~ Part 10 ~ | Pixal's Answer

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** Invisible Ink (This Is Us) **

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"Turns out all my mistakes were forgivable
And the time I spent lost was a sign
That all the ink is invisible
If you give it, give it enough time"

~ Mandy Moore

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This chapter is dedicated to emerald-dragon . Thank you for all your support! I love talking with you!

(comment or PM if you'd like a shoutout!)

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"ZANE!"

The tall boy raised an eyebrow as Nya came storming into the room. Ronin rolled his eye and slurped up his meal, giving Nya an arrogant smirk.

The stranger had joined Kai and Zane in the sitting room, demanding food, before proceeding to obnoxiously eat at an alarming rate. It was obvious from the way Nya's face darkened that she had met him before, and like her brother, wasn't impressed, but she pointedly ignored him in favour of resting her attention on Zane.

"Can you give me Pixal's phone number?" Nya asked, she took out her phone and looked at him expectantly.

Zane blinked in confusion. "Why?"

"I want to invite her over for a girls' night," Nya said like it was obvious.

Kai snorted. "A girls' night?"

"It's when pompous teenage girls waste money on beauty products and gossip about the idiots around them." Ronin unhelpfully added to the conversation.

Nya scowled at the two of them. "Shut up."

Zane was still trying to comprehend Nya's request. "And you would like to invite Pixal over?"

"Yup." Nya tapped her screen. "You can just send me her contact info and then I'll text her."

"I'm not sure if we should bother her," Zane said slowly.

Nya's gaze flicked up and a slightly wounded expression crossed her face. "Do you think she wouldn't want to come?"

"I'm not sure," Zane honestly said, shrugging a shoulder. "I've tried to do activities with her but she's been very busy. It's been a while since I've had a true conversation with her."

Nya frowned a little at that. The hurt look in her eyes fading into something pitying. "Can I at least try?" Nya's voice was small. It was nervous, resigned but slightly hopeful. A tone he had never heard from her before.

Zane hesitated a moment but he could see how much she wanted this. "Alright." He sighed and he took out his device.

"Thank you!" Nya squealed, a giddy grin spread across her face and Zane chuckled awkwardly along. Ronin laughed at Zane's expression, the noise sounding more like a strangled cough than anything. Kai grimaced as broth sprayed everywhere. There was a ping as Nya got the number and she danced off before anyone could say anything else.

Zane glanced curiously at Kai. "She seems very excited about this 'girls' night.'"

Kai grunted, unsurprised. "Back at home, Nya would spend most of her time working hard at a goal. Whether it's the best grade in the town, winning the spelling bee, or convincing her boss to give her one of the old trucks. When she wasn't doing that she was keeping me out of trouble so she didn't have much time to," he paused looking a little guilty. "to be a kid. Maybe she's trying to relive her tween years or something."

Ronin rolled his eyes. "Ugh. You're all so sad."

Kai bared his teeth in retort. "At least we don't look depressing."

"Kai!" Zane scolded, surprised by the sharp words. He was used to the brunette sending casual insults people's way but they were always sarcastic, teasing, and never meant much. It was weird to hear the more bitter side to the jabs again.

Kai pressed his lips together but quieted. Cole joked that Kai only ever listened to him and Wu. Kai had denied it but Zane began to wonder how much truth had been in that jest.

Ronin finished his food, leaving the bowl carelessly on the coffee table and striding out of the room. Kai exchanged a look with Zane and stood to pick up the dish.

"Now I see why Nya had such a sour expression around him," Kai grumbled.

Zane nodded in agreement. He was a slightly unpleasant man."We should head to the courtyard. Spinjtizu will be starting soon."

Kai groaned. "Ugh. Wu will probably want us to help the kids again."

"Don't worry, he won't ask you. Your combat skills are not good enough for you to teach." Zane gave a sly smile as he watched Kai slowly take in what he said. His eyebrows scrunched as his brain caught up and he glared at him indignantly. 

"Hey!"

*****

He looks like clown. Cole thought with amusement as he watched Jay dance around the courtyard. The moves became more and more ridiculous the louder Nya's laughter sounded. He wasn't sure if Jay acted less or more like an idiot around his girlfriend. As Jay began to do the chicken dance around in a circle, Cole concluded that more was definitely the answer.

Wu was carefully showing the students the basic forms of spinjitzu, his eyes occasionally flicked to their group, giving them a sharp glare whenever they were doing something they weren't supposed to. Cole gulped when Wu's gaze slid over to him and hurriedly went back to the various spins and kicks, desperately avoiding making eye contact.

Jay wandered back over to Cole. He had a little smile on his face, looking pleased with himself, but Cole noticed the flush heating his face.

"What? Did Nya get bored of your show?" Cole raised an eyebrow.

Jay scowled. His ears burned an even brighter red. "Shut up."

"No, no, it was good! You would fit right in with my dad." Cole continued to tease with a smirk.

Jay muttered something unkind under his breath and Cole chose to ignore it in favour of doing the next form. There was a beat of silence as Cole watched Jay stare at Nya dreamily. That spurred another eye roll. Honestly! He thought all the faraway looks would go away once they started dating.

