*one week later*

Lloyd's POV

"So I was in the palace last night," Rumi starts, playing with my hair as she talks,"and my helper noticed that there was something different about me. She noticed that I wasn't in peak princess condition as some would say." She has a smirk on her face, and I can't help but laugh a little.

"Oh I wonder how that could've happened," I respond jokingly. Last night before Harumi went back to the palace, we came up here to watch a movie by ourselves cause she wanted some "Lloyd time". Let's just say one thing led to another and things happened. We lost track of time and she had to quickly rearrange herself to be presentable before she left.

"She knew something was different, but she didn't know what. Then my dad came in and looked at me and couldn't tell either. He thought I got in a street fight!" she laughs an adorable little laugh.

"That's one thing you could call that," I laugh. In response, she play hits my shoulder.

"My coronation tour is starting soon," she sighs, looking at me with sad eyes.

"And that means?" I ask, rubbing my thumb against the back of her hand.

"I'll be gone for a while looking for someone to 'be the king Ninjago needs'," she says with air quotes. By her tone, she is not happy.

"I still can't believe that you're related to the First Spinjitzu Master," I shake my head in disbelief. The First Spinjitzu Master ruled over the realm and kept the peace and harmony. In his rule, he had two sons, Garmadon and Harumi's dad. When Garmadon let his evil powers take over him, his brother fled to try to get help. Several years later, three years ago, to be exact, he returned to the palace with his wife and daughter and took back the throne.

"I know right. I'm his granddaughter. It's so cool!" she squeals.

"Did I ever tell you you're adorable?" I try to be slick, but it comes out really awkward. She giggles at that.

"You, Mr. Lloyd Montgomery, are the most adorable," she wraps her arms around me, plants a kiss on my cheek, and closes her eyes. Whenever we do stuff like this, I can't help but feel guilty. Harumi says it's not breaking the rules because only one of us is an elemental master, but I still feel bad. Kai would love to have this, but he can't without hiding it or punishment. It's sad, but I can't do anything about it.

---

Jay's POV

"She's over ten minutes late," I look down at my phone. Every day at 1:45, Nya and I meet at the small cafe type restaurant before we head out to the forest. Today, it's 1:58 and she's not here. I anxiously tap my foot on the ground.

She's probably late, everyone has days where they just run behind. Maybe her hair wouldn't cooperate. Maybe she couldn't find anything in her closet.

Maybe the guards found her breaking a rule and punished her. I shiver at the thought. I can imagine the whip cracking against her back, the screams coming out of her mouth. It's horrible.

All I can do is hope that she isn't there. I've been there before, and it was horrible. I had talked back to a guard because they falsely accused Kai of breaking a rule. They grabbed me by the wrist, several of them, and pulled me into the back room. There, they started by taking off my shirt and whipping me, the sharp crack of the whip filling the room. Then, they decided to truly torture me.

With every elemental master, their elemental powers are dangled right in front of their face while being used against them. When I was in there, they hooked me up to a machine and shot electric currents through me. It was excruciating, but it didn't kill me. It felt like it was going to, but it didn't. I felt dead the next couple days. The whole time the guards were doing it, they just laughed and told me it was what I deserved.

"Jay...Jaaay," I come out of my thoughts to see Nya standing in front of me.

"Sorry, I was drifting out. Are you ready to go?" I stand up, adjusting my blue t-shirt.

"Actually, I was going to see if we could skip today. Cole and I have been hanging out today, and we've been having a really fun time. He wanted to go to the movies. Apparently they're showing a horror movie he's wanted to see for a while," she informs me, a smile on her face. As she says that, I get a deep, gross feeling in my stomach.

"Th-that's fine. You shouldn't feel like you have to hang out with me every day. It's good that you're getting new friends," I smile even though I feel odd.

"Are you sure? I can tell Cole I had a previous commitment," she offers. Even though I really want to, I don't want to seem controlling. She has her own life, and she can hang out with whoever she wants.

"I'm sure. Like yeah, I really want to hang out with you, but you haven't hung out with Cole yet, and it's good for you to have more friends, and he's really cool, and you're really cool, so bam good friendship, and..." I start to ramble before she shuts me up by pressing a finger to my lips. The contact sends chills throughout my whole body.

"Thank you Jay," she laughs a little, a cute little smile on her face. "You really are the best." She starts leaning in to give me a hug, but I dodge out of the way, seeing the guard standing by the door.

"Rule number twelve," I tell her. She still looks partially upset by me dodging her hug.

"What?"

"No forms of physical affection, even if it's only in a friend way," I remind her, which makes her realize what she did.

