PpG3
Secrets and Surprises
Chapter Eleven - Invitation

The next day was a lot like the day before. The Girls woke up, tension evident as soon as Blossom and Buttercup saw eachother, stilted breakfast conversation followed, and there was little recognition of each other at school. Luckily, no monsters or villains attacked Townsville.
It was the day after that, Friday, that was interesting.
The Professor woke the Girls earlier than usual. So early it was hardly light outside and Blossom and Buttercup were too tired to bother trying to hate each other.
"I have a surprise for you down in the lab," was the Professor's excuse. He was giddy and had faint beard stubble on his chin. I was obvious that whatever the Professor had made, he'd spent all night on it.
The three very tired Girls dutifully followed the Professor down to his lab.
"Close your eyes," he said. The Girls obeyed, and immediately fell back asleep, floating in mid-air. "Okay, bad idea there," he muttered to himself. He gently shook each Girl awake and handed them their gifts without any further preparation.
Bubbles looked down at what she held in her hands. "A pager?"
The Professor nodded enthusiastically. "Each of you has one, but they all have the same number, directly connected to the hotline. Now you Girls can go your separate ways, but you'll be paged any time the Hotline rings so you won't be left out."
"Cool," Buttercup said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster at six A.M. on a school morning, which wasn't much. She clipped the green pager to the collar of her nightgown. Bubbles and Blossom did the same with their blue and pink pagers.
"When the office at school opens, I'll call and get you permission to wear those in school," the Professor explained as all four family members left the lab. "You should probably keep them turn off, or at least on silent, during class, but turn them back on at lunch, or anytime you're away from the Hotline.
"Yes, Professor," Blossom said with a yawn. "Now, can we go get dressed?"
The Professor laughed, realizing that in his excitement, he had dragged the Girls out of their room still in their nightgowns. "Of course, sweet heart. I'll get breakfast started while you three get ready."

***
"It was awful nice of the Professor to make these for us," Bubbles said as she clipped her pager to the waist of her denim skirt.
"Yeah," Buttercup muttered, still not totally awake or happy that she had to go to school. Her pager was clipped to the belt of her jeans. She turned away from her mirror and gave the closed bathroom door a dirty look. Blossom was in there, spending forever on that hair of hers. But now she wasn't going to be able to mad at Buttercup anymore, now that they had the pagers. And she must have been getting tired of being punished by now. Hopefully she'd be on good behavior now.
"C'mon, Blossom! I smell breakfast!" Bubbles shouted.
"I'm coming," Blossom called back. "Go on down without me." Bubbles flew off, but Buttercup lingered for a minute, though she didn't know why.
When Blossom came out of the bathroom - her hair looking perfect as always - she was surprised to see Buttercup still in the room. She went to her desk and picked up her pager. As she clipped it to the waist of her pink capri pants she noticed Buttercup staring at her. "What?"
"Nothing, just trying to figure you out."
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." It took all of Blossom's self control to keep from clamping a hand over her mouth. Where on Earth had that petty comment come from?
"I would, if I wanted to break the camera," Buttercup shot back, not caring how impertinent she sounded. If Blossom, of all people, could sink to elementary school insults, then so could she.
Blossom sighed, giving herself a chance to regain her composure and keep herself from getting into an argument with her sister. With fate working against her like it had been lately, it only would have gotten her in more trouble. She checked her appearance in her mirror one last time, then flew down to the kitchen, leaving Buttercup with no choice but to follow.
***
As had become habit, Buttercup left for school before her sisters, though today it wasn't to get away from them. Indeed, breakfast had almost returned to normal, the only difference being that Buttercup and Blossom only spoke to eachother when they needed something. But today, Buttercup left early to meet with Andra.
Andra was standing at the locker, obviously waiting for her partner. Ever since that first fight with her sisters, Buttercup had been arriving at school early, giving the friends plenty of time to talk.
"What's that?" Andra pointed to the pager at Buttercup's waist after they'd exchanged greetings.
"Oh, the Professor made those for us. They're beepers. If the Mayor calls the hotline, we're all paged so we don't miss anything."
"That's cool," Andra said. "So, hey, that means you can get away from your sisters."
