Hey, how's it going? It's Friday so here's another chapter.
Chapter Sixteen: Heading to the Ball
Laurie flung herself on to her bed, feeling the comforter depress from the weight of her body. She was utterly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep at this point in time. Unfortunately for her, there were other plans stirring about. Eyes focused on the dreary ceiling, the orange ninja exhaled deeply. "So what is this thing Nya wants us to go to?" she asked wearily, removing the mask that adorned her face and tossing it towards the end of the bed.
"This thing is a ball," Nya chimed in from the other side of the room. Laurie closed her eyes, hoping to try and fall asleep quickly before more of an explanation was given. This, however, did not work. The samurai had already taken a seat at the foot of Laurie's bed. Reluctantly, the red head opened her eyes once more, preparing to hear what Nya had to say. "It's the nineteenth annual Ninjago City Ball. It's open to anyone and I thought it would be neat if we all went, don't you think?"
A ball? That reminded Laurie of fairy tales, princesses, and dancing. Fairy tales were something that she enjoyed, but the latter two were a completely different story. There was no possible way that Laurie would ever be caught dancing. She felt too awkward and clumsy to ever engage in such an activity. No, dancing was definitely out of the question. "It sounds to me like you're really interested in this," the orange ninja sighed, getting into a sitting position. Her muscles pulled and ached slightly from the day's training, but at least she was now able to better control her elemental abilities. "Why don't you go with the others and tell me how it goes?"
Nya gave a sly smile, her chocolate brown eyes narrowing slightly. "Why don't you come along and find out 'how it goes' for yourself?" she challenged, crossing her arms over her chest.
Laurie swallowed hard, realizing that the ball was back in her court. "Um…" she started incoherently, racking her brain for a legitimate excuse to avoid attending the event. Suddenly, a thought floated through her conscious mind. "I can't go anyways, Nya," the orange ninja sighed, attempting to sound severely disappointed. "Balls generally require certain formal wear that I don't have. I don't know if you've looked at my wardrobe, but there aren't any dresses in there. It looks like I'm just going to have to stay right here." Checkmate.
"That's too bad," Nya pouted, her face falling at this news. She stood abruptly and walked away from Laurie. The orange ninja felt slightly guilty for squirming her way out of the ball, but she just did not feel comfortable being in such an upscale environment; especially if Kai would be there too. "Wait a second though," the samurai laughed, advancing upon Laurie with a large bag in her right hand. "What do I have here?" The large smile returned to her face.
Oh no. "That's not…" but Laurie trailed off as Nya nodded her head quickly. "You've known about this thing tonight for a long time, haven't you?" Yet another nod from the smirking samurai confirmed Laurie's suspicions. This had all been planned. There was no doubt in her mind of what lay within the bag. It was the red dress that Nya had insisted on paying for from the boutique. Kai's sister had set Laurie up and the orange ninja felt herself turn a bright shade of red. "You're really sneaky, do you know that?" Laurie smiled, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I wouldn't call it 'sneaky'," Nya stated, passing the bag over to Laurie who reluctantly took it. "No, I would say it's more like 'being resourceful'". Laurie's expression seemed to say that she thought otherwise, but Nya would not hear of it. "Now, why don't you go change and then we'll talk about shoes and hair afterwards."
Laurie took a glance over towards the guys who were sitting around the dining room table. Apparently they had been getting ready for the evening's event while she griped and grumbled on about it. Cole was standing, leaning against the back of one of the chairs, dressed sharply in a black tuxedo with a black bow tie around his neck. The Ninja of Earth was conversing with Zane who wore a pale silver long sleeved polo shirt with a white pinstriped vest over top of it. Jay was dressed in a lustrous blue collared shirt with a black jacket slung over one of his shoulders, laughing as Kai struggled to properly tie a tie. "Go along and get ready," Nya laughed, bringing Laurie back to reality. With a quick nod, the orange ninja made her way to the bathroom to change.
"I don't want to go," chimed in a voice. The samurai turned her head to see Lloyd, sitting on his bed in his gi, back against the wall. "I remember hearing you talking about us being honorary guests for saving the city from the Great Devourer, but I didn't help save the city so I don't wanna go." His face was set in a small frown, his blonde hair ruffled. Nya opened her mouth to say something, but Lloyd continued to speak instead. "I didn't help, Nya. The others helped and my dad actually killed the thing, but I didn't have a part in that. I don't want to be honored from something that I didn't do."
Nya gave a sad smile and sat down on the bed next to Lloyd. "You know, pint-size, your sister wasn't there when we fought the Great Devourer, but she's still going." Her eyes drifted to meet the young boy's and she could see hesitation and sadness gleaming in his irises. "The mayor wanted the entire team there to be honored and she's part of the team now." Lloyd's expression changed and he seemed more hurt than anything else by her words. "I feel like there's another reason why you don't want to go, Lloyd. What's up?"
