Chapter Text
Trini was all talk when it came to video games. Since her mom had staunchly refused to let them have a game system growing up, Trini and her brothers always had to rely on visits to their cousins’ or friends’ houses for a chance to play - and Trini had always had trouble making friends with how often they moved. As such, she totally sucked at Mario Kart. Sure she knew the basics, like what button was the gas and how to turn, but the last time she’d played was on her cousin Miguel’s system last year when they visited for Christmas. Needless to say, she was a bit rusty. Jason was only faring slightly better though. Despite actually owning the game, he still fell off the track multiple times before even finishing the first lap.
“Damn you both suck at this,” Zack laughed as Trini fell off once again, “What is that Sebastian, twenty, thirty times now?”
“Hey, I only said Jason was bad, not that I was any better,” Trini argued.
“You guys just need to work on your turns,” Billy said, “If you’re going around them that fast, you need to stay closer to the inside of the turn.” Jason took Billy’s advice and stayed as close as he could to the inside of his next turn, barely making it without going over the edge again. “Like that, exactly!” Billy clapped his hands in excitement, glad that his suggestion proved helpful.
Trini tried to do the same on her next sharp turn but still toppled over the edge, grumbling in frustration.
“Hmm…” Billy stared at the screen in consideration, “Sebastian, I think you need a cart with better handling. That would help you make tighter turns. For this round though, I think you just need to go a little slower.” Well, she was already gonna lose anyway, so she took her time on her last lap at Billy’s recommendation and actually managed to not fall off. Though it still took her at least half a minute longer than Jason to cross the finish line.
“ Finally! ” Zack exclaimed, racing to grab one of the controllers again.
“Alright, I concede defeat.”
“Good game,” Jason said, giving her hand a quick shake.
“No it wasn’t,” Zack laughed, “You’re both terrible.”
“Alright Taylor, let’s see you put your money where your mouth is,” Jason challenged.
Jason luckily had enough controllers that all four of them could play a few more rounds - with Rainbow Road being banned for the time being - before they had to head over to the field for tryouts. Jason actually won a couple of times when it wasn’t on a track that he could fall off so easily. Trini still came in dead last almost every time, outright celebrating the one time she passed Zack to pull into third place. When it came time to leave, they all reluctantly put down their controllers, already planning on playing again later that night - debating between Super Smash Bros, Splatoon, or Rocket League.
When they got to the locker room, Trini lagged behind and grabbed a stall to change in, not yet trusting that she could stealthily change in the locker room. Once everyone was out of the locker room they all lined up on the sideline awaiting the coach’s instructions.
“Alright!” the coach called out as he approached, “For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Coach Zordon. This is Alpha,” he added gesturing to the smaller man next to him, presumably the assistant coach. “Now let’s start the season how we finished the last. Sharp!” He held his hand out to Alpha and grabbed the clipboard from him. “Okay, shirts and skins.”
Trini blanched. How the hell was she going to deal with this? Her plan was falling apart before her eyes. Could she request to be a shirt? Would he believe her if she said she was allergic to the sun? She didn’t even hear any of the other names he called out until it got to her name.
“...Gomez, Taylor, Griffin, you’re shirts.” Trini could feel the relief wash over her. That was way too close. Thankfully luck was still on her side for the moment. “Okay, let’s go.” With that, the coach blew his whistle and tryouts officially started.
It was brutal, and at a few points, Trini found herself struggling to keep up. Right at the end, while they were doing push-ups to “cool down”, her arms actually gave out from underneath her and she face-planted on the ground. She forced herself back up, but that definitely didn’t make her look too good. Right after she’d gotten back up, Coach Zordon blew his whistle again, signaling the end of tryouts.
“Alright, at ease gentlemen.” Everyone slowly stood back up and gathered in a circle around the coach and assistant. “Good work. I’ve seen a lot of energy and commitment out there today, and that makes a coach proud. Now, we’re going to split up into first and second-string.”
Alpha pulled some yellow pinnies out of a box, apparently meant for the second-string players. He handed the coach his clipboard again and got ready to hand out the pinnies
“Second-stringers, don’t take it too hard. You’re just as much a part of the team as the first-stringers. Apart from, you know, actually playing the game.” The Coach read from his list, “Griffin, Cooper, Brooks, Bradley, Gomez. Second-string.” Trini felt more than saw a second-string pinny being handed to her and her heart dropped to her feet. At this rate, she wouldn’t see the game against Reefside at all. This whole debacle might have been for nothing. “The rest of you, congratulations, you’re first-stringers. Now, hit the showers.”
