"So, are you OK?" Ethan asked. Naomi and he were sitting together at
lunch, she had told him about her encounter with the rangers.
"Yeah, I had to ice my ankle for a while, and it still hurts a bit, but I'm OK." She said.
"Oh." Ethan said. "I'm glad the rangers got to you before those things could hurt you." He said, looking into her eyes. Naomi went on with the conversation.
"Yeah. " She smiled, remembering how the Blue ranger saved her. "The blue ranger was like totally protective of me."
"Well, Superhero's do protect the public." He said. Naomi bit her lip.
"I guess......But I think we had a moment." Naomi confessed.
"A moment?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah, when he helped me off his motorcycle or whatever, I just......." She blinked. "Oh man, I'm sounding like some lovesick groupie, aren't I?" She said. Ethan smiled.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He said. She smiled.
"Thanks Ethan." She blushed. Ethan smiled.
"Anytime Naomi." He replied. Conner could be seen making his way over and dropped his tray next to Ethan and sat down on the bench. He mumbled his salutation. Ethan looked at him.
"Up late with your better half?" He joked. Conner glared at him. Naomi smiled.
"Speaking of Mrs. McKnight, where is Kira?" She asked. Conner made a face.
"She had a guidance appointment, and she wouldn't let me go with her." He pouted. Naomi and Ethan rolled their eyes.
"Dear god, give each other room to breath." Naomi giggled.
"I think breathing isn't their main concern when their lips are practically glued together." Ethan cracked. Conner glared at them both.
"You two are just jealous." He said.
"No we're not." They both said. Ethan and Naomi looked at each other and laughed.
Kira sat in her counselor's office waiting for her to come back. Before Kira could look out the window to look at her friends, her counselor, Mrs. Hyde and Principal Randall were standing at the door.
"Ah, Ms. Ford, we meet again." Randall growled. Kira said nothing. Randall smiled.
"I'm not sure if Mrs. Hyde informed you yet." Randall started. Kira looked at her. Randall grinned evilly.
"You've missed quite a few classes Ms. Ford, due to 'being sick.'" Randall used to hands to make quotations. Kira looked at her.
"Those are actually legit excuses." She retorted. Randall shook her head.
"Tut tut tut Ms. Ford....You're hereby suspended indefanility for truancy! You have an hour to get off school property, and you will be contacted by myself, or Mrs. Hyde when you may return to school!" Randall smirked, and left the room. Kira sat there speechless. Mrs. Hyde looked at her.
"Kira honey, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you." She said sadly. Kira looked at her.
"They were legit reasons Mrs. Hyde....she can't do this!" Kira whispered, fighting tears. Mrs. Hyde nodded.
"Kira, listen to me. Get your things from your locker and get off the grounds. I can make sure that your friends get you your assignments, and I can make it so you have a live feed from all your classes to listen in on lectures." The elder women said. "I promise I'll work this out." She said. Kira was slowly loosing her battle.
"Th..Thank you." She stuttered, trying to hold in her tears. She got up and went to her locker.
"Hey there." Came a voice. Connor walked over to her. "I just came to look for you, our two single friends were getting on my last nerve." He touched her shoulder. "Everything ok?" He asked. Kira looked at him. Seeing his concerned expression was it, she choked out a sob as she slid to the ground by her locker. Connor's eyes widened and knelt beside her. "What is it?" He asked, taking her in his arms.
"R...Randall......She suspended me!" She sobbed. Connor sighed, holding her closer, trying his best not to get angry with the principal. He kissed the top of her head. "I have an hour to get my stuff and get off school property." She said, trying to get to her feet. Connor helped her up and held her around the waist.
"I'll take you home." He said. Kira shook her head.
"No, I don't want you to get in trouble." She sniffled.
"I don't care." He said. He gave her a quick chaste kiss. "I care about you, school be damned." He joked, trying to get her a smile. Kira smiled softly though her tears.
"OK." She said. She took out her things. Connor took most of her books from her and put an arm around her, leading her out of school.
Later that day, Naomi and Ethan walked into science class. Dr. Oliver saw that two students were missing. He went over to Ethan.
