Chapter 21

(5:01pm)

Ron recoiled in fear as he flung the script again.

"EWWW! I have to kiss Kim?" he asked at the top of his lungs.

Rufus nodded his pink head.

"No wait! That's it! I'll call up Mr. Barkin!" he exclaimed as he reached for the extension phone his parents put in his room. Unfortunately for him, he heard to the words of Barkin in his head.

Remember, once I say the names on the list, they cannot be reversed!

"Aww man. Why does Barkin have to live rent-free inside of my head?!" he muttered to himself. "Guess I'll have to call up Kim! I'll have to spread that rumor of Barkin wearing a toupee another time."

Ron picked up the phone and called Kim's number up.

Kim, at the Possible house, picked up the phone on the other end.

"KP! I need your help!"

"Yeah, Ron, I guess you heard the very part where we have to kiss?"

"Rufus showed it to me!" Ron panicked, "I didn't know what to do!"

"Mom talked it over with me!" Kim replied, "She said that I have to remind myself that it is only a play! But you do know about my stage fright ishes!"

"Oh yeah, and my issues with the stage as well, Kim? I don't wanna go through that again!" Ron insisted.

"Ron, we're talking about actually swapping stuff with our lips!" Kim exclaimed. "This wasn't like with the Moodulator incident at the fair a few weeks ago! This is for-real kissing!"

"I think there is only one thing that we can do." Ron stated.

"That's right! We're gonna have to contact The Group!" Kim insisted!
_

(1 hour later)

Kim and Ron had contacted Monique, whom in turn contacted Felix, Zita, and Crystal to meet up at Bueno Nacho for dinner. Tara was out to dinner with family at the time and was unable to come.

Kim and Ron also insisted to Felix and Zita to bring their scripts as well.

They ordered their usual set of food: Felix, Monique, and Ron with the chimmeritos and the Nacos while Kim, Zita and Crystal went for taco salads.

Once The Group sat down at their usual booth, they got to the main topic of business, which was the Romeo and Juliet casting decision.

"How could Barkin be this blind?" Kim exclaimed while taking a bite of her taco salad, "He should've known that I am not very good on the stage!" She had to obviously leave out the part that she was kissing Ron, for she was in a group setting. For that part, she wanted to talk to Monique and Monique alone.

"But he said those names off the list!" Felix added, finishing off a chimmerito. "And as he mentioned before, once he said them, there's no way to change them."

But Zita was twirling around her salad, sighing.

"It was supposed to be my role as Juliet." she muttered.

"Truth be told, Zita, I didn't want the role." Kim replied, "I was not the one who wrote my name down on the list!"

"Something just doesn't feel right!" Zita replied.

"I'm agreeing with her, girl!" Monique added while peppering in a Monique-speak term. "Something is way OTL here!"

"OTL?" Crystal asked.

"Over the line!" Kim explained the Monique-speak translation.

"You probably could think that someone could've swapped the roles?" Felix asked.

"It may be a possibility, no pun intended." Kim said, "But we're stuck with what we..."

Before she could even finish her sentence, the four beeps of the Kimmunicator rang.

Kim immediately got it out of her overalls pocket and turned it on.

"Hold that thought, everyone! Hey Wade! What's the sitch?" she asked.

"Major update in the case of the thefts at the Louvre from a few days ago, Kim!" Wade replied "We finally identified who's the thieves are!"

"How did you know?" Kim asked.

"I scanned the ISBN codes on the back of their necks. They are officialy HenchCo henchmen bought by..." Wade said before allowing Kim to guess the villain.

Kim thought for a moment and immediately replied.

"Senor Senior, Senior!"

"Bingo! They, and the artwork, should be at their island lair." Wade replied, "I've informed Global Justice as well. Their hovercraft should be here by now..."

Then The Group heard the roar of the engines over Bueno Nacho's roof.

"Wow!" Kim exclaimed, "Talk about good timing."

"The mission uniforms should be on board!" Wade continued.

"What about the play?" Monique asked.

"We'll talk about the Bard later." Kim replied before whispering in Monique's ear, "And I want to talk to you alone: girl-to-girl."

"Gotcha!" Monique replied.

Kim and Ron hurried out of the door before getting into the GJ hovercraft.