Bonnie loved summer. Late May slash early June was always her favourite part; studying outside for upcoming exams was lovely. She found that she enjoyed it even more over here, where it was significantly warmer than back home. It was like she was killing two birds with one stone – studying and getting a bit of a summer tan.
She was reviewing some German work with Keila when someone else dropped down next to her. She expected Marceline; Keila had mentioned that Marceline was going off campus to grab McDonald's and Bonnie had texted her to ask for a cheeseburger and whatever McFlurry she thought was best, so she figured she was back with the food. Instead, it was Marshall.
He smiled at her, and Bonnie remembered Lady's little warning. "Hey, Bonnie, Keila. What are you guys doing?"
"German," Keila scowled down at her notebook, "stupid case system and stupid word endings and word genders and words."
Bonnie laughed, "Dramatic, much?"
"I have a right to be dramatic when this language is confusing as hell," Keila retorted, "can't I just make up the endings as I go along? Nobody will notice."
"Our German teacher might," Bonnie reminded her, "there are little tricks to remembering the word's gender like the way the word ends, so as long as you memorise the table and have a good idea of which words are masculine, feminine or neuter, you'll generally be correct."
Keila looked back at the table Bonnie had drawn for her, but shut her notebook and said, "Nope, my brain is out of order. I need food before I can continue, so Marce better hurry her ass up."
Keila flopped back onto the grass and grabbed her phone, scrolling mindlessly through some kind of feed or timeline. Bonnie rolled her eyes but shut her own notebook too. There was no harm in taking a short break. It wasn't like exams were extremely close. She looked back at Marshall and flashed him a smile, and that was when he decided to jump in.
"So, Bonnie, I know it didn't exactly go well the first time, but you'd just moved and everything, so," he paused, sucked in a breath, and looked up at her with a question in his eyes, "I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go to prom. You know, with me."
Bonnie thought back to Marceline's advice again. You're young, and now is the time to explore and discover yourself. And as she met Marshall's gaze, her mouth formed the word, "Yes," and by the time she realised she'd said it out loud, it was too late. The guilt weighed heavy in her stomach when Marshall grinned, and she tried to excuse it. So what if she was maybe ninety percent sure she was just gay? Maybe she would realise she was bisexual if she gave a nice guy a chance.
"Awesome," Marshall said, "and you know, no pressure for anything else. Or even for that, you know, if you don't want anything serious. I'm glad you said yes. Otherwise Marceline would've roped me into helping out with the band."
Bonnie's heart beat a little quicker upon hearing Marceline's name. "Helping out with the band?"
Keila, who hadn't been shy about listening in, answered for Marshall. Usually, Bonnie had an aversion to gossips and people who listened to others' business, but the way Keila was so unapologetically nice and genuine made it okay. Keila wouldn't use what she heard against people or go around telling others. Someone like Elle or Melissa, though… that was where Bonnie had a problem with it.
"Yep, Citron is letting us play at prom," Keila grinned, "I annoyed him into it. My unrelenting pleading and the fact that paying us to play is cheaper than hiring a professional DJ finally swayed him. I had to promise we wouldn't use any unacceptable language, but I crossed my fingers. And Marceline would ignore that completely, anyway."
"So… you're not in the band, then?" Bonnie asked Marshall, because she didn't particularly want to think about Marceline right now. "I thought you were."
"Nah." Marshall shook his head, "I help them out when Keila needs a backing guitarist, but I'm not officially in it. Too much commitment, you know? Don't want to flunk out of school. Dad would kill me."
"Like he'd kill his favourite kid and end up stuck with me," Marceline dropped down onto the grass, and Keila practically pounced on her and went rifling through the brown McDonald's bag for her food. Once her best friend's assault was over, Marceline dug into the bag and held out Bonnie's burger and McFlurry, "Burger and ice cream for her majesty."
"Why thank you, servant," Bonnie laughed at Marceline's mocking bow, "as a token of my good will, you may take the rest of the day off."
"I think I will," Marceline flashed her a grin and leaned back on the grass, eating one of her fries. Bonnie wondered how someone could make eating fries look attractive.
