Townsville High

~Thanks for the reviews! Sorry for the wait!~

Chapter 34 - The silent secrets

Last Chapter - Blossom became distant, and she noticed something on Sky's computer about a disorder, before Sky shut the laptop. Bubbles told Brick about her suspision that Blossom has an eating disorder. &the clock is ticking for Butch and Buttercup, who have now six days to figure out if their relationship will last.


Blossom POV

There's something I've always wondered about myself. If I will ever really fit in, you know? If I will be good enough for this world. All I know is that I'm a smart red-head with a wonderful boyfriend and lovely sisters. Then I realise, I'm not as smart as I used to be, I'm reckless and losing my mind. My boyfriend is more than wonderful, and I do not deserve him, and my sisters are busy with their own lives to be a family.

Everything that was good in my life is just falling at my feet, broken. Do you know what it feels like to be truly alone? To feel like no one want's you or needs you in their life? It's a horrid feeling. I can't stand it. I am not perfect, I'm not even close. I'm just Blossom. That's all there is, and that's all that I am.

I've been back in this town for a while now, and it was not what I expected. In these months that I've been back, I've been in and out of hospital waiting rooms, I've run away, I've partied more than I ever would have, I've fallen in love..It's really not as I had expected.

"Bloss?" Bubbles' voice ran through my head. "You awake?"

I stretched my arms out and yawned. As I sat up, a throbbing pain in my back occurred, as I noticed I had fallen asleep on the couch. I must have stumbled into the house at a very early time, and I had fallen on the couch. How much had I drank the other night? I do not remember.

"I didn't hear you come in last night." Bubbles said before walking over to me. She was standing above me in a deep blue tank-top that was a little long, a pair of extremely light blue jeans and white heels. Her curly blonde hair was up in a messy bun and she was wearing the very small hoop earing that she had received from our father before he died. She looked beautiful.

A small sigh escaped my lips. "I was at Sky's for a while, I guess I lost track of time. Where's Buttercup?"

"She's upstairs, with Butch."

I hid the urge to grin. Ah, young love. But wait, my sister doesn't love. I wonder what on earth they are doing then? Simply dating? That's not Buttercup's style either. Butch told me during that Social Studies assignment that he really liked her, so I trust him around my sister, but it's hard to really trust Butch Jojo. From what I can remember, he used to be a real jerk.

"You look nice, Bubbs." I said before standing up, letting the head rush cloud my vision. Bubbles smiled at me in gratitude of my compliment. When I next looked at her, her face was serious, much like the facial expression that Brick wears all the time.

"Those diet pills I found in your room, Bloss, what are they for?" Bubbles asked in concern, sounding a little to concerned for my liking, but also sounding far too dense to realise how stupid that question sounded.

"They're to help me sleep." I said in sarcasm. "What do you think they're for, Bubbs? I wanted to watch what I was eating. It's all very innocent, you see. What's with the silent accusations?"

Bubbles' expression softened hearing the accusation in my own voice. She seemed to feel guilt at implying that I have abused diet pills. Is there any real way to abuse diet pills any way? I mean, you could take millions and still not be skinny. So what exactly does she think I'm doing with these small blue pills?

"Oh, well good. I'm sorry, it's just me and Brick, we-"

"You and Brick what?" I cut her off sharply. "What did you do, Bubbs? Go behind my back and start running your mouth to my own boyfriend? Feeding him lies about me some-how abusing diet pills? Get over yourself."

Bubbles glared at me in pure and utter shock, a look I had seen a few too many times this week. She was at a loss for words, as she had stayed silent for the next few seconds. The way her body shook stiff and how her nostrils flared in uncertainty, made me realise that maybe, just maybe, that was uncalled for.

"Blossom, it wasn't like that! We're just worried about you." If this was four years ago, right now Bubbles would have bawled like a baby, but not any more. She had grown up a lot, so much that she could handle a simple argument without crying. I prefer this side, but sometimes I did miss my innocent little sister, well technically she's the same age, but she's always been my little sister.

"Well stop!" I yelled. "Stop worrying, stop calling me every time I'm having fun with my friends, stop talking to Brick behind my back. Just stop! This is my life, Bubbs. You have your own, stop controlling mine!"

