Chapter 4: I Will Care For You

After dinner, Sophie went to the living room to relax. She was thinking about her failed friendships with Emily, and how she got bullied by her. The last thing she wanted in the world were friends. What good were they if they just hurt you, and didn't care about you at all?

And where was she going to get five friends? She had a bad feeling that three of them would eventually be Emily, Tanya and Vera.

Wish came and sat down on the couch next to her.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked.

Sophie sighed and replied, "I… I just I'm not good at making friends. I'm terrible at making friends, actually."

"But we're friends."

"And I hope I'm your friend too!" Cheer said, jumping on the couch.

"You're different. You're caring and kind and all that good stuff. Most kids aren't. Most kids are like Emily, Vera, and Tanya."

Sophie was trembling with anger. She didn't want any friends! And the Care Bears didn't get it.

Then Friend Bear came in and just made it worse.

"You need friends, Sophie." she said.

"No I don't! You don't even understand what they did to me!" she yelled, and stood up.

All of the Bears looked at her in shock.

"I understand. We all understand what you went through. We all know what Emily did to you, and what you did to Emily." Friend and Wish said together.

Sophie shook her head and began to cry. She had hurt Emily, but Emily hurt her first. It was Emily's own fault for not saying sorry. And Sophie couldn't understand why she didn't. It would just take five seconds to say it and mean it.

"Friendships are like riding a bike. If you fall down, you get back up. And if you have friends, they'll lend you a helping paw and heal what's been hurt." Friend Bear said.

Wish Bear rubbed her back.

"You have to forgive Emily, Tanya, and Vera. You can't hold a grudge forever. You have to say sorry first." Wish told her.

"How can I do that? It's impossible! And Emily hurt me first! If she didn't say she hurt me, I wouldn't have… teased her." she just kept getting furious, and slammed her fists on the red heart-shaped couch.

Sophie closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down. It seemed like the Care Bears wanted to help her, but they weren't helping her at all. Sophie didn't like this one bit.

"I want to go home." she said.

"What? But you wanted to stay for more than one night." Wish said, startled and disappointed.

"That was before. I changed my mind. I want to go home."

"And what about Care-a-lot?" Friend brought up, "You're just going to give up on Care-a-lot because you can't make friends?"

Sophie opened her eyes and gulped. Right… she had agreed to save Care-a-lot. What good was turning her back on them now?

Sophie bit her lip. The Care Bears knew everything about caring and friendship. Here she was at the door of the experts and she was turning away their help.

"Can you help me?" she asked, sighing, "I don't even know what friendship is anymore."

Everyone sighed with relief.

"Of course we'll help you." Friend Bear said, hugging her warmly, and Sophie hugged her back.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you all…" she looked down at her light up shoes.

"Everyone has feelings, Sophie. Good and bad feelings. Don't worry. We'll help you." Wish told her.

"For now let's just start off with something easy." Friend Bear said.

"Yeah! We'll tell you what friendship is." Funshine Bear said, winking. Everyone hugged Sophie all at once.

"Friendship is finding someone who cares about you, when you're happy and when you're sad, and who is there for you during the good times and the bad!" Cheer said.

"Friendship is finding someone you can trust and be yourself around and have fun with, but also be serious to." Funshine said.

Friend Bear nodded. Everyone was still hugging her, and she didn't mind it one bit.

"Friendship is always being able to tell the truth and not have to keep secrets."

"Friendship is supportive, kind, and not forced." Wish Bear said.

Sophie smiled.

"Thank you." She replied, with a yawn.

"Looks like someone's tired." Wish said.

"Am not!" she replied, "I want to be friends with you Wish Bear, Cheer, Funshine and Friend!"

"Really?"

"I mean it with all my heart!" she said.

When she did, her necklace flickered with light and began to glow.

"Wow! What's that?" she asked.

"Your first ounce of caring energy." Wish said with a smile.

"Yay!" Sophie cheered.

Since everyone was in a happy mood, Funshine added some more light to the atmosphere.

"Hey, I have an idea. Let's play a game." Funshine said.

"Yeah, okay!" Sophie said.

Together the Care Bears and Sophie played a game of hide and seek inside, and everyone was welcome to play. The Cubs instantly joined in. It lasted for about an hour since there were a lot of places to hide in the Hall of Hearts. By then, Sophie was getting a bit tired.

There was still a little bit of time before bed, so they popped in a movie.

After the movie of the Care Bears going on their adventures, Sophie was ready to go to bed. So were the rest of the Care Bears. They had a busy day tomorrow, and for one thing, Sophie was looking forward to making some friends.

