A/N: This is the companion piece to "Inseparable". In one of the early chapters, Tommy briefly mentions how Adam made him feel after they first met. This isn't exactly slash but it is pre-slash (hence the title). There is, unfortunately, some Tommy/Kim. I don't own the characters and this is an original piece. Thanks for reading and please leave a review.
Pre-Slash
Part 1
Adam turned the combination lock for the 20th time in five minutes. He groaned and softly hit his head on the locker door when the lock didn't come open. He sighed and attempted to put in the combination again.
'I can't believe I'm gonna be late because I can't open this stupid locker,' Adam thought as he failed to open the lock once again.
"Adam? Hi!" a voice called from his side.
"Hey Kim," Adam greeted leaning against his impenetrable locker.
"Is this your locker?" Kim asked opening her own combination lock with no problems.
Adam exhaled a large sigh and nodded. "Yeah, this is me."
"Cool. This is prime real estate. It's so close to everything," Kim said.
Adam didn't realized that locker location was so important. Back in Stone Canyon, a locker was just a locker. He opened his mouth to reply but shut it when he saw someone creeping up behind the unsuspecting Pink Ranger.
"Guess who." Tommy said covering Kim's eyes from behind.
"Well that's not hard…Jeff," Kim said.
Adam snickered at the shocked look on Tommy's face. When Tommy's hands uncovered her eyes, Kim turned around and laughed.
"Who's Jeff?" Tommy asked with a frown.
"No one. I'm just joking with you, Handsome," Kim replied.
"Yeah, right," Tommy said eyeing her suspiciously. He happened to glance at the person standing behind her. "Hey, man." He reached his hand out towards their new Black Ranger.
"Hey," Adam replied politely shaking Tommy's hand.
"You're right on time. I was just telling Adam how our lockers have great location. We're close to an exit, the cafeteria, the stairs, and a water fountain," Kim said pointing out all of the places she just mentioned.
"Yeah, you got one of the better ones," Tommy agreed.
The bell rang throughout the hallway and everyone started to walk to their first class.
"I'll catch up to you guys later. Bye," Kim said kissing Tommy's cheek and walking off.
"So I guess I'll see you later right?" Tommy asked looking at Adam.
Adam smiled and nodded his head. "Yup."
"Alright," Tommy said turning to walk towards his first class.
Adam pushed himself off of his locker only to realize that he still hadn't gotten it open.
'Fuck!'
He dropped his book bag on the floor and desperately tried to pulled and shake the accursed combination lock open. Hopefully, the stupid thing would break.
"Open sesame! Abracadabra! Please open!" Adam begged as he hit the front of the locker.
Tommy stopped walking and looked back to where Adam was obviously having trouble with his locker. He couldn't just leave the poor guy in the empty hallway on his first day. "Need some help?"
Adam stopped pulling on the lock when he heard Tommy's question. He laughed nervously and scratched his head. "Yeah. I can't get this thing open."
"They get stuck sometime," Tommy said walking up to the locker. "What's your combo?"
"Uh, 38, 05, 18," Adam said from memory.
Tommy carefully entered the numbers on the lock. He gave a rough tug to the lock and it popped open. "There ya go."
Adam's eyes open widely in astonishment. "Oh wow! Thanks."
"Anytime. What's your first class?"
Adam put his book bag in the locker and pulled out a book, a binder, and his schedule. He looked at the paper and to see where he was supposed to go first.
"Uh, English 2?"
"With Mr. Wilkinson?" Tommy asked
Adam checked his schedule again and nodded nervously.
"Aw man! Cool, that's where I'm going. I'll show you where it is," Tommy said brightly.
"Ok," Adam replied quietly. He followed the White Ranger down the long hall, around a corner , and into an open classroom.
Tommy entered the class sending a wave or a high five to a few people. Adam bashfully stood near the open the door with his books in one hand and his other in the pocket of his blue jeans.
"Hey man," Tommy greeted taking a seat in a desk two rows over from his other new friend.
"Hey" Rocky replied.
Tommy looked around when he didn't see Adam standing next to him. He caught sight of the new Black Ranger hovering around the door like a mouse in a room full of snakes.
