Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers and never will…already have money so don't need any from writing this.
A/N: Starting from when Wes gives up the morpher, this story is going to start going AU. Although you'll see some canon moments, do not assume anything else from the series occurred after Dawn of Destiny, such as the lightspeed team up or the 'beware of the knight episode. You'll get a surprise at the end, and my story 'Second Chance' will pick up from there.
A Different PathWes slowly scaled the stairs as he made his way up to the main floor of the clock tower. While talking to his father at the hospital, he had gotten an urgent call from the others, telling him to meet back at the clock tower to discuss something important. He could only imagine whose idea that was. With a few more strides, Wes had reached the main room and walked in to see five pairs of eyes looking straight at him, and by the looks on their faces, he could tell this wasn't going to be good. He directly averted his eyes to Alex and took a deep breath before stepping forward and casually engaging in conversation.
"Got your message, you said it was urgent, I came as soon as I could. So what's up?"
To Wes' surprise it wasn't Alex's voice that answered his question and it wasn't Alex who stepped forward from the line of five and stood directly in front of him.
"Wes…we…we want you to know that every since joining this team, that you've been a great red ranger, both on and off the battlefield. You have taught Jen, Lucas, Trip, and I so much in the ten months we've been here, and we'll forever be thankful for that. But, this fight with Ransik…it isn't yours; it's ours."
Seeing as how Katie couldn't go on by herself any longer, Lucas stepped forward and continued on from where she had left off.
"We want you to know that this was not our decision, and we hate it just as much as you do. But there are 13 billion other people in our time that are counting on us to save them, and allowing you to wear the morpher when Alex is alive would be damaging to the timeline."
"But Alex saved my father from dying. Just by doing that he changed history. Why is that different from me wearing the morpher? And what about Eric?"
Trip stepped forward, looking as though if Wes had directed the question towards him.
"Alex is the Red Time Force Ranger that came and fought in the past, according to history banks, and it needs to stay that way. Alex saved your father's life because he wasn't supposed to be killed by Ransik. Ransik doesn't belong to this time. Just so you know, Eric will be keeping the Quantum Morpher. Because of Time Force sending it back, it became apart of history, apart of your present. He was destined to find the morpher, and help us to defeat Ransik."
Jen was the final one to come forward, and it was visible that she had tears in her eyes.
"I'm not sure what happens from here, but I do know that you'll be okay. You can finally have a life you enjoy waking up to Wes. You're the most amazing person I've ever met, and no matter what, don't ever forget you."
Alex slowly stepped forward and once again, for the second time held out his hand and waited for the morpher to be given back to him.
"I…I don't…I don't understand. I thought I was allowed to keep the morpher, I thought that's why you gave it back to me."
"I'm sorry if I confused you by my actions, Wes. I gave you back the morpher temporarily, so as a team you all could defeat Dragontron before more destruction was caused. And you did an excellent job. You all did an excellent job. But it is still my responsibility to take command of this team and the morpher. Time Force orders. It's not my choice."
Wes blinked a few times before his brain fully registered what was going on. He couldn't believe this was happening. Five minutes ago he was the happiest guy in the world. He had just been given a second chance with his father, Eric and him seemed to have finally found some common ground, and he thought he was going to be able to keep the morpher. How fast things could change in such a short amount of time. He was losing everything that he had come to cherish in his life. Friends. A destiny he actually wanted. Jen.
"I…um… alright. So that's it. That's how this ends? Um, okay. Thanks for letting me be apart of this. And good luck…with Ransik and everything. I guess, I guess I'll see you guys around…maybe."
With that said, Wes undid the strap of the morpher from his left wrist and for the second time reluctantly passed it over to Alex. Once the morpher left Wes' fingertips he gave everyone a brief miserable looking smile and turned on his heels to leave. But as he reached the stairs, he turned back to his former teammates.
"You guys can keep the car here as long as you need it, I'll get it when you guys…you guys leave. And if any of you need anything, please, don't hesitate to ask."
With those last things said, he looked at each of them one more time, and took off towards the stairs.
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Wes patiently stood outside after knocking on the hospital door to his father's room, before pushing it open when he heard the command to come in. A good look at his father brought a smile to Wes' face. At least something turned out well today.
"Hey, thought I drop by to see how you were doing and if you needed anything."
Alan Collins glanced up at his son and could already tell that something was bothering him. He motioned for Wes to take a seat before answering his son's question.
