Chapter Text
“I’ve been meaning to tell you guys something since the night before we fought Rita,” Kimberly said, startling the group out of their comfortable silence. The bonfire crackled against the serene fall night as four pairs of eyes turned to give their attention to her.
“The night you asked us to skip you?” Trini asked, her thumbnail picking at the wet label on the bottle neck of her beer. Kimberly visibly swallowed before nodding.
“I wasn’t ready to open up that part of my life to you guys, but I think I am now,” she added as her eyes swept across the fire, meeting each one of her friends.
“No matter what it is, you’re still our friend,” Billy assured her from her left, leaning over to extend his fist to her. She gave him a grateful smile as she leaned over to meet it with her own.
“You got this,” Jason encouraged from her right. Kimberly took a shaky breath before starting.
“That night, Billy mentioned that I was in detention. I ended up there because I punched my ex-boyfriend’s tooth out,” she started, voice quivering slightly.
“They put it back,” Jason offered with a grin, earning a raspy chuckle from Kimberly.
“You just up and hauled off on his face?” Zack asked, propping his elbows on his knees and leaning forward to brace his head on his hands.
“I punched him because he told me I was the meanest person he knew,” Kimberly admitted, turning her gaze to the fire.
“What? No, you’re one of the nicest people I know,” Billy said, but she refused to meet his worried gaze.
“I wasn’t always. I’m trying to be better. But in that moment, he was right,” Kimberly confessed, so softly that Zack and Trini struggled to hear from the other side of the fire pit.
“How could he possibly be right?” Zack demanded, lifting his head up and giving her a puzzled look.
“After we broke up, I sent him a picture of my best friend and asked him if this was the girl he wanted to bring home to meet his parents. I knew they had feelings for each other and I was jealous.” Her words hung heavy in the air for a moment before Billy cleared his throat.
“A picture?” Billy inquired, not understanding the implication of her words.
“Yeah, a picture that was shared with me in private. It was a picture of her… naked,” Kimberly said in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Oh.” Billy looked sad as Kimberly wrapped her arms around her middle, holding herself in attempt at comfort.
“Yeah, I’m not proud of what I did. The worst part was I didn’t even regret it until I saw the look on her father’s face when they showed him,” she continued, body trembling as she finally revealed her secret to her friends.
“I said this to you before, but doing one bad thing doesn’t make you a bad person. You’re trying to make it better,” Jason offered with a sad smile as she bit her lip.
“I know, and I’m trying, I really am,” Kimberly said, choking back the tears that threatened to fall. Jason stood from his seat and moved next to her as her body wracked with barely restrained sobs.
“Okay, can I ask the question that’s on everyone’s mind? Why did you have a naked picture of your best friend?” Zack asked hesitantly as Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into his embrace and tried to control her breathing.
“She asked me if I thought one of her boobs was larger than the other, and sent me a picture for reference,” Kimberly said with a slight pitch in her voice. Jason patted her back reassuringly.
“And you sent that picture to your ex?” Zack asked again, for clarification.
“Yeah, that pretty much covers it.”
“I mean, I guess you learned your lesson. And you did kind of help save the town, so that has to count for something, doesn’t it?” Billy said, moving to get up and sit next to her. With an unsure hand, he moved to pat her back, but offered nothing more. She smiled at the gesture, knowing full well how uncomfortable he was with touching.
“And just like that, she’s redeemed?” Trini asked, her voice cracking slightly from being unused for the past ten minutes. Kimberly flinched at the cold tone as rage-filled eyes bore on her from across the slowly dying fire.
“What’s up, T?” Zack asked as she rose to her feet, brushing off debris off her jeans from the log she was seated on.
“She apologizes and suddenly she’s forgiven? That’s all it takes?” Trini asked again, her voice trembling from anger. Zack jumped to his feet as well, moving next to her side and grabbing her arm.
“Why are you being like this?” Zack demanded as Trini shrugged his hand off her arm and threw an accusatory finger in Kimberly’s direction.
