Man it felt good to get out of that stupid uniform. Freaking khaki pants and belt. What jackass decided that rich people have to wear such uncomfortable clothes? You'd think with all that money they just wouldn't give a crap and wear whatever. It was my last class of the day, the sweetness that is gym class. At least I don't have to wait till the very end of the day to get out of those stupid clothes. Brick was less excited about it. I was gonna wait for him but the guy was moving like a snail. I know we're made out of those, but still.
Our class headed to the outside basketball court. I decided to wow these pathetic little humans during the warm up exercises. Every shot perfectly sunk. Ball dribblin' so fast they couldn't even see it. Boomer's the only one who had to pay the full load to get into this school. Brick had his SAT scores or something like that, while I landed in with my amazing athletic abilities. The best part is that I got a much bigger scholarship than Brick, haha! These fat cats and their sports. I'm going to rule this sorry school in a month. Better yet, I'll aim for a week!
I got bored of showing off and went over to Brick. Dude was just leaning against the fence staring off into space. Probably won't move a damn muscle all year. After all he 'prefers games of the mind!' Pardon me mister highbrow. "Sucks that we have to wait all freaking day for this class, huh?" I asked, trying to make conversation. "Rest of the day is going to be pure torture, just counting the seconds."
Brick didn't say anything. Probably didn't even hear me. Christ this guy is such a downer these days. Been doin' nothin' but complaining since we got into Townsville yesterday. All freaked out about this stupid plan and how we have to do it perfectly. But you know, being here reminds me of the old days. Back when Brick was cool and the three of us just spent every day doing whatever we wanted. Stealing candy, wrecking buildings, trashing people's houses. Last few years it's like the guy's lost his soul.
"Hey Bro." I said and put a hand on his shoulder. "How about after school the three of us go check out some of the old hang outs? We can go chill up at the north bridge where we used to write graffiti all the time. Or pop into that grocery store we used to rob every week. The one owned by that guy who always screamed like little girl every time he saw us? Remember that guy?"
Still no freaking response. "Oh I've got it!" I said, snapping my fingers. "Let's go look for Fuzzy Lumpkins! We can tie em' up and break all his banjos while he watches. It'll be a riot!"
Brick walked over to the bleachers and sat down. You could say I was talking to a literal brick.
"Hey how about that one, the one with the long brown hair?" I pointed out. We were just sitting around now, watching the rest of the class play a pick-up game. Perfect time to check out the new playing field. My poor, poor brother wouldn't be in such a constant slump if he had some tail in his lap. Being the wonderful and amazing brother that I am, I decided I would find him some fun. Hopefully that would cheer the bastard up and we could go back to the awesome days.
Right now the whole idea was feeling kind of hopeless though. Brick was too busy staring at the sky and not at the hot chicks I was pointing out. What is it about the sky that's so damn fascinating? Both of them are always staring up there instead of doing anything fun. I looked over at the nearby baseball field. I could point out some of the hotties over there, but what good would that do. Maybe Boomer could help me figure out how to get Brick interested in some action. Seems like they've been on the same wavelength lately.
I spied something interesting and nudged my frigid brother. "Hey, look over there?"
"Over where?" He asked, finally saying something.
"Over to the right of the baseball field, on that hill where the tree line is. There's a girl up there. She looks like the one you were talking about at lunch."
Brick stood up and shaded his eyes with hand. "That is her." He said quietly.
"You really think she might be the Blue Puff? The one that was always happy and sweet, singing about love and all that crap?"
"Ehh, I'm still not sure. This has been one weird day." He said quietly.
"Hey I know a way we check right now." I grinned as I picked up a stray basketball.
Brick lowered his eyes at me. "Don't. You. Dare." He said slowly.
"What I won't throw it hard enough to kill her, just to injure her."
Brick called me some word I don't know and looked over at goth girl again.
"It'll be good for her." I said, spinning the ball on my finger. "These dark chicks are just upset because their lives are so boring. We give her a little excitement and she'll perk right up."
"Did you talk to Blossom at all in your Spanish class?" Brick asked, completely ignoring my idea.
"Of course not. After all, as Mom and Dad said over twenty million times, we're not supposed to give them any direct attention. Besides you're the one showing her up, not me."
"We can't, by the way."
"Can't what?"
"Can't go check on the old hang outs tonight."
I let out an annoyed groan. "Why not? I've been dying to."
Brick turned away from the goth girl and gave me a stern look. "As I've been saying all day, you've got a job to do. Find the Green Puff and get into the same sports teams."
"Ah but you see, I have a very awesome secret to tell you." I whipped my head back and forth, checked under the bleachers, and covered my mouth as I whispered the forbidden information. "It won't take me that long."
"Well here's an actual secret," Brick said as he covered his mouth, "we have to report to Mojo and Him at six o'clock."
"How long is that gonna take? The night is young."
"You know what a freak Mojo is about small details. And the night is not young. We have to get enough sleep and start studying. We can't crush the Puffs if you two get kicked out."
I let out a laugh. "Kick me out? They practically begged me to enroll here once they saw my basketball videos. Have you seen the size of the trophy case they got in the west building? I could skip every single one of my classes every day and they wouldn't so much as give me a detention. You know I get why all three of us didn't just come here as superstars."
"Would have attracted too much attention."
"Yeah, good attention." I tried to argue, but the final bell had rung.
"Go find her and get things started." Brick said as he left for the locker room.
"Yes my Lord and Master." I growled in scraggy voice.
"This is it?" I asked the basketball team manager. Some short kid with glasses named Keenan.
"Yeah that's the whole women's tennis team." He said.
"Are you sure that's all of them. Are any of the girls missing?"
"No. That's all of them."
