Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.
Another thing that Conner felt he would never get used to was Anton Mercer, High School Teacher. As a teacher, he wasn't half bad. He was fairly stiff, and didn't understand the concept of a joke, and he didn't connect with the other kids like Dr. O. had. However, the subject matter was always interesting, even to someone like Conner. But it just bothered Conner --all three of them, actually-- that the replacement chosen was Anton Mercer. There was something incredibly...off about the whole situation, even though Dr. O. didn't seem to think so.
That particular morning, Mercer was doing his best to make Conner's day progressively worse. He gave them a pop quiz on the parts of a flower, which Conner blanked out on. Yesterday when they'd been covering this, he'd been busy glaring at the back of Trent's head and trying to figure out some kind of strategy. Dr. O. had been big on his teen Rangers maintaining as normal of lives as possible, so as not to arouse suspicion. But it was hard to concentrate on pollination and the like when you were trying to deal with Mesogog wanting you dead, and now the White Ranger wanting you dead. Conner had the paranoia that at any moment, Trent would forgo his secret identity, morph into the white Ranger, and attack them right in the middle of class.
"Do you have soccer practice this afternoon?" Ethan asked as the three of them left class.
"Nope. Coach is sick."
"Sick sick, or stuck-in-morph sick?"
Conner cast his friend a look. "What do you think."
Ethan just grinned. "Whatever, dude. At least you're wearing pants now, that's all I gotta say."
"What kind of segue is that?" Conner asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"You know what, we're so not talking about this," Kira said.
"I'm with her on that one," Conner agreed. "I already explained everything this morning."
"That counts as still talking about it!" Kira said with a note of hysteria in her voice.
Ethan laughed. "Fine. We'll never discuss Conner's pants again. Or lack thereof," he added after a pause, complete with evil grin.
Kira clamped her hands over her ears. "Shut up, shut up, shut up..." she muttered.
"Conner's pants, Conner's pants, Conner's pants!" Ethan retorted obnoxiously. He began to chase a shrieking Kira down the hall, chanting. Conner laughed to himself and shook his head, ducking into his next class.
Much to his surprise, the desk next to Conner's seat, one that was normally occupied by Greg Fellows, was instead filled by Trent, who fixed a heavy-lidded smirk on Conner as the Red Ranger sat down.
"Having an interesting morning, McKnight?" Trent said coolly.
"What do you want, Trent," Conner said, not even pretending to be nice for the benefit of the other students.
"I want to issue a challenge," Trent said, "White to Red." Conner instantly cast a fleeting glance around the class to see if anyone was listening in. Fortunately, Cassidy Cornell, normally in this class, was absent today.
"Didn't you already have your little pissing contest this morning?" Conner asked bitterly.
"You brought in the others. I wanted it to be between me and you."
"Why?"
"I think you know why." When Conner answered this statement with only a bemused look, Trent gave an exaggerated sigh. "Kira."
"What?"
"I know you're not exactly a brainchild, McKnight, but even you can't be this stupid. I know that you think you have Kira wrapped around your little finger. And long story short, I want her back."
"'Back'? You never had her. And I don't have her, either."
"Yes, but you want her. Don't bother lying about that."
"She doesn't want a thing to do with you," Conner said hotly, trying to ignore the unsettling fact that Trent had picked up on Conner's crush on his teammate. "Not after all the crap you've pulled."
"Don't be so sure of that," Trent said, his lazy, casual attitude infuriating Conner. "She turned against you once already, have you forgotten about that?"
"That wasn't her fault and you know it," Conner hissed. "Kira's not evil."
"Not yet, anyway. You and me after school today, in the quarry." The location of one of their previous battles, one of many one-on-one altercations. "Winner takes all."
"How do I know this isn't a trap?" Conner said. He would be an idiot to assume that Trent had any sort of honor, but it was a mistake he'd made times before.
"You know perfectly well that I'm not in league with Mesogog or his idiot minions," Trent said sourly. "They won't show up. Besides, when I win, I'm keeping Kira for myself."
"Yeah, we'll just see about that," Conner muttered to himself as class started.