Buttercup's sudden makeover is invoking a lot of new feelings.

Chapter 14

She was late.

Lying idly on his back near the edge of the pool, his arms folded under his head, Brick hummed a vague tune, the sound of which only slightly echoed through the walls. His feet moved in time with a rhythm that he wasn't quite aware of following. Presently, his thoughts were somewhere else altogether.

This morning, for the first time in years, Brick Jojo had been thrown for a loop.

If someone had told him earlier that day, that the green puff was to show up at school wearing a dress, he would have outright laughed in that person's face at the sheer ridiculousness of the thought. This was, after all, Buttercup Utonium they were talking about, a girl who would prefer eating a whole bag of dirt as a dare, to going out in public dressed in something so awfully feminine. Even if—through some stroke of extremely poor luck—she was forced to wear girly clothes and makeup, surely the effect would be far too comical and awkward on her. Buttercup had no sense of fashion. The most she had ever done to change her look, was to add an occasional beanie or a baseball cap to her usual getup of loose t-shirts, jeans and jackets. She would make a mess of things if asked to try and look more like her sisters.

As it was, the girl had looked nothing like he would have expected her to.

Taking his right arm out from under his head, Brick placed it over his eyes to shield them from the lights in the room.

The image of Buttercup walking across the classroom, her gait easy and assured, the material of her skirt sashaying across her legs with each confident step, was imprinted on his brain. Some of it had been a fake attempt at bravado, her deliberately unblinking eyes betraying the nervousness that had been trying to break through her carefully schooled expression. But the more he had looked at her the more determined she had seemed, unwavering as she had walked past the gaping students.

Somehow, during the weekend, she had managed to take his hurtful words and use them to change herself completely.

Seeing her like that had caught Brick utterly off guard, causing an abrupt and dangerous explosion of feelings inside him, foremost of which had been blinding anger. His carefully deliberated plans of using Buttercup's vulnerability against her had backfired. She was supposed to have been insecure about herself; Brick had said things that must surely have hurt her a lot. She was supposed to start feeling unsure of her looks; the one concern that he knew had been secretly eating away at her self-confidence for some time now. He thought he had read those signs, he thought he had had her innermost uncertainties all figured out, and using those he had instilled a deeper sense of worry in her mind; the thought of loneliness stemming from being unlikable as a woman. Not even for a moment had he imagined that the girl would do a one-eighty, and throw him entirely off his game with that single move.

He should have been prepared for something like that though. With Buttercup Utonium, things were always unpredictable. She was the kind of girl who could come back even from the brink of death to defeat her enemies. That was part of what made her so goddamn challenging.

When Buttercup had entered the classroom this morning, Brick had been shocked out of his senses.

His brothers had whispered something to him, most of which had fallen on deaf ears as he had glared at the girl making her way to her seat, closely followed by her sisters. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she had had help in getting ready. Brick had watched as Mitch Mitchelson, Buttercup's best friend, had turned around in his seat once she had settled down, ogling her with his mouth hanging open. His eyes had followed the path of her body, pausing briefly from time to time to take in every aspect. For a split second Mitch had let himself stare at Buttercup's legs in that miniskirt, and had blushed.

Brick had forged a sort of friendship with Mitchelson since the day he had joined the school's swim team. At first he had only done it so he could keep a closer eye on Buttercup. But the guy had turned out to be fun and easy going, and despite himself Brick had started enjoying the times he hung out with him and his group of friends from their team. He hadn't really bothered to make a lot of friends in his previous school, just the occasional hookups with a few chicks who he'd forget about the moment he broke it off with them. So it wasn't too bad, having people to talk to occasionally at school.

When he had caught Mitch checking Buttercup out this morning though, he had suddenly felt the urge to grab the guy by his collar and slam him through the classroom walls. It had been so unexpected—and had even shocked him by its intensity—but at that moment he had wanted nothing more than to pound the boy's skull in.

This rage in turn had finally forced him to acknowledge something that he had been trying really hard not to think about.

He was attracted to that bitch.

