I went through the story and substituted/removed scense featuring and/or mentioning Vicki and her father, Jamie. The story is a bit shorter now, but the story still seems to have come out a bit better. Though the way I write, a little less length is probably a plus too =).
Also, due to the fact that about half the reviews of the story concerned this storyline. I thought it would probably be a better idea to remove the story and put back in like this and start over completely. Perhaps I'm wrong about that one, but I'm doing that anyway.
That all said, please enjoy the re-done Last Day Surprises.
LAST DAY SURPRISES
PART 1: SURPRISES AND MISTAKES
BY
Sgamer82
This story takes place after Puff in Arms and Thunder & Frightening
Blossom Utonium, leader of the Powerpuff Girls and top student at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten, got out of bed earlier than usual. She was up way ahead of her sisters. She was too excited because today was a big day to her. Today was the last day of school and Blossom didn't want to miss a thing. She wanted the chance to say goodbye to all of her friends, who she probably wouldn't see until after the summer when they started first grade at Pokey Oaks Elementary.
She climbed out of bed and walked out of her room and into the hallway. She was up so early she had no need to hurry. As she walked she passed by the bedroom of Professor Bill Utonium, her father and mentor. She overheard him talking to someone but there was no other voice.
He must be on the telephone. Blossom thought. She needed to get ready for school, but her curiosity was just too strong. She got close to the door and started to use her super-hearing to listen in on the call.
"Yeah," Utonium said, "that is terrible news." There was a brief silence as whoever Utonium was listening to answered him, Blossom couldn't help but wonder what was terrible news.
"How'd it happen? (silence) Really? (silence) That's the most incredible thing I've seen or heard since...well, you know."
No I don't. Blossom thought, still unsure of what Utonium was talking about.
"Yeah, that."
Yeah what? Blossom thought during the silence before Utonium answered again.
"So you want me to find a good way to tell them."
Is he talking about us? Blossom wondered.
"Well, thanks." Said Utonium, "The Girls are going to be crushed"
He must mean us. Blossom thought.
"Okay, so I'll see you when?" Utonium asked, "7 o'clock?" After a second, "That's perfect. The Girls will be ready by then."
What will be ready for? Blossom thought.
Utonium gave a small laugh, "Okay. Goodbye, Sandy."
"SANDY?!" Blossom all but shouted, the shock of that one word making her forget Utonium didn't know she was there.
"Blossom?" She heard Utonium call from inside the bedroom.
Blossom covered her mouth thinking maybe that'll stop him from hearing her, but it was too late. Professor Utonium stepped out of the bedroom and looked at his redheaded daughter.
"Uh..." Blossom stammered, unsure of what to say, "good...morning...Daddy...heh..." she looked at Utonium with an innocent expression on her face. It was still a bit unusual for her to call Utonium 'Daddy', she and her sisters had always called him 'Professor' until recently. But right now she hoped to play 'Daddy' for all it was worth and, hopefully, stay out of too much trouble.
"Were you eavesdropping on me?" He asked flatly.
"What?" Blossom asked, trying to look like she was taken aback at the question. "No...I was just...uh...on my way to the bathroom when I heard you talkin' on the phone. Then...uh..." she stuttered, realizing she just incriminated herself.
"Well..." Blossom said, hanging her head and knowing she was busted, "yeah."
"And I'll bet you were wondering who I was talking to." Utonium guessed.
"Well," said Blossom, "you said 'Sandy', and the only 'Sandy' I I know is Ms. Keane." Using the most obvious guess.
"That's right." Utonium said, not sounding as angry as Blossom was worried he would. "But there's more to it. And I wasn't planning to mention it yet." Now he sounded a little angry, but then gave a resigned sigh.
"But since you already heard..." he gestured into the bedroom and went inside. Blossom followed him inside.
Utonium sat down on his bed, picked Blossom up in his arms, and sat her in his lap.
"Now, sweetheart," he began, "I have some bad news to tell you."
"What?" Blossom pointed out.
"Well," the Professor began, "How do I say this?"
"What? What?" Blossom asked impatiently.
"It's about the graduation ceremony that Ms. Keane is having for your class." Utonium said sadly.
"What about it?" Blossom asked, knowing she was being nosy but too curious to really care.
"Do you remember how there were those rumors that the commencement speaker was going to be Blarney the Singing Sea Serpent." Utonium said.
