Chapter 1 : OMG! I Hate Blue

I got out of gym. It was 12:45, and I was about to head to lunch. This was my favorite time of the day because I got to see the hot new student. Supposedly, he was from Italy and just moved here a few weeks ago, but he already had reached a notorious level of popularity. He was pleasant to the eyes. He had this killer smile. I was practically drooling as I turned the corner. My body already sweaty from the "work out" we had done. Since when is dodgeball a workout? Anyways, at least my new pink Abercombie t-shirt hadn't gotten dirty and whatnot. 12:46, so close. I can feel the excitement boiling inside.

"Hey Cliff!" Ugh, no Jared. My green totting friend. Must avoid him. Don't make eye contact. Look into space. Ew, I hate the green hoody he's wearing. Keep walking.

"Hey Cliff! I gotta talk to you about the prom." No Lyla! Ugh. No one has worn yellow jeans since, well, um, never. They do her no justice.

"Cliff, get over here! We gotta finish that Physics project!" Anna was chasing me! I like her red top. Anyways, I must avoid her. Just one more turn, and there he would be. Gio!

I was powerwalking through the corridors. In front of me was Lyla. I turned right. Damn Anna! I backtracked. Jared! Argh, they trapped me. They're smarter than they look apparently.

"What do you want?" I gave up on "accidentally" bumping into Gio. It was already 12:48, he was already in his next class. Sigh.

I came back to reality. I was hit suddenly hit with a cacophony of voices. They were all talking at the same time. How…. them. It was typical behavior. They would be nowhere with out me.

"Shut up. Okay Lyla you start off."

"Okay." She smiled politely as she usually did to calm down. "So anyways, the guys at the hall want to provide their own DJ."

"And the problem is?"

"Well that really cool College kid I met a few weeks back wants to do it. He's actually pretty good."

"Lyla, go with the guys at the hall. The DJ is probably included in what we paid, and plus I believe that they would have a unbiased collection of music. Not everything has to be, well, new."

One down.

"Anna?"

"Physics project is due on Monday!"

"Say no more I have it all done. Typed up the papers last night."

Two down.

"Jared?"

"Can I crash at you house? My parents are out for the weekend."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. I just have to run it by my mom. Where these things so urgent you had to prevent my destiny from fulfilling itself?"

They all nodded in concurrence. How self centered of them? Note to self be more about me.

"I have a question for you all. What's in your closet? Cause seriously, I can't believe that all that Jared has is green. All that Lyla has is yellow, and all that Anna has is red. And by the way Lyla, yellow jeans is a no no." I smiled, and walked past them.

"Hey! What are you doing after school anyways?" yelled Lyla.

"Trying to find friends with a better fashion sense." I laughed to myself.

"No seriously. We wanna hang out. Wanna come?" screamed Anna.

"Yeah sure where?"

"It's a surprise." yelled Jared.

"Okay whatever."

I made my way to lunch. Blech, tuna casserole.

Finally, the day is done and it's the weekend! Friday rulez. I was walking down by the gyms and pools. I had forgotten my watch in gym.

Then all of a sudden I see Gio! My heart starts racing. Beat. Beat. Beat. Ugh, this is the moment I was waiting for.

I trip. I fall on my face. There is nothing on the floor to trip me. How can this happen to me? Not now! Not in front of him! Oh my god! He's walking towards me. He's smiling. He must think I'm a retard. Why am I not dying?

"Hi, are you okay?"

I order for a higher being to smite me!

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Cause you been on the floor for some time now."

Ugh, the accent was so enthralling.

"Yeah, um I just thought I dropped something."

Stupid answer.

"You want some help?"

He wants to help me! What a gentleman!

"Um sure. But don't you think that it's kinda weird."

"Nonsense when people need help, you should help."

Now that was classy.

I stumbled upwards. He took my hand and helped me up. He smiled at me. Wow that smile was to die for. This had to be a dream. A very good dream. I must still be in Pre –Cal listening to Mrs. Franz rant on.

"You are sure you are okay?"

"Yes. Thank you for your help."

I started to run.

"Wait! I don't know you name!"

"It's Cliff."

"Well hello Cliff, I'm Gio." He ran towards me and shook my hand. "Do you want to go out sometime?" He seemed shy ad unsure of what he was saying.

