~ Part 13 ~ | Rooftop Talks

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** Grow As We Go (Ben Platt) **

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"You don't ever have to leave if to change is what you need. You can change right next to me."

~ Ben Platt

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This chapter is dedicated to @Lloydmondgomery. Thank you for the support!

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

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Zane masked his surprise with a gentle smile and met his gaze with Pixal's. The girl stared nervously back. "Hello, Pixal." He greeted her.

Nya beamed at her guest, taking her by the wrist and pulling her inside. "Welcome! Welcome! I can't believe you came!"

Pixal sent her a curious look. "I confirmed my attendance through text, did I not?"

"Uh- yeah you did- I mean-" Nya shook her head. "Never mind! I'm just happy you're here! Take off your coat! Settle in!"

Pixal looked apprehensive but she took off her shoes and shrugged off her purple jacket. Zane stepped up, taking it from her with a smile. She jumped a little, looking at him with wide eyes as he bent to pick up her shoes.

"I can put these in the closet." Zane told her.

"Uh- thank you." Pixal replied, her gaze locking on the boy's ear. Zane frowned a little at her response but he didn't have time to question it when Wu entered.

"Hello Pixal," the headmaster said with a tired nod. "I'm happy you could come over! Sorry about the noise. The lesson hours will be done soon. The kids will settle in their rooms then."

Pixal tucked her chin in shyly. "It is alright. I don't mind the noise. The apartment is always so quiet." She sounded a little wistful.

"Nya," Wu turned towards his student. "Why don't you take Pixal to your room."

"I can bring up something to eat later." Zane offered.

Nya gave him a quick hug. "Aw, thank you Zane! Feel free to come join us! Tell the guys to say hi when they have time!" She began to lead Pixal toward the stairs.

Zane chuckled. "I will try but Kai seems persistent on having a 'guys night.'" He hesitated when Pixal walked by. "If you don't mind, I would love to catch up."

Pixal clutched her bag so tight her knuckles were turning white. "Um..."

"ZANE!" Jay crashed in, his face coated in dirt and a tiny bit of blood. His face was bright red with anger. "WHERE IS COLE?"

Zane frowned. "Up the stairs. He said something about annoying kids and grapes?"

"Ugh! He's supposed to be helping me! Kai and Lloyd should've been here by now! Those jerks are so gonna- oh hey Pixal!" Jay immediately changed to a cheerier tone when he saw the two girls standing at the top of the stairs.

"Hello," Pixal looked him up and down curiously.

Nya leaned over the rail, propping her chin on her palm as she smiled down at him. "Hey handsome," she said sweetly. "I thought you'd be with Kai preparing for guys night."

Jay coughed, his cheeks turning pink. "Kai and Lloyd were cleaning up. I'm not sure where they are now."

"Wherever they are I can assure you that they aren't cleaning." Zane said with amusement. He laid Pixal's coat over his arm and smiled at the girls. "I hope you have fun. I shall see you later."

As Wu continued to chat a bit with Pixal as Zane put away the guest's things into the small room they had converted into a closet. Wu had installed little shelves and lockers for all the kids to put their things. Zane tucked her stuff into one of them and wrote Pixal's name on a sticky note so she'd know which door had her things. Jay trailed behind him, a little smile on the smaller boy's face as he watched Zane dot the eye in her name with a little heart.

"When are you going to tell her?" He asked cheekily.

Zane gave him the side eye and stepped back. "I do not understand."

Jay narrowed his eyes at him. Was he purposely playing dumb or was he really this dumb?

"You know! The good ol' love confession! The big determinator of one's relationship. The "I-like-you-more-than-a-friend speech! The-"

"I am not going to tell her anything like that." Zane gave Jay an exasperated look. Which was odd on the usually very tolerant boy's face. "Pixal is quite obviously uncomfortable about something. If she is feeling well enough to come to Nya's birthday party I will not ruin the confidence she has gained as well as Nya's celebration. I do not want to make Pixal leave again."