What a freaking pain. I had checked every damn woman's sports team and Buttercup wasn't on a single one. I even checked the softball team. Hey wouldn't be that surprising if she turned out to be a dyke, right?
"No, no, no." I said as looked down at the little shrimp. "Someone has to be missing."
"No this is it," he said, looking a little scared. "I even got you that paper showing all the players on each team."
"Well I'm having a hard time believing this." I said, grating my teeth.
"I don't know what you want. Are you looking for a certain girl or something?" He asked.
You know what? Screw this subtlety thing. First we can't find the Blue Puff, and now I can't find Buttercup anywhere. I grabbed Keenan by his stupid shirt collar. "Where is Buttercup. The Powerpuff Girl? Where is she?"
"Buttercup? She…uh…she doesn't do any sports…"
"Oh yeah, that's a good one." I said, increasing my grip. "Miss Fighter Extraordinaire doesn't play on ANY of the school's sports teams."
"No! She doesn't! She spends all her time after school at the Blakely building."
"The Blakely Building?" I asked as I let go of him. "That's the science building."
"Uh…y-yeah. I uh, I got to go." He said as he scuttled off.
"Alright that's it. I've had enough of this sleuthing crap." I thought to myself as I hurried over to the Blakely building. That damn Brick. Thinks he knows everything and bosses me around with his stupid orders. And what do I get for it? A whole hour and half of my time wasted! "I'm gonna march right up to her and find out what the hell she's doing. Screw mental tactics, screw Brick, screw Mom and Dad, and screw this stupid plan!"
I got to the building and started looking around. Most of the rooms were dark. Figures not too many students would want to hang around on the first day. Should make this a bit easier. "Aw hell, she might not even be here." I thought. I peeked into a brightly lit lab. Just some teachers.
Freaking humans and their damn science. Have such weak little bodies that they have to build machines to do shit for them. Sure I was created by science, I guess, but it was Dad's magic that really gave me and my brothers an edge over those stupid Puffs. That's what these humans should be studying, magic. Open up a damn wizard college or something.
There she was. Sitting there in the next lab. Sitting at a table with some huge book open. Looked like she had about ten notebooks sprawled across the table. Wasting no time I opened the door, loudly. She looked up, surprised. A put on the nastiest grin I could manage. "Buttercup." I said as I walked over to her.
Slamming my hands down on the table, I looked right at her. "Yeah, it's me. You know it's me. You've known since you saw me in Tech Ed. Let's cut the crap, cause I've been running around outside all afternoon looking for your stupid ass. What the hell are you doing in here with a bunch of science garbage? Huh, HUH!"
Her face twisted in anger. Wow, it's been like what, seven years since I've seen that face. My heart started to beat really fast. Adrenaline pumped into my arms and legs. Some part of my brain woke up, cause seeing that face meant it was time for a fight! A real fight! She looked kind of different, but still the same. Eyes bent down at the same angle, the left side of her mouth revealing teeth while the right side stayed shut, and her nose getting all wrinkled. Ahh, just like to old days.
"Who the hell do you think you are!?" She yelled as she stood up. Her chair flew back and knocked down the table behind her. "You think you can just come back here after so long and start…"
Then something weird happened.
She tilted her head down a bit. Closed her eyes and started taking in deep breathes. I just watched. What the hell was she doing? She reached under the table and grabbed her backpack. Closed up her big book and stuffed it inside, followed by all the notebooks. Packed them all in there without even looking at me. Like I wasn't even there. God I hate when people do that.
Once everything was packed up she made her way to the door. Using super speed I blocked it. Glared down at her with my arms crossed. I hadn't really noticed it until now, but she was pretty short. Probably only a little over five feet tall. Figured she'd be taller, like me. I leaned in close. "What's wrong, you scared? Come on, you were the only one who could ever give me a decent fight. Did your balls fall off while I was gone?" Her body started to tense up. Buttercup could never handle trash talk. She was always the easiest to provoke, even easier than Brick.
Then another weird thing happened.
Without a word she dashed over to one of the windows. They weren't exactly big windows, but she opened one and managed to slip through it. I tried to grab her, but she was already through by the time I got across the room. Growling in anger, I flew through the door and down the hallways. Once I was outside I flew up into the air. I didn't give a crap if anyone saw me.
No freaking sign of her. She must of flown off. I cursed to myself and started flying home. Should have just broke the damn window. What the hell was going on with her? Doing science stuff, not giving in to my taunts, running from a fight?
Freakin' unexpected, that's for sure.
"You're late." Brick annoying voice filled my ears as I slammed open the door.
"Yeah well it took me all freaking day to find that stupid Buttercup." I said as I headed to the fridge. I needed a drink. "Where are the beers I put in here yesterday?"
"You're not drinking any beer on school nights." Brick said calmly.
"Man this is Bullshit!" I yelled.
"Did you find her?"
"Oh yeah I found her alright," I said as I lay down on the couch. "But you wanna know where she was? Huh, do ya?"
Brick just crossed his arms and scowled at me. God I am surrounded by such pricks. "She was in the Blakely building."
Brick raised an eyebrow. "What was she doing there?"
"Reading some science book." I said as I closed my eyes. All I wanted to do was drink, but since I couldn't now I just wanted to sleep.
"That's umm…" Brick began scratching his head.
"Yeah, I know." I replied. I looked over at Boomer who was reading some magazine in the corner. Not so much reading as just staring at it. "But enough about my crummy day, what you Boomer? Feels like you haven't said a damn thing all day. You find the Blue Puff?"
Boomer just kept staring off into space. "No…" He quietly said.
God what happened to the destruction filled little bastards I used to know?
Brick opened up his laptop and placed in on the table. "Alright I'm going to call them."
"Great." I said as I got up. "Just great."