Introduction: The Ninja Storm rangers are in Middle School, where Shane likes girls, Tori tries to be more girly and Dustin has a crush on a boy. Can a crazy girl named Marah actually set things right? The story centers around twelve year old Dustin and I try to really get in his confused head and crazy life.

And I've created a poster to illustrate this story. To view it, click on Rogue Ranger to view my profile and you'll find the link to my DeviantART page near the top.

~`- Dustin's First Crush –'~

Chapter 1: Doomed!

"Aw, man, this sucks," Dustin said, pouting as he looked down at the big red "F" at the top of his spelling test. Once again, he felt like an idiot. "I'm gonna be grounded from riding for a week!"

He was sitting near the quad at the center of the Blue Bay Harbor Middle School with his two best friends, Shane and Tori. Dustin was always the goofball or odd one of the three, with Shane being the cool one and Tori the level headed one. That's really what he needed right now.

"With that history report you turned in where you said Pinky and the Brain helped build the pyramids in Egypt, you're so screwed," Shane agreed while riding his skateboard around in a little circle.

"Dude, don't remind me!" Dustin complained. "I'm gonna be held back for sure!" And his friends weren't helping one bit.

"Dustin, relax," Tori said in a reassuring tone as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's still the beginning of the school year and you've gotten a lot better in all your other subjects. Just keep practicing."

"I've been practicing!" Dustin insisted, waving his hands and flapping the paper around.

"Maybe you should get a tutor," Tori suggested.

"I thought you were his tutor," Shane commented while trying to flip his board off the edge of the cement.

"I have a life of my own," Tori told her friends. "You know, my sister's good at spelling."

"She's my sister's age," Dustin pointed out. "I don't wanna get showed up by some fifth grader. I'd feel like even a bigger idiot."

Shane just went, "um hum," as he skated around.

"Dude, you're not helping," Dustin told him.

Shane skidded to a stop and picked up his board. "Maybe Tor's right. You need to get help, man."

"I'll ask around," Tori told Dustin with a pat on his back, "but what if it's a girl?"

Dustin cringed.

"You do know I'm a girl, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he admitted, "but…"

"Girl's aren't so bad," Shane said, looking off into the distance.

Tori turned her head and followed his gaze. Across the quad were two girls walking while giggling and flipping their hair. She glared at them before turning back to her friends. "I guess it had to happen."

"What did?" Dustin asked.

"Puberty," she replied.

Dustin felt his upper lip. "Dude, do I have a mustache?"

Shane studied his face. "Nah, just dirt."

Dustin promptly went back to pouting. Yeah, his friends were being total buzz kills.

Tori hit her friends and rolled her eyes. "Girls get their period and boys get stupid, period."

"Haha," Shane said sarcastically. "So I don't think they have kooties."

"Wha! Since when?" Dustin demanded, his eyes wide.

"Don't worry," Tori asked him. "It'll happen to you soon enough. Then you'll be staring like a caveman."

"Hey, how come you started liking boys in like fourth grade?" Dustin asked her.

"Girls mature earlier than boys," she explained.

He gave her a skeptical look. "Since when?" he asked.

"Dustin's got a point," Shane agreed. "You're mature, but you're not like most girls."

She noticed that one of the two girls that were walking together had been too busy flipping her hair that she had walked into a poll and the other was giggling like crazy. "That's definitely true," she agreed, but then she noticed that a group of boys walking past the giggling girls were too busy staring at them that they tripped over each other and fell in a big pile on the ground. She looked from the girls' midriffs and short shorts down to her blue overalls.

"What's it like to like a girl in the like like kinda way?" Dustin asked Shane.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "They just look pretty instead of gross."

Dustin nodded, thinking. When he was in fourth grade, he had actually thought the sixth grader who got him into motocross was cute, but it was a one time thing and never happened again. And he was pretty sure it didn't mean anything since it wasn't a girl. To him, girls still were gross. Except for Tori, but she didn't count.

Meanwhile, Shane tried to do a trick for a passing girl, but she just looked from his skateboard up to his goofy face and walked away, making a little snort sound. A moment later, Shane fell off his board.

Suddenly a panicked look crossed Dustin's face. "Dudes, I've got to learn to spell right now before I get all distracted and crazy about girls and stuff!" He waved his hands to emphasize the seriousness of his point. After all, only serious things deserved the flailing limbs.

Tori looked from Dustin to Shane. "Your brother Porter's in English Honors, right?"

"Yeah," Shane agreed, dusting himself off and examining his board as if his fall had been its fault, "but he can't stand Dustin, remember?"

"I'm doomed!" Dustin declared, covering his face.

"No, you're not," Tori disagreed. "Look, I'll check with Mr. Handleman to see if there's any eighth graders who are willing to tutor a seventh grader in spelling."

"Thanks, Tor!" Dustin said, giving her a quick hug.

"When did Sally Marshall get boobs?" Shane asked, staring and… drooling?

