It's a Jason/Trini story, but will include all of the original rangers. I don't think I'm writing them out of characters, just more like normal people. They make more mistakes, and they are less naïve than on the show.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
The story hasn't been beta'd. I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes. I apologize in advance.
Chapter 1 – Trini Comes to Town
January 2, 1991
Angel Grove Elementary
Ms. Simpson walked into her fourth grade class and frowned. As usual, none of the students was in his or her assigned seats. Most were simply hanging with their friends, catching up after the long Christmas break. A group of four girls, better known as Heathers were sitting in the corner conversing in a low tone and then laughing loudly every so often. Their focus was on another group of four; Jason Scott, Zack Taylor, and Billy Cranston formed a circle around Kimberly Hart's desk. The four were chatting and laughing. One of the Heathers rolled up a piece of paper into a ball and threw it at the back of Jason, finally hitting him on the head after missing three times.
"Hey!" Jason turned, frowning at the Heathers.
Heather #1 batted her lashes and smiled as flirtatiously as any ten year old could, "Want to come sit with us?"
"No, thanks." Dismissed Jason, turning back to his friends. While it wasn't in Jason's nature to be rude to anybody, he found the Heathers to be annoying and the worst kind of troublemakers. They were always making fun of Billy and often tried to get Kimberly into trouble. They tolerated Zack because everyone knew that Zack would not hesitate to get even. And they were always trying to be friend Jason. Zack said it was because the Heathers found him "hot". Jason, with a befuddled expression, had complained that he would rather be cool.
Kimberly frowned at the other girls before continuing her story, "Anyway, I heard she is really smart. I think Mrs. Lange said she won the third grade Texas state wide science fair competition."
"Wow, she must be almost as smart as Billy," said Zack, sounding really impressed.
Billy too, looked impressed, "I am positive that she surpasses me in intelligence."
Kimberly's brow furrowed, "Huh?"
Billy took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, "Intelligence, manifestation of a high mental capacity."
"Okay," Kimberly waved both hands in front of Billy, "speak to ME."
Billy put his glasses back on and thought really hard, "eh…I guess I was trying to say that this new student is much smarter than I am."
"No way, man. You are a genius. You must be the smartest dude in the whole world, possibly the entire universe. This girl…she is just…a very smart girl." Jason said.
Billy blushed and Kimberly giggled while Zack nodded his head, obviously in agreement with Jason.
"Okay, everyone back to your seat." Ms. Simpson announced, and the boys returned to their assigned seats reluctantly.
A young girl appeared at the doorway just as Ms. Simpson was finishing roll call. "Great, Trini, you are here, come on in."
The young girl stepped hesitantly into the classroom. She was of average height, had long almost jet-black hair. Her dark eyes darted quickly around the room before settling on Ms. Simpson. Ms. Simpson smiled at the young girl encouragingly, "Class, this is Trini Kwan. Her family just moved to Angel Grove. She will be in our class this year. Trini, do you want to tell the class a little bit about yourself?"
Trini flushed and shook her head, wishing the ground would simply opens up and swallows her. She has always hated it when the focus was on her.
The Heathers snickered and Jason frowned, raising his hand.
"Yes, Jason?" asked Ms. Simpson.
"Ms. Simpson, can I ask Trini where she is from?"
Ms. Simpson smiled, silently thanking Jason. It would be much easier for Trini to answer a few simple questions rather than doing a monologue. "Of course. Trini?"
Trini glanced at Jason and he smiled at her, a genuine, friendly smile, which helped to alleviate her fear somewhat. She answered in a soft voice, "Houston."
"That's in Texas, right?" Kim asked, already knowing the answer since she was nosing around in the office and heard Trini's mom speaking with the school secretary.
Trini nodded; glad to see another friendly face, "Right."
"Wow, that's far." Zack added. "I mean you are totally from another state."
"Looks more like from another planet." Heather #2 muttered, but made sure she was loud enough to be heard.
"Lucy! Apologize to Trini before I send you to the principal's office," admonished Ms. Simpson.
