Sob Story
"Jas, will you stop pacing around?" Zack asked. annoyed. "You've been pacing like that for hours and it's making me dizzy." He was sitting on the banister that surrounded the computers area, near the door.
Jason was pacing between the stairs to the computer consoles and the viewing globe. Kimberly and Tommy were leaning on the banister that was on the other side of the stairs, leading to the computer area; they were also watching Jason pacing around. Billy and Alpha were looking over K-9 with great interest. Alpha never met a pet he could actually touch without hurting and Billy was fascinated by K-9's technology. Trini was leaning on the computer console that was under Zordon.
"I can't help it, ok? I'm worried." Jason says as he stops in front of Zack. "I mean, we turned our back on her cause and she was so willing to giver her life to save us. Don't you feel the least guilty?"
"We totally couldn't be blame for acting the way we did." Kimberly replied. "I mean, she kinda brought it on herself. For the pass week that girl has been yanking your chain and dragged us in the middle of it."
"Well we could have handled it a bit better." Jason looks over at Kimberly. "I mean we don't know her very well. She wanted to explain, but we didn't give her much of a chance to."
"What gets me is you didn't have a clue that 'Scott' was really a girl?" Tommy flexed his index and middle fingers when he said Scott. "I mean, you've been over to his…I mean…her house, haven't you?"
Jason shrugged at his best friend in green. "Just the kitchen and living room mostly." He scratched the side of his head. "It was kind of strange though."
"What?" Kimberly asked.
"Well, I was always wondering why I didn't see any photos of Scott." Jason answered.
"Maybe cause there was no Scott to begin with." Kimberly tossed back a strand of hair from her face. "Remember, it was Jaclyn dressed up as Scott."
"Then there should have been pictures of Jaclyn in the house too, but there wasn't." Jason countered. "And there is some evidence that the guy exists. I mean, I saw martial art trophies and medals over at…his…her…their dojo with his name on it."
"Trophies can be faked you know." Trini got off the console and comes over to the rest of them. "So can pictures. She could have dress up like Scott and had them taken."
"Point taken." Jason put a hand his chin. "Wait…now that I think about it…" He ran fingers through his hair, stopping at the back of his head and started scratching it. "I did visit a room once, a guy's room. Or at least it was a guy's room for the looks of things."
"Probably dressed her room up to look like a guy's room." Kimberly harrumphed.
"Maybe…" Jason gave a deep sigh. "I don't get it. Why would she go to all that trouble to put on a charade like this?" He shrugged and then dropped his hand by his sides. "It just doesn't make any sense."
"Nothing about her makes any sense." Trini replied. "Lets look at things." She started to count off on her fingers. "She has no friends, some how made an enemy of people in school, and she dresses up as a guy." She waved the four fingers she just counted out. "Why wouldn't it make any sense that she would go to all that trouble to keep up a charade like that?"
"It's not a charade." Jaclyn said as she came out the other room. "Scott is real. I didn't make him up." She went to the computer area.
Trini makes way for Jaclyn to stand in the center. Billy gets off his knees and walks up to her left as Trini moves to her right.
"And we're suppose to believe that, cause you say so." Kimberly gets off the banister and crosses her arms in front of her. "I mean, come on. Just cause there's trophies and medals with his name on it, just cause you dressed up yourself and your room to look like a guy, isn't some sure guarantee that he exists." There is a sarcastic tone in her voices as she comes up to Jaclyn's face.
Tommy gets off the banister and comes up to Kimberly's left as Zack jumps off the banister to come to her right. Jason comes up the stairs, standing behind Kimberly, between Tommy and Zack.
