Title: Words of Encouragement

Summary: Sometimes, the simplest of words is all you need to hear.

Pairing: BlossomxBoomer

Word Count: 3,365

Read Me: This is AU. None of them have powers. Their brothers and sisters aren't mentioned at all in this story, so you can decide if they exist or not lol.

Date/Time Written: 6/11/12, 12:23 A.M

Disclaimer: I do not own the Powerpuff Girls or the Rowdyruff Boys. this story is strictly fanmade and has nothing to do with the show.

The class was eerily quiet as Ms. Pearl, the 10th grade geometry teacher, passed back the tests. Of course, this was no simple test - the person with the highest score won a gift certificate to any store of their choice - and every student was on the edge of their seat, teeth chattering and nail biting in excitement. There was one particular student who seemed to care less, his hands behind his head and his chair tilted back slightly. His eyes were closed in a faux slumber and his breathing was slow and steady.

"Alright, class. It seems everyone's test is on their desk? You may now turn them over." Ms. Pearl beamed, standing at the front of the classroom to await their reactions. She, of course, already knew who had won. It wasn't a very easy decision, as the majority of the class did well. Except for one student, the only student who didn't even care to see his grade. She frowned when she noticed his paper was still turned face down on his desk. The teacher didn't even hear the groans of disappointment as each student looked at their test and realized they didn't win. She barely heard the name, "Blossom" being said angrily, followed by hisses. Instead, she only noticed the blonde boy sitting in the back, his face scrunched up as he looked down at the still turned over test.

"Boomer!" She called out, snapping the blonde back to reality.

"What?" He responded, a scowl on his face.

"Aren't you going to turn your test over?"

He scoffed. "I already know I did bad, what's the point?"

The teacher opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself. She knew the feeling, the one when you feel useless, you feel worthless, you feel like everything you do is wrong. There is a point in time where certain students just give up, sure that all they do will only end in failure. For Ms. Pearl, this feeling lasted quite a while, until someone lead her to the right path; until someone showed some interest in helping her, and she knew she wasn't completely useless after all. So instead of replying to the boy, she merely smiled sadly and turned away, directing her attention back to the rest of the class.

"By now, I guess you all figured out who won!" She exclaimed, replacing the sad smile for an excited one.

"Blossom always wins!" A student whined, glaring daggers at said student.

"Perhaps you should try harder next time, Harry." The redhead replied pointedly, smiling down at the perfect 100 on her test paper. The class began murmuring about how perfect the girl thought she was, how she always seemed to win, and how much better she thought she was than everyone else.

"Settle down, please! Don't worry, next time Blossom won't be allowed to compete." Ms. Pearl reassured, earning a few 'whoop's from the class. Blossom simply shrugged and stuck her tongue out at the teasing students. "Blossom, remember to stay after class to collect your reward." The girl nodded, and went back to admiring her perfect score.

Several long minutes later, the bell finally decided to ring. Students filed out of the classroom quickly; it was the last period of the day. Boomer had his head on the desk, a soft snore emitting from his person. Blossom gathered her books into one arm and slung her book bag over the other and then walked up to the teacher's desk.

"Do you want me to wake him up?" Blossom asked, nodding her head towards the sleeping boy in the back. "He's been asleep for a while."

"Oh no, dearie. Actually, I have a favor to ask of you." The teacher replied, pulling her glasses off of her face. Blossom cocked her head slightly, implying that the teacher should finish what she was saying. "You see, Boomer back there… he's failed every test so far. I can tell he's giving up and I couldn't live with myself if a student did that. I … I need you to tutor him."

Blossom looked towards the back of the room, her eyes landing on the lone body in the room. She's never talked to the boy in her life, never even exchanged glances with him. They'd only shared this class and he sat in the back, she in the front. Still, she felt bad. Why couldn't everyone enjoy learning and schoolwork as much as she did? There must be something the boy felt passionately about, something she could use to help him. And of course, this would be a challenge. Blossom loved challenges.

"Sure thing, Ms. Pearl! I'd love to be of assistance."

"Really? Oh, Blossom. You're too kind." The teacher gushed, placing a hand affectionately on the girl's arm. Blossom smiled sweetly before turning away and stalking to the back of the room. She stood over Boomer's sleeping form, unaware of how to wake him up without startling him. A small hand reached out and tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and he didn't even move. She reached out again and shook him softly.

"Wake up," she whispered, the hand still on his shoulder. This time, he stirred slightly but didn't wake up. Exasperated, the redhead shook him violently, causing him to fall out of his chair and land on the floor.

"What the hell!" He exclaimed, pushing himself up.

"It's not polite to fall asleep in class." Blossom tssked, wagging a finger in the boy's face.

He cocked an eyebrow and scowled at the girl. "Who the hell are you?"

"Your tutor. Come on, then." She said, grasping his arm. He didn't budge and she sighed. "What?"

"I didn't sign up for no tutor," he growled, tugging his arm away. "So move."

"Do you need to me tutor you in English, too? Two negatives equal a positive."

"Huh? I don't care, just leave me alone."

