Thanks for all your reviews; I really appreciate them! I know doing the first chapter from Ron's POV was kinda weird, but it didn't want to be written in third person. HOWEVER! The rest of the story will be in third person, which makes it easier on all of us…here we go, and I promise, a twist is coming!
Another thing: sorry if any of you read my second chapter. See, it wasn't really my second chapter but my computer and I are currently not on friendly terms, so it kindly uploaded the wrong chapter. So yeah. Here's the right second chapter. Thanks!
Ron had managed to make it through yet another school day without Kim. It was still hard, even though weeks had passed. Most of the student body seemed to have more or less moved on. Yes, Kim had been popular, but none of them seemed to care very much after a while.
Of course, there would be a dedicatory page in the yearbook with her on it, and the football team and cheer squad had held a vigil for her…but people just seemed to be moving on. Ron was glad that they didn't hurt, but he still felt angry that people could forget heroes so easily.
He slumped down the hallway and opened his locker, only to find Rufus busying himself with a chip bag that was sliding off a math book. He leaned against the wall for a minute, staring at nothing. Someone tapped his shoulder.
Ron turned around slowly, only to see Josh Mankey standing beside him, holding something.
"Hey," Ron said automatically.
Josh nodded. "I wanted you to see something I drew. It's for Kim." Without saying anything else, he held up a sketch.
Kim… It was amazing. Somehow, in some unearthly way, Josh had managed to capture Kim on paper. He'd actually managed it.
Her hair…swinging around, seemingly with a mind of it's own. A belated memory of switching bodies with Kim suddenly struck Ron. Having hair tickling at his back had been so…irritating. Kind of odd, he reflected, how it never tickled like that when it occasionally had hit him other times.
There were her slim fingers, so soft and gentle when they needed to be. So rock-hard and unforgiving at other times. Her arms, too, were like that. They were cocked, ready to help launch Kim into the air. He missed her hugs. She always grabbed him so tightly, and with such sincerity that on more than one occasion it had nearly made him cry.
Somehow, her face was perfect. Even though it was only a sketch, her eyes seemed to glisten and snap, just like they always did when she was fighting. They were crinkled into that half-smiling, half-angry look that she always got. And her mouth…those lips that grinned so easily and felt like silk against his cheek…
Josh had captured everything. There was Kim, half-crouched, ready to fling herself gracefully into action. Ron could almost reach into the drawing and touch her quivering frame.
Ron felt a tear race down his cheek, and he touched the picture, tracing his finger down the side of his long-gone best friend's face. He looked in awe at Josh.
"How'd you manage it? Dude – how'd you know?"
Josh frowned, clearly disturbed by his artwork. "I wanted to draw her…I thought about putting the picture in the yearbook, or maybe giving it to her parents, but…you need to have it."
Ron swiftly wiped a tear from his face and said nothing, entranced.
"Yeah… I didn't have any idea what to draw when I started, but…then I had this crazy dream, and I saw her. I saw her in action, and, well…it was crazy. How could I not?"
Ron breathed painfully. "It's beautiful, Josh."
"She's beautiful," insisted Josh. He held the sketch out to Ron. "I want you to have it."
Ron blinked hard. "No, I… I couldn't. It's yours, you keep it."
"Seriously, I need you to have it, dude. You're the closest thing to Kim any of us has left. She'd want you to have it."
Ron accepted the sketch, muttering unintelligible thanks to Josh. Josh nodded and clapped him on the shoulder. Ron could see his eyes were moist.
"I'm sorry, man. I know it's hard – I know I can't understand how hard, but you'll pull through this. You're as strong as Kim ever was."
Ron blundered into his bedroom and slammed the door behind him, leaning on it. He let his backpack slip off his shoulder and land in a pile of dirty laundry. Breathless, he stared at himself in the mirror across the room.
The sketch seemed to burn in his hand. He hadn't shown his parents when he'd come in. They'd asked, but he'd shaken his head and ran upstairs. Right now the pain was raw again. Sometimes it would be better, but now and then it would return again, surging and demanding.
Gasping, he crossed to the dresser and propped the picture up against the mirror. He was dazed. Slowly, he sank down on his bed and stared at the picture, unblinking. The picture seemed strangely more life-like than any of the dozens of photos he had of her. He smiled as his chocolate eyes fastened on the penciled ones. She seemed almost alive again. There was some terrible, wonderful, hypnotic power to that picture that made him feel like Kim's very presence was in the room. Wildly he looked about, as if he could see her.
His eyes landed on a stuffed animal sitting on a pile of clean shirts on the floor. An involuntary smile lit his face up. Panderoo.
He grinned genuinely as he rolled off the bed and picked the soft, plush toy up. It still smelled like Kim. That half perfume, half fruity smell that she had. He remembered the day in 6th grade when Kim had come up to him after school, telling him she had a terrible confession to make. She'd dragged him up to her bedroom and shoved Panderoo in his face.
"I still sleep with him," she'd stated, as if accusing herself of some heinous crime.
Ron had grinned at the little animal, and then handed him back to Kim. "That's cool," he'd said.
Kim had burst into a grin and squeezed the little creature. "So you don't think I'm a baby for it?"
"Heck, no. Why should anyone care, K.P.?"
After Kim's funeral the Possibles had come to his house. Mrs. Doctor P had given him Panderoo.
"She'd want you to have it, Ron. You're the only one she trusted enough to tell."
Ron held Panderoo to his face, breathing in the sweet scent of his friend. It calmed him somewhat, and he laid back down on the bed and fell asleep, Panderoo clutched tightly to his chest.
Thanks for reading! I hope to have the next chapter up soon. Again…a twist is coming! I promise!