Asuki-sama was here! Editing! Making this chapter better! : ) Thank you!

Counterparts

Buttercup
Thursday
The first basketball game of the season was only a few days away, this Saturday. My squad and I were going to cheer before the game to support the team. Professor gave me permission to go to school and attend the practices and games. The rest of the time, I had a curfew…

After we had changed into our cheer outfits (our school colors are green, yellow and purple), the music started in the gymnasium. We went out there to begin our rehearsal. I was the first one out on the floor. I stood on my mark, and we danced. Hot and glowing, we danced ourselves sweaty. The audience was cheering, loud and overwhelming. Well, in my head at least… We practiced the dance a few more times to really get it down. Once it was over, I felt a true satisfaction only these practices and my pompoms could give me.

Then I saw him. The only person in the world (mutually with his brothers) that could ruin my euphoria. Liam Berger. One of the dipshits Mojo Jojo created to destroy my sisters and me. He was the douchebag with green eyes and dark, skintight clothes whose only purpose was to show off all his muscles. He was walking opposite to me in the hall. The basketball team was going to have their practice soon.

"If you weren't playing for my team, I wouldn't want to throw up every time I hope we would win." I said loudly as he passed us, with the rest of the team behind him with all their uniforms on.

"Easy, Love. It's mah team you're talking about, y' know." He said with his deep, raspy voice and rude Texas accent as he pointed at his captain's tag sewed into his shirt.

I smiled sarcastically and pointed at my own.

"Well, it's not like you're doing anything to help us win." He said with his usual crooked smile, his dark green eyes seemed to glow with jeer. "We're the ones with the ball. All y'all do is fawn during the breaks so that young boys have some naked legs to amuse themselves with."

"I hope you break your face on some lucky bastard's elbow." I hissed and got closer to him.

He was over *two meters tall and at least *four decimeters taller than me, but I wasn't afraid of him. Even though I only reached to his chest. Everybody around us became curious and stopped to watch.

"Cheerleading feels kinda unsuitable for you, don't yah think? Shouldn't you be playing soft ball like every other lesbian?"

He was taunting me because of my choice of fashion – I had been called a tomboy several times, even though I didn't want to label myself. I just liked having comfortable clothes, and baggy clothes were comfortable for me.

"Oh! So I'm homosexual – the right designation of that word that you should use – just because of my fashion style?"

As if he didn't hear me, he responded with: "Did you know your thighs looks fat in that outfit?"

Oh, my God, he's so stupid! He can't even argue right! But man, did he smell good… What am I even thinking?! I resisted the temptation to jump him. If the coach saw me, I would get kicked out of the squad faster than a super powered punch would make Liam fly. So instead of doing anything impulsive, I just stared hatefully at his sneering face.

"Aren't you from a too conservative state to get away with that hairdo?"

He kept sneering at me, but his face took a serious turn and became almost furious after my innuendo – he knew that I had won.

"Cat got your tongue?" I asked.

"Burned." Said Robin and Tilly, giving me a high five each before walking behind me through the hall to the locker rooms.

/"Did you hear that Liam and some of his friends broke into the convenience store again?" Robin asked the rest of us.

We had all showered and were ready to go home. It was only me and three other who hadn't put our clothes on yet. Tilly had already gone to the bus stop.

"Newsflash… How much did they get?" I said angrily.

"I don't know, not much. Are you gonna nail him, B?" Robin sneered at me.

"Nail? Really?"

"Yeah, arrest."

"I know what you mean…" I muttered. "And no. I don't capture petty criminals when there are real dangerous people out there." We were all quiet for a while. "I hate Liam Berger!" I exclaimed after a few attempts to put my top on the right way around.

"We all do, B," said Heather, one of the dancers, "but he is the captain and you can't deny that he's doing really well. He's won every game he's been in. Do you remember that one time he had a hundred and two degree fever and played anyway? Since he was so ill…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, since he was so ill and slow we lost the game… I hate it when you use that against me… But you all can agree on that it's sick that we only win because of him? I still hate him…"

"But don't you think he's hot?" Amber, who had just left the showers, whispered.