"What is wrong with you?" Bubbles gasped, looking at me in disgust. "You're my sister, why on earth would you think that I'm controlling you? I'm trying to help you!"

Help? Why must everyone see the need for that? There's nothing wrong. I have diet pills, so what? Don't get me wrong, I love my sisters, I love Bubbs, but this is just pure insanity! She's the one in the wrong here, not me! She's the one that is bang out-of-order, not me!

"You know what? Just stop, Bubbles. You're my sister, and I love you, but just stop. If I needed your help, I would tell you. What I don't need right now is you and Brick accusing me of something so absurd as abusing diet pills!"

With that said, I walked out of the room. Entered the kitchen. Sat down at the table, head in hands. Let the world go. Stopped listening to these accusations. Just stopped it all.

I need it to stop.


Brick watched his best friend carefully. Noticing all the little quirks. The flinches every time that Brody's name was mentioned, the way she looked away when Boomer and Bubbles would kiss, and the way that she generally wasn't the same bubbly girl as always. He worried what would happen if she continued this way. If he would lose his best friend forever.

He was sitting on his couch. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, and he was sitting with his friends and one of his brother's. Beside him was Boomer, and beside Boomer was Bubbles. They were entwined in each other, chatting and laughing. Maxine was on the other couch, her legs crossed and her eyes dull.

It was hard not to notice the way things had taken effect. The way that her break-up had torn her apart. It made Brick think about how he would feel if he and Blossom ended things. He would be devastated. Shattered, even. He knows what it's like to lose someone you love, his ex taught him that, and now he couldn't stand to see Maxine feeling the same things.

Brick stood up, realising maybe Maxine could use some coffee as she looked like she had been deprived of sleep. He strolled into the kitchen and grabbed a cup from the top shelf, before sticking the kettle on. In an instant, he looked over to the door and saw Bubbles.

"We need to talk." She said seriously, and Brick knew she needed to talk about Blossom. He suddenly forgot all about the coffee he was making, as Blossom filled his mind with worry. He nodded at Bubbles, letting her know to continue.

"Blossom, I spoke to her about the diet pills and it turns out we got a little ahead of ourselves. She's fine, Brick, she's just stressed that we're getting too involved in this. She really needs you right now, so I'm going to make sure Max is okay, because I know that's your top priority right now, and you're going to go to the house and make sure she's okay." Bubbles said with a smile.

Brick smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, thanks, Blue. Tell me if Max needs anything."

"I will, tell me if Bloss needs anything."

They both nodded at each other and parted ways. All the both of them ever cared about was their sister/girlfriend and their best friend, and right now both those girls needed them. Brick was determined to look after Blossom, even if it made her dislike him in the slightest, he was going to get to the bottom of this.


Skylar was sitting in her room, on her laptop as always. She had her eyes narrowed at the screen in front of her. So many weeks of hiding one thing, and it was getting harder. All that Sky wanted was to be normal, like the rest of her friends. To stop drinking so much, to fall in love and to do well in school. But one secret ruined her.

She moved the laptop from her lap to beside her on the bed and shut it closed. Sky stood up and let her high top's hit the ground. She swayed over to her vanity table, the fabric on her Gucci dress rustling. For being a fairly rich girl, she never dressed like it unless she was out with her parents or in the house. She didn't like to be different.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, her head titled. Her blue hair looked lighter today, and there was a slightly style to it. It started off as a rustled curly style and got straiter as it reached the tips at the bottom. Her dress was dark blue with a black belt reaching across her stomach, and her make-up was light.

"Sky?" Her head whipped around to her door where she saw Tyler. Sky was starting to wish her mother, Cassandra, didn't just let people walk in like that. Then again, Cassandra was a people person, and she wouldn't refuse a friend of her daughter's to enter their home. Sky envied her mother's social skills, how she managed to bond with all of her friends that showed up. I guess that's what rich, successful woman are like. Social.

"Hey, Ty." She said before walking away from her vanity and over to her window. Tyler watched her stroll over with large eyes. He had never seen her in such a nice dress before, she looked sophisticated. Which was weird to see on a careless party girl. She really didn't seem like a rich girl.

