A/N: who remembers those cheesy, cliché bubbline fanfictions that were published around 2013? I do, because they were what inspired me to start writing for these two nerds (and start writing in general) and made me love them as much as I do. AO3 is good and all, but there's something about this site that my 2013-2015 self can't quite forget. it's an old nostalgic feeling, and I have so many memories of crying over fics once I had finished them. In short, what i'm wanting to hopefully recreate in this fanfiction is that feeling. that feeling of 'where did all that plot and those chapters go in such a short space of time?'. I really want to capture my odd nostalgic feeling I get when I look back at fanfictions like 'College Town Love', 'Never Be What You Want', 'At The U', 'The Perks Of Being Marceline', 'My Life May Or May Not Be Fcked Up By You' and 'Never Be What You Want' to name but a few great fanfics that I read back in the years. (I highly suggest you go read these. And maybe others from my favourite stories list. The completed multichapter fics are all top notch and have made me cry).
So, I present to you a 23 chapter fanfiction inspired by all those fanfictions and more. I really hope you guys enjoy this. And maybe there will be a years hiatus (because all the best fanfictions had them, back then) and maybe this will end up being re-written by me or someone else. But I just want to create something that 2013 me would have looked at and thought 'wow, I want to do this'.
I present to you, Educational.
(Content Warnings: lots of swearing.)
Marceline sighed. Highschool number four… or maybe five? She thought to herself, boots scuffing against the concrete beneath her as she hoisted her bag back up onto her shoulder. The building in front of her was large, yet hardly intimidating, and a few stray students were loitering about the entrance waiting for the day to start.
A few of them glanced up as Marceline walked past them, eyeing her leather jacket and combat boots respectively as if they were going to jump off her body and bite their heads off. She wished. I'm only going to be here for a year tops, maybe less if daddy does his job particularly right. She remembered when they had moved after only staying in a certain place for no less than six months because her fathers business had grew quite fast, resulting in her leaving half way through a year and having to be set back a whole year.
As Marceline stepped through the large double doors and into the school she noticed the receptionist sat behind her desk, glasses slid to the end of her nose as she stared blankly at the computer screen in front of her.
Marceline cleared her throat. "Yo, I'm the uh… new student?" No matter how many schools Marceline had been to, she had never really figured out how to introduce herself to these people. She's probably playing solitaire, anyways.
The woman glanced up at her, tucking short strands of brown hair behind her ear as she inspected the teen, before clicking away at the computer.
"Marceline Aberdeen?"
"Abadeer," Marceline corrected.
"Right, here's your student ID and your timetable." The woman thrusted the items out towards Marceline, who reluctantly took them with a huff and a roll of her eyes. "You've been assigned a compulsory buddy to show you around, his name's Finn Mertons. You'll be introduced to him during your first period."
Marceline was about to bite back a comment about her not needing a buddy to show her around, because honestly who the fuck wants to be known as the student with a forced friend, but remembered what her father had told her in the car about trying to be nice to the students here.
She turned on her heel and pushed through another set of double doors without another word, finding herself in a hallway with a few students gaggling around their lockers and talking to one another.
Marceline scrunched the timetable into the back pocket of her skinny jeans, taking a wary glance at her student ID before throwing it in a nearby bin. Fucking nerd school wants me to carry around ID? That's dumb as shit.
She found herself in a spot of trouble the moment the bell sounded not five minutes later; she had no clue where her first class was and she'd be damned if she had to actually ask anyone for directions. So, she did what any normal person would do and went in the opposite direction everyone else was going. Now that the hallways were crowded with her fellow students, she noticed that she towered over a lot of the younger looking ones, which had always been the case for her with any school she had gone to. Being older, taller and lankier than most kids her age made her stick out like a sore thumb, but she knew how to blend in with the crowds.
She found herself near one of the fire escapes on what seemed to be the Maths block of the building. Marceline dared to peek in to a class through one of the windows in the doors, managing to distract at least two kids before darting away.
That damn receptionist never told me where the fuck my first lesson was. Marceline thought to herself, peering down at her boots with a bored frown.
"You must be our new student," Marceline glanced up straight away, finding herself face to face with a man just a little taller than her. He had quite a square face, topped with that haircut that most middle aged men had, and a tan suit that had certainly seen better days. "I'm the principle," Oh, shit.
"Uh, I was just lookin' for my lesson." Which, okay, wasn't necessarily a lie as Marceline was definitely going to attend her lesson if by some magical coincidence she figured out where it was. The man before her didn't seem too fazed by the obvious lie.
"Follow me to my office, Abadeer." Expelled already? What sort of fuck shitery is this? "Have you met your buddy yet?" She shook her head no. "He's already in there." Oh.
