Lloyd enjoyed book stores. Maybe it was the fact that they were quiet, or that he enjoyed reading almost as much as he enjoyed video games, which was saying quite a bit. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that he had suddenly grown up faster and his brain was now more mature, or if he really just enjoyed books. But he did, not that the other ninja knew…
The blonde-haired teenager had changed out of his green ninja outfit and opted for a more inconspicuous pair of jeans and a green t-shirt. He loved being a ninja, but he was getting fed up with the paparazzi, who seemed to be constantly stalking him. Man, a guy saves the world and can't even get a day off because of it!
But no one in the bookstore seemed to recognize Lloyd without his ninja outfit on, so he was safe for the moment. He headed straight for the fiction section and then headed into fantasy. Lloyd enjoyed fantasy books, or science fiction. Both were fun and exciting and let him forget about all the problems in the world he had to fix. It always seemed that the characters had a difficult enough time with their own problems, and Lloyd could easily forget about his own.
So he settled down in a nearby chair with a book on dragons and let himself be lost in the words. He wouldn't have minded simply reading all day, or for the rest of his days. Video games were great, and comic books were fun, but novels? Lloyd could have read novels all day. Besides, it was snowing outside and it was warm inside the bookstore, making the experience all the better.
"I'm so sorry!"
Lloyd jerked his head up as the voice interrupted his train of thought. He would have ignored the words and gone right back to his book, but something stopped him. Across from him, a few bookshelves over, a girl was helping a woman pick up a fallen book. She must have accidentally bumped into the woman and proceeded to knock the book from her hand. It was nothing major; no one had been injured, nothing was really wrong at all. But the reason Lloyd could no longer concentrate was the girl.
It wasn't the fact that she was extremely pretty, in fact, Lloyd hardly even noticed that at the start. She wasn't all that tall, but had long, pin-straight brown hair that framed a well-formed face. Green eyes were easily visible, being a rather piercing shade. She was wearing a bright pink shirt with some logo on it, a pair of striped leggings and a jean skirt, topping it all off with a large purse and a pair of boots. She could have stopped traffic dressed the way she was. But her face and her clothes were enough for Lloyd to immediately recognize the girl.
He almost dropped his book in surprise. He tried to remember where he had seen her before, struggling with a name. Finally, it hit him. "Juliet," he whispered. "Juliet Sylvia Radspinner."
Thankfully, the girl hadn't heard him, and she quickly picked up the woman's books and continued on her way through the bookstore. Lloyd closed his book shut silently, and stood up, his eyes following the girl. Slowly, he began to tail her, making sure he was always out of sight when she turned.
He wasn't sure why he was sneaking after the girl and didn't just walk up and introduce himself. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't seen the girl in three years, or that he had met her in a place that was less than ideal.
She had been thirteen then, back when she had been hired by Darkley's Boarding School for Bad Boys as a caretaker of sorts. She was basically a babysitter, and being a babysitter for a bunch of naughty, rambunctious boys was not an easy task, especially for a thirteen year old girl. But she lived nearby Darkley's and wanted spending money. So she came by at least once a week to take care of the boys between their classes and make sure they weren't blowing anything up.
Lloyd had only been at Darkley's for around a week or so when Juliet first showed up. He remembered being in a small room with the other boys, wearing his stuffy Darkley's uniform and waiting impatiently for the talk to be over so he could go back to being a bad boy and failing his classes. But the head of school had told them he was giving them a surprise. And Juliet was that surprise.
She had walked into the room with a tall stride and a wide smile. Back then, she had seemed so big, and now Lloyd was taller than her. But she had been a shocker for a bunch of boys cut off from society. For one, she was a girl that was actually somewhat close to their age, and wasn't a teacher. Second, she looked as though she had been thrown up on by a thrift shop. She could have given a hippie a run for its money, with her brightly colored clothes and massive canvas bag. But what was really surprising to the young boys was something different: her smile. She looked genuinely happy to be at Darkley's, and no one was happy at Darkley's.
At first, the boys had taken Juliet as just another person to test their evil-ness on. She instantly became the butt end of jokes and pranks. On her first ever period with them, a cleverly placed bucket at the top of the door covered her with green slime and confetti. The second time, she was clotheslined by a bunch of plastic wrap that had been wrapped over an open doorframe. Then had come the talcum powder in her hair-drier, and tacks on her chairs, and just about every other possible way to make her feel miserable possible.
But what the boys hadn't expected was the one things that Juliet managed to do in spite of all their mischief: she loved them. The girl genuinely cared about the boys, and never ceased to bring them treats of chocolate and toy cars and other various trinkets. And the more she brought them gifts, the less they pranked her and made fun of her. Juliet had been told at her own orientation that the school was for bad boys and their training and that she was supposed to keep them bad. But the girl couldn't help but teach them along the way. Through her, they managed to learn a few morals and manners. So when Juliet was finally asked to leave Darkley's, the boys were sad to see her go.
