A/N – PLEASE REVIEW!!! If you don't review and tell me what I'm doing wrong, I can't get better at writing now can I? Thanks to Dr. Odd for his excellent suggestion on writing this story from an outside character's POV. This chapter comes from Bonnie's mom's POV. Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed my story, especially Classic Cowboy for just going over things for me.
Chapter 15
I smiled as I saw Bonnie laughing with her friend Ronald. Such a sweet young boy, he's really teaching her what matters in life. I've been trying for years to get that "image is everything" crap out of her head but to no avail, an even harder task considering that I was a businesswoman specializing in advertising. He must be real special, I thought to myself. In fact, it was my idea to have him over for Christmas, so that my husband and I could finally meet him and find out just what it was he had that no one else seemed to. After all, he had changed my daughter from a depressed, shallow narcissist into a loving and respectable creature. I smiled as I thought of the seemingly overnight transition.
Weeks Ago (Day before Ron met Bonnie)
"Hi, sweetheart, how was your day," I asked my daughter sweetly, hoping that today would be the day she changed.
"Great, mom," she said, dripping with sarcasm. We haven't had any mother-daughter conversations that meant anything for years. She's been out of the house more and more often, doing God knows what with God knows who. From the information I've picked up, it seemed as if she had gone out with every football player and jock at some point in her life, never keeping a relationship for more than a few weeks. As a mother, it was killing me on the inside, knowing that my own daughter was becoming a stereotypical snob and a victim of society's superficiality. I saw her pick up a diet coke and walk to her room, probably to talk on the phone or do some homework. My cell phone rang and realizing it was one of my clients, I headed out, giving my husband a peck on the lips on the way. I sighed; working on Sunday was definitely not going to set a good example for my already overworked daughter.
It was going to be another late night, and I realized we weren't going to have a family dinner…again. It seemed to be decades since my whole family just sat down and ate together. Bonnie would either always be out or doing her homework or practicing her cheerleading or whatever, always muttering about this "Kim" character and how she needed to beat her. I realized years ago that it was becoming unhealthy competition, but I could never persuade my daughter to let it go. In fact, every lecture I gave her seemed to inflame her spirit even more, pushing her harder than ever. Finally, I just gave up, thinking it was impossible for either me or my husband to change her, and it was our own damn fault for giving her the vibe that looks meant everything.
Monday (The next day—The day she changed)
Staying up until two a.m. drinking coffee and working was not the way I planned my Sunday; I decided to stay home today to just rest and let the stress just wash away…for now. Bonnie groggily came down to the breakfast table in a short miniskirt, face laden with makeup. How could she wear that, and in winter no less? Deciding not to irritate my daughter (there's been too much of that), I just kept our conversation to general topics like current events and such. She left without saying goodbye and sped off in her car, probably already on the way to degrading others to make herself feel better. I sighed, and looked over to my husband, hoping he'd have an idea.
"I just don't know what more we can do for her, honey. We've been so busy with our lives that we neglected her and became examples of everything we didn't want to be. Superficial, image-making, greedy-looking people." He was right, of course, as he usually was about Bonnie. He had known to refrain himself from having a heart to heart talk with Bonnie, knowing that it would lead to nothing but a huge argument. I sighed, realizing that my relaxing day at home was not going to be so relaxing after all.
Bonnie returned home at four, which was quite surprising considering the fact that cheerleading went on until 5:30. Without a single word, she grabbed a diet coke and went to her room to close her door. She came down an hour later to eat some food and, to my surprise, she wasn't meticulously analyzing the nutrition labels. At 6:02 p.m. (I could never forget that time), the phone rang and I picked it up, hearing a masculine voice on the other end asking for Bonnie. Deciding that it was probably just another one of her boyfriends (none of which she had any emotional attachment with), I was about to tell him to hold on before I found the phone plucked from my hands by Bonnie. Surprised, I could do nothing but wonder why she had been so eager to talk to this boy, when she blew off all her other boyfriends like excess luggage if she was in the middle of something.
"Hey, Ron!" she said excitedly. "I'm so glad you called." I almost dropped my coffee mug in surprise. Since when did Bonnie sound genuinely happy? Ron, I told myself. Remember that name. Even more to my surprise, she stopped her eating all together and headed to her room. Bonnie never stopped in the middle of something to talk to a guy. He's either a psychotic murderer that Bonnie's trying to ward off by talking to, or he's a really sweet guy. Deciding that the psychotic murderer scenario was more likely, I headed to Bonnie's room to eavesdrop.
