It's been a while...
I haven't been around on this site very much lately but I kinda felt like updating this book again.
As the title suggests, this one shot is very much out of season, but I guess people are used to this from me by now - in another book I'm writing, the Ninja are celebrating Christmas ;).
Anyway, hope you'll enjoy this little movie-Jaya Valentine's story.
Valentine's Misunderstandings (TLNM)
It made absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Nya Smith was a Ninja; and not only was she a fearless - and famous - warrior, the black-haired girl was also an extremely skilled mechanic, a smart student as well as a confident and most of all independent girl. And not too bad looking either.
So, there really was no reason for her to be upset, just because she hadn't received any cards or gifts on this Valentine's Day.
Yet she was.
And of course, this made her even more angry, because she knew she was being ridiculous.
Especially as it was not like she had never experienced this before - in fact, it had happened to her every single year so far.
Until a few months ago, the Water Ninja and her teammates had been the six least popular teenagers at Ninjago High School (and quite possibly in all of Ninjago City) – associating yourself with the so-called 'spawn of evil' apparently does have this effect – but ever since the 'Meowthra incident' and the discovery of the Secret Ninja Force's true identities, things had significantly improved for the six friends.
So, of course, the five male Ninja had been absolutely flooded with cards and chocolates today, with Lloyd undoubtedly being the most popular one. Kai, Nya's own brother, was a close second, but the others weren't doing too badly either, especially as Cole was very likely to get a few more at the club tonight. And after Zane had finally embraced his robotic nature, the number of his fans had also drastically increased, although he didn't really care as he had already found 'the one'. PIXAL was a droid as well, and one could really say that the two were 'made for each other'.
And even the blue Ninja's locker had almost burst with cards this morning. Although 'even' was definitely not the right word.
Sure, Jay Walker was more cute than handsome, with his adorable freckles, his stunning blue eyes, his messy brunette locks (Nya had more than once wondered if they would actually feel as soft as they looked), and his kind gentle nature. But that didn't make him in any way less attractive, at least not in Nya's eyes.
And since the Ninja's newfound popularity had boosted his confidence, people had finally realised that he was not only a smart but also a very funny guy, and he had been asked out a few times.
But to the girl's knowledge (and relief), he hadn't accepted any invitation so far. Not that this was any of her business, of course, she just wouldn't want to see one of her best friends getting hurt. At least that's what she'd been telling herself, for she would never admit to having a little crush on one of her best friends.
But none of those 'best friends' seemed to care much about her right now, as not a single one of them had shown up to meet her for lunch.
Sitting all on her own at the group's usual table in the school canteen, Nya was stirring her spoon around a bowl of bland looking soup, while the rest of the group were probably too busy counting and bragging about their cards.
"N-Nya?" A familiar voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Nya turned her head to see Jay standing next to her, looking rather pale and smiling nervously at her.
"Hey Jay." She flashed him a little smile as well. "Sit down. You having a great Valentine's Day so far?"
"Uhm... yes." He blushed, as he remained standing. "B-but speaking of V-valentine's Day... uhm... I-I wanted to give you th-this."
With shaking hands, he handed her an envelope, her name was written onto it in in neat letters.
"For me?" Nya blushed, maybe this days wasn't as bad after all. "That's really swee-"
She stopped mid-sentence as, from the corner of her eyes, she suddenly spotted the four remaining Ninja watching them through the canteen's glass door, giving Jay the thumbs up.
Great. The raven-haired girl thought. The oh so popular guys are are all in this together... and I almost fell for it and believed that he actually meant it...
She straightened up.
"Thanks." She replied coldly. "But you didn't have to."
"Oh-okay." Jay muttered. "B-bye then." Hiding his burning face behind his scarf, he turned on his heels and fled the room.
She hadn't been very hungry before, but now Nya had certainly lost her appetite. She put her tray into the trolley and left the canteen, not even as much as looking at her teammates as she passed them.
