Challenging Fate
Chapter Four - Heartbreak

Monday morning, as Buttercup was flying to the store to buy some syrup for her waffles, she flew over Miss Bellum's and Ms. Keane's house.
Ms. Keane's car wasn't there.
Maybe she's at the store, too, Buttercup rationalized as she continued to fly. Or at the mall. There's dozens of places for her to be.
But Ms. Keane's car wasn't at the grocery store, or the mall, or half a dozen other places Buttercup looked. Finally, afraid of what she was going to find, Buttercup flew to the Holiday Inn.
There was Ms. Keane's car, in the same parking place it had been in when Buttercup had picked up Andra on Saturday.
"Crap," Buttercup muttered. She turned around and flew at top speed for home.
"Blossom!" Buttercup shouted when she got home. "Blossom! Where are you?!"
Blossom floated out of the kitchen into the living room, where Buttercup had zipped to. "What is it?"
"I don't think Ms. Keane's gone home yet."
"Why?"
"Her car's still at the hotel."
"I thought you said she was gonna call Miss Bellum!" Blossom said.
"That's what Andra said was gonna happen," Buttercup said. "Maybe they couldn't work it out."
"Should we call them?"
Buttercup wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't the leader, Blossom was, and as often as Buttercup resented her surrogate sister, she really didn't want Blossom's role. "Um. . . I'll call Andra. Maybe she's heard something."
Blossom hung around Buttercup while Buttercup called Andra. Andra was as shocked as Buttercup and Blossom was that Ms. Keane hadn't gone home. "Are you going over to find out what happened?" Andra asked.
"I don't know," Buttercup said. She turned to Blossom, "What are we gonna do now?"
"Go see Ms. Keane? Or should we see Miss Bellum?" Blossom asked.
"Blossom says we should go see someone," Buttercup reported back to Andra. "Who do you think?"
"I don't know," Andra said. "One of you go to each? I can't come, Mom wants me to do some stuff around the house."
Buttercup frowned and sighed. "Okay. I'll give you a call when we know anything. See you soon. Love you."
"Yeah. You too. Bye."

***
Andra paced around her empty house for nearly half an hour, wanting to give Buttercup and Blossom enough time to argue over who would go where and leave before she called back.
Finally she felt enough time had passed so she picked up the phone and called the Utonium's. Bubbles picked up the phone.
"Hi, Bubbles, it's Andra."
"Hi, Andra! I don't think Buttercup is here, but -"
"No, Bubbles. I know she's not there."
"Then why are you calling?"
"I actually wanted to talk to you."
"Me?" Bubbles squeaked.
"Yeah. Um, could I come over? Or maybe you could come over here?"
"I could pick you up and bring you over here. Then you could see Buttercup when she comes back."
"Um. Okay. Sure."
"Great! I'll be there in a few minutes!"
True to her word, less than three minutes later, Bubbles was knocking at Andra's door. "Ready?" she asked cheerfully when Andra answered.
"ARe you going to be able to carry me?" Andra asked. Standing in front of Bubbles, Andra realized she was several inches taller than the Powerpuff Girl.
"Oh, yeah," Bubbles said. "I've got super strength, too. It'll be an easy flight."
"Okay," Andra said, but she didn't feel so sure. She was used to flying with Buttercup, who had always been taller than her. Plus, Buttercup just looked stronger than Bubbles.
But Bubbles turned out to be just as strong as her sister. She easily lifted Andra and flew back home quickly. Faster than Buttercup flew, much faster than Andra felt comfortable going. The only good thing about the speed was it made for a short trip back to the Utonium house.
"Okay, what's up?" Bubbles asked as she led Andra to the living room.
"Is the Professor here?" Andra asked.
"He's down in the lab. As usual," Bubbles added with a roll of her eyes. She plopped down on the couch. "This must be serious if you're being so paranoid."
Andra laughed uneasily. "It is."
"So why can't you talk to Buttercup?"
Andra sat next to Bubbles. "Because it's about her. And me." Bubbles didn't say anything. She just looked at Andra, her wide blue eyes serious for once, so Andra continued. "I'm scared of what happened to Miss Bellum and Ms. Keane. They seemed so . . stable. So sure of themselves. And then this happened."
