Disclaimer: Disney owns, I don't. By my count, this is the 324th chapter I've posted on this website and I still don't make any money off of doing so. Who'd thunk I had 324 of anything in me! I also don't own the TV show called Friends. It's mentioned in passing in this chapter and I don't receive anything for mentioning it.

Xxxxxx

Goth

Chapter 3

Contemplation

Xxxxxx

Bonnie couldn't believe how well her day had progressed so far as she sat down on her bed and stripped out of the baggy cargo pants that swiftly fell to the carpet and pooled around her feet. She'd been the talk of the school all day and there had been quite a few nasty rumors about what could've possibly happened to her, but she didn't care. Let 'em all talk. Bonnie truly didn't care about popularity anymore or what others thought about her. That way of life had only led to anger, meanness and a miserable life for everyone, including herself. Bonnie Rockwaller only had one goal to focus on from now on and that was to finish high school so she could move out of the house and get away from her over-doting mother who still thought she was only three years old, and her two older sisters who didn't give a rat's butt (no offense to Rufus) about her or her feelings.

Of course the Goth (or was it Punk? Maybe Emo?) look was all just for show, something to completely alienate Bonnie from everyone at home and school and their intricately devious ideals, namely the Food Chain; the same ideals that she'd adhered to for over three years until she'd realized that it was all just one big stupid game.

Oh, there was no doubt that Bonnie had been an absolute master of 'The Game', but she'd become jaded with the concept and all that it encompassed to the point that she now just wanted to be left alone for the one and a half years remaining in high school. That was one of the reasons why she'd decided to completely change her appearance and remove herself from that damnedably demeaning system. It was demeaning to those that she'd put down and also to her self-worth, damn it.

But Bonnie didn't want to completely remove herself from the social aspects of high school so she needed to latch on to a few carefully chosen people to comprise her new group of friends. Tara was whole-heartedly behind the move, even originally being the one to suggest that Bonnie should go 'Goth' to set herself apart from her old lifestyle.

Tara was also the one who suggested becoming friends with Kim and Ron since they didn't believe in, or were even on, the Food Chain to begin with, and the two teens just might welcome a friendlier Bonnie into their fold.

Bonnie had been so sure that Kim wouldn't be so easily swayed to believe that she had changed. Their rivalry had run deep; so deep in fact, that Kim would surely be wary of Bonnie's motives.

What she hadn't counted on was one Ronald Dean Stoppable.

The hazel-eyed, blond goof-ball turned out to be very helpful in that aspect of the operation, immediately catching on to and accepting the changes in her, and he'd brought Kim along with him. With those two and Tara by her side it wouldn't take much to have Kim and Ron's other close friends, Monique and Felix, in her circle of close friends also. The girls from the cheer squad were also friends but she wouldn't call their relationship close.

The one-on-one conversation with Kim at Bueno Nacho had also been fairly painless, letting the redhead know that she had her eye on Ron as a possible boyfriend. Kim appeared a little leery of Ron becoming Bonnie's possible boyfriend but she wrote it off as the green-eyed girl's natural tendency to be overly protective about anything that had to do with the goofball. Bonnie wasn't worry about the term 'possible boyfriend' and its double meaning either. Kim hadn't shown one iota of interest in Ron as anything other than as a friend and if the blond boy had any real affections toward Kim, well those emotions were buried deep.

That left Bonnie free and clear in her romantic pursuit of Ron.

The blond boy had shown some promise of being proper boyfriend material during their freshman year when he'd sported a new haircut and had shown it again when he received his Naco money. Ron had defaulted back to his normal goofy self after those incidences were over but the potential to look good and earn a living, like when he took over the cafeteria, were still there. Ron hadn't shown much maturity during those first two incidences mentioned but he could very well gain those qualities again as he grew older. Ron had said that he was still receiving royalties so the potential to provide for a girlfriend/spouse was already back in place, especially if he didn't have full access to the money. Ron would probably learn to respect his fortune more if he couldn't get his hands on the whole stash all at once. If he would mature just enough not to squander his wealth, Bonnie would work with that and see to his grooming. Not that she didn't care about the money now because it would definitely provide a comfortable, worry-free future for the two of them.

And Bonnie had to admit that even if Ron didn't grow out of his child-like ways he was still kinda cute and loveable when he cleaned up a bit. His freckles really set off his cute eyes and adorable face and those ears... Well, everybody knows what they say about people with big ears, hands and feet.

What really surprised and please Bonnie to no end about her day was when Kim, after voicing a few minor qualms over Bonnie's proposal to help the team, readily accepted her offer of joining them for future missions. Bonnie had thought that Kim would outright forbid her to go on any missions but the redhead acceded to the request after only a couple of questions were satisfied and Ron put his two cents in. After leaving Bueno Nacho, the three teens had actually driven over to Kim's house to do a little training.