Jay felt his heart crack at the sad expression on his friend's face. "Aw, Zane!" Jay wrapped his arms around the blonde's middle. "Anyone would be so lucky to have you as a boyfriend and I'm not saying that in the pitying-grandmother-way but in the sincere-very-true-friend-way."

"Your way of speaking always confounds me." Zane chuckled, patting Jay on the head until he was released.

"Come on," Jay tugged insistently on the other's hand. "I think I have an idea for Nya's gift and we have to find Lloyd and Kai so I can yell at them."

Zane nodded, used to this routine by now. "I will go where you do."

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If Wu saw us now he probably would've regretted teaching them parkour as a class, Kai mused to himself as he tossed another chocolate covered peanut into his mouth. It crushed satisfyingly under his teeth as he chewed, the nutty flavour complementing nicely with the dark chocolate casing. Beside him Lloyd was also snacking on some food. If you could even call it food. Kai liked to refer the multi-coloured sucrose has his impending doom and the acceleration of his sugar addiction. Lloyd called it rock candy.

The two of them were perched on the roof, their feet hanging over the edge and their legs swinging merrily in tandem. As precarious as their position was it actually made Kai feel very calm being up there. He could watch the sun dip into the trees tops, he could map out the various twists and turns they took when trekking after Nya, and he could see the beautiful blue sky tiny with bits of amber as the day drew on.

It was exceedingly rare for Kai to feel this calm. He tended to be a very emotional person and completely  incapable of not worrying. As much as he put on an uncaring attitude he actually cared a little too much. Whenever Nya went out without him (for a grocery run or a date with Jay) Kai would always feel anxious and wouldn't settle until he could see her. It's gotten better as he learned to trust his sister more but no matter what he'd still be the immature eight year old who lost Nya in a dollar store and screamed at the top of his lungs until someone found her rooting around in the stuffed animals.

At least Kai had more people to rely on now. He smiled a little and looked over to Lloyd, who was gnawing determinedly on his stick of death.

"Hey," Kai spoke up. "Have you and Wu worked out your whole... thing?"

"What thing?" Lloyd mumbled around the candy, glancing away.

So that's how it's going to be. Kai raised an eyebrow. "Are you aware of how much of a teacher's pet you can be? It's almost as bad as Nya! You follow him around like a baby duck, it's honestly adorable." Kai watched with satisfaction as Lloyd's face reddened, his ears turning so scarlet it looked like he had a sunburn.

"Shut up! I do not." Lloyd said petulantly, hunching into his hoodie and pulling the collar over his mouth with embarrassment.

"Don't think I haven't noticed the tension. I may be dense but I'm not that dense. You've barely talked." Kai crossed his arms and glared daggers into his friend until he looked up.

"Look, it's been complicated since my..." He paused for a moment to work around the word. "Mother came. He kind of sprung her on me and he hasn't exactly been available to talk about it. Wu's been out for 'personal matters' anytime I'm out of class."

Kai frowned. Lloyd was right of course. None the group have caught much of Wu in awhile. He usually spent his free time doing crosswords or intense rounds of Mah Jong with Zane. It seemed like the headmaster got bored a lot with how many times he's snuck up behind Kai and demanded that he participated in completing a five thousand piece puzzle. Now that Kai thought about it the table that usually housed their picture-in-progress had been abandoned for the kids to drop their garbage on.

"Do you think something happened?" Kai asked curiously. Lloyd was pretty observant but, then again, the last week had been a bit of a mess.

"I'm not sure," Lloyd pursed his lips in thought. "He's been doing a lot of private phone calls. I tried to eavesdrop but Mistaké always has the volume of her soap opera at the max."

"It's almost like she does it on purpose." Kai groused, sucking the chocolate off of another nut.

Lloyd shifted uncomfortably, picking at the sugary crystals in his hand. "I can.... Try to talk to him if you want."