"I… think he is… Are you kidding me? If he was the last guy on earth…" the others began laughing. "What?!"

"Love always starts with war, B. You know, like kindergarten." Said Robin. "The little boys pulled the little girls' hair, and the little girls shoved the little boys in the mud…because they were in love."

"So I'm six years old now?"

Nobody said anything. They just sat there and grinned sheepishly. I gathered all my things and walked out the locker room without waiting for Robin to get ready.

How could they think something like that? I've hated Luke, Liam, and Leo Berger since I was a kid, ever since they were "born". Why the hell did they think I liked him? I'd been yelling at Becca because she was socializing with one of them, and he even seemed to be the only one who was sensible of them all, and yet my friends think I'm in love with the one who was the most evil? You think you know someone…

Bubbles
When the school bell rang at four o'clock, I felt as if a lightning bolt had struck down into my body. My legs felt like spaghetti when I stood up and began gather my things. In only a few minutes, I was going to meet him and tell him how I felt. I bet he was already waiting for me!

I started walking towards the bridge behind the gymnasium when I almost walked straight into Brooke. She seemed really angry about something.

"Brooke?"

"Oh… Hi, Becca…" her face softened when she saw it was me. "Hey, about…"

"It's okay, Brooke. I'm going to see Leo right now. It's cool between us."

"Did…did Betty talk to you about…"

"Yes, we talked. She understands me now. I think you should try to understand, too."

"Yeah, I think so. Good luck." She nodded her head and gave me a half-hearted attempt of a smile.

"How did your practice go?" I asked before she flew home.

"We won…whoopee…"

I would have taken it as a joke and laughed if she hadn't looked so forlorn. "So why are you so angry?"

She snorted. "It's that bastard, Liam. He's getting on my nerves and to make it worse, the squad thinks I'm in love with him. I mean…you understand, right?"

"I…don't know… I mean, since Leo…"

Brooke gave me a sarcastic grin before lifting off the ground and flew home without any more conversation. I shrugged and continued on my way to the bridge.

There he stood, leaning over the railing, looking down onto the water beneath him with his long, blonde hair almost hiding his face. He looked up when he heard my steps crunching on the gravel path and saw me. He smiled, in the way only Leo could smile – the smile that could make any girl melt inside. Today he was wearing a long, ironed light blue shirt with thin, white vertical stripes, a pair of shorts with camouflage pattern, and his usual black and red DC skate shoes. He didn't have his usual beanie today, but had a white new era cap instead.

I wished I had chosen nicer clothes for today. My baggy jeans and brown sweater didn't look nearly as nice as they did this morning and I cursed myself for not fixing my hair before leaving class today.

"Hi." I said carefully as I stopped in front of him.

"Hi." Leo replied, still smiling.

"Hey, I'm sorry about my sister and her friends earlier. That's not how I wanted the night to end."

"You don't have to apologize, I don't care. Nothing has changed. Everything's like it was before they arrived. How I feel about you hasn't changed one bit."

"That I'm not a swine, you mean?" I laughed.

"You certainly are not."

We looked into each other's eyes for a long while. It made my whole body tingle out of joy and nervousness. Mostly joy. We were both leaning over the bridges railings now, looking down as the water was slowly running beneath us. I felt his arm touch my shoulder, felt his hypnotizing aroma.

Leo turned to face me. He was so close to me. I could feel his warm, sweet breath overpowering me. His scent was now more concentrated than ever. It made my knees tremble. His dark blue eyes were piercing my soul; warm, deep, amazing.

He smiled widely again, apparently happy about how stupefied he made me. He kissed me. His lips were slowly massaging mine, leading the kiss as this was my first. We both stood up. I had to tiptoe to reach, but he still had to bend down, as he was several inches taller than me. I put my hands against his warm, hard chest; his hands carefully resting on my back.

Suddenly we heard shouting and crying from the school. There were a series of loud bangs, finishing with a roar so loud it could be heard from every corner of Townsville.

