Chapter Seven: Character Study
9:00 am on her alarm clock. Waaaay too early to be up on a Saturday. Bonnie hewed on the button to shut the damn thing off. She turned to her side and tried to fall back asleep. Why would she want to get up so early? She was halfway back to sleep when her eyes popped open again, laced with panic and awareness. She had to meet with her new study buddy in the library today. That was why she had set her alarm on 9:00 h.
Bonnie groaned and turned on her back, facing the ceiling. She could think of a thousand other things to do with her day but she was forced to play nice with Kai and get things done. She already expected this day to be a bad one. He was probably grumpy as always, not willing to cooperate and taunting her with every little information he had about her. That's a way to spend the Saturday.
Bonnie got out of bed. She went to her bathroom and shut the door behind her. She didn't get much sleep last night and her reflection showed just that. Bags under her eyes, pale skin and tousled hair. She mentally patted herself on the shoulder for setting the alarm at 9 am, so she would have enough time to rearrange herself into a human being. She had no idea why, but she wanted to look good when facing Kai. Bonnie shook her head. She was starting to sound like Faye. The years and years of listening to her talking about fashion and boys must have had an impact on her after all.
Bonnie took a long hot shower to get some life in her tired limbs. After that she tried her very best to cover the sings of her nightly uncomfortableness, which worked surprisingly well. She had to admit herself; she was looking pretty decent right now. Back in her room she took her time to choose a good outfit. It was still cold outside but there was no snow. Bonnie instantly hoped that she would be spared any snow this winter.
A white top with pastel colored flowers, a fitting cardigan and some tight jeans was what Bonnie ended up wearing. It was ordinary but not too ordinary and the top had been one of her favorites to wear in summer. One last look into the mirror and Bonnie left the room to get some breakfast. She heard her Mom doing something in the kitchen and she smiled at the prospect of sharing a few nice minutes with her mother while snacking her breakfast.
Entering the kitchen Bonnie smelled bacon and eggs. Abby looked up when Bonnie entered and smiled at her daughter. "Good morning, honey. You're up early."
"Have to go the library today, remember?"
"I thought you'd go later. Breakfast?"
Bonnie nodded and smiled at her mother. These kinds of meetings had become rare. After they had moved to Portland her mother had practically been her only friend and confident. They had spent hours and hours watching films and talking. But now that Bonnie got older and had met people in school and her mom had started to work harder on her job, they only rarely saw each other. It might have been a record that they had seen each other on two following days.
Bonnie sat down as her mother placed a plate in front of her. With a sudden hunger Bonnie started to eat the delicious meal. She took a look at the clock and twitched. It was already 10:15 h. She was supposed to meet Kai at 11 and the drive to the library would be about 30 minutes with the bus.
"Oh, god. It's so late already?" she panicked. In a rush she put her foot down and went back up in her room to get her stuff. Laptop, booklet, history book, various highlighters and pens, her phone. All that stuff went into her back and she jumped the stairs back down.
"You have to go already? I could drive you." Her mother's voice reached her as Bonnie put on her shoes.
"No, thanks mom. I want to make a quick stop at the bakery, I'll be good." She went back into the kitchen and gave her mother a quick kiss on her cheek. "See, you."
"Take care, Bonnie!" Her mother's voice was serious but Bonnie didn't see the expression on her face because she was already halfway out the room. Her mother never said those things, but Bonnie knew exactly why she did this time. Bonnie grabbed her jacket and went outside. On her way to the bus station she got herself a biscuit and waited for the bus to arrive.
She was going to be at the library on last minute. Bonnie was miffed. She wanted to be there early to make a good impression. But know she was probably going to be late or be out of breath because she had to run, both not the best kind of ways to make an entrance. But who cares? Kai was probably not going to be there minutes early to witness her arrival anyways.
And that's how I actually went down. Bonnie arrived in front of the library and no Kai was in sight. She sat down on the bench and waited. And waited. And waited. A quick look on her watch told her she had been waiting for 20 minutes now. Bonnie hated tardiness. She was about to accept the fact that he might not arrive at all when she saw a silver Volkswagen enter the parking lot and a second later Kai stepped out of the vehicle.
Bonnie put on an unapproving face and waited for Kai to get to her. She half expected him to be hung-over and pissed but when he got closer she could hear him whistle. Bonnie had to hide her surprise because she wanted to give him a lecture.
"You are late!" She said and she was trying to lace her voice with anger.