"I'm doing great. The doctor says I can go home tomorrow, they just want to keep me overnight as a safety precaution. But, I think the real question is, are you alright?"
Wes took a deep breath and ran over what had happened in his head, and asked himself that very question. Was he alright? No he wasn't. With the question answered in his mind, Wes went on to tell his Dad everything. Not just about what had happened with the Rangers, but everything that wasn't and hadn't been alright in his life since he was ten. They talked for hours about the things Wes had been burying inside since he was a kid. And before either of them realized it, they had relayed Wes' entire life up until this very moment.
"Well, what do you plan on doing now, son?"
"I have absolutely no idea. I don't know what I want to do. I always assumed that taking over Bio-Lab was what I was going to do. I didn't count on the last ten months happening to me."
"How about playing pro tennis, you're an amazing tennis player. Hell, you're just as good if not better than that…Arty Roddick kid. They say he's a rising star."
"Its Andy Roddick, Dad, and no. I hate tennis, I just played because mom played, and it made me feel like I was at least doing something that made her proud."
"Your mother, no matter what, would have always been proud of you, Wes. You are so much like her it's almost scary. You know, right before your mother found out she was pregnant with you, she had wanted to be a teacher?"
"A teacher? Why a teacher?"
"I'm not exactly sure where she got the idea, but while she was training as a student/teacher, she would come home everyday with the biggest smiles on her face. And she would sit down and tell me the funniest stories about some of the kids in the class she was in." A soft smile crept on Alan's face as memories of those days played in his head. "She said being around kids kept the child within her alive and teaching them made her feel like she was doing something important."
"Why didn't she ever become a teacher if she loved it so much?"
"Because she loved you more. Because taking care of her new born baby and watching him grow was a feeling that teaching could never replace."
"Wow. I never knew that about Mom. There's a lot I don't know about Mom."
"You were young when she passed away, it's not your fault Wesley." Alan averted his gaze to the window, when something caught his eye. "Ah, look at that, the sun is starting to rise." He turned to look at his son and saw a far away look on Wes' face. "I tell you what, you go home and get some rest, you had a long day yesterday. And when I get home from the hospital, we'll pull out all the old scrapbooks, pictures, and home videos I have of your mother. Would that be a start to getting to know your mother?"
"I'd like that a lot."
"Good, now get out of here and get some rest."
Wes slowly stood up from the hospital chair and made his way over to the wooden door. With a look back at his dad, Wes said, "Love you, Pop."
Alan smiled at the use of the nickname he hadn't heard in a long time, "Love you too, son."
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"Alright, I expect you all to have your papers turned in by Friday, no exceptions!"
Wes didn't pay any mind to the professor's voice booming through the lecture hall. His twelve-paged paper was already done, so he didn't have to worry and stress over it like the other 87 percent of his class. As he walked through the university campus, his eyes couldn't help but notice the sun gleaming off of the clock face of a tower in a far away distance. It has been two months since he had given up the morpher, and returned to having a 'normal' life. Well as normal as life could get when you had a group of mutants bent on destroying your city. At least things were beginning to look up for him now.
The relationship between him and his father was getting better everyday. It was probably the closest they had been for as long as Wes could remember. He felt like he could tell his Dad anything, and talking to him had never been so easy. Wes thought his Dad was going to have a heart attack when he told him that he wanted to go back to school and earn his teacher certification in order to become a teacher. But Wes' father had told him he supported anything Wes chose, as long as he was happy. What surprised Wes even more was before he started going to school; Wes' father had not once tried to coax him into working for Bio-Lab or the Silver Guardians.
Speaking of the Silver Guardians, that brought him to his next thought, Eric. He and Eric had somewhat developed a minor friendship between the two of them, compliments of Wes' father. They weren't really close, but every once a while they would go out for a drink or meet up for lunch. They would talk about sports, news, politics, what was going on with the rangers, and even days back in high school. It wasn't perfect by any means necessary. They still argued all the time, no doubt about that, but it was the way friends' argued, not bitter enemies.
Enemies. It had been two months and Ransik still had eluded the rangers. To make matters worse, according to Eric, Frax had betrayed Ransik and was now starting a battle of his own, which meant instead of stopping just one super villain, they had to stop two. And with each battle, Wes had to watch from the sidelines. He hadn't seen the rangers in two months either. He would tell them 'hi' which was sent through Eric, but that was the only contact they had had. With a combination of what he saw on TV and what he got from Eric, apparently the rangers weren't getting along well. And Wes could bet his life that the reason for this was four letters long.
