A Better Alternative

All disclaimers in part one apply - the short version: I don't own the rangers. Never have, (sob) never will.

"That's IT! I have had it with you, you sad bastard! Get out!"

"Carolyn, you don't -"

"I do! GET OUT!"

Eleven year-old Kimberly Hart cowered on her bed. Please, Mom, she whispered please stop fighting with Daddy. Her hopes for peace in the house were quickly shattered anew.

"Fine, Carolyn, I'll get out! Just don't expect me to come back!" Kim heard the door slam and as she scampered to her window, she saw her father walking away down the driveway. The car engine roared to life, and in an instant, Kevin Hart was gone. An anger that the petite child had never felt possessed her, and Kim flew down the stairs.

"Mom, where's Daddy going?"

Carolyn Hart looked down at her daughter's furious face. "Oh, baby…"

"You made him leave!"

Her daughter's accusation surprised Carolyn. Kim could get passionate, but this was much more furious than usual. "You told him to get out! You made him go!" The thin wail rose from Kimberly.

Carolyn couldn't fight the fury she felt at this unjust accusation. Kevin had confessed that he had had a long-term affair with a woman from work, his second. The first time, Carolyn had been forgiving, but this time, it was too much for her. She had ordered Kevin out, with good reason, and it felt completely unfair to be blamed by her daughter for Kevin's shortcomings. As of right then, Kim was in the dark about the true reason for her parent's estrangement, by mutual agreement. Neither Kevin nor Carolyn wanted to disabuse Kimberly of her childish innocence by exposing the lurid details, or attempting to explain the whole situation with the two affairs. When she was a little older, Kim would be told. However, with Kim's furious declaration coming hard on the heels of the fight, Carolyn was too upset to think before she spoke. "How dare you!" shouted Carolyn. "Your father loved that slut from work better than he loved you or me!"

Kimberly's face went white. Carolyn instantly regretted her hasty words, but there was little she could do as she watched the girl, visibly deflated, walk away.

~*~

"I think my parents might…" Kim glanced around the playground at school the next day, making sure no one else was listening, and then whispered into her best friend Trini Kwan's ear "get divorced."

Before Trini could respond, the loud "phweet!" of a teacher's whistle pierced the air. "That's my class," said the Asian girl sadly. "I'm sorry about your parents. Meet me after school?" With a comforting hug that said more than words, Trini sighed. It was too bad that Kim was in one of the other fifth grade classes. She could tell Kimberly was hurting, but there was nothing she could do unless she wanted to be in trouble which would benefit no one. Mrs. Morgan, Trini's teacher, was strict about tardiness.

Kim nodded wordlessly, and watched as Trini hurried to go line up. Her class still had fifteen more minutes of recess, and she had no idea what she wanted to do. After sitting in self-pity for a moment, Kim got up, brushed herself off, and headed back toward the building and the rest of the playground equipment. "Ooff!" she gasped, tripping hard over a form that she had not noticed resting in the grass.

"Are you going to be satisfactory? Or shall I find a faculty member to assist you, if you are injured?" came the voice. Kimberly looked up. A slender boy wearing overalls and glasses looked down at her, offering his hand. Kimberly vaguely recognized him as a member of Mrs. Sheldon's fifth grade class. Doesn't he usually hang around with those other two guys…oh what were their names…Zack and Jason? Kim wondered before starting to brush herself off.

"I'm fine," she grumped, ignoring the boy's outstretched hand and pulling herself to her feet. To her complete dismay, a tear had begun to make its way down her cheek. The mild ache of the fall, coupled with her frustration and hurt over her parent's most recent fight made her feel surly and to her annoyance, weepy.

"A-are you positive?" stammered the boy. "You seem a bit perturbed. Could I be of any assistance?"

"Let's put it this way," snapped Kimberly, not really understanding the boy's long words but catching the gist of them, "the only way you could possibly help is not to talk in such stupid words that I can't understand! What would you know, anyway? The only way you could be worse off is if one of your parents had died!"

With that, Kim stormed off, not noticing the horribly shocked, hurt expression on the boy's face.

