Author's Note: This is probably the chapter I liked writing the most. Also the scene where Buttercup insists that she wants to pay for the chalk and then the Professor hands her the money is taken straight from Lilo and Stitch with Lilo doing the same thing at the pound with Stitch.

Chapter 3

I'm Not Mad at You

The two little girls sat quietly next to each other at a small table inside; Buttercup and Bubbles. They weren't really looking at each other and had mostly been silent up until now, not really knowing what they should say. Both of them carried downtrodden looks on their faces, though there were a few key differences. Buttercup mainly carried guilt while Bubbles simply looked sad.

She had been changed into a somewhat ironic white t-shirt with colorful handprint art on it for now, and a pair of blue jean shorts, fixed with sandals and socks instead of her usual mary-jane shoes. They were at least cleaner than her old clothes, which had been put into a plastic bag for safekeeping, no doubt for the Professor to pick up and place inside the washing machine to get the vomit out.

Blossom was mainly staying out of the way of this conflict as well, sitting quietly in a corner with one of her Chinese books in her hands, at least pretending to read the words. She would occasionally steal sorrowful and worried glances at her sisters every now and again though.

After a silence that seemed to stretch on for eternity in how thick and uncomfortable it was, Buttercup decided to make the first move.

"Bubbles-?" She began, glancing in her direction, only for the blonde to softly cut her off.

"I'm sorry..." Bubbles interrupted quietly, being the first to apologize for her brutal actions before. "For hurting you." She didn't look at her as she said this. She thought to add later, "And for not trying to play somewhere else."

Buttercup made a motion to try to take hold of her hand, saying in turn, "I'm sorry for bullying you, Bubbles." Like last time, she really did mean it, but despite her attempt at physical reconciliation, Bubbles gently but surely pulled her hand away from Buttercup's grasp. She also still wasn't looking at her.

That more than anything tore a hole in Buttercup's heart and made her feel more uneasy than she ever had before during the times where she'd messed up. Perhaps she had gotten spoiled by her sister's easy forgiveness every other time before. She never thought of Bubbles as being one to hold a grudge, but then again, she had done so many hurtful things to her over their time spent as a family. Maybe now her well of forgiveness had finally ran out... it was a terrible thing to think about.

Miss Keane approached the two.

"I just got off the phone with the Professor. He should be here in about half an hour. In the meantime, Bubbles, would you like to do some drawing or coloring until he gets here?"

Bubbles meekly nodded her head. "Yes, Ms. Keane. I'll... do some coloring."

"Okay sweetie." Miss Keane nodded in turn, and this time directed her attention to the girl sitting beside her. "And Buttercup, would you like to play quietly until the Professor arrives too?"

This surprised the girl who blinked with wide eyes. "R-Really? But I-"

"It's fine, honey. It's just to settle you down. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Sparing a final glance at her sister who was still not quite making eye contact with her, Buttercup ultimately agreed, if only not to do anything that would make the situation worse. "Sure, Ms. Keane. I'll... find something to play with."

"Good girls."

Lessons went on as usual when all the kids returned to the homeroom and took their individual seats, with the girls off in a corner, engaging in silent, subdued activities. Those 30 minutes passed by in no time and soon the girls were greeting their father in front of the school with their three color-coded backpacks strapped around their shoulders, their faces all gloomy and lacking any amount of joy.

Professor Utonium sighed, looking down at all three of them. He accepted the bag full of soiled clothes from Miss Keane and declined to make too much comment on it, except that to say that Yes, he would be taking care of it. A little stain remover and a nice bit of laundering would likely solve the problem lickety-split.

"Thank you again for informing me of what the girls have been up to." The man said gratefully, receiving a nod from their homeroom teacher.

"Come on, girls." He beckoned his children now, gesturing towards their family van. "Let's go home."

With their fellow goodbyes being said to their teacher, the girls all obediently piled up into the back of the family station wagon, situating themselves into their child safety seats.

Bubbles still had a few drawings in her hand, the ones she had made while waiting for her father to arrive. They were on thick white construction paper and curiosity made Buttercup want to take a peek. She tried not to be overt about this of course, letting her eyes wander and pretending to be nonchalant before she ultimately moved her head in to peer at what her sister had drawn.

It was actually... really cool.

