Tick. Tick. Tick
The block of text in front of Marceline had begun to blend together, merging into a mass of pen ink and bad handwriting on her part. The other students that had finished all wore a similar tired expression on their faces, dark circles under their eyes from cramming the night before.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Marceline was at least grateful her pen had been working for the entire exam; she'd seen Finn's fountain pen just… stop working halfway through him feverishly writing a paragraph, resulting in one singular loud groan and a scraping of chair legs in the silent hall as he stood up to get a new one from the front of the room. Yes, Marceline was thankful she'd borrowed one of her girlfriends prized writing instruments.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The clock on the wall told her that there was only a minute left of the exam, so she chanced a glance around the room to find that now nearly all of the students were setting their pens down and shuffling their papers into a neat pile, something that she'd done about ten minutes ago.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
"Put your pens down and put your papers to the front of your desks, please." The teacher finally announced, earning a chorus of sighs and muttered chatter from the students as a few of the assistants began to make their way down the rows to collect the exam papers.
Finn almost immediately bounded over to her like a puppy as soon as they were let out of their seats. "How d'you think it went?"
Marceline shrugged a shoulder, following the rest of her peers as they began to filter out of the exam hall and back into the corridors. "Went okay," She muttered truthfully, peering over the tops of the students heads to look out for her girlfriend. She was supposed to be waiting for her after the exam had finished. 'Post moral support' she had called it. "Question five was a little stupid."
"You're stupid," Finn teased, grin hiking up ever higher when a familiar tut sounded from beside him.
"Finn, calling my girlfriend stupid isn't going to get you any brownie points you know." Bonnibel chastised, a friendly smile on her face that gave away the fact that she didn't really mean it. She linked arms with Marceline as they began walking towards the cafeteria. "Honestly you're both pretty lucky that your exam ended halfway through lunch. Jake and I took the liberty in getting you your food, too."
"Aw, babe," Marceline cooed, half sarcastically because she realised then that Bonnibel must've gotten Finn's food and Jake hers. If the soggy looking tuna sandwich that was offered to her was anything to go by. "You shouldn't have," She drawled, flipping Jake off at his amused smile.
"Bonnibel's the best girlfriend," Was something that was never meant to come out Finn's mouth, Marceline decided as she turned to scowl at him. Of course he'd gotten her packed lunch handmade by Bonnibel, complete with a little 'I love you' note and everything because Marceline was a literal four year old. All because Jake thought it would be amusing, probably.
"You're sleeping on the couch," Marceline mumbled to Bonnibel around a mouthful of her wet sandwich. "And I'm stealing the blankets. For the tuna."
Bonnibel rolled her eyes. "But how will I ever make it up to you if I'm on the couch?"
"Dude you can't bribe her with sex for everything," Jake complained. "That's like… gross, firstly."
"And secondly?" Bonnibel asked, "What about thirdly?"
Jake groaned. "Sex doesn't solve arguments."
"Yes it does," Marceline said, giving him a flat stare. "Bonnibel is a dweeb and irritates me at school, she makes up for it by being a mega hottie in the bedroom."
Finn grimaced. "Gross."
"What happened to me being the best girlfriend ever?" Bonnibel huffed, plucking the handwritten note from his lunchbox and tucking it into Marceline's shirt pocket. "Plus, she's joking. Clearly. We barely argue, anyway."
Marceline hummed. "But if we argue more it would mean I'd get more sex, right?"
"You're sleeping on the couch tonight." Bonnibel muttered.
Marceline pouted. She still had the other half of her sandwich to eat.
"I'll strip it down."
Marceline sighed. Out of relief? In frustration? She didn't really know at this point. "Thanks, dad. I appreciate it, I know this probably isn't as straightforward as just-,"
"On one condition, Marceline." Her father cut her off, voice a little too stern for her liking. "You stop poking your nose in other people's business. The amount of paperwork I'm having to fill out right now just because this place was involved in a murder case is insane, Marceline. Stop it."
The line cut off, leaving Marceline to continue to stare out at the now nearly empty parking lot. Bonnibel and the rest of their friends had gone off to get their prom outfits, what with the event inching ever closer. And with Ellen's crazier demands of hidden identities and the venue being a community hall on the opposite side of the same woods as the mill, Marceline was beginning to dread prom night more and more.
