His cell phone buzzing every couple of minutes was driving him crazy. Noah usually ignored his phone while he was working and whoever was trying to reach him would usually realize he was busy and wait for his reply at a later time. This wasn't the case. Noah set aside his homework to check his messages and groaned. They were all from Jake.

He set his phone aside and went back to work. Jake typically got the message. No matter how eager he was to share, he knew very well that Noah wouldn't reply when he was busy.

"Dude, seriously?"

Noah jumped out of his seat when he heard Jake's voice and turned to the window. Jake was hanging on the branch that reached out from the tree in Noah's front yard to his bedroom window. This was usually how Jake came to call on him when Noah spent too much time in his room, and it was the reason Noah's window was usually unlocked. Jake had free access to the house as long as he didn't eat any food without permission or break anything.

However, just because Noah kept the window unlocked, didn't mean he liked it when Jake dropped by unannounced. The black Ranger climbed inside the house, closed the window behind him and turned around, "You know, when someone messages you more than twenty times, it's usually important."

"What do you want now?" Noah groaned. Jake walked over and glanced at Noah's homework. Then he frowned.

"I don't remember having that assignment."

"It's extra credit," Noah said. "Mr. Burley was kind enough to give me a few extra assignments to do."

"He was kind enough? Nerd alert," Jake teased and sat down on Noah's bed.

"I want to take my education seriously," Noah turned around to look at Jake, "And, you know, you should too."

"Why? What's in it for me?"

"A future?"

"It's called a scholarship," Jake shrugged his shoulders. "I'm getting by. And once the scouts see my amazing soccer skills…"

"You have a YouTube video titled Epic Failure. It shows you scoring on your own net. That'll impress the scouts..."

"Do you know how hard it is to get through your entire team? That was the goal of the century. Anyone with a brain could see there was talent behind that."

"Yeah, but I don't know how many coaches would want to pay to have a confused player on their team," Noah shook his head. "And besides, you're going to need a fallback, especially now that we're Rangers. What if something happens on the soccer field or the battle field and you can't play anymore. What are you going to do then?"

"What if you get hit in the head so hard you can't study anymore?" Jake replied with a smirk, "Relax, Noah. I'm not failing my classes. I'll be fine."

Noah rolled his eyes, "Whatever. I doubt you came here to talk about school."

"Well, kind of," Jake answered, "The school dance is coming up and…"

"I'm flattered," Noah teased and turned back to his homework, "But I don't play for that team, Jake."

"Dude," Jake tossed a pillow at Noah's head, "I was going to tell you, I convinced Gia to go."

Noah dropped his pencil and slowly turned around, "You're kidding me."

"But she'll only go we all go. You know, Emma, me, Troy, you…"

"Dances aren't really my thing," Noah shook his head.

"What about the Harwood Social Hub? Don't you want to advertise that? What about that project?"

"I am working on it," Noah opened up his laptop to show Jake the new updates he had added, "I'm trying to come up with a feature that'll make it really special. You know, so people don't think it's just a Facebook rip-off."

"Please, Noah. Gia doesn't get to go to these kinds of dances. She's too scared. It'll be good for her to get out and have a little fun."

"Does she want to do this," Noah asked, "Or have you somehow…"

"I didn't do anything. She's missing out on all these fun school activities because of a bunch of jerks. Look, we can all go together and it'll be fun!"

"I don't know," Noah shook his head. "I mean, it could be fun, but…"

"I'll buy you dinner."

"It's a date," Noah smirked and he reached out to shake hands with Jake. The black Ranger stared at his best friend's hand, and then looked up. He groaned and accepted the handshake.

"There will be no goodnight kiss."

"That's fine," Noah teased as he turned around to focus on his homework, "You're not my type."

Jake frowned as he walked to the window. He stuck one foot out and reached for the tree and then stopped.

"Do you have a type?"

Noah shook his head, "I'm not really into dating just yet. You know, there's more to life than just girls and soccer, right?"

"And you know there's more to life than just science. Whatever, dude, I'll see you later. I've got to talk to Troy."

-Megaforce-

Gia knocked on the door but then walked right in. Emma had invited her over and, like usual, her parents weren't home. The girls had the house to themselves which gave them the perfect opportunity to hang out and talk without interruption.

When Gia found Emma, the pink Ranger was on the phone. Given the look of annoyance and disappointment on her face, it seemed she was talking to her parents. Gia sat down on the couch silently and waited for Emma to finish the call.

"But this weekend we were supposed to… no, I get it. It's important. I'll be fine. I'll go to Gia's if I need anything. I love you. Bye."

Emma set the phone down and then looked to Gia with a sigh.

"Ditched?"

"Mom's going with dad on the business trip," Emma answered. She grabbed her bowl from dinner and carried it over to the kitchen. Gia followed her.

"Is that why they aren't here now?"

"Dad had a meeting downtown, and I guess something came up," Emma put her dishes in the dishwasher and then turned to Gia, "Now he's got to travel to New York for the week, and mom decided she was going to tag along."

"That sucks."

