OVER 100 REVIEWS.

Wow, I never thought this story would get this many reviews this fast. Heck, I never though this story would get this many reviews period. You like me! You really like me!

Anyway, I'm glad that everyone enjoyed the last chapter. Thank you to all the people who reviewed the last chapter, as well as everyone who favorited either the story or myself.

Hippie Painter, King Of Anime

LoPe21: Once again I say, no threesome, however Bonnie as a sisterly character and the babysitting of Hana are both very interesting idea's that I just may put in.

Dacuu65: Monique and Felix will both have words, and Ron and Kim are both in for grief. Also thanks for all your help and suggestion's with this chapter as well as the story in general. You Rock!

Slyrr: Thank you, and yes Kim will now have to go on missions minus Ron. Better start playing the doomsday music.

Joe Stoppinghem: I'll let slip that Josh and Ron will eventually face off, but not till near the end.

Ormagoden: Congratulations, you have officially sent me the longest review I've ever gotten, and I thank you for it. You had a lot of awesome and interesting suggestions. Many of which have given me new idea's for various character interaction. Obviously I can't say which of your theories about what happens in the the story are true, but I can tell you that some of your theories totally are dead on correct, some of them are half correct, and some of them are completely wrong. See if you figure out which are which.

Prodigy25: Alas there shell be no Zorpex, or MMP. However there will be a few times where Ron will have to step up and show what he's really made off.

Joel Connell: LOL. It's so funny that you should mention Ron meeting Tara's family. I actually had an entire sub-plot planned for the story involving exactly the kind of interaction you suggested. I even created three OC characters that would have served as Tara's main family members. However after going through what I have planned for the story I ended up having to cut the family out. Though it pained me deeply to have to do so. Such is the harsh and painful decisions that a writer must make. However the OC characters I created will not die though, as I'm planing to use them in another KP fanfic after I finish this one. (And no it's not a squeal to this one.)

kazikamikaze24: Actually starting with this chapter the story line will somewhat spit, and go back and forth between Kim's life and Ron's life. As for Shego, like I said before I have no plans to use her later in the story but (a) villains reaction to Tara may happen.

James McPherson: All I can say about Bonnie is that she will have a big part to play in the story starting in the next chapter.

Mr. Average: Nice summary of Bonnie's personality and yes like the predator that she is, she has something wickedly evil up her sleeve. And CONGRATULATIONS on being the super special 100th reviewer! You get a plate or cyber cookies!

Chapter 8: True Friends

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Ron smiled as he headed to the locker room for football practice once school was over. His talk with Tara earlier had really helped to lift his spirits.

She had even asked him to meet her tomorrow to work on some homework that they were both struggling with. Ron had to smile about that, thinking that it would be nice to have a friend near his mental level. While neither he nor Tara were idiots, Felix, Monique and Kim were so brilliant that doing homework with them always left him feeling inadequate.

When he enter the locker room Ron was forced to struggle through the collection of testosterone driven muscle bound behemoths that where his fellow team mates, in order to get to his locker. He was pushed around like a rag doll, with no one bothering to say hi to him, or even acknowledged that he was there.

Even though he was practically the star of the football team most of the other players on the team refused to cut him any slack. Off the field they treated him the same way they had before he joined the team. They didn't actually bully him anymore, but they didn't acknowledge him either. They didn't ask him to hang out after games, didn't invite him to any of the after game parties, they didn't even say hi to him when they passed him in the halls. Once again he was part of a click, but still an outsider. The main reason was because most of the guys on the football team were either dating cheerleaders, or other high status girls. All of whom were under Bonnie's thumb and through a trickledown effect the brunette continued to enforce the power of the food chain, even when she wasn't around.

As Ron got dressed he noticed a few of the guys were giving him odd looks, and whispering him about him.

"So Stoppable, how's your love life going?" said one of the guys.

Ron frowned. He looked over at the guy who had spoken. It was Scott Jerkins the new quarter back. While he wasn't quite as muscular as the former quarterback Brick Flag, he was still fairly large. He was also stuck up, arrogant, selfish, and almost as hung up on the food chain as Bonnie.

