kim asked, almost like a demand.

“Bonnie really is a better person than you.” Tara told her.

Kim gasped and looked horrified as she covered her own mouth with her hand.

“She sincerely apologized for what she did and he forgave her.” Tara said and stepped close to Bonnie to put an arm around her waist. “I couldn't be prouder of them both.”

Bonnie blushed and didn't try to hide it this time. “Tara...”

“It's okay, Bon.” Tara said and kissed her cheek. “Go ahead and tell her.”

“Saturday is going to be your last official function as a Middleton High School cheerleader.” Bonnie proclaimed and Kim gasped again. “Maybe with all the spare time you'll have after that, you can think about how much you screwed up.”

“No... you... I... how...” Kim stammered.

“We cheerleaders have a certain reputation to uphold.” Bonnie said and felt confidence fill her. “I'm sorry, Kim. You don't have the strong moral fibre that our prestige organization requires.”

Bonnie and Tara turned around and walked away from a completely stunned Kim Possible. She was so shocked by being kicked off of the cheerleader squad that she didn't see the brief kisses that Ron shared with both Tara and Bonnie before they went into the house with Nani.