Disgusted as he was with himself, he could no longer deny it. Seeing other guys in the class gawking at Buttercup like that, knowing exactly what most of them had in their minds, Brick had felt a powerful surge of jealousy burning through his body, flames licking away at his very being. It was purely physical, the force of it beyond his control.

And the worst of it was that he couldn't even attribute this ache to Buttercup's sudden makeover.

No, unlike most of the guys in the class who had started seeing the tomboy in a totally new light since this morning, Brick had felt the raw stirring from the moment he had wrestled her wet body to the ground on the day he had joined the school's swim team. Even in her modest swim suit, there had been something about that wildness in her eyes, that had made him want to grab her hair and bring her lips closer to his. As he remembered, he had almost lost his common sense—and his self control—and had bent his head a few extra inches closer to hers, before she had stopped any notions of his with a swift and painful kick between his legs.

He had told himself over and over again, that it had just been a fluke, a momentary lapse in his reason, making him feel attraction towards someone like her. But he had watched her during practice after that, watched her glide effortlessly in the water, her face breaking into one of her rare smiles full of joy, and he had felt those stirrings intensify.

Because when Buttercup was in the water, she was the most beautiful girl Brick had ever seen.

It was as if she became a whole new person. Her love for the water could be seen and felt in every swift, graceful movement of her body. Their swim team had quite a few exceptionally pretty and talented girls, Jenna Wilson being the one who was chased by almost every guy in the school. But when they were in the water, none of them could hold a candle to Buttercup. Out there, she was really something else. And while the rest of the boys would stare at Jenna and the others, Brick couldn't help but keep his eyes glued to Buttercup, admiring the perfect lines of her body as she swam to her heart's content.

The last time he had talked to her, he had said that no boy would ever want to ask her out, because she simply wasn't beautiful enough to get anyone's attention. To them she was just one of the guys. In the back of his mind however, he had known that he himself was guilty of checking her out all the time. He had thought that by saying those things to her, not only would he crush her dignity but also manage to confirm to himself that there was absolutely nothing about Buttercup Utonium that he could find attractive. And for a while he almost had himself convinced of that. But now, his sudden bout of anger and jealousy was telling him otherwise.

God, he hated her! He hated that she made him feel this way. Even though it was purely physical, it was a weakness that he couldn't afford to let anyone know about.

And least of all, to Buttercup herself.

He didn't know how long he had lain there, thinking of the green puff, when he heard other members of the swim team starting to enter the room. Getting up, he pushed his snap-back over his head, instinctively looking around to try and find the one person he really wanted to see at the moment.

Strange that Buttercup hadn't come early like she did every day. Had their last conversation made her decide against it? Was she nervous about spending time alone with him, even if just for a few minutes before their swimming practice?

He spotted Mitchelson standing with his friends by the door. The boy caught him looking and waved.

Fucking dick. He had no idea how close he had been to getting beaten to a pulp during class.

Brick waved back at him, faking a smile.

Buttercup was usually seen, hanging around her best friend, but today she was nowhere in sight. The coach would be here any minute, was she planning on ditching the class again like last time?

Cursing, Brick quietly muttered to himself, "Where the hell is she?"

XXX

Buttercup had changed into her swimsuit and was staring down at herself in one of the changing rooms, trying to take in her body from every angle. Over the weekend, Bubbles had taken the liberty to completely revamp her sister's wardrobe. Not even her pajamas had escaped the blonde's radar as they had been casually disposed of with the claim that in order to feel pretty, one needed to take care of their looks at all times. In their stead, Buttercup had been made to choose nightgowns that had looked like they had come straight out of a magazine. Blossom had simply shrugged at Buttercup's protests, saying "Hey, she has made me wear these things for the longest time; it's only fair that you get to share the same fate, now that you've promised to not threaten her or beat her up. She's going to take full advantage of that."And even though the gowns had been really comfortable to sleep in, she had been overtly self conscious about the way they had clung to her body, leaving very little to anyone's imagination.

Needless to say, her swimsuits had been thrown out as well, although Buttercup had tried her best to salvage those. She had had to keep reminding herself to not lose her temper and that all this was happening because she had wanted it to.

