Hey guys! Nothing much exciting in this chapter, but hope it's a good reading for you anyhow!

Chapter 2

She frowned at the correspondence pile in the colourful ceramic bowl, placed in the center of the kitchen table. It was getting so, so big. The more days passed, the more bills arrived, but the less money seemed to come.

And all of this while the girls were privileged, compared to most classmates.

Professor was the chief of department of Genetics Studies in Townsville University and Research Centre. It was fully funded by the government, which in the eyes of most people was a blessing, but in the girls' eyes, not so much. For example, it was the first day of school after Summer Break and the last time they've seen Professor was on Thursday the week before.

The main problem here wasn't that he worked a lot - it was that he was sucked out of their lives into work to fulfill the demands of a totalitarian, sadistic, plain evil dictatorship.

"Morning, Bloss!" a tight hug from behind snaped the redhead out of her thoughts.

"Bubbles!" she gasped, balancing the large cup of black coffee she had in hands "God, you scared me!"

The blonde giggled, her pigtails bouncing up and down "I'm sorry! I couldn't resist seeing you all deep in thought like a buddha statue! I had to break it!"

Blossom just rolled her eyes with a smile and grabbed the extra hair band the blonde had on a wrist to wrap her long, thick hair.

"What do we have for breakfast?" Bubbles asked, as she sat down.

"Pancakes, coffee and some fruits" Blossom said as she finished her hair, swiping her bangs away from her eyes "Where's Buttercup?"

"Upstairs" Bubbles replied, her attention full on the pancakes and the sweet syrup "She will be down in a minute. I helped her with standing up, getting the crutches, whatnot..."

Blossom frowned at the last remark, as she gulped on her large cup "So, her mood is…"

"Yeah" Bubbles rolled her eyes, knowingly "Her mood is pretty much the same, but worse because someone helped her."

Blossom sighed. Buttercup had missed way too many classes because of her physical condition and she really couldn't afford one more missed class, even if it meant having to use her crutches to walk sometimes - which she hated, just as much as she hated school in general, her own condition, being told what to do, having someone else's help or waking up early.

Oh, and Mondays.

"By the way!" Bubbles kept on, as she munched on her pancakes "You are so gonna hate her outfit."

The redhead groaned, throwing her head backwards "What's it?"

"Everyday ripped jeans, that customized band t-shirt you hate… oh, and the stinky combat boots" Bubbles replied with a mouthful - at this point of their lives she was completely unbothered by her sisters' shenanigans, fights, arguments, etc. She really just went along.

"Hey!" a husky voice spoke over Blossom's shoulder "I am not the one getting in trouble for disrespecting the school's dress code, you know!"

This made the redhead scowl and turn around "Buttercup, I had no choice! It was either that or passing out of dehydration! Again!"

The raven-haired twin scoffed "Try have your sleazy dress explain it to the principal…"

Blossom glared furiously, as Buttercup sat down.

"Sleazy!? This is a cotton, halter neck dress!" The redhead fumed, grabbing at the fabric of her garments "Aaaand it's knee-lenght! F-Y-I!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, standing up to point at her dress, as in to prove a point.

Buttercup scoffed again "Looks quite tight if you ask me… But what do I know…"

Blossom groaned in exasperation, storming out of the kitchen with the large cup of coffee in her hands "I'm gonna get my bag! You two better be ready in five minutes or I am leaving!"

As Blossom went away, Bubbles slowly turned around to face Buttercup, who was grinning widely "So… your mood improved after that?"

The brunette laughed out loud, chocking a bit on her pancakes "Damn, blondie, you bet!"

The girls took the bus to school - Buttercup still grinning at Blossom, who was still mad and had a fixed glare on her face and refuse to look back.

Truth be told, she really had had more than one detention due to disrespecting the school's dress code, but what Blossom could not make people understand was that, much like Buttercup, she too had a physical condition, though not as apparent.

Whereas Buttercup got aching muscles and lost energy with ease, Blossom's body simply retained too much heat and its temperature raised too quickly and intensely. Most days she could rely on the medication Professor prepared her, but it was not fool proof.

However, since she couldn't wrap people's minds around it - in despite of the medical exams performed by Professor himself, Blossom was awarded the title of "school's slut", besides the detentions.

Oblivious to her sisters' feud, Bubbles remained silent, focusing on following them and nothing else, afraid she would lose herself somehow or maybe get distracted and miss the point they were supposed to get off, etc.

Bubbles, unlike Blossom and Buttercup did not have any physical disorders but presented signs of an extremely bad case of ADHD.

When they were younger, Professor had suggested sending her to a different school, designed to students with learning difficulties but it was not the blonde's case - also, both her and her sisters ferociously opposed to it and since then, up until high school, it had worked tremendously well, with Bubbles relying on Blossom's help to go through lessons.

But, high school being high school, students caught up on her slight "handicap" and it did not take long until she was labeled "dumb". As in, "that dumb blonde twin from the freaky sister trio".

