Marceline had honestly expected to live in another palace like in California. A typical creamy white mansion with a big fountain and perfectly trimmed hedges out front. Typical rich people houses. But when the limo had pulled up the mile long gravel driveway, she hardly expected to enter the grounds of this hidden house deep in the forest. It was an A-frame cabin, with all the windows trimmed in various shades of brown and black. It stood three stories high easily, but had a very small cozy atmosphere. She gaped, eyes wide in awe as she wandered the grounds of her new abode. This was quite literally the house of her dreams.

The back yard had a grand garden with hundreds of varieties of wildflowers covering the ground like snow. The house was surrounded by crawling vines, tiger-lilies and fox gloves making it look like something out of a fairy-tale. All it needed now was white smoke billowing out of the chimney.

"We're headed inside Marcy, meet you in there after you're done admiring the place" Her father gave her a small smile and lead her mother into the house, his hand on the small of her back. Marceline rolled her eyes and made a circle back through the garden. It was just about time to go inside anyway.

When she entered and removed her shoes, her feet sunk into the thick shag carpet, and she let out a welcomed sigh. She wandered through the archway and into the grand room. The back wall facing the dark woods was made entirely of glass, reflecting the gray light into the room. It seemed like the house was built in a forest clearing on purpose, the view was breathtaking. It was almost like she wasn't even a part of society any more. She could barely hear the soft roar of cars on the road at the end of the driveway. She just might like it here after all.

Now, onto claiming her spot in the house. Marceline hustled up the winding staircase, taking two steps at a time.

In all, it took Marceline the entirety of Saturday and Sunday to move everything into her new room. She had grudgingly refused help from her parents and the hired movers, opting to move the heavy trunks up the stair case to the second floor master suite herself. She was the only one occupying the second floor, her parents had taken up residence in the large private suite on the first floor, and Quentin had chosen the furnished attic as his room.

The room she chose was large, and the walls were a grotesque shade of pea green. Marceline opted to head to the store and pick up some black chalkboard paint and red black-out curtains for the windows. The only good thing about the room besides the master bathroom was the large bay window facing the outer ring of the woods. If she stepped out of her bedroom door and turned left, she would be facing the wall of glass that made up the back half of her house.

Sunday night when she had organized and furnished her room to her liking, she decided it was time for a long hot bath. The raven haired girl switched on the faucet to the claw foot tub and let it fill with the steaming water, adding liberal amounts of rose bubble bath as she flipped on the radio to some alternative station she found and slipped with a sigh into the bath, letting all the stress melt away, and her mind wander.

What if she didn't like this new school? It wasn't like she knew anyone, and she sure as hell wouldn't hang out with her brother and the new jock friends he was sure to make the first five minutes of the day. She needed to come up with a strategy, and fast. Would she be the rich loner girl like back in California, hanging out with, how did her parents put it? 'The wrong crowd' that only wanted her for her money?

She sighed once more and slipped her head under the water, listening to the sound of the base of the music reverberating around in the tub. Maybe her mom was right. She could just make a fresh start here, make some friends who actually liked her for who she was, and nothing else. But what if they didn't like her? Panic rose in her throat as she sat up, sloshing water over the side of the tub.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the porcelain rim of the tub, utterly missing her old life.

"Come on baby, turn over for me. Just this once" Bonnibel stroked the steering wheel of her car lovingly, her head hung low as she closed her eyes and tried once more to bring her car's temperamental engine back to life. Her index finger and thumb tightened around the key, and as if it were good as new, the damn thing roared to life. Bonnibel let out a triumphant grin and bounced a bit in her seat as she left the drive way.

"You excited Bonni?" Ryker was busy occupying himself with his game-boy in the back seat, his fingers flying robotically about the device, small automated sounds coming in soft waves from the glowing screen

The girl in question just shrugged and tipped her head to the side, her left hand resting comfortably on her lap wheel the other held the bottom of the wheel loosely,

"I don't see why I should be. It's just another year of school. Ask me again in June" she smiled over her shoulder at her brother. The date with the little brunette had gone well enough for him. He had come home with a bright smile on his face, and even Riddley's teasing didn't seem to phase him. He even declared that she had asked him to sit with her at lunch. Bonnibel was proud to see him act on his own without his twin around.

Riddley, with her chestnut hair up in a messy bun, had her head leaned up against the window, leaving a little pool of condensation from her steady breathing. Bonibell huffed gently and shook her sister's shoulder-

"Hey, no falling asleep now. You won't be able to focus all day" Riddley swatted halfheartedly at Bonnibel's hand and mumbled something about getting five more minutes of rest. The drive was quiet and went just as fast as it had every year Bonnibel had gone to school here. She eased into a parking spot close to the front entrance and purposely slammed on the brakes. Riddley was jarred awake, and gave Bonnibel a wild half-cognizant look and darted out of the car, Ryker following close by. The pink haired girl chuckled and opened the squeaky door, clambering up onto the hood of her car. She didn't have class for almost twenty minutes, and it was tradition for the seniors to loiter in the parking lot before classes.

