Chapter Fourteen: Cessation and Restart

„What about this?"

„Nice, I like it."

„Better or worse than the others?"

"It is just as well as the hundred other outfits you have shown me."

"You are no help at all." Bonnie groaned and went back to her room.

"One could think that you are actually preparing for a first date and not for the presentation you have to hold in school today." Her mother cried after her.

That was right. Bonnie had been trying on various outfits to find the perfect one to look respectable, professional and still fashionable and age-appropriate. She didn't want to leave anything to coincidence. Rushing downstairs every five minutes to present her mother another outfit didn't help her at all unfortunately.

"You shouldn't stress yourself like this." Came her mother's voice from the bedroom door. "It is just an assignment and you have prepared it very well. It's going to be fine. If you should be nervous about something than it is the fact that your two best and oldest friends are arriving in a few hours and your room still looks like a bomb blew it up."

"Mom, I'll clean it up after school." Bonnie reasoned but her mother only shook her head.

"This one." Abby pointed at a jeans-blouse combination that was lying on Bonnie's bed and turned around to leave the room. Bonnie took a quick look at the outfit her mother had proposed for her and then a quick look at her clock. Shit, it was already so late. She grabbed the outfit from the bed and went to the bathroom to get ready. There was no time to second-guess the choice of her mother. Kai would be here any minute to pick her up.

He had offered to do so on the night they went bowling. She had had a small existential crisis that night as they talked about the status of their presentation with Faye and Perry, who had spontaneously joined them for a game. Faye had only laughed at her for freaking out about the presentation and Kai had looked at her like she was some kind of mutation. Perry reassured him that this was her normal pre-test and presentation behavior and Kai had claimed that he wasn't gonna endure this the next days until the presentation and had made a plan for Bonnie to avoid anything that could trigger her nervousness about that date, including driving her to school. Bonnie didn't have much to say about this plan. After a while Faye, Perry and even Jo had included themselves in the planning and Bonnie had felt like a guinea pig. Weirdly, it had planned out pretty good. Of course she needed a lot of distractions to not think about it but all her friends had managed to keep her pretty occupied the whole week.

After planning their intervention in Bonnie's life, they had started a game. Three against three. Bonnie had been in one team with Jo and Faye and Jessica, Kai and Perry had build the other. Jessica had tried to flirt with Kai at any point possible, and Bonnie had been annoyed by it. She needed to tell herself that it was because of the obvious fact that Kai wasn't interested in her that this bothered her and nothing else.

After the first round, it was clear that Bonnie was the worst bowler in the world. Faye and Kai had turned out to be naturals and it came down to a showdown between the two, which Kai's team won. Only because Bonnie had scored a total of 15 points throughout the rounds and Perry and Jessica had been quiet good. Bonnie had no idea how often she had apologized to Jo and Faye the entire evening.

The doorbell rang and Bonnie startled back into reality. She put on her jeans and went to do a quick but mature-looking make up. Then she went back to her room and grabbed her stuff, double- checking for the notes and the flash drive with the presentation on it. One last look in the mirror and Bonnie was on the stairs.

Running down the stairs she heard her mother laughing. Bonnie went to the kitchen where she saw Kai and her mom sitting at the kitchen table. Abby had poured Kai some orange juice that she had made this morning and as she entered the room Kai had looked up and smiled at her, a provocating glance in his eyes.

"Good morning, little Miss I-didn't-want-to-freak-out-this-time." Kai greeted her.

Bonnie glared at her mother. She had obviously told Kai about the little fashion show she had done for her this morning. Abby had the courtesy to look a little shameful.

"It was just a minor setback. I'm all good now." Bonnie claimed. "You ready? Can we go?"

"Relax. No need to rush. Let me just finish my drink and then we'll still have hundreds of hours before we need to be at school." Kai continued in Abby's direction. "How did you put up with this kind of crazy for so long?"

"I didn't. Normally she is even more unbearable before a test but your 10 points plan to keep her busy actually worked." Abby said.

Kai grinned as he lifted his glass again and finished the rest of it. Bonnie was standing in the door frame and when Kai got up from this chair she went to grab her coat and opened the door already. A cold breeze made its way into the hall and Bonnie shivered.

"Alright you two, I wish you the best of luck." Abby said following them to the door and giving Bonnie a light kiss on the cheek. Bonnie tried to look calm but could only muster a small smile and went out the door. "Bye mom!"

