Chapter 11: The Assignment
The usual group of friends was hanging out at the Youth Center each of them working on their tragic story assignment for Mrs. Appleby's class.
"I haven't decided what to write my story about," Kimberly announced to the group, tapping her pen on the page of her open notebook. "What are you writing your story about Tommy?" she asked sweetly. Tommy smiled, looking up from his own composition book.
"I'm writing a 'mytha-logy' type story," Tommy answered excitedly. "See, it's about this guy who has this dagger, right, and the dagger is enchanted and gives him the power to control a large dragon." He said with a cheeky smile. The friends chuckled. Zack shook his head.
"Any chance this guy can play music with the dagger and wears green?" Zack asked teasingly.
"Yeah! How'd you know?" he asked very well aware of what his friend was insinuating.
"How are you writing that into a tragedy?" Jason asked curiously.
"Well, the thing is, he's forced to obey an evil sorceress, and though a fair maiden in pink tries to save him along with the help of a red knight," he continued looking between his two flattered friends, "he ends up saving them by sacrificing his power to control the dragon, defeating the sorceress." Tommy explained.
"Well, if Tommy's going to write about himself- I mean a green dragon-controlling warrior," Kimberly said giving Tommy a look. "Then I'm going to write about a princess that rides a pterodactyl. The sad part will be how a green knight fights to save her from a gross toad monster, but she actually sacrifices her life to save him." She told. Jason raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
"Are we all just writing power ranger based stories?" he asked. The friends looked among one another and shared a laugh.
"I guess that would be a yes." Billy concluded, looking over his own progress.
"How about you, Billy?" Trini asked. "What's your tragic story?" Billy adjusted his glasses.
"Well, it's about a unicorn who is incredibly smart, and his best friend is a thestral—" Billy started, but Kimberly interrupted.
"What's a thestral?" she asked.
"It's a horse-like creature, but it has a skeletal appearance with black leathery skin. They appear undead." Billy explained. "Anyway, the unicorn and the thestral are best friends and play together since they were little, they're incredibly close. But one day, the two are sent on a quest to retrieve a healing potion. Along the way, they come along different tasks, each one testing their intelligence. Each trial, the unicorn succeeds easily, but the thestral struggles with each task. The unicorn offers to help, but each time the thestral refuses, insisting he can do it on his own. For the very final trial though, the thestral becomes bold. Thinking he knows the solution before the unicorn has a chance to stop him, the thestral ruins their chance of getting the healing potion. Embarrassed by his failure, the thestral ends their friendship, and runs away, unable to admit that he was wrong. He should've embraced the unicorn's help, but didn't because of pride." Billy finished.
The friends all praised Billy on his clever story, while Trini's heart grew heavy. Knowing Billy's secondary zord was a unicorn and after she observed that their stories were based on their own lives…
"You okay, Trini?" Kimberly asked, lightly touching her arm.
"You seem deep in thought," Jason spoke up. "Is it about your story?" he inquired.
"Oh, no. I was just thinking of how great Billy's story was." She replied, looking to Billy's introverted expression hiding behind his glasses. He knew that she was now partially aware of what happened between him and Skull.
They had been best friends, but the way Trini figured, Billy did well intellectually in school, while Skull didn't. According to Billy's story, Billy wasn't rubbing his intelligence in Skull's face as he offered to help his friend study and do better, but Skull refused until the punk had done something bad making him feel the need to ultimately end their friendship.
Enough was enough. Trini felt the need to rekindle the boys' friendship. Maybe in doing so, Skull will feel more inclined to be nice and end his need to be feared and parade around like a tough guy. Then they could come out about their relationship. She smiled to herself. It was a brilliant idea, but she would have to get both boys in the same room alone to talk things out.
"Hey, guys," Richie spoke up, holding a tray of milkshakes, "Got your guys' shakes." He said, handing each glass to the teens. The friends each thanked him. Trini and Richie's eyes met as he handed over hers. He smiled. "You'll have to have me read your story sometime. I'll bet it's something special." He suggested. Trini smiled back, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Sure." She answered, really unsure of what to say to him. He gave a nod and walked back to the counter.
