Chapter 8


Lunch time! Bubbles's second favorite class activity (arts and crafts time being the first). After the whole incident in the beginning got cleared up, Blossom was able to remain with the two girls and had been enjoying the day. Bubbles introduced her to all of her friends, which was everybody. Blossom met Harriet and Lacey and Garret and Tim and all of Bubbles's favorite friends. At first Blossom was very coy. She was so worried. But, everybody treated her very nicely. They even wanted to play with her. Bubbles thought she saw Blossom begin to cry. But when Bubbles asked her why, Blossom said it was because she was so happy. Bubbles had let Blossom get to know Harriet and Garret and everybody a little more while she stuck with Buttercup.
The two had nearly become inseparable. The two had become fast friends sharing stories and incidents as they played together with the building blocks in the Games corner…well…after Buttercup got out of the corner for leaving school and for hurting another student. Although it was her first day, Buttercup found the corner very familiar. There was a twinge of remembrance in her mind that had raised questions from that morning. But Buttercup had tried to block those questions out, they were just very silly. After she'd been released, she joined Bubbles.
The other students had already forgiven Buttercup for that morning's incident. They knew Mitsy was just mean; she was the class bully anyway and had no right to treat Buttercup so mean. Besides, they said that it was really cool how she had punched Mitsy all the way across the room and into the wall. Buttercup stared down at her mitts wondering, when Blossom sat next to her, a beaming grin on her face.
"This place is absolutely marvelous! I did not realize how entertaining philistines could be. And so accepting! I admit these facilities are a bit dilapidated and less-than what I had hoped for. But, the residents here make up for the buildings faults" Blossom stated eloquently.
"What?" Bubbles asked.
"She means she had a good time." Buttercup replied rolling her eyes a bit.
"Oh." Bubbles smiled. "I knew you'd like my friends! They're all so nice, and they love you!" Bubbles began to take out her lunch when she realized she'd forgotten it at home when she had run out. She looked as though she may cry.
"What is the matter, Bubbles?" Queried Blossom.
"I forgot my lunch." Bubbles sadly looked down at the long worktable in front of her with no lunch on it.
"Fear not!" Blossom smiled confidently, "I will merely buy you a lunch. Where exactly is the lunch counter in this building?"
"Um…there is no 'lunch counter' here, Blossom." Bubbles pointed out. "There's a milk cart that comes around. But…that's it. You can only buy milk." Blossom found herself at a loss.
"You mean…money will not fix this situation?"
"Uh…I don't think so." Bubbles frowned sadly. Blossom seemed to go into a mild state of shock at this comment. Money could not buy her lunch? Nor lunch for her very first friend? This was not happening…this was not happening! Blossom began to breathe rapidly.
"Aw, keep yer shirts on." Buttercup commented dragging out her "Puppet Pals" lunch box. "My Mommy always packs a good lunch for me. There should be plenty for the three of us." Buttercup opened the silver latch and the red-rimmed lunch box opened to reveal a neatly packaged lunch. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich was quaintly encased in Curran wrap along side it was a small bag of chocolate chip cookies, an apple, and some potato chips (also in a neat little bag). "I'll cut the sandwich so there's three parts and we can share the other stuff."
"Or we could divide up the other stuff and give one of us the bag of cookies, one of us the apple, and one of us the chips." Bubbles suggested. Buttercup nodded. Blossom was about to take dibs on the apple considering she really did not trust the cookies or the potato chips (who knows where Buttercup's mom got those…they could've been PACKAGED foods!) when she noticed a little piece of paper.
"What's that?" Blossom picked up the little piece of paper. It appeared to be a note written in neat print. Blossom read it out loud. "Dear Buttercup, I hope you're having a good day at school. stop. I gave you your favorite kind of cookie because you love them so much. stop. I can't wait to hear about your first day, Honey. stop. I love you with all my heart. stop. Love, Mommy. XOXOXOXOXO." Blossom put down the note and felt exceedingly jealous. Here she was, possibly the richest girl in all of Townsville, and she was envious of some little plebian. Of course that plebian was her friend but how could this be possible? She had acres and acres of land, fifteen ponies to call her own, enough dollies to fill three warehouses, a house that dwarfed the White House, and a private jet. Why on earth would she be jealous of a simple little note. A tiny piece of white paper with blue ink. That's all it was. Why was she jealous of that? Maybe it wasn't the piece of paper that she was jealous of. Maybe it was the message on that paper. Blossom found one more thing she couldn't buy that day. One more thing that money couldn't solve. And it was the one thing she wanted more than anything else in that whole world.
"What's with the 'stop's? Did my mommy actually write out 'stop'?" Buttercup questioned. Blossom shook out of her thoughts.
"Of course not. That is merely the proper way to recite a letter." Blossom looked away sadly. Why didn't she have any notes in her lunch box?
Bubbles too felt the sting of this jealousy. If she had remembered her lunch it wouldn't have been prepared with so much love or careful packaging. When was the last time her mother left her a note? When was the last time her mother asked about how her day had gone? When was the first time? Bubbles wished so much that she had a note in her lunch. But, her mother would've never remembered to put a note in. It didn't matter that Bubbles had so much love from all the people of Townsville. They loved her as that cute little girl from the commercials. She always got comments on how cute she was and what a sweet little girl she was. But…she wanted that kind of love to be with her at home. It didn't matter if the whole world didn't like her, as long as her mother and father loved her like that, she would've been the happiest girl in all of Townsville. Ms. Green made Bubbles stop her train of thought.
