Buttercup awoke the next
morning when Bubbles shook her violently. "C'mon, Buttercup! The Professor
wants to talk to us."
"Go away," Buttercup
mumbled, pulling her quilt over her head. "It's too early."
"Buttercup. It's 11
o'clock."
"It's before noon,
it's too early."
Bubbles sighed and
stood over Buttercup for a moment. "This is your last warning, Buttercup."
"Same to you. Now go
away!"
"No!" Bubbles grabbed
the edge of Buttercup's quilt and pulled. Hard.
"AUGH!" Buttercup had
been so twisted in her blankets that when Bubbles pulled them off the bed
Buttercup was spun into the air. THUMP! And landed hard on the floor.
"Owww," Buttercup muttered.
"Why are you so tired?
You didn't even stay up late."
"It was a long night,"
Buttercup mumbled. "I'm awake, you can stop hovering over me now."
Bubbles landed softly.
"Sorry. The Professor wants us down in the lab ASAP."
"I'll be down in a
sec," Buttercup said as she pulled herself up from the floor. "I'll just
get dressed quick." Bubbles floated out of the room and in a minute Buttercup
joined her.
"So what's so important
that the Professor needed you to pull me out of bed?" Buttercup asked as
she and her sister floated down the stairs.
Bubbles shrugged then
pulled open the door to the lab. "Professor! She's up!" she screeched.
"Thanks, Bubbles,"
the Professor called up. "Come down here you two."
Bubbles and Buttercup
floated down the stairs. "Hey, where's Blossom?"
Bubbles shrugged again.
"I haven't seen her since breakfast. The Professor just told me to get
you."
"Blossom and I spoke
last night," the Professor said. "She and I decided that you two needed
to hear this as well. Why don't we sit down," the Professor indicated the
folding table and chairs in a dark corner of his lab. The Girls floated
over and took seats. The Professor sat in front of them after pausing to
turn on a bare bulb over the table.
"This is something
that's hard for me to explain to you Girls," the Professor said. "I still
don't entirely understand it myself. Perhaps it was wrong for me to keep
it secret for so long."
Buttercup looked confused.
"Is something wrong, Professor?"
"Are you sick?" Bubbles
asked in a small voice.
The Professor smiled
gently. "Perhaps I was being a bit too serious. Nothings really wrong,
I'm not sick, I just have something important to share with you Girls."
Buttercup and Bubbles
sighed with relief.
"You Girls all love
each other, right? I know you're not on the best of terms with Blossom
right now, Buttercup, but you love her and Bubbles as sisters and friends,
right?"
Buttercup shrugged.
"I guess so."
"You too, Bubbles?"
"Uh-huh."
"I'm glad to hear that,
because what I have to say relates to that." The Professor shifted in his
seat before continuing. "You see, Girls, I haven't been exactly honest
with you all these years. You aren't really sisters." Bubbles and Buttercup
gasped. "I know it's a shock, but let me explain," the Professor continued
quickly. "I discovered this shortly after you Girls were created. In theory,
your DNA should be identical, except for the genes for hair and eye color.
On careful analysis however, I discovered that your DNA was remarkably
different. That's why you're taller than your sisters now, Buttercup. And
why Blossom has ice breath as a special power. Those types of things are
encoded in your DNA."
"Why have you always
said we were sisters, then?" Bubbles asked.
"Because I felt it
would be best for you. Perhaps you aren't biologically related, but I wanted
us to be a family, and you know it's possible to be a family without being
related, right?"
"Of course it is,"
Buttercup said. "We've always known we weren't related to you, but you're
still part of our family. This is the same thing. Sort of."
"If we're not related,
how come we look so much alike?" Bubbles demanded. Aside from the height
and coloring issues, the Girls all had similar builds and features.
"I'm not sure, Bubbles,
but I can make a few guess. I believe that it all comes down to the Chemical
X in your systems. You know various ethnic groups, especially if they keep
to themselves, have distinctive body types and facial features that identify
them as belonging to that group. I believe the Chemical X had a similar
effect on you Girls."
