Chapter 2
Bilaterally Sides

.:Jay:.

Jay had to admit, he was very surprised with the roommate he got. All the previous ones were often quite… well… boring. One didn't talk at all. Another was far too serious. Another was a nervous wreck! It didn't take Jay long to get rid of them – after all, it was actually a guilty pleasure of his trying to annoy his roommate and get them to leave the academy. It wasn't that Jay was mean or anything, it was just fun. People need to take a joke sometimes. Not only that, he and Cole (that Dirt Clog) had this competition going on since they had enrolled in the academy.

Kai was very interesting. The boy seemed to have a slight build but he just looked so scrawny in his loose clothes. He was a little short – well, not too short. Jay was short but this boy was maybe an inch or two shorter than him. Kai may be short but Jay was pretty sure his temper was a lot bigger than him. It sort of fit with his growly yet high voice. The boy also looked extremely nervous and edgy.

"So… How's the new kid?"

Jay looked to his side to see a blond boy climbing into the seat next to him at the table Jay was sitting at. Lloyd was the headmaster's nephew – which made it a huge bonus to Jay that Lloyd was his best friend and not Dirt Clog's friend. But Jay did genuinely enjoy the boy's company – it wasn't like he was using the nephew of his headmaster just to get benefits. No. Lloyd had a pretty good sense of humour. The kid could be an idiot at times but he knew when to be serious.

"Well, he's better than the last few."

"Still going to get rid of him?"

"May as well try," Jay shrugged as he pushed his food around his plate with his fork. "He's far too edgy. Hot-headed. Didn't seem to be happy with my jokes."

"When you said 'may as well try', does that mean the major pranks or the minor ones?"

"Let's just go minor first. If he's not gone yet, go onto major. If he still stays, I think he could be a good addition to the team."

"If Cole doesn't get him first," Lloyd reminded.

"He's my roommate. Of course he belongs to me," Jay scoffed.

"Fine, fine. Just where exactly is he?" Lloyd asked before looking over his own shoulder, looking for the new kid amongst the dining hall where every other student was eating.

"No, he's behind me. Six tables back. Alone."

"Him?"

"What, you know him?"

"No. He just… looks scrawny- er, Jay? I think we have to skip the pranks and if you want to recruit him," Lloyd suddenly said, voice turning serious.

"Ummm… Why?" Jay questioned, seeing his friend's green eyes focused over Jay's shoulder.

"Because Cole is approaching the newbie right now."

"What?!"

.:Nya:.

Was every boy in an all-boys private school hot and cute? As much as Jay did annoy her a bit with his teasing, it was hard to deny that the boy was cute. And now, two hot guys just sat at the table she intended to sit at alone!

To Nya, they represented Ying and Yang. One of them was tall, paled skin and blond hair that… creepily stood up very straight. The only way he could have possibly achieved that was putting hair gel in his hair and combing it upwards and let the hair dry that way because not a single hair strand was out of place. His soft and kind eyes were blue; not the ordinary sky blue, or the colour of the paint flaking off of the old shed in the back of the field, or even the little flowers that spring up by the side of the road. His eyes were blue like ice – crystal clear blue. Looking into his eyes, you could see details you could only see on icicles with a pattern of an exquisite snowflake. His eyes were that kind of blue. Even though they reminded her mostly of snow and ice and the coldness, they held warmth within them.

Nya had to admit, she was mesmerised. She had never seen eyes so pale before. But then there was the other boy. Unlike this pale one who was tall with a leaner muscle build, this one was like a body builder. Although he was shorter than his friend, he had a massive build with his muscle definition easily seen along his neck and collarbone the Academy uniform exposed. He had tousled black hair, which was thick and lustrous. He also had strong arched brows and eyelashes so thick, it could be illegal. His angular jawline was free and smooth of any blemish and hair. His tanned skin made him look devilishly handsome.

"Can I help you two?" Nya asked, keeping her voice low and filled it with irritation; maybe that way, the two would leave her alone.

"You're the new kid, right? I'm Cole," the dark-haired boy introduced with a charming smile on his lips. "And this is Zane."