"Where are Conner and Kira?" He asked. Ethan sighed.
"Randall suspended Kira, and Connor took her home." He said. Dr.O looked at him, stunned.
"Excuse me class." He managed to stumble out before going over to the phone and dialed the number to reach Randall's office. All he got was an answering machine. He growled.
"Class dismissed!" He snarled. Since it was the last class of the day, students whooped and left the school. Ethan and Naomi walked together.
"Wow, Dr. Oliver was piiiiised." She said, stressing the word. "Didn't think he'd get so emotional over a student getting suspended." Ethan looked at her.
"Dr. O's a kind of teacher who becomes really connected to his students. He thinks of them like friends.....or family, whatever." Ethan said. Naomi nodded.
"Man, that's a change from the ruling wielding nuns at my boarding school." She joked. Ethan chuckled.
"Anything would beat that." he laughed. Naomi nodded.
Dr. Oliver picked up the phone and punched in Conner's cell phone number. It rang and rang and rang some more till he finally picked up.
"Conner! Where in the name of God are you?!" The teacher snarled.
"I'm with Kira." Connor said, somewhat fearful of his teacher/mentor/fellow ranger's angry tone. He was usually serious, or jovial, he's even been authoritive before, but never angry. Dr. O sighed.
"You do realize you're just fueling Randall's fire right, I'm sure she's going to come after you next. You want to get suspended?" He asked.
"Look, Dr. O, I know it's bad of me to ditch, but you should've seen Kira, she was distraught. What kind of boyfriend...or friend even.....would I be if I left her alone in that state?" Connor replied, clearly annoyed. Dr. Oliver sighed. He could relate. He remembered when he himself when he was a teen and would do anything he could as long as Kimberly would never loose that smile on her face. If putties destroyed her float, he'd spend hours and hours rebuilding it for her. If her grandmother's spinning wheel was broken, he'd become Tommy the Tool man Oliver for her.
"All right, sorry." He said. "Listen, I'm going to try to sort this out for Kira, all right?" He said. Conner nodded.
"That'd be great....Kira wants to talk to you." Conner said before handing the phone over to Kira.
"Dr.O?" She asked. Dr.O strained to hear her voice. It was quiet and timid...Something Kira was not.
"Kira...how are you doing?" He asked. Kira broke out into a new batch of sobs. Dr. Oliver winced at the sound of her so upset.
"Dr. O.....I....." She choked out. "Oh god, my parents are going to kill me." She cried.
"Hey, hey." Dr. Oliver said, trying to sound comforting. "I'll figure this out, OK? Don't worry, I give you my word, I'll do my best to have you back in school as soon as possible." He said. He saw Randall stalking over to him, fire in her eyes. "I'm going to talk to her right now." He said, hanging up. Randall approached him.
"Dr. Oliver, how dare you dismiss your students without permission from me?" She snarled. Dr. Oliver returned her glare.
"How dare YOU suspend one of MY students for no good reason?" He countered. Randall smirked.
"Excuse me? Need I remind you of your place? You're a teacher, I'm the principal." She said.
"And you just love overusing your power by terrorizing innocent students?" He replied.
"Ms. Ford was excessively absent." Randall said.
"All absences were excused with notes from her parents and doctors." Dr. Oliver said. Randall narrowed her eyes.
"I find it rather intriguing how you're fighting so hard for some random student." She said suspiciously.
"I'd do the same for any student in this school." Dr. Oliver said. "You have absolutely no right to do this, and if you don't reinstate Kira, I'll be forced to take this up with the School Board." He said. She snorted and rolled her eyes.
"You have no power with them Dr.Oliver."She growled. Tommy glared at her.
"And you have no power over them either Principal Randall!"He yelled. Randall glared at him.
"She gets a live feed from her classrooms, and she is still forbidden on school grounds unless she's handing in an assignment, or writing a test!" Randall screamed before leaving the room, and slamming the door.
"So, you want to come over and play Galatic Gladiators?" Naomi asked Ethan. Ethan looked at her.