Not much exciting happened for the rest of the school day, except for the Green Ninja receiving a musical Valentine's Card from Chen and his fellow cheerleaders, much to his embarrassment (and his friends' amusement).
"Has anyone recorded it?" Kai asked, still laughing, when they were meeting at the Destiny's Bounty for their daily training session. "Usually, Jay is the one for that, but I didn't see him around."
Nya had purposely avoided the Lightning Ninja since their lunch break, so she hadn't noticed.
"He was not at the maths club either." Zane remarked.
"Jay has called in sick." Lloyd informed his teammates as he met them on deck. "He told uncle Wu that he was not feeling too well."
"I'm wondering why that could be..." Cole stated, shooting a glare at the female Ninja.
"What are you looking at me for?" Nya questioned, still annoyed with her friends. "You were the ones to pull that stupid prank on me..."
"Prank? What prank?" Kai looked at her, confused. "Nobody upsets my sister." He stated.
"Oh, c'mon." Nya placed her hands on her hips. "I could see you all hiding behind the door when Jay gave me that card. And you know that I... uhm, never mind. I just want to know, did you do it out of pity or to make fun of me?"
"What are you talking about, sis?" Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Don't tell me you didn't notice that I hadn't received a single Valentine's gift." Nya shouted, close to tears. "You are all so popular, bu-but I am not..."
"That doesn't make sense." Cole remarked. "You are at least as popular as the rest of us, probably even more so."
"This might be true, but Nya's admirers are mostly girls who want to be like her and boys that she could easily beat up, and neither are very likely to send Valentine's cards." Zane said.
"And, to be honest, I would have never expected you to be into that kind of stuff." Lloyd added. "You usually act as if these holidays are a waste of money."
"Just because I'm not a girly girl doesn't automatically mean I don't like to be appreciated - and I mean as a person."
"I'm so sorry, sis." Kai pulled her in a hug. "But we would never make fun of you for that. And especially not Jay..."
Nya pulled away and gave her brother a quizzical look. "What is that supposed to mean now?"
"Zane, how long have we known each other?" Cole asked the white Ninja.
"Three years, five months, eight days, seven hours, and sixteen minutes." The Nindroid answered.
"And how long has Jay been in love with my sis?" Kai continued.
"Wha-what?" Nya gasped, but Zane answered undeterred: "Three years, five months, eight days, seven hours, and fifteen minutes."
"And how long have we been trying to get him to do something about it?" Lloyd chimed in.
"Two years, eleven months, fourteen days, three hours, and forty-two minutes."
"And when Jay, after all this time, finally has the courage to tell you how he feels, all you say to him is 'you didn't have to'." Cole said accusingly. "It's no surprise the poor guy's not feeling well."
"I-I'm sorry." Nya stammered. "I-I didn't-"
"Forty-three minutes now." The Nindroid interrupted her.
"Don't apologise to me." Cole said to Nya. "Apologise to Jay. He's spent hours writing this stupid poem." Huh? What poem? "And he was so nervous, he almost threw up, when he went to give it to you. So even if you don't like him, you shouldn't-"
"Who says that I don't like him?" Nya blurted out, blushing. "Uhm... I-I gotta go. Tell Sensei I'm not feeling up for training either."
The Water Ninja ran off the ship. She jumped onto her motorbike, started the motor (over the sound of the engine, Zane's voice could be heard, shouting "Forty-four minutes.") and drove home as fast as she could.
In her room, she plopped down on her bed, opened her backpack and searched for the letter and, with shaking hands, opened the creased envelope. Inside was a self-made card, a drawing of herself in the Water Strider. It looked more technical though than pretty - Jay was not an artist but an engineer, just like Nya herself.
The message inside the card read: 'Roses are red, your brother is too, but I wanted to ask you if you maybe like blue. Happy Valentine's Day Nya! From Jay.'
Nya smiled. He really had meant it. And his card had also given her an idea how to apologise to him.
About half an hour later, the motorbike turned into the junkyard, where Jay's family lived and worked.
