The crowd below the Drop booed in unison as the daredevil looked down from the edge. His expression betrayed nothing; he could care less for the attention, because all he really needed were stunts. The Quartet below him laughed and mocked him in every way once the saw who was back for more. The boy clicked his tongue in annoyance, stomped on the edge of his skateboard to make it flip a 360, and wasted no time in speeding down Dead Man's Drop once he jumped on it. He went through all the ramps without fail, executing the stunts perfectly like the most professional of stunt doubles and daredevils. Perhaps there were a few close calls, for several gasps echoed as he was nearly struck by a dead tree. The crowd started to cheer while the antagonists groaned. He felt it: The rush, the wind in his face the—

"Kick, are you alright?" a soft, caring voice asked. Ronaldo blinked a few times, a little dazed from pre-visualizing the stunt. For a moment he had forgotten who he was and why was he on top of one of Mellowbrook's famous (or infamous) peak. Then it came to him in an instant. Oh right, the stunt he was supposed to show off! Gunther tilted his head a little and glanced at him with a hint of worry.

"I'll be fine," 'Kick' replied. Ronaldo looked quite uncomfortable at their closeness, but seemed to be reassured nonetheless. He turned his sights on the obstacle course. With Ronaldo's intelligence and the help of the duo's natural skill for building, everything seemed to be perfect. He took a certain group's future interference into account, thanks to a certain daredevil's warning earlier. He gulped, fearing for his safety. Would he be the one to feel the pain or would it be Kick? This really was pretty life-threatening, should anything in his careful calculations go wrong. But then again, this was Kick. He was supposed to be fearless and instill determination in the hearts of everyone facing a difficult time.

'Live 'til it hurts,' an unfamiliar, coarse voice echoed in his thoughts.

"Here goes," he gulped and recited a silent prayer to whichever deity was listening. He planted both of his feet on the skateboard, crouched slightly, then released like a spring. The way he jumped made the board flip a 360 sideways and he gained movement forward once he landed. Three…Two…One…Ronaldo was off like a shot after reaching the edge. The crowd and whatever noises hey made blended in with the rush of the spring wind. If everything went perfectly, the three stooges and their ally would throw whatever tricks they had at him.

It was thrilling and he resisted the urge to yell in delight. Despite Ronaldo being a nerd and a former kart-racer, he had to admit being on the edge was somewhat fun! No,extremely fun. His joy was cut short as Brad and Gordie prepared their respective groups.

"Well, well, the dillweed seems to enjoy the humiliation," Brad grinned devilishly at the bright, speeding bolt. Gordie scoffed, flipping his luxurious brown locks to one side for effect. "He never gives up, doesn't he?"

Once again, the brightly-coloured water balloons flew their way at 'Kick', giving him a hard time to navigate the Drop without falling over already. There was no time for doing any of those beautiful stunts: he did not have the skill and experience to rival Kick's; and it was Ronaldo's main objective to just get down safely.

This time they tried and added something different. Gordie snapped his fingers, and the four became six. "You," he ordered Anthony Michael, one of the DiPazzi twins. Gordon nodded, signaling an unspoken order. The huge male threw a kind of rope with some round weights at the end in Ronaldo's direction. It spun in the air several times as it traveled before it wrapped itself around the 'daredevil'. Ronaldo cursed, losing his balance and nearly toppling over. He caught himself and thanked for that one time he had decided to try and practice skateboarding to impress Kendall. It was a little painful, but it served well, nonetheless. Now he needed to focus on his uneven balance.

Another snap emitted from Gordie's fingers. Whoosh! Another use of the slingshot. Ronaldo steered clear of its path, still tied up. He kept trying to break free from the restraints as he headed towards one of the dead trees. 'Score!' he thought as part of the rope was caught in the branches. It tore as he sped along, just in time for the ramps. He seemed a little shaky but managed to go through it, minus the impressive moves he had visualized Kick doing. That was fine, as long as he didn't blow the whole thing. Ronaldo was jus fortunate enough to have luck on his side. Lucky enough to have everything go oh-so smoothly.

There was one final part of the stunt that lead to two paths: one for victory, and another for a 'world of pain'. Kick had warned him earlier about hooking the sign; but Ronaldo did not need to be told twice. He had learnt his lesson the first time he went down the Drop, thanks to him helping the other to beat that show, Faceplant.

"He's going for the sign! He's going for the sign! WHAT DO WE DO?" Gordie panicked, causing Brad to roll his eyes. He let the other have his fun, but the elder Buttowski figured he'd leave his little brother alone for now.

"Leave it," came his simple reply. "WHAT?" Brad sighed at Gordie's outburst.

"Face it, this is getting lame," Brad sniped, both Horace and Pantsy agreed. "Let's go do something else."