"How could I forget?" said Blossom, a consumate Blarney fan.
"Well..." Utonium said, hesitating as if trying to find the right word, "The rumors were true."
"They were!?" Blossom all but shouted, excited as she was.
"But," Utonium said, realizing he hadn't done this the way he'd wanted, "There was trouble, the plane was stolen by the cast of Poppyseed Street. Blarney isn't going to be here."
"He couldn't make it..." Blossom said, her hopes suddenly dashed and her face looking as if she was about to cry.
"I'm sorry, Blossom. But it'll be okay." Utonium said all but automatically in an attempt to soothe his little girl. He looked Blossom right in her eyes, "I heard that he'll be in Townsville next week at the mall, you can see him then."
"Really?" Blossom sniffed.
"Yes." Utonium said, hugging Blossom, who very rarely showed her emotions like this.
Blossom perked up, obviously relieved.
"All right, Daddy."
"Anyways, because Blarney won't be there, Ms. Keane had to push the ceremony up an hour and a half to make up for the time. So it'll be starting earlier."
"Oh. I see." Blossom replied.
"I was only going to tell you the part about Blarney after you got home from school. But you get to know a bit sooner. Just don't tell your sisters, I feel I should break to them myself. I'll probably do it during breakfast. It's probably better to get this over with soon. I was only going to mention it later because I was worried you'd take it hard."
"Guess you had the right idea." Blossom said, blushing. She'd always had great pride in how she presented herself. She hated looking childish and being thought of as a little kid in front of other people. The only one she could ever express that around was the Professor. And even then only because an earlier incident involving the Boogieman using thunder to exploit a fear she and Buttercup had developed inadvertantly caused her to stop worrying about that with him.
"Now." said Utonium, "Go get dressed and ready for school. You don't want to be late."
Blossom nodded and flew out of the bedroom back to her intended destination. Utonium smiled, got up and went down to the kitchen to fix some breakfast for himself and his daughters.
Blossom floated down to the kitchen to find bowls of Lucky Captain Rabbit King Nuggets set out on the table and a few smoking pots and pans on the stove. Apparently the Professor had burned breakfast again. He'd been a much better cook on that warped universe when HIM had put the girls in a world where they'd been born infants. Blossom had never actually had a chance to eat it, her infant body hadn't had enough teeth to eat it with, but she still managed to see that Professor knew what he was doing. Unlike this Professor, who couldn't boil water without burning the pan. The Professor himself was nowhere in sight.
He probably got some smoke in his face or something and went to wash up. Blossom thought.
She sat down at the table in between her sisters. Buttercup was on her right, fishing through a cereal box trying to find the prize in the box. Bubbles, on her left, ate her food solemnly, clearly depressed. Blossom figured it was probably due to the condition of her hair.
While Blossom and Buttercup were dealing with their Thunder phobia Bubbles had been forced to fight their enemy, the Boogieman, completely on her own. During the course of the fight, Boogieman had cut off one of Bubbles' pigtails. Until that hair grew back, Bubbles was wearing her hair in a single ponytail that was off to one side. She had been upset about that for the past month. Blossom was glad that her hair was almost to the point where it could again be put into the pigtails Bubbles loved. Buttercup looked up and saw Bubbles expression.
"Jeez! Are you still upset about your hair?" she asked Bubbles, going back to her search. Blossom wasn't surprised Buttercup didn't understand how Bubbles felt. The 'Queen of the Tomboys', as she was sometimes known, didn't have the appreciation for fine hair that her sisters did.
"Jeez, Bubbles, it's been two weeks already. Get over it!" Buttercup asked, not looking up.
"Easy for you to say, your hair wasn't sliced to ribbons!" Bubbles said defensively.
"Well, I wouldn't go cryin' like a baby if it was." Buttercup said.
Neither girl was about to risk Buttercup's anger by pointing out the things that would make her go 'crying like a baby'. Such as losing her security blanket and very loud thunderstorms. They never mentioned these things to Buttercup though, since, with Buttercup's temper, they would quickly regret doing so. Professor Utonium walking into the room as Blossom started into her own bowl of Nuggets.
"Good morning, girls." Utonium said to his beloved daughters.
"Mornin', Daddy." the Girls said. Though it was difficult at first, all three Girls had eventually lapsed into calling Utonium 'Daddy' instead of 'Professor'. Blossom honestly thought Utonium liked 'Daddy' far greater than he ever did 'Professor'.
