Author's Note: Hey ya'll! I just wanted to take a moment to apologize that I haven't exactly been consistent with my updating. I'm trying, but it's harder than you think. Anyways, I just wanted to thank all of you for being patient and reviewing and all that jazz. So thanks, and try to enjoy this next chapter! Xoxox
Warning: Okay, so this chapter is gonna have a bit more language than usual. Nothing explicit, but just thought I would warn you.
Chapter Twelve: The Impact of Words
Emily arrived home from school feeling better than when she had left. She was still worried about her bullies, knowing they hadn't forgotten her, but now she had a friend. Haley and Emily had spent the rest of the school day in the secret shed and talked. Emily told Haley about her samurai friends, leaving out the fact they were the power rangers. She had even spilled the fact that she had the biggest crush on Mike, even though she was almost positive he would never feel the same way for her.
Emily walked up to her room and managed to avoid her parents. Her new laptop was still sitting on the desk so Emily decided to see if Mike could talk. Although she knew it was best to forget about her samurai friends for now she had to tell Mike about her first day back at school.
Emily frowned when she saw that he wasn't online. She checked to make sure everything was working, but it still showed that Mike couldn't talk. Emily reluctantly shut her laptop, then opened it back up. Still no Mike.
Emily shut her laptop once again and dragged herself downstairs into the kitchen. It seemed Emily's parents had been waiting for her, but Emily ignored it. She walked over to the fridge and searched for something good to eat.
"How was your first day back, sweetheart?" Tracy asked her daughter.
"Oh, fine." Emily replied, spending her sweet time inspecting everything in the refrigerator. Soon enough though she gave up on the fridge and she walked to the kitchen cabinets to try her luck there.
"Did anyone remember you?" Byron asked.
"Yes." Emily said hoping they would drop the subject.
"Oh, well than. Make any new friends?" Byron tried.
"One." Emily said. She had hoped her parents wouldn't ask, but unfortunately luck had not been on her side lately.
"Well that's good. Honey, do you mind if your father and I head out to town for a few errands? We have some things we need to get." Tracy asked Emily.
"That's fine. Will you be home for dinner?" Emily questioned.
"I don't know. We'll give you a call when we know. C'mon Byron, let's go before it gets late." Tracey said as she urged her husband out of his chair and into the entryway.
"Bye sweetie! Call if you need anything!" Tracey called as she and her husband walked out the front door.
"Bye guys." Emily said halfheartedly. She loved her parents, but at times she wished they wouldn't ask so many questions about her life.
Emily finally decided on eating a granola bar and walked into the living room. She turned on their ancient tv and flipped through their 15 channels. Out in the country, she didn't have much technology that worked. It was times like this when she really missed the Shiba house.
She was finally getting into her show when Emily heard a knock at the front door. Emily hesitantly got up from her spot on the recliner and walked over to the window. She looked outside and saw no one there. She went to the front door and opened it to see no one standing there. Emily looked down and picked up a bouquet of flowers. She smiled before seeing the note attached. She picked it up and read it before throwing the flowers to the ground and running to her room crying.
"So sorry about the abortion, at least we won't have to deal with another ugly whore like you!" the note attached to the flowers kept replaying in Emily's head. The kids had said some horrible and nasty things to her in the past, but Emily was convinced her time away had made things ten times worse.
***Going Home***
"Mike hurry up! We have to go! There's a nighlock attack! It looks likes Serrator is back!" Mia called for the green ranger.
"But Em should be getting home any minute! I need to talk to her!" Mike complained.
"There's no time. You'll have time when we get back!" Jayden yelled.
Mike grunted and reluctantly followed his team mates out the door. The gap sensor had sounded moments before and everyone was already rushing out.
By the time the samurai finally got to the location they were thoroughly confused. They looked around and while they saw no humans around, there were also no signs of a Nighlock attack. Things were eerily quiet.
"Uh guys? Anyone else notice something wrong with this picture?" Serena asked.
"Where's the nighlock?" Kevin wondered out loud.
"The gap sensor said he was right here.." Jayden said, very confused by the situation.
"Amigo, I hate to break it to you but it's not here." Antonio said.
"You don't think I know that Antonio?" Jayden snapped.
"Jayden, calm down." Mia tried to sooth him.
"Well this was a waste of time. I could be talking to Emily right now." Mike complained.
"I'm calling Ji. Something isn't right here." Jayden said.
"Ji. It's Jayden. There's no nighlock here. What happened?"
"I don't know, Jayden. The gap sensor appears to be working properly. Maybe the nighlock left?"
"That doesn't sound right. We're on our way home. We need to figure this out though."
"I agree. I'll call some people and see if I can find anything out."
Jayden hung up the phone and looked to his team, "Let's go home guys."
***Going Home***
Mike rushed to his room as soon as soon as he got home. He closed and locked the door then went and sat at the desk. He opened up the computer and looked to see if Emily was available. The computer said she was, so he video called her and waited for her to answer.
