Bonnie Rockwaller sat sulking in the school cafeteria, staring angrily at the wall in cold silence.
The two excuses she had for her sisters had once again taken everything away from her just when she thought to get some much needed rest from that stuck up show-off Kim who had been reported missing a few days ago after supposedly leaving for what was rumoured to be a especially high threat level mission of sorts in distant lands.
...
Global justice, the employers who gave Kim the mission said that a search in such a snowy and unsafe region such as the one their favourite unofficial young recruit would take at least a few days, and even then warned everyone to expect the worst.
"I hope every bone in her body is broken when those creeps eventually find her. It would serve her right." muttered Bonnie angrily under her breath when their teacher announced the news.
And when just as her temper that day was beginning to look up at the prospect of not having to be in contact with the far too lucky redhead who had been stealing Bonnie's thunder for far too long to forgive by now, Bonnie happily sauntered into that week's cheerleader's meeting only to learn that she had still not been elected captain of the squad despite Kim's absence.
Another girl who the sports teacher proudly named as "Hope Sandreams" instead bowed modestly as the cheerleader's clustered around said girl completely ignorant of the late arriving Bonnie who only stood fuming with her teeth tightly clenched.
"On second thought" she whispered to herself as she slid her eyes away from the happy crowd still celebrating their new white haired captain who seemed almost to turn her gaze to briefly look at the now almost maddened Bonnie "I hope that Kim never comes back. I hope that an angry mob of mobsters find her first so that she never gets found." And without even gracing the crowd who was only now beginning to realise her presence, she rushed out of the room with a quiet yet dangerous growl. Who needed these losers as friends and teammates anyway when she was so much cooler than anyone of them?
And just that evening when she had stormed home angrily, determined to catch the season special of a certain romance show that was the only thing she felt in that instant that could restore her to some hope of regaining her lost dignity and sanity, there on the couch sat her two older sisters Connie and Lonnie holding a huge box of nacho's with their backs turned to the younger sister who they pretended not to notice despite how Bonnie slammed the house door as hard as she could upon entry to the sizeable and richly furnished abode the three prodigies shared.
"Change the channel. My favourite show is on and I don't want to miss this very special episode. " Bonnie said in the most sincere and calm tone she could muster in that moment of anger from the humiliating day she had been through. She hoped that if she sounded halfway polite that her chances of being paid attention to by her two much larger and usually very apathetic older sisters.
"We don't like that show. If you're not going to sit and watch this show quietly then just leave." was the scornful and condescending reply.
"And lay your hands away from our chips. They're not yours. Get your own." Lonnie angrily scolded when she held the box of nachos away from the hungry Bonnie who could not help but ask for a few of them to sooth her painful hunger which had been brought on by a small portioned lunch on account of an exam Bonnie had been forced to retake that lunchtime in particular.
...
Those were bad memories which the frustrated Brunette was now recalling once more as she grumbled quietly to herself about the rally competition she had not come even third in that day on account of lack of sleep for a few night's now.
Connie and Lonnie had never been particularly good to her but the events of that evening and several others that week seemed to have those two sink to an all time low as if fate was trying to deprive Bonnie of peace she thought she was sure to have with Kim's departure from her life.
They were sure to come home that day holding bright and gleaming trophies from their sport events while Bonnie came empty handed, and that was sure to give them all the more ammunition they'd use as insults.
Insults that were intimate and horrible sounding enough to bring even the usually stoic and proud young Brunette who was charming enough to have a huge crowd of friends at her school despite her flaws, into a shivering husk that barely managed not to let Connie and Lonnie see her tears and could only manage a very weak "fine" when asked later by their oblivious mother how her day was.
She continued to sit sulking in the corner she knew would be almost completely devoid of other students not even caring how hungry that morning's sports had made her. It was only the knelling of the lessons bell that barely broke her out of her trance as she struggled to her feet and began to slowly amble towards the final lesson of the day feeling as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her terribly strained back made weak by all the running and puffing she had forced herself to endure in the hopes of getting just one trophy.
