The Kiss On The Playground

"Good morning class!"

"Good morning, Miss Keane!" said the kindergarten students.

"Okay, everyone, let's meet a brand new student! Everyone welcome mister Ray Hulk!"

"Hi Ray!" said the whole class.

Ray noticed Blossom smiling at him and blushed.

"Okay, Ray, take a seat." Miss K. told him. Ray walked over and took the seat next to Blossom.

"Oooooh," the class jeered.

"Now class, let's not make fun," scolded Miss K., "It's time for art class!"

"Yaaay!"

"Today, we're going to be making drawings of where we'd like to see ourselves in the future! It doesn't matter if you want to be a movie star, or an artist, just scribble it down!"

And so it was that the class proceeded to create lovely drawings of their ambitions. Mitch portrayed himself as a mad scientist; Bubbles became an animal doctor, ("Working with all the cute bunnies!" ~Bubbles); Buttercup drew herself in the boxing ring, Mike Tyson lying next to her in a heap. As for Blossom…

"Whatcha drawin, Blossom?" Bubbles asked, zooming over.

Blossom hastily covered up her paper. "Nothing!"

Buttercup joined them. "I saw something on that paper!"

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!" Buttercup tackled her sister and wrenched the paper away. Her jaw dropped. "Dear God…"

The paper had three figures. One was a stick figure with red hair and a bow, and an arrow pointed to her and said "ME." The second figure was holding hands with the first, and it too was a stick figure, only with long, brown hair. This one was labeled "RAY." The third figure was standing behind a tall brown blob which was obviously supposed to be an altar, and it was labeled "MR. HULK does the ceremony!"

Buttercup's eyes slowly shifted from the picture to her sister, who was blushing more of a purple now than red. "You are crazy, you know that?"

"Don't say that!" Blossom snapped, grabbing the picture back.

Buttercup snatched it back again. "Then let me go show your BOYfriend this lovely piece of art!"

Before Blossom could react, Buttercup had flown over to Ray and was tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey, hey!"

"What?" he asked, looking up from his paper.

"Look at this!"

While Ray was distracted looking at the drawing, Buttercup's eyes fell on Ray's own artwork. It featured a crude likeness of himself and Blossom lying on a hill watching the stars, arms around each other. At the top in black it said "BLOSSOM AND ME."

At the same moment, Ray understood Blossom's drawing AND saw Buttercup staring at his own. "Go away," he told her.

"What?"

"Go away. You make fun of us too much."

"I agree!" declared Blossom, who had seen everything. "Buttercup, how come you can't just mind your own business sometimes?"

Buttercup spun on her sister. "You stay out of it!"

"What do you mean? It's about me!"

"Oh yeah…"

Miss K. walked over. "Buttercup, I really think you need to sit down now. Work on your own project and leave other people alone."

Buttercup sat back down, grumbling to herself. She would deal with them at recess.

Recess came, at last, and all the cheerful little students ran out onto the playground, eager to start games of catch, or four-square, or jump-rope. Among the students, Ray and Blossom walked across the playground, hand-in-hand, mentioning that they had seen each other's drawings.

"I like yours better," Ray was saying. "It's more happy."

"I don't know, I think watching the stars all night is pretty cool, too." she said, smiling.

"Maybe we will one day." he said.

"Or maybe you won't." said an icy voice. The pair of them turned to see Buttercup standing there, arms crossed. "So you think that you can get me in trouble and get away with it?" she growled. "Think again."

Blossom sighed. "Just go away for once, would you?"

"No. This is stupid anyway, you're mad cos I saw some drawing with you two being all lovey dovey! You don't even love each other!"

"YES WE DO!" Blossom shouted back.

By now, people had heard the argument, and a crowd was forming around them.

"You don't!" Buttercup snapped. "You don't even know what 'love' is!"

"We do too!" Ray cried.

Buttercup's eyes became very evil. "Okay then… PROVE IT!"

"What???"

"Go on! Kiss each other! Right now! I dare you."

Bubbles tapped her sister on the shoulder. "Um, Buttercup, I think maybe you should just leave them alone…"

"You stay out of this," Buttercup snarled. She turned back. "So come on! I double dare you!"

Blossom and Ray looked at each other and gulped. They definitely did not want to kiss right here in front of everyone. They remained silent.

"What's the matter?" Buttercup jeered. "I double DOG dare you!"

Blossom was terrified. Her sister was slowly climbing up the "dare" scale. Next would come the triple dare, and then the inescapable triple dog dare. Then she scratched her head. Hadn't she seen this on a movie once?

Buttercup grew tired of waiting. "I triple dog dare you, Blossom!"

Murmurs of worry spread throughout the crowd. Blossom was stuck now. There was no escape.

Blossom turned to Ray, shaking. "Um, we really can't start kissing out here, can we?"

Ray smiled, a little too calmly to the common observer. "Sure we can."

"Huh???"

"But first, let me demonstrate something my father taught me." He turned to face Buttercup and started walking towards her. "Hello, Buttercup."

"What are you doing?" she aksed.

Ray raised his hands, palm out. "Watch my hands, Buttercup. Concentrate on them."

Slowly, Ray's hands began to glow, soft at first, but steadily brighter. Then, in a flash, huge bursts of light shot from his hands and flew all over the playground! Buttercup screamed, and the crowd dispersed and fled indoors, leaving Blossom and Ray alone by the flagpole.

Blossom put her hands on her hips. "You are too much, do you know that?"

"Yes I do."

And so the dared kiss went ahead as planned.

"Ray…" Blossom whispered, "I truly love you."

He kissed her again. "I love you too."

Miss Keane stared out the window at them and sighed. "Oh, to be young again…"