CHAPTER 13: NEW WOLF IN THE PACK
ME: I was motivated to update because one of my BFF's updated her amazing story over on FictionPress (starrysky7267) and DeviantART (starrystarrysky7267). Search her up and check her out!
BRICK: Advertising, now are we? *raises eyebrow*
ME: There's nothing wrong with that.
BLOSSOM: Anyway, Kuku only owns the story and her OC's.
BLISS: Like me, who gets to call out "rolling chappie"!
Chapter 13: New Wolf in the Pack
Ross groaned, hitting his head on his desk over and over again.
"Ross, stop that already."
"Says you, Mister I Don't Have to Go to School Anymore But You Do."
"Ross, stop that nonsense," Shamus sighed in warning. "I'm tired of your games. You're going to do your job right, and that means you have to go to school."
Ross snorted. "Uncle Shamus, I'm not going to pass as a young kid going to high school. LOOK AT HOW TALL I AM!"
"Sure you are," Shamus said, holding out sheets of paper and fanning them. "People fall for anything; I have resources: your 'birth certificate' says you're that age."
Ross rolled his eyes.
"Ross, I'm actually going easy on you. It's not like I'm treating you like Danes toward his nephew Michael."
"...Fine, I'll give you that," Ross said, rolling his eyes.
"...Thank you," Shamus said.
A few moments of silence passed.
Then...:
"...I miss her too, you know."
Ross looked away. "Shut up; you don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes I do, Ross," Shamus said quietly. "Yes I do. Sylvie was a sweet, beautiful lady."
"...Shut up!" Ross snapped. "I don't want to hear it."
"...I think you do." Shamus sighed and kneeled down. "Look Ross, I miss her as much as you do. But...I lost her once. I moved on. I'm sure—"
"Oh so you just gave up on her!?" Ross shouted, spinning around angrily. He shot up so quickly, his chair fell to the floor with a loud clang! The legs scraped the floor harshly. He stormed off.
"Ross! No, that's not what I mean—"
Ross paused at the door, resting his hand on the doorknob. He turned around, gritting his teeth with angry tears in his eyes. He refused to let them fall, however. "I thought you weren't as bad as I made you out to be, Shamus," he said quietly, bitterly. "...But maybe you are."
...And then he walked through the door, letting it slam shut.
"...Ross..." Shamus murmured, dropping his outstretched hand and sighing. "...I blew that."
Meanwhile, on the other side, Ross looked up and sighed. "...I am such an idiot."
He sighed again and shoved a hand up his thick brown, wavy hair. ...He'd gotten it from his dad...and admittedly, Shamus. Well, from his dad's side.
Shamus had long, wavy lengths of thick dark-brown hair, but most people described his hair as black.
"...Sylvie..." Ross murmured, sighing again.
"Buttercup; wake up!" Blossom shouted, pounding a fist against her sister's door. "We can't be late!"
Groaning, the green Puff rolled over and dug her face deeper into her pillow. "I'd prefer to!" she called back.
There was a sigh before a clicking noise sounded, and Buttercup realized that her door was being opened. Blossom's voice sounded again, this time more stern. "You can't oversleep on a school day," she scolded.
"Oh why do you care?" yawned Buttercup, sitting up and stretching. She blinked her heavy eyelids. "Just go on without me."
"I can't do that! As your leader—"
"Hey, it's a free country," Buttercup interrupted, flopping back down. "I'd rather go back to sleep..."
Blossom sighed again. Then she stood up and bent over Buttercup, grabbing her sister's ear. "Wake. Up."
"Ow!" snapped Buttercup, sitting up and rubbing her sore ear. "Dude, can't you just talk to me like a normal person instead of yanking on my ear?"
Blossom smirked victoriously. "I tried, but it didn't exactly work. Now get out of bed and get ready for school. You don't have all day! If you're not ready by around ten minutes later, I'll be back to check on you."
Buttercup groaned loudly as Blossom walked to the door. After the pink Puff had left, Buttercup slowly crawled out of bed and made her way to the washroom. She forced her eyes open and stared into her mirror, which showed a girl with messy black hair and green eyes.
I'm not very pretty, Buttercup mused. She pulled down her PJ t-shirt to reveal the still visible marks from Vix's fingers on her neck. Buttercup swallowed. That guy was tough. It was like he was hunting Butch. They had a really serious fight.
She wished the Rowdyruff Boys would just tell the truth for once. Their secrecy was making her feel completely lost. Sighing, Buttercup splashed water onto her face before proceeding to brush her teeth. She didn't have a lot of time to just stand around thinking.
