Bubbles sighed, a happy sigh, full of contentment. It was a week after the last day of her sophomore year, and she was glad to be free. Of course, the blonde loved school; she loved the classes, the teachers, her fellow students, the learning… The girl sighed again. She loved all those things about school; but Bubbles knew she couldn't lie to herself about why she went to school, day after day. The reason was obvious—she knew why she put up with all the homework, all the annoying kids in her class. It was all for him; him, the boy who she had no classes with, the boy who rarely talked to her, the boy who she saw only in the halls. Whenever Bubbles saw this boy, her heart pounded in her ears and her cheeks turned tomato red, even though she begged them to stay their normal tan complexion. Just thinking about the blue-eyed boy made butterflies burst in the girl's stomach, and she giggled, placing her hands on her cheeks. It was the way his hair fell handsomely across his perfect face; the way his features seemed to shine when he smiled; the way his voice sounded when he greeted her in the halls, like a drink of cool water; the way his royal blue eyes twinkled in the hallways as he walked by her… Once more the girl sighed.

She was alone, sitting on her roof, waiting for her sisters to come back with their dinner. The Professor was out of town at a convention and had trusted them to be responsible enough to not need a babysitter—although he called about every hour to check in, and if they didn't answer, he said he was going to call the police to come check on them. Blossom had smiled and rolled her eyes, telling him they would be safe, but he still threatened to alert the authorities if they chose to ignore him. Bubbles looked down at her baby blue watch and saw it was almost six, and time for the Professor's hourly call. She floated to the kitchen, already set for their supper of spaghetti from a local Italian joint, just as the house telephone started ringing. "Hello?" she asked, her light voice tinkling through the receiver.

"Hello Bubbles. It's me."

"Hello, Professor!" the girl answered happily. "How's the convention?"

"Oh, it's great! I'm learning so much! Can I speak to Blossom?"

The girl nervously bit her bottom lip. "No. She went out to go get our dinner." There was dead silence as her reply, and Bubbles could hear his soundless worrying.

"She went out… to get supper… alone?"

Bubbles gasped. "No, no, Professor! Buttercup went with her. They should be back—"

"So you're alone?" The Professor cut in. The blonde chewed on her lip again as she answered.

"Yes, but don't worry Professor! They haven't been gone for more than five minutes and I said I would stay home to make sure I answered your call. In fact, here they are now!" The last part was only a little bit of a lie. Bubbles could see her sisters' pink and green streaks in the sky, speeding to the house as fast as they could.

"Well, then let me speak with Blossom," he said, testing his youngest daughter.

"Okay, give her a sec; she has to put all the food down." Bubbles was, in actuality, flying towards her sisters, and met them in the air, about a hundred yards from their home. She put the phone to her palm and told her sisters what was going on, taking the sacks of food from the red-head and giving her the receiver.

"Hello, Professor," she stated as the three of them sped the rest of the way home. "Of course we're back at the house. Where else would we be?" The sisters entered the door and put all the food on the table as Blossom went to the living room to give the Professor an update of what had happened in the last hour—which consisted of the girls watching television while they waited to go pick up their food. The younger two girls were silently plating up the food, catching snatches of the conversation, as the Professor asked Blossom why she had left the youngest girl alone in the house, and Blossom kept trying to tell him that he would have freaked out even more if Bubbles hadn't been there to answer his call. In the end, the discussion continued for another ten minutes, but finished with each of them telling the other to stay safe and have fun. Blossom hung up and sighed as she sat in her chair, thanking her sisters for setting everything up. "Sometimes he's just so paranoid," she stated, still thinking about the strain in the Professor's voice. "What does he think is going to happen to us? We've been fighting crime since we were five. I think we can manage a seven minute trip to pick up dinner." All girls smiled, though, thinking about how cute the Professor was when he was concerned.