"Bye, Ms. Bennet." And the door closed behind them. Bonnie made her way to Kai's car, which was parked in front of the house. She was surprised when the door wouldn't open as she tried to open it and looked back at Kai to ask him to unlock it. He was on his way to the driver's side and didn't make any effort in opening the door.

"Hello? Earth to Kai. The door?"

Kai leaned over the top of the car and looked at her with intensity. "No whining, no babbling about the presentation and NO freaking out about it from this point on." He said.

Bonnie pouted but reluctantly nodded. Kai smiled at her , unlocked the doors and got in. Bonnie sighed heavily once more to let all the nervousness out before she had to shut up about it for the rest of the drive.
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"Did you go over your notes once more?"

"Nope, didn't need to."

"How? Is your brain so super big that you only have to read everything once and you'll never forget it?" Bonnie snapped.

"No, but you practically drowned me in those notes and I think I got it after the hundreds time you made me prep." Kai countered.

They were standing outside of the history class room. Bonnie had already started the computer and entered the flash drive as Kai had entered the room. The entire first lesson she had been imagining ways for this presentation to go to shit. Now she was near a nervous breakdown and Kai had dragged her out the room for her to calm down a little. It didn't work.

"This is going to be horrible." Bonnie let out.

"Don't!"

"We'll fail miserably." Bonnie's voice went higher and she started to breath heavily. She knew this procedure. Not very long and she would be grasping for air.

"Stop!" Kai tried to reason with her.

"And then Ms. Gibbens will be furious with me." Bonnie started to walk around like a lunatic.

"Bonnie…!"

"I was supposed to ensure this would work and now I'll be the one failing."

"BONNIE, STOP THIS!" Kai had blocked her way and put his hands on her shoulders keeping her in place. She was breathing heavily and just one step away from a panic attack. She was trying to get loose of his grip but failed. He was stronger than her.

"Bonnie, look at me!" Kai demanded and she stopped fighting him and looked him in the eyes. "Calm down. Breath, okay?"

Bonnie tried to slow her breathing while looking into Kai's eyes. To someone that didn't know him, they might have seemed hard but Bonnie saw the concern in them and it helped her regain control over her body. She slowly calmed down.

"Alright, you're better?" Kai asked after a few more moments.

"Getting there." Bonnie admitted. Kai's hands were still on Bonnie's shoulders, giving her an anchor to reality.

"You need to understand that this is just a test. Nothing is going to happen if you fail, which you won't because this presentation is good. No need to panic alright?" Kai spoke in a calm and reassuring voice.

"But what if…!" Bonnie started and looked around him to the hallway but Kai interrupted her instantly. He grabbed both sides of her face with his hands making her look back into his eyes.

"No what ifs today. You need to believe in what you did for once. And even if Ms. Gibbens doesn't like it. It is just one assignment in junior year. No one will ever be interested in this after this year. You'll be okay no matter what."

Bonnie took his words in. He was right, she knew it. She always knew but she couldn't help herself. Exam anxiety had always been a problem but no one had ever been able to calm her down like Kai just did. She looked him in the eyes and nodded, making him understand that she was going to be okay now. Kai looked back in her eyes for a moment and then withdrew his hands form her face, backing away a step to give her space to breath. In that moment Ms. Gibbens passed by them giving both of them a reassuring smile and stepping into the class room.

"You're ready?" Kai stretched out his hand for Bonnie to take it.

"Yes, let's kill all of them with boredom." Bonnie took his hand and Kai snickered.

"That's my girl."

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Bonnie stepped outside the classroom. The hallways were empty because everyone was already at the cafeteria. She and Kai had to stay behind to have an assessing talk with Ms. Gibbens. Bonnie had been so nervous.

Now, her first step into freedom took the loaf off her mind. Kai closed the door behind them and Bonnie jumped right into his arms, taking him off guard and needing to regain his balance for a few seconds.

"Woah, what's going on with you?" he asked her.

Bonnie leaned away from him a bit, but still had him in a half embrace. "I'm just so relieved."

Kai laughed and shook his head. He wanted to withdraw from her but Bonnie wasn't done yet. She pulled him back into her embrace and hugged him tight, whispering "Thank you!"

"For what?" he wanted to know.

"For everything." Bonnie leaned away again. "For being there for me. For calming me down earlier. For not screwing this up. For being a more decent partner in this than I could have imagined. For being… my friend."

