Nya awoke to the rapping of Lloyd's knuckles on her door. "Come in," She said, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What is it?"
The Green Ninja took a seat on a chair near her bed, "I need to talk to you. About Jay."
"What about him?" She asked, wondering what was so important that Lloyd would wake her so early.
"We've been talking—Kai and Zane and I that is. We haven't told Cole or Jay yet, Zane said we should wait until you've made up your mind." Lloyd rested his chin in his hands, his elbows on his knees, "What I'm trying to say, Nya, is it's long past time for you to make a decision."
She sighed, "I've been trying, Lloyd, I promise I really have. It's just . . ." Nya shrugged, "I don't know... they're both great guys."
Lloyd frowned, "You know what the problem with all this is? You can't seem to see any of the harm you're doing to one of the people who cares more about you than he cares about anything else. Kai's been fretting about it since the field trip, wondering if you'll ever get over it."
"What do you mean, 'harm'?" She stood, her eyes wandering over to a the photo of herself and Jay that hung on her wall.
"Jay's mental health has been going nowhere but downhill ever since the field trip. He's been diagnosed with at least three mental disorders, not to mention he hasn't been able to sleep since he found out about your 'perfect match' score from the 'love machine'."
"How do you know all this?" She nervously tugged at one of the buttons on her shirt. "I thought . . . I thought I knew Jay." A tear trickled down her cheek, "I would never do anything to hurt him . . . you know that."
Lloyd walked over to the door, opening it, "I know. But I also know this- if you don't get your feelings under control, Jay might come to assume you hate him or some other equally drastic conclusion." He left the room, leaving Nya to put her thoughts together.
She sighed, wondering how Jay's mental health problems could have escaped her notice.
Why would he ever think I hate him? Nya's thoughts flashed back to the day at the museum, where all her troubles had begun. Why did I have to touch the machine…?
Halfway across the school, Jay was sitting on his bed, also thinking back to the field trip to Borg Tower. What did I do wrong, Nya? He wondered, sandwiching a pillow between his face and his knees. It felt good to just sit on his bed, doing nothing but thinking about his problems. He'd tried anything he could think of to get her to stop hating him, but Nya seemed to have cast him aside like an old sock.
Someone knocked on the door, bringing the ninja out of his misery. "Must be Lloyd again, trying to get me to come out and talk to Nya." He muttered, ignoring whoever had knocked. The person knocked again, determined to enter. "Come in." Jay mumbled, not wanting to have to hear any more knocking. "If it's Lloyd, I'm not gonna go talk to-"
Nya walked in, "Hi Jay." She kept her head low, taking a seat on the bed next to him. "Can I… can I talk to you about something?"
"Sure." It probably wasn't important. Jay sat on the bed, looking interested as he silently continued his traumatic moment. "Go ahead with whatever it is you wanted to say to me."
His indifference shocked Nya. Does he really think I don't care about him? She reached out to touch his shoulder, wincing as he jerked back. "Look. I know after what's happened you probably don't want anything to do with me, you think I don't care." Tears formed, making their way down her cheeks. "I have no right to say this after what happened with Cole, but… I...I." The words seemed stuck in her throat; she looked up at him, eyes blurry and red from the tears.
Jay looked into her eyes, still distrustful but now able to see the words she couldn't say. "You don't hate me anymore?"
"I could never hate you. You're my whole world." Nya wiped a tear from her eye, "I'm sorry I've been such a jerk lately. Do you forgive me?"
He leaned over to hug her, "Of course."