A/N: Happy Thanksgiving! Ok, I know it's not really that time of year yet, but yeah…you'll understand when you read this chapter. So, yeah.
The spiritia shouldn't appear in this chapter if everything goes according to plan. Um, yeah.
Disclaimer: I own Nothing! Except my OCs!
******************************************************************************
Chapter Three: First Break
Cole heaved the weights above his head, sweat trickling down his forehead. He liked every other Friday, like today. Instead of doing the obstacle course, they scattered throughout the courtyard and worked on improving their powers. Of course, for Cole and his slowly improving nongifted friends, that just meant that they gathered around each other and worked out. Three weeks after school started Zane pointed out that they basically had P.E. twice a day. Shaking his head, Cole moved the weights down to almost his chest.
"Hey Guys! What are your plans for the break?" Lloyd appeared out of nowhere, just out of Cole's eyesight.
"Isn't it a bit soon to be thinking about the break?" Kai gasped out from where he was running on a treadmill.
"…You do remember that Thanksgiving break starts tomorrow, right?" Lloyd flopped down on the grass next to them.
Cole quickly put the weights away, sitting up from the bench. "Wait…you mean we've been here for almost three months already!?"
Lloyd looked at him for a second, before slowly nodding his head yes. "Soo, do you have any plans? Besides seeing family, and stuffing your faces with food?"
Cole glanced over at the others, noticing that they all had stopped their various workouts. Kai had turned off the treadmill, while Nya stood still while holding the punching bag, Jay standing next to her, doing absolutely nothing. Zane was still sitting in a meditative position, but his eyes were open, making it very obvious that he was no longer mediating. "I guess we've been so busy, we didn't notice the passage of time." Cole wiped sweat of his forehead, wishing he had an actual power to improve on. He would feel a whole lot better if he got sweaty during this class actually accomplishing something.
Lloyd sniggered, before speaking up again. "So, you don't have any plans for your week back home?"
They all shook their heads no, wondering vaguely if any of the other students were going to be surprised about what was going on the next day. "If we do our homework right after dinner, we should still have some time before lights out to pack." Zane piped up, red with embarrassment.
Cole stretched slightly as he allowed his mind flash to where he would be this time next week, at home eating leftovers with his Dad and Jones's. A grin quickly crossed his only slightly tired face. "Good thing we started up that study group awhile back, uh?" Nods immediately rippled through the freshmen. They had a couple months back started doing their homework together, finding that it saved them a surprisingly amount of time.
Lloyd shakes his head at them, vaguely wondering if the packing for the week long vacation might prevent them from playing with him. Lloyd spotted his father coming this way, and quickly skedaddled, not wanting to get a lecture about distracting the students.
…
Cole stared out of the bus window, watching the desert roll by. The bus was far more crowded now than it was when school started up just a few months prior. Of course, he found himself sitting next to Jay, while Nya and Kai sat behind them. No one really wanted to sit by the nongifted students. Not that Cole minded a bit. That just meant they could talk to each other while the entire school population ignored them like always. Well, sort of ignored them…
"…And then I'm gonna go bird watching with her, you know? My cousin, Livvy? Anyways! After that, we're gonna…" Dareth Von Dare, a senior and fellow outcast, babbled nonstop to us, while the unfortunate soul sitting next to him drowned him out with his headphones.
He had brown hair and brown eyes, and that was the only color he would wear. He literally was wearing brown upon brown. Cole groaned as he wondered a long it would take them to get to his stop. "Man, the guy must be pretty desperate for friends if he's talking to us…" Kai hissed into Cole's ear suddenly, a grimace crossing his face. Dareth kept attempting to show everyone that he belonged, and failing, he also had the lamest power in the entire school. He could communicate with animals, and that was it. Cole shook his head, before turning to look at Kai and Nya.
"Do you have any ideas about what you want to do with your family this fine autumn week of freedom?" Cole glanced over at Jay, who was of course paying attention to what he was saying.
"I'm gonna help Ma and Pa reorganize the junkyard! It's a family tradition!" Jay piped up, bouncing in his seat.
Kai shook his head, before looking at Cole. "I'm more thinking more on the lines I help Dad around the store a bit; earn some spending money for upcoming Saturdays. Technically, it isn't against the school rules to leave the school property on Saturday, as long as your back before Dinner and a staff member knows where you are at."
Cole hummed as he looked out the window and noticed a large Junkyard come into view. Cole quickly sagged, knowing what that meant. A minute later, the bus pulled to a stop in front of the Junkyard. Jay quickly stood up and pulled his suitcase out from under his seat. "Bye guys! See you next week!" Jay hopped of the bus, swinging his suitcase, undisturbed that he lived in an actual Junkyard.
The bus continued onto Ninjago city. Cole sighed as he reminded himself that Dareth got off shortly before him.
