Creativity Counseling
Antonio made sure to be extra quiet as he peeked at the frustrated blue ranger from behind the bushes. He tried to suppress his laugh as Kevin started to write something eagerly and then wasted no time in crossing it out three seconds later.
"Oh, amigo, you try too hard," the gold samurai murmured smilingly.
He grabbed his fishing equipment and walked out in the open, clearing his throat to catch the blue's attention. He made sure to seem totally unaware of Kevin's presence while he whistled casually and rumpled his hair out of habit.
"Antonio!"
Antonio stopped in his tracks. "Oh! Hey, Kevin. How's the poetry going?"
"Where are you going?"
"Fishing." The gold held up his fishing pole and grinned with fake innocence. "As always."
"How many times do you go fishing in a day? We have plenty of barracuda."
"I didn't say I was fishing for fish."
Kevin leaned back on his bench as Antonio trudged over and took a seat next to the exhausted ranger. "Looks like you're having fun, amigo. What'd you write this time?"
"This time? This is the first time in years I've attempted to write a poem. You know how terrible my creative skills are." He crossed his arms. "I just don't want to become a fool in front of Mia."
"Don't get upset now, amigo," Antonio assured. "It's really not that bad. Trust me, I've written tons before."
Kevin's disappointment turned into curiosity. "You wrote poems before?"
"Yep. I write and even recite them sometimes when I fish. The fish don't complain."
"That's what you said about your singing. You must be awesome in that case." He gave the gold ranger a hopeful look. "Any tips or suggestions you have for me?"
"I never said I was good at them."
"You must be decent."
"Or that they were in Engli-"
"You still must be decent."
"Didn't Lauren say I can't help-"
"Forget rules."
"That's what I'm talking about," Antonio chuckled enthusiastically and crossed his legs, turning his body to face Kevin. "If it's Spanish poems, I got you. Again, I'm not too sure about English poems."
"It doesn't matter," Kevin assured. "I just need something that sounds somewhat okay and not offensive or stupid in any manner. It can be Spanish, for all I care."
"You think Mia's gonna learn Spanish in one day just to read your poem?"
"You can translate it. Duh."
Antonio smirked. "Gosh, Kevin, you're so desperate. I would love to help, but I can't just do it for free. Ya know?"
Kevin reached into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill. He lifted an eyebrow. "What about now?"
Antonio hesitated. "Five dollars is a little too…"
He pulled out another five dollar bill.
"Ten dollars isn't really…"
He pulled out a ten dollar bill this time.
"Done!" The gold ranger snatched the money and fanned himself with it in pleasure. "You're wise, mi amigo."
"So?" Kevin leaned forward. "Anything coming to mind?"
Antonio leaned back on the bench. He gave Kevin an amused look. "You don't need to learn another language to win a girl over. As seductive as Spanish sounds when people speak it sometimes, it's not your only resort."
"Then?"
"Make the reader connect to the poem. In this case, your reader is Mia." He paused. "Wasn't she raised in Japan for a while?"
Kevin frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Antonio grinned. "I would love to explain, Kev, but I think I'm running short on money…"
Kevin placed another ten dollar bill in his hands. Antonio, clearly pleased, leaned forward and, looking both ways to make sure the girls were out of sight, whispered, "If she was raised in Japan, she must have read haikus at some point."
The blue ranger gave him a curious look. "Haikus?"
"You know, the whole 5-7-5 deal?"
A wide smile found its way to Kevin's lips. "I'm listening."
"Haikus don't really have to be creative or have the capacity to be extravagant. Five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. It's short and sweet. Simple but meaningful."
Kevin grew excited. "Sounds like my kind of poem."
"All you have to do is praise Mia's beauty," Antonio added. "Talk about how pretty she is when she laughs or how sparkly her eyes are. Girls love that kind of stuff. Oh, and one more thing: don't talk about makeup. Treading on that path can be dangerous."
"You're a genius, Antonio."
"They don't call me a smarticle for nothing," the gold shrugged. "But I don't think thirty bucks are still enough for such valuable information-"
Kevin shoved a twenty dollar bill in Antonio's hands and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. The gold ranger nearly swooned as his eyes took in the monetary luxury and fanned his way inside the Shiba house with his fifty bucks. He bumped into a surprised Jayden.
"You were successful," the leader said in amusement.
Antonio smiled contently. "At this rate, I just might be a millionaire."
Jayden stepped out into the garden, his hands in his pockets. The leader kept his eyes eagerly on the lookout for any angry ranger in sight (since that ranger will most likely be Mike, he knew). Even though he had the wish to mess with him, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the green's alternating phases of overconfidence and withering confidence. After he stepped out a few more paces into the garden, he could hear grunts, irritated groans, and the ripping of paper. He couldn't hide his smirk as he made his presence public.
"Someone's vexed."
Mike noticed the leader approaching and shifted to one end of the bench, offering Jayden a seat next to him. Jayden beamed knowingly and accompanied the flustered ranger.
"I really don't know why I cared about this to begin with."
Jayden was highly amused by the statement. "That's a question we should be asking you," he replied.
There was a long pause.
"I heard Antonio was bribed into helping Kevin," Mike said softly.
"And?"
"I don't have any money."
