PR timeline- Tommy is the Green Ranger, they haven't yet gained their Ninjetti powers. Some playing around with the continuum. Rocky, Aisha and Adam will already have transferred from Stone Canyon.
A/N: This idea wouldn't leave me alone. I wondered what would happen if the gang got an assignment to write about how drunk driving had affected them. I'm going on the idea that Rachel Cranston was killed by a drunk driver while out with Billy when he was 9.
Billy still isn't over it in some senses but maybe the assignment can help him work things out.
Rated: PG-13 to R for themes, violence and language throughout. No pairings as of yet...and this will be a little darker than my usual work.
Feedback at: is welcome.
The Assignment..
For once in William Cranston's life he dreaded going to school. The school's administration had dedicated the month to drunk driving awareness. The faculty had done their part, either by sending their classes to the requisite assemblies, had them watch movies on the subject, do reports and essays.
Normally William loved school and the respite it gave him from the thoughts that harassed him from the deep recesses of his subconscious at times. This day was different. he was going to turn his essay on drunk driving in Ms. Applebee's class. The instructions were clear, concise and gave no room for confusion.
Out of sympathy, Ms. Applebee told him he could be excused from the exercise. She knew his mother from their teaching days and was wounded deeply when she was killed nine years prior in a horrific accident that Billy somehow survived. The driver who took Rachel Cranston's life survived the accident without a scratch on her. Billy made it physically.but the emotional scars still ran deep in the brilliant young man.
Billy had gone through two weeks of hell before he was able to start the essay, let alone finish it. He had taken Ms. Applebee's offer seriously until he started to write on a Friday night.and wrote until early in the afternoon on Saturday. He closed his eyes, and thought back on all that had moved him to open his heart and soul on paper about what happened that fateful summer day nine years ago.
Three weeks ago..
The guys filed into their English composition class as usual on a Monday morning, expecting nothing unusual. Once they were seated, they knew something was up from the look in Ms. Applebee's face. Jason and Trini spared a glance at Billy, Zack and Kim to see if they could discern the reason for their instructor's somber mood.
Zack and Kim shrugged to say "I have no idea". Billy didn't even look up at them. He kept his gaze focused on the book that lay open on his desk. Truth be told, he wanted to be alone on this day. The anniversary of the accident that took his mother's life and almost his own. The fact that the school was having activities to make the student body aware of the danger of drunken driving was getting to him slowly but surely.
He felt like running out of the room and the school to his room and staying there the rest of the day. His close friends knew what was wrong, but could do nothing to assuage his ill temper until after class. Everyone but Billy looked up when Ms. Applebee cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Good afternoon class. Today, I have a special assignment to give you. In honor of the school's campaign to make you aware of the dangers of drinking and driving, all of the English Composition classes are being asked to assign an essay to you. I would like you to be honest, brutally honest on how this has affected you, or someone you know. We hope that in knowing how this has affected our students, we can make people a little more aware of themselves and how they can harm others with a bad decision.
I know that this will be difficult, even impossible for some of you. I know some of you have been personally affected, and it may be too difficult to put words to paper in regard to personal events in your life. For those of you, you are excused from this assignment if you so choose. Otherwise, come see me and we can work out an alternative assignment. You have until May 25th to turn in your essay. For those of you who consent, your essay may be shared with the class or in the general assembly to close the events of the month. You may be excused for this class period. I'll be here for anyone who needs to discuss the assignment."
Ms. Applebee finished her talk as she noticed Billy hadn't moved from his seat, nor had he looked at her during her instructions. She wondered if he was going to get up or come talk to her about the essay. She had no intention of having him do the assignment, as she knew how hard it was for him to deal with the loss of his mother. He sat stock still until everyone else had left, then finally looked up at his teacher.
"Thank you for the offer Ms. Applebee. I'm not sure if I can do this but if I can't I'll let you know in a couple of weeks. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go see someone." Billy got up and left without another word to anyone. His friends waited for him in the hall, as they wondered how he was coping with the anniversary of his mom's passing. Normally he stayed home or was quiet all day until he was picked up to go pay his respects at the cemetery.
