Cougar girl said again that what I did to Billy in this story was unjust and that even her mother (THE lawyer) agreed with her. And as before, she said that every bully has a reason. As I have mentioned by telling you about my own experience before, I can only tell you that this is not true. My bullies never had a reason. Well, unless you think that "not liking me" is a good enough reason for being a bully at which I have to disagree with you. Being mean to someone because you don't like him, never is a good reason. It's just being mean. Cougar girl, as you have pointed out, you have only been bullied once, and it turned out well for you. So, you're lucky, and I'm glad it turned out well. But as I have told you, I have experienced something completely different. I find it quite interesting that something someone else experienced doesn't mean anything to you and that only your experience counts. Not everyone sees life the same way. And I would appreciate if you could accept that. And as tmntfan4ever has pointed out (thanks for that!), it is not about you, Cougar girl, it's about Madelyn. The bullying-thing is just a part of this story, but if you have such a big problem with that, no-one forces you to continue reading this story. I won't answer any more of these comments, sorry.

And now to an official announcement: Madelyn has her own blog on tumblr now, nickname: madelyn-dearing. There isn't really anything there yet (I still need to set up an about-page), but it is supposed to be an ask-blog, so if you have anything you want to know from Madelyn. ;) And no worries for those who don't have tumblr. Anonymous asks are enabled (at least for now). ;)

Chapter 36: Unicorns

"Okay," Tallulah Twinkle said with a smile. "Let's have a party!"
And Sweetie Smile cheered in the background and darted into the kitchen to check what they would have to buy for their party.

With a smile April put the print-out back into her messenger bag. It was Saturday afternoon and Mr. Dearing had brought Madelyn round about an hour ago. First, they had thought of watching a "Unicornia"-episode together, but it was such a beautiful, sunny day that they had decided of having a picnic on the rooftop instead.

So they were seated on a blanket now, some drinks and sandwiches in reach, and Madelyn had cuddled up at April while the teenage girl had read the first two chapters of this "Unicornia"-fanfiction, Leo had told her, about to Madelyn.

When April turned back to the little girl, she realized she was looking at her with questioning eyes.

"Yes?" April asked.

"Are there more chapters?" Madelyn asked.

"Sure!" April said. "There are like thirty of them so far, and this fanfiction is updated regularly."

"Can we read another chapter?" Madelyn asked further.

"Sorry," April replied. "I didn't have time to print out any more chapters at school.

"Oh." Madelyn lowered her eyes, the disappointment clearly hearable in her voice.

April bit her lower lip. It was only afternoon and Leo wouldn't be able to show up before evening when it was safe.

If he managed to show up. It wasn't so sure if he would make it today. The Kraang had been a bit more active lately, so it wasn't sure if Leo and the others wouldn't encounter any troubles at their evening patrol. Because of this, she unfortunately needed to scratch Leo's arrival from her mental "Things that cheer Madelyn up"-list.

"Well, it would be a bit too difficult to read the chapter on my Tphone, but I could look up the third chapter on my laptop when it's done charging," April suggested. "If you can wait another half an hour."

Madelyn nodded eagerly.

April smiled at her.

"Well, I think they better make a shopping list," the little girl suddenly said.

"Huh?"

"Tallulah Twinkle and Sweetie Smile," Madelyn explained. "Or else they might forget to buy something important for their party."

"Sure," April said. "Shopping lists are very helpful. I hope they'll think of that, too."

"But there is one thing I don't understand in this story," Madelyn went further.

April raised her eyebrows.

"Who is this Scribbling Ink?" Madelyn asked. "I've never seen her in the show."

April mentally went through the chapters she had read to Madelyn. And yes, there had been a unicorn named Scribbling Ink. And she now wracked her brain if she could somehow connect this unicorn with the show. Having watched a few episodes with Madelyn, she knew Scribbling Ink hadn't shown up in those, but she hadn't watched all of the episodes yet, so this unicorn could still show up. Maybe Madelyn was mistaken. On the other hand, Madelyn knew everything about "Unicornia", so how should it be possible that she forgot about one of the unicorns? And then April remembered something Leo had told her in his one-hour lecture about fandom-vocabulary yesterday. It had had something to do with new characters. April frowned.

