Rope the Moon
by Jeremy Ray Logsdon

"In her eyes... there is nothing I can't do," the barber sang softly. Adam said nothing, even though he desperately wanted to. He just couldn't get away from country music.

He looked away from the mirror and spotted Trini sitting a short distance away. She must have felt his eyes land on her, because she looked up from her magazine and flashed him a warm smile. He returned the smile, and then asked, "Where are we going next?"

"Kimberly says the Amazon," Trini answered. "Angela hasn't got in touch with Dean Watson yet, though, but she says Kim would know."

"Planning a trip?" the barber asked, nearing the end of the haircut.

"Something like that," Adam answered.

"You're from the states, aren't you?"

"Yes sir," Adam said. "California, to be exact."

"Never been there, m'self," he said. "Wouldn't mind going though, but I don't think I'd like to live there." He chuckled, and then retrieved the electric razor. "Almost done, chap."

"I'm telling you everything I can think of," Kimberly assured her. "We're going to the Amazon. Brazil. Uhm... Xerxes? Something Xerxes."

"Are you sure you aren't making this up?" Tommy asked. Kimberly seemed to be pulling words out of thin air.

"Xerxes?" Dean Watson asked from Angela's laptop. "Would you perhaps mean-?"

"Xerxes Basin!" Kimberly cried happily.

"Grampa?" Angela asked.

"Xerxes Basin is in an uncharted region of Brazil," Watson said. Activated from his end of the connection, a map of Brazil appeared on Angela's computer screen.

"If it's uncharted?" Zack started.

"I have my sources," Watson assured him. "I am picking up energy readings from there. I think it is safe to bet you are headed for Xerxes Basin. Watson out."

"We need Adam," Angela remarked, thumbing through the blue leather-bound book that appeared blank to all but him.

"Need Adam for what?" he asked as he entered the room.

"Ooh, you're here," she said, handing him the book. "Read."

He opened the book to the second page and began to read.

"Brekketi," Adam started. "Brekketi is the second demon of the Chest. Brekketi is forever trapped in the form of a snake. However, he is no ordinary snake. Brekketi also goes by the name King of the Snakes."

"That's original," Tommy quipped, earning a rib jab from Angela.

"He commands all snakes to perform his will. Snakes under the control of Brekketi will even sacrifice their own lives."

"Xerxes Basin," Angela said. "Make sure you've got everything, 'cause we gotta head out."

Two days later found the group of six teenagers backpacking through the Amazon. They were wearing only the smallest amounts of clothing, yet they were all still covered with greasy sweat. "It may be hot, but at least it's humid," Kimberly complained, wiping her forehead.

"I don't mean to whine, but are we there yet?" Adam asked.

"It could be worse," Zack told him. "We could be in the snow."

"You could bundle up and escape cold," Tommy announced, "but you can get buck naked and you'll still be hot out here."

"Go ahead and get naked, Tommy," Trini said. "Give us something new to talk about."

"I'll get naked if one of you ladies gets naked," Zack commented.

"I'll dance naked if somebody could give me a cold glass of water," Kimberly remarked.

The ringing of a phone interrupted their conversation. Angela reached into her backpack and pulled out her cellular phone. Flipping it open, she said, "Hello Grandfather... Yes, they're all whining..."

"How does he always know stuff like that?" Zack asked, shaking his head.

"He says it's Grandfatherly intuition," Angela said with a smile.

"It's their rings," Kimberly told him. "Their rings give them special abilities."

"Grampa says, 'Very good, Kimberly,'" Angela reported.

"I wish I could be the Visionary," Tommy mock-moaned.

"We all have our abilities," Angela told him. "We just have to wait for them to kick in."

"Actually, Angela," Maxwell Watson began, "there's something I realized last night."

"What's that?" she asked.

"There is a way to make all twelve abilities present among you immediately," he said warily. "It involves a sacrifice."

"A sacrifice?" she asked.