The boy didn't say much. Just a simple raise of his hand accompanied with a small wave and smile.

"I'm Kai," Nya muttered before looking back down at her food. Maybe it would give them the message that she didn't want to talk.

"We both understand you're new so we thought we would show you around for your classes."

"I can read a map by myself, thank you very much," Nya retorted, emitting a laugh from Cole.

"I don't doubt it. But, there are some boys here who loves to play pranks on others – especially on newbies. We just don't want you to fall into the wrong hands."

"And how do I know if this isn't a prank?" Nya skeptically asked, raising a brow at Cole.

"It's usually Jay Walker and Lloyd Garmadon who pranks the newbies," Cole simply said with a shrug of his shoulders before throwing a thumb over his shoulder.

"Ummm…"

"Jay Walker. I heard he's your roommate."

"It's not that I don't know them. They're not at that table."

She watched with amusement as Cole and Zane looked over their shoulders, eyes widening to see that the two boys they tried dobbing in weren't there.

"Nope, we're here."

Nya nearly jumped a foot in the air when she heard this new voice directly behind her. She looked over her shoulder in a panic to see Jay standing behind her and the boy Cole called Lloyd.

And again, Lloyd was another cute boy.

His eyes were the green of fresh dew glinting in the sunlight off a leaf of green emerald. His lips were pale and thin and his nose slender and rounded. He had a prominent jaw that curved gracefully around and blonde hair that fell in waves to his ears with a massive bang that crossed over his forehead.

"And please, you guys are prankers too. Don't give us all the credit," Jay teased as he and Lloyd on either side of Nya, but… this time, she heard an underlining cold tone to his voice.

"Hey, we're sticking up for the newbie. I don't terrorise the new kids."

"Terrorise? Terrorise?" Jay scoffed. "As least I don't stick boys' heads in the toilet."

"I-I did not-!"

"Cole only did that once," Zane quipped, letting Nya hear his somewhat monotonous voice for the first time.

"Still!" Jay cried out.

"And what about the time that both of you put chilli in Dareth's soup that he actually had to go to the hospital?" Lloyd countered. "You two were so lucky that my uncle sees 'potential' in both of you otherwise both of you would be expelled!"

"I think suspended is more like it," Cole only grinned. "But at least we're fair. We didn't prank Dareth after that. You two, on the other hand, keep pranking the same people."

How the heck did Nya get involved in this? She wanted to get out but she had Jay and Lloyd on either side of her, and Cole and Zane in front of her. So even if she tried sneaking away, they would both easily see her doing so.

"Harmless pranks!" Jay defended.

"Trust me, when they get like this, they won't even notice that you're slipping away – apart from Zane," said a new voice, making Nya flinched but she looked over her shoulder to finally see someone who wasn't hot or cute.

At long last.

"What are you waiting for? Come on."

So, without any hesitation, Nya grabbed her tray and slipped out. To her utter surprise, Cole, Jay and Lloyd paid no attention – how could they not? She was literally right in their vision! She saw Zane's eyes on her but he didn't say anything. Good.

Nya followed the boy in front of her. He was quite short. Same height as her, a little bit on the chubby side and he had a mop of brown hair. She couldn't exactly get a closer look on his face since his back was turned to her. Soon, he sat at another table, making Nya sit opposite him.

"I'm Dareth."

"Oh, I'm Kai," Nya immediately responded before hesitantly shaking the man's outstretched hand before looking over her shoulder to see Jay and Cole standing up, leaning over the table and directly into each other's face, glaring. Any closer and they would kiss. "Do they… always fight?"

"Ooh yeah," Dareth laughed. "I haven't seen them this riled up though. Must be you."

"W-What?" Nya stuttered, her voice slipping back into her normal one but fortunately, Dareth paid no attention.

"Wait… You're the newbie, aren't you? You're not that new kid from four months back?"

"Yeah, I'm the newbie."

"Wow. Okay then. I had never seen Jay and Cole fight so quickly over a newbie."

"Fight over for what?" Nya asked, frowning with her brows furrowing.