"Oh my gosh I'm sorry," she apologizes. I shrug in response. "I'm going to go now. I told Cole I was going to the bathroom. Bye Jay." She walks away from my table to where I can see Cole waiting outside. As soon as she walks back out, his face completely lights up. He says something to her which makes her start hysterically laughing. My throat feels like it's closing up, so I take a sip of water, but it doesn't help.

I need to get a grip of myself. Nya is my friend, and she can have other friends. I don't get like this when she hangs out with Skylor, but Cole makes me feel some sort of way.

I stand up from my chair. Pushing it in, I glance over at the person who is working the counter who is shaking their head. I walk out the door and go straight into my room. I close the door behind me, rather harshly on accident, and grab some blue prints off the counter for me to work on.

"Dang who pissed in your pants princess?" Kai jokes as I sit on my bed. I lay the blueprints on my bed. I'm trying to make a jet pack, but my body isn't helping. Neither is Kai.

"Nothing, no one. I'm 100% fine," I lie. I'm jealous. I know I'm jealous, of Cole out of all people. I'm so stupid.

It doesn't make sense. Nya is my friend. That's it. She could never be anything more, but the way Cole looked at her made my stomach churn.

"Fine. I'm going to go sneak down into Skylor's room. Since Harumi is busy with Lloyd, I might as well take advantage of my time," Kai announces, hands on his hips.

"The guards will never let you onto the floor. They know you Kai, and if they catch a drift of you coming they'll get you," I tell him, but he shakes it off.

"Who ever said I was going to use the floor?" he smirks in his Kai way, and I decide to let him do whatever he's going to do.

"It's kind of assumed, but have fun," I wave him off. He saunters out to balcony before closing the door behind him.

I finally think I can work on my blueprints, but I keep getting distracted. I feel uneasy. I'm jealous.

Then, it all clicks in my head. The reason why I'm jealous, the reason I got upset when people refer to Nya as Cole's girlfriend, the reason why I've been so transfixed with Nya's smile, laugh, and everything about her.

I have a crush on Nya.

---

Nya's POV

"Quit it!" I laugh as Cole keeps trying to do tricks on the skateboard Jay built him. He's trying hard, but failing miserably.

"I'm doing my best. Don't doubt my abilities," he attempts the trick again, failing miserably yet again.

"I think I have the right to doubt your abilities," I laugh, glancing at the black skateboard.

"Can I try?" I ask, my eyes fixated on the board.

"I don't know. It's tough, and I don't want you to get hurt," he contemplates the idea. I take matters into my own hands, grabbing the board out of his hands. I step on the board, nearly falling to the ground. I regain my balance before copying what he was doing, except I actually manage to complete the trick. He looks impressed.

"First try," I laugh at him, handing him back the board.

"I'm impressed, really impressed," he tells me with an unreadable expression on his face. He looks impressed, but there's also a deeper look in his eyes.

"Thank you. I try," I fake curtsy.

"Do you want to head over to the movies? They're showing a cool horror film I've been trying to see for a while, but no one else wants to go see it with me," he asks. There's a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Of course. A horror film has never scared me," I announce proudly.

"Same here," he counters back, getting a little defensive. "It actually starts in around twenty minutes. We should get going." Cole picks up his skateboard before he starts walking, waiting for me to follow behind him. I grab my (restricted because of the restraining we have in here) phone and go to look through my texts when I see that it's 1:53. I was suppose to meet Jay at 1:45. My heart drops, but I already committed to Cole, and I hang out with Jay every day. One off day couldn't hurt, plus I just told Cole I was going with him.

"You coming Nya?" Cole looks back at my stagnant state.

"Yeah," I shove my phone in my pocket, "I'm coming." As we walk, I realize we're about to pass the cafe that Jay and I meet in, so I make up an excuse. "I really need to go to the bathroom. Can I head into that cafe real quick?" I improvise, gesturing over to the the shop.

"There's a bathroom at the movies," he informs me.

"I really have to go, and I'll be quick," he gives me the nod of approval, and I head inside.

I see Jay sitting at our regular table, but he looks paralyzed, deep in though. His eyebrows are furrowed as he looks ahead at his glass of water sitting in front of him. I approach him, and stand in front of him, but he doesn't flinch. He just keeps staring ahead.

"Hi," I say softly, but there's no response. "Jay...Jaaay," he eases out of his daze and looks up at me with his bright blue eyes.

"Sorry, I was drifting out. Are you ready to go?" he stands up, readjusting his t-shirt that matches his eyes.