Lucky, I made some notes.

She rummaged her bag for said notes, skimming over them once she had retrieved the papers from her bag.

"There it is," she finally said. "It looks like Scribbling Ink is what is called an OC, an original character. That's a character made up by a fan."

"Really?" Madelyn asked in a surprised voice.

"Well, according to my notes about fandom-things, yes," April replied and tapped on said passage with her finger before she took the notes away again.

But when she looked back at Madelyn, she found the little girl still staring at her with eyes widened in surprise. Except from that, Madelyn somehow seemed to have frozen.

"Uhm, Madelyn, are you okay?" April asked cautiously.

In that moment Madelyn suddenly jumped to her feet. "This is so awesome!" she called out. "Fans can make their own unicorns! That's great! Oh, I can't believe it! It's wonderful!"

This sudden outbreak of joy made April flinch a bit before she mentally slapped herself for being so jumpy.

Kunoichi, remember?

And so she watched Madelyn skipping about laughingly and saying how awesome this was.

This made April giggle.

Madelyn suddenly stopped and sat down in front of April.

"Can I make my own unicorn?" she asked, looking at April expectantly.

"I guess so," April replied. She wasn't really used to this whole fandom-stuff, so she needed to go for what she knew already – and that was that other fans had made their own unicorns. Okay, she only knew of one, Scribbling Ink, and according to Donnie, you couldn't base a theory on only one incident, but this wasn't science, this was "Unicornia", so she thought it would be okay.

"Yay!" Madelyn cheered. "I want mine to have turquoise fur and a pink mane and tail. And it would be a girl, and she would be very good at drawing, no, I want her to be a very popular artist. And she would meet Rosaria at an exhibit. You know, Rosaria is the unicorn among Tallulah Twinkle's friends that is interested in arts the most. After all, she is a designer. She needs to be interested in beautiful things. So, she and Rosaria would meet and they would become friends and Rosaria would introduce her to Tallulah Twinkle and the others, and then they all would become friends…"

April just smiled at Madelyn's explanations about her own unicorn although somewhere between something about the Rosaria, a lost brother from the Princess of the Summer and Mille Grazie – since when did they speak Italian in this show, anyway? – she lost the thread.

It was only when Madelyn addressed her with a question that she snapped back into actually listening.

"So what do you think?" Madelyn asked looking at her with big eyes that had some resemblance with Mikey's puppy dog eyes.

"I…uhm…think you should draw a picture of your unicorn," she said.

"Oh, that's a great idea!" Madelyn called out and reached for her drawing pad and her pencils they had brought along when she and April had decided to have a picnic at the rooftop and quickly started drawing.

April choked a sigh of relief. She was really happy that she had been able to get off the hook so easily. And she quickly added "Suggest a drawing" to her mental "Keep Madelyn busy"-list.

"What do you think?" Madelyn asked once she was finished with the picture and showed it to April.

"I think she looks beautiful," April said with a smile at she looked at the picture that showed Madelyn's unicorn.

Madelyn just beamed at her in response.

"But I think we better get back inside," April said and got to her feet. "It's getting dark and I'm a bit chilly."

Madelyn looked over her shoulder and scanned the surrounding rooftops. April placed a hand on her shoulder.

"My aunt is coming home late today," she said. "Mr. Turtle still has more than enough time to show up if he can make it today.

When Madelyn turned back to her, April was afraid Madelyn could have one of her tantrums again, but she and Leo had met a week ago, and Madelyn only had tantrums when she had been waiting for too long.

But still, there was this fear in the back of April's head, so she had to choke a sigh of relief for the second time that day when Madelyn just nodded in response.

Then they gathered their stuff and soon were climbing down the stairs.

Back inside the apartment April sat down on the couch and took her laptop from the coffee table, unplugging it when she realized it was done charging.

Madelyn sat down next to April and looked at the laptop screen.

"Are you looking for new chapters?" she asked.

April nodded, but then looked at Madelyn. "Or do you want to do something else?"

Madelyn shifted on her seat, looking a bit uneasy.