"Well, yeah, of course it's scary," Bubbles said. "They were practically married, and then suddenly Miss Bellum is cheating on Ms. Keane! It's a scary thing."
"It's different for me, Bubbles," Andra said. "When you hear about a straight couple breaking up, yeah it's scary, but there's always another steady couple you can look up to. I don't have that. Miss Bellum and Ms. Keane are the only adult couple I've known that were building a life together. People always say that gay people can't have strong, long term relationships. Miss Bellum and Ms. Keane were my proof that we could. Now that they've broken up. . . how can I stay with Buttercup?"
"You can stay with Buttercup because you love her and she loves you," Bubbles said firmly. "Just because Miss Bellum and Ms. Keane are having trouble doesn't mean you should give up!"
"But it's not just them," Andra said. "Mom thinks Buttercup and I are too serious, that we can't be in love at 15. I know Ms. Keane thought the same thing. And sometimes I even think so. Sometimes it's overwhelming that Buttercup ends every conversation with 'I love you.' I care about Buttercup more than anyone except my mom, but I don't know if it's love."
"Um, wow," Bubbles said. "I'd never thought of it that way. But you're right. About not having anyone else. It's gotta be scary."
"Or maybe I'm just genetically capable of having a relationship last forever," Andra said morosely. "After all, my parents said they loved eachother once and they divorced."
"Why do you have to compare your relationship to anyone else's?" Bubbles asked innocently. "We all have different relationships. I have lots of short ones, Blossom's never really had one, and I don't ever remember the Professor having one. And if you and Buttercup stay together, you'd prove all the stupid stereotypes about gay people wrong!"
"I would love to stay with Buttercup," Andra said. "But. . . I don't know if I'm capable of it. And I don't know if it's because it's true that gay people can't have meaningful relationships, or if she's just too serious, or if I'm just too flaky." Andra put her head in her hands. "I don't know what to do anymore, Bubbles."
Bubbles put an arm around Andra's shoulders. "I don't think you have to decide right now. Just -"
The front door flew open suddenly and Buttercup and Blossom zipped through.
"Andra!" Buttercup exclaimed when she saw her girlfriend and Bubbles on the couch. She flew to Andra's side immediately. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Andra said with a forced smile. "Just kinda tired. I finished my chores early and Bubbles brought me here to wait for news from you." Bubbles, don't get an honesty attack! "What happened?"
"We went to Ms. Keane," Blossom said. "I thought maybe she hadn't called after all, maybe she wanted to give Miss Bellum a few days. Have a mini-vacation or whatever."
Buttercup took over. "Ms. Keane did call Miss Bellum. Just a few minutes after you and I left, Andra. But when she called, Kandy picked up the phone."
"What?!" Bubbles and Andra cried in unison.
"Which I don't get," Blossom said. "Two minutes couldn't have passed between me leaving and Ms. Keane's phone call."
"And Miss Bellum seemed genuinely upset over everything that had happened," Buttercup said. "Unless she's the world's greatest actor, she wouldn't have let Kandy anywhere near her house."
"We do need to go see Miss Bellum," Blossom said firmly. "She's the only one who knows what happened."
Buttercup looked at Andra. "You go, Blossom. I wanna hang with Andra."
Blossom rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she knew from experience nothing could pull these two apart.
"Maybe you should go," Andra said. "I mean, you might remember something Blossom doesn't. And you always like to be right in the middle of things. Or, y'know. . . ."
Andra didn't let her sentences trail off unless something was wrong. Buttercup usually wasn't very perceptive, but after going out with Andra for three years, she'd picked up a thing or two. "No, I'll stay here. Blossom will do fine."
"Okay," Blossom said. "I'll be back soon." She flew off.
"Let's go up to my room. I wanna talk," Buttercup said. She took Andra's hand and led her upstairs to the recently added green door on the second floor.
Shortly after Andra and Buttercup had started going out, the Professor finally realized that three teenager girls couldn't share the same bedroom, even one as big as theirs had been. So he drew up plans and hired contractors to remodel the second floor of the house. It should have only taken a couple months from start to finish, but the Professor had a habit of forgetting and losing things.