He sighed, closing his emerald eyes for a brief moment to collect himself. How long had it been since it had happened, the single event that had changed everything? Then his sister had shown up shortly afterwards, both happy and confused. "The whole team wouldn't be there though," Lloyd stated, shifting uncomfortably. "There would still be one person missing." Taking in a deep breath, the young boy felt Nya place a reassuring hand on his right shoulder. "There's also the fact that Rhea won't be able to go either." He watched as the quiet girl walked silently around the room, taking quick glances as everyone laughed and prepared. "Besides, I wouldn't want to risk her hurting Laurie if we brought her along anyways," he finished, lowering his voice slightly.
"Whisper, whisper," the orange ninja teased, walking past Lloyd and sitting on the other side of him, slinging a bare arm over his shoulders, "what's so secretive?" She gave a small smile, trying to pull down her dress as it puffed out around her knees. Lloyd watched as a single strand of her red hair fell down in the middle of her face and she defiantly tucked it behind her left ear with her free hand. Laurie's face turned red as Lloyd continued to stare. Her face blushed red and she looked away, inhaling slowly. "Don't look at me like that, Lloyd," the orange ninja said, clearing her throat. "I already feel awkward enough as it is."
The green ninja laughed, shrugging his sister's arm off of his shoulders. "Sorry, sis, I've just never seen you look so much like a girl before." He received a soft punch to the arm as Laurie stood up and made her way back over to her bed, taking a seat and sticking her tongue out slightly. "Oh, don't get all angry about it," the boy continued, watching as Nya now left his side, making her way towards Kai who was still struggling to tie his tie. "I need to tease you as much as I can. I mean, we have a lot of years to make up for."
Laurie gave her brother a grin. "Yeah, we do have a few years to make up, don't we?" she answered, placing both of her hands slightly behind her on the comforter. Something cold slid over the top of her hand and Laurie jumped suddenly, ice blue eyes scanning the orange bedspread for what had just touched her. It was a delicate, silver chain. The links were small and thin, barely reflecting the light in the room. Carefully, Laurie picked it up. There was a small note tied around the bottom of the chain, where a pendant sat. Taking a quick glance at her brother, the girl untied the note from the chain and began to read it.
"To Laurie: I'm sorry I've been distant lately. I wanted to give you this as an apology. Hopefully things will get better. From, Kai." Laurie felt her heart skip a beat as she finished reading the note and placed it beside her. Carefully, she lifted what she now recognized as a necklace and laid the pendant down on her palm. It was circular in shape, covering only the middle of her palm. In the middle sat a dark purple gem, the centerpiece of the jewelry. As Laurie tilted her hand slightly, the purple color seemed to turn black. Surrounding the odd colored gemstone were small, orange colored minerals. "Hey, Lloyd, come look at this," Laurie whispered excitedly, gesturing for her brother to come over.
Lloyd slid off of his bed and approached his sister. She was holding something in her hand and he looked at it with narrowed eyes. It was obviously a necklace, the dark gem in the middle immediately catching his attention. "First dresses and now jewelry? What are you going to do next, juggle?" he chuckled, watching as Laurie closed her hand around the pendant, pulling it away from him and beginning to clasp it around her neck. "Oh lighten up, sis, I'm still joking. Where'd you get that?"
"It was a present from Kai," she replied, feeling the clasp on the necklace close. Laurie released her hold on the chain and felt the round pendant settle on the skin above her chest. The metal was cold at first, but Laurie quickly became used to it. She stood up from the bed, noticing Rhea looking at her. "Did you want to see it too?" the orange ninja asked, but Rhea just shook her head and went back to doodling in her notebook. It was nice of Kai to do this. Laurie had always felt a little uncomfortable around him, feeling as if she was not wanted. Now she realized that he really wanted to try and reconcile what had apparently been lost between them. If he was willing to take a step, so was she. Swallowing hard, Laurie made her way over to the dining room table.
Kai rolled his eyes as Nya finally finished fixing his tie. "Thanks, sis," he huffed, turning now to mess with the buttons that traveled all the way down his shirt. "We're not going to be there too long, right?" the red ninja asked, abruptly standing while looking down at his shirt. "I mean, how long is this thing going to last?" He bumped right into someone that was standing there. Before Kai could apologize, he looked up, his eyes meeting Laurie's. He watched as the girl took a step back, her eyes wide and cheeks red. Her hair was pulled up on top of her head, sections of her wavy hair cascading down. A few strands hung around her face, framing it. The dress she wore was almost the same color as her hair and Kai looked down at the shirt he was wearing: the hue virtually identical. "I didn't mean to bump into you," the Ninja of Fire finally managed to say, feeling a lump rise in his throat.
