Hey y'all! So this chapter is styled a bit differently than usual- but I bet you'll all be able to manage. And guess what?! It's officially Hallo- I mean, October! Heh, what are you guys going to dress up as? I'm planning to go as casual movie Nya ^^
Enjoy!
"How long have the six of you known each other?"
Lloyd's eyes darted from the papers in the lady's hands to the camera lens, slightly nervous about this interview. It turned out that all groups and solo acts signing up for the talent show were going to be interviewed on this one day. It would be all over the news. None of them saw what the big deal was, until Kai found out that the talent show was being hosted by Cyrus Borg, one of the most famous idols in Ninjago. Not only that, but Borg was also a guest judge for the show.
Jay seemed excited to hear about the news of meeting Borg in person. The closest he ever got to doing anything somewhat related to Borg was when he hung around Borg Hall at the campus for the Book Club and other reasons.
Zane and Nya, on the other hand were awfully nervous. And Cole? He was more nervous than he had been beforehand.
Brushing some of the hair away from his eyes, Lloyd sat up straighter in his seat and began to speak.
"Well, Kai and I have been friends since we were very little," Lloyd lifted a finger to his chin in thought. "Which goes the same for Nya. Zane, Jay and Cole I met during my freshman year in college."
The lady nodded. "What are the six of you doing for your act?"
"It's kind of like a dance… plus singing? Only a couple of us are actually going to sing - that or maybe just Cole… but we're all gonna dance."
"Now, I don't ask this often, but do you think your act will have a chance at winning this year's talent show?"
"I could care less about winning - after all, we're just doing this for fun. I think."
"Well, it's good to hear your thoughts about it, La-Loyd."
Lloyd's face twisted in annoyance. "It's Lloyd."
The reporter looked down at his papers and thumbed through the notes. "Says here your father wanted us to call you 'La-Lloyd'?"
The blonde bowed his head and lifted his fingers to pinch between the eyes and groaned. When I get home, you're gonna get it, Dad! Lloyd's head shot back up and he wore a fake smile. "Right… Can I… go now?"
"Um, sure," she shrugged and leaned back to the camera man nearby. "Who's next?" she whispered to him.
The man squinted at the words. "Kai."
Looking back at Lloyd, the lady rested her hands on her thighs and smile genuinely. "On your way out, could you have Kai come in?"
"S-Sure," Lloyd answered and stood up, leaving the room.
Closing the door, Lloyd's gaze fell on his friends, who were lounging around the cafe corner. He trudged forward and leaned over one of the couches.
"How'd it go?" Nya asked.
Lloyd scratched the back of his head, his shoulders raising. "Okay, I guess." He turned to Kai.
"She wants to see you next."
Kai
The auburn haired man took a seat in front of the lady, folding his arms across his chest with an unamused look on his face.
"So, Kai, what made you guys decide to join the talent show?"
His eyes lit up instantly and he recalled the movie day several days ago. "Well, we went to see a movie, but then Lloyd said that hanging out at the theater all the time gets pricey - so then Jay brought up the talent show and I guess we all thought it would be a great idea!"
"All of you?"
"Yeah! All of us… I think." Kai's eyes fell on the floor and his brows knitted together in concern. "Although Cole did look a little uncomfortable about it…"
The reporter's eyes lit up, as she felt a story coming out of this. "Why is that?"
"I'm actually not sure about that part. If you wanna know you should ask Cole… or maybe Jay knows. But it's maybe something personal."
"Hmm, we love to ask our competitors about the little juicy details." Kai shifted in his seat uncomfortably. The lady noticed this and switched the subject immediately. "Kai, do you think your group will win this talent year's show?"
Kai suddenly changed to his game face. "Oh, ha! You bet we will! I'm not sure what the prize is, but I bet it'll be awesome! Just like our act!"
"Loving the energy, Kai!" Kai smirked directly at the camera and winked. "And good luck to the six of you!"
Nya
"I actually thought you were Kai's younger sister for a second," the lady said, giggling. Nya laughed with her.
"Lot's of people think that, actually. I mean, I am shorter than he is, but I'm the total older sibling at home. When we were younger he always found a way to get himself in trouble. It was hilarious and tiresome." Nya rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"It's good to know," she said with a tooth grin, causing Nya to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable.
"Now, Nya, you are aware you're on television and the radio, right?" Nya nodded slowly, waiting for the lady's next words. "Is there anyone you'd like to say 'hi' to? Or give a shout-out to?"
"Well…" Nya paused for a brief moment, gathering her words, "if Ed and Edna Walker are listening to this, I'd like to say thank you to them for letting us rehearse at their home." Just as the lady was about the speak, Nya beat her to it. "Oh, and special thanks to one of my close friends, Skylor, for being supportive to our group and bringing us surprise noodles!"