Billy stared after her. All he had wanted to do was be helpful. The girl probably didn't realize how much what she had said had hurt so much, or that it had touched a very sensitive nerve. Just then, Zack and Jason ran up. They had been inside, helping Mrs. Sheldon put up a new bulletin board as punishment for having forgotten their homework - Zack forgetting to do his, Jason leaving his sitting on the couch that morning. Both were overall good students, and so the teacher had agreed not to contact their parents as long as it did not become a habit and they stayed in and helped her for half of recess.

"Billy, man, what's up!" shouted Zack, cavorting around, not noticing that Billy's normally ethereal complexion was now absolutely white.

Jason, however, noted the expression on his friend's face. "What's wrong?"

"Who is that girl in the pink t-shirt and blue jean skirt?" Billy asked, staring past Jason.

"Oh, her?" said Zack. "She's a cheerleader. I think her name's Kimberly or something like that. Why?" The last question was asked as Zack noticed the way Billy was staring after her. It was not an expression of puppy love, or even like. Billy, Zack observed, looked like she'd slapped him or something.

~*~

Lining up with her class to go back into the school building, Kimberly was beginning to feel guilty for having snapped at the boy. After all, he hadn't done anything - except offer to help me, she thought ruefully. Her thought was interrupted as a whisper came from behind her.

"What'd you say to that geek out there?"

Kim sighed. Evelyn Robinson could be so annoying sometimes, but as captain of the elementary school cheerleading squad, Evelyn was no one to be trifled with. "Oh, I didn't see him and nearly tripped over him."

"Good," giggled Evelyn. "Thought you might have been slumming a little." While her tone was superficially light-hearted, Kimberly instantly caught the implied warning not to talk to the boy again. "Cheerleading practice after school today - you'll be there, right?"

Kim nodded. "We'll be working on that new cheer Lisa made up, won't we?"

"Yeah," replied Evelyn, "Oh, that old bat's giving us death looks. Better be quiet, talk to you after school."

Kimberly was mildly grateful for the teacher's forcing an end to the conversation. Hidden under the cheerleader exterior, Kim had a good heart, and knew that she ought to apologize to the "geek" as Evelyn had called him. She also knew that if Evelyn saw her doing so, there would be no end to the insults and derogatory remarks. Evelyn barely tolerated Trini, whom she considered to be pretty much nothing, and Kimberly had no wish to have Evelyn turn the rough side of her tongue on Kim. Still, thought Kim, I ought to say something. Evelyn usually goes straight to the gym to change and start getting things ready for practice. I'll bet that I could catch him then and apologize without her seeing me.

~*~

"Settle down, settle down or I'll hold you after the bell!" Mrs. Sheldon threatened. Being late afternoon, the class was wont to get a bit rambunctious, and today they were being especially noisy. At this dire threat, however, the class took their seats and sat with barely restrained energy until at last the bell chimed. Children flew from their seats, backpacks were grabbed, and the chatter of twenty-odd voices filled the air. Billy, Jason, and Zack were no different, comparing notes on what plans for after school were.

"I got the kit last night," said Jason. "Mom said she'd get the model glue for me today at the store."

"And I - " Billy began, but broke off as he saw the girl in pink from recess motioning to him from across the hall.

"Ooooh," laughed Zack, "Someone's got a girlfriend!" He was shushed by a death-look from Jason, who intuitively knew something wasn't right.

Billy cautiously crossed the hall. He had no desire for another diatribe to be leveled at him, but she seemed earnest and not angry. Once he got closer, he noted another girl standing next to the cheerleader. This girl was Asian and just a little taller than the pink-clad girl. Billy recognized the Asian girl as his final challenger in the fifth grade spelling bee the previous week. He remembered her matching him word for word until she'd finally tripped over the word "encephalitis", missing the second "i" from the end. Billy knew it had been merely an error under pressure rather than not knowing how to spell the word, and he had been mildly curious about her since. She seemed very intelligent, but as he had lacked the courage to approach her, he had never caught her name or what class she was in.

"Y…yes?" He asked the girl in pink as he adjusted his glasses. "Did you h…have a reason f…for s…summoning me?"

The girl nodded. "My name's Kimberly Hart. Umm, I…like, well…I'm sorry for what I said to you at recess."

Billy was about to accept the apology when a voice from behind him spoke suddenly. "What a geek! Kim, what are you doing with him?" The disgust was plain.

