Chapter 13- The Knowledgeable Wallflower

Jay was going to tell Nya. He was. Truly.

He was only biding his time. Searching for the right words. It was a difficult confession, after all. Nya's reaction would be a force to be reckoned with. Jay only wanted to be prepared.

Until then, he'd still do everything to help her find the teapot. Even if it meant possibly having his secret shoved into the open before he was ready. Jay owed her that much, at the very least.

But-

Nya was not the only person Jay owed the truth too. There was also, of course, Cole.

The more Jay spent time with him, the more he began to believe that. . . maybe he would understand. After all, Jay hadn't meant to wish for Cole's life to fall apart. So there was no reason to despise him. . . right?

It was just, the slim chance that Cole might hate him was a little too much. Cole had quickly become a crucial part of Jay's life, and the thought of losing him was something Jay couldn't bear.

So he was left in a weird void, waiting for things to fall apart, trying to make the best of it all while he still had it. It was dumb, Jay knew. But he couldn't bring himself to do anything else.

With these thoughts, he strolled through the street, heading to Cole's house. It would be the first time he ever saw the place, and he already felt intimidated. The houses on either side of the street were huge, at least by Jay's standards. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to grow up like this

What he could imagine, all too well, was Cole's father. After all he'd heard about the man, Jay had built a very terrifying image. This made every one of his steps small and reluctant.

Jay rang the doorbell, praying silently that Cole would be the one to open.

But of course it wasn't.

"You must be Jay. Cole said you'd be along." Granted, the man looked less terrifying than what Jay had pictured, but the stern, judging look in his dark eyes still made Jay wobble where he stood.

"Yes. That's me. Hi." Jay held out his hand. Cole's father ignored it.

"I suppose you're the reason he's been slacking off so much?"

"Er. . ."

"Jay!"

Cole's voice came as a relief. It took all of Jay's will not to sprint straight into his arms. "Cole! Hey. I brought you- brought you the homework. How are you holding up?"

"Stomach still doesn't feel the best. Figures I'd get food poisoning though. I've been on a streak of bad luck all year." Cole smiled, and Jay both envied and admired his ability to shrug off whatever the world threw at him.

"Yeah. . . Well, Mrs. Garmadon said you can do your presentation whenever you get back. And. . . That's all. Nya says hi. Same with Lloyd." Jay gave a small nod, trying to avoid direct contact with the eyes of Cole's dad. He then took a step back, more than ready to leave.

"Wait, why don't you stay? For a bit at least."

"Um." Jay froze on the spot. On the one hand, seeing Cole's room felt like a major relationship milestone. On the other, there was his dad. "Is that. . . okay?"

Cole's father shrugged, turning away to go deeper into the house. Cole watched his father leave, then held his hand out. "Of course it's okay. C'mon."

Jay took Cole's hand, grip tight as he sought for comfort in unfamiliar ground. When Cole opened the door to his room. Jay froze in awe before stepping inside. The room itself was just as big as the trailer he'd grown up in.

It held a bed, a desk, a dresser, and space to spare. Jay gave a low whistle, eyes taking in every detail. They halted by a large piano keyboard. Multiple music sheets were scattered upon and around it. Cole followed Jay's line of sight, then hurried to shove the papers into one pile.

"Sorry, it's messy. Not a lot of inspiration to keep things tidy when you're sick." Cole smirked, before moving the sheets out of sight.

"You should play something!" Jay moved up to the keyboard, pressing down on one of the keys. A goofy smile spread through his face. He played another note, then another. "I've heard you sing, but I've never seen you play."

"Okay, sure. Any requests?"

"Uh. . ." Jay frowned, trying to come up with something. But his mind was blank "Play anything you like."

"Okay." Cole nodded.

The tune was fast and upbeat. Jay found himself completely mesmerized by the way Cole's hands moved. He couldn't even begin to understand how fingers could move so independently from one another.

When Cole finished, Jay clapped with enthusiasm. "Dude. That was amazing. You're amazing!"

"Thank you." Cole gave an exaggerated bow. "So. . ."

"So. . ."

"Why don't I, uh-, play some music? From my phone this time, I mean." Cole chuckled awkwardly. Jay gave a nod, before allowing himself to drop onto Cole's bed.

"Stars above and worms below this bed is heaven." Jay shut his eyes, body melting against the soft surface. "My mattress feels like a wooden plank compared to this.

Cole laid down beside him. Hesitantly, Jay moved to lean his head against Cole's shoulder. He then proceeded to bite his lips shut, in order to hold back a fit of giggles. When the giddiness faded into normalcy, Jay spoke.

"So does your dad know? About. . . us?"

"Yeah."

"And he's okay with it?"

"Okay would be an overstatement. He isn't okay with anything that keeps me from 'giving my all' to music." Cole scowled as he spoke. "But whatever. I told him you weren't going anywhere. He was mad, but he got over it.

"He's been pushing the little holiday camp thing pretty hard though. Every day I have to hear something or other about it. I hate it. It's almost December and I'm so not ready. I don't want to go! It's going to be the worst."

"You should probably tell him sometime, that you aren't into this. You can't keep doing something you don't want to do forever."

"Trust me, I so could. As much as I complain, I would hate to let my dad down. He's so invested in this."

"Yeah but. . ." Jay shrugged. "It's not his life, you know? What would you want to do, if you could choose anything?"

"I don't know," Cole said, honestly. "I haven't really had time to figure myself out. I guess all I really want is have that. Time with myself. To figure out what I'm passionate about. . . you know, all that good stuff. What about you? What do you want to do?"

