Warning: contains some swearing

Skylor

I held back the tears threatening to spill out as I seated myself in first period English, dreading the rest of the day. My entire world was falling apart before my eyes, and following my father's arrest and detainment, yesterday had gone by in a blur.

I'd been lightheaded and on the verge of fainting in the interrogation room, shivering from both cold and fear. My mother was the only one who tried to comfort me in any way, but she'd been taken away shortly after for questioning as well, even though my parents had been divorced for over a decade. They'd confiscated my phone, so I couldn't contact anyone until they returned it after searching.

I tried not to think about the cringe things they almost definitely found on there.

All those years... he'd kept everything from me. And though I wasn't with him often, I had enjoyed much of the time I spent with my father. I'd taken advantage of the luxury he'd provided for me, the money he'd made from... those things.

It was sickening to think about and I felt disgusting. Not to mention terrified that someone close to me could've done such a thing.

And somehow... that Ninja knew me. Which was frightening on another level. Either I was on their watchlist already for some reason I didn't know about, or it could be something worse. I tried not to think about it, since thoughts of the possibility had plagued me for long enough in the interrogation room.

The investigators concluded that I was innocent, but despite this, I felt deserving of some form of punishment. Perhaps this was it.

Whispers were already following me on the bus, and even more so now that people had witnessed the silent exchange between Kai and me.

We'd been close since freshman year when we were assigned lab partners in biology class. He started out by constantly flirting with me the way he did with just about every other girl he ever interacted with, which was somewhat annoying, but as time went on he began showing a different side of him, one that was a lot more serious and down-to-earth. Rumors about us began circulating in the second semester and hadn't stopped since. But we were just friends.

Over time, though, I couldn't deny that feelings had begun to surface. And despite the widely accepted claim that Kai had a crush on me, his attitude towards me hadn't changed since then, so I suppressed them for the sake of our friendship. Besides, he always went to dances with other girls, anyway.

But now...

I suppose it was fair that he'd drop everything after realizing I'd profited off of slaves and illegal organ sales. But as selfish as it was, I'd wanted him to throw an arm across my shoulder the way he often did and tell me that it would be okay, that everything would turn out alright. That he wouldn't treat me any differently because of it.

Turns out that was too much to hope for, especially given all the unanswered texts from the night before. How stupid of me to spam him at a time like this.

And I probably deserved it, but that didn't stop me from wishing I'd be facing a different consequence.

My phone buzzed while the teacher handed out our graded reading checks to reveal a text from Rue, the so-called "queen bee" of our grade.

hey sky so I know it's been hard for u lately so I think it might not be a good idea for u to sit with us today if u wanna avoid questions and stuff u know. I hope things get better soon tho

I pursed my lips and shoved it back into my pocket. This was something to be expected given the morning's events, so I wasn't surprised and didn't find myself caring all that much. Classic of her to excuse exiling me from our usual lunch table as her worrying about me.

The teacher told us to partner up and discuss our answers, and for the first time, nobody chose to compare with me. I flipped over the paper and glanced at the 100% at the top before shoving it into my backpack. On the bright side, at least this meant that I had more time for my own thoughts.

...

Our assigned seats in history were right next to each other as we'd chosen them at the start of the year, so there was nothing either of us could do about it. Kai avoided looking in my direction entirely to the point where he purposefully made his hair fall over his face to form some sort of barrier between us. Despite my attempts to suppress it, feelings of anger rose in my chest. It wasn't like I did anything to him specifically... unless... unless my father had done something to someone he knew...

At the thought, I curled my hands into fists in my lap, unable to look at him now, either.

"Kai," Christine said in a singsong voice as she leaned over to tap him on the shoulder, "Can we compare our answers for the homework?"

"I—Fuck, I forgot to do it," he muttered, then buried his face in his hands.

Kai never forgot to do his homework, and I stared at him in shock before quickly whipping my head back around when I remembered that I didn't want to look at him. And despite myself, I found myself wanting to pull out mine for him to "reference" as a way to at least partially make things up to him. Not that it really meant anything in the grand scheme of things...

"Oh, okay," Christine replied as the teacher announced that she'd be going around the classroom to check.

I pulled out my completed chart and laid it out on the table as the teacher drew nearer. Kai ran a hand through his hair, a quiet groan escaping his lips, then froze momentarily before quickly patting his hair back down to shield his face from me. I turned away, realizing I was watching him again.

