Hello, everyone! This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing in! After watching this show for a while, as well as reading a great story in this very archive, I've decided to give this section of the site a shot. With any luck, I'll manage to avoid botching it. I hope all of you will have fun reading this!

Description: There's more to Trina Vega than everyone realizes. More than anyone has ever cared to find out. But now, someone's about to see her real face.

NOTE:

-I do not own anything presented in this story other than my own OCs.

-Credit to guy-sports for a joke used in this chapter.

I Was a Fool

Chapter 1: Blind date.

Los Angeles, California.

The setting: a nice-looking house located near James Street. The Vega residence. Home to David Vega, a dedicated and reliable cop, his wife Holly, and their two daughters, Tori and Trina. Many would like to point it out as your everyday quiet house.

But that would be a lie.

Both Tori and Trina are students at Hollywood Arts, a school well known for educating young people and helping them achieve their goal of becoming professional performers... as well as taking in some rather peculiar people.

So, most every friendly visit or conversation ends up becoming a crazy and loud adventure inside this home.

"No way! Uh-uh, absolutely not! Forget it, Tori!"

And this is one of those days.

Both girls were standing in front of the TV, caught in the middle of an argument.

"If you really think I'm doing it, sister, then think again!" Trina couldn't believe what her younger sister was asking her to do.

"Come on, Trina!" And Tori just wouldn't budge. "It's not like I'm asking you to shave your head. It's just a small favor."

Trina reminded her of something. "A small favor? Last time you said that, you fixed me up with a unibrowed, lobster-sucking loser-"

Before she could finish that, her cell phone started ringing. Once she checked the number, she continued.

"-who just won't stop calling me!" She shoved it in front of Tori's face.

Gently pushing Trina's arm away, Tori decided to try something different.

"You're right. That was my fault."

"No kidding!"

"So, think of it as..." She stopped to think for a moment. "...a way to make us even."

Upon hearing this, Trina's unwillingness began to subside, though she still kept her guard up. "How so, Tori?"

But Tori could see through that, and tried to exploit this opening.

"I've already met him, OK?" She began to explain. "He's a nice guy, totally not geeky, and totally available."

With that, Trina started to think. Tori caught sight of it, a sign that her new tactics were working, and decided to add a little more weight.

"Besides, look at it like this: you're having a date with a hot guy, which I'm totally gonna miss because of school work."

It didn't work as well as she thought.

"I'd like to remind you that the last time I tried to do that, you tried to whack me with Dad's camera."

Tori quickly came up with a save. "Yeah, but that was your fault."

Although Trina tried to reply to that, she just couldn't do it. Mostly because Tori was right.

"OK, fine. I'll go." She decided to stop the discussion right there, realizing that her sister just wouldn't give up. "But you better make it worthwhile!"

Having finally won, Tori couldn't help but hug her older sister. "Alright! Thanks, Trina!"

Trina couldn't find a way to reply. She was just going over one thought.

"I just know I'm gonna regret this..."

About an hour later...

Trina was sitting in a bench, all by herself, right in front of a restaurant. Its name... Olive Grove.

Usually a great place to stop and have a bite or a date, it wasn't exactly Trina's favorite name. It brought back some unpleasant memories of a blind date she had with a guy named Kevin Richards.

"Of all the restaurants in L.A., it just had to be this one." She said to herself, still waiting for Tori's date to arrive.

As she waited, she was still trying to figure out what convinced her to agree with Tori's idea.

She didn't get to think it over for long, though, as she saw someone walking towards her. It was a regular-looking guy, who looked like he was her age. He was wearing a jacket, some jeans, and a red shirt. His hair was also standing up a little.

"Excuse me!"

Since no one else seemed to be around, Trina could only assume he was talking to her.

He came to a stop in front of her. "Hey, uh..."

"Yeah?" She replied, her voice full of boredom.

"I'm looking for, uh..." He looked at his cell phone. "...Tori Vega. You know who or where she is?"

Reacting upon the sound of her sister's name, Trina began to answer. "She's my sister. She sent me here to cover for her."