Lloyd was probably one of the most saddened by her going. Of all the boys, Juliet had doted on Lloyd more than the others. He wasn't sure why, but he could always count on her slipping him another chocolate kiss, or rocking him in a chair on her lap when the day had been especially brutal. She was a kind and generous girl, and Lloyd had seen it more than the other boys. She might have been one of the reasons Lloyd had been kicked out for his "lack of immoral ambition of becoming one of tomorrow's masterminds".
But he hadn't seen her since his days at Darkley's. In fact, it was downright odd to see her now. From what Lloyd could remember, Juliet lived in the mountains, near Darkley's. Coming down to New Ninjago City was quite a trek for a book. So why was she here?
Lloyd followed the girl to the end of bookstore, where she pulled a nearby book out of her bag and settled down to read. Lloyd strained to see the cover, which had a large picture of a castle on it. The young teen looked at his own book and back to hers. A coincidence that they were both reading fantasy, but Lloyd remembered now that Juliet liked fantasy.
Go up and talk to her, you nimrod!
Are you kidding? He snapped back to himself. She probably doesn't even remember me!
So? You should at least strike up a conversation!
No way! And I can't just walk up to her and say something. She'll think I'm an idiot.
He wrestles with himself mentally for what felt like hours, but he knew that he would have to do something. If he sat back down and tried to read his book, he wouldn't be able to concentrate. His mind would be whirling with thoughts of Juliet and what she was doing.
He needed to do something…
He tripped.
Lloyd knew it was probably the stupidest thing he could have possibly done, but he did it anyways. He walked nonchalantly in front of the chair Juliet sat in and tripped on the carpet, the book flying from his hands. He crashed in the ground harder than he had meant to, but it would do.
Immediately Juliet was on her feet. "Oh my goodness, did you trip on one of my feet? I'm so sorry! Here, let me get your book…"
"No, you're fine!" Lloyd said hurriedly, flipping onto his back. But at that moment, something he had not expected happened.
Juliet's foot caught on the chair she was walking past she went tumbling to the ground, right on top of Lloyd. She managed to catch herself before she crushed him, but that didn't excuse the fact that she was directly over Lloyd, her face and body merely inches away from his. Green eyes met green and her brown hair fell over him. The girl's cheeks flushed bright red and she hurriedly jerked herself away.
"I-I'm so sorry," she stuttered, blushing furiously. Lloyd could feel his own cheeks burning at the thought of anyone being that close to him. "I'm such a klutz." She paused for a moment and looked at Lloyd, her eyes narrowing. "I'm sorry for staring; you look like someone I know."
Lloyd shrugged. "Maybe I am someone you know."
"You can't be."
"Why not?"
"Because you look almost like someone I knew a long time ago. But he's only a little kid. He can't be more than ten years old."
There it was, Lloyd's stupid age problem again. He was older than people who were once older than him, and he was definitely not ten anymore. At this point, it would be ridiculous for him to claim that he was who he was. She wouldn't believe him anyways. He nearly sighed in annoyance.
Juliet held out her hand. "My name's Juliet Radspinner."
Lloyd took her hand and made a split second decision as he did so. "My name's Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon."
"Lloyd Mont…" Juliet's hand went limp in his for a moment. Her eyes stared into his, widening. Finally, she smirked. "Funny, what's your real name?"
"My…real name?"
"Yeah. You're not that person."
"Yes, I am."
"No."
"Yes!" Lloyd said, starting to sound desperate.
Finally, Juliet picked up her book and smacked Lloyd on the head with it before standing up and looking absolutely furious.
"OW!" Lloyd yelped, clutching his head. "What the heck was that for?!"
Juliet shouldered her bag and glared at Lloyd. "You're such a liar! All you had to do was tell me your real name!" She stalked off between bookcases.
Lloyd got to his feet and followed her, a whine entering his voice. "Juliet…"
"Shut up, creeper!" She snapped and turned away from him to continue through the store.
Lloyd let out an annoyed sigh as he hurried to keep up. "Juliet, come on, hear me out."
"Hear what? You're a liar who wants my number, and I'm not giving it to you."
"I already have your number, and know about your family and where you live and where you worked three years ago."
The book caught Lloyd in the jaw, and he gave a gasp as pain rushed through his face. Juliet's eyes were filled with fury. "I don't know who you are, but quit stalking me, you creep!" She whirled around and stalked off with a huff.
You're going to lose her, you idiot! "Juliet!" Lloyd called out after her. "Look, you had a crush on a guy named Jake when you were thirteen!"