"Oh dear God, what's she gotten us into now?" Zack asked.

"If you willingly destroy your ring, then-"

"My ring?!" Angela cried. "I can't destroy my ring! Aside from the fact that my mother gave it to me, it really saved our butts when we went up against Tiger Eyes!"

"If you had all twelve abilities among you, then your ring wouldn't be needed..."

"I'll think about it, okay?" she asked, fingering the blue stone in it.

"Hey you guys!" Zack shouted, jumping to the top of a fallen log. "Check this out!" He pushed past several large fronds, and he was presented with the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. A semi-clearing stretched out before him. Set in the center of it was a waterfall. Rather than the dull brown color he had expected to see in the Amazon, this river was totally pure, almost looking blue as it fell over the cliff. It fed into a basin which stretched out almost to the other side of the clearing.

"Oh my gosh," Trini sighed, stepping out of the forest and into the clearing. She dropped her backpack and stretched her arms out. "Oh... it's wonderful here."

"I don't think it's even as humid," Tommy said.

"We're here," Kimberly announced. As soon as she saw it, she knew where she was. "We are the first human beings ever to have seen this place. This is Xerxes basin."

"You mean I was the first person ever to see this?" Zack asked. "Wow."

"Grandfather has probably seen it," Angela said, deflating him.

"You can't let me be happy, can you?" Zack shot back, no hint of a smile on his face.

"We've got work to do, Zack," Angela announced. "We don't have time to play."

"Yet, when we are playing, I'm always the one you come after," Zack said. "Why is that?"

"Because you are particularly irritating," she quipped, smiling sarcastically.

"Hey!" Kimberly interrupted. "I don't care if you don't like him and you like her, I've had it. Angela, if you are being rude to Zack because you think he was the one who opened the chest, then I'm the one you should be rude to. *I* opened the chest, not Zack. Zack, just stop whatever it is you're doing that's irritating."

"I'm sorry, Zack," Angela apologized loosely.

"I accept," Zack said in the same tone.

"I think it's sexual tension," Tommy commented to Adam.

"Definitely," Adam agreed. "She wants him."

"I heard that," Angela snapped over her shoulder as she walked off to find a campsite. "Let's set tents up here, okay? We'll probably have to spend the night."

"I'll be back in a minute," Zack groaned, sparing Angela a cold glare.

"This is going to be a long month," Trini muttered to Kimberly.

"Zack?" Angela asked carefully. He was sitting on a boulder by the clear body of water, trying to skip stones on it.

"What do you want?" he sighed. "I'm not in the mood."

"Actually, what Kimberly said kind of hit home," Angela told him. "I'm here to apologize."

"Apologize?" Zack asked.

"Zack, I don't know why I have this pathological need to be mean to you, but I do. It's nothing against you, and I'm sorry if you are under the impression that I don't like you. Friends?"

"I guess," he groaned.

"Boy, I guess I really hurt you, huh?"

"I've never had anyone dislike me because of who I am," Zack said. "Honestly. If they were out there, they never spoke up. And you want to know something else? I can honestly say I NEVER expected a black person to dislike me for no reason. I think I can truthfully say I'm a nice person, so I figure if someone is going to dislike me, it'll be for a stupid, racist reason. But you... I can't figure you out.

"You know..., some people are hostile with people they're like secretly madly-in-love with."

"Really?" Angela asked.

"Is that it?" Zack asked, turning to face her. "Are you just so madly and passionately in love with me that you can't stand it, so you just act like a bitch to cover your true feelings?"

"Okay," Angela said noncommittally, standing up and walking away.

"Wait a minute!" Zack called after her. "You can't walk away with an answer like that! You're supposed to deny it!"

"Whatever..."

"Angela!"

"Hey, I'm not denying it," she said.

"Then say it!"

"Say what?"

"That you're madly in love with me and disguising it with hostility!"

"Okay, I'm madly in love with you and disguising it with hostility," she said in a perfectly poised voice.

