lloyd

Why was he replying to her again?

harumi.brassard: do you want to get froyo after school

Did he? Because this totally wasn't a date. They barely talked to each other in school, and Harumi definitely wasn't the reason he'd been falling asleep at three am in the morning leaving Instagram open on her goodnight messages.

lloyd_g: sure. what time?

harumi.brassard: four? i can get my dad's driver to take us there

lloyd_g: uhhh. I don't think its a good idea for your dad to know youre hanging out with the son of his number one pain in the backside crime dealer

harumi.brassard: don't worry garmadon, ill handle it. Just wait for me outside school by the main entrance.

lloyd_g: fine. its on your head

harumi.brassard: have some faith lloyd. ive done this before you know.

lloyd_g: what? hang out with a crime lord's son?

harumi.brassard: no. being the daughter of the mayor isnt exactly all flashing lights and pretty smiles. its pretty hard being perfect all the time. Believe it or not, this isn't all natural.

lloyd_g: i guess we're more similar than i thought

harumi.brassard: four pm sharp, garmadon. otherwise i'm leaving without you

lloyd_g: gee thanks, rumi

read

Oh god. Had he messed up calling her Rumi? The nickname had just stuck with him since they were past the last naming teasing. At least he was, anyway.

harumi.brassard: rumi?

Okay, he could still save this and not have her destroy his flimsy non-existent reputation at school.

lloyd_g: you know. harumi. rumi

harumi.brassard is typing...

harumi.brassard: i like it. just don't tell anyone else to call me that.

lloyd_g: ok?

harumi.brassard: ill figure out a nickname for you soon garmadon. your last name is way too long to type out.

Lloyd laughed to himself, hiding the blush of his cheeks by tugging on the drawstrings of his hood, using the concealment to sneak a glance at Harumi. She was sitting at the end of the popular lunch table, a curtain of straight bleached hair separating her from the rest allowing her to stare at her phone.

His gaze slid to assess the other kids sitting next to her. Brittney was practically sitting on Kai's lap, though he kept trying to push her off subtly. Chad was talking to some other girls while Liam and Skylor seemed to be in a snappy argument drawing attention from tables nearby.

The cafeteria gabble was interrupted when a blonde kid pushed through the middle, half carrying a thin dark-haired girl who was bleeding from nicks all over her body. Everyone went silent and gaped, even the self absorbed narcissists turned their heads at the strange sight.

Then a boy with a big canvas and a girl wielding an avocado stood up, the latter yelling out, "Hey! Eyes back in your heads people, keep eating."

They quickly hurried out after the limping duo, a smaller, ice blonde kid scurrying to follow. Zane half stood up to call out when they all realised that it was Evan who went after them.

"Uh. What was that?" Jay asked through a mouthful of pizza.

"No idea." Lloyd said, cocking his head. His eyes briefly made contact with Harumi's before her gaze slipped away.

A minute later, Vice Principal Dareth ran into the cafeteria, his eyes wild and terrified. He skidded to a halt in the middle of the room.

"Teacher...dead in the gym. Thought you should know." His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped to the ground.

Screaming infected everyone in fear after they unfroze from shock. Students rushed to pick up their bags and leg it out the entrances when Miss Kelly and the Police Commissioner strode in and ordered everyone to sit down and keep quiet.

Miss Kelly cleared her throat, gesturing to where VP Dareth had been pushed into a chair still unconscious. "While Mr Dareth is temporarily incapacitated, and with Principal Wu away at the moment, I will assume head of school. Please remain calm. Commissioner,"

The head of police cleared his throat and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. "What Vice Principal Dareth has just revealed to you is, in fact true. I see no point in lying to you all when you already have been told this news. School will be shut over the weekend and tomorrow. Your teachers will email your lessons to you, and we have not reached a conclusion as to whether or not school will continue on Monday. Once lunch finishes, you are all free to go home."

Whispers filled the room as the Commissioner left, turning on his heel with two lower officers flanking him on their way out.

Miss Kelly cleared her throat, recalling the student's attention. "Please do not pressure your peers into telling you what may have happened. This situation is very traumatic and the wellbeing of your students is our greatest concern. As the Commissioner said, you are free to go once lunch finishes. Keep an eye out for important emails, and have a good day."

She walked away with his beads jangling in an ominous cheery tune, leaving the cafeteria in pensive silence.

Then Harumi stood up, jutting a hip out with her arm on it. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go." She turned and gave the slightest wink in his direction, which he returned subtly but felt like he was actually blinking.