After that, Buttercup took a shower. The warm water made her relax, as her jumbled thoughts slowly cleared. She went over each and every little detail of what had happened so far. She'd hid in the forest with Butch, and he'd reacted strangely to Maxim at the park. Butch had fought Vix, a skilled swordsman. Maxim and another man named Coal had been talking at the forest where Buttercup had hidden at 2:00 am. Not only that, but Butch didn't like Michael and his friends. And who was that kid with that man named Jamel?
Before she knew it, she was done showering. Quickly climbing out of the shower, Buttercup threw on a towel and blow-dried her hair. She only had a few more minutes until Blossom would barge in. Cursing her sister's precision with time, Buttercup yanked a comb through her hair in an attempt to be fast. This led to a lot of "ow!"'s, which ultimately slowed the process down. Finally, Buttercup got dressed in the Pokey Oaks High uniform.
She stared at herself in the mirror, tugging at her bow-tie. The uniform was slightly dorky, but it was better than Townsville High. In Pokey Oaks High, a student could at least choose the colour of the uniform and wear any appropriate shirt they wanted. Townsville High's uniforms were drab, with simple white shirts and black pants.
Just as she was contemplating the difference between the schools and their uniforms, her door was opened again. "Buttercup, are you done?" a familiar voice called.
Buttercup turned around and spotted an expectant Blossom, whose arms were crossed and her eyebrow was raised. "I'm ready," the green Puff promised.
"That's a relief," Blossom remarked, "I was worried we'd be late after all."
Rolling her eyes, Buttercup followed Blossom out of her room. She closed the door and replied, "You do know that being late is not the end of the world, right?"
"It is to me," Blossom shot back immediately, "especially when Mr. Fickleson is giving us a test so soon."
Buttercup's eyes widened and she let out a loud groan. It was her third or fourth one in just that one morning. "Oh crap! I totally forgot about that."
"Jeez, you're not prepared for anything," Blossom stated.
"Sh-Shut up." Buttercup's face flushed red.
A new person joined them just then. "Oh come on you two; let's not start a fight."
"We're not fighting, Bubbles," Blossom promised, "I'm just scolding Buttercup."
"It sure sounds like you're digging for a fight," Buttercup shot back.
Blossom pouted, before saying, "Okay, fine. I'm not looking for a fight, but I sure am teasing BC, rather than scolding."
"Knew it," muttered Buttercup under her breath.
Bubbles smiled awkwardly.
"What are you guys talking about?" a curious Bliss asked, her hands behind her head. With one sweeping motion, she tied all of her long brown hair into a high ponytail. Her orange eyes shone with excitement.
"The test Mr. Fickleson has planned," Blossom explained.
"Wait, that was today?" Bliss suddenly seemed disappointed. "Aw, man. I thought it was tomorrow."
Banana joined her sisters as they walked down the stairs. "Of course you and Buttercup would forget about it." This earned her a "h-hey!" from both girls.
Meanwhile, the Professor was waiting for them at the kitchen table. He waved when he saw his daughters. "Hey, girls! Bunny's already making breakfast."
Bubbles rushed over to help. "Thanks for taking over today, Bunny. I'm sorry I had to practice acting for the play."
"It's okay," Bunny said shyly, setting plates of muffins and bread down on the table. "I-I know how hard acting can be." Her face grew red. "I could never act in front of a giant crowd of people."
"Not even if Bandit was in the crowd?" Bliss asked.
Bunny's face seemed to be on fire.
"Oh, that's right. You'd probably just faint with him there," added Buttercup teasingly. She and Bliss shared triumphant looks as they high-fived.
Bunny's face was still red as she turned to her two laughing sisters. "Y-You guys..." She lowered her gaze. "J-Jeez..."
"Leave Bunny alone, you two," stated Banana, grabbing a muffin.
Blossom nodded her agreement. "That wasn't very nice of you two."
"Go and apologize," the Professor told them.
Bliss and Buttercup shared looks before turning to Bunny. "We're sorry~" they chorused, not sounding very sorry.
"I-It's okay." Bunny hid her red face.
Bubbles smiled from her seat, watching her sisters play together. She went over her lines in her head. This play...
...Must be perfect, Boomer thought as he chewed on some toast, reviewing his lines.
"This toast tastes pretty good," Brick remarked.
Butch nodded, shoving the last of his piece into his mouth. "Maybe Bandit should make breakfast more than Boomer."
The blue Ruff snapped out of his thoughts. "H-Hey!" he protested.
Butch laughed. "Kidding; kidding~"
Boomer rolled his eyes.
"It's just toast," Bandit stated, biting into his own piece. "It's not very hard to make. Maybe you should learn how to use a toaster sometime, Butch."