The growling of his stomach brought Wes out of his thoughts, reminding him that he needed to grab some lunch before his next class. Having finally reached his bike, he shoved on his helmet, mounted his bike, and sped off towards downtown Silver Hills.
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"How's school going for you?" The man behind the counter asked. Wes concluded that he felt like pizza and decided to go to an old friend's pizza parlor for lunch. He quickly swallowed the chunk of pizza he just took a bite of, to answer Tony's question; he was hungrier than he thought.
"So far, so good. I just want to get all the class stuff out the way, so I can start doing some hands on interaction with kids. Get a feel if this is right for me or not."
"You're a kid at heart, Wes. Any kid would be lucky to have them as your teacher. So have you decided what subject you want to teach?"
Wes wiped his mouth with a napkin, "I think I'm going to go with Spanish. I would like to teach math, but I think there's more freedom in teaching Spanish. Plus, I'd have to refresh my brain on my math skills, and I don't want to do that. I can already speak Spanish so it'd be easier to transition into teaching kids."
Tony chuckled softly as he took Wes' plate and cup. "I'm sure. What you need to do is refresh yourself on time management; you're going to be late for class if you don't get moving."
"Aww man…thanks for lunch, Tony. I'll see you later," and with that Wes went racing out the door.
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He ran as fast as he could down the path and through the park to get to where he parked his motorcycle. Good idea Wes, parking on the OTHER side of the park he scolded himself. Finally seeing his bike in sight, Wes picked up his running pace a bit more, getting closer and closer to it by the second.
Before Wes knew what hit him, the tail end of a Ford Taurus struck him on his left side and sent him straight to the ground. After the shock left his body, and knowing he was fine, he immediately went to try and push himself up. He heard some people gasp, others yell for help, but only one person ran up to see if he was okay.
"That was some hit you took, are y-…Wes?"
At the sound of his name he looked up into his helper's eyes and upon seeing them, went completely still. He hadn't physically seen those eyes in what felt like a lifetime, but he saw them every night in his dreams.
"Jen." The words came from his lips in a soft whisper.
"Long time, no see Wes. Are you okay? Can you get up?"
"Yea, I'm fine, just got hit by a car, no big deal." She smiled at his attempt of a joke and then went to help lift him up off the ground. Wes noticed that around him people started to disperse with the sight of Wes being okay, and also noticed that the driver of the Ford Taurus had left too. But at this moment, he didn't care.
"Mind if I ask what had you in such a hurry that you didn't notice a car backing out?"
Jen's question brought him out of his thoughts and he turned to smile at her. "I was rushing to my bike so I could get to class on time. My professor doesn't like it when people come in late; he tends to make you pay for it later."
"Oh well you better get going then, I'm sure this definitely slowed you down."
Wes chuckled, "If your not busy, do you want to take a walk or sit down somewhere?"
"But you just said-"
"That's not important anymore. I haven't seen you in two months. Missing one class isn't going to hurt."
"Then no, I'm not busy at all."
Wes smiled as he and Jen started to walk towards the path that weaved through the park and to his pleasant surprise the first thing she said to him was, " I miss you, Wes."
"I miss you too. I miss all of you." With that out in the open, they both just enjoyed each other's presence for a few minutes until Jen broke the silence.
"So, a teacher. Never in my life would I have pegged you for the teacher type. So how did that come about?"
"How did you know about that? Are you stalking me? "
"Ha. You wish. Your not the only who goes to see Tony."
"Tony, I should have known."
"So are you going to answer the question?"
Wes laughed, "Its just something I'm trying, who knows how it will go. My mom wanted to be a teacher and for some reason I think it just might suit me." He paused for a second before asking the question that was on his mind. "How's it going with Alex?"
Without even hesitating, "He's driving me crazy. I don't know what's gotten in to him. He's so bitter and distant. Of course it doesn't help matters that him and Lucas are constantly going at it. I have no control over the orders he assigns to the team; he doesn't listen to anyone's suggestions or what they have to say. And to top it all off, our relationship is in trouble, and for some reason he doesn't want to deal with it. The mission comes first, he says."
