Chapter 3 - Marceline (Originally Published: 21 August 2015)

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Marceline said through gritted teeth. She kicked the side of her truck again, as if the relic would miraculously start working now out of fear of her boot. It sputtered violently before dying again. "Great."

If she had been up early enough, she might have been able to get Simon to give her a ride to school. Maybe she could have even walked, but for some reason when they moved back to the Whitewater area the only property they could find was out in the country. It would have taken her all day if she tried to walk.

She pulled out her phone, the texts Bonnibel had sent her still previewed on her lock screen.

Good morning.

Are you coming to school?

Marceline Abadeer! Where are you?

You're probably still asleep. I forgot how much you do that. Try to make it to school, please.

She unlocked her phone, dialed a number, and held it to her ear, all the while glaring at her truck for making her do this.

It picked up on the third ring. "Who the fuck calls at eight in the morning?!"

"Hey Ash. I need you to pick me up."

There was a long pause. "Marceline..? Where are you? Are you back in town?"

"Yeah. I slept through my alarm and my truck's dead. I need you to take me to school." She rubbed her temples.

"Whoa, Marce. You can't just breeze past that like you didn't just say it. When did you move back? Why didn't you call me?"

Because you're a dick. "I'm still trying to get settled. Can you please get me? I can't fail again."

Another pause.

"Okay. You still at the old house?"

"No. I'll text you the directions."

She opened the door to her truck and sat inside. There was no reason she shouldn't be comfortable while she waited for him to pick her up. Marceline stared down at the texts she'd received. Bonnibel hadn't changed a bit - around her at least. Around her friends she seemed more grown up. There was a small part of Marceline that wanted to text her back, but she knew she shouldn't.. no, she couldn't. She tossed her phone on the seat next to her and closed her eyes, trying to fight off sleep until it eventually took her.

She woke up to Ash prodding at her arm. "Tired?"

"Yeah." She stretched and grabbed her backpack off the rusty floorboard.

She hadn't seen Ash since her seventeenth birthday. She and Simon had stopped in a town four hours away from Whitewater and her friends wanted to surprise her by driving up to visit for the weekend. At the time, only Bongo had his license, so they brought Ash along to share the drive. She couldn't fault them on that though, at the time she was still dating him.

In a year the only change he made to his physical appearance was dying his hair platinum blonde and shaving it into a mohawk. He still wore faded t-shirts covered in holes and stains as well as jeans that were so tight Marceline wondered how he got his legs through them.

He opened the passenger side door for her and she got in. The silence was suffocating, but she preferred it to talking about what had happened between them. She anticipated it wouldn't be long until he tried to bring it up, and she was right.

"It's crazy you still remembered my number."

"You were the last person I talked to after I left."

Ash looked at her incredulously. "You mean you stopped talking to Bonnie before you stopped talking to me?"

She ignored him. If the little car would allow her to sit any further away, she would. She felt tears sting her eyes as she stared listlessly out the window.

"You're still mad at me, aren't you?" he asked.

She didn't say anything.

"Look Marce, if I had known I-"

"Drop it, Ash. It's over and done with."

He didn't say anything for the rest of the ride to her school. When the car stopped she threw the door open and hopped out. "Thanks," she grumbled before slamming the door.

It was nearing the end of second period, so she headed for her science class. Sneaking past Mr. Carson would be the easiest thing she had to do all day. He had a hard enough time paying attention to anything. She was also pretty sure that he would let it slip by if she was late, but she didn't want to put him on the spot by showing up at the end of class with no excuse. If she did, some people might think he played favourites because Marceline was good friends with his son.

The door to the science room was ajar, some saint of a person probably having left it open on their way to the restroom. She pushed it open quietly, thankful Mr. Carson's back was turned to her. Marceline slinked past him, waving sheepishly at Bonnibel who looked at her with wide doe eyes. Marceline's seat was in the back of the room, so she crouched down low as she sneaked in. When she reached the last row she carefully slid into her desk. As she expected, Mr. Carson was none the wiser.

