Ren groaned, hitting his head on his desk repeatedly.
"Ren stop that already."
" Says you, Mister I Don't Have to Go to School Anymore But You Do." he hissed back
"Ren," Shamus sighed in a warning. "I'm tired of your games. You'll do your job right, which means you have to go to school."
Ren snorted. "Uncle, I'm not going to pass as a young kid going to high school.
"Sure you are," Shamus said, holding out sheets of paper and fanning them. "People fall for anything; I have resources: your 'birth certificate' says you're that age."
Ren rolled his eyes.
"Ren I'm actually going easy on you. It's not like I'm treating you like Danes toward his nephew Michael."
"...Fine, fine, fine," Ren said, rolling his eyes.
"...Thank you," Shamus said.
A few moments of silence passed.
"...I miss her too, you know its also hard for me."
Ren looked away. "Shut up; you don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes I do, Ren," Shamus said quietly. " I do. Sylvie was a sweet, beautiful woman."
"...Shut up!" Ren snapped. "I don't want to hear it."
"...I think you do." Shamus sighed and kneeled down. "Look Ren I miss her as much as you do. But...I lost her once. I moved on. I'm sure—"
"so you just gave up on her?" Ren shouted, spinning around angrily. He shot up so quickly, his chair fell to the floor with a loud clang, The legs scraped the floor harshly as He stormed off.
"Ren No, that's not what I mean—"
Ren paused at the door, resting his hand on the doorknob. He turned around, gritting his teeth with anger in his eyes.. "I thought you weren't as bad as I made you out to be, Shamus," he said quietly, bitterly. "...But maybe you are."
he walked through the door, letting it slam shut.
"...Ren.." Shamus murmured, dropping his outstretched hand and sighing. "...dammit ."
Meanwhile, on the other side, Ren had his face in his hands he looked up and sighed. "...I am such an idiot."
He sighed again and shoved a hand up his thick brown, . ...He'd gotten it from his dad almost all the men in the family had dark brown hair.
Shamus had long, wavy lengths of thick dark-brown hair, but most people described his hair as black.
"...mom..." Ren murmured, sighing again.
"Buttercup; wake up!" Blossom shouted, pounding a fist against her sister's door. "We can't be late!"
Groaning, the green Puff rolled over and dug her face deeper into her pillow. "yeah yeah just stop naggin!" she called back.
There was a sigh before a clicking noise sounded, and Buttercup realized that her door was being opened. Blossom's voice sounded again, this time more stern. "I'm not nagging," she scolded.
" sounds like it to me" yawned Buttercup, sitting up and stretching. She blinked her heavy eyelids. "Just go on without me telling them I'm sick or sum shit ."
"I can't do that, and you know it; you think I'd be going if I could?"
" screw the council, there, a bunch of control freaks anyway Buttercup interrupted, flopping back down. "I'd rather go back to sleep..."
Blossom sighed again. Then she stood up and bent over Buttercup pulling her covers off. "Wake. Up."
" ughhhh Can't you just talk to me like a normal person ?"
Blossom smirked victoriously. "I tried, but it didn't exactly work. Now get out of bed and get ready for this meeting. You don't have all day! If you're not ready by ten minutes later, I'll be back to check on you ; with a bucket full of water."
Buttercup groaned loudly as Blossom walked to the door. After the pink Puff had left, Buttercup slowly crawled out of bed and made her way to the washroom. She forced her eyes open and stared into her mirror, which showed a girl with messy black hair and green eyes.
I'm not very pretty, Buttercup mused. She pulled down her PJ t-shirt to reveal the still visible marks from Vix's fingers on her neck. Buttercup swallowed. That guy was tough. It was like he was hunting Butch. They had a really serious fight.
after school yesterday she had to tell Blossom what happened they needed to be prepared in case the council found out about this vix person she sighed loudly just another thing to deal with what a drag
She wished the Rowdyruff Boys would tell the truth for once. Their secrecy was making her feel completely lost like she barley knew them. Sighing, Buttercup splashed water onto her face before proceeding to brush her teeth. She didn't have a lot of time to stand around thinking.
Buttercup took a shower. The warm water made her relax, as her jumbled thoughts slowly cleared. She went over each and every little detail of what had happened so far. She'd hid in the forest with Butch, and he'd reacted strangely to Maxim at the park. Butch had fought Vix, a skilled swordsman who had "special abilities". Maxim and another man named Coal had been talking in the forest where Buttercup had hidden one night. Not only that, but Butch didn't like Michael and his friends. And who was that kid with that man named Jamel?
