A/N Story about love takes place 1970's Vietnam War Era
* This story will dabble in a bit of seriousness, but is meant to mainly be a story about two teenagers from opposite backgrounds, who defy the stereotypes they were raised in, and naturally fall in love in the most innocent way, they end up dealing with their feelings in a way that is raw, and honest.
* A lot of this story will be light-hearted, there will be some humor, and honesty. Please give it a chance.
* Enjoy (unbeta'd)
* I don't own these characters.
Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.
~Nikki Giovanni
Bonnie walked through the Double doors again of Mystic Falls high school. It has technically been a weekend since her first day of school, and after her emission about being proud of her heritage, she went home and had much to think about sharing with her class. Her mother told her she did the right thing, but her grams told her she needed to have an open mind.
Bonnie decided to be a little less intimidating today. She wore a skirt, because the weather was beautiful. Then she put on some clogs and a button up shirt with a floral motif. Her big hair was still big today. She knew her curly hair was intimidating. Even if most girls acted like they didn't care for her hair type, she knew the strong statement it made displaying her Pride. She walked in the class initially, and no one was there. She sat for a few minutes, until she realized no one would be coming. She thought maybe it was a cruel and practical joke they played on her, because she was the new girl. Scratch that, the new black girl.
When she gathered her school items, she tried to hurry and scoot on out and as she rounded the door way, she bumped into the hard chest of one blue eyed, raven haired boy.
"I am sorry. I am so clumsy."
"Oh that is my fault I am sorry."
"So it looks like I didn't get the memo today."
"Oh actually, we meet outside every Monday morning, if the weather is righteous."
"Right. I dig that. My old school never did nothing like that."
He stared at her for a while. All of her. He took her in and drank her up. She nit iced and casually crossed her arms in discomfort.
"I'm sorry, for staring. I just never seen a girl like you before so up close and personal."
"A girl like me?" She asked with an attitude. Her manners were shot to shit, no thanks to her momma.
"Yes, a beautiful, girl. You are absolutely beautiful."
Immediately she had no idea what to say. A white boy called her beautiful. He didn't notate that she was beautiful for a black girl either. Which was good, because if there is one of those ignorant phrases black women hate more than life, it is being told that they are "Pretty for a black girl" As if the standards are lower, and as if a black girls can't be as pretty as other types of girls. But this white boy, he said it the right way.
Bonnie blushed. Short lived, because she had no idea what his motives were for being nice to her. She reached out her hand to him to shake, "Bonnie."
"Damon."
"Nice to meet you!"
"Likewise." He held her hand a little longer than normal and got a complete feel for her skin in that moment. She was so soft and silky, he thought.
"Well, I guess I better get going with the class. Even though I don't know where they are." She said with a slight giggle.
"I actually came here to get you." He winked. She gave him a look as to say he better watch himself and his slick behavior, then she smiled because something about his smile made her want to smile.
"So where are you from?" He asks.
"N'Orleans." He says with a slight accent, which differs from his.
"Wow, and you made it all the way to the far out Mystic Falls?" He says sarcastically.
"Yeah, seems to be."
"So have you met anyone or made any friends?"
"Do I look like it? I think I scared people off with my bravado last week. I am used to standing alone though."
"Me too. I mean, I have a twin brother here, but we are so different from one another."
"How can twins be different?"
"He's more Beetles, and Elvis, I am more Led Zeppelin, and Johnny Cash."
"Oh I see. Interesting music choices."
"Oh yeah, what about you? What do you like?
"B.B. King, James Brown, Tina turner."
"Right on! Maybe we can listen to one another music one day."
"Um, I don't know about that."
"Why, are you shy, I don't bite."
"It's not that, it's just…"
"What?"
"I don't know you will have to get back with me on that." She smiled.
"I will." He smiled back. "Here's the class."
"Thank you!"
"Anytime."
They still stand next to one another in class, then when he realizes she is afraid to sit in her skirt, he offers her his leather jacket to sit on. They take a seat near each other on the grass. Stealing glances every few minutes, Damon has made Bonnie Blush. She knows she needs to stop before Marcellus finds out. She goes back to focusing on the lecture.
Bonnie finds herself distracted, yet trying to focus as much as she can. English in the morning was a lot to take in at such an early hour of the day. Although she considered herself a writer, she loved the imaginary aspect of it, not the tedious nature in which writing becomes hard work more lecture based than creativity based. Writing came easy to Bonnie. She had no idea if she was good or not, but when her pen met her paper, her heart did the speaking.