Everyone cheered, which Lloyd considered weird since they'd literally been told about a teacher dying five minutes ago, but that was high school. Until everyone was gossiping again, the strange matter would lay at rest. He exchanged slightly confused looks with his friends before shrugging as Pixal and Zane headed off early to Borg Tower, and Jay and Nya sat at the lunch table awkwardly.

They hadn't really made up from their muted fight at the monastery, but then Jay cleared his throat and offered to show Nya something about a motor. Somehow the cafeteria emptied before Lloyd registered it and stood there blinking slowly, moving to trudge out the door when an arm slid through the crook of his. Glancing sideways, he almost tripped over his own feet to see Harumi walking alongside him.

"H—hi?"

"Hey Lloyd," her red lips parted in an easy smile as they walked to a sleek limo discreetly parked outside.

In a burst of chivalry — and basic decency, Lloyd darted forward and opened the door for Rumi, getting in on his own side. Unsure of where to sit, he just sat next to her on the driver-facing booth seat. She pressed her fingers to a black box in the middle of the car's floor which hissed as it rose upwards. Opening it, Harumi handed Lloyd a Sprite and settled back comfortably on the seat. She brought out a compact mirror and wiped away a smudge.

Lloyd sipped from the can uncomfortably, watching the tinted divider separating them from the driver as if the car would stop and he'd be yanked out by armed bodyguards.

Harumi slapped his arm lightly. "Would you relax? No one's going to jump you."

"Maybe." he muttered back as the driver stopped outside the mall. "This still is not a good idea."

"You've said." she drawled, and then dragged him out to the mall entrance.

Ten minutes later, after an impromptu run in with a small television station crew and quick interview in which he slouched off behind a potted plant, Lloyd and Harumi sat in a booth. His froyo was a simple base of vanilla and then every available candy topping piled on top. Rumi's was a cherry bomb special, and their bill was on special discount, for unsaid, but very clear reasons.

He stuck his spoon into the swirl of his froyo and sighed, his eyes glancing up to meet Harumi's.

"Rumi, why are you doing this?"

"What?"

He waved vaguely around him. "Taking me out to eat, talking to me, we barely know each other."

"Well, that's not true. I know that you think Alisse from Realm Raider shouldn't be so overpowered, and that her sidekick Meowthra is your favourite because she reminds you of your cat when you were younger. Her name was Miffy, and she was a tabby who only ate oranges."

She listened to me?

"I know that you think I'm a stuck up mayor's daughter, which, yeah, I am, but I'm not that dumb to think people don't talk about me behind my back. I'm not shallow, because I know my parents only use me to 'get in' with the younger generation of votes. Did you know I have dinner with my parents once a week? And—" She hiccuped as Lloyd's eyes widened.

Rumi fell silent as she looked down at her yogurt, laughing hoarsely. "But you don't want to hear that. I just thought it would be nice to get to know someone who hasn't got their head stuck up their ass."

His hand crept across the table and he weaved their fingers together, almost waiting for her to jerk back.

"I didn't know...I'm sorry."

Her eyes landed on their laced hands.

"It's fine. I don't talk to a lot of people that I really like anyway."

"Do you like me?" he cocked his head teasingly.

"Yeah," she replied instantaneously. "I think I do."

jay

Right. He may have forgotten that Fritz Donnegan was supposed to call him but right now he was spending time with Nya. She was spending time with him, voluntarily. He glanced to the divider where she'd left a few minutes ago for some supplies she'd spotted in his yard, and then back to his watch. Since school had ended abruptly at one, for a reason Jay was pretty sure VP Dareth had overexaggerated since he was that kind of guy, he'd thought he had plenty of time to hang out with Nya.

Then Edna had roped his crush into staying with them for dinner, and Jay had the phone call in five minutes. His only viable option right now, so that Nya wouldn't find out, or his parents, was to have a baby-Jay scrapbook session. Groaning, he opened the divider to tell his mum that Nya wanted to know more about his childhood (which, realistically no one would be interested in), and then traipsed outside to tell Nya. Or he could just let her browse the piles of scrap but that risked her coming back inside.

Five minutes later, low giggles and rapid conversation assured Jay that Nya would be occupied for at least an hour, and the phone call couldn't possibly go on for longer than that, right? He sat cross-legged on his bed with the letter unfolded next to him on his Space Adventure covers, his phone in his right hand. It vibrated like a volcano about to explode so he quickly picked it up.

