Chapter 2

Buttercup walked into her physics class, the only class this year that she shared with Blossom. Upon entering she heard a whistle in the back corner. She turned and saw her friend Mitch Mitchelson motioning her over. He had grown up into a big, burly teenager with really long brown hair. He wore a black hat with his uniform, and his shirt was open revealing a "Mitch Rules" T shirt underneath.

"Yo, BC," he called out. Buttercup walked over to him and gave him a pound, handshake, and brotherly hug, which was the symbol of those Buttercup held really close to her. These people called themselves the "BC Brawlers" and were sort of like the unofficial police in the school. Truth is they had another secret use that no one knew about though...

"Hey Mitch," Buttercup said, "How goes it."

"Meh, can't complain too much. History was lame, but that's about it."

"Since when isn't history lame, Mitch?" Mitch had to nod on that one.

"So, you headin out tonight?" Mitch asked Buttercup, who had a sudden fire in her eyes.

"Hell yeah. That's one of my favorite past times these days. Just a shame Mojo ain't gonna be there," Buttercup said with a shrug.

"Well, what are you gonna do? I did get a tip on the Gangreen Gang though, if you're interested," Mitch said raising his eyebrows up and down.

"Mitch," Buttercup said putting her arm around his neck in a sort of caring way, but he was in the perfect position for Buttercup to choke him, "If you don't tell me what you know..." Mitch held up his hands.

"Kay, kay, chill BC. I got you," Mitch said with a smile, prompting Buttercup to let him go. Before Mitch could get a word out though, there was a loud "swoosh" as the door opened, and Blossom stormed in, going straight to her desk. "What's eating Miss Ice Queen?" Mitch asked, using one of Blossom's many nicknames.

"Got me," Buttercup said, hiding how concerned she actually was. Blossom looked flustered, and she never looked flustered.

The teacher walked in at that moment, "Class, before we begin I'd like to introduce our newest student," he motioned the student in, and much to Buttercup's shock and Blossom's dismay...

It was Brick...

"Everyone, this is Brick. He's going to be joining us for the rest of the school year." After the teacher finished, Brick waved to the students.

"Nice of you to have me," he said with an edge of arrogance. Yep, it was Brick alright. He looked in Blossom's direction and smiled, but Blossom scowled and turned away from him.

"Looks like she hadn't gotten over seven years ago," Buttercup said.

"Understandable," Mitch added, "Seriously, what's the school board thinking letting someone like him come to this school?"

Buttercup watched Brick walk all the way to his desk in the back. She then turned to Blossom, who looked so upset she was shaking. Anyone who didn't know what happened might think Blossom was overreacting, but for those in the know, her reaction was understandable, and Buttercup knew.

Blossom hated Brick with a serious passion.

It was lunch now, and Bubbles just walked into the cafeteria. Once she did, all the boys turned to her. She liked all the attention, even if a majority of the boys were probably undressing her with their minds.

As soon as she sat down, she was surrounded by boys, of course asking her to the Junior Prom. She wasn't really paying attention to them though, because her eyes were on Chad, the boy of her dreams. Captain of the football team, and the perfect match for Bubbles (in her eyes at least), there was only one problem, and that problem was approaching him right now.

Princess Morbucks, his girlfriend.

She of course went to the same school as they did. Her red hair now flowing straight down and going halfway to her waist. She wore an impossibly short skirt, and had an almost identical figure to Bubbles, if not bigger boobs (around a mid d-cup, but knowing her and her money, they weren't real). She also wore so much make-up that Bubbles wondered what she looked like when she woke up in the morning. Probably hideous.

Princess walked past Bubbles holding onto Chad's arm, giving Bubbles an evil look. The only reason she was even going out with Chad was because she knew Bubbles liked him. She had been competing with Princess ever since they went to this school, and as much as Bubbles hated to admit it, Princess won that battle, only because she got to him first.

The crowd dispersed from Bubbles once she kindly shooed them all away, and her best friend Jane sat down next to her. "Why don't you just ask one of them out?"

