Ronald's diner

chapter 3

I.

Exiting the dryness of Ronald's car, Bonnie clutched a plastic bag to her chest in an attempt to protect the contents from the rain. Bonnie never would have thought that she would find herself in her current position, yet here she was clutching a bag full of clothes from Smartymart as though they were the most precious thing in her whole life. Who are you kidding? This is only the second most precious thing, a small voice said from inside Bonnie's head. Most precious, second most precious, either way she never thought she would have gone shopping in Smartymart with the person she thought was the biggest loser from high school. And yet she had not only done that, but she was smiling and almost content about it all.

"Penny, for your thoughts?" Ronald asked as he opened the door to his apartment.

"Just a penny?"

"All I can afford right now after setting you up in style."

"Hmmp, I wouldn't call four pairs of underwear, three pairs of socks, a couple of t-shirts, and a pair of pants as styling."

"Compared to a few days ago, I would say you're ready to strut down the cat-walk." Ronald said with a lopsided grin as he walked through the living room and into the kitchen.

"Touché, but don't hold your breath on watching me walk down the cat-walk in these new clothes." Bonnie retorted before smiling. "Still, it was nice of you to buy me these clothes since I don't have any others."

"What happened to them?" Ronald asked as he sat out two small plastic cups and filled them with water.

"They were stolen." Bonnie sighed before plopping down on to the couch, "Just one of the dangers of living on the streets."

"I can only imagine." Ronald conceded as he handed Bonnie one of the cups.

"That's all you're going to say about it? No 'It services you right' or anything like that?"

"Why would I do something like that?"

"Payback for how I treated you in high school." Bonnie answered meekly as she lowered her head.

Ronald stared at Bonnie for several seconds as his mind worked to come up with a response. However, his thought process was cut short when Bonnie, having a sense that she was being stared at, spoke again.

"Why are you staring at me? I deserve it. It's not like I was ever nice to you."

"Bonnie, we've been over this already. You know I'm not so petty as to try and hold that against you. Yes, I didn't like the way you treated me, but that doesn't mean I should do the same to you. What possible good could come of me doing that?"

"It would make me feel better." Bonnie answered softly.

"Say what?" Ronald asked, completely perplexed.

Lifting her head to look Ronald in the eyes, Bonnie explained, "I'm not quite the same Bonnie I used to be, the old 'Queen Bee' of high school. I've had to grow up a bit and realize that the world doesn't just revolve around me."

"You weren't all that bad in high school."

"Nice try Stoppable, but we both know that I was. Do you know why so many people called me the "Queen Bee" in school? It didn't have anything to do with comparing me to a queen bee and her drones, but instead, it was a worse insult."

"To be fair, Bonnie, there were several times I called you 'Queen Bee' myself."

"I'm sure both you and Kim did. The difference is that I doubt you meant it the way everyone else did. When they called me 'Queen Bee', the emphasis was on the B."