Bonnie pressed her forehead against the cool metal walls of the bathroom stall. She groaned lightly into her hand, wincing and wondering how long she could manage to hide out in here.
That new kid, Kai?
She couldn't describe it. It was like something was tugging her to him, some unseen force pushing her. Manipulating her thoughts. Moving her soul.
She had known him all of ten minutes and she was bewitched in a way she thought impossible. There was something to him she couldn't quite place and she was all too curious to unravel it, reveal it all.
Liv was too busy writing Tyler's name over her notebook to notice how preoccupied Bonnie was with him, but she was sure that he knew. She was sure that from his hidden smirk, his dark eyes and his raised eyebrow when he subtly turned toward her, he was incredibly aware he was being watched.
As the bell rang, just before he slid out of the classroom, he turned to her.
"You're Liv's best friend?" He asked, chin raised and expression shuttered as he stood, tightly trained on her.
"Bonnie, yeah," Bonnie managed in reply, holding her books tight against her chest, trying to ignore the electricity that seemed to zap between them. God, she sounded insane, didn't she?
"Hmm." Was all he said, a curious hum. He leaned over her fingers to see the edge of her class schedule peeking out. "Well, it seems we have chemistry together."
"Huh?" Bonnie said, heart, leaping in her throat.
"The class. Fourth period," Kai said, his eyes laughing, but it wasn't the lighthearted kind she expected to see. There was something ominous about it, "See you later Bonster."
She'd taken refuge in the bathroom right after third period. Half-way a mixture of lust and half-way a mixture of unknown shame, she felt as though she was not mentally prepared enough to venture back out into class. She didn't know how to face him, not after she was so ineloquent in front of him, not when there was something weird going on altogether.
She heard the door opening right as the bell rang to signal the start of fourth.
"Rebekah, where's my lipstick?" Someone snapped.
"Sorry, it's right-,"
"I'm waiting." There was a slam of the stall next to Bonnie and a long sigh from outside, "Again? That's twice in one day and it's hardly even lunch."
Bonnie's mood soured instantly. She sucked in a hard breath, now wanting to be anywhere but this bathroom.
There was no question that lingering outside the door was the untouchable trio of the Heathers; Caroline Heather Forbes, Rebekah Heather Mikaelson, and Vicky Heather Donovan.
Bonnie used to be best friends with Caroline, funnily enough. Her, Elena, and Caroline were three peas in a pod when they were in elementary school before Liv moved here. It wasn't Liv's arrival that broke up the group. What changed Caroline and made Bonnie and Elena stay the same, Bonnie couldn't say. It was like one day Caroline woke up and decided she was going to be popular and thus she was.
Somehow, the two lackeys came later. Materialized from thin or the will of Caroline's being or something.
There had been the general acknowledgment in their youth that these three girls all shared a middle name, but it was nothing more than a fun playground fact until middle school. Apparently, there was something in the air when parents were picking out girl's middle names in the early nineties. Bonnie and Elena, regrettably, did not share this weird coincidence, however, Bonnie would have doubted that it would have made a difference. Sure, when she was twelve, she used to be upset she wasn't a 'Heather' too, she liked to think she moved on from it.
Somehow, as every good high school girl gang needs a totally annoying name, they ended up being dubbed as 'The Heathers' by the rest of the school.
Bonnie wished she could just not give a damn about them.
She really, really, really did.
But she was a little bitter, alright? High school seemed so easy for all of them, whereas it seemed like a war every single day for Bonnie. She wasn't sure how they did it all; got good grades, dated the most popular boys, reigned supreme...it was like one of those shitty 'pick two, can't have all three', except they did have all three. Some parts of Bonnie had been trying to analyze it for years with little success.
There was vomiting from the stall next to Bonnie.
Vicky. Perpetually on 'something' and usually barfing up everything before 10 A.M. You thought you had mental issues? You had nothing on Vicky and her wide array of mental or physical shortcomings, most all in her mind.
"You okay?" Rebekah asked, leaning too close for comfort on Bonnie's stall door.
"Fine," Vicky responded, but she hardly sounded fine.
Rebekah was rich as hell from...well, from something, and her personality seemed to revolve mostly around that. The only other notable thing about her was that she was a cheerleader, which was just so predictable, wasn't it?
"Bulimia is so last year, honestly," Caroline drawled from outside, a tinge of disgust in her voice. She'd been kind once, Bonnie recalled. Just as quickly as she'd dropped her old friends, she'd found a personality that was completely different. She was what Bonnie would call a mythic bitch. All of her insults probably should be written for posterity by their utter genius and sheer levels of destruction.