Maybe this school isn't as… prestigious as it claims to be. Boys fighting over newbies? Just what the heck?

"So you are aware that this school is known for the martial arts and all?"

"… Yes?" Nya answered slowly as she took another look at Dareth.

Yeah, he doesn't seem like someone who does well with the martial arts side of this school.

"Okay, so as you know, tuition fees at this school is a little pricey so, Master Wu offers this kind of tournament at the end of school year where teams of four compete to win. Whichever team wins, the whole team gets a scholarship for the next year."

"And let me guess," Nya sighed, "Jay, Lloyd, Cole and Zane happen to be the top four students?"

"Yup, you got it right," Dareth grinned. "But as you probably realise, they're not on the same team. It's Lloyd and Jay, then Cole and Zane. However, both boys decide to make it fair that when they fill up their teams, they recruit a newbie for each tournament so the other competing teams can get a fair shot as well. I just think they're more keen on beating the other."

Recruit a newbie so the other teams could get a fair shot. Huh, so they aren't exactly cruel-hearted pranksters.

"But… They both want me?" Nya skeptically asked.

"Well, normally they both tend to wait a couple months, see if the newbie is any good. If they are, then they recruit them."

"So… It's a sparring tournament?"

"No. Master Wu said something along the lines of 'a great fighter isn't just his fists'… or was it kicks? I dunno, it's end with it's got to do with mind and heart. Master Wu can be wise but he can be equally weird so there's an intelligence round… creativity round and some other rounds I can't think of on a low stomach," Dareth shrugged before looking to her tray, his already empty. "You're gonna eat that?"

"No."

"Cool, I'm taking it… But I also got one more question."

"Ummm… Yeah?"

"Are you gay?" Dareth asked with a hopeful look on his face.

Upon this, Nya wished the earth would open up and swallow her whole.

.:Jay:.

Jay resisted the temptation to sleep. It was hard, considering that the sheets the academy provided were silky and soft. The whole bed was like a billowing cloud, thick and irresistibly soft. Sleep tried calling out to him but Jay knew he had pressing matters to think about, such as the tournament that was to come in five months.

He and Lloyd needed, desperately needed, another two boys to join their ranks. But, if they verbally voiced this out, the two would be drowning in requests from other students. Of course everyone wanted to be on his team, or on Cole's team. However, trying to replace Ash (who had graduated the previous year) would be hard. Then, there was the fact that he had to have a newbie on his team.

After Kai had magically disappeared during their argument and after two hours of searching fruitlessly for him, Jay hoped that Kai was in their room but, he wasn't. It was only Sunday so it wasn't like the boy had any classes or training to do. Plus, it was only his first day so it wasn't like he have some other commitments.

Jay thought about it hard and realised it was probably best to recruit Kai into his team. Who knew when the next newbie would be coming within the next five months? Plus, it wouldn't be enough time to train them if they happened to be better than Kai who did appear to be better than the last few newbies. Of course, Cole recognised that too and want him.

Ugh, just how much more does that dirt lover want to take from me?

Kai already belonged to him. He was Jay's freaking roommate for crying out loud! Did Cole honestly want a team member who was sharing the same room as his enemy? Okay, maybe the term enemy wasn't the right word – rival. Yes, that was it.

Jay had hoped to talk to Kai and recruit him straight away. Normally, he would actually wait after a few pranks to see if the newbie had what it takes. If yes, he and Lloyd would train him extra before and after classes to prepare for the tournament. If not, Jay would try to get rid of them. Truth be told, it wasn't just to have some fun – it was to eliminate the possible candidates Cole could choose for his own team.

However, Kai wasn't here, just like how he wasn't in any other part of the academy. Just how did that dude seriously disappear? Either way, if Kai was as stealthy as he seemed, he would be great for the stealth challenges in the tournament. Last year, they didn't do any, which meant that it would definitely be in this year's tournament.