"Billy, do you need anything?" Jason asked as he walked with Billy to his locker. The sadness in his friends eyes wounded the young man to his soul. Jason knew what pain his oldest friend was in, but could do nothing to ease it.
"No thank you Jason. I really hate to be rude but I need some time alone if you all don't mind. You know what today is and I probably should have stayed home. The assignment we were just given has done nothing to ease the malaise that I am feeling. I may contact you later if I need further solace. Goodbye." Billy left them to wait for his father to pick him up at the front gates of the school.
As Billy left them, Kim, Trini, Zack and Jason wondered what they could do to help their friend. Kim was usually wont to come up with an idea to cheer someone up. she knew that Billy's hurt ran too deep for a smoothie to cure it.
"I hope Ms. Applebee was talking about Bill when she was talking about people who were excused from the assignment." Kim said as she eyed Tommy coming around the corner. Since he was new to the team, he still felt the outsider to them. One thing Kim had cautioned him about once he had been accepted to the team---not to ask about Billy's mother. Tommy thought back to when she had told him not to ask about Billy's mom.
"It's a touchy subject. He doesn't talk about her much and he's not going to as far as we can tell. So please be sensitive about that." Kim cautioned him one day after they had split from the others and were on their way to a movie.
"Ok, Kim. I'll remember that if nothing else. It sucks that the other driver wasn't even hurt." In a burst of insight that was rare for Thomas Oliver, he asked Kim precisely why Billy never talked about his mother. "Kim, do you all avoid asking him because he asked you to, or because you're afraid of upsetting him? Did anyone ever think he may want or need to talk about her to deal with it?" Tommy asked in a quiet tone as they walked through the park.
Kim let her mind wander over the question for a moment before she answered. "He never said outright don't ask about her. I guess we wanted to spare him the pain of being reminded of his loss. Now, I have no idea how I would even bring it up."
Tommy nodded as they went on their way towards their date while the others carried on.
Present day..
"Hey guys, what's wrong? You all look pretty bummed." Tommy asked as they departed school. All of them had English last period, and were all dismissed after they had received their assignments.
"It's the assignment we all got in English comp. We're worried about Billy, he's been acting odd all week and this assignment we got seems like it's too much. Especially today of all day's." Trini said as she nabbed her books out of her locker and headed toward the exit.
"Oh yeah. I don't think he'd do the essay though. Would he?" Tommy asked as they exited the school in time to see Billy get picked up by his father. Mr. Cranston waved at them as he pulled off. He was in no better shape than his son, but had learned to wear his mask well. It was a lesson Billy had yet to learn when it came to his grief and anger over his loss.
They waved back as they pulled off. The rest of the teens headed to their usual spot at Ernie's Juice Bar and Youth Centre. Meanwhile, Billy and his father Lance headed to the florist for their annual stop before the cemetery.
Lance noticed his son's quieter than normal demeanor, but attributed it to the task at hand. He looked over after they had made their purchases and were enroute to pay their respects and noticed Billy was slumped over with his head in his hands as he sobbed quietly.
"Son, do you need me to pull over?" Lance asked quietly as he scoped out a place to pull over in case Billy needed time to compose himself.
"No, I. I'm sorry father. I've had a rough day and doing this isn't making it any better. I apologize for my childish outburst. Please, continue driving." Billy said as he wiped the tears away and looked out the window as they drove on to Angel Grove Cemetery. Lance sighed inwardly as he wondered what to do with his son. Billy could be hard to deal with on an emotional level, but give the boy an advanced physics problem and he's happy. He decided to let Billy have his privacy for the moment. Whenever Billy decided to come to him he would be there.