Ronaldo gave a cry of victory as he succeeded in going down the right path safely. He skidded to a stop and smirked as dust and sand fell over the group. Gordie shrieked at the action, but not out of fear.

"My hair! My beautiful hair!" the spoiled brunette from West Mellowbrook wailed. 'Kick' stared. 'This…this is a guy I'm looking at, right?' Ronaldo was reminded of those girls back at school. He cringed a little before darting away; not wanting to see what was next. Perhaps Brad would take the gentlemanly position of brushing the dust away and off of Gordie. The boy shuddered violently at the strange thoughts. 'What's wrong with me?' he asked himself, pushing the skateboard against the ground as Gunther caught up with him. This was the guy who made him do his homework from the time they met!

"Kick, are you sure you're…alright?" He panted heavily as Ronaldo finally stopped for him. "That stunt seemed a little…off. You even looked a little nervousback there!" he gestured, flailing his arms about as if it were extremely rare for Kick to do that and Kick was apparently superhuman, able to take on anything.

The other groaned inwardly. Of course Gunther would notice, he and Kick were practically inseparable! He kind of wished he were like that with Kendall or even anyone! It was too bad he wasn't 'awesome' enough. There he went again: Kendall's wish rang out in his head to sting him in the neck; but Ronaldo ignored it for now and swore to himself he'd keep her happy. 'Anything for Kendall dearest,' he smiled. Hold it, since he was Kick right now….

A dark thought entered his head, but it was immediately forgotten when he was suddenly pulled into a tight hug. 'W-Whaaa?'

"There, there" Gunther cooed and rubbed soothing circles on 'Kick's' back, making him highly uncomfortable. Yet at the same time, he liked the intimacy; the feeling of having someone being there for you no matter how absurd the situation was. "I know you must have felt humiliated earlier—" 'That's not it!' "—and that the crash was troublesome. But everything went well, so why worry?"

"I was worried?" he asked with his brows furrowed and eyes wide. Gunther looked down at him with concern once again and in that moment he realized his big mistake.

The stunts.

By not doing the stunts, he was not playing Kick's part very well. But in his defense, Ronaldo and stunts mixed together weren't meant to be! Kick, on the other hand…

Mellowbrook Middle School

Kick felt a little resentment towards the people who hung around with Ronaldo. They were all so stuck up, so methodical, so…irritating! But right now, they bent to 'Ronaldo's' will. It was so sad, the way Ronaldo had influenced them (This was the original Ronaldo he was talking about).

'And by sad, I mean pathetic,' Kick thought in disgust, somewhat losing a bit of the respect he gained from the blond. Earlier, he seemed so responsible, even watching out for him after the explosion. Now, the daredevil didn't know.

'People change, Clarence,' he thought to himself. He wanted to believe that Ronaldo wasn't as bad as he seemed. Sure, they were enemies, he respected that. Yes their fights were quite enjoyable, with Kick emerging as the victor in the end. But he couldn't really figure out why he even cared. He caught himself staring at a girl. This young lady was the same one who had raised the flag (or checkered handkerchief, he couldn't bring himself to bother at the moment) during their race at Mt. Hurtsmore. Ear-grating laughter rang in his head and he gritted his teeth. To his complete surprise the girl had teared up a bit and ran off. Kick was actually glaring at her then left him alone, stunned at her reaction.

Dang, as Wade would put it. Since when did he lose his cool so fast? And that was the second time that day. Oh right, he was supposed to care because they'd swapped places. And the reason for that respect was…'Ronaldo' gasped, suddenly enlightened.

They could practically ruin each other's respective reputations, that one thing the both had in common and cherished! One huge mistake and everything could come crashing down. All their hard work…

"Mr. -I mean, Ronaldo, could you do me a favour and kindly take these to room 11C," A voice boomed before him. Ms. Fitzpatrick appeared with an armful of flasks on her person and handed all of them to Kick—err, 'Ronaldo'. His brow rose at the slip. Was the teacher about to call him by Ronaldo's surname? If so, he was so close to finding out! The blond boy had never said anything about it in their conversation earlier. He only said something about volunteering for the science fair that was in not more than a week from now.

"Sure," Kick responded, careful with the items that nearly fell out of his grasp. A quick thanks was heard from the woman before he went in the direction of the said room. Playing pretend was too easy; all he had to do was act like a smartass and be obsessed with science. Done and done! Kick definaitely had strength in those subjects. Ever since 'his' defeat in Mt. Hurtsmore, he grew curious about the entire 'Laws of Physics' thing and decided to do a little research on it. His curiosity led to fascination. Lo and behold, his grades had improved since then without Kick really noticing it. Well, how else did he manage to complete months of assignments in one night? Sure, he had no time to show all his work the following morning, and stunts did help to figure out all the answers.