"Class, I would like you to pair up with a partner. Boy/girl. Everyone will study Act 2/ Scene 2 for reciting in 2 weeks in front of the class. We will be on the Lawn for every class when we do our Romeo and Juliet recitation. This is our first. We will eventually do the end of the play, but let us focus on Act 2 Scene 2 for now. If you can't find a partner, I will find one for you." Mrs. Shannon says to the class.
Bonnie feels bad about using Damon's jacket to sit on, so when the class gets up to find a partner, she figures she will give him his jacket before he gets separated from her for this group work.
"Hey, thanks. I have allergic reactions to grass, so you kind of saved my almost itchy behind."
"No problem, hey I was wondering if you'd like to be my partner for this?"
"Me, are you sure? I know the way Shakespeare writes, I will probably sound funny saying most of those words, and I'll embarrass you." She said honestly.
"I can't say any of it either, so this will be fun."
Bonnie was weirded out by Damon and his open ability to be friendly with her. She almost wonders where the practical joke is. White people, are not typically that inviting to her. Accept the ones that are from where she grew up. These realizations made Sheila angry with Abby; keeping Bonnie closed off to an understanding of the worlds culture as a whole. Black culture was important, but it wasn't the only culture Bonnie had to deal with in life to figure out her place in the world. Besides, Mystic Falls had more opportunity to Bonnie than New Orleans. At least for Bonnie once she got out of high school.
Bonnie looks at Damon and gives a giggle of defeat. Her face is always so tensed up that when he sees her giggle, unknowingly, he realizes there is a part of him that wants to get to know who she really is. What better way than Shakespeare? The poet of one of the most fatal love story of all times. Okay, so there was still Othello, and West Side Story, but this was bound to close some of the gap between their differences. Because, "Hey, everyone sounds stupid reading William Shakespeare. Who is worth sounding stupid for? Is the real question." Damon said.
She holds his jacket out to him, wiping off the loose grass.
"Why don't you let me walk you to your next class?"
"Uh – Listen, I don't-"
"Bonnie, it's just a friendly walk." He smiles. "You are a bit rigid. I'm gonna have to fix that."
She stares at him protectively. He walks very close to her and just looks into her eyes, making her skip a few breaths. When he moves away, she unknowingly exhales. "Where is your next class?"
"East Hall."
"East Hall it is."
They are walking and talking. Small conversation, but at best, pleasant. "Of course they are similar styles. You like Blues, I like rock. It all goes hand and hand. It is in the heart of the music."
"I think your music sounds like a headache. While mine sounds like heartache."
"There is a lot of heartache in rock. Sure half of it is due to drug use, but non-the-less… "He makes her laugh.
A voice calls from across the way, "Damon!"
"Hey Bonnie, this is Stefan, My twin brother. Stefan this is Bonnie."
Intrigued, by this new type of girl he just stares at her for a second.
After some awkward silence, "I'm sorry, nice to meet you."
"Thanks, nice to meet you. Okay, well Damon I will let you go, thanks for the walk." She shoots him a small crooked smile and he is sad to see her go, but loves the sight of her leaving.
"I'll catch you on the flip. Bon."
Stefan stared at an interesting site of Damon.
"Really? Stef. Did you have to interrupt; this couldn't have waited until you saw me alone?"
"I just wanted to meet her. I keep hearing about her, and it seems everyone knows you are the only person she talks to."
"Well, she is friendly. All anyone has to do is talk to her."
"Wow, she is-"
"Beautiful!"
Stefan is taken back by Damon's absoluteness in his statement.
"Just be careful brother."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean; I don't mean anything actually. Just be careful. I can see that you have a thing for her. It doesn't bother me. I can't speak for everyone. I will say I have heard other guys talking about her though. If you like her don't toy with her. She is in a vulnerable state-of-mind here."
"Stefan, not everything about me is reckless."
"I sure hope not, because she isn't the lucky "girl of the week" type of girl that you are used to. So don't treat her that way."
Damon looks at Stefan in a way to show both understanding, and disgust. He wouldn't dare treat her like a flavor of the week, although she'd be Mocha, no pun intended.