But she had still almost lost it when Bubbles had taken all of her old clothes and given them away as donation.

Wishing they had mirrors in the changing stalls, Buttercup pulled the hem of her lime green suit, stretching it more over her hips.

"Even the color of this thing is sure to draw everyone's attention", she murmured.

Bubbles had assured her sister that the suit wasn't too risqué to be worn at school, but it still felt inappropriate to be seen in it.

That morning Buttercup had come to school, painfully aware of all the attention she had been receiving. Every single student had been staring at her, and she had felt them openly scrutinizing her outfit. Having her sisters right beside her for the most part had helped boost her confidence a little, but after the first period they had gone off to attend their respective classes, leaving her feeling exceedingly uncomfortable among the other students.

Of course, Mitch had been there all along, since they shared all their courses.

And so had Brick Jojo.

Buttercup had adamantly avoided looking at the redhead during class, even though she had been really, really tempted to. As awkward as she had felt with all those people gaping at her, she had been certain of at least one thing. She looked good.

More than just good, in fact. She looked damn right sexy.

'I hope I've made you eat your words, you asshole. You're going to be doing a lot more of that in the coming days'

Smirking slightly, she had looked up to find Mitch, turned around in his seat, staring at her rather awkwardly. His eyes had widened when they had met hers, and he had quickly mumbled an apology before looking away.

If she had had any doubts before, of having an impact on everyone with the way she had dressed, there had been none after that.

Mitch hadn't talked to her at all during the lectures, although she had caught him looking at her strangely quite a few times. At one point he had seemed like he wanted to say something to her, but then had changed his mind. The silence between them had been so unusual, that even though she had felt like breaking it, she hadn't been able to come up with anything to say.

'At least he won't call me "one of the guys" anymore.' She had thought.

Amazingly enough, some of the girls in her class had approached her in between periods. Girls that she had never really talked to before, since she had always felt so different from them. They had complimented her on her clothes and makeup, inquiring about what brands she had selected and where she had bought them from. Buttercup had tried her best to give them the appropriate answers, although it had been really difficult to recall most of it. Bubbles and Blossom had been the ones to make all the selection, she had just gone along to try the clothes out and let her sisters decide on which ones to keep. She hadn't really bothered checking the labels at all, while her younger sister had gushed about how a particular brand was her favorite and why they ought to buy more of their clothes.

By the end of that conversation, it had seemed like Buttercup had suddenly made a couple of new friends. They had asked her to hang out and even go shopping with them sometime. What was even more amazing, however; was that she had said yes to it, despite the fact that the idea of going clothes-shopping again had filled her with dread.

But it had been such a different experience, to be acknowledged by others for her looks, that she hadn't wanted to decline.

Taking a deep breath, Buttercup pushed open the door of the stall and walked out. She could hear the voices of the rest of the team, coming from the pool room. She had purposely been late so as to avoid meeting Brick alone, but as she neared the room, she wondered if maybe a quick few minutes in the pool alone would have helped calm her nerves.

XXX

"I don't know, I thought she'd be here by now. You guys are usually the first to come here."

Seeing as she hadn't shown up early, Brick had been expecting Buttercup to come with Mitch and his friends, but the boy had no idea where she was. "Maybe she's skipping again", he said. "But for as long as I've known BC, she has never skipped swimming practice. Well, except for last week, and I'm still not sure why that was."

The last part was a lie. Mitch could pretend all he wanted to not understand what had brought on Buttercup's sudden change in behavior, but in the back of his mind, he had a sneaking suspicion that his words had hurt her feelings the last time. They hadn't spoken at all over the weekend, and he had wanted to call and check up on her several times, maybe try and apologize, and make it up to her by taking her to her favorite burger joint. Then later he had changed his mind and decided to just talk to her at school instead.

When he had seen Buttercup that morning, however; all the things that he had planned on telling her had escaped him.

He had had difficulty recognizing his own best friend.

