hi everyone! yes this is another stefonnie story. i'm unhinged. i love them. but i'm not ashamed, i'm willing to embrace that part of myself. anyways, enjoy this new story, i really liked writing it!
CHAPTER 1 - INVISIBLE
A light tickle on her cheek from an unknown source was the first thing Bonnie felt when she woke up from her slumber. Next, she heard a soft meow. When she was trying to sleep, her cat, Fat Louie, was quite the attention seeker. But the second she woke up, the black and white tabby would want nothing to do with her.
"Louie," she groaned, trying to swat away the cat with a weak hand, eyes still glued shut.
When her cat continued to purr, scratch and pounce all over her, she let out a dramatic breath, and finally opened her eyes.
Her cat was lounging on her chest, his big green eyes staring intently into hers, which held a similar hue.
"I'm up," Bonnie said with a glare, "are you happy now?"
Louie tilted his furry little head and decided that now that Bonnie was awake, she simply wasn't as interesting. He leaped off of her and scurried away.
"Little beast." Bonnie muttered under her breath. She rubbed her eyes and grabbed her glasses, trying to get out of bed.
But before her feet could hit the floor, her eyes caught sight of a framed picture on her dresser.
Every time she looked at that picture, a massacre of thoughts and feelings bubbled up within her, all fighting to dominate her day. You may ask, ' Bonnie, if this photo is causing you deep emotional struggle every time you look at it, why do you keep it on your dresser open for viewing multiple times a day?'
Well, because if she took down the only picture of her dad that she'd ever had, it would be like letting go of her whole father. Besides a pile of birthday cards, she had nothing else from him. And there was nothing she could do to fix that because he was... dead.
Brooding at 6 AM. Classy.
Bonnie groaned once again, less dramatic, more melancholic. She slid off of her bed and stumbled over to the bathroom to get herself ready for another dull day at Robert E. Lee High School.
Once dressed in her uniform, she slid down the fireman's pole that led to the downstairs section of the house. Well, it wasn't really a house.
Bonnie and her mother took residence in an old firehouse in the southern part of San Francisco. It was big and surprisingly cheap, and it served as an art studio for Bonnie's mother. Art had always been important to Abby Bennett.
Speaking of which, the first thing Bonnie saw when she came downstairs was her beautiful mom painting.
"Morning, Bunny," Abby greeted, wiping her hands on her overalls and sauntering over to her daughter to kiss her cheek.
"Morning, mom." Bonnie replied before grabbing a granola bar to munch on.
"Are you excited for today?" Abby asked. She grinned giddily and clapped her hands like a happy little seal.
Bonnie's brows furrowed. "Why would I be excited?"
"Bonnie! Come on, you know this- today's the day of your big presentation!"
The teenager's eyes grew large and her expression twisted into one of distress. Without context you'd think somebody just told her everyone in her family had been murdered. "Crap, crap crap! I forgot about that!"
Abby moved her hand to Bonnie's back and rubbed it in slow circles. "Bon, you've been working on this for weeks. You're totally prepared! It'll be a piece of cake, I'm sure."
"Mom, I appreciate the sentiment but you and I both know that me and big groups of people don't go well together. Especially if they're all looking at me!"
"Babe, it'll be fine. Just remember, when you make your speech, don't look at the others. Pick a spot on the back wall, don't take your eyes off it, and speak loudly."
Bonnie nodded, eyes still wide as saucers. "Thanks, mom. I'll... try."
Scampering into the kitchen came Louie. He purred quietly as he rubbed against Bonnie's legs.
"Oh, so now you want to be my friend?" Bonnie asked, picking up the cat with a grunt.
"Okay, come on, Bon. You're gonna be late for school." Abby said before padding back to her canvas to begin painting again.
"Yeah, but like, what if I didn't go to school," Bonnie replied with a hopeful look.
"You're cute. Out the door."
"Worth a shot."
...
Not many sixteen year olds chose a razor scooter as their transportation preference, but Bonnie wasn't like many sixteen year olds anyway.
"Bye, Mr. A." Bonnie said, waving goodbye to her... quirky neighbor after accidentally knocking over his trash can. His response was a series of mumbles and a big huff.