Shit. Trini had completely forgotten about showers. Panic took over, completely drowning out the initial disappointment. How the hell was she gonna fake her way through this ? She trailed along in the back of the group, wracking her brain for some means of escape, and had just entered the locker room when Coach Zordon stopped her.
“Gomez! No shower for you. The principal wants to see you in her office.” Trini could have cried. Twice in one afternoon, she’d been saved by the fates. She had to start being more careful though. Luck would only get her so far. She quickly grabbed her stuff and raced out of the locker room as fast as she could.
*****
When Trini got to the principal’s office, they gave her an updated schedule and told her to wait in one of the chairs. But less than ten seconds after she sat down, an elegant and intimidating dark-haired woman came out into the waiting area.
“Mr. Gomez,” she greeted with an almost sinister smile. Her nails were so sharp that they almost cut into Trini’s hand when she reached to shake it. “Rita Repulsa. Come in, please.”
Trini followed her into the office, suddenly very nervous about what she might have been called in for and not entirely certain she wanted to be in a room alone with this woman. Was this about Sebastian’s record? He did have a bad habit of truancy, but he - or rather Trini - had only just started at Angel Grove.
“Please sit.” Principal Repulsa gestured to the chairs in front of her desk. Trini sat immediately, wanting nothing more than to stay away from this woman’s bad side. “I won’t keep you here long. I just wanted to welcome you to our fine educational establishment and see how you were adjusting.
“Oh, well, thank you,” Trini answered. The welcome seemed friendly enough, but she still felt unnerved by the woman’s intense gaze.
“Now Mr. Gomez, I know you haven’t had the strongest record in the past, but I’m willing to look past that and start fresh.” Trini wasn’t sure whether she should be relieved or even more concerned. “I do have a bit of a soft spot for transfer students, seeing as I was one myself, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.” She laughed a little at her own joke. Trini chuckled nervously. “I like to act as an unofficial big sister of sorts for our new transfers, so don’t be surprised if I pop in every now and again to check up.”
“Oh, okay, sure.” Trini rambled in response. “I, uh, look forward to it.” It ended up sounding more like a question, but the principal seemed satisfied enough with her answer.
“Good to hear.” Principal Repulsa shot her another almost-menacing smirk. “Now get out of my office.” She waved Trini away with one hand and returned to her work.
Trini bolted out of the office as fast as she could, barely even remembering to grab her bag. She was moving so quickly that she didn’t even notice she was about to run into someone until they were both on the ground, the other person’s books dropping in the fall.
“Shit, sorry,” Trini said, as she started to grab at some of the books. She looked up to see a girl about her age with short, dark hair cut into a bob.
“Don’t worry about it,” the other girl assured her as she picked up the last of her books. When the girl looked up, Trini found herself staring into beautiful chocolate brown eyes, and she swore she felt time slow down around her.
Trini shook herself out of her stupor, clearing her throat. “No really, it was my fault,” she insisted with a smile. The smile she got in return lit up the girl’s face, and Trini suddenly wanted nothing more than to make her smile again.
“What have we here?” Trini heard Principal Repulsa who for some reason chose this moment to leave her office. “Oh. Getting to know the opposite sex, are we?” She gave them both a once-over and brushed past them, adding, “Make sure to use protection.” Trini eyes widened and she blushed noticeably at the remark, quickly standing back up. The other girl just laughed as she followed suit.
“Is she always like that?” Trini asked.
“That was actually her being friendly,” the other girl joked in response, “You must have caught her on a good day.” Trini laughed, handing the girl her books.
“What’s that you’re reading?” Trini asked, noticing the small novel on the top of her pile.
“Oh it’s, uh, ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’,” she answered reading off the cover, “I’ve had it on my Netflix queue for a while, but I wanted to read the book first.”
“Is it any good?”
“I actually just started it, so I’ll have to let you know,” the girl responded with a smile. “I’m Kimberly by the way,” she added, offering her hand.
“Tr-” Trini coughed to cover up her slip as she grabbed Kimberly’s, hoping she wouldn’t notice. “Sebastian.”
“Nice to meet you, Sebastian.” The two stood in silence for a brief moment, neither having pulling back their hands just yet.
Trini finally forced herself to retract her hand, “Um, well, I better go, uh, take care of some… stuff.” Really? She couldn’t come up with anything better than stuff? Kimberly laughed softly, clearly amused by her awkwardness.