"You look nice, love." He blurted, not even realising what he had said. Skylar narrowed her eyes before glaring at him, but smiled. She turned back around to her window and grabbed the small bottle of Channel perfume that sat on the window sill, before spritzing herself with it a couple of times.

Sky turned back around. "How's Max?"

"She's better than last night, so that's good." Tyler responded. Sky smiled and walked over to him, stopping right in front of the tall boy. Whenever she spent time with him, she noticed that he was very much like herself. The only differences between the two was that he wasn't rich, and she didn't have a sister. Oh, and she wasn't a male. That was pretty much it.

"I'm going to go play nice with Cassandra to get some cash, wait here." Sky chuckled before walking past him and out of the room. Tyler raised his eyebrow, wondering why she refered to her own mother as Cassandra. She wasn't adopted, so either she hates her mother or she's too sophisticated to call her mom.

Tyler decided to sneak around. He had made a bet with himself that he could find out whatever it was that Sky was hiding, and he knew he would find out sooner or later. He closed the door behind him and snuck over to her bed. He opened her laptop, ready to snoop, but noticed that it had locked and was password protected. Damn.

He grabbed her phone that sat beside the laptop and looked through her texts. There was nothing important, just texts from Sky and Maxine, talking about parties and school. He looked through her call list and realised that there was one number that she had many missed calls from, so he called it.

".. ... ..Skylar! Great. I've been waiting for your call. You haven't been down in a while, we need to talk about your condition... ..Skylar?"

Tyler hung up the phone and started at it in shock. What condition!? He was really starting to think something bad was going to happen to her, especially considering she had avoided this guys calls. Just as Tyler was thinking, he heard a noise and spun around, phone still in hand. There was Skylar, her arms crossed and a pissed of expression on her face.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" Skylar yelled so loud that if this was a normal house, everyone would have heard. But this was a large house, so no noise left this room. Tyler braced for attack, no one wanted to be on the other side of an angry Skylar Anderson.

"I'm sorry!" He said. "I was just..Sky, what condition do you have, exactly?"

Skylar scoffed. "I don't know what you think you heard, but you're insane. Get the hell out of here, Ty! Before I make you."

"I'm not insane, I know what I heard. We all know that you're not exactly an open book, love, but what on earth are you hiding from us? A condition? That sounds pretty damn serious to me!" He yelled back. Skylar stood perfectly still, her arms by her side and her eyes fixed on his. He looked worried, frustrated, scared. She just looked blank.

"Tyler, I swear to god, if you don't drop this.." Skylar threatened without finished her sentence.

He walked closer, up in her face. "You'll do what? Huh, Sky? What will you do!?"

Without a second of warning, Skylar attacked his lips with hers. The heat on the moment was enough to drive them to the passionate kiss that now took place. Skylar wrapped her arms around his neck loosely and deepened the rough kiss. Tyler wasn't sure what was happening, but he kissed back.

Skylar pulled away and looked into his eyes, a fierce look in her own. "If you haven't realised it yet, I'm not exactly normal, Ty. A rich girl who acts like she isn't, someone who's only love is alcohol, someone who has no real friends. If you know what's good for you, you'll stop liking me, because I know you do, and you'll just back the fuck off."

With that said, Skylar shut her eyes tightly, fighting back frustrated tears, and walked out of the room. Tyler stood still before placing a hand to his lips, tracing them slightly. He watched her go with a shocked expression, wondering what on earth was going on.


Butch's eyes flickered at the light of the television in front of him. There he was, sat on Buttercup's couch that sat perfectly in the centre of the living room. He was watching some boring documentary about bugs, waiting for Buttercup to get dressed and come downstairs.

They had plans to go out to the beach, for a romantic evening. Well, it would be fun, but most likely not romantic. These two weren't the best with romance, but they did enjoy a day out in the scorching hot sun. The both of them had school tomorrow, and they wanted to fit a fun night in before they had to go.

Just as Butch was starting to actually get interested by this documentary, he heard a noise coming from the top of the stairs, and his head turned to the stairs. He turned back, but not only seconds later, whipped his head back around with his eyes wide and mouth hung open.

