Chapter 9-Most Definitely Not a Date

"So where are we going?"

Jay fumbled to unlock his phone, opening up the notes he'd made. "Okay. I narrowed it down to two places. So you can choose."

"Shoot."

"First is Yang's haunted temple. I thought that would be a cool little thing to-"

"Pass," Cole shook his head, glancing at Jay briefly before focusing back on the road. "I don't do ghosts. No haunted places."

Jay released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Okay. Cool. Honestly? I'm not into scary stuff. I just thought. . . You might think it was cool. But good. Good. I was already preparing to pretend to be brave, heh."

"You don't ever have to pretend to be anything, okay?" Cole's voice dropped to a serious tone. Then, as if regretting it, he cleared his throat and signaled for Jay to continue. "What's the other one?"

"The Stone Army tunnels." Despite Nya's advice, Jay had decided to choose that either way. "They could be cool."

"I'm pretty sure Zane chose that. He's in my class. Sorry. . ."

"Well. . ." Jay tried to think. Borg's tower had been one of the first buildings in Ninjago City. Yet it wasn't terribly old, and he didn't want to risk choosing a location that would give them a bad grade.

Then, of course, there had been the Mountain of a Million steps. Which he hadn't even thought of as an option. Jay had never been terribly athletic, and he did not want to embarrass himself in front of Cole. "There's one place. But I . . . don't know."

"Where?"

"The City of Ouroboros. Way in the desert. I'm sure you wouldn't want to drive that far. And we could get lost. Plus, I couldn't get a straight answer on if it was open to the public or not." Jay listed all the reasons why they should not choose that option. "You wouldn't want to do all that."

Cole tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. His eyes flickered to the side of the road, and he turned quickly, pulling into a gas station. Jay gripped his seat at the violent turn, his eyes widening in a flash of panic.

"City of Ouroboros sounds perfect." Cole smiled at Jay, and Jay tried to return the gesture. "We can get some snacks in case we get hungry on the way there, or while we are there. Or on the way back. I'm sure we'll be able to find it."

"And if we're not allowed there?" Jay straightened himself, clicking the seatbelt off. "Also I don't have any money. I didn't think we'd-"

"Don't worry about it." Cole waved him off. "And really, even if we're not allowed, I doubt security is tight in the desert."

"That's true, yeah. But-"

"C'mon, it'll be fun." Cole's eyes shun with something Jay couldn't decipher, but it made him blush nonetheless. He looked away. "It'll be an adventure. Us, versus the endless desert in the quest for a good grade!"

The way Cole had said the word 'Us' made Jay giddy and mindless, leaving him with no other choice but to agree. "O-okay."

Kai couldn't believe his luck.

He sat on the floor of his room, staring at the rusted teapot before him. The teapot. The one whose story was being bounced from mouth to mouth throughout the school.

Kai had found it. Him. Not anyone else.

He felt like the main character of a story, standing on the edge of an adventure. It made his heart beat a little bit faster to know that out of all the teenagers in his school, the magical item had wound up in his hands.

With a slow tentative movement, Kai reached for the object. Then he drew his hand back, afraid to shatter the moment. What if it didn't work? What if the stories had been nothing more than just that?

Yet. . . what if it was true? What would he wish for?

His mind flitted over to Cole. More than anything, Kai wished he knew how to get his friend back. Syncing up with other people's thoughts and feelings had never been his strong suit. He had no idea what to do.

That would be a good first wish. Then, Kai could wish for other things such as perfect grades, or heck, maybe even to be done with school altogether.

"This had better work." Kai bit his lip. With a shaky breath, he gathered enough courage to pick up the item.

A loud knock came from the door. Kai had only a couple of seconds to toss the teapot under his bed before Nya swung the door open. "Hey, have you thought about where to go for Mrs. Garmadon's project?"

"You know people usually wait until they hear 'come in'" Kai scowled.

"Whatever," Nya shrugged. "Have you?"

"Not really. You're the one that's good at this stuff! You choose."

"Fine. But you better do your share of the work. You try to copy off of me and I'm telling."

"Thanks." Kai rolled his eyes. "I'll do my own work, yada yada. So. Can I get my room back now?"

Instead of leaving, Nya glanced around. Her eyes moved from one object to the next, trying to find something amiss. When she didn't, she turned back to her brother. "What were you doing anyway?"

"Uh," Kai frowned. "Meditating."

Nya laughed. "No you weren't."

"Yes, I was."

"You weren't."

"Either way, it's still my room so-" Kai made an ushering movement with his hands. Nya stuck her tongue out, but left regardless, shutting the door with more force than necessary. "Thank you!"

Once he was sure his sister had gone on to do something else, Kai crawled to the bed, reaching under for the teapot. "Now, let's get this done."

