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CHAPTER SEVEN: "Rick Jones"
Blossom entered her first period English class with all the required materials and exactly five minutes before class started as she had usually done. She sat down and put her English school book upon the desk, then looked at the seat in the far corner of the room that belonged to Buttercup.
"That's strange. Buttercup may hate school, but she always shows up to class around this time," she said thinking out loud.
"You don't think she's in any kind of trouble do you, Bloss," said Bubbles as she took her seat next to the lead Puff.
"She's tough. She can handle trouble," she said calmly.
Four minutes passed and finally Buttercup walked through the doors. Her sisters were shocked at her appearance. She was coated from head to foot in dirt and gravel. Her head had a wound on it and a small trickle of blood could be seen on her hair line. Her waist was heavily bruised and her back looked like it had been beaten.
"What happened!" her sisters exclaimed at the same time.
For a second she was about to answer, "the most wonderful thing ever," but she stopped herself. She didn't like the idea of her sisters knowing about the masked stranger on a bike who had saved her.
"I ran into the Gang Green Gang," she said casually. In her head she thought, "That's somewhat true."
"You did! Tell me exactly what happened at lunch," Blossom said.
Brick immediately began racing to his first period, fighting with every bit of his will the urge to fly. This was going to be his first full day of school and he had no intention of being late on the first day. School was something that he had looked forward to. He had plenty of time when he got there, but he didn't think parking would take so much time. He guessed if he had done it once, it would be easier the next time. He stood in the door way of the class and saw his worst nightmare: all three Power Puff Girls in his first class and his seat was right next to Blossom's.
He immediately jumped back out of the door way and put his back against the wall. "Crap! They're in there! How do I get out of this?" He thought. There was only seconds before the bell rang and he needed to think fast.
Just then an idea struck. He turned his hat forwards and put the hood of his jacket over his head. He looked in the window at his reflection for a quick check and realized that his crimson red eyes would easily give him away. He grabbed the sunglasses that he had used to shield his eyes from the flashbang grenade and put them on. It seemed to work. He was completely indistinguishable.
There was no more time. He entered the classroom right as the bell rang and took his seat. He avoided looking in the direction of the Power Puff Girls at all costs. No one seemed to pay him any attention.
The teacher turned around.
"Before we start class, I would like to announce that we have a new student who will be attending class with us," she began.
"Crap…" Brick whispered under his breath.
"Brick, please stand up and introduce yourself to the class," she said.
The PowerPuff Girls each gave a gasp.
"It can't be," said Blossom.
"They're not even supposed to be alive," replied Bubbles.
"Yeah, we kicked their lame carcasses to kingdom come nine years ago," said Buttercup.
Brick slowly got up and walked to the front of the class. His mind was on the verge of panic, but he somehow managed to keep calm and walked to the front. He quickly thought up a few good lies and his anxiety left him.
"That must be a mistake, my correct name is Rick," he calmly said. "Not to be confused with Brick, the evil and conniving, yet remarkably clever super villain that you three fought several years ago," he calmly said hoping that the class bought his lie.
The teacher looked at him curiously. "Do you have a last name, Rick? Your file only gives your first name."
"My last name is Jo…" He stopped himself. If he gave his real last name from his first creator Mojo Jojo, then he would have been in real trouble. "Jones," he stammered. "Yeah, that's my name. Rick Jones."
The three super heroines calmed down a bit, but eyed him suspiciously.
"Well, Rick, I don't allow sunglasses or a hood on in my class. Would you mind taking them off?" asked the teacher.
Brick quickly thought of another good set of lies.
"Ma'am, would you please make an exception for me? I have a terrible skin condition that just looks horribly ugly and I would feel a great deal more comfortable if I would be allowed to keep the rest of the students from seeing it," he calmly responded. His politeness and manners worked like a charm.
"Take off the glasses then."
"I am not allowed to since I just had my eyes dilated. Eye dilation is a medical procedure in which eye drops are placed into the eye and the pupil is opened greatly for medical reasons. If the patient does not shield his eyes, then large amounts of light would enter the pupil and burn the retina, causing permanent damage. Please forgive me for I will need to have the shades on for a few more days," he said as he quietly hoped that the teacher did not know that eye dilation in reality only lasted for eights hours maximum.
"Very well then. Please state to the class your favorite things to read."
Brick knew that the best way to tell a lie was to mix it in with as much of the truth as possible. So he started naming things off the top of his head that he liked for real.
"Shakespeare, the Art of War, Love and War, political non-fiction, and military non-fiction. I also like to read poetry in general," He said calmly.
Blossom cocked an eyebrow. "That's funny, those are my favorites too," she quietly said to no one in particular.
"How about hobbies? What do you usually do with your free time?" asked the teacher.
"I like to read and write. I love chess and strategy games. Anything that makes me think really," he replied.
"Me too," thought Blossom.
When the teacher had finished with him Brick took his seat, right next to his counterpart. Three minutes into the class a folded piece of paper flew from Blossom's direction and landed on his desk.
At first the red ruff panicked. "What did she do that for? She couldn't know who I am by now! It's impossible!" He thought. He picked up the piece of paper and calmed down when he recognized it as a note.
Dear Rick,
I am honored to be in the same class with you and I must say that your tastes bear a striking resemblance to my own. Therefore, I think you would be an excellent addition to the Pokey Oaks High School Chess Club. Please circle one of the following for your answer:
Yes No
-Blossom Utonium
The chess club actually seemed like an appealing idea to Brick. He loved chess and it would give him more opportunity to gather information on his foes and the students. His only concern was that the chess club was not the ideal place to achieve a popular status. However, the advantage outweighed his concern. He circled "yes" and handed it back to her.
