A sudden beeping caused Buttercup to groan loudly and slam her palm down upon the green alarm clock that sat timidly on her bedside table. The girl glanced at the piercingly red numbers and sighed, rubbing her eyes and reluctantly getting out of bed. It was six forty-five, and the first day of her junior year. For Buttercup, the summer vacation had seemed incredibly short—and awfully lonely, she realized, tilting her head to one side as she decided on what she would wear. The Professor had went to three conventions out of town, Blossom spent the entire time at a summer school, and Bubbles began dating Boomer, barely two weeks after they had finished tenth grade. Buttercup slightly smiled as she thought how excited her sister had been when she came home from her date, giggling and beaming and literally bouncing off of the walls. The two began spending a lot more time together, and with everyone else out of the house, Buttercup really bonded with the television, watching all the shows she wouldn't dare watch in front of her family—shows about weddings and make-over's and other people's love lives. The girl would never admit it, but she was intrigued by watching love; she had never experienced love, not like Bubbles, or even Blossom, who had dated a boy back in freshman year. Buttercup was the tough, brutal one, not the one who found notes regularly in her locker, not the one who had boys lining outside her door, just to see if they could catch a glimpse of her. She sighed, realizing she'd have to break up with the television, and pulled out a pair of black jean Capri's, and a dark green T-shirt with the words, "Go Big or Go Home" printed on it in sharp black print. After completing the outfit with a pair of black sandals, she headed for the bathroom and got ready there.

As Buttercup walked down the stairs to the living room, completely ready for the horrible school day that was about to be upon her, she wasn't surprised to see the rest of her family already at the table, eating away at some pancakes. The green eyed girl took her usual place, and at once a plate of steaming cakes were set in front of her by her older sister, who smiled good-naturedly at her. "You ready for the first day?" Blossom asked both her sisters.

"Yeah! Boomer and I got lockers right next to each other, and he promised to walk me to my classes every day!" Bubbles was bursting with her usual chipper attitude, elevated by the fact that she got to spend this day as Boomer's girl. "I'm so excited! It's gonna be a great year!" She merrily dug into her flap-jacks and gave a thumbs-up to Blossom, who had, evidently, made the breakfast, letting her know she approved.

"What about you, Buttercup?" the Professor asked his second youngest.

"No. Getting up this morning was so hard…"

Blossom nodded in agreement. "I concur. I mean, I know I took classes this summer, but they were always in the afternoon—I haven't gotten up this early in a long time." The table went silent after Blossom's comment, everyone eating, particularly the Professor, who had to get to work, even though he wished to see his girls off on their first day. Once he finished, though, he unwillingly said good-bye and gave each of his daughters a kiss on the top of the head, wishing them good luck. The girls called parting wishes to him and finished their own breakfast. "Shall we go?" the red head asked halfheartedly, not wanting to go back to school and spend every day with those boys—again.

"Sure," Buttercup said, sharing the sentiment of her elder sister. She could handle Brick, was used to Boomer at this point—but she still couldn't wrap her head around the idea of being civil with Butch. The boy was pushy and self-centered, overconfident and egotistical, arrogant and just plain dumb. Every time she saw him, it took everything in her—and a serious warning from the principal—to keep her from lashing out at him and kicking him in his stupid, pompous face. The three took off, and Bubbles began babbling about Boomer again, how he had taken her to an extravagant restaurant on their two month anniversary, telling the story for the fourth time. "Look," Buttercup suddenly cut in, stopping her sister from continuing. "I know you're excited and all, but you've told us this. A lot. Can we talk about something else?" Buttercup tried to keep the steel from her voice, but Blossom noticed and gave her a glare. Buttercup shrugged and Blossom's shoulders dropped, agreeing with the green eyed girl.

"Alright!" Bubbles cheered, not missing a beat. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Hmm…" Buttercup began. Just then, the girls flew over a giant pit of construction workers and she glanced at Blossom, whose face went red. "How about we discuss Blossom and Brick's last fight?" she teased.

Blossom gave her a look and Bubbles just giggled, enjoying the playful tension between her older sisters. "Fine with me—and after that, can we talk about how you and Butch fought for eight hours straight back in July?"

"We didn't take out a fifty-story office building," Buttercup returned. Blossom just glared, a smile on her lips as she conceded defeat.

Silence filled the air, a comfortable silence, until Bubbles spoke up. "How did you and Butch start fighting?" Buttercup snapped her head to look at the blonde, wondering where such a question came from.

"He called you a, 'hot tamale covered in jalapeños' if I remember correctly," Blossom smirked. Buttercup rolled her eyes, noiselessly seething, recalling how immature and bigheaded the comment had sounded coming from out of his mouth. Bubbles giggled at her black haired sister's expense, and said girl just ignored the jab.

"Who won?" Bubbles asked, for she had been out with Boomer the evening of the fight, both sisters never giving her any information.