"So, are you three excited about today?" Utonium said.
"Uh-huh." said Buttercup, looking up from her search to smile at Utonium. Buttercup was excited. The past few months had awakened in Buttercup, whether she realized it or not, a desire to be like a normal child. And the Kindergarten's Graduation ceremony was an event all the kids went too so Buttercup was eager to do it.
"Yep." said Bubbles with a faint smile of her own. She was as excited as Buttercup, but she was still depressed a little over her hair. The Professor had said that her hair might be able to go back to pigtails before the ceremony, but he wasn't sure so Bubbles didn't know if she should be hopeful or not.
"Huh?" said Blossom, confused. She had been preoccupied by her talk with the Professor that she had completely forgotten about the last day of school. It took her a couple of seconds to realize what Professor was referring to. Blossom knew Buttercup would probably say something sarcastic or smart-alecky to her. As if reading her thoughts Buttercup looked up from the cereal box.
"Don'cha remember, Blossom? Today's the last day at school. How could Little Miss Braniac forget something like that?" she said.
"Yeah," said Bubbles, ignoring Buttercup's little remark, "Buttercup had it marked on the calendar with beg red letters an' circles."
Buttercup turned away and blushed a bit at being called on her enthusiasm. Blossom herself blushed at completely forgetting about the last day. They had been practicing for that night's ceremony for the past week and a half. Luckily, the Professor came to Blossom's rescue before Buttercup could taunt her some more.
"Now, girls, it probably only slipped Blossom's mind because she found out something I was going to tell you about before I meant her to."
"What's that Daddy?" Buttercup said, looking up from her search for the cereal prize. Blossom still found it odd to hear Buttercup saying 'Daddy' but what she had noticed is that there was a slightly, hopeful was the best word Blossom could come up with, tone to Buttercup's voice.
"Well, I found out from Ms Keane that the Graduation Ceremony is going to be an hour and a half earlier because their commencement speaker cancelled." Utonium replied. Buttercup forgot about her cereal search completely and looked at Utonium.
"Who was the speaker?"
"Blarney, the Singing Sea Serpent."
"Oh." Buttercup went back to her search.
"You gonna be okay, Blossom?" Bubbles asked with concern.
"Yeah, I already found out about that. That's why Dad's tellin' us now instead of after school. Because now he doesn't have to worry about my reaction." Blossom answered.
"Yes, Blossom found out accidentally." Utonium said, "Since she already knew I figured there was no harm in telling the two of you now."
"Okay." said Buttercup, then turned to her sisters, "Can you believe today's the last day?" She began staring off into space and began absently eating her cereal forgetting almost completely about the cereal box next to her.
Bubbles let out a breath she had been holding for a few moments and shot a conspiratory look to Blossom as she took out a Puppet Pals decoder bracelet and showed it to Blossom. That's when Blossom realized why Bubbles had been worried. Bubbles had gotten to the cereal first and got the prize before Buttercup could. If Buttercup had kept looking, she would have eventually realized there was no prize to be found. Bubbles got curious when Buttercup just stared into space for a couple minutes. Blossom and Bubbles shared a small laugh at their luck.
"Buttercup? Buttercup? BUTTERCUP?" Bubbles said, trying to get her sister's attention.
"She's probably daydreaming about what she's gonna do during Summer Vacation." said Blossom, waving her mitt in front of Buttercup's face and drawing no reaction at all.
"Yeah. Hee hee hee." Bubbles said.
"Okay Girls, it's time to get going to school." said the Professor, looking at his watch, "You want to fly or want me to drive you?"
"Fly." said the Girls, even Buttercup, who had broken out her reverie to answer Utonium.
Utonium knew the girls had desired to be more like normal children so, for the past few months, he had driven the Girls to school instead of letting them fly, though they still did that every now and then. Usually when something special was happening, as it was today. So Utonium just shrugged and smiled at his girls.
"Okay, I'll see you this afternoon. Have a good day." Utonium said, giving each child a kiss on the cheek as they floated past him.
"Bye, Daddy." said the Girls.
"Bye, Girls."
Sandra Keane was having trouble maintaining her sanity.