Buttercup was making her way down the stairs, looking like an angel. She was dressed simple as always, in a black Paramore shirt, with light lime green writing, matched with a pair of black board shorts and green sandals. Her hair was up in a high pony tail with a few strands of jet black hair creeping around her face. She had no make-up on, but looked beautiful. Natural.

"Hi." She said, her eyes shockingly bright and sparkly. Butch tried to smile, but his mouth was still hung open in appreciation. Butch knew he was lucky. He was in a some-what relationship with the most beautiful girl he knew. Buttercup. His counterpart, his whole reason for living and breathing. He just hoped that by the end of this week, none of this would end, and she would just be his.

"Ready to go?" Buttercup asked with a raised eyebrow as Butch sat, still as a statue, mouth open, eyes wide, the lot. She couldn't help but laugh at his expression before she walked over and grabbed his hand, pulling him up from the comfortable leather couch.

Butch finally snapped out of his daze. "Oh, yeah, let's go."

"You're creepy when you stare, Butchy boy." Buttercup rolled her eyes but smirked as she opened the front door. Butch let out a small chuckle before following her out of the house, closing the door behind him. He knew there was a risk of being caught, but he couldn't help it, he took her hand. Within seconds, he led her to his car that was parked right outside, and they both got in.

Buttercup turned to him and smirked. She loved how easily she could render him speechless. It was a powerful feeling, a feeling that made her feel like she could do anything. Butch wasn't exactly like any other guy out there, but she could tame him. She was the only person on this earth that could. That was enough power to keep them strong. She really was the female boss.


"Bloss?" Brick's voice rung through the house. In hearing his voice, Blossom arose from her seat on the couch, and smiled as he closed the front door behind him. She had been in the middle of some Soap Opera program, before Brick decided to come see her. As soon as his brooding red eyes laid on her sparkly pink ones, she was in front of him and grinning.

Without even saying anything, Blossom set one arm around his neck, and the other on his face, pulling him into a kiss. Brick kissed back, letting out a sigh of relief as he did so. He snaked his arms around her waist, enjoying the closeness. Blossom pulled away and smiled at him before wrapping her other arm around his neck too.

"Hello, Brick." She smiled sweetly. Her smile got even wider when she noticed that he was wearing the very same hat she had given him for their anniversary. She thought he looked so handsome in it, and a little dangerous, but mostly cute and..he just looked like Brick. The little five-year old Brick she used to know, who always wore that red hat that she now owns. Oh, how things had changed since their first meeting.

"How are you, beautiful?" He asked with a grin before un-attaching his arms and walking over to the couch. Blossom cringed at the pet name he always called her. She had made it clear to herself that she didn't think that she was beautiful. She thought that she was average at best, always near perfect but not even close to perfection, always second best to her sisters.

Blossom pushed the thought from her head. "I'm good. How's things at yours? I'm assuming Max is still staying there?"

"Yeah, she just needed time. She's moving back in with her adoptive mother, Mellisa, next week. I've sent Blue to keep an eye on her, and in return, I get to spend some time with my favorite girl." Brick grinned at her as she made her way over to him.

The red-head smiled brightly, glad that she got to have some alone time with him, which had not happened in a while. She sat down beside him on the couch and took his hand in hers, entwining their fingers. Blossom leaned into him and lay her head on his shoulder. She felt his arms wrap around her, almost longing for her undivided attention. He had missed these moments with her, just lying on the couch in each other's arms, being peaceful and in love. It had not happened in a while.

"Blossom, you would tell me if you weren't exactly happy, right?" Brick asked, his deep brooding voice burning into Blossom's mind. She raised her eye-brow and sat up slightly, her hands resting on his chest. Blossom's face was confused, but with slight understanding, and a frown tugged at her lips.

"Of course." She nodded. "I love you, I wouldn't keep anything from you."

Brick nodded back. That was all he needed to hear, for her to be honest with him. Maybe he and Bubbles were just over protective, and they were getting ahead of themselves. Brick smiled at her and in that moment, decided to drop all doubt. He pulled her towards him, Blossom falling onto his lips and grinning. They kissed with so much passion and grace, and then they both watched the television together, forgetting all about these doubts.


