However, Fuse didn't even try to keep the beatings secret, many a time while he was passed out, neighbors would help tend to Anna, or help with the house. But every time anyone tried to get the three out of their stepfather's custody, he would bribe the judge or find a loophole. Most of the town was fighting a losing battle.
"See ya later, if you need to stay over Dad's offer still stands." "I know, Julie's parents understood but he nearly destroyed their house…" She left the sentence off and said goodbye to her friend. The young blonde grabbed three bags and rushed through their rooms gathering necessities for the night and morning. She slipped on her necklace; the only possession she had of her mother's and then sprinted out the doorway, dreading the next time she would have to enter those doors.
Ben and Dexter were surprised to see Anna pass them going on the way to Julie's loaded down with three bags. Two girls met her at the door and the blonde handed both of them a bag. They spoke urgently and the boys noticed the worry etched on Anna's face. Dexter frowned and whispered to himself. He thought about all that had and was happening. Anna looking worried about her father coming home, the rumors in town, and what the three seemed to be talking about now. He quickly told his theory to Ben. "No, it couldn't be that." Ben muttered. Both boys looked at each other and knew they had come to the same conclusion.
A roar could be heard from down the street and Anna looked terrified until they noticed some moron's car speeding. The shortest girl motioned to a house across the street from the porch they were all on and the others nodded. They crossed the street and a red haired girl answered the door. She rushed out the door and threw her arms around all three girls, smashing them together. Everyone smiled, but Gwen and Anna exchanged looks, and without words with that, the red-haired girl knew how drunk the stepfather was. Max stepped out and everyone smiled, but the smiles didn't reach the eyes. Anyone could tell Gwen and Max were going to enjoy their friends company, just not the reason.
The boys watched this whole scene, and suddenly, their argument wasn't all that important. So they turned around and head for the only hill topped with a lab. Anna noticed them leaving out of the corner of her eye and made split second decision. She threw her hands to cup her mouth and shouted at them. "Dexter!" Both turned around, and stared at her, confused at why she was calling one of them. She gestured to the red head and revealed one little sentence as if she knew the secret of life.
"Her grandfather is Max Tennyson, you know, the guy that deals in off world tech." That was all that Dexter needed, and after a few introductions, the plumber and the prodigy headed down to the RV five minutes later. Ben followed them, muttering something about not understanding a word. And Mandy shadowed them down the stairs and out of the house because she wanted to know if either could help her with world take over…
Anna, Gwen, and Buttercup stayed in the living room discussing today events, namely how the shy bookworm knew the Ben Tennyson and Dexter McPherson. She told them all of the chance meeting and they all exchanged looks when Anna described Dexter. Everyone but her had come to a conclusion: She likes Dexter. Then again, so did every money hungry girl in town. There were fan clubs for him; it was as if he was a prince. But everyone usually knows the guy who owns the biggest employer in town. Anna had had a crush on him for a while, but always thought it silly, as she didn't even know if Dexter existed.
About sunset, the withdrawn again became part of the outside world. Ben and Dexter left, with Ben's promise that he'd be back by midnight, after maybe goodbyes during which Dexter and Anna were left alone many times. This was not lost on either one of them, and each of them resolved to talk with their friends. Dexter found a way to slip into their conversation on the way back to the labs but had a bit of trouble getting Ben to admit anything. Anna was a little more successful, only because she wove it into another topic. Nevertheless, both teens had to admit, they didn't mind spending time with the other.
Those lone moments were spent discussing books, and anything that most of their peers would never understand. He occasionally lost her, and had to explain many things, but both had enjoyed conversing with the other, and the Gwen and Ben noticed the curious stare that Anna sent to the red headed genius. She was entranced by him, by the fact that a boy her age could be anything like this one was. Likewise was he intrigued by her, she was as close to his intelligence save for Mandark, but she wasn't shut up nearly as much as either of the genii were. They were quickly becoming friends. They were attracted to each other, well, like magnets.
