Author's Note: Hey ya'll! I know this is a bit late, but Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you lovely people! I hope ya'll had an awesome time (I know I did, til I got sick) and stay safe! Please enjoy! xoxox

Chapter Seven: Some Things Never Change

Serena walked into the dining room to see all the rangers sitting around the table. There was only one spot left, which Serena assumed was Emily's old spot. It made sense because the seat was in between Mike and Mia, Emily's two best friends.

"You're just in time for dinner." Mia said with a smile. She gestured for Serena to take the seat next to her. Serena gratefully walked over and sat down next to Mia and Mike.

Once she was seated, everyone started eating, or gagging. Mia had made dinner and Serena wasn't sure it was even edible.

When Mia saw Serena was hesitant to eat her creation she spoke up, "It's peanut butter and jelly pasta! You'll love it."

Serena nodded her head and once again looked at her plate. She could barely make out the noodles, and they looked like they were covered in chunky brown goo.

She looked at her new teammates and it looked like none of them were enjoying it, but they were trying to hide it. When Mia wasn't looking they would spit the food out, either into a napkin or back onto the plate. What concerned Serena was that you couldn't tell the difference between the spit up food and what was originally on the plate. But everyone on the team made it look like they were enjoying it.

So Serena picked some up on her fork, and forced herself to put it in her mouth. Her first instinct was that she was being poisoned, and she needed to spit the toxins out. But Serena resisted the urge and swallowed. Thankfully Mia hadn't seen Serena's pained expression because she was too occupied looking at the other ranger's reactions.

"This is great Mia." Kevin even managed to choke out.

"Really? I was kind of scared you wouldn't like it.." Mia said.

"Oh no, it's delicious." Jayden lied.

"Good, do you like it Serena?" Mia asked hopefully.

Serena stared at her wide-eyed. This was it. If she told Mia the wrong thing, it could make everyone hate her. She had two options. She could tell Mia the truth and say it was the worst thing she had ever tasted. Or, she could tell her it was fantastic and she loved it. She didn't know what to do. If she lied and Mia found out, she would be dead. But if she told Mia the truth she would be crushed. She didn't want to hurt her, she was sure if she did the others would not be happy with her.

She looked around at the others, seeing they were all staring expectantly. It looked like they were silently begging her to lie, to spare the pink ranger's feelings.

"It's really yummy." Serena decided to lie.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They hadn't had time to warn Serena of Mia's awful cooking, but they were very glad she had caught on in time. They didn't like having her lie, but it was better than crushing Mia's feelings. Jayden flashed Serena a smile, thanking her silently for keeping the secret of Mia's cooking. Serena smiled, blushed, and looked away.

Mia smiled happily at the newest member of the team, "Yay!" she exclaimed happily.

"So Serena, now that you're part of the team, tell us about yourself." Jayden said, flashing Serena another smile.

"Well.." Serena started as she again starting blushing like mad.

Mike abruptly got up and walked out of the room, "I'm going to go skype Emily." He had said as he left, visibly upset that Emily seemed to be so easily forgotten.

***Going Home***

By the time Emily and her parents got back from the airport it was already dark outside. Since Emily lived in a small town, there was no train station close. So it had been a long drive home. But Emily smiled when she saw the familiar red barn and fields surrounding her little white house. It looked as though it hadn't changed since she left. The horses were grazing in the field and the cows weren't too far away.

Emily's mom, Tracy, saw her daughter's smile, "You miss this place?"

"Yeah. I did." Emily replied.

Emily's dad pulled into the driveway and parked the car. Emily hopped out and helped her dad grab her bags from the back of their truck. She walked up to the house and opened the door. Everything still looked exactly the same. From the way the couch was in the perfect position to see the small TV, to the way the logs were arranged next to the fireplace.

Emily was glad to be home.

"Honey, once you put your things upstairs, why don't you come to the store with me. I was so busy getting your room ready, I forgot to go grocery shopping." Tracy asked.