"Word is that your girlfriend dumped you to go out with Mankey," said Scott.

Ron didn't respond and concentrated instead on the coming practice. This wasn't the first time someone had made a comment about his brake up with Kim, and he knew it wouldn't be the last.

Normally it was easy for him to bush off harsh comments, but this was different. The wound Kim left on his heart cut far deeper than any other. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hide all the pain he felt under a false smile.

While school had been a torture session, football practice was a welcome relief. A way to release the tension and anger that had built up during the day.

Ron spent the first half of practice running up and down the field practicing catching the ball as different team member threw to him while others tried to catch him. Ron did miss the ball a few times, but he made up for it with the fact that no one was able to tackle him when he did catch it.

For the second half of practice Ron had to line up again other players and practice his defense by trying to stop them from getting past him. It was just his luck that he ended up against Scott.

As they lined up Scott kept his voice low so that only Ron could hear him. "Ya know Stoppable the way I heard it. The only reason Possible dating you in the first place was out of pity."

Ron frowned, but didn't respond. He knew the guy was simply trying to get a rise out of him. Scott had always had a thing for Kim, and had been jealous when he learned that Ron was dating Kim. Of course Ron knew Kim would sooner date Motor Ed then a jerk like Scott.

However, eager to see how far he could push Ron, Scott continued with his verbal insults. "Face it Stoppable. You were born a loser, you'll die a loser, and only the fleas will morn you."

'Loser' That word bounced around inside Ron's head. He once again felt the anger welling up inside him. The same anger he felt when he faced Drakken. The second the whistle blew Ron plowed head first into the quarterback as hard as he could. The man was quickly knocked to the ground as he clutched his gut in pain.

Instantly Barkin rushed onto the field and halted the practice. "Alright Stoppable, I think that's enough for today. Go and hit the showers." The only reason he didn't send him to detention was because he too had heard the rumors of Ron and Kim's brake up, and knew Ron was going through a though time. Even though he wasn't pleased with Ron's new attitude he was pleased with the aggressiveness it seemed to have brought out in him. A smirked crossed his face as a vision of Ron unleashing this same anger on the opposition come Friday's game swirled in his head.

Ron took off his helmet and headed back to the locker room. "I'm not a loser, and I don't have fleas." He said, then scratched his suddenly itchy head.

-----

Since practice ended early for him, Ron was able clock in early for his double shift at Smarty-Mart.

As he set to work it occurred to him that at this very moment Kim was doing the same thing. She was working while he was working, maybe even taking her lunch breaks while he did. The thought of food and work made him realize something. While he had been sweating his backside off at this job, a job which Kim had insisted he take, she had been working at the teen fashion nirvana and meeting with Josh for her lunch breaks. While he was working, she was seeing another guy behind his back.

That thought put him in foul mood. Fortunately the retail superpower had just received a large shipment so he had spent most of his time venting his frustrations by heaving heavy merchandise. His manager was very impressed with the speed with which he unloaded the truck.

The sound a motorized wheelchair eventually dragged Ron from his unpleasant thoughts. Looking at his watch, he realized that it was almost dinnertime.

Ron looked up from the boxes he was inventorying and saw his best friend Felix rolling towards him. "Felix? What are you doing here?" Normally tonight was Ron and Felix's official game night, but since Ron had to work he had to cancel.

Felix shrugged. "Well I figured since you couldn't come over to see me, I'd come to see you. I though you worked in the Pet Department though. Why are you doing inventory in the storage room?"

Ron smiled. "Believe it or not, the Ron man is just too good at his Pet Department job. I was finished so the boss put me back here to make sure we had all the merchandise in stock the computers say we do."

Felix read one of the box's labels. "Anchor…eight-tons. I can't exactly picture you moving a lot of these out of a store in Colorado."

"Hey," Ron shrugged. "It's part of the official Smartmart inventory list, so as a duly franchised outlet of the Smartymart chain, we stock them."

"Why do you inventory them though? Don't tell me you actually have a problem with people stealing them? Wouldn't it be kind of hard to fit something like that under a coat?"