He stopped right in front of her and tilted his head a little to the side. "Good morning to you too. Sorry, my sister thought it was funny to temper with my car yesterday, so I had to take Jo's."
Bonnie was surprised that he even bothered to give her an explanation. When he was late for school he had a fake apology ready or didn't say anything at all. Bonnie looked to the Volkswagen and remembered that she had seen Kai drive a black car and she knew he had told the truth. Bonnie sighed and her anger disappeared.
"It's alright. Let's just get this over with."
She got off the benched and went to the entrance, Kai following her. Inside it was very silent. Bonnie went to the lockers and put her stuff into them and went to the section with the books about the Second World War. Kai was already waiting for her there and taking a look inside a book. His face was uncomprehending.
"What is wrong with this library? The books are older than my grandfather and I am pretty sure that these information aren't even correct. Here they say that Hitler died from a heart attack in 1944." Kai showed Bonnie the book he had just been reading and Bonnie was again surprised at his willingness to contribute to their task. With a quick look on the book and to the books still on the shelve she realized Kai was right.
Most of the books in the huge, massive shelve were already worn out and the pages already turned yellow and stiff. The impact generations of students had taken on them. Bonnie shook her head.
"Alright, plan B. You take another look and see if you can find something that is not completely crap and I'll go over to the workplaces and search of information on the internet, deal?" Bonne suggested.
"You're the boss."
Bonnie nodded and made her way to the desk nearby. She sat down and started her laptop. As he was starting Bonnie took a look around the library. A lot of people were sitting on the work places, noses buried in books. A few of them Bonnie recognized from her school, others she knew were from other schools in the area and some of them were too old to be in any school. Between the lines of shelves a few of them were whispering with each other and the librarian was roaming the halls putting books back into the places they belonged. Bonnie's eyes slit further over the lines of books and they stopped at the section Kai was looking for books.
Bonnie's gaze got stuck on him and she took his appearance in. He was wearing jeans and boots and a Radiohead t-shirt combined with a grey hoodie. His hair was just a little tousled today, but Bonnie knew that he did this hairstyle on purpose. Bonnie shook her head to stop staring at him and refocused her attention on her laptop.
She had to admit, Kai looked nifty today. Any day actually. He didn't care about current fashion but he still looked trendy with his own version of it. Bonnie hated him for that. She hated when people had a natural talent to pick the right stuff.
Her internet research was hard. The Battle of Stalingrad had been pretty hard and it started to depress her. But she hadn't found a good page were all the events were described yet. Bonnie was annoyed and bored. So she caught herself every now and then that she peeked over to Kai and watched him from afar.
After a while she heard his footsteps and he put a book on the desk and let himself fall into the chair next to Bonnie. He sighted and looked at Bonnie but said nothing. Bonnie upheld it and raised her eyebrows to silently ask him about the quality of the book.
"It's old but it gives a pretty good overview to what happened." Kai leaned back into his chair and let his head dangle over the backrest. He sighed again.
"What's wrong with you?" Bonnie asked.
"I'm bored. This is the most boring theme for an assignment. I wonder what they thought when they decided it. 'Hey, our job is so boring let's have some fun again and let the students do an assignment about the battles of the Second World War. They will fall asleep while researching and for weeks we'll torture them with endless presentations about it. In the end we are going to give all of them an F because all the information they used were from Wikipedia or 100 year old books and that's all wrong. We are going to have so much fun with this!' Is that how those fools decide the curriculum?" Kai shook his head a few times. Bonnie could read disaccord and a slice of disdain for the people who were supposed to teach you the valuable things in life in his eyes. Bonnie saw them as authority figures and people to look up to and respect, not all of them but most. Kai rather saw them as charlatans and dunces. Bonnie wondered where this attitude originated in.
A snicker escaped Bonnie and she earned a frowned look form Kai for it. But that only made her laugh out louder.
"What is so funny?" He coldly asked.
Bonnie couldn't answer because she was busy pushing back her laughter because she had seen the evil look the librarian had given them. But the laughter kept trying to break out. She must have looked ridiculous because even Kai's expression cleared and he was fighting a grin himself.
After a while she finally could breathe again and had the hysterics under control. She looked at him and said "It's just so funny, the way you act. You have a concentration span of a 10 year old and even though you claim to have no interest in school at all you sure have quite an opinion. Also, the thought of the teachers having this conversation was just hilarious." She smiled at him and realized how easy it was to do so when he smiled back at her.
"Well, the whole school system is hilarious so I think I'm not too far off with my imagination."
"We may not have the same opinion on the school part but it is still funny."