They were monsters. Huge, pointy, jagged monsters, with thick outlines and fearsome features. They all had angry eyes and sharp teeth. Some of them even had claws. All of them looked ready to eat somebody or lay waste to a city, stomping it all to bits. There was a green monster that mostly looked like a turtle, a blue one with spikes all around its body like an angry hedgehog, a pink one with four arms that looked more like a lizard, and a brown one with a gaping maw that closely resembled a dinosaur.

Radical, Buttercup thought, actually blown away for once by her sister's art.

"That's a cool drawing, Bubbles." She praised without thinking, gaining her sister's attention.

It was rare to hear compliments from Buttercup of all people so even Blossom took notice of this. Bubbles had a moment where her eyes widened for a bit, but then she went right back to looking downhearted, muttering a sad "Not really." before practically crumpling up the drawings like they were nothing more than garbage in her lap.

This too caused a sick feeling in the green puff's stomach. She had never seen behavior like this from Bubbles. This was worse than her crying or screaming; this felt like outright depression. Why else would she lose interest in the very thing that usually gave her joy to do?

Buttercup was at a loss as to what to do. "I'm sorry, Bubbles." She tried again, even though she'd already said it twice and she didn't know how much of a difference it would make a third time.

"I know." The blonde puff replied. "I'm not mad at you."

Well, that should've been good, right? So why did Buttercup feel so anxious instead?

They heard the car door close as their dad got into the front seat, and then turned the key to the ignition for the old family station wagon to go. As they were heading home, the man began to summarize what he'd heard over the phone, confirming whether or not it was true.

"So, Buttercup, I heard you had a fight with your sister today out on the playground and that you ended up breaking Bubbles' chalk. Is this true?"

"Yes sir." Buttercup answered immediately, knowing that lying wouldn't get her anywhere.

"And Bubbles, is it also true that you retaliated against Buttercup and tackled her into the ground, along with putting your hands around her neck to try to strangle her?"

"Yes sir." Bubbles parroted with the same amount of guilt, dipping her head down low.

The Professor sighed. "I don't think I need to tell you girls how disappointed I am in the actions of both of you. Buttercup, you know better than to bully your sister like that, and you especially know better than to destroy her things! And Bubbles, you could've seriously injured Buttercup by depriving her of oxygen to her brain and lungs!"

"I was trying to stop them, Professor." Blossom decided to interject too. "But I didn't... really... do that."

The Professor sighed again. "I know you did Blossom, but this goes deeper than that. Girls, it's okay to feel frustrated about things. It's okay to feel angry or that things aren't fair. But I've always taught you to use your words when this kind of situation arises or to try your best to resolve things peacefully. Even to walk away from it if you can. But it is never acceptable for either one of you to attack or lash out physically at the other. It does nothing but create a bigger mess in the end. Do you both understand?"

"Yes Professor." The two children echoed, and they both sounded appropriately chastised. He didn't really feel like a punishment was in order for that very reason, and to be honest, he didn't really have the heart for it either.

"Alright then. Bubbles, since you threw up today, are you still feeling nauseous?"

"No Professor." Bubbles answered, shaking her head.

"Okay honey. What about you, Buttercup? Does your neck hurt? Are you sore anywhere?"

"No Professor." Buttercup perfectly mirrored, feeling not an ounce of pain... physically that is.

He nodded at the two of them from his rearview mirror, knowing what he had to do now. "Alright. Well since Bubbles no longer has her chalk, I think we both know where we need to go first."

That place ended up being the local Dollar Tree, a place to buy most affordable commodities.

The Professor gave Bubbles free reign to buy any pack of replacement chalk she liked and yes, it was coming out of Buttercup's weekly allowance, a fact that Buttercup didn't actually care too much about right now.

She was just happy to finally be a part of something that was going to make this whole thing all better.

"T-That's okay, Professor." Bubbles tried to say at first, oddly resistant to the idea. "I don't really need-"

"No dear." The Professor insisted, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's only right to replace it. It's the principle of the matter. As my own father once told me: you break it, you buy it. It's to build up a sense of responsibility and accountability. Besides, don't you want to have a chance to do more beautiful drawings over the blacktop? You're a very wonderful artist, Bubbles."