"He's a shy one, isn't he?"
Rocky gave Tommy a questioning look. He followed Tommy's line of sight and saw Adam standing near the door. He sighed and shook his head. "Always has been," Rocky replied. "Adam! Over here, dude!"
Adam perked up when he heard his name. He saw Rocky waving him over from across the room. "Excuse me," Adam said squeezing through a few desk as he made his way over to Rocky and Tommy. He took a seat in the empty desk between them and visually relaxed. "Thanks."
"Please settle down everyone," the teacher called from the front of the class.
The few students standing sat in their seats as requested. Mr. Wilkinson started to lecture the class on the importance of punctuation. Rocky exhaled and used his hand to keep his head up. Adam fiddled with his pen while half listening to the dull lecture. Tommy stared off into his own little world of filled with martial arts and cherry pies.
A half hour later, the teacher passed out a worksheet to the class. He requested that the exercise be turned in before the end of class. Adam uncapped his pen and started to work his way through the worksheet with the little information he retained for the boring lesson.
"Psst! Adam!" Rocky called from Adam's right side.
"What?" Adam responded.
"What do you call that floating comma thing?"
Adam looked puzzle for a moment. "What?"
"You know, the floating comma. It's in those dohickies like 'can't' 'won't' and 'don't'."
Adam thought for a moment before laughing. "An apostrophe?"
"Yeah, a post trophy," Rocky said scribbling down the word on his worksheet.
Adam shook his head and laughed again. He went back to working on his assignment.
"Aw man," Tommy mumbled rubbing his eraser across his paper. He blew the eraser bits off of his desk top and went back to writing. English really wasn't his subject.
"What's wrong?" Adam asked.
"I can't get this junk to sound right," Tommy replied.
"Let me see," Adam requested.
Tommy gingerly handed his paper to Adam. He watched his face for a reaction to his writing. He was relieved when Adam didn't start laughing.
"Not too bad. If you take out this second sentence, it'll flow better," Adam said handing the paper back to Tommy.
He rubbed his eraser over the second sentence and read it to himself. He grinned when his paragraph didn't sound nearly as stupid and redundant as before.
"Thanks, man."
"No problem."
The shrill ringing of the bell sounded throughout the classroom.
"Put your assignments on my desk before you leave and have a nice day!" Mr. Wilkinson yelled over the stamping feet and shuffling papers.
"I'm not done!" Rocky said pounding his fist on the desk.
XXXXX
Tommy grabbed an apple and slid his tray down the lunch line. He grabbed a bottle of juice and moved down towards the cashier.
The mature woman pressed a few buttons on the cashier register. "2 bucks, hon."
Tommy patted the back of jeans for his wallet. When he didn't feel anything, he reached into his front pocket hoping to find a few loose bills. He groaned and looked towards the sky.
"I forgot my money," Tommy said.
"Sorry, Cutie - no freebies."
"I got it," Tommy heard from behind him. He turned around to see two guys and a girl patiently waiting with their lunches on their trays.
"You don't have to do that," Tommy said.
"Consider it a thank you for helping me with my locker," Adam smiled and handed the cashier a five dollar bill.
The cashier rang up Adam's lunch with Tommy's and took the money from his hand. She gave him his change and a smile.
"Thank you," Adam said picking up his tray.
"I'll pay you back," Tommy insisted.
Adam shook his head. "It's ok."
"But…"
"Tommy, it's ok. Adam's dad is Mr. Moneybags. He should be buying lunch for all of us," Aisha quipped.
"No way! I couldn't afford lunch for this human garbage disposal," Adam said jerking his thumb in Rocky's direction.
Rocky snorted and picked up his lunch tray. "Ha. Ha. Ha. I have to eat or I'll starve."
"You? Starve? Never. You don't even give your stomach enough time to growl," Aisha said.
The four teenagers laughed and moved away from the lunch line. Aisha, Adam, and Rocky started to drift away from Tommy as they tried to locate an empty lunch table for the three of them.
Tommy stopped walking when he saw the group standing in the middle of the cafeteria. "Why don't you guys come sit with us?"
