Chapter Text
Bonnibel looked at the School wearily. Today was her first day of Junior High, and she was nervous about going into the school. Her mom had picked out her outfit for today; a magenta dress that stopped right at her thighs, purplish-pink leggings, and pink tennis shoes. Bonnibel had chosen to wear a pink jacket over her dress, making her more comfortable. She wore her hair in a pony tail per her mom's request, and wore her big round glasses despite the fact that in made her look like a nerd along with her braces. "Scared?" Bonnibel twirled around to see her best friend Marceline looking at her with a smirk. Marceline always looked cool, no matter what she wears. today she sported a dark navy-purple shirt and some jeans, and her, lush, wavy hair was in two low pigtails.
"N-No!" Bonnibel squaked indignantly.
"Well then come on, otherwise I'll leave you behind!" Marceline yelled as she ran up the steps to the school. Not wanting to be left behind, Bonnibel ran after her friend.
***
Bonnibel wandered the halls to her classes, often times having to chase after Marceline who would walk her to each of her classes. Bonnibel felt embarrassed when she exited her classes to find Marceline waiting to take her to her next class, like she was a child that needed to be taken everywhere.
***
"Come on! We'll be late for the Garage Band Club!" Marceline yelled back at her friend. Bonnibel was panting as she tried to keep up with her friend who was overly excited for their club.
Eventually she finally caught up to Marceline at the door. She was about to complain to Marceline about running too fast when she caught a glimpse of the classroom they were at. "Surprise! We didn't actually have a Garage Band Club Meeting! Today we're going to the Junior Scientists Club!" Bonnibel looked at Marceline in surprise. "I figured we shouldn't just do a club that I like, so I signed us up for the Junior Scientists Club at the beginning of the year and kept it a secret to surprise you!" Bonnibel smiled.
"Welcome girls." The teacher said. "Simon, I didn't know you taught the Junior Scientists Club too!" Marceline exclaimed. "Marceline, it's fine to call me by my proper name when we're practicing in the Garage Band Club, but here, because science has more rules and precautions and isn't as free and easy going as music, I'd like you to call me Mr. Petrikov like you do during class."
"But she's never called you Mr. Petrikov in class." Bonnibel blurted without thinking. Marceline laughed. "Nice one Bonni!" Mr. Petrikov frowned at Bonnibel who looked back in apology. "Nevertheless, you need to call me Mr. Petrikov while in this Club, otherwise you won't be doing science with Ms. Renfield for very long." Marceline stuck out her tongue. "Bleh! Just the name itself is enough to make me sick!" Marceline whispered to Bonnibel, who giggled in reply before straightening up when Mr. Petrikov glared at him. "Alright, whatever you say Mr. Petrol!" Marceline said with a laugh. This made Mr. Petrikov livid and he all but kept his anger hidden despite trying very hard to.
***
The year went on and soon Marceline and Bonnibel moved on to the 8th Grade, and that's when things began to go south.
***
"Happy Birthday Mrs. Abadeer!" Bonnibel said happily. It was Marceline's mom's 35th birhday, and Bonnibel had decided to accompany Marceline in missing school to be with her mom today.
"Oh Thank you Bonnibel." Mrs. Abadeer said happily. She lay on a cot in the hospital, an IV dripping into her arm. She had grown frail over the summer and looked almost like a skeleton. Mrs. Abadeer had been discovered to have multiple myeloma, a cancer similar to Leukemia, but attacks the plasma of the white blood cells instead of mutating the white blood cells themselves. With the plasma cells unable to create anti-bodies, Mrs. Abadeer began to experience symptoms similar to AIDS, in that her immune system was lowered. On top of this, Mrs. Abadeer had caught Pneumonia, which was the reason she was in the hospital.
Bonnibel smiled back at her best friend's mother. She wore the same outfit she wore her first day of junior high, only now it just barely fit her right. Within a year she'd no longer be able to wear it.
"How you feeling right now mom?" Marceline asked. Marceline had began to wear darker clothes after learning of her mother's cancer, her clothes growing darker as she grew more and more scared. It shocked her how within just a few months her mother had become so weak, and her life had changed so drastically. She was even more surprised, however, at how well her mother was taking it.
"I'm fine Marcy. You don't have to worry." Mrs. Abadeer said calmly, smiling in the face of her situtation. For some reason, her smile triggered something in Marceline and she soon broke into tears. She cried, collapsing in her mother's arms, holding her in sadness.
***
Soon after her 35th birthday, Mrs. Lydia Abadeer passed, finally succumbing to her Pneumonia.
***
Over winter break, Marceline and Bonnibel spent time at Bonnibel's house like they do every year.
"Hey Marcy, you doing alright?" Bonnibel said, concerned about the black eye she had. Marceline's father had begun to drink and occasionally would black out and begin to abuse her. Sometimes he'd go after her brother, Marshall Lee, but Marceline would always take a hit for him. Once this had begun, Marceline had started to distance herself from Bonnibel.
"I'm fine, just leave me alone Bonnibel." Marceline said.
***
Soon Bonnibel's mom became the CEO of the Bubblegum Toys industry, an industry that she had worked at for years, and was the COO for quite a while before finally becoming CEO that year. This caught the interests of the clique of Aria Avery Anderson Junior High over the summer before their first day of High School. That summer, Bonnibel changed, unbeknownst to Marceline who was busy dealing with her father that summer and hadn't talked to her once.
***
"What're talking about Bonnie? We're best friends!" Marceline said. They were at lunch and Bonnibel had just denied Marceline a seat at the table. "We may have been best friends in Junior High, but this is High School, and I have new friends. So just go on and sit over there with all the other goths, lord knows you're one after the death of your mommy! I bet your mom died BECAUSE you're such a whiny brat like all the other goths." Marceline blushed. Bonnibel knew she wanted to keep her mom's death a secret, and yet she had gone off and told these prissy populars about it. "Aw, did I hit a sore spot? Are you gonna go cry to your mommy? Oh wait! You can't! She's dead!" Bonnibel and the other populars began laughing. Marceline was astonished, her best friend since middle school had betrayed her and told her secret to all these prim and proper girly girls. Upset, Marceline ran off, and left the school building. That's when she ran away with her brother to her Aunt's house.