Quickly climbing out of the shower, Buttercup threw on a towel and started blow-dried her hair, She only had a few more minutes until Blossom would barge in. Cursing her sister's precision with time, Buttercup yanked a brush through her hair in an attempt to be fast. This led to a lot of "ows" s, which ultimately slowed the process down. Finally, Buttercup got dressed in an all-black uniform with white trim and a white dove in the middle. This was the council's uniform, simple and way too obvious. She put on her black-heeled boots that matched the uniform and had her school uniform tucked into her bag.
they had school right after this it was currently 5:30, the meeting started at 6 am and they had school at 8 am she sighed she had a full day ahead of her although she was curious about what the council had summoned them for it was strange for them to hold a meeting out of the blue
"Buttercup, are you done?" a familiar voice called.
Buttercup turned around and spotted an expectant Blossom, whose arms were crossed and her eyebrow was raised. "I'm ready," the green Puff promised.
"That's a relief," Blossom remarked, "you take for-fuckin ever ."
Rolling her eyes, Buttercup followed Blossom out of her room. She closed the door and replied, "You do know that being late is not the end of the world, right?"
"Yeah, I know, but we have enough with the council looming over us already, we don't need them using anything to try to make us look bad," Blossom shot back immediately, "
" Yeah, yeah, let's go already; the sooner we get this over with, the better ." her-pink eyed sister nodded as they joined everyone downstairs. The professor was wearing a black lab coat with the same white dove; her sisters were in the same type of uniform she wore bliss sighed.
"I wished these uniforms were a bit less drabby. We look like we're in some kind of occult." her sisters laughed as the professor sighed shaking his head with a small smile they all got into the car as the professor drove off the car was filled with a comfortable silence.
" Oh yeah, Mr. Fickleson is giving us a test; hey, boss, do u think I can borrow your notes." bubbles yawned .
Buttercup's eyes widened and she let out a loud groan. It was her third or fourth one in just that one morning. " damn, I totally forgot about that."
"Jeez, you're not prepared for anything," Blossom stated.
"Sh-Shut up you know why." Buttercup's face flushed red.
A new voice chimed in. "Oh, come on, you two; let's not start a fight."
"We're not fighting, Bubbles," Blossom promised, "I'm just annoying buttercup."
"It sure sounds like you're digging for a fight," Buttercup shot back.
Blossom laughed, before saying, "Okay, fine. I'm not looking for a fight, but I sure am teasing BC, rather than scolding."
" Knew it," muttered Buttercup under her breath.
Bubbles smiled. They're getting back to normal
"What are you guys talking about?" a curious Bliss asked, her hands behind her head. With one sweeping motion, she tied all of her long brown hair into a high ponytail. Her orange eyes shone with excitement.
"The test Mr. Fickleson has planned," Blossom explained.
"Wait, that was today?" Bliss suddenly seemed disappointed. "Aw, man. I thought it was tomorrow."
Bella joined her sisters as they walked down the stairs. "Of course, you and Buttercup would forget about it." This earned her a "Hey!" from both girls.
Meanwhile, the Professor was driving "Now girls I want you all to be extra careful we don't know what the council called the meeting for or why so just let me do all the talking ok"? the girls all nodded. " but wait what about the guy who attacked buttercup and butch are we gonna report that ?" Bella added as the professor sighed, "I....I don't know depending on how this meeting goes maybe, but after this buttercup I want you to try to get more information on the situation with ruff's and Blossom I want you to find out everything you can about this Vix person we need as much info as you can find everyone else just be normal for now we don't want the ruff's closing up on us." the girls nodded their minds wandering off to different places.
"Anyway, are you guys ready for the test?" Brick asked.
Butch's eyes widened. "Test...? What test?"
"The one Mr. Fickleson has planned," Brick shot his brother a weird look.
"Oh, right." Butch was already eating another piece of toast. " yeah I totally forgot."
Brick sighed, shaking his head. "You idiot," he muttered.
"That's not very nice," Butch said, punching his brother.
their dad looked up from his paper "butch your not very nice".
The six brothers laughed
" But on a serious note you guys need to be more careful especially now that Vix is back; each of the ruffs sighed and looked down; and now that he and Buttercup know what each other look like by the judge of it doesn't sound like that's gonna be there last time seeing each other either ."
"Any way you all better hurry you gonna be late," he said looking at his watch
whined blaze He had just been reaching for his fourth piece of toast. Instead, he lowered his hand and swallowed, standing up.
Blair rolled his eyes as he also prepared to place his plate in the sink.
Butch paused, wincing as one of his scratches grazed the table. "Ow," he muttered.
"Are you okay?" asked Bandit, walking over to his brother. He inspected one of the many wounds that Butch had gotten from Vix.
"I'm fine," snapped Butch. He caught the other Rowdyruff Boys' surprised looks, so he sighed. "Sorry. I mean, I'm okay."
"Be careful," warned Boomer, "don't overexert yourself."
"I know, okay?" Butch sighed, rolling his eyes.
Brick studied his brothers for a few moments longer before turning away. "Let's go," he suggested.