Buttercup grabbed her desk chair and sat in it backwards while Andra perched on the bed. "Mind tellin' me what's up?"
"It's nothing," Andra said, but she felt herself blushing, like she usually did when she tried to lie to Buttercup.
"You're lying," Buttercup accused. "To me! Why?!"
"Because I'm scared to tell the truth!" Andra nearly shouted back. She clamped a hand over her mouth, afraid she'd already said too much.
"What truth about what?" Buttercup asked. "C'mon, Andra! We've always been honest with eachother!" she said loudly when Andra didn't answer immediately.
Andra looked down at the carpet and muttered something.
"What?" Buttercup asked.
"I think we need to break up," Andra whispered. She looked up at Buttercup, tears in her blue eyes, then bolted from the room.
"What?" Buttercup asked the empty room hoarsely. She shook her head and zipped from her bedroom. Bubbles was sitting on the couch, looking shocked, and the front door was standing open. Andra could be fast when she wanted to be.
But not as fast as Buttercup. Buttercup flew out the front door, only a streak of green light visible, and caught up with Andra when she was only halfway down the block. Buttercup landed in front of her and grabbed Andra's shoulders. "Why?!" she demanded.
"I'm scared," Andra sobbed. "I'm scared of what happened to Miss Bellum and Ms. Keane. I'm scared of how serious you are, Buttercup."
"What do Miss Bellum and Ms. Keane have to do with us?!"
"How many successful gay couples do you know, Buttercup? Not just personally, but ever?" Andra didn't wait for an answer. "There aren't any, Buttercup. None! This is one stereotype that's true: we can't have long-term relationships. So I'm stopping this before what happened to Miss Bellum and Ms. Keane happens to us." She wriggled out of Buttercup's grasp and began to run again. Buttercup was too shocked to chase her.
Buttercup didn't know how long she stood there before she slowly floated home. It couldn't have been too long; the door was still open. She ignored Bubbles' demands to know what happened; instead she floated up to her room, not even bothering to shut the door, and lay on her bed.
Buttercup didn't cry, or scream, or really do much of anything. She just tried to figure out where she'd gone wrong. Where they'd gone wrong. She wracked her brain, trying to meet Andra's challenge, to prove that there were gay couples who built lives together. But there weren't any out adults in Townsville besides Miss Bellum and Ms. keane, and none of the kids at school had been out long enough to really have established relationships. And on TV, you didn't hear about it when gay people got together, only when they broke up, since gay marriages weren't legal.
Later Buttercup heard a knock on her door frame, then Blossom's voice. "Buttercup? Can I come in?" Buttercup grunted noncommittally, so Blossom came in and sat next to Buttercup on the bed. "What happened?"
Finally, Buttercup felt the tears start welling up. "Andra broke up with me," she managed to say before she began sobbing.
"Oh, my God," Blossom murmured. She gently patted Buttercup's back, then Buttercup sat up suddenly and put her arms around Blossom's neck, sobbing into the red-haired Girl's shoulder. Blossom froze for a moment. One, Buttercup never cried, and two, Buttercup never hugged anyone except Andra. But Blossom made herself get over her shock. She gently put her arms around buttercup, and tried to ignore how nice it felt to hold the other Girl in her arms.
"I - don't - know - where - I - went - wrong," Buttercup sobbed. "First she - she said I was - was- too - serious. And - she said - she was - scared - of what had - had happened - with - with - with - Miss Bellum and Ms. - Keane." She coughed and sniffed. "An' she said - she said we can't - can't have - long-term relationships - 'cause we're - we're gay!" That set off a new wave of sobs.
"But that's just a stupid stereotype," Blossom muttered to herself.
"I - know," Buttercup said. "But - but - what if - it's true?"
Blossom patted Buttercup's back. "Shh, don't think about it now. I'll go get you something to eat and let you calm down. Then we can talk."
Buttercup tightened her grip on Blossom. "No!"
"What?"
"Please," Buttercup whimpered. "Please, don't go, Blossom."
Blossom was shocked, but she just patted Buttercup's back again. "Okay. I'm not going anywhere, Buttercup. I'm staying right here."