"Hey, what're you guys up to?" Kim asked, as she entered the garage loudly, carelessly dropping her bag next to her as she took a seat next to the truck.
It used to be a rare occurrence for this to ever happen. That is, Kim showing up at all to Jason's garage, cars and trucks not really being her thing, but ever since she found out that the boys were good at listening, she'd taken it upon herself to pay them a visit more often than not for a makeshift therapy session.
"Just doing some final touches on Jason's truck-" Billy started.
"-cool," she interrupted rudely, not bothering to let him finish. As always, she had something new to complain about. Jason guessed it was about the yellow ranger. "
Anyway, can I vent to you guys about something?"
"-I guess-"
"-so I get we're like, a team," Kimberly ploughed on, more ready to talk than listen. "And I feel a pretty good connection with the three of you- that is, you guys, and Zack, right?"
"-right," Billy agreed. Although he knew it was useless to try and get a few words in, he couldn't help but politely encourage her words even though she'd probably be content with talking to a brick wall.
"-but I feel like there's a disconnect between Trini and I? You know?"
Billy opened his mouth to agree again, until Jason turned to him and shook his head, as if to gesture, just let her talk.
"Like, all she does is glare at me and she never talks! But when she does talk, it's always just rude and sarcastic remarks."
"Uh-huh," Jason said noncommittally, tinkering around in his truck.
"Yeah, so I just don't understand why it's only me she's been doing this to. Has she been doing it to you guys as well?" Kim asked, finally pausing between her sentence to wait for the two boys under the truck to respond.
Billy turned to Jason then, with the question in his eyes of can I talk now? And following the red ranger's approval, Billy spoke.
"Well, for one thing, Trini's already pretty quiet."
"Yeah," Jason agreed, "and also pretty sarcastic like, 99% of the time."
"Okay," Kim said slowly, trying to get the two boys to see her point, "but you guys can see that she treats me different, right? Like, worse?"
The red and blue ranger shared a look and shrugged. "I mean, yeah, I guess," Billy said.
Jason snickered to himself quietly, knowing Kim wouldn't be able to see the smile on his face from under the truck. When he recovered, even though he knew the answer, he asked, "why're you so fixated on this?"
"I'm not! I just-" she stuttered, clearly unprepared for the question, "isn't it bad for the team to not have a proper connection?"
"I mean, it's not really the team," Billy pointed out. "It's just you."
Refusing to believe that it was her fault again, she pushed on the topic, hoping to prove her point. "Okay, but I just don't understand why she dislikes me so much?"
"I'm pretty sure it's the opposite," Jason muttered, when it was clear that Kim needed it to be spelled out for her.
"What was that?" Kim asked.
"Nothing-"
"-Jason just said he's 'pretty sure it's the opposite.'" Billy clarified.
"What? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Er-!" Jason started again.
"-he probably meant that Trini feels the opposite of disliking you, which is that Trini likes you." Billy continued, happy to explain.
"Trini- she... she likes me?"
Jason sighed. How this news was still surprising to Kim, Jason didn't know. He had a sneaking suspicion that she did know, but just wanted to hear it from somebody else.
"Yeah, Kim. Haven't you seen the way she looks at you? She's always flopping on us to do stuff with you."
"I..." Kim trailed off, the thought never occurring to her. "What do I do?"
"I don't know, Kim," Jason said, "how do you feel about her?"
"I don't know, that's a hard question to answer-"
"-Do you like Trini?" Billy simplified, when Jason rolled his eyes at Billy, in a way that said 'honestly, just tell get the point across.'
For a moment, there was a pause with only the sounds of clinking and clamouring accentuating the silence.
"Oh my God," Kim gasped. "I like Trini."
"Atta girl," Jason called out from under the truck.
This'll be easy, Kim thought. All I have to do is hint that I might be into girls.
"Hey, T," Kim said, nudging Trini in the ribs as Tommy walked by.
Kim had noticed the new girl some weeks earlier, and learned her name rather quickly, not wanting to make the same mistake she had with yellow ranger again.
Although Kim did already have her eyes on a certain someone, she still had eyes and could acknowledge that Tommy was well above average.
"Hm?"
"What do you think of Tommy?"
Extracting her head from her locker, Trini turned to face Kim. "Tommy? Like, the new girl?"
"Yeah," Kim said, nodding towards the direction Tommy had just walked in. "Her."
The yellow ranger squinted, watching Tommy walk away. "Hm, I don't know? She's alright?"
"Yeah, cute, right?" Kim prodded on, watching Trini's reaction carefully.
Trini raised a brow at Kim as she closed her locker, confused by what brought on the question. "Sure. Not really my type though."
Resisting the urge to ask, well, what is your type? Or, more boldly, am I your type? Kim bit her tongue, and opted instead for, "I think she's pretty cute."
A flash of jealousy appeared in Trini's eye (which was probably just wishful thinking on Kim's part) but it was gone before she could read into it.
"Thanks," Trini scoffed, "but I don't need you to set me up with anybody."
