Chapter Twenty-Six: Changes

About a week later Bonnie was running towards Faye. She had spotted her friend from afar and was now rushing through the hallways to tell her the good news.
"I got the job! I got the job!"

Faye turned around as she heard her friend approach and Bonnie was running into her open arms. They were jumping like crazy people, earning a few glances form classmates but they didn't care.

Yesterday Bonnie had spent the entire afternoon at Faye's trying to prepare for her job interview with the catering firm. Bonnie had no idea why but she was super excited and nervous about this interview and Faye had tried to calm her down and play the interested boss searching for a competent young help in their improvised role play.

Her interview had been this morning before school. She had only called her mother after she got the job and rushed to school to tell Faye in person. Her friend was now screaming and laughing along with Bonnie.

"I am so happy for you, Bon."

"Thank you for helping me prep yesterday." She hugged Faye tight and then let go of her. With a bright smile on her face the two girls slowly made their way to Bonnie's locker because she had to get her history book.

"So how was it?" Faye wanted to know.

"It was different then I thought. Mrs. Riddles was there and two others. I was a little terrified and then they asked whether I was a good cook and I thought 'Oh god, you'll never get the job'. But I told them the truth that I was an excellent reheater but the cooking itself should be left to someone else. They kind of liked my honesty and offered me the job right away." Bonnie was still so excited about what happened.

"Oh, that's so great Bonnie."

"I couldn't have done it without you!"

"Don't be ridiculous, you would have done wonderful on your own. Look at how far you've come in the past few months. It's like the girl that got panic attacks before a pop quiz is a mere memory now." Faye smiled brightly at her while they stopped in front of Bonnie's locker.

"You're right, that really worked out quite well for me." Bonnie opened her locker and grabbed her books.

"So, are you already excited about the big game tomorrow?" Faye asked while she leaned onto the lockers next to Bonnie's.

"Hm, I'm not sure if I'll go." Bonnie admitted.

" ?" Faye dragged the word out so long it seemed like a whole minute passed before she finally finished it.

"Yeah, you know it's going to be one of the last free weekends that I'll have and I would like to have a nice calm evening with my mom."

"You are freaking kidding me, right?" Faye sounded like she had just lost hope in all mankind.

"Football was never my thing. I only went there because of you guys. And let's be honest, our school team sucks anyways, they don't stand a chance. Like every year they are horribly gonna fail and THAT I witnessed often enough." Bonnie said, trying not to anger Faye any further.

"Especially because this is your last free weekend in a while you HAVE to join us. Watching them loose against the Portland Highlanders every year is tradition. Everyone is coming and celebrating our horrible team, that is how it works. And after that we are going to get freaking drunk, make out with some random guys and celebrate our lives. This is the event of the school year, you have to come." Faye nearly begged her. The desperate expression on her friends face was getting to Bonnie. She did always have fun at the game, even though it wasn't because of the football being played. There wasn't even a particular reason why she didn't want to go this year, she was just not in the mood.

"Come on, Bonnie!" Faye even stamped her foot on the ground to make her point. Bonnie sighed.

"Alright, I'll think about it."

"Yes!" Faye cheered because she knew exactly that 'thinking about it' meant 'I'll be there'. Faye and Bonnie slowly made their way to their classes when Bonnie saw a well known figure heading their way.

"History class is that way!" Bonnie screamed in Kai's direction and he only now seemed to notice the two girls.

"Oh, hi ladies." He stopped in front of them with a cheeky smile. "Not gonna join you today actually. Got a hot date with the principle."

"What did you do?" she accusingly asked.

"Why do you think I did anything? Maybe it was a false accusation?"

Bonnie raised an eyebrow and Kai immediately confided in her. "Okay, okay. I may or may not have put a little extra sodium into the test tube in the chem lab and it kind of exploded. But I totally knew what I was doing and it shouldn't have done that. I just miscalculated the impact of O2 in the reaction." He made an innocent grimace.

"You made the lab explode?" Faye asked.

"It was just a really tiny explosion, no one got hurt or anything." He defended himself and Bonnie had to shake her head. She believed he didn't do it on purpose but still she couldn't do anything but shake her head about the stupid things Kai did out of boredom.

"You are unbelievable." Bonnie said, fighting back a smile.

"Oh yeah? So you never accidentally blew something up?" He asked her, trying to provoke.

"Actually no, because I have the ability to read the actual instructions. You know they give you these things for a reason." Bonnie scoffed and looked him in the eyes.