Blossom
Just as I had lifted off of ground to fly home I heard a loud roar behind me. I stopped dead in the air and turned around. A fifty feet tall, dark orange monster with yellow eyes and thorns all over its body stumbled around in the school parking lot, destroying everything in its path. It broke the trees around the lot as if they were tooth picks. I flew towards it, and punched it as hard as I could over its eye, but the monster stood, adamant. His tail swooshed up right behind me but I fended it off. I continued hitting the awful thing with all my might, all over its hard, thorny face.

Becca arrived to help a few seconds after the roar. With our combined powers, we made a giant, highly pressurized air ball that we hurled towards the monster. But it didn't move an inch.

Brooke arrived two seconds later. We gathered together to contemplate what to do. Simultaneously, as we had planned, we punched and kicked the monster while he played with parked cars, throwing them through the windows of the canteen.

"Becca, you save as many people as you can. Take them to a safer place!" I shouted over the fighting.

"Sure!" she flew towards the school.

"Brooke! Help me make an energy ball out of fire and lighting!"

"But, Betty, we can't make those! We haven't done them since we were little…"

"Now, Brooke! We need to try, or else we won't have a school anymore!"

Brooke seemed to like the thought of not having a school anymore, but still helped me with the maneuver. We flew down to the ground and stood close to each other, focusing our strongest powers Professor tried to teach us as little girls. I felt the power inside me, tangible, as if I could touch it. We took a deep breath and charged two big orbs between our hands. I turned to Brooke who looked unsure. Her green fire orb was now as big as my pink lightning orb. All we had to do now was to carefully interlink them together.

Success, it worked! Between us we were holding a huge ball of energy with green fire and pink lightning surrounding it, twice as large as it would have been if I had tried to make it myself.

"Now!" I shouted as we hurled the ball towards the monster.

It roared with pain and flew back into the forest, away from the school. I used my ice power to shut its mouth, while freezing its arms and legs as well to keep it from moving. Together, Brooke and I carried the monster, flying several miles over the sea, and banished it to the Monster Island – where all the monsters are put after fighting with us.

"Good job." I huffed and patted Brooke on her arm. "I need to take a shower."

"I still think we should have killed it." Said Brooke, while wiping some sweat from her forehead.

I pursed my lips. Professor had more or less banned us from killing living creatures. "If we killed them we wouldn't have any more monsters to fight." I said, trying to appeal to her violent tendencies – fighting monsters and villains was one of Brooke's favorite past times.

"That's true." She immediately lit up. "Now he has a chance to come back and demand a rematch!"

Brooke went to help Becca check if all the citizens were alright when I suddenly heard a chilling shriek from the school. I saw flames coming from the top window of the building in the principal's office. A girl was trapped inside. I quickly flew down to save her. Just when I had broken the window and began searching for her, the door slammed open and a cloud of extinguisher foam covered the room and my sight. When the cloud began to clear I spotted a pair of legs being dragged out of the office and into the hallway. I flew after it to see what was happening.

"Oh, Dainton, you are so brave!" I smothered my boyfriend with kisses as he sat trying to catch his breath by the wall with the girl's head in his lap. "I'll take you two to the hospital…" I turned around after lifting the girl up. "You're a hero, you know that? You saw she was in danger when my sisters and I didn't notice."

He couldn't do anything other than smile, but he took my vacant hand and we flew to the hospital.

Professor
At six-thirty PM, the girls arrived home after a hectic day of monster fighting and saving people. They were exhausted. Buttercup had scrapes and bruises, Blossom was all black and grimy, and Bubbles was complaining about her aching back. I cooked their favorite meals while they were showering. Lasagna for Buttercup, salmon with asparagus for Blossom, and vegan bean stew for Bubbles.

"Dad, I need to tell you something." Bubbles said with a smile as we sat down to eat. "Betty and Brooke already know and it wouldn't be fair if you didn't."

Blossom and Buttercup began smiling too, Buttercup a little reluctantly.

"Have you finally found Prince Charming?" I asked as I smiled as well. But I felt a twinge in my stomach at the same time. She grew up too fast.

Actually, Blossom had had her first boyfriend a year earlier, and now another one since last year, who she was still with today, but I've always seen her as the most mature out of the three.

