Kim was staring down at a letter that she had received and she could not believe who had given it to her. It was from Bonnie, someone who had been an adversary to her since junior high. The letter had explained why that was and pled with her to believe Bonnie of all people. It held even more bizarre information beyond the reason for Bonnie treating her as an enemy, which happened to be that Bonnie wanted to be her friend or maybe even more. It was mind-boggling. It had to be a trick, Kim decided. It was the only way that things even began to make something that resembled sense.
Even though the redheaded hero concluded that the letter had to be a trick, she put the note back into its envelope and sealed it back with the sticker that had secured it shut earlier. She then tucked it away in her desk drawer rather than throwing it away in the trash, which was actually closer to her than the drawer was. She did not think why she had done such a thing and she tried not to think on it anymore.
The adventurous teen tried to go about her day as she normally would, doing homework and such, but she could not help thinking about the letter. One of the things that stood out in her mind was the elegance of the letter. She did not know that Bonnie could be so articulate, especially in writing. She knew that Bonnie was not as empty-headed as she came off as being, but English class was never her strong point as far as the redhead knew. It would seem that Bonnie just had not been trying when it came to school, which was something that the olive-eyed hero could believe.
Kim did wonder what kind of trick Bonnie was trying to play on her. She could not figure out what could come her way through the letter, especially since Bonnie had signed the thing. No matter how outside-of-the-box Kim thought, she could not see the malicious plan that the letter had to set up. It just did not make sense. What could Bonnie do to her after giving her the letter? She could not figure it out no matter how long she thought on it and she did waste a few hours thinking about it.
She wondered if she should confront Bonnie and demand to know what the letter was about, what the scheme was, and maybe she would just get it over with and they could go back to normal. Bonnie might fake it like she did not know what Kim was talking about, though. There was no guarantee that she would be able to get a straight answer by being upfront with Bonnie, but she really had no desire to wait and see what kind of trap lying ahead of her. After all, no one wanted to be caught and humiliated, as she suspected her cheering rival was trying to set her up for. After all, Bonnie was always looking to embarrass her in someway.
But, what could Bonnie be playing at, Kim asked herself over and over again. She wanted to at least have some idea what to expect. At least if she had an idea, she could cut her embarrassment down some when it happened. Unfortunately, the redhead just could not see the angle of what the letter might be setting up. She feared that she was going to have to wait for it.
Bonnie was just as restless as Kim, seconding guessing the decisions that she made. The tanned teen was starting to wonder if she should have written the letter and delivered it to Kim. Was that the right thing to do? It was too late to take it back now, but she was still extremely nervous about it because she did not know what Kim’s reaction to the note might be. She could guess the reaction and she was not too pleased by the assumption dancing around in her head like some malicious warlord about to skewer her. Bonnie was plagued by other negative thoughts too.
What if Kim had not gotten the letter? Worst still, what if Kim had gotten the letter and did not believe it? Or what if Kim thought that she was some kind of emotionally scarred, psychotic freak? What if Kim did not forgive her for everything that she had done since their second meeting? There were so many terrible possibilities and her mind was trying to roll through each and every one of them while playing out the scenarios that could go along with them. With each new scene, the urge to vomit became just a little bit stronger in the frightened, insecure Bonnie. She was going to make herself sick if she continued on as she was.
Have faith, Bonnie told herself. It was Kim, after all. Kim was a bit obnoxious in her perfection, but she was one of the kindest and most forgiving individuals if not in all of existence then at the least in all of Middleton. Well, she hoped that Kim was like that. She did consider that she might just be looking at the hero through rose-colored glasses because of her hopes and the awe that she felt for her supposed rival. Maybe she had gone from one hopeless situation to another, namely going from wanting her sisters to accept her to wanting Kim to like her. She supposed that she was just going to have to wait and see. She just hated waiting.
(Next day)
Bonnie and Kim did not run into each other at school, which they were semi-thankful for, even though they would have liked to get things out of the way. They were not quite sure if they were both avoiding each other or just if their paths simply did not cross during school hours. They enjoyed telling themselves that it was the latter because if it was the former it showed that they both had cowardly streaks in their bodies and they were not interested in considering themselves cowards.
They were going to have to test the theory of their bravery when cheerleader practice came up. There was no way that they could avoid each other there because there was no way that either of them would miss it, unless of course Kim got a mission. They were not lucky enough for Kim to get called away. It was time to see if Fate had kept them from seeing each other or if they were both actually craven.
