Chapter 8
Ambivalent

.:Lloyd:.

Friendships were all about trusting each other, helping each other and simply being crazy together. Lloyd had many friends that had come and go, like the waves of the ocean; however, true friends stayed like an octopus on the face. But… Jay wasn't just an octopus. No, he was an annoying octopus that wouldn't let go. It wasn't that Lloyd was calling his friend clingy but he knew Jay would be that friend that would never go, no matter the circumstances… Although he could be annoying. Like right now.

Lloyd was just sitting alone in his dorm. He didn't have a roommate since he and Jay scared him off a couple months back. However, Lloyd was drying his hair with a towel when Jay just barged into his room, no knocking whatsoever! The blonde could have been naked! That already happened once last year. Not a fun story.

"Dude, have you heard of the thing called 'knocking'?" Lloyd asked as he rested the towel around his neck but his green eyes watched as Jay headed for the rug.

"I didn't invent it," Jay simply said before hastily pacing on the faded-green rug.

"Oh no. Not this again," Lloyd sighed.

Jay pacing on that poor rug was never a good sign. It often meant that his friend was either very stressed or panicked… And taking in the appearance of Jay and how his eyes were wide and his lips seeming to mumble words to himself, Lloyd knew it was the latter.

But what could possibly send Jay into a panic? Jay had only been stressing for the last few months – not panicking. In fact, the last time Jay panicked, it was because a snake had managed to find its way into his dorm. Lloyd was certain Kai would be able to get rid of the snake without panicking – after all, Kai said he wasn't scared of much things - he didn't like clowns or insect crawling all over him (he could handle a couple but he couldn't handle them climbing on him).

What else? It had to be a 'end-of-the-world' kind of panic because Jay's laboured breaths could be heard from where Lloyd was sitting on his bed.

Did the cafeteria announce that they aren't serving pudding cups anymore? Is it that Dareth now have a crush on Jay? Did Kai say something embarrassing to Skylor about Jay's crush on her? Ugh!

"Okay, what happened?" Lloyd asked, unable to deduce anything.

"How do you know if you're gay?!" Jay squeaked, turning around to look at him.

I did not expect this. Lloyd thought as he looked to his friend in shocked.

"Well, do you still have a crush on Skylor?"

"Yes!"

"Then you aren't gay. Maybe bi but not gay. Don't tell me you're suddenly realising you're having feelings for Dareth now-"

"Lloyd, stop trying to be funny! This is serious!"

"So what happened?" Lloyd asked again.

"I-I… I- er- I-"

"Spit it out."

"I NEARLY KISSED KAI!"

"Y-You kissed Kai?"

"Nearly!" Jay stressed before groaning and sitting on the rug.

"Okay, just tell me what happened; from the beginning," Lloyd calmly said as he got off the bed to kneel in front of his distressed friend.

"I walked in after training and he noticed that I got a cut on my torso so he instructed me to shower so we could tend to it- more like me and I tried to afterwards but I've never done anything like that before so he eventually came over and got really really close and next thing I know was that I was observing every little detail! Then after he was done, our faces were really close and I leaned in but pulled myself back before that could happen!" Jay ranted, face growing red as he spoke without taking a single breath of air.

"Did he lean in as well?" Lloyd asked.

"I-I don't know," Jay stated before groaning and throwing his face into his hands.

"Well… Do you like Kai?"

"As a friend obviously but n-not as in a-"

"Then you don't like him, that's it." The blonde concluded as he rested a hand on Jay's shoulder. "It was just a little accident. A spur of the moment. Maybe Kai didn't realise because if he saw you leaning in to kiss him, he would have decked you so hard."

"Y-Yeah… You're right," Jay murmured but even Lloyd could tell that his friend didn't sound so convinced.

"Look, if Kai brings it up, just state it was an accident or play it off that you have no idea what he's talking about."

"Okay…"

.:Nya:.

Nya blinked a couple times, registering the fact that Jay was in front of her for one second and then gone the next… something about Lloyd needing him?

Jay will forever be Jay. Random and unpredictable at times.

However, maybe twenty minutes after Jay had ran out of their dorm, he returned and Nya did not miss the way that his blue eyes seemed to look everywhere but… her?

Oh no! What if he had realised I'm a girl? M-Maybe that's why he ran out! To tell Lloyd! Oh no… No no no no no!