"Um what?" I must be delusional from the fall. Breath. Breath.

"Do you want to go out?" Ok, maybe I wasn't.

"Like to hang out?"

"Um, on a date. I understand if you decline. You must already have a boyfriend. I am sorry I have asked."

He turned around, and started to walk away.

"I would love to go out."

He turned around astonished. Hell, I was astonished. He must not have expected that one coming. I didn't either. I took out a pen and some paper, and wrote down my cell number.

"Here's my number."

My heart was beating faster than I had ever felt it beat before. He gave me his number, and my heart leapt. I was going to go out with Gio! When he went back to soccer practice, and I was alone, I was doing my happy dance. Step. Leap. Bow. Twirl. Smile.

I danced all the way to the locker room. I received my fair share of stares. I didn't care though. I was going out with Gio! I had to tell Anna. She is gonna flip.

By the time I got out of the locker room I was calmer. I started to make my way out towards the back entrances of the school. Grrr. I just remembered I had to meet my unfashionable friends in front of the school five minutes ago. I raced to my locker to get the books I needed for the weekend, and out the door. They were there still waiting. Lyla telling people to vote for her as the student body president. Anna on her cellphone. Jared standing there looking into space.

I hang out with an interesting bunch of people.

Anna was talking Spanish with no doubt her father. It sounded like Anna was having troubles on getting permission from her dad to go out. She huffed, and closed the phone. I'm pretty sure that tweaked her dad. Her big brown eyes met my cool blue ones. She smiled. She passed a silky coffee and cream hand through her black locks. If I weren't so queer, I think I would have wanted to go out with this Latina.

"Parents just don't understand." She said. I laughed to myself. So true.

Lyla got done talking to some jocks. She whirled around to me and Anna.

"I'm so gonna win the elections!" Lyla had moved to here at the end of last year, but she had become very popular. She was from New York. Her parents had moved here to Hillbrook, CA because her fathers company had promoted him. Her large hazel eyes glowed with thought, she said her family was originally from Egypt. I didn't doubt her because she possessed Cleopatra-like beauty. Not sore to the eyes at all.

Jared finally noticed it had gone quiet. He wasn't the sharpest one, but sometimes I think he knows more than he leads on to know. He's always thinking, maybe masterminding a plan for world domination. Who knows what's under that Irish red head of his. His green eyes, were roaming over us. As if counting if we were all there. Not hard task, but maybe there was something deeper (Which I doubt.)

"So are we ready to get going?" I put my tanned hands into my jean pockets. My blonde hair all gelled up in spikes. I bet I was a site to see. This stunning all American boy.

"Stop posing. Get over yourself." Anna scoffed at me. How dare she! She just lost major brownie points.

"Let's go. We're gonna be late." Jared started walking off. I trudged on with the group, all the while explaining to them what had just happened to me a few minutes ago.

We got to the Avenue as we called it. Lambert Avenue was what the town called a "community shopping area". Basically, it was a long street with some stores, as it reached other towns it changed it's name, but to us it's simply the Avenue. We walked past the ice cream shop. Crave. We past by the pet store. Lyla stopped and looked at the puppies play with each other. We passed the same old stores we always pass.

"Where are we going?" I was frustrated.

"Hold on just a bit more." Jared explained.

We passed by the movie theater. I thought that this was our stop. No dice. We walked a little bit farther down, past the diner, and the fruit market. We stopped. I looked around. We were in an empty parking lot that faced the abandoned bakery.

"We are in the middle of nowhere. What a surprise! Why do we trust Jared with directions? Seriously….."

"We are not done." Jared walked towards the back door of some abandoned building. He pulled out a key and opened the door. Jared flicked on the lights, and clicked some other buttons. Suddenly, house music started coming from hidden speakers.

"What is this place?" Anna and Lyla were as perplexed as I.

"It's called Loungetech. It's a café, and a computer lounge. My uncle owns it." Jared sat down on a bean bag. Anna and Lyla sat on bean bags on either side of him.

"I have two things to say. One: I hate these places. Two: You have an uncle?" I was reluctant to sit, but the bean bags called to me. My will was weak after the walk. I sat next to Lyla.

"Yeh, I think you met him at the new years party. That biker looking guy." Jared stood up, and flicked another switch that turned on all the computers.

