What started off as a writing exercise morphed into this layered, multi-part story centered on our favorite greens. It will be told in four parts-possibly more if I find there's more of their story to share. We'll see where these troublemakers take us :)

PART 1 - In which Buttercup gets her heart broken.

Buttercup didn't know what this feeling was, but she knew that she did not like it. She'd been shoved off budlings, slammed into asphalt, and punched in the jaw so hard she'd seen stars, but one look at this measly picture and she could scarcely remember how to breathe.

Toughest fighter my ass.

It's not like she hadn't seen this coming. Mitch and Bethany had been awfully chummy lately, and Buttercup had been so busy with school, and practice, and, well, saving the day that she never got the chance to ask her oldest friend and only crush why they'd been so distant lately. But who was she kidding? Bethany was a poster child for popularity, part of Princess' inner circle, and she'd somehow given Mitch the time of day before Buttercup could muster up the courage to say, "I think I like you." Now she had to live in a reality where Bethany was calling Mitch her boyfriend, where Mitch was calling Bethany his prom date, and where Buttercup was calling in sick because she was pretty sure she was gonna hurl. Prom-posal season always made her a bit ill, but this was a different kind of sickness—one she'd later recognize as heartbreak—and her Chemical X wasn't doing shit to heal it.

It's a fucking Instagram post, B.

And yet she kept staring at that smile plastered on Bethany's face, on Mitch's toothy grin. He'd serenaded her with the guitar Buttercup had given him for his birthday. The same one she bought so they could start a band together. It was something they used to fantasize about when they were younger—how cool they would seem to the other kids who looked down on them as outcasts. Ha! They'd show them. Bad Attitude would debut with Lloyd on keys, Floyd on drums, Buttercup on bass, and Mitch—naturally—as the lead on strings and vocals. They were destined to be the biggest thing Townsville had ever seen, and Buttercup endured one hellscape of a summer—retail at the Townsville City Mall—to make that dream a reality. Mitch was right there with her.

So when Buttercup found Mitch one night, his knuckles bloodied and swollen, his room trashed and hot tears stinging down his face after his father had cut town with all of his savings, she didn't think twice about buying his next birthday gift. She'd already quit her job at the mall, but she'd find another way to pay for her bass, and there was no doubt in her mind that he'd do the same for her.

Watching him open that guitar was the happiest she'd ever seen him.

That is, until she set eyes on this photo.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to curl up in a ball and never speak again. Her insides were an indecipherable tangle of emotions that all rioted and crashed against each other, and yet her mind was eerily blank. She was thankful her sisters weren't here to see this. Surely, she looked insane, standing stock-still in their bedroom doorway, clutching her phone as if the device itself was holding her family for ransom. But she couldn't move, she was terrified her next breath would be the most painful breath she'd ever taken.

So, she stood still. So utterly still. And after a while…

…she breathed.

And it astounded her how that one, shuddering breath could hurt worse than any superhuman injury she'd ever had.

She felt an unfamiliar heat behind her eyes and her hands began to shake. I can't be here, she decided. I have to leave. Yes, because suddenly everything familiar reminded her of Mitch, and if she didn't get out, she would obliterate this house because her desire to crush and singe and destroy was so absolutely blinding—

She sent a message to the only person she could think of.

Need you NOW.

And she was amazed by her restraint when she opened the window to fly into the night rather than blasting straight through it.

Hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a comment if you did-I'd really appreciate it!