"Cover?"

"Yeah, she's got some project to work on with this guy called Andrew Harris. She asked to come in her place so her date wouldn't feel dumped."

"I see. Well, that's cool." He put away his phone. "Seems like I'm done here."

Suddenly, Trina's curiosity took over. "Hey, are you the guy that Tori was gonna see here?"

"Not really, no." He scratched the back of his head. "That would be my cousin, Jeff. Turns out, he sent me here to give your sister the same message."

"So, he's not coming?"

"Nope, sorry."

"Well, that's just great!" Disappointed, Trina couldn't help but whine. "My parents are at work, and my sister's away from home. What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Surprisingly, he began to voice a few complaints too, although not as loud. "Tell me about it. My sister's out on a date, my cousins are busy, and my parents are having a huge baseball fan reunion." As he said this, he took a seat next to Trina. "This is gonna be such a bore!"

Following this, they both fell silent.

"Hmm, I wonder..." Not for too long, though. Trina had suddenly come up with an idea.

He turned to face her. "You still talking to me?"

"Yeah. Listen..." As she began, she stood up. "...both Tori and Jim-"

"Jeff." He corrected her.

"Right." She kept on talking. "-were going to see each other here. Since they're busy, and we're bored, how about we have a date instead?"

He was rather surprised at this plan, but still remained calm. "You and me, huh?"

"Sure, why not? I mean, I'm totally hot, and you seem really bummed. Maybe you just need a little me-magic to make your day." She put her hands on her hips. "What do you say? Feel like hanging out with me?"

Although she seemed really confident while saying this, she was thinking something rather different.

"Please say yes. I don't want to spend this afternoon alone like this, and you're the only one who doesn't seem turned off by me. Please be the one. Please... "

Yes, the great Trina Vega, known for constantly bragging about her stellar performing abilities and constantly belittling others, was worried she'd scare this guy away like she's done with so many others.

Needless to say, she was rather surprised when he gave his answer.

"OK, I'll take it." He let out, with a nice smile on his face.

Hearing this, Trina quickly switched from shocked to happy. "Good choice, little man."

"Yeah, I know." He wasn't at all fazed by this bit of self-praise from her.

After that, he began to introduce himself.

"So, what's your name?" Funny enough, so did Trina. At the exact same time.

He tried again. "Well, I'm-" It happened again.

"Hey, that's just freaky." And once again, they both let it out in unison.

They both let out a few laughs.

And then he was the next to speak. "You know what? You go first." He let out, between chuckles.

"OK." As they both stopped laughing, she fixed her shirt and cleared her throat. "I'm Trina Vega. What's your name?"

He took a breath. "...Dodger Williams."

After stating his name, he closed his eyes, as if preparing for something.

About 5 seconds later, he opened one of them, surprised. He expected some giggles, loud laughter, or at least a snicker. But all that his eye met was the sight of Trina, who seemed confused.

"What are you doing?"

Dodger opened his other eye. "I don't know. I was expecting you to laugh like crazy at that."

"Should I?"

"Everyone else I've ever met has." He began a short reenactment. "It's always: hey, what's your name, I'm Dodger, haha, and then zip." He put his hands inside his pockets. "I've only had about two or three real friends 'cause everyone else just finds it laughable."

Trina replied pretty easily. "I don't get it."

"Really?"

"It's not even that funny." She followed this with a question. "That a nickname or something?"

"Nah, it's what happens when your folks watch baseball religiously."

"Wow, that's, uh..."

"Yeah, I know." Dodger couldn't help but shrug. "But hey, it could have been worse. They could have gone with 'Padre' or 'Marlin'. That'd just be insane."

Out of the blue, Trina was smiling. "Besides, Dodger has kind of a nice ring to it."

"You know something? It kinda does." Dodger started smiling as well. "But I still wonder why I didn't get an ordinary name, like my sister."

"What'd she get?"

"Not sure why, but they chose to call her Miranda." He scratched the back of his head. "She likes going by just Mira, but you get the idea."