"Sure, but where's the fun in that?" Kai leaned down to her just the tiniest bit with a cocky smile and Bonnie became awfully aware of the closeness of his body to hers. Her gaze landed on his mouth for a second and she turned it away quickly.

"Hey, how did it go?" Kai now asked Bonnie.

"How did what go?" Bonnie asked confused. She had watched his smile for too long again and had forgotten the world around her.

"The interview? It was today right?" He asked, now confused as well.

"Oh, oh yeah it was today. I, ehm, got the job!" Bonnie stammered.

"That's amazing. I knew you could do it!" He raised his hand and Bonnie gave him a high five, trying to revive the smile that wouldn't want to leave her face a few minutes ago but was blown away the moment she had heard his voice.

"Sorry, gotta run. Catch up with you later?" Kai was already moving backwards. Bonnie turned to nod at him and then he was lost in the crowd. She sighed to get that weird feeling out of her stomach and turned back to Faye only to look into the inquisitioning stare and her raised eyebrow.

"What?" Bonnie asked, trying not to sound too obvious.

"Really? You're going to play dumb here?" Faye's stare was hard. Man, she really had a good career in law enforcement ahead of her. Everyone would break under that stare. But Bonnie knew her far too long to make the mistake of looking at her for too long when she was in a mode like this.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Bonnie started walking in the general direction of the stairs.

"Okay, let's play that game. Let's pretend that I didn't just witness you totally falling victim to Kai Parkers charms." Faye scoffed.

"I didn't… I didn't fall for his charms." It would have been more convincing if the sentence had come out as one. But the fact that Faye had seen right through her was making her nervous. If she knew… did he know also?

"Oh, come on Bonnie." Faye grabbed her arm and turned her around to face her. "You can tell me. Don't forget that I was one to observe the changes on your face every time he stepped into the same room as you all those years back in junior high. And let me tell you, the look then… not too far from the look you had just a minute ago." Faye pushed back a long strand of her red hair and then put her hands on her hips like her mom usually did when she wanted to get information out of her.

"Really Faye, it is nothing. There is nothing. We are friends. I don't have any attraction to him." Bonnie was proud of how stable her voice was and how serious her expression.

"Okay, I'll let you keep telling that to yourself a little while longer." Faye turned on her heels and went to the gym for her next class leaving Bonnie behind, confused and anxious.

Bonnie went up the stairs as she felt her phone buzzing. As she looked to the screen she blinked a few time. The screen said Jeremy was on the other end of the line. No knowing what he could possibly want or why she should even get the call she declined it. She was in no mood to take a call from him now.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Later that day she found herself in the waiting area to Mr. Bright's office. She hadn't planned on seeing him today or any other day and only when she was standing before the door to Mrs. Percyville's office she had realized what she was about to do.

Kai hadn't shown up for lunch or any other class this day. She was well aware of this track record and the fact that he had been absent from school for quite a while last week wouldn't give him any more points with Mr. Bright. During math class she had decided that she was going to go to Mr. Bright and try and convince him that whatever punishment he had put on Kai he had to take back. She wasn't going to point out every single detail of what had happened the past few weeks but she still would try to reason him into seeing that Kai was in a very stressful situation right now.

"Miss Bennett, I haven't expected on seeing you." Mr. Bright greeted her.

"Well, I hadn't planned on coming here either." Bonnie admitted. She let herself get ushered into his office and took her usual place in front of him.

"So, what can I help you with today, Bonnie?"

"Well, I know that our … arrangement is off and I am not here to revive it. But…" She fished for the right words that would convince him and not tell too much. "I know you've seen Kai today for some stupid thing he did in the lab but… you should know whatever he did in the past few weeks… you have to cut him some slack. His situation is kind of… complicated right now. I don't say he can't be held accountable for his actions but, just be easy on him. It won't help if you make his life even harder at this point."

Mr. Bright looked at her for a moment, not saying anything. Then he leaned forward to rest his arms on his desk and spoke. "I see you are trying to tell me something but not trying to spill anything. I did notice something was off today but of course he wouldn't tell me. But Bonnie, I can't react properly if I don't know what is really going on. It is nice of you to try and protect him but with a statement like that all I will take from it is the fact that I need to have a close eye on him, because a stressed out Kai Parker is never good for anyone. So you either tell me what is going on or there is nothing I can do for you."

