Purple Birthday
Summary – Surprise birthday parties are fun just as long as you're not the one the party is being thrown for and you're not a naturally suspicious person. Gift for GenkiPlus.
"And you don't think she dislikes surprise parties?" Rocky leaned around a pillar he had just festooned with a plethora of streamers.
Adam shrugged. He pulled a piece of tape from the dispenser that sat between his teeth and mumbled something. Rocky stared at him in confusion until Adam pulled the tape dispenser from his mouth and repeated himself, "I don't know," he said. "I don't think anyone dislikes surprise parties." At Rocky's continuing incredulous glance, Adam continued with. "I mean, it's not so bad is it? I just want to make sure that she feels like she fits in here, y'know? Moving to Angel Grove isn't so easy."
"What's wrong with Angel Grove?" Billy asked, turning form the counter where he and Tommy were frosting a cake that had just finished cooling. "It's a great place to live; the cost of living is down, families thrive here, the school districts—"
"—continuously get stomped down by the monsters that come through day after day after day," Tommy pointed out. He shrugged, spinning his knife into the frosting atop the cake. "I'm surprised Rita and Zedd haven't gone so far as to completely demolish our school by now."
"Don't give them any ideas," Rocky pointed out. "They watch us, remember. Next thing you know there's going to be a putty jumping out of that birthday cake." He motioned towards the cake and Billy and Tommy slowly turned to face it with suspicious eyes. Tommy slowly picked up his knife and started to jab it into the center of the cake. "I'd be thorough if I were you."
"Rocky," Adam said in a warning tone as the red ranger laughed.
"It's not my fault if they really think there's a putty in there," Rocky defended himself. He follows Adam across the empty floor of the Youth Center to another pillar so that they could start filling it with purple and white streamers. "So you're putting in a lot of work for this party…you haven't even known Zoey for that long."
Adam eyed him warily. "Yeah? And?"
"And nothing." Rocky lowered his gaze to the tape dispenser and made himself busy with pulling off a piece. Once it came off he handed it over to Adam with a giant smile on his face. "Other than the fact that you like her." Adam rolled his eyes. "Come on Adam, you do. I haven't seen you go this far for a birthday party of even a birthday present since Aisha's sixteenth birthday. And that was because she basically told us she'd never forgive us if we didn't throw her a party. And even then we couldn't say it was a surprise because we had to run everything by her."
"I already told you, I want her to feel like she fits in," Adam explained. "And it's hard to move in the middle of the year, especially when there's some family issues going on." He spun his roll of streamer in his hands, unraveling it as he did so. Rocky's eyes lowered as a pile started to form on the ground to the black ranger's lack of notice. "And I think this is a great way to do it, just us in the youth center. We can get her acclimated to Angel Grove and what it means to be a ranger and have fun all the same."
Rocky made a noise of agreement and continued to watch Adam. He lifted his gaze from the streamers to the black ranger, back to the streamers, then to the black ranger once more. At the rapid change of Rocky's attention, Adam looked down and found he had almost completely upended the streamers to the floor. He groaned lightly, tilting his head back.
"Are you sure you don't like her?"
"Shut up, Rocky!"
...
..
.
Zoey Montgomery tilted her head to the side as she watched Avalon Mitchell, Kimberly, and Aisha move in front of the dressing room mirror in a colorful whirlwind trying on dress after dress they could get their hands on. When they didn't figure out what they wanted and started to move onto skirts Zoey's eyes widened.
"You're not done yet?" She asked.
"Not all of us can get out kicks done with lipstick and lip gloss," Aisha pointed out, turning this way and that in front of the mirror. Finally she turned all the way around and looked over her shoulder. "And hair dye," She added, turning her head to zero in on the bag that was clutched in Zoey's grasp.
"I mean, I like the color orange but I don't think I'd ever dye my hair that color, yeah?" Avalon commented. She raised her closed hand towards Aisha and stuck out her thumb, turning it on its side, wiggling it up and down. Aisha nodded and then turned to get Kimberly's opinion as she fluttered around like a butterfly, tugging this way and that at Aisha's skirt and top. Avalon chuckled and turned to Zoey. "Though that would look good with your hair color."
"I may as well try something," Zoey commented, lowering her gaze to the ground. She tried not to sigh heavily but couldn't help it. "It's something that me and Maya would've done if we were home. We would've set up a sleepover and stayed up all night eating candy and drinking soda and watching movies and trying on new make up and…" she shook her head. "I'm sorry, it's not like I don't like Angel Grove or you guys or anything but…"
"Hey don't worry about it. We get it." Kimberly said gently. She nodded over to Aisha and stepped away from the mirrors. "Moving so early in the year isn't easy and the rest of us know that moving is hard. But going into a new school year and being a power ranger is even harder. You're doing a great job, Zoey." She placed her hand on the purple ranger's shoulder and smiled. "And this shopping trip is for you, it doesn't look like you're having a lot of fun."
Zoey shrugged.
"Tell you what, why don't you look throughout the store. Whatever you find I'll pay for it. Really, it's on me."