This always happens on the last day of school. thought Sandy. The students were their rowdiest and noisiest on this day. It figured though, his being the last day, Sandy couldn't give misbehaving students any serious punishment and make it stick. Sandy had all but lost her mind her first couple years as a teacher because of all the noise. Since then she managed to learn a few tricks that help keep her students' noise level down. Some of which she wasn't entirely sure she was allowed to do, but she did anyway.
"All right, kids, settle down." said Sandy gently, trying to get her students' attention, but she got no response other than a lot of noise and chatter.
"Kids." she said, still being ignored.
"KIDS!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, she let out a resigned sigh, "Every last day I have to do this."
She decided it was time to employ one such trick. She reached into a drawer in her desk and pulled out a small canister with a cone-shape with a button on top. She also took out a pair of earplugs and inserted them in her ear. Then, she held up the air-horn and let it wail out full blast. The children, scared silly by the loud noise, looked at Ms. Keane in surprise. She then instructed them to sit down. The children did so and she began her class.
"Thank you, class." said Sandy as she replaced the air horn in its drawer.
"Honestly, every last day I have to use that thing." Said Sandy, more to herself than anybody.
"Now, I know none of you want any boring lessons." began Sandy, who noticed the disappointed looks on the children's' faces, thinking they were going to be getting lessons, "So today, so you won't be getting any," she continued, the kids' faces brightening, "but..." Sandy said, once again causing the kids' faces to drop. They began to complain loudly but Sandy quieted them by reaching for her air horn drawer again.
"BUT..." she started again, "We will have one last Graduation practice today between recess and lunch."
The kids let out a loud, communal groan. Sandy knew they didn't like these practices, but the graduation was tonight and Sandy wanted things to go right, she hated it when things went wrong. So, she wanted at least one more brief rehearsal before tonight. But she had made certain that the children would enjoy the rest of the day.
"Don't worry," she said with a reassuring smile, "before recess and after lunch we will watch a movie."
The kids let out a loud cheer but quickly quite down after remembering Sandy's air-horn.
"Now," she began, "We can watch either Clay Story 2," the kids looked excited, it was a favorite among many.
"The Polymatrix," the boys, and Buttercup, became very happy at the mention of the popular sci- fi/action flick. Sandy had had a lot of trouble with the parents just to get that on the list of possibilities because many thought it was too violent.
"Or Blarney the Singing Sea Serpent meets Nessie the Loch Ness Monster." that one drew a mixed response, many children liked Blarney but some, who thought they were 'too mature' for that sort of movie, felt it was too babyish for them.
"Now, we're going to vote on what we're going to watch. Whoever wants Clay Story raise their hands."
A small group of children, including Bubbles, raised their hands to vote. But many didn't since they'd seen it in theaters.
"Okay." said Sandy, as she counted off the votes, "Polymatrix."
Another group, mainly boys, raised their hands. Though Sandy noticed that Buttercup was raising her hand too. Sandy counted off the votes, and noticed that it looked like Blarney would win by roughly one or two votes.
"And finally, Blarney."
The rest of the children raised their hands in response to it, including Blossom. Sandy was a bit surprised at Blossom's vote. She quickly remembered the Girl was a big Blarney fan, though was sometimes scared to show it because she didn't want to hurt her reputation as a smart child who was mature for her age.
"Okay, the winner is Blarney." Sandy announced, after counting and comparing all of the votes. The kids who had voted for the other two groaned. Blossom didn't notice the glare Buttercup shot her for not voting for Polymatrix.
Sandy wheeled out a cart with a TV on top and a VCR underneath, popped in the 'Blarney' video and hit the 'play' button.
As the movie began Sandy walked back to her desk and worked on some papers, letting the kids enjoy the movie in peace.
Buttercup watched the Blarney movie with limited interest. She had really been hoping to see Polymatrix and this would have been her only chance since Professor Utonium thought it was too violent for his daughters to see. Unfortunately, Blossom's vote had turned it over to Blarney.
Oh, well. Thought Buttercup, Maybe mom'll take me one day. She was referring to Ms. Keane, but in Buttercup's mind she was either 'Mommy' or 'Mom'. Ever since she and her sisters had been in that alternate earth, or changed history, or whatever it was, Sandra Keane had become her mother. She'd been ready to give up the life she had now, and probably would have, had Sandy not promised to marry Utonium when the school year was up.
The fact that Buttercup and her sisters had been Ms. Keane's students was, for some reason, why she couldn't be with Utonium. She'd told Buttercup it was something called a 'Conflict of Interests'. Buttercup didn't totally understand what the big deal was. But she was simply glad the wait was over and Ms. Keane would be her mom again.
