Hello, folks; it's me again. It's a bit soon since my first KP fic, but this has been screaming to get out for months now. It was a wonder that I managed to get a canon fic out there first.
So from that last statement, you know that this isn't canon. There have been all kinds of series that - while rooted in the series - diverge from the series at some point, radically in some cases. There's Ron-Go, Bon-Ron, Ki-Ron-Bon, Ki-Ron-Go, other non-S-4 forms of KR, etc. But with all the fuss about Kim and Shego and Bonnie and others, it seems to me that one potential love interest for Ron has been criminally neglected. That girl is the sweet, innocent, kind, caring, gentle, underused, under-developed (story-wise, not physically), pretty little blue-eyed (platinum) blonde we know as Tara.
You'll recognize the title of this fic as something Ron said in the third season on finding out that he had a chance with her and didn't know it until it was too late. For what I have in mind, I go back to the first season; specifically the episode Crush. (FYI I'm going by the episode order which includes Sink Or Swim, Number One, and Crush, in that order) Watching Emotion Sickness and keeping events from the first season in mind I wondered, what if Kim HAD told Ron? Of course if she had, he would have either spazzed or gone all Mr. Smooth, maybe blowing his chances with Tara either way, especially with Bonnie there. So there had to be something she could have done short of actually telling him, some way of getting the two of them together. I like to think I've worked it out. This will start the night before Crush - which accounts for the chapter title when I get another chapter up - and go from there. Future fics in this continuity will go through the rest of the first season and beyond.
BTW I will continue fics rooted in the show itself as well as this continuity. I have many plans for Kim & Ron and the others; it might take the rest of my life to get around to all of them. Think of this as the Taroniverse (if no one has beaten me to that term, I call dibs).
Kim Possible and all related characters, ideas and concepts are copyrighted to Schooley-McCorkle and Walt Disney Animation, a unit of Disney and Buena Vista Entertainment.
To her credit, Bonnie had managed to outlast Kim's prediction, although not Ron's. She'd hung on as cheer squad captain for three weeks, not two, before the increased workload and "giving 150" (or whatever number she'd bumped it up to by then) came to be just too much. Late on the night of Day 19 of what Ron was calling the "Rockwaller Regime", Bonnie had placed a call to Kim, which was the subject of Kim's current late-night phone conversation with her best friend Ron. Bonnie had called to make Kim an offer: Bonnie would resign the captaincy, quietly, behind the scenes; Kim would show up as captain and - considering no one ever knew when Kim might be called away on a mission - Bonnie would have the new title of co-captain and lead the squad in the event of the above sitch. This would take place with no one saying a word of Bonnie having gone after, gained, or resigned the top spot. In other words…
"Total denial? And no one's going to say anything?"
"Bonnie's already put the word out to the rest of the squad."
"And they all fell right in line. You know, KP, that's one thing Bon-Bon has on you is lining up the rest of the squad behind her when she has a mind to. Maybe if you tried to pick off one or two of them--"
"The nicest member of the squad is her best friend--"
"Which one?"
"Tara?"
"Oh yeah; she is nice."
"Especially when she kissed you back at Camp Wan--"
"Kim, we agreed never to mention that place again."
"Sorry, Ron."
"Place of evil, KP; place of evil!"
"Getting back to point, even with her 'people skills' I am again head cheerleader. So let her have what she can get."
"If you say so, KP. Hmm, I keep coming back to 'total denial'."
"She said she got the idea from two girls in Connecticut on this Queen Bee bulletin board: 'Top of the Food Chain dot org'."
"They have their own bulletin board community? Well, I guess everyone does these days. I wonder if--?"
"Before I could even think to ask, Bonnie told me not to try getting onto it. It's password protected and encrypted; very hard to crack."
"Wade could crack it."
"But why? Life's too short to worry about Bonnie and her old girl network--"
"Do you know if Bonnie is older than you or not?"
"Let's move on."
"To what?"
"Well, Spirit Week is coming up--"
"Shh! Not so loud!"
"What?"
"I just put Rufus to bed. He gets very amped up about S-P-I-R-I-T Week, and he needs to get a good night's sleep."
"I was wondering why you were whispering, even the whole 'place of evil' sitch. You're a good single parent, Ron."
"Thanks. So, who's the hottie du jour?"
"'Hottie du jour'? Ron!"
"Kim, every time you-know-what comes up, you catch a fresh crush."
"So not."
"I can set my calendar by it."
"You want to amp down a little, Ron? You'll wake Rufus."
"Oh. Good call, KP. Um, you know Walter Nelson transferred."
"Non-story, Ron. Even if he hadn't, I couldn't look him in the face, not after the, 'braces' incident."
"Kim, it's been, what? Two years? Three?"
"Aren't we getting off-topic?"
"Oh, yeah. Um, anyone on the horizon?"
"I don't know. I've been hearing about this guy Josh--"
"Josh Mankey?"
"Yeah, I hear he's kind of nice."
"If by 'nice', you mean that when you try to say 'hi' to him, he looks right through you and goes on like you weren't even there, then, yes, I'd say he was quite nice."