"So we're the Chemical
X ethnic group?" Buttercup asked.
The Professor smiled.
"That's one way of putting it."
"So we're related.
. . but not close enough to be real sisters," Bubbles said quietly.
The Professor reached
across the table and took Bubbles' hands. "Sweetheart, just because you're
not sisters by blood doesn't mean the bond you have is any weaker. You
and Blossom and Buttercup aren't any different now than you were five minutes
ago, now you just know more about each other."
"If it makes you feel
any better, I think it's weird too," Buttercup said quietly. "But you're
still my sister to me."
"I am?" Bubbles asked.
"Yeah. Who would I
pick on if I didn't have a baby sister?"
"I'm not a baby!" Bubbles
cried.
"Yes you are," Buttercup
retorted.
"Girls!" the Professor
interrupted. "I'm glad you're taking this well, but there's no need to
argue!"
"Sorry, Professor,"
Bubbles and Buttercup said in unison.
"Now, why don't you
go upstairs, Bubbles, I want to talk to Buttercup for a few minutes, okay?
And when we're done, why don't all of us go out to lunch?"
"Yeah!" Bubbles cheered.
She zipped up the stairs, presumably to find Blossom.
"What do you want?"
Buttercup asked when Bubbles was gone.
"We made an agreement
last night, you're supposed to tell me what happened last night."
Buttercup sighed. "When
we - well, Mitch Mitchelson, he was hiding in the bushes at Andra's house
when we got back. He said some stuff, so I chased him down."
"What sort of things
did he say?" Buttercup didn't answer, she just stared at her hands. "Buttercup,
you can tell me whatever it is that's bothering you."
Buttercup sighed. She
couldn't explain what happened with Mitch unless she told the Professor
everything, and the Professor wouldn't let her go until she explained about
Mitch. "Professor, Andra and I. . . we kinda 'with held the truth.' We
didn't go out as friends last night. We went out. Y'know, on a date."
The Professor nodded.
"I see."
"Are you mad?"
"Why would I be mad,
Buttercup?"
"'Cause I almost lied?"
"Buttercup, you didn't
do anything wrong. As you said, you with held the truth, but I didn't probe
deeply. You have nothing to be worried about."
"What about the whole
Andra and me. . . thing?"
I thought the Girls
knew I was more open minded than this! "Buttercup, I don't care who
you want to go out with, male or female. I'm only concerned with your safety
and your happiness. If you wanted to go out with Mitch, then I'd be concerned,
but Andra seems to be an upstanding young woman, I can think of few people
I'd be as comfortable seeing you with."
"And the date?"
"Well, I do wish I
had known that it was an actual date. You only get one first, you know."
The Professor sighed. "I remember my first date. A girl named Rosetta Stone.
Charming girl -"
"Professor?" Buttercup
interrupted.
"Hm? Oh, sorry. I didn't
mean to go off on a tangent. Anyway, I understand somewhat your reasons
for not telling me, but you'll be honest with me about things like this
in the future, right?"
"Definitely."
"Now, what was Mitch
doing at Andra's?"
Buttercup frowned.
"When Andra and I got back to her house, we stayed out on the porch and,
uh," she started to blush, "talked and. . . oh, to heck with it. I kissed
her. Then Mitch popped up with a camera and said something about dykes."
Buttercup spit out the last word as if it left a bad taste in her mouth.
"So I chased after him and destroyed the camera. The jerk, he deserved
more. I let him off easily."
The Professor was frowning
as well. "I can't believe anyone would do such a thing!"
"You don't know Mitch
very well," Buttercup grumbled. "And - promise not to tell? It's nothin'
bad," the Professor nodded. "It's 'cause of jerks like Mitch that Andra
and Cassie had to move. You should have seen Andra when I got back from
dealing with Mitch. She was shaking and looked like she was gonna faint.
She thought they'd hafta move again."
"The poor thing," the
Professor said quietly, then he stood up. "I'm going to call Mitch's parents
right now and give them a piece of my mind for raising a child that could
harbor such prejudices -"
Buttercup was about
to interrupt him when the phone beat her to it. "Andra!" she exclaimed.