Avalon's eyes lit up at the mention and she started to look around the store. "Is that just for her or does it go for all of us?" Before Kimberly could answer Avalon turned to a rack that was beside her and picked up a pair of white overall shorts. "White isn't my color—"
"—that's because only Tommy can pull off the color," Kimberly said with a proud smile as she spoke about her boyfriend.
Avalon gave her a pointed look. "Notice how no one mentioned your boyfriends other than you, Pinkerbell," she said sarcastically, causing Zoey to laugh lightly. Her smile faded lightly even though she continued to chuckle. "Anyway, mate, I was saying I think these overalls would look good on you."
"She's right!" Aisha chimed in. She jumped down form the small platform, pushing her braids behind her shoulders as she did so. "Those overalls are so cute. You should buy them." She snapped her fingers and looked at Kimberly and Avalon. "As a matter of fact, you should buy them and wear them today. Out the store. You can do that! I would know, I do that all the time on this mall."
Zoey hesitated to take the hanger so long that Avalon practically flung it into her chest. "I don't know," She said slowly. "It's great of you to offer to pay for this for me, Kimberly, but I don't think—"
"It's your birthday," Kimberly insisted. "You don't need to think at all. And think of this as retail therapy, you'll feel so much better after you get your new clothes that you can't do anything but smile." Zoey opened her mouth to protest once more but found that Kimberly forcefully pressed the overalls to her chest then grabbed her shoulders, pushing Zoey into the dressing room before she could protest any further.
"Okay, okay," Zoey replied as the door was closed behind her. She looked at the closed door and over to her reflection then immediately regretted it. She looked so…miserable. And how could that be when she was with her new friends, hanging out and having a good time? By being aware she wasn't spending her own birthday with her best friend and her family who were still back on the East Coast. She had gotten used to the idea of moving but wished it hadn't come in before her birthday. Maybe if it happened afterwards it wouldn't hurt so badly.
It's not that bad, Zoey tried to remind herself, changing into the overall shorts. You've made friends really quickly. Who else would watch your guilty pleasure shows with you expect Rocky? She smiled a little as she thought of their gab session during study hall, pretending not to be so invested in the show but knowing everything about it. And things are really interesting with Rita and Zedd sending putties everywhere. Things certainly aren't boring. And yet she wondered what life in Angel Grove would've been like if there weren't any monsters and things to worry about. She probably wouldn't be friends with the rangers at all.
Still, she wondered what Maya was doing at the moment. The time different still messed her up and so she was either finishing her after school practice or was just sitting down for dinner. And she knew never to interrupt Maya when she was eating.
Turning this way and that, Zoey stepped out of the dressing room. "Okay," She finally said. "What do you think?" She looked up to find Kimberly, Aisha, and Avalon all crowded around Kimberly's cell phone, listening to the person on the other end. "Uh, what are you doing?"
Aisha jumped and turned to find Zoey watching them. "Nothing," she said quickly. "Just…just checking out Kim's cell to see….to see what other stores are going on sale," she explained.
Wrinkling her nose, Zoey took a step closer to the other rangers watching as Kim abruptly turned off her phone and pressed it into her purse. "Another store?" She asked. "But we just went up the entire side of the mall."
"And you think that's a lot?" Avalon asked with a light laugh. She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head towards Kimberly. "That's only a power walk for Kim. Going through the entire mall is like a race to her, By now I think she's trying to beat her old record."
"Hey, you're not the first person that has questioned my shopping abilities and you won't be the last." Kimberly then turned back to Zoey and squealed, clasping her hands together in front of her. "That looks so cute on you, Zoey! You should, like, totally buy it! It's perfect!"
"Well, I don't know about perfect—"
"It's perfect," Aisha agreed to Kimberly then repeated the same thing to Zoey. "Perfect for a lot of things…going out…going to the movies…walks in the park…parties…"
"Speaking of parties are you going to buy that or what?" Avalon demanded. She reached out her hand and grasped Zoey's shoulder, shaking it. "We have to paint the town red, wreak havoc, and have some fun. And I propose we need some energy and should go to the Youth Center."
Zoey shrugged. "What about Five Guys? They have some pretty good food and it's in the food court over there."
"Yeah…" Aisha blinked as if caught in headlights. "But…Ernie's has this new power blend smoothie that…uh…that…."
"That gives you an extra boost of energy," Kimberly added with a bright smile. "I don't know what Ernie did to it, how he did it, but it has protein, and wheatgrass, and strawberries, and blueberries, and it packs an extra punch."
"Yeah, and it's named after the Power Rangers," Avalon said with a smirk and a light laugh. "Come on, if we're going to get it, then we need to go now. Or else by the time we get there and come back we're going to miss the sales."
Now Zoey's eyebrows furrowed together. She wouldn't say there really was much between the East Cast vs. West Coast debates that seemed to plague everyone for miles around, but there was one thing she could say for sure; Californians really liked to be healthy. And if that meant going through monster sales and refueling themselves with drinks from the Youth Center than she could get used to it. She really had no choice.
But they sure were acting strangely.