"I'll bet it's something SPECIAL." Skull mocked with a laugh, smacking his chewing gum. In he walked next to Bulk. The group of friends all scowled at the bullies, Trini rolled her eyes. She was looking forward to this attitude of his finally coming to an end, and hopefully soon.
"It will be something special!" Kimberly defended. "Better than anything you two could come up with."
"Just wait until you hear the amazing story Skull and I are gonna write!" Bulk declared. Kimberly raised her eyebrows in perplexity.
"What are you guys writing about?" Tommy humored, flashing his pretty boy smile. Skull made a skewed face.
"We're gonna write somethin'?" The skinny punk asked, just as amazed as the group. Bulk thunked him upside the head.
"Of course, dummy!" Bulk yelled, "It'll be about," he began, hoisting up one foot on a nearby chair for emphasized grandiose. "Two heroes, THE INCREDIBLE BULK and SUPER SKULL, and how they save the Power Rangers, BUT!" he paused, holding out a hand as if to signal everyone to brace themselves. "The two have to throw themselves INTO a VOLCANO, FULL OF FIRE SHARKS, saving the entire universe!" The group stifled laughter the best they could. "Their spirit will live on, in the hearts and minds of the citizens and the Power Rangers PERSONALLY erect a statue in honor of the two heroes' heroic heroism!" he concludes, wiping a tear from his eye. Skull laughed.
"Yeah! They're honored as heroes even though they…die." Skull's brain alarms blared. "Bulk uh, we're never really going to jump into a volcano of fire sharks are we?" he asked genuinely worried.
"Of course, not knucklehead! It's just a story." He clarified. Skull nodded his head in understanding.
"Well, that's quite the story, guys." Tommy humored. Kimberly giggled. Skull and Trini's eyes met as Bulk carried on about what a masterpiece of a tale he had invented. Skull glanced toward the door, signaling if she wanted to go outside to talk. She glanced toward the door and nodded to silently answer. Skull cleared his throat.
"Hey, Bulk, I'm gonna go to the uh, bathroom…and nowhere else." He lied. Trini slowly put her hand over her eyes, cringing at his terrible ability at lying.
"Alright. You can pay for our ice cream when you get back." Bulk replied, taking a seat at the bar. Skull nodded vigorously and darted around the corner. He poked his head back around the corner to see if Trini was going to follow. Trini stood as she saw him look around the corner. Suddenly, she realized this was her chance.
"Do you guys mind if I go outside for some fresh air?" Trini asked.
"Sure, Trini." Kimberly answered first.
"Billy, would you mind coming with me?" Trini asked. Billy looked up at her. He wasn't completely surprised, assuming she wanted to talk about his story in private.
"Certainly. I'd be glad to accompany you." Billy answered, standing up and following her outside. She led him around to the back of the building where she knew Skull would be waiting for her.
"Honestly, Trini, I don't know what I would do if we didn't get this time alone-" Skull stopped suddenly realizing Trini wasn't alone and leading Billy over by the hand. Skull scowled but stood his ground. He knew he couldn't hurt Billy in front of her, but it was going to be difficult to hold back. "What is he doing here?"
"I could ask the same of you." Billy replied, though meekly.
"I sort of know what happened between you two," Trini revealed. "You guys need to talk and make up." she demanded. Skull scoffed.
"Why?" Skull asked in disgust.
"Indeed. Why do we need to make amends?" Billy asked, "Seems the mutual, proverbial line was drawn between us years ago and is certainly not about to dissipate any time soon."
"Yeah, the proverbial line was drawn!" Skull agreed but then paused, puzzling over what it was he just agreed with. Trini shook her head.
"Skull, I told Billy." She started.
"Told Billy what?" he asked, his anger growing.
"About you and I." She answered honestly, but before she could go on, Skull put his hands on his head, turning away from her and groaning in frustration.
"Trini!" he groaned. "You told him, and you brought him to our secret place…" he moaned, feeling betrayed. "This is why I didn't tell you my EX-best friend was Billy 'lame-brain' over here. I knew you would do this." He complained.
"Skull, don't you see? If you fix your friendship with Billy, it'll give you a chance to really be yourself in front of others. We can be open about our relationship." She explained taking his hands in hers. "You can change your image to reflect the goodness I see in you." Skull took a step back pulling his hands out of her grasp. The dam of swirling emotional build up was beginning to crack open.