"I can't just ask anyone to the prom, Jane," Bubbles gave a sigh watching Princess and Chad sit at a table with the other football players, "Prom has to be special, so I have to be with a special guy. Problem is she's with my special guy."

"Tough," Jame sympathized with Bubbles, "Why does she even sit there, anyway? She's a cheerleader, not a football player."

"Maybe she's there to provide spare footballs," the joke confused Jane, so Bubbles continued, "You know, in case someone forgets to bring the balls for practice, all they have to do is take one of her boobs. They're big enough."

"And stiff enough," Jane added. The two friends laughed at their joke for a few seconds, "So, you hear the rumors about the vandalism in Townsville?" Jane asked.

"No, I haven't. But that isn't that big of a deal though, is it?" Bubbles asked.

"Maybe not to someone who's used to fighting giant monsters and alien life forms," Jane said sarcastically, making Bubbles giggle again, "But think, there's been a long period of peace, so why vandalism suddenly?"

"It might be some kids from the school causing trouble," Bubbles stated.

"The thing is though, they always leave graffiti as their calling card, and it's always done in green spray paint."

The Gangreen Gang? It had been a while since they had dealt with them. Last time Bubbles heard, they were doing community service. Had they gone back to their old ways? It sounded like their style, but that was impossible.

Bubbles looked toward the cafeteria entrance and saw Buttercup walk in with Mitch and another Brawler. Buttercup looked around until she saw Bubbles. She motioned Mitch and their friend to their table, and then walked over to where Bubbles was sitting.

"Buttercup? What's wrong?" Bubbles asked.

"Have you seen Blossom?"

"Not since we parted this morning. I don't have class with her until next period. Why?"

"Because of the new student," Buttercup looked around and then got close to Bubbles, "It's Brick," she said in a hushed tone, shocking Bubbles.

"What?" Bubbles turned to Jane, "Excuse me Jane, this is important."

"Got it," Jane said. Bubbles then got up and walked over to the middle of the cafeteria with Buttercup to talk.

"How do you know?" Bubbles asked.

"I saw him, that's how. Walked right into my physic's class."

"How was Blossom?"

"About as well as you'd expect. You remember how she was after we found her."

Bubbles did remember, she remembered all too well actually.

Seven years ago...

Bubbles and Buttercup, ten years old at the time, were flying around searching for Blossom. They had just had a run in with the Rowdyruff Boys, and managed to chase off Boomer and Butch. Blossom and Brick had flown off to some other part of Townsville, and the status of their fight was unknown at the moment.

Buttercup and Bubbles landed in the middle of Townsville, Buttercup falling to her knees and punching the ground.

"Damn it!" Buttercup said. Bubbles was worried looking at Buttercup. She knew Buttercup was prone to losing her temper, but she had never seen Buttercup this upset. It was out of character, and it was scaring Bubbles.

"Buttercup, calm down," Bubbles said putting her hands on Buttercup's shoulders, "The important thing is that we find Blossom."

Buttercup sighed and got up, "You're right Bubbles. But where is-" suddenly they heard a scream in the distance.

"Blossom!" they both shouted in unison, flying in the direction of the scream.

They arrived in the park and saw their sister/leader, Blossom and Brick standing at a distance firing lasers from their eyes, which met in the center in a power struggle. Brick looked as determined as usual, but Blossom looked absolutely enraged. She was even crying as she fired her laser.

"Blossom!" Buttercup called out, "You shouldn't strain your eyes like that!"

But Blossom didn't listen. Instead, she started using even more energy, actually pushing Brick's laser back. Eventually her laser completely engulfed Brick's, and he fell back from the force of her lasers. Instead of chasing after him though, she fell to her knees and started crying.

Bubbles and Buttercup ran up to Blossom, Bubbles putting her arms around her troubled sister and Buttercup standing in front of them in a fighting stance.

"What did you do to her?" Buttercup asked in anger. All Brick did was look down, with an expression that was hard to tell. Did Bubbles see a hint of guilt?

Brick said nothing. All he did was fly away, leaving the Powerpuff Girls. Buttercup ran over to Blossom, who continued to cry in Bubbles' arms.