“Does Amanda Clark know that you’re sorry? Does Ty Flemming know you’re sorry?” Trini asked, her voice rising in pitch with every word.
“The whole cheer squad has been sending me nasty messages since then,” Kimberly said, voice quivering. Jason curled his arm tighter around her shoulders and shot Trini a glare.
“And you don’t think you deserve it?” Trini demanded in an exasperated tone.
“Stop,” Jason snapped, but Trini ignored him.
“I’m not just going to forgive her because she wants it. She hasn’t earned that forgiveness,” she snarled.
“Please calm down, Trini. Don’t you see how upset she is?” Billy pleaded, his hand comfortingly resting at the crook of Kimberly’s elbow.
“What about-” Trini started, but Jason cut her off.
“That’s enough!” Jason shouted, his voice echoing through the empty quarry. He paused before continuing, lowering his voice. “What is your problem?”
“Nothing,” Trini snapped, tossing her empty beer bottle on the ground. Everyone flinched as the glass shattered, but Trini was already stepping over the log behind her and moving towards the dark forest.
“Trini, come back here!” Jason called after her and made a move to follow her, but Zack was already jogging to catch up to her. Instead, he sat back down and pulled and full on sobbing Kimberly into his chest.
“Any idea what that was about?” Billy asked over the top of her head, but Jason just shook his head.
“Not a clue,” he said back, Kimberly’s hands tangled in his shirt and her sobs echoed throughout quarry.
“Dude, what the hell is your problem?” Zack demanded, grabbing Trini’s arm to stop her from storming away. They were practically on the other side of the quarry by the time he caught up to her.
“None of your fucking business, Z,” Trini snapped back, yanking her arm out of his grasp. Zack moved to grab her shoulders and slammed her back against a nearby tree.
“Yeah, it kind of is my fucking business considering Kim is crying her eyes out back there,” he shot back. Trini’s movements were more sluggish than usual due her alcohol consumption, but managed to grab his hands and shove him into another tree resulting in a loud crack as his back met bark.
“You don’t think that maybe she deserves it?” she shouted, eyes blazing and she focused on the black ranger. Zack pushed himself off the tree, vaguely noticing the split down the center of the tree trunk.
“Where is this even coming from? You’ve been making heart eyes at her for weeks and suddenly you’re crucifying her. What gives?” he yelled, rushing forward to meet her waiting fist. She lobbed at his head, but he ducked under it and grab her stomach, pinning her to the ground. She moved her knee up and threw him up and over her head.
“How do you think Amanda Clark feels having her best friend violate her in such a way?” she wheezed, rolling onto her side and Zack pushed himself up to meet her eye to eye.
“Why would I care? She’s a bitch and she’s been treating Kim like shit for weeks,” he spat, a trail of red rolling down his chin. Trini gave him a twisted smile, her eyes following the trail of crimson.
“Maybe Kimberly fucking deserves it!” she snarled, lunging towards him again.
“Why?” he choked out, her hands clamped around his throat. She didn’t respond and he forced his head forward, colliding his forehead with her chin. She grunted as her mouth was flooded with the taste of cooper and pulled away.
“Do you know why I’ve had to keep moving schools, Zack?” she asked with a gargle, turning her head to the side to spit out some blood.
“Yeah, your parents don’t approve of your relationships,” he replied in a bored tone, eyes unfocused as he leapt to his feet. Trini took the offense against and hit him in the stomach with a well-placed kick. Zack groaned into the hit and moved backwards a few feet before lashing out with his own longer leg and clipping her on the side of her head. Her vision blurred and she went down hard.
“Do you know how they found out? The first time,” she panted as she laid there, closing her eyes to stop the world from spinning.
“No?” he replied, dropping down next to her as he pulled at his shirt to dab at the sweat accumulated on his face.
“My best friend caught me kissing my science partner under the bleachers at school. She took a picture of it and sent it to my parents,” she admitted.
“Oh… oh shit.” They sat in silence as Zack processed the new information.
“Yeah, and we just up and moved away. Just like that. My whole life was uprooted because of a fucking photo that Jasmine had no fucking right to send to my mother!” she exclaimed, barking the last of it into the quiet night.