She didn't even have the strength to wave hello to her partner Tara as she slipped into her seat and shifted her sight towards the clock on the wall, praying for a quick end to this hour.
Horrible laughter rang in her mind as she sadly sat waiting on the bus, her puckered countenance a testament to how eager and at the same time how fearful she was to be getting home soon. She just wanted this day to be over with so that her sisters would be done mocking her misfortune as soon as possible and hopefully leave her alone afterwards.
The bus slowly screeched to a halt and very reluctantly Bonnie stood up and strode done the aisle for the street outside trying her best not to look at the several other students who were all glaring at her with a morbid mixture of curiosity and fear. They knew it was best not to ask the "leader" that gave them all the little popularity they managed to salvage anything lest she snap and turn on them. She knew all their dirty secrets. Secrets that they'd protect with their very life for reasons Bonnie Rockwaller obviously had not a care in the world for.
So each one of the worried students who'd been anxiously eyeing the tall and muscular brunette throughout the entire journey forced themselves to seal their lips and look as far away as they could as the dangerously silent school bully passed them all like a dark shadow.
It was only when they had seen her exit the bus and when the sound of the brunette's quiet but eerie footsteps died away that they began to converse amongst each other quietly once more.
"And now the rest of the school turns against me just because stupid Kim Possible's not here." Bonnie thought to herself, just narrowly resisting the urge to throw a tantrum out in broad daylight in the usually quiet suburb she resided in.
She walked quickly down the sidewalk wishing to get the embarrassing moment when she walked through the door with no trophies out of the way as soon as she could.
But instead as she cautiously knocked on the finely painted hardwood door to her house and stood waiting with bated breath, out came the kindly and friendly faced lady that Bonnie hated to admit that she deeply loved on account of the humiliation she felt whenever the woman known as her mother "Mrs Rockwaller" showed up around school.
Unable to think of anything good or meaningful to tell her clearly very concerned mother about the sad day she had just been through in school, Mrs Rockwaller took the cue to speak first. The first time she'd ever been the one to break the ice in a conversation between herself and her favourite daughter who she believed to be much more thoughtful of a person than either of her two older sister.
"Bonnie. Dear. What's wrong? Did something bad happen at school today?"
The usually upbeat and proud brown haired cheerleader had not the heart to reiterate the sad thoughts that had been getting more and more difficult to keep inside her with every passing day for the past week now.
She didn't think her scatterbrained mother as well meaning as she as a parent tried to be, could do anything to save her from the harsh treatment it was her luck to endure from two torturers she preferred to pretend were not related to her.
Nor could her mother understand the pain of always being second rate in school with or without the presence of the nasty red haired meanie, who didn't even spend as much time in school trying to make friends or garner attention as Bonnie was forced to in order to form her clique.
Kim honestly had no idea how difficult it was for her to keep the few friends she did have when all she had to do was boast a little about her so called adventures she took part in while she was away from school. Bonnie would have gladly bet a year's pocket money that less than half of it held even the slightest grain of truth.
None of what Kim boasted she had been able to do should have been possible for any human being, however talented.
And why everyone but Bonnie herself was so ready to believe a packet of paper thin lies, Bonnie would never know.
"Are you alright? You look upset." Mrs Rockwaller gently said as she put a hand over her youngest daughter's shoulder to try and calm the poor girl down.
"I am." Bonnie eventually admitted quietly, unable to resist the innocent face her mother made at her any longer.
"I'm sorry to hear that Bonnie. Come inside and we can talk about it over a cup of hot tea and biscuits."
And Bonnie's joyless frown softened a little as she followed her mother into the dining room which was thankfully empty. Made even better by how Bonnie hadn't seen or heard another soul on her way into the dining room where she tiredly sat down, feeling the many years of jealousy and hatred towards her three femme- fatale antagonists on her back even as she sipped the hot tea her mother soon brought out for her.
One teaspoon of sugar and a tiny drizzle of milk, just the way the brunette liked to unwind after a long difficult day gone wrong.
