Anonymous

21

"Oh my god, no."

Keila sighed. "Come on, Marce. Just do it."

"Just do it," Marceline repeated in the best monotone she could muster. She threw an eye roll in there too, just for good measure. "You're really not selling the idea to me very well, K."

"Well, fine," Keila huffed, and her hazel eyes rolled skyward in thought. Apparently it didn't take her that long to think of an argument, as her pupils were staring through Marceline's a few seconds later. "You can prove something about yourself. That'd be fun."

"I don't have to prove anything to anyone." Marceline was quick to shoot that down. "Next argument, please."

"You might realise that she's not that bad and that you have a potential friend." Keila suggested. Naturally, Marceline responded to that one with a scoff, but before she could bite out a sarcastic remark about how unlikely that scenario was, Keila kept going. "Seriously, Marce. Bonnibel is cool. Besides, you've already agreed to be civil with her, so you might as well. You've got nothing to lose."

It didn't take Marceline that long to think of a comeback. "Yeah, other than two precious hours of my life that could be spent playing music."

"Come on. I need to give her an answer and I want it to be a happy answer." Keila held her phone up and Marceline stared at the conversation. For some reason, her eyes gravitated over to Bonnibel's contact picture, an adorable image of her smiling at the camera.

Wait... adorable? No. That was the last word she'd ever use to describe Bonnibel Butler. A nuisance? Yes. Pretentious? Definitely. Adorable? No way in hell.

Marceline shoved that thought out of her head and scoffed again to cover up any evidence of discomfort. "I'm sure a 'happy answer' for dear Bonnibel is one where she doesn't have to endure the torture of my presence."

Keila's previously neutral expression melted into a knowing grin. "I know you, Marce. I know you don't hate her. I can tell."

Marceline's brows knitted together in a frown, before she quickly composed herself and sent a half-hearted glare Keila's way. "Shut up. Tell the princess that I'll meet her in the library after school if she's that bothered about this weird study session."

"I knew you'd cave," Keila smiled victoriously, "You like her, Marce."

"I don't like her." Marceline was quick to insist. But, when Keila's facial expression roughly translated into stop kidding yourself, Marceline, she awkwardly made amends. "But I don't hate her. I don't really care."

Realising that neutrality was probably the best that Marceline would admit, Keila just nodded. "Yeah. You're neutral."

Marceline nodded to herself, as though she was trying to reassure herself of that. She was neutral. She had no feelings towards Bonnibel, whether they were feelings of like or dislike. The other girl was simply a minor irritation in her life.

Right?

Marceline was fairly certain that she didn't want to make friends with her. She'd known that from the start, and that hadn't changed. But all of the sarcastic, overly mean comments that Marceline bit out around her were kind of... tiring. And she always found herself feeling slightly odd after saying them; not in a good way, though.

Maybe just being casual acquaintances with Bonnibel wouldn't be so bad. They were kind of stuck together, after all. Unless her dad suddenly had a change of heart about science partners, which was less likely than dinosaurs coming back to life and starting a totalitarian government to reign supreme.

"Alright, Bonnie says that she's cool with that," Keila was the one to pull Marceline's train of thought into the station. "So, any word from your anonymous friend as of late?"