Wes couldn't believe he was about to defend Alex's actions, but he shook off the thought and said it anyways. "He's probably just stressed Jen. I mean you weren't exactly relaxed when you were leading the team. Not to mention he's had to deal with the animosity that the others are giving him. That's got to be tough on him."
"Yea, I guess. We're all pretty stressed. Ransik hasn't made a move in over a week. I'm beginning to think he's up to something…something big. Trip thinks its like a calm before a storm."
She was worried, he could tell by the look in her eyes and the sound of her voice.
Before he could try and comfort her, he heard the familiar bleep of a morpher and watched as Jen lifted up her wrist to answer the call.
"Jen, you need to report back to base immediately, the captain wants to see us."
"I'm on my way Lucas." Jen averted her eyes over to Wes and gave him an apologetic look, "I'm sorry Wes, but duty calls. It was really good talking you. Hope I see you around." With that she turned around and took off in a sprint in the direction of the clock tower. Wes eyes stayed glued to her back until she was out of his sight, then he began his own journey back to his bike.
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Silver Hills was in a state of panic. Buildings were getting sucked into the sky; Giant robots were shooting lasers from every which direction, and cyclobots had completely taken over the city. The rangers were doing as much as they could, but it was obvious they were fighting a losing battle. Eric, along with the Q-Rex, was busy battling it out with the latest version of Frax's robot, while the rangers stayed on ground trying to destroy as many cyclobots as they could. The Silver Guardians were doing as much as they could, going around the city helping out anyone who needed a hand. Trip had been right after all; this was one hell of a storm.
The sound of Eric's cry caught Wes' attention and he took off in the direction it had come from. By the time he reached Eric, he found him on the ground battered and demorphed.
"Eric! Are you alright?" Wes bent down to try and help pull Eric to his feet.
"Yea, I'm…ahh!" Eric took several deep breaths before attempting to stand up again, but stopped when he looked past Wes and towards the streets. "We've got company."
Wes turned around to see about eleven cyclobots heading their way. Wes was way outnumbered and with Eric injuries, running was not an option. Wes quickly lifted Eric off his feet and hauled him over to a spot behind an abandoned car.
"Stay here, I'll take care of them and then will see if we can get some help, or take you to a hospital."
"No, your outnumbered Wes, you need my help."
"You're in no condition to fight, and if you permanently injure your self, the city is one ranger down. We can't afford that, so stay put, I'll be back." With that said, Wes jumped over the hood of the car and rushed towards the group of cyclobots.
In a flash, two of the cyclobots appeared on both sides of Wes. Simultaneously, they both attacked Wes with two kicks to his ribs, but before they could land, Wes blocked the first one, grabbing its foot and pushing the robot down onto its back, while the other kick landed on his left side. Stunned for only a moment, Wes brought up his arm to stop the next punch thrown, and then aimed on of his own to the cyclobots midsection.
Three more joined the fight, as one of them went to swing its sword at Wes, but with a backbend and then a sweep kick from underneath, it was quickly knocked down. Wes got back on his feet only to be knocked back down by the other two. As one approached Wes near his feet, he brought up his leg and hit it straight in its 'face' sending it to the ground.
Another sweep kick took out the third member of the trio, but Wes' break was short lived as three more showed up. The first one threw a punch, which Wes easily avoided and in the process caught its arm and flipped it over on its side. Another came from behind him and grabbed Wes around the neck, cutting off his air supply. Wes brought his elbow back into its body, and then pulled it over his shoulder, slamming it on the ground. A snap kick quickly took the approaching cyclobot out, but also prompted the remaining three to come finish the fight.
Before the cyclobots even reached Wes, they were taken out by streaks of yellow, blue, and green blaster fire. Wes whipped his head around to see the Yellow, Blue, and Green Time Force rangers sprinting towards him in an urgent fashion.
"Guys, thank god you here, Eric is hurt-"
Lucas stepped forward, "We know, Alex and Jen are getting him to the hospital now. His leg is broken and we don't have the time to use our medical equipment to heal him."
"But you have to. You can't afford to be down one ranger, that thing," Wes pointed to the halted Doomtron, "is destroying the city."
"We know. We're doing the best we can. Trip thinks he's found a way to stop it. Once we destroy it, we'll go and find Ransik and Frax. But right now we need you to get to safety. There's a bunker near Bio-Lab, your father is there, waiting for you."
"No, Lucas, I want to help you guys."
