It was well before school hours, but Emma was already in the hallways and sitting in front of Gia's locker. The night before she had stopped by her best friend's house to talk, but had been turned away before she even got the chance to see Gia's face. Apparently, the yellow Ranger wanted to talk to no one.

It worried Emma to no end. Normally she was no one. Normally, when Gia wanted to be alone, she would always be alone with her. Something was very wrong, and Emma desperately wanted to know what.

Footsteps echoed down the empty halls and Emma looked up. She had texted Gia all night long begging her to get to school early so they could talk, but she hadn't received a single reply. That didn't mean Gia hadn't read them. Emma was hoping her best friend was ready to talk.

Instead it was only Jordan. He walked over and took a seat beside Emma on the floor. He pulled her into his arms.

"Your ribs must be hurting."

"She's never done this before," Emma knew her voice sounded like she had been crying, and it was almost true. She would have been, but she stopped the tears from coming, not wanting to be seen crying by anyone.

"Even the very best of friends need some time apart sometimes. Maybe Gia just needed a night to herself. We were on a date last night. If that's the case, it's nice enough for her to plan around that."

"I don't know…"

"I know I'm kind of the new guy here, but Gia really cares about you, Emma. I'm sure it's nothing you've done, and when she's ready, she'll talk to you about whatever is bothering her."

Jordan gave Emma a loving squeeze before they heard another set of footsteps down the hall. Emma looked up, praying it was Gia but instead found herself staring at Ms. Chesterfield and another woman Emma didn't recognize.

"Normally we don't tolerate violence," Ms. Chesterfield said and her voice carried down the hall, "Even the principal is telling me I should have suspended her, but Miss Moran is one of our best students, and this behaviour, to this extreme, is very unusual for her."

"What do you mean, to this extreme?"

"You've worked with teenagers before," Ms. Chesterfield said, "This is the stage where many of them have trouble… keeping it in their pants. We do our best to create a safe environment for our students to express themselves, but there are some cases that just can't be helped."

"So, I'm working with the school… slut?"

"Not at all. Miss Moran is very well restrained. The boys, however, are not."

"Hormones… great."

"Recently, she's snapped. Just yesterday I caught her on school grounds after having beaten up another one of our students. It's very strange behaviour, as I've been hearing and seeing that Miss Moran and Mr. Carver have been spending more time together than usual."

"So the girl's got the violent streak? Look, can't you just tell me what I'm here for?"

"I need you to keep an eye on Miss Moran. Try to get her to open up to you. Be her friend, and if there's anything that the school or her parents need to know, you share that information with us."

"So, I'm her confidant? Have you tried talking to her best friend? All girls have…"

"This is the strategy I'm going with. Miss Moran and Miss Goodall are much too loyal. I'm afraid it would be useless to try and squeeze out anything from either of them."

Finally, Ms. Chesterfield and the stranger walked into the office. Down the hall, Emma turned to Jordan. Her eyes were wide. She couldn't believe what she had heard.

Jordan couldn't either, "Gia did that to Noah's face?"

"That can't be true," Emma shook her head, "Gia… I mean, she can get a little scary when the guys push her buttons, but she would never hurt anyone like that. Least of all Noah! He's never done anything to her!"

"That's just one side of the story," Jordan assured her. "When Gia comes to school, we can talk to her."

"Before that stupid bitch the school's hired can," Emma nodded her head. "What makes Chesterfield think that Gia's going to talk to anyone? Especially someone she's just met."

"It helps, sometimes," Jordan shrugged his shoulders. "I hate to say it, Emma, but maybe you're too much of a friend to help her with whatever caused her to snap."

"But… but…"

"That doesn't make you a bad friend," Jordan hugged Emma comfortingly, "I'm sure everything's going to be okay."

-Megaforce-

Jake and Troy walked with Noah to school. After hearing what had happened to his best friend the day before, Jake had sworn not to let Noah out of his sights, especially around Gia. He still couldn't believe what he had heard, and a part of him doubted the story was true. However, he couldn't take any chances. Gia had practically admitted to having beaten Noah up, and the blue Ranger seemed to be hiding something. Jake knew Noah enough to know he was hiding something big. He also knew Noah well enough to know that the blue Ranger would never want to get his friend in trouble, and he did consider Gia to be a friend. Being Rangers had brought the five of them closer together.

Jake couldn't believe Gia would betray that friendship. Noah had never given her or anyone a reason to act out against him. He was a good kid, and a good friend, who never tried to cause anyone any trouble.