"Sure." He said. They went to her house. They walked in. Naomi's mother was home.
"Mimi." She said, why are you home so early?" She asked.
"Mimi?" Ethan asked.
"Shut it." Naomi said. She looked at her mom.
"We were dismissed early." She said. "Ethan and I are going to play video games." She said. Her mother nodded. Ethan went to Naomi's room, Naomi following. Mrs. Carlton stopped her, gently grabbing her arm.
"Leave your bedroom door open." She said. Naomi looked at her.
"Mo-om....." She groaned.
"Naomi." Her mother said.
"Fine." She said.
Kira cried herself to sleep after she got off the phone with Dr.Oliver. She lay curled up, beside Conner with her head resting gently on a pillow in his lap.Conner had long since gotten really bored, but didn't want to wake the sleeping Kira. She'd seemed so distraught and emotional, and that was completely unlike her, although he'd only known her less than 3 months. He gently removed the pillow from his lap and place it, as well as Kira's head onto the couch and tiptoed away from the living room and went upstairs. He opened the door to her room and looked around. He'd been in there the day before, but he and Kira had been too busy, making out to even see her room. he paleness of the yellow walls was somewhat dull, yet cheerful at the same time. She had posters of Evanescence, Three Days Grace, Avril Lavigne, The Goo Goo Dolls, Hoobstank, Reel Big Fish and The Darkness hanging all around her room. On her desk sat her laptop, incased in a caniary yellow case, with feathers. On the shelves above her laptop, sat photo's of her and Kyliee from when they were younger, and the a recent one. Beside the recent photo of her and Kyliee, was a picture of her and himself. He remembered the picture, Ethan had insisted on taking a picture of them shortly after they all become rangers, he said to always remember his new friends, even after their ranger days. She was sitting with her guitar on her lap. Her expression was bored, as if she'd rather be doing anything else instead of taking this picture, he looked relax as always. He ran his thumb over the picture and smiled. He continued to look around her room and found another photo. He picked it up. It seemed farily recent, but was covered in dust. The girl standing next to Kira was really short and had black hair with pink and blue streaks. She wore a 'three days grace' t- shirt and had sky blue eyes. He sat on Kira's bed.
"She looks so familiar." He murmered.A voice from the doorway responded.
"That's Emily....She Kyliee and I used to be best friends." She said, moving through the doorway and sitting next to him. Connor looked at her.
"I thought you were sleeping." He said. Kira leaned her head against his shoulder.
"I noticed you were gone." She said. "I was wondering where you disappeared to." He blushed.
"I didn't get to see your room yesterday." He replied. Kira nodded and took the photo from him. She sighed.
"What happened to her?" He asked. Kira smiled sadly.
"After Kyliee got the record deal, she and I remained close....she lives just down the street." Kira trialed off.
"What's wrong?" Conner asked. She sighed.
"She's moving." Kira replied. Conner looked at her.
"Where to?" He asked. Kira sighed again.
"Hawaii." She said. "It's going to be weird, not having her here to talk to." She said. Connor held her close, rubbing her back comfortingly. He kissed her temple gently.
"There's always e-mail, and the phone." He told her quietly. She pulled away slightly and looked at him.
"That's different Conner! She's my best friend and been with me through everything! Talking over msn when something goes wrong isn't going to make everything better!" She cried. Connor winced, feeling bad that he had made her even more upset. He pulled her close and whispered soothing words to her.
"I'm sorry, I'm a bone head, of course email and talking face to face is totally different. I guess I'm not that good when it comes to saying the right things." He sighed.
Kimberly walked into her house with Trini.
"Did you eat yet?" She asked. Trini shook her head.
"Mrs. Hamilton cooking isn't that great." She said, making a face. "I told her I ate a lot at lunchtime." Kimberly laughed and ruffled her 7- year-old daughter's hair.
"All right, well, I'll make some spagetti." She said. Trini smiled and hugged her mother.
"Can I help?" She asked. Kimberly nodded.