Bonnie had dabbled in the martial arts when she was younger but quickly gave it up when she became jaded with the boring, in her opinion, philosophical aspects of the art. At that time, philosophy and fighting just didn't mesh in her book. That's when Bonnie quit and got into ballet. But just like riding a bicycle, the few martial arts moves she'd learned all those years ago quickly came back and everyone was surprised at how well Bonnie took to the martial arts. Her natural athleticism made picking up the few new moved Kim had shown her a piece of cake.

Bonnie thought Ron's lessons on diversionary tactics were silly but the brunette accepted them and aimlessly ran around the backyard like a chicken with its head cut off, waving her arms around in the air and frantically screaming like a banshee, just like Ron had shown her. Kim thought it was simply hilarious and they all had a good laugh before they ended the training session and Bonnie headed home.

All-in-all it had been a fun and eventful day with a lot more wholesome, clean fun than she'd ever had during her reign as Queen Bonnie.

But it was still early and Bonnie had one more thing to do before calling it a night. She wanted to strengthen her romantic connection with Ron and that meant she needed to privately talk to him face-to-face someplace without any interruptions.

Bonnie knew her mother wouldn't mind her being out late at night. Connie and Lonnie had stayed out til all hours of the morning when they were in high school in their never-ending quest for fun and a future husband, so her mother couldn't object to Bonnie doing the same thing. But she didn't know if Ron's parents would mind her coming over at seven o'clock in the evening on a school night. Her sisters and mother were home so the meeting would have to be at Ron's house. (Also, Bonnie figured she would have to eventually meet Ron's parents if they were going to become a couple so it she might as well get it out of the way and maybe even get into their good graces in the process.)

So Bonnie made a phone call. She knew she should have a good excuse for calling Ron at this time in the evening and homework was just the excuse she needed. Bonnie felt her luck was still with her when Ron answered the phone in his typical Ronnish style.

"Yell-o, you've dialed the bondiggity telephone number of the Stoppable family. This is The Ron, how may I direct your call?"

"Hi, The Ron," Bonnie sexily responded, not phased in the least by the blond boy's off-beat answering of the phone. She had expected as much when she'd dialed. "I know it's getting a little late in the evening for a school night but I was wondering if you could help me out with our geometry homework?"

"Bonnie?" Ron questioned as if totally stunned that the girl would call him in the first place.

"Yes, Ron Ron, it's me," Bonnie barked, slightly miffed that the blond boy was being such a... well, air-headed blond. She took a second to reign in her pique before she continued. "You know how Barkin loves pop quizzes. Well, I'm betting he'll give us one in geometry tomorrow morning even though it'll only be the second day of class. I thought it'd be a good idea if we could get together tonight and quiz each other on the material in the assignment."

"That's not a good idea... that's a great idea," Ron enthused before Bonnie heard a muffled conversation from the other end of the line. It sounded like he had his hand over the phone and was arguing with someone.

"Ron Ron, is it okay if I come over," Bonnie queried, "or don't your parents want anyone coming to your house to study?"

"What? Oh, no-no Bonnie," Ron apologetically answered as he came back on the line. "I was just discussing something with Rufus. He's a little under the weather with a case of the sniffles and was saying a study session would disturb his sleep. Mom and Dad are out of town for the entire week at some actuary convention in San Diego and I don't think they'd mind if I had someone else come over..." he fumbled a bit as he quickly added, "I mean besides Kim... to help me with my school work... that is to say."

"Oh, ah, okay," Bonnie stammered in a bit of a shock from finding out that the blond boy actually understood that hairless rodent and that his parents left him alone at home for such a length of time. Bonnie's mother would leave her at home alone for three or four days at the most, but a whole week? "Well then... I'll just come over and we can work on our geometry. Okay?"

"That'd be super," Ron replied. "I told Rufus that he could stay in his bed upstairs so he can get some rest while we go at it downstairs. Er, I mean study... not that we'd actually, you know, go at it... sexually speaking that is... Anywho, he finally agreed when I promised we wouldn't make too much noise and wake him up. Well that and the promise of a hunk of brie did the trick."

Bonnie had caught all of his rambling and sensually purred, "That sounds wonderful, Ron Ron. Maybe if we get done quickly enough you'd like to, go at it, for a few hours too? I'll be right over."

Bonnie hung up the phone when all she heard over the receiver was Ron sputtering and mumbling something about Heaven and Hell on Earth.

Xxxxxx

Bonnie thanked any and all of the deities that she could think of, (and she could think of a lot of them after having a class called Comparing Religions last semester,) that her luck was holding out as she pulled up to the Stoppable residence in her shiny, new white convertible that she'd gotten for Christmas. (The top was up, of course, since it was winter. The rag top would come down at the first sign of warm weather.) Neither Ron's parents or Kim would be there to interfere and the bald rodent was sick in bed. Bonnie would have the blond boy alllll to herself for the entire night if she wanted.

Bonnie checked her hair and makeup in the rear view mirror before she picked up her books, got out of the car and went up to the door. Just as she was about to knock, Bonnie heard and actually felt two rapid-fire explosions and then heard a loud moan. Panicking, she loudly banged on the door and yelled, "Ron! Ron, are you okay?"