"Tell me, Bonnie. How can you stand behind everything that happens in school, he? I mean, I imagine you have more brain cells than at least 87% of the other students, even though that is not hard, but still you are not questioning anything, even though I can see you clearly have things that disrupt you." Kai looked at her and the intensity of his question was reflected by the intensity of his eyes, which gave Bonnie the impression that this question, other than a few others he sometimes asked, really interested him.
Bonnie shook her head. "I don't know. I just don't feel the uselessness of school, like you do. Sure I sometimes ask myself why we have to do this and that but I have the feeling that I actually learn something for my life there. So I do as I'm asked, try my best to get good marks to pave my way to a good future. It is the start of everything."
"And how is the C you got in 8th grade in math any indicator for your capability to be a successful business person in the future? Grades are just a way to divide us into good and bad. The good ones are going to have a bright future ahead of them and the bad ones; well we don't need to worry about the bad ones, because they will never have a chance to be something in this world. Nothing that you learn in school matters; neither knowing how to analyze a painting nor the knowledge of the pq-formula is going to get you anywhere."
Bonnie was speechless. She had always assumed that Kai was so anti-school because he was in the ego-phase of his life and just didn't want to spend some boring long hours at school. But there was way more behind his behavior and she thought that she might understand it a little better now. Once again she acknowledged how smart Kai really was. He had learned from a very young age to question things that happen around him and make his own opinion on things. Bonnie wondered if he had ever cared to share his views with the teachers to make them understand his behavior. But he probably hadn't since he didn't care about what they thought.
"But you are doing the assignments and exams and you get an A every time. How can you say grades are useless when you clearly do care what mark you get?" Bonnie asked, her interest in his point of view sparked.
"Nah ah, I don't give a shit about my marks. I don't put any effort in things, I sometimes even try to write nonsense to get a bad mark but the teachers are so deluded that they still think it is good. I don't choose my grades, the teachers do."
"Then why take the exams and test and everything else at all, hm?"
"Because I'm not delusional, Bonnie!" He looked directly into her eyes. Their conversation had turned heated, there were no bad feelings involved but the subject had of them at their toes. "I do know how the world works and that there is no chance to survive in it if you don't follow the rules at least a bit. And since I don't have to put in any extra effort to achieve something, I do it. I express my discontent about the situation the only way I can, by not obeying any other rules they throw at me. I know that I can't change the system on my own, especially while I'm still just a little student."
His speech had made her thoughtful. She understood his way of thinking, but still she could never act like him. Maybe because she was too afraid to disobey and be against the system, maybe because she was raised another way, but she understood. She looked at him and the sincerity in his eyes and the fact that he had already found his place in the world at the age of 17, impressed Bonnie immensely. She thought that if there would be a revolution on the rise, Kai would become the person the people would be looking up to, that leads the way with his thoughts and actions.
Bonnie was about to answer Kai, when she realized the librarian was headed their direction. Their discussion had probably entertained half the visitors.
"Might I remind you two that you are in a public library where silence is required?" she said with a snippy voice.
"You might but that doesn't mean that we care." Kai answered her.
The woman's eyes widened at Kai's rebellious statement. "If the two of you want to discuss thing, might I suggest you do it elsewhere? If you don't keep it down here, there a plenty of other places you could meet and "hang out" "she kinked her index fingers at the last words.
"You want to throw us out? Go ahead. There are probably thousands of better places to get some information than this shit howl. When did you last update your stock? 1972?" Kai was in full rebel mode now. Bonnie's eyes widened at the way he spoke to the woman and she feared that they might actually get kicked out.
"I'm so sorry; he didn't mean it like that." Kai turned to watch her, his look saying 'Hell yeah, I meant it like that.' "Do you have any group working rooms where we could go so we won't disturb any other visitors?" Bonnie put on the nicest smile she could muster for a person she had so little sympathy for. She could see Kai look at her in disbelief, she only threw him a short frown to tell him not to screw this up any further. The librarian pushed up her cliché looking glasses and straightened her shoulders.
"There is one upstairs, you can use it. But remember that there might be other people in there too so don't be too loud." She turned away with one last dooming look at them and Bonnie send a quick "Thank you" her way. She took her stuff and stood up.
"What the hell did you just do?" Kai whispered to her and got up from his chair too.
"I made sure that we weren't kicked out of the library by playing nice with her. You should try that sometime, some people react better to kindness." She hissed in his direction and made her way to the group room upstairs.
"You really need to start to scrutinize more and actually criticize people, even when they might be older than you." He spit back.
