Joshua Mankey was obviously well off and being an only child and the only son, he was the heir to all of his father's fortunes. He was rather educated since he studied in Europe every summer when he studied abroad. He was going to go to university in about a year and Kim told herself she'd wait for him to come back and then they'd get married. She could tell he was fond of her because he tended to escort her away from crowded areas and take her on walks around his plantation. Currently walking with him, Kim forgot all about Shego for the moment and smiled as he talked of literature with her. Kim was well read, which was rare. He loved that she picked up old classic fiction and read them and could discuss them intellectually. Like Josh, Kim would analyze characters, settings, and plots and they'd discuss theories and sometimes predict what happened to characters in books with ambiguous endings.
Josh enjoyed the arts. He knew good literature when he saw it and would recommend books for Kim to read, and she'd beg her father for them until he'd just have to buy them the next time he travelled to a city, usually Atlanta, Georgia. Not only did he excel in poetry and literature, but Josh was actually a talented artist. He admitted he knew his art wouldn't amount to anything and it was more of a hobby than a promising career, but Kim loved his artwork. In fact, he had his sketchbook safely tucked under his left arm as he led Kim to one of their favorite spots on the plantation which was hidden from view from other people.
Kim knew if her father caught her with Josh all alone deep in the gardens, he'd be furious because of the speculations. She knew times were changing, and she had seen Bonnie sneak off with Brick many times. And it wasn't just Bonnie; Tara would go off with a boy every so often when she thought other people weren't looking. But Kim's group knew about all of their sneaking around and they'd laugh and gossip about it when there weren't any older women around to scold them.
The two teenagers sat on a white bench which was underneath a large tree, shading them from the hot afternoon sun. He showed her sketches he drew while aboard a ship to Europe, and she told him she should make these true works of art, maybe paint them, give them color. And then Kim felt as if she was talking nonsense, just saying things Joshua Mankey wanted to hear; she always said things he wanted to hear. Kim suddenly frowned when he wasn't looking, disappointed in herself. In a way, Shego was right.
"Have you ever craved going on an adventure?" Kim asked suddenly.
"An adventure?" Josh chuckled. "I go on plenty of adventures. You know I've been to many other countries."
"Not that kind of adventure," Kim shook her head. "I meant the kind where you go out on a…a hike up a mountain and perhaps you get a little dirty on the way. Or even something such as exploring your plantation. Have you ever done that before?" the girl asked eagerly.
Josh gave her a funny look. "Why would I want to go off and do something like that?"
"It could be fun!" Kim's eyes lit up. She stood up and grabbed Josh's hand with hers. She tugged at his arm. "Why, we could even do that this very moment!" she laughed with glee. She failed to notice the sour look on Josh's face as he stood up and put away his sketches to tuck underneath his arm.
"Miss Kimberly, where are we going?" Josh asked as she started to run. Kim lifted up her skirts as she dragged Josh farther and farther away from the party. She was pulled back abruptly when Josh decided not to go along with her anymore. She lurched forward and felt her shoulder pull. Confused, Kim looked up at him as he dropped her hand. "What are you thinking?"
"I was thinking we go-"
"Go where?" Josh gave her a disgusted look.
"I thought it would be fun to climb the tree," Kim pointed to the large, old tree which had perfect branches for climbing.
"I personally thought you were a lady."
"I am!" Kim panicked, her eyes going wide.
"Ladies do not grab men and drag them to go climb a tree. How did you think you were going to climb up there in that, anyway?" he dramatically gestured to her skirts. Kim's face matched her hair when she realized she would have had to take off her skirts and climb up in her bloomers. Perhaps this wasn't her most lady-like moment. "I thought as much." Josh shook his head. "Miss Kimberly, I do like you very much, but I do not think there could be anything other than friendship between us. I do hope you understand." Basically, he just told her she wasn't marriage material and that made her want to cry. She was stronger than the average girl, so she didn't let him see her cry. Kim just nodded, giving him a fake smile, and was thankful when the bell struck, indicating everyone was to head back to the large home. "Coming?" he asked as he started to head back while Kim couldn't seem to move her legs.
"I will be there momentarily," she smiled broader, faker. Josh nodded to head back without her. She waited until he was so far away that there was no way she could catch up. Kim dragged her feet through the grass, defeated. How could a man not secretly want a woman who wasn't afraid to climb trees, run around, or get a little dirty? Boys definitely enjoyed that since her brothers were constantly covered in dirt from rolling around outside.
It was then and there that Kim decided not to go into the house and nap like she was supposed to do. Why was it that women were supposed to be so delicate and take a nap like a child while men drank and smoked to talk about politics or other worldly things? She was doomed to be stuck as a housewife, someone who wasn't supposed to know anything other than the idle gossip around town. She'd never really be able to travel and be like her mother who never did anything that important other than birth two boys to inherit everything.