"Blossom..." Bubbles said.

"What happened? Are you..." Buttercup asked.

"I hate him..." Blossom said through her sobs, shocking Bubbles and Buttercup.

"Huh?" Buttercup asked. Blossom then grabbed Buttercup's skirt and looked right in her sister's eyes..

"I HATE HIM!" Blossom shouted, she then broke down and continued to cry, Bubbles holding her up.

"What did that sick son of a bitch do to you?" Buttercup asked, more to herself than to Blossom.

"It's okay now Blossom," Bubbles said rubbing Blossom's head in a comforting manner, "We're here now."

Buttercup got up and walked off a bit, but then just stood there with her back turned to her sisters. Almost on cue, it started raining, which only made the situation even more depressing. None of them knew it, but all three of them were crying that night, each for different reasons.

Present Day

As Bubbles thought back to that day, some of her old depression came back. It was that day that the three of them started drifting apart. Something changed within all of them that day, and the strange thing was none of them knew exactly what happened on that day.

"I won't let him get close to her," Buttercup said snapping Bubbles pack to the present.

"Buttercup..."

"I don't know what happened between those two, but as Blossom's sisters it's our job to look out for her."

Bubbles nodded, but she felt a small bit of uncertainty about the whole thing. It was because they didn't know the whole story that they probably shouldn't act hasty. Bubbles did care about Blossom, but this was Blossom's business, and they had no right to barge in unless Blossom asked. Even if this was their one chance to start acting like a team again.

While most people ate in the cafeteria, Blossom was the type to go up to the roof by herself to eat. This started a year ago. Before she would have eaten in the cafeteria, only she would have been sitting at a table by herself, forced to listen to the gossip of her peers as they continued to call her horrible names such as "Utonium Bitch" or "Ice Queen of Townsville High", the later she thought was ironic due to her ice breath ability.

As she ate, she listened to her MP3 Player, usually listening to Katy Perry songs. That was the kind of person she wanted to be, the girl in the songs. The kind that wasn't afraid to be wild, who could probably "kiss a girl" and admit that she liked it, perhaps even the typical "California girl" (not too sure on that one though). One song that really spoke to her was the one she listened to the most, and was listening to at the moment, "Firework". She always got a lump in her throat when she heard that song, as it sounded like Katy Perry was singing to her. She wanted to be a "firework", bright, beautiful, looked up to, just like her sisters.

She was a little jealous of Bubbles and Buttercup. Bubbles had all the boys following her, and was the captain of the pep squad, while Buttercup had almost all of the tough kids under her wing. What did Blossom have though? The highest grades in the school, the resentment of her peers, and two nicknames she probably deserved. Bubbles and Buttercup were the lucky ones. Their personalities drew people in. In Blossom's case though, all she did was push people away, and not intentionally either.

Why did she do that? Whenever someone did something wrong, she felt like it was her responsibility to fix their problems. She only wanted to help, but she always managed to sound cold and mean. She stopped bothering with apologies. What was the point? She would probably sound phony anyway. And in the end she would just do it all over again, and in her eyes she didn't really have anything to apologize for. What was wrong? Was everyone around her incredibly stupid and sensitive, or was she really just too smart for her own good.

She finished her lunch and was putting her MP3 player away when she heard foot steps coming up the stairs to the roof. The door sprung open and she saw Brick run onto the roof. She held in a scream and flew off hiding under where she was sitting (she was hovering) out of sight.

"Damn it, where is she?" she heard him say. It sounded like he was really searching for her, which had her even more scared. She heard him run back downstairs and close the door, so she flew back up to the roof. She took off her glasses, noticing the slight blur of her natural vision, a constant reminder of that night, and what happened between them. She fell to her knees and held her head in frustration, screaming in anger, sadness, and fear. Her life in school was already hell, she didn't need Brick here pursuing her.

After calming down she got up and walked back into the school. Next period was art, the only class she shared with Bubbles. Should she confide in her sister? She would decide once she got to the art room.