Really? And On a Hot Day Like This?

Jay paced back and forth impatiently while Cole and Zane stayed seated in a bench inside the enormous, yet sweltering hot outdoor garage as they all waited for Nya and Kai to come back from the main building. Nya had gone back to the building, saying that she had to get the keys to the vehicle they were going to drive. Unfortunately, Jay couldn't help but wish that they'd both hurry up. He was just itching to get out of this oven of a garage and into an air conditioned mall to spend the rest of this afternoon with Nya.

He wasn't the only one wanting to get out of here. The hot weather in particular was testing Cole's patience. Even in simple tank top and shorts that he chose to wear for the warm weather wasn't doing him any good.

Zane didn't feel the effects of the weather, with the exception of his internal system adjusting to prevent overheating. But he could sure feel his comrades' restlessness build up with every passing moment. He started worrying, wondering what possible effects the weather would have on them.

Jay stopped pacing for a moment, then leaned back against the wall as an enormous drop of sweat slid down his face. "Please come soon," he muttered, rapidly tapping his foot.

Cole reached over to a nearby worktable for a magazine and used it to fan himself. Then he turned to Zane and asked, "Hey, how hot is it?"

Zane took a few moments to calculate the temperature using his outer sensors, then replied. "It is approximately 89˚ Fahrenheit or 31.67˚ Celsius."

Cole sighed as he said, "I only needed to know one, Zane, and neither of them sound like something great." He fanned himself harder as he said, "I doubt that it will go down later today."

"Hey Kai, what took you so long?" Jay snapped as Kai came into view.

Kai replied, gesturing his hand behind him, "Well I had to bring along a couple of people." He then steps aside, revealing Sensei Wu and Lloyd wearing a black hoodie over his face.

"Sensei? Why do you want to come along?" Jay asked in surprise.

Sensei Wu took a moment to walk into the garage before replying, "I couldn't leave you all to cause trouble right under my nose, now can I?"

"Trouble?" Cole asked, looking at Sensei in confusion.

"Although you do not mean to cause any, I know that circumstances can make you do… questionable decisions."

Jay laughed as he said, "Aw, come on Sensei. We're just going to the mall. What kind of trouble do you think that we'd cause over there?"

Sensei just shook his head as he said, "Please, don't get me started on the list of very probable possibilities."

Kai whispered over to Jay, "It no use trying to convince him. The man has got his mind set on coming along."

"Great," Jay angrily muttered to himself. He knew that Sensei might endanger his date with Nya. Or at the very least make it extremely awkward if he were to try to make a move. Your master watching you try to flirt with someone you liked didn't make it very easy to do.

It just made it your attempt very embarrassing.

Cole glanced over to Lloyd, then asked, "Hey Lloyd, isn't it hot underneath that hoodie?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yes, it is. But if there is one thing that I've learned after being interviewed for the past couple of months is that there is always some demented fangirl on the lookout for me. I have to wear this thing so that my identity isn't revealed."

Cole cocked an eyebrow as he said "Are you sure that you aren't just being paranoid?"

Lloyd glanced at him with a very bleak look in his eyes as he replied, "I'm not. You can't even imagine the size of the crowd that accumulates in places that I've been. I don't even know how word gets out to where I am, but there is a rumor going around that there is an app that fans use to report where I am if they see me." He added with a shudder, "It's crazy, man."

Cole stares at him wide eyed. "Wow."

"Hey guys!" Nya exclaimed as she walked into the garage, wearing a light blue sundress that went down to her ankles, revealing a pair of low woven wedges. "Sorry if I took longer than I should've. I took a short shower and changed into something for the hot weather."

Kai looked at her, then said, "Wait, you went back?"

She nodded, then jiggled some keys in front of his face. "You think I'd leave these behind?"

He pushed them away, saying, "Alright, alright, but you should've said that you were going back to get them. And you call me last minute."

She laughed, then reached over and slid opened the door to a white van. "Come on guys, you're not going to have enough time to buy something for school if you keep sitting around."

Jay waved his right hand in the air as he shouted, "I call shotgun!" He ran over to the other side of the van and opened the front passenger door, then hopped in.

Cole glanced over to the vehicle that she chose, then groaned. "It's going to be hard for all seven of us to fit there."

She shrugged as she got into the driver's seat. "Well, I was planning for five people to come along for the trip. Besides, there aren't many choices for a vehicle with more space and there is absolutely no way that we are taking the new bus. It's going to be hard to find parking for something that big. You're all just going to have to squeeze in."

"Okay then, let's see how that works out," he said as he climbed in.

Kai, Zane, Lloyd, and Sensei Wu all followed as Nya fastened her seatbelt and put the key into the ignition. The door to the van was slid shut as she started the vehicle.

She looked back to see Zane and her brother having to sort of stand/crouch just to fit inside while the others took the passenger seats.

"Wow you guys look miserable," she said, noting that they were all, with the exception of Zane and Wu of course, sweating profusely.

"Of course we are!" Cole exclaimed, with the magazine still in his hand. "Zane said that it's 89˚ today."

Zane spoke up, "Actually, Cole, it just rose up to 92.5˚, since we are all packed in this van."

"Great, the ride over is going to be really hot," Kai complained. "Hey Nya, can you turn on the A/C? This heat is just unbearable."

She shook her head as she backed out of the garage, then used a remote control to automatically close the garage door. "I don't think so. We can't waste gas on turning on the air conditioner, especially with the mall being so far! The drive there and back is probably going to empty the gas tank as it is. You're just going to have to roll up some windows."

"But these windows don't 'roll up'!" he retorted.

"I meant that as figurative speech. But if you're going to take me that seriously, just pop them open, then."

Kai and Zane opened up the side windows for all they could, but, since they were van windows, they only opened up to a certain point.

"Okay, we're ready to go!" Nya exclaimed as she reached the road that took her to the mall. She stepped on the accelerator and sped off, catching Kai by surprise and making him bump into the left side of the van.

"Ahh!" he exclaimed as she took a sharp left, which made him veer left and bump into Zane."Sis, this isn't a high speed car race! Slow down, would you?!"