Metamorphosis

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 8 (The Athlete Comes Out)

It was easier without the tackles; too easy. Jason's group was up against group leader Kent Abraham. Lindsay was on his team, but that didn't make a difference to the competitive streak within Trina.

Her team, as well as the other, underestimated her agility. The score was now fifty-eight to fifty-six, with Jason's team in the lead. When she made her first touchdown, out running their fastest runner and keeping them from ripping her flag from her waist, her team began passing her the ball more frequently.

Playing brought back many memories of playing with the Sherwood athletes. Like all those time before, she was covered in dirt and sweat, breathing heavily, and studying each person on the opposing team with careful eyes.

The game was over if she could make one more touchdown. It would up their score to sixty, and with the time running out, it would be the winning ball. Kent's team knew this, and as she crouched with her dirt covered hands on her smudged knees, she could see them all watching her.

"It's going to be tough," said the guy beside her. This was Travis, one of the two guys that were hanging with Jason this morning. "We're going to make like we're passing to Jenny, that'll focus their attention on her so we can pass to you."

"Whatever you do, get that ball to someone who can cross that line. If they take me out, keep pushing."

Trina slid her hands across her pants to wipe away the clamminess. Her tongue swept across her lips and her eyes drifted to the two group leaders standing off to the side. Jason was watching her as well and had a huge, proud grin on his face.

He and Kent had been competing the entire time, and going on about their 'star' players. She couldn't count the number of times she heard her name. Just hearing him saying she was one of the better players boosted her.

"More than a girl in a fancy dress." Jason already saw that, or she thought the man had. Now her group, and maybe the other group would as well. "Let's see what they think of me now."

Somebody sounded off and began running with the ball, so thinking fast, Trina pulled back as everyone rushed forward. She eyed an opening, then ran to the right as her teammates tried to block the other team from getting her.

She ran in the path of a sickle around the players, then with an aggressive huff, she flew towards the goal side. Her eyes connected with Eric, the man with the ball, then flew to the opposing team behind her. Some of the members had disconnected from the fray and were almost upon her.

"Eric!" She waved her hands in the air as the man faked a pass to Jenny, which succeeded in directing some of the team towards her. The girl laughed and cut a path across the field in order to perplex those chasing her. "I'm open!"

A grin spread across Eric's face and he tossed her the ball just as one of the opposing team members grabbed his flag from his waist. Trina jumped up into the air, stretching her arms out for the ball.

The ball sank into her hands as if it had been a homing missile directed to her. She twisted her body and pulled her arms down to cradle the ball like a baby. "Get her!" Kent cried out in terror. "She's got the ball! Trina got the ball!"

Trina landed on her feet and looked up with wide eyes. The opposing team was rushing after her like the tidal wave of an angry ocean. Her mind flashed back to the athletes of the Sherwood football team rushing after her, and their quarterback telling her to run as fast as she could.

Jason put his hands to the sides of his mouth and called out to her. "Don't just stand there!" She started to smirk and wagged her eyebrows at the team, daring them. Just as they grew near, she spun around and took off like a bullet shot from a gun. "Run!" Jason pumped a fist in the air, cheering her on.

She could feel the heat of her blood pulsating through her veins, spreading adrenaline to every corner of her body.

To her left, Jenny rushed past her and stretched her arms out, taking two flags from the opposing teammates. Lindsay emerged from behind and tore one from Jenny's waist.

"I hate flag football." Trina rolled her eyes and kept running, only turning her head to look at Jason as she passed. "Jason, next time, make it real football. Hell, make it rugby."

He smirked and called back at her. "You want a real sport?" His eyelids fell halfway and his smirk deepened, causing her heart to skip a note. "Make the winning score, then we'll see."

"You should know better than to challenge a lady, Jason. A lady doesn't lose."

She leapt to the side, avoiding a swipe from an opposing team member. "Can't touch this," she joked upon quoting a lyric from M.C. Hammer. She was certain that Jason laughed, but could have been mistaken.

When she glanced back, she saw Lindsay quick on her heels. "Better run faster, Trina. Don't underestimate me." She grinned and picked up her pace, jogging as fast as she could.

While she had gotten several of the touchdowns-which with these camp rules, replenishes those taken out by the removals of flags-Lindsay was the one taking out the most people.