As the three step sisters set up in a guest room, the conversation always seems to be directed at what Anna thought of Dexter. Until Anna finally got fed up, that is. "Guys, just drop it, I already know you all are planning something." She tried to keep her temper and everyone noticed that so they backed away. Buttercup claimed the shower first, so Mandy and Anna followed Gwen and went down to the kitchen where the Max and Julie were making hot chocolate. "You three want some?" The girls concurred and the five sat around the table discussing the most random things. Julie had been sneaked an explanation by Max and so everyone started to direct the conversation to Anna's encounter with Dexter and Ben, except for Max. He felt that this was a girl thing.
To both the Max's and Anna's relief, the phone soon rang and Gwen and Julie, aided by Ship, ran to see who could get it first, tearing down a wall in their haste… Anna and Max exchanged looks. Apparently, they were expecting a call or two. "You know what Anime is right?" The older man nodded "You those spasms people have in there?" He continued nodding. "Well when some people say spasms like that don't really happen. I point to those two…" Both occupants burst out laughing and Mandy stood near the door, tapping her foot and waiting for Buttercup to get out of the shower. She came down the stairs in green pajama pants and a white tee shirt. She noticed the sitting duo still laughing and got a weirded out look on her face. "Do I wanna know?" Mandy shook her head. "You really don't want to know." She said in that way only Mandy could, keeping a straight bored face the whole time.
The female duo reentered the room at this time, and before they could say anything, Mandy stated, "Don't ask, you REALLY don't want to know."And then left the room. The other two shrugged and got the attention Max and Anna. "Blossom called, you know, Professor Utonium's daughter." Everyone nodded, knowing she and her sister lived with their father, and most the time were the closest the Dexter had to an understanding family. "Well she called us to invite us a party they're throwing next Friday, Can we go?" The girls, Julie spending the month and under Max's custody, gave the grandfather the puppy dog eyes, but they weren't needed. "Go ahead." Anna noticed Mandy reentering after all the confusion had passed, and decided to go steal the shower while she could. "Y'all have fun planning for it okay? I'm gonna go take a shower."
After she left, face Julie's fell, "Bubbles wanted to make sure that Anna was going to go." She and Gwen started to worry and everyone leaped to their feet, unless they were already there. "Max, do something, before they take it into their own hands." Buttercup muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Those two had a hobby of gently trying to make Anna more social, and giving her 'makeovers'. "Gwen, Julie, Anna most likely thought she wasn't invited. When she gets out of the shower, why don't you tell her she is?" The worry disappeared, and everyone sighed in relief.
The second Anna stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her and one in her hair, they bombarded her. "Anna! They want you to come too! We're going to get you ready before that! You're going to be the most beautiful girl there!" Anna looked at the other girls as if they were crazy. "Um, ok. Mandy? Buttercup?" The two sisters summoned entered and Anna gestured to the insane looking red head and Asian. While the stepsisters led the others out, Anna retrieved a purple tank top and white sleep pants.
She toddled down the stairs, while drying her hair, which ended in her landing at the bottom of two fights stairs, on her wrist. She couldn't stop the tears welling up in her eyes, and soon she was cradling her right hand and sobbing. Gwen, Julie (again aided by Ship,) and Buttercup were the first to arrive, demolishing three walls in process. Mandy and Max followed, one thinking of the cost of repairing the walls again while the other came out of curiosity. When asked what happened, the blonde managed to speak between sobs.
"I fell down the stairs-" "- and landed on my wrist. God it hurts." Max had taken enough anatomy to know what that meant. "Julie, go get Anna some shoes, Gwen, you remember those cards in the lock box?" The young super human girl nodded. "Go get Anna's." Both girls sped off to get ready while Buttercup and Mandy walked Anna to the car. "I feel so stupid, how could I have fallen-" Anna was cut off by a hiccup, and Buttercup went to get some water, when that girl started hiccupping, she didn't quit for a while…
Across town at the same time, Bubbles coughed as she followed Blossom and Ben into Dexter's lab. "He's got to be here somewhere…" Ben muttered, waving his hand to clear the smoke in front of him. "I'm over here." They heard a weak Russian accent a couple feet over. Each Powerpuff grabbed an arm and helped the young genius out. "I think I added too-" the young boy was cut off by a round of coughing. The professor looked at the young boy. "I'll do anything but heart, brain and lungs, so we've got to get to get him to the ER, pronto." As he finished this, the genius started coughing again. All three teens looked at each other; this was going to be a long night…