"I bet it's her. She said she'd call."
The Professor sighed.
"Use the phone down here, I'll be upstairs. Try not to be too long, all
right? I'm sure Bubbles is getting impatient to go."
"Yeah, yeah," Buttercup
muttered as she picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi, Buttercup. It's
Andra."
"Hi! How ya' doin'?
Are you okay?"
Andra laughed nervously.
"I wanted to apologize for that. I totally over-reacted. Mitch is a jerk,
but I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it."
"I wish I was so sure,"
Buttercup muttered.
"What?"
"Uh, I'm glad you're
okay. I was worried." After an awkward pause, Buttercup spoke again. "Uh,
did your Mom say anything about last night?"
"Yeah, she did," Andra
said. "At breakfast this morning she reassured me that everything was okay
and she was glad we were friends, romantically involved or not. You?"
"I had to tell the
Professor everything this morning. He said there were too many secrets
in the family, so we cleared some stuff up. Everything's cool though."
"Do your sisters know?"
I don't technically
have sisters anymore! "No, and I don't think I'm going to say
anything. For awhile at least. We just found out some other weird news,
I think it would be better if I waited, if I tell them at all. I mean,
it's not that important, is it?"
"It could be," Andra
said. "What sort of news did you find out?"
"Um, it's a family
thing. I don't think I should be telling anybody."
"Oh," Andra said, sounding
slightly hurt.
"I'd like to tell you,
I really would!" Buttercup said quickly. "But when I said we just found
out, I mean less than ten minutes ago. I'm still processing everything."
"Okay," Andra said,
sounding slightly happier. "Anyways, I was calling to see if you wanted
to go out to lunch or something. Mom offered to treat us, 'specially since
you took care of Mitch last night."
Buttercup sighed. "I
wish you'd called earlier! The Professor just arranged a 'quality family
time' lunch, since we haven't exactly been acting family-like lately."
"That's Blossom's
fault," Andra said decisively. "I don't mean to be harsh, but she was pretty
harsh herself on Monday."
"Yeah, trying living
with that 24/7. I don't know what's gotten into her lately. Maybe I'll
find out at lunch."
"Maybe, but I won't
be holding my breath."
"Smart move," Buttercup
said. "I gotta go, before Bubbles mutinies and goes out for lunch by herself."
Andra laughed and Buttercup
felt the familiar warmth creep through her at the sound. "Okay, bye!"
"'Bye." Buttercup hung
up the phone and zipped up the stairs. The Professor was waiting by the
front door for her. "What's up?" Buttercup asked.
"I just wanted to say
one more thing to you privately," the Professor said. "When I talked with
Blossom last night, we cleared some things up so she should be acting better
around you, but I need you to help, okay?"
"Uh, sure, what do
you need?"
"Be nice to her, all
right? I know she's never really been your favorite person, so perhaps
'nice' is a bit much, but can you at least try not to antagonize her?"
Buttercup shrugged.
"I'll try, I guess."
The Professor put a
hand on Buttercup's shoulder. "That's my Girl," he said warmly. "Now come
on, we want to get to lunch before dinner time, don't we?"
***
Lunch for the members
of the Utonium family was a strained affair that afternoon, though in a
different way than it had been at the beginning of Buttercup and Blossom's
feud. Now the tense silence wasn't brought on by anger, merely awkwardness.
Bubbles stayed pressed against the Professor's side in the booth of their
table, while Buttercup and Blossom sat in chairs across from them. Buttercup
and the Professor were the only ones who really attempted conversation.
Blossom spoke occasionally to Bubbles or the Professor, but was once again
pointedly ignoring Buttercup. If the Professor hadn't asked her to be nice,
Buttercup would have said something rude to blossom, just to get a response.
But occasionally, Buttercup
would catch Blossom glancing sideways at her, and looking away as soon
as she noticed Buttercup saw, or her elbow would brush against Buttercup
and she'd pull away quickly.
Now who's keeping
secrets? Buttercup wondered.
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