Growing Pains Interlude

It's been a long time coming since I last made a Bubble Guppies fanfic, though I'm not sure if anyone still reads BG fanfics anymore. I originally planned this fanfic for a released last year, but a chain of events occurred that prompt me to change the entire plot around. This interlude will highlight the six main characters in their high school years with each chapter which will all lead to them meeting in the potential sequel. Before we talk about continuing Growing Pains, let's see where things will go from here with this six-chapter fanfic first.

Here is the first chapter and it focuses on the natural born leader herself, Molly. Let's see what she's up to. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

Molly couldn't even begin to count the number of people in front of her. Tilting her head to the corner, she could hardly see the front desk. Everywhere she turned her head somebody was standing in her way. Molly had been waiting for that particular day all trip long and she was worried her day would end in disappointment. Nevertheless, standing in a large line was not the worst part. "This is ridiculous," her sister grunted with frustration. "We've been standing in this line for over an hour and nobody is even moving."

"Stop exaggerating, Mia. It's only been twenty minutes since we've been in line."

"Yeah? Well, it feels like two hours. When are we gonna get something to eat?"

"After Stylee signs my guitar and my bomber jacket," Molly responded to Mia's constant whining. "You know, Mia, there've been times I stood in line for you. Why do you have to complain all of a sudden?"

"Because I'm the younger sister. Complaining is what I do." Molly rolled her eyes in response. At least Mia was honest about her insecurity. "And besides, I never asked you to wake up seven in the morning."

"Maybe it has something to do with the last time you were left by yourself."

"I was simply making my lunch."

"You're not supposed to put an entire can of soup in the microwave, Mia." Mia was a walking natural disaster. She could take a simple piece of food and turn it into a weapon. Molly could go all day about her sister, but the discussion was making her stomach rumble. She took another look at the crowd and saw the people in front of her moving forward. It was like pressing pause on a movie and then pressing play again. "At least the line is moving."

Mia sighed with relieved seeing the line moving. "Finally. It's about t-ahh." Mia stepped forward and was blindly shoved out of line. Her knees broke her fall. "OWW!"

Her sister maybe acted like a spoiled brat, but Mia was still family nonetheless. The older sister stuck out her hand to help her sister off the floor. "Are you alright, Mia?" She asked. In response, Mia grabbed her sister's hand and was lifted back on her feet. Molly's attention turned to the blonde-haired girl holding various shopping bags that shoved Mia on the ground. "Excuse me, but you knocked my little sister on the floor."

"My bad," the girl scuffed under her breath. Molly was trying to handle the situation like a mature young lady, but the stranger shot a glare like she was being irritated. Molly also noted the scuff that escaped between her lips. Not to mention the fact she cut in front of them. The blonde was joined by two more girls all holding shopping bags. One of them had long, straight blue hair and the other was a brunette, but her hair was cut above her shoulders.

"Hey! You can't cut in front of us. We've been waiting in line for almost half an hour," Mia fired at the trio.

"Your fault for getting out of line, little girl. Now, why don't you go place over at the kid's area?" the blonde responded while her friends laughed.

So much for being cordial about the situation. Molly was officially mad because nobody was going to get away with disrespecting her sister. "Now, hold up. Don't talk to my sister like that. What is the matter with you?"

"What's the matter with you?" The blonde asked, unknowingly switching Molly's rage meter from mad to furious. "Look, Pinky, let me break something down to you. This is something called "privilege," but you and your sister probably don't know anything about, right? If you want your new PinePhone, you'll just have to wait a little longer."

"I don't need…" Molly's rage was replaced with levels of confusion. "The new PinePhone? But I thought…" To the sister's shock, the line they were standing in leads to an orange electronic shop. Gigantic posters of the new PinePhone were hanging on the store's windows with several new models were being displayed by a couple of the workers.

"The new PinePhone?" Mia questioned. "I thought this was the line for the Meet-N-Greet with Stylee."