Kai had finally managed to escape Bonnie's hug but didn't let the body contact disappear. He took her hand, swung her around and placed his arm around her shoulder dragging her along with him down the empty hallway. Their hands were still interlocked.

"Don't tell anyone about it. I have a reputation to lose." He joked and Bonnie laughed as they slowly made their way downstairs. When they finally arrived downstairs Kai let go of her. He stopped and turned to go left.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving. I think I have done enough for today, don't you?" Kai said and watched Bonnie closely.
The missing commentary about him leaving early made him curious.
"Wanna come along?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

Bonnie hesitated with her answer. "I can't, I still have class and everyone has already seen me."

"Oh, come on, Bonster. That's a lame excuse."

It was a lame excuse. Kai would have never asked her to come along if he hadn't registered Bonnnie's willingness to do so. Of course she would never jump on his proposition but a little talking her into it was going to get her there. That boy knew her too well already.

"Can you drop me off at home?" she asked him reluctantly.

"I'll drop you off at the east coast if that means you are finally willing to break some rules." He smiled triumphantly at her and with a last view over her shoulder Bonnie followed him out of the building and to his car.

"So what made you bent your moral code and make you ditch school today?" Kai asked her while driving off the school's parking lot.

"This whole panic attack exhausted me. Plus, I didn't get much sleep last night and I have a whole bunch of things to do before I go pick up Elena and Caroline from the airport in a few hours. If I left now I at least could clean up my house before they arrive. And if I'm really fast I might even get to do some power napping."

"Egh, I wish I hadn't asked. Of course Bonnie Bennet has some kind of super good explanation to why she is being a bad girl today. " He mocked her but Bonnie knew he didn't mean it. He never really judged her for her sense of responsibility even though he mocked her about it on a daily basis.

"Don't be like this. It might come to benefit you, too." Bonnie stated.

"Please, enlighten me. How can you cleaning up your mess be beneficial to me?"

"Well, maybe not the cleaning up part of my plan but most certainly the taking a nap part. If I get some peaceful moments of sleep today I might actually consider going to that party."

"Oooooh, no! You're not only considering it, you're coming." Kai interrupted her.

"I said I was going to ask Caroline and Elena if they'd want to come. I never really agreed to. But since I know my friends pretty well I can most certainly tell you that we'll be there." Bonnie said. "And now imagine me having a bad mood because of the sleep I didn't get over the night and now change that image with a powered- up version of me actually enjoying herself because she got some sleep."

"Hm, I don't know but both Bonnies kind of seem the same to me." Kai snickered and Bonnie punched him which only made him laugh again. "Alright, supergirl, I get your point."

"Good, I was questioning your intelligence already."

"Don't insult me, Bonnie! You know that only leads to me insulting you back and we both know that I am way better at being a bitch than you are." Kai turned into Bonnie's street and that second her body already started to let the exhaustion in completely.

When Kai stopped in front of her house, Bonnie only quickly checked if her mother's car was in the driveway and was relieved that she actually remembered her mother's work schedule right. So there wasn't going to be any questioning about coming home early.

Bonnie's hand went to the door and before she opened it she turned to Kai with tiered eyes. "Thanks for dropping me off." She smiled at him and he smiled back when he said "No problem, Bons. Guess I'll see you tonight!"

"We'll see." Bonnie countered and opened the door and got out. She waved at Kai while he drove away and dragged herself to the front door. She didn't know how she survived the day until this point because she felt like she hadn't had a single second of sleep in days. She got out of her shoes and coat and went upstairs, falling into her bed without bothering to change and was asleep the next second.

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When she woke up a few hours later Bonnie felt the life back in her limbs. She was so glad that her little nap had given her enough energy to clean up her room in no time. After an hour she went downstairs to cook something and clean up the kitchen in the process.

Normally she didn't clean anything willingly but she was already done with her room and there was still so much time left until her mother returned from work and Bonnie would take her car and pick up Care and Elena. She was so looking forward to her friends arriving that she didn't know how to pass her time but cleaning.

Fortunately the time passed faster while she cleaned the house. Before her mother finally arrived home she answered various texts from her friends asking about her whereabouts and how the presentation went and sent Kai a bunch of angry emoticons for going on her nerves by text bombing her every five seconds with nonsense massaged that she knew had the sole purpose of getting her annoyed.