"We tied, as usual," Buttercup said bitterly. It was always like that between them; neither one of them was able to ever get the upper hand in a fight. That was part of what drove Buttercup to loathe him so. She could handle loosing, for it gives you places to improve. She could handle winning, for nothing was better than being on top. But they were so perfectly matched, so dead even in everything they did, that only on certain conditions, when one of them was feeling poorly, did a victor emerge—and even then, the winner did not consider themselves as such, for the opponent was not at their strongest. It wasn't like that for either of her sisters; Bubbles and Boomer didn't fight anymore, so that exempted them from judgment, and what determined the champion between Blossom and Brick was whoever had more passion or rage to fuel their vicious fighting at the time. With Butch and herself, they felt a similar zeal for the rush of battle, for the joy in beating someone else to a pulp that they never differed. She sighed, ignoring the conversation going on between her sisters, and the three of them descended to the school as one unit, landing on the front lawn. All three of their lockers were right next to each other, so they walked together, Blossom in the middle, Bubbles and Buttercup flanking her on either side as was comfortable, and they halted at their lockers, butterflies suddenly bursting in each girl's stomach.

"Hey, Bub!" they heard someone call. Bubbles immediately whipped around and beamed.

"Boomer!" she squealed, leaping into his open arms. They hugged tightly, the blonde planting a quick kiss on his cheek, which made his whole face turn crimson. "How've you been?"

"Good. You?"

"You guys saw each other yesterday. Why do you have to ask how she is?" Boomer turned and glared at his older brother. "I mean, seriously." Butch rolled his eyes and glanced, almost unnoticeably, at Buttercup, seeming to analyze every feature she possessed.

"You need something?" Buttercup growled, her glower low and fierce.

"Not yet," the boy replied, smirking. Buttercup merely scowled and turned back to her locker, hearing Butch and Brick walk away.

As soon as she was sure he was out of earshot, Buttercup looked toward the red head and rolled her eyes, sighing. "I know," Blossom replied. "You just have to be stronger than him. Don't let him bug you like that."

"But it's so hard when he's being so… So…" Buttercup's face was progressively getting redder with fury, her voice trembling. Blossom merely looked her in the eyes, trying to calm her down.

"He's not worth it. I kept my cool in front of Brick, didn't I?"

"Yeah—because he didn't jeer at you like that."

"That may be true," Blossom admitted. She retrieved her books from her locker and placed her hand on Buttercup's shoulder. "Just take it one moment at a time. He's not here now, right? So enjoy this time." Buttercup grudgingly nodded her head and said good-bye to Blossom, who was headed off to her first class, Physics. Bubbles was a bit busy chatting nonsensically to her boyfriend, so Buttercup wandered the halls, waiting for the bell to ring.

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

The weeks leading up to the first day of school were horrible. I couldn't get Buttercup out of my head, ever since Brick made that comment to me, back in June. "Just enjoy the show," he had said. And once I had stared at Buttercup's fine figure for the remainder of the evening, I had thoroughly done so—and was craving for more. Every feature she possessed, every aspect of her personality was flawless, seamless. I was hooked, wanting nothing more than to call her mine. I confessed my obsession to my younger brother, but wouldn't dare tell Brick what I felt. I might be the strongest of the three of us—but Brick was the best fighter, being able to incorporate his brains into fights, whereas I just went all out, striking at whatever I could; and the fact that he fought with Blossom, an equally tactical fighter, only helped him get better. If he found out I had fallen for one of those girls, just like Boomer had, he would have my head.

When I told Boomer that I had feelings for the girl, he had smiled at me. "It's great, huh?" he asked. I looked away but nodded, not wanting to admit that I was enjoying the feeling of elation that came with caring for someone. I asked him what I could do to make her mine, to accomplish what he had accomplished; and his answer was so simple it nearly knocked me back in surprise. "I know it sounds cliché… but just be you. If this is really going to work out for you two, the best way to get her is to be you. Don't pretend, don't hold anything back. Just trust your instincts." I had never heard wiser words from the thick-headed boy, and followed his instructions to the letter. Whenever we encountered one another, I let my words come easily, not worried about saying the wrong thing. However, on the first day of school, when she continually rolled her eyes at me, accompanied by sighs of exasperation and distaste, I became discouraged. After school that day, I got Boomer away from Brick and asked him the question that had been plaguing my mind the entire day.

"Whenever I'm myself, she hates me! What should I do?" Boomer took a deep breath before addressing my problem. He was so level-headed, so cool and calm these days. It made me want to punch him in the face—he had gotten what he wanted without even trying, and now he was beginning to grow up, taking less and less of Brick's crap, while I suffered and got double doses.

"Keep being you. It'll just take time, Butch. You have to be patient. Do you know how long I had liked Bubbles? Like, for three years. I think you can wait more than three months." I groaned, realizing he was right and went off to my room to seethe.

Why didn't she like me? What was I doing that made her so mad? How could I change so she'd like me? Wait, wait, wait, Boomer told me to be myself, and he had actually gotten the girl… I supposed I would listen. I tossed and turned in my bed, angry with her, angry with myself, angry at Boomer for being so damn happy. Eventually, though, I slipped into a fitful sleep, dreaming briefly of short, black hair and long, pale legs before falling asleep.

Author's Note: Not sure how long this one is gonna be… What do you think? They're not too OOC, right? :I I like these two… They're so ANGRY ALL THE TIME. XD It's fun to write… ^.^

Please review! Thanks for reading!

Cordially,

LadyFrederic