"Well, yes." Bubbles said. "But I want you to get to know him; maybe we could invite him for dinner tomorrow? Or Saturday or whatever is best…"

"Tomorrow is the perfect day for a barbeque! Is he vegan as well?"

Bubbles opened her mouth as to say something but closed it shut again with an expression of surprise and hurt. "I… don't know." She said, shocked. "How can I not know? He's been my best friend for a year now, how could I possibly not know…"

"I've seen him take from the vegetarian tubs in school, so I guess he is at least vegetarian." Buttercup said easily.

"Well then." I said, preparing for the worst. "What's his name? How old is he?"

"His name is Leo." Bubbles said. "He's the same age as Betty, Brooke and me, or a few months older than us."

"A few undeserved months older than us." Buttercup muttered.

"But…" Oh, my God. There's a but! "… There is one thing you need to know about him." Bubbles said as if she hadn't heard Buttercup.

Okay, alright, here it comes. Here comes the but! The one thing I will hate about this boy! And of course Bubbles would marry him and I would hate him forever! Oh, God, what to do?

"Yes, what?" I casually wondered, though sweat was literally running down my back.

Blossom looked down at the table and Buttercup looked at her plate, pretending they weren't part of the conversation anymore. Buttercup cleared her throat.

What was wrong with him? Did he have piercings all over his face? Tattoos? Was he older than what she had stated? She was only seventeen years old!

"Well…" Bubbles said nervously. "You remember Mojo Jojo? He…"

"Say no more, Bubbles." I said, almost choking on her words. "You mean that he's one of the boys that…"

Suddenly it hit me. Ten years ago, we caught three little boys with super powers, since it was impossible to control them. They were always banging up the town and its citizens. One by one, I gave them Antidote X, a chemical that removed all their powers. Once they were all normal, they had their names changed (for security reasons the girls and I never got to know what their new names were or where they moved) and were moved to Fort Davis, Texas, where a doctor lived with his wife. They took the boys in as if they were their own.

Undeserved months older. That must have meant that they had decided the dates of their own birthdays and decided to have it several months earlier than when they were created, months before I created my girls.

Even though I never knew of their names before, I remembered the girls telling me last year that they were back in Washington and was attending the same school as them. "Luke, Liam and Leo Berger. But how… I thought that you…"

"Hated them?" Blossom cut off. "Sure, but I've met Leo. He's nothing like his brothers."

"He is certainly nothing like that damn Liam!" Buttercup said moodily from her chair. "It seems like it's only Leo who's changed. He's okay, Professor."

"And Leo is…"

"The one with blue eyes, Boomer." Said Blossom.

"I understand." I said, even though I didn't. I consoled myself with the memory of Boomer as a child. He always was the nicest of the three, so maybe he really had changed. "Well, let's invite him for dinner tomorrow, Bub…Becca. I would like to get to know him." I faked a smile to comfort her. Although, I think Bubbles noticed. She looked a little puzzled but kept eating.

The rest of the dinner we ate in silence.

Blossom
Friday
Every Friday morning, at half past seven, I took Brooke out for a jog. But today, for some reason, I somehow woke up at half past six and couldn't go back to sleep.

When I tried to wake Brooke up fifteen minutes later, she growled at me from her bed: "Oh, my god, its five forty-six AM! Are you crazy, Bets?"

"Come on, let's start this day early!" I whispered through her door.

"No, go away. Come back in forty-five minutes, you lunatic."

I quietly shut the door and went down the stairs. No need to wait for her. I really wanted to go for a run right now and Becca never wanted to run with us. If Brooke wanted company later I could just fly by her side.

I already had my dark grey yoga pants and my hot pink tank top on so I opened the door and flew all the way to Townsville's jogging track. It was about three miles long, stretching through the forest. I picked up my MP3-player from my jogging bag, started the music and began running.

It was almost impossible for us to gain muscle by working out, but we had been gifted with the misfortune of gaining weight if we didn't take care of ourselves. Neither Professor nor I had a clue about why we gained weight and not muscles. He thought it had something to do with Chemical X; that the chemical is only in our muscle mass and not in the fat…or something.