He rubbed his hand against the metal. When nothing happened, his movements became a bit more dramatic. And still, there was absolutely no magic whatsoever. Kai let out a big breath, almost laughing at himself for the hope and excitement he'd felt seconds before.

Who had he been fooling, really? A magic, wish-granting teapot?

Boy, he really was an idiot.

He studied the object, pondering what to do with it. Maybe he could sell it. Or maybe he could put it back in the school. Let someone else be disappointed.

The more he looked at the teapot, the more he realized something about it was off. The image on its side was twisted out of place. With a skip of his heartbeat, Kai pressed two of his fingers upon the metal. While doing his best not to hope for anything, he slid the image into place.

"Could I ask you something?"

Jay looked at Cole, whose eyes were mainly focused on the desert before them. Every so often, however, his grey eyes would flicker to Jay's own. And every time, Jay felt his heart jolt.

"No." Cole replied, with a serious tone and a frown.

"Oh."

"I'm kidding." Cole laughed. "Of course. Ask whatever."

"Oh! Uh- Well, How do- Why. . . Um." Jay fumbled with the words, as they stubbornly refused to form. Asking about Kai and Zane felt like prying in a personal level that three weeks of friendship didn't deserve. "How have you been feeling with uh- your nose not being covered in bandages?"

"Fine, I guess?" Cole gave Jay a quick glance. "I feel like that's a question that should have been asked when I actually got them off. You sure you weren't going to ask something else?"

Dang. Either Jay was easy to ready, or Cole was good at figuring him out. Possibly both. "Okay. I was. You got me."

"So ask."

"I-" Jay's eyes clung to a shadow growing in the horizon, and he jumped at the opportunity to move away from the unvoiced question. "Hey! Look! That's something!"

"Huh. It is." Cole leaned forward, as if the small movement would help him see further. "You don't think we actually found it, do you?"

"What do you mean 'actually'? I thought you believed in us!"

"Honestly? I expected us to drive aimlessly for a while, until giving up and moving on to something else."

"Wow!" Jay chuckled weakly, shaking his head. "This is for an actual grade, you know!"

"I know, and I was going to make sure we did it. I just. . . wanted to spend some quality time with you, obviously."

Jay opened his mouth, then shut it, grasping for a playful tone. It took his heart a few moments to settle. "Obviously. Definitely not trying to procrastinate, or find a random excuse to get away from your dad."

"Okay, maybe that too," Cole admitted. "But I really did just want to spend time with you."

To that, Jay had no response. He tried to sit still, making sure to keep his growingly giddy expression turned away from Cole. Lucky for Jay, the growing figures in the distance served as the perfect place for his eyes to focus on.

The ruins were larger and more well-preserved than what either of them had expected. Bits of caution tape fluttered around the area, but there was no sign of anyone. Despite the clear rule-breaking they were about to do, Jay felt his sense of adventure rising.

He found himself laughing softly as they hopped out of the truck. First a wish-granting Djinn. Now an ancient city in the middle of the desert. What next?

Cole trotted ahead of him, ducking under the caution tape to step inside. He gave a loud shout, which echoed throughout the empty buildings. "Wow! This is insane. I totally feel like Clutch Powers right now."

"Right!?" Jay agreed with a smile, following Cole deeper into the ruins.

The path led them into a large arena. They stood at the very top, looking down at the circular area below. Jay allowed his eyes to take it all in, before reaching for his phone to snap a few pictures. After sliding it back into his pocket, Jay wiped away the beads of sweat against his forehead.

"We should go get our wa-"

Cole interrupted his sentence with a friendly shove and a smirk, as he began to run down the steps. "Race you to the bottom!"

"What? Wait! That's! Cheat-gah!" Jay shook his head and began to run. He caught up quickly enough, and even shot past. Despite his obvious disinterest in exercise, Jay had always been faster than average.

He hit the arena well before Cole did, then crumbled against a bit of shaded sand. His breathing was rough and erratic, but he couldn't help but laugh every time he had enough air to do so.

Cole reached Jay, holding out a hand for him to take. Jay accepted the help, moving up to stand on shaky legs. "You are fast."

"Yeah." Jay made a sound that was in between a chuckle and a giggle. "And you- you didn't even break a sweat."

"You've got speed, I've got stamina. I'm telling you, Jay, we make the perfect team."

"Yeah." Jay was infinitely glad his skin had already reddened from running. "We- We do."

Once he had fully recovered, they continued to explore. Most doors they found were locked, but the metal holding those places shut was so rusted, it didn't take much effort in Cole's part to break them open.

They both took as many pictures as they could. Some silly, some not, but none of them could fully capture the feeling of wonder at being in a place that was so incredibly old. Jay tried to share as many facts about the place as he could remember, eager to help as much as possible.