The room was in alphabetical order and if she had transferred before the school year started she would be sitting next to Bonnibel, but instead she was sat next to some girl whose favourite colour was apparently purple. All her school supplies were in different shades of it. At least her clothes weren't all one colour.

Mr. Carson gave Bonnibel a stack of papers to hand out for homework and Marceline watched as she walked up and down the rows. When she got to Marceline she bent down. "What the hell was that?" she whispered.

"My truck died," Marceline said. She gave the most innocent smile she could muster, but the other girl just shook her head and put the homework down in front of her. She could have sworn she saw Bonnibel smile.

When the bell rang, Marceline threw all her things into her backpack. Bonnibel stood waiting for her at the front of the classroom.

"Do you need a ride home?" Bonnie asked, walking next to her.

"I can get Bongo to take me. You don't have to do that."

"I know I don't have to. I want to."

Marceline could see that she wasn't going to change Bonnibel's mind. "Alright, but at least let me give you gas money."

"Deal. I've got gym now, so I'll see you at lunch." She gave Marceline a hug and turned down the next hallway.

Marceline hated history class. It wasn't her worst subject, but the teacher wouldn't let anyone talk in that class. That wouldn't have bothered her, except that she had history with two of her best friends. So when the bell rang for them to go to lunch, she immediately started talking to Guy and Bongo.

"Dad didn't even see you sneak into his class?" Guy asked, laughing.

"I don't think he would have noticed if everyone just got up and left."

"Yeah. Probably not. I'm going to go find Keila." With that, Guy left the two of them to walk in an uncomfortable silence.

"Do you think Mr. Carson is getting worse?" Bongo asked once they reached the double doors to the auditorium.

"I hope not. Guy wouldn't be able to handle it." I know I couldn't. She rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling a slight chill.

"My parents already said they'd take him in if-"

Marceline interrupted him. "Bonnibel is expecting me to come see her at lunch. Make sure you come get me in five minutes." She didn't want to talk about what might happen.

Bongo shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Are you sure about this, Marce?"

"Of course I'm sure," Marceline said. She left Bongo standing by the auditorium alone. No doubt Guy and Keila would be along shortly.

Marceline walked through the crowded cafeteria, taking deep breaths to steady her nerves. It was easy to spot Bonnibel's table, the only people seated there were the Mertens brothers and Bea. She and Jake had never liked each other, and before she could consider that old wounds had healed, he gave her a look that made her feel unwelcome.

"Hey Marceline. Bonnie and Aeryn went to get food," Finn said. He obviously did not share his brother's view of her. She decided she liked him a lot more than she thought she would.

"Are you not hungry, Marcy?" Bea asked.

Marceline sat down next to her, smiling at how naive and jubilant she was. It made Marceline want to protect her from anything that would take that youthfulness away. She mussed up Bea's hair. "Not really. I don't usually get lunch at school. I think it's rubbish."

Bea poked at her food with a fork. "It's not the best, I'll give you that."

The lapse in conversation reminded her of where she was. She had zoned out, her attention focused on looking for Bongo. It has to have been five minutes already. If he hurries, I might not have to do this at all. She reached for her phone in her pocket to check the time and realized that she had never gotten it out of her truck.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up to see Bonnibel standing next to her with a clear plastic tray. She sat next to Marceline and set the tray on the table, turning to look at her with concern evident in her green eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired," she lied. Bongo should be here by now.

Maybe Bonnibel could tell she wasn't feeling talkative, because she took control of the conversation, talking about her day so far. Marceline listened, but nothing Bonnibel said really registered. It was like a sinking ship in her sea of thoughts. She finally caught a glimpse of the familiar jacket that everyone on the school's rugby team wore. This one was specifically familiar to her because of the big purple 'R' for Bongo Roland. She tried not to appear too excited.

