Author's Note: Sorry it's a day late! I'm hoping to post on Christmas, but I may end up posting a little early or on Saturday.
Chapter Thirty-Six: Black Friday
Date: Friday, November 28, 2003
The girls had informed the boys days before Thanksgiving that everyone was crashing at Cassie and Xaren's house the night of Thanksgiving. This caused the boys to become incredibly nervous, as they should have been.
**********
"Boys, are you ready?" Kimberly asked the morning after Thanksgiving at a very ungodly hour in the morning.
"For what?" Xaren asked.
"Uncle Xaren, I'm so sorry for what's about to happen," Megan said. "Okay. Everybody into the cars!"
"What's going on?" Xaren asked in confusion as Cassie herded him to a vehicle.
"It's Black Friday!" Kimberly chirped happily.
"And we are so going to go maternity shopping," Trini said.
"What's Black Friday?" Xaren asked.
"Stores go into major discount mode. How have you not come in contact with this yet?" Megan asked.
"Zhane knows what it is and he's never on Earth for Thanksgiving," Cassie said. "I was sure you knew what this was."
"Clearly I don't," Xaren said.
"Shopping," Tommy groaned. "Lots and lots and lots of shopping."
"Shut up," Kimberly teased. "You know you love it."
"Uh, I don't," Jason said.
"Neither do I," Megan said.
"Blasphemy!" Kim said. "You can not be related to me and not like shopping."
"Mom doesn't like shopping," Megan said.
"Your mother's just as bad when it comes to shopping as her sister," Trini said. "How can she not like shopping?"
"She just doesn't," Megan said.
"Okay, daylight's wasting people!" Kim said. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
"Oh yay," Tommy groaned.
**********
Two hours into the shopping expedition all of the boys wanted to call it quits. The mall was horrendously crowded and so far they'd spent all but a half an hour in just once maternity store. They had then quickly moved onto one of the five department stores in the Angel Grove shopping center.
"I think I'm going to die," Jason said.
"Why do I have to carry bags?" Adam asked. "Kim's Tommy's wife."
"If you didn't notice, that wasn't just a store for moms," Tanya said. "Though I don't think it's fair that Trini shoved the bags at you guys."
"When's nap time?" Megan asked. "Or Cinnabun time? Cuz I need either sleep or sugary glaze."
"Same," Aisha yawned.
"How about Starbucks instead?" one of the girls asked from the front of their little mob.
"Nobody gets caffeine if I can't have any," Kim said. "That goes double for at home."
Megan and Tommy exchanged a quick, panicked look and began hissing at each other ways to sneak coffee into the house.
"We can hide it in the lair," Tommy said.
"Or my room. She never goes in there," Megan said.
"That's because it's in a constant state of mess," Tommy said.
"Ooh! We can use and abuse Hayley!" Megan said. "Hayley'll supply us if needed. And I can use Cam…"
The conversation was halted as Tommy got shoved to the side by a woman with a very desperate look in her eyes.
"This is why I hate shopping," he muttered.
"Question: Who's ready to head out?" Megan asked quietly once she was sure none of the other females were listening.
"I think the answer to the question is 'all of us,'" Zane said.
"And who has the keys to the cars?" Megan asked.
"Oh," Jason said slowly. "I've got mine. But it's the two seater."
"I've got the ones to the Jeep," Tommy said.
"Tanya's got mine," Adam said.
"Aisha's got mine too," Rocky said.
"So…That's eight of us in six seats," Megan said.
"I will gladly sit in the waay back of the Jeep if it means we leave," Rocky said.
"I'm calling TJ," Andros said. "And Carlos. One of them can come and get us."
"But that's like retreating," Zane said.
"And driving away isn't?" Xaren asked.
"That's escaping. It's like breaking out of jail," Zane said.
"Sure. Whatever," Xaren said.
Andros had dialed TJ's phone and was waiting for him to pick up.
"Do you even know what time it is, man?"
"The girls dragged us shopping. You've got to come pick us up. We've only got enough seats for six and we've got eight," Andros told him.
"We could always leave Megan here," Rocky suggested.
Megan punched him in the arm. "I'll blab and pretend it wasn't my idea."
"Whoa. I'm not getting in between you and the girls' Black Friday shopping. I remember how bad it was when Ash was in high school. You're just lucky she wasn't on Earth for Black Friday that year."
"TJ, we need you to come pick us up. So can you?"
"Sorry man, I can't. Ashley'd kill me."
"TJ's a bust," Andros said as he hung up and began to dial Carlos.
Carlos, however, was even less willing to come and get them than TJ. After Andros explained the situation to him all he could do was laugh.
"So, now we vote on which two don't come with us," Tommy said. The eight began eyeing each other, trying to decide who would make the least fuss if they left them behind.
"Megan!" Kim called impatiently. "Come look at this!"
"We wait until they're done here," Megan said quickly. "Then we say we're gonna dump the bags in the cars but we split instead. We'll bum the keys off of Tanya or Aisha and we leave, got it?"
The boys nodded before Megan headed over to Kim and was forced to try on half a dozen outfits.
The next half hour passed by tortuously slow until Kim said, "Tommy, be a dear and take the bags to the jeep, would you?"
Tommy darted to his wife's side as the other guys started grabbing bags from their girlfriends or wives. "I got it Adam," Tanya said, heading towards the exit of the mall herself.
"No, seriously, let me help," Adam said, tugging at the bags. "You just…keep shopping…"
"You need another car to escape," Tanya said, causing the boys to shoot panicked looks at her. "And I want out of this madhouse."
"We'll be back!" Megan called and practically dragged Tanya and Adam out of the department store.
"Air! Fresh air!" Rocky said. "I can breathe again!"
"Cars. Now. Quick," Tanya ordered, sending everyone scrambling to the vehicles that were towards the back of the lot. Once the bags were stashed in the trunks they had a quick conference.
"What now?" Andros asked.
"We're so going to die," Zane said. "They're going to kill us."
"I'll tell them not to," Tanya assured them.
"What are we going to do?" Rocky asked.
"Movie?" Tommy suggested. "That'll keep us out of the way for a couple of hours at least."
"What movies are even playing right now?" Adam asked.
"Uh…The Incredibles might still be in theaters. That was good. I saw that with the guys last week," Megan said. "Then The Polar Express is in theaters. Bridget Jones 2, which I need to see, Finding Neverland which I would recommend except for the fact that it's more guys than girls here, National Treasure, The Spongebob Movie--,"
"No!" Adam said quickly. "No Spongebob."
Megan grinned. "And Christmas with the Kranks came out yesterday. Ray, Surviving Christmas, Shall We Dance, Raise Your Voice, and Shark Tale might still be in theaters," she continued.
"The Incredibles is about the super heroes, right?" Rocky asked.
"Yeah," Megan said. "It's really good."
"Super heroes or stealing the Declaration of Independence?" Adam asked.
**********
Next time on Power Rangers: One Little Change
"Cam ended up meeting Sensei in the past—,"
"What?!" Megan screeched. "You don't do that. Oh God. He totally just screwed up the timeline and we're all going to die and then Jen and Wes will never get married because there's the whole problem of the time stream being screwed up."
"Do you seriously listen to yourself speak sometimes?" Tori asked after a minute.