Anyhow…I was jogging along the track and almost ten minutes in I began hearing someone else's footsteps in the forest in front of me. There's nothing strange with other people on these jogging tracks, I just wanted to be on watch. Just as I was preparing myself to raise my hand in greeting to the other jogger, my stomach froze by the sight of who the person was. It was Luke Berger. One of the Rowdyruffs.

Both Luke and I stopped dead on the tracks and watched each other warily. He looked as surprised as I felt, with his crimson eyes fixated on me, his hand halfway raised up as if he was just about to take one of his earphones out. What was he doing here? I had never run into him before so why did I do it now? Was it because I couldn't sleep? Was this his time to run? He had on black shoes and black jogging pants with a big red sweater. His usual red new era cap was resting on top of his long, auburn hair that was tucked into a low ponytail behind his neck.

He finally took one headphone out and said with a wide jeering smile that made deep dimples in his cheeks (something his brothers didn't have): "Hey, Blossom."

If I had been a normal girl I wouldn't have been able to hear him through my music. But because of my stupid super hearing, I heard him. I didn't reply. Instead, I flew past him and continued running. I felt his eyes follow me as I ran but I didn't care. Not one whit.

Bubbles
I had already told Leo via text that he was invited for dinner at our house today and he'd replied with "So soon?". Of course I knew what he meant by it but I really couldn't stand having a secret relationship with him. It would have felt like I was lying to my dad. He said he wanted to think about it. So the next day, in science class, I asked him again.

"It's totally fine if you don't want to come. I just want to show Professor that you've actually changed, that you're nothing like you were ten years ago."

"I don't know… I was kinda mean to y'all when we were little. Do you think he, if anyone, will ever forgive me?"

"Believe me, he'll forgive you. Can I. So can he, too, right?"

"What are you two whispering about back there?" Mr. Hampton, the science teacher, asked sternly.

I looked at Leo with my saddest puppy eyes. He caved and nodded with a sigh and a smile. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek before continuing with our class, flushing with happiness and anticipation.

Blossom
Yesterday, Dainton could leave the hospital after only an hour after he got there, so his mom picked him up. He had escaped smoke damage to his lungs. I had already talked to Mayor. He was going to reward Dainton with a medal for being a hero.

At lunch break today, I was going to meet up with Dainton like usual beneath our special tree. So I went home to go fetch my lunch box from the fridge. Once I had gotten my lunch, I flew back to school. I landed just outside the school and began walking to it. When I approached our tree, I saw that he wasn't alone. He was sitting next to a girl I had never even seen him talk to before.

"Hi." I said uncertainly. They hadn't noticed me, as they were talking and laughing so loudly. "Dainton?"

"Oh, Betty! Hi, sweetie." He got up on his elbows and began to stand up, holding his sandwich in one hand and his water bottle in the other. "Uhm, this is Olivia. You know, the girl I…"

"Ze girl you saved from a 'orrible deaz. Yes, your boyfriend, Beatrice, is my 'ero now!"

Olivia hooked her arms around Dainton's arm and pressed herself against him. Even though I knew there wasn't anything between them, I couldn't resist the thought of me punching her French face straight to oblivion. I think I had that feeling because I now recognized her as a cheerleader and already one of the most popular girls in school. She had long, dark red hair with natural curls at the ends, a very perfect and proportional face, with perfectly skintight clothes so that you could see her perfect, slim body without seeing too much skin. But she was three years younger than Dainton, only fifteen years old…so what would he see in her?

"Oh, yeah. Right, Olivia!" I said. I shook my head, trying to return to reality. I took her hand and shook it. "Yes, it's really nice seeing you out of the hospital…together, with my boyfriend…here! Uhm, you can finish catching up. I was actually going to sit with my friends, uh…" I turned to look for anybody I knew and I saw nobody. Mostly I was just trying not to look at Dainton and his damsel in distress.

"Oh, no, don't let me intrude!" said Olivia with big eyes. Apparently she noticed she was bothering me. "I just wanted to zank Dainton once more before going back to my friends. Imagine, I was just sitting zere waiting for the principal and, bam, ze fire broke loose! Zank you, again, Dainton! 'ave a nice weekend!" she skipped away and threw some flirtatious glances back at Dainton before disappearing into the canteen.