Bongo found them and smiled apologetically at the table before focussing his attention on her.

"We're going to go to the usual spot for lunch. Are you coming?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course." She said bye to Bonnibel and her friends and followed Bongo. "What took you so long?" She asked when they were out of earshot.

"Sorry. Principle Earle saw us and kept asking why we weren't in the cafeteria. Keila talked us out of any trouble though."

Marceline grinned. "I knew it'd pay off for at least one of us to do good in school."

Bongo laughed. "It pretty much had to be Keila. Even if you did make good grades, he still wouldn't trust you. You're too.."

She punched his arm playfully. "I'm too what? Awesome?"

Bongo stopped walking and turned to face her. His mouth twitched into half-formed expressions as he tried to gather his thoughts. Marceline wasn't sure what she expected him to say next, but she felt the moment turning into something serious. Her stomach knotted up, and somehow she could sense what he was going to confront her about.

"You and Bonnie used to be inseparable," he finally said. "I remember how happy you were when we were kids."

"Bongo…"

He ignored her subtle plea. "I know you two didn't have a fight. You were too close for that. Does Keila know what's going on?"

"Bongo, please."

"You've been acting so weird since we visited you for your birthday last year. What are you running from, Marceline?"

She couldn't bear to look at him. Instead, she stared at her scuffed up shoes. They looked even older in comparison to his brand new ones. "Keila knows. She was there when it happened. I'm just not ready to talk about it, but I promise when I find the words I'll tell you everything."

"That's good enough for me. Let's get going. We probably shouldn't keep the lovebirds waiting any longer."

Marceline and Bongo met them in front of the auditorium. Thanks to the high school theatre productions Ash took part in, they all knew that there was a door in the dressing room that led directly into the student car park. Ash had also passed on another helpful piece of information - the theatre teacher, Mr. O'Neill, always went off campus for his lunch break. They had used this getaway to sneak out of school for lunch every day since Marceline moved back.

They walked down the sloped path to the stage and cautiously climbed the stairs. So far they had never been caught, but they couldn't be too careless. If Guy got in trouble at school, his dad would probably be suspended as well, and Marceline really needed an 'A' in science.

They tiptoed through the dressing room to the door leading outside. From experience they had learned that if you opened the door too quickly it could easily be thrown the rest of the way by the wind, making a loud clanging noise. They also learned that if you opened it too far, it let in an obvious amount of sunlight. Marceline opened it just enough for them to fit through. One by one they went out. Guy was the last one out, which meant it was Marceline who had to place something small in between the door jamb and the door to keep it from closing all the way.

"What are you doing here?" The voice froze her in her tracks. She heard Guy swear under his breath before he took off running.

Marceline let the door close as she turned around, fully aware that she was probably going to get in a lot of trouble.

It wasn't the theatre teacher she found herself facing, just some girl. She didn't know if this kid would be cool if she was honest, or if it was some brat that would tell on her. She couldn't think of anything with the incessant beating of her heart pounding in her ears, so she just stared back at the girl.

A voice from the other room made Marceline's heart race even faster. "Phoebe? What's going on? Did you open the back door?"

"O'Neill's coming. Quick." The girl grabbed Marceline's hand and all but shoved her into a wardrobe. The dust gathering on old costumes made Marceline's nose itch. She focused on willing a sneeze away while trying to hold her breath to be as quiet as a mouse.

"Yes sir," the girl said. "I just wanted to get some fresh air. It's a bit stuffy in here."

"What were you doing in the costume closet?" Mr. O'Neill asked. There was no suspicion in his voice. Just genuine curiosity. No adult had ever trusted Marceline that much.

"I still need a dress for my part in the play. I just thought I'd try to find some inspiration."

"Alright. Just make sure you close the door all the way when you're done."

"Yes sir."

The girl opened the door to the wardrobe and let Marceline out. They shared one last look at each other, then the girl opened the back door. "Go," she whispered.

So Marceline went.

