* This is a story about race, and love! Defying and transcending through the minds of two teenagers who can't help how they feel about each other. This story takes place 1970's Virginia, during the Vietnam War Era.
* This chapter has a possible TRIGGER WARNING at the end
* I do not own these characters, just the story (Unbeta'd)
* Please Enjoy
There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
The weeks were going by smoothly for Bonnie. She got to the point where she was looking forward to seeing Damon every day. He was always in first period. He actually started waiting outside of the class for her so they could sit next to each other in class. Since they were partners for Romeo and Juliet, it made it easier, when the teacher gave them time to work on their dialogue.
"Bonnie, Are those your real eyes?"
"As opposed to my fake eyes?"
"I mean, I have never seen a girl, like you with eyes that color."
"Damon, you mean a black girl?"
"Is that politically correct?"
"The word Black doesn't offend me."
"It offends some people, though."
"Well, do you prefer I call you White or Caucasian?"
"I guess I get your point."
"Do you know if we ever had kids, they would have the most drop dead gorgeous eyes, that anyone has ever seen?"
"Damon, why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"You know what you are doing Damon."
"No I don't." He says getting face to face with her.
"Damon, move back!"
"What is it Bonnie about me that disgusts you so much?"
"Absolutely nothing, it's just that, I have a boyfriend, Damon. When you do those things it makes me uncomfortable."
"It shouldn't make you feel anything unless you have feelings for me."
Bonnie looks at Damon, and shakes it out. HE smiles at the idea of making her uncomfortable.
"I am sorry; I don't mean to do that. I just have one of those personalities, I guess."
"It's okay."
"Say, I have some time after school today for practicing, how about you?"
"I suppose if I don't stay too long, I should be fine."
"Do you have a curfew, that early in the day?"
"No, my momma is pretty strict though."
"Well, I can always give you a ride home if you need."
The teacher lets them in class and they go directly to the area of the class where Damon always likes to sit. All the way to the back, all the way to the right by the window.
"Why do you always sit here, Damon?"
"So I can keep an eye on Stella."
"Stella?"
"Yes, my car."
"Her name is Stella?" Bonnie takes a look out the window. "Wow, that is your car? What the hell do you do so right, to own that car? Aren't you only a 17-year-old kid?"
"I am 18 actually. Hints I can leave before the day is over, and go home."
"No wonder why you are never in the other class we have together."
"We have another class together?"
"Yes, fifth period."
"I didn't realize, I always thought I had only four classes. "
"Wow, so if I haven't been there in a couple of weeks, I must be failing." He thought to himself and laughed.
"Damon, don't you get in trouble if you don't take your school work seriously?"
"My parents don't give a crap."
"Must be nice. My mother says I can't afford to fail if I want to go to college."
"College isn't my thing."
"You have a choice?"
"MR. SALAVTORE, and MS. BENNETT, IS there something more important going on that I should know about, that I should be teaching up here instead of the lecture at hand?"
"No ma'am, I am sorry," Bonnie says.
"Won't happen again Ms. Shannon." Damon throws out.
"Damon, Salvatore, you are going to get me in trouble. I can't sit by you no more."
"No. Don't say that, I will stop talking I promise. Just don't move seats, okay?"
"Okay." She looks at him and smiles.
He was so incorrigible. She was almost certain that being his friend would get her in trouble eventually. Somehow she looked forward to his presence. He always had something funny to day to make the class laugh. To top it off, he was the kind of boy her mom would never let her have as a friend.
"White boys don't want nothing from you Bonnie, but your body. Don't ever let a white boy charm you. When it comes to us black women, don't nobody want us but a black man. This is how we build strength in our community, loving each other, and procreating with our own. Don't ever think, that If a white boy gets you pregnant, he gone stick around. Because he won't. Then you gone turn yourself into a statistic. Giving people a reason to talk about you behind your back."
Bonnie, knew that even though she didn't think of Damon in a romantic way, her momma would have a problem with their friendship. She kept him a secret, and enjoyed him in secrecy. It was better that way for both of them. Besides, Bonnie was sure his parents probably had similar rules for him. At the end of class, they had to turn their desk towards each other and practice the dialogue from Romeo and Juliet. They came to a certain portion of the dialogue and spoke of it:
Romeo - O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
Juliet - What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?
Romeo - The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.
Juliet - I gave thee mine before thou didst request it:
And yet I would it were to give again.
Romeo - Wouldst thou withdraw it? for what purpose, love?
Juliet - But to be frank, and give it thee again.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
"Wow. To be honest, I am more of a Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, Langston Hugh type of gal. But if I'm being honest, this is deep. Wow, just a deep as anything I have ever read, and it is so tragic." Bonnie's eyes water.