Now, Bubbles may have learning difficulties but she was no fool: she had caught up on the labels designed to Blossom and Buttercup: "slut" and "weak".

As a defence plan, she would always wear baggy clothes that covered the most skin she could, and avoid physical activities at all costs. After all, it would take one wrong step to have her labeled as the "weak, slutty, dumb blonde" at school. This, allied to her being a social butterfly, had been her shield from harsher judgements from classmates.

"Look, guys!" the girls heard a guy shout as soon as they stepped on the Townsville High's lawn "The anomalo-trio is here!" he went on, laughing as loudly as possible.

As always, Blossom ignored, Buttercup glared and Bubbles looked his way - he was with a blue-eyed brunette, who smiled at her.

"Hi, Bubbles!" she waved in excitement, to which she waved back, before walking away.

"Hi, Robyn!" she turned her gaze to the male who'd insulted her and her sisters and now stood by Robyn's side, awkwardly "Nice to see you too, Jake."

A few yards in front of Bubbles, Buttercup growled as she walked by Blossom's side, passing through the school crowd, where the majority gave them strange looks or just laughed at them.

"Buttercup…" the redhead warned.

"I want to break their fucking necks." she growled in a low voice "All of them."

"Language…"

"I mean it!" The brunette shouted as she reached her locker, by Blossom's and Bubbles' side, who'd just caught up.

Blossom nodded as she opened her own "I know, I know… But we can't have you breaking one - or both - of your crutches because you hit someone in the head again."

"I agree!" a male shouted from behind them.

The girls looked around to see Mitch Mitchelson, standing defiantly, with a black eye and a bandage around his head. The boy received a smirk from Buttercup.

"How's you doin' Mitchelson?" She snickered "Finally got some sense knocked into that thick skull during summer break?"

"Buttercup…" Blossom sighed, turning to her locker while Bubbles giggled.

Mitch sighed "C'mon! I apologized! It was just a joke!"

The brunette crossed her arms, with a glare fixed on her face "And now, because of your joke, we are all banned from Townsville's mall, you jerk."

Bubbles narrowed her eyes at that "But we were only banned because you hit him in the head with a pair of crutches!"

"Actually, Bubbles" Blossom spoke, without turning around from her books "She broke the crutches by hitting Mitch."

Buttercup's glare went from Mitch to Blossom "What's the difference!?"

"The cost of new crutches."

"C'mon B-Cup…" Mitch cooed "I already apologized, B-Cup…"

This made Buttercup's green eyes go from glaring at Mitch to staring at her chest for a brief moment, and then back to glaring at the boy "You are really asking for it, buttface" she growled.

Against his best judgement, Mitch still chuckled "Buttface? Really, Butt-ercup? …Wanna play nickname-thy-friend with me?"

Before the fuming brunette could answer, a fifth person walked into the group, slight pushing Mitch aside "Knock it off already, you peasants."

Blossom briefly turned around to greet said person, amusedly "Nice to see you too, Princess."

"Why, thank you, dear. Finally, someone with some class in this group" The heiress grinned as she patted her massive curls "You are all welcome, by the way… The ban was, indeed, cancelled just now" she giggled wickedly, waving her expensive smartphone "All thanks to the Morebucks' power, of course."

The news made Bubbles beam, jumping up and down as she clapped her hands "Thank you! Thank you, thank you so much Princesssss!" she shouted and laughed, jumping in to hug Princess, who scowled and rolled her eyes.

"I, I'd rather not be touched, you know…" she growled, trying to push the blonde away.

"Aw, but you're such a lovely person, Princess!" Mitch chuckled "It's impossible to resist your allure, babe."

Princess grimaced at him, still struggling from Bubbles' grip "Ew! Shut up, you pervert! Don't call me that! And you, you let me go, blondie!"

Much to her despair, Bubbles had picked on Mitch's joke and did not let go of the hug "But, Princess, he's so right! You are so loveable and squishy!" she giggled, tightening the hug "Mitch! Come join us! Group hug!"

Princess' widened brown eyes and panicked expression was enough to convince him to - which only worsened her yells "No! No! NOONONONONO!" her struggle became more intense "Get off! Get off, you two! That's, that's harassment! I will call my security!"

Happily enough, the picturesque scene was enough to take passerby's eyes away from the "freaky trio" of sister and some were even taking pictures or making short films on their phones.

Blossom couldn't help but grin while Buttercup supported herself on her crutches and locker, trying to not fall on the floor from laughing so hard.

Despite her hard laughter, she managed to whisper into Blossom's ear "You know… stuff like this help me remember why it was so worthy to befriend these two."

By lunchtime, the scene starring Princess, Mitch and Bubbles had already been posted on Youtube and every WhatsApp group that belonged to a High School student. Some students on the computer sciences class 101 were working on a remix of Princess' desperate yells.