Turns out the principles office was around the corner and a little down the hall from the maths rooms, and Marceline followed him in with a slow stride. She'd been in countless principle's offices, getting expelled or receiving weekend detentions because some bigot had decided to throw a punch at her. This came to her like breathing.
Already sat down in front of the large oak desk in the middle of the room was a boy, whom Marceline presumed was Finn Mertons, who looked as if this was his first time in the principles office and he was about to wet himself.
Marceline resisted the urge to snort as she collapsed into the other chair in front of the desk, throwing her bag down beside her. She took a moment to scan the room around her, spotting the name plate that said Principle A. Johnson on the desk, a statue of a deer on the windowsill behind it and a series of filing cabinets which lined the walls of the room.
"Nice digs, Johnson," She muttered under her breath, turning her head to look back at the man in front of her.
"Marceline, this is your buddy for a week, Finn." Marceline ignored the boy beside her and continued staring back at the principle. "If you have any questions regarding the school, our values, our students or our staff then I urge you to go to Finn first." Must be a damn lazy school if they're getting a student to do what a member of staff should be doing. "And since you're a year behind and you've started late, I've signed you up for a mandatory study period after school on a Thursday."
At that, Marceline groaned. "Are you being serious? There's no way I'm giving up my Thursday afternoons to study."
"Your father and I have already discussed this, Marceline. Hudson seems to think it's an excellent idea to help you further your education."
"Yeah, well, he would."
"Alright, now get to lessons both of you. I have some paperwork to get through for tomorrows assembly."
Assemblies are on Tuesdays, gotta make sure I miss them.
Marceline shouldered her bag and left the room with a sigh, downright glaring at the blonde boy who shuffled out after her.
"Alright, where's my first lesson, loser?"
The boy's face flushed red as he stammered out a reply. "U-Uhm, I'll need to see your, uh, timetable."
Marceline dove her hand in her back pocket once more and pulled out the now creased sheet of paper, handing it to Finn and watching as he unfolded it.
"You're in History seven, which is up those stairs and to the left."
Without waiting for the boy to say or do anything else, Marceline snatched her timetable back and followed his directions.
History was about as entertaining as History could ever be for Marceline, and since it was a repeat of what she had done at the previous school, she found herself finished with the lesson's tasks about forty five minutes in.
The lesson after that was supposed to be science but Marceline had decided to skip that lesson and walk around the school for the hour, quickly finding both her Music and her English classrooms.
The bell for break went and Marceline spotted Finn walking out of one of the science rooms, stuffing a book in his bag and running a hand through his hair. Marceline strode over to him and threw an arm over his shoulders, feeling him freeze against her side as he made a noise of protest.
"Relax, Mertons, I just need you for a sec." The boy threw a very worried glance over his shoulder before Marceline guided them both around a corner.
"Listen Marceline, I get that you don't want a buddy and that's completely fine. I won't bug you or harass you or anything and you can go and do whatever you want but-"
"Shut up loser," Marceline interrupted him, stopping mid stride to throw him out in front of her at arms length, fingers clutching the strap of his bag. "I wanna know about this damn study bullshit on Thursday, what're the downsides of me skipping that? What're the consequences around here?"
Suddenly very relieved that Marceline wasn't going to beat him up and demand for his lunch money, Finn relaxed and let out a breath. "It goes down on your attendance, I think. If you miss more than four lessons and CBT's combined then you get a detention. You miss two detentions then your parents are emailed and you get two hours after school doing whatever you're told to, miss that and you get a weekend detention, miss that and you're suspended and so on."
"Fuck, this place is harsh." Marceline muttered. "Wait, shit, I've already skipped a lesson- god damn-"
"Already?" Finn asked incredulously, jaw slacking just the tiniest amount. "If it helps or anything I know the tutor for the after school study."
"Ugh fuck I bet they fucking thrive on education."
"She's a little nerdy, sure, but she's also really sweet and she turned down the payment offer for the four hours a week she does it and-"
"Yeah, I get it, your girlfriends a fucking nerd." Marceline cut him off again.
Finn's face flushed a dark red at her comment, and he began stuttering his denial before Marceline scoffed and let go of his bag. "Uh, can I go now?"
"Yeah sure, fuck off. And… thanks for showing me where my first lesson was."
Finn gave her a toothy grin in response and dashed off back around the corner, leaving Marceline to think through her decisions. She could either go to these stupid study lessons to entertain her father and the principal, or risk spiralling into missed detentions and suspensions every month because she couldn't be fucked to go to lessons.
Maybe I could go for the first two sessions. I'm sure daddy will be able to have a few words with the principle about stopping them after a few weeks.
And with that, Marceline came to her final decision.