"I've heard that you've not been very happy at school lately dear. Is that true?" Bonnie's mother gently asked as Bonnie sipped the warm beverage feeling her stress begin to vanish with every drip of tea that ran down her by now incredibly sore throat.
"Who says that. School's been going alright for me. Today might have been a little stressful but it's nothing to worry about mother."
Bonnie's mother seemed to see right through Bonnie's white lie as she wistfully looked her daughter in the eyes and quietly gave a sigh.
"It's alright Bonnie. I know it can't be easy for you. You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."
Bonnie nodded gratefully but said no more.
"I want to help you Bonnie, I really do. You've been making us very worried for a while now and so I thought of something that I think might cheer you up."
"And what's that?" asked the still very tired and angry brunette girl, trying very hard not to sound sarcastic or rude.
Bonnie's mother's worried eyes seemed to light up and her low and a ghost of a smile returned to her concerned expression.
"I think a psychologist at Middleton's hospital would be good for you." she announced excitedly clearly eager to burst into song. "They're very nice people who know all about how to cheer you up when you're not feeling quite yourself and I think you should go see one of them."
Bonnie very nearly laughed at her mother's joke. Surely her mother's opinion hadn't sunk so low of her so that now Bonnie's mother thought her daughter "mentally challenged". Had Connie and Lonnie been spreading bad rumours about her again or had her mother grown to love her two older sisters so much that she was willing to let that love cloud the crazy woman's judgement.
The only people Bonnie knew off that ever went to psychologists or "shrinks" as Bonnie preferred to address them as were at best retarded idiots whose performance in life as a whole had become so sub par that they had been left to play in a corner by themselves doomed to never find a friend.
At worst they were dangerous madmen who had either acquired or inherited mental disorders so severe that the only place for them was a cell in a heavily guarded asylum where they would be clad in a straight jacket and chained to a wall on account of how untrustworthy they were.
And Bonnie would not have even her own beloved mother claiming that she as the most talented cheerleader and most popular girl of Middleton High belonged to either of those two pathetic groups of pathetic people. This was worse than hearing her two sisters call her names the whole night long.
Far, far worse since it came from the one grown up Bonnie thought she could still trust even now.
"Pardon my language mom." replied Bonnie softly, using all her strength to avoid raising her voice "But I'm not a retard. I don't need to be treated like a retard."
"I didn't mean it that way dear. I just feel that maybe you needed some help regarding the issues that I clearly can't help you with." was the beyond apologetic reply that immediately made Bonnie regret the bad thoughts she had of her trustworthy mother. "I just want to help you feel better. I just can't stand to see you sad like this"
"And how is this supposed to make me feel better?" Bonnie asked. She wasn't doubtful of her mother's good intentions anymore but she still needed more proof that her mother wasn't being helpful but in the wrong way.
"Please just give it a try Bonnie. Kim's mum, Dr Possible tells me that psychologists in her hospital are really nice people. Patients go in and come out feeling better than they ever could imagine. Kim's mum is a very nice lady and I think you should take her advice Bonnie."
Bonnie very nearly broke down into tears at these words. So now not content with ruining her life in school and stealing her reputation as Middleton high's most popular student, Kim Possible and her crooked family of crooks were meddling with Bonnie's familial affairs. Trying to drag the good Rockwaller name through the mud no doubt so that the Possible's could make Bonnie and her family's name stink from one end of the country to another. And they would start by tricking her own naive mother who was too mild and kind and generous to not believe their wicked lies.
"You've gone too far Kim Possible" Bonnie cursed to herself. "Now I hope the mob that catches you tortures you as slowly and painfully as possible before they kill you."
"I'm not going to take advice from a bunch of meanies who have done nothing but ruin my life since the day I laid eyes on them." Bonnie bluntly quipped. "No way. No how."
Bonnie's mother looked upon her daughter with a mixture of sympathy and shock. Surely little Bonnie didn't think that poorly of the well spoken about heroine who had saved hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives through selflessness and compassion.