…
Cole nodded bye to Kai and Nya has he made his way to the front of the now mostly empty bus. Forcing a smile, he waved bye to Misako, and jumped off the bus, skipping the last two steps. With a hiss, the doors snapped shut behind him and the bus continued on its way. A sigh escaped Cole has he realizes that Lou's car was not in front of the house. A sure sign that he wasn't home. Bending down, Cole pulled the spare key out from underneath the welcome mat, and let himself in.
"Hello! I am here for Thanksgiving break! Any one home!?" Cole walked through the threshold, not expecting a response.
"Cole? Is that you? Oh wow! It is you! How's the Mystery school? Did you make any new friends? I made new friends! This is so awesome! Say, do you remember what their test is, cause I can't remember what the mystery school did for their test?" Jones came bowling down the stairs straight at Cole.
"Uh, hi Jones. What are you doing in my house?" Cole blinked, confused about what was going on.
"Didn't you hear? Dad didn't get better. He died two days ago." Jones hangs his head for a second. "Mr. Brookstone is letting the triplets and me stay here for awhile, just till Mom can get a more stable job and things." A huge grin crossed his face. "We're roommates now! Ok, we still have to share with Bailey…but come on! We can totally survive a week!" Cole could feel all color drain from his face. A week with Jones and Bailey Jones in the same room as him? Cole would take his chances with the serpentine from their last History lesson, thank you very much.
Cole hurried up to his room to find it a disaster zone. Ten year old Bailey, he had the same buzzed blonde hair has Jones, but with light blue eyes, had apparently already claimed the room as his own. The kid in question was lying down on Cole's bed, sprawled out as he read a comic book. Cole spied two cots set up. One had clearly been used once already, while the other was untouched.
"Bailey! This is technically Cole's room; you should let him get the actual bed." Jones popped up behind Cole, giving his little brother a stern look.
Cole glanced at the messy bed, then back to the cot. A nostalgic smile flickered across Cole's face as he noticed that the cot would be as comfortable has his bunk back at the school. "It's ok. I'll take the cot. I have to study for a test anyways…less likely to bug you guys if I'm closer to the door." Cole dropped his suitcase down on the cot, feeling rather antsy. Humming to himself, he turned to face the door, "How about I whip up some dinner for us?"
Jones arched his eyebrow at the strange new behavior Cole was showing. Bailey had already gone back to tuning the world out while reading his comic and Cole was shrugging off the fact that his little brother had taken over his room. "You feeling ok, Cole?"
Cole glanced back, his eyes somewhat distant. "Uh? Yeah, I'm ok. Aren't you feeling antsy with nothing to do besides the smallest pile of homework in the universe?" Cole asked as he walked out the room.
"What kind of school sends him home with that little bit of homework? Why not send him home without any homework?" Jones walked over and rummaged through Cole's bags until he found the homework packet. Jones dropped his mouth open upon seeing that the amount of homework Cole had for one class was roughly the same for all of Jones' classes combined together. And he had homework from every class in there as well as the thick packet.
"Whoa…whatever the mystery school teaches, I hope I don't get in it four years from now." Bailey suddenly appeared right at Jones's shoulder, peering over it to notice the large pile of homework that Cole had.
"He said it was a little pile. This ain't little!"
…
Cole decided to ignore the fact the chicken he pulled out of the oven was pitch black. He was almost done cooking, and truthfully had completely trashed the place. Biting his bottom lip, he dropped the hot dish onto a hot spot, waving the tiny tendrils of smoke away from him.
"Dad better like this." Cole muttered, worried that he would get the same reaction to his cooking that his friends gave him from his father.
"Jones! I'm home! Has Cole come back yet?!" A familiar, sing-songy voice called out. A minute later, Lou walked into the kitchen.
Cole gave a weak smile as he watched his father freeze in the doorway. "Hey Dad. I made dinner."
A huge smile crossed Lou's face has he rushed over and hugged Cole. "You're back! I was beginning to think you weren't coming! All the other school's had half days yesterday so as to get everyone home on time."
Cole blinked as he allowed what he said to filter through his mind. Different schools work differently, and there probably was no school like Sensei Wu's Monastery for the Gifted.
…
Cole glanced over at the table, trying to figure out where he was going to seat. At the head of the table sat Lou, on his right side was Hailey Jones, on his left side was Kailey Jones, then there was Jones on the right, and Mrs. Jones on the left. Hailey and Kailey looked extremely similar with matching short cut brown hair and grey eyes. Mrs. Jones had graying blonde hair and light blue eyes. Cole frowned as he realized that the table appeared to be shorter than normal. There was only one seat left, instead of two…and it was the seat that Mr. Jones always sat in when they came over for dinner. "Umm, Dad? Am I sitting where Mr. Jones usually sits, or you just left my seat in the storage unit by accident?"