"You'd be surprised," said Ron, reflecting on the fact that it wasn't just crazed supervillians that did really bizarre things. "So what managed to pull you away from your badical game system?"

Felix shrugged. "It's not really as much fun playing zombie fighter without you to beat on, so I figured since you couldn't come to see me, I'd come to see you. I brought you something." Felix pushed a button on his chair and a mechanical hand extended from it, holding a large Bueno Naco bag which he had purchased before coming. Bueno Naco was one of the few things Smarty-Mart didn't carry, so he knew Ron would probably be rolling on the floor with hunger, or at least whining about it, by the time he got there.

"Badical," said Ron, smiling and taking the bag from the mechanical arm. He opened the paper bag, allowing the delicious spicy aroma invade his nostrils. Felix had even taken the liberty decking out his burrito the way he liked it. "Felix man you're a life saver and it's my official break time. What would I do without you?"

Felix put his finger to his chin and thought for a moment. "Go insane, and build doomsday devices to take over the world?"

Ron laughed. "Probably."

After finding a box for Ron to sit on, and another to place their food on, the two friends gorged themselves, devouring their meals in under two minutes. It was a new record.

Ron always enjoyed the fact that while he was with Felix, he could kick back and just be himself. Even with Kim, there was always a level of sophistication he tried to keep whenever he was with her. Granted it was a low level of sophistication, but still a lever of sophistication, which wasn't something that came naturally to him.

Once the two finished their meals, Felix decided to approach the topic that had been on his mind all day. "So…about you and Kim."

Ron groaned. Felix was his best non-female friend, which now that he was no longer seeing Kim, meant he was now his best human friend. He should have known he would bring that up. "Yes Kim and I broke up. Can we please just drop it?" he replied, a slight edge to his voice.

Felix was surprised by the outburst, and waved his hands in defense. "Whoa easy man. No need to bite my head off."

Ron grinned sheepishly, embarrassed at how he had snapped at his friend. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little edgy. People have been bugging me about the whole Kim break-up thing all day. I swear if one more person mentions me and Kim breaking up, I'm gonna scream."

Felix nodded. "Hey it's cool. If you don't want to talk about it then don't talk about it."

Ron shook his head. "Naw, if anybody deserves to know what happened, it's you." Ron took a deep breath before launching into his story. It took him almost ten minutes before he finally finished explaining everything that had happened over the past few days.

Felix shook his head once Ron fished his story. "Man I can't believe she did that."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought when I found out."

"Well I think you're better off without her," said Felix, after a moment's thought.

Ron was surprised at Felix's words. Even though Felix had never been as close to Kim as he was, the two were still good friends; and Ron couldn't believe he would say something so harsh. "Uh Felix are you felling okay? You know this is Kim we're talking about and not Bonnie, right?"

Felix nodded. "I know what I said Ron, and I stand by it. Kim may be my friend, but even I know she's got a serious stick up her butt. She's always assumed that you want to go on mission's and take the beating you have. She's too serious, she never seems to just kick back and have fun. Let's face it, you can do better."

"You really think so?" Even though Ron acted confidant, he never had much luck when it came to girls. The only time any girl ever liked him was the brief times when something happened that sky rocketed him to the top of the popularity ladder. Though it never lasted, and as soon as the popularity vanished so did the girl. Even when a girl was interested in him, he always found some way to screw it up. Usually before he even figured out the girl was interested in him, much less when they were going out. His only experience with women was a brief relationship with Zeta, a never was with Yori, and a rebound with Kim.

Felix nodded. "Totally. It's obvious she doesn't care about you if she's willing to cheat on you."

"Well technically Kim didn't cheat on me," said Ron, though he wasn't quite sure why he was even defending Kim at all. "I mean the whole reason she broke up with me, was so she wouldn't be cheating on me when she went out with Mankey."

Felix shook his head. "Dude it doesn't matter. Even if she wasn't going out with him, she was still keeping him a secret from you. That whole 'I broke up with him so I wouldn't hurt him' crap is just to make her feel better. Look at it this way. It's better that she cheats and dumps you now than later, after you're put more into it. Thing's could have been even worse then." Then ten years later when you're married and have a kid or something.

