Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while since I updated. University's been making things a bit hectic, and I don't know when I'll get this updated again since I have two more essays to write in the very near future. I will try to get it done whenever I can grab a spare minute. Anyway, please leave a review, if you wouldn't mind.
14
Oh no, no, I can't do this. I can't…
Blossom fumbled with her keys as she attempted to lock the front door. They jingled obnoxiously as they slid through her fingers, landing at her feet. Cursing under her breath, she snatched them up and locked the door hurriedly, turning to find both of her sisters looking at her with worried eyes.
"What?" she snapped, shoving her keys into her bag so hard she nearly ripped through the fabric. Buttercup raised an eyebrow, obviously thought about saying something, and then thought better of it. Bubbles, on the other hand, bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet.
"Come on you two! We'll be late!"
"No, we won't," Buttercup sighed, rolling her eyes. "We're already leaving fifteen minutes earlier than normal as it is. Besides, you should calm down before you start turning into every person that gives you something today." She was apparently still slightly bitter about the fact that Bubbles had all but torn the two of them out of bed early; Buttercup really liked her sleep. But Valentine's Day may as well have been a second Christmas for all the fuss Bubbles made of it. Not to mention the ton of gifts and cards she usually received.
"Well, we won't be early then," Bubbles said indignantly, adding a pout just to punctuate the statement. Blossom, ignoring the bickering, remained in a state similar to shell-shock.
I'm doomed. I'm dead. It's over.
"Blossom?"
"I'm fine! School! Let's go!"
xxx
Bubbles disappeared from view almost as soon as the three entered the school, squeaking a hurried goodbye as her friends rushed her off to see just how big a pile of presents and cards she had received this year. Buttercup made a noise of disapproval; Valentines' Day was one of her least favourite days of the year, which no one had ever been surprised about.
Blossom looked about, trying her best not to appear nervous. She couldn't see Brick anywhere, which was something, although she was fairly certain that this wouldn't last long, and then all of her current nightmares would come true.
"You okay?" Buttercup asked, fiddling with the combination on her locker door. Blossom swallowed and nodded.
"It's fine. I'm sure everything will be alright." That was, of course, a big fat lie, and Buttercup knew it, but before she could call her sister out on it, she was distracted by her locker. Or rather, by the contents.
"What the hell?" Blossom peered over her shoulder.
"Is that a card? You got a Valentine?" They stood, dumbstruck for a moment, and Blossom wondered just who would be suicidal enough to send Buttercup such a thing. Buttercup, on the other hand, stared hard at the handwriting.
"Looks like… ah, it's just one of the guys off the team messing around." Blossom raised an eyebrow.
"Are you so sure? Maybe it's not a joke."
"Are you kidding? I don't get Valentines; no guy in his right mind would like me. Besides, I'm not interested in dating or any of that stuff." She scuffed one of her trainers along the lino floor, making a squeaking noise. "And if it's not a joke, then it's just 'cause my powers have been messing with their head. It's still not real."
Blossom was unsure exactly what she was meant to say at this point. Buttercup was oddly complex for someone who acted as emotionally simplistic, and it was never clear whether she wanted someone to agree with her, or tell her she was wrong, and of course there was a guy out there who liked her.
"I'm going to class," Buttercup muttered, crushing the card in her hand and throwing it back into the locker. She waved over her shoulder to Blossom as she wandered away down the hall, pushing between the crowds of students all clamouring to see who had got what. Blossom watched her, and then threw another glance about the corridor just in case Brick had shown up. He hadn't, thankfully. She was tempted to scan for his thoughts, but the memory of that hideous static prevented her from doing so.
"What's the matter Blossom?" Princess sneered from a relatively safe distance across the hall. "Nothing from your boyfriend?" No one was really sure what exactly happened immediately after that, except that there was an extremely bright flash of pink light and a scream. Whatever happened, Princess spent the next hour locked in a cubicle in the girls' bathroom, whimpering quietly.
xxx
Blossom wondered what a heart attack felt like, and wondered if she was having one. Brick, on the other hand, looked perfectly calm as he sauntered over to her desk before class started. Naturally, everyone else was watching them both intently, obviously waiting for a repeat of the roses incident.
"Blossom! You ready for that chemistry test later?" Blossom blinked and tried to speak, although her tongue false-started on her. Brick raised an eyebrow.
"What? You didn't study? Oh man, are you telling me I get to beat you without even a little bit of a challenge?" Blossom continued to simply look at him, wide-eyed.
"O-of course I studied," she managed eventually, trying to compose herself. "I would never go into a test unprepared." She fiddled nervously with the collar of her blouse, hoping that he would go away. He hadn't embarrassed her yet, but he may simply have been trying to get her guard to slip, which she wasn't going to allow. However, he simply wandered off to his seat behind her, leaving her feeling vaguely confused.
His behaviour didn't make sense. He'd started this whole thing off by being obnoxiously showy about it, especially the day he'd started school. Why wouldn't he take full advantage of Valentines' Day to do something even worse? She turned this over and over in her mind, even as the teacher walked in and started the lesson. It made no sense, and she couldn't make it make sense and she didn't like that. Not one little bit. Unfortunately, before she could try and analyse these thoughts further, the English teacher coughed loudly and asked if she could kindly get her book out like everyone else. Feeling herself flush a little, she complied, mentally cursing herself for allowing herself to be distracted like that.