"I wouldn't mind seeing her at the pool today, if I'm being honest." One of Mitch's friends joked. "I don't know what happened to her during the weekend but whatever it was, I'm so fucking glad it did! I never thought I'd live to see the day when Buttercup Utonium would look hot! I'm not even sure why I never noticed it before. I always thought her sisters were pretty decent looking. Bubbles is definitely gorgeous and if it hadn't been for Blossom's stuck up personality, I would have surely tried asking her out. Can't lie, but that rich mane of fiery red hair has been the cause of many a fantasies. But goddamn, I never for one second thought I'd start having the hots for old BC!"

Mitch's brows furrowed. He wasn't sure how he felt about his friends talking about Buttercup like that, he didn't even know if he liked other guys noticing her at all. But then, did he really have the right to tell them off? Hadn't he himself been gaping at her the entire day like he had never even seen her before? They had been friends since kindergarten, why had he never noticed the subtle changes in her as they had started growing up? He had always treated her like a guy, hell she had always acted like one, what was he supposed to have done? But no matter how big a tomboy she was, she was still a girl. Her rough attitude and independence would scare any guy off of treating her like a lady of course, but that didn't mean that she would put up with being called a guy either. He just hadn't anticipated that she would take it so badly. His intentions had never been to hurt her!

It occurred to him that there was still a lot about BC that he didn't know, despite their friendship. Whenever they hung out, he did most of the talking, which usually consisted of him telling her about his latest crush and begging for her help to ask the girl out. She rarely ever talked about herself. He knew she was still single, and had never gone out on a date. But maybe she liked someone and hadn't been able to tell him about it? Was that why she was doing this now, because she wanted to look beautiful for that guy?

Mitch was suddenly very eager to ask her all about it. Right after he finally got around to apologizing to her.

"And, there's Jenna Wilson, sexy as always!" his friend exclaimed. They all stopped their warm-ups to turn around and watch the long legged beauty take a graceful dive. "I hear the girls are going to perform a synchronized swimming routine for the school fest this year, can't wait to get a load of all that action!"

"Hey Brick, I saw the two of you cozying up together last time. Don't tell us you've managed to do in a matter of days what the rest of us have been trying to do for ages!" another friend chimed in.

Brick responded with a smirk. "We're not close, if that's what you're trying to ask. But yeah, we talk some from time to time."

That caught Mitch's attention. "Are you planning on asking her out then?" he asked, wanting to take his mind off of Buttercup for the moment.

Brick glanced sideways at the other guy, noticing how he didn't look quite as perturbed by the prospect of his dating Jenna Wilson as he had the last time. His eyes glowed dangerously, but he stopped himself before doing anything stupid.

Thankfully nobody had noticed, still too busy watching Jenna swim with the other girls.

"I don't know; she's nice and everything. But right now I just feel like… testing the waters, if you will."

At that, the guys stopped staring at Jenna and rounded on him instead, their expressions matching each others' in their incredulity.

"You're fucking crazy. "Test the waters?" It's frickin' Jenna Wilson dude! Almost every boy in school wants to ask her out. She doesn't even talk to most people, and here you are, with this wonderful opportunity to bang her and you say you're testing the waters!? Do you have ANY idea what any of us would give to be in your place right now?"

Brick shrugged. "Not saying I'm not interested. But she isn't the only hot girl in school. Also, I'd rather hang out with someone I have something in common with. A stimulating conversation gets me going a lot more than a beautiful body."

Mitch's friend clicked his tongue. "Stimulating conversation? Something in common? Man, those good looks are really wasted on you. If I looked anything like you and had hot girls coming up to me all the time, I'd be hitting it all day."

The others agreed too.

Finishing their warm-ups, they had just started walking towards the pool, when suddenly; the boys all noticed her at the same time.

"What. The. FUCK!" Someone whispered right behind Brick, who himself had no clue on how to respond, struck dumb by what he was seeing.

Buttercup Utonium had just entered the room, and by the looks of it, boyish jeans and t-shirts weren't the only things that she had forgone that day. Along with that, she seemed to have given up her overly modest swim-suits as well, because here she was, standing right by the pool, wearing one of the sexiest bikinis he had ever seen. Her hair was tied up in a top knot, and she was tucking it into her swimming cap, pointedly avoiding everyone's open-mouthed stares.

