Chapter Text
A normal day or so it seemed. On time, rather, early to school, Ms. Bonnibel Burnett made her way to the teacher’s lounge, wanting to place her lunch in the fridge, grab some sugar for her coffee and hopefully spot some of her coworkers, dishing dirt on what was going on at the school. She wasn’t one for spreading gossip, but she did enjoy hearing it just so she could keep up with those around her. She hated being in the dark.
She did just that, placing her food away for later and finding the splenda, mixing it into her not-nearly-as-sweet-as-she’d-like-it coffee.
“I’m surprised you don’t have half a dozen cavities from how much sugar you use,” a familiar voice said. “Really love that sugar hrm?”
Bonniebel turned around to view her coworker, Ms. Phoebe Forest, currently a substitute teacher and teachers aide as she finished her degree. She’d come to work full time at their school next term. Bonnie had warmed up quite nicely to her over the recent year.
“I do. It’s my guilty pleasure,” Bonnie responded with a small laugh, noticing how Phoebe went right for coffee, black, leaning against the counter and going in for a sip.
“You’d think someone as in love with science as you would know how bad all that sugar is for you—“ she started as Bonnie crumpled her splenda packets and tossed them in the garbage, joining her by leaning against the counter.
“Believe me. Just because I do it, doesn’t mean I’m not aware. Being knowledgable doesn’t mean I act on the knowledge I know.” The same as a doctor who smokes, she knew what it did to her but she didn’t mind. Wasn’t as bad as actually smoking or succumbing to alcoholism. “How’s Finn?” Bonnie spoke up, lifting a brow as Phoebe lightly tapped her shoulder, giving a groan.
“Ugh… Don’t get me started,” she began, moving to pinch the bridge of her nose. “He brought me flowers last week, and this week he’s been insisting that I tell him my birthday so he can send me something.” She went to sip her coffee as she furrowed her brows. “He’s gonna get me fired…”
Bonnie laughed. The situation was tame if anything… well actually, quite hilarious. The current Ssenior student, Finn Mertens, had an undoubtedly huge crush on his History teacher, who happened to be Phoebe. School relationships between students and teachers were obviously forbidden and their school took it seriously. Regardless of legal age, unfair grades and opportunities could occur, a well as parental involvement which could later involve the police and other such things…
Phoebe was fresh out of college, but even still her maturity was far beyond Finn’s it seemed. Bonnie just felt bad for the kid, as she’d been his Science teacher since freshman year and knew he’d had quite a big crush on her, sending the flowers, offering birthday presents, even helping her constantly with bake sales or experiments as a personal assistant. He was a sweet boy, but again, legal obligations came first.
“It’s okay. The year’s almost over, then he’ll just be a normal 18 year old boy. He’ll ask you out on the last day of school and you turn him down and that’ll be that.” Bonnie had been told this very same thing when she’d seen Finn being more than persistent in her pursuit back when he’d entered high school. Thankfully Phoebe came along for her internship and she pulled all his attention.
“I hope so…” Phoebe stated. “I’d like to start my position as a new teacher next Fall without any rumours. That’ll piss off the superintendent something real good.” The two laughed at that, recalling how their Superintendent held quite a reputation amongst all the teachers. Whenever there was a problem, he’d just suspend the student, or give them detention for an unhealthy amount of time.
“Oh, speaking of new teachers,” Phoebe started, pushing off from the counter, catching Bonnie’s attention. “Music teacher is apparently ‘a babe’,” Phoebe said, showing the quotation marks in the air as she mimicked a fellow male teachers voice. “I don’t know. That’s what I heard the guys saying this morning.”
Bonnie just nodded. New meat. Hopefully she would fit in with the current crew, though hopefully someone younger, preferably not over the age of 40 and with an open mind. She was getting a little tired of having an entire fellow staff of women and men who were talking about retirement plans. Bonnibel had been hard at work during college, little time to party and play. She’d assumed once she started working, she’d get to make tons of friends, possibly a significant other of some kind, live comfortably, go out to fancy restaurants, live it up. Unfortunately becoming a teacher at a renowned high school while she continued her graduate degree was the path she’d chosen.