"Sure, I'm going to go change out of my work clothes, you get the sauce from the refrigerator." She said. Trini went to the kitchen as Kimberly walked to her room, kicking off her shoes and taking off her wool skirt and blouse, changing into a pair of black sweatpants and a pink tank top. She went to the kitchen, seeing Trini carefully carrying the sauce and putting it on the counter by the stove. Kimberly smiled. "Thank you, honey." She said. She pulled out a pot and began boiling water for the noodles.
"Can I have some sodie?" Trini asked. "Please?" Kimberly turned away from the stove, letting the noodles boil.
"OK." She said. Trini sat down at the dinner table as Kimberly got out a plate for herself and Trini, silverware, and cups. She pulled out a bottle of coke and poured Trini some soda. "Now, hold onto the cup with both hand, like I told you or you won't get soda for a week." She said, remembering the other nigh when Trini held a cup with one hand, trying to imitate her, and ended up dropping the cup.
"Yes mommy." She said. The water finished boiling. She strained the noodles and microwaved some sauce, preparing Trini's plate. She set it down in front of her daughter and went to make her own plate when the phone rang. She set down her plate and went to pick it up.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Kimberly." Came a voice. Kimberly's heart stopped.
"Tony." She said softly.
"How are you?" He asked.
"I'm fine. Listen, I've really got to-"
"And how's Trini, our child?" He asked. Kimberly gripped the phone receiver.
"How did you.....?"
"Oh, come on, Kimberly, you really think it's hard to find people now a days? Can I speak to her?" He asked.
"She's sleeping." Kimberly lied. Kimberly heard the cup drop at the table.
"Sorry mommy, I'll clean it up." Trini said. Kimberly tried to cover the mouthpiece so her voice wouldn't be heard over the phone.
"I guess she just woke up." Tony said. "Let me speak to her."
"No." Kimberly growled. He scoffed.
"Kimberly, I can make things very difficult for you and our child, do you want that?" He asked.
"She's not your child. You gave up all right to call her yours after you abandoned me." She snarled.
"Oh, must you live in the past?" He asked. "Now, do you want what happened to your dear friend Jason to happen to you?" He asked. Kimberly felt tears filling her eyes.
"Leave us alone." She said, slamming the phone down.
"Yeah, I had to ice my ankle for a while, and it still hurts a bit, but I'm OK." She said.
"Oh." Ethan said. "I'm glad the rangers got to you before those things could hurt you." He said, looking into her eyes. Naomi went on with the conversation.
"Yeah. " She smiled, remembering how the Blue ranger saved her. "The blue ranger was like totally protective of me."
"Well, Superhero's do protect the public." He said. Naomi bit her lip.
"I guess......But I think we had a moment." Naomi confessed.
"A moment?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah, when he helped me off his motorcycle or whatever, I just......." She blinked. "Oh man, I'm sounding like some lovesick groupie, aren't I?" She said. Ethan smiled.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He said. She smiled.
"Thanks Ethan." She blushed. Ethan smiled.
"Anytime Naomi." He replied. Conner could be seen making his way over and dropped his tray next to Ethan and sat down on the bench. He mumbled his salutation. Ethan looked at him.
"Up late with your better half?" He joked. Conner glared at him. Naomi smiled.
"Speaking of Mrs. McKnight, where is Kira?" She asked. Conner made a face.
"She had a guidance appointment, and she wouldn't let me go with her." He pouted. Naomi and Ethan rolled their eyes.
"Dear god, give each other room to breath." Naomi giggled.
"I think breathing isn't their main concern when their lips are practically glued together." Ethan cracked. Conner glared at them both.
"You two are just jealous." He said.
"No we're not." They both said. Ethan and Naomi looked at each other and laughed.
Kira sat in her counselor's office waiting for her to come back. Before Kira could look out the window to look at her friends, her counselor, Mrs. Hyde and Principal Randall were standing at the door.
"Ah, Ms. Ford, we meet again." Randall growled. Kira said nothing. Randall smiled.
"I'm not sure if Mrs. Hyde informed you yet." Randall started. Kira looked at her. Randall grinned evilly.
"You've missed quite a few classes Ms. Ford, due to 'being sick.'" Randall used to hands to make quotations. Kira looked at her.
