AN: I'm surprised anyone took the time to read the first chapter and I am so thankful for the words of encouragement! That being said, I got another one for you guys and hope you like it. There will be much more of PB very soon, just had to get a few character integrated into the story so we could get to the good stuff!
Marceline was so in her own head and caught up in the moment that she didn't realize that someone was approaching her until she heard a loud thud. She quickly turned to the source of the sound to see a young boy slowly picking himself up off the ground. The pour kid probably tripped over one of the enormous roots at the base of the tree. He was a short guy, most likely a freshman. He didn't look like anything out of the ordinary except for his weird hat that kind of resembled a polar bear, but she choose not to address it for now at least. His knee was bleeding a bit from the fall and was covered in dirt, but he didn't seem phased by the injury and laughed awkwardly as a blush crossed his face. As he started to dust himself off, Marceline decide to break the silence.
"Hey kid, you okay?" she asked in a slightly concerned tone. She didn't particularly care one way or another, but stuff like this was filed under the category of 'what a normal person would do' in her brain. The boy smiled and laughed again, a little more confidently this time. "Yeah, I'm cool. Thanks" he responded. Oh man, was he anything but that, she thought to herself, but she decided to humor him. "That looks pretty gnarly dude, maybe we should get you to the nurse's office or something?" she asked. Barely one minute into the encounter and she was dying to escape already. Human interaction wasn't exactly her area of expertise and she felt extremely uncomfortable trying to carry out normal conversations. She just tried to remind herself it was just for one school year and she just had to tough it out over and over in her head like a mantra. "Glob, you're probably right. I don't want my knee meat to get infected or anything. I'll just get my brother to…" he said as he looked around the courtyard, clearly not seeing whoever it was that he was looking for. He sighed, "He was just over there a minute ago!" he explained. The boy paused for a moment and then looked up at Marceline. "It'd be awesome if you could lend me a hand, this kinda hurts a little more than I let on." he admitted as he started to rub his upper arm and looked down at the ground. Of course she would have to be practically the only soul around to witness all of this and be the only one around to help him. She quickly packed up her things and pocketed her headphones. "Alright kid, lead the way. I've got no idea where anything is but I suppose I could chaperone you." she said with a smirk and raised eyebrow.
The walk was so uncomfortably silent, the only thing she could focus on was the sound of their footsteps. Usually, the last thing she would want was an awkward polite conversation, but she was craving it compared to this. She didn't even know the kid and here she was not even five minutes later escorting him to see the nurse like he was an elementary schooler. She was so caught up in thought she almost missed what he was saying to her. "…wanted to come say hi. We usually don't get transfers and most of us have known each other since freshman year. So, we pick up pretty quick when somethings out of the ordinary." he continued before Marceline quickly cut him off. "Wait, you're not a freshman?" she asked with a slightly surprised expression. "Heck no! This boy ain't fresh meat anymore! I am officially a sophomore for your information." he stated very matter of the fact. She couldn't help but laugh a bit, "Sorry little man, won't happen again." she said with a smile as she playfully rubbed the top of his head as if he was her younger sibling she couldn't help but tease. He didn't respond but blushed a bit again instead. Marceline was warming up to him and didn't really mind him all that much anymore. He certainly wasn't the coolest kid in school, but he seemed like a nice kid at least and was fun to mess with. She started to think maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a few allies around to help her get thru the school year, until graduation at least.
This time, she decided it would be her turn to break the silence. "So… what do you think happened to this elusive brother of yours?" she asked, trying to show at least a minimal interest. "Oh, Jake? I'm sure he's around somewhere, it's alright. He was actually the one who suggested welcoming you to the school and everything, but he's a really shy guy." he explained. "Ah, I get it. Trying to set a good example for the little bro are we?" she asked with a smile. He couldn't help but laugh, "Nah, nah. Jake's my big brother and anything but shy once he gets to know you. I guess you could say he's not good with first impressions and all that jazz so I help him out you know?" he replied. "That's pretty awesome of you dude, good to know some decent people still exist in this shit hole of a town." she said, trying to be optimistic for once.
The walk suddenly came to an abrupt end as they approached what could only be the door to the nurse's office. He turned to her and began once again, "I really appreciate the help, I owe you one, uhh…." She responded quickly to avoid yet another silence, "It's Marceline and no worries dude, any time." "The names Fin. If you ever need anything, I'd be happy to help." he eagerly responded. The nurse was now staring at them thru the small window on the door, clearly annoyed the two were having a full on conversation in front of the entrance to the clinic. "Well, I should get in there before she lectures me again. I guess you could say I'm a regular here." He said, looking a little embarrassed before he started talking once again. "You should sit with us at lunch!" he happily suggested. "Guess I don't have any other plans. Sure, why not." she responded. Before she had a moment to change her mind or come up with an excuse, the boy lit up. "Sweet! I'll be sure to find you and introduce you to everyone after the assembly. Later Marceline!" he said happily as he entered the room, the door slamming behind him. Everyone? This was already a stretch and an exhausting one at that. What did she just get herself into?