"I remember him. He got smashed. Started singing old Irish pub songs. Wait, if you have an uncle here, why are you staying at my house?" Wow, these bean bags are comfortable.

"Well he doesn't live here in Hillbrook. He lives in San Francisco. He actually gave me full power over most operations here. Tonight I scheduled the 'Grand Opening'" Jared went around the bar, and got some sodas. He handed them to us, and sat back down.

Anna looked at her clock. "Well it's 6:45 and this place is pretty dead. When was this 'Grand Opening' supposed to happen?"

"In fifteen minutes." Jared sighed.

Lyla looked around. "Does anybody know that this place exists?"

"Yeah, about a hundred or more people emailed me saying they are coming tonight." Jared took a swig of his drink.

"Have you hired anyone to help out? Cause seriously one hundred people is somewhat a lot of people. Anyways why are we here.?" I stood up, and checked out the computers. They were machines. In the best way possible.

"You just answered your own question." Jared stood himself up and went into a backroom. He came back with some shirts. They had the "Loungetech" logo. "You work here now. You make eight dollars an hour plus the tips that you might get." He took of his hoody, and put the green shirt on. How typical. He threw the yellow one at Lyla and the red one at Anna. He had a blue one left.

"No! I refuse to wear that shirt."

Jared looked at me. "Why?"

"Because I hate blue! It's unflattering. It makes me look like I'm gonna vomit. Light blue is okay, but icky navy blue stinks!"

"Too bad. The store where I got these made didn't have any other colors."

Anna and Lyla went into the backroom to change.

"Fine. I'm only doing it for the money. I'm running kinda low." I took my beautiful pink T-shirt off, and put the disgusting blue work t-shirt on. At least it didn't make me feel itchy.

Lyla and Anna came out. They didn't seem to be dying inside like I was. Actually, they seemed quite happy. Jared smirked.

"I can't believe I have a job." Anna was doing a little dance.

"It's not a profession, but it'll pay for my 'excursions' to the mall" Lyla replied.

"Okay places everyone. It's almost show time." Jared pointed us to hour posts. Lyla and I were supposed to be behind the bar selling food and drink. Jared and Anna were selling the time and events for the computers.

After about ten minutes of waiting, the first person walked into the lounge. It was this dweeby kid dressed in all black. He looked full of himself as he pushed his glasses up his nose. He gave Anna a hard time about registering for events.

"I'm said I wanted to register for all the night's events!" screamed the boy angrily. "This ticket is good for an hour, not a day. What are you stupid?"

Anna was about to snap back, but Jared stepped in. Knowing him, it wasn't to defend Anna, but to get the major profits. The geek took a seat near the back of the lounge.

Slowly but surely people started filling in until the place was packed. A lot of hot guys and gals dancing to the beat, and even more playing some tournament event thing at the computers. I told Lyla to hold the fort because I saw Gio in the crowd. I made my way towards him. He was with some friends.

"Hi." I said.

"Um, who are you?" he looked at his friends. There was a glint of panic in his eyes. His friends looked like they were about to give me problems.

"You don't remember me? You know from this afternoon?" He looked even more nervous.

"No I am sorry I do not." I was astonished. He wasn't out. I'm such and idiot.

"He's not a fag Cliff. C'mon Gio let's go somewhere else." I hated Roy Mullard. He was such an ass.

Gio looked back at me, and mouthed the words 'I'm sorry'. I was too. He just dropped a few notches in my book. I went back to Lyla because she was swamped with customers.

At the end of the night I was tired. It was close to 2 AM in the morning. The crowd had pretty much left. The only people left where the geeky kid and this really hot guy with black hair, and these piercing green eyes. He looked up at the clock.

The clock indicated it was nearly 3 AM and still the two kids where at their computers. Jared went up to them.

"Um excuse me guys, you gotta leave. It's closing time."

"Alright, fine." The geek in black stood up, and stormed out.

"Sure." The young man with the green eyes stood up, and walked towards the door. He had an authentic Brit accent. If I wasn't still infatuated with Gio, I would have probably hit on him. He pulled out a key from his pocket. He shut the door, and then used the key to open it. Out came a stream of light and the sound of running water. At this Jared, Anna, Lyla, and I all turned around. The guy beckoned us to follow him, and something within me, and apparently everybody else made them go through the door.