The scoot to school was nice that day, the spring weather caused everything to seem lighter, happier, more colorful. Up and down the many hills of the Golden City, Bonnie's grin never left her face.
When she finally arrived at the school, her two best friends, Caroline and Elena were waiting for her.
Care and Elena were much different than she was. In many aspects. Sometimes Bonnie questioned why she was friends with them. Not because they were mean or terrible, but because they were both, extremely, immensely, mind bogglingly popular. There wasn't one person at Robert E. Lee High that didn't know one of them.
And Bonnie was... for a lack of better words... invisible. She was unknown. In the shadows.
If she hadn't been friends with Elena and Care since they were in preschool, way before the social pyramid existed, she was sure they wouldn't know her name either.
Bonnie was fine with that. She didn't have any problems being in the shadows, there was no pressure, no expectations.
Since Caroline and Elena were leaders of the school, they had a little competition thing going on. Bonnie was often caught in between them.
"Bon! Get on over here!" Caroline's voice boomed.
Bonnie quickly parked her scooter, locked it and sped on over to her friends. Elena wrapped her arm around her. "How are you doing this morning, Bunny?"
"I'm good, actually. I'm feeling very relaxed. Much different than any other debate day." Bonnie answered with a smile.
"Maybe it's a sign that today will go well," Caroline suggested, linking her arm with Bonnie's.
The three girls walked up the steps to the entrance to the school, passing by Principal Gupta. She gave them a big kool-aid grin. "Good morning, Caroline. Good morning, Elena. Good morning..." she stared at Bonnie with a tilted head, clearly trying to remember her name, "um, sweetheart."
She flashed them another smile before padding off to reprimand Jeremy, Elena's dorky little brother who just made the executive decision to dye his hair bright red, for sitting on the wall at the entrance of the school.
"Sorry, Bon." Elena said with a lopsided frown.
"It's okay. Bonnie is a hard name to remember," Bonnie reasoned before trudging on, arms still linked with her two best friends.
...
After the first period, Bonnie nudged through the rush of students out in the courtyard. She spotted Elena by her locker and began to make her way towards her, when some guy bumped into her and almost knocked her over.
"Oops, didn't see you there," he apologized half-heartedly.
Yeah, that seems to be the pattern, lately, Bonnie thought to herself before pushing her glasses up her nose and continuing her endeavor towards Elena.
"Hey, Bon," Elena smiled, "next period's debate. How're you feeling?"
"No bueno," Bonnie frowned, "I want to go home."
"I know, but you'll do great. You've been working on this for weeks, you're totally prepared." She reassured.
"Yeah, I guess."
Caroline came over to them with her arms crossed and a pout on her face. "Jerk and Jerkette sighting." She pointed over to Tyler Lockwoood and Katherine Pierce who were making out by the fountain (well, making out is a strong term, it usually requires rhythm. What Tyler and Katherine were doing was more of a face smash with tongue).
Caroline and Elena weren't the only queen bees at the school. They were currently competing with Katherine Pierce, a certified mean girl. Katherine was like a combination of Regina George and the kid who destroyed toys from Toy Story. Everyone in the school was one of the toys that she'd rip apart.
Katherine and Elena held a weird resemblance that no one could explain... but both girls claimed they couldn't see it. Maybe they were long lost twins. Or doppelgangers.
The other participant of the tongue hockey that was taking place was Tyler Lockwood. Tyler was... interesting. He was a typical popular boy; on the football team, major attention whore, etc. etc.
He used to be cool, back in middle school he and Bonnie sat at the same table in math class. He was funny and nice, but then he became a jerk. And Bonnie did not like jerks. No matter how dreamy and handsome and tall and-
She was snapped out of her thoughts by somebody bumping into her and almost knocking her over... again. That was beginning to get annoying.
"Did somebody almost knock you over again? I can beat someone up if I have to, you know I-" Caroline began to ramble.
"Care, it's fine. They probably just didn't see me."
"Oh, please. You're short, but not that short." The blonde said with an eye roll, "When are people in this school finally going to start seeing you?"
...
