"Oooh... I do, I do, I do, I doooo~"

Kai groaned, covering his face with his pillow and trying to block out his sister's morning Hamilton session. It was bad enough that he had to wake up at 6 o'clock to reach their new school on time, and now he had to listen to Nya belt out Eliza's Helpless in the shower every morning. Not that she was bad or anything- in fact, she hit every note almost perfectly- it was simply because Kai was not a morning person, and people that liked to sleep in generally liked peace and quiet.

Deciding that he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep once Nya began to sing Good Morning Baltimore, Kai lazily swung his feet out of bed and onto the floor. He rubbed at his eyes as he hunched over, slowly remembering that today was a Monday and the week was going to go by slower than ever. Popping in his earbuds and stretching, he quickly changed into a t-shirt and jeans, letting the music wake him up.

He fumbled around in the kitchen cabinets, trying to find something to eat and sighing in dismay when only one granola bar remained in the box. He'd give that to Nya, and hopefully he could hold out until lunch, where the school would provide him with whatever shitty food they could scrape up. In his earbuds, his favorite Depeche Mode song began to play.

"All I ever wanted, all I ever needed is here, in my arms..." Kai hummed along, gathering up some supplies for the day. Although his parents had put both of their children into voice lessons at a young age, Kai had never thought much of his talent for singing. Nya, on the other hand, fell in love with musical theater, and was apart of a multitude of productions. She had recently joined their current school's drama club and begged Kai to join her nearly every day.

Kai sighed, rubbing at his temples. Sure, it was impressive that he could sing, and he could probably act and dance as well, if he really wanted to learn. The thing was, Kai was already having trouble fitting in and finding his people, especially at the end of his high school years. Joining the drama club wouldn't exactly boost his popularity.

Besides, he already had to worry about work and potentially getting a second job, not to mention his grades, getting into college, and of course, taking care of his sister. If his parents hadn't taken the car that night, then this year would have been a different story.

"Kai?" Nya's voice interrupted his thoughts. "What's wrong?"

Kai realized he had been gripping onto the edge of the table, tears in his eyes. He faked a smile. "It's nothing, sis. I have a lot on my plate for the week and I'm feeling overwhelmed. That's all."

His sister took his hand and rubbed the back of his palm with her thumb. "Try to take it easy, okay? You don't need to do everything for me, you know."

Kai pulled her in for a hug, sighing heavily. "Yeah, I know. I want you to focus on school and drama though... you know, making friends and shit like that. I don't want you to worry about money or jobs, just... none of that adult stuff."

Nya sighed. "Fine. But if you need to take on a second job, then let at least let me take it for you. I need to learn to grow up, and you shouldn't be alone on that."

Kai nodded. "Okay. Deal." He wiped his eyes with the back of his wrist, smiling faintly. "Come on, we're gonna be late for school... and eat this granola bar."
-
Kai and Nya walked into the school gates and crossed the parking lot into the main courtyard. Ninjago High hosted a massive amount of buildings and a large campus, but surprisingly held less than 300 students, despite being one of the few public schools in the area.

"Hey, Nya." A lanky kid with copper hair and a faded blue sweater waved hello to the siblings as he crossed their path. He nodded slightly in Kai's direction, unsure of what to say.

Nya waved him over and pointed at Kai. "Hey. This is Kai, my brother. He's in your class." Nya glanced at Kai and jabbed her thumb towards the kid. "Kai, this is Jay. He's in drama with me."

Jay smiled shyly, extending a thin, freckled hand to Kai. "Hey dude. I'm Jay Walker."

"Kai Smith." He answered, taking Jay's hand briefly. The kid looked more like Nya's age than his own, but there was the fact that Kai was an older senior and Nya skipped a grade. Jay probably did the same. "You know my sister, huh? How is she?"

Jay looked nervous, glancing back at Nya, who rolled her eyes and checked her phone. "How... is she...?"