The reporter chuckled a bit and rested her chin on her fist. "Surprise noodles? Wow!"
"I know right?! They were delicious."
"I can imagine," the reporter said, the tone of her voice signaling to Nya that all she wanted to do was move on to the next question.
Gosh, she's rude, Nya thought bitterly, still wearing a smile.
"The last question before you go… do you think your group has a chance of winning this year's talent show?"
Nya raised a leg and put it over her right one, bringing a hand up to play with her hair. "Oh, um, well… I'm usually a bit of a competitive spirit, just like my brother, but… aw, heck - you know what? We're going to win! All the other teams out there - just you wait! We'll blow everyone's minds!"
Zane
"How are ya, Zane?"
Zane bore a friendly smile. "I'm doing well, thank you for asking. How about you?"
"Great, thanks! Now, tell me, Zane - what have you done during the summer so far?"
"I visited my father who lives out of the city."
"That's very sweet. How often do you visit him?"
"I try to visit him as much as possible. I spent the holidays with him last year, and have been staying at his house since summer started. I came back down here to be with the others and work on out act for the talent show."
The lady took a sip from her coffee. "So, where are you staying now?"
"I have an apartment close to the edge of the city. It's really cozy there - pretty roomy and the neighborhood is quite friendly. I also like to bake treats for the little ones."
"Gosh, you are just the sweetest, Zane!" Zane blushed a little. "Now, I've been asking this around lately, and, do you think your team has a chance at winning this year's talent show?"
Zane cocked his head at the question and went through their so far sloppy routine in his head. "With some more practice, I bet we will do just fine. Maybe the top three."
"That's great that you have faith in your team, Zane. Do any of you know what you're going by opening night? Your group name, of course."
"Spin Harmony, I believe."
Jay
"So, Jay, tell me. How was your first year in college?"
Jay's lips formed a thin line at the question and he tried to think back to the first week. It shouldn't have been too hard to process, but all he could think about at the moment, was how Cole was up next and being the last person of their group interviewed. They knew about his father. They knew Cole used to take lessons at the Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts. They knew that out of all of them, Cole was the most musical.
What if they tried to ask him about his past experiences?
"Mr. Walker?"
"I, uh -" he cleared his throat. "It was better than I had hoped. I met a lot of new people, and made some really great friends."
"One of them was your roommate, yes?"
"Uh - y-yes."
"My, someone's…" she cleared her throat. "... zoning out a bit. What's on your mind, Jay?"
"N-Nothing. Can we just move on to the next question?"
"Alright then. Which one if the six we've interviewed was your roommate?"
"Actually, you haven't interviewed him yet."
The lady's eyes lit up and see gazed down at her papers, quickly going through them. She beamed when she came across the right one. "Aha! Cole… Brookstone?"
"Yeah." He blinked at the camera, beginning to stare off again.
For one, the lady asking him all the questions was unbearable. Her voice was so high pitched, it was awful listening to her the whole time. Not only that, but her hot pink dress was too much for his eyes, he felt like he needed to vomit. The second thing on his mind was the look on Cole's face when Lloyd mentioned that they were going to be interviewed in preparation of the talent show.
"Mr. Walker?" A voice echoed in his head. The reported turned around to the camera man and her crew behind her, quirking a brow.
"He knows he's on camera, right?" One of them asked.
"I would surely hope so." The lady cleared her throat once more, but this time, louder.
"Mr. Walker, are you still with us?"
The ginger finally turned his head and stared at the reporter, the gears slowly clicking in place. "Sorry -"
"No, no, it's quite fine! Is there something on your mind, Jay?" Jay's eyes narrowed on the woman and he felt the back of his neck heat up. "We'd love if you're willing to share it. I'm sure the people listening and watching would love to as well. After all, a bit of go-"
He snapped at them suddenly. "It's not part of your job to peer into other people's personal lives, is it? Cause I got my own little bubble and I'd rather it stay that way." He put a foot down without knowing so.
"Easy, Jay - we were just wondering -"
"Well I said it was nothing the first time and you're still trying to get me to spill it."
"Alright, alright… we'll move to the next question… do you think your team has a chance at winning?"
"Yes. No. I dunno. I don't care if we win or not. It'd be nice, yeah, but right now, all I want is to leave."
Without another word, he stood up and marched out of the room, his expression still the same as it was when that reporter last tried to pry answers out of him. Angry. Jay pushed open the swinging doors, his head in his hand, slowly regretting what he did on camera.
"Jay, what's wrong?" The blonde asked, running up to him.
"I… might have… lashed out in there."
A hand came over Nya's now open mouth and she silently gasped, walking over to her friend. "Oh my gosh… what happened?"