Lucy rolled her eyes, "I'm so sorry!"
Trini frowned but didn't say anything. Ms. Simpson sighed, "Any another questions?"
Billy raised his hand, "May I inquire what did you undertake for your science fair project last year?"
Trini looked surprised, but she smiled involuntarily, "it was using fruits and vegetables to produce electricity."
"Really? Were you able to achieve the expected results?"
Trini answered enthusiastically, "Yeah, it worked best with—"
Heather #1 raised her hand, pretending to yawn. Ms. Simpson sighed as Trini stopped talking and glanced at Shannon warily. Ms. Simpson was tempted to simply ignore the girl, but the Heathers had a reputation of refusing to be ignored. And, during one of the winter seminars that she had just attended, they were all advised to encourage the students to express themselves, so she mustered a smile, "Yes, Shannon?"
"I just want to welcome Trini to Angel Grove."
While Trini might be young, she was an excellent judge of characters. Her dad had always reminded her "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck." Trini had often applied the same logic, "if it talks like a brat and smirks like a brat, then it's a brat." If that smirk on Shannon's face was any indication, Trini was not on the brat's welcoming list. Still, aside from calling her a liar, there wasn't much she could have done, so Trini nodded a bit uncertainly, "thank you."
Shannon's smirk turned into a sneer, "And honey, if your parents are looking for work, my mom is looking for someone to do laundry."
The rest of the Heather gang all giggled while Ms. Simpson gasped and Trini squared her shoulder, her fear forgotten and her natural feisty spirit kicked in, "Thank you, but I'm afraid I must decline your so generous offer since my dad has just accepted the Chief of Staff position in Angel Grove General and my mom is starting her own startup company. Perhaps your mom should consider buying a really good washing machine. My mom tells me that any idiot can learn to use one."
The class laughed while the four Heathers looked pissed. Ms. Simpson smiled, the girl might be shy, but when push comes to shove, that little girl was no pushover. "Trini, why don't you take the empty seat behind Kimberly. Kim, please raise your hand."
Kimberly waved both hands in the air enthusiastically and beamed at Trini. Trini soon found herself smiling back. She grabbed her backpack and walked over to Kim, sitting behind her, which put her right next to Jason.
Jason leaned over, "Welcome to Angel Grove."
Trini nodded shyly, "thank you."
**
"Come on, Trini, we have P.E. next. I think we are doing try outs for the Citywide Track and Field competition coming up next month. Oh, did you get your uniform yet?" Kimberly asked, pulling Trini after her. Kimberly had decided that she likes the pretty Asian. Besides, Jason seemed to like her, and Jason could always pick out the losers. Look at how great a friend Billy turned out to be, but had it not been for Jason, Kimberly would have never made friend with someone as nerdy as Billy Cranston. At one point, Kim had considered joining the Heathers until Jason had wisely pointed out that the girls sole purpose was to make other people miserable. Just had Jason predicted, the girls had been nothing but rude and obnoxious ever since Kim had refused to become Heather #5.
Meanwhile, Trini went searching through her backpack and not really paying attention to where she was going. She followed Kimberly into the locker room and pulled out her PE uniform at the same time. "Yeah, it's right here."
"Okay, hurry up and change."
Trini rounded the curve and sprinted to the finish line. She slowed to a walk and smiled at her new friend, Kim, who was bouncing up and down in excitement. Before Trini could make her way over, Ms. Murphy, the PE teacher, called everyone over. "Well, I have fabulous news, class. Trini Kwan has set a new school record of the fastest one-mile run for girls. Her time of seven minutes and one second is the best time we have ever had in this school, even topping the fifth graders by over sixty seconds. This is a new record for Angel Grove Elementary. It looks like we have a new track star."
Kim rushed over and hugged Trini and a few other girls congratulated her. Trini grinned. She might not like the attention, but she was still a normal 10 year old, and she was quite proud of herself for setting the new school record. Her grin faded when she caught the four Heathers shooting death glares at her. Trini sighed silently, telling herself to keep her distance from the Heathers. Not that she was afraid of the girls, but the last thing she needed was for her mom to come down to the school because she decked another student on her first day.