Wish Bear took her by the hand and led her upstairs. They brushed their teeth together and Wish went and got Sophie's bed ready while she got her PJs on, which were light aqua and dotted with clouds and stars.

She climbed into bed in Wish Bear's room.

After a few moments, she realized she couldn't fall asleep. And she was cold.

"Hey Wish Bear, are you still up?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What is it?"

"Is there enough room on that bottom bunk for two?" she asked, and climbed down the ladder.

"Of course there is." Wish said and scooted over.

Sophie got under the covers and Wish Bear held her paw.

"Don't forget to make a wish." she said with a sleepy smile.

Sophie closed her eyes and made the wish. She didn't even have to think twice about what she wanted.

Tomorrow she wanted to make some friends!

"Good night." Sophie said. Somehow she had a feeling that Wish Bear already knew what she wanted to wish for.

"Sweet dreams." Wish said and together they fell asleep.

Sophie ate breakfast with the Care Bears. She was still in her cozy pajamas. As she nibbled on her pancake and strawberries, she wondered what her new friends were going to be like.

"Did you sleep good last night?" Wish asked.

"It was like sleeping on a cloud!" Sophie said, yawning, "And I think I had a dream where I was a Care Bear!"

Bedtime and Friend Bear laughed.

Breakfast was pleasant and happy. Sophie enjoyed her pancakes, eggs, fruit, and bacon. Soon after, Sophie cleaned up her dishes and then went to get dressed. Wish Bear then helped her braid her hair. Now her little hair ties had yellow stars on them.

"Ready to go make some friends?" Wish asked.

"You bet I am." Sophie smiled and hugged Wish Bear.

The two went downstairs and got ready to go. They went to the rainbow rescue beam room where Cheer, Friend and Funshine were. Those three were talking with Tenderheart about something.

"What's the matter?" Sophie asked.

"Well it looks like we've found two people who could be your friends, Sophie. But they need help! And what's worse is that Emily is behind this mess. She's trying to convince them to join her. Look at this…" Tenderheart said.

On the screen they pulled up a live video of kids at a park. There were other kids at the park too, enjoying themselves and completely ignoring the girl who was being bullied. Sophie gasped. Emily was bullying a girl with curly orange hair and she was wearing a pink tie-dye shirt.

"You leave her alone!" Sophie said, raising her fist, even though Emily wouldn't be able to hear Sophie.

"Hold on. Don't get too angry, please." Tenderheart said, trying to calm Sophie.

"You won't regret your decision to come join me." Emily said .

In the distance Sophie spotted Vera and Tanya, but they were sitting on a bench, talking and drinking soda.

"No, I don't want to!" protested the girl named April, "Go away!"

She was about to throw a tantrum. Then Emily called over Tanya and Vera.

"We could use someone like you on our side." Emily insisted, noticing April's anger was growing.

"Would you go away? I already told you I don't want to! No means no." she stood up.

Things only got worse from there on out.

"Let's go before things get any worse!" Funshine said.

"Yes." Tenderheart nodded.

Funshine, Wish, Cheer, Friend and Sophie all rushed out to the cloud car and jumped in. It was time to go save April.

They arrived at the same park and all hid behind a bush, watching through the branches.

"I'm giving you one more chance. And then you're coming with us whether you like it or not. No Heart expects us to get more forces!"

"No Heart? Who's that?" April asked.

"He's our boss. Now don't you want to meet him?"

"Not really." April shook her head, "He sounds mean."

"Well that's true." Cheer said, knowing that April's heart was good and filled with caring.

"Let's go now, before they brainwash her!" Sophie said.

The Care Bears didn't stop her. Sophie jumped out from behind the bushes and came up to Emily and tapped her shoulder.

"Not now, I'm busy, Tanya!" she said.

"I'm not Tanya." Sophie replied, crossing her arms, and tapping her foot impatiently.

Emily turned around. Tanya and Vera had scooted away from Sophie, simply because they didn't like her. Emily gasped.

"You, what are you doing here, interfering with my recruiting?" she shouted, pointing at Sophie.

"Hurry, come with me, April!" Cheer said waving, and the rest of the Care Bears stepped out of the bushes.

"Okay!"

The two of them instantly connected with each other. They ran so Emily wouldn't be able to get her.

"I'm here to stop you from hurting April. You already have hurt too many people."

"What makes you think you can stop me?" she laughed, stomping her foot like Sophie had told a hilarious joke.

By now April had ran away and Cheer Bear was holding her hand. They were a few paces away so they could still hear them. Wish, Funshine and Friend stood by Sophie.

"Because I care about April, and you don't."

"How? You don't even know her!"

"I know what it's like to be hurt, especially by you." Sophie's voice was cold.