"That really was Scott's room, those really are his trophies." Jaclyn puts her hands up as she backs away, almost into Billy and Trini. She suddenly feels a little crowded. "Scott was my twin brother. He was my only friend, the only thing that made living here in this place tolerable." Jaclyn looks passed Kimberly at Jason. "Some of the things I said when we first met…they were true. My family did live in a not so great part of downtown Angle Grove. Not crime wise, but people wise. Other things I said, though they were true, were really about me and not Scott." She rubs her head nervously and looked down at the ground. "Scott had no problems making friends, everybody loved him. Me on the other hand." Jaclyn lets out a sad sigh. "Well…some how I let off this, I don't know, odor…enzyme…something that just made people have an instance disliking to me."
Jason moves up passed Kimberly to Jaclyn "So you dress up like your brother," He puts a finger under her chin to lift it up, "to gain friends?"
Jaclyn sees his big brown eyes looking at her. "It wasn't like that." They seem to be searching for something. It frightens her and she turns away from him. "You see, from kindergarten to second grade I was just a nobody, a…ghost. No one wanted to talk to me or I didn't existed to them." With her right hand, Jaclyn rubs her forehead and gives an angry chuckle. "But thanks to my third grade teacher, who hated me the minute I stepped into her room, made me known." She slides her right hand down her face and clenches it just below her chin so tight that it turned her knuckle white. "I was fine being a ghost or a shadow, but this woman…this woman." Her tone became angry as she drops her right hand back by her side. "She had to go and put me down, insult me in front of other students. And if things weren't bad enough, she would encourage the rest of the class to do so." Jaclyn's body starts to shake a little with anger. "Soon my whole elementary school was in on it and I never got a moments peace. Everywhere I went, someone had to say something bad." She counts of on her fingers. "In the classroom, in the bathroom, in the lunchroom." Since she already had three fingers up, she uses them to wave around. "And come three o'clock people would be getting in their last licks before going home." Now Jaclyn starts to punch her left hand with her right fist, as if she was trying to let off some steam. "It was there…" She starts to breath a little hard. "It was there that that…that stupid contest was started. The teacher thought it would help build creativity."
"Ok, that explains a lot…I think." Kimberly no longer had her arms cross, but she wasn't exactly looking like she was forgiving Jaclyn yet. Everyone had taken a few steps back from the angry girl. "So what did you do about it?
Jaclyn looks at Kimberly. "Nothing." The girl in pink gave her an unbelievable look. "What?!" Jaclyn almost shouts. "It wasn't like I could really do anything about it. I had no proof about what this woman was doing to me. Nobody around could back me. The principle thought I was just trying to make trouble for him." Jaclyn takes a few deep breaths to calm down. She shoves her hands went into the pockets of the sweat pants. "Anyway…Scott and I had started our training in martial arts and gymnastics when we were five. Now that I had the whole school against me, I was spending more time at the dojo to hide out and to make sure I was never really alone. As long as I was with great grandfather I was ok. Scott would spend time with great grandfather and me when he wasn't out with friends." Jaclyn take her hands out of her pockets again and brings her right finger up to her chin; her face had the look of remembering something. "That right. There was someone who was finally able to back up my story about my teacher. It was her aide who testified against her when my parents brought someone from the Super Attendance's Office in with a complaint of how I was being treated." A small smile appears on her face. "It was funny, you know? Neither the principle nor the teacher thought it could happen, but it did."
"So what happen to them?" Trini asked.
Jaclyn turns around to look at her. "The teacher still teaching and he's still being principle as far as I know." The smile disappears from her face and she looked solemn.
"You're kidding." Kimberly says.
"No. In fact after the meeting with the Super Attendant, things got a little more rough for me and that teacher's aid." Jaclyn looks over at Kimberly. "The aide ended up having to quit after a couple days. Me, on the other hand, didn't have that kind of luxury. But lucky enough I only had to endure her a month or so till school was over. She actually threatened to flunk me, but I knew she couldn't. My parents were promised that I would be move to another school for my next grade."
"Ok, so things started to turn great for you." Kimberly shrugs at Jaclyn. "Still doesn't explain the impersonate of your brother."