"Bonnie, are you crying?"
"I just can't imagine how I would feel if someone denied me love. If I were denied to love someone, because we were from enemy families, or because… we were different. It is just an emotional thing to think about."
"I guess you are lucky you love a man, that your mother loves then, right?" He says with somewhat of a harsh tone. He didn't have to say it in any tone though, for him to understand the family she came from.
"What exactly should that mean to me Damon? I sense that there was deeper connotation in your dialect towards me."
He looked irritated at her ignorance about it all. "No, you must be overthinking things, Bonnie."
"Damon, don't be a jackass."
"A jerk? I didn't say anything."
"You made a reference towards Marcellus, and you don't have no right."
"Marcellus, is that his name?"
"Anyway. You have no reason to feel a way about him, and me."
"I don't." He says.
"Maybe, we should stop reading for now. I think I need to study for my chemistry quiz anyways."
"Sure thing tootse."
He irritated her when he called her tootse like that. She scrunched her face at him, then left the class without so much as a word.
When Bonnie got to her Chemistry class, she was slightly fuming. Caroline noticed and asked her what was wrong.
"Nothing. Just got a lot on my plate, waiting to take this quiz and get it over with already."
"Sam here."
Bonnie looked around the class, which was particularly quiet today, the teacher wasn't even in yet.
"Everyone must be nervous about the quiz. It is pretty quiet in here today."
"Yeah, this chemistry stuff is harder than it looks." Caroline says.
Bonnie notices a a guy in the back of class staring at her like she has shit on her face.
"Don't look now Caroline, but who is the guy that sits exactly two seats behind you?"
After about 15 seconds Caroline does a casual glance. "That is Kai Parker. He is related to the twins in our math class."
"Oh. I hate the way he keeps looking at me like I don't belong here."
"Don't mind Kai, he looks at everyone like that."
"Oh", Bonnie furrowed her brows and looked forward as soon as the teacher entered the class.
"Bonnie, did you ever talk to your mom about hanging out?"
"I try, but she is unapproachable most days. If I were you I wouldn't wait around for me, my mom tends to keep me from doing much since I have been here."
"What if I ask your mom?"
"Ha. I wish. I promise to ask her tonight, and let you know tomorrow."
It was easier when Bonnie thought she would come to this place and hate everyone. Now She has made two "sort of" friends, and probably couldn't even spend time with them outside of school. Her weekends dragged and she only spoke to Marcel for a total of 2 minutes a day or the phone bill would be high, and her Mom and Grams would never let her speak to him again. Now she had two people who could possibly help make the time go by quicker, and her momma was basically not going to let it happen.
The teacher went over the quiz results and both Bonnie and Caroline passed with 100% which had them both ecstatic. "Hey, just show your mom this test score, she is sure to let you hang out."
"Pfft!" Bonnie wishes it was only that easy. "If I get a chance to hang out I will let you know tomorrow."
Today Damon decided to show up to fifth period. It could be because he was probably failing, or because he realized Bonnie was in his class.
"Hey." He says to her.
"Hey."
"I am sorry for being a jerk earlier. You didn't deserve that. I guess sometimes I do and say dumb things. It is a problem I have always had."
"Ain't that problem called Foot in mouth disease?"
He laughs at her, causing her to laugh. They felt like forever friends.
"Are you going to still stay after school and read lines with me?"
"I can't Damon, I will miss the bus and my momma will kill me."
"I can take you home."
"I can't okay. I'm sorry,"
"How are we ever going to get our lines together? Everyone practices at some point together after school, except us. You realize it is your grade, right? Our grade?"
"Damon I told you that maybe I wasn't the best partner for you to have."
"Bonnie, why do I feel like you pull away from me. We are friends, right?"
"Damon, it is just that-"
"You embarrassed of your white friend?"
"Oh Hell, did you just say what I think you did?"
"I did Bonnie. You come here, barely talk to a soul, then leave and just like, who am I ya know? Are we friends?"
"What do you want from me Damon? I am new. My mom is strict, okay. She don't trust nobody. Not even me. So of course, I can't go places, or meet people, make friends, let alone bring 'em 'round."
"But she likes Marcel? Right? Didn't I tell you to leave Marcel's name out of your mouth?"
"Or what?"
"Damon."
"You don't even have to say it, because I know what it is. You never thought to consider, that by us doing THIS, this friendship thing… I think you don't realize I invest time in getting to know you, and when you brush me off as soon as class is done, it's like I am not good enough to be a part of your world."