"Give it up, Zack," Adam told him. "She's just playing with your head again."

"Ungh," Zack groaned, covering his face with his hands. "I can't win for losing."

"Zack, gimme a hand with this fire," Tommy said, balling up the shirt he had tied around his waist and hurling it at Zack.

Trini left the guys with their attempted camp fire and ran after her friend. "Angela?" she asked. She found her leaning against a tree at the edge of the clearing.

"Hi Trini," Angela said. "I'm sorry if I've made everybody miserable recently."

"No, just when you and Zack were fighting," Trini said with a smile. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"Promise not to tell?" Angela asked.

"Cross my heart."

"Oh my God, he's gorgeous," Angela sighed. "He's just... he's perfect."

"And he would bend over backwards to please you," Trini said. "Makes perfect sense."

"You don't understand," Angela told her. "I can't just have any guy. I have to have somebody from this... this List. I'm going to inherit that damn Chest, and my husband has to be someone worthy of the Watson name, who will also take on the Watson name, to be a ChestKeeper with me. Zack isn't on the list."

"Why couldn't Zack be put on the List?" Trini asked. "I mean, he was a Power Ranger for crying out loud?! He went to a Global Peace Conference. How much more trustworthy can you get?"

"Tell that to my grandfather," Angela said. "It's not an option. Especially since I'm arranged to be married on my next birthday."

"An arranged marriage?" Trini asked in disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

"Remember that Prince I showed you the picture of? I'm marrying him on March 22 of next year. Now imagine that you were arranged to be married, and there is this guy that you really like, who really likes you back, but you can't have anything to do with him, because you're engaged. Surely you can understand my position. It's easier to be a bitch than to risk falling in love with Zack."

"Could you please just TRY to be nice to Zack?" Trini asked. "For the rest of us?"

"All right," Angela relented. "I'll be nice. Perhaps a bit distant, but nice."

"That's all I ask. C'mon. Let's go back to camp."

"It's going to be tomorrow before we can go look for Brekketi. If he's in snake form, then he'll have snake vision. Night is not the time to go looking for a snake."

"Is it possible he would come to camp?"

"Not if we keep the Chest nearby," Angela said. "Brekketi will not want to be captured. We have to hunt him down."

"Seems to me that we could just corner this weasel and scare him into the Chest," Trini commented as the two walked back to camp.

"That's not how they work," Angela told her. "They run until they can't run anymore, and then they get mean."

Later that night

There was a circle of six dome-shaped tents surrounding a roaring bonfire. "Sure got dark quick," Tommy muttered, looking up at the sky.

"It'll be light at a little after five," Angela said, closing her laptop. "We need to get our sleep, but we also need somebody to keep watch."

"We should do it in shifts," Trini suggested.

"That sounds good," Angela agreed. "Three hours each. Who takes what?"

"I'll take the last shift," Adam volunteered. "Before dawn."

"Me too," Kimberly agreed. "I'd rather get up early than in the middle of the night."

A few minutes later, Tommy and Zack had agreed to take the first shift, and the other four turned in for some sleep.

An hour before dawn

"Even in the dark, it's still hot, huh?" Kimberly asked.

"Yeah, it is," Adam remarked, tugging at the neck of his t-shirt.

"You can take your shirt off, if you want," Kimberly told him. "I don't mind."

"Uhm, okay."

"I think I'm gonna take my shirt off, actually," she said.

"What?" Adam asked, wrenching his gaze in her direction.

"Just to go for a quick swim," she said. He watched in awe as she stood up and removed her t-shirt. He almost sighed in disappointment when he realized she was wearing a sports bra beneath. "Wanna join me?"

"Uhm, maybe in a minute," he said.

