Confuse
Jason woke depressed Wednesday morning. He was still getting over the fact that the meeting with his friends and Scott didn't go very well. 'Was it true? Did Scott look like he was going to cry? Why?'
Jason skipped breakfast so that he could get to school early that day. He didn't want to walk with Zack or meet up with his friends. There was going to tension between Jason and Tommy, because Jason was still angry over what Tommy did to Scott. And he believed that the other shouldn't be dragged into the middle of it.
At some point, Jason knew, he would have to make up with Tommy for the sake of the Earth and the White Rose Ninja's welfare. However he wasn't in a rush to do so.
Jason get to his locker before anyone else could show up and takes all his books out, so he wouldn't have to stop by there at any time of the day. He goes to English class and sits in the back of the room, where Bulk and Skull usually sat. Trini, Zack, and Billy look back at him with concern. He doesn't act like he acknowledges them.
For the whole day Jason managed to avoid all his friends. After school, Jason decided that he would talk to Scott. He had to find out what made his round shades friend leave like he did. Is Scott mad at him? Did Scott think that Jason betrayed him or lie to him? Whatever it was, Jason just had to know for sure. After all, according to Jason's thinking, this would be the first step in him making up with Tommy.
While Jason dumped his books back into his locker, he thought of something. He hadn't seen Jaclyn all day, but he also realized why he wouldn't. Jason didn't sit in his usual seat in English class, nor has he been to his locker all day until now.
Jason leaves school and heads straight for Scott's house. First he looks in through the garage window to see if Scott's motorcycle and/or his parents' car were there. The bike was there and the van was not, so there was a possibility that Scott might be home. Jason goes to the front door and knocks loudly. When nobody comes to the door, he knocks again. This time someone comes to the door.
Jason sees the curtain in the door window move a little to show pair of something look out at him. "Scott?" He asks with hope.
A muffled voice comes through. "What do you want?"
"I want to talk." Jason looks pleadingly through the window. "Open up, please?"
There were some clicking sounds before the door slowly opened. Scott wore a red hooded gym suit with black sides, his hood pulled over his head, black Chinese shoes, and tinted round shades. He steps to the side to let Jason into the house.
When Jason was in, Scott closed the door. "Scott…I…" Jason rubs the back of his head nervously and looks at the floor. "I just want to apologize for yesterday." He looks back up at Scott. "I had no idea Tommy was going to be like that."
"You…you shouldn't be the one to apologize." Scott says quietly. He looks at the ground, he can't seem to meet Jason's eyes. "It should be me that needs to say 'I'm sorry.'"
"What?" Jason says in surprise. "Why would you have to apologize?"
Scott looks up. "Because…" Jason could see tears stream down from the sides of Scott's shades and down his cheeks. "Because I have put your friendship in jeopardy." Scott said in a cracked voice.
"What do you mean?" Jason couldn't understand why Scott was so upset.
"I made your friends mad at you." Scott wiped his nose with the sleeve of his gym outfit. "I don't want ruin anyone's friendship."
"It's just a friendly spat." Jason tells him in hopes that it would bring Scott comfort. "Tommy and I will get over it and we'll be friends again. My other friends will understand why I acted the way I did." Jason smiles at him. "Don't worry, everything will be back to normal."
Scott sees the comforting smile on Jason's face. "Really?" His lower lip begins to trembles uncontrollably as more tears stream down his face. "Jason…" He whispers as he throws his arms under Jason's and presses his hands into his back.
Jason could feel the rims of Scott's shades against his cheek as Scott put his head on Jason's shoulder to cry. Even though he was surprised by this sudden move and felt a little bit awkward, Jason guessed he should try to do something to comfort his friend more. He slowly puts his arm around Scott in a friendly comforting hug.
"I'm sorry." Scott whispers. "I…I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Hey, it's ok."
"But…"
"But what?" Jason feels Scott squeeze a little. "H…huh?" He finds himself breathing a little heavily.
Scott lifts his head so that he could look at Jason, face to face. The tears stop coming and it seem that Scott too was breathing a little hard.
'What's going on?' Jason thinks as he drops his hands to his sides and he finds himself moving back until he was up against a wall.
