Well, I somehow managed to get this written all in one go, which I was pretty pleased about. Writers' block has been plaguing me something awful recently. Anyway, cheers for all those nice reviews last time guys.
10
The first thing that Blossom noticed when walking into her chemistry class was that she appeared to be one of the last ones there; a highly unusual occurrence. Bubbles had still complained about feeling unwell and so she and Buttercup had taken a little extra time to leave the house, so she couldn't really say she was surprised. She took one of the two empty seats at the back of the class, just as the teacher walked into the room. Muttering a brief greeting, he started rummaging through the stacks of papers on the desk. Blossom rolled her eyes. However good a teacher Mr Brinson was, he really was horrendously disorganised.
The class got underway after two or three minutes of under-the-breath grumbling from the front and Blossom listened attentively as the experiment they were to perform was outlined for them on the board. However, just as Mr Brinson was about to split them into pairs, there was a knock on the door, followed shortly by Brick sliding round it.
"Sorry I'm late; there was… uh… family trouble." He gave a lazy shrug as he spoke. Mr Brinson, never sure of how to deal with interruptions at the best of times, was obviously completely at a loss with Brick, and so just gestured him to a seat and tried to get on with things. Blossom, after she'd finished running through the whole horrible list of what 'family trouble' might mean coming from Brick, suddenly realised that there was only one empty seat in the room and it was next to her.
He didn't actually say anything as he sat down, but the wink he gave her, coupled with the lopsided grin was enough to get her hackles well and truly raised. Trying to remain composed, she did her best to ignore him and listened extremely intently as Mr Brinson continued pairing up the students. And then, instead of being paired with Amber, the girl sitting to her right, as she had expected to be, Mr Brinson paused, then put Amber with someone else and put Blossom with Brick, for 'security reasons'. She was horrified. He seemed rather pleased.
"Soo, science lab partners, huh? Isn't that how all great high school romances start?" Blossom bit back one of the more colourful expletives she had heard from Buttercup.
"In case you'd forgotten the little altercation we had yesterday, not to mention Wednesday night, might I remind you that I hate you?" She punctuated this with a sharp glare. But, true to form, Brick blithely ignored this.
"Hatred is only one step away from love Bloss. Don't you read romances at all? Not that I do, of course, for I am all things manly." She supposed that this was meant to be a joke. She didn't laugh.
"Listen, I am prepared to work with you for this class, but do not think this means that anything has changed." She got up and went to get the equipment they needed from the cupboards at the side of the room. Much to her chagrin, he followed her.
"You know, you don't have to be quite so hostile," he said quietly, leaning over her to grab a couple of beakers.
"Why? Afraid you might actually get the hint?" she shot back, picking up the last of the equipment. He simply gave her that irritatingly relaxed smile and took the tripod stand that was wobbling precariously on top of the stack of other things in her hands.
"No, but maybe if you stopped growling for five seconds, you'd see that actually, you enjoy talking to me."
"What? Oh, don't make me laugh." He gave her a pointed look, which she responded to with a scowl. He was baiting her and she was falling for it, and she was not happy about it. So instead she tried to just get on with setting up and carrying out the experiment. He, surprisingly, kept mostly quiet from that point on, except for double checking results with her. Strangely, she found that working with him was exceptionally easy. He didn't need to be told what to do, and he didn't need help to put the results into calculations. He was on par with her and it really did suit her to work with him. That said, however, it didn't mean that she had to like it.
At the end of the class, Blossom managed to pack up her things and make it to the door before he caught up to her.
"Look, will you just leave me alone? Please?" He fell into step beside her, irritating her all the more.
"We're both going to the same class, why not walk with me? Besides, I have another little proposal for you."
"Oh, I'm just dying to hear it." She let as much venom as possible drip into her voice, but he ignored it, as always.
"I think you're gonna like this one. Anyone can see that you're competitive in lessons, so I think we should have a little… contest." She shot him a questioning look, intrigued in spite of herself.
"What exactly did you have in mind?"
"Well, I'm thinking that I can get through all the work we get in class faster than you, and better than you, and I'm betting you think I'm wrong." Her eyes gleamed.
"I know you're wrong."
"So prove it." At that point, she realised that she was trapped. It was a silly game he was playing, but it was one that, as stupid as it sounded, was important to her. Unable to allow herself to be seen to be outsmarted (because he was insufferable enough without claiming to be smarter than her too), she had no choice but to accept.
"Fine, I'll play your game. It'll be all the sweeter when you lose." He laughed and allowed her to walk on ahead of him and beat him to the next class.
xxx
"I'm home!"
"Blossom? Oh thank goodness." Blossom put down her bag as the Professor greeted her in the hallway.
"Is something wrong? You sound worried." He threw a glance towards the kitchen.
"Bubbles is… well…" Blossom nodded, understanding immediately. She nudged the Professor aside and entered the kitchen.
"Bubbles, are you okay?" Her sister hiccupped and sniffed loudly, but said nothing.
"Hey, come on, talk to me. Did something happen?" Bubbles looked up at her, her face crumpling slightly as her eyes filled up again.
