Disclaimer and A/N: Kim Possible and the gang are owned by the Disney Company. I use the characters to write stories for no recompense. This is in response to a few readers that wanted me to continue my one-shot, Another Scenario. It's an AU with no coherent time line and StD didn't occur. I might also mess a bit with the actual stories from the series.

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Chapter 3: Mixed Emotions

"Ron, are you ready to go to school yet?" Kim Possible yelled as she walked into the Stoppable kitchen. She saw Ron standing in the middle of the room, goofy grin plastered on his face, cordless phone in hand, staring with glazed, donut-sized eyes into oblivion. She walked over to him and waved a hand in front of his face. "Ron? RON? Earth to Ron, who's on the phone?" Ron's glassy expression worried her.

"It was Bonnie setting me up on a date," he said dreamily.

"OUR BONNIE!" Kim screamed in disbelief. "Bonnie Rockwaller set you up on a date!?"

Ron came out of his fog sputtering, "B-B-Bonnie Rock...? No! No, no, no no. It was Bonnie... ah, um. Bonnie my third step cousin once removed on my Mom's side of the family. Yeah, that's her. I haven't seen her since Camp Wannaweep."

"And she called you out of the blue," Kim said, still trying to fathom the sitch, "setting you up with a girl?"

Ron's goofy grin grew as he replaced the receiver in its cradle. "No actually, she's a woman."

"And this woman," Kim said doubtfully, "wants to go out with you?"

Ron grabbed his backpack as the two left the kitchen and walked out the front door toward school. Ron looked dismayed. "KP, she's a twenty year old Marine Lieutenant that's a friend of my cousin. The Lieutenant follows our exploits and is interested in me." He poked his chest with a finger a couple of times to make his point. "She's being sent to the Gulf next month and wants to be pen pals while she's over there. I suggested we meet this Saturday for a date and she heartily agreed. Is that so hard to believe?"

Kim crossed her arms and huffed, "You know the press never gets your name right, if they even mention your name in the first place." She muttered under her breath, "That really makes me mad the way they treat you." She looked back at Ron. "Anyway, I'm very happy you got a fan. Maybe, if things work out and she gets back from the Gulf, you could double date with Josh and I. We're going out this Friday," she said smugly, "and I have the perfect date set up. We're going to dinner, then a Kung Fu movie, then we'll go for a walk in the park. I'm hoping he'll kiss me." She blushed bright red and shied her face to the side.

Ron stopped short as his eyes slammed shut and hands shot to cover his ears. "KP, T M I.."

"What," Kim queried with a giggle, "that I hope he'll kiss me?"

"LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!"

"Ron," Kim slapped his hands away from his head, "grow up! You know I would eventually start dating. Do you think that, just because we've been together for like, forever, that I'd suddenly... realize.. you're perfect... boyfriend... material?" As she spoke her eyes glazed over with that far away look. Ron could practically see the wheels churning in her mind.

Ron allowed her to ponder for a minute or three before deciding to have a bit of fun. His voice snapped her back to reality as he frowned and screamed, "It would be better than you going out with that pretty boy Monkey! I bet you he's..." Ron clammed up and turned away from Kim.

"That he's what, Ron?" she demanded.

Ron spun to face her. His finger shot up to make a point as his mouth opened. No words came out. He slowly lowered his hand and his mouth slammed shut as he shook his head. "No Kim. I'm not gonna say what I was gonna say. If you heard it from someone else you might believe it, but you'd get mad at me if I said it, and you wouldn't talk to me for a week, even though I'm right. If I were wrong, which I'm not, you'd never let me talk about him again and accuse me of something I'm not, even though I know I'm right, if I were to accuse him with my allegation; Which, in fact, is the truth and not alleged."

Kim shook her head then stared at him. (In other words, she did a double, or triple, take.) "Ron, that was the most convoluted thought I've ever heard come out of your mouth. I accept your wager."

"Wha???"

Kim got a folder out of her backpack, ripped out a piece of paper, and handed it and a pen to him. "You write down your allegation," she got an envelope out of her pack, "and I'll seal it in here. I'll only open the envelope if I break up with Josh and you say it's okay to look."