"They were going to take me to Panorama," Emma nodded her head. "Apparently, the city's still recovering from those monster attacks from a while back. I figured I could do a little volunteering there. I was really looking forward to it."

"I guess that's a bust then," Gia said before digging into her pockets, "I'd offer to go with you instead, but I've got no cash."

"It's fine," Emma shrugged her shoulders, "It's probably best if I stay in town anyways. We've got our own monsters to deal with."

"Yeah, I guess," Gia sat down at the table and started to play nervously with the sleeve of her jacket, "Sometimes things do work out, though. If you're not leaving town, maybe you'll want to go to the school dance."

Emma stopped right in her tracks and dropped the glass of water she was bringing over for Gia. She stared at her best friend in complete and utter shock.

"A… a dance? After what happened last time, you want to go to a dance?"

Gia nodded her head slowly, "Jake talked me into it…"

Emma picked up the glass, but when she heard Gia mention Jake had brought up the subject of the dance the glass shattered in her hand. She let out a little whimper of pain which caused Gia to jump up and help her.

"Jake? You're going to the dance with Jake?" Emma asked as Gia brought over a towel to wrap around Emma's hand so the blood wouldn't drip on the floor.

"I'm going with all of you, hopefully. If I go, you'll be there, right? Jake's going to convince Noah and Troy to come along and we'll stick together. It'll be fine, right?"

"Yeah, just watch what you drink," Emma said and then looked right at Gia, "Are you sure this is something you want to do. No one's going to blame you for skipping out on social events after what happened…"

"I'm not having fun in high school," Gia whispered. She helped Emma up carefully so neither stepped in the broken glass as they walked to the sink. "Dad always tells me high school's supposed to be the best years of my life, and so far they've been pretty shitty."

"If your dad knew what happened, he'd never want you to take another risk," Emma said. "Have you thought this through? What if someone decides they want to one up Mick and Alex?"

"You're not going to let them, right?"

"Well… no. No, of course not but… I was already planning on going to the dance," Emma looked up nervously at Gia, "I was out in the woods earlier and I ran into Jordan. He asked me out."

"Oh…"

"I can cancel," Emma said as Gia left to find the first aid kit. If Gia had made up her mind about going to the school dance, Emma didn't want to make the same mistake she had made at the party. She had left Gia to hang out with Drew and that was how Mick and Alex managed to take advantage. Emma still felt guilty for that, and refused to let it happen again. No boy came above her best friend.

"No, it's fine," Gia found the first aid kit and brought it over. Emma pulled her hand out from the running water and let her best friend get to work. As Gia wrapped her hand she gave a little smile, "If you really like him, you should go for it."

"But if you want to go to the dance…"

"It's not like you won't be there," Gia said, "And Jake, Noah, and Troy will be there too."

"Yeah, Jake. You know, one of the many guys…"

"Jake's different."

"So you like him."

"No," Gia shook her head, "I don't like anyone, Emma."

"So?"

"We're just friends. We're just hanging out as friends. All of us. Besides, I've got to learn to trust those guys, right? And if those freaky symbols on our Ranger suits mean anything, Jake and I are partners. I'm really going to have to learn to trust him."

"Yeah, but you take baby steps first," Emma shook her head. "I mean, you don't… you don't trust him with this."

"You don't like him."

"No, it's not that. He's a sweet guy, I guess. They all are. It's just… I don't want to go back there again. Back to you hating yourself, you having your guard up all the time, even around me. I don't know Jake all that well and…"

"You don't trust him with me?"

"A bit," Emma bit her lip. "He doesn't know what you've been through. You're still Gia Moran to him. You're not just… okay, maybe he won't do anything. I guess he's earned himself a bit of credit by now, but what if he messes something up?"

"Troy and Noah will be there too. I'm not going if they aren't all going."

"Just… are you sure? You really want to do this again? You're still hurting, Gia, I know…"

"Maybe… maybe I need this," Gia looked to Emma, "I can't hide forever."

"So, you really want to do this?"

"You are going to be there, right?"

"Yeah… yeah. Jordan and I will both stay by your side if we have to. I'll convince him."

Gia had finished wrapping up Emma's hand and put away the first aid kit. Then she looked her best friend in the eyes.

"I need to meet him."

"Who? Jordan?"

"Yeah."

"Gia…"

"What? It's not like your parents are going to be around to do it."

"You've met Jordan."

"Can't say I got a good impression from him. If he acts firsts and thinks later, how's he going to treat you? I need to know he's got good intentions."

"Seriously, Gia?"

"Yes, seriously. I'm not letting what happened to me happen to you," Gia grabbed the phone and placed it in Emma's good hand, "Invite him to Ernie's. Tell him I'm buying."

"You're going to scare him off."

"If I do, good. You don't need a runner."

"You're the reason I've never had a long term boyfriend. You know that, right," Emma smirked teasingly as she dialled Jordan's number.

Gia smirked back, "I'd be fine keeping you all to myself for as long as we both live."

"I'd like a life," Emma replied playfully just before Jordan answered the phone. She left the room to speak privately, though Gia decided it would be fun to follow her around and make kissing noises whenever Jordan spoke.