Chapter Text
"Bitch Better Have My Money"
Trini’s sneakers pound against the pavement as she scours the entire school grounds at the end of the day. Her eyes scan the passing areas acutely but fails to yield the results she’s seeking. Fingers fly across her phone’s screen as fast as her feet are carrying her across campus.
[Trini 2:44]
zack, you better b at school today
She checks his usual stomping grounds: the secluded utility shed near the football stadium, the bathrooms on the farthest outskirts near the chemistry labs, and the outside area at the back of the school. Each place is emptier than the last causing Trini’s scowl to deepen with every strike out.
[Trini 2:48]
this is really important where tf are you
Slowing to a stop near the flagpole out front, Trini sucks in gulps of fresh air to catch her breath. It’s quite possibly the worst day for their truant friend to be elusive, but Trini’s always had shitty luck so she can’t exactly blame him. After becoming a Power Ranger he has steadily upped his attendance, but the bar is set pretty low when you’re starting from completely absent all of the time.
Her phone buzzes and she whips it up to read whatever excuse he has cooked up for her.
[Zack 2:52]
was taking a dump. can’t a guy get a break?
[Trini 2:52]
you’re so gross why are we friends
[Zack 2:53]
you tell me crazy girl
Her lips crack into a smile before she shakes her head and remembers the urgency.
[Trini 2:53]
are you at school today?
[Zack 2:54]
you’re lucky I was feeling studious today
[Trini 2:54]
studious my ass. fridays are pizza day at school
[Zack 2:54]
potato potato
[Trini 2:55]
what?
[Zack 2:55]
that was way less effective through text
[Trini 2:55]
whatever just come to the flagpole now and bring the money you owe me
[Zack 2:56]
sooo about that...
As soon as she reads his last text, Trini feels her blood pressure rising like a bubbling volcano. A couple of weeks ago she had lent him some cash to take a girl out on a date. Partly because it was satisfying to see him beg so desperately because he really liked this chick, but mainly because she was happy that he was happy. Honestly, she would have lent him the money regardless simply because he’s her friend, but the groveling really was a nice touch.
[Trini 2:57]
SOS
It’s their code for when shit is real, and now is the time to cash in on that debt because Trini has a date of her own—with none other than Kimberly Hart.
Yes, the Kimberly Hart.
The very girl who she’s been pining for ever since they stumbled across the power coins on that fateful night that changed their lives forever. The very girl who she initially despised when she had first transferred because of ignorant stereotypes that shaped how Trini thought Kimberly was as a person without even getting to know her first.
The very girl who stole her heart after she realized just how wrong she was.
And one would think that when a girl tricks you and pulls you down off a seemingly bottomless cliff, the friendship would be over before it even started, but such was not the case with Kimberly. Maybe Trini’s just a glutton for punishment but something inside her that day compelled her to come back, and it certainly wasn’t Jason’s mildly rousing speech—all she knows for sure is that she fell into more than just that ravine.
Trini doesn’t do emotions very well. Anger maybe, sarcasm most definitely, but love? As far as she’s concerned, love is as foreign to her as advanced physics. She loves her family, but it’s a delicate and complicated love that’s riddled with frustrations, so navigating the complex feelings she harbors towards Kimberly is a treacherous endeavor to say the least.
But it’s worth it—it’s always worth it.
She’s always worth it.
Trini had finally mustered up the courage today, fueled by Billy and Jason’s supportive encouragement and inspiring pep talk, to ask Kimberly out on a date. It was the most nerve-wracking moment of her teenage life, standing so closely beside Kimberly as she unfolded the tiny note that Trini slipped into her locker that morning.
Passing notes is kind of their thing, so it only seemed fitting that she asked her to dinner with a note. She even tried to draw a picture of a pterodactyl and a sabre toothed tiger but Kimberly ruined the moment by asking why she scribbled a pigeon and a dog on the paper. Trini knows she’s no Michelangelo, but come on.
Despite Trini’s apparently poor fine arts skills, Kimberly beamed at her and breathed out a relieved “finally!” before pulling her into a warm, inviting hug. Kimberly always gives amazing hugs too, the kind where her arms wrap fully around Trini’s body, not too tight but just close enough to make her feel safe, to feel enveloped by affection.
They’re the kind of hugs you never want to end, but time waits for no one and the school bell rang so they had to go their separate ways. Trini still felt the lingering warmth from Kimberly and her body hummed with vibrating excitement, eager for the day to end so they can go on their date.
It wasn’t until her next class when Trini opened her wallet to determine where they would go later that night did her heart plummet into her stomach.
It was empty.
Sure, insisting to pay for the whole bill is an antiquated notion, but Trini doesn’t care—she wants to treat Kimberly on their first date, to really make her feel as special as she makes Trini feel, but how is she going to do that with no money whatsoever? There’s no way she’s going to have Kimberly pay for the entire dinner when the date was Trini’s idea to begin with.
Which is why Zack needs to get his ass over to the flagpole before she kicks it so hard he won’t have anything left to sit on.