'Sometimes you have to find out answers for yourself, and not rely on calculations. It's all just numbers and letters on a paper,' he thought to himself as he walked down the dark corridors. It irked him a little, but neither Kick nor Ronaldo were supposed to show fear. They both prided themselves too much, perhaps.

He kicked the door open and was soon greeted with more darkness and an eerie atmosphere. Kick shivered from the sudden cold and felt around to flick on the light switch. The old hall felt a little musty from not being used for so long. Ever since the school had expanded quite a bit with a new auditorium and gym several years ago, no one saw any use for this room anymore. And then someone started these silly rumors that it was haunted, no student dared ventured in unless it was a dare or something of the sort. Next week was going to be a busy week for every group in school: There were several sports tournaments; the science fair; art exhibition; a Shakespearean play and so on and so forth. There weren't any spots left for the science fair except for this old hall, and soon, the teachers' decision was made. Kick chuckled, recalling a few students' reactions that day but now regretted it. They weren't lying; it sure was creepy in here.

"Tch. Kick buttowski isn't afraid of anything," he stated with a determined glance, pushed his glasses up, then bit his lip when he remembered their situation. It was a good thing no one was around to hear that—

CLUNK!

'Ronaldo' gasped, looking around for the source. Whoops, it was just one of the flasks he dropped. At least it wasn't shattered or anything—

"Who's there?" Kick yelled at the seemingly empty hall. It wasn't so empty anymore, he could've sworn someone was there around that corner. He placed the items down on one of the tables and cautiously walked closer with nothing to defend himself. His eyes were narrowed in concentration until someone tapped his shoulder.

"AAAAAARRRR—!" His terrified scream was cut short when he whipped back to face— Emo Kid? "What are you doing here?" 'Ronaldo' whispered angrily at the purple-haired boy. The said boy looked up with him with his usual tired eyes ('Does he get enough sleep?' Kick thought) and placed some old assignments on the table nearby.

"I was sent here with some projects," the other replied quietly, unaffected by the outburst. He turned to leave but abruptly stopped by the doors and faced the blond boy.

"What did you mean by 'Kick Buttowski isn't afraid of anything'?" Emo Kid asked with his sullen expression never wavering. Kick raised a brow, beginning to think he and Ronaldo weren't the only ones acting.

"Well, I, uh— He's a daredevil; why wouldn't he not be afraid of anything?" he replied simply, his brow rising further when the usually-depressed kid started to chuckle.

"It's funny you of all people would say that; I've always thought you two were enemies, constantly getting at each other's throats," he remarked, before resuming his typical look. "Everyone has their fears, no matter how stubborn they are at not showing it," And with that, he left 'Ronaldo' in the old hall. The lights flickered before shutting down completely, leaving Kick stunned at—Not by the increased creepiness of the hall—but by the words of the enigmatic boy.

Metro Way, Cul-De-Sac

Kendall flipped through the pages of the script she was given for the upcoming play, memorizing the lines she was supposed to say as she went along. She had to admit, Shakespearean language was a little tricky, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. What was the play if one must inquire?

Romeo and Juliet.

It wasn't that hard to guess, and the girl was a sucker for such romantic, sappy stuff. Kendall looked out of the window, observing how perfect the weather was for playing soccer. But no, her beloved parents had insisted it wasn't very good if she were involved in an accident and thus rendering her unable to act out her role in the play. Right, as if she really cared about the play. The young lady had enough confidence and brains to make some people turn green with envy. She wasn't afraid to admit she was an overachiever, though she was a little iffy with being called a teacher's pet.

"I bet Ronaldo already memorized his lines," she thought out loud as the image brought a smile to her face. She was happy her boyfriend was picked as her Romeo; However, in the deep recesses of her brilliant mind, she was a little disappointed. It was as if she weren't satisfied enough of getting the major roles. Kendall frowned.

'What's wrong with me?' she thought. 'I should be grateful. Isn't this any girl would ask for?'

Something kept on nagging her at the back of her head, but she chose to ignore it. She knew exactly what it was, but dared not prod on it.

"No time," she hissed to herself closing the blinds as a crash-helmeted boy and his best buddy passed by. She could've sworn Kick shot her a longing glance as he skated on the way. "I really need to focus!"

Gunther blinked, catching the sudden action at the Perkins residence. He looked away with his jaw clamped shut, not noticing 'Kick's' nervousness.

'Fishsticks. I forgot to warn Buttowski of the upcoming play!' his brow furrowed with sweat, recalling that the school play which was right before the fair. 'Oh well, he'll figure it out on his own!' Ronaldo thought with a bright smile, confident that Kick would be nice enough to not screw up. He had seen how helpful the daredevil could be, and he'd definitely use that to his advantage.

A/N: Metro Way= Name of a street I made up.

I apologize for not updating regularly; a lot of things have been keeping me from finishing this chapter. Please and thank you for the reviews!