Kim sighed. Boys were everything. If a woman could give birth to a big, healthy baby boy, give her husband a son, then she was seen as the perfect wife. Women were vessels to give birth to boys. That was it. Men ran the show. With a defeated slouch (as much as she could with her corset tied so tightly), Kim continued her way back to the house and was thankful nobody else remained outside to watch her take a plate and fill it up with food. She mostly put potato salad on it, needing the comfort food she was always craving, but was always advised not to eat.
Kim took the food, knowing people were going to come clean it up soon, and went inside the house. She avoided all of them men who were cooped up in the study, clouds of smoke evident in the class window on the door. Kim silently crept into a small room with a white couch in it and sat down to eat her food after she closed the door behind her.
With nobody looking, she began to devour the potato salad, shoving forkfuls in her mouth like a man. She grinned when she thought about what Joshua Mankey thought. Screw him!
Kim heard the door creak and realized it was open when she obviously closed it. Turning around, she saw a boy around Josh's age standing there with a large grin on his face. She was frozen on the spot with the fork resting in her right hand and the plate on her left. She stared at the brown eyed blond haired boy who continued to grin. He wasn't dressed like one of the elite, so she assumed he was a worker in his brown pants, red shirt, and suspenders that looked like they had once been white.
Kim swallowed the food in her mouth and set her plate and fork on the side table. Cheeks flushed, she turned away from him. "Ronald Stoppable," the boy introduced himself. "Just call me Ron."
"Kimberly Ann Possible," she introduced herself although she never introduced herself to someone of a lower class before. She was supposed to ignore people like him, but here she was, nodding when he asked to take a seat on the couch next to her.
"Miss Kimberly Ann Possible," Ron mused. "That's a mouthful!"
"And just who are you?" Kim asked him despite her better judgment.
"I'm the stable boy," he proudly stated. He stated his profession a little too proudly for such a job, and Kim wondered why the Mankey's paid someone to care for their horses rather than have free help.
"Then what are you doing in their home?" Kim asked.
"I live here when I'm not tending to the horses. They've been fed, cleaned, exercised. Yup, the Ron man has had a busy day today."
"I've never heard of such an arrangement," Kim replied with a smile.
"And I have never seen a lady stuff her face with potato salad." Kim's smile faltered. "I've also never had a lady of your status talk to me, either." She was able to make eye contact and she was mortified when he pointed at his cheek. She wiped her face with her hand, realizing she had a bit of food on her cheek the whole time. "I saw you earlier," Ron broke the silence. "I'm not surprised you aren't up there napping with all of the other women."
"Is that a compliment?" Kim asked him.
"I'd say yes," Ron shrugged. "You're different from them. Noticed it the second you stepped out of your family's carriage."
"How could you tell?" Kim queried.
"Not sure," he shrugged again. "I will say, it's not typical of me to talk to ladies of your status easily."
"Where are you exactly from, Master Stoppable?"
"Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina," he stated proudly.
"What are you doing here in Georgia?" Kim asked, mildly confused at how easy it was to talk to Ron. She liked watching how animated he was when he spoke when he told her he was finding his own way as a man. His family had never been wealthy and he wasn't really looking to get wealthy, but since he couldn't go off to college due to insufficient funds, Ron decided to figure out what he could do because he didn't want to struggle like his family. His father worked for a bank in Charleston, his mother a housewife. He had one sibling, a sister many years younger than him, that his parents took in because the mother died during childbirth and the father didn't want to raise her. It wasn't because the father didn't want her, but it was simply because he didn't have the means. Ron's father could barely support them as it was and baby Hana was the straw that broke the camel's back. Ron said he was helping his family financially when he decided to go to another state and work on a plantation. He sent a huge chunk of money back home every paycheck. The boy was selfless and didn't hesitate to tell her his life story.
When it was Kim's turn, she was brief. She didn't mention how she climbed trees or ran around at night when everyone else was sleeping. She didn't mention teaching Monique how to read or Wade who taught Kim about the world. Ron was just so open and genuine, and Kim was mildly jealous that he could be himself without being ridiculed. The freedom Ron had was what Kim craved, but she couldn't have it without breaking social norms.
"I feel like something's wrong," Ron frowned.
"What makes you think that?"
"Either you're embarrassed to talk to me or something's wrong because you have that huge pile of potato salad," Ron pointed to the side table. "And since you stopped blushing, I don't think you're embarrassed to talk to me, so you must be upset about something," Ron babbled.
Kim actually smiled. "It's stupid, really," Kim bit her lower lip.
"Does it have to do with a Miss Sheila Gordon? I kinda maybe saw you in an argument with her," Ron replied sheepishly. He scratched the back of his neck nervously. He was already overstepping his bounds for sure, but Kim actually felt relaxed speaking to him. She should have been angry. She should have felt other emotions other than the ones she was feeling. She shouldn't have felt comfortable sitting next to a commoner. She shouldn't have felt a little bit sad about the whole Shego situation. Most importantly, she shouldn't have talked to Ron.