Well… thinking about it now, Kai would be a great addition to the team if Cole doesn't snatch him up. The guy already had Zane and Griffin Turner on his side. If he had Kai on his side as well, he would definitely win this year. Jay couldn't have that happen. Jay could always keep the newbie from last year – he wasn't that bad either. Lloyd insisted that they added him last year since he knew Brad when he was younger. Apparently Brad had been doing much better in training this year – maybe they could have him again…

Although, Jay did try to avoid using the same newbie again since their skills wouldn't be high enough for the next year. Having a newbie and a semi-newbie wasn't really a good strategy at winning but maybe Brad could be an exception this year-

Jay bolted upwards when he heard the door open and in came Kai.

"There you are!" Jay exclaimed. "I've been looking for you."

"Yeah, you really looked like you were looking for me," Kai dryly retorted as his titled his head towards Jay's bed.

"Hey, it's called a break," Jay quickly said as he got up. "We need to talk."

"If it's about the tournament thing, I don't want in."

"What?!" Jay gasped.

No, no, no! I need him! He doesn't want in?! Doesn't he want the scholarship?!

"I'm not into that kind of thing."

"B-But… But haven't you heard of the reward at the end?"

"The scholarship? I'm already on a full scholarship. I don't need another."

What?! Kai is on a scholarship already?! For what?! Ah! This isn't good! This is not good!

"But you don't have to take the scholarship for yourself. You could give it away to someone else," Jay gushed.

"Someone else can do that."

"Lloyd and I help to train whoever joins our team," Jay next said, trying to come up with any way to make Kai agree. "You are aware that you lose your scholarship if you can't keep up with the intelligence or physical expectations? And I'm sure you're here on an academic scholarship, so you could also use the extra help on the-"

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Kai muttered as he turned his back to Jay and went to unpack his bag.

Oh no, what am I going to do?

.::.

Later that night, Jay found himself sitting in Lloyd's dorm, recounting the miniscule encounter he had with his roommate. Kai not wanting to join had completely stressed him out because who knew? Maybe Cole would find a way to convince him and Jay couldn't have that at all!

"So… I guess that means Kai is out?"

"We can't just give up," Jay groaned. "Cole won't and if he gets Kai, he would never let me live it down since Kai is my freaking roommate!"

"Who knows, maybe Kai just has trust issues," Lloyd shrugged. "You said he's quite edgy, right? Maybe give him a day or two, be the nice roommate and maybe he'll reconsider it… But here I was hoping to prank him."

"No pranking. I can't risk him possibly going onto Cole's team."

"What if he just doesn't want to do it? I mean there's quite a number of students that don't participate in the tournament."

"Then we're still two short and the other newbies this year aren't that great."

"We don't even know if Kai is great!"

"Kai is on a full scholarship."

"He's what?!"

"Yeah, for his academic intelligence," Jay muttered as his feet started to pace on Lloyd's faded green carpet. The poor thing was so thin from whenever Jay would come over to pace on it. "I have hope he's not that hopeless in martial arts."

"Did you try telling him that we always train our newbies? This way, this will ensure he won't lose the scholarship?"

"Nah, he didn't even care."

"He didn't care? Dude, stop pacing. It's honestly starting to annoy me," Lloyd huffed, resulting Jay to sigh and collapse into a nearby arm chair. "Look, if he seems to be failing during sunrise exercise tomorrow, then we offer our help in exchange for his. Fair deal."

"And he's actually good enough on his own and doesn't accept our help or even help us?"

"Then we just have to move on."

"Ugh, exams should be making me stressed, not this!"

Wow, the reception on the first chapter is incredible! Thank you to everyone who gave me a warm welcome, it's great to be back. I'm actually quite surprised that some of you remember me (especially after my year-long absence). Massive thanks to the following for reviewing, favourite and following: Natalie Singe, AuroraRain18, Just Someone Not Important, StreetTT, MasterofCupcakes, CatGirl.02, Text1412, Thor13542, GwenBrightly, LiaLia15, ThePowerOfOats, the two guest reviewers and all my silent readers!

Once again, I appreciate any forms of feedback – even if it's harsh! It's honestly the best way to learn and improve… well, it is to me. You could either PM me or just leave a comment. Thanks for reading and I'll see you all soon! Xoxo – ZaneLoverFan88.