Disclaimer:I do not own King of the Hill...I hope that was obvious

Important: The division lines separate the past and the present. The beginning starts with the "present" and after the first division line, it's the past, and so on

Kahn's Greatest Mistake

Connie couldn't sleep. How could she? Chane had been gone for three days on a business trip and hadn't called once. She didn't like being in their large home by herself. She didn't really like anything that had to do with her marriage to Chane, but it made her parents, especially her dad, happy. They needed to be happy. Remembering how much she had disappointed her parents in the past, she knew that staying with Chane was the only option.

"Kahn Juniorrr!" Kahn walked swiftly into the family kitchen, playfully calling out for his daughter while waving an envelope high above his head. Connie and Minh looked up at the frantic Kahn, eager to know why he was so determined to interrupt their Laotian lesson. Connie opened her mouth to speak, but her dad quickly cut her off by shoving the envelope into her hands. "It's from Harvard!" he exclaimed, watching excitedly as his daughter looked down at the envelope in her hands. "It's an acceptance letter!" Connie studied the envelope.

"It's thin..." she thought to herself. Connie's palms began to sweat. Everyone knew that thin envelopes were a bad sign. She looked up at her parents. They were both smiling at her, waiting impatiently to see the letter. Connie closed her eyes and tore open the envelope, quickly removed the letter, and stared reading. We regret to inform you- that's all she needed to read. Connie felt like screaming. Sure, she'd been accepted to Yale, Stanford, and other schools, but Harvard was her first choice, and it was where her parents wanted her to go there so badly. She wasn't sure what had kept her from being accepted. Maybe it was because she hadn't joined any clubs or played any sports. Or maybe it was because she was Asian. She remembered how she couldn't get into an educational program in the past for that very reason. She was "too privileged" they said. Connie's lamenting didn't last long. Her parents were soon begging for the results.

"Well Kahn Junior," said Minh, "aren't you excited to be going?"

"Um-," Connie tried to tell her parents the bad news gently, but Kahn snatched up the letter before she could speak.

"She's speechless!" Kahn explained to his wife while reading the letter. "They probably gave her a full scholarship and-" Kahn's eyes widened momentarily when he realized the truth. "Oh no," he groaned. He dropped the letter on the table in front of Minh and lowered himself into the closest chair he could find.

Minh looked confusedly at her family. "What's wrong?" she asked. "No scholarship?" Connie fixed her eyes on the kitchen table, waiting for her mom to react to the bad news. "Kahn Junior!" she cried. "You didn't get in! How could this have happened?"

"I-I don't know," Connie stammered. She wanted to share her theories with her parents, but she knew they'd only see them as excuses.

"I'll tell you how," Kahn explained. "It's laziness! Your SAT scores were five points lower than what we expected them to be." Connie looked to her mom for support, but Minh just shook her head disapprovingly.

"I'm sorry." Connie got up from the table and headed for her room.

"Don't think we won't talk about this later Kahn Junior!" Kahn yelled after his daughter.

But Connie didn't want to talk about it- at all. She'd worked hard, and she knew the world wasn't going to end just because she didn't get into her first choice for college. Connie needed to relax. She needed to visit Bobby. They hadn't talked in a pretty long time, but this was a dire situation. Taking the same detour from her room to Bobby's window, Connie scrambled to "freedom." She tapped lightly on Bobby's window, hoping that he was home. Slowly, the window opened. Like a nervous groundhog, Bobby poked his head out of his room window and looked to see who had knocked on the window.

"Connie?" he said, surprised. "What are you doing here? We haven't talked in over six months!"

"Hey Bobby," Connie said apologetically. "Sorry to bother you. It's just that my parents are being jerks right now, and I really need someone to talk to.

"Oh, okay. Come on in." Bobby retreated into his room to open the window wide enough for Connie to enter comfortably. Connie hoisted herself into the room. She took a look around. She and Bobby hadn't talked for a pretty long time, but it had been even longer since she'd been in his room. It was basically the same except that Bobby's old game system had been replaced with an Xbox 360 and where his old TV had been sat a flatscreen. Bobby must have saved up some money from his job because there was no way Mr. Hill bought any of it. He still had the same wallpaper, but it was a bit faded. Bobby stood at the center of the room, examining Connie as if he had never met her before.