Normally, Bonnibel would just shuffle off to her locker and collect her books for first period and end up sitting in the empty room studying or working on some more problems in her notebook. But whatever force possessed her to stay in the parking lot that day seemed extremely strong. Bonnibel drew her knees up to her chest and pulled a worn paperback copy of Looking for Alaska out of her bag. She pushed her round, over sized glasses up on her nose and dove headfirst into her novel.

She herd laughing and roaring engines of the rich kids cars rise and fall as they revved them for one another, showing off their power like some primal idiots hellbent on proving they were the strongest. She didn't have to look over her shoulder to confirm that most of them were the Ooo High football players. She rolled her eyes and made a choking sound in the back of her throat. It was only the first day, and already the cliques were forming.

To Bonnibel's back were all the jocks. Soccer stars, football players, their cheerleader girlfriends. To her left were the art geeks lounging on the sidewalk deep in conversation. To her right were the 'freaks'. Kids too dumb, or too lazy to pick a group to blend in with. So they just herded together like a flock of sheep, blank stares on their faces. Other little groups of kids gathered, and Bonnibel, oblivious to all of it, kept reading. She almost didn't hear the sleek black and red Kawasaki Ninja pull smoothly up beside her, or the tense silence that filled the parking lot either.

The first thing she noticed was obviously the bike. It looked brand new, polished up to perfection as if the rider had rode it straight off the showroom floor. The second was their outfit; All shiny black leather, down to the boots. Their helmet was a glossy midnight black, with red swirls that seemed to bleed into the black perfectly. The only identifying factor about the rider that told Bonnibel anything about them was the initials embroidered in loopy cursive on the jacket's left breast pocket; M.A.

The engine of the bike was cut effectively, and the rider sat up, stretching their neck from side to side. Bonnibell noted out of the corner of their eye that they had a tattoo that looked like vampire fang marks on the side of their neck. Hmm, edgy. This guy was definitely not from around the conservative town of Ooo. Bonnibel turned her eyes back to her book.

That was, until the rider's long black sheet of hair cascaded down from the helmet. Bonnibel's eyes darted back to the rider briefly in surprise. A girl? She closed her book and pretended to stretch, noting their close proximity to one another. Where did this girl even come from?

Almost instantly, the whispering began. Quiet murmurs of 'Woah' and 'Who is she?' along with 'What a great bike' floated from the lips of the dozens of students, who's eyes all fell on the new girl. Bonnibel continued her covert gazing

This girl was gorgeous. Not your typical every-day kind of pretty, but the striking never-forget-that-face kind of pretty. Like a movie star, or a celebrity of some sort. Her skin was pale and flawless, like she had never gotten a pimple in her life, or any sun for that matter. She had this perfect square jaw that was masculine and commanding, yet soft and fitting. And that hair! It was just laying there in soft flowing waves that girls would kill to have, and no matter which way it spilled over her shoulders, it just couldn't ever look bad. Bonnibel ran her fingers through her flat bangs just above her eyebrows, and fixed the halfheartedly done bun atop her head.

The girl stood and swung her leg over the side of the bike, removing her gloves and jacket as she went. Her red tank-top highlighted her pale skin, and the jeans-jacket she wore under the now shed leather jacket hugged her as if it was made specifically for her. Everyone stared, gawked, and whispered on. Bonibell blinked and turned her gaze away finally, scoffing lightly at all of the admirers.

She was just another new student, no big deal. Yeah she was captivating, and obviously had money judging by her appearance and current mode of transportation. The pink haired girl rolled her eyes, this girl definitely didn't look like they type to hang out with Bonnibel, so why should she even bother? Better to just pretend she didn't exist. She flipped the page in her book, purposely ignoring the raven haired girl that now glanced her way.

Marceline collected her bag that was strapped to the back of the bike precariously and walked inside, ignoring all of the staring eyes. It was always like this wherever she went. It got terribly annoying to be stared all the time in this damn town. She just ignored them as best as she could and marched into the double doors, throwing them open.

God, this school was tiny. she peered around and found the high school office doors soon enough. When she walked in, it was pretty desolate and smelled like old shoe polish. There was a heavy-set secretary clacking away on a keyboard behind the front desk. She looked like she could use a good eyebrow waxing and some new glasses. The cat-eye frames definitely didn't do her justice.