Bonnie had to inhale sharply to let her anger out. She climbed the steps and went into the room on the right. It was empty, thank god. She placed her laptop on a table near the window and sat down. Kai let himself fall into a chair on the opposite of her. Bonnie was surprised at how calm he looked, she had thought he would have been furious.
But he wasn't and he kept on staying calm and chill the next hours, where they researched the Battle of Stalingrad in detail and made good progress. Kai had swapped places and was now sitting next to Bonnie again. They were in the middle of discussing whether the death of some Russian lieutenant was important enough to make the cut when Kai's phone buzzed.
He got the phone out of his pocket and looked on it. Then he shook his head and put it on the table. Bonnie was curious who had written to him but she was in no position to ask him.
He sighed. "I'm gonna leave you for a second, be right back." He got off the chair.
"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked and when she let the words out she noticed that it had sounded taunting. She quickly smiled at him so he wouldn't think she was pissed.
"Well, I actually have to go to the toilet. So if her highness allows, I will see to that." He made a little bow to hose her and she gave him a pissed look. He grinned as he walked out of the room.
Bonnie leaned back in her chair and was about to use the little break she got to close her tired eyes. But a phone buzzed. She reopened them and saw that Kai had left his phone on the table and now Bonnie saw the message that had popped up on his screen. It was from Jo.
Kai, where the hell are you?
Bonnie quickly looked away. This was not supposed to be seen by her eyes and if Kai found out she read his messages he would freak. Another buzz indicated another message. Bonnie didn't want to look but it was so tempting.
Did you take my car?
Buzz, another message. Oh,oh. Someone was in trouble.
GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE, ASAP!
Dad is back.
I covered for you but this won't be enough for long. He expects us all to be there for dinner.
Kai, please answer me. I might have a little panic attack here.
What if he finds out?
Finds out what? Bonnie couldn't follow the various massages Jo had sent. They seemed to have no cohesion. She seemed pissed but also concerned and pretty determined to reach her brother. There was another buzz of his phone but she couldn't see the message because Kai was just reentering the room. Her gaze quickly went back to her laptop screen and she prayed to god that he hadn't noticed her spying on his phone.
He arrived at the table and sat back down. No indication that he had seen her. When he saw the little bulb on his phone blink he picked it up to read Jo's messages. He grunted and his look became darker. Now he was pissed. Bonnie had no idea why.
"Everything alright?" she asked him.
"Yeah, I just have to call my sister real quick. The whiner needs some reassurance." He put his phone to his ear and waited for the other end to pick up. Bonnie's gaze was stuck on her screen; she didn't want him so think she was eavesdropping on the conversation.
Then Jo picked up the phone. Before she could say something Kai already barked at her.
"What the hell, Jo? Can you chill?"
Bonnie made out a voice at the other end respond. It was too silent for her to understand but she could make out that Jo was just as pissed as Kai.
"Well, I don't care. I'll be back when I'll be back." Kai said enraged.
Jo's response was softer now.
"I'm not going to rearrange my whole life just because he's in the mood of popping up again. I have things to do." Kai was still a little mad, but Bonnie could tell he wasn't mad at Jo. Her voice on the other end sounded more desperate now.
"Okay, relax. How would he find out? You don't wear a sign that states that and if you are not behaving like a total freak than you have nothing to worry about."
Bonnie didn't follow.
"You just have to sustain until tonight. I'll be home by then."
Bonnie heard Jo say something that sounded like 'promise' and Kai's answer confirmed it.
"I promise." His voice was soft now. When he started to talk again he sounded less so. "Just tell him the truth, I'm at the library. Oh yes, that is the fucking truth, I'm here with Bonnie." He looked over to her. "Hmmm hmmm, okay, see you then." And he hung up on Jo.
"Sorry, had to clarify that. Ready to resume?" He smiled at her but something about that smile was different. Something about that phone call had upset him and he still had to think about it.
"Are you sure you shouldn't go meet Jo? It sounded like the two of you have some stuff to discuss." Bonnie offered him.
"Nonsense, Jo's fine. I'll see her tonight and until then you have all my attention, Bonnie Bennet." He wore a stunning smirk and against Bonnie's will her heart skipped a beat.
"Alright then let's get back to it."
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"No way in hell this is true! It isn't even a real secret theory anymore. Everyone thinks that and that is why it will never ever become true! Plus he's not even blond." Kai said as they were leaving the library.