"Lead the way, Oh Great and Powerful Leader". Blaze called.
Rolling his eyes, Brick took off, leaving a red streak behind him.
"Did I piss him off?" asked Blaze innocently.
Bandit nudged his brother. "Oh shut up."
"Have a nice day at school boys! Their dad shouted
"We will"! They said
The rest of the trip was spent in relative silence. But when they began to pass Townsville Park, Butch stiffened.
"What's the matter?" asked Brick, stopping himself in the air.
"Nothing; just some stupid smell." Butch shrugged. "Don't worry about it."
Boomer frowned, sniffing the air. He couldn't smell a thing. But then the blue Ruff sniffled. Oh well; maybe it's thanks to my cold that I can't smell anything.
Brick tasted the air as well. His gaze remained serious. "There is something foul on the air..."
"Oh forget about it!" called Blaze, diving through the sky. "We can check it out later. Gee, Brick; I thought you wanted to get to school on time!"
Brick snorted, catching up to his brother. "Dammit, Blaze "
Butch zipped past Brick, cackling, "Race ya losers to the school!"
"Butch!" shouted Bandit, looking peeved.
Boomer hurried to catch up to his brothers. "Guys, wait up!"
Blair lingered behind with Bandit, smiling. He didn't seem very interested in the idea of racing, but he looked amused.
When they finally landed, Blaze had "won" the race. "What took you guys so long?" he demanded.
"No one agreed to a race," huffed Brick.
Butch nudged his brother. "And yet you sped up to catch up to me," he smirked.
"You're last, Blair," remarked Blaze.
The white-eyed boy shrugged. "I don't mind seriously watching you dumbasses almost buss your shit is worth losing."
Brick did a light jog toward the school doors. "lets go! The bell will ring anytime soon."
"yeah, yeah! Don't get your panties in a bunch." Butch rolled his eyes as he floated up to Brick, who punched him.
Just as the two were bickering, a car pulled up to the front of the school. A boy clambered out, head low. He spoke a little to whoever else was in the car, before hurrying toward the school doors. By that time, there was already a crowd of people gathering. Butch couldn't make out the boy's face, but he felt curious. The boy wore a scarf and had wavy brown hair. He didn't catch the boy's eye color.
Just as Butch was going to shove his way over toward the boy, two voices sounded - more like a screech
" OMG, can you believe it?"
The girl speaking had long, curly blond hair tied in a ponytail. The uniform top was way too small, and the short plaid skirt was way too small. She wore a lot of make-up and had on a pair of heels that Butch shuddered at the sight of.
In fact, Butch shuddered at the sight of the girl herself, whom he recognized. He'd just been joking about her with Buttercup a few days ago. Butch paused. Buttercup... When she would still talk to me.
"I know right, Ashleigh?" agreed her giggly friend. Her reddish-brown hair was wild, and her face was freckled. "You have so many resources!"
"There's a new student in school! And it's a guy!" Ashleigh squealed.
Butch blinked, remembering that Mr. Apocally had explicitly stated that the new student would be coming today. guess I forgot. He wrinkled his nose. There's that foul smell again too...
Suddenly, Ashleigh seemed to spot the Rowdyruff Boys. "Oh, hi Butch!"
Butch concluded that the smell was Ashleigh's heavy perfume. But that didn't explain the smell in the forest...
"Butch, hellooooo?"
Suddenly remembering who he was facing, Butch quickly said, "Oh hi! Bye!" He immediately proceeded to dash into the school.
He could hear Ashleigh squealing, "He said hi to me!", which made Butch roll his eyes and gag.
Boomer joined Butch. "They were talking about a new student," his blond brother commented.
"Yeah, Mr. Apocally stressed him coming a lot. Mr. Evans mentioned him a few times too."
"I get to be in the same class as the new kid," Boomer agreed. He wasn't in Mr. Apocally's Math class, but he was in the same class as Butch in Mr. Evan's Socials class.
"Anyway, I gotta split here." Butch glanced down the hallway to where his locker was, dreading the idea of the crowd. I'll see you later."
"Yeah; later, Butch." The two Ruffs exchanged waves before Boomer began walking toward his own locker. Boomer began wondering what the new kid would look like, and then all of a sudden Boomer felt a giant force smash against him. "fuck"
"S-Sorry," the new person apologized in a sheepish tone.
"It's fine," Boomer mumbled, rubbing his sore head. "But that hurt." Boomer looked and spotted a boy with wavy brown hair and green eyes. He wore a green version of the uniform and had a scarf on. Realizing that he didn't know the boy, Boomer smiled. "Hey," he introduced himself. "I'm Boomer. But you might already know that. What's your name? You must be new here—or...?"
"Shhh!" hissed the boy sheepishly, his tone cautious. "I don't want to gain too much attention."
"Ohh, I see. So you are new," Boomer said.