"Wes," Katie interjected, "please. You can't help us. You'd be completely defenseless if Ransik or Frax found you. You want to help us, then please, go to the bunker and stay there until one of us comes for you."
Wes didn't answer, just nodded his head silently and took off in a sprint through the debris towards Bio-Lab. But before he got out of earshot he turned around and yelled back to his three friends, "Good luck!"
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The bunker was packed full of people that Wes didn't or couldn't at the moment recognize. He was looking for only one face out of the many that were there, and after twenty minutes he found it.
"Dad!" Wes grabbed his father in a fierce hug and held on for a little while before pulling back to get a good look at him.
"Wes, thank god your all right. I tried looking for you when the attacks started but those robots swarmed the car."
"Are you okay, did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine. The rangers came before the driver or me got hurt. They told me to come here and that they would send you here if they found you."
"Well they found me, so here I am. Dad, you should know Eric was hurt while he was battling Doomtron. He got battered up and broke his leg. The other rangers took him to the hospital to get medical attention. He should be alright, though."
"Good, good."
Silence enveloped the two afterwards. Not one word was said between them for the next hour and a half. Wes knew that it wasn't because they had nothing to talk about, but for the same reason no one else in the bunker was talking. They were all listening to the sounds of battle above them. There was the constant echo of blaster fire, and earlier they had all felt a violent shake reverberate through the walls, which had caused some of the cement in the bunker to loosen. Just a few moments ago, they all heard a massive explosion not far from where they were hiding, and Wes silently prayed that the rangers weren't on the receiving end of that blast.
Another twenty minutes went by and still nothing had happened. Wes was starting to get irritated and decided that he had stayed put long enough. He needed to know if they were okay. If Jen was okay. "I'm going back up. I need to see what's going on."
"Be careful, son."
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Wes couldn't believe that he walking through what was downtown Silver Hills. The buildings that remained were still intact but there was debris everywhere. If it wasn't a flipped over car, or a cyclobots' body, it was parts from Frax's robot, lying all over the street. It would take a lot of time and money to get Silver Hills up and running again and Wes hoped that rebuilding the city was something the people of Silver Hills could look forward to.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"
Wes whipped his head around to see four of five rangers, demorphed, and walking towards him, with smiles on their faces. "You did it! You guys did it!"
In another moment there were nothing but hugs and yelps of joy in the streets of Silver Hills as they celebrated the victory over Ransik and his goons. With a first glance at the rangers, they all were covered in dirt and had accumulated some bruises and scratches, but other than that, everyone was fine. Then something hit Wes.
"Where's Alex?"
Trip happily turned to face Wes and answer his question. "He's on the beach with the time ship, cryogenetically containing and freezing Ransik and Nadira."
"What about Frax?"
Wes noticed how everyone's face went somber at the mention of Frax.
"He was destroyed with Doomtron. We didn't know he was in there when we destroyed it, at least until Ransik told us."
"So its over? Its really over?"
Katie took the honors of answering the question. "Yup, its really over."
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Wes stood on the beach, watching his father and Eric, say goodbye to the time force rangers, al the wind blew calmly through his hair. It was time for them to return home, to their own family and friends. The rangers had spent the past two days with Wes at his house, due to the fact that they had to blow up the clock tower when they had been ambushed. He had fun while it lasted. He would miss them dearly; they were the best friends he ever had. Well, minus Alex. Wes still wasn't sure how he felt about Alex but seeing as how this was the last time they would ever see each other, he didn't think it appropriate to do something stupid now. Wes looked back to the rangers to see them coming his way. He took deep breaths as he prepared himself for the goodbyes.
Alex stepped to him first, reaching out to take his hand. "I'm not sure exactly what to say besides good luck and thanks for your help."
Wes smiled at his bluntness and responded with, "Then we'll just leave it at that. Good luck Alex, and thanks for your help." With that said Wes watched as Alex went towards the time ship and with a flash of red, disappeared inside.
Wes turned his attention to Lucas, who had just walked up to him to say goodbye.
"You take it easy on that track, Lucas."
"Yea, well, at least now I have my drivers license." Lucas chuckled lightly before Wes stepped up and enveloped him in a hug.
"Take care, Lucas."
"You too."
Lucas stepped back, patted Wes on the shoulder and headed towards the time ship, disappearing in a flash of blue.
Before Wes could even turn back to her, Katie already had him in, literally, a bone-crushing hug. "Woah, Katie! Katie!"