As much as I hated myself for it, I stole frequent glances at Kai throughout the period, noting the defeated look he had that was so rarely seen on him. His brown hair was a mess, but not the intentionally messy style he usually had. Instead of casually lounging in his chair in a way that screamed "I'm hot and I know it," Kai slouched over his desk like he wanted to disappear.

I wished I had the courage to ask if he was okay. Our friendship was falling apart already without any intervention, and if I said anything I'd only be speeding up the inevitable. It would be less painful in the long run, so perhaps that was the best thing to do.

That didn't mean I could bring myself to do it, though.

I wondered if he looked at me. Even if just once.

...

When I walked into the cafeteria with my lunch tray in hand, Rue narrowed her eyes from our, no, their usual table as if daring me to come closer, so I spun on my feet and stalked out, prepared to spend my lunch period alone outside on the bleachers.

"Skylor!" a voice called out from behind me.

I paused in my tracks to see Nya hurrying over, slightly breathless but grinning. A couple of heads turned in our direction.

"Do you wanna sit with me today?" she asked before I could figure out how to respond.

"What?"

Though she was certainly nice from the times I'd interacted with her, Nya was a grade below me, which was already weird, but the fact that she was Kai's sister alone overrode any desire for me to spend time with her today.

"Like for lunch."

I considered my options. Both sucked. Refusing would only further isolate me from the rest of the school and make me look like a bitch who didn't appreciate the kindness of others, while taking her offer would make me seem desperate and lonely. I found myself wanting to move to the other side of the continent, but that was just cowardly and I knew my mother would never agree. Getting a good high school education and an acceptance into a prestigious university was the whole reason we'd moved to Ninjago City to begin with.

I knew Nya was trying to help me, but I wished she hadn't reached out.

"If you're worried about my friends," she said when I didn't immediately reply, "Pixal's at NCDCC taking her dual-enrollment math courses right now so it's just me. I could use some company as well," she added brightly.

Right, Pixal was that child prodigy kid who took multivariable calculus in middle school. Our school didn't offer any math courses on her level, so she took all of them at the Ninjago City Downtown Community College instead.

"Where do you normally sit?"

"Outside on the bleachers. Unless you want to find somewhere else? It'll probably be hard to get a table in the cafeteria now, though, and I don't know about you, but I don't like sitting in the hallways."

"Sure, okay," I said without thinking.

"Cool!" Nya beamed, her smile so similar to her brother's that I felt like something was punching me in the gut, "I'm gonna go grab lunch and meet you there!"

I went out the back doors and towards the football field, wondering if I was going to regret this.

She returned shortly and sat down beside me, her blue eyes twinkling.

"It's crazy nobody thinks to sit out here," Nya remarked, "The weather is perfect around this time of the year."

"Yeah, I suppose," I said, still feeling somewhat awkward.

There was a pause.

"How've you been feeling today?" she asked, "Though, of course, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to. I know things are hard, and people suck. But also! If you look on the bright side, times like these are when you find out who your real friends are!"

"You're so right, I have so many real friends," I said sarcastically, then nearly smacked myself in the forehead when I realized I'd said that out loud.

"I... I'm sorry about that..." Nya's voice trailed off, "But there are definitely people out there who don't care but are just too scared right now. I promise, after a while this will die down soon and nobody will remember this. And you'll make new and better friends."

Looks like Kai is a bad, fake friend according to Nya.

Almost as if reading my mind, Nya continued, "For what it's worth... my um, brother has his own thing going on, and though I'm not trying to make excuses for how he might be acting, it's not you."

"What do you mean?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"If he's treating you differently it's not because of what happened with your father. I... I can't say anything else but I thought you should know."

"He forgot to do his history homework."

Something flashed in her eyes, but it was gone in an instant, making me wonder if I was seeing things.

"I see."

Silence fell upon us once more.

"Should I... reach out?" I asked.

"He will," Nya stated firmly, then gasped as if she suddenly thought of something, "Oh my god, I just remembered. This new nail salon opened up at the mall, and I've been dying to try it out with someone, but Pixal's not interested. Do you wanna come with me?"

"Sure," I said half-heartedly, still thinking about Kai. She seemed so certain, and I wanted to believe her, but seeing him the way he was...

"Yay! How about after school today?"

"Okay..." I said, expecting her to propose the weekend.

"Sweet!"

Neither of us brought Kai up again. 

A/N: hi hi hi

I realized I haven't updated this book in a while so here!

Hope everyone is doing well, and thanks for reading/voting/commenting as always! I appreciate you all so much!!