"Will Du rubbed off on you a bit, Ron; I don't know if you noticed. Tweaked much?"
"Don't get me wrong, Kim. Otherwise he's a good choice, according to the grapevine he ranks pretty high on the hottie-meter. He's just off in his own little world, a world of arts and music and… he's just off in a fog. sigh Well, whatever you decide, KP, you know I have your back."
"Please and thank you. yawn"
"Time to turn in?"
"Good call, Ron. Good night."
"Good night, KP."
"Happy Spirit Week."
"Happy Spirit Week to you too."
"YAY!"
"Oh, way to go, KP! You made me wake Rufus!"
"Sorry."
"Gotta go."
"Night, Ron."
Getting to sleep that night was not as easy as she had anticipated. Her thoughts kept dwelling around the Spirit Week dance, and of this time, lining up a date. Josh Mankey? Well, maybe. She'd ask him or someone else, or someone would ask her; of that much she was certain.
The hard part would be separating herself from Ron, her best friend of going-on-twelve years. They'd always gone together as friends, but she had plans for that to not be the case this year. But how to break it to Ron?
Maybe
if he had a date too. That would work! Then he'd go with his date,
and she'd go with hers. But who would he ask, and more to the
point, who would go with him? Oh, as his best friend she loved him
like family, but that was just her, and she wouldn't be going with
him; she'd have to find someone who, like Ron, didn't care about
the whole 'food chain' sitch. But who would that be? Who?
Who?
That was the last thought in her mind as she drifted off to dream…
"…You remind me of the cruel kids in camp. Sticks and stones."
"gasp! They called you names?"
"Yes, while they were hitting me with sticks and stones!"
"Um, Ron?"
"Yes, Tara?"
"I'm hungry."
"Tara! Those are ancient!"
"Guh-ross!"
"It's, not so bad. It's, definitely food-style!"
"Nice work, Stoppable."
"Excellent!" "Good going, Ron!" "You rule!"
"No, no, no, no, thank you, thank you."
"Hee-hee-hee-hee, smack!"
The alarm went off, interrupting yet another reprise of the highlights (or low-lights) of Camp Wannaweep. It had been more than a month now, but those particular dreams revisited her every five days on average. It's almost like someone's trying to tell me something, she thought as she went about her usual morning constitutional.
Sorting through her closet was part of that routine, lining up her clothes for the day, as well as her cheer uniform on most school days. On rare occasion - of which this wasn't one - she might idly wonder if Ron might not have the right idea, getting like a dozen of the same sets of clothes and just taking turns with them. Again, she wasn't thinking that today.
En route to the former and now again current uniform, she passed by what Ron had dubbed "The a-Bonnie-nation". Granted that Kim wasn't the most fashion-conscious member of the squad - which wasn't necessarily a bad thing - but she had an opinion, which was as good as anyone else's, in her opinion. Simply put: purple with orange trim and yellow pleats is fine; yellow with purple trim and orange pleats made the squad look like a mustard display. Apparently the rest of the squad was quick to see the light on that; even Bonnie herself had agreed eventually and dropped those uniforms after a week. The new cheer was good and had been kept; the new uniforms were not and had not been.
Glimpsing that large economy sized caution light again, her mind again went back to the first time she'd laid eyes on them.
"Thanks to Bonnie, we've got new uniforms. Aren't they badical?"
As if, Tara! Those things were eyesores, and not even one of the admittedly more developed members of the squad trying to sex them up - and throwing in a Ron-ism - could, change.. that…
Wait, that was it! Tara! Back at the camp-which-will-not-be-named, she was practically throwing herself at Ron from what Kim saw; and according to what she'd heard on the bus coming back, the blonde had been even more so while she and Mr. Barkin had gone for firewood. Why, Tara had kept striking up conversations with Ron, she'd humored him more than the rest of the squad put together - even including Kim - she'd actually kissed him while they were leaving, she'd even tried his years-old snack foods! Also, as a cheerleader she's high enough on Bonnie's precious 'food chain' that Ron would look good, as Bonnie's best friend Tara could insulate Ron from the wrath of the Queen Bee, she's one of the nicest people in school, she actually likes Ron; she's perfect!
Yes! That would be the plan: to set Ron up to go to the dance with Tara. It would be just a matter of getting them together, and someone would ask someone. Of that much, Kim was certain.
So now lining up a date of her own to the dance became the hard part. But that wouldn't be hard at all. Who wouldn't want to take the head cheerleader? It would be just a matter of meeting the guy, maybe Josh, maybe, well, who knows.
Her plans for the day forming in her head, Kim decided on her green halter top and cargo jeans and headed downstairs for breakfast-- WHOOSH! --her morning chewing out of the Tweebs, and then to leave for school. And if Ron showed up for breakfast, part of the job would be done by the time Middleton High came in sight. Time would tell on that.
And so we head into the events of Crush. This won't be left hanging forever; the next two or three chapters are already in the final stages. Next time we'll see some missing scenes from Crush, and have a look into a mind or two. Until then, I'm Nftnat, on the internet, e-mail, and AIM. Cy'all.