"Sorry, Wes. I'm going to miss you." Wes looked to see she had tears in her eyes.
"I'm going to miss you too, and your hugs." He gave her his own version of a bone-crushing hug before she stepped out of it.
"Bye, Wes." With that Katie walked to the time ship and entered into the time ship, leaving in a flash of yellow.
Wes took a deep breath, two down, two to go. He swung his body back towards Trip and stepped up closer to the man that had been the best friend he ever had. Trip had tears coming down his face and Wes couldn't help but let his own eyes water.
"Trip…"
"I know. I'm going miss you too. Can I keep my hat?"
Wes grabbed Trip into a hug and patted his back a few times before answering, "Yea."
Trip, following Lucas and Katie headed into the time ship, but before he went in, Wes saw Circuit pop out of Trip's bag.
"Bye Wes."
"You take care of Trip, Circuit."
"Always have, always will." Both Trip and Circuit vanished into the time ship in a flash of green light.
Wes turned his eyes towards Jen, and the hold he thought he had on his emotions broke as tears fell down his face. He bent his head down to try and cover the tears, for at least a few seconds. Jen approached him, placing her hands on both sides of face; forcing him to look at her.
"I don't know what to say, Jen."
"Don't say anything. I'm going to miss you Wes Collins. Don't you ever forget me."
"Never could." Wes bent his head down a little lower as Jen placed a soft kiss on his cheek.
And just like the others she started her stride towards the time ship, and was almost there before Wes yelled out to her.
"Wait! Jen wait!"
Jen whipped her head around and looked at Wes with curiosity and tears in her eyes.
"I love you, Jen. I love you so much. Don't you ever forget what an amazing woman you are, and don't change for anyone. Your perfect they way you are."
Wes watched as tears began to pour down Jen's face, and as he began to approach, she finally opened her mouth to say something.
"I told you not to say anything," and with that said, she broke out in a sprint for the time ship, disappearing in a flash of pink light.
Seconds later Wes could hear the time ship engines firing up, and right above it, a time hole rapidly began to open. His heart shattered into pieces as he watched the ship disappear into the sky. His friends and the woman he loved, gone along with it.
"Are you ok?"
"I'll be fine, Dad."
"So what now son?"
"I'm not really sure, finish school, I guess. Pick up our lives where we left off. There are no more mutants; Silver Hills can look forward to the rebuilding of the city. I think the future looks pretty bright."
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"Jesus Wes, how much crap do you have?"
"First of all it's not crap, it's a microwave. And secondly, you don't have to help load if you don't want to, Eric."
Wes chuckled as he watched Eric turn around and reach for another box full of 'crap'. After more than a year and a half of school and having finally acquired his teaching certificate, Wes had been hired two weeks before as a Spanish teacher for a high school in southern California. Luckily for him he'd found a nice one-story house near the school and decided that for now, it would make due for his new home. Teachers had orientation in three days so Wes was leaving today, so he'd have some time to get settled in.
"So how long is the drive?"
"Its about 3 hours, not bad at all. I wish I could take my bike with me. I'm going to miss riding it."
"Yeah, I can see how your car can get boring, you know, being new and all."
"Is there ever a sentence that comes out of you that isn't sarcastic, vulgar, or insulting?"
"Nope…wait that was one."
"That's a word not a sentence."
"Same damn thing."
Wes laughed again. He was going to miss his daily encounters with Eric. They had become good friends in the past year and a half.
"I see you two finished packing up the car."
"Oh, hey Dad. Yea we finished packing, all that's left is me."
"Leaving so soon, I thought you could stick around for lunch?"
"I can't. I have to meet the movers at four and its almost twelve thirty, I should probably get on the road now."
"Alright, well call me when you get there. And let me know how everything turns out."
"Will do, Pop. I'll see you next weekend." Wes walked over and gave his father a hug before going up to Eric and saying goodbye.
"Good luck teaching all those hormonal brats a different language. Remember when you decide to quit, and you will; remember there's always a job for you on the guardians."
"Thanks, Eric. I think. I'll see you next weekend," and with that the two friends parted.
Wes looked over at his Dad and friend one more time before jumping into his brand new white Chevy Avalanche and slowly headed down the drive way and out to the main street.
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The house had two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a full kitchen, living room, small dining area and a carpeted basement. He had a pool and Jacuzzi in the back, although it was not as big as the one back home. The backyard was a nice size too; even with the pool in the back, there was still enough room for some patio furniture and a grill. It was the ideal house for a bachelor.