"I'll get there." Jaclyn assures her. She folds her arms behind her head and looking up at the ceiling. "So forth grade, I was moved to a new school and Scott had to leave all his friends to come with me." Jaclyn lets out a sigh. "I felt really bad about it, but he never complain. In fact he was telling me that he was going to dump them anyway. Scott was getting tired of them making fun of me. I think they were really threatening to dump him if he didn't turn on me, but he didn't want me to feel any worse than I already was." A smile comes back on Jaclyn face. "I thought, with him, I could have a whole new start. Scott could help me make new friends." The smile leaves Jaclyn's face as fast as it came on. "But no, I had the luck of being in the exact same class that had a former student from my old school and bunch of others who had friends from there. They were told about everything. Again I found myself running to hide from people, just so I could have peace to myself."
"I'm starting to see a pattern here." Zack says. "So let me guess, more bad things happen."
"Zack!" Kimberly gives the guy a glare.
"Bad?" Jaclyn looks from Kimberly to Zack and raises an eyebrow to him. "Bad?" She give a snort. "Bad was ok, things got worse at the end of fifth grade." She pushes passed Zack and Jason to go over to the banister. She leans up against the banister with her arms crossed. "We were to graduate to middle school." Again that same small smile comes on her face. "Again it felt like a whole new start for me. New people, higher grades, mature people. Scott was to going to be there to help me through it like he's tried before. But…" Jaclyn smile disappears and her eyes start to well up with tears. "But…" Her lower lip trembled. "But, there was a car accident. A drunk driver tried to drive down the sidewalk as a short cut. He was heading straight for us." Jaclyn holds her right elbow with her left hand. She rests her right index fingers on her upper lip as she gives out a sniffle. "Scott pushed me out of the way and I saw the front bumper hit him." Her voice starts to crack as a tear runs down her cheek. "Pinning him to a traffic light, killing him instantly." An electronic hand comes up with a tissue in it. Jaclyn takes the tissue and dabs her eyes.
"So you dress yourself up as Scott to cope with his death?" Jason asked as he comes over to her. He puts a hand on her shoulder for comfort.
"Well it started out that way." Jaclyn says after a couple deep breaths. "I would put on his clothes cause it was like he was there. Especially if I would look in the mirror." She gives a little laugh as she looks at Jason. "It was weird, I walked outside one day wearing his clothes and people came running up to me. They called me Scott. Told me I was supposed to be dead, but they were glade that I wasn't. Soon I found myself doing it all the time, dressing like him." Her eyes lower. "But one day, people found out the truth. They were so embarrassed, so ashamed, so…disgusted that they hung out me. From then on I was teased even more harshly."
"Maybe that was a lesson on not to trick people." Kimberly chides.
"But you don't understand." Jaclyn looks at her. "You don't know what it was like to be treated like an actual human being." She walks up to Kimberly, almost getting into the girl's face. "All my life I was treated like a piece of trash and finally I was treated nicely. It felt great."
"Ok, ok." Kimberly backs away. "I get the idea."
"Yeah." Jaclyn sighs as she moves back to the banister. "Anyway, with the added teasing and still coping of my brother's death, I was heading into a deep depression. So to save on psychiatric bills, and there was the fact that I was tired of being sad all the time, I tried to will my emotions away."
"You tried to go Vulcan?" Zack asked with surprise.
"I guess you could say that." Jaclyn looks down at her finger as she beings to fiddle with them. "I would meditate for hours on end to feel nothing, absolutely nothing. But unfortunately, emotions need to have an out and so Scott was reborn you could say."
"Reborn?" Tommy asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, I developed a split personality." Jaclyn looks up all of them. "Whenever my emotions needed a major out, I turned into Scott. Only I didn't really know about it." Jaclyn rubs her neck nervously. "My family knew I had problems, but nothing could be done about, it according to psychologists. They said that I couldn't be help till I wanted it. But I didn't want it, and I knew deep down my parents really didn't either. If they did, they wouldn't have bought two sets of clothes. One for Scott and the other for me."
