Metamorphosis

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: So here is the first official conversation between Trina and Jason.

Chapter 6 (Another Perspective)

During lunch, Trina looked around for Lindsay in the cafeteria, but couldn't find her. It was likely Lindsay was back at the room, because the girl said she was getting a headache during breakfast.

The cafeteria looked like a Golden Corral buffet restaurant, with servers handing out the meals from a long wall of booths. She went for the Homestyle line, which today consisted of lemon pepper grilled chicken breast, broccoli trees, and creamy mashed potatoes. She also grabbed a glass of chocolate milk. Currently she was on her third plate.

She didn't like to pick up finger food with her hands, so she cut the chicken from the bone and stabbed it with her fork. When she bit into the bite, she nearly squealed with pleasure as the juices and lemon flavor squirted out on her tongue.

As she chewed and opened her eyes, she caught a glimpse of someone standing at her table. Her eyes slid up and met with Jason's and her heart skipped a moment as she observed him. He was leaning against the chair, with his elbow hanging over it.

"You keep going up there for more food, I see." Trina grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and swung it over her mouth. She swallowed her bite and wiped away any evidence of debris from her lips.

"What can I say? I'm a growing girl." Jason chuckled at the joke and turned his head to presumably the table he was at. His food tray had several empty plates stacked together and an empty glass. "I've been athletic most of my life, and that means food is essential."

"Not just food. Protein as well." He pulled the chair back and motioned to it, as if to ask if anyone were sitting there. Trina smiled politely and he took a seat. "How are you holding up? I know class didn't start out as well as it could have." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I am sorry about Jenny."

"Don't apologize. It's not my first run in with girls like that." Jason smiled at her but said nothing for what seemed the longest time. She wrapped her hand around her glass of milk and furrowed her brow at him. "What is it?"

"You're a tough woman. I can see that."

She released the glass and laughed at him before bringing her hand up to her chest. "Me? Tough?" There was no way she was tough. She'd been downed a lot, sure, but how did that make her tough? Letting people walk over her wasn't exactly a sign of strength.

"Not many people can hold their own around someone like Jenny the way you did."

"Oh. Well, she reminds me of one of my sister's friends, to be honest. Less . pale faced than the girl, but just as mean." He slid his hand over his neck and leaned back. He pulled his hand back as he sighed.

"Didn't know you had to deal with someone like that." She took another stab at her food and shrugged. There wasn't much about her life she wanted to share, not when it came to her sister's friends. "Your name. It's familiar to me."

"Oh?"

"You wouldn't happen to go to Hollywood Arts, would you? My uncle teaches there. I've never been, but he's always got a ton of stories." She chewed her next bite slowly, pondering what Jason could know. After all, Tori and her friends were among Sikowitz's favorite students-primarily because they were the ones that always stuck around and took him up on class activities and discussions.

"My sister goes. I went there, but this was my final year." She swallowed the bite, then took a drink of her milk. "I'm a graduating senior. I was thinking about attending the University of California in Los Angeles."

"You should. It's a good university."

"You attend?"

"Attended. I turned 19 this year and as a present, Dr. Wyatt got me signed up to attend the California Martial Arts Academy." Her eyebrows pushed up and her lips fell open. She was impressed-the academy was a prestigious one.

It was near Los Angeles as well, and of course, she wouldn't mind being accepted into such a prestigious academy. "Wow. I'd love to go there, actually."

"They take some of the top students, and of course, recommendations from people like Dr. Wyatt is extremely crucial." He scratched his chin and glanced down at her plate. "Vega, huh? Your sister wouldn't happen to be that Victoria girl my uncle has mentioned?"

She rolled her eyes and listened to the clink of her fork against the plate. "So you have heard of her?" He whisked his hand from his chin.

"Only through Uncle Erwin. He talks about this group of kids all the time."

"Tori's friends. You've probably heard about Jade then."

"Ah yes. Crazy but not quite as psychotic as our dear friend Jenny." He flashed a subtle smirk and Trina failed an attempt to stifle a laugh. He leaned over his hands on the table and stared down at them. His forehead tensed and his shoulders rose. "I am sorry about her. If you are uncomfortable, I can have her moved to another team, I usually keep the same team members each year, but-"

"I'm fine. Really. I don't want any special treatment." A glimmer of admiration shone in his eyes. He smiled at her and nodded once.

"Good, because I'm not one for special treatment." Her heart skipped another note and she studied the image of her reflection in his eyes. Her breath stilled momentarily. It was like he were seeing her, whoever she was. Perhaps this tough person that he accused her of being. "I won't lie, they are right; I am tough on people."

"Do people normally get as upset as Jenny?" Thin lines stretched out from his firm lips, and for a moment Trina began to fear she may have struck a harsh chord with him. "I-I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"

"No. She is, let's just say she and I have known each other in the past." She glanced down at the plate and the air around them seemed to tense-making it difficult for her to say much of anything else. "We dated." He reclined and moved his elbow over the top of the chair, sighing heavily. "It was about five years ago."

"Tough topic?" She didn't want to touch on anything that he wasn't willing to talk about. It wasn't hard to understand, considering her own thoughts. "I don't mean to bring up anything."

"You're alright. It ended badly, you can imagine. Have you ever met those girls not happy to be dumped?" She winced. As a thought, it made sense that she seemed angry. Not to mention, she seemed also like one of those people that couldn't accept it, with how she reacted when Jason defended her.