"Uh?" Lou looked up to face Cole. "Mr. Jones has passed away son. I sold the other chair for some extra money. Now come sit down and eat."
Cole slowly sat down, fidgeting slightly at how weird the chair felt to him. He wasn't used to sitting in this particular chair. Lou had bought it specifically for Mr. Jones when he first came ill. The doctor had believed Mr. Jones would get better quickly, and can stay home with his family, the first time the illness cropped up. Upon hearing that Mr. Jones was ill, Lou had bought a chair with an extra soft seat for him.
"So, Cole. How do you like the mystery school so far?" Mrs. Jones asked as she passed the mashed potatoes to him.
~Flashback~
"Wake up! Wake up! Mom is making pancakes!" Lloyd jumped onto Cole's chest, forcing the teen to snap awake.
Alarmed, Cole surged upright and glanced at his watch. It read five twenty-five a.m. Groaning, Cole grabbed his pillow and placed it over his head. "Kid, school doesn't start for another five minutes. Please let us sleep…" Cole paused before raising his voice slightly, "unless I'm the only awake."
"Nope. I'm awake to. Something with Kai. And I think Zane's awake…HEY ZANE ARE YOU AWAKE?!" Jay leaned over his bunk as he yelled to the still teen.
A groan immediately escaped Zane as he lifts his head up. "If I wasn't before, I am now."
"Come on! Let's get moving! The sooner you get P.E. done, the sooner you can have pancakes!" Lloyd continued to bounce as he danced around the room.
A growl escaped Kai has he threw his pillow at the hyperactive kid. Five minutes later when Nya came in to see why they were taking forever to get ready, she got whacked with a pillow by an overly awake Jay. The room covered in feathers, all of them dressed and running all over the place hitting each other with pillows while howling with laughter. To say the least, even though TECHNICALLY, they were ready first, they were late to class that day.
~End Flashback~
Cole blinked as he looked at Mrs. Jones. "Yeah, I like it. Very educational." Cole lifted his hand up to muffle what he said next. "Pillow fights in the morning, pillow fights at night."
"Wait…what? What does pillow fights have to do with school?" Jones shot Cole a weird look.
"Nothing…just the fact it is not uncommon for my dorm to have one every time breakfast is something that Lloyd likes." Cole shrugged as he bit into his burnt chicken.
"Is Lloyd one of your roommates?" Cole nodded yes as he quickly drained his glass of water to get the taste out of his mouth. "What grade is he in?" Lou crossed his fingers that Lloyd wasn't too much older than Cole. It was good to know someone who knows the way around the school.
"He's in fifth grade, about. Kid's homeschooled, so it's kinda hard to tell what grade he is in." Cole shrugged, as if that was supposed to make total sense.
"Cool! That's our age group!" Hailey squealed loudly.
Cole nodded absently, picking at his food as he wondered what his new friends were doing right now. Zane probably was helping Dr. Julian cook dinner wherever they lived outside of the school. Kai and Nya were most likely cleaning dinner and helping out in the family store. Jay…Jay would be talking his parents ear off about their classes, and side adventures.
"Hey! Earth to Cole!" Jones waved his hand in front of Cole, a frown crossing his face. "You ok? I've been saying your name for the past ten minutes."
"I'm fine. Where are the triplets?" Cole noticed that the table was devoid of life.
"They finished and went to go play video games. What was going through your head to make you oblivious to the world?" Jones asked as he grabbed his empty plate.
"Just, my new friends. I was wondering what it is their doing right about now." Cole picked up his plate to follow Jones to the sink.
"Oh…I've made new friends too, but I don't think about them constantly." Jones knitted his eyebrows together in puzzlement.
"Oh. Well, we do everything together. We're in the same dorm, and the same classes. So, we do our homework together. And we spend all of our downtime together, doing stuff. We went to Mega Monster Amusement Park once. Of course…that was just cause Lloyd's parents took him and he asked if we could come with." Cole slipped back into memory lane, much to Jones annoyance.
"Wow…that is a lot more hanging around these guys. I don't do everything with my roommates…actually. I'm not sure I know all of their names. Guess that's the upside of going to a small school. You know everyone by name." Jones turned the water on to start scrubbing the dishes.
"Yeah… unfortunately everyone knows who you are." Cole frowned as he wished that he knew what his Power was, so that he could get out of the same boat that Dareth was in.
A/N: Ok, next chapter is still the break. Cole and the others aren't what you call the most popular kids in the school. Oh! It was Jacob, master of sound, which was sitting next to Dareth on the bus. His powers are that he can manipulate sound to help him see where he is going. Hmm, just so you know, Dareth AND Skylor might make an appearance during the break.
Till next time!
SkyTalon