"Can I have the rest of the day off too?" Keila asked through a mouthful of chicken nugget. She scowled at her German workbook. "Not even food is helping my brain switch back on. I think it's just broken."
Marceline smacked Marshall's hand as he went to grab some of her fries. "Hey, paws off. They're mine."
He sent her a mocking pout. "You're not going to give your only brother some fries?"
"Nope, get your own," Marceline's smile was sickeningly sweet, "now fuck off."
"Okay, sure," He said, but after a moment's pause, he made another swipe at them, so Marceline jumped up, grabbed her fries and her burger, and effectively hid behind Bonnie, who knew she was rather obviously blushing at the way the older girl wrapped an arm around her to stick her middle finger up at her brother. He just laughed, "Using Bonnie as a buffer?"
"You bet I am," Marceline said, still pressed far too close to her for Bonnie to function at normal capacity. "Try getting my fries now, bitch."
"Whatever," Marshall rolled his eyes but pushed himself up off the grass, "I'm going. Did what I came to do, anyways. Later, Bonnie, Keila, mega bitch."
Marceline scoffed. "Bye, dickface."
As her prom date walked away, all Bonnie could think about was the way Marceline's arm felt around her shoulders.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Bonnie jumped. It would've been amusing if Marceline wasn't a little mad at her. She turned and smiled like she hadn't been a major ass. "Hey. Just reading my book. Why?"
"I don't mean literally," Marceline collapsed into the seat across from her, "Marshall asked you out and you said yes?"
Bonnie still didn't seem to be getting the message. "It's just one friendly little date to prom. Nothing serious. And if nothing comes of it, that's fine. He said that himself. You're the one who told me to experiment."
"Yeah, but not with my brother, you big jerk," Marceline said, letting the frustration get the better of her. There was another feeling in there too, but that one was… unnecessary. She sank down in her chair with a sigh when she saw the hurt on Bonnie's face. "I'm sorry. I just don't want him to get hurt if he turns out to be… not your type, you know?"
Bonnie sighed, looking away from her guiltily. "He won't get hurt. It's just a school dance. Harmless."
Marceline wasn't so sure, but she nodded. "Alright then. Whatever happened to that… person you were so sure you liked?"
She hesitated on saying girl; they were in the school library after all. Anyone could've been listening in.
Bonnie looked like she was considering shutting the whole conversation down. In fact, her answer wasn't the most informative. "They're unavailable and unattainable, so…"
"So, my brother's your last resort," Marceline muttered rather bitterly. "Got it."
"Marcy," Bonnie said. Her blue eyes pierced right through to Marceline's soul and she felt something inside her ache, "it's not like that at all. I wouldn't have said yes if it was something serious. It's just one little date with someone who I know is a good guy, to see if anything could develop. I don't know for sure that it couldn't."
Pretty sure it couldn't, Marceline thought to herself, but outwardly, she murmured, "Fine."
She didn't like it. Not one bit. And maybe not just for the reason she was voicing. But that wasn't important.
Bonnie seemed rather desperate to change the subject. "Anyway, have you planned your set for prom yet?"
"Yup. Plenty of covers and some originals sprinkled in there for good measure." Marceline said. "Though you probably won't know the difference since you know maybe three songs total."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "I know plenty of songs, thank you. I'm just not music-obsessed like some people. Seriously, what do you think I did on the six-hour flight over here from home?"
"I don't know, composed a letter to Bill Nye the Science Guy about how you two should be best of pals?" Marceline retorted, and then in seriousness, added, "I actually just figured you listened to a load of audio books or something."
"I did, but I listened to some music too. Mostly Taylor Swift because I love every album, but I listened to other assorted songs I'd heard previously on the radio." Bonnie shrugged, and Marceline tried not to look too judgemental. Obviously, it didn't work. "I can tell you're judging me. Taylor Swift is good. I don't care what miss rock and roll thinks."
"I like most music genres, not just rock, so shut your mouth. I was judging because you haven't explored music outside of whatever's on the radio," Marceline said, "and I like Taylor. All Too Well is a musical masterpiece."