The rest of the lesson proceeded like normal, despite the fact that Blossom still had that vague heart-attack-like feeling even as she was working. When the bell rang for the end of the lesson, she snapped upright and hurriedly started putting her books away. She reasoned that, if Brick did have something planned, then the best course of action was to just avoid contact with him as much as possible. She just had to hope he wasn't planning on serenading her at lunchtime or something equally mortifying. She felt herself freeze all of a sudden; that really was a horrifying thought.
He appeared at her side seconds after she'd left the classroom, and his sudden presence caused what felt like all of the muscles in her upper body to simultaneously contract; it was an odd, and not very pleasant sensation.
"What do you want?" she said, trying to keep her voice almost normal sounding, and not as though she was desperately resisting the urge to punch him in the face and run.
"Nothin', well, not anymore than usual. Are you giving in any yet?" She shot him a look. It was a good look too, one of those ones with a capital L; the ones you don't mess with under any circumstances. It was a look that she'd cultivated especially for moments like this. Unfortunately, Brick had never been one to pay attention to these sorts of things.
"So, that's a no, huh?" He shrugged. "Chemistry test coming up; ready for me to kick your, rather nice if I may say so, ass?" She sighed.
"Crude comments aside, I think you'll find that I'm more than a match for you, as always."
"Heh, we'll see, I…" He paused suddenly, and then laughed as they passed a group of girls in the corridor.
"Wow, what happened to Princess' eyebrows?"
xxx
The chemistry test had been easy (she'd beaten him, although only by a single mark), and lunchtime had been uneventful. In fact, all in all, except for Bubbles suffering a small present avalanche and getting a paper cut off of one of her cards after briefly turning into the person it was apparently from, it had been a very peaceful day.
Blossom didn't like it.
"Geez Bloss, would you lighten up already?" Buttercup complained as her sister growled at her for accidentally bumping into her. Blossom took a deep breath and made a slightly forced sounding apology. She had been getting progressively edgier all day; there was still no sign of anything forthcoming from Brick. It wasn't right because it didn't make any sense, and Blossom didn't like it when that happened. Still, school was over now, and that left almost no room for him to embarrass her in front of her peers. It did still leave the possibility of a house visit that evening, but that could be dealt with easily by simply ignoring him. Even so, something still seemed off…
"Well, I'm off to practice," Buttercup said, waving back over her shoulder as she walked away towards the gym. Bubbles had already headed off home with her towering pile of chocolate, cards and assorted gifts of questionable taste and romantic value, so Blossom would be walking by herself. That might give her a chance to clear her head.
However, as she headed out of the school doors, she caught sight off Brick sauntering off towards the gates. Leaving. Just like that. Suddenly, she was gripped with a sense of acute frustration, and before she really knew what she was doing, she was airborne and racing towards him.
"What is your problem?" she snapped, landing in front of him and gripping him by the front of his jacket. He gave her an odd look.
"I think I should be asking you that Bloss," he said, disengaging her hands from his clothing. "As far as I know, I haven't done anything today."
"Exactly!" she said, throwing her hands in the air. "Is this some new way to mess with me? Keep me on edge this whole time and wear me down that way?" His only response was to stare at her blankly, which elicited a frustrated noise from somewhere in Blossom's throat.
"It's Valentines' Day," she snarled. "And I don't think for a second that you don't have some kind of stupid plan to-" she paused, noticing that he looked nothing short of utterly confused.
"Oh man," he said quietly to himself, scratching his head. "Was that today?" She blinked.
"You... forgot?"
"Uh… yeah, guess so. Never paid much attention." She stared at him incredulously and then, against her will and much to his surprise, she burst out laughing.
It was a very short burst of laughter, and she clamped her hand over her mouth very quickly, but even still, it was a chink in the armour.
"I can't believe this, you had me on edge all day and you had actually forgotten?" She rubbed the bridge of her nose and tried to wipe the lingering smile off her face. Brick, on the other hand, looked as though he didn't know whether to be annoyed that she was laughing at him, or pleased that she was talking to him of her own free will.
"Maybe it's just as well I forgot anyway," he said finally. "You were bad enough when I didn't get you anything; I'd hate to see what you'd have done if I had." She felt her smile involuntarily widen.
"Worse than what I did to Princess, yesterday and this morning, believe me."
"And I didn't even have an insidious plan."
"Maybe not this time. I still don't trust you." He pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Oh Blossom, you wound me." She simply rolled her eyes and started walking away, the smile still taking its time to fade from her face.
xxx
It was only later that Blossom realised that it was becoming far too easy to talk to him. That had been a perfectly civil conversation (apart from the beginning of it, but she wasn't about to split hairs), with Brick. That wasn't right. The worst part was that she'd come away from it in a good mood.
It shouldn't be so easy, I'm meant to hate him… She was pacing in her bedroom as she thought it. She knew she should hate him. She definitely had hated him up until recently, she was sure. Was something different now? Well, of course it was different, and he was acting different and… She stopped, turned and collapsed onto her window seat. This was getting too complicated even for her.