Ron quickly scribbled one short word on the page, neatly folded the paper in thirds and stuck it in the envelope. He plucked a hair from his cowlick and sealed it under the flap. He then scrawled 'RON' in huge letters across the back of the envelope and on the front he wrote, 'JOSH IS...' "Now you can't take a look without me finding out." He handed the sealed missive to her.

"Paranoid much?" Kim accepted the envelope and tucked it into her backpack. "Afraid I'll take a peek and see what you wrote?"

Ron's goofy grin sprouted as they started walking again. "No, just cautious. As I said, you'd get mad if you heard it from me. Especially if you're dating him at the time. I might not understand girls, but guys I can read like a book and I've read the book of Joshua Monkey. The only question now is what the bet should be."

They walked in silence for a moment before Kim spoke up. "If you're right, I'll let you lead the very next mission." She paused for a second. "If you're wrong..."

"If I'm wrong," Ron said hesitantly, staring off to the distance, "I promise to buy and wear three new belts for my pants. Ones that will keep them up on our missions."

Kim giggled. "That might not be a bad idea if you win or lose. But I think you also might look good in suspenders. Those would work a lot better than any belt, or three."

"Ah, Kim," Ron said pensively, "if you haven't noticed, I don't have the shoulders for suspenders, they slope too much. The suspenders would slip off my shoulders and my pants would definitely fall down."

"But then," Kim smirked, "you'd also have to start weight training to build up your upper body. You have good power in your legs but your upper body strength leave something to be desired. So the bet should be leading a mission verses weight training and suspenders."

Ron blushed deeply. "Well KP, if you want to know a secret, I've already started..."

Kim stopped in her tracks and stared at him. "Noooo! Really?"

"Where do you think I've been disappearing to during my free period?" Ron queried nonchalantly. "They say a sound mind starts with a sound body and I want to get better grades and help out more on our missions."

"Oh Ron!" Kim sang as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a big, wet sloppy kiss on the lips. "I'm simply ecstatic to hear you finally want to improve yourself. By why are you starting now?"

"POSSIBLE! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE YOUNG LADY!" The voice boomed from the front of the school. They looked over and saw Mr. Barkin: Vice Principal, fill-in teacher and disciplinarian, quick marching towards their location. "YOU KNOW THE RULES! NO PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION ON SCHOOL PROPERTY!"

Kim looked around and saw she and Ron had barely stepped on to the school grounds."Sorry Mr. Barkin, but Ron just told me he has started a self improvement regime."

"And technically Mr. B," Ron continued, "we were still in the street when the PDA took place."

"It won't happen again," Kim apologized. "I guess I got too excited when I heard the news."

Mr. Barkin's all-knowing smirk arose. "I know all about Stoppable's self-improvement program." Kim's jaw dropped to the ground and her eyes were as big as the platter her Mom served her Brain Meatloaf on last night. "He came to me last week wanting to set up a weight training routine he could follow. He's also joined my rugby team and did quite well on Saturday. He scored twice." He gave Ron a jovial, sporty punch to the arm.

Ron's goofy grin shone brightly as he rubbed the new sore spot on his body. "I find you run and dodge much faster when guys twice your size are trying to smash in your brains. It's also a great cardio workout."

Mr. Barkin frowned, hands on hips. "But I think you should get another spotter for your weight training. Miss Monroe is a bit petite to do a proper job of spotting the weights you're lifting."

"Tara is helping you with weights?" Kim said in disbelief.

Mr. Barkin interrupted as he smirked and checked his watch. "Since you two weren't actually on school property when the alleged PDA occurred, and it was in conjunction with Stoppable's improvement program, I'll let you get by with a mild, but stern warning. I suggest you discuss this at another time since the first bell is about to ring. Now, GET TO CLASS YOU TWO!"

Ron saluted before he and Kim race into the school and to their lockers. The first bell rang as they closed the locker doors and turned to go to their first class. "So what other secrets are you keeping from me?" Kim slyly begged as they approached the classroom.