Brody heard someone knocking at his door, which stunned him. It was rather late and all of his friends were at their houses, so who would be visiting him? He headed out of the kitchen, where he had been making some coffee, and then he wandered towards the front door. He opened it to see Maxine, standing in front of him.

She looked at him with a hard stare, as if daring him to make the first move. Brody looked at her, noticing that she was wearing just a red tank-top and dark blue skinny jeans. She must have been freezing. Brody stood perfectly still, wondering what she was doing here and what he should say.

"..Max?" He asked with a furrowed face, confused if anything. Maxine's face twitched nervously before she took a long, deep breath. Blue eyes met green, and fixed. Maxine opened her mouth to speak, but found it hard to put what she had to say into words.

"Brody.." Maxine's voice cracked. "I can't do this anymore. Pretending that we're just friends, acquaintances, whatever. It's not right, we're soul mates, we aren't supposed to be just friends. I still love you."

So much emotion flashed through Brody's eyes in that moment, that she had rendered him speechless. Brody wondered if she still wanted him back and now he knew that she obviously did. But it didn't look like she was here to beg for a second chance, if anything the look in her eyes showed that she was here for a goodbye.

"I still love you too, Max, you know that." Brody said calmly, his voice wavering. Maxine breathed in, her mouth closed, and there was tears in her eyes. She looked so sad, Brody just wanted to cuddle her and never let go, but he held back from doing so.

"I came here to tell you that I know we're not together anymore, but I'm sorry, Brody. I can't be your friend. This is too hard. For the past nineteen months it was just me and you, and I don't know how to be around you when we're not together. So, I'm sorry, but this really is goodbye." Maxine said the last sentence quickly, like she had to push it out.

"What are you saying?" Brody asked in shock.

Maxine sighed. "If you see me at Brick's or in school, don't try to talk to me. We're not dating anymore, and we're not friends, so everything about us is over. Like you said, we haven't been Maxine and Brody for a long time, right? So bye, Brody."

She gave him one last look before turning around and stepping away from the door. Brody couldn't let her leave it like that, and he ran out after her. The rain was pouring heavily outside, drenching them both from head-to-toe. Brody grabbed Maxine's arm softly and spun her around.

"You can't do that, Maxine! You can't just say that and walk away, it doesn't work like that!" He yelled desperately, hoping to gain a better conversation. He pulled her right into an argument, just so that she wouldn't leave it the way she did. He needed clarity, not this.

Maxine scoffed. "Brody, you broke up with me, remember!? You broke our relationship and I accepted that, so now you have to accept that I've broken our friendship. Deal with it!" She cried, letting some tears stream down her face. The rain-soaked her hair, making it turn into brown ringlets.

"I can't!" He yelled. "Okay? I just can't. I wanted to quit while we were ahead, to end our relationship while it still meant something! But I never wanted to lose you completely, Max."

Something broke in his voice, and it cracked enough to make Maxine see the pain that he was in. For the past few days, it had been hard to talk to each other, but Brody was trying to make an effort. He sometimes spoke to her during group conversation, he offered her coffee at Brick's and friendly stuff like that, but it never felt right. Ever.

"Well, that's your problem, Brody. Just stay away from me!" Maxine screamed in his face before spinning around and walking away. Brody watched her go with an angry but sad expression. Both of his hands ran through his hair, and he cursed out loud before screaming into the wind.


This had been a hard day, with a lot of yelling and hurt. So many secrets were surrounding, and the clock was ticking for each and every one of them. Everyone in the group were falling deeper into a web of lies and pain, and all there would be left was what remained. Still, some of them were trying so desperately to keep what was left of them all.

Everyone had a secret, everyone had a lie to tell, and everyone had an ulterior motive. Someone's secret would be out very soon, but who's? Blossom's? Skylar's? Butch and Buttercup's? Yet, someone else had a secret too.

Yes, every single on of them had a secret, and the clock was ticking for one of them..

XoXoXoXoXoXo

Blossom looked at herself in the mirror, watching as her nostrils flared as she breathed. She spotted all of her impurities and when she did, closed her eyes. Brick was long gone, and Bubbles had fallen asleep on the couch. As for Buttercup, she was in her room, on the phone to Butch, of course.