He meant the words from the bottom of his heart. Bubbles was an amazing drawer and it always brought a smile to his face.

"I... I guess so." Bubbles conceded weakly, bringing a frown to the man's face at her lack of enthusiasm, only for Buttercup to eagerly volunteer "I'll help her!" while grabbing her hand at the same time.

Blossom swiftly agreed, coming over to her opposite side. "And I will too!"

A small smile of warmth spread over the scientist's face. "Thank you girls. Tell me when you're finished."

There was a lot of chalk in different shapes and sizes to choose from and Buttercup was determined to pick out nothing but the very best for her sister, hoping to put everything that had happened between them behind them. With the help of Blossom, the three of them eventually settled on a set of Crayola Washable Sidewalk Chalk, a pack that had 48 different colors in total. It was perfect.

"What do you think?" Blossom asked, cheerful optimism written all over her face. She held the bright, vibrant package up to Bubbles who stared at it with less excitement than the two of them would've expected.

"It's... good." She said in response, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Blossom went on, keeping up her cheerful air. "Let's go to the checkout counter!" Another grab of her hand and a call of "We're done, Professor!" before the four of them were ringing up the chalk at the checkout lane.

"That'll be $4.99, please." The kindly woman working behind the register said.

The Professor was getting ready to take the money out of his wallet, when he received a tap from Buttercup and an insistence from her that, "I wanna do it!" He couldn't help the amused little smile that worked its way onto his face as he followed her demands and handed her the five dollar bill, which she promptly laid down flat on the counter.

She didn't even care that this was technically her money that she was using.

"No paper or plastic, please." The Professor requested kindly. He brought out his own eco-friendly bag for the chalk. "We like to conserve the environment!"

The lady was impressed, nodding her head approvingly at this action and praising him for actually bothering to think of such a thing. Other people found such matters trivial.

With a smile of relief on her face that things were finally over, Buttercup happily shoved the item into Bubbles' waiting hands.

"Here you go, Bubbles!" she told her cheerfully, putting her hands on her hips. "It's all fixed! So you can stop being mad at me now." There was a bit of a desperate strain to that last part.

Bubbles frowned at this as well as her gift and said for a second time, "I'm not mad at you, Buttercup."

Dinnertime was a similarly odd affair. Everything seemed alright on the surface. Dinner for tonight was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts, the latter of which Buttercup still hated by the way, but none of that was actually part of the problem.

It was Bubbles.

Even though Bubbles kept insisting that she wasn't mad, her subdued behavior still proved to be unnerving for the Puff. She didn't know how to deal with just... nothing. A screaming Bubbles, a raging Bubbles, a crying Bubbles, even a violent Bubbles, all of that she could handle. But not just a silent Bubbles. One who refused to engage with her beyond mere pleasantries at all.

So she went out of her way to take the first steps. Like when Bubbles had asked, "Can someone please pass the salt for my potatoes?" Buttercup made sure she was the first to do so, even tipping over the table slightly in her haste.

"There ya go!" she shouted, sliding the shaker over to her sister who caught it with a bit of a grimace on her face. Really everybody was staring at Buttercup with uncomfortable expressions, but she just didn't care right now.

"Thank you." Bubbles said politely anyway, though her face was still twisted in a wince.

"Tell me if you need the pepper too! It's right over here for ya."

"Thank you."

Dessert went mostly the same way. When the Professor brought out a giant bowl of chocolate pudding for the girls, scooping out roughly even portions for them all, Buttercup made a show of pretending that she really wasn't in the mood for her pudding. She'd rather have some fruit instead. Fruit. Buttercup. Those two things shouldn't have even gone in the same sentence together.

"Honey, are you feeling alright?" The Professor asked her seriously, looking at his raven-haired daughter like she was some kind of alien from outer space.

"Of course I am!" Buttercup insisted with an overly jovial air. "I guess Bubbles will just have to eat my share of pudding. No biggie. I just love having fruit salad for dessert!"

Another cringe from Bubbles, a hopeless sigh from Blossom, and an arched brow from the Professor.

When that little ordeal was over, and the kids had some free time before getting prepared for bed for the night, Buttercup tried one final thing. She plugged up her Atari 2600 and put in a game not necessarily of her own liking, but something Bubbles would like, remembering the happier times this pastime had inspired between the two of them.