"We can never be friends." Skull snapped back, laughing as if this was a cruel joke played on him. "Did he tell you the whole story about why we can't fix our friendship?" he demanded. Billy crossed his arms.
"I myself would like to be enlightened as to why." The blonde stated.
"Growing up, we were really close, you know. I was always there for him. Whenever we were in trouble, I took the fall. I never ran away when he needed me. But as we got older, he got straight A's, I got D's and F's. What does he do? He rubs it in my face!" he yelled, "'How about I help you study? It's actually really easy! You should have me tutor you." he mocked. Billy stepped forward.
"I was not 'rubbing it in your face', Skull. "I only offered to help you. I hated seeing how upset you were that you struggling." Billy defended.
"I didn't want your help, nerd! You only did it to make yourself look good! You ALWAYS thought you were better than me just because you were smarter than me!" Skull argued.
"That's not true!" Billy replied. Skull scoffed at this and turned away from him.
"What happened?" Trini asked, "In your story, Billy…the thestral…he ruined their chance to get a healing potion?-" Skull scoffed at the fantastical parallel.
"We were partnered for the Science Fair. The teacher thought being partnered with me, he would get an easy 'A', help his grade." Billy began to explain. Skull rolled his eyes with a huff. "I did all the work, wrote the formulas, gathered the chemicals, all he had to do was pour them in a certain order with the pre-written amount at the event. Well, when it was our turn to present, I went to instruct him what to do, but because he couldn't let go of his pride and need to prove he could do it without me, he shoved me, poured all the contents from every bottle he got his hands on and caused a messy, explosion. No one was hurt, but because of it, we both failed the project."
"You were nagging over my shoulder! You wouldn't just let me do it on my own!" Skull yelled.
"You didn't know what you were doing and because you couldn't admit that you were wrong and that it was your fault, you threw our near 10-year friendship away!" Billy yelled back. Even Trini took a step back. She had never seen Billy so angry or shout like that.
"I threw it away because you NEVER stood up for me like I did for you!" he screamed. Skull's accusation hit Billy unexpectedly. Before Billy could talk, however, Skull cut him off turning to Trini, "I was bullied, I was picked on and teased ALL THE TIME. You know what they called me? 'The Idiot'. AND do you know what Mr. Egghead over here did? NOTHING!" he accused. The anger in Billy's face fell to that of shame. Skull nodded, knowing he'd hit the nail on the head. "Not once…not once did you step in to defend me, did you? When kids picked on you, I ALWAYS stood up for you, didn't I! What did you do when they came for me, huh?" Skull asked getting right in the other boy's face, "You didn't do anything. Too ashamed to be best friends with 'The Idiot'." There was a long silent pause between the three teens.
"Skull-" Trini started.
"When the kids were kickin' me while I was down, a new kid busted in and chased them off. He picked me up, helped clean up my scrapes, and promised to always fight for me when I needed it." Skull told Trini.
"Bulk." She said understanding who he was talking about.
"That's right. Bulk taught me to push before they could push me." Skull said, hate and pain in his eyes. "You wondered why, Trini, well, there you go." That was why the two were best friends. Despite how Bulk would treat him from time to time, he had always been there for Skull when push came to shove.
"…Skull, if I apologize would that-" Billy started.
"Don't bother." Skull muttered.
Trini stood, unsure of what to say. Billy hung his head in shame and Skull turned away unable to face him. Clearly, they had been holding onto their pain for so long. Trini was undeterred, however.
"Skull, Billy, all of that is in the past." She said looking between the boys. "If you both can forgive each other-"
"Why?" Skull interrupted. "So I can join your geek squad? We can all be friends, go to pep rallies and volunteer to pick up trash and stuff in the park?" Skull asked, sarcasm positively dripping in his words. Trini frowned. "Ooh! I'll need to pick a color to wear every day, how about orange or purple?"
"Skull, stop." She said firmly.
"Maybe we can all hold hands and sing while we do our math homework-" Skull continued.
"Stop it!" Trini yelled. Billy rested a hand on her shoulder.