Bonnie is in her next class, and she is trying to focus. Her mind keeps going back to Damon, and guilt floods her body as she remembers Marcellus, and his beautiful brown skin contrasting his bright white smile. This image always graced her memories when she thought about him.
She was interrupted by her thoughts when she heard various whispers in her class, and undoubtedly they were about her. She hated people whispering about her and typically she spoke up. This week she was trying not to scare people off. She chose today to stay to herself and really focus on figuring out exactly what was expected of her from all of her teachers. This particular class was chemistry, and she stayed focus.
"Hey, Bonnie, right?"
She looked at the blond next to her?
"Caroline. Forbes. I'm sure we'll be lab partners for the rest of the year?"
"Yes, Bonnie. Nice to meet you." Bonnie turns around and focusses again. "Um, I know it is probably awkward of you to be in this new place, and I am not sure if you have made any friends, but I was thinking that maybe it would be fun to hang out sometime?"
"Oh, uh, wow." Bonnie wasn't sure how to take the blond girl. Shis girl looked like the exact opposite of everything Bonnie stood for. She looked like the type of person, Bonnie might have made fun of, and Bonnie thought the same about the blond, that she probably would talk about Bonnie when she wasn't around. "I actually don't really have time to just hang out, as my studies are very important."
"Oh, okay. I understand. Well, if you ever change your mind, and you just need a girlfriend, I am here. I know it seems we may not have much in common, but you never know. I think you have really groovy style Bonnie. Maybe one day when you aren't so busy, you can help me and my style out. It's a bit white washed, and no offence, but I always thought you girls had foxy style. No offense."
"You girls as in, girls with my melanin?"
"Yeah. Please don't feel offended, I have no idea what I am talking about."
"It's okay. I dig your honesty. I'll see what I can do. My momma is kind of strict."
'Awe, yeah. Right on. This will be exciting. Here, I'll write my number down and you let me know when you are available. Just don't call past 7:30 or my mom flips."
"Okay Carolina. Like North Carolina?"
"Just Caroline."
"Okay, 'Just Caroline.' The girls both smiled.
For the most part Bonnie's day was peaceful, and she had Caroline in two other classes outside of chemistry. She also had another class with Damon, but he wasn't there this afternoon. For the remainder of the day Bonnie went through her classes unscathed by too much scrutiny. She got the impression that her class mates were more afraid to approach her than anything. She was okay with it, because her dad always told her "It is better to be feared than to be too fearful." Her defenses remained on the up and up. She simply was ignorant to a lot of life outside of her "Blackness" and it felt as though Mystic Falls was trying to make her forget who she is. She didn't want to feel washed out, her blackness made sense to her, right? It was the only thing that she held value in, as she grew up. The Era where blacks were developing in independent nature, and fighting for rights and equality. Now she is thrown in this all white school, with only white people around for miles. Except her grams and her mom, and a few scattered neighbors. She was missing Marcellus more than ever right now. So when she got home, she called him.
"Hello, Mr. Gerard, may I speak with Marcellus."
"Hold on Bonnie."
"Hello."
"Hey Cello."
"My lil B, I miss you. How was your day at school?"
"It was nice. A couple friendly people made it a little painless. Other than that, I just a regular day in ghost town."
"You won't always call it ghost town."
"I'm not sure. I always feel like a ghost at school. Who knows if that will change."
"The funny thing is it feels different here with you gone. I am a little happy that you hate your new school. Because nothing feels the same here without you."
Bonnie starts to cry.
"lil B, what's wrong why are you crying?"
"Marcellus, It's just I am so lonely here. I can't do this. I just want to run away and leave."
"I hate the idea of you being far away, and I don't want to be separated, but we have to be strong. This is just a test for us. Maybe we need this, so that when you graduate, we can get married and be together again. I promise you that baby. Stop crying please. It's going to be okay."
"Okay, Marcellus. You promise?"
"I promise?"
"Okay, I should get to bed, school here starts earlier than school in NOLA, Cello, I love you."
"I love you to lil B."
She cries herself to sleep.
* Bonnie is slightly rough around the edges right now. She only knows how to relate to being black so she has a hard time understanding the nature of these new people as they slowly trickle into her life. Damon has proven to be something special already, and she feels connected to him. Caroline is now an acquaintance. Bonnie will soften up soon, but her rough, rigidness will play into her characters humor.