"That's a good one, but a little too sad for me," Bonnie replied, "my favourite is Paper Rings."
Marceline filed that information away in the little folder in her brain entitled random Bonnie knowledge. She intended on using it at some point. "Good choices. Anyway, I'll be going. Keila's been trying to convince me to work on this Ariana Grande cover with her, so…"
"Do you two have concrete plans?" Bonnie asked, and Marceline wasn't sure she liked that question. "Like, does she know you're going to go find her?"
She squinted suspiciously. "No. Why?"
"Good," Bonnie grinned, closing the book she was holding in her hand in favour of digging through her bag for her notebook. "Let's work on our project."
Marceline groaned, but despite her next response, she didn't make a move to leave. "Yeah, I don't think so. Playing music with Keila versus studying with you? You know the former wins. Not even a contest."
"Yet you're not running for the hills right now, so…" Bonnie caught her gaze and smirked. Marceline's breath caught in the back of her throat. "Get your notebook out."
Marceline grumbled – obviously she wasn't going to make it easy – but she did it. "Fine. Only because I know you'll get all uptight about it."
"Sure," Bonnie smiled knowingly, "it's definitely not because we're BFFs for life or anything."
Bonnie elbowed her playfully, and Marceline rolled her eyes. She found it was always hard to stop herself from smiling around Bonnie. "Pfft, definitely not. You're way too dorky for me. Ruining my rep just by sitting here."
"I guess I have to stop making your friendship bracelet, then," Bonnie sighed dramatically, "it was some of my best work, too."
"No, I'll still have it," Marceline said, and when Bonnie raised her eyebrows, she smirked, "I can sell it on eBay."
"You're so annoying," Bonnie rolled her eyebrows, and then tapped Marceline's closed notebook impatiently, "right, let's get to work. There's probably zero point in me asking, but have you done any research on your own?"
"Yeah, actually," Marceline tried not to be offended when Bonnie looked totally surprised, "come on, Bon, you know I was just messing around on the other project to annoy you. I started on the powerpoint for the presentation, and I'm guessing you want me to do the poster again too. At least I hope you do, because I started that, too. I'm going to need a copy of the essay draft to know everything I need to put on it, but I've started. Got a pretty decent first draft."
"Wow," Bonnie let out, "sorry, I just… didn't expect that."
"Yeah, yeah," Marceline rolled her eyes, "I wasn't gonna mess around this time. I know it's important to you. Also, you know, if I came home with anything less than a B on my report card, my dad would probably take me out into the woods and shoot me, so…"
It's only half a joke, but Bonnie finally snapped out of her surprise and laughed, "Well, that's one way to put it. Thank you, though. For getting started."
Marceline shrugged. "Don't need to thank me, brainiac."
"No, but I'm going to anyway," Bonnie pushed Marceline's notebook back towards her, "go rock out with Keila. I was asking you to work under the assumption that you probably hadn't done anything yet, so… go."
Marceline raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "For real?"
"Mhm," Bonnie gestured towards the library doors. "Go. Before I change my mind."
"Sweet," Marceline grinned and pushed herself up from her chair. Bonnie didn't have to tell her twice, that's for sure. "Later, nerd."
Bonnie smiled, pushing her glasses up her nose. "Bye, Marcy."
She paused on her way to the doorway. "Hey, Bonnie?"
Bonnie looked up. She'd picked up her book again and had clearly just begun reading. "Yeah?"
"Sorry for being so harsh earlier. I just…" Marceline sighed, thinking about her brother, her own feelings be damned. They never mattered any other time. "I just don't want Marshall to get hurt, you know. He might be annoying, but I care about him."
"I understand. I was always protective over my brother, too." Bonnie said, and Marceline blinked in surprise. Brother? She never knew Bonnie had a brother. But before she could question it, Bonnibel continued, "Marshall won't get hurt. I promise. See you later."
Bonnie looked back at her book, and Marceline took that as her dismissal. She took one last glance at the pink nerd and then turned on her heel, making her way out of the library. She still had a bad feeling in her gut when she thought about prom, but she tried to dismiss it as she made her way to the music classroom.
Marceline had enough to worry about without that.