They pulled into the cemetery and went to Rachel's gravestone silently.each man immersed in his own thoughts. Billy wondered if he had what it took to do that essay, and maybe finally dispel some of the demons that haunted him. He knew his mother would want him to at least try to do the assignment, even if it proved too painful to complete. Lance let himself remember the vibrant, loving woman he fell for at first sight. He had come a long way in letting himself survive the pain of losing her that nearly destroyed him years ago.
His son, wasn't there yet but getting there slowly. Lance went first to her grave, laid out the yellow chrysanthemums that were her favorite flower and bent his head in silence. Billy hung back out of respect for his father and to allow him privacy to mourn Rachel. Once his father was done, Billy stepped forward, knelt and arranged the pink roses next to the flowers his father had lain down.
He remained that way as he bowed his head, not in prayer but in silent communion with his mother. Mom, I miss you so much. I wish you could help me. This month has been hard for me and I'm close to the edge. Jason, Kim, Zack and Trini are doing their best to help me get through this and I love them for it. However, their support can't stop the night mares or the feelings of guilt that have yet to be absolved.
I'll make it brief mom, you know it pains me to be here. we have to do an assignment for school, an essay on how drunk driving has affected us. Ms. Applebee said I could take a pass due to what happened, but I think it may be good for me. I wish you could let me know somehow what the right path is. If I can do the assignment, I'll come back and read it to you.
That's all for now, I'm sure I'll be back soon to see you. I love you mom, as always, I wish you peace until we meet again. Billy stood, brushed himself off and turned to his father. Neither man spoke as they exited, each lost in his thoughts. After the silence in the car became too much for Lance, he asked Billy about school and why he was so upset.
"Billy, do you mind telling me what had you so upset earlier? You were very agitated."
Billy sighed and looked at his father closely before answering. "We have an assignment for Ms. Applebee's class that may be impossible for me to complete. I don't know if I can actually put into words how drunken driving has affected me. It's due in 3 weeks and I don't know if I have it in me to actually do it." Billy fidgeted with his seat belt as they drove, as he noticed they weren't taking the usual route home.
Lance allowed himself a small smile at the obvious question that was on his son's lips. He decided to break tradition and treat them to a nice dinner out instead of going home to mourn all over again. "I'm taking us out to dinner, we deserve it son. Now, in terms of your assignment, does she honestly expect you to be able to do this?"
"She did say for those of us who have been touched deeply we could forgo the assignment. I don't want to let my issues keep me from doing this but it's personal dad. And, for those who consent, the essays will be read in class. Even if I can do this, I'm sure I don't want it read in class or forbid the general assembly at the end of the month." Billy leaned back and let his eyes drift close. He could feel a headache coming on as well as being tired all of a sudden.
Lance let his mind wrap around Billy's dilemma as they headed to Maggiano's, while the others in Billy's tightly knit group of friends were gathered at the youth center. They had gathered at their usual table and were silent while they mulled over what to do about their assignment.
Tommy leaned back as he studied the others as they were deep in thought. He didn't know Billy as well as they did but he didn't want to see their resident genius is pain either. "Guys, why don't you write about how Billy's loss has affected you. If its not too much for you that is. That way he can see that you support him." Tommy offered as a way to help their friend.
Jason shook his head. "That solves our problem of what to write, but it doesn't help Billy with the assignment. The decision to write it should be his, but he should know we support him no matter what, right guys?"
Zack, Trini, Kim and Tommy nodded their assent to Jason's words as they noticed the time and that their parents would be looking for them to show up for dinner soon. "I'd better get home, mom will be looking for me. Tommy will you walk me home?" Kim said as she gathered her things and bid her friends farewell.
"Sure Kim, I need to be getting home as well." Tommy said as he followed suit and packed up his books and karate gear.
"Bye guys. I'll see you tomorrow at school." Kim said as she left with Tommy in tow. Everyone else followed their lead and eventually meandered home, each with thoughts of Billy on their mind.
A/N: Up next: Is there such a thing as being too helpful? Will Billy accept their attempts or be more put out. and the beginning of the essay!