"S-So… Everything alright?" Nya asked, trying desperately to keep her voice levelled but low. If Jay had any suspicions that she was a girl, she needed to eliminate it. If she acted skittish now, it would only confirm his suspicions.

"Y-Yeah…" Jay nervously stated, not even bothering to level his voice. "Just needed to talk to Lloyd about your training."

"Oh."

.::.

A week had passed and things were extremely awkward between her and Jay. The blue-eyed boy seemed to talk less whenever they were in their dorm. Even in training, it would be mostly Lloyd talking to her. But, the biggest thing Nya had noticed was that Jay tended to stare at her more often. Whenever she would catch him, he would quickly look away.

He was on her tail. He must be waiting for her to make any slipups about her possibly being a girl. Nya assumed that Lloyd probably didn't agree with Jay since the blonde is just the same as he had always been… And Jay must be waiting for harder evidence to use against her so he could finally convince Lloyd.

"I just don't know what to do to not make him so suspicious," Nya sighed as she and Skylor were once again under the massive oak tree in the gardens of Misako's Academy.

It was a fine day despite the last few days being nothing but a constant downpour. Outside had the sweet fragrance of freshly cut grass and the birds chattered in the trees. The sky was blue with just a few strands of clouds making their unhurried way towards the ocean. The sun was a ball of brightness from above. It was honestly a perfect day.

"Maybe do something that a guy would do and not a girl," Skylor tried to helpfully suggest but Nya just shook her head.

"Like what? It's not like I could take off my shirt to show off whatever abs I have."

"Maybe… Try to get kicked down there and crumple in pain?"

"No. There's an unspoken rule amongst all boys not to strike down there in training," Nya groaned as she laid on the grass, ignoring the project that currently needed her attention.

It was true, it seemed in training in either Sensei Garmadon's classes or just training with Jay, Lloyd and Brad, no boy would ever dare to land a blow or a kick down there. Not like such a place would cause Nya that much pain – she was a girl after all. However, a common place for the boys to strike was the chest… which caused Nya quite a bit of pain considering that her chest was constantly aching for being wrapped up so tightly.

"… I got an idea. It's crazy though."

"I'm all ears…"

"We could pretend to start dating. That'll surely get off any suspicions."

"WHAT?!" Nya gasped as she bolted up to look at the redhead but the girl only wore a serious expression. "You're not actually serious, right?"

"We're dealing with a very serious matter. Like you had said, we can't have word getting out that you're a girl and this would surely seal the deal that you are a boy," Skylor simply said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"But won't that seem suspicious too? According to Jay and Lloyd, you kept declining all the boys who wanted to date you."

"Because they're hormonal jerks looking for attractive girls. I mean do they know that 'Kai' doesn't just care for looks?"

"I think so...? Guys don't really talk about feelings."

"Well, if they know that 'Kai' values personality over looks, then they won't get suspicious that I take interest in you," Skylor stated, a small smile on her lips. "This may actually be fun."

"F-Fun? How would this be fun?" Nya asked, her voice going an octave higher in panic. "Acting like a boy is easy – I grew up surrounded by boys! But I have actually never seen how they… interact in a relationship!"

"That's fine," Skylor stated. "I can take charge. It's just a little bit of acting."

"I suck at acting."

"You've been acting as a boy for the last few months. I think that's pretty good."

"You still managed to figure me out."

"That's just me. You managed to fool an entire school of boys."

"But Jay," the sixteen-year-old girl sighed.

"Nya, you're going to be fine. Come, let's head to the library."

"Why? We already got all our books and resources. Plus, that's where Jay and Lloyd are."

"Exactly," Skylor grinned. "The sooner we prove that you're the boy, the sooner you'll stop stressing. Let's go!"

.::.

Nya's body felt like it was reacting to a gorilla readying to beat the crap out of her instead of being faced with the very person who could potentially figure out part of her true identity. Nya had never been nervous to encounter boys. Never ever. Yet, her body was preparing for a marathon instead of going to sit with Lloyd and Jay and their partners. Somehow, she had to also act like she and Skylor had gotten together (even though this is their third time ever meeting) but Nya wasn't sure if she would be able to do that if her mind was in full on freak-out mode.