"Yeah, I think I get it." After saying this, Trina remembered something. "Hey, shouldn't we go inside?"

"Oh, yeah. Right, I totally forgot."

As they went to the entrance, Dodger opened the door.

"After you, Trina."

Seeing this, Trina was surprised. Nobody was this nice to her, except maybe her parents and sister. However, her parents loved her no matter what, and even Tori was annoyed by her antics every now and then, so this was still rare.

"Thanks." But she didn't care. She liked how it felt.

A few minutes later...

Trina and Dodger were sitting on a table, both of them laughing a lot.

"OK, here's the last one." Dodger made a pause so he could say this.

Trina wiped some tears off her eyes. "Go ahead."

And so, he started.

"Brenda and Terry are going out for the evening. The last thing they do is put their cat out. The taxi arrives, and as the couple walk out of the house, the cat scoots back in."

He made a pause, both to take a breather and to make sure Trina was getting it.

"OK..." Lucky for him, she was.

"Terry returns inside to chase it out. Brenda, not wanting it known that the house would be empty, explains to the taxi driver, 'My husband is just going upstairs to say goodbye to my mother.'"

"Yeah..." Trina was shaking a little as she waited for the punchline.

"Several minutes later, an exhausted Terry arrives and climbs back into the taxi saying, 'Sorry I took so long, the stupid idiot was hiding under the bed and I had to poke her with a coat hanger several times before I could get her to come out!'"

With this, Dodger just couldn't hold his laughter in, and let it all out again. Trina soon followed.

"Oh, man." As they both stopped to catch their breath, Trina gave him a compliment. "You've got some great jokes."

"Thanks, Trina. I was actually worried you'd find them lame."

"Oh, come on." She reassured him. "They were hilarious."

Dodger scratched the back of his head again, chuckling a little.

"So, you said you go to Hollywood Arts." Trina remembered something he shared with her before the jokes. "How come I never noticed you before?"

"Well, for one, we're in different groups." He began to answer. "Also, I've kept a low profile since day one. It's like I don't exist at Hollywood Arts."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "Self-esteem issues."

"Oh..." She replied, knowing the feeling.

"But then I started seeing this headshrinker, and after a while, I ended up here. And you know what?" He started smiling again. "This is a great start."

"That's good to know." Trina quickly changed the subject. "So, what's your talent, Dodger?"

"I'm a dancer."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've always had a thing for Jig Jig Jitterbug, despite the weird name. Mira even said I was like a second John Travolta. And that's cool, since the guy's one of my favorite actors ever." After briefly trailing off, Dodger continued. "Anyway, then I figured I'd take it a step further. That's when I started breakdancing."

"Sounds cool."

"Yeah, it's a lot of fun." He added something else. "I've also got a bit of voice acting with me."

"Is that so?"

"Hey, when your parents watch baseball all day long, you gotta have a pasttime, Trina."

Trina decided to ask something related to his second skill. "Do you sing?"

"Nah, it's not really my thing. The last time I tried it, I ended up with a salad bowl for a hat." He cleared his throat. "Pretty embarrassing."

Trina quickly came up with an answer. "Not as much as the time I found out I sleep sweat. It was totally messy."

"Well, someone poured a can of Mountain Fizz down my pants."

"I had a flier stuffed down my shirt."

"My folks wear baseball caps when they go to sleep."

"My sister got an actress shot through the hand."

"I once found a tarantula in my jacket."

"I saw my grandmother naked."

"I was born in a baseball stadium."

"I got in a fight with Perez Hilton once."

Once she said this, Dodger's eyes widened. "Wait, whoa, whoa... you're the girl from that 'Hilton Plane Brawl' video?"

"Someone recorded that?" Trina was totally shocked. "Why would anyone upload it?"

"Of course they would! It's not every day that you see a beautiful girl dukin' it out with a grade A jerk." Dodger's excitement was clearly visible. "And makin' an even bigger fool outta Perez Hilton... you and Craig Mazin are my heroes!"