Bobby had grown taller than Connie sometime around their freshman year of high school, and with his growth came a new burst of confidence. He started to make more friends, and actually started dating. Connie was happy for him, but she was soon isolated by both Bobby and Joseph as they explored high school life, and before she knew it, they had been reduced to having quick conversations while passing each other in the hall. Connie found it strange that she was so distant from Bobby and Joseph, especially since the two boys were still close, and because she lived right next door to Bobby. Connie didn't really care that much for Joseph anymore. Once he found out that Nancy had been lying to him about Dale being his father, he started acting out and never really got it together. It could've been avoided too, had it not been for the fact that Nancy had had too much to drink that night. But that was years ago, and it wasn't really her business anyway.

"So, what's happening with you and your parents?" Bobby asked.

"Nothing too big I guess," Connie explained. "I just didn't get into Harvard, and my parents are taking it pretty badly."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Bobby apologized.

"Don't be," Connie assured him. "There are plenty of other schools that have accepted me, so I don't really care." Connie shuffled her feet uncomfortably at the awkward silence that surrounded she and Bobby. "So...how's your dad?"

"He's fine, I guess. I've been busy with work and I guess with school too, so we haven't had much time to talk."

"Oh. Well, did you apply to any colleges?"

"A few," Bobby answered, "but they're all in-state. I got accepted into A&M and Texas, but I think school will interfere with my comedy. I've already got a spot booked for tonight at the club- it's gonna be great!" There he went again. Connie thought Bobby's dream of becoming a comic was amusing for a while, but now it just seemed foolish.

"Great," Connie said

"You can come by if you want," Bobby invited. "My mom's coming, but my dad said that listening to my jokes gives him headaches, so I could use another supporting audience member."

"O-oh...um-" Connie looked out her window to think momentarily. She saw Kahn and Minh looking around her room, searching. Connie was pretty sure she heard her dad yelling something about drugs. Were they really blaming her rejection on drugs? Connie scowled. She had had enough of her parents for a while. "Yes, I'd love to go, Bobby. What time will it be?"

A smile slowly spread across Bobby's face. "Great! It's at seven at that new place that opened up. I'm glad I asked you first. I'm pretty sure Joseph's too busy..." Bobby gazed out the window sadly. "Y'know, he probably wouldn't have reacted so badly if Mr. Gribble hadn't freaked out like that.

"Don't worry about it Bobby," Connie reassured her friend. "Just focus on your routine." Connie peeked into her window again. Her parents had left her room. "I have to go Bobby, but I'll see you tonight!"

"I can pick you up if you want...so you don't have to walk there in case your parents say no." Bobby knew that Connie's parents could be overbearing, and he was happy to keep Connie's stress levels from rising any way he could.

Connie smiled. "Thanks Bobby, that's really nice of you."

Connie decided to call Chane. He always told her not to bother him when he was away on business, but she was feeling so lonely that even Chane's voice would be comforting to her. She quickly dialed his number and waited anxiously for her husband to answer the phone.

"Hello?" a groggy voice answered from the other end of the line.

"Chane? It's Connie..."

"Connie?" Chane asked as if their on-phone interaction was completely unbelievable. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Yes, and I'm sorry. It's just that I can't sleep, and-"

"And so you decided to interrupt my sleep so that you could have someone to talk to?" Chane accused sharply. "Connie, I have a meeting in-" Chane paused momentarily, probably to check the time. "Damn it, Connie, in three hours, and I just got to sleep about an hour ago!"

"Look Chane, I didn't mean to disrupt you," Connie snapped. "I just had this crazy idea that you'd be worried about my wellbeing!" If there was one thing that Connie wasn't, it was submissive. She wasn't going to allow Chane to yell at her like that.

There was a long pause as Connie waited for her husband to respond. "Connie, listen. I've had a stressful day, and I would just like to get some sleep. Please, don't call me while I'm on trips anymore."

"Okay," Connie agreed weakly, exasperated by Chane's inability to comfort her and his reinforcing of their boundaries.

"Love you," Chane added swiftly and flatly before hanging up the phone. Connie wasn't sure if Chane did love her, but it made her happy that he had at least remembered to say it.