It was what Bonnie had feared. She had made it worse with her vague declaration but she couldn't tell him the truth. Kai had trusted her with this and she couldn't break that trust. But on the other hand someone had to know about it.

"Bonnie, you can tell me. I will not tell anyone."

She sighed. "It's… his mom. She is very sick, she might die and then there was Jo's accident. It wasn't only an accident. She was pregnant and lost the baby and that kind of got to him. The two had kept it a secret from everyone and that is why you CAN'T tell anyone that I told you that. Not him, not any other teacher and especially not his dad. He can't know about this. Who knows what he would do."

Mr. Bright leaned back into this chair, visibly shocked by what Bonnie had just told him.

"Do I have your word that you won't tell anyone?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes Bonnie, you have my word. And thank you for tell me. I know you don't think it'll help but I see a lot of things more clearly now. I have always known that the relationship to his father was troubled and I blamed a lot of his actions on that, plus the fact that he was just one of the troublemakers. But this shines a whole new light on things." He wiped his hand over his mouth in deep thought.

Bonnie didn't feel as relieved as she thought she would be now. She was positive that Mr. Bright would keep his word but she still felt like she had betrayed Kai.

"Are you going to reverse his punishment for that explosion?" she hesitantly asked.

"Oh, I haven't even given him a punishment yet." He hesitated. "Why would you think I did?"

"No reason." Bonnie lied.

Mr. Bright sighed. "He is gone, isn't he?"

"No, he is just somewhere in the hallways. I just ran by him." Bonnie tried to talk herself out of the situation but she had never been a good liar.

"Don't bother, Bonnie. I have known this kid for quite a while, I can see the patterns." He stopped himself with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry, I won't punish him for that too."

Bonnie nodded, relieved she hadn't gotten him further into trouble. "I'll have to… I need to get to class."

"Of course! Thank you again for confiding in me. You won't regret it." Mr. Bright shook her hand and smiled at her reassuringly but Bonnie wasn't so sure about the regret part. She quickly got out of his office and back to class.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Goosh, this not working." Bonnie slammed the screwdriver into the flowerbed nearby. Right after school she had taken the opportunity and got the anniversary gift for her mom and Jeffrey ready. They had both mentioned so often that they would love to have a set of outside furniture on the back patio and Bonnie had managed to get her hands on a very cute, vintage looking bench with the fitting table and two chairs. But unfortunately for her she had completely no talent in anything handicraft and was not facing a huge pile of screws, nails and furniture parts that were telling her nothing.

She wished she had more time to get this done but their anniversary was tomorrow and to Bonnie's luck her mom had the late shift today again, giving her the perfect opportunity for the surprise in the morning. But there wouldn't be a surprise if she couldn't get theses things put together.

Her frustration already reached from Portland to New York when she got a text back from Faye who was usually good with these things, that she had to babysit the neighbors kids and couldn't come help her. Bonnie searched through her phone. She needed a handy man now who could help her with this. Perry? No chance, he was even more untalented then Bonnie. Connor? Could work but it had been strange hanging around him since their little fight in math class and she really didn't want to be alone with him right now. So that left…

She shook her head and dialed Kai's number. After a few beeps he picked up.

"Hey Bon, what's up?" She could hear the sound of cars rushing by. He was driving. Her hope shrank.

"Two things: How good are you with the construction of a set of garden furniture and is there any chance you could come by and help me with this today?" She closed her eyes, anticipating his answer being negative to both her questions.

"I'm no pro but… garden furniture sounds doable. But I can't promise you anything."

Bonnie quickly reopened her eyes. "Does that mean you're gonna come help me?"

"Give me an hour."

"Oh god, Kai you're saving my ass. Thank you so much." The relieve poured out of her.

"Thank me when I was actually any help."

About 45 minutes later, Kai was standing on her doorstep and Bonnie quickly pulled him inside, pushing him through the living room and onto the patio. When he stepped outside and saw the mess she made his mouth dropped open.

"Bonnie, you didn't mention you were working in a battlefield. What happened here?" He was turning over some of the parts spread on the floor and faced her then.

"I tried… to build them myself. I looked so easy in the hardware store but I really have no craftsmanship. You think you can do anything with this?"

"Hope so. Why do you need this done today?"

"It's for my mom and her boyfriend. It's my anniversary gift. It's tomorrow."

"Well, we better get started then before the sun goes down. Hand me the instructions, please?"

