Chapter 7. Power Play

A/N: Sorry I've been gone for a while. My computer broke and I can only use my friend's computer. :( Hopefully I get my own soon.

"What does the professor have to do with this guy?" asked Buttercup slamming her hands on the table as she stood.

"I'm not sure; he didn't say much of anything. He sounded as if he was looking for something," answered Bubbles.

Blossom sat thinking hard about what she had heard. The previous night when she went to ask the professor if anything was wrong with him, crept into her mind. Had this been what he was worried about and what they were supposed to be looking for.

"What did the guy look like exactly?" asked Blossom.

"I didn't see him. I could only hear them but somehow, he knew I was there," Bubbles responded.

"He knew you were there?" asked Buttercup perplexed.

"Yeah, he seemed to have some kind of ability to see me even though I hid around the corner." Bubbles said quietly.

Buttercup sat back for a couple of seconds and folded her arms.

"What say you?" she said wittingly to Blossom.

"Huh?"

"You seem to always have a plan, so what should we do?" Buttercup asked.

"Well I don't….know" Blossom hesitated.

"I say we find the teacher and get answers outta him" snapped Buttercup.

"We can't do that, we'd get in trouble," said Bubbles.

"Not if we knock him out first, besides we're stronger than him and…."

"No…..we can't use our powers anymore girls. We're supposed to be living "normal lives" remember?" interrupted Blossom.

Buttercup sat silently, frustrated. She didn't like the aspect of having to "calm down" in situations like these. The idea of having powers and not using them made no sense to her.

"Bubbles you have that class next correct, well you will have to watch what he does. I need to know anything that seems out of the ordinary, ok," said Blossom.

"I will do my best to," Bubbles answered.

"If anything happens out of the ordinary you can contact me on this." Blossom pulled from her purse a small round makeup kit with a mirror. Where the mirror was she could see that had a small hole for a speaker in which she could speak into.

"What is this?" asked Buttercup.

"It's a communicator; dad gave me this, a long time ago." answered Blossom.

Bubbles looked excitingly at the makeup kit that she held in her hand. She looked in the mirror to make sure that her makeup was ok as well.

As lunch came to a close, the girls went their separate ways. Bubbles felt nervous as she went to her class. Not only did she have to worry about watching what this professor would be doing the entire time, she would also have to deal with Princess. She felt like she wanted to run away. She took the makeup kit that her sister gave her and looked at it. She began to feel better, she felt more secure as she thought about how Blossom always seemed to know what to do in situations. She admired it.

Bubbles entered the classroom to see that the teacher was not there yet but most of the students had already taken their seats. The kids were all talking to each other. Some were wondering where the teacher could have been. As Bubbles walked to where her seat was she was interrupted by Princess.

"Lovely day isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah it sure is," Bubbles replied.

"I certainly hope you and your sisters are going to be at the party on Friday," said Princess. "It's sure to be a blast tehehe."

Bubbles wanted to ask why she announced that the Powerpuff girls were going to be there. But, it was as if the look on her face gave away her thoughts because Princess began to talk about the banners placed all over the school.

"Hmmmm don't worry, I'm sure no one will find out about the Powerpuff Girls if you do what I say for the whole week," she said sneakily.

"What do you mean?" Bubbles asked, scared.

"Oh it's nothing. All I ask is that you carry my books for me and do my homework that's all. Even though I have someone at home that's paid to do my homework for me, I want to see you do it tehehe."

With this the door opened and in walked the blonde guy from yesterday. Princess diverted her attention on him. Bubbles watched as he went to the last row of the class.

"Hmmmm well who do we have here?" Princess said as she watched him.

Princess looked at a small mirror to make sure her hair was straight and that her makeup was clean. Afterwards, she began to walk toward where he sat to talk to him. She tapped him on the shoulder and Bubbles saw that she was trying hard to look attractive to him. Princess started talking to him and from what Bubbles could see that she was trying to attract him.

A girl in the class named Melanie came and sat next to Bubbles. She had brown hair and she wore glasses.

"Hey what's up," she said.

"Oh hi," replied Bubbles.

Melanie introduced herself to Bubbles and started talking to her, but Bubbles was still interested in what Princess was saying to the blonde haired boy. She felt somewhat jealous that Princess was flaunting herself all over him. Melanie seemed to keep distracting her from these thoughts.

"Hey I just want you to know that your secret is safe with me," Melanie whispered in Bubbles ear.

Bubbles turned around fast to look at Melanie. Her face turned white.