Scott was still holding him, so he follows as Jason was moving back. Jason looks into the tinted shades that seem to be staring at him. Was it his imagination, or did Scott close his eyes.
Scott tilts his head a little and moves it forward. 'Is he going to…?' A drop of sweat rolls down from Jason's forehead. 'He's…' He presses himself closer to the wall and he feels two lumps in his back, Scott's hands. 'Oh, man…' Jason's breathing gets even heavier as Scott's lips press against his.
Jason started to tense up. Here it was, Scott was kissing him and he was doing nothing to stop it. He felt Scott's right hand pull out from behind his back and rest on his chest. The hand slid up his chest, to the side of his neck, and then to the back of his neck. This sent shivers up Jason's spine. More was to come as Scott's left hand slide down to Jason's lower back.
Now Jason was seriously freaking out inside, yet he still did nothing to stop any of this. In fact, he was finding himself kissing back. His hands were slowly leaving the wall to go back around Scott. But when he realized what he was doing, Jason puts his hands on Scott's shoulders and pushes the round shade-wearing boy away from him.
Scott looks away from Jason, his face a deep red. "Uh…"
Jason finds himself blushing deeply also.
Scott puts his right hand on the back of his neck as he looked at his and Jason's feet. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "I don't know what got into me." Scott looked back up at Jason to see he was still pressed up against the wall. "Jason…"
"S…stay back." Jason stammered. He put his right hand out to stop Scott from coming towards him and it ended up on Scott's chest. When he realized this, he dropped it quickly.
"I didn't mean…let me explain." Scott pleads.
"N…no." Jason says as he fumbles with the door. "I…I think I need to…to go home. I'm sorry." He finally pulls open the door and jumps out it. "Don't take this the wrong way…but I don't think…excuse me." Jason runs for his house.
Scott sadly watches Jason leaves, feeling ashamed of what he had done.
Jason comes busting in through the front door of his house. "Jason? What's wrong?" Cindy asks while he closes the door.
Jason leaned against the door, he was still breathing hard and was in a cold sweat.
"N…nothing. I just…I just need to be alone." He runs up the stairs to his room as fast as he could.
Cindy follows Jason up the stairs as quickly as she could. "Well if you want to talk…" He closes the door just as she gets there. "…I'm here."
Jason throws himself, stomach first, onto his bed. 'I had no idea Scott was…' He rolls onto his back, tucks his arms under his head, and stares at the ceiling. 'But then, I did kiss back…a little. But why? Why did it feel so right to do so? Am I really in love with him? Am I…?' Jason shakes his head. 'No…I can't be. I mean I've never found another guy…attractive before. Or have I?' A shiver goes down Jason's spine as he thinks about this. Maybe there was a way he could test himself, like he could think how he felt about other guys he knew.
'Let's see…there's Tommy. Do I…? No, he's just a good friend.' Jason breathes a sigh of relief on that thought. 'There's Zack…we get physical sometime, but I felt nothing. Billy…no, I guess not.' He tries to remember a bunch of other guys he knew through out his life. They all came up with the same feeling, nothing.
When Jason ran out of guys to think up, he started on girls. After all he was a guy and if he had any feelings for girls he wouldn't be…gay, right? After going through all the girls he knew the only one to stay on his mind, was the White Rose Ninja. He breaths a sigh of relief when he found out he still liked a girl.
So now he was kind of back to where he started, trying to figure out who he 'loved'. Was it Scott or was it the White Rose Ninja? Yesterday he had tried to differentiate Scott and White Rose, but maybe there was something missing that would explain what he was.
Jason felt that he needed to know what it was like to be in love. What were the signs that he had the right feelings? He had a theory and what he's seen on T.V., but he never had the actual feeling or even a crush on anyone. Jason needed someone he could turn to for help other then his parents. For some reason he didn't think he could turn to them. So maybe he could go to someone else he would trust just as much and take him seriously on this situation.
Next Day After School…
Jason finds Tommy practicing martial arts near some picnic tables. "Tommy?" He stands couple of yards from guy in green, at the bridge.
Tommy stop to look at Jason. "What do you want?" He picks up his towel from one of the picnic tables to wipes the sweat from his forehead.
"To talk." Jason answers.