Adam, Aisha, and Rocky eyes lit up at the offer.
"Thanks man," Rocky smiled.
They followed Tommy across the cafeteria to a round table near a window. Kimberly sat across from Billy with four empty seats remaining at their table. Tommy took a seat next to Kim and gave her the cookie she requested.
"Thanks," Kim said.
Rocky pulled out a seat next to Tommy and sat down to eat his food. Aisha sat next to Kim while Adam took the last remaining seat. He felt awkward sitting in the seat where their predecessors probably ate lunch every day. He wasn't trying to replace Zack in their civilian lives too. The six teenagers quietly ate their lunch.
"How are you three enjoying your first day of Angel Grove High?" Billy asked breaking the silence.
"I love it," Aisha said.
"Oh! I meant to ask you if you saw the sign for the weekend sale at the mall!" Kim said looking at Aisha expectantly.
Aisha's eyes lit up when she heard the word "mall". "Of course!"
"Two for one!" Kim and Aisha said at the same time.
"Girls…" Rocky said shaking his head and taking a bite of his chicken finger.
"What was that, Rockwell?" Aisha asked looking towards Rocky.
Rocky curled his lip when he heard his full name. "Nothing."
"Thought so."
The table laughed at Aisha and Rocky's antics. He couldn't get away with a side comment or a mumble around Aisha.
XXXXX
Adam slammed his hands on the mat when he landed on his ass again. He couldn't get a point on Tommy if he tried. Tommy snickered and offered Adam his hand. He grasped Tommy's hand and pulled himself to his feet.
"Not bad," Tommy said.
"Are you kiddin'? I suck next to you," Adam said with his lopsided smile.
"No you don't! You're really good."
"Thanks. I need work though."
Tommy shrugged. "We all do."
"You gotta teach me that jump kick," Adam said.
"Sure, man. That's my signature," Tommy said.
Adam playfully rubbed his side. "I feel it."
They shared a small laugh.
"Sorry 'bout that. I get a little too into it."
"Well, if it isn't the old geek and the new geek," a condescending voice called.
Tommy rolled his eyes while Adam frowned. They slowly turned around to see Bulk and Skull looking just as ridiculous as they usually did.
"I'm not a geek," Adam said.
"Yes, you are a geek, geek. A skinny geek at that. You look like a black stick," Bulk sneered.
Skull let out a high pitch giggle. "A black stick 'cause he's wearing black. That's a good one, Bulkie."
Adam looked down at his bare arms. He did look thin in this particular tank top.
"Bulk, why don't you leave him alone?" Tommy said taking a step forward.
"Are you gonna make me, pretty boy?" Bulk replied.
"You're gonna see how pretty I make you if you don't back the fuck off."
Bulk didn't move for a moment. He gauged the seriousness in Tommy's voice and the fire in his eyes.
"You don't have to take that from this twerp," Skull said.
"You're right…c'mon Skull. We have more important things to do," Bulk said.
"We're leaving?"
"Yes, moron, we're leaving."
"You're lucky we're leaving, Oliver," Skull said pointing at Tommy.
Tommy snorted dismissively. "No, you're lucky you're leaving."
Bulk returned his snort before turning to walk away with Skull. Adam swore he could see a vein bulging out of Tommy's neck. The White Ranger's frown made deep wrinkles in his forehead.
'That can't be healthy,' Adam thought.
"Thanks," Adam said aloud.
"No problem. Those guys are jerks. They're just talking shit because you're new. You really should stand up to them."
Adam shrugged. "He's right though - I am skinny."
"He's the one with low esteem. That's why he's always trying to trash ours. I'm sick of it."
"Do you need some water?" Adam quipped with a smile.
Tommy let Adam's infectious smile bring one to his own face.
"Sounds good right about now," Tommy said.
'Bulk's so stupid,' Tommy thought as he followed Adam to the table where their belongings sat. He let his eyes looked down Adam's body. 'Yeah, he's a little thin side but he's also really trim! He looks great in black.' Tommy frowned at his own thought as he took a sip out of his water bottle. He didn't know where the last part came from but he couldn't disagree.
