Karla smiled as she pushed a strand of her long dark brown hair behind her ear "Hey Jaya. Looks like you guys still need one more person for your group.

Do you guys mind if I join you? All of my friends already paired up and it's kind of awkward for me to ask anyone else."

Jason didn't respond right away. Although he was dense when it came to some of his own personal relationships he was still aware of somethings.

He knew that Samantha and Karla had their own problems between each other. They were both competing with each other in terms of popularity and power at the school.

Samantha's group mostly consisted of the rich and pretty girls at Jefferson while Karla's group consisted of the female athletes at Jefferson.

Samantha was popular because of her ability to get along with people from different social groups such as the goths, emos, jocks, and preppy kids.

But Karla quickly rose through the social rankings at Jefferson thanks to her contributions to the soccer team as soon as she joined.

Although they weren't as bad as the basketball team before Jason joined the soccer team was mediocre at best.

That is until Karla joined them. Now she was leading them to an undefeated season just like Jason was doing with the basketball team.

It was only normal that her popularity at the school would rise because of that. But what Jason didn't know was that popularity wasn't the only thing that the two were competing for.

Although he wasn't completely aware of the situation between the two the little that he did know made him hesitate to answer to Karla's request.

'Even though I think it's stupid to be competing for popularity I still don't want to do anything that would put Sammy or her group in a bad spot.'

Jason was still self aware enough to know that his top spot at Jefferson would have an effect on the people that he hung around with.

He also understood how sometimes it could be awkward it could be integrating someone new into a preexisting group.

That's why he didn't want to recklessly agree to Karla's request. He tilted his head as he looked over to Samantha.

"What do you think Sammy?" Before she could answer Kyle's nervous voice spoke out "You don't have to worry about it Sammy.

If you want we could have one of the guys sw-" Samantha raised her hand as she warmly smiled at Kyle "Nah, you don't have to worry about that Kyle.

It would be lame to bother the guys over something like this." She then turned to face Karla as she smiled provocatively.

Although the tone of her voice was warm and gentle her eyes and body language hinted that her words had a hidden meaning.

"It can't be helped if she doesn't have anyone that wants to group up with her." (Aw, you don't have anyone that wants to group up with you?)

"I mean, not everyone can be like you and me right Jaya? We might as well let her join." (Me and Jaya are the top dogs at Jefferson. You are not like us.)

Jason felt a bit bad as he could feel that there was more to Samantha's words than just the surface level meaning.

He turned to Karla "Uh, you heard her. All up to you if you still want to join our group." Surprisingly Karla was still smiling as she nodded her head.

"Sure. Let me go get my stuff and we can start working on it." She turned around and went back to her usual spot and picked up her backpack before walking back over.

The four of them spent the whole class period working on the beginning of their project. They discussed multiple books as they tried to pick one to select for their project.

Despite Kyle's nervousness and worries they were able to work together without a single problem popping up.

He was somewhat surprised by Samantha's cool attitude and level headedness. But he had no idea that she had experienced somewhat of a change over the last few days after the play.

Samantha was a lot more confident now not just in herself but in the fact that Jason wouldn't be interested in some random girl just because she spent some time with him.

The more she saw Karla trying her best to cozy up with Jason the more she laughed in her mind 'You think that's enough to break through this brick head's defense?

You brought a thumbtack to a gun fight if you think that's enough. Can't blame her though, I've known Jaya for more than a year and it still took me till now to really understand him.'

After the bell rang signaling the end of class the four of them decided to exchange contact information so that they could continue working on the project after school.

Jason and Kyle said their goodbyes to Karla and Samantha but as they were about to walk out of the classroom they saw something that made their jaws drop.

Samantha went up to Karla with a bright smile on her face and hugged her "Bye Karla! See you tomorrow."

But what they didn't know was that as they continued to hug Samantha was whispering in Karla's ear "You think you have what it takes?

Just a friendly bit of advice Karla, if I were you I would just forget about Jaya. This isn't me being insecure or afraid of you. I'm just trying to save you from a little bit of humiliation and heart break."

Karla smiled brightly as she hugged Samantha back "You too Sammy! Today was real fun!" She whispered into Samantha's ear.

"You don't scare me Sammy. You might be the queen of Jefferson in everyone else's eyes but to me you're just another target.

I have always been on top and I don't plan on having that change now just because I transferred to Jefferson.

You think Jaya will fall for you? I'll admit that you had a bit of a head start in getting to know him but me and him both have something in common.

We are both athletes. Top tier athletes that are chasing our dreams with everything that we have. That is the kind of connection that someone like you will never be able to understand."

Unknown to Jason and Kyle the hug between Samantha and Karla that seemed warm and fuzzy was actually a bloody battlefield.

- - -

The rest of the day passed by quickly. Jason lead all of the guys as they ran laps around the gym. After almost an hour had passed Jason decided to give the guys a break after seeing how exhausted they were.

"Alright guys! Good job, go ahead and take five. We'll finish up training after you guys catch your breathe."

As the rest of the guys made their way to the side in order to get a drink from their sports bottles and get some rest Jason walked over to Coach Swendel.

He was all smiles as he saw Jason walking toward him "Hey Jaya. Good job out there. As long as you're the one leading the workout it doesn't seem to matter how hard it is.

The guys always fall in line whenever you're around." He then noticed that Jason had a peculiar expression on his face "Did you have something that you needed to talk about?"

Jason smiled as he took a seat next to Coach Swendel. He didn't say a word as he simply took a drink from his sports bottle.

It wasn't until he was done drinking that he wiped his face with the bottom portion of his practice jersey and looked at Coach Swendel.

"Do you still remember the day that you asked me to join the team Coach?" He thought for a moment before nodding his head.

"How could I forget? That scene where you absolutely destroyed Trell on the court is something that will be in my mind for as long as I live.

I mean, sure the rest after that was pretty embarrassing considering that I was a fully grown man begging a little kid to join my team but looking back at it now I know I made the right decision. Why?"

Jason grinned as he looked at Coach Swendel "I hope you didn't forget the other condition that I asked from you."

An ominous feeling began to form as a cold chill ran down his spine. Sweat began to form on the sides of his face.

But despite the look on Coach Swendel's face Jason didn't seem to notice it. Either that or he simply didn't care.

After Coach Swendel gulped as he nervously nodded his head Jason patted him on the shoulder "Looks like the time has finally come.

I hope that you're ready Coach because now that the playoffs are approaching it's time to make some money. A lot of it."