"Huh," she said warily.

"It's ok I promise I won't tell anyone ok?" Melanie said quietly. "It would be embarrassing if anyone knew."

"How did she know?" Bubbles thought.

As she thought about what was just said she saw that Melanie's attention was focused on the area where Princess and the blonde boy were.

"Get lost brat, you sound stupid. " he said.

He laughed under his breath as if her standing there was a joke.

"What! You can't talk to me like that," Princess said.

"Evidently I just did. Brat," he responded.

Princess grunted and stamped her foot.

"I am the most popular girl in this school and I get whatever I want and my daddy will see to it that you never play any sports in this town again!" spat Princess.

She stormed away to her seat with her friends. Bubbles looked on and secretly enjoyed the scuffle between the two of them. Melanie seemed to enjoy it as well.

"That's what she gets, I hate stuck up girls," Melanie said laughingly.

Bubbles laughed quietly with her. She wasn't sure how she knew what her secret was but she didn't want to bring the subject back up.

"Yeah tell me about it, I'm so glad that she got what she deserved."

"She giving you trouble too huh?" Melanie asked.

"Definitely" Bubbles laughed. Who is he by the way?"

"Oh him, that's Billy. He played sports at our last middle school. Why are you interested in him?" Melanie asked.

"Oh no, no no I just think that he looks cool that's all," Bubbles said nervously.

"Get out of here, you have a crush on him," said Melanie unconvinced.

The door of the classroom swung open and Bubbles saw the teacher walk in toward his desk. The class took their seats and eventually the room became quiet. He seemed to be breathing hard and he looked as if he had been sweating. He looked like he was going to pass out. Bubbles looked at Melanie who only looked back at her with a nervous look as well.

"Ok class, we will begin with the quiz on the first chapter of Anatomy and Physiology," he said hoarsely.

Meanwhile, Buttercup was on the field in her gym clothes. She wore a white tee shirt with short black pants and black and green cleats, her hair held back slightly with a headband. Her team was ready and consisted of two other girls and 3 boys. Jena was the captain of their team.

"What's up you ready for the game today?" asked Jena.

"I'm always ready for a game of soccer," Buttercup replied.

The team on the other side of the field was getting prepared for the game ahead. Buttercup saw Bryan stretching his legs on the ground to get ready. He stood a few inches above most of the guys on the field. She was curious to see how good he was in soccer. Coach Swat then walked onto the field.

"Jena, since you are the captain of the school's soccer team I'm sure you know the rules of the game, so I expect you to bring your team up to speed," Coach Swat said.

Buttercup's team huddled together while the coach went to the opposite side of the field to instruct the others to do the same. Buttercup felt confident that they were going to win. With her ability and the captain of the soccer team there how could they lose? She decided beforehand that she would have to play her power down so that it wouldn't be noticeable to the students.

"Alright we ready to begin?" the coach called out.

There was a sound of a whistle and the soccer ball was seen flying toward Buttercup's team. Jena caught the ball with her chest and began to run the ball down the field. Many of the kids were pretty good at soccer so Buttercup felt better about playing the sport. Jena was good too. She passed the other players with such agility and speed. She passed the ball to a fellow classmate. When the team reached the opposite side of the field Buttercup set up post so that she could score a goal. When Jena realized what Buttercup was up to, she set up another post. The ball was passed to Buttercup and she feint the goalie into thinking she was going to score but she passed it the Jena who knocked the ball in with a headbutt.

"Point" yelled the coach.

As the opposing team gained possession of the ball Buttercup ran downfield and began to set up defense. She saw that Bryan had the ball and he was moving rather quickly.

"This is my chance to see what he can do," thought Buttercup.

As if he had anticipated Buttercup's thoughts he ran straight for her. She wasn't going to move out of his way. She stepped forward and as he got closer he gained more momentum.

"No Buttercup, he's playing you right….into" yelled Jena

Just then Bryan kicked the ball straight toward Buttercup but it hit sort of a curve toward the right and another player on the other team gained possession and scored.

"Shoot" thought Buttercup.

"Point!"

As the game went on it became increasingly interesting. Buttercup had scored several points. Another guy in her team managed to score a few points as well. Jena had very good setup posts and strategies as well. The opposite team pretty much boiled down to three people being really good at soccer. Bryan however, had scored no points. He was very effective at assisting the players in scoring points however and Buttercup began to feel that he was mocking her.

"He's gotta be better than that," thought Buttercup.

"What's going on Cup?" asked Jena.