"I was gonna tell you," Ron said in embarrassment, "but I didn't want to start something and then fall back into my procrastination and vegetation state and disappoint you." They entered the room and took their seats. "I wanted to get a good weeks worth of workout under my belt before telling you. I have one other secret, but I promised I wouldn't tell anyone."

"I understand about you keeping your secrets," Kim said sweetly, "but if you had told me about your program I could've helped." The second bell rang. "We'll talk about this later."

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Kim sat down at the table in the cafeteria where Monique, Ron and Rufus had already started eating. "Okay Ron!" she said in pure agitation, "Spill!"

Ron finished the slice of pizza and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Spill what? Where?" he said with a goofy grin, looking around and under the table.

Kim picked up her slice of cheese on cardboard and stared at him. "You know what I mean. Why the sudden interest in improving yourself?"

Ron simply shrugged and grabbed the slice of pizza from Rufus' paws. The naked mole rat squeaked a disapproval at his big buddy before moving on to the last slice on the plate. "I finally watched that TV show my Mom had recorded off the Procrastination Channel three months ago. I realized what was going on in my life and decided to do something about it." He took a bite of pizza and smiled. "How long it'll last is anyone's guess."

"And you let Tara in on it before telling me?" Kim said indignantly.

"Tara was visiting her current beau, Jeremy, in the weight room when I got started," he said defensively. "She came over and offered to help out."

"Wait a sec," Monique cut in. She pointed at Ron and asked, "You and Tara are weight training and you didn't bother to tell Kim?"

Ron got up from the table holding his plate. "I was gonna ask Kim to come watch me play rugby this Saturday and tell her then." He quickly dashed into the lunch line to get more pizza.

"Ron playing rugby?" Monique shook her head violently to get that image out of her head. "That poor boy must be a glutton for punishment," she moaned and turned to Kim. "You know Tara has a major crush on Ron. Aren't you afraid you'll lose him to that platinum vixen?"

Kim swallowed the bite she had been chewing on and smiled. "If he and Tara hook up it's fine by me. It'll be less awk-weird now that I'm dating Josh."

Monique slapped the slice of pizza she had been holding onto her plate, then pulled the plate away without looking before Rufus could jump on it. "Girl, are you still mooning over that Fop!"

"Fop?" Kim begged, "What's that an acronym for? Friend Of..."

"No girlfriend," Monique said flatly. "He's a frilly shirt kinda guy." She got a blank stare from Kim. "Josh is from the limp wrist brigade." As an illustration she held her arm out straight and let her hand flop down at the wrist. Still a blank stare from Kim. "He's a poof!" Nothing. Monique got frustrated. "He's queer as a three dollar bill!"

"What are you trying to telling me? Josh Mankey is...what?"

Monique stood and planted her hands on the table as she leaned into Kim's face and yelled, "HE'S GAY!"

Half the students in the cafeteria looked at Monique, the other half peered strangely at Ron who was just sitting down. Ron quickly stood and yelled, "SHE'S TALKING ABOUT SOMEBODY ELSE!" He sat down and tried to scrunch as low as possible while still being able to reach his plate piled with steaming cheese on... something that somehow got passed the State Health Board as... crust.

Kim sat bolt upright as her jaw rested on the table. Her eyes grew as big as a whole cafeteria pizza. She groaned, "Noooo!" while staring at Monique.

The three teens watched as Rufus put down his slice of pizza, put one hand on his hip and the other at the back of his head. He sashayed across the table swaying his hips and chimed, "Monkey Boy, Effeminate! Woo Woo!"

"Ah, KP," Ron said as he finally sat up in his seat and faced her, "if you'd like a third opinion, look at the envelope we sealed earlier and..." he left the sentence uncompleted.

Kim dove into her backpack and got the envelope out. She quickly ripped it open and unfolded the neatly creased paper enclosed. The one, three letter word nearly floored her. Monique picked up the envelope and read 'Josh is...' and Ron's name on the outside. She pried the page from Kim's death grip and read the word written there. Kim sat motionless, staring out the window. Her mouth was open and hand still in the position where it was when it held the now gone paper.