In the following hours the two spend their time bickering and yelling at each other, mostly because of Bonnie trying to 'help' too much. She constantly mislay tools or parts, tried to construct some part on her own which obviously didn't work or just sat around whining that they would never get this thing ready. Kai being Kai he had also tried to trick her into believing she forgot to buy the fitting screws for the table because they weren't included. Bonnie nearly freaked but then he laughed so hard and revealed the missing screws to her that she turned so mad and stormed off into the house not coming back out for another 20 minutes. When she had calmed down he was nearly done with the table. After that she only did what he told her to do and like on cue, when the last sunbeams had disappeared the bench, the table and both chairs were done.

"Aaaah, you did it." Bonnie threw her arms around his neck and squeaked. "Thank you so much. You saved my ass. I owe you sooo much." She let go of him and let herself fall on the bench to test its comfortableness.

When the bench didn't burst under her weight Kai solemnly declared "What do you know, it holds."

Bonnie's mouth dropped open as she realized he had let her sit down without fully knowing if this construction was really safe. She glared at him but he only laughed and placed himself next to her.

"You risked my life here." Bonnie accused him.

"A little exaggerated, don't you think?" He turned his head to look at her. "I was a least 75% sure that it wouldn't crumble."

"Oh, and I guess I should even be thankful now?"

The timer for the chain of lights surrounding the cobbled place the furniture was now standing on started and lighted the place with small lights that looked like little fireflies filling the air, leading both their attentions to their surroundings. The combination of the lights, the dark sky and the sweet smell in the air from all the blossoming trees and flowers made the atmosphere seem magical and Bonnie looked around from where she sad to take it all in.

When she looked back to Kai with a content smile, the lights were reflected in his eyes making them shine. Bonnie had never seen anything like it. She couldn't see the blue of his eyes they were all black with small sparks of light dancing in them. She must have looked the same because Kai's eyes were glued to hers as well.

His gaze dropped to her mouth and stayed there for far too long. Bonnie's heart rate picked up and she breathed faster. Once again she felt this warmth inside her and she was sure that with the way he looked at her right now and the romantic atmosphere she wouldn't be able to hold herself back. Not this time. Without her consent Bonnie's upper body leaned in closer to his that was only inched away. Her brain was completely shut off when she covered his mouth with her own.

At first she thought he wasn't going to kiss her back as she slowly closed her eyes and moved her mouth over his. But his reluctance was only short and their lips started off into a slow dance. After a while she felt his hands move the cup the side of her face and pull her closer to him. Bonnie felt the sparks in her belly again and for the first time she also felt her lower body parts answer to Kai's sweet touch.

But his whole time their kiss stayed gentle and sweet. Neither of them was willing to break the meaningful moment and risk deepening the kiss but that only made this moment more perfect. Bonnie's hands wandered up Kai's chest and rested there as Kai's one hand had moved to the back of her neck the other one still resting on her face. She had no idea how long they stayed this way. Every now and then one of them broke off the kiss for a second to catch a quick breath but never so long as for the other to draw back and end the kiss. It seemed like hours had passed as they finally did break it, lips still very close to one another, ready to either snatch away or start again.

Neither said anything, they just breathed and Bonnie reopened her eyes slowly. Her nose was so close to Kai's and the urge to just resume their previous action was nearly impossible for her to fight but she knew this was not what they should be doing right now. Even if she risked ruining the moment she drew back from and looked him in the eyes, expression serious.

"Well, that happened, again." She finally got out after a long silence.

"Ehm, yeah. I guess." Kai stammered. Kai Parker being speechless, now Bonnie had seen it all.

"So, what was that?"

"I don't… I don't know." Kai turned away from her and leaned forward resting his elbows on his thighs. "I mean, it was… nice."

Bonnie fought the silly smile that was trying to spread across her face. "Yes, it was." She shyly admitted. "What are we gonna do about it?"

Kai turned back to her. "Honestly? I have no clue."

"I mean, we should talk about it, right?"

"Yeah, yeah sure. Let's talk about it." Kai turned his body so he was now completely facing her. His right arm rested on the backrest and he looked at her expectantly and she realized that she was going to have to initiate that talk because talking about his feelings had never been his forte.