The three ate and chatted, Buttercup telling them a story of how one time at school, Butch had gotten his pants stuck in the girl's locker room door, catching him in the act of peeping. All three were laughing uncontrollably at the tale of Butch's misfortune, and then Blossom launched into an account of how she had noticed Brick around the school more often, and every time she saw him, he'd whip his head away, as if he was looking at her, and go back to whatever girl he was talking to. Buttercup made a jab that maybe he liked her, to which Blossom reminded her of the past February when they leveled the football stadium with one of their fights; Brick had tripped a freshman in the hallway, and when Blossom ordered him to apologize—to which he out rightly refused to do—things got physical fast. They managed to get out of the school, by being dragged out by their siblings, but both of them escaped and met on the football field, throwing each other into the stands and Blossom freezing the entire scoreboard, which promptly fell over and shattered. Buttercup shrugged and reminded her that Bubbles did have a massive crush on the youngest of the boys. This led them both to stare intently at the blue-eyed girl, waiting. "Well," Buttercup prompted. "What's Boomer been up to lately?" Bubbles at once blushed furiously and put her hands to her face.

"Oh, just the usual; he doesn't know I exist." Blossom sighed exasperatedly.

"Bubbles, he has to know you're alive—for heaven's sake, we still fight them!" After a glare from Buttercup, she corrected herself. "Well, Buttercup and I still fight Brick and Butch." Boomer and Bubbles, once they entered high school, had formed a truce, promising they wouldn't fight anymore. Buttercup and Butch had gotten into a few brawls, which lasted hours, and left them both exhausted and bloody, and Blossom and Brick, even though their battles were destructive, only fought when in direct contact with each other. The blondes, meanwhile, focused on their schoolwork and keeping their siblings in line, which was a battle in itself.

"I guess I just…" she began. Both sisters looked at her attentively, respecting how she felt about the boy—even if they thought she was crazy. She sighed. "I just wish he would talk to me. He acts like he doesn't even know who I am."

"I thought he said hi to you in the halls and stuff, though?" Buttercup asked, her mouth full of pasta.

"Well, it's kinda more of a half-hearted wave." Both girls nodded in understanding. "I haven't actually talked to him in weeks." Suddenly, Blossom got a glint in her eye. "What?"

"I have a great idea—a way to give you two a chance to talk!" Buttercup looked skeptical, and Bubbles was trying to not get her hopes up.

"Well, what is it?" Buttercup finally shouted.

"The four of us will get in a fight, and they'll have to break it up!" Buttercup raised an eyebrow.

"You think that's a good idea?" Blossom crossed her arms and huffed slightly.

"Yes. What's your idea?" Buttercup smiled and placed a single finger on her chin, looking up to the ceiling and 'thinking'.

"I got it! We could have her invite him to the carnival that's coming next week! They could have a little date." The green-eyed girl smiled at her younger sister. "What do you think?"

"She obviously likes my plan better," Blossom interjected, keeping Bubbles from replying. "Right, Bubbles?"

"No, you like mine better, right? You don't want to see us fight."

"We wouldn't actually fight. They'd stop us before we even started!"

"But you and Brick would be at each other's throats by that point—you two can't stop fighting once you see each other!"

"Oh, and you and Butch are any different? Don't you remember that time you two fought for two days in eighth grade? You ended up in the hospital for a week!"

"He was out in five days…" Buttercup recalled bitterly. Blossom rolled her eyes and the two began bickering again, leaving Bubbles alone to think. She didn't want to see her sisters fight, but she was way too scared to go to the carnival with him. But maybe, just maybe she could convince him it wasn't really a date…

"I think I'll go with Buttercup's idea," she said quietly, cutting through the squabbling of her older sisters. As the blonde stood and cleared away the plates, Buttercup let out a cry of achievement while Blossom groaned in defeat. Bubbles smiled, though, excitement filling her. However, it was suddenly replaced with a wave of uncertainty. "Wait… How am I supposed to ask him?"