The trio burst out laughing hearing the pop star's name. "Stylee? That wig-wearing wannabe singer? We could never be caught dead listening to her music," The brunette responded while her other two friends laughed. Molly did not find their insults funny at all. In the mix of things, two shoppers wearing shirts with Stylee's face on the front and grey wigs walking past them.

"Excuse me," Molly called to the shoppers. "Where's the line to the Meet-N-Greet with Stylee?"

"Why, its located at the East wing of the mall," the female fan answered. "We're heading over there right now before Stylee leaves."

"Yeah," the male fan added. "So, you better hurry because Stylee leaves around two."

"We better get a move on ourselves." Molly looked at her blue watch for the time. The big hand just passing the nine while the little hand was pointing at the two.

"Sis, what's going on?" Mia asked.

"The Meet-N-Greet with Stylee is located on East wing. This is the West wing of the mall," the older sibling explained. Molly also added there were only fifteen minutes left to have her guitar signed by Stylee.

"Well, we better get a move on," Mia suggested. Molly grabbed her guitar case only to have the mean trio laughing at them. Mainly because they were pointing directly at the bandana tied on the handle.

"Awww, are you guys lost?" The mean blonde teased, but the sisters had enough of her and her friends. Instead of responding, the pink-haired sisters turned around and walked away. "Don't beat yourselves up. It. Must. Be. Hard. Reading. English."

Molly's rage meter was reaching the maximum level. Her right hand was gripping on the guitar case handle as if she was preventing herself from lifting it up. Her teeth were grinding together like sandpaper. It was taking everything inside of the teenager form losing her cool. However, the last thing she couldn't stand was something making fun of her heritage. Nonetheless, she wasn't going to sink into someone's level like that. She took a deep breath and her anger slowly, but surely, faded away.

"I'm sorry, but the Meet-N-Greet with Stylee has officially concluded. If you want to meet Stylee, it will have to be at the next city," a well-dressed man announced to the remaining fans in line. Immediately the crowd erupted with signs of disappointment and a majority of them walked away with their heads down. The remaining fans left standing were Molly, Mia, and the two fans from before. Although the latter two decided to leave for the next town, hoping to beat Stylee there.

"Molly?" Molly didn't answer right away. Her head was down to the point her eyes were invisible. "Are you okay, Sis?"

"I've been waiting for this moment all week long," The elder sister voiced. "I wanted to meet Stylee since the beginning of our vacation and now it's like this whole trip is meaningless." Filled with disappointment, Molly failed to notice a large figure wearing a yellow jacket standing right in front of her. "Excuse me, kids. Did you not hear the first time? The Meet-N-Greet is over," the tall male roared. "This area is closed."

"Wait, Marshal. It's okay. You can let them through," a woman said from the corner. Molly thought that the woman looked familiar. The woman's voice sounded more mature, but the teenager remembered the short, curly black hair anywhere. Marshal let the sisters through and escorted them to an empty back room cluttered with boxes. "All the boxes are filled with merchandise. You two can help yourselves to anything," Stylee announced before looking over to Marshal. "It's alright, Marshal. Molly and Mia are friends of mine. I have no real enemies here."

"Then I guess I'll take my lunch and buy me a Philly cheesesteak," Marshal voiced out loud as he exited the room.

"Ms. Stylee, how do you know us by name?" Mia asked. Molly and Stylee didn't answer right away and grinned at one another. "Wait a minute. Am I missing something or do you two know each other?"

"I met Stylee when I was in preschool," the older sister answered. Molly took out her acoustic guitar and a few photos from inside her guitar case. Her acoustic guitar was placed on top of a large table for Stylee to signed while the pictures were handed to Mia. "I was walking to school with a friend of mine when Stylee's bus drove past us. She invited my entire class to her concern and I even got to perform on stage with her. And we've been speaking ever since."

Mia was looking at one picture of her sister when she was really young and Stylee hugging. "Is this you two right here?"

"Uh-Huh. That happened a few weeks after you were born," Molly answered.

While Molly was discussing her friendship with Stylee to Mia, the recording artist grabbed a sharpie from the table. "Where do you want the autograph, Molly?"

