I just want to say how much I love you guys. Thank you for being awesome!

It was funny how things worked. As Blossom thought back on her last in Topsail... she would be lying if she said she was completely elated. To be honest she felt fear. It made her feel sick to her stomach. She knew in her mid that it was for the best. It was like she was leaving anything behind. In fact, rationally, the move seemed like the better option. She knew this to be fact. However, a new place meant new people to hate her. New people to hurt her. New people who taunted how worthless she was.

But here she was. Not even a month within the move and she had made two best friends who loved and cherished her just as much as she did so with them. The boys weren't so half bad themselves. Blossom would constantly have to distance herself from Brick and his advances. He was respectable, but he still made daring moves to show Blossom he was not backing down. Boomer remained like a little brother. He was an innocence that Blossom adored. Butch was a protective spirit. He would nudge her out of her daydreams from time to time just to make sure she was alright.

Buttercup's plan over the weekend had failed when Butch had found out where she lived. He had simply given her one reason on Saturday and Sunday and left. It turns out he was much more resourceful than she thought. Therefore, his race for Buttercup's heart was still ago, much to her agitation.

Boomer was a bit more subtle than his brothers. He simply gave shy compliments and little gifts here and there to which earned him hugs and kisses on the cheeks. Bubbles was content with her relationship with him and didn't want to ruin anything by beginning to date . Blossom was a bit skeptical at her explanation. She felt it was a bit more, but Boomer excepted it and didn't hound her.

It had been two weeks since the boys had started school with them. They were pretty much celebrities at the school. Girls constantly followed them and left them notes which would just be thrown in the trash or be replied with an apologetic smile from Boomer. Despite the status, the boys stayed to themselves and the girls. Outsiders were not trusted. Nor should they be.

Princess remained quiet to everyone's surprise and while that seemed perfect for the group, Blossom was not convinced. She felt a storm brewing and wasn't sure how she felt about the situation. For the most part, Princess ignored her, but there were times she felt Princess glaring at her from afar. She thought if she displayed little interaction with Brick it would help, but it didn't. Buttercup tried to reassure her that everything would be okay... but Blossom knew how cruel people could be... She knew things weren't always okay.

Home life for Blossom seemed to fade in comfortable blurs. When home, Blossom spent most of her time with her parents. Rare occasions, they would leave, leaving her with tiny Blake. Bubbles had a habit of showing up unexpectedly through out the week. Blossom didn't mind and Blake surely loved all the attention. Lilly and Michael had come to treat Bubbles like part of the family. Blossom never failed to notice Bubbles' reactions towards the affectionate family. It was almost ironic to witness the girl who seemed to have everything crave only small things like a family dinner. Buttercup and her Father were invited regularly as well. In fact, Blossom noticed their parents get just as close as she had with Buttercup and Bubbles.

Blossom felt content for the first time in all her life.

It's only fitting that her past would come knocking at her door...

"Hey, Bloss?" Butch whispered from behind her. "Do you have a pencil I can borrow?" He asked. From her right, Blossom heard Buttercup snort.

"You mean steal?" She asked back turning to Butch.

"It's not stealing if I asked for it." He stuck his tongue out which earned him an eye roll. Blossom chuckled and handed him a mechanical pencil and focused back on her work. Today in their math class was a study guide for an upcoming Benchmark and she was determined to ace it. Buttercup hummed and tapped her foot to the beat of whatever song was playing on her Ipod.

Blossom found herself drifting away in thought. The numbers she had been looking at had faded. Her mind numbed out any noise around her. For the moment, she felt absolutely nothing.

"Blossom, huh? Cute name. Brute's told me all about you." He smiled. Blossom froze. She didn't know how to react. He was... nice. He smelled like Old Spice and pines. What a weird but nice smell. Her face suddenly became hot.

"Thank you..."

"I honestly can't believe you fell for it. I thought you were going to be too smart." He laughed wickedly. Blossom felt something cold run down her face... Actually it was running down her whole body. She was drenched in what her nose had picked up to be coke. Her dress, her hair, her make up... It was ruined. "Here I thought you would figure it out. I guess you were too desperate." He continued. It was then she picked up the sound of laughter. It was coming from all around her. "But I guess this will be your lesson. Witches get burned not loved."

Blossom was too cold to cry.

The bell overhead is what awoke her from her dream. She felt herself jerk violently from fear. She instantly looked to Butch and Buttercup who were leaning down to grab their stuff. Butch then smiled and handed her pencil back. He hesitated when he saw the look in her eyes. She quickly grabbed her pencil and put it back with her things.

"One more class and then we're free." Buttercup stretched, gaining Butch's attention for the mean time. "Hey, maybe we should do something after school." She suggested looking at the redhead beside her.