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

I woke up at five-thirty and got dressed quickly, making it out onto the roof in time to watch the sun rise. I've always loved the dawn—it's quite, peaceful, and my brothers are still fast asleep. It gave me a chance to just be alone and think about stuff that's not related to breaking the law. Even though everyone thinks we're evil, my brothers and I don't really get in trouble with the cops too much anymore. It's mostly just with the Powerpuffs. Since we go to the same school, we see them all the time and fighting is a lot more likely to happen. Butch and Buttercup are extremely brutal with each other, and Brick and Blossom are either passive aggressive or demolishing something with their fights. Bubbles and I had decided to call a ceasefire, though, and every time I saw her in the halls, I was glad we had done so. I wouldn't dare tell my brothers—who were thirsty for a fight—but I thought Bubbles was really cute. She was always waving to me in the halls, her short blonde hair bouncy and gleaming. The girl had an eternal beam on her face, one that was constantly boosting my mood.

I hadn't seen the girl in a while, and a part of me longed to go over to her house and knock on the door, watching it open to her smile and just talk to her for hours on end… But when I had those thoughts, I would stop myself, remembering that my brothers would probably kick me out of the house if they knew I liked her. I squinted my eyes as the sun crested over the distant hill, and I thought about how I could sit with Bubbles on this very rooftop, and we could discuss why cats had such soft fur, or why puppy tails constituted a little boy… She'd talk and I'd listen, and then we'd switch, chatting for hours about nothing and just enjoying each other's company. Then, maybe, just maybe, I'd have enough courage to hold her hand or loop my arm around her waist, with her head leaning on my shoulder as we watched the ball of fire rise. I sighed, remembering I'd first have to be brave enough to actually ask her to join me—like a date. My cheeks flushed at the very thought and once the sun was further up in the sky, I could hear the banging of my brothers waking up. I floated to the ground and went through the front door of our home—even though it was more like a shack. "There you are, Boomer," Brick said, mock concern in his voice. "What were you doing?"

I shrugged. "Oh, just watching the sun, wondering what I could get up to today."

Brick's brow lowered, doubt filling his eyes. "What'd you come up with?"

"I was thinking that we could go to next week's carnival and tamper with some of the rides." Butch's eyes widened.

"Really? …That's actually not a bad idea!" My jade-eyed brother was thrilled with the idea and looked to Brick for approval, the one who would decide if we would actually go through with my plan.

"Hmm…" He placed his hand under his chin and turned his hat around so it was facing forward, pulling the bill down over his eyes. "Sure." Butch pumped his fist in the air and I smiled. "But, we'll go when the girls do. Sabotage their rides…" An evil gleam appeared in my eldest brother's eye, and a sinister smirk was planted on his lips. "They'll never see us coming…" Suddenly, the phone rang and we all looked at it cautiously. It had never worked before, and Brick had plugged it in to see if we could prank some people—what ended up happening, though, was we got in trouble and our names in the phone book. Eventually, though, Brick gulped and grabbed the receiver. "Hello?" he asked. A high, light happy voice answered him and Brick made a face. "Just a sec." He held the phone out to me. "It's for you."

I nervously took it from him and held it up to my ear. "Hello?"

"Boomer?" I recognized the voice instantly. "It's Bubbles."

"Hi," I said, trying to keep my excitement at bay and plain indifference in my voice. "What do you want?"

"Well, actually…" she began, the hesitation in her voice making her that much cuter. "I was wondering if you would consider, um, joining me next week for the carnival?" My heart soared.

"Sure. What day?" She asked me if next Friday was okay. "Yeah, sounds good. Say… six o'clock?"

"Yeah! See ya then, Boomer!" I could hear how her eyes were sparkling as she bid me good-bye and hung up. I put the receiver down and turned to my brothers.

"What was that about?" Brick ordered me to tell him at once, crossing his arms over his wide chest.

"I think Bubbles just… asked me out."

"And you said yes?" Butch shouted, his jaw dropping. I nodded.

"Why not? I'll have a chance to get close… Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?" Brick nodded, his smirk returning as he hit Butch upside the head.

"Right… Let's just hope her sisters go too… I'll stay on Bloss's tail, Butch take Buttercup. We'll make this an adventure for those pathetic girls." I smiled devilishly with my brothers and I was excited—but for a completely different reason.