"Trini, you made a valiant effort, but it appears to be for not." Billy shrugged, "I better go." He added, takin his leave from the situation. Trini turned and reach for him.
"Billy, no! Wait, please-" she called. Billy didn't look back and disappeared around the corner of the building.
"Geek." Skull muttered under his breath. Trini had finally had enough. The dam had finally burst and the devastation was rapidly unfurling between them.
"Eugene!" she shouted. Skull smug expression fell instantly, "When are you going to stop it! I just want you to be nicer and stop insulting me and my friends, especially Billy!" Trini yelled.
"I ain't changin', BABE!" he shouted, practically spitting out the pet name, getting in her face, "I'm a loud, rude, and obnoxious punk and you're just gonna have to live with it! You thought it was cute and funny last time I told you I wasn't going to change." He pointed out. Trini simply shook her head.
"That was when I thought you joking, when I thought you cared! I just want you to put more effort into our relationship! All I want to be able to tell people-"
"Effort in our relationship? What about you, huh?" Skull laughed, turning it around on her. "Effort, she says. This coming from the girl who is constantly late until the very last second blows off our dates and meetings with no explanation-" he began to list off. Trini's face turned hot.
"I have given you explanations. I've been busy, emergencies come up-" she began to clarify.
"Emergencies for what?" he asked curious, genuinely wanting a straight-forward answer.
"It's…it's personal." She answered. She couldn't tell him she was a Power Ranger. She made a promise to Zordon, to her team not to tell anyone. She just couldn't let them down, even at the risk of losing Skull… her heart was beginning to break realizing she was quickly losing him already. "I can't tell you, just trust me, Skull."
"Trust you? Don't think I don't know what's really going on." Skull snapped back, "I know why you're always running off and mysteriously disappearing." He claimed. At first, Trini got nervous. Had he actually figured out her secret? She wouldn't blame him for being mad at her for not telling him that she was a Power Ranger sooner, but, "I see the way you and Richie have been ooglin' at each other." Skull accused. Trini's emotions immediately flipped from sympathy to confusion and frustration.
"What? Richie?" she asked, thrown off. She never thought that's where he was leading the conversation.
"Don't play dumb," Skull demanded, "that's MY job!" he said pointing at himself. "Don't think I haven't overheard you talkin' and seen the way you look at him with those big goo-goo eyes." He said. "Honestly, I don't really get why. The guy is about as interesting as a bag of hair and the personality of a telephone pole." He remarked. Trini frowned, growing more and more tempted to hit him.
"First of all, I'm not dating Richie, but I like him because he's NICE!" she defended. "He has a steady job and is polite and kind to people. Even if he's more reserved at least he doesn't bully people because of some insecurity." She argued, her words striking the final blow to Skull's heart.
"Well, if he's so nice and so perfect, why don't you just date HIM then?" Skull shouted, his anger boiling over. Trini felt paralyzed at his words and couldn't muster anything more to say. Her throat tightened and she felt the tears stinging in her eyes. His blue eyes were frantically searching her own eyes, anticipating her response anxiously. The second the words left his mouth, he wanted to take it back, but it was too late. Without another word, she gave him a shove and ran.
Skull felt helpless and watched her run from him. That pressure against his chest, her pain-filled eyes, it was his fault. All she wanted was for them to be out and celebrate their happiness in worry-free bliss. No more hiding, no more wordless gestures to sneak off to share a smoothie and a kiss. They could be free.
He hated it. He looked down at his yellow doc martens, kicking a small rock off the plateau of the sidewalk and into the crack between the two cement sections. He hated the pain of his realized guilt. He hated that both Billy and Trini were right. He hated the entire situation he'd put them in.
His pride had gotten the best of him and dashed any chance to rekindle his friendship with Billy, possibly forever. Billy seemed ready to move on, but Skull just couldn't bring himself to apologize for the explosion and forgive him for not taking a stand against his bullies.
And Trini. Trini. This gorgeous, amazing, extraordinary girl cared so much for him. All she wanted was for them to be happy, but he didn't even try. He hadn't put forth effort into furthering or bettering their relationship. And in an instant, he'd thrown that away, too. He'd said horrible things, things he didn't mean. He crossed the line and he knew it. How could he face her and admit he was wrong…that is if he ever could.