"Now, Boomer," Ms. Pearl cut in, standing up from her desk. "You will let Blossom tutor you or you will fail this class."

"I'm already failing, who cares?" He grimaced, grabbing his book bag off the ground to leave.

"Come on, Boomer. Please? I'll buy you ice cream..." Blossom pleaded. Boomer stopped in his tracks at the mention of ice cream and side-glanced at her.

"Fine."

Blossom stared at the sloppy boy across from her, chocolate ice cream decorating the sides of his mouth.

"You gonna quit looking at me and actually teach me something?" Boomer inquired, stuffing another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

"I think you should slow down..." She sighed, staring down at the Geometry textbook in front of her. "You might get sick."

Boomer snickered and put his spoon down. "Gee. Thanks, mom."

Blossom shifted uncomfortably in the seat of the small booth and looked down at the textbook again. "I guess we should start with some basic formulas? You dont really need to memorize them but you should practice them..."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

The redhead wrote down a few simple problems, and wrote down the formulas for the volume and surface area of a triangular prism. "Try these out first."

Boomer surprisingly obliged, pulling the work and pen in front of him. He started to do the problems, but soon got distracted by something behind Blossom. His eyes kept shifting from the paper to whatever was behind her, doodling absently in the margins of the paper.

"Need help?" Blossom asked, pulling the paper towards her. "Okay, first you need to get the area of the bases which is..."

But Boomer wasn't listening to a word she was saying. His mind was elsewhere. Actually, it was nowhere, but nowhere is better than here.

"...and that's how you do it. Now you try."

The blonde took the paper again and began the problems, but began doodling again. Blossom was observing him and seemed to notice: he can't focus on one thing for a long amount of time.

"This is hopeless," Boomer exhaled, pushing the paper away from him. "I'll never understand this crap."

"Oh no. I am Blossom Utonium, and if there's one thing I don't do, it's give up. I will help you and you will understand it. I don't care if I have to implant another brain into your head, do you hear me? I won't give up until you're answering math problems in your sleep!"

He stared at the girl, surprised at her outburst. "Yeah, whatever. Good luck."

She seemed to calm down some and her eyes flickered across the unanswered math problems. "What do you do for fun, Boomer?" She asked, resting her chin on her hands.

"I dunno," he shrugged, looking down at his hands. "Sing and draw, I guess."

No wonder he doesn't understand this, Blossom thought to herself. He needs to visualize what he's learning.

"Okay. We're going to sing a math song. I don't have a perfect voice, so I apologize in advance."

Boomer looked up at her, amused. "Go ahead."

She inhaled slightly and then began:

Geometry, oh, can seem so confusing.

But I'm here to break it down.

And you'll understand it, and pull a smile from that frown.

There are so many shapes, and we want to know the space that they take up.

So you figure out the base and multiply it by the height,

and soon, you will see the light.

Blossom shifted in her seat again and looked away from Boomer. "Is that helpful?"

The boy didn't respond, and she figured he was too busy laughing at her. When she looked up, she saw his head was turned towards the paper, humming the song she just introduced to him. After a few minutes of this, he looked up and smiled.

"Done."

She reached over and grabbed his paper, and to her surprise, every answer was right.

"You got it!"

Boomer frowned. "But that's only for that ... I think we'll have to make a song for every formula ever made ..."

Blossom, before she even realized what she was doing, reached across the table and grabbed his hand. "I'll do whatever it takes." And they sat like that for a while, her hand on his, staring at each other. It was in that moment that Boomer realized her eyes were pink.

Pink. What an odd color, he thought. But on her, it looks nice. It makes her look... beautiful. Woah.

He withdrew his hand. "I have to go."

Blossom frowned but quickly covered it up and smiled. "Alright. We'll work on the other songs tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure." Boomer replied, not looking into her face. He rushed out of the store and began jogging, making sure the redhead wasn't following him. What the hell was that? He asked himself, slowing down his pace when he was sure he was far enough from the ice cream parlor. You don't even know the girl, snap out of it. It was just in the moment. It won't happen again.

On the other side of Townsville, Blossom was walking, an angry stomp in her step. Why did you do that? She scolded herself. Now he probably thinks you're some weird and won't let you tutor him again. You can't let that happen again! You never lose, Blossom. Never! He'll get a good grade, no matter what!

The duo met again at the ice cream shop, the same booth at the same time. They both acted as if nothing happened the day before, as if they both dreamed up the event. Blossom continued making up and singing songs, Boomer picking them up quickly and humming them as he worked. Maybe this would actually help him. Maybe he'd finally pass a test. This revelation hit him hard and made him want to work harder, made him want to actually try. Blossom sensed his new motivation, and she realized that she was having to sing less. The boy was adding his own lyrics here or there, sometimes even making up his own songs. There were these little moments, moments that someone would write off as nothing, that occured throughout the week. A small smile here, eyes caught staring there, even the occasional brush of the hand. Really, neither of them seemed to mind.

The week went by in a flash, and Blossom knew he was ready for the test that Friday. And she was ready for all her hard work to pay off.