"Sure mom. Lemme just go put these bags upstairs." Emily said happily. She couldn't wait to tell her mom all the things that had happened while she had been at the Shiba house.

"Okay, I'll be waiting in the car." Tracy said as she walked right back out the door.

Emily raced up the stairs with her bags and placed them on the bed. She ran back down the stairs and out the door. Her mom had already started the car and was ready to pull out. Emily opened the passenger side door and hopped in.

The whole ride to the grocery store, Emily told her mom countless stories of the Nighlock they had battled. She told her about Negatron, Dreadhead, and everyone else she had faced. Her mom listened happily, enjoying hearing how her daughter and her team had worked together so well.

Too soon for Emily's liking, they made it to the one of the only grocery stores in her town. Emily and Tracy got out of the car and Tracy grabbed a cart. They walked up and down the aisles, grabbing things off the shelves as they went by. By the time they were near the checkout lines, the cart was almost completely full.

"Emily honey, I need to run over to the pharmacy quick to get your dad's medicine. Think you can checkout for me? I'll be back real soon, I promise." Tracy asked her youngest daughter.

Emily sighed, "Sure mom."

"Great! Here's my credit card. I'll be waiting out front when I'm done." Tracy said as she exited the store.

Emily shook her head and moved forward in the line. Soon a register was open, and Emily was so tempted to wait for another. The cashier was one of Emily's old tormentors. Just her luck.

The man behind Emily gestured to the open register and urged Emily to move forward. Emily reluctantly went to the open register and started unloading her cart. She hoped her tormentor wouldn't recognize her, but that hope quickly vanished.

"Emily?" the girl asked, clearly surprised to see the town loser had come back.

"Oh, hi Jessica." Emily said nervously.

"Where have you been the past year?" Jessica asked with a smirk. "Oh, lemme guess. You were sent away because your parents finally had enough of the crybaby?" Jessica guessed.

'And the torture begins…' thought Emily as she shook her head no. Even after being gone a whole year battling evil nighlock, Jessica still made her freeze in fear.

"Hmm… You couldn't have gotten pregnant. Too ugly for that, I mean, nobody would want to do it with you. Unless you were a whore on the street and they were really desperate." Jessica chuckled as she continued to ring up Emily's groceries. She had missed having someone to pick on. She could make fun of the other kids, but it Emily had always been her favorite victim. Everyone loved to tease Emily, it was just so easy.

Emily was close to tears. She knew things would be bad, but she had hoped for one day of peace before the storm. She knew coming to the grocery store was a bad idea…

"So if you weren't sent away, and you weren't pregnant, where were you?" Jessica asked.

"Somewhere…" Emily muttered. She couldn't tell Jessica where she really was. Although she was no longer a ranger, she couldn't reveal her identity. It could possibly give Serena away, too.

"Whatever, I'll figure it out eventually." Jessica said as she finished ringing up the last item.

"$86.93" Jessica read the total to Emily.

Emily ran her mom's credit card, and paid for the groceries. She put all the bags into the cart and muttered a 'thanks' under her breath. As she walked away though, Jessica slid her foot out and tripped Emily. Not only did Emily trip and fall, but the cart rolled away and into a display of canned tomato juice. The pyramid of tomato juice collapsed and fell onto Emily.

Emily let out a whimper as Jessica burst out laughing. Now she really was going to cry. Not because she hurt physically, but because she knew nothing had changed. She knew she would still be picked on, and it seemed Jessica was making up for lost time.

"Silly little Emily. Still as clutzy as ever." Jessica teased as she continued to laugh at Emily.

Emily picked herself up off the ground and walked out of the store. She saw her mom was waiting in the car so she walked over. She put the bags of groceries in the back of the truck and got into the front seat.

Tracy noticed her daughter's expression, "Are you okay? Did something happen?" she asked.

"I'm fine. Let's just go." Emily said, holding back the tears that were starting to build up. 'I have a lot to tell Mike tonight' thought Emily as she and her mom drove home.