"Smile, Kahn Junior!" Connie smiled sweetly as Minh took her picture. "This is so exciting! Chane!" Minh called over Connie's prom date for yet another picture. Chane rolled his eyes before turning around and posing beside his date. Kahn was experiencing pure ecstasy as he watched Chane lightly wrap his arms around his daughter's waist.

"Chane Wassonasong is taking my daughter to prom!" he kept whispering to Minh. "So Chane," he said, getting the young man's attention, "are your parents doing anything special for tonight? Maybe they want to have dinner with the parents of their son's prom date?" Kahn asked a little too eagerly. Chane just shrugged.

"Probably not."

Connie watched as her dad's smile faded momentarily. Why was Chane such a jerk? The only reason she was going with him to prom was because she thought it would make it up to her parents for getting rejected from Harvard and it seemed to be working. She hadn't seen her parents this happy in a long time.

As soon as Chane and Connie reached the prom, Connie was left alone. Chane went to greet his friends as soon as he came through the door, and it didn't seem like he was coming back. Connie had really dressed up for the prom. Her hair had been curled and placed in a loose bun, allowing the rest of her hair to flow freely down her shoulders. She wore a strapless powder-blue dress that went down to her ankles, but it was only a little "puffy," with a few ruffles underneath. Usually, Connie didn't wear makeup-she thought of it as a distraction- but that night, she had worn just a bit of lipstick and some eye shadow. She had dressed up for nothing. Chane was gone, and most of Connie's friends hadn't planned on going to prom. She decided to retreat to the punch bowel. She stood, leaning on the wall, scanning the room for the missing Chane, but saw him nowhere.

"Connie?" Bobby was staring down at Connie, wide-eyed. "You came to the prom? Alone?"

"N-no," Connie corrected. "I came with Chane, but I can't seem to find him..." Connie made sure to keep from making eye contact with Bobby in an attempt to hide her embarrassment, but her cheeks probably gave it away.

"Oh." Bobby joined Connie on the wall. "Do you want me to help you look for him?" Connie shook her head. "Well then, do you want to dance?" Connie thought for a moment. If Chane saw she and Bobby dancing together, he would either not care, or he'd get upset and tell Connie's parents what happened out of spite. Even if he paid no attention to her at all that night, Connie knew he still saw her as his exclusive prom date, and no other guy was supposed to be near her.

"Sure."

Connie and Bobby spent most of the night together. Fifteen minutes before the prom was over, Chane came looking for Connie, who told Bobby to get out of sight before Chane caught them dancing together.

"Come on Connie," Chane called. He grabbed Connie by the hand and started to lead her through the crowd.

"Chane, wait!" Connie shouted over the music. "Don't you want to dance with me at least once? And they still haven't crowned the king and queen yet- don't you want to see the winners?

"No," Chane stated bluntly. "I wanna spend time with you Connie, away from all this loud music." Connie smiled. Maybe Chane wasn't so bad after all. She left with him, just as Bobby was about to walk up to her and ask her to dance again.

Connie and Chane sat in Chane's car. Chane had been driving around Arlen, giving her a "grand tour" of many places she had already seen before. After a while, Chane pulled up to his house.

"Are you expecting me to walk home?" Connie asked.

"Of course not!" Chane replied, feigning a shocked expression. "My parents are gone for the night, so we have house to ourselves." Chane leaned in abruptly and started kissing Connie feverishly.

"Chane!" Connie yelled. She pushed him away from her and punched him as hard as she could on the arm.

"What's your problem? I took you to prom like you asked, and now you won't put out? What kind of girl are you?"

"Chane, take me home- right now!"

"I have a better idea," Chane suggested. "You can walk home, and I'll find some other girl's family to come over for dinner next week.

Damn. Chane knew how much Connie's parents worshipped the Wassonasongs, and he was using it against her.

"Seriously Chane? You want me to sleep with you so that our parents will have dinner together?" Connie hesitated for a moment. "I'm a virgin..."

"So what? You're eighteen; it's time to grow up. But I guess if I'm going to take it from you, that means we'll have to start dating," Chane added. "My parents aren't going to let just any girl come over."

"But-" Connie was stuck. Her parents would never be upset with her again if they found out she was actually dating Chane Wassonasong. "Fine."