The door shut behind us, and we were in this wooded area. Farther beyond was a what seemed to be a Greek temple. We walked towards it. Attracted to it like bugs to light. We made our way up the steps.

Inside was the young man and a black wolf. In back of them where four stands, each with a bracelet and necklace on them. Behind those altars were different, what seemed to be, elements. There was a burning flame behind one altar. A small bubbling fountain behind the next. The constant whirl of wind behind another. And a tree standing tall and firm in the earth.

"Seriously Zordon, the teenager thing has to stop." The wolf was talking!

"Alpha shut up, I have to make my initiation speech." The young man glared at the dog. I noticed this guy was no longer in street clothes but in white robes laced with gold filigree.

"Hello Jared. Hello Anna. Hello Lyla. Hello Cliff. I am Zordon. I am the embodiment of good, and you four have been chosen by me to protect." He sounded serious, but I couldn't help cracking up.

Lyla shot me a glare. I stopped laughing.

Jared looked confused.

"What are we protecting?" Anna asked the question we all had in mind.

"Well, the universe. Well, not really, right now just the Earth. But if you can conquer the plague that will befall the Earth, you can possibly save the universe."

"But as your wolf friend said, we're only teenagers. What can we do?" Lyla was prying.

"As you are, you can barely beat a stick figure, but soon you will gain the power of metamorphosis. You will be able to change. Become faster and stronger than any other humans could ever dream. You will become Power Rangers!"

I couldn't help myself. I cracked up again.

Jared hit me in the back of the head. I stopped.

The altars behind him started glowing.

"Anna step up. You are the Sagittarius. The fire and the soul of this group, guide them well. You will gain the power to morph into the Fire Zodiac Ranger." Anna walked towards the altar and picked up the necklace and bracelet. A red light imbued her.

"Jared step up. You are the Taurus. The strength and protector of this group, guard them well. You will gain the power to morph into the Earth Zodiac Ranger." Jared stepped towards the altar and took the necklace and bracelet. A green light imbued him.

"Lyla step up. You are the Aquarius. The imagination and will of this group, aid them well. You will gain the power to morph into the Air Zodiac Ranger." Lyla stepped towards the altar and took the necklace and bracelet. A yellow light imbued her.

"I object! I can't do blue. Why isn't there a pink ranger? Like the ranger of love, or something. C'mon can't I be anything but that icky color blue?" I couldn't stand by and take this abuse!

"I am sorry, but you are a Pisces. Your destiny has been determined by you sign. Pisces is a water sign, thus you must become the Water Zodiac Ranger! You cannot refuse what is written in the Heavens!"

"Fine, I'll do it. You guys owe me big time."

"Cliff step up . You are the Pisces. The intelligence and creativity of this group, assist them well. You will gain the power to morph into the Water Zodiac Ranger." I stepped towards the altar, reluctantly. I took the silver necklace and put it on. I picked up the bracelet and cringed. I put it on my right wrist. I was imbued by a blue light.

There was a flash, and there we were. In really cool combat suits. They were not bad looking. Except for the fact that mine was blue.

Anna sped off running. She was mind numbingly fast. We all raced after her.

After some time being in the suits, and getting used to them, Alpha the wolf came for us. He led us back to the temple.

"It seems you have grown accustomed to the suits and powers." Zordon smiled. He was really cute.

"We have, but how do we get out of them?" I asked.

"Just hit the zodiac symbol in the front and say 'deactivate'. That should do the trick."

We all changed back.

"Problem. How do we morph back when we need to? And how will we know when we need to?" Anna was really into this whole save the world thing.

"You must lock on the symbol on the bracelet to your necklace, and then say your element."

I tried it. I hit my right hand on my Adam's apple and almost killed myself, but I morphed. I deactivated. The rest tried and did the same.

"As for the dangers you will face, they will become clear enough in time. You must go now. Go and rest, for the future of so many depends on you four. The new Power Rangers!"

As we made our way back to the door we came in through, Alpha came. He carried four keys in his jaw. He gave us each one and told us that hey would work on any door. He explained that by using the keys we would come back to Zodiac Temple as we called it.

When I stepped back into the real world. I felt something in the air. Something other than us had changed, Something greater had increased it's power, and hold over destiny. I took in a breath and sighed. Now I have to get more things in blue. Nothing is ever going to be the same again.