Finally Emily answered, but it was not what Mike was expecting. Her eyes were red and puffy, and tears were coming down her face.
"Em! What's wrong?!" Mike asked worriedly.
"This!" Emily exclaimed as she held up the paper for Mike to see.
Mike read it once, twice, three times to make sure he read it right. It took a moment to get over the shock, but when he finally did he spoke.
"They think you were pregnant and got an abortion?" Mike asked disbelievingly.
"Yes!" Emily sobbed.
"What ass-holes! I am going to kill them!" Mike screamed.
"And today at lunch," Emily hiccupped "Jessica called me a bitch and a slut. I didn't even do anything!" Emily sobbed even harder.
"Don't worry Em. She's just jealous of you. You and I both know those are dirty rotten lies. I'm sure everyone else does too." Mike tried to comfort her. But on the inside Mike had to keep himself from exploding with rage. If it wasn't for his samurai duties he would have driven down to the country and beaten the living daylights out of anyone who said one bad word about Emily.
Emily continued crying though, and though Mike tried, he couldn't get her to stop.
"C'mon Em, don't cry. Her opinion doesn't matter, it's not like you need her approval." Mike said.
"But if she doesn't like me no one else will!" Emily wailed.
"You have to have made atleast on friend?" Mike tried.
"One, her name's Haley." Emily explained.
"Well that's good then. Just don't listen to those other people. They're liars and they're only jealous of you. Don't they always say to surround yourself with people who build you up, not drag you down?" Mike said.
"Yeah. Thanks Mike." Emily said with a slight smile.
"Anytime Em." Mike said.
"So how are things with you?" Emily asked, wiping the tears from her face.
"Oh, okay. We've been missing you. And Serrator has got us all a bit worried." Mike said.
"What happened?" Emily asked.
"He kind of found out that you and Serena switched. And today the gap sensor went off, but there was no nighlock there." Mike explained.
"That's really weird…" Emily started.
"You bet. Everyone else is trying to figure it out, we actually just got back." Mike explained.
"Why aren't you helping them?" Emily asked curiously.
Mike grinned sheepishly, "Well I wanted to talk to you, so I raced in here as soon as we got back."
Emily grinned, "Well now we've talked. So why don't you go help them out. We'll talk later. They need you, the world needs you to figure this out."
"I guess you're right. You gonna be okay?" Mike sighed.
"I'll be fine in a bit. I'll call Haley and talk to her if I need someone. So get down there and help. Bye Mike!" Emily said.
"Bye Em!" replied Mike, the next part slipped out before Mike could stop it, "Love you."
Emily blushed madly before turning off her video camera. Mike sat for a moment shocked at what he had let slip out. He had imagined the moment he told her he loved her millions of times. Over and over again he had played every scenario. Somehow though this wasn't one of them.
"Oh, shit." Mike said. A few moments later Serena started knocking at his door.
"Mike! We need you!" Serena called from the other side.
Mike tried to forget about what he had said to Emily and opened the door. He looked both ways down the hallway and then gestured for her to come inside. Serena reluctantly stepped into his room before Mike slammed the door shut.
"Mike what is going on.." Serena started before she was interrupted.
"I need to tell you something, it's really important." Mike gushed.
"What?" Serena asked, suddenly worried.
"It's about Emily. She had her first day back at school today." Mike said.
"Dammit Mike. Why didn't you let me talk to her?" Serena scolded.
"Right now it doesn't matter. But I think things are getting worse for her there." Mike confessed. After all, Emily had never told him not to tell. She just hadn't given him permission to tell.
"What do you mean worse? What happened?" Serena said, going into protective older sister mode.
"Some stupid kids. They started a rumour, it's actually really dumb if you think about it…" Mike started to get off track.
"Michael, just spit it out already!" Serena urged him.
"Some kid, I think she said Jessica, started some nasty rumor that she got an abortion. That's why she was gone so long. She left a note for Emily saying 'Sorry about the abortion! Atleast we won't have to deal with another ugly whore like you.' or something like that. Then she called her some rude names." Mike said.
Serena's face went red and Mike swore he saw smoke coming out from her ears.
"That little bitch!" Serena exclaimed angrily.
"I know. But there's nothing we can do. I just thought you should know."
"Damn right I should know. That little brat Jessica is lucky I'm not there. Gosh, I am going to hurt that child when I get my hands on her…" Serena said.
***Going Home***
"Xandred. I have done what you asked." Serrator said as he arrived back on Master Xandred's ship in the Netherworld.
"Good. You found the girl?" Xandred shouted as he slurped down more Sanzu water with Octeroo faithfully be his side.
"Of course I did. I even enlisted some human help for the job. This child should be very easy to bring down." Serrator smirked evilly.
"Good. Now get back out there. The sooner we bring the former yellow ranger down, the better." Xandred commanded.