She knew that girl had to have been pissed about something more than just being scolded for being a bitch to a new student. "Five years and she's not accepted it yet?"

"No." He waved his hand in the air and leaned to the right. "She pops up here every year and wedges her way onto my team. Being the nice guy, I let her stay in my group. It's a hassle for other group leaders, so I opt not to stress them out."

"More stress on you, I imagine." He raised his eyebrows and chuckled once. "She's not in California, then? You're from California, right?"

"Texas, originally. Mom moved to Texas, met my father there, and stuck around. We moved back to California a couple years ago to be closer to Uncle Erwin." He pointed down at her plate and she glanced to see her mashed potatoes scraped all across her plate. She'd been idly spinning her fork in the potatoes without realizing it. "You were planning on eating those, right?"

"Um, yeah. I just…" She scooped up a bit and moved it up to her mouth. She hoped if she could ignore it, then it would be forgotten. He smirked at he and shook his head.

"So I've been curious, Trina. If I am to believe the stories from my Uncle, which he relays from your sister…you are a bit of a drama queen. Certainly not a person I would think to have an interest in a place like this."

"Well it's a bit difficult to explain. I'd like not to go too into that part of my life, but-"

"Here, you don't seem that way." She relaxed herself and reclined. His words were oddly comforting to her soul. "The way he tells it, you're more out of control than you seem here. Here, you're calmer than he describes."

"Well thank you." She took another bite of her meal and shrugged at him. To hear somebody say such a thing about her was a strange relief. "I'm not used to compliments." He leaned back slowly and brought his eyebrows together.

"Could I ask why?" Trina let out a heavy sigh and carefully set her fork on the plate. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"No, you told me something about yourself-" Which was a surprise in itself because Jason did not seem like the type of person to talk about his personal life. Maybe it was due to what happened in the class, but she appreciated it. "I told you I dealt with rude and intolerant people. Tori's friends aren't a source of any problem, but…they're part of it. They're insulting, they're cruel, they're harsh. Because I act like a diva."

"Why do you act like a diva? If you're not one?"

"I don't know." She scratched her hair and felt her pulse rate increasing slightly. "Sometimes I feel like I have to be. My parents don't pay attention to Tori and myself, Tori's time is spent with her friends, and her friends ignore me most of the time."

"So. You feel like you have to be a diva and act out to get notice?" She never heard it put so simply, but it made sense to her. She mimicked his posture by hanging her arm over the chair. Her left leg crossed over her right and she turned to look at the food line.

"I have no talent. I'm not anybody important. I'm a nobody. Tori sung one song at that school and suddenly everyone notices her." She brought her hand up to her chest and looked back to Jason. He wasn't saying anything, but he looked so earnest and serious, concentrating on her every word.

She shifted in her seat, trying to get into a more comfortable position. "So I try. I tried to act, I tried to sing, but it always backfires. Robbie lied to me and made a god awful one act play out to be a comedy…" Trina pulled her arm away from the chair and leaned forward, folding her hands over the table.

"Granted I flipped out on him for it, I was stupid for it because he was right. That play was the worst shit I've ever thought to be involved in." She lifted her hand up to her face, covering half of her face with her fingers. "Talentless, worthless hack who doesn't know her place in the world. That's something one of my sister's friend said about me, and you know what?"

"What?"

"They're right."

He bent his hands upward and set his chin on his closed hands. "Maybe. Maybe not." She tilted her head a bit, watching him closely. He was breathing slow and easily, with his chest expanding once every three seconds. "Maybe you don't have the talent for singing or acting, but that doesn't mean you don't have talent."

"It means I can't go that route."

"I mean, is that what you want?" He dropped a hand to the table and leaned his back against the chair. "The way you dodged Jenny when she charged at you, and don't think I didn't notice how fluid your movements were in the formations we were practicing in class." The blood rushed to her cheeks and she smiled at him.

It was hard remembering some of the old formations that she hadn't practiced, but she always tried to keep at her best. "Fluid motions?"

"The way you went from throwing a punch, to pulling your arm back and twisting around to deliver a kick…It was like watching a dance." He looked up to the clock on the wall. She twisted around to see what he was, and of course, it was getting time for the cafeteria to close.

Jason stood from the table and grabbed his empty tray from the other table. She crinkled her nose at him and stared down at her plate. After a moment, she felt his hand on her shoulder, drawing her attention to him.

The strength in his gaze held her, pulling her to him and melting her heart. "You have talent somewhere." Jason's words were soft and inspiring to hear against her own doubts. "You didn't get to having a brown belt by sheer luck, you have the skill and you have the talent. You just need to see that."

How would she see what she was unsure of? Even still, she was proud of herself for having been so in control earlier. "Do you have to go, Jason?" She looked back at her empty plate and held her breath as his hand moved away from her, leaving only a warmth to linger.

"I do have to help set up the group activities after all. They aren't going to plan themselves." He flashed a smirk and she chuckled at him. "See you later."

"You too." She turned to watch him leave. Her left hand moved up and cupped the spot on his right shoulder that he touched. She closed her eyes and breathed out with a long, wistful breath. "I wonder if he ever stops working."

Her eyes slid open partially and she dropped her hand to the tray. She remembered that she'd been waiting on Lindsay to show up, but the girl never did. "I should get back to the room and check on her…see if her headache's gone down."

A good first discussion, well what are your thoughts? There are a lot of small things mentioned throughout that provide great insight on both their lives, wouldn't you agree? What stood out to you? What caught your attention and stands out to you?