There was a long silence in the Abadeer house, only to be broken by a loud audible exhale. Its source was none other than Marceline, who lie on her bed exhausted from moving boxes and unpacking her things. Tomorrow, she was to start going to the neighborhood school around her dad's house and just like the night before every other new school year, she couldn't sleep. Maybe it was anxiety or some kind of psychological problem, but she was always scared to have her fears confirmed and decided to embrace the ignorance instead. That was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to problems plaguing the young woman, but the main problem now was that she was at her father's house in the first place. Ever since she stared middle school, her father let her live on her own and payed for her rent, phone, food, you name it. The problem was, she had the habit of transferring schools when things got uncomfortable. Whether that was fighting some jerk who totally had it coming or standing up for other people who couldn't do it themselves, others didn't seem to approve of her way of dealing with things. That, combined with the fact that she didn't really do friends after the first time she transferred, resulted in stares, whispers, and crazy paranoia. She had figured how she got her diploma didn't matter as long as she got one, but her father didn't seem to agree with her thoughts. When everything got out, it went something like "Marceline, you are my daughter and a member of the Abadeer family and will represent yourself as such." blah blah blah… An hour of lecturing and angry looks didn't have an effect on her, especially from someone she barely even sees. She was exhausted of being exhausted and somehow, managed to fall asleep.
"Ugh, what time is it?" Marceline rubbed her eyes and stretched out as far as her body would let her before she grabbed the sheets and pulled them around her tightly. With a long sigh, she turned on her side and propped her head up with her arm as she reached for her phone. 4:53am. Although she didn't post practically at all, she still liked to kill time scrolling thru social media even if she only followed old childhood friends. Except for today. All she saw was posts about school and class schedules, it just reminded her that today was going to be shit. Not only was she going to be the new kid again, but it was in a neighborhood that she has attended school before and was bound to see some familiar faces. It's not that she burned a lot of bridges or anything like that, it was more like she didn't want to see certain people from her past. She was tired of thinking about it. It was her senior year, she just had to push her way thru one more year and she was free to do whatever she wanted. She quickly got herself ready and the only thing left to do was to get dressed. Luckily, in her late night attempt to avoid any potential problems today, she had already laid out her clothes. Nothing out of the ordinary, just some old beat up black jeans with a few holes in them, a black shirt with an unbuttoned red flannel on top and her signature black boots. The ideal outfit for not looking like a complete dweeb and still flying under the radar. She walked downstairs, trying to stay quiet enough to sneak out unnoticed. Unfortunately, right as she was about to grab her backpack and bass, she could hear her father clearing his throat from the kitchen.
"Good morning, Marceline. On your way to school already?" He asked, taking a sip from his coffee. He was never the early morning kind of guy and always worked a 9-5 corporate job even before she was born. Clearly the only reason he's awake right now is to make sure she is actually going to school. Typical. She tightened up a little and rubbed the back of her neck as she made an attempt at a half smile. "Yeah, dad. Just trying to put my best for forward and plan for success or whatever you always say…" Not exactly a lie but defiantly not exactly the truth.
He crossed his arm and smiled, he leaned back against the edge of kitchen counter. "Good to hear it baby!" he said enthusiastically. He made his way across the room and gestured towards the refrigerator. "There's not much, but feel free to eat anything in the house. I usually end up getting take out because I'm usually so busy, but there's definitely a meal or two in there." He laughed for a bit and an awkward silence seemed to fill the room. He cleared his throat, "While I can't accompany you, I would like you to go grocery shopping today. I got you this credit card to use as you need since our previous agreement is off the table after your little transfer fiasco. It is only to be used on things you absolutely need like food, clothes or school supplies. It has a $500 limit and you will receive no more than that every month under any circumstances. This is an exercise of responsibility for a new page in our relationship, can I trust you?" he asked in a serious tone while she tried to resist the urge to roll her eyes.
While she would love to shut him down and leave the house and this conversation as quickly as possible, she could really use that money and at least he wasn't being completely condescending for once. "Yeah dad, won't let you down." she said, making eye contact with the old man. He seemed to look content with her response and headed back to his room. She quickly grabbed her things and headed outside.
She already looked up online how to get to school using back roads and even where to lock up her bike, just not where she was going to hang out before school started. She wasn't the type to get to school first but considering her home situation, the more time out the better. All she needed was a secluded spot with some shade like a tree or something. As she turned the corner, she could see it. Ooo High, one of the last traditional high schools in all of Ooo. While other schools focused on stuff like the arts or science, this plain old school was nothing out of the ordinary. The only kind of kids who went to this school either had no ambitions of any kind or just couldn't be bothered to go somewhere else farther away. The place looked completely empty except a few cars in the parking lot that she could only imagine belonging to a few of the teachers, but that was no surprise, the sun was barely even out yet. She parked her bike and secured the chain around it, locking it tightly. She made her way down the sidewalk and eventually came to a courtyard. She paused for a moment and scanned the area for an ideal spot to chill and there it was, the perfect local for her plan to be virtually undetectable this year. It might've just been an old rotten tree next to a toxic looking lake, but she liked the atmosphere.
She dropped her backpack and laid down in the grass, using it as an impromptu pillow. Still listening to music from the bike ride over, she removed one headphone so she could listen out for the first bell and closed her eyes. Unable to relax, she unpacked her bass and started to mindlessly play along with the music. Her attempt at a quick rest before class started was denied by the sound of her fellow students' conversations and it was only getting louder. With sleeping no longer being an option, she looked around her and realized that she was now surrounded by people. They wasn't anyone necessarily close to her, but she still felt a little anxious from the sheer amount of people. Luckily, no one had noticed her and she had the perfect opportunity to people watch. Going to so many different schools gave her a good eye for scoping out clicks and potential trouble. Little did she know she would spot trouble itself quickly without much effort. There she was, Bonnibel Bubblegum, the one person Marceline feared coming into contact with the most when she agreed to attend this dumb school. She might have been surrounded by googly eyed boys who seemed to be eating up whatever she was saying, but with that bright pink hair, she stood out like a sore thumb. Bonnibel was Marceline's first real friend. They were so close and she actually trusted her, until she stopped talking to her for no good reason. Long story short, after weeks and multiple attempts to contact her, the only response she ever got from the pink haired girl was a short cold text reading "Sorry, I can't talk to you. I have too much going on right now." Marceline felt like she had moved past all this and even though she didn't ever get a real reason why, she was able to obtain some kind of closure. She had been staring without realizing it and her chest ached a bit as she watched Bubblegum happily laugh. That feeling was almost instantly replaced with a feeling of embarrassment and surprise when the two locked eyes across the courtyard. Bonnibel must have felt the same way because she was completely disengaged from her previous conversation and was staring at the girl like she was a ghost. That wasn't far off from the truth.