"That's-" Kim started, not what I meant, she thought, but sighed and instead went for "-never mind. Sorry."
Satisfied, Trini nodded, indicating she accepted her apology.
This is a lot harder than I thought.
"Listen, Zack, has Trini said anything about me?"
Feeling like she had exhausted and been too repetitive with the boys at the garage, she'd chosen to talk to Zack about her crush, figuring her had more solid information about Trini's stance on Kim.
Zack turned slowly to look at Kim, smirking as he pushed his goggles up onto his forehead.
"She talks about a lot of stuff," he said, with staged nonchalance, leaning his elbows back on the railing behind him. "What in specific are you asking about?"
Kimberly blushed. "Just... anything. Anything about me."
"Is this about your huge crush on her?" He asked, his teeth now exposed from grinning so wide.
"What? W-who told you about that?" She stuttered. "Was it Billy? No, it had to be Jason-"
Zack cut her off with a chuckle. "No, no. Relax, princess. You did. Just now."
Kim's eyes widened. "Oh, God. Please don't say anything to her!"
"-I don't know-"
"-Zack! Please!"
"Don't worry, I won't say anything to her," he assured her.
He wouldn't, and she knew that, but she still came to him with one goal in mind, and she was determined to get the information she needed.
She exhaled slowly, calming down. "Okay. But did she say anything about me?"
"I'm not allowed to tell you that," Zack said, a glint in his eye.
"Blink once if she doesn't like me, and twice if she likes me back."
He shook his head, amused at her childish antics. "Again, I can't say anything!"
"C'mon, Zack!" She begged, desperate. One would've expected a former cheerleader and queen bee to have more confidence and intuition when it came to crushes, so the sight of Kimberly unsure about said things was almost comedic. "Just one thing?"
"Fine," he said, finally taking pity on the once confident girl. "Trini's pretty dense. If I were you, I'd try to make it more obvious that you might be interested."
Kim stepped back from him then, satisfied with his answer.
Reaching up for his goggles, he quickly blinked at her twice before turning back to his work.
"You ever see a girl so pretty you can't decide whether you want to be her, or be in her?" Kim asked, setting her books down beside Trini.
It was the start of third period, and Kim had skipped her English class to set her plan into motion.
"Yeah," Trini laughed, easily agreeing with her. "Sometimes it's both."
Smiling at Trini as she sat down, Kim frowned internally. She took that more casually than expected.
The yellow ranger turned back to her book, trying to memorize the third stanza of Hamlet's soliloquy, when she realized- wait, what? She coughed, making a now conscious effort to not look up from the passage. "So, you're like, into girls, then?"
Maybe I spoke too soon.
"Yeah," Kim said, internally cringing when her voice cracked, "why?"
Trini looked up then. "But- but you were a cheerleader!"
At an attempt to sound casual, Kim whistled, "wow, T," she said lightly, shaking her head, "you, of all people? Stereotyping? Have you not seen But I'm a Cheerleader? Gay rite of passage, honestly."
"Sorry, sorry, my bad," Trini apologized, "but you dated that guy?"
"Yeah... I'm bi. Is there a problem with that?" Kim asked flatly, trying to sound uninterested in the conversation. She'd experienced backlash from both sides of the spectrum about her sexuality. It didn't hurt to be prepared for a blow.
"No! Not at all! It's great, even." Trini said quickly, a bead of sweat forming on her forehead. "I'm, uh, into girls too, so it's definitely not a problem."
Kim raised a brow, resisting the urge to smile. "I kind of gathered that at the bonfire," she reminded her, "so why's this a point of interest, then?"
"I was just... checking, you know?"
Jackpot, the pink ranger smiled. Thank you, Zack. "Checking what?"
"You know..." Trini trailed off awkwardly, hoping Kim would let it go.
Unfortunately for Trini, the shit-eating grin on Kim's face was growing exponentially wider with every syllable that came from the shorter girl's mouth.
"No, I don't. I think you're gonna have to tell me, Trin."
"Kim-" the yellow ranger pleaded, her face reddening despite her tan complexion.
"-I'm waiting."
Trini groaned into her hands, muttering, "shut up."
"Sorry, what was that?"
She looked up then, her face now hands-free. "I said, 'shut up.'"
Kim leaned forward in her chair, her face inches away from Trini's with a smirk that rivalled the Cheshire Cat. "Make me."
Not one to back down from a challenge, Trini leaned in even closer, until Kim's eyes fluttered shut. Kim waited, her chest filled with the anticipation of the other girl's lips finally meeting her own, when she felt the loss of warm breath on her face. She opened her eyes to Trini packing up her things, and slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
"Well, that didn't exactly shut me up, T," Kim pouted, upset about the lack of lip-locking.
"Krispy Kreme at 6 tonight," Trini said, picking up her last book. "And if you're lucky, then maybe later I'll show you just how I can shut you up."
Kim watched as Trini exited the library, the butterflies in her stomach fighting to get out. I like Trini, she smiled.