"No, it's okay," Laurie replied quickly, clasping her hands behind her back awkwardly. "I-I shouldn't have been standing that close to you. It's my fault really." She looked at the boy in front of her. His spiky, brown hair was casting faint shadows across his face. A black tie draped its way down the front of his long sleeved, red collared shirt. His face seemed to be a light shade of red and he cleared his throat. "Really, I'm sorry for getting in your way," Laurie finished up.
He did not know what to say. Kai could feel his cheeks blushing and he attempted to find something to talk about. "N-nice necklace," he smiled, noticing the piece of jewelry suddenly. "Where'd you get it?"
The orange ninja gave a small grin, almost laughing at Kai's question. "Oh, this? I just found it lying around," Laurie shrugged, trying to play along with Kai's joke. She noticed Nya and Jay staring at her, the blue ninja giving her a not so subtle wink. Now feeling that she appeared as red as a tomato, the teenager turned away from Kai and rested her gaze on Lloyd. "Hey, come on, Lloyd. Get ready so we can go," she said suddenly, trying to calm down her nerves.
"He doesn't want to go," Nya answered, chiming in from behind. All eyes were on the samurai now. "Lloyd told me he would rather stay here with Rhea while we were out. He doesn't want to leave her by herself and he just doesn't feel right knowing that not everyone could be there." Laurie bit her bottom lip lightly at this news. She did not like the thought of leaving Lloyd alone with Rhea, but the girl had done nothing to harm Lloyd. No, Rhea had only helped him.
Laurie turned to face her younger brother who just smiled at her. He had grown up so much in the little time she had spent with the ninja. Growing more confident in himself and the decisions he made. "Okay then, but lock the front door when we leave and be careful, alright?" she stated sternly. "Uncle will be back in about an hour so just stay put until then, got it?" Lloyd held his right hand up as if taking an oath and Laurie just laughed. "Alright, I guess we can go then. We'll be back as soon as we can, so we'll see you later." The group waved goodbye as they disappeared through the door. It shut tightly behind them, followed by the audible sound of the lock clicking.
"Well, it's just us now, Rhea," the green ninja sighed, falling backwards on to his sister's bed. "What should we do?"
His fingers were getting sore from mashing the buttons on the controller in front of him. "How are you so good at this if you've never played video games before?" Lloyd questioned, his grip on his controller tightening even more. On the television screen in front of him, the green ninja watched as his character took yet another blow from Rhea's character. Once more he pushed down the button that was used to block attacks, only to watch Rhea move the joystick, backing her character across the screen. She leapt forward, landing a hard kick to Lloyd's chest just as he readjusted his positioning. The large, taunting letters that spelled out "knock out" adorned the screen as Lloyd placed the controller on the floor in front of him. "Are you sure you've never played Fist to Face 2 before?"
Rhea shook her head back and forth, a smile playing on the edge of her lips. This was actually fun, something different than anything she had ever done before. She tried to remember the last time she had felt so happy, so carefree. Taking in a deep breath, she dug the notepad and pen out of her pocket and wrote across it. Want to lose again?
"Oh no," Lloyd smirked, standing up and leaning backwards to stretch from being hunched over in concentration for a long period of time. "If anyone is going to lose this time, it's going to be you." His gaze fell upon the digital clock on the stove in the kitchen. Was it that late already? The others had been gone for over an hour and a half now, yet Uncle had not come back from the dojo. "I'm sure Sensei is going to be back soon," the boy spoke out loud, turning back towards the girl on the floor. "Hey, are you hungry or something? I can go grab some snacks from the kitchen if you want me to."
After giving it a quick thought, Rhea nodded and watched as Lloyd made his way over to the cabinets in the kitchen. Some of them were just a little out of his reach and he shimmied on to one of the counters in order to reach it. He was grabbing a couple of plastic bags, no doubt full of junk food, but Rhea did not care. She was too preoccupied by how happy she actually felt right now. This was the type of stuff she was supposed to be doing at her age: hanging out with a friend and just having a fun time.
Unfortunately, she was quickly reminded that her life was anything but ordinary.
Lloyd heard the distinct sound of breaking glass as he pulled a few bags of potato chips from the cabinet. This was followed by Rhea gasping. What was going on? He tensed up, feeling ready for a fight as he dropped the snacks on to the counter and whirled around. Before he could even attempt to land one punch on the enemy that had decided to intrude, he was shoved backwards hard. Lloyd's head hit one of the lower cabinets as he fell and was plunged into darkness.
Well I couldn't very well let you sit through that boring chapter and not have something to look forward to. That wouldn't be very fair.
Thank you for reading, reviewing, and everything. You guys are really great! See you next Friday! :D