Oh man, I am so sorry about how long this update has taken. It's just been one thing after another. First it was moving to university, then the chronic writers' block, the piles of essays I've had to do and to top it off, my laptop crashed and all the files got wiped. Anyway, excuses aside, I figured I really needed to get back to this, so here we go.
6
"Blossom? Are you alright? Maybe you shouldn't bother with school…" Bubbles put a hand on her sister's shoulder as the redhead rubbed her forehead.
"It's fine. It's nothing, I'll be alright." Bubbles didn't look convinced, and was even less so when Blossom flinched and grimaced as Princess and her usual entourage swanned past them.
"I so did not need to know that," Blossom muttered darkly. Bubbles made a sympathetic noise.
"Well, it comes and goes right? Maybe it'll quiet down a little."
"I just wish I could switch it off," she grumbled. "Anyway, I think it's quieting down now, let's go." Bubbles watched apprehensively as Blossom strode off across the schoolyard and into the building, flinching and snapping her head around to look at people, unsure whether they were talking or thinking.
xxx
Classes were turning out to be a nightmare. If she wasn't answering questions that the teacher wasn't asking, she was being distracted by the thoughts of her classmates. They came in random bursts; sometimes there were blissful periods of utter silence and then a raucous chorus of pure noise. It was starting to make her feel vaguely ill. But thankfully, even through all the voices, there was one in particular that she was glad she wasn't hearing.
Of course I can't hear him; I'm in school, he never comes here. But then again, there was that horrible niggling voice reminding her of the roses left on the music room door and in her locker. She pushed the thoughts away as quickly as they came to mind; there was no need to worry after all, he was just a minor annoyance. Of course, she'd been telling herself that for coming up to a week now, and he was still bugging her. She sighed and massaged one temple. Crazy out of control telepathy and an irritating boy with some kind of scheme up his sleeve; yep, this had been a wonderful week.
Somehow, she managed to make it through all of her classes and the nightmare that was lunchtime, catching up to Bubbles at the school gates.
"How are you feeling?" her sister asked, concern in her tone. Blossom attempted a stoic smile.
"I'm fine, I think I'm kind of getting used to it actually." Unfortunately, Bubbles wasn't buying the lie, although she was kind enough not to push the issue. Deciding that a subject change was in order, she hitched her bag higher on her shoulder and started walking.
"Have you decided what to wear for the fountain opening on Wednesday night?" she asked, knowing that the subject of clothes would keep Bubbles occupied at least halfway home. True to form, Bubbles started rapidly listing possible outfits she had come up with, letting Blossom allow her mind to slip into a blissful state of mental peace.
xxx
Buttercup came home surprisingly early that night, with Blossom hearing the door slam barely half an hour after she and Bubbled had arrived back. She decided that discovering why could wait until dinner and went back to her maths homework, only to be interrupted by her black-haired sister bursting into her room in a state of near-panic.
"Blossom! Oh god, Blossom, this is bad, I don't know what I'm gonna do." Blossom blinked at her.
"Slow down. Did something happen at practice?" Buttercup stumbled over to the bed and collapsed onto the pink duvet, groaning in the affirmative. Given that it was not Buttercup's style to get this worked up about anything, Blossom instantly clicked to what was most likely going on.
"You've developed a new power too, haven't you?" Buttercup hauled herself into a sitting position and nodded, looking utterly miserable.
"And it sucks. It's gonna ruin everything." Blossom tried to look comforting, but she was burning with curiosity.
"What happened?" she asked, joining her sister on the bed. Buttercup ran a hand through her already extremely ruffled hair.
"Well, I was just at practice like normal, and we were just throwing the ball around and then suddenly it was like… like I knew what they were all feeling. Not what they were thinking, not like you've got, but just feelings."
"What's bad about that?"
"It wasn't just that! They all started… acting funny. Towards me." Blossom's eyes widened.
"You think you were somehow controlling their feelings?"
"Yeah, something like that, but I couldn't control what I was making them feel! I just got out of there before anything worse happened." She dropped her head into her hands. "I'm doomed. Totally doomed." Blossom put a hand on her shoulder.
"It'll settle down. You'll be able to control it soon. Besides, it doesn't seem to be working now; I'm not feeling any different at all." Buttercup shook her head.
"I don't think it works on girls. One of the guys' girlfriend was at the practice too, watching. She didn't seem affected by it either, even though I could tell what she was feeling."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, with Blossom turning over the facts in her mind. It was starting to look as though the Chemical X wasn't so much giving them new powers as amplifying certain traits that the girls already possessed. Buttercup had always had a knack for reading body language and that had progressed into a form of empathy. Blossom herself had always tried to assess what people around her were thinking, apparently resulting in telepathy. With the pieces slotting into place, she immediately began trying to guess what Bubbles was going to manifest, but she was interrupted by Buttercup getting up to leave.
"I'm going for a shower. And uh… Blossom?"
"Hmm?"
"Make sure the Professor stays in the lab while I'm downstairs, yeah?" Blossom laughed at that, making her sister scowl as she stomped out of the room.
xxx
The rest of the evening passed mostly without incident, and Blossom finally put away her last piece of homework just after nine. It had taken her longer than normal, due to the fact that she kept looking out of the window every ten minutes. Sighing, she zipped up her pencil case and put it back into her bag alongside the homework. He still hadn't shown up. Of course, she was pleased about this; why shouldn't she be? Perhaps it meant that he'd finally given up.