"I… I…" And then suddenly, it was as though her skin rippled and Bubbles wasn't there anymore. Instead, Blossom found herself looking at herself, albeit with Bubbles' tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Wait, what?" she said, dumbfounded. The Professor, rubbing his forehead, explained that he had heard Bubbles screaming earlier in the day, and had gone up to her room only to find Boomer standing there. Except not quite.
"I was thinking about that fight we had on Wednesday, and then suddenly…" There was another ripple along her skin and Bubbles was back again, rubbing her arms feverishly.
"Ugh, it feels horrible. It's like… I'm not me anymore. I don't like it. I don't want it!" Blossom laid a hand on her sister's quivering shoulder.
"Bubbles, you have to calm down. Remember, getting worked up like this might only make it worse."
"But…"
"Listen to me, Bubbles. Just try to relax, okay? It's going to be alright. It'll just take a few days for you to get this under control and then it's all going to be fine." Bubbles stared up at her with scared eyes, and then finally gave a shaky little nod. At that point, Buttercup arrived home, and Blossom heard the Professor explain the situation to her in the hall before she entered the kitchen.
"Hey, you alright?" she asked gently, sliding into the chair next to her sister and putting an arm round her. Blossom watched silently, a small smile on her face. It was rare occurrence, but Buttercup did have that little caring streak in her that peeked out every now and then.
"I'm jealous you know," she was saying. "Shape-shifting is way more cool than what I've got. You wanna swap?" Bubbles gave a weak little giggle, and Blossom let out a soft sigh of relief. It seemed that her hysteria had passed.
"Okay girls, I'm going to make a start on dinner. Why don't you go and get comfier seats, hmm?" They nodded, and all headed for the living room instead. Buttercup kept a protective arm around her sister as they sat on the sofa, and Blossom curled up on the other side, keeping Bubbles in the middle. It was funny; even though they both knew very well that Bubbles was well capable of fending for herself, they were still extremely protective of her. Blossom supposed that it was because Bubbles was the most open and the most prone to vulnerable moments. In any case, Buttercup flicked the TV on and did what they always did when they needed some cheering up; found the cheesiest looking sitcom they could, turned the sound off, and made up their own lines. Blossom didn't normally take part, but Bubbles still looked a little wobbly around the edges so she had a go.
As it turned out, she was extremely bad at it, but that seemed to amuse Bubbles more than if she'd been coming out with comedy gold, so she let it slide. She could endure one tiny blow to her pride afterall.
xxx
Later, as she sat doing her maths homework in her room, Blossom found herself thinking back to Brick's little challenge. Due to the fact that they were in all of the same classes (which, as Blossom had found out, had been orchestrated by the school to keep an eye on him), he had managed to stay true to his word on competing with her. He hadn't made it easy for her either, and it didn't help that she couldn't read his mind anymore without that horrible static squeal. Still, that would be cheating, and she didn't hold with cheating. Besides, it wasn't as though she needed to. She was the smartest student at the school.
Even if he had been uncomfortably close to her in scores. They had drawn level in just about everything (he had a slight edge over her in art, but that didn't count). Oddly though, she had found it to be less than irritating. In fact, as the day had gone on, she found herself relishing the competition. Normally, school was just something necessary. She didn't really put that much effort into it, and it was easy enough to let the odd mark slide here or there since she didn't exactly have any competition. But now, she had to keep herself on her toes. Every mark counted, and mark he slipped was a small victory for her. For once, she actually felt satisfied when the lessons ended, not just as if she was ticking off a chore on a list.
She sighed and put down her pencil. As much as she could still claim that she didn't like Brick, she couldn't deny that she had gotten a fair bit of enjoyment out of him being in the class today.
"Urgh, what I am going to do?" she moaned quietly, dropping her head into her hands. She couldn't let him know any of this. If he ever found out, then he might think he still had some kind of chance of winning that stupid bet. She supposed she carried some of the blame though; if she hadn't let him make that in the first place then maybe she wouldn't be in this mess. And the fact that he had ditched the roses plan only made it worse; now he was actually doing something that might work if she wasn't careful.
Of course, it wouldn't work even if she wasn't careful. Of course it wouldn't. What was she even thinking?
"Come on Blossom, hold it together."
"Are you talking to yourself? Don't tell me you're being beaten by homework; I mean, are you ill?" Blossom turned to scowl at her sister.
"I'm fine, thank you. Did you want something?"
"Just wondered what you were doing. Figured I might rent a movie, get some popcorn going. Make sure Bubbles is alright, you know?" Blossom shot a glance back at her homework. It wasn't due til Monday, and Bubbles had been pretty upset…
"Okay, screw it. Why not?" Buttercup blinked.
"You serious? Awesome. I'll go grab her then." She grinned and ran off down the hall. Blossom got up and stretched. It was the first time she'd ever actively ignored homework, but strangely, it wasn't such a bad feeling.
"Bloss, c'mon, we're gonna go down to the rental place now. Better hurry or I'm picking a kung-fu movie!"
"You wouldn't dare! Not after last time!" She grabbed her jacket and hurried off to follow her sisters, leaving her maths homework abandoned on her desk.