“Let’s hope she prefers drinks instead of early bird specials,” Bonnie laughed, seeing the clock and deciding she’d rather down the rest of her coffee instead of bring it to class. The coffee fumes might mix with the acid and she’d rather not leave the room smelling horrid for the next seven hours.
Phoebe noticed the time as well and patted down her dress. It was always good to get to class early, seeing as a late teacher was a lousy teacher in Bonnibel’s book, and leading by example was what she hoped to instill in her students.
“Have a good Monday,” Bonnie waved to Phoebe as she offered a sarcastic smile, but then a real one, the two parting ways.
The science wing was farther away than most other sections, seeing as they needed to accommodate so many facilities for accidental injury, having plenty of sinks, outlets, and open area’s for larger experiments. As well as the days they’d dissect this or that animal, the wing could smell horrible and most students would just complain all day.
Entering her room, she made her way to her desk, fixing it up and going over her schedule for today. It was a new semester so she was just going to keep the class simple, going over protocol, handing out information about the semester to come and starting experiments catered to each class.
Bonnibel was one of the more respected teachers, having been at the school for the last six years. She took great pride in her job because it was what she loved. Even though she did the same experiments each year, with the same types of students -ones who cared, ones who didn’t, ones who almost get their faces blown off- she enjoyed it each time. Each time things were a big different, and she enjoyed learning from each semester, what the students liked, what they didn’t like, what they wanted more of. She curtailed her classes to that.
Her first year she’d been quite a stickler, and her class evaluations saying she was… boring… hot but lame… kind of anxious… rambled a lot.
She’d gone through a lot of trouble and effort to fix what she could, eventually becoming one of the most liked teachers, though still hard on her students. She loved science and even though it could seem like an empty and boring subject, unlike creative writing or art, she felt strongly that it offered her more than most things.
The first bell of the day ring, signaling to the teachers that the students would start piling in, checking their lockers, talking to their friends, shuffling into the school from the parking lot. Bonnibel checked in the wall mirror, patting her skirt and blazer down, checking her necklace and hair band, making sure she looked good for her students.
She finally sat, watching the students come in, talking amongst one another and checking around the classroom for seats, some already placing huge binders down in empty desks for their friends.
“Sit anywhere you want. My class is open seating all semester unless you guys can’t handle it,” she spoke, going to the erase board and writing down her name, the class catalog number and the name of the course. “Welcome, to intro to Science. I’m Bonnibel Burnett and I’ll be your teacher for the next semester.”
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The day was going great. Based on her first three classes, it seemed like she would be having a fairly simple last semester. She hoped so. Checking over her last class, seniors only, she smiled at the familiar faces. Seeing Finn’s was something nice since over the years he’d become a sweet boy and she hoped he’d continue down that path.
As the students started coming in, she was given small presents from students whom she’d had in the previous years. She could tell because they resorted to her nickname, “Miss Bubblegum.”
The name had grown on the school after her first year. The class found out she’d had pink hair all through high school and college, but had dyed it her natural dirty blond to fit school regulations. When breast cancer awareness month came, the entire class had begged her to dye her hair pink for it and she’d somehow managed it. The school wasn’t too displeased with it and she’d been lucky enough to keep it.
With a class of students she knew well, this meant she could make the opening speech shorter and a little less formal. A much more relaxed class. A great way to end the day, especially because she was given some treats to take home and that would definitely be something to enjoy. Her students knew how she liked sweet treats.
The bell rang again and she went to the front of the class. “Alright! You’re all familiar faces, so I’ll save the long lecture and get through roll call so we can start up the semester.” She offered a smile, grabbing her glasses from her shirt pocket so she could start checking students. She started saying names, receiving anything but here’s to let her know they were there.
Getting to Finn’s she said it once, expecting random word of some kind to spew from him, but heard nothing. “Finn? Finn Mertens?” She called it once more looking around the room and her eyes settling on Jake, his best friend. “Jake, was Finn here today?”
