Standing in front of the school, the young woman tried to calm herself, starting with several deep breaths. 'Why did I let Jason talk me into this? Who am I kidding? I can't be a teacher's aide. I still freeze up in front of people. What am I doing here? This isn't going to turn out any differently than the last time.'
"Can I help you with something?" A friendly voice sounded off behind and slightly to her left. She turned suddenly with a stark terror in her eyes that surprised the young woman that had come up behind her. "Hey, are you okay? I didn't mean to scare you. I just thought you looked more than a little lost and decided to offer my help." The young woman in jeans and a yellow t-shirt was disturbed by the look in the newcomer's eyes and the pallor of her face. She watched as the young woman bowed her head and took two deep breaths very slowly before attempting to speak. She knew that technique, knew what the young woman was doing.
"I – I – I'm supposed to t-t-talk to P-P-Principal Randall. I – I – I'm the new teacher's aide."
"Okay. Cool. Would you like me to show you the way to the office?" When she nodded, the young woman in yellow introduced herself before starting toward the building. "My name's Kira Ford. I'm helping out in the music department."
"M – m – my name is T – T - TaraLynn Scott." She took another deep breath, moistening her lips.
Kira noticed the last name and made note to herself to find out if she was related to Coach Scott. "Nice to meet you. Would it be alright if I just shorten that to Tara?" Tara smiled at Kira and nodded. Kira gestured to the school. "You'll like Principal Randall. She's really nice." Kira looked away from Tara for moment and muttered something under her breath and Tara could have sworn that she heard, "Now she is anyway."
Tara couldn't seem to control her fear and voiced her hope to the young woman. "I – I – I hope she p – p- puts me with s – s – someone nice."
"She will. I'm sure of it." She stopped for a moment and looked at Tara. The young woman had aroused some seriously protective instincts in the former Yellow Ranger. "You can relax. No one here is going to mess with you. If they do, you just let me know and I'll take care of them."
Tara smiled and felt some of the nervousness she had been trying to hide abate just a little. Kira reminded Tara a lot of her friend, Kimberly. Kim was just as protective as Kira seemed to be. "Thank you. I t-t-tend to stutter when I get n-n-nervous. And that tends to be more often than I like. My b-b-brother thinks that this would be a good job for me."
"I was hoping it wasn't just me." Kira giggled as Tara smiled a little bigger and shook her head.
"Thank you for m-m-making me feel comfortable. It r-r-really helps to know that at least one person here isn't j-j-judging me."
"Judging you? For what? Your size? I couldn't help but notice that you're really petite but they do say that dynamite comes in small packages. And my former mentor used to tell me that I was a prime example of that because I'm not exactly a big person myself."
"It's okay. I know that I'm t-t-tiny. I look more like a student than a t-t-teacher's aide. That might cause a few p-p-problems with some of the students, I'm sure. I just hope that whoever the principal t-t-teams me with can help."
'I hope she gets put with Dr. O. That would help I'm sure. It might help him get over Kim finally too.' Out loud, Kira said, "I'm sure that'll be the case."
Walking into the front office, Kira stepped up to the secretary's desk. "Kira Ford to see Principal Randall. And this is TaraLynn Scott. Also to see Principal Randall. She's the new teacher's aide."
The secretary announced both of them and then told them to have a seat for just a bit. "Ms. Ford, I'd like to talk to you for just a moment first," Principal Randall said when she poked her head out of her office.
"No problem, Ms. Randall." She turned to Tara and smiled. "Just watch. Everything will be just fine." Kira walked into the office.
****
"Miss Ford, I see that you have met our new teacher's aide. I would like it if you would be the one to show her around the school and help her mentor to keep her from getting lost."
"Have you decided on her mentor, Ms. Randall?"
"I have. But I would like your input. I had it narrowed down to three particular teachers. Do you have any thoughts as to who might be a suitable mentor for this young woman?"
"Actually, I was thinking about that as we came to the office this morning. I think it would do well to place her with Dr. Oliver. He could always use the help. Especially with the way he tends to get sidetracked."
Elsa Randall smiled at Kira. "Just what I was thinking. It would be good for him to have someone to keep him focused in class. Thank you, Miss Ford. That was all I needed. You just helped by solidifying the decision. She'll be teamed with Dr. Oliver. You can send Miss Scott in when you step out."
Kira stood up with a smile on her face. "Thank you, Ms. Randall." She walked out of the office and sat down next to Tara with a smile. "I get to show you around. So I'll wait right here to walk with you to the classroom after you talk to Principal Randall. She's waiting for you."
"Okay. Th-th-thanks, Kira." Standing up, Tara nervously walked into the office to get her assignment.
Tara was walking down the hall beside her newfound friend. She hadn't understood how it was that Kira had put her mind at ease so quickly. Maybe it was because she was so much like Kim Hart whom Tara had known a long time. Kim had been friends with Tara's older brother, Jason, since they were just kids. In fact, the two were still friends and were even sharing a house together. They claimed it was for the sake of splitting the bills, but Tara was pretty certain that the two were just trying to find a way to admit to their feelings for one another.
Jason's friends, Kim, Billy Cranston, Zack Taylor, and Trini Kwan, all knew about Tara. Trini and Kim had been Tara's only girlfriends before she went away to school.
Tara could admit that was terrified: the principal had informed her that she would be teamed with a Dr. Oliver. Tara's mind was filled with images of an distinguished, older man who would ridicule her for her size and her nervousness. He would ignore her in the classroom and not allow her to do anything.