"Sooo…" I said and sat down with my back leaning against the tree trunk. "You two seemed to have become good friends."

"I guess she just wanted to zank me one more time. Wait, you're not jealous, are you? I did save her yesterday." He sat down next to me and placed his hand on my knee.

"No, I… I'm sorry. I think it was you talking to a, for me, strange girl under our tree and her touching you that caught me off guard. I didn't know it was just her thanking you, nothing else. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He kissed my forehead and continued eating his sandwich casually. But I still couldn't avoid a strong sensation of hatred and jealousy pierce through the inside of my stomach like a sword straight through butter.

Buttercup
"So… Eight o'clock, my house tonight." Said Robin, sitting next to me in math class.

The people around us romped and laughed so loudly nobody could hear our conversation. A few rows ahead of us sat Betty with her new laptop, looking through her notes. Becca was sitting next to her, staring out of the windows dreamily. I guess she was thinking about Leo. He didn't have math class with us because he was in Math group C, and we were in group A. But I would much rather have him in our group instead of Luke and Liam. Luckily, Luke and Liam almost never attended math, so I guess that it was great either way.

I had almost forgotten that Robin was going to have a party this weekend. "I can't." I mumbled and began digging around my bag, hoping Robin would just quit the subject but I knew she wouldn't leave me alone. I hadn't missed a single party she's hosted since never.

"What do you mean 'can't'? Of course you can! What is more important, studying?" she had a smug, laughing expression at that, like she had come up with the best joke in the world.

"Of course not, I just have other stuff to do. I can tell you about it on Monday."

"But…"

"Monday, okay?" I stared her down and she immediately quit pushing the issue.

Truth being told, I still had that curfew Professor gave me last Tuesday because of my drunkening. Every day after school and every weekend for five weeks with the exception of school, practices, games, and fighting crime. Life sucked.

When I flew home with my sisters, at three o'clock that afternoon, I had the feeling that something was missing. It was going to be a party, surely a really fun home party, and I was going to miss it for the first time since my freshman year of high school. I could imagine it, happy people jumping around on the dancefloor with beer or cider in their hands. I could hear the music pounding loudly. I even almost started to miss the sound of someone crying: "cops!" and the exhilarating run into a nearby alleyway and the idiotic reminder later that I had super powers and could run even faster and fly… Such nostalgia trips – curfews weren't good for me!

But the party wasn't all that was eating me. When I looked at Betty and Becca in front of me, they were just drifting along in the air with no worries what so ever. I got this vague feeling of envy. They were among the best students in our class (except for Betty who actually was the top student of all classes). They had their own cute boyfriends and Professor seemed to be really proud of them. And here I was. Bottom grades except for Geography (I could fly, remember?), detention after detention (it was practically my second home), curfews, alcohol - and nicotine addiction. Still single but had slept with almost every guy in school (of course, only when I was drunk). Never been in love with anyone. I was only seventeen and already a screw up!

I knew I was still young and I had my whole life in front of me to do good for the world, become successful…find a lovable guy; but it had never struck me as hard as it did now. I actually wanted my own guy, a male I could call boyfriend or sweetie if wanted to resort to that…but no boy in this school was very appealing to me. Everybody I knew had several different girls every week, or there were only nerds like Betty's boyfriend. And I didn't want to be stuck with a nerd.

Liam Berger was the only one who actually attracted me while sober – at least his appearance. Yak! Really sad that he's the only one! It's like the saying: you can't judge the book by the cover. Although he has a face of an angel and the body of a Greek God, he's a douchebag of epic proportions on the inside.

I wanted a guy that looked and behaved more like me, but there was none. And what guy that didn't look like me, would be attracted to someone that looks like me? The only people with the same sense of style as me were actual gay girls and I'm not gay. I'm more like… well, a tomboy, maybe? But I hated being called tomboy. It's not my fault that I like dark colors and comfortable clothes…now that I thought of it, maybe I should change my wardrobe…

From now on, I'd change my whole life. I'll quit drinking (okay, maybe a beer once in a while), quit smoking (I can try…), and get myself a real man! Maybe buy some more feminine clothes… Or I'll just stay single. You don't need a man to feel complete. First things first, I needed to sort myself out and after that I could begin the hunt for love. So I needed to quit hitting on guys when I'm drunk, which was the only time I could actually talk to them. Ironic, eh?