The Academy for Young Independent Women's library was slightly crowded with many pairs studying in there but it was still a sight to behold. There was row after row of neatly lined up books with their spines facing outward, colour coded with dots and each section arranged in alphabetical order. There were several floor cushions, comfortable leather arm chairs and tables for quiet study – only a couple seats were vacant. The hushed atmosphere was often punctured by the occasional laugh or the rapid clicking of students typing away at the computers for research.

Still, this mundane environment did nothing to ease Nya.

"Hey Cathy, hey Tox," Skylor brightly greeted as the two of them approached the table where the other two pairs were sitting at, their books spread out in front of them.

Nya felt incredibly nervous when Jay's and Lloyd's surprised eyes landed on them… Or more like just Nya. But the girl ignored them as she and Skylor moved towards one empty side of the square table.

"How come you're here?" Tox, a girl with very bright green hair and green eyes even brighter than Lloyd's, asked. She sounded completely bored as she sat leaned back in her chair.

"Kai and I decided to join you guys," Skylor stated as she suddenly grabbed Nya's hand and got them both to sit down… And Nya did not miss the way that Jay's and Lloyd's eyes widened upon that.

"Good, because Greenie over here is boring me to death," Tox simply stated as she turned her chair to face Skylor instead of Lloyd.

"Excuse me? Greenie? You're more green than me," Lloyd scoffed, as he placed his pen down.

"Whatever," Tox dismissively stated with a careless wave of her hand.

Somehow, the girls (minus Nya, of course) gathered to one side of the table to talk while Lloyd and Jay had all but grabbed Nya's wrists and pulled her towards them.

"Dude, what was that?!" Jay exclaimed in a whisper, his blue eyes briefly flickering towards the girls before landing back on Nya.

"What was what?" Nya asked indifferently, pulling her wrists back.

"Skylor grabbing your hand," Lloyd clarified.

"So…? Is that a crime?" The amber-eyed girl inquired with a small scoff at the end of her words, knowing she had to stay in character. Kai probably would proudly state that he's dating Skylor (since he too only flirt and go after girls with 'hot' appearances) but since Nya was portraying a slightly grouchy Kai, she knew she couldn't immediately announce that she and Skylor were 'together'.

"Are you two… together already?" Jay asked, eyes wide.

"What of it?"

"That quick?!"

"It had only been three weeks!"

"Dude, this is so unfair."

"Very unfair."

"What's your secret?"

"Yeah, what did you do?"

"I-I did nothing," Nya stammered, whacking her brain for answers. "Girls don't want to be treated as objects. She just saw that I wasn't interested in looks and she liked that."

"But you also said that you didn't like her," Jay frowned.

"Not really," Nya lied. "I mean, I didn't at first but… it just happened. Plus, she made the first move."

"She did?" Both boys gasped.

Why do I get the feeling this is only the beginning of the horde of questions that is to come?

.:Jay:.

Jay had to admit that he did try avoiding Kai for the last week but he had very good reasons as to why! He just needed the slight distance to remind himself that Kai is Kai. A hot-headed and grouchy boy who also happened to be one of the most intelligent boys in their grade since Zane stole the title of most intelligent.

So hearing that Kai and Skylor were together was good in a way. It reminded Jay that Kai was very straight and he probably didn't notice the whole 'near-kiss' thing last week. Yet, it still left Jay a little bit sour. The energetic boy repetitively told himself that he was just jealous that Skylor ended up choosing Kai after knowing each other for only three weeks!

Jay tried so hard to concentrate on his part of the project… But he couldn't help but be distracted by whenever Skylor would lean in towards Kai, place a hand on his shoulder, and then whisper something into Kai's ear before giggling while he smirked. It was so unfair!

"Kai, I'm hungry. Let's go and grab something to eat," Skylor suddenly announced, drawing every single pair of eyes that surrounded the table as she tugged on Kai's arm.

"Sure, let's go," Kai simply shrugged.

Jay carefully watched (almost like a hawk) as Skylor quickly got out of her seat and continued to tug at Kai's arm as he took a little more time to get out of his seat. But once he was up, Skylor grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the exit of the library – probably to the cafeteria.

"So… I guess Kai ended up taking her," Lloyd wistfully sighed from Jay's side. "I forgot to ask, how are things between you and Kai?"

"Fine, I guess," Jay distractedly said, eyes still on the new couple. It was a little weird seeing them stand side to side since Skylor was a couple inches taller than Kai.

"Fine? You guys barely talk in training."

"Ugh, I'm kind of avoiding him and he must have caught on and given me some space. We're not talking about it… so I don't think he knows."