It was then that he remembered that his brothers were no where near as good liars as he was and he began to worry about how their introductions were going. "I hope they don't mess this up."
Quickly he grabbed his Blackberry and began to text under his desk to his brothers some lies he thought up to use in case they were introduced. The piece of paper flew back in his direction and landed on his desk a moment later. It now had added on the bottom:
"I am glad that you accepted my humble invitation. We will be meeting after school today in the main conference room in the building near the gym. Please be there by 3:15 PM. I look forward to seeing how you perform in chess."
The red ruff cocked an eyebrow at the note.
Meanwhile at Lunch...
"And then BAM!!! The wrecking ball fell on top of me! I was out numbered and wounded so the odds were stacked against me. Big Billy wrapped me up in a beam of steel as if it were ball of yarn," Buttercup said as she dramatically recounted the story with hand motions and sound effects to her sisters and Emily, a new girl who had made friends with Bubbles. They were all sitting at the lunch table under the cherry blossom tree.
"Whoa! So how did you get out of it?" asked Bubbles.
Buttercup paused for a moment and Blossom noticed this.
"Uhhh... I broke free of the beam, beat up the gang, and got back to school on time," she quickly finished. "Looks like all my working out paid off."
"I suppose so," Blossom said suspiciously as she took a drink of her orange juice. Buttercup was a horrible liar.
"So girls, there is another subject that I would like to bring to your attention," said Bubbles.
"And what's that?" asked Blossom.
"Boys," she said cheerfully.
"Let's talk about something else," suggested Buttercup.
"Hey no fair. You got to tell your story and I want a turn too."
"Fine," Buttercup said and rolled her eyes.
"Okay so is there any boy that you have your eye on? No wait. Forget that question. What do you want in a boy? Buttercup, you first."
"Why me?"
"Come on just tell us. We're your sisters."
"Fine. I want a guy who is really good at sports and boxing and that I can test my skills against," she said.
"Buttercup, you'll never find a guy like that," said Blossom with skepticism. "You could kill every guy in school, and the whole world for that matter, with your bare hands."
"Whatever, Red," said the green puff as she crossed her arms.
"What about you, Emily?"
Emily was rather shy. She had a fair complexion and hazelnut brown eyes with long black hair. She typically wore the yellow variation of the school uniform and had a purple sweater with green and aqua flowers over it. Instead of dress shoes she had white and purple running shoes on her feet. Like Bubbles she was also obsessed with almost everything cute.
"Well, I like the kind that does not cheat and is really nice and opens the door for you and writes you all sorts of notes and stuff and..." she said and realized that she was beginning to trail off. "Yeah..." she said and quickly finished.
"What about you, Bloss?"
"I want a guy who I can have a good conversation and an intellectual exchange of ideas with, but I also want him to be honest, kind, a gentleman, patient, faithful, and just. Even able to keep me in line when I do wrong things," the lead puff confidently said.
"You'll never find a guy like that," Buttercup remarked.
"Shut up, BC." Blossom said flatly.
"My experience has led me to believe that all men are scumbags," sourly stated the green puff.
"You mean your one experience when you liked Ace when we were five?" Blossom asked. (I am referring the episode Buttercrush)
"Yes, and I'm still bitter about it," pouted Buttercup.
"You know, Buttercup, Ace wasn't the only guy in the world," said Bubbles.
"Stop trying to give me hope. I feel better having none," Buttercup said.
"I want Boomer to sit with me at The One," Princess said to the boys as the were in the cafeteria line.
Brick immediately objected. All the lunch tables were numbered. He knew that "The One" was refering to the number one lunch table, which was where all the cold hard plastic, popular kids sat at for lunch. The fact was that if Princess went around flaunting Boomer as her boyfriend, which she was eager to do, the Power Puff Girls would easily see him and their element of surprise would be wasted.
"Brick, I have been giving you lots of money," she began, "And I have not been able to be with Boomer in public at all since you got your cash. I want Boomer to sit with me at lunch today!"
The leader of the Rowdy Ruff Boys caught his blond brother looking at him pleadingly out of the corner of his eye.
"If I remember correctly, Princess, your words were 'I'll help you with your plan if you help me with mine.' If Boomer gets seen in public, it would be very bad for our plans," replied Brick with calmness.
"Fine, tomorrow then," princess replied.
"How about next week," replied the leader.
"That's too late for my plans then!"
"What exactly is your plan?"
"I can't tell you," she said.
Brick crossed his arms, put his fist under his chin, and closed his eyes, assuming his thinking position. He opened his eyes once an idea came to his mind. "I think I can work this out. I'll make you a deal. Boomer will do anything you want him to do starting Thursday if in addition to the money you answer every question I ask you truthfully," he proposed.
"That's perfect. I agree and thanks," she said and grabbed her food and left to sit at the The One.
"Brick, that's in two days. Are you sure you can gather all the info you need in time?" asked Butch.
"I won't need to gather all of it. I have someone that already has and agreed to answer every question I ask," he said smirking as he watched Princess walk away. "This is going to be an easy week, boys."
"Not for me," said Boomer with a worried look on his face. "I feel like such a slave."
"Well, we got a lot of money off you so you can take pride in knowing that you're an expensive slave," Butch joked.
"Gee, thanks," came the sarcastic reply.
"So how did your introductions go? Did they believe you?" the leader asked.
The blue ruff nodded. "I think they bought it," he said.
"What introduction?" asked Butch with a confused look on his face.
Brick cocked an eyebrow at his green-eyed brother. "You didn't go to class did you?"
"Nope."
"Good ol'Butch."
Red Crown: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please Review. I am interested in your opinions and they do help fuel my writing engines to bring you the next chapter.