The movers had arrived on time and unloaded all of the furniture within an hour, leaving Wes to the task of unpacking. Which is exactly what he started doing five hours ago and in that time, he had completely unpacked his kitchen and the majority of his bedroom. Wes opened another box and started to search through it to see what contents it held. He paused as he came across an old wooden picture frame that had been turned upside down. He picked it and turned it over, wiping the dust that had collected on it, off. The woman in the picture was absolutely beautiful. She was smiling in the photo and you could tell just by her smile how warm and kind she was. She had the prettiest shade of blue eyes Wes had ever seen, and her blond hair looked absolutely flawless. When he finished looking at the picture, Wes had concluded he was a lucky man to be able to call a woman like that his mother.
Wes propped the picture up on his nightstand, exactly where it had been at his old house and continued to unpack the box. After a while, sleep begun to succumb over Wes' body and soon enough he passed out and fell asleep on his new bed. Another amazing woman crept into his mind and he allowed himself to dream about her tonight. Just like every other night.
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"Welcome teachers both new and returning to the first staff meeting of the 2003-2004 school year. For those of you who don't know me I am Doyle Burchett, Assistant Principal of this prominent high school. I apologize in advance for the absence of our principal, but she couldn't make it today. But before we get started on planning curriculums, I would like to give the new teachers an opportunity to look at their classrooms and meet their fellow faculty members. I recommend all teachers to go to the gym and grab this year's rulebook, spirit shirts, etc. When we meet back in the theatre in thirty minutes, please sit with your respective department, for you will be making quick introductions before we start the meeting."
With that Wes watched as all the other teachers got up from their seats and all headed in different directions. Wes wanted to check out his classroom, if he knew where to go. Instead he chose to play it safe and go to the gym first. As soon as he walked in, Wes immediately looked up and around to see several banners hanging up. Some said 'State Champs' while others read 'Warrior Pride'. They were drawn in blue and black paint, so Wes assumed that those were the school colors.
The first table Wes approached was the 'Spirit Wear Table' where the teachers' were supposed to pick up their shirts and could also look to buy other items such as sweatshirts, jackets, car decals, and coffee mugs. Wes spotted the spirit shirts and in an instant his face turned into one of disgust. As he picked it up and unfolded the shirt to get a better look, he wished he hadn't. Black and blue tie dyed shirts that had 'Warriors Gettin' Groovy' written in white letters was not something he was going to wear, Spirit Day or not
"They're pretty ugly, aren't they?"
Wes averted his attention to the left, where the male voice had come from. The man looked a little older than himself, but still young. He was slightly taller than himself, and his hair was short but spiked. He also wore glasses. He looked friendly enough. "Pretty ugly? They're horrendous. Its free and I still don't want it."
The other man laughed at Wes' comment and went to put his shirt back down; Wes followed suit.
"So are you new here?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"No, its just your wearing the same facial expression I know I'm wearing. I'm new here too, to the school I mean. I've lived here for almost two years."
"Ah. Well you figured right. Only I'm new here in general, but were both the new teachers. It's nice to know I'm not alone. So what subject are you teaching here?"
"Science, and you?"
"Spanish. Are you excited about teaching?"
"I'm looking forward to seeing how teaching goes for me. Science wasn't my strong point in high school, so I find it kind of ironic that I'm teaching it. So am I excited? A little bit, petrified mostly."
"Hopefully, if we can get by the first week, the rest of the year will be smooth sailing…hopefully?"
Wes and the other man chatted for a little while longer as they walked through the school hallways back to the theatre hall. They both had decided to go with each other to find their respective classrooms so that they had less of a chance of getting lost. A few minutes ago a voice had come over the P.A. system telling the teachers to return for their faculty meetings. When they got to the hall doors, the man turned to face Wes and reached out his hand, "It was nice meeting you…?"
"Wes, Wes Collins. And it was a pleasure meeting you…?"
"Oliver. Tommy Oliver. Good luck with your dept. meeting and I guess I'll see you around. Oh, and Wes, welcome to Reefside."
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A/N: I know it was a bit of a time jump, but I needed to get the story moving. This is to be continued in 'Second Chance'. Hopefully, I'll have that posted by Wednesday. Hit that pretty purple button below and let me know what you guys think. Until next time!