“He was? I’m kinda surprised he wasn’t here before me, considering you’re teaching this class,” he laughed. It was true everyone knew how Finn crushed on Bonnibel and now Phoebe, finding it funny really.
Skipping class? Not like Finn. Maybe he was in the bathroom or went to the wrong class. She didn’t pay it much mind, going to finish roll call and hand out the syllabus to everyone.
Class continued as planned, a good twenty five minutes passing as the class began fiddling lab coats and goggles. She wanted to make sure the senior class would begin instruction as soon as possible since this was their last semester and she knew most of them would never take a science class again after this.
Without Finn there, she’d had to buddy up with a Jake, for the experiment, something simple to jog their memories after winter break—determining the density of liquids and trying to remember the good ole Density is equal to mass over volume. “Okay, everyone please put on your goggles! Nothing is acid, but getting lemon juice in your eye is nothing short of terrible,” she announced, the class laughing and preparing to start the experiment—that is until foot steps were heard coming down the hallway, rather hastily.
Everyone looked up as the door burst open causing Jake to jump and spill the water all over himself and Bonnie. At first she jumped, but realizing it was just water and most of it seemed to fall on her lab coat, she brought her attention to the door.
Finn was almost out of breath as he came in, holding his hand up. “I-I…” he said, catching his breath,” I have a good… excuse…”
“Yo boy, where you been!” Jake shouted as he started to clean himself off, the class laughing and chuckling as Finn moved to check down the hall.
“Finn, where were you? It’s the first day back so I won’t dock you but-“ She was cut off as someone entered the room behind him. Another student? She didn’t have anything else on her schedule. Perhaps the hall monitor? Was Finn caught doing something not very wholesome, enough to get escorted to his class, running apparently, and almost thirty minutes late? She noticed the way Finn looked at her and suddenly blushed, quickly looking away.
“It’s my fault, I’m super duper sorry,” the girl said, waving her hand.
Hooting and hollering suddenly came to life in the classroom. “Got a new girlfriend!” Someone shouted, the girls in the back chattering and the boys whistling at Finn for “scoring”. Bonnie shushed her class, giving them a shameful look.
“Finn, go sit with Jake. He’s gonna explain to you the lesson okay?” She offered him a smile, as the boy was blushing profusely, presumably embarrassed by his classmates to no end.
“Dude shut up-“ Finn told Jake who was laughing, smacking the others back.
Bonnie turned away from her class to the other girl she’d almost forgot was there… and once she finally took a good look at her, she could see why the class was causing such commotion.
Tall and thin, long black hair, casual attire, a bra strap sticking out, boots up to her thighs… She was barely past school regulation… Though Bonnie couldn’t talk, since she had pink hair currently.
Bonnie ushered the girl over to her desk but she shook her head. “Let’s… talk outside,” she said, turning to the door.
Bonniebel was confused at first but assumed maybe the conversation needed to be more private. She grabbed one of her late excuse passes, ready to write it and hand it to the girl so she could return to her class without getting in trouble.
Once they were out of the class room, Bonnie started speaking. “Thanks for escorting Finn to the class, but I don’t think I feel comfortable having you both be late for lessons.” She pulled out a late pass... “It’s the first day back, so your teacher should be lenient on you. And I’d really reconsider your outfit choice. The school is pretty strict, and some of the other teachers will pick quite a fight with you over your bra showing.” she said as she scribbled onto the paper, only to hear a soft laugh.
“I look that young?” Bonnie turned her head up to view the girl.
“I-“ she paused, lifting her brows. “You’re not a student?”
The, now a woman, laughed loud, parting her lips to show well defined canines, and shook her head. “Nope Though I’m pretty flattered you think I can pass for a high school senior.”
Bonnie blushed quite quickly, feeling sorry for assuming she looked so young. It was a compliment sure, but not if one was suffering from looking young like Bonnie had suffered most of her college years. Having a round face was a curse and a blessing.