"It would seem that your interchanging individualities are coalesce back to just the one." Billy says.
Jaclyn looks at him blankly. "Uh…"
"He means that it seem you are coming back to being one personality." Trini translates.
"We'll I am back to being myself." Jaclyn says. "See, middle school didn't turn out any better than grade school did. I had to deal with people coming from both my old school and the one I just left. Between sixth and seventh grade, I had to deal a lot of pain coming from those people…alone. With that I was pushed further and further into the depression…the darkness, till one day, I blacked out totally. I was no longer Scott nor Jaclyn."
"Let me guess, it happen around Valentine's Day. Right?" Zack butts in.
"Uh…yeah." Jaclyn blushes with embarrassment.
"How would you know that?" Kimberly asks him.
"Just looked like it was heading that way." Zack shrugs. "I'm guessing that you got a Valentines that you couldn't handle."
"Sort of." Jaclyn nodded slowly. "Actually I got a lot about how it was my fault that Scott was dead. I just couldn't handle the sudden verge of emotions that went through me. The pain, sorrow, anger, guilt; it was too much and I blacked out of reality all together. When I came back, I found myself in China. I have been out for half a year."
"So that's why you moved to China for three years." Jason says.
"Yeah." Jaclyn nods. "Great grandfather said that if I was to inherit the powers of the 'Protectors', I needed to be prepared physically and mentally. In order to do that, I had to finally come to terms with Scott's death and to accept the fact that I had to have emotions in my life. It took three years for me to come back to my senses, but even through I was back to being me…I really didn't want to come back Angle Grove. I was worried about things being the same, that nobody had changed."
"So if you are back to normal, why did you start to go back to being Scott again?" Kimberly questions.
"Jaclyn looks at Jason and blushes. Well…" She brings her hands up to her cheeks as she turned away. "When Jason came up to talk to me, I panicked. I ran into my garaged to hide, but I knew I could leave him out there. So I looked around and I saw the box that held the stuff I wore when I was Scott. Suddenly I found myself dressed and outside telling Jason I was Scott. After the weekend, I was determined to tell Jason the truth. I knew it was bad to deceive a friend, a really good friend. But when I came to school and I found that as Jaclyn he would really didn't like me, I got worried and decided maybe it was best not to." Jaclyn brings down her hands near stomach and wrings them as she looks back at Jason. "Next think I knew, I found myself falling in love with you and…I had to kiss you, just to see was it was like. I never meant to scare you like I did. I never meant to put your friendships in danger."
"We were friends." Jason says in a miffed tone. "Friends are supposed to trust each other."
"Yeah, I know." Jaclyn stops wringing her hands. "That's why I'm going to quit." She takes the watch off her right wrist and hands it to Jason.
"Wait…" Jason puts a hand up to deny the watch. "You can't quit. We need you."
"No." Jaclyn shakes her head as she pushes the watch into Jason's hand. "You need someone you could trust. Someone you could be friends with. Someone who wouldn't put your lives in danger."
"But mistress," K-9 rolls up to her. "You were entrusted with this task. You can not deny you heritage."
"You know as well as I do K-9," Jaclyn looks down at the robotic dog, "I was never meant to have it in the first place. If Scott didn't die, he would have been the new 'Protector'."
"But you both had the training, only you spent more time training than he did. Why would he better suited?" K-9 asks.
"Because mentally he was better than I was." Jaclyn sighed. "He had the confidence and the trust. Whereas I, on the other hand, didn't. I was always skeptical of people and I lacked confidence."
"But you were so confident back when we first met and when we fought together." Jason says, pushing the watch back.
"If I really was," Jaclyn takes his hand and presses the watch into it, "I would have told you that Scott and I were one." She closes his hand around it. "I almost got us all killed, because I was too stupid to come to terms with how I really felt. Besides I've told you before, I don't want to be more of a problem than a solution."