Buttercup couldn't help but often wonder what Blossom and Bubbles would think if they knew about that. She had never gotten around to telling them about the arrangement. Buttercup herself didn't quite know why she didn't just tell them. She thought it was probably just because it was something between just her and Ms. Keane and nobody else.
Whatever the reasons, she had yet to tell Blossom and Bubbles that they'd soon have a mother again. They probably suspected something. Especially after that thunder-thing, when Ms. Keane had shown up to help Blossom and Buttercup through their fears. Ms. Keane had been more than just the Girls' teacher then. Buttercup sometimes thought Bubbles knew about it all, but her blond sister never mentioned anything to her. Blossom seemed to be completely clueless to the situation.
The hour until recess passed uneventfully. When the bell range Sandy stopped the video and dismissed the class to go out and play. She had just sat down at her desk to finish some last second arrangements when she noticed one child had not left with all the rest. The child just sat in the chair and waited as Sandy approached her.
"Buttercup? Aren't you going to go outside and play, honey?" She asked.
"No..." the little girl said shyly, "I don't really wanna."
Sandy smiled at Buttercup. She could never get over how much this little girl was like herself when she was five. Sandy had been the rowdiest kid in their family. She had even earned the coveted title of 'Queen of the Tomboys'. She had also heard that same phrase used to describe Buttercup. But despite the "Rough 'n' Tumble" attitude she usually had, Buttercup was just a sweet, sometimes even shy, child. So much like Sandy had been at that delicate age.
"Well, why not?" Sandy asked.
"I wanted to ask ya somethin'." replied Buttercup nervously.
"Okay, shoot."
"When're you an' Daddy gonna get married?" she suddenly blurted.
The question had Sandy at a complete loss. Sandy and Utonium had planned a brief dating stage, more or less for appearances' sake. But as she looked at the hopeful little eyes in front of her, Sandy realized that Buttercup had always assumed they'd marry almost immediately after school.
"Um, Buttercup, Baby," Sandy said, using the affectionate nickname she used only with Buttercup, "I think there's been a small misunderstanding."
"Meaning what?" asked Buttercup.
"Meaning that you made an assumption I hadn't realized you'd made." Sandy said, well aware she was just confusing Buttercup further but unable to come up with something better, "You thought your daddy 'n' me would get married right away. Well, that won't be how it'll work."
"What?" Buttercup said sadly, "Why?"
"Well, you father and I want to get to know each other...again. We fell in love in the" she hesitated slightly, "other world. And, while the reasons for that love are still there, we've agreed that it would be best if we dated a little first."
"I don't get it. If you already love each other, why date?"
"Well, we want to learn about each other. Different things happened to us here than in the...other world. For example, the first time your dad and I met was when we had the parent/teacher conference about you and your sisters falling asleep in class."
"Oh, yeah. I remember that. The curfew." Buttercup said, "Hey. I just thoughta somethin'. How did you an' Dad meet in that other world?"
"I was getting to that. I...other time I met your father, was when he was taking a walk with you three girls and passed by the school. About five months after you were born."
"It was late morning and I had just let my class out for recess. The kids played in the yard as they always do. In fact, as you always do. I saw your father walking by hanging on to a rather wide stroller. He looked like he'd been run ragged. The kids all ran to the fence, their attention grabbed by the three babies in the stroller. And before you ask, yes I do mean you.
"You could tell just by looking at him your father was not ready for three babies. He had stubble as if he hadn't shaved in days and droopy eyes that made it seem like he hadn't slept in weeks. As for you and your sisters, you didn't have a care in the world. You sat in your stroller basking in the attention the rest of the kids were giving you. I figured your dad could really use a break. So I invited him in for some coffee, and extended recess so the kids could play with the babies. I got to talking to him. Luckily he was too exhausted to even go into that "I...I...I..." thing he does around women. Kinda funny really, the only time I could get him to be himself was when he was too tired to be nervous.
"You girls had a wonderful time yourselves. In fact, only one minor problem came around. Mitch Mitchellson removed that restrainer you had around your ankle. Yes, you were playing with Mitch, you were a tomboy even then. You ended up slamming Mitch through a wall. I was amazed. After all, it's not every day you see a five-month old girl kick a five year old boy through a concrete wall.