The rivals locked eyes for a moment and did not move, as if they were both under a spell. There was nothing in the world as far they were concerned in that time. The air was stiff and they were pretty much on a plain black field rather than in the Middleton High gym, mentally anyway. Turquoise to dark jade and nothing more, not their usual animosity or even an uncomfortable breeze from one to the other. There was nothing for the senses to pick up except for aqua and olive.
For that brief moment in time, the pair tried to read each other’s minds. Kim wanted to know if Bonnie was lying to her or setting her up. Bonnie wanted to know if Kim thought that she was some kind of freak. They did not get their answers in the small time that they had. And then, less than a second later, everything went back into its proper order in the outside world, and they tried to do the same. Their fellow cheerleaders did not detect a thing between them.
Bonnie and Kim managed to make it through cheerleader practice without anything seeming like there was something strange between them. By the end, Kim and Bonnie were wondering if they should talk about things or if one of them might duck out on the other. They both did consider fleeing the scene, long and hard consideration on that from both parties, but they decided against it. They were not cowards, after all.
The two faced each other in the gym when everyone else was gone, like two gladiators before a match. They had steeled themselves, expecting the worst, something worse than death. So, they had their defenses up as best that they could gather their shields, hoping their aegis would be enough if the other decided to attack. But, underneath all of that protection, there was still the soft core of their beings, the thing that they were guarding. They hoped that the other could not make it that deep if an assault began.
The pair were not sure what to say as they eyed each other suspiciously. They both looked away from each other at the same time after a few seconds with the hope that they could get their thoughts together before they ended up flinching. There had to be someway to start the conversation right; there were plenty of ways to start if off wrong and they were both looking to avoid that. Kim spoke first and it would seem that her tact abandoned her despite her desire to be diplomatic about things.
“Okay, Bonnie, what are you playing at?” the redhead demanded to know.
“Playing at?” Bonnie echoed in a confused tone. What was Kim going on about? Her letter was not “playing at” anything at all. It was just what it said it was. She did not see how the note could be “playing at” anything anyway.
“Yeah. I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing or what kind of set up you got going, but I’m not going to fall for it,” Kim declared quite proudly. She appeared rather smug, happy to have figured out that Bonnie was trying to play her and that she had called the brunette on it.
“I’m not playing any game,” Bonnie argued heatedly, insulted by the accusation, even though she knew that it made sense for Kim to suspect her of foul play.
“You’re telling me that letter wasn’t part of some big, elaborate plan to humiliate me?” the hero inquired in disbelief. She did not even have to scoff, considering the look on her face was more skeptical than the sound could ever be.
Bonnie looked at Kim as if the olive-eyed teen had four heads and one of those four had to be stuck up the redhead’s ass, Bonnie concluded. How in the hell could her giving Kim a letter that spoke about her inner most thoughts and feelings be part of some big plan to humiliate Kim? Not to mention, when did she ever have some “big, elaborate plan” when it came to picking on Kim? Her humiliation was usually in the form of quick, snappy, evil words or using Kim’s parents in someway. Her plans were never “elaborate” or even “big” really, just effective.
Bonnie wanted to just be a smart-ass for the conclusion that Kim jumped to, but she doubted that it was a good time for her to do that. Besides, considering the way that she treated Kim over the years, she could understand why the hero was skeptical on her motive for writing the letter, despite the naked bearings of the note. The brunette cheerleader supposed that it would be best if she just explained why she wrote the letter, although she thought that it had done that job for her.
“Look, Kim, this isn’t a part of some crazy trick or some attempt to humiliate you in front of everybody. I just want you to give me a chance,” Bonnie said in a tone that Kim was unfamiliar with.
Bonnie sounded very close to humble and a little sorrowful. The look in her turquoise eyes matched the tone of her voice. Bonnie looked away, as if she was aware of her expression. She did not like showing weakness, which she thought she was doing by explaining that she wanted something from Kim. It was so hard to be vulnerable after living with her sisters for so long and Bonnie always expected pain after being just a little bit open with someone.
“Give you a chance?” Kim said in disbelief with an expression to match. It was taking all of her willpower not to back up because of how incredulous she was. She was still anticipating some kind of trick.
“I was hoping we could be friends again,” Bonnie replied, almost pathetically. She hardly recognized her own voice. The fear that she was feeling at the moment, the thought of Kim rejecting the proposal, was wrapping about all of her insides to the point of strangulation. She felt like she was suffocating, wanting to blame it on the hot gym, but she knew that it was her own near-crippling fright.
“When the hell were we friends in the first place?” the redhead inquired with a confused look twisted on her rounded face. For as far back as she could remember knowing Bonnie, she recalled the tanned girl hating her guts and making her life difficult.
