Townsville High

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Chapter 36 - Make War Not Peace

Last Chapter - Blossom's eating disorder got worse. Skylar got jealous. &Butch and Buttercup found it harder and harder to keep everything secret.


"Miss Utonium!" Blossom's head jolted up to see her History teacher, Mr Daniels, giving her a look. Beside her, Brick was laughing. She had zoned out for a while there. Blossom jabbed Brick in his side with her elbow, making him instantly stop chuckling.

"Sorry." She said in embarrassment. Mr Daniels rolled his eyes before walking back to the front of the class. Blossom cursed herself for almost falling asleep. She had been up most of the night as she didn't feel well. This morning she felt better, but now she just felt dizzy and exhausted. She felt her eyes close again and tried desperately to glue them open.

Brick noticed her eyes shutting then darting open every few minutes, and he wondered what was up with her. He turned his attention back to her and furrowed his brows.

"Are you okay?" Brick asked in concern.

Blossom smiled weakly. "Perfect."

Her voice was low and sounded forced. Even Blossom hated using that word. No one was perfect. Although Blossom seemed to think that there were a few perfect people, like her sisters and some girls in this school. She even thought that Maxine was the definition of perfect, but Blossom knew that she herself wasn't, and that made her hate the word.

Brick looked back to the front, watching at Mr Daniels began to write stuff on the board for them to copy down in their books. Blossom looked over at Mr Daniels and narrowed her eyes. He wasn't like the other mean teachers, he was what some people would say as a fun teacher. But he still was strict when need be. His hair was a dark black and he wore thick black glasses to cover his brown eyes. Blossom wondered why he was such a nice teacher, it was unusual at this school.

"Blossom?" She turned to her other side to see Maxine. "You should come over to Ty's today, we're gonna have a movie night. You know, movies and pizza, like the good old times."

As soon as the word pizza reached Blossom's ears she felt herself take a long breath. Blossom couldn't help but laugh in her mind as she thought about what Maxine had said. The good old times? It could never be like it was, Brody wouldn't be there, because Maxine told him to stay away from her, and Buttercup would be disappearing with Butch every hour to go for a sneaky kiss or chat. Nothing would be the way it was before, Maxine was silly to think it would.

"Blossom?" Maxine's voice called again, realising that she had not replied to her question. Blossom's eyes were closing again, and all she could see was darkness, with the occasional dim light of the classroom as she tried to open her eyes. Through her small daze, she could hear more than one person calling out her name.

"Bloss?" Brick, then Maxine, then Sky, who was sitting in front of them, then Butch, who was sitting behind. They were calling her name every few seconds, and Blossom didn't understand why. Their voices didn't sound clear, it was like something was blocking them from sounding normal. All she could see was darkness, there wasn't even light any more. Suddenly Blossom felt a sharp pain in her lower back and she still didn't understand why.

Then he called out again. "Blossom!"

Finally the darkness went away, and Blossom's eyes rolled open. She choked on a gasp as she found herself staring up at the ceiling of the classroom. Her chair was still sitting up, making her realise she must have fallen from it. She raised her head slightly to notice that her chest wasn't moving as she breathed, only a little bit. Panic arose in her until she felt Brick's strong and safe arms help her to an up-right sitting position.

"W-What happened?" Blossom said breathlessly. She saw that Maxine, Butch and Sky had all gotten out of their seats and were looking at her with horrified looks on their faces. The throbbing pain in Blossom's head was enough to make her feel like she might throw up, and not on purpose.

"You passed out." Maxine responded. Finally Blossom realised why her head hurt so much, it was most likely because the back of her head hit off the floor of maybe even Butch's table on the way down. She held her head in agony and cringed as the feeling.

"Oh.." Blossom said quietly as she tried to focus her confused mind. She felt Brick's arm lift her up. If it wasn't for his arm, she would have fallen right back down. She wanted to scream, yell at people to just leave it. That she was fine. She didn't need people looking after her. The only person that ever looked after her, her father, was gone. She had to be independent, and walk on her own two feet.

"Mr Jojo, please take her to the hospital wing." Mr Daniels said as he stood before them. Brick nodded and helped Blossom walk up right. They walked past the many students that were looking at her in concern, wondering if she would be okay. Blossom ignored their questions, "Are you okay?" She didn't reply to a single person. She just felt her legs move, and held her head high.