"Well, after some initial shock, your dad explained the situation to the class and me. The kids just thought it was cool that they knew baby superheroes. I was interested too, both in the three of you and your father.
"Nothing overly spectacular happened after that. Your father and I dated just like any other couple. After about three months, you guys met my parents. My mom and dad fell in love with you girls instantly. Your dad was a bit of a harder sale. But, gradually, they started to like him too.
"You were around nine months old when we married. I didn't realize until then just how much work babies really were. Still, I'm glad I did. It was about a month later when you and your sisters came to that world, that is...um...the actual you and your sisters...the you and your sisters of thi...well, you know what I mean. And you also pretty much know what happened from there.
"Yeah. I do." said Buttercup, "Great story."
"Thank you." said Sandy, "I'm glad you..." she was cut off by the sound of the bell ending recess. Sandy stepped back to her desk as the kids returned to their desk. Bubbles and Blossom sat down to either side of her sister and began questioning her about her absence at recess. Buttercup just shrugged off the questions and tried to make it seem like nothing had happened. Sandy decided to step in with her announcement.
"Okay, kids." started Sandy, getting her class' attention, "I know you want to keep watching the movie, but we still have one last graduation practice to do."
The communal groan that came from the class angered Sandy a little. But she didn't let it show.
"When you've gotten that out of your systems, we're going to have a dress rehearsal. Your caps and gowns are in the cloakrooms. So please get up and them."
Some of the students whined about getting the clothes. Mostly the boys because they had to wear 'girly' gowns. Sandy let them get all their whining out of their system, she learned long ago it was no use trying to stop them. She just waited as the kids put the outfits on over their clothes. When they were finished dressing she spoke up.
"Okay, kids, now that we're ready. I want to line up in just the way I showed you."
The children obeyed and stood in five rows of six alphabetically. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were in the middle seats of the last row since their names started with U. The only one whose name was farther back in the alphabet, Vindo Wiper, sat next to Buttercup in the far right seat in the last row.
Sandy stood to the left side of the lined up students and began to read off the names alphabetically. Each child stood, walked up to Sandy, collected a small piece of candy Sandy was currently substituting for diplomas, and sat back down.
Buttercup was beginning to wonder if it was possible for a person to die of boredom. She felt like she was going out of her mind. She hated standing still and she especially hated sitting still. Not a dinner went by where Professor Utonium didn't tell her to stop fidgeting or kicking the table.
Buttercup wished that the Powerpuff Hotline would ring so she'd have an excuse to get out of here. That was unlikely, however. After the thunder debacle, Professor Utonium had promised the Girls they wouldn't have to worry so much about Townsville and be able to spend more time simply being kids. He had all but ordered the Mayor to never call the Girls to help unless a supervillain or a giant monster was attacking Townsville. The Professor had been more assertive than the Girls had ever seen him. This was one of those rare occasions where Buttercup regretted his doing that. She wanted something to happen.
Buttercup eagerly stood and went to Ms. Keane when her name was called. She took her time returning to her seat, savoring the chance to just move. Fortunately, since she was the next to last to go up, it wasn't long until the practice was over. Ms. Keane said the kids were free to do what they liked until lunchtime. So they brought out the board games they kept stored for rainy days and played with them. Everyone was so relieved that the rehearsal was finished that they hadn't even bothered to change out of their gowns with the exception of the more "macho" of the boys.
Buttercup just walked around for a bit, pleased simply to be moving around. She was looking in Blossom's direction when she happened to notice something. Blossom was floating next to some friends talking to them. This wasn't unusual in itself, Blossom tended to prefer floating over walking and she had a large circle of friends. What was unusual was where Blossom was floating. It was right above an air conditioning vent on the floor. Buttercup also noticed that Blossom was still wearing her cap and gown.
This opportunity is just too good to pass up! thought Buttercup. She walked to the thermostat and, when she realized it was a bit too high for her, floated up to it. She took a minute to figure out just what she had to do, double checked to make sure Blossom was still in position, and then cranked the A.C. to full blast.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
Sandy's head snapped up from some paperwork she was doing. She turned her head to where she had heard the scream couldn't completely believe what she saw.