"Bubbles, honey." Ms. Green spoke softly.
"Yes, Ms. Green?" Bubbles asked dutifully.
"Could I see you after school?" Ms. Green asked, directly staring at the mark on Bubbles's cheek.
"Am I in trouble?" Bubbles inquired innocently, a hint of fear in her voice.
"No…I just need to speak with you. That's all." Ms. Green put on a comforting smile. Bubbles nodded her head softly and Ms. Green patted her lightly on the head and went to stop Adam from feeding the class bunny a chocolate laxative.
"What was that about?" Buttercup queried, handing out the three pieces of poorly cut sandwich. Bubbles shrugged.
"I don't know." She responded and handed another piece of the poorly divided sandwich to Blossom, who took it with a hint of distaste on her features. Buttercup wasn't very good at cutting a sandwich, especially without a knife. The three girls ate silently and Bubbles admired the girls' hands as well as her own.
She noticed the fact that the three of them were so alike. All that was different was the hair and eye color really. Bubbles smiled happily. She had thought she was the only girl in the world like that! And now she found two other girls just like her…that were her same age…that lived in her town. Bubbles considered for a minute.
"Hey you guys…" Bubbles began.
"What?" Buttercup asked while eating her sandwich.
"Isn't it weird that we're all alike and stuff although we've never met each other? And we all have the same things wrong with us and stuff?" Bubbles asked. Blossom and Buttercup stopped eating and considered this, too, for a moment.
"Do you suppose that we are all actually in relation to one another?" Blossom inquired.
"I dunno…" Buttercup started, "maybe we're cousins or something."
"Or sisters!" Bubbles blurted out. The group paused at the long wooden table. The other children noisily completing the background as the girls thought. Sisters. It did have a very familiar tone to it. It seemed so accurate. They looked at the two other girls and thought…my sisters? And in some weird sense-filled manner it seemed to make sense. It seemed so right. Blossom wasn't sure if it was possible.
"I'm really ambivalent on this, Bubbles." She expressed, finally getting her friend's name right. "Although we do look an AWFUL lot alike and I was adopted, I still think-" Blossom couldn't finish the thought, Bubbles spoke up, extremely excited.
"REALLY?! Me too! My daddy says I was found on his doorstep. He says he likes to 'play that angle' a lot." Bubbles was grasping onto a sleeve of Blossom's jacket.
"Yes…hardly a day goes by where mother does not remind me that I am but an adopted child. Found on the doorstep…" Blossom looked out the wide window sadly. The sun was flooding in through, shinning over the other students. Bubbles didn't notice, she was much too enthralled in the similarities.
"Oh my goodness!" Bubbles giggled that adorable TV giggle that practically bought her a place in the spotlight, "I can't believe that you were found on a doorstep too! Maybe…maybe we really ARE sister. Maybe our REAL mommy couldn't take care of us and left us on people's doorsteps she thought would be good." Bubbles couldn't believe it. Her new friend could be her sister?! She was giddy.
"Do you really think so, Bubbles?" Blossom wondered. She would've wanted nothing more than this sweet, hyperactive, child to be her sister. A friend that constantly lives with her…she smiled at that thought. A friend and a sister. It was a nice thought anyway. "Maybe you're our sister too, Buttercup."
Buttercup swallowed the last bite of her sandwich. She had been mostly listening in on this part of the conversation. Buttercup had long since come to a conclusion before they asked her the question.
"I don't think so. My mommy HAD me." Buttercup answered simply. She would've loved to have sisters, but she wasn't adopted like that, and her mother never said anything about two other kids.
Red had never actually explained to Buttercup that she was, in fact, adopted. Found on a doorstep. Red had a bit of a procrastination complex when it came to that subject. She figured she'd tell her daughter when she was older and able to handle it better, leaving Buttercup with the impression that she had been naturally conceived and delivered by and from Red.
Blossom and Bubbles's hearts sank. But only for a moment.
"Hey! Maybe your mommy had three kids an' couldn't afford me an' Blossom an' gave us off to our parents an' stuff!" Bubbles suggested.
"Well, her clothes are cheap enough to assume that." Blossom stated looking at Buttercup's attire.
"Hey! Well, Mommy never said nothing about me havin' any sisters." Buttercup stated.
"Your mommy also never mentioned anything about your daddy either." Bubbles pointed out. Buttercup was struck dumb at this. That was true. And her daddy must have existed although she never met him before and Mommy never mentioned him.
"Good observation, Bubbles." Blossom commended.
"Gee," Buttercup spoke, "I guess your right." Buttercup frowned. "I can't believe Mommy never told me I had sisters! I better speak to her when I get home!"
"Speaking of home, I do not know if I can return. Mother will be ever so angry." Blossom sighed.
"I know…I don't wanna go home either." Bubbles practically whispered.
"Then don't!" Buttercup exclaimed chomping into her cookies, still angry that her mother had never mentioned her "sisters". "You two come over my house this afternoon instead! Then we can figure out how to talk to your mom, Blossom." Buttercup winked at them. They smiled back graciously. "All we gotta do is wait for school to end." Buttercup stated. The other two nodded and continued their lunch on another topic. But they weren't the only ones waiting for the last second to tick by. Ms. Green waited patiently at her desk, she would be able to speak to Bubbles soon.