Bonnie looked away again. Now, she was hurt and it showed on her face plain as day; apparently, her defenses were shot to hell already and the core of her being was about as guarded as a peach pit. Kim did not remember saving her and inviting her to play that one day? Well, she supposed that one day did not make people friends. She had just looked at it as them being friends, but a friendship took two people, so maybe there never was any hope for them, Bonnie thought. Maybe Kim would have grown distant from her no matter what.
Kim felt a little guilty about her question when she noticed Bonnie’s expression. She had never seen the tanned teen look so shattered; it was like it would have been more merciful for her to cut off Bonnie’s arms and legs than to deal with the brunette in the manner that she had been. Maybe she was being a little too hard on Bonnie, the petite hero thought. Maybe there really was not some plot against her and Bonnie was just trying to reach out to her, which was still weird anyway. Why was Bonnie trying to be her friend now after so many years of being her personal thorn in the side? It still did not make sense to Kim.
“Look, Bonnie, I don’t know what made you write me this letter and everything and I just want to know if you’re trying to set me up or something,” Kim explained her stance on the matter, not sounding as confrontational as she had earlier. “I mean, you haven’t really been the nicest person to me,” she pointed out the obvious.
“I know,” Bonnie admitted easily; she had stated as much in the letter already, so saying it out loud was no big deal. “I’ve been a real jerk to you, I know. I mean, I know it’s hard to believe, but I never really meant any of that stuff.” Her voice was still close to being pitiful, mostly due to the fact that she was torn up inside now. She was in a whole different kind of agony than what she was used to, but it was repairing itself a little since Kim seemed prepared to actually talk about things now.
“Then why did you do it?” the redhead inquired.
“I don’t know if you remember how we met, you know the day in the park…” Bonnie trailed off, waiting for some sign that her rival did recall that, praying that Kim remembered that day.
“Oh yeah, when Ron got you to seesaw with him,” Kim recollected with a chuckle. It was hard remembering that Bonnie because of the Bonnie that she always saw after it. That one day, Bonnie had been nice, friendly, almost as carefree as Ron. In fact, Ron seemed to get Bonnie to loosen up that day more so than Kim did and they had all gotten along quite well. It had been great fun.
“Yeah. Well, it’s just that after that, I went home and I told my sisters about how much fun I had with you guys and how you…well, how you helped me out and everything. They started making fun of me…” Bonnie trailed off again, more to get herself together than anything else. “They made me feel really bad about hanging out with you,” she confessed in a low, ashamed tone. She felt horrible for believing them, for listening to them, and for throwing away something that she truly desired because of them.
“Why?” Kim asked in a puzzled tone.
“Because they’re assholes,” the tanned teen said heatedly, practically snarling like mad tiger as she spoke, while making an angry fist. That had been buried for a long time, but she was glad to get it out. Kim was taken aback by the force in Bonnie’s tone, but the turquoise-eyed cheerleader failed to notice. “And I was an asshole for listening to them,” Bonnie added in a defeated whisper.
“Bonnie…” Kim was not sure what to say.
“Look, I know you don’t have any reason to believe me, but everything I said in that letter was true. And I’m not trying to use my sisters as an excuse for everything that I did, for the all of the pain that I caused you, but I’m hoping that we could start over or something like that. Maybe that you could just give me a chance and we see how things go from there,” the tanned female offered in a hopeful tone. She was trying to be realistic. She knew not to expect Kim to jump right into being her friend and she knew better than to bring up the fact that she might have strong feelings for Kim beyond friendship at the moment. Sure, she had gotten that out in the letter, but the letter was a vehicle for her to dump everything in while the conversation was only to hopefully steer them in the right direction.
“So, what, you want to be friends or something?” Kim asked, still seeming very bemused by the whole thing. She still suspected a trap of some kind, even though Bonnie seemed totally earnest in everything; the fact that the brunette was close to tears helped that effect. It was just hard to believe someone that treated her like trash for her whole teenage life.
“Well, that was sort of my hope,” Bonnie replied lamely.
“Why?” Kim practically begged to know because she just did not understand and it was clear from the expression painting her face. Her eyes held a look as if she did not even know where she was because she was so puzzled with the situation.
“Because I want to be friends with you. I’ve always wanted to be friends with you.”
“I don’t know. This seems way too out of the blue, Bonnie. I mean, way too far,” the redhead objected.
“I know, but just give me a chance,” Bonnie implored the hero.
“What made you suddenly change your whole stance on everything?” Kim asked curiously. She figured that a reason might help her believe what was going on a bit more. She wanted the circumstances that led up to something that seemed so random that she was almost sure that she was in the Twilight Zone and there was some poetic justice coming in the end.