Brick and Blossom shortly arrived at the hospital wing, and the school nurse, Mrs Matthew, told her to lie down on the bed. It wasn't so much as a bed, as what seemed like an examination table. Blossom slowly climbed on the bed and refused to lie down, so she sat up, the pillow propping her back. Brick stood beside her, watching her every move.

"What happened, Brick?" Mrs Matthew asked. She knew Brick rather well, he was often in here with Butch, as Butch got injured a lot during boxing practice.

"She fainted." Brick replied.

A small smile crossed Mrs Matthew lips. "That's uncanny. You know that your sister, Buttercup, was in here for the exact same reason before? It was a while ago, though."

Blossom resisted the urge to roll her eyes. This is a hospital wing, so why on earth does Mrs Matthew think that she can just have idle chit-chat? Blossom looked at Brick, and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. He was so scared when she fell in class, his heart was thumping through his chest. Never did he expect it to happen.

"That's nice." Blossom's voice dripped sarcasm. "So, as you can see, I'm fine. Can I go back to class now?"

Mrs Matthew chuckled. "Most people come here just to get away from class, dear. Do you have any idea how you fainted? Have you been feeling well?"

Blossom wanted to laugh at the nurse. Of course she wasn't feeling well, she had fainted. Blossom didn't lie though, she did feel fine now. She just wanted to get back to class and forget this happened. Still, she got a little scared that Mrs Matthew would realise why she fainted. She hadn't eaten in a whole day, and even yesterday she threw up everything she had eaten.

"I wasn't feeling well this morning, I guess I just didn't get enough sleep." Blossom lied. She noticed Brick looking at her with furrowed brows, mainly because he knew that she had went to bed early, she had told him that. Blossom smiled at Mrs Matthew, trying to convince her that she was fine. Luckily for her, it worked.

"Okay, dear. I think you should at least stay here and take a breather, class is almost over any way. Stay here until the bell and then go for your next one." Blossom nodded, not wanting to argue or make things worse. Mrs Matthew smiled at her before disappearing into her office, leaving the pair alone.

Brick looked at her intensely. "You sure you're okay? Cause I can drive you home."

"Seriously." Blossom said. "I'm absolutely fine, Brick. But I love how much you worry about me."

She smiled and took his hand, pulling him closer towards the bed. Just seeing how scared he had gotten, was proof enough that he cared about her more than himself. She loved him for that, but she didn't understand why he cared so much.

"Yeah? Well I love you." Brick said sweetly before placing a small kiss on her lips. Blossom grinned at him as her arms wrapped around him. Every time she heard those words, she couldn't keep away. Blossom kissed him on the cheek and rested her forehead against his.

"I love you too." She said blissfully.


Tyler's POV

I could see Skylar sitting on a bench outside. Her light blue hair was shining in the sun, and she was mindlessly chewing on the end of her pen. I noticed that she was working on something in one of her school books, which was strange, she never usually spent her free time working. I wandered over to her, and she took notice of me.

Unlike the usual bright smile I got when she saw me, she just looked at me before her gaze turned back to the book she was holding. I sat down on the seat of the bench, although she was sitting on the top of the bench like it was some sort of throne.

"English, huh?" I spoke, noticing the book she was looking at. "Need any help, love?"

Even I found it strange that I had asked that. I'm Tyler-Jay Cairns, I don't like to work on my own school work, never mind someone else's. I guess I just wanted a reason to talk and hang out with her. She's so confusing sometimes. One minute she's acting like my best friend, then she's distant, then she's kissing me, then she's ignoring me. Maybe this has something to do with that disorder that guy on the phone was talking about. I wish she would just tell me what's wrong with her.

"No thanks." Her voice was dim and low.

I sat down on the seat of the bench, rather than the top of it, and turned to look at her. She finally gazed back at me, and then I saw her smile. It's weird, whenever I see her smile I wonder how I've went so many years without seeing it. She makes me so nervous, and then she smiles and it all goes away. Kind of crazy, if you ask me.

"So, are we going on a date or what?" Sky asked me casually.

I was speechless. "Uh..I um..are you asking me out?"

She laughed. "Smooth, Tyson, yes I am asking you out. Now what do you say?"

Rather than saying anything, I leaned forward and kissed her passionately. She smiled against my lips and her hand rested on the crook of my neck. I felt this rush of excitement run through me, like everything was going right again. I remember one day Bubbles told me that I would find a girl who could make me love again like she did, if only I knew that this girl would be Skylar Anderson. There's always that one person for everyone, I guess that makes her mine.

She pulled away. "I'm going to take that as a yes, Tyler."