"No way...you've been to all the continents? Even Antarctica? Really? Wow, you are amazing, not to mention incredibly sweet." I shook my head in disbelief. Did Bonnie just give a genuine compliment? Two of them? Realizing that something good had begun, I quietly walked away, not wanting to ruin whatever was happening.
Three hours later, I heard Bonnie hang up the phone and come downstairs to the living room, where I sat with my husband watching a movie. Deciding now to be a good time to talk to her, I initiated the conversation.
"So, why didn't you go to cheerleading today, sweetheart?" I asked.
"Got kicked off," she said nonchalantly. The tone in which she said surprised me far more than the action itself; cheerleading had seemed to be her life and getting kicked off should have really pushed her to the edge, if not over. It was the one thing we could talk about without harsh retaliations, and I could tell Bonnie really had a passion for it, considering she was always training in order to be better than this "Kim" character.
"Oh, I'm really sorry," I said, still stunned at her tone.
"It's fine, mom. I'm actually kind of glad I did. You see, I met this guy…" The rest is history. Bonnie went on to tell me that this wasn't one of the glamorous guys she had always hung around, but rather one of those everyday, run-of-mill guys. As she talked about him for another ten minutes straight, she stopped and blushed when she realized that the TV was off and both my husband and I were staring at her.
"Honey, you actually like your boyfriend for who he is on the inside this time?" I asked, still in shock. Had the ice queen's heart finally melted? She giggled in return, a genuine, warm chuckle, devoid of any condescending tones. It was probably the first time I heard her giggle like that since she was eight.
"Ron's not my boyfriend, mom. I'm not even a friend of his; at least I don't think so." What? She was so excited over a guy who she wasn't even friends with? I pinched myself to make sure I was delirious or dreaming. The sharp pain alerted me that I wasn't. "Well, not yet anyway. You see, I've been really giving him a hard time for the past…well, over the past decade, calling him names and stuff." He was a typical loser that Bonnie picked on? And now he seems to have more influence on Bonnie than anyone? I was confused to the point that I was speechless, and I could tell my husband was too. Deciding it'd be better to stop questioning Bonnie, I looked over at my husband, and he understood my body movements perfectly.
"Sweetie," he said, getting up. "If you two jump into a relationship together, just know that you can always invite him over for Christmas dinner, the one day your mother and I know we can meet him." After that last statement, my husband and I left to go to our bedroom and to talk about this new, fortunate turn of events.
As the days passed, Bonnie seemed to be smiling more and more and dressed far more conservatively. In fact, the only makeup she seemed to wear at all was lipstick, if even that. One night, she came downstairs to talk to me about life.
"Mom, why are you so concerned with your image? You've always been trying to teach me that it's what's on the inside that counts, but you know I couldn't really believe you when…"
"When everything I did is so heavily influenced by image?" She nodded silently, patiently waiting for me to go on. "Your father and I, we both took glamorous jobs when we came out of college. Not only were they high paying, but they were filled with smart, charismatic, and yes, pretty people. It seemed so right to us, even though we ourselves weren't really that shallow. We may have been somewhat, but everyone is."
"Not everyone…" I heard Bonnie whisper. Deciding it best not to go into that, I continued on.
"When you were born, we told ourselves we were going to raise you to be a kind, respectable person. Remember when you were little? We tried to associate you with as much diversity as possible, hoping you'd understand and appreciate those that weren't the same as you. You bought it at first, but then you began to grow up." She sat there silently, taking in everything I was saying and analyzing it in her head. "When you were three, you always told everyone you met 'I want to be just like my mommy,' so I guess your shallowness was my fault. Your father and I never realized that there would be repercussions to our profitable jobs, and when we did discover them it was already too late. Society had already corrupted you and your innocence, and no matter what we did, you wouldn't listen to us dear. We tried everything, but the more diversity we showed you the more disrespectful you became."
"I'm sorry mom," she whispered, tears brimming at her eyes.
"You had us real worried honey. We didn't want our daughter to end up being a type of person that your father and I could never come to respect, a shallow, narrow-minded bigot."
"You mean…you truly meant everything you lectured me on?"