Emily crossed her arms, with a scowl on her face. Sophie then decided it was time to test out her caring necklace.

"Go away now, and leave April alone." she said, "Or I'll use this."

"What is that ugly thing anyway?"

"If you really want to find out…" Sophie said, cocking her head.

The Care Bears stood in front of Sophie and pointed to their bellies. Emily instantly got the picture.

"You're joking. Right?"

Sophie shook her head and said, "I care! I care! I care!"

This activated the necklace, and a beautiful light shot out and just scraped by Emily. Emily was flabbergasted, and hid behind a slide.

"Aah! Okay, you're not joking! Tanya and Vera, let's get out of here!"

Emily, Tanya and Vera all ran to each other, and then looked up into the sky and saw Shreeky and Beastly. They dove down on their bike, picked them up, and zoomed off to No Heart's castle.

Sophie sighed with relief.

"Well, I'm glad they're gone." Sophie said to Wish Bear.

"Me, too."

Then they went to Cheer and April. Cheer was giving April a hug.

"Are you okay?" Sophie asked.

"I'm fine now, thanks to you. You saved me." April smiled and wiped some tears away.

"You're welcome. Emily hurt me before, so I didn't want her to do that to you."

"You're really kind."

Sophie nodded.

Then Friend nudged her, and whispered in her ear.

"Ask her to be your friend!"

Sophie nodded, though she was really scared. April waved goodbye and decided she was going home. Besides, she had enough entertainment at the park.

"April, wait!" Sophie called and rushed after her, "Um… would you like to be my friend?"

April turned around and thought for a moment.

"You know, yes I would, actually."

"Really?" Sophie couldn't believe it was that easy to make friends. She looked at Friend Bear, who nodded.

"Of course!" April said.

Sophie didn't know what to do next, but decided that a handshake wouldn't be a bad idea. They shook hands and smiled.

"So what should we do?" asked April.

"Well, how about you come to Care-a-lot with me?" she suggested.

"It's where we live!" Cheer added.

April decided in an instant and said, "Okay! Let's go."

"We should've brought two cloud cars with us!" Funshine grumbled, as they went back to their cloud car, which was a little too small.

"No worries, I've got this under control." Wish said, cracking her knuckles, and wished for her own two-seater rainbow roller.

Funshine Bear and Friend Bear hopped in the rainbow roller. Then Cheer, April, Wish and Sophie hopped into the cloud car, and together they took off to Care-a-lot.

In Care-a-lot, the Care Bears gave April a quick tour before they went to the Hall of Hearts. Tenderheart was waiting for April at the door, and they went inside.

"There's one thing you need to do before we do anything else." Tenderheart said, and showed her to the Caring Tester.

"What is that?" April asked worriedly.

"It's the caring test. Don't worry, I took it and did just fine. You will too. And after, Tenderheart has something to give you!" she smiled.

April sat down in the seat and put her arm in the sleeve, just like Sophie had.

"Ready?" asked Tenderheart as he started up the machine with Funshine Bear.

"Sure, though I didn't study."

"Don't worry. This is just to see how caring you are."

April looked to Sophie who smiled.

A few seconds later, April got her results.

"Wow! She got a 91%. That's pretty shining." Funshine said enthusiastically with a big smile.

"Really?" April said.

"You scored higher than me." Sophie told her, "I got an 89%."

"That's not bad."

"No it's not. And April, your caring potential is great, too. The same as Sophie's – off the charts!" Tenderheart said.

"What's a caring potential?"

"How much caring you can have."

Cheer helped April out of the caring tester, and then Tenderheart pulled out April's caring necklace.

"This is where your caring energy is stored. It's like your personal Care Bear symbol. The more you care, the more energy is inside it. To activate it you just say I Care three times. It works like our Care Bear stare." he said, giving it to her.

"Wow, thank you! It's gorgeous."

April's was a rainbow necklace with hearts speckled on it. The rainbow was sitting on top of some puffy clouds, and was very sparkly.

"It's so pretty." Sophie said, "This is mine."

"Yours is pretty too!" April complimented.

"Well, why don't you two go and have some fun at the Care-a-lot park with Cheer and Wish Bear?" Tenderheart said, "Funshine and Friend, I need you two to go on a mission."

"Okay." Funshine and Friend said.

"Tenderheart!" Baby Hugs came rushing in the room before anyone could leave.

"What is it, Hugs?"

"The Caring Meter! It went up two whole points!" she cheered.

"Now I wonder who could've done that." Cheer said, "Thank you, April!"

"Me?"

"Yes, you!" Cheer said. Tenderheart nodded.

The four of the girls decided to start off with a game of tag, and ran all the way to the park.