Reaction One: Avoidance
"Hey, Andra!" Buttercup
will greet. Andra will hurry away.
Reaction One A: Avoidance
Andra won't be at the
locker in the morning and won't talk to Buttercup in class. Forget about
sitting together at lunch.
Reaction Two: Ecstasy
Buttercup won't even
have the chance to greet Andra in the morning: Andra will jump into Buttercup's
arms and give her a long kiss.
"Yeah, Right," Buttercup
muttered. "Moving on."
Reaction Three: Denial
Andra will act as if
nothing happened Friday night.
And so on, until 4:45
Monday morning when Buttercup was sick of torturing herself and decided
to get up. There were supposed to be cartoons on in the morning, right?
She'd watch those.
That was where the
rest of the Utoniums found Buttercup when they got up: sitting in front
of the TV with a huge bowl of Lucky Captain Rabbit King Cereal on her lap,
the box and carton of milk on the table next to the couch.
"You feeling alright,
sweet heart?" the Professor asked.
"Fine, Professor!"
The Professor raised
an eyebrow at Buttercup's chipper tone. "You sure?"
"Positive."
"Maybe I should keep
you home today. You aren't acting like yourself."
"No!" Buttercup nearly
spilled her bowl. "I mean, no, Professor. Really, I'm all right. I just
couldn't sleep so I figured I might as well get up and get breakfast. Hey,
did you know they show re-runs of Puppet Pals from 5 to 7:30 in the morning?"
"Er, No. I'm never
up watching TV that early."
"You should," Buttercup
said, her mouth full of cereal. "There's some good stuff on."
"I'll take your word
for it," The Professor said as he stifled a yawn. "Can I have the cereal
and milk back? I need to get breakfast around for your sisters."
"Sure." Buttercup's
eye's never left the TV screen as she handed the box and carton back to
the Professor.
"Buttercup?"
"Hm?"
"Your hands are shaking. You're sure -"
"I'm fine!" Buttercup
nearly shouted. "Just on a major sugar rush. This is my third bowl."
The Professor glanced
at Buttercup's nearly empty bowl. She'd grabbed a mixing bowl, and he knew
Buttercup loved to heap her cereal bowl high in the morning. It was a miracle
there was any left for her sisters. "Well then take it easy at school today.
I don't want you getting sick."
"Righti-oh!"
Righti-oh? The
Professor thought. Something odd was going on with Buttercup.
"See, Blossom. I told
you she'd be downstairs! Ooh! Puppet Pals!" Buttercup sighed as Bubbles
zipped down the stairs and landed next to Buttercup on the couch. "I didn't
know this was still on!"
"That's because you're
supposed to be eating breakfast," the Professor called from the kitchen.
"Why is Buttercup out
here then?" Blossom asked.
Buttercup held up her
huge cereal bowl. "Early bird gets the worm, Sis."
"Can I watch Puppet
Pals too, Professor?" Bubbles asked. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeaase?"
"I suppose so," the
Professor said. "Come get your cereal. You can join them too, Blossom."
Bubbles and Blossom
quickly got their (normal sized) cereal bowls and joined Buttercup on the
couch. They ate their cereal and watched TV in easy silence, causing the
Professor to sigh with relief. Maybe they're finally getting over their
fight.
"AUGH!" Buttercup
cried suddenly as the credits of the last Puppet Pals episode that morning
ran.
"What?" Bubbles asked.
"School! It's 7:30!
We'll be late!"
"Eep!" Bubbles squeaked.
"Oh, no!" Blossom gasped.
All three Girls zoomed around, putting on their shoes and grabbing their
bags. They flew out the door at the same time and flew at top speed towards
school.
"This is your fault,
Buttercup," Blossom said as they flew.
"My fault?!"
"How is it her fault?"
Bubbles asked.
"If she hadn't found
Puppet Pals -"
"Shut up, Blossom,"
bubbles said sharply.
Blossom nearly fell
from the sky. "What?"
"I said shut up! You've
been acting even weirder than Buttercup lately and I'm sick of IT!"