Marceline sat on the edge of a large rock, swaying her bare feet back and forth in the cool river water. Her muddy shoes lay abandoned on the bank behind her. The air was rich and earthy out here. The sweet smell of petrichor lingered from what was left of the summer rain, reminding her of home - of all the summers she spent playing outside with her friends until their parents called them in. She reminisced on all the late nights where she would sneak out of the house to climb the fence separating her house from Bonnibel's and shine a torch through her window until Bonnibel let her in. She missed the times they spent staying up, talking until the sun rose.

Marceline watched the boys jumping from rock to rock, chasing each other with fallen tree branches. They swung their makeshift swords in an attempt to knock one another into the water.

Keila came and sat down next to her, handing her a can of coke while being careful not to spill her own. "Alright, babydoll, talk to me. What's on your mind?"

Marceline swallowed a mouthful of coke slowly, hoping to gather her thoughts. "I may have agreed to let Bonnibel take me home after school today."

"After all that talk about not wanting to get too close again?"

"Yeah," Marceline mumbled, ashamed.

Keila shrugged. "You'll be fine, Marce. You always are."

They finished their cokes, watching the boys go after each other. Bongo was about a foot taller than Guy, giving him the advantage of longer reach. They laughed when Guy moved to block a blow and his stick broke in half with a loud crack. The shock sent him spiraling backwards into the water.

Keila almost dropped her drink from laughing so hard. "Are you okay, boyfriend?"

Guy shook his head to get his now-matted hair out of his eyes and swam over to them. "Help," he said in a high pitched voice "I need a prince to save me."

Keila laughed again, crossing her arms over her chest. "What, me? Well, I'm not getting wet. The water's cold, innit?"

"Not even to save a princess?" He asked, his voice cracking.

"You look more like a frog to me, love."

Guy grabbed her behind her knees and pulled her into the water with him. She screamed at the sudden cold shock.

Marceline couldn't help but laugh. She'd gotten drenched and she was going to hate sitting through the rest of the school day soaking wet, but it was worth it.

Keila punched him hard in the chest. "You arsehole! You'd better be glad I've got a spare change of clothes on me."

Guy followed her out of the water. "Come on, babe. If I'm a frog you've got to kiss me to make me a princess again."

"You're not getting fuckall from me right now," she shouted over her shoulder as she stomped her way to the car.

Marceline watched them until they walked behind the car to change out of their wet clothes.

"Makes you kind of glad to be single, doesn't it?" Bongo asked. He helped her up.

"Yeah, but they'll make up and be over it in a few minutes. What time is it?" Marceline asked. She grabbed her shoes off the bank.

"We totally skipped fifth period, but if we head back now we can go to sixth without being tardy."

When they got back to the car, Keila and Guy were already going about as if nothing had happened. Bongo gave Marceline a dry shirt to change into. He was built for sports and Marceline was thin for her height, so when she put it on it looked like a soft cotton-polyester blend monster had eaten her without chewing properly.

They got back to the school just as the bell for sixth period rang, so it wasn't hard for them to sneak through the front doors and into the veil of students. They couldn't have come in the way they left, as Mr. O'Neill would have seen them, so they risked using the front doors. By some miracle, Principal Earle was nowhere in sight.

"I'll see you guys later," Marceline said.

"Are you coming to my house tomorrow night?" Guy asked. He had been planning a surprise party to welcome her home, but Keila spoiled that the day Marceline got back.

"My truck's kind of unreliable. If Bongo can get me, sure."

Bongo nodded. "Of course I can."

"Alright. Cheers," Marceline said as she darted off to class. She had sixth period with Finn and Bea, and although she didn't want to admit it, she was kind of excited to see them.

Marceline gathered the loose fabric of Bongo's shirt and twisted it into a ball behind her. She used a hair tie she'd gotten from Bea in maths class to secure the bundle. It wouldn't do for her lack of a fitting shirt to hold her back. She squatted with one leg out to stretch, then did the same with the other side. Coach Thierry had picked dodgeball for them to play today, and Marceline wanted to win.