"Trying to pop my bubble, that's what," he sneered, falling into a seat. He glanced to Cole, who was sitting alone on the other end of the couch, fumbling with his fingers. "Cole…"
Cole
Cole took his seat uneasily and shifted his gaze from the camera to the lady in front of him. You got this, Cole.
"Cole," the lady began, snapping Cole out of his thoughts, "your father is in the music business. Have you ever had any experience in things like these?"
"Um… n-no, I mean yes." He gulped.
Wrong move, Cole.
The ginger collapsed into a seat and brought his feet up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them like a nervous child. "I've never seen him this nervous before!" Jay panicked, hugging his feet closer to his chest. His eyes darted from Kai, to Nya, to Zane, to Lloyd in worry, then dropped his head between his knees.
"Jay, it's going to be fine," Nya assured him.
"Jay's right, though," Kai started from beside his sister. "I've never seen him like that before either."
"Why's he acting that way?" He heard Nya ask. Jay remained silent, lips tightening. He looked around in question when they all turned to him.
"What?"
"I'm sure you know what's going on… Jay, what's bothering him?"
He looked around and saw them all gazing back at him with pleading eyes.
"We can't help if we don't know what's wrong…" Nya spoke softly.
Jay drew in a breath and lowered his legs, catching a glimpse of the smile on Nya. "When Cole was younger, he participated in a talent show. He slipped up and fell, right in front of everybody - in front of a whole crowd. He felt like he let his dad down, and not just him, but himself too. Now he's afraid he'll let us down too."
"But that was in the past, he's gotta have moved on."
"That's exactly what I told him! I even said that he'd have all of us there to support him, but he's just so… so scared. I guess… you mess up in front of a whole crowd, the embarrassment never leaves you."
The room fell silent and Jay bowed his head, letting out a quiet sigh as he rubbed his left forearm. His head perked up when he felt the seat dip beside him from the added weight. He looked to his left, his lips tugging into a warm smile.
"We got this. Together." Lloyd said at once.
"Yeah, my mom used to tell my sis and I all the time, sibling sharpens sibling." Kai sat down on Jay's right.
"And just like sibling sharpens sibling - friend sharpens friend." Zane said.
Suddenly, the doors swung open, and they all turned their attention to the figure in the doorway. Cole walked forward, a quirky grin plastered on his face, lifting the spirits of all the others.
All at once, they ran up to him, pulling their friend into one big group hug.
"How'd it go during the interview?" Jay asked, lying on his back on the bed with his phone above his head as he texted Kai.
Cole threw on a clean shirt and tossed his dirty one into the hamper before sitting down at Jay's desk and pulling out his laptop. "It was… alright." He lifted the screen and stared at the darkened screen, seeing the reflection of Jay sit up in bed. The ginger was staring directly at the laptop screen.
"They didn't ask you anything about past music events, did they?"
"Thankfully… no. Well, kind of, but they didn't ask me to go into great detail." Cole signed into his account. "That reporter though was, hmm, weird. She gave me the creeps."
"Hah, I know right. Geez, she was so rude when I was being interviewed. I need my privacy, yanno? Even Nya said she the same thing. Kai told me just being there made him feel uncomfortable. So, you're not the only one." Jay swept his feet off the bed and linked his arms around Cole from behind, nuzzling his head in Cole's shaggy, dark hair. "Hmph, whatever shampoo you used, it smells amazing."
"Heh, actually, it was yours."
Jay broke away and gasped dramatically, the two of them breaking into laughter. Cole reached up to grab Jay's hands and leaned his head back. "Glad that that silly interview is over now. Nothing left to worry about aside from the talent show. Only four more days."
"Yeah! At first I was thinking of those interviews to be one of the best things that's ever happened in my life, but thanks to that weird lady," Jay made a motion with his hand going down and whistled. "All my hopes, down the drain. I sure hope she wasn't hired by Borg, cause man, I hated her."
Cole laughed at Jay's disgusted expression that he viewed through the tiny mirror hanging from Jay's desk.
"Boys!"
Jay tensed in shock and clung to the fabric of Cole's shirt tightly. "Gah! It's 8PM, what could my mom want now?!"
Cole shrugged carelessly and pried Jay's arms away from him, heading for the door. "Dunno, but we should go down if we ever want to find out." Jay followed Cole out the door, closely standing beside him, as the hallway upstairs was nearly pitch black.
"Cole! There ya are - look who's here!" Edna's voice came from below.
The dark haired man latched his hands on the railing and peered down below till his eyes fell on the one person who stood there dressed in a fancy suit, wearing a red bow tie and holding a small black luggage.
He swallowed, feeling a chill run down his spine.
"Dad…"