"But -" Blossom didn't
get to finish their argument, they'd reached the school just as the five
minute warning bell rang.
"See ya'," Buttercup
muttered as she flew over the heads of the others students, away from Bubbles
and Blossom. She had to find Andra.
She saw Andra's hair
first. Shimmering as always, falling around her face as she walked downcast
towards their first class.
"Andra!" Buttercup
called.
Andra stopped and scanned
the crowd for Buttercup before looking up and seeing Buttercup above them
all. "Buttercup! Hi!" she called back. She fought the crowd and met Buttercup
at their locker. "Um, hi."
"Hi," Buttercup repeated.
Andra was blushing and Buttercup could feel the heat rising in her own
face.
"I, uh, didn't think
you were going to show," Andra said after an awkward moment. "I was getting
worried."
"I wouldn't miss you
-" Buttercup stopped herself and quickly changed the thought into a joke.
"I mean this for the world. Crowded hallways, bad food, cranky teachers,
what else could I do on a beautiful Monday morning?"
Andra giggled and was
about to add more when the one minute warning bell rang. Buttercup grabbed
her books and joined the mass of students all rushing to their first hour
classes.
***
Blossom noticed that Andra
and Buttercup didn't talk during class that morning, they didn't even pass
notes. Every once in a while one would glance at the other out of the corner
of her eye, and occasionally she'd be caught. When they made eye contact
they always looked away quickly.
Did Andra do something
to Buttercup? Blossom wondered. But if she did, why was Buttercup
so dreamy this weekend?
"You've noticed
Buttercup acting weird all weekend, right?" Blossom asked Bubbles as they
walked to lunch.
"Of course I have,"
Bubbles said. "I'm not blind, y'know. But I like how she's been acting."
Blossom didn't reply
to Bubbles. She seemed to have forgiven their earlier argument already,
but she didn't want to risk alienating another sister. So instead she let
her attention wander to the other students in the hallway, which was when
she saw Andra go into the bathroom.
Alone.
"I'll meet you at the
table, Bubbles."
"Blossom? Where are
you going?" Bubbles asked as Blossom began to shove her way through the
crowd.
"Bathroom," Blossom
called just before she pushed the door open.
No one was standing
around when Blossom entered, so she glanced under the stall doors. There
were Andra's sandals under the last one, so Blossom went to the mirror
and played with her hair until Andra came out.
"Hi, Blossom," Andra
said as she washed her hands.
"Hi, Andra," Blossom
said brightly. "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?"
Andra pulled out a
couple paper towels and dried her hands. "Sure." She tossed the wad of
paper into the trash and turned around to face Blossom. "What's up?"
"Well, Buttercup has
been acting weird all weekend. Ever since she came home from your house,
actually."
Andra swallowed. "Really?"
"Really," Blossom repeated.
"I was wondering if you knew why that might be."
"Um, no. No, I don't."
Andra caught her reflection in the mirror and saw her face was almost as
pink as Blossom's blouse.
"Are you sure?" Blossom
took a step forward, which made Andra take a step back so she ran into
the sink. "Because I've been watching you and her all morning. You haven't
whispered or passed notes behind the teachers' backs, you actually work
during work time, and whenever one of you catches the other's eye, you
both look away."
"You've been watching
us all morning?" Andra asked incredulously. "Maybe Buttercup's right, you
really are bossy and can't seem to separate your private life from
your life as a super hero." Andra stood up straighter so she was less than
an inch from Blossom's face. "If you're trying to intimidate me away from
your sister Blossom, you're failing miserably. The fact that you could
easily kick my butt may scare the other kids, but I have Buttercup
on my side. I like her, she likes me, there's nothing you can do about
it so leave us ALONE!" Andra marched out of the bathroom, slamming the
door behind her.
When she was out in
the deserted hallway she leaned against the wall and slid to the ground.
She was shaking. "It's starting again," she murmured. She knows something
happened Friday night, and I just said Buttercup and I like eachother,
which Blossom could easily interpret, well, the right way.
"Are you okay,
Andra?"