"That's good, right?" Jay nodded. "So why are you still avoiding him?"

"I dunno."

"Poor answer."

"I guess to not confuse myself," Jay admitted before glaring at Lloyd. "Don't you dare tell anyone about this."

"Have I told anyone anything that you had told me?"

"Brad."

"But not stuff like this."

"True…"

.::.

"So… You and Skylor," Jay said as he pulled a shirt over his body while Kai walked out of the bathroom, already dressed in his plain red pyjamas.

"What about us?" His roommate asked as he went to his side of their dorm and packed his belongings back into his drawers… unlike Jay who got some of his stuff all over the dorm.

"I just surprised, is all."

"… Surprised why?" Kai asked, suspicion to his voice.

"I just thought you weren't into dating," Jay simply stated as he sat on his bed, continuing to watch his hot-headed roommate neatly rearrange his drawer. "So… Are you going to take her to the ball?"

"What ball?"

"The ball Lloyd and I mentioned a couple weeks ago. The one that's in a month where the two academies-"

"Oh. That. Probably," Kai uninterestedly answered.

That was another thing Jay realised when he and Kai ever had a conversation; the boy would always answer in vague statements or just seem completed uninterested in the matter! Jay could never have a long conversation with Kai – make that a long semi-personal conversation. If they were to talk about Kai's training or even school work, then Kai would talk longer and seem interested. Other than that, he stayed quiet about himself.

"Why 'probably'?" Jay urged, wanting to actually get a proper conversation out of Kai.

As soon as they got back to Wu's academy, the boys had dinner, their team had a meet up to discuss strategy for the tournament that was in two months as well as going through some riddles activity (since Headmaster Wu loved his riddles). But once Jay and Kai got into their dorm, the latter went to get ready for bed, leaving Jay to decide to stop avoiding Kai and make everything go back to normal… Well, not normal. Normal was still Kai being quiet and grumpy. No, Jay didn't want normal, he wanted them to actually be friends – close friends. Not this.

"Fine. Yes, I'll take her. Why are you asking me this?" Kai defensively asked, eyes slightly narrowing.

"Because I'm curious. Is it a crime to be curious?"

"It was curiosity that killed the cat."

"Well, lucky I'm no pussy," Jay hotly fired, making Kai snickered. That's a first. "Why is that amusing to you?"

"Have you seen yourself whenever you see a spider or whenever someone mentions a snake?" Kai asked, a teasing tone to his voice.

Jay, surprisingly, didn't find himself angry. Why should he be? Kai was snickering and teasing- sure he teased a lot but this was more in a friendly way than the sarcastic tease that he would normally do. This was a good sign! He and Kai were already making progress! Yes!

"I have to good reason to be scared of snakes."

"Really?"

"I thought Lloyd told you! I found a snake in my bed last year! That's enough to scare anyone."

"Did you get rid of it?"

"W-Well… no."

"Even if I had a snake in my bed, I would have got it out myself," Kai simply shrugged before moving over to the kitchenette to prepare himself some tea.

Ever since Jay had given Kai that cup of tea four weeks ago, Kai hadn't stopped taking it… And he didn't have another one of those nightmares. Jay had tried asking him one what did his nightmares consist of but the boy would change the topic quickly. Whatever it was, it had to be more than just the usual falling nightmares or those nightmares where you run but the corridor keeps getting longer and longer. Sometimes, Jay had nightmares of snakes or even talking skeletons! The worst one he ever had was his parents being trapped inside their little trailer in their junkyard which had caught on fire.

"So… you had snakes in your bed before?"

"In my room, not bed," Kai dismissively stated.

"So you must live close to a forest or something. I live… well… kind of in the middle of nowhere, near the desert," Jay vaguely informed, not wanting to tell Kai he lived in a junkyard. In fact, the only other student who knows that is Lloyd and… and Cole.

"I live on the eastern side of Ninjago," Kai revealed… Still vague though.

"Near mountain ranges?"

"Yeah… I guess you're in the Sea of Sand?"

"The south side of it," Jay shrugged as he laid back on his bed. "Do you miss your family?"

"Huh?" Kai asked, quite… shocked? Then again, I did kind of ask it randomly.

"Well, we are at a boarding school where we only see our families on the holidays."

"Yeah… I miss them." Jay heard Kai quietly say.