"Suit yourself." She walked to the edge of the pool of water and dove in. He watched with wide-eyed amazement as she began to swim in the moonlight. _She's so beautiful..._

However, no matter how amazing the sight was, his heart nearly went into overdrive when she stood up at the edge of the pool in waist-deep water. He couldn't see much details, not much more than her silhouette, actually, but he plainly saw what she was doing. She had just removed her sports bra, and then threw it at his feet. "Come on in, Adam!" she cried. "The water feels great." He looked up as she swam a few strokes on her back. His eyes strained to see something, but he could see no more than the general shape of her body.

_You could see more if you were out there with her!_ his mind shouted to him. "Okay!" he called back. He stood up, stripped off his t-shirt, and leaped into the pool of water.

Kimberly was treading water in the center of the pool. Adam was quickly treading water at her side. "You're right," he stammered nervously. "The water is warm." He tried to look down at her chest without making himself look like a pervert. He failed miserably.

"It's okay, Adam," Kimberly told him with a smile. "I didn't take off my clothes for no reason. You can look."

"I-I can?"

"Mmm hmm," she purred. "I really like you, Adam."

"You do?"

"Yes," she said. She moved toward him and gave a passionate kiss to which his body eagerly responded. "Adam," she moaned. "Adam." Her voice began to change in tone. "Adam."

"Kimberly?" he asked, pulling away slightly. She began to kiss him on the neck, pausing occasionally to say, "Adam."

"I'm right here," he said, puzzled by her tone.

"Adam. Adam. Ad-"

"-am, wake up," Kimberly said, shaking him.

"Huh?" he snorted, sitting up. Upon realizing that the fully clad Kimberly was standing above him and that they were still by the campfire, he was unable to suppress, "Dammit."

She lifted her eyebrows, shocked at hearing the normally placid Adam swearing. "You okay?" she asked.

"I was just having a nice dream," Adam said. He immediately blanched at having admitted that, but since Kimberly didn't seem stunned or even mildly amused, he let it slide. Sitting up and stretched, he asked, "How long was I asleep?"

"I don't know. I just looked over and you were lying on the ground," she told him. "I was kind of hazy myself." She paused and said, "It's creepy out here, huh?"

"It is pretty disturbing," he agreed. The two sat in near silence for a few moments longer, before Adam said, "Kimberly, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"I mean, we know each other well enough that I could ask you a personal question, right?"

"I said yes."

"Oh. Well, is there like... what do you look for in a guy?"

"I like sweet guys. They have to be sincere, and a sense of humor is always good. I don't like liars or blow hards... Most importantly, the guy I'm with has to be someone I have fun with."

"So they have to be your friend first, right?"

"That's a good way of saying it, I suppose. Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering if you and Tommy were going to be getting back together," he said.

"I doubt it," Kimberly told him. "That was a long time ago and a totally different set of rules."

"Oh. Well, do you suppose that maybe, sometime, we could go out on a date? I don't mean anything romantic, but, you know, just a movie or something?"

"Sure, that sounds like fun."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'd love to," Kimberly said with a smile.

An hour after dawn

"No, I have not destroyed my ring yet, Grampa," Angela told him. Holding the cellular phone in the nook of her shoulder and neck, she knelt beside the body of water and washed her hands off. "I'll destroy it if I have, to," she sighed. "But don't hold your breath."

"When are you going to look for Brekketi?" Dean Watson asked.

"In just a few minutes," Angela told him. She stood up and began to walk the short distance to the camp. "Kimberly, she's the Visionary, and I are going to go look. The others are going to wait for us."

"You don't have a Watcher yet?"

"What does the Watcher do?"

"He or she can see the demons in disguised form or when they are hidden. Very valuable asset."

"Grandfather, I'm hanging up."

"Goodbye, Angela," he said sweetly.

"Goodbye," she returned, flipping the phone shut. Rolling her eyes, she called, "Ready Kimberly?!"

"I'm ready, and your grandfather just said he saw that," she said. "Stay out of my head, Watson!"

"Maybe he should destroy his ring," Angela muttered as she and Kimberly began their trek into the jungle.

