The following day, Gia kept stealing worried glances at her friend. Emma had not taken her up on her offer to talk, and she looked like she hadn't slept. Again. Gia couldn't remember a time since Gavin arrived when her friend looked healthy and well-rested.
Even now as she looked on in concern, she could see Emma's eyes fighting to stay open during their science lecture. Emma could feel herself drifting and jerked her head up, trying to find some way to help her stay awake.
It appeared that whenever it was important, her body would finally let her sleep, but when she actually tried during the night, her mind imprisoned her in a whirlwind of thoughts that refused to leave her alone long enough to drift off. In an attempt to stay awake, she tried twirling her pencil. It had been a skill she had never been able to successfully perform before, and she figured it would be a good way to keep her mind alert enough to not fall asleep.
She was completely unaware of the nervous stares Gia was giving her. In all honesty, Emma recognized that she needed help. She knew her situation was extremely bad, to say the least, and she was going to need someone to hold her up. She knew she needed the help, but just didn't know how to ask for it.
Since she was a kid, she had spent all of her childhood trying to make sure her father never touched her brother, and once Gavin and her mom left, she faced the abuse alone. Now that Gavin was back, it barely felt any different. Even though he was here now and her parents were sending funds, it still felt like she was alone. Emma had been giving up meals without telling him because she couldn't afford food for the both of them, and didn't want him to feel guilty for eating. So she hid that from him and pretended she was eating before she came home.
That contributed to her low energy. Even now that they were right in that cold season, the house had a severe chill to it. Her father was paying for electricity in the house, but the air conditioning and heating units had broken a couple months ago, and she was too afraid to ask for extra money to get it fixed. Gavin had not complained once about the cold, but she saw him shivering all the time and it broke her heart.
She offered Gavin her blanket to help him sleep, saying that he needed to stay warm and well-rested in order to keep him healthy enough to fight his tumor. If he was constantly shivering and not getting enough sleep, he would be too weak and physically exhausted to fight the sickness. Of course, he protested adamantly because he knew she needed it too, but Emma lied and said she had an extra in the master bedroom closet.
That was a lie, but her brother needed it more than her, so she just curled up under whatever jackets she could find and tried to make the most of it. That was part of the reason she couldn't sleep. Emma couldn't actually remember a time when she got a good night's rest, and even now she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since her short nap in the woods with Noah.
Even now, being so close with her team and with Gavin in her life again, she still felt alone. And it was a trap Emma was all too familiar with. She wasn't good at asking for help, and didn't know what could even be done to make her situation a little easier.
She was shaken from her thoughts when the bell rung, signaling the end of class. As she was stuffing her binder into her bag, she heard her morpher go off. Emma sighed, knowing she was in no condition to fight, but also knowing she needed to go out there anyways. She resolved to herself that she would be safer, though.
Emma had promised Gia that she wouldn't run in like that again, and fully intended to keep that promise. To be honest, she wasn't all that eager to get beaten by Metal Alice again either.
The girls threw their bags on and raced to the city. Emma and Troy immediately went to work escorting the civilians to safety, while the other three rangers took on the incoming swarm of Loogies.
When everyone was safe, the pink and red rangers turned to see if there was anywhere they could help, but came up empty. That's when Troy felt himself being attacked from behind, and fell forward after a sword slash from Metal Alice. Emma turned and tried to fight with her Phoenix Shot, but it was to no avail. Metal Alice slashed at Emma's weapon and it fell from her hand, at which point the robot kicked Emma's legs out from under her.
The pink ranger ended up flat on her back, with the wind knocked out of her. Getting back up took supreme strength, especially since she was already so exhausted to begin with. She and Troy decided to try a double team, but again, they both ended up on the floor. Metal Alice's armor was tough to crack, and it felt like their attacks were having zero effect on her.
When the boys and Gia had finished clearing out the Loogies, they ran over to help, but they didn't have much luck either. Troy was slow getting back to his feet, and his sword was laying on the ground beside him. Noah was much more confident in his sword fighting abilities after his recent efforts, and took Troy's sword to try his hand.
He held his own fairly well, but the robot eventually got the better of him. She slashed him and he rolled to a stop on the floor, finding it difficult to get up. Jake and Gia tried to attack together with their power cards, but it was turned against them, and the rocks they had sent out ended up smashing right back into them.
The team lay on the floor, groaning, as Metal Alice laughed. "Master Vrak said you five would be a challenge. What a joke. If you five are the protectors of this planet, the earth is doomed." She decided she had toyed with them enough, and left the scene to report back to Vrak.
The rangers all groaned as they performed wellness checks on each other. Noah checked the time, and saw that they had missed the entire lunch period. Though he was sore and did not want to go back, his parents would flip if he missed another period. Troy and Jake agreed that their parents were starting to ask too many questions about their absences, and thought it would be best if they could make it back in time for math.
As soon as they teleported away, Gia turned to her best friend. "I'm sorry I confronted you like that in the Brainfreeze yesterday. I'm just worried about you, and it terrified me to see Metal Alice standing over you with a sword to your neck. I know you don't want to talk about it, and I respect that. And I know you won't do it again, so I'll drop it. But seriously, if you need anything, please let me know. I will always have time for you, no matter what."
Emma smiled and gave a halfhearted hug to her friend. "Thanks. I should get home. School is going to be out soon and I need to eat something before I actually faint. Gavin has an appointment later, and I feel like a little energy would do me a lot of good right now. I have another shift at Ernie's after, and I haven't been getting much sleep lately, so food is going to need to sustain me."
Gia nodded. "Well, Dad has been distracted with the suit against the drunk driver, so he hasn't really been keeping tabs on my attendance. We're already late for math, so we might as well just skip it. We didn't get a lunch either since we had to come out here to stop Metal Alice. What do you say we grab lunch? On me."
Emma immediately went to protest, but Gia stopped her. "I'm serious, Emma. Just this once, let me do something to help you." Her friend looked like she was about to protest, but in the end, accepted the offer gratefully.
Gia smiled. "The appointment isn't for another couple hours. Maybe after lunch, we could go on a ride. You haven't been on your bike in so long, and I'd be happy to get out to the forest again. Just like old times."
"When things were simpler."
The yellow ranger agreed sadly, and the two headed off for a lunch date, hoping that the day would feel a little less gloomy with food in their stomachs.