The coach stood in front of the line of twenty students, musing over his clipboard. He flipped the top page over and clicked his pen a couple times. "Our captains today are Diane and Bartholomew. Ladies pick first."

Bongo and Diane walked out from the line and stood next to Coach Thierry.

Diane immediately picked her boyfriend from the crowd. He was a short, frail boy called Ollie who had cut Marceline off in traffic the other day. You're going down, kid.

Bongo picked Guy first. It was out of obligation. In truth, nobody wanted 'Guy the Unspry' on their team.

"Freddie," Diane called. Marceline was hoping she hadn't. He would be tough to beat.

When Marceline heard her name, she walked over to where her friends stood. The number of people left to choose from dwindled.

"Pick her," Marceline said, nudging Bongo and pointing in the direction of a girl standing by herself on one end of the line. "That's the girl that helped me out when you tossers ran off."

"What's her name?" Bongo asked.

She tried to remember what O'Neill had called her. "I don't know. I think it might be Phoebe."

Guy cut in, pushing between them to see who they were talking about. "Whoa. Phoebe Edan?"

"You know her?" Bongo asked, probably surprised that Guy even knew anyone else.

"Keila does. I hear she's a real bitch."

"I don't care. Pick her anyways," Marceline said.

Phoebe looked surprised that she'd been called on at all. She came and stood next to Marceline, but didn't say anything.

After everyone had been put on a team, they took their positions on either side of the centerline. Coach Thierry blew the whistle for them to start. Marceline burst forward and grabbed a ball. Before she could find her footing, a red blur whizzed past her head. She jumped up, avoiding a rubber projectile headed for where she had just been sitting and threw the ball in her hand, hitting Ollie so hard in the face his glasses flew off. She didn't have time to gloat however. She jumped to the side and caught a live ball, effectively outing a vengeful Diane.

She threw the ball at another person, missing by a foot. By then, Freddie had outed four people on her team. Bongo took down two of their better players before getting hit in the shoulder.

Dammit. Marceline grabbed a ball that came her way. It was the perfect time to strike out Freddie - he had his sights set on Phoebe. Before she could think, Marceline ran in the way and blocked the incoming sphere with her own. After it cleared her path, she ran up the court to get a good shot. Her ball took flight, but her target ducked and someone else was hit. Good enough.

Phoebe took out two of their opponents in quick succession, earning a hoot from Bongo on the sidelines. Marceline saw a ball bouncing lazily towards her. She dove for it, but something heavy charged into her. She collapsed under the force of the blow. Her head was swimming, but she was conscious enough to know that she had not been badly hurt. The game was still going on, she knew. She scrambled to her feet, trying to get away from imminent danger, but as soon as she found some stability - a ball hit her in the arm. She didn't have to look to see who had outed her.

Marceline looked down. Guy had only just regained his composure and was pushing himself to his feet. "Sorry, Marce. I didn't know you were going for that ball too." She glared at him as she left the court. Thanks to him, their team lost.

When the game ended, everyone else left for the showers. Marceline sat by herself on the bleachers. Gym was her last class of the day, so she could go home and shower there - where she wasn't surrounded by tons of other naked people.

She watched her classmates trickle out of the locker room one by one. Most of them walked around the gym in groups of two or three, talking and waiting like everyone else for the bell to ring. Marceline caught sight of Phoebe walking toward the bleachers. She walked up the steps and sat down next to her.

"How's your head?" Phoebe asked.

"It's fine. I'm pretty hardheaded."

The other girl smirked. "So you're stubborn?"

"What? No. I mean my skull is thick."

Phoebe raised an eyebrow, still smirking mischievously. "You mean to say you're an idiot?"

"I am not," Marceline said, louder than she'd meant to.

"Surely? Because it takes a real idiot to try to sneak into a classroom while the teacher's there."

