Chapter 10

"Please reconsider," she pleaded, clutching her fingers tightly around the leather strap of her schoolbag in order to keep herself calm.

"No Blossom," was the curt response of the older woman. "I have already planned this entire lesson out." She reached up to the top shelf of the closet and wrapped her fingers around an item that made the leader of the Powerpuff Girls bit the inside of her cheek restlessly. "You and your sisters are great at this game, I can't see why –"

"Please," she tried once more. "I could help you prepare something else – anything else… If it is time you are concerned about, then I will come early and – "

"Blossom." She closed her mouth, the amber-colored eyes of her teacher piercing into hers while she placed the ball in her hands down. "What is really going on? Are you having a fight with your classmates?"

Pink eyes silently averted. Her fallen expression did stir some understanding into the older woman. "So girl trouble it is. I won't change my schedule, but I know something to help you through the lesson, alright?" she reassured. "I will see you this afternoon."

The red-haired girl only stiffly nodded and watched her teacher leave the room to celebrate the rest of her morning break. Quietly her own footsteps followed the echo of her teacher's, retreating in the direction of the hallway.

"Hey Blossom."

Pink eyes met the sight of her classmate that seemed to have been waiting for her to exit the gym. Helen, a bright young girl with sterling silver-colored eyes smiled at her. Even though they were in the same class and even had Science as an extra subject together, they have never shared more than a couple of words. She was a type of girl that didn't like to socialize much outside her small group of friends. And Blossom had to admit that she usually works with her a few other classmates as well when it comes to group assignments. "Are you excited for our last class?"

"Not exactly," she answered truthfully. And if she knew one thing, it was that Helen did not do well in subjects involving psychical endurance. "Why are you?"

The girl gave her a scheming smile. "Oh, come on…" she giggled. "You get to see your handsome boyfriend in action." The flare of anger that lightened up inside her, almost made Blossom frown at the statement alone. "I mean, he is your boyfriend, right?" was what her classmate then asked.

The leader of the Powerpuff girls parted her lips and took a breath to – stop. The light-grey eyes of her classmate held a hopeful sparkle, her smile frozen in place in anticipation to her answer. And suddenly the Powerpuff knew what she wanted to hear… This girl had been a witness to the scene that she made in Science class. In there, Brick had dared to suggest that she had given him a love-letter and announced that he was willing to date her. In her livid state, she had walked away from him, but she had not stopped to think of her classmates' reactions to that.

Despite her own distaste, these enemies were highly popular among the school's female population. It would only be a matter of time, really, before someone gets hurt. Trying to warn them to stay away from them would work against them; what authority did they have? Even revealing their true identity wouldn't erase the fact that they were three relatively handsome, single young men. Not even the 'bad boy' image wouldn't help subdue the interest of most of the girls. They shouldn't aim to start a relationship with any of them. It was dangerous. They would be taken advantage of in a heartbeat. As the leader of the Powerpuff girls, she refused to see anyone emotionally exploited. She would not allow that.

"…Yes," she finally replied, her voice flat and strained. "You're right."

"…Oh." Her classmate's hope deflated like a balloon. Her face was as readable as an open book. "I mean, yes of course… I just thought that you might…" She stopped there, swallowing the rest of her sentence. Averting her gaze, she stared at the ground. She willingly took a breath before raising her voice once more. "You approached him first and he was immediately interested, wasn't he? In Science class, he had been saving that seat for you, rejecting everyone else that approached him."

The leader of the Powerpuff girls remained silent, her pink-colored eyes absently gazing at her classmate when she spoke the following words with a darkened expression: "Heh. Who wouldn't want to date a superhero, right?" Her manicured hands had clutched the hem of her shirt tightly. Blossom forced herself to swallow her pride and it felt as if it landed in the pit of her stomach.

Suddenly, Helen raised her head and her silver-colored eyes pierced into her with fierce determination. "Don't get full of yourself. Without your superpowers, you are just a bore to be around. He will realize that soon enough."

With that, she turned around, her heels sharply clicking against the floor as her footsteps retreated. Seconds passed after she had turned the corner, before Blossom released a long breath.

"Well?" Bubbles asked. Her sister had jumped up when she turned back into the hallway. She had spoken with their teacher alone, but Buttercup and Bubbles had been close around the corner. "What are we playing?"

Blossom raised her head, her eyes solemnly locking on them both.

Buttercup unfolded her arms and muttered one lone word that formed an entire sentence: "What?"

As her lips parted to share the information on today's lesson, she could not help but wear a grim expression herself. This was the worst game they could have been playing.

"Back, huh," Butch acknowledged, when his brother stepped towards them only after the first bell rang. Holding empty Starbucks coffee container in his hand, he did not even attempt to hide the fact that he had left the school grounds. While red eyes did glance at it for a moment, their leader folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Not much unlike the rest of the class that was waiting for their teacher to arrive.

They were in front of the Design and Technology classroom, their next class. Boomer had been the first one to arrive and while Butch had thought that Boomer was taking frequent glances at the hallway in anticipation for the missing member of their team, the blonde continued to do this even after Brick had returned.

"Maybe I shouldn't have bought it extra strong. I'm awake enough to see how boring this is again," the dark-haired youth muttered.

