Wow, been awhile since I've uploaded this story hasn't it. I feel really bad, I have a majority of the story rewritten, it's just it's missing certain scenes and it's a little out of order, so I need to rework transitions to get the story uploaded in order. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter, it's a little longer. Review :)
"Professor, aren't you in the least bit worried that the Rowdyruff Boys are back?" Bridget reasoned as she paced around the kitchen. Being our early riser, Bridget was already dressed in her usual, dowdy clothing, while both Blaire and I still wore our pajamas. I glanced at the frying pan distractedly as I flipped the eggs, most of my attention straying between my thoughts or the conversation at hand. It had been about two weeks since the Rowdy's had arrived, and they hadn't calmed down yet.
"Of course I am Bridget, but if the Principal did say she wanted you to keep an eye on them. So they are making sure nothing goes wrong." The Professor replied slowly from behind his newspaper. I could tell from his tone of voice that he was just saying this to make her feel better. And apparently Bridget could tell too.
"You're not taking this seriously. We could be putting the High School students at a major risk here. Did you ever think of that?" She chided. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the eggs. What else could we do? They technically had a right to attend our school, no matter how small that right was, they went through the necessary steps to attain it. Bridget checked. More than once. We couldn't kick them out if they weren't doing anything wrong. "Girls give me some back up here." Bridget pleaded.
"No matter how much I hate to admit it, she has a point Professor. The boys were no good 10 years ago, they probably won't be much better now," Blaire stated from her seat at the table.
I frowned to myself as I flipped the eggs again. People don't change, do they? Someone doesn't just turn good over night, but it had been 10 years? Maybe there was a little hope? What're you talking about Brooke; you can't make someone good just by hoping. That's hopeless.
"Girls, I know you all are pretty worked up about this, but I think you need to understand that you have a tendency to over—"
"We are not overreacting, I mean think about it Professor? The boys have attacked our town more than once and have proven to be lethal at the age of 5. Now they're 17 and you expect us to just go on like they couldn't be capable of so much more?" Bridget cut in evenly as she finally slid into a seat at the kitchen table. An uneasy silence settled in the room and I sighed, pressing a smile across my face.
"Who wants eggs?" I asked in a blissfully cheery voice. I felt guilty feigning ignorance, as usual, but it's not like my sisters would appreciate with my siding with the Professor once again.
"I can't believe the Professor doesn't see how dangerous all of this is." Bridget mumbled as we walked down the hallway together toward our lockers. "Doesn't he know the Rowdyruff boys?"
"Yes, he does know the Rowdyruff boys, but so does the rest of the town. And from the looks of it that doesn't stop the female population from flirting with Butch." I noted as I pointed toward the end of the hallway. Butch balanced his weight against a set of lockers as he chatted with Princess Morebucks. From the corner of my eye, I saw Blaire's cheeks flair red, but I ignored it.
"Just because the rest of the town is ignorant doesn't mean we are," Blaire growled as we stopped in front of our lockers. She smacked hers, placing yet another noticeable dent in metallic surface. Bridget pursed her lips as she smoothed the creases in her pleated skirt.
"We'll just follow our instructions, keep an eye on them. As much as I hate to admit it, you have a point Brooke." I clenched my jaw, but let her continue. "They haven't done anything yet. So we'll just wait." I nodded as I turned to my locker hurriedly, I was really getting sick of the Rowdyruffs being the only topic of conversation with them. I almost preferred that they ignored me. It seemed less insulting than when they didn't address me.
"I have to get to class girls, I'll see you in Algebra," I muttered as I quickly pulled my things out of my locker and slid them into my bag. I gave them a small wave, my charming smile glossed over the obvious irritation. Bridgit and Blaire didn't really respond, they had already moved onto another topic of discussion. Not that I minded.
I made my way down the hallway and toward my first class, French. I didn't want to mention to my sisters that in the two weeks the Rowdy's had been back they had been at the diner every time I was working. It was almost as if they knew my schedule. Everytime they were there, they requested me. By requesting me, I was forced to interact with them. Not that it really mattered, they didn't do anything besides annoy the hell out of me, they always paid for their trouble in a hefty tip.
"Hey Bub-I mean Brooke." I grimaced and grasped the arm loop of my backpack a little tighter. With a glance over my shoulder, I met Boomer's pale blue eyes warily. "You work again tonight, right?"
"Shouldn't you know? You've practically got my schedule memorized by this point," I stated passively as I tried to duck into my classroom. Before I could, Boomer blocked my way with his arm. He stared down at me, his eyes softening ever so slightly as they held my gaze. "What do you want?"
"I was wondering if you would mind if it was only me who came to the diner tonight?" I gave him a bewildered look, but quickly covered it with a scowl.
"Do whatever you want? I can't control who comes into the diner." I pushed his arm aside and made my way into my class. What kind of game was he playing?
"There's only one of them this time," Nate stated coolly as he pressed past me to grab some plates off of the table I was clearing. I glanced over my shoulder, and there was Boomer, in his usual spot reading. I glanced at the clock. I only had 15 minutes left in my shift. The Rowdy's never came this late. "Maybe they're finally getting bored with harassing you."
"I don't think so." I swiped the plates from Nate's hands and gave him a playful grin. "They love seeing me suffer, it's something they'd never get bored with." Nate stopped cold, a small smile crossing his face as he met my eyes. I rolled my eyes, and everyone thought I always had my head stuck in the clouds.
I dropped off the plates into the washroom and returned the front. I glanced at Boomer. He hadn't looked up from his book. There were so many questions I wanted to ask. I needed answers. Boomer was going to give them to me, whether he wanted to or not. I made my way to a dirty booth beside Boomer and leaned over the cushioned chairs to peer over his shoulder.