"Yeah...I guess," the boy confirmed, shrugging.
Boomer felt confused by the way he said he was new, but the blue Ruff shook it off and simply asked, "Name?"
"Well..." The boy clearly hesitated. "I'm—"
RIIING!
"—The bell" he suddenly said.
Boomer raised an amused eyebrow, finding the "answer" he'd gotten rather funny. "You're...the bell?"
Looking flustered, the boy shook his head. "Sorry, I gotta go!" And then he dashed off with amazing speed. "Thanks, Boomer!"
Boomer stared after him, raising an eyebrow. The boy was strangely quick, and something seemed off...
he sneezed. He couldn't be sure with his cold; he just couldn't think straight.
...What a strange guy...
Meanwhile, the boy Boomer had just met was thinking something similar.
Boomer...
...What a strange name.
He sighed and adjusted his scarf.
"This bites!" whined Buttercup, rubbing her arms.
Bubbles smiled sheepishly. "BC..."
"I can't believe Mr. Fickleson is having another test. Didn't we just have one, like, three days ago?"
"Well, it's Mr. Fickleson. He's the sternest, most strict teacher in the whole school, What did you expect?" Bubbles countered.
"Yeah, I know. But still," muttered Buttercup.
Bubbles sighed. "Oh well. There's not much we can do about it. We might as well just get some last-minute studying in be—"
Crash!
"Hey! Watch it," snapped Buttercup, rubbing her nose.
The boy whom she had just crashed into rearranged his scarf, mumbling, "Oops. Sorry...?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.
Something about the boy seemed familiar. He was wearing a scarf with his uniform. Feeling suspicious, Buttercup leaned in closer. "Do I know you...?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes.
"What? No!" he said quickly...almost too quickly. His green eyes were wide.
She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You sound nervous."
"Positive, plus I'm new," he mumbled back.
Buttercup snorted. "Hmm
"Sorry again he answered, not looking up.
" why not try looking up so you don't run into anyone else".
he nodded. "Y-yeah, sorry."
"are you sure we've never met you look awfully familiar-
"Yes, I'm sure we never met. I'm new to the school, and I haven't been back here in years. Yes, I'm positive." he snapped, losing his shy persona.
Buttercup blinked, feeling surprised. "...What's your name...?"
"Its...
Buttercup frowned. "...Well...? What's your name?" she pressed.
RIING!
"—The second bell" he cried, sounding visibly relieved.
"...You're...the second bell?" Buttercup repeated in amusement—amusement that she didn't want to feel, as she was trying to be serious. She raised an eyebrow, before finally snorting as she tried to stifle a laugh.
Bubbles, meanwhile, was openly giggling, not bothering to hide her own amusement.
Embarrassed, he ducked his head. "S-Sorry, but I gotta go!" Then he dashed off, his steps quick.
"He was pretty sweet," Bubbles commented, still giggling. She smiled.
Buttercup snorted, rolling her eyes at her sister's judgment. "...More like nervous to me."
Sensing that her sister was still suspicious of the boy for some reason, Bubbles glanced at her. She asked in concern, "...Buttercup...?"
Buttercup sighed, shaking her head. " it's Nothing, Bubbles, at least I hope ." It can't be him... Can it...? As she and Bubbles began to walk, she spotted something glistening on the floor. Stopping, she bent down and grabbed it, turning it over. It was a phone.
"It must belong to that boy," Bubbles commented, joining her sister.
Buttercup nodded, feeling curiosity tug at her. I wonder what's in it...?
As if guessing what her sister was thinking, Bubbles said, "Don't even think about it"
Buttercup flushed. "I-I wasn't going to look at it!" she snapped, shoving the device into her pockets. "I'll turn it into the Lost-and-Found at lunch."
"Oh sure," Bubbles commented, her eyes disbelieving.
Ignoring her sister's snide comment, Buttercup stormed on ahead. "Come on; we should get to class too," she mumbled, her face red.
Bubbles and Buttercup parted later on, with Buttercup entering her Math class.
Chewing a pencil, Buttercup looked up just as the door to the classroom opened. The boy she'd met earlier appeared, panting as if he'd been running. "S-Sorry, Mr...Mr...uh, Mr. Apocally...?" the boy puffed.
Mr. Apocally grinned and murmured something to the newcomer. The boy's mouth seemed to drop open as if he recognized Mr. Apocally. He and the teacher started whispering, the boy looking shocked as Mr. Apocally smirked.
Then the boy groaned and hit his head against the whiteboard.
Mr. Apocally turned and smiled coolly at the class. "Welcome back to Math. I know most of you probably found yesterday's boring, but I'm sure we can fix that."
Girls giggled as guys nodded.
The boy nudged his companion at the front of the classroom, looking annoyed.
Mr. Apocally paused, before concluding his speech with, "Oh, right. And here's the new student; Ren"