Brekketi slowly raised his head. He saw the two women walking along a vaguely defined path. Neither of them meant anything to him; however, what one of the girl's carried in her arms held great meaning to him. The Chest had been his prison for many, many centuries. He had finally escaped, and he had no desire to be placed within it again.

He slithered into the underbrush, quickly picking up on their scent. However, rather than follow them, he followed the scent back to their starting point.

"When do you suppose they'll come back?" Adam asked. "After they catch Brekketi?"

"I guess," Trini agreed. "It's strange, just the two of them going off like that."

"Tell me about it," Tommy said. "If they're gonna catch this snake thing by themselves, what did we hike through the Amazon for two days for?"

Suddenly, a slithering sound interrupted the air, followed by a guttural voice said, "I thought perhaps to sacrifice yourself."

"Brekketi?" Zack asked, looking all about himself.

"There he is!" Adam shouted.

With a hiss, Brekketi raised up out of the underbrush. He was shaped like a giant cobra. His skin was pitch black, and his eyes were like red embers. His body was as thick around as a human waist. He opened his mouth and flared his hood, producing an eight foot span.

"Can cobras swim?" Tommy asked, slowly stepping back toward the lake.

Brekketi suddenly leapt over their heads. As he sailed over them, they saw his entire length at once. He was at least sixty feet long, and to answer Tommy's question, he plunged beneath the water. They saw his form moving beneath the water. He popped up right at the lake's edge, his body flexing and coiling as he moved back onto land.

"I don't think that's an ordinary cobra," Trini commented as they backed away cautiously.

Kimberly stopped walking as an intense sense of dread hit her. "Angela!" she cried. "Brekketi is at camp now!"

"What?!" she squealed. "Are you sure?!"

"I'm positive! Come on!"

As they began to run back to camp, Angela's cellular phone rang. "It's your grandfather!" Kimberly answered.

"Shit!" Angela shouted. She took the phone out of her backpack, even as they were running, and threw it at Kimberly. "Answer it and keep going! I'll catch up in a minute."

"Wh-"

"Keep going!" Angela cried. She watched as Kimberly continued running, answering the phone as she did so. As soon as she disappeared from sight a second later, Angela knelt on the ground. She quickly found a large rock. She removed her ring and sat it on another rock. Memories flashed through her mind, all memories of her mother. "I love you, Mama," Angela said. Then, she brought the rock up and smashed it against the ring, flattening the gold and shattering the blue stone. She swept the fragments into her hands and put it in her pocket before running off for camp.

"GET BACK!" Adam yelled. An unfamiliar force possessed him, and he extended his arm. The underbrush beneath his open palm burst into hot flames. As though lit with gasoline, a flaming trail of fire shot away from him.

"Angela destroyed her ring!" Zack shouted. Instantly, a flood of knowledge roared through all of them. He glanced at his hand, and on his left pinky finger was a silver ring with a black stone set in it.

"Do you guys know what to do?!" Tommy shouted, admiring the silver ring with the ruby on his own hand.

"Let's take this snake down!" Adam affirmed.

Although Zack and Trini had never been on a Spirit Quest, they immediately knew what their totem was. The knowledge swirled up from some deep part of them and linked with the power of their brand-new rings. "Topaz Dove Power!" Trini shouted. Yellow light welled up within her. She was magically clad in a yellow Ninjetti outfit. Her hands were bare, as the gloves ended with the wrist cuffs, and since there was no need to hide her identity, she wore neither hood nor sash. However, her Ninjetti outfit wasn't a simple gold. It glittered like jewels, the metal-flake paint job on a vintage car, or the Rangers' short-term metallic armor.

"Emerald Frog Power!" Adam yelled, instantly clad in a green version of Trini's outfit. A quick glance at his chest revealed that they no longer had their golden power coins there. However, they still had the headband which extended down their backs.