When her mother finally got back home she was astonished by the way Bonnie had cleaned up the house. She was wondering how she did this in such a short time though, but Bonnie managed to misdirect the conversation when it came to that point to avoid lying to her mother.

And then it was time for her head to the airport. Bonnie took her mother's keys and sat in the car, really nervous now because she was so happy to see Caroline and Elena. She was at the airport in no time, convicting her to wait nearly another hour for her friends' flight to land.

Bonnie was standing at the gate, looking through the glass wall to try and spot the two while they searched for their suitcases but the mass of people wouldn't give them away. Bonnie was bouncing form one foot to the other in anticipation and then, finally, Elena and Caroline walked out of the boarding area.

Her face lighted up instantly when she saw her friends and she couldn't help herself but started to run in their direction. Caroline was the first one to spot Bonnie and just a second later Elena saw her too. Both of them stopped moving and stepped away from their suitcases to have the space to properly hug-greet Bonnie. With open arms Bonnie ran into the combined embraces of Elena and Caroline, all three girls squeaking in bliss.

It took them a while before they separated their entwined bodies but when they did Bonnie was fighting back some tears of joy because she hadn't realized until this point how much she had missed her two best friends. Talking to them on the phone or the internet just wasn't the same as seeing them standing in front of her and holding them in her arms.

As they finally made their way out of the airport and to Bonnie's car the girls have already fallen into their usual chatter about people Caroline needed to report some updates about and information about people Bonnie was interested in.

"Oh, before I forget it. Your grams gave me this for you!" Elena said as she took her place in the backseat of the car and Caroline got into the passenger seat. Elena handed Bonnie a small package and Bonnie smiled knowing fully well what it contained. As she opened it the smell of freshly baked cookies rose to Bonnie's nose.

"Ah, Grams it the best! She never fails to deliver the best cookies to me. Thanks." Bonnie claimed.

"Hope you don't plan on eating them all by yourself! You won't like what they do to your hips." Caroline winked and Bonnie knew that she was only half joking. But the snarky comment made her smile even more.

"Oh, how much I have missed you, Care." And with those words she started the engine.

"So tell us what's new." Elena leaned into the front of the car to have a better connection to Bonnie and Caroline.

"Let's see, I survived another horrible presentation I had to do in class today. I guess I made a few new friends and I might have ditched school for the first time in my life." Bonnie reported.

"BONNIE BENNETT! You did what?" Caroline faked some outrage. All three girls laughed and Bonnie explained her decision to go home early to them like she had done just a few hours before to Kai.

"Alright, I find you're reason pretty acceptable." Elena concluded.

"Yeah, but no word to my mom. She doesn't have to know about this. She would only jump to the wrong conclusion."

"That your new-found fondness of the towns' bad boy is having a bad influence on you?" Caroline teased and earned a sharp glare form Bonnie.

"Oh, and before I forget. What did you guys plan for your first evening here?" Bonnie asked, surprised at how eager she was now to convince her friends to say yes to the party.

"Oh, we just wanted to see what you have in mind. I am open to anything. What about you, Elena?" Caroline declared.

"Same here, you have something in mind?"

"I actually have but I wanted to put it to the vote. There is a party at some girl's house. I don't know her really but my whole school is kind of talking about it. It's some big deal and I thought that we could go there. What do you say?"

"I don't even think that this is up for debate. If Bonnie Bennett wants to party we are going. Plus, I am so excited to tap into the partying scene of Portland." Caroline said enthusiastically.

"I'm in too. Are Faye and the others coming too?" Elena asked.

"Last time I checked they planned on going." Bonnie stated.

Caroline and Elena were already in partying mode after this. For the rest of the drive home they were talking about outfit combinations, the fact that they were looking forward to seeing Bonnie's friends again and the chance to meet the infamous Kai Parker there.

"Trust me guys, he is not what either one of you is imagining." Bonnie tried to calm her friends down on the last matter.

"Oh, let us be the judge of that." Caroline said and suspiciously winked in Elena's direction.

Author's note: Sorry for the long wait. Shame on me. And I wish I could say it was getting any better but I'll be off to Finland in a few days so the next update won't be before the end of May, I'm afraid. I'm working on the next chapter already but I fear that it won't be finished by Friday. So pleeeease, don't be mad at me. I'll do my best to update as soon as I am back. Hope you liked this chapter, and thanks for all the feedback. Until next chapter(whenever that may be), LiLaAir.