The girl stopped dead in her tracks. She whirled around and stalked back to Lloyd, a finger pointing at his face. "Where did you learn that?" She snapped, her voice hardly above a whisper. "I never told anyone that."
Lloyd managed a small smile. "You did when you were at Darkley's. You told me, because I promised I wouldn't tell anyone else."
Juliet munched on her lip anxiously for a few moments before narrowing her eyes. "What if I still don't believe you?"
"What do you want me to do?" Lloyd asked, raising his hands. "I can tell you the list of pranks played on you from front to back, and I can tell you the names of all the boys at Darkley's, or give you the list of dreams you had me and the others write one day, or I can tell you about myself or about you."
"But you can't be Lloyd. Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon is ten years old."
Lloyd sighed, brushing back his hair. "It's a long story involving ninja, a prehistoric dinosaur-like animal, and a magic tea, but that's not really all that important right now. You just have to believe me when I tell you that I'm really Lloyd, and I could tell you a lot of stuff, but I don't think you'd believe me anyways." He pulled his wallet from his pocket and handed his ID card to Juliet. "See? That's my old picture, and that's my new one."
The girl took the cards and inspected them, confusion covering her gaze as she stared back at Lloyd. "You're…you're telling the truth?"
"Yes!"
The girl handed back the IDs and stared at Lloyd with an expression that the boy couldn't identify. It was confused and horrified, but still filled with awe. "Oh my gosh…what the heck happened to you?!"
"I already told you: ninja, dinosaur, and tea. I know I'm supposed to be ten, but I'm actually fifteen."
"And Brad and Gene and the others?" Juliet asked slowly. "Are they all super-aged too?"
"No," Lloyd said a little awkwardly. "Just me. It's…a long story. I just…I recognized you and wanted to say hello and see how you're doing—."
"Oh no," Juliet said roughly, grabbing the boy's hand. "You're going to tell me the whole story from beginning to end. Now come on, I'll drive you to a coffee shop or something…"
"So your dad who was once an evil dark lord is good again, you're part of a ninja team-club-thing, you saved the world because a prophesy was written about you years ago, and you grew up super-fast because you used a special kind of tea to turn a prehistoric dinosaur into dust but ended up aging yourself as well. Do I have that all right?"
Lloyd took a long sip of his hot chocolate. He was still banned from caffeine by his uncle, but he didn't mind. He didn't like coffee anyways. He nodded in response to Juliet. "Yep, that's pretty much it. You missed out the parts with my crazy adventures, but that's basically the gist of it."
Juliet gave an amused laugh as she took another sip of her coffee. "Man, and I though high school was bad! So you're not at Darkley's anymore?"
"Na, gave that up a long time ago. I was kicked out for being too nice." He gave the brunette a small smile. "You taught me to be nice."
"Then I'm sorry for getting you kicked out."
"Are you kidding? Getting kicked out was the best! I didn't have to try to be bad anymore."
Juliet's smile warmed. "That's why I liked you so much Lloyd. You just…you couldn't be bad. You tried so hard, but there was too much good in you. You tried so hard, but you couldn't be the bad boy you thought you had to be." She laid a hand over his. "And look at you now, saving the world, all grown up." She shook her head. "I swear, it's weird to see you so much older, especially because I haven't aged all that much."
Lloyd rubbed his neck. "It's weird for me too, believe me." He glanced up at the clock on the wall and sighed, glancing outside. "It's getting dark, so I'd better get back home."
"I can drive you. The storm's picking up."
"Don't worry," Lloyd said with a grin as he got up from his chair. "I can summon a Golden Dragon out of thin air that will take me home."
Juliet smirked. "If I wasn't looking at you right now, I would believe you." She pulled out a slip of paper from her purse and handed it to Lloyd, flushing slightly. "Here, I wrote down all my contact information on it, just in case you forgot. Call me up sometime. I'd love to meet your friends or help you out with anything."
Lloyd slid the paper into his pocket and smiled. "Thanks, I will. And Juliet? Thanks for being nice to me."
"My pleasure."
Lloyd left the coffee shop in the middle of a snowstorm, but he couldn't have felt warmer. He rode a large golden dragon back to the house, but the snow and wind didn't bother him. He was just happy.
It had been a good day. No fights, no problems, just a pretty girl he had once known to keep him company.
(*smacks face*) I really need to get back to my original novel, but this has been bugging me...man, if I'm working on any fanfiction, it should be my Grounded 2 story, but alas, this one was just being mean...
So, I wrote a quick thing for my sister, and it's another Lloyd fic (surprise surprise). It's just a little quirky, cute, and fluffy, and I'm enjoying exploring the problem of Lloyd's aging and how it would affect other people around him, like his old babysitter.
Okay, back to my original novel...I hope...
~Pixie