"I have stayed silent through out this," Zordon says, "but now I feel I must say something." He looks down at her. "Though you have made a mistake, as long as you learn from shows that you are ready for this responsibility."
"I appreciate the pep talk, sir." Jaclyn gives Zordon a bow. "But I know where my responsibilities lie. I have made a grave and unforgivable mistake to which I must pay for." She walks past Jason and goes down the stairs. "K-9 you are to stay here and help them find a new replacement." Jaclyn heads for the door out of the Command Center.
"But you do not understand the danger you are putting yourself in." Zordon calls to her.
Jaclyn stops, but does not turn around. "I know."
Jason hops over the banister to get in front of her. "What will happen to you?"
"Nothing, it will be ok." Jaclyn tries to walk around Jason, but she can't seem to move her feet. Looking down, she gives out a deep sigh. "I was hoping to be back at my favorite part of the park before it was to happen, but it faster than I thought it was."
"What?" Jason looks down at her feet and to his horror he sees that they had turned to stone. "What's going on?" He looks up at her for an answer.
Jaclyn turns away from him, so he looks to Zordon. "When the power is taken way from a 'Protector', they are turned to stone." Zordon says. "Usually the power is taken away when a 'Protector' has gone bad, so turning into stone is more of a punishment."
"But her power wasn't taken away from her." Kimberly says to him. "She gave it up."
"Either way, once a 'Protector' is given the power they have it for life." Zordon tells her. "Their life is dedicated to protecting those fighting for good."
"Another way the power is taken away is if the 'Protector' breaks the rule." Jaclyn says.
"What rule did you break?" Trini asked.
"I broke the golden one." Jaclyn says as her knees turn to stone. "Don't put those you protect in danger."
"Is there a way for her not to turn to stone?" Zack asks.
"Only if she is given the power back." Zordon says.
"So take the power back." Jason says as he tries to put the watch back into Jaclyn's hand.
"No, I can't." Jaclyn takes her hand away from him.
"Like Zordon said," Jason tries again to put the watch in her hand, "you made a mistake. But as long as you learn from it, you'll be ok. No one is blaming you for what you did."
"But I can not guarantee that I will not make that same mistake or another." Jaclyn once again pulled her hand from him. "I can not risk you putting your life in danger."
"But you can't go." Jason says as he watches her waist turn to stone.
"Why not?" Jaclyn asked.
"Because…because…." Jason takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "Because I love you."
"You love the White Rose Ninja. You forced yourself to fall in love with me cause I was her and cause as Scott, I made you fear for yourself." Jaclyn was finding it a little hare to breath as her stomach turns to stone. Becoming scared, she wraps her arms around into a hug.
Jason has the look of surprise. "That's…that's not true."
"Really?" Jaclyn struggles to take a deep breath. "If I wasn't White Rose, if you didn't feel like you had to fall in love with someone, could you have fallen for me?"
"Well…" Jason looks away from her. "I…I…" He looks back at her to see that her chest and arms had turned to stone and she was really finding it hard to breath.
"If you could…you wouldn't have…hesitated to answer." Jaclyn was now taking some shallow breaths. "Call…call me picky, but I would prefer some…one who would love me for who I am…for me and not because I could…turn into someone else."
"Can't you just take the power back and let me have a chance." Jason asks desperately.
"If the 'Protector'… and the ones they protect…do not have perfect unity…nothing but disaster…will come." Jaclyn was now finding it hard to swallow, cause her neck had turned to stone. "Can…can we really work together? Can you…can you really be my friend? Would you really…love me?" She looks at him desperately for an answer. "Or would you find what you are looking for in another person?"
"Uh…" Jason looks to see Jaclyn waiting for the answer she wanted to hear, but wasn't sure if he could say it.
Note: Believe it or not, that teacher bit really happened to a kid I use to know. I worked into the story, because it just seemed to have that sting I need to pull.