"So how about that kick?" Adam said pulling his lips from his bottle.
"Yeah," Tommy said putting down his bottle and towel.
They walked back to the center of the mats. Tommy demonstrated the kick. Adam attempted to copy but it ended awkwardly.
"Almost! Jump higher and do it like you mean it!" Tommy said before doing the kick again with a loud call.
Adam attempted the move again. It wasn't as awkward as before but Tommy still wasn't satisfied.
"C'mon. Say it!" Tommy grinned.
Adam performed the kick again while imitating Tommy's loud call. He laughed and looked at Tommy for approval.
"Not bad. Not bad at all."
XXXXX
Kim turned on the balance beam and nearly lost her footing when she saw Tommy in Bulk's face. She continued to watch the scene as she walked across the beam.
"Wow, you're so good," Aisha said in amazement.
"Thanks," Kim said sitting on the beam.
"How long have you been at it?"
Kim took her eyes off of Tommy once she saw Bulk and Skull retreat. "Long time. Since I was 6."
"That's so neat. I can't even walk a straight line," Aisha said rolling her eyes. "Are you going pro?"
Kim shrugged. "I would but I have too much going on. I'd love to though."
"You should do it, girl."
"Now you sound like Jason," Kim giggled swinging her legs back and forth.
"Miss him?"
Kim nodded. "Yeah, I do but hey." She jumped down from the balance beam. "What can you do?"
Aisha smiled, "We can get something to drink."
"I like your thinking."
They made their way to the main counter and ordered a few drinks. They thanked Ernie and carried the drinks to the table where Rocky and Billy sat.
"Quittin' time!" Rocky announced taking a glass of juice from the tray.
"You have to finish if you want a satisfactory grade, Rocky," Billy said.
"I got all night to finish."
Kim turned around just in time to see Tommy stumble back. He put a hand on his side and grinned at Adam. They slapped each five with a laugh.
"You guys thirsty?" Kim asked holding up a cup.
"Yeah!" Tommy answered.
"No thanks. I got my water," Adam replied following Tommy to the table.
"Hope you guys aren't too tired. We have a training session today," Kim said lowly.
"Training? Today?" Rocky asked matching her volume.
"Yeah, this was just a warm up. I thought Tommy told you," Kim said looking at her boyfriend.
Tommy slowly looked up at the group and took his lips off of his straw. "Um, right. Guys, we're training today."
Kim slapped the White Ranger's arm and rolled her eyes. "He was supposed to tell you yesterday."
"Sorry," Tommy said.
"I'm still up for it," Aisha said.
"Me too," Rocky agreed.
"Will we need our…" Adam gestured as if he was morphing.
"Most likely," Billy answered. He leaned forward and whispered, "Is something wrong with your morpher?"
Adam shook his head and looked down at his lap. He looked back up at his team before speaking again. "I left it at home."
"That's not good," Kim said in a sang-song voice.
"You should always have it on your person," Billy said.
"Yeah, I know. I just forgot it because I was running late this morning," Adam said. "I'll go get it now."
"Maybe you should…" Kim pointed to her communicator.
Adam flashed her a warily look. "I'll walk. It's not that far."
"Meet us at the Commander Center," Billy whispered in the same low volume voice.
Adam stood up from his seat. "Ok."
"Wait! Someone should go with you," Aisha said.
"Why don't you go, Mr. Forgetful?" Kim said to Tommy.
"Sure," Tommy said with a shrug.
"Great. Consider Tommy your personal escort, Adam."
"Alright," Adam replied with a laugh. "Come on."
They watched Tommy and Adam quickly make their way towards the exit of the Juice Bar before turning back to one another.
"You two have yours, correct?" Billy asked.
Rocky and Aisha nodded.
"Good, then let's get out of here," Kim suggested.
XXXXX
"So why don't you like to teleport?" Tommy asked as he and Adam cut through the park.
"It makes me feel all…" Adam made a sound and placed a hand on his stomach. "…strange."
Tommy smiled. "I remember that feeling."
"Yeah, so I don't do it unless I have to go to the Command Center."