"Those are actually legit excuses." She retorted. Randall shook her head.
"Tut tut tut Ms. Ford....You're hereby suspended indefanility for truancy! You have an hour to get off school property, and you will be contacted by myself, or Mrs. Hyde when you may return to school!" Randall smirked, and left the room. Kira sat there speechless. Mrs. Hyde looked at her.
"Kira honey, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you." She said sadly. Kira looked at her.
"They were legit reasons Mrs. Hyde....she can't do this!" Kira whispered, fighting tears. Mrs. Hyde nodded.
"Kira, listen to me. Get your things from your locker and get off the grounds. I can make sure that your friends get you your assignments, and I can make it so you have a live feed from all your classes to listen in on lectures." The elder women said. "I promise I'll work this out." She said. Kira was slowly loosing her battle.
"Th..Thank you." She stuttered, trying to hold in her tears. She got up and went to her locker.
"Hey there." Came a voice. Connor walked over to her. "I just came to look for you, our two single friends were getting on my last nerve." He touched her shoulder. "Everything ok?" He asked. Kira looked at him. Seeing his concerned expression was it, she choked out a sob as she slid to the ground by her locker. Connor's eyes widened and knelt beside her. "What is it?" He asked, taking her in his arms.
"R...Randall......She suspended me!" She sobbed. Connor sighed, holding her closer, trying his best not to get angry with the principal. He kissed the top of her head. "I have an hour to get my stuff and get off school property." She said, trying to get to her feet. Connor helped her up and held her around the waist.
"I'll take you home." He said. Kira shook her head.
"No, I don't want you to get in trouble." She sniffled.
"I don't care." He said. He gave her a quick chaste kiss. "I care about you, school be damned." He joked, trying to get her a smile. Kira smiled softly though her tears.
"OK." She said. She took out her things. Connor took most of her books from her and put an arm around her, leading her out of school.
Later that day, Naomi and Ethan walked into science class. Dr. Oliver saw that two students were missing. He went over to Ethan.
"Where are Conner and Kira?" He asked. Ethan sighed.
"Randall suspended Kira, and Connor took her home." He said. Dr.O looked at him, stunned.
"Excuse me class." He managed to stumble out before going over to the phone and dialed the number to reach Randall's office. All he got was an answering machine. He growled.
"Class dismissed!" He snarled. Since it was the last class of the day, students whooped and left the school. Ethan and Naomi walked together.
"Wow, Dr. Oliver was piiiiised." She said, stressing the word. "Didn't think he'd get so emotional over a student getting suspended." Ethan looked at her.
"Dr. O's a kind of teacher who becomes really connected to his students. He thinks of them like friends.....or family, whatever." Ethan said. Naomi nodded.
"Man, that's a change from the ruling wielding nuns at my boarding school." She joked. Ethan chuckled.
"Anything would beat that." he laughed. Naomi nodded.
Dr. Oliver picked up the phone and punched in Conner's cell phone number. It rang and rang and rang some more till he finally picked up.
"Conner! Where in the name of God are you?!" The teacher snarled.
"I'm with Kira." Connor said, somewhat fearful of his teacher/mentor/fellow ranger's angry tone. He was usually serious, or jovial, he's even been authoritive before, but never angry. Dr. O sighed.
"You do realize you're just fueling Randall's fire right, I'm sure she's going to come after you next. You want to get suspended?" He asked.
"Look, Dr. O, I know it's bad of me to ditch, but you should've seen Kira, she was distraught. What kind of boyfriend...or friend even.....would I be if I left her alone in that state?" Connor replied, clearly annoyed. Dr. Oliver sighed. He could relate. He remembered when he himself when he was a teen and would do anything he could as long as Kimberly would never loose that smile on her face. If putties destroyed her float, he'd spend hours and hours rebuilding it for her. If her grandmother's spinning wheel was broken, he'd become Tommy the Tool man Oliver for her.
"All right, sorry." He said. "Listen, I'm going to try to sort this out for Kira, all right?" He said. Conner nodded.
"That'd be great....Kira wants to talk to you." Conner said before handing the phone over to Kira.