Tommy sits down on one of the picnic tables. "What do you want to talk about?"
"You still going to be angry with me over Scott?" Jason stays by the bridge. "Cause if you are, then I guess you can't help me with my problem." He turns to leave the way he came.
"Jason, wait." Tommy calls after him and Jason turns back around. "Look, I'm sorry that he took the brunt of my anger. I'll be better next time."
"Ok." Jason smiles a little. "And I'm sorry for not considering your feelings." He comes over to the picnic tables and stands there for a couple of minutes. He looks down at Tommy to make sure he didn't feel anything for him. 'Nothing…' Jason sighs in relief. Lucky for him, Tommy didn't seem to see it. Jason sits on the other side of picnic table, but on the table rather then the bench.
"Friends?" Tommy asked, looking up at Jason.
Jason nods down at Tommy. "Friends."
"Alright." Tommy looks forward and leans back onto the table. His green towel now draped over his shoulders. "So what is your problem?"
"How…" Jason had to take a deep breath to ask his question, for some reason. "How do you know if you're in love? What does it feel like?"
Tommy looks up at Jason with surprise. "How do I know?" He rubs his chin as he thinks. "Hmm…. I guess it's when she's on your mind all the time. Everything around you reminds you of her. You find yourself doing something you never thought you do, because of her."
Jason slowly nods. "I see."
"I think I know why you want to know this." Tommy gives Jason's left leg a friendly nudge with his right elbow. "It's because of that ninja, isn't?" His right eyebrow arches as he gives Jason a sly smile.
"Yes…no…well…" Jason rubs his head nervously. "Look I…I have something and…and I…no." Jason starts to shake his head. "I don't think I can do this." He jumps off the table and starts to walk away quickly.
"Jason!" Tommy gets off the bench and chases after his friend. "Whatever it is, you can tell me." Jason stops, but he doesn't turn around. Tommy slowly walks up to Jason's left side and puts a hand on his shoulder. "I mean, you trust me…right?"
"I do…" Jason turns his head away from Tommy. "It's just that…" He couldn't bring himself to look at Tommy yet. "I kind of hard, you know?" Jason takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "What I have to say might…put you off."
"Don't worry, I can take it." Tommy gives Jason's shoulder a squeeze. "Lay it on me."
"All right." Jason lets out a deep sigh. "I think I'm in love with two people."
"Two people?" Tommy's eyebrows rise high and he looks at Jason to see if he was serious.
"Yeah." Jason nods his head nervously.
"What's so wrong with that?" Tommy throws his hands up in the air. "Sometimes it happens." He puts his hand back on Jason's shoulder and gives it a pat. "I don't think you have anything to really worry about."
Jason slowly turned his head to look at Tommy. "Cause one of them could be a g…a…g…a guy." A kind of shocked look came onto Tommy's face and he slowly took his hand away. "But it's not with you." Jason replied quickly when he saw Tommy starts to back away slowly and puts his hand up in a halt kind of way. "You don't have to worry."
"W…worry?" Tommy stops moving back. "I'm not worried." He puts a hand on the back of his neck. "But that's…that's…whoa…that is…different." Tommy forces a chuckle. "Uh…out of…uh…curiosity, w…who…who is it?" He wrings his neck nervously.
Jason's face has an ashamed look as it turns a deep red. "It's…Scott."
"R…really?" Tommy face is in total surprise. "You're kidding, right?" He gives Jason's backside a sharp slap. "You're putting me on? This has got to be a joke." He gives another nervous laugh.
"I thought you could handle this." Jason's face turns angry. "I had a feeling this would be a bad idea, but I thought…" His hands clench into fists, he looked like he wanted to punch something.
Tommy waves his hands at his friend. "Jason. Take a deep breath." He takes a deep breath himself and lets it out slowly to become calm again. "Ok, I'm over whatever problem I had and I'm here to help." Jason takes a deep breath also and loosens his hands. "Now…" Tommy sighs in relief when Jason had calm down, "are you sure you're in love with him?"
"Well, I'm not absolutely sure. That why I wanted to know what it was like to be in love or what the signs were." Jason crosses his arms in front of him. "I thought I was in love with the White Rose Ninja, but now something happen and…I don't know." He shakes his head in confusion. "I just don't know."