"Of course. We taught you how to be successful and instilled a solid determination inside of you. This was all good and merry at the time until we realized the price. You began to frown upon those you considered inferior and only hung out with the popular kids. You stopped getting to truly know people, unless it was to manipulate them. Our plan to make you a determined, new-age woman had backfired on us. Instead of just striving to do your best, you had to be the best at everything. Don't think I didn't see you pull all-nighters studying because you were so busy training yourself with athletics. You had a fiery passion inside of you, which is normally a good thing. However, while most people had a spark that drove them on you had a raging fire which seemed to be consuming you. You became withdrawn from us, throwing our advice into the wind and through it all, your father and I realized we had no one to blame but ourselves."
"Oh, mom, I'm so sorry," she said, starting to cry. "I'm so sorry about everything."
"No, sweetie, it wasn't your fault. Children become what they were raised to be. Now back to your question. I'm not really that concerned with my image anymore, though you have to realize that I still have to make one. When you're in business, you have to make everything appear appealing; it's not shallowness, it's just the way things work."
"Well, mom, I'm glad to tell you that I've changed…for the better."
"I know," I said, feeling a wave of happiness and relief crawl through me. "I've seen the way you've been dressing lately and the lack of makeup you've been putting on. I've seen your genuine smiles you'd get when I'd see you walk in the house at night. Let me guess, this is because of your boyfriend Ron." She giggled, but then got serious.
"Mom, Ron's not my boyfriend. We're just friends, and I'm extremely glad we're even that. You see, I've been a real…bitch…to him this past…well, decade or so. You'd think anyone who's taken that much abuse from me would just love to see me fall, especially when he's Kim Possible's best friend." Kim Possible, of course! She was that teen super hero and head cheerleader, the very person Bonnie had been pushing herself to exceed.
"Wait, I thought you said you considered him a loser. How was he Kim Possible's best friend then? Was it just you who considered him one…or was it everyone?" After all, these past few years Bonnie only considered people losers if everyone else did.
"Well, almost everyone considered him a loser, except Kim. I'll be honest with you mom. I've been extremely jealous of Kim over the years but not anymore. She's always been better, one step ahead of me, and I drove myself to extreme ends to make up for the gap in between us. It's not until lately I realized just where Kim's abilities came from; they came from Ron. You see, Ron…he's not like other guys. He's so loyal, to the point where he'd die for his friends. Every single time Kim had any trouble, Ron was there for her, which made it seem to everyone that she was perfect. She was always smiling, always had confidence, and never panicked or worried; and I, just like every other fool in the school, assumed that she was perfect because she was born with all those talents. Now I know it's because of Ron. You see, he and Kim have been drifting ever since sophomore year, when Kim got caught up, just like me, in the rivalry between us. The only difference was she had Ron, and that made all the difference. Kim would be dead right now without Ron. In fact, Ron went through the Amazon Jungle once to save Kim while she went out on a date with Josh Mankey, the one person Ron truly despises. You'd think that he would have been pissed, but no, he still stuck by her side and watched out for her. Saving her life and helping her missions were just the big things he did for her, but it was the little things that truly made her talented. He would always put his own popularity at stake so that Kim would have more, so that eventually he didn't have any left. Quite frankly, he didn't care either, as long as Kim was happy. One time, he even delayed a talent show with extremely embarrassing antics just so Kim wouldn't be late for her performance. Are you starting to see what kind of guy Ron is now mom?" I nodded silently, still feeling a little skeptical about this 'Ron' character.
"At every turn, Ron would be there to support Kim, to whisper in her ear that anything was possible for her. With his confidence in her, she couldn't fail. You're probably wondering how I could know this, and all I can say is that it's my gut feeling and undeniably true. I've talked to Ron for only about a week and I already feel like I'm on top of the world. Getting booted off the cheerleading team is the best thing that ever happened to me because I met Ron then. He's not friends with Kim anymore because, quite frankly, Kim really went too far this time, even in Ron's mind. He's the best friend I've ever had, and I'm not going to take him for granted," Bonnie said determinedly. "Not like, Kim," she added, barely audible. I got up and sat next to Bonnie, putting my arm around her. Things were looking up for her so quickly, and she had learned so much in such little time, all thanks to this one man.
"Your father and I will be happy to meet him at Christmas, if he can come that is."
"Yea, he's coming, and I can't wait." With that, Bonnie hugged me back and went upstairs.
Christmas Day (Back to the present)
I watched as Ron and Bonnie threw snowballs at each other, laughing in childish glee. Not being able to help myself, I let out a small laugh of my own, seeing only happiness in the close future.