And surely her little girl would never have a vendetta against a family of what seemed so nice when she had barely even met them.
Surely Bonnie remembered the time when Ann, Dr Possible had saved the little girl's life after Bonnie had fallen down a flight of steps when she was much younger.
Surely Bonnie didn't hate the kindly woman who saved her life, not even caring that she hadn't been paid her fee until several weeks after the life saving operation she had just offered the youngest daughter of the back then much poorer Rockwaller family. Or had Bonnie's deep depression blind the once much kinder girl to what was the truth and what wasn't.
"Please Bon-Bon. Don't be like that." pleaded the short brown haired bespectacled mother, who sounded herself as if she would cry too. "You might not like that girl Kim, but I promise you that Kim's mother Ann is nothing like how you think she is. She only wants what's best for both our families and when she and I talked yesterday, she told me just how sorry she and her daughter were if they had done anything to hurt you Bonnie. She told me that she was so worried about the way you looked the last time she saw you and that she really thought you needed help urgently."
"She's lying. The last time she saw me was a long time back which even I don't remember." Bonnie sharply replied, hoping to end this conversation all the sooner.
"You have to go Bonnie. I'm sorry. You really have to do this." Bonnie's mother lightly sobbed, letting her daughter see a single tear roll from her worried eyes. "We're going to go this evening. It's for your own good. Now please Bonnie, be a good girl and get in the car and we're going. I promise you that I will take you to your favourite restaurant for tea when we're finished."
Bonnie might have pretended disdain and disregard for her one remaining parent in front of her fellow students in order to avoid public disgrace and being picked on, but in reality the last thing she wanted was to see her mother cry. She might have cared little about her so called group of friends, she might not have loved her sisters the way she was meant to but if anyone even dared to suggest that she did not love her own mother with all her heart, it was a one way trip to the emergency room for them.
And so Bonnie after quickly apologising and dashing upstairs to put on a better and cleaner set of clothes for the important meeting ahead, leaped towards the family minivan looking like the wealthiest millionaire on the block sporting a spotless set of clothes. If this made her mother happy, then she would do it regardless of how she was bound to be laughed at once others found out about this and she was kicked forever from the clique of friends she herself founded.
And her saintly mother had promised her a trip to the best eatery in town once this tedious experience was over, and she could barely say no to that.
"Good girl. I knew I could count on you." the older Brunette who was already in the car happily praised. "Now fasten your seat belt. We need to get there quickly."
They sped through the beautifully lit up evening city, a gorgeous pale orange canvas painted over the beautiful evening sky. A cool and gentle breeze blew through the crisp air fanning Bonnie's tired face perfectly as she opened the window to get some air. The perfect weather and the perfect view of the city the way she liked it.
It was as if fortune itself was smiling upon the Rockwaller family. But alas, there was still a psychologist meeting Bonnie had to endure without being put into a straight jacket and thrown into a cell. If only stupid Kim and stupid Dr Possible stayed out of her private affairs.
"I will be back in two hours to pick you up. Please be good and have a nice time. Remember this is your time Bonnie to enjoy." reminded Mrs Rockwaller as Bonnie anxiously bade her mother farewell after stepping out of the car following a short journey that seemed barely a few minutes. "It was so nice of Dr Possible to give you an appointment at such short notice. And remember, we can go anywhere you want for dinner tonight as long as you behave yourself."
Then the expensive purple sports car sped away into the distance, seemingly eager to get as far away from Bonnie as possible.
Taking a deep breath and murmuring a silent prayer, Bonnie walked through the automatic doors that led to a huge waiting room furnished with expensive throne-like chairs and shelf after shelf of expensive magazines. There weren't many people left here at this hour but not one of them seemed in the slightest troubled or upset or even bored to be in a place as morbid or boring as a hospital. Perhaps it was how comfy their chairs looked or that the kid in the corner was too occupied by whatever magazine he had covered their face with to notice where they were.