Oh, so she remembers my name now. I laughed. "Good, because that's my answer, Skylar."

We smiled at each other.


Normal POV

Boomer walked into his Art class and found Bubbles sitting at their regular table. She was scribbling something down on her book, and her foot was tapping underneath the table, waiting for Boomer impatiently. When she heard him approach, she looked up and smiled at him happily.

He sat down beside her and kissed her on the cheek innocently. Bubbles grinned and held his hand under the table, ignoring their teacher's rules about, "No personal displays of affection in this classroom." Their hands were hidden, the teacher wasn't going to see anyway. Bubbles tightened her hand around his as her other scribbled on the book in front of her.

As curiosity struck, Boomer looked down at the book to see his and Bubbles' name written over and over, all in different styles of writing. He chuckled. So this is how she spends her free time, he thought. Boomer leaned over, pencil in hand, and began to write both of their names in the only empty space on the page of the book.

Bubbles smiled at his sloppy writing, she was holding the hand that he writes with, but he still wrote it.

"You're kind of sweet, you know that?" Bubbles asked with a grin. Her pearly white teeth shown through her full pink glossy lips. Her blue eyes sparkled and gleamed with pure love and happiness. Boomer smiled cutely and nodded at her, before putting his pencil down.

"Oh yes." He said gleefully.

Bubbles looked down at her book, smiling at the names. She always thought that she and Tyler would write their epic romance, but there was always a name missing in that book, and now it was filled. She and Boomer would write their own epic romance. Bubbles wondered why it had tooken tragedy, the accident, to realise that he meant for her.

She sighed, causing Boomer to look at her.

"You okay?" He asked with his tone filled with concern. Bubbles found it rather hard to mask the frown she was hiding with a smile, but she did. She shrugged and held his hand tighter, feeling his fingers entwine with hers.

"It's just Blossom, she's been acting different lately." Bubbles said carefully as her mind shifted to her sister. All these little things that Bubbles had noticed was stuck in her mind. Such as Blossom's mood changes, her new eating habits and her sleep loss. If only Bubbles had known the reason why. Things would have been easier for both of them.

Boomer smiled. "You know what she's like, Bubbles. One minute she's happy and studying then one annoying comment from Brick and she's all mad." Boomer chuckled. "I'm sure if there was something on her mind, she would tell you."

Just saying that instantly made Bubbles feel better. She nodded at Boomer, and wanted nothing more than to cuddle into him for the rest of class, but their teacher would most likely scream at them. Bubbles still felt very lucky to have him in her life. He was the one person that could make her fake smile a real one. Not many people find that person, but she found hers.

"What would I do without you?" Bubbles said happily, as more of a statement than a question. Boomer grinned at her and scooted his chair ever so closer to hers, bringing his arm around her back.

"I was just thinking the same thing about you."

They smiled.


Maxine stared from across the school hall as some skinny blonde girl was talking to Brody. She tilted her head when she noticed Brody laughing at whatever she had said, but not in a 'Get out of my face.' way, more of a 'That's hilarious.' way. She didn't frown, she just watched from afar.

The thought of him moving on so quick or even flirting with another girl made her stomach churn. She sighed deeply, trying to mask her jealousy with anger. This girl was moving closer to Brody, acting like he was her boyfriend or something, touching his arm and all of it. Maxine growled. Most girls had a thing for Brody, he was on the boxing team after all, but he never even glanced at one of them, now he could.

All of the girls would be all over him now, just like before him and Maxine started seeing each other. Just the pure thought of that made Maxine want to scream. She felt silly for still thinking of him as hers, they were broken up, he could see whoever he wanted right?

"Let me guess," Buttercup appeared beside Maxine. "We hate that girl."

Maxine smirked and laughed. "We do."

Buttercup turned to the tall brunette and smiled sympathetically. She understood how this must feel, she hated the thought of some trashy girl with her hands all over Butch, but even the thought of jealousy annoyed her, so she pushed all the thoughts away.

"If he's chatting to this random girl, maybe you should start chatting to some random boy. You know, jealousy works both ways, Max." Buttercup smirked as she looked back over to Brody, playful mischeifety in her eyes. Maxine sighed again before shaking her head.

"I don't think it should work like that. He made it clear that we're over, so what would be the point of making him jealous? I guess I should just forget about him. Move on, you know?" Maxine asked as she looked at Buttercup.

