Disclaimer: Not my characters, blah blah blah... This story continues post STD assuming that Kim and Ron DID NOT decide to date. Obv.
Kim awoke with a headache. Last night's mission had kept her out until at least three. She didn't even want to think about it as she buried her face in her pillow. She breathed slowly and hoped her alarm would stop shouting at her.
She fought it for about ten minutes, but she knew she had to get up. She rolled over and her muscles throbbed. She groggily sat up on her bed and wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Why did the bathroom have to be so far away?
Kim stepped into the shower and thought, were her circumstances different, she'd really like to go back to sleep. Right here on the shower floor. But it was Monday morning. She had a cheerleading meeting to attend before school.
Bonnie had pushed for these ridiculous meetings in some sort of misguided attempt to show Kim up at being captain. The other girls had agreed because they all pretty much hate Kim. In fact, Kim thought, the only reason she was probably captain in the first place was because the other girls were afraid of her. Fear goes a long way in high school. It can even start to resemble respect, Kim supposed.
Kim turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. She looked at herself in the mirror. Kim hated her body. Not because she was "fat" or anything, but because it was always covered in bruises, scrapes and other lovely souvenirs from her job. She was embarrassed of it. She didn't like to undress in gym class, and she shuddered to think of ever having to be naked in front of a boy.
She opened the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and retrieved several ibuprofen tablets from the jar inside. She popped them and quickly chased them with a glass of water. This act had become something of a morning ritual. She imagined wrestlers and football players probably did the same thing.
Kim was beginning to tire of her "saving the world" thing. While it had always seemed exciting, and "the right thing to do," more and more she found herself just wishing that Monday cheerleading meetings were the least of her troubles. For most girls, that would be enough. But not for Kim. Kim had to save the world.
"Morning sweetie," Kim's mom chirped as Kim slumped into her seat at the kitchen table. "You don't look so hot. Are you feeling well?"
Kim felt somewhat annoyed by how complacent her parents had become about having a teenage adventurer as a daughter. They rarely remarked about how late she rolled into the house, even on school nights. And how could they complain? Kim maintained straight A's in all her classes and captained the cheerleading squad. She was a parent's dream.
"Oh, I'm fine, just a little worn out," Kim lied.
"Oh, well that's good," he mother replied absentmindedly. "I have to run or I'll be late. I left you some eggs over there on the stove." Her mother kissed the top of her head and made straight for the garage door.
Kim toyed with the idea of eating some of the rapidly cooling scrambled eggs, but decided against it. She wasn't feeling particularly hungry this morning. She put the eggs on a plate and stuck them in the microwave, figuring one of the twerps would eat it for their breakfast. She grabbed her school things and went outside to wait for Ron on the porch.
Ron had been driving Kim to school since he had finally earned his license last month. Things had been a bit weird at the beginning of the summer, but the events of the prom were slowly fading into memory. Kim knew she loved Ron, but thinking about him in that way gave her an acute icky feeling. While many assumed they were dating because of the ride situation, Kim knew that driving her to school made Ron happy, and she could live with that. Ron occasionally made pathetic attempts to inject more romance into their relationship, but Kim had pretty much reached her final decision on the matter.
Ron pulled up a few minutes late. "Sorry K.P., I couldn't find my belt this morning."
"It's always something, isn't it Ron? I'd make the obvious head unattached cliché, but for you I'm not even sure it would really matter."
"Ha ha," scoffed Ron as Kim got into the car.
"So, are you planning to go to that party on Friday?" Kim had expected him to ask about the party, but not immediately. Apparently he wasn't beating around the bush.
"Well, I'd thought about it," Kim replied. "But that's assuming I'm not on call to save the world from megalomaniacal idiots again."
"I hear you K.P., but you just have to go. This'll be, like, the part of the century. Or at least our senior year."
"How can you know that? It's only September!" replied Kim.
"Okay, so I don't know. But it is the first real party I've ever been invited to! That's got to be big..." reasoned Ron.
Kim had no desire to go to the party. One of the football boys' parents were out of town and he was throwing a typical high school boozefest in the interim. Ron had joined the football team that summer, perhaps in a vague attempt to impress Kim. This had netted him an invite to said party. Kim wasn't impressed, but she could tell Ron truly was.
"I'll think about it," Kim said.