"Hello Nya." The blue Ninja's mother greeted her happily. More than once had the girl been here to get some spare parts for her mech. And the elderly woman was all to aware of her son's crush on the female Ninja. "So nice to see you. Do you need anything? Just help yourself."
"Hello Edna." Nya waved back at her. "I'm actually here to see Jay, is he around?"
"He is in his room." Edna's face suddenly fell. "The boy came home already after lunch, he was very upset. Something horrible must have happened at school, and he wouldn't tell us... but I'm sure that seeing you will cheer him up."
"I sure hope so..." Nya mumbled. After all, I was the one who caused his upset...
She walked inside the trailer and, with her heart in her mouth, knocked on the closed door to Jay's bedroom.
"Who is it?" Jay's voice came through the thin door,
"I-it's me." She said softly. "Nya."
"N-nya?" He asked, surprised. "What do you want?"
"Can I come in, please?" She asked back. "I want to talk to you."
He replied only after a little while. "O-okay."
Nya slowly opened the door and stepped inside. Jay was sitting on his bed, hugging his old teddy bear. And even in the dimly lit room, Nya could tell from his puffy eyes and the tear stained cheeks that he had been crying.
It broke her heart to see him like this. And what made it even worse was to know that it had been entirely her fault.
"I-I'm sorry." Jay's quiet voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "It was stupid of me to give you that card. I mean, you're the most amazing girl I've ever met and you must have gotten so many gifts already, of course you'd be annoyed and-"
"No, you dork." Nya interrupted him softly. "You did nothing wrong, it was me who was acting stupid. And... argh, I'm really awful at apologising, so I... I've got something for you."
She took an envelope from her leather jacket and handed it to him. Jay slowly removed the card from the envelope, on the front was a drawing of an improved engine for his Lightning Jet that Nya had been secretly developing.
He opened the card. Sitting down on his office chair, Nya watched his blue eyes lit up as he was reading the message inside: 'Roses are red, violets are blue. It's my favourite colour, and I like you too. Happy Valentine's Day Jay! Love, Nya.'
After what felt like an eternity, he eventually detached his eyes from the card and lifted his head. His face had turned the deepest shade of red Nya had ever seen, but his eyes were sparkling.
"You-you do?" He squeaked.
"Of course, I like you." She smiled. "You're cute, kind, and by the way, you're the only guy who's ever cared enough to give me a card."
"And I didn't spend any money on it." He assured her. "I had bought some chocolates for you though, but then the others said that you'd probably consider those a waste of money... so I gave them to my mum instead."
"Oh, Edna must have loved that." Nya exclaimed.
"She told me that I should have given them to you..." He mumbled.
"I really don't mind, because I already got the best present ever." Nya stated happily. "But chocolate could never be a waste of money. So, what about you and I take my bike to the coffee shop and have some hot chocolate? My treat."
"I'd like that, but..."
"No 'but'." Nya firmly shook her head. "As I've learned earlier, we have known each other for three years, five months, eight days, and-" she checked her watch. "-well, approximately eight hours; so you must have known what you'd be getting yourself into with me. Which means I'm paying today."
"O-okay. But I'll pay on our next date then." He insisted. "Uhm, I mean... if this even is a date, a-and then if you wanted to go on another one, and..." He looked down, his face burning with embarrassment.
Nya took his hand into hers and squeezed it encouragingly. "It is, and I would love to." She said. "But right now, I want to go on my first ever Valentine's date - with you."
Jay lifted his head, his blue eyes meeting her brown ones. "Me too." He beamed at his crush who pulled him up.
"Then, let's go." Nya said. And they did.
Keeping their hands entwined, the couple left Jay's room and the Walkers' trailer, again passing Edna (who was grinning widely at the cute display and waved at them) on their way to Nya's motorbike.
As they hopped onto her bike, Nya thought that in the end, today had turned out to be by far her best Valentine's Day ever. And quite possibly, it was going to get even better from here.