Kimberly blushed crimson. "Uh, Evelyn…"

Evelyn's pretty features were distorted in an ugly sneer of contempt. For an instant she hesitated. Then, instead of speaking further, she tossed her dark hair and strode off.

Kim stared after her. It was too much. Her lower lip began to quiver softly and she valiantly struggled to keep tears back. Trini put a comforting arm around her, and Billy just stared, unsure of what to do. He was pretty certain it was his fault that Kim was upset, and slowly started to back away. Zack and Jason, who had been watching from across the hall, stared. Before any of them could do anything however, Kim whirled abruptly and hurried into the girl's bathroom, Trini in hot pursuit.

All three of the boys somehow knew that the compassionate thing to do was to wait and make sure Kimberly was all right. So, for several minutes, they stood in silence until Trini came out of the bathroom.

Billy stepped forward, feeling as though he ought to ask, since he perceived the incident as his fault. "Uh…Is Kimberly satisfactory?" he inquired nervously.

Trini nodded. "Yes, she's not having a very good day…other stuff besides this" Trini added hastily seeing the boys wince slightly. "I'm Trini Kwan," she said, feeling an introduction was in order.

"Jason Scott."

"Zack Taylor."

"Ummm…oh…My name's Billy." Billy replied, stuttering a little. "I am truly sorry about Kimberly. It was not my intention to embarrass her in any way."

To Billy's surprise, Trini did not shoot him a blank look the way most of the other children did when he said something. "It's not your fault," she soothed. "Kimberly will be fine."

"We'd better get going," said Jason after an awkward pause. "My mom will be worrying."

The other two boys nodded, glad for an excuse. "'Bye, Trini!" called Zack as they retreated to Jason's house. The remainder of the afternoon was spent there, working on a model airplane, but a vague current of unease hung over the trio at what they had witnessed.

~*~

Once Kim had pulled herself together, she shrugged off Trini's suggestion that she skip practice that evening, and patting her face with cold water to diminish the puffy redness that ringed her eyes, she steeled herself and headed for the gym. Slipping in, she noted that the other cheerleaders were already in the middle of learning the new cheer. Kimberly walked to her spot in the formation, hoping that Evelyn wouldn't say anything. Around her a soft whisper of voices rose, and Kim was quickly aware they were talking about her.

How many times did I take part in this? she wondered silently. She could remember passively helping Evelyn exile several girls, and now it haunted her. So this is what it feels like. Cold looks were tossed her direction, and Kim felt a distinct chill in her bones. I didn't do anything! she protested silently. She knew, though, that Evelyn had made fun of other girls for a lot less - she'd already risked censure by making Trini one of her best friends, and Kim supposed that apologizing to the 'geek' had been the last straw. So did I, she remembered.

~*~

Flouncing her dress, Lisa Miller carefully spread her skirt over the bench at the long cafeteria table. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Kimberly Hart heading over toward the table. All of the girls had spread their neatly pleated and pressed skirts or thrown their jackets over the spare seats, and Lisa knew that they would not make room for Kimberly today. In her heart, she felt sorry for the girl, but not sorry enough to take a risk and let Kim sit with them.

Kimberly rubbed her forehead. What now? she wondered. Trini had a special honor student lunch that day, and while the two did not usually sit together, she knew she could have sat with Trini. Now, she was faced with a cafeteria full of people she realized that she'd hardly gotten to know or care about. Kim had always been popular, never worrying where to sit. But now, Kimberly was desperately adrift - her insular world was gone for at least the present, and a decision had to be made.

"You could sit with us!" a voice piped up. Kimberly turned to see the three boys from the day before. The African-American boy had been the one to extend the invitation, but she saw nods of concurrence from the other two, including the one she'd dubbed "the geek" the previous day.

"Uhmmm…" she said softly and then decided. She was already out of the popular group - Evelyn and the other cheerleaders had made sure of that - and Kim knew she had nothing to lose. Besides, she had to admire the forbearance that…Billy, she reminded herself, NOT "geek". He has a name, and even though you were horrible to him yesterday, he and his friends are decent enough to give you somewhere to sit. The thought made her feel fairly ashamed, but she forced a cheery smile onto her face, and replied: "That would be wonderful, thanks."

To be continued. Reviews are, per usual, VERY appreciated.