Bubbles
After school, my sisters and I flew home. I helped Professor set the table and clean. It was for me that we did all of this, after all, and for Leo. He'd finish school at four o'clock so we had a whole hour to clean and cook.

Brooke seemed a bit depressed during the flight home, but I guess it was because of the new curfew, so she didn't want to help us clean. Meanwhile, Betty cleaned up the lounge and living room. I set the table in the yard and Professor fired up the barbeque.

"Whaa!" we heard Professor scream just as I had gone into the kitchen to fetch some glasses. Betty and I went to him within the second.

"Oh, Professor!" Betty and I laughed. He had accidentally fired up the grill too early and his face was full of soot and grime, and his hair stood straight up on his head.

Two minutes to four, I checked myself out in the bathroom mirror one last time before flying back to school to meet up with Leo. We were going to take his car back to my house from school. Professor stood in the doorway, smiling at me.

"What?" I asked and began smiling, as well.

"You're just so grown up. You've grown so fast I can't keep up with the pace anymore." He looked down at his watch. "You better go get Prince Charming soon."

"Stop calling him that!" I laughed and walked past him towards the door.

"Becca, one more thing before you go…" I turned around and found myself standing face to face with Professor. "Don't let him hurt you." He kissed me on top of my head and walked into the kitchen.

"Are you ready, or do you have to leave your stuff at home first?"

I had been waiting on the steps outside the school for only a minute. Leo was carrying a big bag, surely filled with homework and other heavy books.

"No, thanks, I'm fine. I can leave them in the car."

We stood quiet for a bit and looked at each other. I was worrying about dinner and how Professor would treat Leo and Leo was smiling exhaustedly, burdened by the weight of his books.

"Do you miss it?" I asked suddenly.

"Miss what?" he asked.

"The ability to fly, to lift heavy things? Your powers."

He was silent. He pulled his bag from his shoulders and dropped it by his feet with a relieved sigh and rubbed his back with the back of his hand. "Well…sometimes I do. But subsequently, I understand that they weren't good for me. If I had them today I don't think I would've been with you the same way, right?"

I just smiled at him. I stood on the tips of my toes and kissed him on his lips. He was a little bit over a head taller than me. I took his bag and threw it over my shoulder with no protests from his side. He looked grateful. After that, we went side by side to the parking lot where his white Skoda was parked.

/"So, Leo… How's school going?"

Professor was very polite towards Leo when we sat down to eat, all five of us. Professor had made special kabobs for Leo and me. Mushrooms, peppers, onions… yum!

"Oh, uh, yeah it's okay." Leo said, a little unprepared for the question. "I don't think I have anything less than B+, actually."

"That's nice to hear!" Professor exclaimed, shining with pleasure. "Which classes do you have? Except for the basics, of course?"

"Science B and C with Becca, my only bonus classes are about marine animals, Math C, English C… Chemistry with Betty and Marine Biology with Becca, as well… yeah, I think that's it." Leo looked a little bit embarrassed. He probably thought he had talked too much already. But, to be fair, it was Professor who had asked in the first place.

Professor's formally happy expression took a turn for the worse. He looked like he was on the verge of crying. He himself took advanced classes in High School to become a scientist.

"Leo is thinking about becoming a Marine biologist when he finishes school." Said Betty, attempting to convince Professor that Leo was a good guy, that Leo and I were made for each other.

"That's something you really need good grades for, but I have no doubts it won't be hard for you considering your good grades."

Even though Leo had been a bad boy many years ago, Professor was the kind of person who wanted to give everyone a second chance. He was too nice to hate people. Professor, Betty, and Brooke kept shooting Leo questions about himself. Leo answered each and every one of them truthfully and the atmosphere never took a turn for the worse. Even Brooke was behaving exceptionally well. Everyone was nice to each other. We laughed and had a good time until…

"Is that… Leo! Hey!"