Her frantic query was met with silence for all of ten seconds before the door opened and there stood Ron, casually clad in a pair of blue pajamas with white pin strips, smiling his goofy smile as if nothing had happened. "Hey Bon Bon, glad you could come over and talk geometry with me. Come on in." He stepped aside and motioned for her to enter.

"What's going on in here?" the wide-eyed brunette warily asked as she tentatively entered and anxiously glanced around, expecting to see the place in shambles from the blasts she had heard and felt. "I just heard some explosions and someone moaning." Everything appeared to be perfectly normal in the two rooms she could see. You could even say the house was as neat as a pin.

"Explosions? Oh that," Ron pshaw'ed with a dismissive wave of the hand as he led her into the living room and pointed to the television that showed a computer generated battle scene with the words 'Game Over' superimposed over it. "Wade recently designed and built a new gaming system so he gave me his old setup. It has a better sound system than my old one by a long shot and I just got blowed up."

Bonnie was a little relieved that Ron hadn't blown himself up, him being alone in the house and prone to being clumsy and such, but she was also a bit tweaked that he was playing a video game instead of getting ready to study with her. Then she realized that if he had been preparing for the study session, their time together would've been a lot shorter.

"So, how do you wanna do this?" Ron asked as he turned off the game console and TV, grabbed his book bag from behind the couch, set it on the coffee table and sat down, pulling the correct text and notebook from the bag.

"Let's compare our homework first," Bonnie said as she set her things down on the coffee table next to his and opened a spiral bound notebook. She sat down next to Ron and scooted as close as she could get to the blond boy.

"Ah, okay," Ron tentatively mumbled as he opened his notebook. "But, KP usually doesn't let me see her work at all. Normally she just checks over my stuff and shows me what I did wrong."

'This is going to be sooo easy,' Bonnie thought as she exchanged notebooks with Ron and draped an arm around his shoulder so she could hold his notebook up next to hers. "Showing Ron how I do the problems and pointing out where he did them correctly will boost his confidence and endear me to him even more.'

And that's exactly what she did as she snuggled up with the chocolate-eyed blond to point out what he did right for one geometry problem after another. Bonnie knew there wouldn't be any kisses or hugs this night, wanting to take things slow at first and not scare him, but that didn't mean she wouldn't get to know his inner thigh better with a hand that would occasionally move a little too high and brush up against his pajama covered crotch.

Xxxxxx

Kim laid down and tried to go to sleep but it just wasn't happening. It was just after ten o'clock, time for bed, but something was niggling at the back of her mind that just wouldn't let her brain slow down at all. Kim's mind was racing along at ninety miles-a-minute but she just couldn't put a finger on what was bothering her.

Both Kim and Ron had finished their homework before he had gone home for the night and her best friend was getting better at doing it on his own, so that wasn't the problem. All indications pointed to the fact that Bonnie had truly changed her wicked ways, so that wasn't it either. She found Bonnie's new look a tad disturbing since there were no other 'Goth' kids at school, (or even in the whole Tri-City area, for that matter,) but Kim knew in her heart and mind that the teal-eyed cheerleader was only dressing that way to distance herself from her family and the other kids at school, so she really didn't care what Bonnie wore as long as it didn't violate the dress code.

Maybe...

Maybe it was the fact that Bonnie wanted to take Ron as her boyfriend.

Whoa! That struck a nerve. Kim knew she was a little over protective when it came to her lifelong, blond friend but should it have really bother her that much when Bonnie announced that she wanted to begin dating Ron?

Maybe it was the way Bonnie had worded her announcement. She'd said that since Kim hadn't made a move on Ron, that she would. Why would Bonnie have mentioned that she hadn't tried to make Ron her boyfriend? Was it a given that any girl and boy who were fast friends would eventually become more than that? Well, it did happen all the time on TV. Danny and Charity started out as only-friends on Agony County and they were trying to have an intimate relationship. There was also that TV Trash Heap show called Friends (an obvious ripoff of Pals) where Chandler and Monica had hooked up along with Ross and Rachel. If it happened on a few fictitious TV shows, could that mean that it happened in real life as well?

This was getting Kim nowhere. This sitch had 'adult knowledge' written all over it and that was something she didn't have in abundance... at least not yet, anyway. Kim thanked her lucky star that she had a strong relationship with her mother which was honest and open enough that she could discuss such topics with her. (As long as her mother wasn't in the operating room where she would have to use the hands-free, speaker phone feature! Yikes! Kim sooo didn't want that to happen ever again!)

Kim made up her mind that it would be best if she talked to her mother in the morning before the Tweebs came down for breakfast. Her father would be preoccupied with the newspaper, per usual, so they could have a quiet, mother-daughter chat at that time.

The quandary settle for now, Kim set her alarm clock to go off a little earlier than normal and was soon fast asleep.