Ron blinked, reflecting on the truth of his friend's words. "I never thought of that. So what should I do now?"

"First of all, I think you need to take a little time away from girls, as in girlfriend," Felix mused, thinking things over.

"What do you mean?" Ron demanded. "Kim dumps me so now I can't date…not that I ever had much luck anyway," he added.

Felix shook his head. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that Kim is probably the biggest celebrity in the school, if not the entire city and state. Almost every teen in the country knew that you two were dating. Not to mention you're the football team's star player, and a shoe-in to make all-state. Believe it or not being on your arm means Middleton High School status, at least for some girls. And now that everyone at school knows that the two of you broke up there are going to be a few girls who will want to date the same guy that Kim Possible dated. Most girls are going to treat you exactly like you did before, but there's also going to be one or two girls who will try to move in for the status."

Ron blinked. He'd been friends with Kim so long it had never even crossed his mind that dating her was something that would give him status. "Meaning that girls with the Bonnie attitude who don't have the high food-chain status are going to use me to try and get it," said Ron, catching on what his friend was saying.

Felix nodded. "Exactly. I don't think you want something like that so I think you need to get your feet under you, emotion speaking that is."

For a moment Ron actually considered the possibility of using his so called status to score himself some dates. He could only imagine what the look on Kim face would be like if she saw him with one of the school resident hotties.

However Ron quickly extinguished those thoughts. He'd tried the whole going out with a hot popular girl thing when he briefly dated Amalia. It didn't work. Their relationship had been based solely on looks, and physical attraction. When they weren't making out they had almost nothing in common. They simply didn't connect…well not emotionally anyway. Ron had a far-off look in his eyes as he replayed the physical intimacy with Amelia inside his head.

Ron sighed. "It figures that the only girls who'd want to date me are the ones that either want to use me, or one's that pity me. I really am loser."

"Hey, that not true," countered Felix. "I mean yes, there are girls out there who will try to use you, and one's who will only go out with you out of pity, but there are also other girl's as well, girl who will like you for you."

"Ok, let's say hypothetically that I do take some down time, that I do get over Kim, and that I do start dating again. Then what? If you haven't noticed my luck with girls isn't all that great." Although he admitted Felix's advice about taking some down time from dating probably a good idea.

"That's what dating is for. To test the water and find out if a girl is right for you. Believe it or not there are girls out there who will like you for you. Girl's who like guys who are funny, kind, and a little weird."

"And just where am I supposed to find this perfect girl?" asked Ron.

Felix shrugged. "Hey if I knew that, do you think I'd still be single?"

Ron and Felix both laughed. How Ron had managed to go so many years without someone like Felix in his life was beyond him.

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While Ron was hanging out with Felix, Kim was also busy at her job at Club Banana.

"Girl you got a lot of explaining to do." Kim turned to see her best female friend, which now meant her best friend, closing in like a hawk on field mouse.

Monique had a hard look on her face, but stopped short when she noticed Kim's red, swollen eyes. Whatever anger she may have been feeling was quickly pushed to the back of her mind and replaced by concern for her friend. "Kim what happened. You look like hell."

"Yeah well that's what happens when you stay up half the night crying into your pillow," replied Kim. Even thought the tears had long since stopped, she could still feel the grief and guilt carving a home into her heart.

That stopped Monique in her tracks. "Whoa, hold up girl. What are you talking about?"

Kim shook her head. She really didn't want to go into detail about everything that had happened over the last few months. She knew that if she did she might end up breaking down like she did last night, and she didn't want to make a scene at work. "Monique it's a looong story, and I really don't feel like talking about it at work."

Monique looked around. The store was completely empty right now, and they hadn't had a customer in over an hour. School night's weren't good business nights for teenage fashion stores so she doubted that anyone was going to come by any time soon. She walked over to the main door, locked it, switched the 'Open' sign to 'Closed', and walked back over to Kim. "Alright girl, if anyone asks we took advantage of the slow night to reorganize the sales floor, so spill. I can tell something's up because you've got that 'I can't believe I did that' look."

"And I can't," said Kim.