"Yep."
"So you're free tonight?"
"Yep."
"Great. Wanna spend the night at my house?"
"That'd be fun."
"Cool!"
"But I'll have to ask the Professor first." Buttercup rolled her eyes, "You know how adults can be."
Andra checked her watch. "If we hurry, we can call before school starts."
"Cool." The girls swung their backpacks on their backs and ran down the hall way.
***
"Hey, Buttercup! Where ya' goin'?"
Buttercup turned away from Andra to see Bubbles and Blossom following her and Andra out of the school. "I'm going over to Andra's for the night. We'll be by later to pick up my stuff. And yes, Blossom," she added as an afterthought, "I have both my pager and the Professor's permission."
Blossom shut her mouth. How had Buttercup known what she was about to ask? Anyway, maybe it was better that her sister had pre-empted her. Blossom couldn't get in trouble now.
bubbles couldn't help but let a frown mar her features for a moment. it didn't seem fair that Buttercup was spending the night at Andra's. They'd never been apart for a substantial ammount of time. The Powerpuff Girls were an inseparable trio, but here Buttercup was, going off on her own. Bubbles understood in her head what the Professor had said was true, they were unique and needed to have their space. But in practice, it hurt to see Buttercup leave her and Blossom behind for other friends.
"Um. We'll see you tomorrow then?" Bubbles asked.
"Yeah," Buttercup said. "Tomorrow. Bye." With that curt farewell, the two pairs of girls left each other, two by foot, two by air.
***
"Okay, I gotta warn you, my mom is considered a little strange by most people's standards," Andra warned as she and Buttercup walked up the driveway of Andra's house.
"You don't know weird until Sedusa tries to become your. . . well, step mother," Buttercup said.
Andra shook her head. "I'm afraid I haven't been here long enough to know all the crazy villains you Girls fight."
"Don't worry, you will."
"Okay. Well, if you're sure. . . let's go in." Andra opened the front door and led Buttercup into the house.
After the warning Andra had given her, Buttercup wasn't sure what to expect in the Meda house. Skulls hanging from the walls and bear throw rugs on the floors? Rose bushes with the blossoms cut off and dismembered hands wandering around on their own free will? Hey, this was Townsville, where talking dogs, monkeys and demons ran amok, anything was possible.
So Buttercup was surprised to enter a living room that looked no different than her locker. Either Andra had inherited her love of the stars from the decorator, or Andra had been allowed to decorate the room herself. Either way, the celestial theme of the room, with the deep blue and gold walls and rugs, the sun shaped sun catcher and the crystal star wind chimes didn't strike Buttercup as particularly weird. It was better than her own house, which seemed to be decorated along the lines of a hotel room, except for the room the Girls shared.
"Hey, Mom! We're here!" Andra shouted.
A tall woman, with the same blond hair and blue eyes Andra had, entered from the kitchen. She wasn't dressed how Buttercup imagined a mother would dress, she had a navy blue tie-dyed wrap around skirt and a lacy tank top, her hair tied back in a loose pony tail. She looked more like a high schooler than anybody's mother. But nothing too weird yet. Maybe Andra was just paranoid.
"Hi, Honey." The woman bent down and kissed Andra's cheek.
"Hi, this is Buttercup, Mom. Buttercup, my mother, Cassie O'Peia."
Cassie put a hand out. "Just Cassie, please. It's a pleasure to meet you, Buttercup, I've heard lots about you."
Buttercup shook Cassie's hand kind of awkwardly. Hand shakes weren't the greeting of choice for 12 year olds. "Most people have."
Cassie laughed lightly. It was obvious now to Buttercup where Andra's best features came from. "Yes, I suppose so. Anyway, there's a snack on the counter for you girls, after you eat that you can call your parents and have them bring your things, Buttercup. I'll go make myself scarce until then, you two don't want an old mother hanging around ruining your fun."
"Right, Mom," Andra answered, but she was smiling so her mother didn't mind. Cassie went down to the basement while Andra and Buttercup went to the kitchen.
"I'm sorry 'bout what my mom said," Andra said to Buttercup as she poured glasses of milk for both of them.
