The End.
For Now.
We've been dating almost a year now, she thought. It didn't seem that long when she thought about it. But it had been nearly a year since he had asked her out for the first time. They'd been through so much. Battles and graduation, the time of the Gold Ranger and the adventure to Murianthus. . .she knew he was the one for her, too. If their relationship had lasted through life and death things like it had, then it was solid, she sensed.
She toyed briefly with her pencil, glancing down at the sheet music again. It didn't have a title as of yet, and she really didn't know what to call it.
I really should be filling out my college applications, she smiled to herself, glancing over to the stack of things she really needed to look through. Just the sight of them made her feel trapped, however. She didn't want college. She'd dealt with high school because she'd had to, but there mere thought of another four extra years made her want to scream and run.
What she really wanted to do was sing. She knew that once she was no longer a Ranger she could. . .and they all knew they couldn't keep the power forever; their adult lives would start to interfere, no matter how they tried not to let it. But once she wasn't a Ranger. . .all kinds of possibilities would open up to her, to all of them.
Tanya began to hum the melody again, trying to figure out what to call it. But just as she really got into the tune, her thoughts drifted straight back to Adam again. She chuckled a little, starting to refine the song some, changing a word here and a phrasing there. Adam's birthday was coming up, and she was intending on singing this for him as a present.
Imagine, him being eighteen. I certainly can't imagine it, she chuckled. She hadn't known him for that long, compared to the others, but she really couldn't imagine him being of 'legal age'. But all sorts of things they could possibly do, if he weren't so shy the very mention of them would probably send him into cardiac arrest, were tossing around in her head. She chuckled a little. Who would have thought that the simple little date he'd asked her on that one day would end up like this?
She had been single for a month now, and she was actually starting to wonder if anyone was going to ask her out again. Had Shawn spread some sort of 'blacklist' on her to keep the boys away after they had broken up? Tanya knew that was silly, but as the Winter Ball drew closer and closer, no one came by to ask her out, and she was almost despairing a little.
You can just go solo, she reminded herself. It wasn't as if she hadn't before, in the days before she'd had a boyfriend. She and Shawn hadn't even had a chance to go to a dance or really date that much before the day she'd 'humiliated' him. Not that she cared anymore. He could take his stuck up attitude and shove it up somewhere the sun didn't shine.
The Yellow Ranger toyed fitfully with a pencil, her thoughts completely elsewhere than on the test she was supposed to be taking. She was glad Mrs. Applebee wasn't in the room right now, though the teacher was kind, she didn't take kindly to students who daydreamed in class, especially through tests. Tanya tried to concentrate on the work, but she kept getting distracted.
Her thoughts didn't wander aimlessly so much as they did drift with a strong purpose towards her teammate and friend, Adam. He hadn't asked anyone to the dance, either, she knew. She'd overheard some of the 'giggling girl' group talking about it the previous day as she'd been at her locker. For the life of her, she couldn't understand what those people saw in spending their days constantly involved in . . .nothing.
Different strokes for different folks, she finally decided, throwing all her mental energy towards the test. If she couldn't get a date, she could at least pass this thing, and put all the work Billy had put into tutoring her to good use.
After class, she was heading for her locker when she had felt a familiar touch on her sleeve. "Hi, Adam," she turned around to see the Green Zeo Ranger there. "What's up?"
"Hi," he smiled at her in that shy way that he had. "I've been trying to talk to you for a while now. . .you know that dance is coming up, right?"
She nodded slowly, and he took a deep breath. "I was wondering. . .do you have a date?"
"No," she replied softly, her insides starting to jump all around. "No, I don't."
Adam smiled suddenly. "Would you like to go with me?"
That was how it had all began. They'd had such a good time they'd started going on more and more dates. . .and before they knew it, they were a couple. All the heartache and pain that had come from Shawn's rejection of her, all the loneliness from being in a strange place and not having her family around, the surrogate family she'd grown used to, all the sorrow of her missing parts, was wiped away by his love. Tanya looked down at the song again, and a line from the chorus leaped out at her suddenly.
As she headed out the door, she found herself thinking about the former Rangers for a moment. It took her a moment, but she realized she hadn't seen Jason or Rocky around for a while, and she couldn't remember why. After their graduation, Rocky had hung out for a while, but then he had moved back to Stone Canyon to work with his dojo. He'd come down to visit for a while, but somewhere in there, he had just stopped. She had no idea why, and Jason had vanished almost as soon as they had returned from Murianthus.
As long as they're safe from Divatox, that's what really matters, she thought, tossing her purse over one shoulder and heading for the park to meet up with the others. She would have liked to have seen more of them, but really, it was just too dangerous. Putting the thoughts out of her head, she started humming the chorus of her new song to herself. It was a day simply too beautiful to ruin by thinking of the dangerous things that could happen to her friends.
Maybe we could arrange a little reunion or something, she did think. It would be so nice to see everyone again.
A sudden beeping of her communicator stopped her thoughts, however, and she sighed. Time to report in for work. Glancing around, she saw no one was near enough to see her, and with a tap of her communicator, she dissolved into golden fire.