Before Bonnie could go into the class she'd been dreading all day, she was pulled aside by none other than Stefan Salvatore.
Stefan was one of Bonnie's closest friends. He had transferred to the school in the beginning of the year after attending boarding school in Italy and instantly became the whole school's favorite person. Why, you ask? Because everybody at REL High School was shallow as a puddle. Stefan was rich and hot, which immediately placed him at the top of the food chain.
She hadn't expected him to even look at her, but miraculously, he took interest in her right away. Platonically, of course.
Getting to know Stefan, she realized he wasn't at all like their peers made him out to be. He didn't have six cars and a girlfriend to go with each one (sometimes the rumors that passed around the school were a bit unrealistic). He was really sweet and down to earth and funny. He was really into vintage instruments, he could talk about them for hours (and he has). He was in a band and they practiced and played at the grille, where Bonnie worked after school.
"Stef, I have to get to class," Bonnie said, hands jittering.
"I know, but I have something for you." He replied with a smile, it was the reassuring smile he always had when Bonnie was feeling anxious and he was trying to calm her down. He reached into his pocket for something and pulled out a little rock. It was perfectly rounded and smooth, and it would fit right in her palm.
He placed it in her hand and grinned at her. "I found it at the beach the other day. It's really smooth and perfect, I thought maybe it'd help with your nerves today or something." He shrugged.
She'd like to add something to the list of positive things about him. His thoughtfulness.
"Stefan, that's really sweet. Thank you." Bonnie said, smiling softly as she looked down at the stone, nerves forgotten.
"Don't mention it," he replied, "you should get to class. Good luck, Bons."
...
"We can't let this school try to brainwash us, mind control us, take away our basic human rights to free expression by forcing us into these uniforms! REL High already controls what we learn, but I, as a leader in this school, will not stand by them controlling what we wear!" Tyler finished his argument with a whoop.
He got applause from the majority of the classroom, giving them a little dance before hopping off the platform and bowing.
"Very interesting point, Mr. Lockwood," Mr. Saltzman commended, "make sure to get back in that uniform by the end of this period. And now for our rebuttal from Bonnie Bennett."
The applause she received was dull, most (all) of the noise coming from Caroline who was seated beside her.
"I can't do this," Bonnie gulped.
"You can. Show 'em what you're made of." The blonde said with a supportive smile.
"What's my point again?"
"You like the uniforms. They're equalizers."
"Right."
Bonnie got up from her seat with quivery legs and a death grip on her new best friend, Stefan's rock. She stumbled onto the platform and inhaled shakily. "I- um, my point is- is I like uniforms," she looked around at the faces in the class. Tyler's head was tilted condescendingly while Katherine sat to his right, clearly giggling. Caroline's supportive gaze is where she chose to focus herself. "Uniforms... they, um, they equalize and they, uh..."
Tears began to well in her eyes and her throat closed up. The rock in her hand was sure to either be soaked in sweat or broken into pieces because of how hard she was clutching it.
"I- I think that, um," sniff, she tried to start reading the cards she had prepared, but she couldn't really see through the tears burning in her eyes, "I think t-that especially in a school, um, in a school environment.."
She couldn't focus on Care anymore, she felt dizzy. All she could see were the students struggling to conceal their laughter and Tyler's belittling gaze and Katherine's smug smirk and...
"Excuse me, I'm sorry," she said before sprinting out of the classroom with a sob.
Behind her she could hear the cheers and laughs from her peers. At least they were entertained.
...
After school, Bonnie rode her scooter over to the Mystic Grill, where she worked as a waitress. The Grill was the prime hangout spot for the students of Robert E. Lee, since it was only a few blocks down from the school. Bonnie was not looking forward to the rush of students to arrive, especially after embarrassing herself in debate.
She couldn't believe she ran off crying! Who was she, Cinderella? And everyone laughed and she felt horrible. But it was over now, and the day couldn't get any worse than it was already. Now she just had to go with the tide until she could flop face first on her bed at the end of the day.
"Bennett, get your head out of the clouds," said Matt Donovan, the bus boy of the joint.
Bonnie looked down and realized she hadn't been paying attention and accidentally overflowed a glass with Sprite. "Oops." She said before grabbing a towel and wiping the spilled soda off of the counter.