Not that the other two didn't know how to make you want to sob behind the school. Maybe that was the clue to never being bothered...be mean enough that you always threw the first punch. Most people wilted and never got around to insulting them in the first place.
The door opened a second time to the bathroom.
"Girls, why did I predict you'd be lingering in here?"
"Ew, Mr. Saltzman," Caroline huffed, "This is the girl's room."
"If you were in class, then I don't think I'd need to be checking," He said, "Detention, all three of you."
Bonnie grabbed her notebook, taking out a yellow slip from the back pocket. She wasn't sure what possessed her. Call it Kai's presence had fried her brain and good sense, call it that she didn't want to be on Saltzman's shit list either and have to return to the fourth period, or call it senior-year goodwill. Whatever it was, Bonnie was suddenly furiously scribbling.
"Actually, uhm," Bonnie said, opening the bathroom door to the surprise of everyone, "We're all on a hall-pass."
There was silence from the Heathers behind her (sans Vicky still upchucking whatever Starbucks she'd gotten on the way here) and from Alaric Saltzman in front of her.
"Fine," He said after a long moment, biting out the words with a sense of frustration and defeat, "Just...get where you need to go."
He handed it back to her, letting the door he was holding open with his foot slam behind him.
"Who are you?" Rebekah asked, narrowing her eyes at Bonnie as though she'd never seen her before. Which, honestly, she might not have. At least, not registered it.
Caroline plucked the hall-pass from Bonnie's fingers.
"Excellent forgery," She commented, a question existing without saying it specifically.
"I picked it up in art class," Bonnie said, "Wasn't good at much else, but I was great at copying fonts and all." She said breezily. She'd never tried something so bold, though she'd done little things. She'd managed to memorize both of her parent's signatures, as well as her grandmother's, "I crave a boon."
"From a nobody like you?" Vicky sneered, wiping the back of her hand over her mouth.
"Shut up," Caroline said, sending Vicky a hard glare. Vicky shrunk under her stare.
"Sorry," She mumbled like a puppy kicked by its owner.
Caroline turned back to Bonnie, fingers creasing the edge of the paper.
"I'd like to just get through this senior year without dying," Bonnie said, the words spilling out in one breath, "So you spread around to everyone that I'm not to be bothered and we call this even. I can also do report cards...permission slips...absence notes…"
"Prescriptions?" Vicky piped up, though was silenced by a glare from Rebekah as well as Caroline again.
"Maybe it's a trade," Bonnie finished with a shrug, "Just, consider it."
Caroline was, from the looks of it. Bonnie willed the good-natured and the former friendship they'd once had to prevail, though she wasn't sure that Caroline recalled any of that. She wouldn't be surprised if Caroline hadn't burned all their childhood pictures and wiped any memories of Elena or Bonnie from her mind.
"You know, Bonnie, you've always been attractive."
From all the things that could exit Caroline's lips, this was the least expected.
"Uhm, thanks?"
"Very symmetrical face," Rebekah said, circling Bonnie like a shark, "That's very important."
"You could stand to lose a few pounds, though," Vicky snapped, poking Bonnie sharply with manicured nails.
"This could work."
"What?" Bonnie asked, failing to understand what the three Heathers had picked up on that she somehow hadn't.
"You want a trade, how about this? If you're a Heather, you don't get bothered. We could use someone like you."
"I'm sorry, you want me to join your group?" Bonnie asked, a wheezing laugh escaping her lips, "You're serious."
"If you want to be bullied the rest of the semester…" Caroline shrugged, "I mean, I couldn't compare, but I suppose…"
"No jokes, no hidden cameras, right?" Bonnie asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
"It's our senior year. We could certainly benefit from someone to help us skip days or get out of class whenever we're not feeling it. You're presentable enough, maybe with a few tweaks, to pass as part of our group. That's what you want in return, isn't it? Immunity."
"Well, yes, I guess that…" Bonnie licked her lips, "Okay, yes. Yes." She said, nodding hard. All she could think was that senior year was going to be a breeze like this. If she had the fortune and the patronage of the Heathers, for a very small fee, she'd be well on her way to success.
"How long does this have us out for?" Caroline asked out loud, turning the hall-pass to read the scribbled writing.
"All period, if needed," Bonnie said, having done so mostly for herself rather than their benefit.
"Fantastic, we'll need the time."
She snapped her fingers and both of the other girls dove into their backpacks, fishing out bags onto the sink's countertops.
"To do what?"
"To get you ready to be presented to the school, of course. If you're going to be one of us," Caroline said, backing Bonnie into a wall, holding a tube of lipgloss like it was a knife, "You're going to need to look it. Rebekah, find me my makeup brushes."