Blue eyes sharply focused on their leader at the statement, knowing what consequences such a blunt announcement of rule-breaking could bring. He had already risked it when he didn't stop Butch from leaving the school grounds without permission and he did not desire a reenactment of their last collation. Now that they had returned to Townsville, their leader had been monitoring their every move very closely. Not that the red-haired youth did not have a controlling nature before, but he was pulling the strings a lot tighter. This ticked Butch off, who had already been one to stretch and bend the rules to his own agenda. Even without the stress their new situation brought them, those two tended to clash easily.

But this time, Brick seemed to be in a good mood, because he willingly ignored the undermining complaint in his brother's statement. "I just learned something interesting," he quietly stated, keeping his voice low. Without looking at Butch, his hand folded around the carton container and pulled it away from him. Because it was empty, the dark-haired youth didn't complain.

"So that was where you've been," Boomer concluded, his gaze shifting back to the hallway. Walking a short distance behind the approaching teacher, was the one person he had been searched visual contact with since the start of the break. But she was heavily endorsed in a conversation with her sister, a deep frown settled on her features.

The sound of deformed plastic brought him back into their own conversation. Red eyes had been following his gaze and the container in his hand deformed as if it had been made out of paper instead of thick carton and plastic. "I learned something interesting," he stated, clutching the object in a ball that would fit his fist. "I believe that even you might find enjoyment in this, Butch."

Green eyes gazed at their leader skeptically, but held a hint of interest in them. "Really?" he muttered.

This caused Brick to chuckle. Unfolding his fingers, scattered pieces of ash fluttered towards the ground. "Yes," he stated to him, a playful smirk on his face. "Really…"

The teacher that greeted the class proceeded with opening the door to them. Blossom was the only one that acknowledged their presence with a cold glare before they entered the classroom with the rest of their classmates. Pulling himself from the wall he had found comfortable for the time being, Brick stepped inside along with the information he still had to share, his brothers following behind him.

Design and Technology flew by without any commotion and even Economics passed without any disturbance from their enemies. Not once had they attempted to make a move towards them, leaving them completely undisturbed for hours.

"There's something wrong," Blossom told Buttercup in the dressing room. "They're too quiet. They cannot have known about this already, can they?"

Green eyes travelled to their blond-haired sister, who had been pulled into a conversation with another classmate of theirs. She was smiling awkwardly at their small jokes. With just one glance, Buttercup could sense her uneasiness.

"Stop being paranoid," she quietly warned. "I don't mind listening to your plot theories, but you're rubbing off on Bubbles. I can't see how you are that concerned about this class anyway."

"I just have this feeling," Blossom explained, glancing at her sister as well before continuing in a hushed tone. "And when I think of the damage they could do – "

"Won't happen," Buttercup told her. "They're not doing it in here."

"But they probably don't even know how to restrain their powers!" she countered.

Bubbles' head snapped towards them from across the dressing room and this caused Buttercup to roll her eyes at her sister, who then seemed to realize that she had stated this too loudly for their sister's more sensitive ears. "Listen… if they're not careful, they could end up damaging or destroying the walls. And that is the best case scenario! They could break bones; they could kill them with just one move. Even if they are keeping a low profile, I can't see how they would not use this opportunity to get back at us."

"We'll see what happens when it happens," Buttercup stated. "Worrying about it now, won't change anything."

"I can't help but worrying about it. It is all I can do at the moment."

Her sister parted her lips, but closed them once she noticed Bubbles approaching them. "Everything okay?" she asked them, her blue eyes studying their faces closely.

"Yeah," Buttercup answered.

But she did not seem convinced. "Blossom?" she tried again.

The red-haired girl nodded. In a way, she knew that Buttercup was right in a couple of things. She had to take a breath, calm herself down and act like a leader that had everything in control. Expressing every frantic thought that roamed around in her mind would cause Bubbles to worry even more. While her problems would mostly bounce back on Buttercup, her blond-haired sister would take them and keep it inside of her. It wasn't that she wanted to shut her out in their conversation or keep things from her. But she did not want to weigh down her already tense sibling.

" …Okay," Bubbles replied. "You're done changing right?"

"Yes," she reaffirmed. "We can go now."

"Good afternoon class," their teacher smiled at them once everyone had taken a seat on the low benches at the side of the room. "This will be your last class for today, but I need you to be alert for the game that I've prepared for you. We'll be playing in two teams and since we have an equal amount of boys and girls now, I won't need to divide you up anymore. We'll simply play against each other."

This caused a fit of giggles to erupt from a group of girls. "Eh, that isn't fair, those girls are on their team," a male classmate of theirs whispered against his friend.

Blossom felt her heart sank when the teacher, with most of the class distracted, winked at her. No… did this… Did she actually cause this? This is the way their teacher wanted to help her with her problem? Erasing her 'girl' trouble… by putting every girl on the same team?

"I see that everyone is excited!" their teacher smiled. "Good! We'll be playing a favorite game of mine. I am sure that you're all familiar with dodgeball…"

Author's Note:

Not much action, but the next chapter will make up for it. I assure you it will. Thank you for your patience.