"Not nearly enough details, girl," said Monique in a slightly stern voice.

Kim sighed and hung her head. It was obvious that Monique wasn't going to give up until she knew what happened. "Ron and I broke up," she stated.

Monique rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I kinda figured that part out after seeing you hanging on Josh and Ron avoiding you at school today."

Kim shook her head. "It's a bit more serious than that Monique."

Monique raised an eyebrow, wondering what could be more serious the Ron and Kim breaking up. "As in?"

Kim held up two fingers, than lowered one. "As in the dynamic duo of Team Possible, just became the dynamic uno."

That caught Monique off guard. Obviously whatever happened was far more complicated the she thought. "Girl tell me everything; and don't leave out any details."

Kim nodded and began explaining, starting with her early dates with Ron and going all the way to last night. It took her over a half an hour to get through the whole story, and just like Monique asked her, she left out no details. Including the one's she didn't tell her mother.

When Kim fished the two simply sat there in silence. Monique wasn't sure what to think, or what to say. She had come to work today fully prepared to chew Kim out, since she couldn't believe that Kim would be the type of girl to cheat on her boyfriend, especially when said boyfriend was Ron. Still, after hearing what happened, what Kim went through on her dates, she could understand exactly why she broke up with him.

Kim waited with bated breath for her friend's judgment. She didn't really care what the other kids at school said about her, but Monique was different. Monique was her only true friend besides Ron and Wade, and had been like a sister to her ever since they first met. Her opinion mattered to Kim more than anyone's, maybe even more then her parents.

After a few seconds Monique finally spoke. "I think…I think you made the right call."

Kim blinked, wondering if Monique was serious. She had expected Monique to be sympathetic toward her, maybe even offer her some comforting words like her mother had, but she never expected her; or anyone for that matter, to actually agree with what she did. "Really?"

Monique nodded. "It sounds to me like Ron was causing you pain long before you caused him pain. He pretty much ignored you and your feelings and made you feel unwanted. He wasn't meeting you're emotional needs and you wanted a guy who could. If that boy hadn't been sending you mixed signal's you would have either been single; and been able to have a guilt free relationship with another guy, or you wouldn't have needed to look for another guy at all, because you were already getting the attention you needed."

Though Ron was one of her best male friend's Monique knew just how unobservant he could be when it came to others thoughts and feelings. He tended to take others for granted and had a general lack of maturity when it came to social outings. If a boy she dated acted like that, she would have dumped him faster than an out of style pair of pants.

Kim blinked, absorbing everything that Monique said. "I never thought about it like that before. You really think I did the right thing?"

Monique bit her lip. Even though she understood why Kim did what she did, that didn't mean she approved of how she did it. "I wouldn't go that far. I mean you were technically with Ron when you started messing around with Josh, and you should definitely feel bad about that."

"Trust me I do." Feeling bad didn't even begin to describe the pain and unending guilt that Kim felt.

"The real question is what are you going to do about it?" asked Monique.

Kim took a deep breath before quietly replying. "Nothing."

Monique was surprised by that. Of all the things Kim could have said, that was the one she least expected. Kim was an aggressor, and had more fight and determination in her then anyone Monique had ever met. To see her simply give up without a fight seemed wrong. "That sure doesn't sound like the Kim Possible I know."

Kim nodded. The whole idea of sitting back and doing nothing seemed just as wrong to her as in did to Monique. "I know, but I've already screwed things up pretty badly with Ron as it is. I'm afraid that if I try to make things better I'm just going to make them worse."

Monique was stunned by the confession. She couldn't remember Kim ever admitting she was scared of something. 'Man this thing with Ron must have hit her a lot harder than I thought.'

"Well if you even need anything you just let me know ok. I'm here for ya girl."

Monique felt a bit guilt for choosing to side with Kim over Ron, Ron was her friend to after all, and she was the one who had told Kim 'Stand by your Ron', but it was obvious that this break-up was hitting Kim just as hard as it was Ron, maybe even worse. Kim needed her right now, far more then Ron probably did, and she wasn't about to abandon her best friend in her hour of need. Besides Ron already had Felix at his side, and she was sure the boy could do more for Ron then she ever could.

