"What?"
"You heard me, Bonibelle. You and Marceline are pairing up for this project," Bubblegum stared incredulously back at Dr. Princess, her chemistry teacher, and current life-ruiner from hell.
She heard a laugh behind her, and she turned to see Marceline smirking up at her from the back of the room. She glared and huffed, spinning around and forcing a smile on her face to her teacher.
"Dr. Princess," She started, pleasant and polite as always while inside all she wanted to do was slam her face into the whiteboard for pairing her up with the vampire on a science project. "I'm sure Marceline is a great lab partner, but really I'd be more comfortable with Finn or-"
"Bubblegum, it's okay, I know the... history between the two of you girls." Dr. Princess pushed off from leaning on the White board to walk around her desk and sit downs, lacing her fingers together and resting her head on her knuckles. She glanced between the two, a smile on her face. Not just a normal smile either; it was that creepy kind of smile teacher's get when they're scheming. Bubblegum didn't like that, Marceline was too busy writing in her beaten notebook to notice. 'That's exactly why I think you two should pair up. And it's not up for discussion" With that, the conversation was over, and Dr. Princess went turned back to the white board.
Sinking down and huffing agitatedly, Bubblegum kept silent and the class continued on with the day's lesson plan.
Occasionally, she would sneak a look back at Marceline when she thought she wasn't looking, to assess if she was just as irritated as she was with the situation. She wasn't. All she was doing was ignoring Dr. Princess's lecture as she scribbled in her notebook, tapping her pencil along the side of her desk to many different silent beats. Occasionally she looked up, looking like she was giving 'paying attention' a go, but not long after she would revert back to her own business. It one of the most frustrating things about Marceline, Bubblegum thought. She had no respect for science, let alone anything academic.
This 'history' she and Marceline had was a long one, and actually had no logical backing behind it. If bubblegum admitted, it could have all been avoided, but that chance had long since left the building. But even if it had, sooner or later they would end up exactly where they where now, there was no way around that.
Bubblegum was the 'princess' of the school, as people called her. It really only meant she was reasonably popular, though not by choice. She was polite and a kind gal, with a smart head on her shoulders, and that showed leadership. When people saw leadership, they usually followed.
Marceline was also a princess of sorts, or rather a 'queen' by popular labeling, and had gained the title of "Marceline, the vampire queen' for ridiculous reason in Bubblegum's opinion. She was rock star, not by occupation but by character and personality, her entire persona screamed it. She was headstrong, determined, and self-reliant and only needed her own approval to live happy. But she was also loud, stubborn, rude, and disrespectful. All qualities Bubblegum detested.
It was exactly this reason their rivalry began, actually.
In elementary school- where they met- Marceline was singing a song. This song went something like "I'll drink the blood, from your pretty pink face" or something, Bubblegum chose not to remember very well. In any case, it offended her. And when she felt something offended her, she had no qualms about stating it.
Back then though, she hadn't really gotten down telling someone "politely".
So there she went, marching up to Marceline and said, "Marceline, that's too distasteful!"
To which, Marceline stared at her like she'd never seen her before and asked, "Oh, you don't like that?" Then, all the sudden, she looked hurt. "Or do you just not like me?"
Bubblegum felt a twinge of regret, and opened her mouth to explain and maybe to apologize, but then their teacher approached and they both turned away. "Girls?" their teacher asked, "is something wrong?"
Simultaneously, they both responded "No". The teacher left, leaving behind an awkward and hurt silence between the two.
"I didn't mean-" Bubblegum began, but was cut off.
"Oh I understand, Bonibelle." Somehow, with her name said like that, it sounded much more like an insult than a title. "I'm distasteful, right?" She stood and left, walking fast and followed by a pale boy with light hair.
Since then, it's been a long line of insults, side-remarks, and snide-comments between the two. It carried from then to now, to high school. Her only consolation was that this was Marceline's last year at their High School. Bubblegum was a junior, so at least she would be able to spend her last year in peace.
In the middle of her thoughts, the lunch bell rang, and with a bit more aggression than she needed Bubblegum threw her items into her bag. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Marceline's look on her as she walked out the door. Smirking, Marceline winked at her and disappeared out of the door. Bubblegum had to force her hand to relax from the killer grip she had on her chemistry book.
"Can you believe her? I mean, if she knows me and Marceline have problems, why pair us up?" She slammed down a scoop of mashed-potatoes onto her plate, making Finn flinch in the process. He glanced over to Jake, silently pleading with his eye's for help, but Jake just shrugged went back to the extremely complicated choice between ham or turkey sandwich. They were both just so good.
Looked like Finn was going to have to brave this storm alone.
"So, talk to her about?" He suggested, hesitantly.
"I already tried, she just said "no discussion!" and left it at that. Oh, and she kind of got this weird look about her, like she was planning something."
Jake was listening in on this part, and gasped and looked up at Finn. "Dude, what if she's trying to get PB and Marceline to kill each other?"
"Naw, man, that's way to elaborate for any teacher to come up with."
"Finn, they're teachers it's their job to be elaborate"
"Oh, well I guess that's true." He took a minute to think about it, then fixed Bubblegum with his serious gaze when he wanted to protect or help people. "If Dr. Princess becomes suspicious at all, like she's trying to get you and Marcy killed, you tell me okay?"