"Well," she started, "my unicorn has no name yet."

April frowned. "Oh, yeah, sure, that's right," she said. "So what do you want to do?"

Madelyn looked at her. "Can we try to find a name for her?"

April smiled down at the little girl. "Sure!"

"Yay!"

"So, what do you have in mind?"

"It has to be something with an M", Madelyn said. "After all, she is my unicorn."

"Miranda, maybe?" April suggested.

"That's no unicorn-name!" Madelyn giggled.

"Oh, okay," April chuckled. "What are unicorn-names?"

"They are unusual and beautiful and very often, they are double names."

"Hmmm…" April frowned. "Unusual and beautiful and a double name...Let me think…" She looked at the unicorn-picture Madelyn had placed on the coffee table. "What about…"

"Yes?" Madelyn looked at her with an expecting look on her face.

"Morning Dew?" April said. "That would M.D. in initials. M.D. – Morning Dew." She looked at Madelyn with a warm smile. "Or Madelyn Dearing."

Madelyn's jaw dropped and she gasped. She looked at April with an open mouth for a few moments and then she jumped up and flung her arms around April. The teenage girl was so surprised by this that she fell backwards on the couch. Madelyn couldn't care less.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she said. "This is an awesome, beautiful, perfect unicorn-name!"

April just giggled as she hugged Madelyn back.

"You're welcome!"

Then there was a knock at the window and the two sat up.

When she saw who was outside, Madelyn gasped again and ran over to the window. April followed at a slower pace.

So when she arrived at the window, Madelyn was already jumping up and down in anticipation. April realized that with a smile, and then finally opened the window to Leo who jumped inside.

"Mr. Turtle!" Madelyn called out and hugged him as soon as his feet touched the ground.

"Having fun, girls?" Leo asked with a grin.

"Yes, we're having a lot of fun," Madelyn replied as she let go of him, took him by the hand and led him to the couch. "I made my own unicorn." With that she showed her picture to Leo as they sat down on the couch. "Her name is Morning Dew, April suggested this name, and it is so perfect for her!"

April sat down next to Madelyn who looked from April to Leo and back to April.

"Oh, I have a wonderful idea!" she called out and clapped her hands gleefully. "Why don't you make your own unicorns as well?"

April and Leo shared a look.

"Well, I think we might need your help, Madelyn," Leo said then. "April and I don't know as much about unicorns as you do. Would you help us?"

"Sure!" Madelyn clapped her hands again. "I start with your unicorn, Mr. Turtle." She looked at April. "If that's okay for you, April."

"Of course!" April said.

"Yay!" Madelyn cheered and then got up to get her drawing pad and pencils.

Later that evening, Madelyn insisted that Mr. Turtle tucked her in and read the third chapter of this awesome "Unicornia"-story to her on April's laptop as a good night-story. April studied for a trig-exam in the meantime in the living room.

When she came back into her room when she was done, Madelyn was already fast asleep.

April just nodded to Leo, and he understood.

He took the picture Madelyn had drawn for him and climbed outside onto the fire escape. April had told him without any words that her aunt could be back any minute now.

Leo looked down at Madelyn's picture which showed a green unicorn with a blue mane and a blue tail. He smiled at it before he folded it together and tucked it under his belt.

April had her picture already hung up on the wall. Madelyn had made her unicorn yellow with an orange mane and tail.

Both unicorns were still nameless because they hadn't been able to agree upon names for them. But April and Leo had had to promise faithfully to Madelyn that they would think about names before they went to sleep themselves.

"Aurora," Leo said.

"Huh?"

"Your unicorn," Leo explained. "I think you should name her Aurora."

April thought about that for a moment. "You know what, Leo?" she said. "I think you're right."

"Well, April," Leo said with a grin, "you should know by now that I'm always right."

Hearing him say what she had told him so many times before made April giggle and she playfully hit his upper arm.

"Ouch, this violent kunoichi!" Leo called out just as playfully.

But then Madelyn mumbled something in her sleep, and Leo and April shared a look, each of them quickly putting their index fingers to their lips.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhtttt!" they said to each other, then giggled silently.

And with that Leo waved at April, turned around and left.