“I-I’m so sorry! I thought—“
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I get that a lot.” She moved to take her hair, brushing it so it fell over her left shoulder. “Anyways, Finn’s late cause of me. He stopped by the music room during his free period and caught me jamming on my bass. He plays some pretty rad instruments, and I guess we lost track of time.”
Really? How unprofessional could you get? Wearing an outfit barely school regulation, showing up to class with a student and the late excuse was, “I was jamming to some gnarly tunes and lost track of time man,”? Bonnie wasn’t too pleased to hear this, giving a sigh. This must be the illustrious new music teacher she’d heard of.
Sure, she was very beautiful and if she brought up a fuss about her making her students late, all the male teachers and students would be irritated. She sighed and nodded, trying to understand. “Not the best excuse, but again—first day of class, and it’s your first day here too.”
“I know, I know… again, really super sorry. Won’t happen again, I promise,” the other woman said, raising her hand in scouts honour. “If it’s any consolation, he was talking you and some other teacher up quite a bit…” she started.
Bonnie wasn’t surprised, seeing as she’d known Finn possessed a dying crush on her ever since his sights had set on Phoebe. “I’m sure he did… Hopefully he said good things,”- and not delusional things.
“Said you’re real smart. You teach like half the science classes here. Said you love pink and even have pink hair… and a couple other things I think he’d be embarrassed about if I mentioned,” she teased, smirking slightly.
“I’m sure I have an idea of what he said,” Bonnie stated. “Anyways, thanks for escorting him and explaining the situation. Hopefully, it won’t happen again, right?” She lifted a brow, trying not to act half as peeved as she was about regulations being ignored and treated like something funny.
“Got it. No more jam sessions,” the other nodded, reaching a hand out. “I’m Marceline Abadeer by the way.”
Bonnie hadn’t expected the introduction, seeing as they’d all be meeting up later this week for the monthly meeting. “Oh uh,” she reached out, noting how cold the hand she held was. “Bonnibel Burnett. You can call me Bonnie though.”
Why did she say that? Not that she wanted her to call her Miss Burnett like her freshmen students, but Bonnie was her nickname she normally liked to keep within her close circle of friends. Her subconscious clearly wanted Marceline to know her on a more comfortable level. That was slightly embarrassing to admit.
The two parted hands finally and Marceline gave another smile, this time Bonnie noticing how perfectly aligned her teeth were.
“Well, Miss Bonnie Burnett… I guess I’ll head back to my classroom now.” Marceline bowed her head just slightly. “I’d be too afraid to leave a bunch of high schoolers alone with burners and chemicals with no supervision.”
Bonnie couldn’t agree more. “Thank you. I’ll… see you around.” Bonnie wasn’t sure how true that would be, but it was the polite thing to say. She was still thoroughly embarrassed about mistaking the teacher for a student.
“Oh, and by the way…” Marceline suddenly started. “If bra’s aren’t in regulation… you might want to change your shirt.” That elicited a confused facial expression from Bonnie, until she looked down. “Good to know you really like pink…”
The water from earlier had stained her shirt but more importantly, the sheer fabric was completely see through and showing off the frilly pink bra she wore beneath it. Her hands moved so quickly, grabbing the sides of her lab coat and quickly buttoning it up. Had the class seen? Was this why they were out in the hall? Why hadn’t she said something earlier? She’d been talking to the teacher with her breasts practically hanging out for almost five minutes!
When she finally looked up, Marceline had disappeared, and Bonnie was left with all her questions and realizations. She then held her face in her hands as she realized this was why Finn had been blushing when she looked at him. Thankfully her lab coat covered her shirt… She just hoped it dried up before she’d leave, or else she’d have to go grocery shopping in a lap coat.
So far, Marceline Abadeer seemed like trouble, which was odd for a teacher. She wasn’t sure if it was refreshing or terrifying. Either way, Bonnie didn’t have time to assess the situation as she heard the door to the room open, a student shrieking.
“Miss Bubblegum! Daniel got lemon juice in his eyes!” Bonnie just groaned as she raced back into the class room, getting the student over to the sink to rinse out his eyes.