Matt was Tyler's best friend, but he wasn't much like Tyler at all. He was actually a really good friend.
"Sorry," Bonnie apologized with a sigh, "my brain is just really preoccupied."
"Yeah I figured," Matt replied, "I heard about what happened in debate. Sorry about that. I can tell Tyler to lay off, I know he probably wasn't the most supportive audience."
"It's okay, there's no need. It wasn't him, I'm just... not good with crowds."
"Understandable." Matt nodded.
"Who's this for again?" She asked, holding up the Sprite.
"Table 3."
Bonnie moseyed on over to table 3 to hand the customer their refill, and while she was asking them if there was anything else they needed, Tyler, Katherine and Katherine's two friends ( cough, cough, minions, cough ), April Young and Anna Zhu sauntered into the Grill, making as much noise as possible.
"Oh, dear God, give me a break," Bonnie groaned and slumped back to the bar.
"Do you want me to handle them, Bon?" Matt asked sympathetically.
"No, I got it. Just gimme a sec."
She practiced deep breaths before plastering on the biggest smile that she could on her face and plodding over to their table.
Tyler's eyes lit up with recognition the second he saw her. "Hey, you cried in debate today! Bella, right?"
"It's Bonnie, babe," Katherine corrected, eyes studying Bonnie sharply. The poor girl felt like she was under examination.
"Right, Bonnie. Well either way, you were a great opponent." Tyler said, holding out his hand for her to shake.
Ah, yes, besides not finishing my sentences and running off midway, I'm sure I offered a great perspective. Bonnie thought bitterly.
She shook his hand.
"Um, do you guys want to start off with drinks?" She asked when she finally regained the ability to speak.
"Sure, can I get a lemonade?" Asked Anna, starting it off.
After taking their orders, Bonnie went back behind the bar to get their drinks.
"That went okay," Matt remarked, "at least you're not crying."
"Is that where we must set the bar?" Bonnie asked with a resigned sigh.
More and more students poured into the grill before it was almost completely packed. The next to come in was Stefan, who she was relieved to see.
"Hey, Bons." He said before hugging her. "Sorry about debate. Did the rock help?"
Bonnie chuckled. "The rock helped very much. Thanks again, Stef."
Instead of responding he just hugged her again.
After Stefan left to go set up with his band (they'd be playing all afternoon), Elena and Caroline finally arrived.
The two girls rushed over to Bonnie. Elena was the first to speak. "Bon, I'm so sorry about debate class." She wrapped Bonnie in a hug.
"How has everybody already heard about that?" Bonnie whined.
"Word travels quickly around here, babes." Caroline replied.
Bonnie was familiar with the way the school's gossip system worked. Something would happen, it'd get told to someone, that someone would exaggerate it to someone else, the someone else would exaggerate it even more and so on and so forth. By the next day, everyone in school would probably be hearing about the girl in the second period debate class who was screaming and crying and throwing chairs.
But after a day or two, something else would happen and it'd be all forgotten about. Back to being invisible. Bonnie had gone through that process before when a bird pooped on her in the courtyard. Somehow, that'd been exaggerated into 'sophomore girl gets attacked by an angry swarm of birds and loses her left eyeball'. It was like a giant game of telephone.
"Hey, Bon, do you know if Matt's single?" Elena asked with a low voice, eyeing the blue-eyed bartender.
"I think he is. Why? Are you trying to get some of that?" Bonnie nudged her friend with her elbow playfully.
Elena chuckled. "I don't know. He's kinda cute."
"Yeah, in a 'peaked in highschool' kind of way." Caroline scoffed.
Elena gasped. "Excuse me? Have you not looked into his eyes?"
While her two friends continued to argue over Matt's attractiveness, another person Bonnie knew came in... her mother. Abby Bennett marched over to her daughter, and, like the last three participants of a conversation with her, squeezed her in a giant embrace.
"Hi, Ms. B." Elena and Caroline said harmoniously before lapsing back into their whispered dispute.
"Hi, girls," she turned back to Bonnie, "oh, Bunny, I'm sorry about debate class."