"You know I couldn't agree more. It's about time we had our first date." Butch stated placing an arm around Buttercup.

"Get off." She simply put while shoving his arm off. " I was talking to Blossom."

"I have to baby sit tonight. But, you're more than welcome to come on by." Blossom informed her. Buttercup smiled and nodded.

"I'll bring some popcorn and soda and we can watch a movie."

"Ooh! I want to join!" Butch whined looking between the girls. Blossom giggled while Buttercup huffed air at him. They started out the door, running into the rest of the group almost immediately. "The girls are gong to have a get together at Blossom's." Butch announced. Bubbles looked confused at first but then clapped her hands.

"Yay! I get to kiss Blakey all over his chubby face." She cooed.

"I say we crash." Butch looked to his brothers. Boomer and Brick both shook their heads.

"That would be rude." Boomer spoke.

"I mean, I wouldn't mind, I guess." Blossom finally stated. Buttercup looked at her in disbelief while the others looked extremely happy. "My mom has been wanting to meet the boys anyways. Shes literally been hounding me for a week and a half."

"We would be humbled." Brick smiled. Boomer was now jumping from foot to foot.

"This'll be so cool." He cheered. Butch only wiggled his eyebrows at an agitated Buttercup.

"Let's get this damn hour over with." Butch fist pumped the air.

Buttercup and Butch said bye as they separated from the group to their own classes. Boomer and Bubbles talked excitedly to each other while Brick and Blossom remained silent. Brick side glanced at Blossom several time leading up to class. His seat was to her left while Boomer sat behind him. He noticed that when the teacher had been lecturing, Blossom had ceased with her notes. Her eyes had glazed over and her mouth tightened in a grimace. He took a chance to poke her while the teacher had been turned away.

Blossom jumped and blinked at his direction, but smiled and continued with her notes. Her mind had wandered to the past again. Brick, after a moment of hesitation, put all his focus on the notes. It wasn't long after Blossom drifted again, but not to the past... Her mind drifted to Brick.

She would not deny her attraction to him. He was handsome and smart and had a kind side that her let out around people he felt close to. He was good brother and a fantastic friend. Perhaps in another world, they would have gotten together. In that same world they would graduate and get married. Maybe have several kids. It would be perfect. Life would be perfect because they would be perfect.

But... they weren't.

She sighed to herself. She couldn't risk another Brute. Princess could literally destroy her. She had the means to make it possible. Obviously she did her research as well. Who knew what she knew.

"Blossy? You okay?" Bubbles whispered, bringing her back to reality for the umpteenth time that day. Blossom nodded and smiled and ignored of the burning gaze of the boy with the red eyes. Bubbles squinted her eyes in skepticism but excepted the answer.

Finally the last bell rang and everyone sprung from their seats.

"So what's the plan?" Boomer asked as they all regrouped around Blossom's and Bubbles' lockers.

"Meet up at my house in two hours. That way my parents can meet you but they won't stay long. Then we can watch the movie and eat some snacks and so forth." Blossom suggested with a shy shrug. She was replied with smiles all around.

"Awesome!" Brick spoke. "What's your address." Blossom quickly grabbed a sticky note from her locker and jotted down her address. Brick smiled and lingered their touch. "See you in two hours, then."

"Yeah." Blossom stated awkwardly. They all exchanged good byes and then the boys left ahead. The girls however took their time to their bus. Today there was a full seat empty with a spot open right in front. Blossom took the one spot in front so that Bubbles and Buttercup could sit together. She hadn't even glanced at her companion until she was suddenly pushed off the seat. In shock, her hands flew in front of he, accidentally hitting the person beside her. "I'm so sorry." She rushed the words out. The girl only seemed understanding and helped Blossom adjust herself.

"What the hell?" Buttercup shouted. Leaning over the seat. "That was rude!"

"Does it look like I give a fuck?" The girl replied. "The bitch sat in a place she didn't belong, so I corrected her."

Blossom finally turned and looked at the perpetrator and froze...

Magenta eyes... She had magenta eyes... She looked just like Blossom but her eyes were several shades darker. She was dressed crudely as well and her face was smothered with make-up. Her gaze moved from the angry ravenette and focused on Blossom. She then smiled wickedly.

"She's lucky I didn't do worse. The penalty for a witch is death."

It was then that Blossom's world came crashing down at her feet once again.

So ... Yeah. I hope you all enjoyed. Thank you all for being so great. Time has just been so rare and my motivation has been fleeting. I do plan on finishing this story. I have some many emotions I want to convey with the characters.

Thank you so much. I will be back with a new chapter soon.