A/N:

This chapter is the introduction to JT - the black Ranger

Chapter 5: JT Sterling

There was always that one kid that was more than a little misunderstood.

James Thomas "JT" Sterling was that kid.

Crystal Cove High's resident "nerd", JT often found that he was the target for bullies.

Oftentimes, bullies didn't need a good reason to start treating somebody terribly. But the school's resident bullies Paul Hadlock and Brandon Munroe always gave the same excuse.

Their excuse was that JT was a "babbling, stuttering, nerd-boy freak."

Of course, JT had a higher IQ than most in his class. He had the best grades in the entire school and would most likely end up being valedictorian and graduating from high school early.

And he was fine with that.

If he graduated in his junior year, maybe he would be able to escape the hell that was his high school.

He was an average-looking kid. He did not have abs; he wasn't terribly fat, either. He wore dorky glasses, had a head of dark hair, and brown eyes. Another thing that made him stand out was that he was on the spectrum.

According to his father, he at one point had been a non-verbal autistic from age two to age four. It had taken countless amounts of therapies with special speech therapists in order to get JT speaking and communicating clearly. Now, he could speak eloquently. However, that did not mean he didn't struggle.

He still stuttered and sometimes slurred his words at times. He babbled and talked to himself constantly. He also had specific hobbies he obsessed over, such as science, math, and, he hated to say it: theater.

He was heavily involved in school play productions all throughout his middle school career. As a result, he'd gotten labeled many things, from "faggot" to "homo" because of his interests in the theatrical arts. In Crystal Cove, if you were a boy and seen doing anything less than participating in the athletic program, you might as well be wearing a skirt.

It was a true embarrassment for JT.

One would think that the bullies would leave the son of the chief of police alone.

That was far to be the case.

Add to that, he did not have that many friends at school, either. So therefore, he often made it alone. However, that did not mean he did not hear about let alone have an awareness for what was going on around him.

Just the other day, his father had arrived and handcuffed former cheerleader Beth Sampson. His father was often the one called to break up fights between Chloe Cambridge's parents. His father had his ear in everything that happened around town.

As JT walked through the halls of the high school, he noticed Chloe Cambridge standing at her locker, which was right next to his since they had the same home room class. She had earbuds plugged into her ear, and he could hear a familiar My Chemical Romance song blaring. Turning to Chloe, he said,

"Are you auditioning for Streetcar Named Desire this year?" he asked her.

Chloe turned her head to look towards him. He was one of the few she managed to get along with. One would think Chloe got along with everyone because she was so sweet to everyone. But she didn't have that many friends with the exception of her bandmates and the people in art club.

"Yeah, yeah, I think so," she said, managing to a smile, though it looked forced and fake. JT could see her hazel eyes were dull and there was no light there. He knew why, though. Chloe's parents' fights were something the entire town knew about. JT knew that it was something that embarrassed Chloe greatly.

"How're things at home?" he asked her.

Chloe shrugged. "What's there to say?" she asked bitterly.

JT nodded, sympathetically. Suddenly, he felt a large hand shove him hard against his locker. Turning around, he saw Brandon Munroe smirking before he shoved JT again.

Chloe turned to look towards JT. "Are you okay?" she asked.

JT nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just Brandon being a dick," he said, a little too loudly.

"What'd you say, freak?" asked Brandon, turning around to face JT.

"N-Nothing, Brandon," JT insisted, trying to save himself the pummeling he knew he would get for mouthing off. Being autistic, his voice carried out a lot louder, and sometimes, it came across as shouting even though that was never JT's intention.

"That wasn't "nothing". What did you say?" yelled Brandon.

"He said he didn't say anything, he didn't say anything. Let it go!" Chloe said.

"Shut up, emo bitch with the fighting parents!" spat Brandon in Chloe's direction, shoving her hard against her locker.

"Don't talk to her like that," JT said.

"Don't tell me what to do you babbling little freak," Brandon growled out, grabbing JT by the collar of his shirt. "Speak like that again, and you will be having a conversation with my fist you faggot!"

Brandon left by kicking JT hard in the crotch and slamming him against the lockers.

JT just leaned against the lockers, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, before turning to Chloe. "Let's get to class," he said.

Chloe nodded in agreement. JT gathered up his sketchbook and pencils, and proceeded to sit in his assigned seating in homeroom. Unfortunately, his seat was right in front of Brandon. He proceeded to sit at his desk, pulled his sketchbook out, and began to draw, before coloring in the image with some colored pencils – but not before arranging the pencils in a specific order so that they were not out of place.

"Okay," he whispered to himself. However, before he could color the image in, he felt Brandon shoving him hard and kicking his chair, before getting up and throwing JT's things off the desk. Chloe knelt over and helped JT gather his things up, before returning back to her assigned seating. Then, their homeroom teacher arrived.

"Alright, class, let's take role call. As you are probably aware, Bethany Sampson has gotten arrested for physical assault on Paul Hadlock who is in the hospital," the teacher announced.

"Shouldn't surprise me. The dirty whore begged to get touched," Brandon snarled.

"Brandon, don't say that," the teacher said.

"It's a free country," Brandon shrugged.

"Doesn't mean you should always say whatever the hell you want," Chloe said, glaring at him.

"Maybe you should go home and say that to your mommy and daddy," Brandon taunted.

"Hey! You don't get to talk to her like that," said Chloe's bandmate, Sebastian Torres. "You speak to her like that again, I'll drop kick you right on your ass. I've been having a lot of practice lately since I play the drums."

"Sebastian, Brandon, the both of you, that is enough," the teacher said.

'Oh, God,' thought Chloe as she burrowed her face into her hands, shaking her head. "Keep saying it, Mister Malkovich. Maybe it'll come true," she said sarcastically.

For JT, he agreed with Chloe silently as their teacher began taking role call.

He just hoped that in two years, he would be out of the toxic waste hell hole called high school.