Molly pointed to a lower section of the guitar underneath the neck of the guitar. Her finger was resting an open spot next to the sticker that matched the bandana. Before Stylee was about to sign her name, she was presented a bottle of water. "I thought you could use something to drink," the man standing beside her said.

"You're really sweet. Thanks, honey." Stylee responded by kissing him on the lips. "Molly, this is my husband, Drew. Drew, this is Molly."

"It's good to finally meet you. My wife talked about you a lot," Drew commented. "My name is Drew. Oh, wait a minute, you already know that." The room was filled with laughter before Molly introduced herself and Mia. "Anyway, I'll go ahead and take these boxes to the bus. Nice meeting you too."

Drew took some boxes and left the room, leaving the females all alone. "He's so sweet," Mia commented.

"Drew is such a sweetheart," Stylee added before proceeding with the autograph on Molly's guitar. "It's been three years since my last concert in the Dominican Republic."

"You should for your next album." After that statement, Stylee was awfully quiet. Molly noticed the singer's casual smile faded away. That state reminded Molly the night she was about to perform but didn't come out of her tour bus. "Stylee? Are you okay? You kinda shut down for a moment."

"Yeah. About that: my next album is going to be my last album. I'm retiring from singing."

Molly's eyes were taking more light than usual. Her mouth was open but no words came out at the moment. "You're retiring?" The teenager asked after finally found something to say. "How long you thought about this?"

"Since dropping my last album two years ago," Stylee answered.

"But why?"

Stylee finished signing her name and returned the autographed guitar to Molly. "It's a long story. Let's just say that the music industry is no laughing matter. Listen, Molly, I'm not trying to stand in the way of your dreams, but always keep an open eye on the people who said they want to help you."

Ever since she was a child, Molly dreamed of becoming a singer and Stylee played a role in that influence. Molly couldn't respond directly about Stylee's announcement of retirement. Questions were flooding inside her head that she wanted to ask. One of the questions was why the artist waited so long to say something?

Drew returned to get the last remaining boxes but dropped two of them when picking them up. The boxes fell open and all kinds of merchandise spilled on the floor. T-shirts, sweatpants, hoodies, posters, and caps. "Aww man."

"Hey," Mia shouted while picking up a T-shirt. "Can I take some T-shirts with me? Please?"

"Of course. I said you guys can help yourselves to anything," Stella answered. "Molly, you want a few things yourself?"

"Oh. Umm…sure. I'll take a T-shirt." Molly then asked Mia to toss her a medium-size T-shirt. The sisters helped Stylee and Drew picked up the spilled merchandise. They handed the boxes to Drew, who storage them inside a department outside. Around the same time, Molly received a call from her father. "Hey, Dad," Molly answered. "Okay, we'll be there in ten minutes. Love you too. Bye," she said before hanging up. "Hey, Mia. That was our Dad. We're getting ready to leave, so he wants us back."

"Oh, but I'm having so much fun with Stylee," Mia complaint.

"Mia, we have to leave. Besides, Stylee is a busy woman herself. If you want, how about a picture to save the memories?"

"Really? No way. I'll be right back." The young sister didn't say much and ran into the bus. Molly protested Mia to come out. When the little girl did, she was in the black T-shirt Stylee allowed her to keep, half black half silver glasses, and a silver wig. "TA-DA!"

Molly and Stylee burst into laughter seeing Mia changed like that. She looked exactly like the latter if she was still in grade school. The trio gathered together to take a selfie. Finished packing all the merchandise, Stylee's husband volunteered to take the picture. "Here. I'll take the picture for you," Drew said. "Okay, girls. Say…Stylee."

"STYLEE!"

-CLICK—

One chapter down, five more to go. I hope everyone enjoyed it. It has been more than a year since my last Bubble Guppies fanfic. I didn't want to expose everything all in one chapter/fanfiction. The next chapter will focus on the turbo-charged boy himself, Gil. Stay tuned.

P.S.: for those who haven't heard the news, Bubble Guppies will be returning to Nick Jr. for the fifth season, but with new voice actors portraying the main characters. I don't know when new episodes will be released, but I'm not going to tune in for it. Lol.