"You'll get over it - trust me - the more you do it, the easier it'll get. And Zordon lets us use it pretty freely. I call it one of the perks since we don't get paid."
"Sounds cool," Adam said and looked down at his walking feet. "Sorry you had to walk all the way over here, man."
"Don't sweat it, bro. We're pretty protective of you guys."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you're so new and Zedd's gonna try to take advantage of that. I can't help but feel responsible - which is why you should always keep your morpher with you."
"I really did mean to bring it. Between trying to tie my shoes and eat breakfast, I forgot," Adam said.
"It's ok. My mom found my morpher so I can't really talk," Tommy laughed.
Adam laughed. "Seriously? What'd she say?"
"Nothing. It just ended up back in my room."
"Think she knows?"
Tommy shrugged. "Probably but she hasn't said anything."
"That's crazy. I couldn't imagine what my mom would say if she found my Power Morpher. I hope I don't have to find out."
Tommy nodded and looked around. "How far is your house anyway?"
Adam pointed to a house down the street. "Right there."
Tommy nodded. "Nice house. Not too far from mine."
"Oh yeah?"
"I live in that direction. Couple blocks tops," Tommy said pointing north.
"Sweet! Who else lives near here…besides Rocky and Aisha."
"Kim lives down the street from me and Billy lives the next block over."
"Convenient."
Once they arrived at the front door of Adam's house, the Black Ranger pulled his house key from his book bag and unlocked the door. He stepped into the house and waved his new friend inside. Tommy looked around the interior of the home.
"Still unpacking huh?" Tommy asked when he saw boxes lining the walls of each room.
"Unfortunately," Adam grumbled. "I'd give you the grand tour but…"
"I understand."
Adam jumped when he suddenly heard his named being yelled from another room. A few moments later, a woman emerged from the dining room.
"Adam?"
"Yes, Mom," Adam answered.
"You have to…oh! Who might you be?" Mrs. Park said upon seeing Tommy standing next to Adam.
"This is Tommy Oliver."
Tommy instantly held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."
"So respectful," Mrs. Park exhaled with a smile and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too."
"We're just coming to get something out of my room then we're leaving," Adam said.
Adam's mother eyed him curiously. "Ok but I would like you home at a decent hour tonight. You have unpacking to do and it's a school night."
"I'll try my best," Adam said.
"That is all I ask of you," Grace said with a sigh. She looked around the room. "If you boys will excuse me, I have more unpacking to do."
"Dad's not helping?" Adam said.
"No but he won't be able to complain when he can't find anything," Grace said with a wink. "Nice meeting you again, Tommy."
"You too!" Tommy smiled.
"C'mon," Adam said starting to climb the stairs.
Tommy followed closely behind as they made their way to what he assumed was Adam's bedroom. They entered the box filled room. The combination of bare furniture and boxes made the room feel less welcoming than it should be.
'I gotta clean up tonight. This is starting to bother me,' Adam thought as he looked around.
"Man, your mom's so pretty," Tommy commented. "You look like her."
Adam turned and look at him before breaking out in his trademark smile. "Funny, dude. Real funny."
Tommy laughed. "I'm actually being serious."
'Did I just say that he's pretty too? Aw man,' Tommy thought suddenly.
Adam smiled at him again. "I think I put it here." He reached between two stacks of boxes to grab his Power Morpher from the dresser. "Got it."
"Alright, let's go," Tommy said raising his communicator.
Adam sighed loudly. "Ok."
XXXXX
"You can have the power of the universe in your hands but if you don't know how to use it, you won't last very long," Tommy said pacing in front of Adam, Aisha, and Rocky. He looked at the group before continuing. "You three clearly have what it takes to make it or else Zordon wouldn't have picked you."
"If you're ever attacked you can't be 'meek'," Kim said looking at Adam. "You can't be 'funny'." She looked towards Rocky. "You can't be 'cute'." She glanced at Aisha.
"You have to defend yourself and the civilians around you. Through these sessions, you'll learn how to use your powers. The sooner you learn that, the sooner you'll be able to protect yourself," Tommy explained.
Adam, Aisha, and Rocky nodded.