Marceline cringed, remembering how helpless she'd been when she thought she'd gotten caught. "About that.. Thanks for helping me out back there."

"I saved you from O'Neill, you saved me from getting hit with a ball. Let's call it even and leave it at that," Phoebe said.

Marceline tapped her foot rhythmically. Since Phoebe had brought up the incident at lunch, there was something on her mind. "I thought O'Neill always left school for lunch?"

Phoebe shook her head. "Not on Fridays. We meet up to go over my lines for the Christmas play."

"I'll keep that in mind," Marceline mumbled.

Guy and Bongo sat down with them when they were finished showering. They took a liking to Phoebe. She wasn't very talkative, but when she did have something to say it was either smooth or hilarious. Marceline could see why Keila didn't like her. Their personalities clashed too much. It probably wouldn't help the matter that Guy seemed to think she was so great.

Coach Thierry let them out a few minutes early since it was a Friday.

"I suppose I'll see you guys later," Phoebe said, pulling her backpack over one shoulder.

"Maybe we'll do it again next week," Marceline said.

"And maybe you won't lose." Phoebe winked at her and walked away.

Marceline watched her go, dumbfounded. Did she just...

She heard Guy snicker and spun on her heel to face him. He audibly swallowed, his eyes going wide.

"Right. Then I'll see you tomorrow," Marceline said, leaving them to get to Bonnibel's class.

She waited at the end of the hall, lest the literature teacher see her and question why she wasn't in class today.

"Marcy!"

She turned around to see Bea trotting towards her, the huge backpack she wore threatening to topple her over with every step.

Marceline laughed. "Hey. I'm surprised you're not with Finn."

"He has detention. Ms. Pearl hates when people talk in her class."

"Good luck having her all year. She's awful."

Bea winced at that. "Have you ever had her?"

"Not until this semester. I was home schooled for the past six years. All my friends have had her though and none of them have anything nice to say about her."

"You know what you look like?" Bea asked, changing the subject.

"What's that?"

"In this thing you look like a flying squirrel." Bea grabbed the sides of her shirt and pulled, making it look like she had wings.

Marceline mussed up her hair. "You're adorable."

The bell rang, making both of them jump.

Marceline glanced around the corner to see her teacher standing outside the classroom. "Do me a favour and go get Bonnibel for me. I don't want Mrs. Jefferson to see me."

Bea nodded and disappeared into the crowd. She returned moments later toting a confused Bonnibel.

"What happened to your shirt?"

Marceline looked down. "Oh, I spilled something on it earlier. Bongo let me borrow one of his."

Bonnibel didn't look convinced, but she didn't pursue the matter either."Is it okay if we take Bea home first?"

"Of course."

The Rae residence, it turned out, was halfway to Marceline's house.

"I'd invite you inside, but I don't want to wake my grandpa," Bea said. She gave an awkward hug to both of the older girls from the backseat.

"I'll see you Monday," Bonnibel said.

They watched her walk to her front door and waited until she was in the house before starting the car and driving off.

They talked about nothing in particular, and it was nice. There was something reserved on both of their sides that kept it from being what it used to be, but it was a feeling Marceline cherished nonetheless. It was also, sadly, a feeling she would have to miss. Marceline guided them to her house, trying to ignore the pitiful way she felt.

"The Mertens boys live a couple of blocks away from here," Bonnibel observed as they reached Marceline's house.

"I've seen them a few times," she said. She got out of the car. "Thanks for the ride, by the way."

"Of course. What are you doing tomorrow?" Bonnibel asked.

"Guy is throwing me a party that I'm not supposed to know about."

She nodded. "Gotcha. Well, we should... hang out sometime. Whenever you're free."

"Yeah," Marceline said. She closed the car door and waved goodbye, watching as Bonnibel drove off. If she'd been a better person, she would have asked her to stay. Marceline sat down in the damp grass, staring bitterly at her hands. With her eyes beginning to burn, she wished she was better.