"Actually, I was going to see if we could skip today. Cole and I have been hanging out today, and we've been having a really fun time. He wanted to go to the movies. Apparently they're showing a horror movie he's wanted to see for a while," I tell him with a smile, expecting him to be happy that I'm hanging out with one of his friends, but instead his expression falls, making me feel guilty.

"Th-that's fine. You shouldn't feel like you have to hang out with me every day. It's good that you're getting new friends," he gives me an obviously fake smile that makes my heart ache.

"Are you sure? I can tell Cole I had a previous commitment," I quickly add. Part of me hopes he says he wants me to, because it shows he really wants to hang out with me, but the other part of me still wants to hang out with Cole.

"I'm sure. Like yeah, I really want to hang out with you, but you haven't hung out with Cole yet, and it's good for you to have more friends, and he's really cool, and you're really cool, so bam good friendship, and..." he begins to ramble in his Jay way that makes me laugh to myself. I put a finger on his lips to make him quiet down, a small smile on my face.

"Thank you Jay," I laugh a bit "You really are the best." I lean in to give him a hug, but he dodges out of the way, confusing me.

"Rule number twelve," he whispers in a hushed voice.

"What?"

"No forms of physical affection, even if it's only in a friend way," he informs me. My eyes widen.

"Oh my gosh I'm sorry," I apologize. He shrugs casually "I'm going to go now. I told Cole I was going to the bathroom. Bye Jay." I wave, walking back outside to where Cole is.

"Did you at least grab me some cake?" he asks, and I start hysterically laughing.

"You and your cake obsession," I shake my head jokingly.

"Hey, what can I say? I love my cake," he says as if he can't help it.

"And the gym."

"Also true."

"It's going to take a long time to understand you, Cole," I look over as he brushes some of the black fringe out of his face.

"That's fine. We have all the time we'll ever need."

---

Kai's POV

"Hey gorgeous, can I come in?" I say in the most flirty voice I can. I stand on Skylor's balcony, leaning against the railing.

"How the heck did you get there?" she questions me, but I just shrug.

"A magician never reveals his secrets," I lower my sunglasses to wink at her. She rolls her eyes, but the smile on her face tells me she isn't annoyed.

"Come in," she opens the sliding door, and I follow her. I automatically find her rolling chair and plop myself down, leaning back in it.

"What's the plan for today? Harumi wanted some 'Lloyd time' so all of us are free," I inform her, which makes her bitterly laugh.

"She can party in Lloyd's room, but we can't talk in public. Interesting," she rolls her eyes. I agree that it's completely stupid, but if I add to her fire she'll go off on a rant.

"What're we going to do with this rare free time?" I ask again, spinning around in the chair.

"Well, we could stay here but have a chance of being caught by my roommate, but she's hanging out with Jay, so we can stay here until sunset," she suggest, but I raise an eyebrow.

"Jay's not with your roommate. He's half moping around and half making blueprints," I inform her, which perks her attention extra.

"Do you know where she is then?" Skylor questions. I shrug.

"I think she's with Cole. I don't know. I was too busy scaling the side of the building," I shrug. "I'm lucky my room is right above yours or else I'd be screwed."

"So you got to my balcony by dropping from your balcony?" Skylor guesses, walking over in my direction.

"What? Never," I pretend she didn't just expose my trick. My arms crossed in front of my chest.

"Oh I'm sure," she laughs. Her hand reaches forward to take the sunglasses off the bridge of my nose. She holds them in her hand before placing them on her own face. The glasses rest perfectly on her face.

"Are you an open flame? Cause you sure are hot," I wink. She gives her "I didn't want you to know, but I enjoyed that" smile, letting me know I achieved my goal.

"You're really something else," she smiles and shakes her head.

"But you like this something else," I lean in, giving her a smile.

"You know I do," she hums back, looking into my eyes. My breath shortens. I start to lean in, the familiar feeling flowing through me as if we were fifteen again. As we're mere centimeters apart, she pulls back, pain evident in her features.

"I can't Kai. I can't kiss you," she squeezes her eyes shut.

"Why not?" I move my hand over hers to let her know I'm here.

"It'll be all I want, and I really need to be able to focus on getting us out of this hell hole. I love you, I really do, but I can't, not right now," she sighs, looking down. I use my finger to tilt her head up at me.

"You're so strong Sky. I know you'll be able to figure out a way to get us out, so we can be together with nothing holding us back. Even if it takes us years, I'll always be willing to escape with you."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

A/N: haha forgetting about this story again am I right 

But seriously, sorry guys, I'll try to not forget again