"Seriously? How did you hear about that!" Bonnie groaned.
"I'm your mother, it's my job to know these things. So you cried and ran out, huh?" Abby leaned against the bar.
"I'm trying to forget about it. And I have tables to serve."
"It's okay, Bon, I got them!" Matt shouted over his shoulder.
Elena swooned and whispered in Caroline's ear, "I love a man who can take charge."
The blonde rolled her eyes.
"Anyways, I'll go talk to your teacher. What's his name?"
"Mr. Saltzman."
"I'll go talk to Mr. Saltzman and straighten it all out. Sound good?"
Bonnie sighed. "Mom, I am never going to be a good public speaker. Just call him and tell him I want to be a mime."
"You're funny, Bonnie." Abby remarked dryly. "Oh, also, uh, your grandmother called."
"What?" Bonnie's eyes went wide.
"The living one," Abby explained, "who lives in Genovia. Sheila."
"Oh. Wow. I've never even seen her before. What does she want?" Bonnie asked with furrowed brows.
"She's in town." Abby looked like she was choosing her words very carefully, something that made Bonnie skeptical. "She wants to have tea."
"Tea? She traveled all the way from Genovia to have tea?" Bonnie folded her arms over her chest.
"When does your shift end?"
Bonnie checked her watch. "Fifteen minutes."
"We can talk about this at home. See you, then. Love you, Bonnie Bee."
"Love you, mom," Bonnie watched her mother walk off, eyes narrowed. She shook her head and got back to work.
...
"Isn't this the grandmother who made you and dad get a divorce?" Bonnie asked as she stroked her cat's fur. She lounged on the love seat in the living room of her house while her mother stood.
"Well, she didn't approve of me, but Rudy and I made the decision to divorce on our own." Abby reasoned.
"She sounds snobby. And she ignores us. Why should I go see her?"
"Honey, she's your father's mother. Just go see her tomorrow. I think you'll get something out of it. Please?" Abby asked with pleading eyes. "Your father hoped that you'd meet one day."
Bonnie's thoughts drifted back to the picture of her father on her dresser... and was unable to say no. "Alright. I'll... I'll go."
...
Bonnie's eyes were huge as she looked up at the building marked 'Consulate of Genovia'. She knew her grandmother was rich, but she didn't know she was that rich. Even the gates were twice the size of Bonnie.
'Catch a Falling Star' was stuck in her head when she finally decided to press the buzzer thingy. A camera tilted towards her. Yikes.
"The school tours are on Friday, young lady." Said a voice from the speaker. Bonnie jumped. She didn't know it could talk.
"Hi, uh, I'm here for a meeting with my grandmother." She said, practicing what Mr. Saltzman said about keeping your voice clear in times of unease.
"Name?"
"Uh, Sheila Barreau."
The man was silent for a second before clearing his throat. "Oh. I see. Please come to the front door."
"Thank you."
The large gates opened and Bonnie began to walk on the grass over to the front door of the mansion.
She didn't get very far before a loud speaker boomed, "get off the grass!" before repeating the message in like six different languages.
Bonnie took the hint and ran off onto the pavement path.
The inside of the mansion was beautifully decorated. Artwork that had to be worth millions lined the walls and decorated the room, everything seemed to have a tint of gold to it and the whole room was most definitely delicate. She was afraid that if she'd touch anything, she'd break it.
"Welcome, Ms. Bennett, we've been expecting you." Said a fancy man with an accent she couldn't put her finger on.
She was led to a living room looking area and sat down on a beige couch that was as hard as a rock. How could anyone be comfortable on this thing?
A beautiful woman came marching in, talking loudly into a phone. She had lightly toasted brown skin and long, curly hair. She looked like a princess or something. "...and we need new pillows for the prime minister's wife- she's allergic to goose feathers."
When the woman caught sight of Bonnie, she smiled delightedly. "Ah, you must be Bonnie. I'm Lucy, from the Genovian attaché corps."
"Hi, nice to meet you." Bonnie smiled as politely as she could, but it was a little hard given how uneasy she was. This was a new place with new people and things she wasn't used to. She didn't know how to act.