"Don't ever think they'll be a time when you're safe," Tommy laughed humorless. "Once you have the Power, there's no such thing as being safe. Lord Zedd will hunt you. He'll hunt you in your dreams and he'll hunt your families if you're not careful. And he'll always be sending something after you. Things you've probably never imagined in forms you won't always be able to look at."
Kim looked at the three new Power Rangers. She stood in front of Rocky. "Pretend I'm Goldar and you're alone - what do you do?"
Rocky laughed loudly and put a hand on Kimberly's shoulder. "You're a little short."
Kim glared at the new Red Ranger and threw him across the room by his arm. Rocky hit the padded wall and slide down to the floor. His eyes held a certain look of bewilderment.
"What the fuck, Kim?"
"Kim who? I'm Goldar!" she yelled and crossed the room. She sent a kick towards his midsection. "You think you're tough because you got away from a snake huh?"
Rocky blocked her kicks and quickly got to his feet. He picked up his Power Sword from the ground and held it toward the Pink Ranger. "Come on, Goldie."
Adam, Aisha, Tommy, and Billy watched the Red and Pink Ranger battle one another. Tommy turned around and kicked the Black Ranger's legs causing him to fall to the ground with a yell.
"Ow!"
Tommy held Saba to Adam's throat. "You think they're gonna wait 'til you're on your guard?"
"No," Adam grunted. "Can you get your weapon away from my throat?"
Tommy smiled. "Make me."
Adam picked up the Power Axe and used it to move Saba away from his neck. He pulled himself to his feet and locked eyes with the White Ranger. He gently swung his axe from side to side.
"Let's go," he said.
Billy separated his lance and waved the Yellow Ranger closer. Aisha gripped her daggers and cautiously approached the Blue Ranger.
Rocky was having a hard time keeping the petite Pink Ranger away from him. She was agile and stronger than he expected. He swung his sword at her only to have it meet her bow. She knocked the sword out of his hand and kicked near his private regions.
Aisha was having a hard time counteracting Billy's maces with her daggers. Due to her inexperience with the weapon, Billy was able to knock them from her hands with ease. She evaded a mighty swing from his mace and rolled away.
Adam was engaged in a sword fight with Tommy even though neither warrior wielded the traditional sword. Adam dodged all of Tommy's attempts at slicing him in half. He was fast enough not to take a hit but not quite fast enough to get the upper hand on the veteran commander. Tommy suddenly swung and let his fist connect with Adam's abdomen stunning the rookie. Adam gripped his midsection and stumbled back. He looked up just in time to see Tommy coming at him with Saba. He quickly ducked to avoid a blow to the head before rolling between Tommy's open legs and springing to his feet.
"Fast," Tommy commented attacking the Black Ranger again.
Adam protected himself with the axe emitting fiery sparks every time the weapons made contact. Tommy noticed that Adam had already improved his weaponry in the short time they'd been training. Tommy brought Saba down against the Power Axe and attempt to use brute force to overpower his new teammate. Adam surprisingly matched the force behind Tommy's weapon. He once again fell to the floor when Tommy kicked his legs from underneath him.
"You're just gonna lay there?" Tommy asked smugly.
Adam threw the axe away from himself and got to his feet. "Fuck this!" he yelled in frustration.
The rest of the Rangers stopped fighting when they heard the frustrated outburst.
"What?" Tommy asked.
"You guys are going too hard on us!" Adam yelled before stomping towards the exit.
Tommy looked towards Kim and Rocky and shrugged. She gestured for him to follow the angry Black Ranger.
"Keep going," Tommy commanded as he tucked Saba away. He jogged toward the exit and out of the room in time to see Adam's black armor fade away. "Wait!"
"Leave me alone," Adam said walking down the corridor.
"Why are you mad? You're doing great."
"No, I wasn't. I suck and I don't even know why you guys want me on your team."
Tommy frowned. "Stop walking." His frown deepened when Adam continued to walk. He gripped his morpher and powered down. "I said stop!"
Adam stopped walking when he heard Tommy yell at him.
"What's wrong with you?" Tommy asked once he caught up to Adam.
"I can't do this," Adam said shaking his head.