Ignoring these happy patients who seemed not in the slightest impatient, Bonnie waltzed straight up to the smiling receptionist who immediately looked up from their desk to face her even before she had arrived at the desk as if her presence was long expected.
Weird, thought Bonnie.
"Bonnie Rockwaller is it." the dark haired man in the smart black suit asked as she approached the desk. "Here for a psychologist appointment to deal with confidential issues that do not wish to be shared. Is that correct?"
"Um...sure?" his patient replied, as if unsure of what really to say in response to her arrival being predicted so accurately.
"We've been expecting you Miss Rockwaller. Please, take the elevator to floor six and then keep going until you see room six, six, six." the receptionist excitedly and politely instructed.
Taking the effort to briefly thank the man for his good advice, Bonnie continued onward into the next room towards the elevator shaft and pressed a button for the lift. Unaware that looking at her from some distance up a set of stairs was a red haired doctor with big blue eyes clad in the white uniform that all senior surgeons in the hospital commonly wore when on duty to signify their rank.
She said nothing knowing that if she was seen that Bonnie might not want to keep going with what unbeknown to the school bully now was in fact a life changing talk.
She was glad that Bonnie had not been paying close attention the night she had given the poor girl a much needed ride to that party which the doctor only now realised was incredibly important. Had Bonnie refused the ride she offered and run away instead, she'd be even more upset and miserable than she was in this instant as she stormed sulkily into the lift that had just arrived, having spent much of the waiting time murmuring curses about how long the wait for something as simple as a lift was.
Things were about to change for everyone, Dr Possible thought to herself as she heard the elevator door close and begin to go up.
If only Kimberly were here now to witness the beautiful changes her mother was trying to bring into being.
Changes that should have been made a long, long time ago.
Bonnie exited the lift and after taking another few deep breaths, soon discovered after a few short steps the room the doctor had directed her to.
Room 666, the number painted on a very plain white door.
With little other choice now that she'd gotten this far, Bonnie knocked gently on the door, closing her eyes briefly to rest them up for whatever nasty surprise awaited her on the other end of this door.
"Please come in. You are expected." came a reply that seemed too melodious sounding to come from any normal person. The sound seemed to make Bonnie feel younger and more carefree with each word it spoke and seemed to draw her hand to the door handle like a moth drawn to a flame. But all this was probably just a facade to make her more comfortable and willing to cooperate in case they felt the need to put her in a straight jacket after all, Bonnie thought as she stepped inside and very slowly dared to open her trembling lids.
Room 666 was painted in the most pure and eye catching shade of heavenly white imaginable and not a single section of the floor, walls or furniture that Bonnie saw looked badly formed.
Unable to look at much more of the room without feeling uneasy at how flawlessly arranged it seemed, Bonnie turned her attention instead to the big and comfortable looking armchair also painted in white which indicated the place where patients such as her were to sit and discuss their inner turmoils and griefs with the psychologist they were assigned.
And speaking of the psychologist that Bonnie had been assigned, it was difficult to look at the relatively tall yet fairly slim young woman sitting on the great white throne behind a white desk without wondering how many times such a delicate young thing could have evaded the fashion police so long for being too attractive to exist.
The woman was clad in a plain yet no less stylish white robe. The kind unknown to Bonnie, was worn by high ranking church officials who even today would hold a lot of influence.
The way the psychologist's eyes now surveyed Bonnie from behind contact lenses which gave the impression that her eyes were white and pure like the angels from the urban legends Bonnie occasionally heard about benevolent angels who occasionally came down from heaven for a visit. Silly superstition Bonnie thought, until now.
Short bright blonde hair was the only feature that remotely suggested the woman Bonnie could now not look away from was in fact another human.
"Are you my psychologist?" Bonnie said, realising that this silence was awkward and she wanted to get this over with as quickly as she could.
"That's correct. My name is Doctor Lori Loud and I will be looking after you for the duration of your stay" replied the woman in white with a harmonious pitch that could have brought even the most successful singers in the world to cries of envy.
"We can start wherever makes you comfortable."