"Er- are you sure? It sounds awkward especially since you two have been actively avoiding each other." Kai pointed out. "Wu's pretty cagey about his secrets. I wouldn't want you to make everything worse."

Lloyd groaned. "How could it possibly get worse? The kids barely talk to me any more than terrified screams, my mother is anxiously awaiting for me to finally talk to her about the abandonment issues she's given me, and Wu hasn't stuck around in a room long enough with me to figure out what the heck is up with him!" He finished it off by flopping dramatically onto his back.

"Oh it can get worse." Kai snorted. "Once you hit rock bottom just grab a shovel and keep on digging."

Lloyd gave the brunette an exasperated look. "Thank you, Kai, real helpful."

He smirked. "I aim to please."

Kai leaned back, closing his eyes and letting the last trickle of sunlight wash over his face. "In all seriousness we can go looking for answers about Wu together. Maybe we could weasel something out of Misatké if we bribe her."

Lloyd laughed, sitting up so he could lean against the older boys side and rested his head on Kai's shoulder. "I'm sure she'd be interested in your last three peanuts and my half-eaten rock candy."

"These are rare products to come by Lloyd, who wouldn't want our spit-riddled food?" Kai said with a serious expression. The blonde simply snorted and rolled his eyes.

"What the heck are you talking about?"

Kai wasn't proud of the high pitched scream he let out, almost toppling over the edge of the roof, his last few peanuts clattered like pebbles onto the shingles below. Lloyd grabbed him by the back of his hood, yanking him back down with a glare at their intruder.

"Maybe alert your presence in a less disruptive way next time?" Lloyd suggested. Jay grinned. Or at least Kai thought he was grinning. It was hard to tell when all he could see from the side of the roof was Jay's carrot locks and cheeky little eyes. 

"What are you two doing up here? You were supposed to be taking over for Cole and I!" Jay glared at the two of them.

"Oops." Kai said unapologetically, swinging his legs to the other side and hopping onto the lower level where Jay was.

"You owe me!" Jay poked him in the shoulder with a scowl.

Lloyd slid beside them. "Do you need anything?"

"Uh yeah! Guys' Night remember? It's the perfect time for me to reveal my master plan for Nya's birthday." Jay huffed.

"Ew, no! Don't ruin Guys' Night for me by talking about how obsessed you are with my sister." Kai groaned in disgust.

Jay sputtered. "I'm not obsessed with her." Lloyd and Kai exchanged disbelieving looks.

"I'm not!"

Jay crossed his arms, pouting and turning away. "Whatever. You two can rot on the roof for all I care. Zane, Cole, and I can eat candy and play video games without you."

"Candy?" Lloyd perked up, instantly intrigued.

"Video games?" Kai said at the same time, eyes bright with interest.

Jay threw his hands in the air descending carefully down the various window sills and sloped rooftops. "One track minds I tell you."

"Hey," Lloyd said. "It's Guys' Night. No rules, just fun. I can eat as much candy as I want."

"No, you can't. You act like you're on drugs when you have too much sugar. I'm not dealing with that today." Kai told him sternly.

Lloyd stuck out his tongue childishly. "Just try and stop me!" He yelled, jumping quickly away in attempt to get off the rooftops first. Kai let out an angry yell and hurried after, threats falling from his lips like rain.

Jay trailed behind more slowly, still very careful despite his training. "Hey!" Jay called after them, sounding betrayed. "You left me again!"

NOTE****
Stayed up late to finish this chapter again and I refuse to try and edit this again while I'm on sleep-deprived zombie brain. I also only just figured out how to put a french keyboard which is very helpful for school so if there is random bits of french in this book I'm sorry I tried to delete them. XD

C'est très énervant!

Anyways, my brain has been really weird lately. Resulting in writers block so I wrote a bonus chapter but that got writers block as well so I just pushed myself to finish this at midnight.

I hope you enjoyed!

Au revoir.

LuckyBugBooks🐞