"It's Nya's birthday soon," Jay said. Cole didn't bother replying. "I want to do something nice for her but I'm not sure what."

Cole didn't respond again and he froze when Jay looked at him expectantly. "What? You think I'll know?"

"You look like someone who's dated before!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cole wasn't sure if he should be defensive or just plain confused. Jay gestured vaguely at his body and his face and Cole gave him a deadpan stare.

"You're a very attractive guy!" Jay elaborated.

"Who's an attractive guy?" Kai popped up on Cole's other side, he waggled his eyebrows with interest.

Cole tried to tell Jay to zip it but the ginger didn't notice. "Cole," Jay answered cheerfully.

Kai gave him a once over, the attention made Cole squirm as the other boy shrugged. "I dunno, he's okay. He's not me."

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Cole whined.

"What's got Cole worked up?" Lloyd strolled in, looking a little disturbed at Kai eyeing their friend.

"We're debating if he's attractive or not," Kai told him.

Lloyd tilted his head curiously before giving a complimentary nod. "I think he's hot."

"Oh my god." Cole covered his face with his hands.

"Lloyd has spoken!" Kai cheered.

"How did the conversation get to this?" Cole said to himself incredulously.

"I wanted to know what to do for Nya's birthday," Jay said like that had been a perfectly natural transition.

Kai grunted. "Just get her some flowers or something. Nya likes flowers."

"Flowers are so basic," Lloyd argued. "Do candy!"

"What's romantic about candy?"

Jay shook his head. "No, I want to do something special."

"Nya doesn't care about special." Kai rolled his eyes.

Jay squinted at him. "I thought you were the king of romance!"

"Not when it's about my sister!"

"Did someone say my name?" They all froze when they saw Nya looking over. She hesitated a moment as if she wasn't sure if she wanted to come over and join them or not. She probably was worried for their sanity.

"Uh..." Jay stalled a moment. "Do you think Cole is hot?"

*****

Pixal sat at her computer. Her fingers tapping rhythmically against her keyboard. Gradually as she grew more frustrated, her pace sped up, a patter similar to one of pouting rain on a window. Her brow furrowed and her frown deepened as she glared into the screen, despite her determination she still came up empty. With a sigh, Pixal sat back, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She had been at it all day and she still didn't have anything.

Why would Zane want to spend time with a failure? The little voice in the back of her mind said.

She knew it was silly. Zane wasn't one to focus too much on the negatives. He'd move on with a sad smile on his face and soft reassurances. Pixal rolled her eyes. To think he would reassure her. But Pixal put a lot of pressure on herself and though logically she knew she shouldn't let herself be so fixated on a task it was hard for her to stop. She couldn't bear to see her own crushing disappointment reflected in Zane's face.

"I have to do this," Pixal said out loud to herself, taking a deep steadying breath. "I can do this."

Her lip trembled and she dug her nails into her palms, trying to use the pain to clear her mind. The falcon cooed worriedly, its mechanical eyes blinking at her with life-like concern. Before the tears could spill there was a chime from her phone. Pixal sniffed, furiously wiping her eyes as she picked it up. Pixal assumed it would either be her father pleading for her to get to bed or Zane checking in on her, but to her surprise, an unfamiliar number showed up.

Unknown
Hi, Pixal! This is Nya! I was wondering if you would like to join me for a girls' night! It's my birthday in a few days and I wanted to celebrate with a teenage slumber-party experience with a fun girl-friend!

Pixal almost dropped her phone in surprise. She'd only ever been to a slumber party once. Meredith Thistleburry had invited her to her birthday along with a few other girls. She was the daughter of one of Borg's business partners and Pixal was sure her parents forced her to invite Pixal. Her dad had persuaded her to attend in hopes that she would make some friends. Unfortunately, Meredith and her horrible cronies spent most of the time tormenting Pixal.

But Nya wouldn't do that. Nya was a dear friend of Zane's, who loved Zane fondly. Whenever she teased her friends it was always out of love with a sweet smile on her face and a little twinkle in her eye. The boys took her insults with a grain of salt, always rolling their eyes and laughing, rebuking with a playful retort of their own. It was a relationship Pixal longed for more than anything. Zane was a good friend but he wasn't the type of person she would whisper secrets to at night or giggle at an inside joke with.

Hesitantly, Pixal typed a response, her lungs burning as she held her breath and pressed send. Both nausea and excitement hit her and a warm fuzzy feeling filled her as she reread the invite. The girl was about to switch off her computer when her hand accidentally slid over the keys, causing it to touch something new. The screen flashed green and Pixal could barely believe her eyes at what popped up.

"Oh my gosh!" Pixal laughed almost hysterically as she leaned over her desk in disbelief. "I found it!"

NOTE*****
I feel like every chapter I make in this book I'm always making excused in why I don't update very quickly. 😂 This time I have an actual excuse! Two words:

Math class.

Also, friends who want to talk to me during lunch. Yes, it is a blessing and a curse. 😂 just kidding! I love you, Dee!

I wanted to have a more calm, light, chapter so I don't have angst every. Single. Chapter. Hopefully, I did well at that. 😂 I did add some on the tail end though with Pixal though.... Hmm...

Have an amazing day!

LuckyBugBooks🐞