She was sick of feeling this way. Feeling like nothing was right with her, like she didn't deserve anything or anyone. Feeling like nothing and no one. It had to stop. She needed a release, a stop to all of this. Blossom already knew something that helped, a secret so to speak.

Without giving it any thought, Blossom turned around from the mirror and shakily made her way over to the toilet. Within seconds, she was gagging on her own fingers and throwing up in the toilet. Never had Blossom thought about having an eating disorder or died pills, but both of those things became her, and she was scared that Bubbles was getting too close to figuring it all out.

She done it one last time, letting the insecurities flood out of her, throwing up. It seemed so vile. Blossom was disgusted with herself, but still, it made her feel so much better after it was all over.

Blossom stood up and made her way back over to the sink, before washing her hands. She looked at herself in the mirror and narrowed her eyes. Blossom turned the tap off and exited the bathroom, thinking of Brick and how horrified he would be if he ever found out..

XoXoXoXoXoXo

Skylar was sitting on her bed, with her head sitting in her hands. She had been so frustrated and angry at Tyler that she had forgotten how happy she was in that one moment when they had kissed. Skylar knew it was wrong, she shouldn't have liked it or been happy, but she couldn't help it.

He was so close to figuring it all out, the reason she had left Citysville, the reason she didn't tell Blossom the real reason behind her break up with Darren and the reason that she had to talk to that guy on the phone. Tyler would soon know, and then everything would come crashing down.

She was hanging on to the last shred of normality she had left, but if they found out, she would stick out like a sore thumb.

"You can do this." Sky muttered as she grabbed her blue cellphone. She sighed and began to dial that number that she had been avoiding, the same person that she was on the phone to when Tyler over-heard.

".. .. ..Skylar?" The voice on the other line made her flinch.

"Hi." She responded, shakily. "Listen, I'm sorry that I haven't been down in a while. It's just been hectic, with the move and all, but I'm coming down tomorrow. I'll talk to Dr Harrison, and I'll get better. I promise."

"That's great, Skylar. You are making the right choice. Call me tomorrow and I'll tell you when to come in. Oh, and Skylar, I promise that this will be dealt with. Your..condition, it isn't as serious as Cassandra thinks. You're going to be fine."

Skylar didn't even respond, she just hung up the phone and put it down beside her. She looked over to her window, and replayed the moment where she and Tyler had kissed. It was a moment of weakness, to distract him, so why was she so plagued by it?

Maybe because it meant something.

XoXoXoXoXoXo

Buttercup strolled into her bedroom, her eyes practically stapled shut at how tired she was. She walked over to her large bed and fell onto it, feeling the heat from the green sheets. Buttercup felt something crinkle beside her face, and noticed a small piece of paper. Her hand snatched the white piece of paper that she had noticed sitting on her pillow, and she began to read it.

I couldn't stay away, look up.

Her eye brow raised before she looked up and saw a figure sitting on her window sill. Buttercup jumped up in surprise, shocked at how she hadn't been able to notice him sitting there when she had came in. She was obviously so tired that she didn't notice anything.

"Hi, crazy girl." Butch smirked as she panted loudly.

"You just about gave me a heart attack! What are you doing here?" Buttercup asked with as she crossed her arms and pouted angrily. Butch grinned and stood up. He walked over to her bed and stood there, smiling down at her.

"I couldn't stay away, like the note says." He chuckled. Buttercup rolled her eyes and watched as he sat down on her bed beside her. She was enraged that he had come over without warning, he was risking exposure of their secret, but she found it slightly sweet that he couldn't stay away from her for even a night.

Buttercup nodded. "I guess considering we have less than a week left together, maybe, we should spend it..together."

She heard Butch chuckle slightly and then saw him nod through the darkness. He stretched out his arms and lay down beside her, getting under the warm green covers. Butch put his arms around her waist protectively and pulled her into him. Buttercup got comfortable and settled against his chest before closing her eyes.

Then they fell asleep beside each other, and six days soon became five. In five days either there secret would come out, or they would dismiss it like it never existed. But would someone find out before those five days? Which secret was going to come out?

Only time would tell.


There you have it! Not my best chapter, but I tried. Sorry it took a while, I've had some things to do, but I hope you liked it!

Please review, it only takes a few seconds:)!

Allie Peirce