Buttercup felt weird at the sound of the name. Maybe it was Jena's way of getting comfortable with her teammates.

"It's easier to say on the field" Jena said.

"There's something about him and the way he's playing. It seems like he's holding back," answered Buttercup

"Is it ok if I stick him in the next few rounds?" asked Buttercup anxiously.

"Are you sure you can?"

"Just leave it to me."

The coach blew the whistle and everyone took their places back on the field. Buttercup thought about if she should use her power a little bit so that she could test him. Every time he came closer to her she noticed that he would play very aggressively. Maybe it was the challenge she gave him yesterday. She didn't know what it was. She was brought back to reality when the ball was kicked into the air toward them.

She couldn't use her powers. Doing that would mean that she's admitting to him being able to beat her normally. She had too much pride for that. As the game progressed onward it became increasingly difficult for her to defend against him. After several possessions Buttercup realized that he wasn't ever trying to actually score. He would always pass the ball to someone else and they would score. She became annoyed.

"What's the matter huh?" spat Buttercup as they ran downfield with him in possession of the ball. "Why aren't you scoring, you afraid that I'll bust you up?"

Bryan slowed down. He stopped where he was and everyone else ran downfield. He placed the ball between his feet and pointed at Buttercup. She was shocked and excited at the same time. He, challenge her? It was too great of an opportunity to show her skills against him.

As Buttercup stood in front of him he began to kick the ball between both feet. Eventually he began to volley the ball back and forth in the air with both legs. Buttercup could hear behind her the sounds of distant "Uh oh's" from her classmates.

Buttercup paid attention to what he was doing. She rushed in to take the ball from him but he evaded. He didn't run passed her, he beckoned her to come again. She ran in again and slipped in the grass.

"What's wrong, Butterfeet? Can't keep up? And here I thought you were actually good at what you do." he said coolly.

Buttercup had heard enough. She couldn't hold back anymore. She sprinted forward with as much power as she could and kicked for the ball. He noticed her acceleration and had a startled look on his face. He ducked and threw a leg upward to bring the ball to the ground. She kicked for the ball on the ground but one kick after another she kept missing. Was he really dodging her or was he just making lucky moves. After a few more kicks she noticed that he was kicking the ball at the same exact time that she was, keeping the ball from going anywhere. The momentum of the two of them became furious and intense. Buttercup didn't care; she was determined to beat him. After a few more strikes she saw that the ball had gone into the air. She jumped to kick the ball but as she lost sight of Bryan she saw sight of his leg reaching for the ball and kicking it with such force that it zoomed past her head and into the goal.

"Point!" yelled the coach.

Buttercup stood in amazement and anger at what she just saw. She looked at the goalie.

"What's wrong with you why didn't you stop the ball?" she screamed.

"Game!" Coach Swat announced.

Buttercup then noticed that the entire field had stopped moving and all eyes were fixed on her in shock. She had then realized that she may have done some things that weren't considered normal. Even Jena stood there saying nothing at all. She saw Bryan stand up and dust himself off.

"Hmmmph" shrugged Buttercup and she walked away.

On the way back to the locker room Jena ran alongside Buttercup and congratulated her on a job well done.

"Job well done? We lost Jena."

"I know, but the game isn't all about winning. It's about teamwork, and you possess a great amount of skill in that area," Jena replied.

Inside the locker room the girls were getting dressed and beginning to leave to go home. On the way out Buttercup saw the coach talking to Bryan. She sulked in her loss even further. As she headed for the door the coach called for her.

"Hey there little girl, you got a tough kick in your step don't you?" Coach Swat said.

Buttercup began to blush a little bit and gloat.

"How's about you join the soccer team for our school? We could use the skill," she asked. "Bryan has already agreed to it. Whaddaya say?"

Buttercup didn't like the fact of having to team up with Bryan, but she felt honored. Maybe she could get closer to challenge him again on practice routes.

"Sure I'll do it." Buttercup answered.

"Alright then, tryouts start in three weeks. Condition yourself until then."

The coach walked away. Buttercup felt amazing at the fact that she had been selected for the soccer team. She walked along the hallways with a smile on her face. Along the way, she saw Bryan leaving. She couldn't wait to get on the practice field with him.

"Come on Buttercup let's go," Bubbles called out.

"Comin now, hold your horses."

Buttercup saw Bryan leave and thought about where he could possibly be going. She immediately dismissed the thought as she joined her sisters to go home.

"Hey, I made the soccer team guys" she said with excitement.