"Onyx Giraffe Power!" Zack intoned. He placed his hands on his headband, and he felt a diamond-shaped onyx set in the center of the black strip of leather across his forehead.

"Ruby Falcon Power!" Tommy finished. He hadn't expected to ever be a Ranger again. While the power wasn't quite the same, it was certainly close enough to fire his nerves.

"That's a nice trick, ChestKeepers," Brekketi hissed. "Now watch my trick." Suddenly, dozens of cobras, boas, anacondas, and snakes of every imaginable color, size, and shape appeared all around them.

"Not exactly Putties, are they?" Tommy quipped.

Adam ran out into the center of the clearing, trying to draw as many of the snakes toward him as he could. His second ability, the Fire Maker, welled up within him, and a thirty-foot ring of fire flared up all around.

"Telekinesis," Trini sighed, as one of her abilities, the Mover, made itself known. With only the slightest mental effort, a green vine snaked out from the canopy of trees. She grabbed onto it as it lifted her into the air, carrying her high above the clearing.

Zack flipped aside as a humongous Anaconda darted for him. "The Teleporter," he murmured. When it dove for him again, he disappeared in a smear of black light. The anaconda sailed through the empty air where he had been standing, missing what could have been his latest meal.

"Try this out for size!" Tommy yelled. He extended his hands dramatically as a cobra prepared to strike at him. Instantly, it turned grey and became lifeless, falling to the ground as a cobra-shaped piece of stone. He pointed his hand at the waterfall, turning a large tree perched precariously among the rocks into stone. It broke free as it became drastically heavier and plummeted to the ground, taking out a large faction of the hypnotized snakes.

"My ring is back!" Angela cried happily. She stopped running and delicately traced the blue stone in her ring. Shaking her head, she sent out a loud mental thought that she figured her grandfather would pick up. However, immediately after that, an influx of information hit her hard. Setting her stance, she shouted, "Sapphire Dragonfly Power!" She took only a brief moment to examine the glittering royal blue suit on her body. "Amazing!" Then, realizing another of her abilities, she transformed into falcon and flew towards camp.

Kimberly flipped forward, crying out, "Tourmaline Crane Power!" When she landed on the ground, she was clad in a glistening pink Ninjetti suit. "Amazing!" she cried.

Angela dropped to the ground beside her after returning to her human form. "This is unbelievable!" Angela cried. "Kimberly, I've got an idea. I'm going to get Brekketi. You all keep the other snakes off of me."

"Got it!" Kimberly shouted before they ran off to join the others.

Angela somersaulted across the ground and scooped up the chest. "All right, Brekketi," Angela all but growled. "Get ready for me."

"Angela!" Zack shouted. Relying on his new abilities as the Watcher, he announced, "Brekketi is in the lake!"

"Thanks Zack!" Angela returned as she ran to the edge of the pool of water. Before she could do anything, however, Brekketi's tail lashed out of the water and coiled around her legs. She was yanked into the water, dropping the Chest at water's edge.

She was pulled out into the lake, far from shore and deep underwater. Brekketi's powerful body entwined around her legs and torso; her arms were bound to her side, and when she opened her eyes, she saw his reptilian face a few inches from her's. However, before she had a chance to panic, an idea came to her. She broke up into numerous tiny, blue fishes. No longer could Brekketi hold her as her numerous components swam in all directions. He begin biting the water at random, eating numerous of the blue fish that had once composed Angela.

One of the fish, though, swam toward the surface and leapt out. Upon reaching the air, it turned into a dragonfly, glistening emerald green in the morning sun. Brekketi darted to the surface, attempting to eat her. However, the dragonfly darted toward the shore, capable of flying just a bit faster than Brekketi could swim. Angela flew over to the Chest and turned into her human form in mid-flight. Dropping to the ground, she grabbed the Chest and spun around. "You're gone, Brekketi!" Angela bellowed.