We all turned our heads towards the street. Through a hole in the hedge, a big pair of scarlet eyes stared right at us. The eyes disappeared and were replaced by a pair of emerald ones.

"Oi, Leo!" the green eyes shouted through the hedge.

Buttercup
I immediately felt my stomach cramping. It was the kin of poor Leo – Luke and Liam – who didn't have the intellect to show any respect for other's private dinners.

"Excuse me…" Leo mumbled, mortified, and began walking towards the hole in the hedge where one blood-red and one jade eye now shared room.

"Get lost!" Betty shouted from her chair.

"Let me…" said Leo nervously, his neck began getting all red. "Guys, what are you doing? Can't you see I'm having dinner here?"

What if his brothers judged him as much as Betty and I judged Becca a few days ago? I suspected so. I was right.

"Why are you with them?" Liam almost shouted from the other side of the hedge with his deep, raspy voice.

"That's enough!" Professor stood up, walked towards the gate and opened it. Betty, Becca, Leo and I followed him out on the street.

There stood Liam Berger, tall and muscular with his upper lip crooked over in a mocking smile and Luke Berger, shorter than his brothers – at least *two decimeters shorter than Liam, who's the tallest, –, though, muscular as well. Probably because he was the running back in the football's team. Pockmarked, pimpled and freckled face, red eyes and long ginger hair, even longer than Leo's.

"Well isn't it Laurel and Hardy?" I asked them jeeringly.

Luke glared at me with something wild in his red eyes but kept smiling, grinding the inside of his cheek. Liam looked kind of bored.

"I didn't believe my girls either when they told me they were on visiting terms with your brother. I think it's about time you brought peace between yourselves and the girls. You're almost adults now." Said Professor as if he didn't hear what I had said.

"If you weren't the man that created our creator, I would've beat the crap out of you, old man." said Luke smoothly. He lifted his cap and pulled his hair back before putting it on again. Liam gleefully laughed next to him.

"How dare you!?" I screeched lividly. I placed myself between them and Professor. "You don't seem to understand the seriousness of picking a fight with us, do you? Or maybe you imagine that you can beat us? Why don't you have a try? Come on, hit me as hard as you can, maybe you'll hurl me all the way to town. Oh, no, I forgot. You don't have your powers anymore!"

"Brooke!" Professor warned me through clenched jaws. But Luke and Liam actually smirked at my words, those fucking bastards, and looked at each other with amused glances.

"Damn, gal, calm your horses." Said Liam in the rudest southern accent I had ever heard, it really didn't suit him.

"Go…now." muttered Leo darkly. He had squeezed past me and stood in front of his brothers.

Both watched Leo with cold and analyzing gazes. After that, they looked at each other with wide smiles. They then began to walk slowly down the street back to the town.

"I should go, too." Said Leo ashamed. "Thanks for dinner; it was really nice meeting y'all."

He shook Professor's hand and gave Betty and me a polite nod. He gave Becca an apologetic, pained smile then took a deep breath and began to walk the same way his brothers had gone.

"I'll follow him home. Leo, wait!" Becca caught up with him. "I'll pick up your car later."

Betty, Professor and I just stood quietly for a moment and just stared at the buildings, with their long spiraling towers reaching up towards the sky, from town.

Why did they look at me with that rebellious, mischievous look when I mentioned their lack of powers? As if they could do anything to us! Then I felt it. It felt like a monster started clawing me from the inside, tried to tear me open to jump out and just destroy everything in its path!

"On Monday those two will get what they deserve! At least Liam will have a taste of his own medicine tomorrow at the game!"

"You will do nothing to them, Brooke." Professor said strictly. "Let's just give them time to get used to this. Now, go up to your room. You have a curfew."

"Professor, I…"

"Now, Brooke. Or else I'll prolong it further one week."

I looked angrily at him before flying up to my window and opened it. I usually didn't shut it close in case I needed to sneak out and come back home late without waking Professor.

When I sat down on my bed I heard Professor say to Betty, "All I wanted was to have a nice, normal dinner with my family. We didn't even get to the dessert…"

*two meters = six point seven foot
*four decimeters = one foot, three inches
*two decimeters = eight inches