"Eww, work? No thanks." Butch swallowed the toast.
Bandit rolled his eyes.
"I want thirds!" Braker shouted, reaching for another piece of toast.
"How can you have room for lunch after eating so much for breakfast?" Blaster asked, wrinkling his nose.
"I have a big stomach," Braker replied, patting said part of his body to emphasize his point.
"Anyway, are you guys ready for the test?" Brick asked.
Butch's eyes widened. "Test...? What test?"
"The one Mr. Fickleson has planned, of course." Brick shot his brother a weird look.
"Oh, right." Butch was already eating another piece of toast. "I totally forgot."
Brick sighed, shaking his head and doing a face-palm. "You idiot," he muttered.
"That's not very nice," Butch said, punching his brother.
Mojo looked irritated. "Can't all six of you, the Rowdyruff Boys, just eat and chew and bite the food that is toast that Bandit has made for you in relative peace and quiet?"
The six brothers turned to stare at Mojo, before Brick stated, "There's a reason we're the 'Rowdyruff Boys', Mojo." He paused dramatically. "'Cause we're rowdy and we're rough!"
Mojo sighed and did a face-palm.
Him's head appeared, floating in the middle of the table. "Boys~!" he sang warningly. "You don't want to be late for school, now do you?"
Boomer shuddered. "Uh...no sir," he managed to stutter towards the floating Him head.
"Good! Glad to hear it." Him grinned creepily, before his head vanished.
Mojo sighed, snapping the crinkles out of his morning paper. "That Him's up to his silly tricks again," he muttered.
Brick stood up, having finished his breakfast. He said, "Well, we better get a move on before Him actually comes in and scolds us. Come on, you guys."
"Aww man!" whined Braker, his mouth full. He had just been reaching for his fourth piece of toast. Instead, he lowered his hand and swallowed, standing up.
Blaster rolled his eyes as he also prepared to place his plate in the sink.
Butch paused, wincing as one of his scratches grazed the table. "Ow," he muttered.
"Are you okay?" asked Bandit, quickly walking over to his brother. He inspected one of the many wounds that Butch had gotten from Vix.
"I'm fine," snapped Butch. He caught the other Rowdyruff Boys' surprised looks, so he sighed. "Sorry. I mean, I'm okay."
"Be careful," warned Boomer, "don't overexert yourself."
"I know, okay?" Butch sighed, rolling his eyes.
Brick studied his brothers for a few moments longer before turning away. "Let's fly," he suggested.
"Lead the way, Oh Great and Powerful Leader Brick!" Braker called.
Rolling his eyes, Brick took off, leaving a red streak behind him.
"Did I piss him off?" asked Braker innocently.
Bandit nudged his brother. "Oh shut up."
"Have a nice day at school~!" sang Him, waving a claw.
Mojo jumped. "Since when did you get in the kitchen!?" he demanded.
Boomer couldn't help but shake his head as his two father figures bickered down below. "They're so silly," he remarked.
"And stupid," agreed Butch, stretching.
The rest of the trip was spent in relative silence. But when they began to pass Townsville Park, Butch stiffened.
"What's the matter?" asked Brick, stopping himself in the air.
"Nothing; just some stupid smell." Butch shrugged. "Don't worry about it."
Boomer frowned, sniffing the air. He couldn't smell a thing. But then the blue Ruff sniffled. Oh well; maybe it's thanks to my cold that I can't smell anything.
Brick tasted the air as well. His gaze remained serious. "There is something foul on the air..."
"Oh forget about it!" called Braker, diving through the sky. "We can check it out later. Gee, Brick; I thought you wanted to get to school on time!"
Brick snorted, catching up to his brother. "Dammit, Braker!"
Butch zipped past Brick, cackling, "Race ya losers to the school!"
"Butch!" shouted Bandit, looking peeved.
Boomer hurried to catch up to his brothers. "Guys, wait up!"
Blaster lingered behind with Bandit, smiling. He didn't seem very interested in the idea of racing, but he looked amused.
When they finally landed, Braker had "won" the race. "What took you guys so long?" he demanded.
"No one agreed to a race," huffed Brick.
Butch nudged his brother. "And yet you sped up to catch up to me," he smirked.
"You're last, Blaster," remarked Braker.
The yellow-eyed boy shrugged. "I don't mind."
Brick walked faster toward the school doors. "Hey, guys! The bell will ring anytime soon."
"Got it, got it! Don't get your panties in a bunch." Butch rolled his eyes as he floated up to Brick, who punched him.
