Disclaimer: I wish I owned Power Rangers, but I don't, so I'd might as well get over it.
We used to be best friends, back in eighth grade.
We used to talk about the same things, know the same people, and have all the same classes. We were inseparable.
But that was back then.
Something happened in the ninth grade.
One day we were friends and then the next they disappeared and made up lame excuses about why they had left. Expecting me to believe the dumbest excuses ever like that they "forgot to walk their dog" or "had to wash their mom's car". I offered to help them anyways, but they said no.
They would do it practically daily, like all they wanted to do was get rid of me and hang out on their own.
I hated the change and I tried to pretend that I was just imagining it; that they weren't avoiding me.
I fooled myself about it for a while and I was happy.
Then the new boy came.
He was a nice guy and half the school was in love with him on the first day.
By the first week, you would've thought he had been part of our group for ages. Our group was almost the same as it had been in eighth grade.
Then he started disappearing too.
The ignoring didn't work so well after that. I felt like it was all my fault and I had to do something to fix whatever I'd done wrong. So the next week, Kim, Trini, and me went on a shopping spree just like we used to do in eighth grade.
This time they didn't disappear on me, but everything was different.
When we were younger, we used to pick each other's clothes for them. It was the best way to go shopping, the way we always had, and now they didn't seem to want to do it.
At first, I picked out a beautiful, light green sweater for Trini. I don't think she had liked it at all.
"Sorry, Becky. Green's not really my color." She had said, polite as always.
Then, I decided to look for a different color; something that they both would like. There was a beautiful blue sundress behind me. It had the same basic style as most of the dresses Kim wore and I knew she'd love it… at least I thought she would.
"No, thanks, Becky." She smiled and then quickly changed the subject. "Oh, Becky! Look at that gorgeous dress over there! You've got to try it on."
I tried it on and, after that, bought it. I wasn't as happy as I'd thought I'd be. My opinion obviously didn't matter anymore.
When I got home, I shut myself in my room.
It had always taken me a long time to make friends, I didn't really have any until I met Billy and Trini in fifth grade. For some reason, I felt comfortable around them. If they wanted to ditch me, did I really have any friends?
I was thinking of this as the phone rang. I just let it ring and ring until it went to the answering machine.
"Hello, Becky. This is Billy. Kim and Trini informed me you seemed depressed during the shopping spree today and –"
This is when I answered the phone.
"Hey, Billy." I said.
"Hello, Becky. Are you okay? You sound rather sullen."
"I'm fine, just tired I guess."
"I question your sincerity on that."
"I'm serious."
"Tell me the truth, Becky, whatever it is, you can tell me."
For a few seconds there was silence until I said, "Why are you guys always disappearing?"
Silence again.
"Do you guys not like me anymore or something? Whenever I'm around it feels like I'm intruding or something. Did I do something wrong, Billy?"
There was silence for a few more seconds until Billy spoke. "It isn't you at all, Becky, it's us."
"What?"
"You enjoy viewing secret agent movies, right?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well –" His voice was cut off from the annoying alarm on his watch. "Becky, I've got to go, but you do know I would tell you if I could, right?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Well, bye."
Soon after that, my parents moved to North Carolina, but I always wondered about that conversation. Then I realized the whole secret agent thing was a lot like what went on there. They had to disappear, but they never could tell anyone what they were doing. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was important and that we had never stopped being friends.