Her phone pinged, probably a text from Bonnibel telling her that she'd be home soon, and Marceline huffed into the silence of her car. She missed when she was new to town and Ash was just some boogeyman, Brad was a stupid jock with an ego problem and Ellen was the bitch who she'd barely heard of. She missed when Braco didn't creep about town, making threats and allegedly pulling out guns on friends of friends.
Braco was the odd one out of her damn puzzle. Like… she was playing chess and he was playing tennis. Braco made no sense in this story. He had been a victim of the hostage situation, sure, but why and how did Ash make that mistake in the first place?
Why was he so brazen about threatening Ash during school hours?
And why did Ash just take it?
Marceline groaned. She probably had it all wrong, maybe Ellen was the mastermind behind it all and Ash really was just caught in the middle. Bad guy, yes, but murderer? Marceline doubted it. He cared too much about the tree. About Brad.
Brad. The attack on the school's prized basketball player and Ash's known bestfriend? It made Marceline too suspicious. Ash wouldn't have his friend attacked just to make himself seem like a good guy. Maybe Ellen wanted to leave a mark on the school? 'If I can't have him then no one can' type of deal?
But Ellen wasn't the one with weapons, or the one making threats, or the one linked to the hostage situation at the mill.
Braco though? He was linked to all three.
Bonnie (4:03): I'll be home around eight, the boys want to go watch a movie later (you're welcome to show up at lady's house at around seven !)
Marceline hated rich people and their long fancy driveways that lead up to their big fancy houses with their big fancy windows adorned with big fancy hedges. Marceline had seen a few of them in the fancier areas of redgate, where Marshall's business wasn't as demanding as he'd liked and the hedged were dry and dead from the heatwave that had passed one summer.
The Simmons' were guilty of owning such lavish driveways and shrubbery, Marceline observed as she stepped foot onto their lot. Maddie had been helpful enough to tell her the address of the Simmons' house, not bothering to pry because the poor girl had probably gotten weirder questions from their customers before. She could've asked Marshall (and almost did) but the thought of calling him and hearing his voice just made her sad. Plus, he had a child now. He should be looking after her instead of helping his ex girlfriend get involved with her girlfriends ex boyfriends probable boyfriend.
Yeah, Marceline had a fucking lot to explain to that kid when she grew up. Poor Beth.
The door was too big, in Marceline's opinion, a mahogany double doored affair with stained glass panelling and oh god what if Brad wasn't even in? What if he moved back in with Ash?
Knock, knock.
The silence that followed her knocking was anxiety inducing. Marceline spent what felt like eternity debating whether she'd rather the floor swallow her whole or for one of the marble statues in the front garden to come alive and crush her into a thousand pieces. After what was probably only a couple of minutes (read: years), Marceline saw a figure behind the stained glass and heard a latch come undone on the other side of the thick wood.
The door opened and Marceline supposed that she couldn't be the only person that looked like their mother and had barely any similarities to their father. Brad's mother shared the same watery blue eyes as her son, same light brown hair and sun kissed skin. No wonder she left the principle, honestly, Brad and his mother weren't exactly unattractive and Mr Johnson was definitely reaching.
Marceline gave the older woman a smile. "I, uh, came to see Brad? I'm a friend of his?"
The woman's eyes widened as a smile graced her face, a surprised hum escaping her lips as she stepped to the side to allow inside, closing the door behind her. "You must be Ellen? I've heard so much about you! You're the first school friend he's brought over."
Marceline faltered, one foot in the door as she frowned at the extravagant interior of the house. So Bradley didn't invite his school friends over to his house? Marceline could see why; Ash wasn't exactly the type of person his mother would expect him to bring home for her to meet, but why not Ellen specifically? Hadn't they dated? Or maybe they hadn't and it was all part of Ellen's master plan.
"Yeah," Marceline lied. "Ellen. Nice to meet you." She offered her hand to Brad's mother and gave her another friendly smile. "I just came to check up on him and, uh, to go over something we're doing in a lesson."
"That's fine with me sweetie," The woman replied cheerfully. "His room is just up those stairs, second door on your right." Marceline followed her pointed finger to (of course) a spiral staircase at the end of the large hall.