"Dr.O?" She asked. Dr.O strained to hear her voice. It was quiet and timid...Something Kira was not.
"Kira...how are you doing?" He asked. Kira broke out into a new batch of sobs. Dr. Oliver winced at the sound of her so upset.
"Dr. O.....I....." She choked out. "Oh god, my parents are going to kill me." She cried.
"Hey, hey." Dr. Oliver said, trying to sound comforting. "I'll figure this out, OK? Don't worry, I give you my word, I'll do my best to have you back in school as soon as possible." He said. He saw Randall stalking over to him, fire in her eyes. "I'm going to talk to her right now." He said, hanging up. Randall approached him.
"Dr. Oliver, how dare you dismiss your students without permission from me?" She snarled. Dr. Oliver returned her glare.
"How dare YOU suspend one of MY students for no good reason?" He countered. Randall smirked.
"Excuse me? Need I remind you of your place? You're a teacher, I'm the principal." She said.
"And you just love overusing your power by terrorizing innocent students?" He replied.
"Ms. Ford was excessively absent." Randall said.
"All absences were excused with notes from her parents and doctors." Dr. Oliver said. Randall narrowed her eyes.
"I find it rather intriguing how you're fighting so hard for some random student." She said suspiciously.
"I'd do the same for any student in this school." Dr. Oliver said. "You have absolutely no right to do this, and if you don't reinstate Kira, I'll be forced to take this up with the School Board." He said. She snorted and rolled her eyes.
"You have no power with them Dr.Oliver."She growled. Tommy glared at her.
"And you have no power over them either Principal Randall!"He yelled. Randall glared at him.
"She gets a live feed from her classrooms, and she is still forbidden on school grounds unless she's handing in an assignment, or writing a test!" Randall screamed before leaving the room, and slamming the door.
"So, you want to come over and play Galatic Gladiators?" Naomi asked Ethan. Ethan looked at her.
"Sure." He said. They went to her house. They walked in. Naomi's mother was home.
"Mimi." She said, why are you home so early?" She asked.
"Mimi?" Ethan asked.
"Shut it." Naomi said. She looked at her mom.
"We were dismissed early." She said. "Ethan and I are going to play video games." She said. Her mother nodded. Ethan went to Naomi's room, Naomi following. Mrs. Carlton stopped her, gently grabbing her arm.
"Leave your bedroom door open." She said. Naomi looked at her.
"Mo-om....." She groaned.
"Naomi." Her mother said.
"Fine." She said.
Kira cried herself to sleep after she got off the phone with Dr.Oliver. She lay curled up, beside Conner with her head resting gently on a pillow in his lap.Conner had long since gotten really bored, but didn't want to wake the sleeping Kira. She'd seemed so distraught and emotional, and that was completely unlike her, although he'd only known her less than 3 months. He gently removed the pillow from his lap and place it, as well as Kira's head onto the couch and tiptoed away from the living room and went upstairs. He opened the door to her room and looked around. He'd been in there the day before, but he and Kira had been too busy, making out to even see her room. he paleness of the yellow walls was somewhat dull, yet cheerful at the same time. She had posters of Evanescence, Three Days Grace, Avril Lavigne, The Goo Goo Dolls, Hoobstank, Reel Big Fish and The Darkness hanging all around her room. On her desk sat her laptop, incased in a caniary yellow case, with feathers. On the shelves above her laptop, sat photo's of her and Kyliee from when they were younger, and the a recent one. Beside the recent photo of her and Kyliee, was a picture of her and himself. He remembered the picture, Ethan had insisted on taking a picture of them shortly after they all become rangers, he said to always remember his new friends, even after their ranger days. She was sitting with her guitar on her lap. Her expression was bored, as if she'd rather be doing anything else instead of taking this picture, he looked relax as always. He ran his thumb over the picture and smiled. He continued to look around her room and found another photo. He picked it up. It seemed farily recent, but was covered in dust. The girl standing next to Kira was really short and had black hair with pink and blue streaks. She wore a 'three days grace' t- shirt and had sky blue eyes. He sat on Kira's bed.