“Okay, but she isn’t your ex best friend,” Zack tried to reason, looking over at her. Her eyes were closed as she just laid there, panting heavily. There was a trail of blood rolling down her neck from her ear and some dried blood around her lips.
“You’re telling me that Kimberly didn’t violate her best friend’s privacy and send a photo to someone who shouldn’t have seen it?” she asked in a croak, opening one eye to look at him.
“It’s a different thing, T. She wouldn’t do that to you,” he said in a softer voice, using the foot on his outstretched leg to tap against her one. She flinched at the contact.
“But she would do it, has done it. I can’t look at her the same now. And honestly, what has she done to try to fix the situation?” she asked, finally lowering her voice to an almost whisper.
“Have you not seen the text messages she gets from her former friends?” he asked to which Trini hummed in response.
“I’ve seen them and they made me so mad, up until I found that she earned those stupid texts,” she grumbled.
“That’s not cool, dude. Kim doesn’t deserve them,” he insisted, but Trini rolled her eyes and stared up into the treetops above them.
“Did you hear her during the battle with Rita? After a piece of debris hit Amanda’s car? She said, ‘that’s what you get’, as if Amanda deserved to have her naked photo sent out,” Trini recalled, closing her eyes to remember back to their fight. She took a deep breath in and Zack watched her chest fall as she let it out.
“Okay, yeah, I’ll give you that. It was kind of fucked up, but this is Kimberly. We know the real her, we know that she fucked up, but she’s trying to be better,” he defended. Trini gave him a dry laugh in return.
“Yeah, okay,” she scoffed.
“No seriously, hear me out. None of us are saints, except maybe Billy. But even he’s done some not great stuff. Like last time I checked, messing with a police issued ankle monitor was a crime,” he said.
“Oh I’m sorry, is that on par with revenge porn?”
“Look, you’re right. Kim did an incredibly fucked up thing. Are you really going to let this come between you?” he asked as he rose to his feet, dusting leaves and sticks off his pants. Trini pushed herself into a seating position with a strained groan and watched him.
“I don’t know,” she said, the anger and fight leaving her voice. Zack noticed the sad droop of her shoulders as she grabbed a fistful of debris of the forest floor.
“Well maybe you should figure that out soon, yeah?” he said before turning and wandering back towards their friends, leaving her to her thoughts.
“Dude, have you seen Kim today?” Zack asked, approaching Jason who slammed his locker closed and turned to face him.
“I spent most of the weekend with her. She cried her eyes out until there was nothing left,” he explained sadly, shouldering his backpack.
“Is she coming in then?”
“I’m thinking probably not. She’s probably exhausted and feeling sick. You seen Trini yet?” Jason asked as they moved and began walking away from his locker.
“Not since I left her alone Saturday night. Total radio silence,” he mused as they wandered through the halls towards Billy’s locker.
“Should we check on her?” Jason asked, but Zack just shook his head.
“Naw, trying to push her to talk is about as effective as swatting at a bee’s nest,” he replied. Jason nodded.
“True, true. It’s weird though, right? Her reaction?” he inquired. Zack hummed thoughtfully before answering.
“She explained some things to me, and I’m not saying her reaction was right, but justifiable. Sort of. It’s not really my place to tell you about it though,” he said as they approached Billy at his locker. The Blue Ranger turned to face them excitedly, but his face dropped when he noticed that they were missing two members.
“What are you guys talking about?” he asked hesitantly.
“Trini being stubborn and Kim’s absence,” Jason clarified.
“Kimberly’s not here? Oh, I brought her some cookies. My mom and I spent the day yesterday making them because I always feel better when I have cookies and I figured Kimberly might like them too,” he said, pulling a cookie tin out of his open locker. Zack’s face lit up when it saw it, but Jason grabbed his hand before he could make a grab for it.
“We can stop over her house after school, I think she’d really like that,” he said to Billy, pushing Zack’s hand back down at his side. Zack grumbled under his breath as Billy clapped happily.