"Gay," Monique read and turned to Ron. "You wrote this today?"

"Yep," he chirped happily. "Kim was telling me about the date she'd set up for Josh. I got a little perturbed so I almost let the cat out of the closet. I did that," indicating the piece of paper, "so she could read it after she and Josh broke up or she found out."

Monique wave the paper in front of Kim's face getting no reaction. "Why didn't you just tell our girl the truth?"

Ron shrugged. "Cause she wouldn't believe me and she'd get all mad and wouldn't talk to me for a week or more. Besides, it's not my place to out Josh. If he wants people to know he's gay, he should tell em his-self."

"W-W-Why, why, why, why..." Kim stuttered as she came out of her haze, "why would he want to date me if he's gay?" She spotted Josh as he sauntered, "No," she thought, "he's sashaying just like Rufus," over to a table of girls. He was dressed is black chinos, a pink v-neck sweater over a frilly poets shirt and penny loafers. (No socks.) She noticed the tassels on his shoes flip flopping as he walked.

Monique smiled her 'I know what they're saying on the grapevine' smile. "You want the low down on him?" Kim nodded weakly. Monique took a deep breath. "Well!!! Rumor has it he's going to come out of the closet on the last day of school this year and come back next year as Jessica Mankey!"

"No!" both Kim and Ron said in unison as they leaned in for more.

Monique nodded quickly, "Yep, and get this. The operation is scheduled the day after school lets out." She giggled a bit before continuing. "The reason he's getting friendly with you Kim, is she wants to continue dating you next year. Josh slash Jess thinks you're a Dyke." Monique laughed out loud at the revelation. Ron joined in with his own guffaws.

Kim crossed her arms and harrumphed, "I don't think that's very funny at all."

"Come on KP," Ron giggled. "You must admit you are a very strong, macho kinda girl. All you'd need is the butch haircut and a tattoo or two to complete the picture." Monique nodded in agreement.

"But you two know I'm not a lesbian," Kim protested in a whisper.

"I know girl, but look at what everyone else sees." Monique ticked off the reasons on her fingers as she rattled them off. "One, you're a strong, independent woman. Two, you haven't dated anyone before gay guy Josh. Three, you have friends who are boys, but not a boyfriend. Four, you always go to all the dances and school functions with your boy friend who's not your boyfriend. Five, you wear boyish clothes. Six, I doubt you have one dress in your closet."

"Aha!" Kim perked up. "I have a dress!" She turned to Ron. "That summer one with the floral print!"

"Kim," Ron said shaking his head, "you haven't been able to fit into that one since you were like, six years old. The only skirt in your closet is your cheerleading outfit."

Kim pouted, but not the puppy dog variety, as she said, "I guess it's time to go shopping." She sighed. "I'll just have to break down and buy that little black dress I've had my eye on."

Monique patted Kim's hand. "If you want, you can use my Club Banana employee discount card. I'll put a LBD in your size aside tonight when I go in to work."

Ron's eyes glazed over and went wide as his imagination kick in. He muttered, "Kim... LBD... Wow!" He shook his head and came back to the here and now. "KP, I know your finances are a bit tight at the moment so I'll buy the dress if you'd want. You can call it an early birthday present."

"That's nice of you to offer, Ron," Kim said sincerely, "but where will you get the money?"

Ron blushed and said weakly, "I got another Naco Royalty check in the mail yesterday."

Monique and Kim stared wide-eyed at him and said in unison, "You got another Ninety Nine Million Dollars?"

Ron shook his head and frowned. "Nope," he said sadly. His frown quickly turned upside down. "This one's for a hundred fifteen mill." He held his hand up to stop what Kim was about to say. "And before you go on about me spending it frivolously, Dad took this check and is investing it. He's only giving me an allowance of a grand a month. I don't think I'll need that much, I am so over spending money."

Monique tittered. "Ron boy, if I didn't know your heart belonged to another, I'd propose to you on the spot."

Kim laughed before adding, "I would too if I thought you'd accept and not think I was only after your money."