"So this really, really old tribe built this place. They called themselves the Serpentine. But they were dived amongst themselves into. . . five? Four? Different groups. I can't remember which. Either way, they used this place to kind of. . . fight each other for dominance. They would choose champions to represent them, and off they would go!

"They called this place the Slither Pit. And I read that the whole area is filled with traps that would make the fighting more difficult. But I don't see anything. Not that I want to run into any traps."

They'd emerged back into the arena, and Cole nudged Jay's arm, pointing up at a tall tower. "Maybe the trigger for the traps is up there. It kind of looks like a box. Like in a theater? Important people sit in those so. . ."

"Maybe." Jay squinted his eyes against the sun to get a better look. "But there's no way up there."

"Of course there's a way up there." Cole tsk-ed. "Climbing."

"Climbing." Jay laughed. "Right, yeah-. . . Wait you're serious?"

Instead of responding, Cole began to climb. There were plenty of footholds for him to use, as time had chipped away at more than enough pieces of the wall. Jay watched Cole move with both fright and admiration.

Cole seemed to know what he was doing, as his body moved upward with seemingly no effort. Yet, Jay couldn't help but imagine what would happen if the tiniest of missteps occurred.

Once Cole made it to the top, he turned around to give Jay a small, playful wave. "The view is excellent."

"I'm sure!" Jay shouted up at him. "Now, come down?"

Instead of doing so, Cole moved further into the box, and out of Jay's sight. "There are some levers up here. Should I pull them?"

"No!" Jay shouted frantically, eyes snapping around the arena, expecting everything to suddenly begin trying to kill him. "Please, don't!"

"Okay, Okay." Cole wandered back into view. "Come up here then."

"Good joke, but I can't."

"Come on, it really wasn't that hard." Cole shrugged. "And it's not that high. Worse case scenario, you break a leg. Heh. Get it? Because-. . . Never mind."

Jay stared at the tower. It truly wasn't too high. He'd climbed piles of junk that stood taller. But that had been when he was a child. When accidents and death seemed like a very unreal possibility. Now, Jay was very much aware of the consequences of falling the wrong way.

Cole stared down at him expectantly. He didn't push the subject any further. Jay was sure that if he decided to stay with both feet on the ground, Cole wouldn't tease.

He bounced on his heels. Then he moved toward the wall.

"Heck yeah!" Cole smiled brightly. Jay stared at his smile for a few moments, before giving himself a determined nod.

The climb was shorter than he had imagined, from standing at the bottom. His legs shook with both nerves and effort, but as long as he kept moving, Jay found that it wasn't too difficult at all. Soon enough, Jay felt Cole's warm grip around his arm, as he moved to help him reach the very top.

"Told you it wasn't hard." Cole winked, and Jay smiled, dumbfounded and exhausted.

They sat side by side in silence for some moments. Jay's eyes studied the view, infinitely glad for having climbed. When he finally turned his attention back on Cole, he blushed, realizing that his crush had been staring at him.

"Are you going to ask what you really wanted to ask now?" Cole probed.

Jay bit his lip, then looked away again. His fingers tapped restlessly against his leg. "I was just going to ask about Kai and Zane."

"Oh." Cole's disappointment was obvious. "That. Right. Kai and Zane. What about them?"

"Well um. . . I don't. . . talk to Zane much, but I know through Nya that Kai isn't doing so good. And well, you three were good friends! So. . . I'm just wondering- We were wondering, Nya and I, if you'd ever just hang out again."

"I. . ." Cole dangled his legs over the side of the box, swinging them back and forth as he thought. "I don't know. Probably. I know they didn't do anything too awful but. . . I feel like I never get to be mad. So I'm just. . . stubbornly holding onto this. Because once I stop, I'll wind up being nice, perfect Cole again. And I don't want to do that."

"Nice and perfect? You wish. I know you skip classes. And break into ancient ruins."

Cole chucked weakly. "Oh, that's true."

" I mean. . . I've never had to worry too much about. . . everyone expecting me to be perfect. So I can't say that much, you know? But I feel like . . . If someone's your friend, it's not worth it to hold on to bad feelings just because.

"Maybe you could talk to them about how you feel in general. You don't have to go back to being nice and perfect. You could just be you."

"Old habits die hard." Cole shrugged. "I know you're right though. I hate pretending to be angry. I hate pretending in general."

"Maybe we can work on that. Together. I suck at keeping my emotions together. Clearly." Jay laughed at himself. "And you keep them together too well. So we can balance each other out."

For a moment, their eyes connected. They studied each other without moving. Jay was the first to break, his eyes shuddering back to the horizon. "Balance each other out. Like a good. . . team."

"Yeah. A team."

"I know this turned heavy and all but. . ." Jay looked down, then back up at Cole. "How are we going to get down?"