Now, if they could stop her, they would have a chance to use remaining time to run for a tie and kick to gain an extra point.

"I wonder if they'll do karaoke sometime? Then again, I probably wouldn't sing…" It was an odd moment to think about such a thing, but she knew the winners were going to want to celebrate somehow.

The closer she got, the more her body started to tire. It was usual for her to be so active for such a long period of time. Her muscles were going to burn like hell when this was over, but she had to keep pushing.

Within a short period of time she was across to the end, and the only indication she had that her team emerged victorious was the cheering done by Jason and the members of her group.

She spun around and pushed her chest out proudly while lifting the ball up into the air. Adrenaline rushed from her with the loud breath of air from her lungs. "We're victorious!" Her proclamation rang out and she smirked at the others. In a moment of pure excitement, she threw the ball down to the ground and laughed as her group rushed to her and lifted her up.

Even Lindsay got caught up in the excitement, and her group members were smiling too. It was a fun game, and no matter how competitive it had been, all that mattered in the end was that everyone had a good time.

Their celebration led to the cafeteria for dinner. Many people were already there, but there were some tables that they were able to push together. Trina was the last to get her food, so while she was in the line, she observed everyone.

For eleven people, two square tables had been pushed together and an extra chair had been pulled up. Now that she had a moment to breathe, she took in her classmates more fully.

She imagined a birds-eye perspective where the table looked like a group of people at a feast. The east and west sides were the ends of the table, both had a chair. This left the north side with five chairs and the south with four. The men she recognized from earlier, Eric was at the east end and Travis was at the seat on the north side-closest to him. Jenny had taken the chair on the west end-a surprise considering Trina suspected the girl would have tried to sit close to Jason; he was seated beside Travis.

Aside from those three classmates, Jason and herself, there were three more guys and two girls. Margot and Ramona were sitting on both sides of Jenny. The remaining three guys: Nick, Paul and Jacob, were on the south side. There was one empty chair-to the right of Jason.

It made her a little nervous to sit there, despite the part of her that wanted to gravitate towards him anyway. She didn't know whether or not Jenny would react, but then, even Jason said her opinion shouldn't matter.

Trina carried her tray to the table and took her seat. "That was a great game," she announced. The other's murmured their agreements, and Trina noticed something she wasn't used to.

Most of the guys were peering at her, and when they noticed her looking, they'd look away as if they didn't want her to know. Jason was one of the few not doing this, which threw her for a loop. He seemed to be more focused on eating his food than staring at her. She still respected that about him, though.

"You surprised us," Travis remarked. He reached over Jason's head, offering up a high five. She happily returned the gesture, feeling a proudness swelling in her heart. "You can run." He turned to Jason and nudged the man in the ribs. "She's got a lot of endurance, man." He coughed once and glanced at Travis with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm sure she can last in a match." Jason grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth. Trina smiled as he turned to her. "I would very much like to see you spar. Have you sparred anybody lately?"

"It's been a while, actually." She poked her food with her fork and brought it up to her lips. She practiced in her class, but never volunteered or was asked to spar. "The last thing I did was take out my sister's guy friends. Andre, Beck and Robbie."

Eric coughed out and Trina glanced at the boy. "You took three guys on your own?" His voice was strained and his hand was patting his chest.

"Yeah." She wasn't proud of it, nor did she want to brag. She'd just finished surgery, was high on medication, and very emotionally charged. During that time, mentally she was defending herself. "It was a strange situation, I'd like not to talk too much on that."

"Fair enough." Eric motioned at her outfit and started to laugh. "I mean look at you, covered with dirt and all. Nowhere near as prissy as everyone thought."

"You know." Travis put his arm around Jason's shoulders and smirked at Trina. "This guy here never thought you were all that prissy." Trina's face turned red and Jason shrugged.

"I figure it's best not to judge a book by it's cover." Jason leaned back slowly and turned to look at her. "Sometimes to get to know a book, you just have to take an interest and read it." Her eyes slid into hers and she felt a sudden heat take over her, melting her on the spot.

Travis spoke above them, catching everyone's attention. "Group discussion time. Some of you know Jason, Eric and I go back a ways." Jason's eyebrow rose and Trina leaned forward to get a better look at Travis. "Jason and I were discussing something earlier. He's not a believer. I want to know what you all think-starting with you, Trina."