Just as the two were bickering, a car pulled up to the front of the school. A boy clambered out, head low. He spoke a little to whoever else was in the car, before hurrying toward the school doors. By that time, there was already a crowd of people gathering. Butch couldn't make out the boy's face, but he felt curious. The boy wore a green uniform, white scarf, and had wavy brown hair. He didn't catch the boy's eye colour.
Just as Butch was going to shove his way over toward the boy, two voices sounded.
"Like, OMG, can you believe it?"
The girl speaking had long, curly blond hair tied in a ponytail. Her tank top with the bow tie and a short plaid skirt was way too small. She wore a lot of make-up and had on a pair of heels that Butch shuddered at the sight of.
In fact, Butch shuddered at the sight of the girl herself, whom he recognized. He'd just been joking about her with Buttercup two days ago. Butch paused. Buttercup... When she would still talk to me.
"I know right, Ashleigh?" agreed her giggly friend. Her reddish-brown hair was wild, and her face was freckled. "You have so many resources!"
"There's a new student in school! And like, OMG, it's a guy!" Ashleigh squealed.
Butch blinked, remembering that Mr. Apocally had explicitly stated that the new student would be coming today. Oops; guess I forgot. He wrinkled his nose. There's that foul smell again too...
Suddenly, Ashleigh seemed to spot the Rowdyruff Boys. "Oh, hi Butch!"
Butch concluded that the smell was Ashleigh's heavy perfume. But that didn't explain the smell in the forest...
"Butch, hellooooo?"
Suddenly remembering who he was facing, Butch quickly said, "Oh hi! Now good-bye!" He immediately proceeded to dash into the school.
He could hear Ashleigh squealing, "He said hi to me!", which made Butch roll his eyes and gag.
Boomer joined Butch. "They were talking about a new student," his blond brother commented.
"Yeah, Mr. Apocally stressed him coming a lot. Mr. Evans mentioned him a few times too."
"I get to be in the same class as the new kid, after all," Boomer agreed. He wasn't in Mr. Apocally's Math class, but he was in the same class as Butch in Mr. Evan's Socials class.
"Anyway, I gotta split here." Butch glanced down the hallway to where his locker was, dreading the idea of the crowd. "Oh well, I guess I'll see you later."
"Yeah; later, Butch." The two Ruffs exchanged waves before Boomer began walking toward his own locker. Boomer began wondering what the new kid would look like, and then all of a sudden Boomer felt a giant force smash against him. "Ow!"
"S-Sorry," the new person apologized in a sheepish tone.
"It's fine," Boomer mumbled, rubbing his sore head. "But that hurt." Boomer looked up and spotted a boy with wavy brown hair and green eyes. He wore a green version of the uniform and had a scarf on. Realizing that he didn't know the boy, Boomer smiled. "Hey," he introduced himself. "I'm Boomer. But you might already know that. What's your name? You must be new here—or...?"
"Shhh!" hissed the boy sheepishly, his tone cautious. "I don't want to gain too much attention."
"Ohh, I see. So you are new," Boomer said.
"Yeah...I guess," the boy confirmed, shrugging.
Boomer felt confused by the way he said he was new, but the blue Ruff shook it off and simply asked, "Name?"
"Well..." The boy clearly hesitated. "I'm—"
RIIING!
"—The bell!" he suddenly shouted.
Boomer raised an amused eyebrow, finding the "answer" he'd gotten rather funny. "You're...the bell?"
Looking flustered, the boy shook his head. "Sorry, I gotta go!" And then he dashed off with amazing speed. "Thanks, Boomer!"
Boomer stared after him, raising an eyebrow. The boy was strangely quick, and something seemed off...
But then he sneezed. He couldn't be sure with his cold; he just couldn't think straight.
...What a strange guy...
Meanwhile, the boy Boomer had just met was thinking something similar.
Boomer...
...What a strange name.
He sighed and adjusted his scarf.
"This bites!" whined Buttercup, rubbing her arms.
Bubbles smiled sheepishly. "BC..."
"I can't believe Mr. Fickleson is having another test. Didn't we just have one, like, three days ago?"
"Well, it's Mr. Fickleson. He's the sternest, most strict teacher in the whole school! What did you expect?" Bubbles countered.
"Yeah, I know. But still," muttered Buttercup.
Bubbles sighed. "Oh well. There's not much we can do about it. We might as well just get some last-minute studying in be—"
Crash!
"Hey! Watch it," snapped Buttercup, rubbing her nose.
The boy whom she had just crashed into rearranged his scarf, mumbling, "Oops. Sorry...?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.
Something about the boy seemed familiar. He was wearing a scarf and the Pokey Oaks High green uniform. Feeling suspicious, Buttercup leaned in closer. "Do I know you...?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes.
"What? No!" he said quickly...almost too quickly. His green eyes were wide.