“Okay.”
Trini rushed out of there quickly, not trusting herself to spend any more time in Kimberly’s presence. She could tell that this girl could be trouble, and she couldn’t afford another almost slip-up like that.
*****
At dinner that night, Trini joined Jason, Zack, and Billy at their usual table. Not a minute after sitting down Zack was using his spoon to fling tater tots at her.
“Hey!” She exclaimed when one barely missed the side of her head. Another one immediately followed and actually hit her square in the nose. “Stop it! Jeez, who raised you?” She threw one of her own tots back at him, missing him by almost a foot.
“Good thing you’re not playing baseball Seb,” Zack laughed, “Your aim is terrible.” He flung one more tot at Trini, smacking her on the forehead with it before switching to tossing them up and catching them in his mouth.
“Hey man,” Jason started, sympathy lacing his voice, “Sorry about soccer tryouts.” Jason looked like a jock type, but he was clearly a kind-hearted person. Trini felt like she’d already basically been accepted into the fold of this little group, which was a little bittersweet all things considered. “We all started as second-stringers though. It just takes time to work your way up.”
“And to get a little taller.” Zack joked.
“Haha very funny,” Trini responded sarcastically.
“He is right though,” Billy added, “Some guys don’t hit their biggest growth spurts until about sixteen. And since you’re a year or two younger than us, you’ll probably hit yours by next year.”
“Thanks Billy.” Trini appreciated the sincerity but couldn’t help but laugh at how wrong he was. While Sebastian may still have another small growth spurt or two before college, their doctor had told Trini that she was basically done growing. Sebastian hadn’t let her live it down when he found out she was going to be stuck at 5’1”. And to think, she’d actually been consistently about two inches taller than him until they got to high school. Not wanting to focus on her own failings that afternoon, Trini changed the subject. “So, the game against Reefside. That should be interesting.”
“Why will it be interesting?” Jason asked.
“Well, I know it’s a rivalry game,” Trini reasoned, “And uh, my sister goes there.”
“Is your sister hot?” Zack asked, completely serious.
“Umm… I guess so?” Trini responded. “I mean, she’s my sister , so I feel like it would be weird for me to have an opinion on that.”
“Well do you have a picture?” Zack asked.
“I, um… not on my phone.” That was a lie, but Trini didn’t have any individual pictures of herself on her phone - not being big on selfies - just family pictures, or pictures of her with Sebastian. So those definitely couldn't be shared.
“Okay. Does she have a Facebook? Instagram?” Shit, these were all things she had not fully thought through. She needed to severely edit her and Sebastian’s social media pages asap. Or at least make them all private. Luckily she’d figured out Sebastian’s password ages ago and he never bothered to change it.
“Okay Zack,” Jason jokingly reprimanded him, “Keep it in your pants.”
“What? I’m just curious.” Zack defended.
From across the cafeteria, Trini saw a familiar figure enter through the door. She found her gaze drawn to Kimberly as she went to grab her food and find a table.
“I see you’ve noticed Ms. Kimberly Hart,” Zack teased when he noticed her staring, “The current talk of the town.”
“Zack, leave Kim alone,” Jason said with a slight warning edge.
“Is she your girlfriend or something?” Trini asked. A part of her hoped not, but he seemed pretty protective of her.
“He wishes,” Zack laughed, “She was his first kiss back in eighth grade and he’s been into her ever since.
“From freshman year up until this summer, she was dating this football player named Ty Fleming,” Billy explained, “There was this whole scandal involving him, and Kimberly Hart, and Kimberly Hart’s best friend Amanda Clarke. And then Kimberly punched him and knocked his tooth out.”
“Needless to say, they broke up,” Zack picked up from where Billy left off, “So now for the first time in two years, Jase finally has a chance.” He clapped Jason on the shoulder and Jason just rolled his eyes. Trini wasn’t watching though, she had looked back over at Kimberly and noticed that she was eating alone.
“She looks so sad,” Trini said, barely above a whisper. She barely knew the girl, but she could tell that she was hurting.
“Yeah,” Jason agreed, “I probably would be too after such a messy breakup.”
Kimberly looked over and caught Trini’s eyes, giving her a soft smile which Trini returned without thinking. After a few moments, Trini realized what she was doing and forced her attention back to the guys at her table. Whatever draw she felt towards Kimberly, she needed to stop or at least figure out how to ignore it.