"In drama, I mean." Kai quickly clarified, feeling like an idiot. "Is she... is she good at..."

"Oh!" Jay waved his hand in the air. "Yeah, she's awesome. I keep telling her she should try out for a lead role, I know she'd kill it."

Nya flushed. "I don't think I'm that good. I'm new here, so I'd rather stay in the back. I don't want to steal roles from anyone."

"Aw, come on. You'll never know if you don't try." Jay touched her hand, which resulted in a quick glare from Kai. "Erm, anyways, I gotta get to my zero period. I'll talk to you guys later."

Kai watched as he sprinted off, nearly bumping into an entire group of girls.

Nya kicked her brother, huffing. "You didn't have to scare him off like that! He's cool!"

Kai rolled his eyes, walking them into the senior hall. "Relax, I was just messing around. Not my fault he didn't get the joke." He leaned against his locker and sighed. "Don't you have a zero period too?"

"Yeah." Nya muttered, looking down. "I'll talk to you later, Kai. Can you meet me in the theater after school? Like, 4-ish?"

Leave it to Nya to abandon him the whole day for her drama friends. "Yeah, whatever. Have a good day." He watched as she scurried off with a tall girl with platinum-blonde hair and a purple dress, barely looking back at him. God, when am I gonna get some friends?

He slid down onto the floor and popped in his earbuds, unintentionally singing out loud to Johnny Cash's Hurt. Most people would have ignored his singing session and walked past him.

Most people, except the drama teacher, Mr. Garmadon.

"You're Nya's brother, aren't you?" The gray-haired man asked, standing over the senior. Kai scooted up the lockers with a sharp yelp, shoving his earbuds into his pocket. "You know, you're pretty good. You're a strong tenor."

Kai swallowed as he tried to remember what that meant. "Oh... tha-thank you, sir- and yeah, I'm Nya's sister- I mean, brother-" Words tumbled out of Kai's mouth faster than he could comprehend what he was saying.

Garmadon laughed sharply. "Slow down, kid. I didn't mean to startle you." He extended a hand, and Kai shook it firmly. "I'm the drama teacher here, Mr. Garmadon."

"Nice to finally meet you." Kai grinned. "Nya's always saying how much fun your class is. I, uh, I'm Kai, by the way."

"Drama isn't only a class, but a club open for all." He nodded towards the direction of the theater. "You should consider joining, our cast is short on males, as per usual." He made a face, as if he and Kai shared some sort of an inside joke. "You'd be excellent for our lead. Has Nya told you what the play is yet?"

Kai shook his head, smiling slightly. "Uh, no. She likes to keep each play she's in a secret until I can guess."

"I'll let you in on it." Garmadon grinned. "It's Grease. Typical, I know, but a fun way to introduce our new students to the wonders of theater. I think you should try out for our lead, Danny."

Kai's eyes widened. "Me?" He quickly shook his hands in the air, stammering in denial. "Erm, Mr. Garmadon, with all due respect, you didn't really hear me sing... just, you know, mumble along to Johnny Cash..."

"I've been in this business for a long time, Kai." Garmadon smiled warmly. "I know a good tenor when I hear one, no matter what circumstance. Besides, your sister's been insisting on me bringing you in, so you'd better be worth my time."

When Kai's face dropped, Garmadon laughed. "It was a joke, Kai. I'm not that cruel." He handed him a small flyer with rehearsal dates and times printed on them. "Come in after school today, and I'll introduce you to everything. Then you can decide whether or not you want to audition on Saturday."

"I... thank you, sir." He pulled his backpack off of the floor and swung the strap across his shoulder. "I, uh, I gotta get to class. I'll see you after school."

Garmadon nodded, seemingly disappearing into his dimly-lit classroom. Weird. Kai sighed and jaunted across the campus to his first period, hoping the classroom was open early. He needed some alone time.
-
The theater was the smallest thing at the massive school, which showed where the school's priorities were. The arts, like most schools, had the least funding, so instead of a large performing arts hall, Ninjago High had a single black box theater that could hold about 80 patrons.