Both Tori and Dustin cringed.

The next day, Dustin left his English class and immediately found his path blocked by a girl with brown hair, blue eyes and a cheesy grin. "Hi!" she chirped quickly. "I know you don't know me, but I was like, of course he doesn't know me because I haven't like introduced myself yet!"

Dustin just nodded. She had spoken too fast for him to follow everything and he was busy looking around for his friends. Then something occurred to him. "You're not my spelling tutor, are you?" he asked the hyper girl with a slightly panicked look in his eyes.

"Like I could be a tutor!" she replied, giggling like a… well, like a girl. "Not that I'm stupid. Well, okay, so I'm not smart, but… What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, I'm Marah!" She stuck out her hand.

He just mumbled, "uh huh," not really paying attention once he knew she was just an annoying girl and not someone he was going to have to actually spend time with. He kept looking around impatiently, trying to spot his friends.

"My big sister's the smart one," Marah continued. "Hey, maybe she can help you! That would be like so cool and then you and me could spend some time getting to know each other." She reached up and ran a finger through his wavy brown hair. "So, what's your name?"

"Dude!" Dustin yelled, signaling Shane wildly the moment he spotted his friend.

"Well, that's a strange name," Marah commented, "but it's catchy. I love it!" She inched up her shirt, exposing more of her navel.

Dustin literally ran around Marah to get to Shane. "I thought Mrs. Bronston lets you guys out early for lunch," he told Shane.

"Yeah, I was busy," Shane replied with a dazed look. "There was this girl and she was…"

"Girls!" Dustin moaned, glancing from Shane's goofy grin back to the girl that had been pestering him. "Hey, where's Tori?"

"She's still trying to find you a spelling tutor, remember?" Shane told him before adding, "I wonder if she'll be cute."

"Tori?" Dustin asked, confused.

"No, your tutor!" Shane said, giving Dustin a light knock on his head.

Dustin frowned. "I hope not."

"Hey, dude, I'll meet you guys at our spot," Shane said before following a girl and saying, "Hey there," in a pathetic attempt to pick up on her.

About halfway through lunch, Tori approached her two friends with an older boy in tow.

"Woah, Tori's got a boyfriend," Shane whispered to Dustin, causing the wavy haired twelve year old to look up at the newcomer.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet Jessie Sanders," Tori introduced. "He's agreed to help Dustin with his spelling."

Dustin started at the taller boy. His hair was blonde and stuck straight up in some amazing gravity defying spikes and his eyes were a deep blue green. He smiled at Dustin and his whole face seemed to glow. Dustin could feel his heart beating faster.

"So, which one's Dustin?" Jessie asked.

"Huh?" was all Dustin said, still staring like an idiot. He felt so nervous all of the sudden. It was weird, since he was never shy, especially around Tori's friends.

"Yeah, that would be Dustin," Tori told Jessie. "Good luck. You're gonna need it."

"How bad can you be?" Jessie asked Dustin.

"Bad?" Dustin repeated dumbly.

Jessie laughed and Dustin felt like his heart had grown wings and was now flying around inside him trying to get out. He promptly closed his mouth. The last thing he wanted was to have his heart fly out.

"At spelling?" Jessie clarified. "Guess maybe it will take some work."

"Definitely," Tori agreed. "Thanks again for agreeing."

"No problem," Jessie told her. "I get extra credit for it and plus I used to be really bad at math until someone helped me out." He put a hand on Dustin's shoulder. "Dude, I know what it's like to think you just can't get something no matter how hard you try."

Dustin nodded, blinking. This guy understood him. Somehow that made him feel both good and bad at the same time. He looked at Jessie's arm as he removed it and couldn't help but notice his bicept tense as he did so. He was strong and smart and tall.

"So, how 'bout we start today after school?" Jessie asked.

"Uh huh," Dustin agreed, nodding.

Tori leaned toward Jessie. "He's normally a lot more talkative than this."

"It's probably 'cause a girl was talking to him," Shane said. "I saw her and she was kinda cute."

"Ah, so it's happened," Tori said, giving Dustin a wink.

Dustin blushed. He couldn't believe his friends were embarrassing him in front of this cute guy. Wait, had he actually thought that? His eyes filled with panic. He was noticing a guy in the like like kind of way. It could only mean... puberty messed up and made him gay!

After the arrangements were made for Jessie to tutor him after school, Dustin's eyes glazed over. The rest of the day, all he could think about was how he was going to be teased and picked on forever for being a queer. It'd be like the kindergarten "Where's Waldo?" jokes but forever and ever.

By the end of the day, he literally felt like crying. Of course, that would only prove he was a sissy. He really was doomed.

Author's Note: If you like this story and want me to continue it, please review! Oh, and some of the random names thrown in here are from the movie Sally Marshal Is Not An Alien which Glenn McMillan (the actor who plays Dustin in PRNS) played the main character's best friend when he was middle school age.