"What happened?" Tommy asked.
"Well, we…uh…we ki…ki…." Jason face was a real deep red as he tried to get out what he was trying to say. In the end, he ends up forcing it out. "We kissed!"
Tommy's face turns white as a shock look comes over it. At first the longhaired boy was speechless. There wasn't anything he couldn't think of to say. "D…did you kiss him…or did he k…kiss you?" Tommy stammered finally, when he found his voice.
"He kissed me. But…but I didn't do anything to stop him." Jason looks at the ground, because now he was so embarrassed. "I didn't enjoy it, I…I was too scared to…I think. Eventually when I realized that it was really happening, I put an end to it. But…it had me thinking about…you know…if I was…"
Tommy puts his hand to his forehead to get a grip of himself. "Ok…ok." He paces back and forth with his other hand behind his back. "You want to find out if your gay or not, right?" Jason slowly nods his head. "Well, other then the…kiss, what else makes you think you're in love with him."
Jason unfolds his arms and puts his right hand to the back of his head. "Well…" He looks up at the sky to think. "He's on my mind a lot. But that only when I'm with him or going to meet him. And the only unexpected thing I've ever did was kiss him."
Tommy stops pacing. "And what about White Rose?"
"Well…I think about her when I'm with her or by myself." Jason moves his hand from the back of his head to his chin and looks down. "Once, I thought I saw someone with her eyes."
"Well…there might be more. Have you thought what your feelings are on each of them?"
"Well…I thought he was…(ahem) cute, but I think she's beautiful."
"Well that's it." Tommy snapped his fingers. "We just got to find you the White Rose Ninja. It's obvious that you're in love with her and not Scott. You think you might be in love with him, because he made the move on you and now you feel confused. But I bet if you and the White Rose hook up, then you'll find out that you are not…you know."
Jason looks at him skeptically. "You really think that will work?"
Tommy looks back at him. "Do you have any other ideas?"
"No…but what if I found out that I'm not confused? What if I am…?" Jason takes a big gulp.
Tommy shrugs. "If you find happiness, does it really matter?"
"I guess not." Jason sighs. "Thanks for the help."
Tommy smiles at his friend. "No problem."
"Uh…I think we should keep this between us." Jason says shyly. "I don't think the others would take this any better than you did and I don't want them to know until I'm sure."
"Sure." Tommy nodded. "We should ask Alpha to put a lock on the White Rose the next time she comes around. That way we could find her."
Jason nods. "Sounds like a good idea." He starts to feel a little better about things then when he first did and hopes that they could find White Rose quickly.
On the Moon…
"Oh no my queen." Baboon says with his hands on his face. "The green ranger and the red ranger are friends again. Now there is no weakness for the Power Rangers."
"But you are wrong." Rita says. "We'll use this Scott guy against Jason."
"I get it." Goldar butts in. "If Jason's friends are as homophobic as he is, they will turn on him. Then the White Ninja will get no power, because the other rangers will be too freaked out to want to lend any. She'll wear herself out and her powers will leave her. Without her powers we can kill her."
"Exactly." Rita says as she brought her wand down on Goldar's head.
"What was that for my queen?" Goldar rubs his head.
"For butting in where you are not wanted." Rita screeched.
"I am sorry." Goldar bows to her. "But how will we do it?"
"It will be simple. Tomorrow we will kidnap little Scottie and force Jason to declare his love for him. If he doesn't, his little friend will die and there is no way he'll let that happen." Rita let out an evil laugh.
Goldar raises his sword to her. "Brilliant my queen."
"Of course." Rita says.
"But my queen," Baboo butts in, "what if Jason is not in love with Scott, as Tommy says. What if he really is in love with the White Rose Ninja more?"
"Don't doubt me." Rita screeched and whacks Baboo on the head with her wand. "My plan is great."
"You fool." Goldar yells at Baboo. "How dare you question her."
"I'm sorry, I'll never do it again." Baboo bows continuously. "Please forgive me."
"I don't have time to waste with a snivel like you. We have to prepare for tomorrow when we strike." Rita marches off to her room.
"Don't worry my queen, we will be ready." Goldar yells after her.