Buttercup smiled. "That's the spirit! I still disagree with your statement about not being able to be friends with him. I mean, I know he dumped you and all, but friends are for life."

"You can't be friends with someone you're in love with." Maxine responded. She hadn't taken her eyes off of Brody. Buttercup nodded slowly, looking over too.

"I guess you're right, Max."

Brody and the nameless girl wandered off down the hall, not even taking notice of the two girls staring at them. Maxine and Buttercup both crossed their arms against their chests, narrowing their eyes as Brody walked off with the girl, like he had already moved on to someone new.

"Boys," Maxine scoffed. "Can't live with them, can't live without them."

Buttercup smirked. "Can't live with them. Full stop."

The pair laughed before wandering down the hall in the opposite direction of Brody.


Finally school was over, and the girls were back at home. Buttercup was with Butch in her room. They had told Bubbles that he was over for a marathon of video games, and she believed them. Blossom knew exactly what was going on though. She felt empowered by knowing a secret that others didn't, then again she knew two secrets that others didn't.

Bubbles was in the living room, watching some sort of program about animals. That was all she ever watched on television, apart from movies. Blossom, she was upstairs. She had changed into pyjama's even though she wasn't going to bed for a while, it was still light outside, she just wanted to get out of her school clothes as soon as possible.

Brick had asked Blossom if he could come over, but she made up an excuse about needing to dye her hair, do homework and revise. Brick would never have guessed a lie in that story, considering he knew her well, and she spent most of her nights doing these things.

After what happened in class, Blossom just wanted to go to sleep until everything was right again, but she had to face it. She couldn't sleep after that. That look in Brick's eyes when she woke up, pure terror. He was terrified of losing her. Blossom couldn't stand to see that look again.

She sat in her room, just thinking.

Buttercup's POV

An hour after dinner, I decided to go downstairs to get some coffee. I needed to be in my right mind if I wanted to thrash Butch at our video game. When I wandered into the living room, I found Bubbles asleep on the couch. I smiled and walked over before putting a blanket over her.

She tossed and turned for a second before settling again, and then came the snoring. If I thought Butch snored loudly, Bubbles took it to a whole new level. Maybe we should have made Dr Russell take out the muscles that make her snore when she was in hospital. Oh well, too late for that now.

I strolled into the kitchen and decided against making coffee, because the noise of the kettle would wake Bubbles up. So instead I reached into the fridge and pulled out two cans of energy juice. I closed the fridge and headed back upstairs, to where I found that Butch wasn't sitting in front of the television in my room where I left him.

Snap.

Suddenly I blinked as Butch appeared in front of me with a camera in his hands. I covered my face with both of my hands before he could take another picture of me and my leg shot up to kick him in the stomach, but he shifted back quickly, a happy smirk on his face, as usual.

"What the hell, dude?" I asked as I glanced at the camera.

Butch chuckled. "You said that we might only have three days left of us, so I thought I needed pictures to remember it if this is all over."

A blank stare was what he got back from me. Since when was Butch sentimental? Since when did he care that much that he would want to remember any of this? Hey, I guess people can surprise you, right? But this? Wow. Just wow. Butch laughed at my expression as he tossed the camera from one hand to the other, over and over.

"Hey, I can be cute!" He said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "Congratulations, now get that camera away before I ram it down your throat."

"Come on, Butters! Just one. Be nice for once!" He whined like a child. If I didn't enjoy his company so much I would have thrown him from the window like I had intended to the other day. My arms crossed across my chest as I gave him that look. The look I always give him when he's acting like an absolute idiot. Which is most of the time.

"First of all, I'm very nice." I said sarcastically. "Second, never call me Butters again or you'll spend the rest of your days breathing through a tube."

Ah, I had missed our friendly banter. Nowadays it's all, let's be nice to each other and not argue! Yeah, that really doesn't work for us. We're Buttercup Utonium and Butch Jojo. Nice isn't in our vocabulary. I did find it sickingly sweet that he wanted to take a picture of us together though. We already have some, but I guess now it would actually mean something when we looked at it. Maybe it isn't a bad idea, after all, in three days we might be back to being just friends. This did seem appropriate.

"Please?" He pouted.

My eyes rolled again. "Fine, get over here, idiot."

He grinned and shifted over to me, reaching his arm out as far as he could in front of us. I felt his free arm wrap around my waist and pull me closer into him. I looked into the camera and smiled brightly, a slight hint of a smirk there. Within seconds I heard a click and he pulled the camera back towards us.