Brekketi gave an angry shriek as he roared up out of the arm. He began to swim away rapidly, but Angela opened the chest. White light roared out of it, forming an impenetrable wall of light. Brekketi's hooded head was caught in the light, and despite his best efforts, he couldn't swim away. Lightning quick, his massive black body was pulled to shore and sucked into the Chest, an angry, frightened scream the only thing remaining.

"That's what you get for trying to eat me," Angela quipped, dropping the lid closed.

The other five teens walked over to her. After Brekketi was captured, Adam's magical fire burned out and the remaining snakes slithered away frantically. "Did you know we would get these powers?" Trini asked, touching the ring on her left hand.

"I think you all gave us these powers," Angela said. "This seems pretty Ranger-ific, if you ask me. I think this is your doing."

A very short time later, the six teens had all of their supplies gathered back up. Angela had already called her grandfather and told him of the good news. He, in turn, was already hunting for the third demon.

"Let's get back to civilization," Tommy said with a happy sigh.

"I just want to take a shower," Trini agreed.

"I think I might be able to get us back to the Dean's house pretty quickly," Zack said.

"The Teleporter," Angela realized.

"One of my abilities," Zack grinned. The six teens and all of their supplies began to glow brightly, the supplies white and each teen their respective color. Then, they streaked up into the sky, leaving Xerxes Basin alone once again.

"We're staying in Angel Grove for the night at least, Grandfather," Angela told him. "We're tired, some of us still stink, and we're taking a break."

"Am I chasing you out?" Maxwell Watson asked.

"Can Zack's teleporting skill get us places, too?" Tommy asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Zack can teleport himself anywhere, but he can only bring all six of you back here to this mansion," Watson said. "This is the Chest's home base, so to speak."

"You guys," Kimberly spoke up as she entered the kitchen, "I just realized where the next demon is."

"Where?" Watson asked.

"The Smithsonian Institution."

"Uhm, Kimberly?" Adam asked. Kimberly, who had been staying at the dorms, was currently in one of the many rooms of Watson Manor.

"Come on in, Adam," Kimberly said.

Upon entering her room, he choked back a gulp when he saw that she was wearing a sports bra and sweat pants. _Just like my dream!_ "Well, I was wondering..."

"What about?"

"Well... when we were talking during our night shift, were you serious when I asked you about that date?"

"Of course I was serious, Adam," Kimberly told him. "Why?"

"Would you like to go out with me tonight?" Adam asked.

Smiling, Kimberly turned back to him and said, "Sure. Let me get dressed." She paused for a moment before she said, "Would you like someone else to come with us, or just the two of us?"

"That would be okay," Adam choked out, "but..."

"Then it's just the two of us," Kimberly decided. "Gimme about half an hour."

"Great!" Adam cried eagerly, grinning like a fool. "I'll pick you up in half an hour!"

Kimberly couldn't help but smile to herself as she started to get ready for their date. She had no romantic interest in Adam, but his extreme happiness was addictive. Besides, who knew how the evening would turn out?

"What are you smiling about?" Trini asked as she entered Kimberly's room.

"Me and Adam are going out on a date, and he's really happy about it," Kimberly announced. Then, she paused. "Oh Trini. I'm sorry, I didn't even think ab-"

"Don't worry about it," Trini said with a sympathetic smile. "I hope you have a good time."

Adam and Kimberly sat down in the back of the theater. She was absolutely astounded. Adam had volunteered to take her to see a chick flick. Sensing his nervousness, Kimberly said softly, "You can put your arm around me if you like."

Still grinning, Adam eagerly agreed, "Okay." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against him. The theater darkened, and the movie began.

Kimberly was just on a friendly date, but Adam was falling in love quicker than he probably should have allowed himself. The world was partly resting on the shoulders his arm was stretched around. But Adam decided the world could wait. Tonight belonged to him.

When I think it's out of reach,
She's the reason I still try,
She thinks... I could rope the moon

She thinks... I could rope the moon...

The End... for now

Coming soon, "Wide Open Spaces"

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