"You can't have a defeated attitude or you've already lost! You can do this."
"No, I can't," Adam disagreed.
"Just try! You think we came out of the gate as Rangers?"
Adam paused for a few moment. "You want me to fight monsters and aliens and whatever else Zedd sends."
Tommy cracked a smile. "Yeah."
"And that makes me nervous."
Tommy laughed. "It's ok if you lose your nerve every now and then but you can't just walk out."
Adam ran a hand through his short, dark hair and sighed. "Alright."
"Alright, man," Tommy said walking Adam back towards the training room.
As soon as they entered the room, Rocky landed right at their feet. The new Red Ranger huffed and slowly got to his feet.
"Your girl's so violent, Tommy," Rock mumbled.
"It's hot right?" Tommy quipped.
"C'mon Rocky! Quit being such a girl!" Kim yelled from across the room.
"She's pushy too," Rocky said running back towards the Pink Ranger.
"Let's start again," Tommy said pulling out his morpher.
"I guess," Adam said.
XXXXX
Kimberly sat at a table in the "break room" connected to the locker room at Command Center. She listened to her CD player as she tried to comb her wet hair. She looked up when she saw a couple of people enter the room out of the corner of her eye. A smile came across her face.
"Hey guys," Kim greeted with a smile.
Aisha and Adam returned her smile as they grabbed a yogurt and an apple from the refrigerator in the room. They took a seat at the round table where Kim sat.
"Nice slippers, Kim," Adam laughed at her fuzzy pink slippers.
"Thank you," Kim said proudly.
"They are cute though," Aisha commented.
"I know! Hey, I think they have a yellow pair at the store where I got 'em."
Aisha's face brightened. "Really?"
"Yeah! We can so get them when we go to the mall."
"Oh Lordy," Adam mumbled as he peeled the metallic wrapper off the top of his yogurt.
Kim playfully glared his way before smiling. "You guys did great today. I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks," Aisha said beaming.
"Billy said the same thing," Adam added.
"Because it's the truth. We didn't pick up on this stuff as fast as you did. We played some serious catch up," Kim spoke. Her smile grew when she saw Tommy entered the room.
"Hey guys," Tommy called grabbing a pudding out of the refrigerator. "Hello Beautiful."
"Hello yourself," Kim replied.
"Hey, you guys did really, really awesome in there today," Tommy said to Aisha and Adam.
"It's unanimous! We must have really done a good job," Aisha laughed and looked at Adam.
Everyone exploded with laughter when a loud groan suddenly sounded. Billy patted Rocky on the back as they entered the room.
"I think you pierced my armor," Rocky groaned at Kimberly.
"Me?" she asked innocently.
Rocky glared at her as he took two pills from Billy. "Yes, you. I don't lose to girls."
"Well, ya did this time," Kim said.
"Your healing factor should start momentarily and repair you by morning. In the meantime, you can take these painkillers," Billy explained.
"Thanks," Rocky said grabbing a water bottle out of the refrigerator.
"I guess we should head home," Tommy said looking at Kim.
"Definitely. It's a school night and I haven't started my paper yet," Kim replied with a sigh as she pulled her hair back.
Rocky groaned again.
"You ok?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah, I just remembered I gotta finish that math homework when I get home," Rocky said.
"A different kind of groan," Aisha laughed.
"I gotta go finish unpacking my room," Adam said.
"I have a few chapters to absorb before retiring myself," Billy said.
Tommy stood up and held his hand out for the Pink Ranger. "Teleport you home?"
"Always," she grinned. "See you guys later!" She disappeared along with Tommy.
"I'm out too," Rocky said pressing a button on his communicator and teleporting out.
"Likewise," Billy said teleporting out.
Adam was about to teleport out but found himself wrapped in a hug. He was surprised for a moment but returned the hug.
"You seem like you needed that," Aisha said pulling back.
"Thanks. I did," Adam replied.
"If you hadn't walked out, I was going to. Don't feel bad." Aisha raised her communicator. "Bumblebee powers, stage out!"
Adam laughed and raised his communicator. "Stage out!"
Aisha and Adam disappeared in yellow and black lights.