"Jump over the water! Jump over the water!" Bubbles was shouting as she sat in a pink beanbag chair and Buttercup was sitting in a green one, sticking her tongue out of her mouth as she mashed buttons on her controller and tried to conquer the current level of the game, Pitfall.

"What are you guys doing?" Blossom had asked, astonished, floating there dumbly as she watched her sisters essentially abandon their previous game of villain hide-and-seek to play video games instead.

"We stopped looking for you hours ago." Buttercup told her blithely, rolling her eyes and everything.

"You don't want to finish what we were doing?"

"We're way finished!" Even Bubbles dismissed now. "We're playing video games now." Then she shouted at Buttercup to, "Jump over the water!" yet again.

"I'm trying!" Buttercup shouted back at her in turn.

Buttercup snorted a bit at the memory, fond over the time she and Bubbles had shared with each other where they had actually agreed with one another. They even made some cracks at Blossom's expense.

Now standing directly in front of the TV, Blossom now indignantly confronted the two of her sisters. "Oh, I see. You two left me alone in a cupboard for two and a half hours, and you're not gonna try and stop my newest diabolical plan at all?"

"And what possibly could your diabolical plan be, hmm?" Buttercup challenged, not really sounding too threatened either way. "A stuffed animal?"

"Or maybe you're gonna throw your big shiny bucket at me!" Bubbles teased too, and the two of them laughed at her sister's expense until Blossom, or rather pretend "Mojo" decided to show them exactly what her newest diabolical plan was.

Stopping their game by taking out the very cartridge - the definition of pure evil itself!

Buttercup softly laughed again when she thought about how her and Bubbles had chased after "Mojo" across the living room and how Blossom retaliated by shooting foam bullets at them with her MERF gun. Then the three of them had rolled around in a laughing heap on top of each other, giggling on the carpet until the rain finally stopped and the sun peeked out from the clouds, making the girls have to stop to fight a real giant alligator attacking the city.

Oh, those had been the days. She was determined now to make another memory like that as she called her blonde sister over.

"Hey, Bubbles! I'm bootin' the ol' Atari up! You wanna play video games with me?"

Bubbles stopped what she was doing to hover over into the living room, taking a moment to do a double take at what she was seeing. Rather than being one of Buttercup's more action-oriented and violent video games, she had actually put in the game starring the Smurfs, the tiny blue creatures who lived in equally tiny mushroom houses. Bubbles always adored those little blue creatures, finding them as irresistibly cute as the elfish cartoon mascot characters, Snap, Crackle, and Pop from the Rice Krispies Cereal. Buttercup never felt the same way though; she always called them lame and stupid. Yet now she was willingly putting in Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle?

It just didn't make sense.

"Is that Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle?"

"Yeah, isn't it great? What do you say? How about we rescue a Smurfette from a castle, Mario style?"

"Buttercup, you don't have to."

"Of course I don't have to, stupid!" Whoops. Maybe she shouldn't've gotten comfortable enough to call Bubbles stupid. If Bubbles took offense to that however, she didn't really show it. "I'm doing it because I want to!"

"What I mean is... you don't have to try so hard to be nice, Buttercup."

"Why wouldn't you want me to be nice to you?"

"W-Well I do want you to be nice," Bubbles admitted. "But not if it's something you feel like you have to work at. I-It's okay if you don't wanna be around me, Buttercup." She could hear the blonde's voice cracking now with tears, and her eyes becoming glossier.

Buttercup was shocked. Her jaw sank to the floor. "Bubbles, of course I-!"

"I.. I'm g-going to bed now." Bubbles interrupted, her lip starting to quiver uncontrollably. She whirled around to head upstairs to her room before anyone else could rise to stop her.

SMACK! Buttercup's hand flew to her forehead. As it miserably slid down, the girl lamenting her failure, Blossom decided to float over to her to offer some consolation. "She'll come around." She tried to reassure her sister. "Just give her time. And keep trying to be nice. You weren't wrong in doing that. Everything will be fine in the morning.

"Yeah, and Him's lair will freeze over and Fuzzy's pigs'll start flyin'." Buttercup muttered bitterly.

"Trust me." Blossom whispered in her ear, and god how she wanted to believe her.

It would all be okay in the morning. It simply had to be.