==Shane's House==

Shane sat on his desk in his room doing homework. He kept on getting sidetracked. He couldn't believe that his best friend would lie about having a girlfriend. He couldn't figure out whether he was happy for him or whether he wanted to rip him to shreds.

Shane and Raylan had been best friends since third grade. They talked about everything together in elementary school like new issues of Superman comics and such. Then, when they were in middle school, they started talking about other things like crushes. Come high school, they started to talk about sports they played together like hockey and lacrosse.

Shane buried his head in his books. He couldn't put his head up without feeling sick.

==School==

Shane looked for Raylan at school. He wasn't surprised to find him at Emma's locker. He watched from a distance and waited.

"Tonight?" Raylan asked.

"Yeah, tonight sounds good!" Emma smiled and walked away.

Shane walked up to his best friend.

"Dude!" he said.

"Yo, what's up?" Raylan asked.

"I gotta talk to you."

"Listening."

"Well...you've been lying to me a lot lately."

"I have? About what?"

"Oh, I don't know...about your girlfriend?"

Raylan's eyes widened. "How do you know?" he asked.

"I saw at the mall shopping for clothes with my parents...I saw you two getting close."

"Oh...that's awkward..."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because...we didn't want to get in the team's way...it wouldn't be good to have two couples on the team."

"But there are two couples on the team, regardless of whether it's supposed to be a secret or not."

Raylan looked down. "I know...but I love her..."

"I know you love her! I support that! It's just...you can't keep things like this to yourself; it could endanger both of you."

"I guess you're right..."

"No, I am right. Listen to me. I'm not telling you this as an enemy; I'm telling you this as a bro. If you guys love each other, let it be, just don't try to be so sneaky about it."

"But why is the way we're together such a problem?"

"Because you're pushing me out of the picture."

Raylan was shocked. "You're my best friend...why would I push you out of the picture?"

"We grew up together. We were supposed to tell each other everything. Now that we're growing up, I feel like we're not as close anymore. I feel like you're hiding a huge part of your life from me."

Raylan instantly thought of being the Supremus Ranger. That was an extreme secret that he had to keep from Shane. Their friendship would not come before their lives.

"Shane, I have to. We're Rangers now, sometimes secrets must be kept."

"Raylan, you're not understanding the point."

"What point?"

"We are a team and we work together. We have to know each other in and out and keeping secrets doesn't help."

Raylan felt his stomach churn. Shane was right and they both knew it, but he knew there was no possible way of spilling the beans to the rest of the team.

"Raylan, either you tell everyone your secret or I will."

"Me dating Emma? That's not that hard of a secret to tell."

"Not that secret...the secret that you're the new Ranger...the Supremus Ranger or whatever."

Raylan's eyes widened. "How do you know?" he asked quietly.

"A best friend can recognize a best friend from a mile away."

"Shane, you cannot tell anyone this. Gehn wants me to do this for the safety of the rest of the team."

"No, I think I'll tell." Shane crossed his arms.

"Shane!"

"Raylan, we're a team!"

"But this has to be kept a secret! There are reasons for this!"

"If I can be betrayed, so can you."

"Shane, you're being immature!"

"No, you're the one being immature!"

Raylan facepalmed. "Shane, think logically. If they see Supremus allied with you guys, who are they going to target the most? They can target me and drain my power without no harm, but when they start doing it to you guys problems will arise. I care about each and every one of you and the last thing I want to see is you guys getting hurt. Especially you and Emma, you guys mean the most to me."

Shane thought for a minute. "Raylan..." he mumbled.

"Shane, I really care about you guys. You're the two most important people in the world to me...well, next to my parents. The doctor told me you guys refused to leave my side at the hospital."

Shane looked down. "Raylan, you're my best friend and you're Emma's boyfriend. We wouldn't leave you by yourself."

"And I don't want to leave you guys by yourselves, either. This is why I've been keeping secrets from the team. Sometimes, the only way to protect your lives is to lie to you. You guys are Power Rangers now and your lives mean so much more to the safety of the world."

"Raylan, all of our lives matter."

"I can take these hits in my new powers, but you guys can't. I'd rather have me being the one out there and taking hits through a more powerful type of armour than you guys being blasted to bits and unmorphed every few hits. It hurts a lot to see you guys lying on the ground, groaning."

Shane looked at Raylan. "I'm sorry, I just didn't want to feel betrayed. I guess I was just feeling a little selfish."

"It's all right, besides that's how to be a good best friend. You should always question friends when you feel they're hiding things. It's the healthy thing to do."

They both smiled and looked at each other. The bell rang.

"Well, I've got to get off to class." Raylan said.

"Yeah, me too." Shane replied.

They both did a fist-bump and headed off to class.