"Well, ehm, we already established that it was a nice kiss. We should now clarify what this means now." He hesitated and closed her eyes briefly. She swallowed hard and took all her courage to confess what was going on with her recently. "Look, Kai. The past few weeks had been intense and I don't know about you but, in some situations I found myself drawn to you. Like wanting to be close to you and maybe even kiss you but I have no idea what that means and it scares the crap out of me, because I don't know if you felt that too or if it was just me and even if you did feel it how would that effect our friendship or would it effect it at all? Should we fight this or peruse it? Is it just because of the intensity of the past few weeks? Can we maybe just ignore it and everything will get back to nor…"

"Bonnie, Bonnie, stop." Kai interrupted her mid sentence. "Normally I am the one babbling but I just realized that you have a fine skill there too."

"Sorry." Bonnie held her hand over her mouth, a little embarrassed by the flood of words that had come out of it.

"No, don't be. I think it was important that you said what you just said but…" Bonnie's heart felt like it just dropped to the floor. Oh, no he hadn't felt the same way. Bonnie turned her gaze to her hands that were placed in her lap now, she couldn't bear looking at him. But when he resumed she didn't instantly hear what she expected to hear. "Gosh, I'm not good with this."

"With what?" Bonnie looked up and saw that he had turned his face from her as well, gaze dropped to the floor.

"With feelings. I mean you have probably noticed already that I am not the most open guy when it comes to emotional things." He stopped and Bonnie looked at him, intrigued by his behavior. He was just as confused about this as she was and it seemed like he didn't regret any of it either.

"So, did you… feel that too?" She dared to asked, even though she was afraid of his answer.

When Kai looked back at her, her heart jumped at the seriousness in his eyes. He breathed in before he spoke. "Yes."

"Wow, I didn't expect that." Bonnie openly admitted. "So you think we can… figure this out somehow?"

"Without ruining our friendship?" he asked.

"Yeah, because… you are way too important for me to lose you over something that might not even be anything. You are my best friend and if we get into this too fast without a plan or any further thought about it… I just don't want to screw this up." Her voice was shaking; she hadn't anticipated such a strong reaction. Kai had picked up on her mood swing and grabbed her hands that were still in her lap.

"Listen, how about this? We are just going to go on like always, not like nothing happened but not actively trying to push it, but if there's going to be more situations like these we're also not going to shy away from it. I mean, do you know what I'm trying to say?"

"I guess. You basically say that we're going to be friends with… awareness of each other and of the possibility that we might start feeling differently about each other. Is that it?" Bonnie tried to summarize.

"Basically."

They both nodded. "Yeah, that could work. I mean we'll see. Maybe it's still going to be awkward the next time we see each other."

"Fffh, please, when isn't it awkward when I'm around?" Kai joked and Bonnie had to laugh which took away a huge pile of tension between them.

She looked at him and his expression gave her hope. Hope that no matter in what direction this would go they would come out on top. She gifted him with a shy smile.

Her phone buzzed and pushed them both out of their bubble and back into reality. She checked the ID and pressed back a sigh. It was Jeremy yet again but there was no chance in hell she was going to answer the call now that she kind of had a heart to heart with Kai just seconds ago. She declined the call.

"Was it important?" Kai asked casually.

"No, not at all!" Bonnie quickly answered.

"I should get going. Jo wanted me to get her some ice cream on the way home and at the moment she's a real bitch when she doesn't get what she wants." He got off the bench and they both silently went through the living room to the entrance.

Before he open the door she stopped him by lightly touching his arm. "Hey, I wanted to thank you again for helping me today. My mom will be super excited."

"As long as Abby is happy I am happy." He gave her a childish smile and she only shook her head. He opened the door and slowly stepped outside. After a few steps he turned around and smiled at her. She slowly closed the distance between them and with just a hint of a smile forming on her face she raised her arms and put them around his neck to give him a hug. He placed his arms around her waist and pushed her closer to him.

It was a more intense and more meaningful hug then usual and it lasted longer than necessary for an ordinary goodbye between friends but given the agreement the two of them had just made it seemed fitting and Bonnie indulged in it for as long as it would last. She placed her head in the crook of his neck and breathed in his smell with closed eyes. His arms caressed her back in slow movements and neither of them seemed to be willing to let the other go. For a few more moments they stood like this.

"How cozy."

Until the familiar voice of Jeremy Gilbert made her rush away from him.

Author's note: Ohoh, a certain someone is back. We'll see how that influences the blossoming romance between Kai and Bonnie. Sorry that it took so long to get to this place but I just had so many ideas and really wanted to build something between them first. Hope you liked this chapter. I appreciate all you patience and reviews. See ya.