09.28.2016

Bonnibel Buchholz's head was pulsating, almost as if her temple tried to grow out of her forehead. She had slept maybe two hours at best, spending the rest of the night staring at the ceiling or out of her small window. As the first birds started singing their songs, she gave up on it entirely. A full night, plagued by thoughts of how she should act going forward. She would talk to Finn, and then he would leave her alone for good. Bonnibel let them get too close for too long now. It was time to protect herself again. She needed to be safe so that she could be there for her Family. They needed her, she couldn't get lost in childish make-believe relationships of any kind.

No… If I was convinced that I don't want to be their friend, it wouldn't be so hard on me. Once she noticed that she was lying to herself, everything went downhill. Even now her eyes were swollen and red. Her hands just half an hour ago stopped shaking, and Bonnie didn't yet know if that was a good sign or not.

Yet here she was, walking through the corridor, while keeping her head low, trying to be as invisible as possible. This early in the morning most students didn't pay much attention to their surroundings, and right now she was thankful for that. She could've stayed home, but she knew that if she gave in now, she wouldn't talk to Finn. It had to be now, or at least that was what she told herself like a mantra.

At least some luck was still with her, as she found the blond boy sitting by himself in an empty classroom. She didn't know why he was alone. Usually Jake was not far off, but she couldn't see the older brother right now. This was her chance. Finn, who was going over some stuff right now, didn't notice the approaching girl at first. Then, his blue eyes glanced up, and immediately his upper body straightened up in surprise.

"Bonnie, what's u-" His brows furrowed, and his head tilted a bit to the side. "You alright? You look awful." He looked up at her for a few awkward seconds, before hastily saying, "T-That's not what I meant. I just…"

"I don't like you."

"Oh." His eyes grew big, red immediately flushing his face.

Maybe it was the restless night, maybe the big assignment with a partner that couldn't stand her, or just her family's overall situation. Or all of those. It didn't matter to Bonnie, as hot tears started running down her face, right in front of Finn, who looked at her in shock.

"Hey, d-don't cry, please." Finn quickly stood up from his chair, but not knowing how to comfort the girl he stopped in front of her, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "You evaded us because of me?"

Here it comes. Now he'll start hating me. She simply nodded, while trying to brush off her tears with her brown wool sweater.

Finn took a deep breath. "I… I'm so sorry, Bonnie. I didn't know that you knew and that it was so hard on you. Was it that obvious?"

Why was he being nice? She just dumped him! As an answer, she raised her shoulders, and let them fall again, face still hidden behind her hands.

He let a sigh escape his lips, before saying with a fragile voice: "Shit I really fucked up, didn't I?"

Hearing that, her eyes made contact with him for the first time since they started talking. "What? No! I just…" But as her voice broke her eyes quickly fell on the floor again, as if they tried to dig into the ground. "It's my-"

"No, stop it, Bonnie…" He massaged his eyes, seemingly still overwhelmed by the situation. "Sorry if I sounded like I was complaining, you don't need a reason to not like me back. If you don't, you don't, that's it really." He shrugged.

"But you are being so nice to me, Finn, and I just…"

He quickly waved his hands in denial, cutting her off. "Course I would've been happy if you felt the same, but you don't. I'm not being nice because I want you to owe me anything. Especially not so that you feel forced to date me. That's just how I act towards my friends." He explained, scratching his scalp.

"Friends?..." As she mumbled the dreaded word, she needed to swallow.

"And I would like to keep calling you that. Jake and Lady miss you too, so how about all of us go grab a coffee together after class?"

"That…" She still had work to do, needed to study, read ahead of the class, and did she do the homework for next week already? So much work… "That sounds nice." She agreed, despite a voice in her head warning her to do so.

You are letting people get close again. You are already hurting, and they didn't even do anything wrong yet. Can you stay productive like this? You can't!

"Great! You're really cool, you know that?" There was a short pause between them before Finn's face flushed again. "I-In the most platonic way, you are cool, of course."

She looked at him perplexed, not understanding what he meant. Then, as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, Bonnibel laughed at the embarrassed boy in front of her. At first, it seemed like Finn was going to pout, but then he couldn't contain a smile as well. "That is more like the Bonnie I know." He then put out one of his hands. "We okay?"

Instead of taking the hand, Bonnie embraced the bigger boy, resting her face on his chest. She didn't like being like this, but she needed comfort right now. The boy visibly stiffened at first, as he clearly didn't expect it, but then Finn returned the hug.

"Sorry for being such a drama queen… I just… I dunno." She said, still in his arms.

"Wanna talk about it?" He offered, not the slightest bit of judgment in his voice. Bonnibel hadn't expected him to be so mature about this whole ordeal. This morning she had prepared for getting yelled at, getting insulted, or maybe even worse.

Do I really think so low of Finn? She now asked herself. Instead of dread, she had found some strange comfort in this dorky boy. As she slowly moved out of the hug, she noticed that there were stains of tear and snot on his shirt. "Shit."

Not noticing that this wasn't an answer to his question, the blond boy raised a wondering eyebrow. Then he traced what Bonnie's green eyes were looking at. "Heh, maybe we should head to the bathroom?"

"I can wash it for you."

"It's fine. No worries." He said, more amused from it then disgusted. "Trust me, if you have Jake as an older brother, some salty water is the last of your worries."