"What'dya mean?"
"Calling your parents. I mean, maybe this is just me, but if I was in your situation I'd feel pretty awkward about that."
Buttercup shrugged. "Nah. As you've said, you guys are new here, you can't be expected to know the long, bizarre story of my relation to the Professor right away."
"True. The phone's right there on the wall," Andra pointed with one hand while she continued to heap two plates with fresh brownies. "You can call and the Professor should be here by the time we finish eating. The sooner he gets here, the sooner he meets Mom, the sooner we can get on with our party."
"Cool."
***
Just as Andra and Buttercup were finishing their snack the doorbell rang. "Mom!" Andra shouted. "The Professor's here!"
"Well get the door, silly," Cassie called back. "I'll be there in a sec."
Andra and Buttercup went to the front door and let the Professor in. "Hi, girls," he greeted cheerfully.
"Hey, Professor," Buttercup said. She grabbed the green overnight bag and sleeping bag from him while Andra led the Professor to the couch in the living room.
As they were settling on the chairs and couches, Cassie came up from the basement. "Hello! You're Buttercup's father?"
The Professor's eyes widened in surprise. It certainly had been awhile since he'd been mistaken for the Girl's father! "Ah, no, not in the sense you mean anyway. The best phrase would probably be guardian."
Cassie flushed. "Oh, I'm sorry -"
"No need to be. Buttercup told me you only moved here a few months ago, the story of the Girls birth is so well known around here that it's not told very often."
Cassie smoothed out her skirt several times before she spoke again. "Was there anything in particular you wished to discuss, Professor?"
"Not really, just doing my job, meeting Buttercup's friend and her family."
"Of course. I've actually wanted to do the same for awhile, with the way Andra goes on and on about how cool Buttercup is," Both girls blushed. "Why don't you girls go play while the Professor and I talk?"
"'Kay," Andra and Buttercup answered in unison.
"It's been nice meeting you, Professor," Andra said as she began walking up the stairs to her room.
"You too, Andra."
"See ya', Professor!" Buttercup ran after her friend, not waiting for the Professor's reply.
Cassie watched the two girls dash out of sight. "Ah, to be young and actually have energy like that."
The Professor laughed amicably. "I know how you feel."
"So how are things for Buttercup at home? Andra told me she was fighting with her sisters. That's why I let her invite Buttercup over, it sounded like she needed a break."
"Yeah, Buttercup and Blossom are in the middle of a little argument," the Professor admitted. "You know how fights among kids can go. The littlest things get blown out of proportion. Blossom has repeatedly read Buttercup's diary, and tries to control Buttercup's life. Sometimes she forgets that just because she the leader of the Powerpuff Girls doesn't mean she gets to run her sisters' lives."
"My older sister tried to do that to me when I was Buttercup's age, and we weren't even super heroes!" Cassie said with a laugh. "We didn't speak for a month. My parents tried everything to get us to start talking, but we refused to cave. Finally we just worked it out on our own."
"That's what I'm hoping the Girls do. They usually act so much more mature than their peers that when they act their age it's hard to know how to deal with them."
"I'm sure if they're given their space they'll work it out on their own. They aren't the first sisters in history to have a fight, and they aren't the last either."
There was a short pause before the Professor asked, "How do you and Andra like Townsville? Are you adjusting well?"
"Oh, we love it here," Cassie said warmly. "The dynamic is completely different from home. And of course, Andra's made fast friends with Buttercup, which has made the transition much easier."
"Where did you move here from?"
"A suburb of Los Angeles, out in California. We loved it there but. . . it was time for a change. Variety is the spice of life, right?"
The Professor had caught Cassie's pause and was curious to know more about the reason for their move, but knew better than to press the issue. If Cassie didn't want to talk about it then he'd respect her wishes. "I should probably be heading back home. I have to get back to an experiment I left in my lab."
"Of course," Cassie said. "When would you like Buttercup to go home tomorrow?"
"I'll come by around ten. Unless you'd like her to leave earlier?"
"Ten's fine. I'm sure the girls will think it's too early, but I'll tell them. So see you tomorrow."
"Yes, see you tomorrow."