It's Hard (A Power Rangers Samurai Fanfic)

Christmas Community Service

The Rangers were eating lunch when Ji came into the kitchen. He was reading a letter. "What's that?" Mike asked. "It's a letter from city hall." Ji replied. "It says they want us to pay for the damages done to the buildings during the Nighlock attacks." "What?" Jayden said in shock. "It's almost Christmas. How do they expect us to pay it?" "Well," Ji said. "We can either pay for the damages, or you can do community service." "Community service at Christmas?" Antonio questioned. "It's the right thing to do." Mia said.
At 5:30 the next morning, six inches of snow was covering the ground. Ji had dropped the Rangers off at city hall fifteen minutes earlier, and they were now being led down a long hallway to meet the person who'd be assigning their community service. It was a young woman in her mid twenties, with wavy black hair. "My name is Kelly." She said to them. "I will be telling you which community service projects you'll be doing for the rest of the week."
They started off shoveling the snow that had fallen overnight. Unfortunately, it was still snowing. "There's no point to this." Mike said, pushing some snow aside. "As soon as we finish the snow is just going to pile up again." "By then the plow will have come through." Antonio replied. "Just hurry up." Mia said. "It's cold out here."
   It took the Rangers a over an hour to clear out all the snow. When they went back inside the building, it was almost 7:00. Grateful for the warmth inside, they headed back to Kelly's office. "Finished?" She asked. They nodded. "Good. Follow me." Kelly led them through a door into what looked like a mini dining room. There was a long table with a dozen chairs. Six of them had plates of food in front of them, napkins and utensils placed to the side. "Eat." Kelly said. "I'll be back for you in an hour." "Thank you." Jayden said as she left.
  The teens enjoyed their breakfast. They had sausage, hash browns, bacon, and silver dollar pancakes. There was a gravy boat on the table, but it was filled with syrup. There were also glasses of juice accompanying the meal. An hour later, as promised, Kelly returned. "How was it?" She questioned. "Delicious." Mike said. "Thank you." Kelly smiled. "There's an event at an Emergency Housing Facility not far from here that needs some help. Each child in the facility will get two presents given to them by Santa, and then they will have food after. You will be helping to serve food and clean up afterwards." She explained. "There's a car waiting for you at the front of the building. Take care of what you need to and be down there in fifteen minutes."
    Upon arriving at the Emergency Housing, the teens were shocked at how many people were there. "All of these people are homeless?" Emily asked. "Yes." Kelly replied. "Most have been evicted from their homes." Kelly led the Rangers to the area where they'd be serving food. "Everyone working with the actual food will have to wear a hairnet. Anyone serving drinks doesn't." "Dibs on serving drinks." Antonio said. "I'll help you." Jayden added. Kelly gave the other four teens their hairnets. Half an hour later, families started coming in, and the Rangers started serving. "Chicken or ham?" Mia asked a young girl. "Ham please." She said. Mia put a piece of ham on her plate. "Would you like mashed potatoes or potato salad?" Emily asked her. "Mashed potatoes." The girl replied. "Broccoli?" Kevin offered. The girl nodded and Kevin put a spoonful on her plate. "Would you like some bread?" Mike asked. The girl nodded. She then moved down to Antonio and Jayden. "What do you want to drink?" Antonio asked. "Apple juice please." The girl said. Jayden poured some apple juice into a glass and gave it to her. This cycle continued until everyone had gotten food, and then desert afterwards. The Rangers then helped put tables and chairs away, and picked up the wrapping paper that had been left on the floor. After that they got into the car and returned to city hall with Kelly. Kelly led them into the same room as before, only this time, it was lunch. "You get an hour for lunch and then an hour break before your next service."
    The teens enjoyed the sandwiches and bags of chips that were left for them. Kelly had also given the chefs orders to make a dozen chocolate chip cookies, so each Ranger ate two.
    At two o clock, it was time for the Rangers to continue working. Again, they were told they'd be serving. "It's the early bird dinner at a local nursing home." Kelly told them. "You'll be passing out plates and generally making sure everyone is happy."
    The serving for the nursing home went pretty well, the old folks really enjoyed seeing teenagers helping out. After they finished cleaning up, Kelly told them they had one more task. "A movie event." She said. "Since it's almost Christmas, at the theatre they show The Polar Express. Two of you will be working concessions, two of you will help people find seats, and two of you will hand out bells at the end of the movie."
   When they got to the theatre, Mike and Antonio were immediately being told how to use the popcorn machine. "Six dollars for a large?" Mike said. "That's ridiculous." "That's movie theater prices amigo." Antonio said, chuckling. Mia and Kevin were given black clothes to wear and small flashlights to be sure everyone had their tickets. That left Emily and Jayden putting bells onto string and adding small notes to them that read, "The bell rings for all who truly believe."
   At about 5:30, kids started showing up in their pajamas. Each kid was given a regular ticket, and a special ticket that said "Round trip - The Polar Express". "What can I get you?" Mike asked a woman and her child. "A medium popcorn, a medium Sprite, and a box of Cookie Dough Bites." The woman said. "Twelve dollars." Mike told her, taking her money. Kevin grabbed a popcorn container and started filling it. "Butter?" He asked. The woman's son nodded, so Kevin added some extra butter. Mike reached down and grabbed a box of Cookie Dough Bites, and then filled a medium cup with soda. "Next." Mike said after the woman started walking away.
     After the movie ended, Kevin and Jayden hung around the area where Santa was getting pictures taken with kids and giving bells to everyone who didn't have one already. Kelly came up to them with the other Rangers. "When there's no bells left we'll head back to city hall, you'll have dinner, and then you go back home." She explained. "Thank you." Mia said. "No, thank you for helping out." Kelly told her. "You've put a lot of people into the Christmas spirit."
   After enjoying a dinner of chicken and pasta, the Rangers got into the van and headed home. "That was fun." Emily said. "Yeah," Mike added. "Except for the part where we had to shovel that entire parking lot." "It wasn't that bad." Mia replied. "You probably gained some muscle from it." Kevin told him. Mike smiled at that. "I'm excited to get home." Antonio said. "Christmas is only four days away and I intend to spend those four days relaxing." "I wouldn't say that if I were you." Jayden told him. Mike looked at his leader. "Why not?" He asked. "Because," Jayden said, "Ji hadn't told you about the winter training."

A/N: Dun dun duhhhhhh! Anyway guys thank you so much for reading! Christmas is only FOUR DAYS AWAY. I'm super excited and I hope you guys are too, so I'll see you next time and please comment and vote if you enjoyed!