She pursed her lips and Jason moved a hand up over his face. When she saw the gesture, she was a little concerned, but she was interested. "What's the question?" It was a sign they saw something in them, giving her hope that they held a newfound respect.

"You believe in attraction, right? What about love at first sight? Believe in it?"

She jerked back and her eyes widened for a second. "W-What does that have to do with anything?" Her head shook and she stumbled over her words. This wasn't a question she ever thought about, so no, she wasn't a huge believer in it. "People are attractive, but I've never personally fallen in love at first sight."

About half of the group started to murmur, agreeing with her. Jason lowered his hand and she caught a flicker of a smile on his face. "It would be nice," he said, "But no, I haven't thought of it either. You meet someone, there's an attraction, you get to know that person, and if you end up dating or something like that-good for you."

It was along the lines of how she felt, but she's never been so lucky. She often wished that opportunity would have shown itself in her life, but at this point she was beginning to think it was something that wasn't for her anymore.

"Most guys wouldn't give me the time of day," She whispered. Jason's brow furrowed and Travis shook his head. "I'm just not an interesting enough person I guess. People don't give me a chance to show them anything about me."

"That's why you said what you did before?" Her heart stopped and she started to close her hand. He was talking about her statement regarding people not noticing her, and about how she couldn't see anything in herself. She dropped her shoulders and Jason looked back at Tyler. "I've never been 'in love', so I wouldn't know." He glanced at the others and his eyes closed halfway. "What about all of you?"

"It is a bit of a personal question," Eric admitted, "And a rough topic. Love at first sight, I don't know. It's nice to believe in, but I think I agree with them. All the journey and the hard work that goes into a relationship, you can't just rush into it."

The next person to speak up was Jenny. Trina was wondering when she would throw in her piece, so when she finally spoke, she was expecting something cynical. "It's kind of hard to fall in love if you don't date." She had a point, but sometimes it didn't seem like dating was for everyone.

At least for her, it may not be in the cards. It was difficult to do something that you had little faith in. "I guess when you don't meet the right people and you get rejected so many times, it shakes your faith a bit." Trina responded calmly and with a shrug. Jenny scrunched her face and Jason nodded once.

"What about soul mates?" Jenny leaned forward and her fingers tapped furiously on the table. "You believe in those?"

"I think there's someone out there for everyone. I don't know about soul mates or anything like that, but I think there's someone out there for everybody and that someone can be with someone long enough given the right amount of effort and care."

"I still don't see how this applies to anything." Jason scratched behind his ear and grunted once. "Let's discuss something else." Travis shot him a disappointed look, but even Trina was confused as to why the guy would have brought anything up at all.

"Well." She pat Jason's shoulder and his eyes darted to the corners, studying her carefully. She also felt a glare from Jenny, which she was certain was the girl's unnecessary jealousy once again. So with a sigh, she ignored the glare and raised her eyebrows at Jason. "We could all talk about how awesome that game was, but how much we need to get together and play some real sports."

Jason let out a laugh and the others agreed. Trina held her hand to Jason's shoulder for several seconds, feeling the muscles that formed there. It was like a suit of armor, perfectly molded and firm.

When his eyes dropped to her hand, then slowly returned to her eyes, her breath stalled in her throat and she became unable to speak for a brief moment. She removed her hand and prayed no one noticed the pause. Their eyes remained connected for what felt like an eternity of silence.

When she looked towards Jenny, the girl was still glaring. If looks could kill, then Trina was sure to be a dead woman. Her heartbeat flared up and she brought her hand up to the side of her face, sliding her fingertips into her hair.

"I…" Jason cleared his throat and glanced to the rest of the group. "I could probably arrange for a game of soccer or something. Possibly baseball." Jason slid his right hand along the side of his neck and exhaled slowly while Travis started to grin.

"Baseball's good." She folded her hands in her lap and tilted her head down slightly so her hair could fall forward and conceal her face from the view of those beside her. "Dad used to play back in the day. He encouraged me to get involved in sports when I was a girl, always said it didn't matter if I were a girl or a boy. Lindsay's the one that got me to be more active."

He nodded once and pat the table once with his hand. "Always impressive." He looked at her once more and she felt a smile pulling at her lips.

"Thanks…"

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.