We both looked at the picture and smiled. I wanted to laugh at how ridiculously cute we looked. I am not cute, this camera is obviously defective. Still, we did look good together, being ex counterparts and all. I wondered if when this was all over, if I would feel sad or relieved.

I mean, the whole point of the secrecy and the countdown was to see if this would work, if we were right for each other. But just looking at this picture made me realise that there was more of a chance that we were right for each other than we weren't. We only have three days left to decide if we want this, I know he does, but I still wasn't sure.

"We look kinda great together." Butch smirked. I tried not to laugh but it came out anyway. My bright green eyes traveled to his dark ones, and we both smirked.

"Yeah..we kinda do."


Blossom's POV

You know, I heard Buttercup playing this song when I got home. I believe it's called Forgiveness, and the chorus seems to have stuck in my mind. All this time, I still can't get the lyrics out. Even as I try to think of something else, those words pop up. They're imprinted, probably because they describe me perfectly..

Excuse me, my friend, I think I might have hit my head. Excuse me, my friend, I don't remember who I am. Cause I'm holding on, trying to be somebody, but it wont be long before I need somebody. Forgiveness, asking for forgiveness.

It's funny, how just a couple of lines can describe exactly how I'm feeling. That's the wonderful thing about music, right? There's magic in everything, my father said, even lyrics. Magic? That's for Harry Potter books. That's not for life in the real world. My father was a stupid man. Believing to see the good in everything, well did he see the good in his own death? Huh!? Where was the magic then? Oh yeah, in a book.

"Bloss, I made dinner, you coming down?" Bubbles yelled from downstairs. I could just imagine it. Sitting at the table with my sisters, and Buttercup's secret boyfriend, or whatever Butch is, and me trying to hold my food down. Bubbles would be oblivious as she's the only perfect one with no secrets, while me, Buttercup and Butch would be trying to hide it all.

I wanted to laugh in bitterness. "I actually still don't feel well, so I'll eat later." My voice was loud, almost breaking.

"Okay!" She chirped back. My feet paced slowly into the bathroom as I went to take a shower. I pressed the button on the shower and began to discard my PJ's before hopping in. The scorching hot water burned my skin, but the feeling wasn't nearly as painful as the pain of daily life.

The water soothed me. It calmed me, kept me serene. Most of the time, when someone takes a shower, they spend more time thinking than actually washing themselves. Not me though. I think about life all the time, I don't need to do it here. The water began to cool down after a while. I sighed deeply before dragging myself out of the shower and grabbed the cotton white towel that sat on the towel rack.

Slowly I walked over to the mirror. My red hair was curly from the hot water, and the make-up I had on was now smeared down my face. I looked down at my stomach. It still wasn't good enough. I'd never be good enough, not unless I fought and made myself good. I needed to make myself brilliant.

I speeded over to the toilet and crouched over it before hurling intentionally. I used to be a hero, I've experienced a fair share of pain in my life, but this was like nothing other. My body ached all over, mostly my stomach and my head. All of my energy was drained and I just wanted to keel over and collapse onto the floor.

I couldn't breathe.

Everything in me hurt. It was like I had been stabbed and was fighting for my last breath. No one should ever feel like this, but who am I to speak? I do it to myself. I don't care about the consequences. For once I feel like Buttercup, just living for the moment, doing whatever I like. It feels empowering. It feels brilliant.

Still, I wondered what people would think if they knew. Brick would probably be disgusted and ashamed. Bubbles would be angry because I lied to her. Buttercup would be shocked and concerned. Boomer would be confused. Maxine would feel sorry for me. Sky would tell me to fight, and not give in. Butch would be trying to calm Buttercup down, while giving me a look of sympathy. Brody would forget everything good he ever saw in me, and Tyler would wonder how it came to be this way.

Everyone would have a different emotion, or thought, and I would be there to take it all in and feel guilty. Why on earth would I want that? No. That couldn't happen. I would not allow it. I never want to see that look in Brick's eyes again, I will if he ever finds out.

No matter what, no one is going to find out, not under my watch.


So, what do you think? I wanted to show off a darker side to Blossom, and I hope I did you all proud. We'll see more of that in the 'countdown' chapters, and more of a caring side to Brick.

Next Chapter - Blossom's problems get worse as Brick starts to notice her behaviour. Bubbles is shocked to hear a phone conversation from Sky and her doctor, and begins to thinks something strange is going on. It's day three for Butch and Buttercup and he decides they need to get to know each other better.

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

Allie Peirce