"You really think that's why I'm here?"
Mike sighed. "Sorry."
Jayden laughed. "You're such a baby."
The green ranger was surprised. Was this really Jayden who called him that?
"Did you just call me a baby?"
"I was a responsible leader up until yesterday," Jayden said in a matter-of-fact manner. "But now, I'm your equal. I can call you however I want."
"Then I'm sure you can leave rules behind, too," Mike said rebelliously. "You wouldn't happen to have any valuable knowledge of your own that can help me, do you?"
"I never told you I was going to break my sister's rules."
"But that's what you should do," Mike smirked. "You were a responsible leader up until yesterday. If you wanna be my equal, you should rebel sometimes."
The red ranger sighed. "Alright. Here's one: don't try to add a lot of fancy words."
Mike frowned. "The reason the girls back there were swooning was because of those fancy words."
"Says who?" Jayden asked. "The girls weren't moved by the words. They were touched by the message. The feel behind it."
"But I can't express those feels."
"Because you haven't tried enough," Jayden remarked. "Let me see the first poem you wrote."
"I threw it away."
The red ranger saw something white sticking out of Mike's jacket pocket. He snatched it quickly.
"That's not-"
"If life was Super Mario, you'd be my Princess Peach… " He shot Mike a long look. "Are you serious?"
Mike crossed his arms irritably as Jayden laughed. The leader's face turned as red as his ranger color within seconds.
"Yeah, yeah, I admit it's awful."
"It's not the way it's written that's funny," Jayden began to say before laughing again. "Then again, maybe it is."
"Like that helps."
"But video games? Seriously?"
"Okay, I get it. Stop laughing."
As Jayden finally got himself together, the green ranger crumpled up his paper irritably and laid his head back on the bench. After another long moment, he murmured, "I'm making this a bigger deal than it already is, aren't I?"
Jayden felt his childhood memories kicking in. He had a small, soft smile on his face as he lost himself in those memories. "It's okay to feel that way." He paused. "That's how I felt when I met Jaimie."
Mike gave him a surprised but teasing look. "Who now?"
"Jaimie," Jayden answered. "Lauren's friend."
"Your girlfriend?" Mike asked excitedly. "I never knew you've been seeing girls all this time. Looks like you're not an isolated leader after all."
Jayden gave him another long look.
"Sorry."
The red ranger stood up and stretched. "I haven't been seeing girls," he clarified. "Not only because of the mission, but also because of Jaimie."
"Interesting," Mike said. "Go on."
"I first met her when Lauren and I were still with Dad. She came to watch Lauren train one day. She didn't even notice me the first time she came. For me, it was the first time seeing such a pretty girl."
"The typical attraction phase," Mike described. "Then?"
"She started coming to our house more frequently, but she would never really talk to me. So…"
"So…?"
Jayden chuckled to himself. "I wrote a poem for her."
"Really?" Mike glanced curiously at him. "Do you still remember it? The poem, I mean."
Jayden stretched his arms out. He thought for a moment before reciting, "Roses are red, violets are blue. I think you're cute. What about you?"
"Wow," the green samurai smirked. "Did she like the poem?"
The leader ran his fingers over his left cheek. "If kissing my cheek counts as her liking it."
Mike laughed. "Dude, how old were you again?"
"Six or seven maybe." He turned to face Mike. "But you get my point. Obviously a girl doesn't need fancy words to be impressed."
Mike nodded, but his smile dwindled. "As simple as I want it to be, I still want it to please Emily. I don't really care if I get embarrassed, but what I write should be decent."
Jayden sat next to him. "Then write about something she can relate to as well. Not Super Mario or videogames for sure. Something romantic."
"Like what?"
"Something you probably want to do with her in the future. A first date maybe? A night at the movies? Something like that can make a good poem."
Mike nodded slowly. He definitely had more thinking going on in his brain than before, but he still didn't have a specific idea to ponder about.
"I'll think about it."
Jayden stood up and placed his hands in his pockets. "Good luck, then."
As the red ranger began to head back inside, Mike called out to him.
"Jayden!"
Jayden turned around. "Yeah?"
"Thanks, bro."
The red ranger smiled genuinely. "I can't be your brother if I'm Emily's brother."
Mike laughed, grabbing his pen again.
"And remember, very few fancy words. You don't want to sound intelligent…since you're really not."
"Okay…wait, what?"
"As fun as it is to torment them, I feel kind of bad for them," Antonio said as he fanned his face with the fifty bucks and leaned back on the couch.
"I know Mike was really frustrated with it," Jayden said, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge. "You should have seen his face when he said he didn't have money to bribe me with."
The gold ranger chortled. "That's the power of the gold."
"They've been in the garden all day," Lauren remarked as she grabbed a nearby magazine. "I'm supposed to be having fun with this bet, but it gets boring too quickly."
"Which is why we need to spice it up," Antonio said. "I have a golden idea."
As the trio heard the girls' voices getting louder, Antonio summoned the Shiba siblings to come closer and whispered his idea to them. Lauren seemed to be amused. Jayden's lips curved knowingly.
"The idea sounds good," Lauren said. "But do you really think this will work?"
"No doubt about it, amiga. No one can eavesdrop as well as lovestruck chicos."