"Perhaps," Kim sighed and leaned back against the couch. She didn't need to put up a show around Ron. After all, nobody would believe him anyway. "We were kind of friends. That might be a stretch."
"Would I be intruding if I asked what happened?" Ron asked. So, against her better judgment yet again, she explained to Ron that Miss Sheila slept around, according to the other girls. Shego didn't deny it. Kim felt she couldn't trust someone who wouldn't tell her the truth. As she talked to Ron, she realized how foolish she had been. Kim was afraid of people judging her and shunning her when she did the same exact thing to Shego. Sure, she was a thief and possibly slept around, but did that change anything between them? Did Shego's bad habits affect her in any way?
Kim stopped speaking mid-sentence, standing up abruptly. "Are you gonna eat the rest of that potato salad?" Ron called after her as Kim raced from the room, up the stairs, and into the room where all of the women were napping. Silently, Kim crept around the room looking for Shego. She saw Bonnie, Tara, the other girls. She even saw her mother.
If she didn't need to be quiet, she would have slapped herself in the face. Would Shego really be upstairs taking a nap? When Kim rushed out of the room, she had to stop herself from laughing at her own stupidity. She ran outside, picking up her skirts as she went. She ran towards the open fields, away from the cotton fields, and towards the gardens. The sun was beating down on her and caused her to sweat. At the moment, she didn't care that she was sweating profusely underneath the layers and layers she was forced to wear. Breathing was becoming tricky and she had to stop in the shade underneath a tree. She took in small gasps of breath.
"It might be easier to breathe if you take off that goddamn corset." Kim looked around for the voice and noticed skirts on the ground as well as a hoop, corset, and shoes. She looked up to see Shego sitting on a branch in a tree, not even concerned that she was only in her underclothes.
"Shego, I'm sorry," Kim said as she started to catch her breath.
Shego rolled her emerald eyes.
"It was not okay for me to agree with the other girls. I have no way of knowing whether or not it's true, about, you know…but I realized that does not matter. I still think it is wrong to sleep with a man you are not married to, but when it comes down to it, what you do does not affect my life."
"Princess, be quiet and come up here." Kim obliged. She took off her skirts, the hoop, kicked off her shoes, and climbed up expertly. She sat beside Shego, their legs dangling off of the branch of the tree. Kim couldn't explain it, but she felt as if her stomach dropped momentarily. She shook it off as nervousness. "If you associate yourself with me, then it does matter what I do." Sighing in defeat, Kim knew it was true. Why did other people have to judge others so harshly? Why did people view people in ways that just did not make sense? "This upper class society nonsense is ridiculous."
"How do I learn not to care as much as you?" Kim asked as she looked up at the taller girl. The shade from the leaves was comforting, but some sunlight was coming through the leaves and she had to squint.
"I never cared," Shego replied. "You're better off not being seen with me until you can deal with the ridicule."
"Like the rumors about you?" Kim pondered.
"Are they rumors?" Of course when there was a gust of wind, it blew in Shego's favor and her hair went behind her while Kim's went in front of her face and she knew she looked like a mess. At least most of her hair was pinned so it wasn't that disastrous of an event. She didn't miss Shego's chuckle that the slightly older girl didn't try to hide. "Look, obviously I will damage your reputation. We should just keep this as a secret."
"Keep our friendship a secret?" Kim tilted her head. "That doesn't seem fair to you. I don't care. Take me somewhere; take me somewhere fun. I want to have good, real fun, Shego."
"We have to build up to that," Shego paused for a moment. "We've got to work on your stamina. It is just atrocious."
"I was wearing a corset," Kim crossed her arms.
"Meet me by those peach trees of yours in two nights." Shego hopped down from the branch without climbing down, landing in a crouch expertly on the ground. Kim went to lean forward, clutching the branch in her hands. She couldn't bring herself to jump off from that high. Her heart thumped in her chest and she started to sweat nervously rather than from the heat. She went to let go, but couldn't. "We'll work on that, too," Shego said to break her out of her reverie.
Kim climbed down the tree. Shego began to dress herself, as if she had dressed herself many times before. Although it was easier to get out of her clothes, it was much harder to put them on. "Come over here," Shego said. She tied Kim's corset for her, the redhead telling her to pull it tighter and Shego obliged with a scoff. Kim turned around and saw Shego tying her own corset and putting her shoes on before she put her hoop and skirts on. Kim copied her sloppily and she decided she'd need to practice dressing herself. She shouldn't have to rely on Monique for something as mundane as putting her own clothes on. "We better hurry up," Shego said. "Naptime is almost over." She took Kim's hand and led her back to Joshua Mankey's house.
I hope some people who followed this story are still interested! I am going to try and update this frequently until it is complete. In this chapter, Ron is introduced. I played with the idea of him being rich, but I think Kim will develop more as a person if he isn't rich. Please let me know if there's anything you'd like to see between Kim and Ron (no M rated stuff, please). Please feel free to leave a review. This is my first time doing something like this and I love the feedback I was getting a while back. Thank you!