Apparently, the first day of school was always short here. All they had to do was attend some dumb assembly in the auditorium, go to lunch and make it thru their last class of the day. Maybe it wasn't what she was used to, but she was definitely not going to question it after the eventful morning she had. Blocking out stuff like this was second nature to her and she didn't particularly mind, except for the fact that the teachers were making rounds and closely watching them to ensure no one was on their phone and at least appeared to be paying attention to what the principal had to say. Before she knew it, she was consumed by her thoughts.
Out of all people, why was Bubblegum here? She had always been so obsessed with science and junk, this should be the last school she would be at. You'd think she'd be nerding it up at some fancy science school by now. At this point, all she could do was hope that she didn't have any classes with her and didn't have to speak a single word to her. As hurt feelings from the past started to surface, a curvy girl with pale lavender hair angrily threw her bag down and sat down a few seats down, crossing her arms in a clearly annoyed fashion. Marceline choose to ignore the scene, thinking she already more than fulfilled her charitable responsibility for the day. As a few moments passed, it was becoming incredibly clear that that option was no longer on the table. If she left the girl alone, she would probably create an even bigger scene and more attention was the last think she wanted.
She looked over at the girl out of the corner of her eye, "Alright, I'll bite. What's up?" she asked. This only seemed to set the other girl off, "What's up!? What's up is that I'm being force to attend this stupid lumping thing in the first place!" she exclaimed, drawing the eyes of a few unapproving teachers. "Why do we even have to be here today? It's not like we even have to go to all our classes or anything." she whispered, still keeping an annoyed tone. "It's not so bad, better than getting thrown into the fire on the first day I guess." she replied, trying to sound as sympathetic as she could muster. "Yeah, you're right. You really are nice despite how you come off and all." she admitted. "Wait what? People are already talking about me?" Marceline asked surprised, a little louder than she intended. "Oh yeah, I'm always up to date on the hottest gossip girl. You're the mysterious new transfer student, this is probably going to be the juiciest topic around here for at least a couple of weeks." she said confidently. "…perfect." Marceline replied. "It's Marceline, right? Everyone calls me LSP." she explained and smiled almost as if she was waiting for a reaction, but before Marceline could get a single word out, she spoke again, "Don't act so surprised girlfiend~ Like I said, I know about every little thing that happens around here." She said in a friendly tone, winking at the other girl. "Hmm, makes sense. But the only person I even talked to today was Mertens, just caught me a little off guard I guess." she suggested with a shrug. "Oh yeah, that boy is totally in love with me and junk. I know he can't resist me but I just can't be tied down to one boy when all the guys want a piece of this bod." she said as she retrieved a mirror from her bag and started to touch up her lipstick. Marceline couldn't help but laugh a bit, "You are a riot, LSP." she exclaimed, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye.
Before the conversation could go any further, they were interrupted by the sound of the other students grabbing their things and heading out to lunch. She lost track of time during their little chat and luckily the day was flying by. Right as she was racking her brain for an excuse to leave her new found acquaintance, she heard someone calling out to her across the room. She turned to see Finn eagerly waving her down. "Well, I suppose that's my que to go." she explained. LSP was already absorbed in her phone, probably catching up after being denied it for oh so long. She took a moment to wrap up whatever conversation she had been so immersed in and handed Marceline a piece of paper with what could only be a phone number. "Text me if you ever need dets about anything or anyone in this boring school. Nothing ever happens around here that I don't know about." she stated with an overly confident look before she quickly joined a group of other fashionable girls also glued to their phones.
Marceline started to gather her things once again and made her way over to the boy. He was standing next to a muscular blonde guy, stereotypical jock look. She dreaded taking to those types, but Finn was a nice kid and wouldn't be hanging out with a guy like that unless he was a decent guy. She braced herself as she approached them and took a deep breath before she spoke, "Hey Finn, what's up?" "You ready for lunch? I'm starving!" he replied. "You know it dude, hope we're having sandwiches today." the blonde said, almost ignoring her presence. Finn quickly stepped in and introduced the pair, "Jake, this is Marceline. Marceline, this is my brother Jake I was telling you about." Jake suddenly looked incredibly shy. She never imagined the guy Finn described to her would look like this, but it was definitely a welcome change of pace from the other typical meat heads she came into contact with in the past. Before anyone had a moment to protest, Finn spoke again, "Well, what are we waiting for dudes and lady dudes? Let's go get our grub on!" She looked over at Jake again, but he quickly broke eye contact. She thought it was funny that this beefy dude was intimidated by her. It didn't bother her a bit, it was more typical than any of the other events were so far today. The brothers started making their way out of the auditorium and she followed behind them.