And yet again he is acting so mature and calm. Somehow Bonnibel had some newfound respect for the younger Adons Brother. "Do I look bad?" She asked, rubbing her face yet again with her sleeve.

"Well…"

"That bad?"

Slowly the first students started filling the room, looking at the two of them in confusion. "I'm gonna avoid answering this one. Let' go clean ourselves up?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Bonnie said, as she as well noticed the unwelcome attention.

As the two of them headed out into the corridor, they didn't notice that Marceline was watching them, eyes furrowed, before the Abadeer girl went into the now slowly filling classroom herself.

Bonnibel asked Finn while walking down the hall: "I think I would like to talk about it. Just not now. I've had enough drama for a week or so." Answering his question from before.

"Sure." Finn shrugged. "Don't stress yourself, if you don't want to, that's understandable as well."

She hesitated. Did she really want to talk about her past, her state, or her feelings? The first answer that almost spilled out of her mouth was No! But before she could say so, they reached the bathrooms already. Finn simply waved at her, before entering the boys one.

The pink-haired girl entered the girl's bathroom, and as the door closed behind her, her panic attack was ready for round two. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes for a few seconds, holding tight onto the sink.

What am I doing here? It wasn't as bad as I expected, that's a good thing, yes, but why am I thinking about opening up to them? I will be vulnerable. I will end up being miserable.

She cupped cold water in her hands, before splashing it in her face. Right now she was pretty happy that she didn't use some kind of makeup today. She massaged her face, and let yet another big sigh out.

Maybe… Maybe I can trust them. And Finn even said himself that I don't need to talk about it, so why should I force myself to do so? I can just hang out with them, without spilling my beans. And if they force me to do anything, I can just go.

She took a tissue from the dispenser and cleaned her nose. "Ugh…" It felt like half her brain had come out, and she was a little dizzy. Another cold water splash did help a little with that at least. Looking at herself in the mirror, she was a mess. Dark circles under red eyes, hair all over the place, and her whole face looked swollen. What good had all the isolation done to her? The answer was looking right back at her.

After a few more minutes of salvaging her face, she came out. Finn had waited for her in the hall, a wet spot in his shirt. He looked up from his phone as she walked over. "Never been too late for a class before." He said matter of factly.

"Oh snap! I totally forgot that class already started!" She said in shock.

"Thank god that it isn't Mr. Garb we have to deal with today."

Bonnibel and Finn thanked the universe that in the morning they had the lovely Mrs. Evergreen. As the two latecomers entered the classroom, the elderly woman with her southern accent asked: "Hmm, oh my what have we here. You two are kinda late."

"We're very sorry Mrs. Evergreen. I had stomach aches, and Finn was kind enough to bring me to the girl's bathroom." Bonnibel quickly lied.

"Oh, if that's it, then it's fine." She shrugged and went on with her class.

While Finn went back to where he had left his documents, Bonnie sat down somewhere with nobody directly around her. As she unpacked her stuff, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A pair of curious red eyes were staring at her. Defiantly, she looked back at Marceline, meeting her gaze, while crossing her arms. But in the end, Bonnie gave up on their stare down and focused on what their teacher was talking about. She had missed enough of the lesson and wouldn't miss more because of the snobby Abadeer girl.

…

"Bonnie!" Lady squealed, before throwing her arms around the smaller girl.

Overwhelmed by the as usual colorful dressed girl, Bonnibel patted Lady on the back. "It's not like I was gone or anything." Seemed like Finn hadn't told them about their talk from before. Or maybe he did and Lady didn't mind it? Bonnibel couldn't tell.

The blonde girl took a step back, hands still on Bonnie's shoulders. "I'm just happy that you want to hang out with us. You want to, right?"

"I… I think so." She shrugged, giving the other girl an apologetic smile.

Not as steamrolling as Lady, Jake was leaning against one of the classroom's tables. "But seriously, don't feel forced to anything."

Lady turned around, poking the older Adsons brother on the shoulder. "Don't make it sound like you are not happy. What was it?" And with a lower voice, she tried to mimic Jake. "Guys, I think she is annoyed by us."

"I was never annoyed by you!" Bonnibel bit her under lip, realizing that it probably seemed like she was fed up with them.

Finn stepped in, seeing how the pink-haired girl was getting uncomfortable again. "C'mon guys, stop teasing her."

"I… I just got a lot on my plate, sorry." Bonnibel said, eyes falling on the ground.

I shouldn't feel guilty though, I just did what I thought was right. I didn't do anything wrong, just kept myself safe. And yet the bitter taste of guilt spread in her mouth.

Jake, after fending Lady off, gave her a caring and gentle slap on the back, bringing her mind back to the present. "No need to apologize. We all have our problems, and if you don't feel comfortable sharing, that's fine. Just know that you can if you want to."

Lady, looking at the two of them then said, with a toothy grin on her face: "Can't trust Jake though. He will tell all the boys on campus." She said, narrowing her eyes cheekily. "Better stick with us girls."

"Only gonna spill your secrets, Lady." Jake retorted playfully.

As the two started teasing each other again, Bonnie quirked an eyebrow up. That was new, wasn't it? She exchanged glances with Finn, who simply smiled while wiggling his eyebrows.

Looking at the energetic Lady and the in comparison calm Jake, Bonnie couldn't help but smile. They were an odd fit. They say opposites attract each other, don't they?