“I’ll tell you that one some other time,” Bonnie answered because that explanation would lead into the fact that she might have some deep feelings for Kim and she doubted that would go over well considering the fact that the hero was skeptical on her wanting a friendship between them.
“Well, you need to tell me something now or I’m just going to keep thinking this is a trick,” Kim pointed out honestly.
“How in the hell is me pouring my heart and soul out to you on a paper a trick?” Bonnie practically demanded to know, speaking in a slightly low tone, even though they were the only two people around. She just wanted to be certain that no one heard if someone was lurking about the outside hallway.
Bonnie had told Kim things that she had only just admitted to herself and Kim thought it was some kind of trick? What kind of trick could she possibly set up by letting Kim know just how screwed up she was? If anything, she just opened herself wide open for ridicule from the teen hero. Kim needed to use that supposed good mind that she had, Bonnie mentally huffed.
Kim was shut up for more time than she liked. First, the words “pouring my heart and soul out to you” kind of stopped her. They reminded her of the part of the letter that she was least likely to believe, the end when Bonnie seemed to be expressing romantic interest in her. That had to be a sign of the upcoming apocalypse. And then there was the logic to Bonnie’s question because really, how was Bonnie saying such things in that letter a trick?
“Then, really, what do you want?” Kim asked.
“To be friends,” Bonnie replied and she unconsciously grabbed for Kim’s hand. For a moment, they stayed still, Bonnie holding Kim’s hand with no hatred or rivalry between them. There was only rather sweet contact and a feeling that they could like each other if given the chance to let something grow. And then it reached their brains as to what was going on and they let go. They both looked away, blushing nervously.
“Bonnie, I need some time to think it over. I mean, this is a big change and all,” Kim explained.
“I understand,” Bonnie said with a nod.
The pair parted ways on that, feeling it was probably the best note that they had ever left on since their first meeting. Bonnie actually left feeling light as she went home. It was like she had been relieved of some great burden. Nothing was going to get her down that day, even when she went home and had to deal with her sisters. Everything just seemed right in the world for her for once. The brunette could not help smiling for the rest of the day.
Kim was not as light as Bonnie. In fact, she was bogged down with bewilderment to the point that she physically felt like there was a ton of weight on her back. She did not understand what Bonnie wanted from her. In person, Bonnie expressed a desire for a friendship, which she had also done in the letter. But, also in the letter, she seemed to imply wanting more than a friendship and Kim was not sure if she could deliver on that and she did not want to lead Bonnie on.
Kim had never thought on feeling that way toward any girl, but especially Bonnie. Thinking about a girl as something more than a friend was not something that Kim had ever done. She had never met a girl that sparked her interest like that. Hell, it was hard for her to meet guys that sparked her interest like that. Ron liked to tease her by saying that she had high standards and that was why she could not get dates; he did not have an explanation for why he could not get dates, though.
She could not imagine dating Bonnie. Hell, she had trouble imagining being friends with Bonnie. Kim supposed that she could give it a try; after all, she could do anything. Maybe all Bonnie did want to do was be friends. She guessed that she was going to have to take the risk and see what Bonnie’s intentions were, if only to end the whirlwind of uncertainty going through her like some out of control twister.
(New day)
Giving Bonnie a chance as a friend was a bit hard. Ron freaked out when Bonnie came over to have a conversation with Kim, so the brunette ended up getting on his case about, which led to Kim getting on Bonnie’s case about giving Ron a hard time, which led to Bonnie storming off. Kim then had to find Bonnie later on and they had to go through whole explanations for their behavior. It was exhausting and that was only the first day. They also repeated those mistakes several times until they figured out that they probably should just get used to being around each other and then they could ease Bonnie into possibly being around Ron.
Bonnie did wonder why she was so snappy toward Ron. She had liked him just as much as Kim the first time that they met. His behavior was cute and funny back then, but now it was just annoying to her. She thought that it might be more her than him because she was not used to being around someone as goofy as he was. She supposed that she could get used to him; hell, if she could get used to being around Brick then she could get used to being around anybody.
But, for the moment, Bonnie just hung around Kim. They walked home together after cheerleading practice, alternating on whose house was the first stop. They talked a lot and surprisingly found that they had a lot in common beyond the cheerleader thing. Since Kim was into math and Bonnie was into science and they were both in chemistry that semester, it gave them a lot to discuss. Kim was actually surprised at the brain that Bonnie was hiding underneath that shallow mask of hers.
They got along pretty well since Bonnie was not being snide. That also surprised Kim, but she did not dwell on it. She liked Bonnie’s company and she was glad that she had given the tanned girl a chance. Maybe they really could be good friends. Apparently, anything was possible.
Next time: the end.