It was nearly 6 pm and the library was about to close. For the past 10 minutes Bonnie and Kai had been discussing theories about Game of Thrones and who Jon Snow's mother is. Bonnie had stated that she is a believer in the Rheagar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark theory and Kai had a completely different opinion.
"Well, maybe the Stark genes are more dominant. And it would make the story even more interesting because he would have some claim to the throne." Bonnie answered while closing her jacket and following Kai to the door.
"Like anyone would accept his claim. He's a bastard and they don't exactly have a way to prove that his father was a Targaryen. This is not the 21st century." Kai countered.
"Well, they could ask the red witch, she is always so omniscient. Or maybe they could use a magic paternity test; they have that there, right?"
Kai had to laugh at that and Bonnie couldn't help but smile at the sound of it. She couldn't understand it but the sound of his laughter made her feel so happy. It suited him so much, it was a shame he didn't laugh more often.
They were standing in front of the library now. Bonnie had to head to the right to get to the bus station. She looked at her watch and groaned. She would only be at home in about an hour because she had just missed the bus.
"Everything alright?" Kai asked. He sounded relaxed and somewhat content, he had the whole day. Bonnie had never seen him like this. But she had never seen him outside of school either so she didn't know if that might be the reason for his good mood.
"Yeah, I just missed my bus. But I'm just going to take the next one in 20 minutes."
"Well, I could give you a ride if you want." Kai offered.
"No, it would probably be a detour. I'll just wait and read a little bit more about Stalingrad." She waved the book she had lend form the library in his face.
"Come on, you've been complaining how hungry you are for the past 2 hours. No way I'm going to let you starve to death because you have to wait another 20 minutes." And Kai started to head to the direction of the parking lot.
"I didn't complain about that!" But Bonnie's stomach betrayed her then with a deep growling. Kai only laughed and waved his arm in the direction of the car. "Come on, Bonster!"
Bonnie sighed and followed him. She got into the silver car and inside she instantly noticed that this really wasn't his car. Inside she could see a lipstick on the ground and on the backseat window there was a sticker of a cat and it smelled heavily of rosy perfume. Jo had turned her car into a whole beauty salon.
Kai started the engine and drove out of the parking lot. "So, where to?"
"Just head straight for a while. I'll tell you when to turn."
Kai followed her navigations and during the ride home the two were randomly chatting about the things Bonnie would eat when she got home. Bonnie realized how easy it was to talk to Kai. Just a normal talk. She never would have thought that she would have anything to talk to Kai Parker about and she was starting to feel somewhat comfortable in his presence. He listened to her and showed real interest by asking questions and Bonnie couldn't help but compare this to Jeremy's recent behavior. But she pushed the thought aside as quickly as it came to her mind. She quickly texted her mother that she would be home in a few minutes.
After 20 minutes Kai had reached Bonnie's street and she was now ushering him to her house.
"This one right here!" she said and when he stopped the car in front of her house she unbuckled herself and turned to Kai, meeting his gaze. "Thank you… for today."
Kai didn't say anything and only looked at her confused.
"You were a real good help today and I wanted to thank you."
"I told you that I'm sticking up to my promises." He replied.
"Yes, but you did me a huge favor with it. I know you don't really see the point of trying to get good marks but you are still helping me because I kind of do. That's not self-evident."
Kai looked at her with warm eyes and even offered her a small smile. "You're welcome!"
Bonnie smiled back at him and opened the door to get out. "I'll text you about the next meeting, since I can't be sure that you are going to show to school." Bonnie supported herself on the open car door and looked back inside the car.
"That's probably a wise idea." He agreed.
"Thanks for the ride, Kai." She was about to close the door when another thought hit her. "You know what? You are way less pain in the ass than I thought you would be."
"And you are way less stupid than I thought you would be!" He grinned at her and Bonnie had to laugh. Of course he couldn't stay serious for one minute. Bonnie smiled and shook her head. "Bye, Kai!" and then she closed the door and went to her house. She heard the car leave and turned around again to take a look. Then she resumed her walk. She felt oddly balanced.
Author's note: Hoped you enjoyed the Bonkai time you got in this one. I really hope you like the story and I want to thank anyone who stuck around until this point. I am currently a little stuck on a chapter that I have started writing a few days ago. I am confident that I will have an idea how to get out of it. The plan for this story are already so tight that I fear I am being too pushy too fast. But the next chapter is already done so there will be an update in the next time. And a little preview for chapter eight: We are going to meet Kai's family and get some insight in his relationship with Jo. So be prepared. Until next time, LiLaAir.
