Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Megaforce. This story is fan-made.
Troy, Noah, Jake, Emma, and Gia were in Mr. Burley's class, listening to him give instructions.
Troy knew that the things Mr. Burley was trying to tell them was important to listen and pay attention to, but he just couldn't seem to do so. His mind kept wandering off, no matter how much he resisted it. His concentration was mostly on his encounter with Creepox. He knew for sure that Creepox was planning something dangerous, surely against humanity, due to one of his statements during the short encounter. Creepox was worrying him. Of course, Troy trusted that the team would be able to prevail in the end, but Creepox didn't look like an ordinary alien. He seemed more . . . powerful and intimidating than the other aliens that the Megaforce Rangers have faced before. And that scared him. The type of aliens that they've been facing has already been pretty tough. Now, they had a chance of fighting an even more powerful one. What would they do then?
Troy was interrupted from his thoughts when he saw Noah standing in front of his desk, looking at him. Troy looked up and gave Noah a confused expression.
"Want to work on the project together?" Noah asked with a smile. Troy gave him an even more confused look. Project? What project was he talking about?
"You weren't paying attention, were you?" Noah asked knowingly, as if reading Troy's mind. Troy nodded.
"Well, I'll explain it to you then. You still want to work on it together, though?" Noah asked hopefully. Troy nodded slowly and suspiciously. Noah grabbed a desk and set it up so he and Troy were sitting directly across from each other while Troy still gave him a suspicious look. Once Noah settled down in his seat, he finally noticed the look on Troy's face.
"What?"
"Just out of curiosity," Troy started, "Why aren't you working with Jake, like you usually do?"
Noah simply shrugged and handed Troy the rubric for the project. Troy took it gratefully, glad Noah knew what was going on, and skimmed over the paper.
"We're doing a Cell Analogy project?" Troy asked. Noah nodded with a smile.
"Yeah," he replied. "We're doing it on a program that Mr. Burley set up for us. So, we're basically going to use a computer for most of the project." Troy nodded. He wasn't really familiar with working a computer, but at least Noah knew how to.
"Now, all we have to do is create an analogy one could use to explain the function of organelles in a cell. Now, we just need to think of an example," Noah explained as Troy nodded. "The example Mr. Burley gave us, just to help us get a better idea of what he was walking about, was a school. For example, the nucleus could be the principal's office because the nucleus is what controls the cell, like how the principal controls the school. Get it?"
Troy didn't answer or make any movement. He just continued to stare at his desk. Noah furrowed his eyebrow and waved a hand in front of Troy's face. Still nothing.
"Earth to Troy?" Noah asked. Troy returned to reality and looked at Noah apologetically.
"Sorry," he replied meekly. Noah gave him a concerned look.
"Troy, is something bothering you?" Troy shook his head. Noah was still unconvinced.
"Are you sure?" he pushed on. Troy nodded, trying to get his friend to stop worrying. Noah nodded as well, but couldn't shake the feeling that something was troubling Troy. He had seen how Troy had been staring off into space during the 20 minutes that Mr. Burley used to give instructions to the class on what to do for the project. Noah knew Troy was a quiet person and probably wouldn't tell him. Plus, now wasn't a good time. They needed to get started on their project, the half without the computer, of course.
"So," Noah started, "what example do you think we should do?" Noah took out his pen and notebook. He flipped though his notebook, onto a fresh sheet of paper and held his pen, ready to write the list of examples they could do.
Troy thought for a moment, trying to put his full concentration on the task at hand. Another example . . .
"We could do the human body," Troy suggested. "That could be an example, the brain being like the nucleus." Noah nodded and wrote that down as the first example.
"We could also do a restaurant," Noah added on to the list.
"A factory?" Troy suggested, unsure if the idea was such a good one. Noah nodded eagerly.
"Yeah, good one," Noah praised, hearing the uncertainty in Troy's voice. He knew Troy was full of confidence, so was pretty surprised Troy showed signs of unsureness. But, everyone has their doubts once in a while. Or maybe it had something to do with what he was sure was troubling Troy . . .
Suddenly, Noah heard the bell rang, indicating that school was over for the day, interrupting him from his sudden thoughts. As Noah and Troy were packing up, Jake, Emma, and Gia walked over to the both of them, ready to leave.
"So," Emma started, "How far have you two gotten into the project?"
"We got a small, very small, list of examples we might use to do the project," Noah answered. Jake nodded and leaned in closer to Noah.
"Buddy," Jake whispered, "can you help me with some examples? Me and Edward are not really good at coming up with one, and it's got nothing to do with the both of us being soccer players."
"Edward and I," Noah corrected. "Edward's name goes before yours." Jake rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, dude," Jake said, blowing off the topic. "Can you help us, though?" Noah sighed. He didn't really have a choice either way.
"Fine."
"Yes!" Jake exclaimed. Gia and Emma looked at him with confused look. Jake looked at them sheepishly.
"Sorry," he replied. Gia and Emma chuckled as Noah rolled his eyes. Jake's attention suddenly shifted to Troy, who wasn't joining in on their conversation. He eyed him curiously. Troy was slowly putting his things into his backpack, but seemed to not pay attention to what he was doing.
"Troy?" Troy's head snapped up and looked at Jake. Jake gave him a concerned expression.
"Dude, are you okay?" Troy nodded, not wanting Jake to worry. Jake was about to question him further when his stomach started grumbling. Gia and Emma started laughing while Noah rolled his eyes, like they had done a few minutes ago or so.
"Can we go to Ernie's?" Jake asked pleadingly. "I'm hungry." Gia nodded, and all of them started walking towards the door.
Jake, though he got distracted for a moment, didn't forget about what he was getting at before. Something was up with Troy. He just knew it. Sure, he wasn't one to read minds very well, but he just has a feeling that was telling him something was deeply troubling Troy.
Another grumble from his stomach interrupted his thoughts. Jake pushed those thoughts away for now. He would talk to Troy about it later. All he wanted to do right now was eat some frozen yogurt at Ernie's Brainfreeze to shut his stomach up.