Kim smiled. "Thanks Monique." It was nice to know that even though she had lost Ron she still had other friends who would stick by her, and right now Kim couldn't think of a better friend than Monique.

---------

After what to Ron felt like the longest work shift in the history of the world, he arrived home just as the clock was reaching 1 a.m. The day had been every bit as draining as he thought it would be.

He stumbled into his room with barely enough energy to dump his work cloths in his laundry basket. As he did a note letter fell out of his pocket. He had found in his locker during school and he could tell by the handwriting it was from Kim. He hadn't wanted to read it during school knowing that it would probably upset him even more, and that Bonnie would have a field day with it. Now however, he was finally alone in his room, and as ready as he could be to deal with whatever she had to say.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the envelope and pulled out a couple of tear-stained pages.

Ron, before I write anything more I have to say that you weren't weak last night, you were smart. If you had called me, or come over and spoke to me in person, I would have gone into hysterics. That wouldn't have been good for either of us.

Actually, I did go into hysterics last night. When you didn't answer your phone I was ready to run over to your house but my mom intercepted me on the way to the front door. She chased my dad and the tweebs out of the house and forced me to tell her everything. It's a good thing she's a brain surgeon because she had a real mess on her hands. I think I started at the middle and worked my way to the beginning, by detouring to the end. After I told her everything, she and I had a long talk. While it wasn't a pleasant talk, it's one that I'm glad I had. Now, I'm able to answer the message you sent me.

I have to say, before anything else, how sorry I am that things have turned out the way that they have. I know that I've said this before but it's the truth. No amount of talking or writing will make it any easier so I can only hope that you understand that I am sorry, so very sorry. Yet, as sorry as I am about how things turned out, I have to beg and plead for your forgiveness for the way I handled the entire sitch.

After talking to mom, I realized how horribly I handled everything. When I first started seeing Josh, I should have told you. When I realized that I wasn't satisfied with our relationship, I should have told you. When I started to develop feelings for Josh, I should have told you. When I made my choice, I should have told you everything. Instead, I kept everything away from you, didn't give you a chance to deal with it until it was too late. That was terribly unfair to you and I hope that someday, somehow, you can forgive me for it.

What I'm about to do is the second hardest thing I've ever done in my life. You asked me to tell you where you went wrong, so I will. I hope that you don't take this wrong, I hope that you'll accept that these are honest statements. After all, someday some girl is going to get a clue and realize what you really are. At that point, maybe if you understand where things went wrong between the two of us, you'll be better equipped to handle the relationship.

Ron, you just didn't seem to evolve and grow. I'm not going to sugar coat this; you asked for honesty so that is what I'm going to provide. Our dates seemed to be in such a rut, we would go to some fast food restaurant where you would gorge yourself like a barbarian then spend forever trying to win something for me in those rigged, claw games. When we went to a nice place, you still acted the same way. You never dressed up, and you never acted like a gentleman. I know your heart was in the right place, and I think that's part of why I didn't say anything. But the truth is you never seemed to put in any effort to make me feel special, and I often felt unwanted, sometimes even unattractive.

Josh did those things and it was so overwhelming that I didn't know what to do. I didn't know that I wanted to be treated special until Josh started to treat me special. That's when I made my big mistake, I didn't tell you that I wasn't satisfied with our relationship. If I had had been honesty and told you that, right then and there, we could have worked through it, or come to the mutual conclusion that we were better off as friends. Instead, I continued to let Josh pursue me, flattered that he was doing so. The result was that I played you. I didn't mean to, but I did. I didn't tell you that I was seeing someone else until I had decided that I wanted him to be my boyfriend and I knew that he wanted me to be his girlfriend. This was horribly unfair to you.

Of course, you hardly need me telling you that I treated you wrong. I can only hope that you can accept that I did this out of inexperience and confusion, rather than out of cruelty. I know that it must be cold comfort since the results were the same, but I hope that it makes it just a little easier for you. Ron, I'm so very, very sorry about the way I treated you with this sitch.