"Who?"

"A parody guy. He wrote and directed Superhero Movie, and he wrote some other stuff."

"Oh, yeah. I remember that movie." She remembered having watched it with her 'friend' Molly. "Drake Bell wearing green, right?"

"Yep, that's the one."

Trina decided to keep the conversation going. "So, what's next?"

"I got nothing." Out of nowhere, Dodger took her hands. "Trina, you got to beat up on Perez Hilton. How the fuzz am I supposed to top that?"

Upon hearing this, she was confused. "Is that a saying? Never heard it before."

"Nah, it's just something my mom made up. She's used it before I was even born, and it just kinda stuck."

"Oh, OK." She then noticed something else. "Uh, Dodger?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I, you know..." She tried to be as gentle as possible. "...have my hands back?"

He suddenly remembered. "Oh, right." He chuckled nervously as he let go of Trina's hands. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry."

And so, as they waited for their orders to arrive, the conversation continued.

About an hour later...

After they finished, the two exited the place. Once again, Trina came out first.

"That was some good cooking!" She seemed rather happy.

Dodger came out next. "You can say that again. Mira was right about those breadsticks."

"Oh, yeah." She punched his shoulder. "They were the best part."

They both laughed for a while, until Dodger suddenly posed a question.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Trina replied, pretty eagerly. "Sure, go ahead."

"When you said we should have a date, you seemed really confident and acted like a bit of a showoff. You know, like the kind of person nobody likes." Dodger cleared his throat. "No offense."

"None taken."

Relieved, he continued. "But then, we started talking and eating and all that, and you seemed so much nicer. You were all sweet and cool and everything. What was up with that?"

Suddenly, Trina lowered her head, trying to avert her gaze from his face. She didn't seem so happy anymore, either.

"Can I trust you with a secret?"

"Well, we've gotten this far. We might as well give it a shot."

"You see..." She swallowed. "...the girl you met before we went in... wasn't really me."

Of course, Dodger was confused. "What do you mean?"

"I acted like a diva 'cause... because I was afraid you wouldn't like me." She still kept her head down. "That's just the way I've dealt with all the abuse that's always going on. Just acting like it doesn't exist, like I'm the greatest star in the world."

He was surprised by this. So much, in fact, that he couldn't find a proper reply.

"But I know the truth." She continued. "No one outside of my house likes me. They all just think I'm annoying."

"Wow... I, uh... didn't expect that." Dodger couldn't think of something better.

"Until now." She finally raised her head. "I had so much fun with you. You're the first person that's actually made me feel like I'm worth something."

He was about to say something, but before he could speak, she said one more thing.

"But don't tell anyone, OK? Especially Tori."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." He put his hand on her shoulder. "I know why you're asking that. I've been there." He gave her a warm smile. "But you know what? I think I prefer the real, nice, fun-loving Trina over the snobby, self-absorbed Ms. Vega."

All of a sudden, something happened. Something neither of them could have expected.

Trina found herself hugging Dodger, as affectionately as Tori usually did with her.

"Thanks for a great time, Dodger." She was smiling. "Thanks for listening, and, you know...everything."

Although he was taken by surprise, he soon returned it. "Sure, right back at you."

She soon let go of him. "Well, I guess I should be going now. It's getting kinda late."

"Yeah, me too."

She began to walk away, but she stopped when she heard him say something else.

"See you around..." She turned to him. "...Trina-Rina."

Of course, she was surprised by this. But then, she surprised him even more when she walked up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He didn't get to reply to that, since she began to walk away almost immediately. He could only stand there, totally shocked.

Trina, on the other hand, seemed really happy. Even her thoughts had changed.

"Well, he's not Ashton Kutcher, but..." She had a small laugh. "...I think I like him."

Just like with my second story, this is my first shot at writing a fic about these guys, so, once again, don't hesitate to tell me if I got something wrong. I just thought I'd write something about my favorite character from the show, since she's so underused.

I might make another chapter, but only if this one isn't a massive screw-up.

This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing off.