Noah looked to his shoes. He couldn't understand what was going on himself. Gia hadn't beaten him up. He knew that, and Gia knew that. The whole school thought otherwise, and Gia was feeding into that rumour. Noah was the only one arguing in Gia's defense, but with so many voices against him, it was a losing battle. Especially when his attacker readily accepted the blame.

But Gia hadn't touched him. She had tried to protect him, even if it had taken a minute. The boy, Cliff, he had been the one to cause all this trouble. Noah couldn't understand why Gia was covering for him. He thought, maybe, he had something over Gia. It could be the reason Gia was always so closed off. Maybe, she had a secret no one but Cliff knew.

That would mean Emma didn't know about it either. Noah needed to talk to Gia privately. He needed to see what was going on with her before he really started to argue against her and the school about the cause of his bruises. He didn't want the truth to unintentionally hurt Gia even more than it already was.

"Can you at least cut her some slack," Noah asked Jake.

"Won't have to," Jake shook his head, "We're not going near her. Not unless another alien turns up. Even then, she's sticking with Emma. I'm not letting her get near you when she's carrying Ranger weapons…"

"Jake…"

"I'm serious, dude, it's you first. You're my best friend. No girl comes between us."

Noah sighed and the three boys walked into the school. Troy walked off by himself to his locker and Noah led Jake over to his. They grabbed all they would need for their first period and walked to class. Noah knew Jake wasn't going to let him out of his sight. That would make talking to Gia next to impossible.

-Megaforce-

Gia's parents weren't easily fooled. She had forged their signature on the note Ms. Chesterfield had asked her to get them to sign, and deleted the message Ms. Chesterfield left on the answering machine. She didn't want her parents to know what was happening. They didn't need to know and they couldn't help her even if they did. Their trying would only mess everything up.

However, their ignorance meant they weren't easily fooled when Gia pretended to be sick. Her parents had always been tough on her about her attendance. School had been important in her family, and unless she truly was sick, she would go. No simple cough would stop her. That meant any time Gia claimed to be sick the thermometer came out. Though Gia hoped, this time wasn't the exception. Her parents were convinced she was lying and sent her on her way.

Gia had no choice but to meet up with Ms. Chesterfield and Mrs. Smith in the office, first thing. She sat down in the chair, next to who she could only assume was Mrs. Smith.

"I've already talked to Mrs. Smith, and shared with her everything I believe she needs to know," Ms. Chesterfield started as she looked at Gia, "She will be following you around…"

"Creepy. For how long."

"However long she deems is necessary. She'll go to class with you, and work on assignments after school with you. A part of this exercise…"

"Torture."

"Is after school detention."

"Seriously?"

"Off to class, now, Miss Moran. Mrs. Smith, thank you so much for coming."

Gia rolled her eyes as she got up and walked out of the office. She knew she was being followed and hated it already. She turned around and looked up at the slightly taller woman.

"Try all you want, I don't crack."

"You snap, I hear. I'm Serena."

"Whatever," Gia brushed her off but Serena wouldn't let her go that easily. She reached out and grabbed Gia's wrist. Fortunately, her reflexes were sharp enough to avoid being slammed into the wall.

"Alright, I'm all for you taking out whatever aggression you have out on me, but can you hold back on the physical violence? Junior doesn't approve," Serena pointed down to her stomach and Gia could see a baby bump. She rolled her eyes and tried to walk away again. Serena tried to grab her one more time and caught her arm.

Gia's instincts were the same as last time. Serena looked on worriedly.

"Whatever it is, I'm here to help."

"Just drop it," Gia growled. She walked down the hall and noticed Emma and Jordan sitting by her locker. She didn't feel like talking to them or even just Emma today. She didn't even want to be at the school.

Cliff knew she was at school. At any minute he could come for her. No one knew.

"Gia!" Emma stood up and tried to meet her best friend halfway, but Gia turned away. She walked the other way.

"Gia," Serena chased after Gia, grabbed her arm, and for a third time Gia spun around and tried to shove her. There was definitely a pattern.

"Leave me alone!" Gia screamed and she lunged for Serena a fourth time as the older woman grabbed her wrists to restrain her.

Emma ran over and quickly pulled Serena away, "She doesn't like that! Stop it!"

Serena let Gia go and watched her run away. She turned to the girl who had come over, "Best friend?"

"Emma. You're her, aren't you? You're the one Chesterfield hired to follow her around."

"Serena. We can talk later. You stay here. I'll go after her."

"No, she's…"

"Stay here, kid," Serena insisted. Before Emma could argue, she ran off.

"Five minutes on the job," Serena muttered to herself, "And I already lose the kid. Why do schools keep hiring me?"