She thanked her and headed upwards, gnawing on her lips as she thought about what she was going to say to Brad. All she needed was information on Braco, and Ash was too much of a loose canon for Marceline to suddenly start trusting now. She knocked twice on the second door on her right and waited for a murmured response beyond the door before entering.
"Abadeer?"
Marceline scowled at nothing in particular. Why had she allowed for everyone to start using her last name so casually? Her father would be so upset with her. "Simmons." She returned the favour sourly, flicking her gaze to Brad in his bed. He was still bandaged and looked awful, but Marceline supposed they should all be thankful that whoever had done this hadn't killed him. Clearly, they could've.
"Your mums nice." She hummed. "Says you don't have people 'round much, which… is odd, considering you're known as a party boy."
Brad glared at her as she leaned against his desk in the corner of his room. "We partied at the mill."
"'We' as in you and your boyfriend or was Braco invited too?" Marceline asked, feigning interest in one of his many sports certificates on the wall next to her. She thumbed a medal for baseball before turning her head and arching a brow at him. "Well?"
"You can't be serious," Brad spluttered. "Boyfriend?"
"Yes, Bradley. Ash is gay, you're his puppy boy lover, your bi boy beans have been spilled." She pouted. "You're really focusing on the wrong thing here."
"Are you insane?"
"Me? No, your beau? Maybe, I haven't really figured that out yet."
Brad opened his mouth, promptly closed it when he realised that he was the vulnerable one, and Marceline pushed off from his desk to sit at the edge of his bed instead. "How's the, uh, body situation?"
"Cut to the chase, Marceline. Why are you here? And how did you know about me and Ash?" Marceline supposed that sentence put Jake in debt to Phoebe somehow, but simply patted Brad's blanket covered leg and sighed.
"I need to know about Braco," She muttered. "Everything. And the hostage situation. Please and thank you."
Now, Marceline was above using someone's sexuality against them, was above using outing Bradley as a threat, but if him thinking she was going to do that got what she wanted from him? She could maybe live with herself.
"That night was a fucking mess," Brad huffed. "I don't even know what went wrong. Ash said it was supposed to be a party, your ex thought it was a party, Braco was just a fucking addict that Ash knew."
"You weren't friends with him before this?"
"I'm still not," Brad snapped. "Why do you think I spent my fucking last basketball game on a bench? He hates me. Wants me fuckin' dead." He raised his bandaged arm to make his point. "I'm surprised he didn't do it himself. Said he always wanted to. Guess he was too fucking weak."
Marceline hummed. "And how'd the party go south? How'd Braco get involved so messily?"
"Too many drugs. Ash wasn't- He hadn't distributed that many to that few people. A girl overdosed- a bunch of people threatened to call the cops, Ash panicked and things got a little... chaotic? We ended up hurting a lot of people just because of your fucking ex and that fucking rat." Brad inhaled sharply, closed his eyes to calm himself. For a second, they were both back in the corridor again, surrounded by red.
"Hey, don't die on me buddy," Marceline joked softly, trying not to think about the tears in her eyes all of a sudden. Fuck, this town was a mess. And fuck, Marceline was in too deep.
"'M tired a lot, now." Brad hummed, eyes still closed. "I'm awake, though. Still breathing."
Marceline wiped a traitorous tear and took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay, so Ash ordered too many drugs from Marshall and-,"
"No," Brad shook his head. "It wasn't Ash's fault. It's… Braco wanted them. He begged Ash for a larger amount. Marshall was just an accessory, we never really even interacted with him until that party in redgate."
"Okay," Marceline nodded. "And where does Ellen fit into all of this?"
"Braco has her wrapped around his fucking finger, huh?" Brad chuckled softly. "She was nice for a while, I guess? Ash was always nicer, though. Never cheated on me. Bonnibel kind of helped too." He hummed, and for a while stayed silent. "Don't trust prom." Brad muttered. "It was Braco's idea to have the masks. Ellen just rigged the prom queen voting."
Marceline waited until she was sure Brad had fallen asleep to leave, even making sure to say a quick goodbye to his mother before she left. She checked her phone and saw that she could still make it in time for a movie night with her friends.
And they didn't even pry when she showed up a little later.