She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You sound nervous."
"I-I'm just a nervous guy," he mumbled back.
Buttercup snorted. "Really? Well, I'm not a nervous girl."
"O-Oh. Okay," he answered, not looking up.
"...Look up," she ordered. She wanted to be sure if she knew him or not, and with him hiding his face, it really wasn't helping. It just made him even more suspicious.
He blinked, glancing up quickly before looking back down. "Wh-What for?"
"I said, LOOK. UP!" Feeling irritated, Buttercup forcefully grabbed his chin and yanked.
"Hey! Ouch!" he cried, his scarf slipping. Buttercup felt surprised at his sudden change of character, from shy to openly annoyed. As if realizing this, his face flushed red and he quickly wound his scarf around his face again.
Buttercup blinked, feeling surprised. "...What's your name...?"
"I...I..."
"Buttercup! Stop being so mean to the poor guy! You're scaring him," Bubbles scolded her sister, finally butting in. She'd been watching; first in surprise and then in curiosity. But now she figured that it was time to stop her sister's forcefulness before the boy ran away.
The boy turned to her, looking surprised. It was as if he hadn't even noticed there was another girl there until she had spoken. Bubbles didn't blame him; Buttercup was intimidating enough that one would lose awareness of their surroundings. She offered a comforting smile.
"Bubbles," snapped Buttercup, looking annoyed that their conversation had been interrupted, "I'm not scaring him." She turned back to him, a challenge in her eyes. "Am I, now...?"
"Umm..."
"Look at him! He doesn't even want to answer you," Bubbles said exasperatedly, pointing at the boy.
Buttercup frowned. "...Well...? What's your name?" she pressed.
As if realizing that Buttercup wasn't going to listen to Bubbles and back off, the boy stammered, "I-I'm—"
RIING!
"—The second bell!" he cried, sounding visibly relieved.
"...You're...the second bell?" Buttercup repeated in amusement—amusement that she didn't want to feel, as she was trying to be serious. She raised an eyebrow, before finally snorting as she tried to stifle a laugh.
Bubbles, meanwhile, was openly giggling, not bothering to hide her own amusement.
Embarrassed, he ducked his head. "S-Sorry, but I gotta go!" Then he dashed off, his steps quick.
"He was pretty sweet," Bubbles commented, still giggling. She smiled.
Buttercup snorted, rolling her eyes at her sister's judgement. "...More like nervous to me."
Sensing that her sister was still suspicious of the boy for some reason, Bubbles glanced at her. She asked in concern, "...Buttercup...?"
Buttercup sighed, shaking her head. "Nothing, Bubbles." It can't be him... It just can't be... Can it...? As she and Bubbles began to walk, she spotted something glistening on the floor. Stopping, she bent down and grabbed it, turning it over. It was a phone.
"It must belong to that boy," Bubbles commented, joining her sister.
Buttercup nodded, feeling curiosity tug at her. I wonder what's in it...?
As if guessing what her sister was thinking, Bubbles said, "Don't even bother trying to peek at its contents. It's his private property."
Buttercup flushed. "I-I wasn't going to look at it!" she snapped, shoving the device into her pockets. "I'll turn it into the Lost-and-Found at lunch."
"Oh suuuure," Bubbles commented, her eyes disbelieving.
Ignoring her sister's snide comment, Buttercup stormed on ahead. "Come on; we should get to class too," she mumbled, her face red.
Bubbles and Buttercup parted later on, with Buttercup entering her Math class. When she took a seat, Blossom shot her a look for being a few seconds late, which Buttercup simply shrugged off.
Chewing a pencil, Buttercup looked up just as the door to the classroom opened. The boy she'd met earlier appeared, panting as if he'd been running. "S-Sorry, Mr...Mr...uh, Mr. Apocally...?" the boy puffed.
Mr. Apocally grinned and murmured something to the newcomer. The boy's mouth seemed to drop open as if he recognized Mr. Apocally. He and the teacher started whispering, the boy looking shocked as Mr. Apocally smirked.
Then the boy groaned and hit his head against the whiteboard.
Mr. Apocally turned and smiled coolly at the class. "Welcome back to Math. I know most of you probably found yesterday's boring, but I'm sure we can fix that."
Girls giggled as guys nodded.
The boy nudged his companion at the front of the classroom, looking annoyed.
Mr. Apocally paused, before concluding his speech with, "Oh, right. And here's the new student; Ross."
BRICK: Uh-oh.
BUTCH: Uh-oh is right! What's with this Ross kid!?
ME: You'll see~ Anyway, that's it for today!
BRICK: . . .
BLASTER: Review please!