I'm writing the rest of this, assuming that you haven't already torn up this letter. After I listened to your message last night, I went into a panic. I realized that as much as I felt you had taken me for granted as a girlfriend, I had taken you even more for granted as a best friend. I thought I could set you aside as a boyfriend and still have you as my best friend. Finding out that I couldn't was like a slap in the face. Mom says that you know you're growing up when the lessons really hurt. What's so incredibly unfair is that I'm getting the lesson while you're putting up with the lion's share of the heartbreak.

I said earlier that telling you where we went wrong was the second most difficult thing I had ever written. The following lines are the hardest. When we returned from the last mission, you said you wanted time. Now, you've told me that you want distance and that you don't want anything to do with me. I'm going to give you both. I know you might not believe me, but I'm going to miss you terribly while you come to terms with the way I've wronged you. It's going to be hard for me, knowing that you're suffering because of me. It's going to be harder, knowing that I can't help you, because simply being close to you will only make you suffer more. My only choice is to give you the time and space you need and hope that you'll be able to put what I did behind you enough for us to be friends again.

That brings up my last item, something that you asked of me that I cannot do for you, and that's to just let you go. Ron, even though you say that we aren't friends anymore, I still consider you my best friend, and the best friend I'll ever have. Take as much time as you need, but when you've dealt with what I did to you enough to talk to me again, I'll be waiting. I don't care if it's tomorrow, next week, or next month, but when you're ready to talk, cry, or yell at me, you just call me and I'll drop anything and everything for you.

I can't bring myself to say goodbye. Ron, I know that I've damaged our friendship and that we'll never be the same. My only hope is that we'll be able to salvage something. I truly can't save the world without you. I know that I've said that I can do anything, but that's not the whole truth. I can do anything, as long as Ron Stoppable has my back.

Farewell for now,

Kim.'

Ron felt guilty when he read about how Kim had gone into hysterics. He took absolutely no pleasure in knowing that he had hurt her. He knew it would happen though. Even when he made the message he knew it would hurt Kim deeply. He briefly wondered if that was what Kim felt like when she decided to dump him. Either way he was grateful that Miss. P had stopped her. God only knew what Kim would have done to him if she'd come over. Not that he would have answered the door. Not that it would have stopped her either.

The part about how he disappointed her as a boyfriend stung the most. Still he'd asked Kim to be honest and was glad that she had been. In all honesty he'd though he'd done a good job of being a boyfriend. Kim never seemed to mind his gorging before, and she had always said that she didn't care about how he looked, and that she didn't like to be treated special. Apparently either that was a lie, or he had misinterpreted her words. His money was on the second option. He always did get things wrong. But why couldn't she have just told him he was doing a lousy job? He'd have done whatever it took to make her happy. Candy, flowers, jewelry, hell he'd would have had Wade arrange dinner in Paris if that was what she wanted. But it was too late for that now. It was too late for a lot of things.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of the ending of the letter, and Kim's desire to still be friends. He wouldn't deny that despite the pain Kim had caused him, there was still a large part of him that yearned to have her in his life, even if was only as friends, but he simply couldn't. Not right now anyway. Maybe not ever again.

Rather than destroy the letter, Ron decided to keep it, and put it in his nightstand. Maybe he did it as a final testament to the long friendship he'd had with Kim. Maybe he did it so that when he did get another girlfriend, in whatever far off decade that was, he would have some idea on how a proper boyfriend should act. Maybe he did it as way to remember that even though he'd closed the door on his friendship with Kim, there was still a window open.

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This chapter actually turned out better and long than I thought it would. Plus I managed to get it out relatively fast compared to my usual speed. I'm hoping to get the next chapter done quickly as well.

The main point of this chapter was to establish a sort of new status quo in terms of friends for Ron and Kim. Kim has Monique and Josh to rely on, while Ron now has Felix and Tara.

For the conversations I did my best to come at it from both a male perspective and a female perspective. Though I'm not sure how well I managed to pull that off. Oh well.

Big thanks to daccu65 for helping with some of the conversation, and for writing the letter.

Until next chapter please Read and Review. Remember I am always open to and even encourage to all questions, comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism.