Chapter 2 – Don't Judge me Tomorrow by the Way I'm Acting Today

Second chapter already! I feel so...on top of things. But I'm really not – right now I'm supposed to be doing a Latin assignment, but writing this fic seemed so attractive and my brothers are having fun outside while I'm stuck in here! Feel sorry for me, people, if you can. :( Anyhow, here's Chapter 2!

Buttercup caught sight of Townsville High far before she reached it - hawk's vision, the Professor had once called it - and frowned at the lack of activity. One glance at her watch confirmed that it was 8:45am; this was when first period should be commencing. Monday morning...then, first period must be psychology - the one lesson she hadn't wanted to be late for! The one and only lesson that brought her to school on time for most of the term! But...the school gates were closed and there was no one visible on the grounds. Perhaps her watch was late, and so she was now late? That had happened once before, but she hadn't gotten into trouble because all she had to do was show the teacher her watch, which had run 10 minutes late. The excuse had been so seemingly innocent - as well as easy to prove - that she had used it a few times after that. So much so that then shehad gotten into trouble.

But then she got closer and her frown deepened, creases appearing between her furrowed eyebrows. She couldn't hear anything, either, and her hearing had been classed (by the Professor, again) as extraordinary - even compared to animals like dogs. Uhm...maybe there was some massive excursion - for the whole school - that she had missed out on? She landed in the grass in front of the main school building and zipped to the front window. No one was in the hallway. No lights were on, no sound could be heard, nothing was happening. Not even a stray teacher, kept back by an obsession or obligation for their work, could be heard. Buttercup cocked her head to one side and tendrils of confusion began drifting into her frown.

She ignored the rustling of grass that heralded Butch's touchdown and continued staring through the window. A light tap on her shoulder and her eyes instead focussed on the reflection in the pane of glass. Butch stood behind her, smiling in a concerned way.

"BC, why are we here?" he enquired, polite for once. "You were in such a rush to reach..." He left his words hanging as her expression become annoyed.

"School, freaking heck! Whatever happened to school?" she almost shouted, frustration evident in her voice, eyes, expression, posture - he took them all in with a level glance.

"BC. It's Sunday, babe. There is no school," he raised an eyebrow in an amused way, smirking at her suddenly wide eyes.

"Wait - what the heck - that means...No. Really?" He wanted to snap a photo of her disbelieving expression. Wordlessly, he pushed his sleeve back and showed her his watch - the small box inset into the watch face clearly, proudly displayed the word: "Sunday." So he was right. She seemed to deflate slightly and looked at the ground, wishing it would suddenly sprout something that would completely hide her from Butch's searching gaze. She felt her cheeks heat up, and wanted to be back in her comfy bed. Away from any guys with dark green eyes and messy black hair.

"Oh. Damn," she managed, successfully sounding indifferent. But one glance at her eyes revealed her embarrassment, and he chuckled. Once. It was enough to earn him a punch to the gut. He flew away from her, landing on his butt in a patch of grass on the lawn. Incredulous, he looked at her, eyes betraying the surprise and pain - Dammit - inflicted by her actions.

"What was that for?" he asked, tone accusatory. He was a Rowdyruff - tougher than most - and he rose to his full height, brushing off grass from his pants. She looked up, displeased at the change in prospect. One minute he was shorter than her, the next his tall frame towered over her. And he flew back to her, looking pissed off now. She blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"Don't call me babe." It was amazingly, stupidly cliche and yet she couldn't think of anything else . Curling her upper lip in disdain, she waited for his reply. It was, as expected, sarcastic and sharp.

"I'll call you whatever I want, babe. It's not like I'm the one who dragged you here at 8 freaking AM in the morning, yelling at you and sending you death glares every 30 seconds! And I carried your freaking bag for you! So here." He dumped her bag at her feet, having held on to it despite being punched. "Plus, if I weren't here, you wouldn't have bloody well known it was Sunday." He spat the last word at her, and spun on his heel to stride away from her. He took off without a backwards glance. She was left there, feeling slightly miffed and kind of stupid and most of all, a little lonely without him. After all, it wasn't this often that she was at school and no one else was.