Marceline let out a slight cough, but was given no attention by the woman, so she marched up to the desk and fished out the manila envelope from her messenger bag, smacking it down on the counter loud enough to startle the woman into awareness-

"Yeah hi, I'm Marceline Abadeer. Transferring from Bay-side prep, I was told they faxed all of my transcripts over last week." She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her toe haughtily as the woman took her time gathering the envelope and flipping through its contents.

". . .Mhmm, I just need you to fill out these papers then report to your first period class" after a moment of mouse clicking, a blue piece of paper shot from the printer, "Here's your schedule and locker number. You have to provide your own lock by Friday, and the school is not responsible for any lost, damaged, or stolen items in that time"

She spoke in a gravely, ancient voice that reminded Marceline slightly of a neanderthal. She snatched the clipboard and the papers from the woman and scribbled her signature on them before handing them back to the woman, who proceeded to ignore her once more. Marceline walked back out the door and headed to the second floor, looking over her schedule

Let's see, My locker should be in the senior hallway at the close end in the A section- number 241. . .ah here it is!

She pried open the latch of the cream colored locker and threw the sparse notebooks and folders she had with her into the vessel haphazardly. A few students wandered about, talking to one another, or walking like zombies with a vacant look on their faces. But most of them eyed her suspiciously, or just gawked. It made the raven haired girl's skin crawl

Jeze, this is so atypical high school she shook her head. OK, first class is AP Chemistry with Professor Gregory, room 311. Hmm, doesn't sound too bad

She grabbed a blue notebook and a blue folder and headed down the hall to first period

"BONNI!" The slightly shrill voice rang out in the cramped class room. Bonnibel had made it to class early enough to see the new girl walk in and take a seat in the front corner of the room and begin picking at her chipped black nail polish, looking highly put off. Bonnibel sat back at the lab tables, already setting up for the first day's experiment. Professor Gregory let her do just about whatever she wanted in here as long as she didn't burn the whole place down. Which hadn't happened. . .yet

"Oh, hey Finn! How was your summer"

The short blond male hopped up on a stool next to Bonnibel and smiled slightly at her. Finnegan Hero was in Tenth grade with Ryker and Riddley, but had been put into the accelerated math and science programs at a very young age. He was constantly picked on for being so little, and had very few friends besides his dog Jake. The pair made unlikely friends when Finn was walking home from Karate two years ago in the rain, and Bonnibel had stopped to offer him a ride. They fell into friendly conversation and genuinely liked each other's company

"My summer? Oh s'alright. Finally growing a beard" he stroked his baby soft chin, his voice cracking ever so slightly on the last word

"Oh yeah!, I think I see a few little hairs on your upper lip" Bonnibel teased. In truth, the boy had exactly two white blonde hairs on his upper lip that were invisible unless you held a magnifying glass up to them

The pink haired girl shouldered the smaller boy, "Go grab a coat and some goggles. You could probably help me set up here"

Finn nodded in compliance and scurried off to the supply closet as Professor Gregory began to speak. He was a middle aged man, with a receding hair line and a bad dye job that turned his hair a terrible white blue. It kind of made him look like Albert Einstein. He was tall and lanky, and always hunched over when he spoke-

"OK everyone, please have a seat. Some of you know me, and others don't. I'm Professor Gregory, but you can just call me Mr. Gregory if you wish. This year we will be studying everything from the periodic table to the nature of atoms and atomic formulas" the class groaned slightly, "I know, not too fun- especially for you seniors. I've been informed we have a new addition to the senior class- Miss Marceline Abadeer. Marceline? Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"

So that was her name. Bonnibel carefully tried to measure 40CCs of iodine solution into the dropper, and focus on the girl at the same time. Of course, fate had other ideas. Marceline stood and jammed her hands into her ripped black jean's pockets and faced the class,

"Uh, I guess Mr. Gregory said it all" she shrugged, "I'm Marceline, but you can call me Marcy" she eyed the class confidently for a second then sat back down

"Thank you Miss Abadeer. I'm sure everyone is very happy to have you here-"

"Shit!" Bonibell and Finn both jumped from their seats as the iodine bottle went tumbling backwards onto the floor, soaking them both in the rust colored liquid.

Professor Gregory's eyes widened in surprise "Miss McCall, watch your language!" a pink plush danced on Bonnibel's cheeks as she grabbed some paper towels and started to mop herself up, muttering to Finn about her hands slipping

Marceline turned in her seat to watch the scene unfold. She propped her head on her fists and chuckled along with the rest of the class

Bonnibel McCall. Hmmm

Hey there loves. Wow, almost a month since my last update! I thoroughly apologize for my absence, seeing as getting ready for graduation here in a few weeks and stressing over finals has torn me away from my writing. I promise by the end of the month there will be at least one more chapter up if not more. Keep your fingers crossed!

Any-who, feel free to review, PM, or whatever. Later gators~

-C