Blossom was confident that day, sitting only one seat away from Boomer. She could hear him humming softly as the sound of his pencil meeting the paper resounded in her ears. She couldn't keep herself from smiling as she wrote on her own test, knowing that he was humming because of her, that he was trying because of her.

They both looked at each at the same time, pink meeting blue for a second before Blossom turned away, red rushing on her cheeks. Boomer grinned slightly and turned back to his test, a new adrenaline flowing through him. He had to do good - not just for himself, but also for her. If he failed, all of her hard work - (didn't he work hard, too?) - would be put to waste. It was a crazy feeling, someone actually believing in you, that Boomer didn't even know how to feel about it. All week, his mind has been on one thing and one thing only: Blossom. He studied his textbook to impress her, did practice problems to make her proud. And now his loyalty and his smarts were being put to the test. All he needed to do was get through, get a passing grade, and he'd be able to see that smile of hers. And it'd be all for him, a smile made just for him.

That was all he needed to finish this test with confidence.

xxx

After school, they met at the ice cream parlor. Funny how that's the first place they go, even when Boomer didn't need to be tutored any more.

"How do you think you did?" Blossom asked, nibbling on her strawberry cone.

"For once, I want confused."

She smiled at that, and licked her ice cream. "I'm glad."

Boomer chewed on his bottom lip, an obvious sign that he was nervous. It puzzled Blossom that she knew his body language after only one week of meeting with him. Perhaps she has been watching him for longer than she thought? Maybe the ocean blue eyes of the blonde were the ones she saw in her dreams, the ones she always wanted to fall into, the ones she wanted to look back at her.

Her hand reached across the table for the second time, but this time, neither were surprised. Boomer let her curl her fingers in his, the spaces in between his fingers made just for her. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and smiled that smile, the smile that you knew she saved just for him.

"I know you passed. I believe in you."

And with those words, Boomer felt something happen inside of him. His eyes flickered to her face and he stared into those pink eyes, the eyes he soon realized that he'd been admiring from afar all this time. His gaze then fell on her orange hair and he suddenly had the urge to have it in his hands, to feel his fingers running through the silky fire atop her head. He looked down at their hands, intertwined with each other. And he knew then that what he felt, (whatever it was that he felt), that she felt it, too.

The weekend passed by ever too quickly, and Boomer was anxious for the day to end. He needed to get to that last period class as soon as possible, needed to know his score. Blossom felt the same way, her eyes eagerly glancing at the clock above her classroom every few seconds.

The bell rang and both nearly jumped out of their seats, racing to the class that they shared. They arrived even before the teacher, taking seats right next to each other. Blossom found his hand again and gave it another squeeze.

"I believe in you." She whispered, and that was all he needed to hear.

"Good afternoon, class! I suppose you're all eager to see your test results?" Ms. Pearl greeted, a smile on her face. Many heads nodded excitedly, even a certain blonde's. The teacher beamed and began passing out the tests, laying them face down on each student's desk. After what seemed like forever, she made her way back to the front of the room and grinned.

"You may turn over your tests!"

The sound of paper moving and breaths being held floated through the room, immediately followed by groans and a few cheers. Blossom glanced at her paper, already aware of the bright red 100 printed at the top. She turned towards Boomer, her eyes studying his face as he stared at his test.

"Well?" She asked anxiously, her voice louder than it should have been.

A small smile crept on Boomer's face as he turned towards the redhead.

"I ... I passed!" He jumped out of his seat, waving the paper in the air. "I can't believe it! I actually passed!"

Blossom beamed at Boomer, her heart soaring in her chest. Her eyes landed on the bright red 78 printed on his test, and her smile didn't even falter. For her, that score was just as bad as scoring a zero. For Boomer, it meant something, and because it meant something to him, it meant something to her.

"I'm so proud of you, Boomer!" She squealed, standing up to hug the boy. He engulfed her in a bear hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning her.

"Thank you! Thank you so much, Blossom!" He exclaimed, grabbing her again. Blossom thought he was going for another hug, but was shocked to see his face so close to hers. "Thank you..." he whispered, before closing the space between their lips. The initial shock quickly disappeared and she kissed back, feeling a small tear drip on her nose. Boomer broke the kiss and quickly wiped his eye before looking back at Blossom and realizing what he did.

"Oh!" He exclaimed, turning a bright shade of red. "I'm sorry! I'm just really excited and I got carried away and -"

Blossom grabbed him and kissed him, shutting him up. He broke the kiss again and looked into her eyes.

"Blossom, I ... I just wanted to say -"

The redhead simply caught his lips in hers, understanding what he was trying to say. Boomer kissed back, his lips saying everything his voice couldn't.

Thank you for believing in me...

This was just an idea I had late at night, and I HAD to get it down. I actually like the way this turned out. This might actually be the longest thing I've written on this site ... And yes, it's BlossomxBoomer. I'm ALL for traditional pairings, but I decided to step outside my comfort zone. Hopefully you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it? Review, please :D

1:24 A.M

Btw, whatever mumbo jumbo I wrote in that geometry song is probably super wrong and I'm sure the song was stupid. But it was just something quick for the story :P

6:46 A.M