By the end of the class, Trini had set more school records for high jump and the softball throw. The class was in high spirit since their chances of winning had improved significantly. While the boys had always done well during the citywide competition, the girls had gotten very few blue ribbons. Ms. Murphy kept repeating how well Trini was doing and had already put her down in six different competitions. By the time Ms. Murphy had explained to Trini all of her up coming events, Kimberly had already went inside the building. Trini frowned, hoping she would be able to find the locker room. She set off for the school building but was intercepted by Heather #3.
"Trini, can you help us put away the cones?" Heather #3 asked.
Trini wanted to say no, but she didn't want to escalate any more animosity. While she didn't care about being friends with the Heathers, she didn't want to start off her first day by acquiring four classmates as enemies. Perhaps if she showed that she was willing to be friendly, the Heathers would have no reason to dislike her so much. She nodded and stacked three of the cones together, holding them in both arms. She refrained from pointing out that all of the Heathers were empty handed.
"Come on, it's this way."
Trini followed the Heathers back into the building, heading toward the locker room. Heather #1 pointed to a doorway across from the girls' locker room, "Storage room is over there."
Heather #2 and 3 pushed the door open, nodding to Trini. With the big cones in her arms, it was difficult for little Trini to see where she was going. She took a tentative step over the door and all of a sudden felt a hard push on her back. She stumbled into the room and lost her balance, falling knees first onto the ground, the big, orange cones rolling away from her. She looked up in horror to see a couple dozens of boys standing in front of her, some were fully dressed, some were half dressed, and some in nothing but their boxers. "Hey, what are you doing in the boy's locker room?" One boy screamed at her. Another boy threw his pants at her and Trini came to her senses. She jumped up and almost started to cry, "I'm…I'm sorry."
She backed away as a couple of the boys came toward her smirking. Trini had backed all the way to the door, but the door would not open. Panic set in and a lone tear rolled down her face.
"Hey, back off," a fully dressed Jason jumped in front of Trini, pushing the two fifth graders away.
"Go play saint somewhere else, Jason," one of the boys snickered. "She came in nosing around, we just want to show her what she was so eager to see."
"I said back off," Jason yelled, keeping Trini behind him. "Leave her alone, Todd."
Using all her strength, Trini slammed her shoulder against the door, finally pushing the four Heathers away. Anger quickly set in as she tossed her long, black hair behind her and marched out of the boys' locker room. Jason ran after her, "Trini…"
Ignoring Jason, Trini marched over to the four Heathers, who were standing together snickering. "Why?"
Shannon put her hands on her hips and glared at the young girl, "This is my school, my turf. You don't get to come in here on the first day and steal my glory. I was the best chance for this stupid school to win any kind of ribbon before you showed up. You don't set school record on the first day and set your claws into the boy that I like. This is just kids' stuff. You mess with me again and I will mess you up good—ouch…"
Jason stood a couple of steps behind Trini and watched with a mixture fascination and horror as Trini balled up her fist and slammed it into Shannon's face. Shannon clutched her face, screamed, and fell onto the floor. Trini turned to the other Heathers who quickly scrambled away, all yelling, "It was Shannon's idea."
Before Trini could do anything else, Mr. Phillips, the boy's PE teacher grabbed her by the arm, "What is this? You are coming with me, young lady." He waved at two girls that were watching the fight, "Help this young lady down to the nurse's office." The two girls gave Trini a look of sympathy and then helped Shannon to her feet and walked off with her down the hall. "Everyone else go back to class." Mr. Phillips bellowed as he escorted Trini to the principal's office.
"Mr. Phillips, it isn't her fault!"
"Jason, go back to class."
"Mr. Phillips!"
"Jason, go to class now before I put you on detention."
Jason looked at Trini helplessly and was surprised when she smiled at him and mouthed "thank you." Then, without a backward glance, she followed Mr. Phillips to the principal's office.
**
