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Kendall did not look amused when she hung up the phone.
“Shelby,” she said, and Shelby raised an eyebrow.
“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it,” she said automatically.
Kendall sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I know you didn’t. This time. That was Hayley Ziktor, she helped set up this lab and provided a lot of technical expertise for the Dino Thunder Power Rangers. Apparently, the Ranger Girl Club is having a meeting, and you’re being inducted.”
“The what?” Shelby asked.
“You heard me the first time,” Kendall said. “Just…go wait at the cafe until Gia and Mia come to kidnap you. Please try not to cause a scene.”
*
The two women who had come to grab Shelby turned out to be pretty easy to identify. Both were slightly older than her. The white girl with long blonde hair was wearing a yellow t-shirt, while the Asian girl had a matching shirt in pink.
“Shelby?” the one in pink asked. “I’m Mia. This is Gia. You need to come with us.”
“Is the ‘ia’ name a requirement?” Shelby asked. “Because I’m not changing my name.”
Gia laughed. “No, it’s just a weird coincidence. We also had Ems two years in a row.”
“This is so weird,” Shelby muttered.
Mia just grinned. “Wait until you meet the others. Lily is bringing pizza, and everyone is super excited to have you. We always have a good time when we get together.”
The two girls took Shelby’s arms and led her out of the museum. As soon as they got into the (yellow) jeep, Mia handed her a pin.
“Only girl on the team,” Shelby read. “Seriously, you made me a pin for that?”
“Well, they made them for Tori first,” Mia said. “And then Kira got one the next year. And Lily got one a few years after that.”
“Tori also has a ‘not a pink or yellow’ button, but she wasn’t the first one to get that. Alyssa did, although she has pink on her uniform, but she’s actually a white ranger, and apparently if Delphine ever comes for a reunion they’ll make her one too.”
“Delphine?” Shelby asked, trying to keep it all straight.
“Oh, she’s from Aquitar.”
“Are there any other aliens?” Shelby asked.
“If Karone and Maya come, sure! But they don’t always make it—the portal from Miranoi is only supposed to be used in emergencies. And every now and then the space ninjas decide to crash even though they’re not Rangers, but it keeps them out of trouble so Tori vouches for them.”
“There isn’t going to be a test on all of the names, is there?” Shelby asked.
Gia laughed, and turned onto the highway. “Nope, but don’t worry, everyone has name tags. And buttons telling you what things you might have in common.”
“Besides the only girl?”
Gia nodded. “There are the allegiance ones—dinosaurs, animals, ninjas, and those sorts of things. All of your other buttons will be handed out when we get to Tanya’s.”
“And then there are the experience ones,” Mia added. “I survived being brainwashed, formerly evil, bodyswapped, time travelled, should have been red…although Lauren refused to wear that one when it was offered to her.”
“Bodyswap? That…actually happens?”
Mia laughed. “The first thing you learn about being a Ranger is that anything is possible.”
“Sometimes I think my team was lucky,” Gia said. “ A lot of the weirder stuff never happened to us. Well, I mean, I do have an ‘under a spell’ one.” She made a face. “And we’re the first to get the ‘fought multiple villains’ and ‘got a new costume’ buttons since the space rangers.”
“Do you keep making new buttons?” Shelby asked curiously, already trying to think of which ones could apply to her besides “dinosaur” and “only girl.”
“Alyssa teaches kindergarten,” Gia said dryly.
“And Kimberly and Aisha think it’s hilarious, so they keep coming up with new ones,” Mia added.
“I can’t think of anything to add,” Shelby said after a moment. “I mean, Chase is the one who was put under a spell.”
“Oooh, that’s my favorite,” Mia’s eyes lit up. “How did he break it?”
“Skateboarding,” Shelby said.
Mia and Gia both burst into laughter simultaneously. “There are a bunch of guys I can’t wait to introduce him to,” Mia said after a minute.
“Guys?” Gia asked. “I was just thinking of Kelsey’s reaction. If you introduce him to Shane, Tori might kill you.”
Shelby smiled. She couldn’t wait to meet all of these people. There was something to be said for shared experiences. Speaking of which…
“Do any of you have ideas for dealing with scientists who don’t appreciate you?” she asked.
“Not personally,” Gia said, “But there’s a button for that.”