"I miss my parents too. I'm an only child though, so I don't have any siblings to miss. What is it like to have a sister?"

"Better yet, why do you and Cole have this massive feud?"

There he does it again… Completely dodge the question. He doesn't even change it subtly!

Truthfully, Jay really wanted to call Kai out on it… but he was afraid that if he did, Kai would completely close up on him and maybe won't talk to him again. Kai was usually grumpy… Jay would hate to see what Kai would be like when he was actually really angry.

"What do you know of it so far?" Jay ended up asking, as he sat back on his bed to see Kai leaning against the kitchenette, taking sips from his tea.

"That you and Cole fight and argue whenever you two are in close proximity. Apparently it started since you both had been enrolled in this school?"

"That's not true," Jay sighed. "Ugh… I hate to admit this but the two of us were actually really good friends when we started here-"

And upon that, he heard Kai completely choke into his tea, the liquid immediately spilt from the cup, onto the floor and somehow onto Kai's face. It was actually quite amusing that Jay would be rolling on the floor in laughter since he had never seen such a horrified look on Kai but… they were talking about Dirt Clog and that's enough to dampen anyone's mood.

"You two were friends?" Kai gasped whilst resting the cup on the kitchenette bench and then using his sleeve to wipe his face.

"Close friends I hate to say," Jay grumbled.

"So… What happened?"

"Well… Everything was fine until the tournament. Us two, Zane and Lloyd were in the finals against a senior team-"

"Wait, all four of you were friends?"

"Not really. Cole and I were desperate for two others to join so… we just asked them despite that we didn't know them at the time – since Lloyd also kept quiet that he was the Headmaster's nephew and so on. After Cole's and my fallout, Zane became close friends with Cole and Lloyd became my close friend- anyway, we were in the finals where we had to do this massive obstacle course that required teamwork. Cole and I were desperate to win since we both really needed the scholarship."

Jay sighed as he once again laid back on his bed to stare at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pair of amber eyes that were staring attentively at him.

"We both came to a massive disagreement as to how we should approach one of the obstacles… Long story short, we couldn't agree on what to do and Cole went ahead with his own plan and messed up our whole chance of winning the tournament and the scholarship. We started to blame each other. I yelled I would have done better without him on the team so he said fine and… ever since, we just had more arguments… pushing insults onto each other's background. After a bad particular one, we just decided on being rivals… rivals who still keep going at each other to try and win that scholarship."

"… But you two still make it fair for the other teams."

"Well… Yeah. I mean we're the first newbie team to ever make it to the last five. We agreed to make it fair to others by having a newbie in our team and training them… I guess to also see who's the better teacher."

Jay exhaled deeply before finally climbing into bed, not wishing to talk about it anymore.

"It sucks to close someone close," Kai said softly, making Jay look over to the boy who suddenly found the ground between his feet interesting. "Although… I never had the… the friend that I've lost become my rival but it makes you miss the good old time when things were just normal and easy, huh?"

"Yeah… But if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have had Lloyd as my best friend. We probably wouldn't be friends."

"You think we're friends?" Kai questioned in a quiet voice, looking up.

"Well… We are, aren't we?" Jay asked as he turned over to face his roommate and propped his body up with his elbow.

"… Yeah, I guess we are."

Sorry for the rushed chapter. I'm back at university and I'm already under the pump with assignments – don't worry, I'll still update this weekend but I'm afraid I may have to cut back to an update per fortnight. Sorry guys. ANYWAY, I actually reference joshuad17's Map of Ninjago on Deviantart for all my locations across all my stories, so that's where I get that Ignacia is east near the mountain range and so on.

And 13 reviews again?! You guys are literally the best! Massive thanks to Guest, Endeavor16, Jaell, daniaanlyn, Guest, MortalNinja, Natalie Singe, MasterofCupcakes, Nia Kogane, Cerenda, PrincessFoxSpaceNinja, RandomDragon2.0, unknown, JSNI and all my silent readers who continue to give their support!

Jaell: Awwww, thanks! I plan to write a novel much later in life. Right now, I'm still planning bits of it :)

daniaanlyn: You're from South Africa? I didn't even know my story reached THAT far. But that's so cool!

Once again, thank you all for you continuing support. I'm open to any ideas, criticism (especially harsh ones) or comments. I'll see you all sometime this weekend if I survive through this week. Xoxo – ZaneLoverFan88