"Engineering. I applied to Ninjago Tech. That's where Cyrus Borg graduated from, you know. He's definitely my role model." Jay bit his lip. "But. . . okay, when I was a kid, sometimes I would pretend I was a game show host."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I mean . . . I like making people laugh. And I don't know. I was weird." Jay blushed, thinking back to his previous endeavors.

"I could see it. You've got charisma. You just need to work on not being so self-conscious."

"Maybe so." Jay shook his head. "But you could work on being more assertive."

"We've both got a long way to go then, Walker."

Lloyd was lonely.

Which wasn't all that surprising. Lloyd was used to being alone, to being in the background of anything and everything. But it hadn't always been that way. As a child, Lloyd had been brash, bold, and bouncy. All of his teachers had spoken his name with a worrisome sigh.

Things had changed quickly. When his father had gotten a job offer on the other side of Ninjago, he'd moved the family right along with him. Lloyd hadn't ever quite recovered from the harsh change.

He'd wound up withdrawing into himself. At first, he'd been sad, but as time went on, he had learned to be okay with not being the center of attention. Lloyd had a couple of people that cared for him, and that was more than enough.

Except. . . now it wasn't enough.

Nya was preoccupied with thoughts of her brother. Lloyd didn't blame her, couldn't blame her. He was understanding and kind, giving her both space and support as she needed.

Jay, on the other hand, was preoccupied with thoughts of Cole. Lloyd couldn't blame him either. Jay had been pining over the guy for as long as Lloyd had known him, and now that things were real, he had every right to be distracted.

So truly, Lloyd had no business bothering either of them.

"Lloyd! Honey?" At the sound of his mother's voice, Lloyd snapped away from his thoughts. He looked away from the book he hadn't been reading. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Could you let your friend, Jay, have this? I meant to give it to him ages ago, but it keeps slipping my mind during class." His mom handed Lloyd a thick book. Lloyd couldn't imagine why Jay could possibly need it. "Tell him the story of the teapot is in there. And that I'm sorry I took so long."

"Ah." Lloyd's eyes sparked with the new knowledge. "Okay. I'll let him know."

It was easy to put two and two together then.

That day on the bus, when Jay had suddenly asked, If you could wish for anything, what would you wish for? Long before any rumors of the teapot had surfaced.

His frantic opposition to said rumors. At first, Lloyd had taken this as a sign of Jay's need to agree with Cole, but now. . .

Then there was, of course, the unbelievable way Jay's life had seemed to change in the span of a couple of months.

"Oh, Jay." Lloyd flickered through the book, stopping by the image of a rusted teapot. "What the heck did you get yourself into?"

Lloyd stood by Jay's locker. Waiting. Jay frowned at the sight.

This was highly unusual. He stepped closer tentatively, a sense of foreboding pulsing through him in the form of unspent adrenaline. "Hey, Lloyd. Er… Why aren't you on the bus?"

"Forget the bus today. Mom can take us home." Lloyd shrugged, slipping a book from his backpack. "I need to talk to you."

"Talk to me? What's- What's that?" Jay took the book, half expecting it to explode in his hands. When it didn't he opened it slowly. Lloyd flipped the pages for him, stopping at the one titled The Teapot of Tyrhan.

"Mom asked me to give this to you. Apparently, you were interested. At the beginning of the school year."

"Oh. Right I- Right, yeah." Jay shut the book with unnecessary force. "Yeah. Thanks."

Lloyd crossed his arms. Raised a questioning eyebrow. "And why exactly, were you interested?"

"W-well, the rumors were-"

"This was way before then."

Jay bit his lip. He balanced himself on one leg. Then the other. Then he crumpled with a sigh. "Can we talk outside?"

"Sure."

They walked around the school grounds. Jay made sure to speak only when he was far enough away from any potential eavesdroppers. "Okay, yes. I had the teapot. And I lost it. In school. But whatever anyone wished for afterward, that's not my responsibility! I'm not the teapot's guardian."

"Yeah but. . . you still lied. To me and Nya. Why didn't you tell us?"

"I really wanted to! Most of all after Kai found it. But I was scared. Because, well, I wished for something I shouldn't have, and I don't want Cole to find out."

"Did you wish for him to like you?"

"No!" Jay shook his head. "No. Of course not. That's not even a thing you can wish! And even if it was I'd never-. . . I wouldn't."

"The what did you wish for?"

"Okay, let's just establish I didn't mean to wish it in the first place, okay? It was just sort of. . . a slip of the tongue. You know I talk too much. I'm bound to say things I don't mean. You do know, right?" Jay looked at Lloyd with desperate eyes. His green-eyed friend gave a small nod. "I just wished. . . that his life wasn't so perfect. Because everything seemed perfect. And now so many bad things keep happening to him, and he thinks I'm the only good thing in his life, but he doesn't know I'm the source of it. And I can't lose him. I can't."

Lloyd thought for a moment, ingesting Jay's confession properly before reacting. "I can't make you tell him. I don't know how things would turn out. I'd like to think he'd understand but. . . Regardless, Jay, you need to tell Nya. She's worried sick about Kai, and if she finds out you've had the teapot on her own, she is not going to forgive you."

"I know." Jay shut his eyes. He put both hands on his hips, pressing down against his sides. His stomach was an aching turmoil of emotions. "I know."

"I'll keep your secret," Lloyd promised. "But think about it. She's your best friend. I think she deserves to know."

"I know."