"Nice to meet you, too, sweetheart, now if you'll sit down, your grandmother will be here in just a moment-"
"No need for a moment, I'm here." Said a beautiful woman gliding down the stairs.
Her hair was neatly styled in a curly bob, her caramel skin glowed and her clothes were something you'd see a queen wearing. Elegant and delicate. If you looked close enough, you could see the resemblance between herself and Bonnie. They shared the same heart shaped face and gentle eyes. Bonnie noticed how everybody in the room straightened their back when her grandmother entered the room.
"Bonnie, I'm so glad you could join me." Sheila grinned.
"You've got a great place." Bonnie remarked.
"Thank you. Well, uh, let me look at you."
Bonnie smiled sheepishly and took her glasses off, giving her grandmother a full view of her face. Bonnie had never paid extra attention to herself appearance wise. She took care of herself, but anything more than that simply wasn't her thing. Her hair was straightened almost to the point of being fried, her skin was a tad bit dry due to the lack of moisturizer she used and overall, she just didn't really conform to beauty or fashion standards.
That was fine with Bonnie. But according to Sheila's standards, her granddaughter had to be more than that. She had to be queenly.
Sheila let out a breath. "You look so... sweet."
Damn. Bonnie had no clue how to respond to that. "Uh, thanks. And you look so... fresh."
Sheila smiled politely before turning to Lucy, who was watching the exchange with a slight grin. "Lucy, would you go and check on tea in the garden?" Lucy nodded and departed the room. "Please, darling, sit."
Bonnie sat down, mimicking the way her grandmother gracefully folded her hands in her lap. Sheila examined Bonnie with hooded eyes.
"I presume your mother told you I wanted to speak with you about something?" Sheila asked.
"Yeah. Uh, go ahead." Bonnie said with what she hoped was a sweet smile.
"Oh, of course," she clapped her hands together as if she had just remembered something, "before I um, 'go ahead', I have something I'd like to give you." She pulled out a beautiful golden jewelry box, embroidered with green crystals. "Here," she handed it to her granddaughter, watching Bonnie's face as she admired it.
"It's beautiful," Bonnie remarked, awed.
"It is, isn't it? Open it up."
Bonnie did as she was instructed and opened the box to reveal a necklace and a ring. Both decorated with a crest with a 'G' inside of it. They were silver and looked quite worn, but they still were both lovely.
"Wow," Bonnie breathed, "thank you so much."
"Of course. They are rightfully yours. The necklace was mine when I was younger and the ring... Well, the ring belonged to your father. He never took it off. It may not fit your finger, but I thought you might like to have it."
Bonnie had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying. Finally, she had something else of his. She closed the jewelry box and carefully placed it in her backpack for safe keeping.
"So, uh, what did you want to tell me?"
Before Sheila could respond, Lucy entered the room.
"The tea is served, ma'am."
"Why don't I tell you out there. Come along." Sheila got up from her chair and strolled behind Lucy, who led them to the garden.
The patio in the garden was beautifully decorated, tea was set up under a gazebo and birds chirped and sang all around them. It was something out of a fairy tale.
Bonnie stirred her tea and added another sugar cube. You can never have too many sugar cubes. She ignored the look she earned from her grandmother for it.
"Bonnie, have you ever heard the name Rudolph Eduard Phillipe Gerard Barreau?" Sheila inquired after a sip of tea.
Bonnie's brows drew together. Well, that's weird and specific. "No," she replied, "who's that?"
"He was the crown prince of Genovia," Sheila said with a soft smile.
"Oh, cool," Bonnie said, "uh, what about him?" She took a sip of her sugar-full tea.
"Rudolph Eduard Phillipe Gerard Barreau... was your father."
"Yeah, right." Bonnie said with a snort.
"Do you not believe me?"
"No, of course not, because if my father was a prince, then that means I-"
"Exactly. You are not only Bonnie Bennett of San Francisco, you are Bonnie Mignonette Bennett Barreau, Princess of Genovia."
Bonnie choked on the tea.
thank you for reading! let me know what you think about this so far. i really like the idea, but it seems a like it'll be difficult to execute. nothing i can't handle! thanks again! have a good day :)