"It's not what you think Damon, I just… you know, I guess it can't hurt if I stay for about 20 minutes today. So long as you can give me a ride."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, with a ride. And only 20 minutes, okay, no jive'n Damon."
"Okay. Right on Bonnie." He smiled at her and wanted more. But for now, 20 minutes was good enough.
They finished their class, and she went to sixth period study hall. He didn't have a sixth period, so he just waited around for her. She looks out the window and sees Damon waiting around for her. She smiles even though it feels weird for her. When the bell rings Bonnie's heart starts racing for some reason. Why? She sees Damon every day. She gathers her things and puts them away meticulously. Her back pack is filled with book and notebooks, and it weighs down on her shoulders. When she pulls it up to put it on, an arm catches hers and grabs it from her.
"I can help you with that. After all, it's almost as heavy as you." He laughs.
"Is not. It is heavy though. I can't believe how many books we get here compared to my old school."
"I know a perfect area we can do our readings, it's in the back of the school in a quiet area near the grandfather tree."
"Grandfather tree?"
"The oldest tree on the school campus, its over a 100 years old I hear, maybe a couple hundred. Wait til you see it, its huge and ancient." They start walking towards it.
"Wow, that is a thing of beauty. Ya'll definitely keep your town clean. I mean N'Orleans is pretty, but they don't take care of it the same as ya'll take care of Mystic Falls.
"Wow, that is sad to hear. But it's no one's fault if they don't know any better."
"Right. Okay, let's get this reading done." She says.
"After a while they were reading and got lost in time. Laughing and joking, it was evident they enjoyed one another's company. Bonnie looked at her watch and cringed.
"Oh my gosh, I am late I have to go. Damon, please we have to go now. I have 5 minutes to get home and the drive is 15 minutes away. Please. We have to hurry." She says and her fear is evident.
"Okay Bonnie, let's go. I'm sorry we lost track of time, we can go, I'll get you there on time. Okay, just trust me." He said. Somehow he knew his way around town and got her to a block away from home. When she got out of the car, he watched her as she walked home. He wanted to see where she lived. It was a beautiful two story house, with a baby blue color, and a white fence. It had a beautiful garden and American flag hanging on the walk way. When he drove a bit closer, he heard a slight bit of yelling coming from her house. Hoping she didn't get into trouble, he waited around a bit. After 15 minutes he saw a light go on in the top floor of the house, and there as her silhouette, putting her things away and she stayed in her room for hours and never came out. He did stay parked there, he had nothing better to do. After all, he spent his down time thinking about her anyway.
He remembered when they were reading earlier under the grandfather tree a little while ago. A particular couple of lines they read stuck out to him, because they seemed to have meant them when the read them to each other. As they were mere inches away from kissing one another, or at least, that is how Damon took it. Those lines will forever be burned into his head, under his forever memories of Bonnie Bennett.
Romeo - O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?
Juliet - What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?
Romeo - The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.
Juliet - I gave thee mine before thou didst request it:
And yet I would it were to give again.
He felt the words were a perfect depiction of his relationship with his little Bonnie. He couldn't wait to see her at school tomorrow. Especially after the day they had together. An emotional roller-coaster of confusion that happens when two people are falling in love with one another and have no idea about it.
He waited for her outside of first period and she showed up with her face downward, not her normal wide-eyed self.
"Bonnie?"
"Hey Damon," she said walking briskly past him. She went straight for the back where they always sat but this time she went for his seat by the window. "Bonnie, look at me."
He struggled a little to look at her face, but she wouldn't let him. "Bonnie." No one had showed up yet because they were usually earlier than everyone else. "Stop hiding from me." He was being a little forceful trying to figure out what she was hiding from him.
"Damon, stop it!" When her face shot up, he removed the scarf from around her face, and her sunglasses, and he saw it. A busted lip and bruise on the side of her face.
"Damnit, what the hell happened. Who did this to you?"
"Don't worry about it Damon, leave me alone."
"No, I won't. I can't. I am sorry this happened to you. Who's ass do I have to kick?"
"No one's."
"Tell me who did this."
"My momma!" She said loudly and her voice shook.
His face dropped and he understood all too well.
He hugged her and held her and let her cry. How could a parent leave a child feeling and looking this way.
A/N Poor Bonnie I hate that I had to write this in, but I have known what this story was going to entail since I thought of it. Hope this wasn't a trigger for anyone. Don't worry there wont be much of that happening at all because this fic is not primarily about that. It is over all a love story with a few bits of angst here and there.
* Romeo and Juliet By William Shakespeare play credits.