Blush Cutiebunny's Arc

Chapter 10 of 12

Blush walked to the cottage Wednesday morning and found someone waiting by the garden gate. John Maloney stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at the whale drawing she'd taped to the cottage door. He turned when he heard her footsteps. "Hey," he said. "Are you Blush?" He pulled something from his backpack—a photograph of her sitting in a big blue chair at home with a chocolate milkshake, watching cartoons. "I'm a huge fan. I saw what you did for that girl yesterday. The one with the dark braids." He set down a metal box by the gate. "How about we work together and make our ideas together? I brought something to show you." Blush stared at the photograph. She'd never met John before, but he'd somehow gotten a picture from her house. He opened the metal box and lifted out two plastic unicorns—one big and one small, both white with gold horns. "I thought we could set these up at your headquarters," he said. "Make it look more official. Kids would join for sure." Blush picked up the photograph and held it carefully. Her stomach felt tight. "Where did you get this?" she asked. John shrugged. "Found it on the playground yesterday. Someone must have dropped it." But Blush knew she'd never brought pictures from home to school. She looked at the metal box, at the unicorns, at John's eager smile. Warren had promised magic and treats to get kids to follow him. Now John was offering decorations and partnership—but he'd taken something private without asking. Blush set the photograph back in the metal box and closed the lid. "I don't need help making my headquarters look official," she said. "And I don't work with people who take things that aren't theirs." John's face changed. "I was just trying to help," he said, but he picked up the box and unicorns and walked away without looking back. Blush sat on the cottage steps and pulled out her map. She didn't add John's name to the "Kids Warren hurt" section, but she drew a small red X next to the garden gate with the words "not everyone who says they're a fan is really helping." Grown-ups might not believe kids could be heroes, but Blush had just proven that sometimes being a hero meant saying no to people who wanted to use your work for themselves—even when they acted like they were on your side.