Andra opened her eyes
and looked up at her art teacher, Ms. Jergensen. "I'm fine. Just, uh, cramps."
"Ick," Ms Jergensen
said. "Will you be okay?"
"Yeah. In fact, the
worst is over already." Andra stood up. "Some exercise outside will help.
I'll see you this afternoon, Ms. Jergensen!" Andra speed walked out of
the building towards her and Buttercup's secret lunch area.
"What took you so long?"
Buttercup asked. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd fallen in!"
Andra laughed. "That
might have been better. I ran into Blossom."
"Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh is right. She
thinks something happened Friday night."
Buttercup nearly choked
on her sandwich. "Why does she think that?"
"Because we haven't
talked in class all morning. And whenever we made eye contact we looked
away."
"Oh. That. Yeah, that's
kinda suspicious."
"And you've apparently
been acting weird since you got home Saturday."
"That one's true. I
woke up at quarter to five this morning and watched Puppet Pals."
"So, um, why have
we been acting weird?"
Buttercup sat down
her sandwich. "You too?" Andra nodded. "Well. . . I didn't know how you
were going to react today, so I was waiting for you to make the first move."
"I was doing the same
thing," Andra admitted.
The girls ate in silence
for a few minutes before Andra spoke again.
"This is silly! There's
no reason to act embarrassed over this. It's not like we did anything bad.
Just one innocent kiss. It's not the end of the world!"
"Right!" Buttercup
said. "So what are we going to do?"
"Do? Why should we
'do' anything?"
Buttercup looked down
at her food. "Well, like, are we going to try and forget we kissed and
just be friends? Or are we going to announce to the world that we're gay
and start going out?"
Andra frowned. "I don't
think Mom would let me start dating now."
"I don't know if the
Professor would let me either," Buttercup said. "We've never actually had
a conversation like that. Probably because I've never been interested in
anybody before."
"But we could go out
as friends," Andra said slowly.
"Yeah!" Buttercup agreed.
"Hey, we wouldn't even need to be driven anywhere, I could fly us!"
Andra's eyes widened.
"Fly? Both of us?"
"Of course! Super strength
comes along with my other powers. Carrying you would be nothing compared
to trees or ocean liners."
"Um, maybe we should
get a ride."
"Why? It really wouldn't
be a problem -"
"I don't really like
flying."
"C'mon, it's fun, it's
safe, and a heck of a lot quicker than a car."
Andra sighed. "If you're
sure -"
"Of course I'm sure!"
Buttercup interrupted. "So what should we do on our first friendly outing?"
"Well, there's a new
Bernie Bernstein movie out, how about that?"
"Ugh, that guy's still
directing?" the bell rang faintly, interrupting Buttercup. "I'll write
you a note during class. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff he tried
to do. C'mon!"
***
That afternoon Andra and
Buttercup paused at the entrance of the school where the sidewalk split,
one half going towards Andra's house, the other going towards the Utonium
house.
"I want to head straight
home today," Buttercup said, "ask the Professor if I can go out Friday
and take care of some other stuff.
Andra nodded. "Same
here." She giggled, "Well, I don't need to ask the Professor, but you know
what I mean."
Buttercup smiled. "Yep.
So. I'll see you later."
"Yup," Andra replied,
but neither girl moved.
Andra knew what was
holding Buttercup back. It was holding her, too. "why don't we hug? To
a casual passerby, it'll be completely innocent. Girls always hug
eachother."
"yeah," Buttercup said.
Stiffly the girls moved forward and hugged eachother, nerves and backpacks
making it harder than it should have been.
"So I'll see you tomorrow,"
Andra said when they let go."
"Mm-hm. Call me after
you talk to your Mom. Call me after dinner, actually, I think I'm going
to be busy this afternoon."
Andra was curious,
but didn't press further. If it was important, Buttercup would tell her
later. "I will. Buy, Buttercup!" she started to walk away, before her mind
could make more excuses for her to stay with Buttercup.
Buttercup also began
to leave, floating into the air. "Bye!" she called to Andra and quickly
flew in the direction of her house.