Of course, that was impossible. She knew Brick enough to know that he didn't give up that easily. He'd said 28 days and he would keep trying for that long. She shivered slightly, even though it wasn't cold, telling herself that she was being silly. Glancing at the clock, she decided that she could put in a little violin practice before going to bed. Just as she was taking it out of the case however, Bubbles poked her head around the door.
"Do you have a minute? I'd like to talk to you about something." Blossom nodded, closing the lid of the violin case again. Bubbles smiled gratefully and walked in, settling herself onto the edge of Blossom's window seat. Blossom herself sat back down at her desk and looked at her sister expectantly.
"Sorry to bother you about this and all, but…" she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. "It's the Chemical X thing. I'm really worried about it. Buttercup said that she nearly sent the boys out of control by accident; what if I get something that's even worse and then I hurt someone?" She looked up with eyes that, in typical Bubbles fashion, looked set to be brimming with tears at any moment.
"Bubbles, I don't think you could hurt anyone, even by accident." It probably wasn't as comforting as she meant it to be, but being Blossom, it was the best she could do. Bubbles' lip wobbled dangerously, but thankfully, she held herself in check.
"It's not just that… I know I'm being silly, but I'm kind of jealous too. I mean, you two have got these new powers and I'm still just… Bubbles." Blossom had an involuntary flashback to the time Bubbles had flipped out and beaten Mojo senseless, and, thanks to her telepathy, she knew that Bubbles was having the same one. Jealous Bubbles was not a fun Bubbles to be around, and both of them knew it.
"Look Bubbles," Blossom tried, going to join her sister on the window seat. "I know it might seem unfair, but we can't help it. Besides, you should be grateful you aren't having all of these… problems." Apparently, this was not the right thing to say, as the wobbling lip gave way to full blown sobbing. At this point, there was a muffled bang from next door, followed by some footsteps, and the next second, Buttercup appeared in the doorway, looking rather shaky.
"Do you know how distracting it is when I can literally feel everything that you two do?" she demanded. Surveying the scene briefly, she turned to glare at Blossom. "Could you please not make our sister cry?" Bubbles, to her credit, composed herself rather well.
"I'm sorry Buttercup, I forgot about your… umm…"
"Empathy," Blossom supplied. Bubbles nodded.
"That. Sorry to bother you." Buttercup sighed and kneaded her forehead.
"It's fine, really. I'm just still pissed cos of what happened at practice." Bubbles got up and patted her sister on the arm, knowing that Buttercup was not generally a huggy person unless she was the one doing the hugging. Giving what was probably a grateful-ish mumble, she retreated back to her room. Bubbles gave her eyes a quick dab with her sleeve and looked back at Blossom, who sighed and stood up.
"I'm sorry Bubbles. I was being insensitive again." Bubbles waved it off graciously, the crying and self-pity out of her system.
"No, it's okay. I suppose I really should be grateful; Buttercup's in a really bad mood because of this and you've been acting funny too."
"Oh that's not because of this. It's this whole thing with-" She stopped dead mid-sentence, clamping a hand over her mouth. Bubbles' eyes widened.
"Because of what?" she asked, perfectly innocently. Blossom's mind backpedalled furiously, trying to correct herself, which had the unfortunate effect of leaving her looking like a goldfish having a stroke.
"I… It's nothing. Nothing," she stuttered eventually. "Of course it's just the telepathy. I mean, everything else is fine." She was conscious of the fact that blathering on like this was simply making the situation worse, and Bubbles wasn't believing a word of it anyway. She clutched at what few straws her mind could dredge up.
"Well, I suppose there is one thing. I mean, I hate to admit it but this opening ceremony on Wednesday is really stressing me out. It's important, you know? I don't want to mess anything up." She watched the expression on Bubbles' face move slowly through several expression, going from questioning to doubt to a grudging acceptance that this was probably true. Blossom had been known to get uptight about similar things in the past.
"You don't have to worry about that Blossom," she said sweetly, as ever. "Your plans always work, and Miss Bellum is good at these things too." Blossom forced what she hoped to be a convincing smile onto her face.
"I know Bubbles. Thanks. And sorry for making you cry."
xxx
The near-disaster with Bubbles averted, Blossom dismissed the thought of violin practice and instead, took up the same position she had been finding herself in a lot the past few evenings; flopped on the window seat with her arms wrapped around her bent legs and her chin resting on her knees. She stared listlessly out of the window, noting absently that it was raining. He still wasn't there. Checking her watch, she figured that he wasn't going to bother after letting it get past ten. She didn't know why it was still bothering her, but the fact that he'd neglected to show up or at least deliver the usual flowers was making her uneasy. It was a break in the new pattern, which, even though she knew she should be grateful for it, was still a break in pattern, and Blossom was all about pattern. Patterns were predictable. Patterns were safe.
She sighed deeply, swung her legs off the seat and got up. Pulling the ribbon out of her hair, she raked her fingers through the strands and headed for the bathroom. If Brick was trying to unsettle her, he'd managed it better with this than the whole bet thing. She'd concede that one small victory to him, but never to this face.