Kai slipped into the doors, expecting everyone to be quietly rehearsing in the backstage. Instead, he walked into the definition of chaos.

Some were running around and chasing each other, a few were napping in the seats or on stage, clementines were being distributed via someone hurling them at high speeds, and a few had managed to find some ancient props, playing around with them. Someone had hooked up to a speaker and was blasting Hamilton. Kai prayed Nya wasn't responsible for that.

He managed to spot his sister, who was seated against a wall and thumbing through a copy of lines. Probably already rehearsing. He walked over to get her attention, only to feel someone pat his back.

"Hey, Kai." Jay faced him, smiling. "Rehearsal is over at 4 today, if you wanted to pick up Nya." His face lightened up. "Oh! Unless you wanted to stay, then you can sit in on this rehearsal, we aren't doing much anyways, just going over our schedules, you know? Auditions are on Saturday so that's why there's a shit ton of people in here. They're probably all going to dip once they don't get a part."

Kai nodded along, awkwardly glancing to the side. Does this guy ever stop talking? "Uh, actually... I'm thinking of joining. Like, to act..."

"Really?" Nya was at his side now, beaming. "What convinced you?"

"Garmadon, actually." Kai rubbed the back of his head as Nya nodded. "Uh, he said... I should try out for the lead..."

"Ooh. Don't let Harumi hear you say that." Jay cringed. Nya kicked him, shushing the chatterbox.

"Who...?" Kai rose a brow.

Nya sighed, glancing around. "She's going out for Sandy, but she'll only take the part if Lloyd gets Danny. A shame, because she's really good, and she's only a sophomore. We could use her."

"And Lloyd is...?"

"Garmadon's son. A junior, but he skipped a grade." Jay hissed, also doing his fair share of glancing back and forth. "He always gets lead roles, mostly because he's been acting since he was in diapers, but also because daddy has his back."

"Oh, come on." Nya rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that has nothing to do with it. I mean, Garmadon has his eyes on Kai, right?"

"I guess so. I'll never understand drama teachers." Jay sighed. "Anyways, none of the guys want to try out for Danny. Luckily, this play has an abundance of male roles. I was thinking of going out for Doody."

Kai nodded, pretending to know who that was. He turned towards Nya. "And you?"

"Frenchy." She replied quickly, and Jay blushed. Kai squinted, glancing back and forth between the two of them. Must be some sort of inside thing.

"Come on, Nya..." Jay mumbled. "Frenchy doesn't even sing. You should go out for Rizzo or Marty. Even Jan sings."

"Maybe." Nya sighed, glancing down shyly. "But Sky said she was already going out for Rizzo. She's got a better voice for her."

Kai touched Nya's shoulder. "I really think you should go out for a singing role. It's your junior year; you aren't going to have much time to work your way up."

Nya nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, guys." She ran off to meet with a group of girls. One with dark crimson hair glanced at Kai and back to the others, giggling.

Jay smirked. "That's Skylor, senior like us. She's the one going out for Rizzo."

"Uh-huh." Kai said, watching the way her high ponytail swished around.

"You should go out for Kenickie." Jay nudged him. "You've, uh, got a good voice for him. Plus he's kind of like a lead."

"Uh-huh." Kai said, watching the way she crossed her arms across her chest, her dark orange hoodie complementing her firetruck-red hair.

Jay was mumbling to himself now. "So now we just need a Sonny. Why is it always down to him?" He sighed and tapped Kai on the shoulder again. "Let's grab a seat. Garmadon should be here any minute."

"Oh. Right." Kai nodded, sitting in one of the front rows with Jay, Nya soon joining them with her friends.

Hopefully this goes by quickly. Kai thought, glancing around. Because I feel like I'm already getting stage fright.