“Bitch better have my money,” Trini mumbles under her breath as she crosses her arms, her foot tapping the ground impatiently.
Her phone buzzes again but before she can glance at its contents an arm slings around her shoulders out of the blue and startles her.
“Here you are!” Kimberly exclaims as she leans heavily into Trini with a broad smile on her face. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Sorry, I had uh… stuff I had to do after school,” Trini replies vaguely with her gaze averted downward.
Trini feels Kimberly tense up, the air thick with silence before her voice tentatively asks, “Are we still on for tonight?”
“Yes!” The word blurts out louder than intended and a blush overtakes Trini’s chagrined expression.
“Oookay, cool. I was just checking,” Kimberly responds quietly. “I mean, if you’re having second thoughts or like, you don’t feel like going out tonight I totally understand. The last thing I want is for you to regret anything or force you into something you’re not ready for or–”
“Hey, no no, stop.” Trini turns swiftly to face Kimberly and shakes her head earnestly. “Believe me, I do want this–” her hands motion back and forth between them animatedly “–I had something I needed to take care of first before we leave, really.”
The tension in Kimberly’s thin expression releases as she exhales, the worry and anxiety leaving her body upon hearing her words. “Sorry, I’m a little nervous I guess.”
“Aw, I make you nervous?” Trini grins smugly which garners a playful slap on the arm from Kimberly. Her pocket buzzes again, but Trini disregards it in favor of paying attention to the situation at hand.
“Seriously though, I haven’t really put myself out there since the whole Ty Flemming thing and I just don’t want…” Kimberly pauses, her eyes shifting left and right, heavy with the pain of her past and searching for the right words to continue.
...to get hurt is what Trini thinks to herself, because behind all of the confidence and bravado, romance is still very much a sore point for Kimberly. She knows she’s made mistakes and if you ask her what compelled her to do it, even she has no idea, but the repercussions of her actions still echo to this day and they’re impossible to escape.
Trini throws her arms around Kimberly and pulls her back into a close embrace. Her hugs may not be as good as Kimberly’s, but damn it she can try. She’d hug away Kimberly’s ghosts if she could, but life doesn’t work that way and it’s never that simple, so Trini offers her truest self and hopes it’s enough to keep the demons at bay.
Smiling softly in the crook of Kimberly’s neck, Trini breathes out barely above a whisper.“For what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty cool.”
A choked laugh escapes Kimberly’s lips and her grip around the smaller Ranger tightens. “Thanks.”
Trini ignores the questioning looks that the other students are conspicuously throwing their way because they don’t matter–nothing else matters right now besides the fact that Kimberly is in her arms and that they fit together as if it were meant to be and everything feels absolutely perfect.
“Trini!”
The moment ruined, Trini’s brow furrows upon hearing her name being shouted in the distance and both girls turn to seek the source of the noise.
Kimberly squints to get a better look and her mouth parts open slightly in confusion. “Is that… Zack?”
True to her observation, Zack is barrelling towards them at full speed from across campus like a charging bull, his arms furiously pumping at his side and long legs putting in work. If his attendance at school wasn’t so poor, Trini could picture him on the basketball team or track and field.
He closes the gap in an impressively short amount of time, coming to a halt several feet away. Doubled over with his hands on his thighs as he heaves in and out haggardly, Zack angles his head up and stares at Trini incredulously.
“This is your SOS?”
Sweat drips down the sides of his face and Trini nods seriously. “Yeah.”
Zack straightens up and lets out an exhausted laugh. “Oh this is great.”
“Dude, you can laugh about it later. Do you have it?”
He shakes his head, “Nope.”
“What?!” Trini nearly shrieks and Kimberly flinches out of reflex, taken aback by her unusually loud outburst. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? Why’d you even run over here to begin with if you didn’t have my money?”
Zack shrugs casually with a shit-eating grin still plastered on his face, “You stopped responding to my texts.”
“What money?” Kimberly inquires, her head tilting to the side curiously.
“Oh, Trini didn’t tell you?” Zack starts, amusement twinkling in his eyes. “She’s fresh out of cash, which I’m assuming she needed for whatever she’s doing tonight, which, by the looks of it, might be you–OW!”
Trini cuts him off with a swift punch to the chest mixed with a little Ranger strength for good measure.
Kimberly snorts humorously and looks at Trini. “Is this what was bothering you?”
Too ashamed from being exposed, Trini could only stare at the ground and nod her head dumbly.
“You’re adorable.” Kimberly links their hands together and gives her a little tug. “You don’t have to pay for me.”
“But I wanted to!” Trini protests with exasperation. “Besides, I asked you out on a date. That’s just messed up that you have to pay when I was the one who proposed it.”
“It’s okay, don’t worry,” Kimberly says nonchalantly with a cheerful smile, “tonight’s on me.”
Zack smirks, “That’s not the only thing that’ll be on you tonight.”
Trini punches him again, her face as red as a tomato, as Kimberly’s bright laughter rings in the air.