One of the video stars - the angriest one - walked up to the lunch table where the group from earlier was sat. She stood and slowly glared at each one of the sitting people - all which were trying their best to hold their laughter. The heiress fumed at Buttercup, who was having a real hard time holding back. She smirked at Princess "You are a star, now!"

The line made Buttercup's sisters and Mitch crack up laughing out loud, the latter being so out-of-control he started to punch the table.

Princess only threw her stray (a golden one, specially designed for her, with the food prepared by her personal french chef) at the table.

"You all suck" she growled, before slumping down on her seat.

Mitch finally seized to laugh and smirked at her, seductively "But you just love us, don't you? Especially me?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

The auburn-haired girl glared at him "I'm only sitting here because there's nowhere else to sit, you know."

Mitch's grin widened "…And you made sure to sit down right by my side!"

A frustrated Princess growled and gritted her teeth and for a moment, the girls could swear she was about to explode, but instead, her anger seemed to dissipate as she closed her eyes, took a breath and opened them again.

"Just… Touch my sushi and I will end you, Mitchelson."

The boy shrugged "Not a raw-fish-and-sticky-rice kind of person, anyway".

But unlike Mitch's, Bubbles' eyes wandered hungrily at Princess' stray "Is there a vegetarian sushi there?" she asked, pointing with her head at Princess luxurious stray.

Princess only sighed as she took out her chopsticks "No."

Bubbles' posture changed immediately at the answer.

"Murderer…" she seethed, going back to her cheese and salad sandwich.

"Hey, it's fish! They don't count!" Princess rolled her eyes as she ate a sushi piece "Anyway… how's the quest going, Blossom?"

Blossom rose an eyebrow at Princess "…Quest?"

"Oh yeah!" Mitch jumped on his seat, in excitement "That, that whole 'find-everything-about-our-past' project you have going on!"

Blossom swallowed dryly. She didn't like talking about it with anyone else but her sisters or anywhere else but her room, but Buttercup's big mouth got in the way at some time during the last week of summer break. Though the brunette had justified herself: Mitch and Princess were the closest people in their lives besides Professor - why not just talk about it and get it out of their chests?

"It's… going" Blossom shrugged "I mean, I found a lot of things on Townsville's secret archive…"

"You're welcome" Princess winked, making the redhead unease.

"Yeah" Blossom smiled, shifting on her seat "Though I would request you to not bribe anyone in the future for me…"

Princess shrugged, contently "That's what friends are for, dear."

"Anyway…" Blossom sighed "I couldn't find anything related to us, to a trio of girls being created in a laboratory. You'd think there'd be at least one article."

"Boy, you're hopeful" Buttercup chuckled, mouthful "Do you think anyone would care about it?"

"Uh, yes?" Mitch questioned, as mouthful "More than ten years ago there were articles about water on Mars. Little girls being created in a lab would make front page, for sure."

"But apparently it didn't" Blossom said, deep in thought "Isn't it weird?"

"Well, you can ask Professor about it when you see him today!" Bubbles suggested "He probably would love to talk about giving interviews! Maybe there are articles with our photos as little, too!"

"I hope to fuck not" Buttercup groaned, shuddering "That'd be so embarrassing."

"Come on, Buttercup!" Bubbles moaned at her sister "Don't you think that'd be so, so cute!?"

"Well, I do."

"Shut up, Mitchelson."

"Hm, so he is going back home today, at last?" Princess questioned, looking into Blossom's pink eyes. The girls really had mentioned it to them sometime during the weekend, Princess probably guessed he was still trapped at work, It wouldn't be the first time.

But still, something made Blossom feel her mouth go dry under Princess' stare "No, not really…"

"But, you are seeing him today?" the heiress rose an eyebrow, with a growing interest.

"Yeah, but-"

"Blossom's visiting Professor at work after classes!" Bubbles' blonde head butted in between the two redheads "Right, Bloss!?"

Princess rose her eyebrows at that, with a large smile "Oh, are you, Blossom?"

The redhead nodded, slightly.

"Well, good luck to you" the heiress smiled, with a wink "Hope you find some very interesting stuff…"

Blossom smiled at her, though with some discomfort "Thank you."

As soon as lunchtime was over, Princess took the time to seek an empty bathroom - preferably one she could talk on the phone at peace. It was okay if she missed the class after lunch - this was of major importance.

Sitting with her legs crossed on a toilet (surely not her most dignified situation nor location), she anxiously dialled a number… to have the receiver hung up on her face. The girl rolled her eyes. Typical. So typical of him.

She dialled again, and again.

When she was about to give up, the receiver picked up the phone "This better be good, Princess!" he shouted, with somewhat of a husky voice.

She giggled at his outburst "You are such a morning person, darling."

"Fuck off" he groaned from the other end of the line "Just spit it."

Again, Princess giggled "First of all - you do know that I never spit. I swallow. But, I do think this information will be of your interest, Brick."

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