Blossom, floating over an air vent, was screaming at the top of her lungs. Someone had turned on the air conditioning and the air coming from the vent was blowing Blossom's gown over her head. Fortunately for Blossom she was still wearing her clothes underneath. Unfortunately, those clothes consisted of a skirt also being blown up. All the kids in the class were surprised at first, then started laughing and chanting "I see London, I see France...". Everyone except Blossom, Bubbles, and the kids who were standing next to Blossom were laughing and pointing. Blossom was frantically trying to push down her dress and graduation gown so nobody could see her underwear. It didn't even occur to her she was wearing tights and nothing could be seen.
Sandy looked at the thermostat control to see Buttercup laughing her head off. It wasn't hard for Sandy to figure out what happened, but first thing was first. She all but ran to the vent and pulled Blossom away from it and helped her pull down her gown. Blossom's eyes told Sandy everything she needed. The kid was both furious and humiliated. The combination of emotions was bringing her to tears.
"Bubbles, take Blossom to my office for right now, okay?" she instructed the blonde Powerpuff who had rushed to her sister.
"Okay, Ms. Keane."
With Blossom gone that little crisis was temporarily taken care of. Right now, Sandy had someone else to deal with.
"BUTTERCUP UTONIUM!"
Buttercup's wide smile dropped faster than she could fly. She looked up to see a very angry Ms. Keane glaring down at her.
Wuh-oh. I may have gone too far this time. Buttercup thought.
"I can not believe you could do such a thing! To your own sister, no less!"
Buttercup cringed, unable to respond.
"You are in a lot of trouble young lady! Get in the corner, right now! I'll deal with you later! I have to take care of your sister first. She's humiliated because of what you did!"
Buttercup rushed to the corner Ms. Keane had indicated. Buttercup was too surprised at how angry Ms. Keane was to really respond. She just sat in the corner without a word and was silently glad that Ms. Keane didn't believe in spanking.
Sandy returned to her office after she was certain Buttercup would stay where she was told. She saw Blossom was being comforted by Bubbles and had calmed down to the point where stopped crying. But Sandy now saw a very angry look in Blossom's eyes. Sandy knew she had to placate Blossom before something else happened.
"How are you feeling now Blossom?" she asked the child.
"Better. Bubbles said nobody could see much." Blossom said.
"That's good. Now don't worry about Buttercup. I'll be sure to punish her myself. And I'm going to tell your father exactly what happened."
"Don't tell dad." Blossom said quickly.
"Huh?" Sandy and Bubbles asked simultaneously.
"Punish Buttercup if you feel you need to Ms. Keane. But I want to get even with Buttercup myself. If you tell dad, he'll just ground Buttercup and I'll never get a chance to get her back."
At the thought of vengeance on Buttercup, Blossom suddenly got a look on her face angry enough to scare even HIM himself. Sandy quickly realized that if she let Blossom do what she wanted, Blossom would punish her sister far worse than Bill and Sandy put together.
"Well," Sandy began after a few minutes, "I can't say I approve of doing something to your sister solely out of revenge." Blossom's face simply fell at Sandy's words.
"It's not just out of revenge!" Blossom blurted out trying to get in her two cents, "Buttercup probably expects nothing worse than a long grounding out of this. So, I think she should learn a thing or two about how her actions can have consequences. It could be a punishment."
"You've got a point." Sandy said, Blossom started to look hopeful, "Okay. I'll let you do whatever you plan on doing."
"YESSSS!" Blossom all but shouted.
"On three conditions." said Sandy, interrupting Blossom's celebration.
"One, you are not to injure your sister in any way."
"Okay."
"Two, it can't be anything worse than what she did to you. Let the punishment fit the crime."
"All right." Blossom said after thinking it over, "Fair enough."
"And three, I punish her here and now."
"Hmmm...I guess so."
"Then it's a deal?" asked Sandy.
"Deal." said Blossom. They shook hands and Blossom went back outside to get ready for lunch. As Blossom left Bubbles floated up to Sandy.
"Ms. Keane, are you sure that was a good idea?" she asked.
"Not really." Sandy answered honestly, "But I couldn't think of anything better."
"Oh. Well, maybe Blossom'll calm down and let us tell my daddy later." Bubbles said
"Maybe." Sandy replied
Blossom stepped out of Ms. Keane's office and took her seat as if nothing had happened. Most of the kids went along with Blossom and didn't say a word. However, some did stare at her for a second and chuckle.
Buttercup, when I'm through with you you'll never want to risk playing a prank on anybody ever again.