"Why did you come back to Townsville?" I asked curiously as I stacked the plates in my arms. Boomer didn't respond at first, he just flipped through the pages of Othello. I wrinkled my nose impatiently, but he didn't seem to notice. "You had to have come back for a reason. Why did you?" Boomer's gaze shifted and met with mine.
"It's difficult to explain." He replied softly. "But you do have a right to know Brooke. I guess I owe you that much. It's just a little risky to tell you everything." He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around the diner. No one really paid us any mind, but I knew what he meant.
"Well, it's not really safe for us to be talking here in the hottest student attraction in Townsville." I stated knowingly as I stuffed my pad of paper into the front of my apron. "But, I will be off of work in about ten minutes if—"
"Let's get out of here."
"What?" I asked abruptly. Boomer smiled and closed his book with a soft thud, his sandy blonde hair falling once more in front of his sky blue eyes. I bit my lip nervously as he leaned in closer.
"Let's go somewhere to talk." He stated with a charming smile.
"So, are you going to answer my question or not?" We sat in the middle of the Townsville Park, which was thankfully empty. I didn't want to think what would happen if the girls caught word that I was 'interacting' with the enemy. Boomer fiddled with the frayed sleeve of his sweatshirt mindlessly. "I didn't come here to watch you play with you clothing."
"A part of me was missing." Boomer mumbled, his gaze still intently locked with the threads of his sweatshirt.
"Come again?" I asked quizzically.
"My brothers and I, we were rewired; I guess that's the word, by the government about seven years ago. We were reprogrammed to be good, if working for the government is good, I guess. They want secrets and information, what better way than to reprogram three superhuman teenage boys and send them into the world as their slaves, I suppose." He continued nonchalantly. My eyes widened. The government is using the Rowdyruff Boys? "My brothers, despite the reprogramming, weren't really all that keen on working for the government, well at least Butch wasn't, Brick was happy as long as he believed he was leader."
"But that doesn't—"
"I'm getting to that part." Boomer cut in. "I was different, big surprise. We should both know by now we're different from our siblings." He smiled bitterly and continued. "I felt like I was missing a huge chunk of me. There was emptiness inside me. It was something even our programmers could take note of. They couldn't understand why I was so unhappy." He shuffled his blue converse through the dying grass, the smile fading. "I realized that I needed and wanted to come back to Townsville. I felt like I belonged here." He finally met my eyes and smiled. "I knew what was missing, I could find here."
My cheeks burned when the realization hit me. How could I not have guessed that much already? "And what exactly is that?" I asked lamely, ignoring the rising heat in my face.
"Are you really going to make me say it?" An uncomfortable silence fell between us. My thoughts were running wild. Why was this happening to me? Why did it have to be Boomer—of all people? "Why did you decide to trust me, Brooke? We are supposed to be your enemies after all?" Boomer asked curiously as he pulled his knees to his chest. The sun had just disappeared behind the trees. I squinted to get a better look at him. He looked at me with such innocence, it was a little unnerving. "What made you change your mind?" I sighed. Maybe I shouldn't mention that he wouldn't leave me alone until I did. "You trusted me before I tried to convince you, I know you spoke in our favor when you discussed it. You're not the only one with super human hearing, Brooke." Damn, why didn't I think of that?
He smirked as I pressed my chin on top of my knees and huffed. "I believe in giving others a second chance." I replied slowly. "Granted, this is your seventh or eighth chance, but there was something about you guys that was different." I added after a second thought. Boomer played with a strand of his hair absentmindedly as he watched me carefully with his pale eyes. After a several moments of silence, I decided to continue. "My sisters say that I trust too easily. I guess you can say I'm the weakest link out of the three of us." I outstretched my hand and let a soft blue glow engulf my hand. Both of our faces lit up, no longer blurred by the darkness. In light, I could see the sad smile on Boomer's face.
"Why would I say that you're weak? Personally, I think that you're the strongest link." He replied with a nonchalant shrug. My hand tensed the glow immediately disappearing, basking us in darkness once more.
"Then you must have gotten the self esteem from my DNA because I have never, nor will I ever be extraordinary." I stated with a bitter laugh.
"That's not true. I think your mind is pretty extraordinary, your ability to forgive and trust, that's pretty extraordinary. You really must not notice the way other people look at you. A lot of people admire you. I know I admire you." Boomer admitted hesitantly as he shifted his weight and leaned a little closer. "A lot of guys look at you. Girls are always talking about how much they envy you. You're like an Untouchable in the school, Butch told me."
Was he being serious? My mind was shit, no one noticed me. He was just mocking me, he had to be. Boomer must have known what I was thinking because he reached down and plucked a small blue flower from a patch of weeds at the base of the bench.
"Here." He stated as he offered me the flower. "It's a simple flower that holds a deeper inner beauty." He pressed the flower between my fingers, his own lingering a moment or two before he pulled back, a smile on his face. "You aren't weak Brooke." I smiled halfheartedly and twirled the flower with my fingers.
"That's a pretty euphonic analogy Boomer, but I'm not a flower, I don't have symbolism or an 'inner beauty' or anything like that. I'm just me." I replied with a sigh. "But thanks anyway."
Boomer shrugged and gave me one of his infamous crooked smiles. "It's what I do." I glanced up and noticed several people enter the park, my skin itched as I pulled my legs away from my arms. Boomer glanced at the people entering and frowned before standing up and stretching his arms high above his head. "I say we call it a night. Don't want your sisters finding out about us do we?"
"No, I suppose not," I began slowly as I, too, stood up. "Not that there is an 'us' isn't that right Boomer," I quickly added as I shoved him playfully. Boomer smirked in response and tugged at my ponytail.
"Whatever you say blondie."