A sincere smile spread over Ron's face. "Kim, I know you don't care anything about the money. You've never taken the rewards when they're offered on missions. So, money aside, why would you ask me to marry you?"

"Well, do you remember when we were walking to school this morning and I said you should know I'd be dating others and not suddenly realize you're perfect boyfriend material?"

Ron nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well..." Kim paused and blushed. "I guess I've been thinking about it all morning and suddenly realized you are, in fact, the perfect boyfriend. It hit me during the last period before lunch."

"What you talking about girl?" Monique asked in disbelief.

Kim sat straight in her chair and looked Monique in the eyes. She said confidently, "Ron is everything I would ever want or need in a partner, on missions or in life. He is kind, considerate, giving and brave in the face of just about any danger. He's loyal to a fault," she giggled before going on, "and he's very funny when the sitch calls for it. He always knows when to pick up my spirits and when to leave me alone if I need my space." Kim waved off Monique's protest she knew was coming. "I know, I know. Ron isn't that smart or a hunk. He doesn't dress well and can be goofy and infuriating and..."

Ron cut her off. "KP! I'm sitting right here! Listening!"

"Sorry," Kim purred, putting a gently hand on his. "My point is, anyone I go out with will have both good attributes and bad. I know all of yours since we've been together since Pre-K. You might not be an Adonis, but you are a great catch."

Ron's goofy grin appeared. "So whens the wedding? You set the date."

"Are you kidding?" Kim begged. "We can't get married yet. We're underage."

"Sure you can," Monique interjected. "All you need is your parents approval. If they say it's alright, then you can get hitched."

"Really," Kim said excitedly. "Okay Ron, let's ask our folks. I know my Mom will say yes and she'll convince Daddy."

"My parents like you," Ron said hesitantly, "but the only way they'll agree is if you convert to Judaism. Would you consider changing?"

Kim smiled shyly. "For you Ron, and for us, I would gladly do it."

Ron laced his fingers with Kim's, squeezed her hand gently and smiled. "It would make me so happy to marry you whenever you want."

Monique stood up, leaned onto the table and stared at the two teenagers. "If you two want to do adult things like get married, I think you should act like adults and step back from this situation a minute and analyze it." She peered at Ron with questioning eyes. "What is happening here? I know you love Kim with all your heart. You always have and always will. It's been obvious to me since the day I met you two. So, do you want to risk your friendship for a life with Kim?" She raised her hand to stop his answer and turned to Kim. "And you Kim, are very fond of Ron, I'll admit that. But you just found out your very first real boyfriend is gay and thinks you're a lesbian. So, what do you do? You go out and prove your gay boyfriend wrong by marrying your best friend!?"

Ron snaked his hand away from Kim's, turned away and looked at the floor. "Monique's right, Kim. You've only thought about what kinda boyfriend I'd make for half a day, found out I'm worth big bucks and suddenly you want to marry me? What ever happened to dating and going steady for a couple of years before considering marriage?"

Kim got up from her seat, knelt at his feet and rested her hands on his legs submissively. "Ron, we've practically been dating and going steady for as long as we've known each other." She gently raised his chin with her hand so he would look her in the eye. "And I know you can be more responsible with your money. You just said you don't know how you'll spend one thousand dollars a month and that you're sick of spending. That alone speaks volumes. I also know your Dad would put provisions on the investments so you can't touch them until you're at least twenty one, right?"

"Actually," Ron said with a slight smirk, "twenty five."

Kim smiled lovingly. "That's perfect. That way you'll be out of college and will be responsible for earning your own way before you can touch it. But Monique is also right that I need to think about it a bit more." The bell rang to end the lunch period. Kim got up off the floor and helped Ron to his feet. "We both need to think and talk about it more. Tree house after school?" Ron nodded and smiled. Kim leaned in. "And just to let you know, I enjoyed kissing you before Mr. Barkin caught us." She leaned in further to kiss him on the lips.

A hand slapped across her mouth stopped her. Monique frowned and said, "Girlfriend, if you do that now you'll fry his brain and he won't be able to get to class now or for the rest of the day."

They all laughed and headed to their lockers.