Kira had been telling her how cool Dr. Oliver was all the way from the office and now they were approaching his room. Kira knocked on the door and Tara kind of stood back a little ways, trying to stop the tremors rocking her petite form.
"Come in." The voice that came from inside the room sounded familiar to Tara. 'It can't be. Tommy Oliver wouldn't be a teacher. At least, not outside of a dojo. Jason always told me that he was too forgetful to be a teacher.'
Kira walked into the room with Tara just behind her. "Hey, Dr. O, Principal Randall asked me to bring your new teacher's aide up here for her. TaraLynn Scott, may I introduce Dr. Tommy Oliver, my former mentor." Kira stepped aside with a flourish, giving Tommy a very good look at the young woman who had been attempting to hide behind the former Yellow Ranger.
Tommy felt a start of recognition go through him. She looked so familiar to him but he couldn't recall where he might have met her before. 'Where do I know her from? Why does she look so familiar?'
Tara was, as she had told Kira, very petite. She was lucky if she stood five feet nothing. He guessed she weighed in at maybe 90 pounds at the most, probably less than that. She had a pale complexion that reminded him of the fine china that his mother had always kept locked up in the cabinet. Her jet black hair was long and straight, braided down her back to keep it out of her face.
But it was her eyes that captured his attention the most. They were wide and almost frightened. A brilliant sapphire blue, he could almost imagine what they would look like sparkling with laughter. Her lack of self-confidence was written in bold print in those expressive eyes. He noticed that she only held his gaze for just a moment before ducking her head in a timid gesture, as if afraid of what he might see there in her eyes. He was finding himself reminded of both Kimberly and Kira when he first met them. But he could easily find the differences as well.
Understanding the fact that she was what some would term painfully shy and knowing that he would tower over her if he stood up, even though he was only 5'10" , he stayed seated as he spoke to her. "Hello, TaraLynn, if I could be so bold. How are you?"
"F-f-fine, thank you." She raised her eyes to his for a moment. "I d-d-don't mind you using my f-f-first name." She hoped her eyes hadn't given away the fact that she recognized Tommy.
She had seen him from a distance many times, usually either with Kim or the whole crew, when she'd been home on break from the private school that her parents had sent her to. She often wished she'd been confident enough to attend public school but she'd always been timid to the point of seeming standoffish. Her parents had seen that in kindergarten when she'd almost been beaten up several times for being stuck up.
Jason had always had to walk her to school while their brother, Kevin, would walk her home because the other kids would always catch her and pick on her, sometimes leaving her in tears. She got in the habit of waiting in the classroom for Kevin to arrive. Of course, after a while her parents decided that she would be better off going to private school where she could be better protected. At least, that's what they said. Tara knew it was because both Jason and Kevin had gotten into plenty of fights trying to protect her.
"As you can see, I'm not an old ogre," Tommy chuckled. Tara's eyes flashed up at him. How had he known what she was thinking?
Noticing the reaction that crossed her face, he laughed. "Most people have the same reaction when they get introduced to me. That I'm much too young to be a doctor of anything, let alone paleontology. And of course, I've taken quite a teasing from my friends who keep asking how I managed to be on time for enough classes to actually graduate." Tommy was almost openly laughing at himself. He wanted the young woman in front of him to relax a little. He hated to see anyone so frightened. And like with Kira, she had roused some very protective instincts in the former Ranger. Not that he needed any help in that arena. Kim had always accused him of having a 'white knight complex'. Maybe he could help. If he could figure out how. If she would let him.
"Tara, you can relax around Dr. O. He's cool. I told you that." Kira was trying but Tara just seemed to be scared to even approach Tommy. "Most of the time, he's more like a student himself than one of the teachers." She saw the look Tommy shot her and stuck her tongue out at him. He shot her a look that asked her just how old she was and she laughed.
Tara watched the whole exchange and almost laughed herself. Tommy and Kira were both trying so hard to put her at ease. She actually felt herself relaxing just a little bit.
"It's alright, Kira. I don't have a class until third hour so maybe Tara and I can spend the time trying to get to know each other?" He posed it as question to his new aide in order to try to make her just a little more comfortable. She nodded hesitantly, still not sure of all of this. She vowed again in her own mind to kill her older brother when she spoke to him again.
"Tara, I'll come and see how you're doing when I have lunch. But for now, I have to go. I'm supposed to be helping out the stage band first hour. They're getting ready for the fall play." Kira laid her hand on the slender shoulder in front of her and smiled down at the woman. Seeing the fear rising in her eyes, Kira went on. "I promise, I'll be back." Dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, she continued. "Just let me know if Dr. O says or does anything to make you uncomfortable. I'll kick his butt for you." When she stood up, she smiled at Tommy and winked, knowing he had heard her promise to Tara.
Tommy smiled, knowing that his former Yellow Ranger would indeed attempt to fulfill her promise should he hurt this young woman in any way. Not that she had anything to worry about in that arena. Tara definitely brought out the protective instincts in people; he himself wanted nothing more than to shelter her from the cruelty of the world around her and yet he knew that that would cause more problems than it would solve. 'Kim would get a laugh out of this. Me trying to be the white knight again for someone else.'
Kira left the room, leaving the two to talk and try to get to know one another a little better. 'Maybe this is just what Dr. O needs to get his mind off Kimberly and move on with his life. He deserves so much better.'
Kira didn't know it but there were others who wanted to see Tommy move on with his life. Both of them cared for both Tara and Tommy a great deal. And both thought she would be very good for Tommy.