"She looks so familiar." He murmered.A voice from the doorway responded.
"That's Emily....She Kyliee and I used to be best friends." She said, moving through the doorway and sitting next to him. Connor looked at her.
"I thought you were sleeping." He said. Kira leaned her head against his shoulder.
"I noticed you were gone." She said. "I was wondering where you disappeared to." He blushed.
"I didn't get to see your room yesterday." He replied. Kira nodded and took the photo from him. She sighed.
"What happened to her?" He asked. Kira smiled sadly.
"After Kyliee got the record deal, she and I remained close....she lives just down the street." Kira trialed off.
"What's wrong?" Conner asked. She sighed.
"She's moving." Kira replied. Conner looked at her.
"Where to?" He asked. Kira sighed again.
"Hawaii." She said. "It's going to be weird, not having her here to talk to." She said. Connor held her close, rubbing her back comfortingly. He kissed her temple gently.
"There's always e-mail, and the phone." He told her quietly. She pulled away slightly and looked at him.
"That's different Conner! She's my best friend and been with me through everything! Talking over msn when something goes wrong isn't going to make everything better!" She cried. Connor winced, feeling bad that he had made her even more upset. He pulled her close and whispered soothing words to her.
"I'm sorry, I'm a bone head, of course email and talking face to face is totally different. I guess I'm not that good when it comes to saying the right things." He sighed.
Kimberly walked into her house with Trini.
"Did you eat yet?" She asked. Trini shook her head.
"Mrs. Hamilton cooking isn't that great." She said, making a face. "I told her I ate a lot at lunchtime." Kimberly laughed and ruffled her 7- year-old daughter's hair.
"All right, well, I'll make some spagetti." She said. Trini smiled and hugged her mother.
"Can I help?" She asked. Kimberly nodded.
"Sure, I'm going to go change out of my work clothes, you get the sauce from the refrigerator." She said. Trini went to the kitchen as Kimberly walked to her room, kicking off her shoes and taking off her wool skirt and blouse, changing into a pair of black sweatpants and a pink tank top. She went to the kitchen, seeing Trini carefully carrying the sauce and putting it on the counter by the stove. Kimberly smiled. "Thank you, honey." She said. She pulled out a pot and began boiling water for the noodles.
"Can I have some sodie?" Trini asked. "Please?" Kimberly turned away from the stove, letting the noodles boil.
"OK." She said. Trini sat down at the dinner table as Kimberly got out a plate for herself and Trini, silverware, and cups. She pulled out a bottle of coke and poured Trini some soda. "Now, hold onto the cup with both hand, like I told you or you won't get soda for a week." She said, remembering the other nigh when Trini held a cup with one hand, trying to imitate her, and ended up dropping the cup.
"Yes mommy." She said. The water finished boiling. She strained the noodles and microwaved some sauce, preparing Trini's plate. She set it down in front of her daughter and went to make her own plate when the phone rang. She set down her plate and went to pick it up.
"Hello?" She asked.
"Kimberly." Came a voice. Kimberly's heart stopped.
"Tony." She said softly.
"How are you?" He asked.
"I'm fine. Listen, I've really got to-"
"And how's Trini, our child?" He asked. Kimberly gripped the phone receiver.
"How did you.....?"
"Oh, come on, Kimberly, you really think it's hard to find people now a days? Can I speak to her?" He asked.
"She's sleeping." Kimberly lied. Kimberly heard the cup drop at the table.
"Sorry mommy, I'll clean it up." Trini said. Kimberly tried to cover the mouthpiece so her voice wouldn't be heard over the phone.
"I guess she just woke up." Tony said. "Let me speak to her."
"No." Kimberly growled. He scoffed.
"Kimberly, I can make things very difficult for you and our child, do you want that?" He asked.
"She's not your child. You gave up all right to call her yours after you abandoned me." She snarled.
"Oh, must you live in the past?" He asked. "Now, do you want what happened to your dear friend Jason to happen to you?" He asked. Kimberly felt tears filling her eyes.
"Leave us alone." She said, slamming the phone down.