The group arrived at the cafeteria and Marceline found herself unable to even hear her own thoughts over the sounds of her fellow students' echoing conversations. Fortunately, this wasn't their destination. Finn and Jake led her though the room to a back door of some kind. On the other side was a tree covered grassy area with a few picnic tables. While the outdoors wasn't exactly her favorite place to be in the middle of the day, at least it had some shade and was dead silent compared to inside. She tried to have a positive attitude about it, reminding herself once again that it could be worse. Everyone dropped their backpacks at the table in the far back corner of the yard and sat down. "We usually chill for a bit and wait for the lines to die down a little before we go get food. Cool with you Marceline?" Finn asked. "I'll just probably chill here while you guys go." she said while the pair looked at each other for a moment and then back at her with puzzled expressions. "I'm just really not into school food I guess. It always made me feel a little sick." she explained as Jake quickly spoke directly to her for the first time "Can I have your lunch th …ouch!" His sentence was interrupted by his brother elbowing him in the ribs. "Honestly, dude. Can you think of anything other than food for once?" practically scolding his older brother as if he were his mother. "What can I say? I'm a growing boy." he replied with a smile. "Anyways, well try to be back quick but in case the others beat us back here, we already told them that you'd be here." He could tell that she was feeling a bit nervous hearing that, especially after years of experience with Jake. "Don't worry" he assured her, "They're all super-duper nice just like me and if that doesn't convince you, I told them about what went down this morning and how you helped me out. They're going to like you, trust me." She wasn't as confident about all of this as Finn appeared to be, but she didn't really have a reason not to trust him after how nice he had been to her. "Yeah sure, Mertens. I'll be here." She replied in an unenthusiastic manner. The sophomore flashed a toothy grin and the two practically raced each other in the direction of the source of food.
The place was still practically empty still and with those two gone, she figured it was as good of time as any to play her bass a bit. She unzipped the soft padded case and removed the instrument within as she let out a sigh of relief. No matter what happened in her life, her bass was like her home that doubled as an emotional outlet. Just holding it relieved a bit of the stress from the hectic day she was having so far. She carefully tuned it and retrieved a pick from her pocket and took a deep breath. Right before she could play her first note, a girl with bright flame like hair quickly approached the table. Before she could even process anything, the girl softly smiled at her and spoke "So, you must be the infamous Marceline I've been hearing about?" she raised an eyebrow and laughed before she continued. "Don't look so stiff, I'm just joking around. Finn told us about this morning in our group text. I'm Phoebe, but everyone just calls me FP. Childhood nickname from my dad that I was never able to escape, I've learned to embrace it." She seemed nice enough but Marceline's casual conversational skills were rusty at best. Before she could come up with something to say, the redhead sat down next to her and gave her a curious look. "So, you know how to play that thing? she asked curiously. Before she could even answer, the brothers returned and sat down next to the girls. Jake immediately began gorging himself while Finn chimed in. "Yeah, I was going to ask you about that too before well… you know." Everyone shared a laugh for a moment, "Well, the things way too heavy to be considered a fashion statement." she said sarcastically. "I've been making music since I was a kid, guess you could say it's kinda my go to stress reliever." she suggested. "That's so cool! I wish I could play a rad instrument like that. All I know how to play is the flute, but Jake over here plays a mean violin!" he exclaimed in his normal enthusiastic tone. Jake sighed, "For the thousandth-time dude, it's a viola." He explained. The group shared another laugh and Marceline finally started to relax a bit until yet another person approached the table, interrupting the moment.
At this point, it almost wasn't a surprise that the girl in front of her was none other than Bubblegum. Of course she would have to be around her at some point, she was just hoping it'd be later rather than sooner. Instead of trying to rationalize the situation, she decided that she should just follow the groups positive vibes and try to be polite for now. "Hello Bonnibel~" she said in an attempted friendly manner as she waved at the girl. Bonnibel rolled her eyed, "Hey Marceline." She replied, seemingly annoyed at the other girl's presence. The tension grew as Finn forcefully spit out some of the juice he was drinking. "Wait… you two know each other?" he asked, looking confused. The girls looked at each other for a moment before quickly turning away almost in unison. "Marceline and I are childhood friends." she explained before quickly turning her attention to the source of sarcastic laughter. "Yeah, more accurately, we were." she corrected as she crossed her arms. Out of all the awkward silences today, this one takes the cake. This is pretty much the worst case scenario that could unfold in her new social life. Being more in tune to the situation compared to the boys, FP broke the silence, "Hey Bonnie, you think you could help me out with this chemistry problem? I don't understand bonds at all." She seemed so eager to turn her attention to anything but this conversation that she didn't even think about the fact that there was no way anyone had homework being it was only the first day of the semester and no one had even attended a single class yet. Marceline let out a sigh of relief and Phoebe smiled at her again. I definitely owe that girl one she thought and tried to enjoy the rest of the free time they had left.