He stops moving.
His voice is dry.
His eyes are wide.
Mostly because
standing right in front of him
is Fionna freaking Tart.
...
"Fionna? Is that really you? "Marshall Lee mutters, once he'd mustered up the courage to talk to her.
"The one and only." She replies. Her usual confident tone is gone, and has been replaced with a soft, gentle voice.
She gives a him a timid smile and opens her arms as a motion for him to hug her. He gratefully obliges and the two return to their conversation.
"It's been a long time, Kiddo." Fionna says, the joy evident in her voice.
He gives a small lighthearted laugh and hugs her just a little bit tighter than he was before
"Yeah." Marshall says, his smile fading away and being replaced with a more serious face, "It has been a long time.".
...
Soon the duo are walking side by side, making their way to their next classes, and recapping their lives.
"So, what happened after I made a disappearing act and left?" Marshall asks, part of him curious to know what the heck has been going on in this god awful town since he left, part of him curious about what Fionna's been doing.
"Well, to be honest, nothing really new. Y'know, the usual crap that comes with being a teenage female. New boyfriends. New friends. New enemies. New exes. Lots of drama. Oh, and Cake tied the knot with Mikael. Now she's officially Catharine Chrome." Fionna replies, half casually.
"How's Finn? " Marshall Lee asks, deciding to stray away from the topic of boyfriends.
"Finn's good I guess. Him and Jake are even closer than ever. He's 12 now, so he's in the seventh grade. He's a pretty cool little brother. Speaking of younger siblings, How's Marcy?"
"Marceline? She's kind of pissed. The divorce was really hard on her. She likes to call Dad 'The King of Evil' now. It's pretty harsh. Oh, and you said Finn is in the seventh grade now? I think she might be in his class."
"Cool."
"Yeah. Uh, this is my stop. Music class. Catch you later, Fionna." He waves an awkward looking goodbye, turns around, and walks into music.
"Yeah, bye." Fionna says silently. Then she turns around and walks away.
...
The day was extremely slow.
When the bell (finally!) rings Fionna utters a groan of relief and makes her way outside where a gray van was waiting. She could see her brother waving to her from inside and jumping up and down.
She laughs.
She opens the door and throws her bag to the back, where the trunk is. She scoots next to her little brother, Finn, who was wearing a light blue hoodie with a white bear on it and blue cargo shorts.
"Hey Finnegan. What's up little dude?" Fionna says, ruffling her brother's hair.
"I am NOT little! I am twelve for-your-information." He whines, and sticks his tongue out.
Fionna laughs good-naturedly.
"Okay, whatever you say, Finn. So how was your day?" she asks in a sing-song voice.
"It was mathematical! There's a new girl in my class, and her name's Flame. She's pretty cool but she has a temper." He exclaims excitedly.
"Aww, getting crushes already? Aren't you a little young for that?" Fionna says, teasing.
"I AM NOT LITTLE!" Finn says. "Besides," his cheeks began to turn a bit pink, "I don't have a crush on her."
"Your cheeks say otherwise."
"SHUT UP! Anyways, how was YOUR day, Fionna?", Finn asks accusingly "I bet you had so much fun in your long classes with your invisible friends and-"
"Marshall came back." Fionna states, quietly.
The car was very quiet for several minutes.
"M-Marshall? I thought he moved away." Finn says, breaking the silence.
"He did. But apparently he's back now." Fionna replies, and sighs.
"Well, uh, tell him I said 'Hi'."
"I will."
The drive home was quiet. When they finally drive into the driveway Fionna was very grateful to be home. As soon as they got home Fionna drops her stuff on the floor and runs to her treehouse.
She climbs up the ladder and sits on the creaky wood panels. On the way to open the curtains, she notices her scrapbook on the floor and curiously opens it.
At first it was pictures of a young looking and her brother from back when they weren't adopted yet. Then gradually there were pictures of her with Cake (her nickname for her beloved sister, who worked at a bakery as a day job), her with Jake, Finn with Jake, her and her adopted parents, Margret and Joshua (her eyes became moist when looking at those ones) , and them together as a group doing various things. As she flipped the next page, she noticed a picture that made her gasp.
It was a picture of her and Marshall Lee.
A picture of them as 11 year olds, to be exact. Marshall was wearing a Batman t-shirt and Fionna was wearing a pair of messy jeans and a loose fitting tank top. They both were smiling but they weren't looking at the camera. In fact, it seemed that they were watching the ladybug Fionna had clutched in her hands.
Fionna felt a stab of annoyance. Since when did her life revolve around stupid Marshall Lee Adams? Sure, she had known him for a long, long time,but they only had become friends in grade 4 and best friends in grade 6. But the pain he caused her when he left without a word, it was unbearable. So suddenly when he re-appears lickedy-splat at her school, he expects her to forgive him and to forget all the sadness and worrying he caused her and to resume their friendship? What kind of person does he think she is? A very forgiving person, obviously. And more importantly, why does he matter so much to her?
Why did she even care?
...
END OF CHAPTER 1.
...
AN: Hiya guys! Sorry about the lateness of this chapter. I was kinda busy with school and stuff. So please forgive my lateness! Oh, and in this story Marceline is about Finn's age. Dunno if I'm going to pair them together though, so don't worry. Anyways, 5 reviews! Wooot! I might aswell reply to them because I've seen other authors do it before.
Let the replying begin!'
4241dog: Yup. In my headcanon her last name is Tart. It's sorta a pun on the whole candy kingdom thing.
MysteryBlues09: Hehe I am glad you enjoy it (that is such a typical author's reply LOL but still)! Thanks for reviewing!
TheGirlWithTheGreenLightsaber: Thanks! Again, I am glad you enjoy it. I'll make sure to update more often now that it's summer! I really like your username, btw!
DreamsTakeWing: Yeah, I kinda have a problem with that. In all my stories my chapters are so short lol! I'll try to make my chapters longer and I made this chapter a little bit longer aswell.
RockStar: :D Thanks! Updades will be a lot more frequent so look forward to chapter 3!
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ALL REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED! FLAMES ACCEPTED! ;D