She shook her head and was about to tell him that he was being ridiculous, but she froze as soon as she realized a what he'd called Marceline. "Marcy? Is that a nickname? Are you two... friends?"
He shuffled his feet defensively, and said, "Well yeah. But, Marceline's radical, man. She's fun!" They stepped out of line, having everything they wanted to eat, and made their way to their usual table where Lady and Felicity sat. "You should give her a chance, she's not as bad as you think."
Plopping down next to their friends, Bubblegum replied, "I am not going to give her a chance. Everyday she proves to me how I shouldn't give her chance, so I'm going to respect her wishes and continue to not. I will collaborate with her to split the work, to agree on what we need done, and nothing more."
Finn shook his head, but instead of replying he plopped next to his ginger girlfriend and pecked her on the cheek with a soft kiss. She blushed, and quickly kissed him back. His cheeks lit up red, like she had burned him, and they made goo-goo eye's at each other while Lady and jake did the same.
It was weird, Bubblegum thought, that her two best friends got with the people the had. It wasn't like she thought they were bad matches; they definitely were, but they were all so different.
Finn was a jock, and very popular with his peers. It was understandable, what with his shoulder length blonde-hair and blue eye's, his lean stature, and his position on the Hockey team. He had adopted the persona of 'hero', the guy in the school who would protect everyone from bullies and assholes alike.
A guy like that starts dating Felicity, a girl who's real name was unknown (When she transferred not too long ago, she demanded everyone call her "Flame Princess". Since it was mouth full, and kind of pretentious to demand, everyone called her felicity. Eventually, she accepted it) and who had gotten herself in more trouble than anyone else in the school. Maybe even the whole district.
She'd gotten herself into the criminal limelight from a young age- her dad was a mob boss- and it showed. No one would have ever guessed either; she was cute, short, wide hips, chubby cheeks, and a mop a curly, thick red hair. They all thought she was innocent until she showed her true colours. But Finn saw through all that, he saw the good in her and brought it out. They started dating and he kept her out of trouble- or at least, from being caught.
Jake short, decently chubby, and a grade A game nerd with a strong sense of humor. Also, he had a worrying love of the color orange, which meshed appropriately with his messy jet-black hair and thick glasses. Lady on the other hand was tall, willowy, Asian and barely spoke a word English. Luckily, Jake spoke Korean. And although she was shy and totally sweet, it was contradicted by her long, partially spiky, rainbow-dyed hair, and clothing that was a mix between goth and skittles-overdosed sour patch kid.
Now, it wouldn't be so strange that they were dating, if it wasn't for the centuries long dispute between their families that only ended with there parents. Apparently, Jake's dad saved Lady's dad from certain death, and then they ended the feud between the families. But, still, lady and jake grew up not knowing that or even about each other, and it was Bubblegum who introduced the two. It was almost immediately that they hit it off.
Smiling to herself about her friends unpredictable friendships, she missed everything Finn was saying to her. Shaking her head to get herself focused, she asked, " I'm sorry- what was that?"
"Marceline is coming over," he said, briefly pointing behind her. She turned and glared, seeing Marceline strutting over to her, her thick untamed jet-black mane bouncing with every step. She had that ever present smirk stretched across her lips, the one that always made Bubblegum's blood boil. Halting at the end of the table she stared down at Bubblegum, a mischievous light in her eye's.
"Hey, Bonibelle."
"What do you want Marceline." She didn't even bother trying to be polite; they both knew their relationship well enough to not insult it with pointless pleasantries.
"Oh, nothing really, just wanted to know when you wanted to actually work on our project."
"Actually winning? We got the assignment like, 20 minutes ago."
"Well I just thought, with you being a science nerd and everything, you might have gone and done the project without me." She picked up a red apple from her plate, tossed it in the air, and took a bite from it, never leaving eye contact. " It's not like you have much of a life, right?"
Her cheeks heated in angry, and bit out of embarrassment. She didn't have no life, but she did often blow her friends off in favor of studying, or just doing experiments for her own pleasure. She always felt guilty about it, and she didn't appreciate Marceline showcasing it.
"No, I didn't start," She bit out, and forced herself to calm down. "When do you want to start."
"Hmm." She looked like she was thinking about it, but Bubblegum was sure the only thing she was thinking about was what would best infuriate her. "How about tonight, I stop by your place and we can study?"
"Woah, wait, study?" She glanced around the table, making sure she wasn't the only one who heard her, and returned to Marceline, confused. "No, I don't-"
"Great! I'll be by around seven o'clock, yeah? Okay, bye!" She smiled and waved good-bye, 100% sarcastic. Bubblegum watched her retreating back, slowly shaking her head in disbelief.
"What- What just happened?"
"Well," Jake started, talking around a mouth full of mashed potatoes, " Looks like you just made a study date with the Vampire."
A/N: So, my first fic for Bubbline, a ship I've been dying to write for, and now finally have! So, you should know, this is a human-based AU, meaning they're all humans, though they will carry characteristics from there original... "Species"? yeah. It may not be obvious what they are now, but don't worry, it'll be explained eventually.
I hope you guys enjoy the story!
Edit: I jacked up and called LR Peebles. GAWD am I stupid U_U I changed it though~