"Days like these make me glad that our school doesn't enforce too strict a dress-code, even for swimming practice", one of the guys said, and as difficult as it was for him to admit it, Brick agreed. He couldn't help but take in every detail of her body, inch by inch. Her skin looked smooth around the lime green of her bikini top, and he recalled that day, at this very same place, when he had held her beneath him, watching her take in shallow breaths, and wishing he could have seen more of her.

His eyes were drawn to her flat stomach, lingering around her navel. He had never found that area to be particularly sexy, but watching her, his imagination had already gone into overdrive, and he pictured her writhing helplessly under him, as he explored its shallow depth with his lips and tongue. There was an urgent intensity in his hunger, and he felt his face flush hot. He almost growled when the girl—having finished fixing her hair—started climbing the ladder for the diving board. Her body was moving fluidly, accentuating parts of her that no guy could keep his eyes off of. When she finally reached the top, she stretched her arms in front of her for a few seconds, before swan-diving elegantly into the pool, at which all the guys watching let out a collective sigh.

"I think I'm going to start with my practice now as well", one of their friends whispered, before rushing over to the pool in a hurry. The others started following suit, leaving Brick behind with only Mitchelson. The other guy wasn't speaking at all, and Brick looked towards him to find him gazing way too intently at Buttercup.

He glowered.

Their coach arrived before he could take a step towards the boy, and he was extremely thankful for it. If he had gotten his hands on Mitch right then, who knows what he would have done.

Damn, but his hunger for that bitch was making him crazy!

XXX

She left the room hurriedly when their practice was over, keen to avoid any awkward conversations. She had almost reached the stalls when someone caught up to her and pulled her by her arm.

Turning sharply, she found herself facing Mitch.

He was standing alone there, his friends still in the pool room. His deep, brown eyes were boring intently into hers and suddenly, she found herself wishing that she had been wearing one of her old swimsuits instead of this bikini.

"What?" she asked before she could stop herself, a hint of defiance in her voice.

Mitch was silent for a moment, before letting go of her arm.

"Is there something bothering you BC?" he finally said.

His voice, that she was so used to hearing, sounded different today. Gentle.

"No. Absolutely nothing", she replied, turning away to go. Mitch stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, look at me."

Sighing, Buttercup glanced back over her shoulder. "What?" she asked again.

"Let's go out tonight. Just you and me. What do you say?"

Buttercup smiled reluctantly. Whenever she was feeling down, Mitch always took her to 'Patty's Burgers' to treat her to her favorite sandwiches and smoothies. It was one of those things that they had been doing for a long time, that helped them strengthen their bond as friends. She usually looked forward to these hang-outs, since they were bound to improve her mood after a particularly rotten day. Mitch had always known how to make her laugh, and her favorite food coupled with Mitch's antics were enough to keep her smiling for the rest of the night.

Not wanting to let her friend off so easily this time, however, she decided to turn him down. "I'm not really in the mood for Patty's today." She said.

Mitch's hand over her shoulder loosened a bit, and he let it fall to his side.

"Well, I wasn't really thinking of Patty's." he said, to which Buttercup quirked an eyebrow.

"Yeah? Where then?"

He looked at her quizzical expression and smiled, his eyes growing soft as they settled on her.

"I was thinking more along the lines of dinner at a nice restaurant and a movie." He replied quietly.

Sorry for the delay! Been busy the past couple months. My updates are probably going to be slow still, but I'll try to keep a steady pace.

Not much to say about this chapter. We'll have to wait and see what happens between BC and Mitch, and how it affects their friendship. More importantly though, what will Brick do when he finds out?

Once again, thank you to everyone who reads my fic.

P.S - To guesty :) Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad you like my story enough to keep reading it. And don't worry, I never meant to stop writing, even if I'm left with just one reader by the end :P I certainly plan on finishing this no matter how long it takes!