"Are you sure that you haven't already taken it?" Zoey asked as Kimberly grabbed her arm and forced her to the front of the store to pay for the overalls. "You're acting really…animated right now." She allowed her arm to be lifted so that the tag near her armpit was scanned. Her lips pulled back into a smile as she saw the swatches all along the inside of her arm of the different lipsticks and lip glosses she had tried on that day.
Half of them she was probably going to give back but…makeup certainly was her weakness and the length of time they had shopped through the store was enough for a bag that was starting to dig into her wrist. Finally they finished paying for everything and amongst sly glances the orange, pink, and yellow rangers shot each other, they headed back to Kimberly's corvette and sped towards the Youth Center.
Zoey kept herself buy by looking through the different shades of lipstick trying to decide which one she liked better. She started to apply one to her lips when Kimberly suddenly swerved the car to the side and slammed on the breaks, nearly shoving he entire stick through her face.
"What are you trying to do? Make me look like a clown?!" Zoey cried. She flipped down the visor and gaped at her reflection. "Oh my God!" There was an extra line that started on her lips and shot across the side of her face.
"Well, considering where we're going I reckon your look isn't so bad," Avalon remarked, causing her and Aisha to laugh and Kimberly to giggle. Zoey glared at the three and Kimberly led the charge out of the car. "It's not that bad, Zoey. I'm sure no one else will notice."
Yeah, right, Zoey thought, rubbing at her face. Just like no one here notices when a fifty-foot monster comes barreling through the city streets. "Guys, I just want to get the smoothie and get out of here. I just want to lie down; it's been a long day."
"And this will be a good pick me up, I promise." Aisha winked to Zoey then moved behind her and started to push her into the Youth Center.
"Surprise!"
She jerked in surprise at the sudden cheering surrounding her then blinked rapidly. Tommy and Billy stood in front of her, holding onto a tray that held a cake covered in multi-colored frosting spelling out Happy Birthday, Zoey and was festooned with candles while Kimberly, Adam, Rocky, Aisha, Avalon, and Avalon's sister Bailey all blew through noise makers and threw confetti.
"What?" She asked. "How….how'd you know it was my birthday?"
"Oh a little birdie told us," Rocky said with a light laugh, elbowing Aisha in the side.
"We knew you were feeling a bit bummed out that you had to leave your family and friends and spend your birthday without them," Avalon added.
"So we thought that we would help you celebrate," Tommy concluded with a bright smile. "A way to say happy birthday and welcome you to the team."
"So?" Bailey's eyes flashed. "Were you surprised."
"Yeah…" Zoey managed to whisper.
"I'll say," Rocky said. He lifted his hand and pointed toward her face. "She looks so surprised she couldn't even get her makeup done. Ow!" As Zoey's hand moved self-consciously to her face, Adam elbowed Rocky in the side. "Oh, right. IF you have anyone you need to think, then those words belong to Adam over here. It was his idea."
Zoey's eyebrows rose as she turned to the black ranger, who smiled shyly. "Really?"
"Affirmative," Billy agreed. "We were all wondering what would be a good idea and he was the one that suggested this party at the Youth Center." He gestured around the room with his free hand before helping carry the cake over to the counter. "C'mon and blow out your candles."
"Yeah, before the wax melts, I'm getting hungry."
"Boy, you're always hungry."
"Not always."
Zoey smiled as Rocky and Aisha bickered, walking to the cake. Zoey reached out and grabbed onto Adam's arm as he started to move past her, then took a step back. "You didn't have to do this," she said, once she had his attention. Brushing a chunk of blond hair behind her ear, she smiled. "I mean, it's great, but you didn't have to go through all of this trouble."
"It's no trouble at all," Adam said honestly. "Honestly. I mean, we all…" he ran his hand through his hair. "It's like we said, we wanted to welcome you to the team and make sure that you felt like you were welcome here. And what's better than a birthday, right?"
Zoey nodded. "You could tell I was pretty bummed couldn't you?"
"It was…a bit of a giveaway," Adam agreed. "I'm sorry you had to move and leave your friends and family. But…maybe we could become your new friends. I mean, you're a ranger now and we have to stick together through thick and thin—"
"—And shopping and makeup mishaps," Zoey agreed. Adam got a good look at the makeup on her face and the two laughed. "This is awesome, Adam. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Adam replied, smiling just as big. "But I wouldn't be so happy yet, that cake is only seconds from falling apart. Because of the monsters we've faced and Rocky's…imagination, something might've happened to it."
"What? It's not like it was some sort of a cake monster or something." Zoey laughed then abruptly cut herself off when she realized Adam wasn't laughing along with her. "It's…it's not is it?" She glanced over her shoulder and watched as Rocky stared longingly at the cake, waiting for Zoey to come over and blow out the candles. She relaxed as Adam nodded. "Whew, I mean, I know a lot of weird things go on around here but I didn't think they were that weird."
"Oh you haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg yet," Adam remarked. "This place…can be strange but as long as you've got friends to help you through it you'll be fine. Happy Birthday."
"Thank you." Zoey smiled again as she moved to blow out the candles, noticing that the heat on her face lasted long after she blew out the candles.
THE END
A/N: Happy Birthday, GenkiPlus! I hope you liked it!