"Hi, this is Michelle Rezzerstan from Donnegan Cinematic Studios. Is this Jay Walker?"

"Yep!" his voice squeaked up an embarrassing octave he cringed at.

"Awesome! I'll connect you to Mr Donnegan in a minute or so, please hang tight."

The theme song for the Fritz Donnegan shows played in the jazz version, and Jay hummed along softly to the music when a sophisticated voice joined the call.

"Hello there. I'm—"

"Fritz Donnegan!"

The actor laughed. "It seems like you know of me, at least Mr Walker."

"Uh, call me Jay, please. And who doesn't know your name?" Jay laughed nervously.

"So, I saw some of your videos."

Right. Straight to the point.

"Yeah uh, sir, I'm really sorry about those, I'm pretty sure I broke some sort of contract my parents signed, just please, I'll get the money for your lawsuit, don't tell them. I—" His ramble took on a panicked tone as he searched his room for his piggy bank. "I don't want to disappoint them, and my dad really loved having the Bullet here, it's an excellent car by the way, but—"

"Jay." Donnegan said calmly. "I'm not suing you."

He stood up straight. "You're not suing me?"

"I'm not suing you." Donnegan repeated. "I actually want to offer you an internship at the studio."

Jay choked on air. "You want—you want me to do an internship at DCS?"

"Yeah, from the video it seems like you're a pretty inventive kid. How'd you manage that lighting?"

"Just a, uh, random lightning storm."

"That you caught on film twice?"

"Yep."

The silence was so awkward Jay was considering an offer to sing his idol the theme song of his own movie franchise in a very off-tune warble.

"I'll get Michelle to send you the details. Have a good day, Jay. And say hello to Mr Cuddlywomp for me."

"Yes! Of course!" he replied, holding in a scream as the call ended. His hand bright the patchy bear towards him when he sat upright.

How did he know who Mr Cuddlywomp is?

kai

He stretched lazily on the field next to Cole and the rest of the team, retying the loose laces absentmindedly when he heard excited hooting from the grandstands. Brittney jumped up and down excitedly, waving and cupping her hands to yell hello. Skylor Chen sat beside her stiffly in the clothes she'd been wearing all day, similar to the style Harumi and Brittney wore. Basically, tight clothes which she looked incredibly uncomfortable in. Even Kai could tell.

Practice was pretty boring. They moved through all the warm ups and exercises, then did some skill sets and moved to practice games. Brittney was very vocal throughout their hour and a half of practice, to the point where Coach had asked Kai to tell his girlfriend to keep it down. He nearly got concussed because she tried to run on field - on purpose, or by accident, Kai couldn't tell, but his head was throbbing painfully.

After practice, he said an awkward goodbye to Liam, Chad, Jake, Cole and the rest of the team whilst trying to sneak out of the field stadium without Brittney catching sight of him. Hey did notice a car lazily following him while he guzzled Amnestone tea from his thermos, but luckily, he made it home without any sign of the obsessive girl and took a long shower to drown his miseries in. Just as he was in the kitchen raiding the pantry for Nya's Oreos, the doorbell rang loudly.

Ryu made a pitiful attempt at a yowl, and Kai picked him up gently. Lloyd skidded across the hardwood floor in his socks and opened the door at the incessant rapping that was making Kai's headache worse.

"Lloyd?" squeaked a familiar voice, and Kai dropped to the ground, lying on his stomach with Ryu curled on his back.

"Um. Who are you?"

"Kai's girlfriend." Brittney said in a shrill voice. "I thought I told the whole school...never mind, could you let me in? I need to talk to him about someone. And our future, you know? As a long term couple, with marriage in the future? I think he'd look drop-dead gorgeous in a suit, but don't tell him! I don't want to scare him off!"

Kai was screaming on the inside.

You have very much fucking scared me off from something I wasn't interested in Brit-Leech!

"So? Can you let me in?" Brittney pleaded in Lloyd's dumbfounded silence.

Tell her no, tell her no, tell her no, Lloyd I swear to-

"Kai's actually not home right now. I think, he's uh, hanging out with Skylor?"

Kai mentally facepalmed, now shouting: you idiot you made everything worse on the inside.

"Skylor, huh?" Brittney mused. "I'll have a talk with him about that later. And his restrictions for going out and such, but when he gets home could you tell him I stopped by? He isn't answering any of my messages."

"Sure." Lloyd agreed, and Kai peeked over the counter to see him waving goodbye nervously. "See you...around." And then Lloyd shut the door firmly, and locked it for extra measure.

The blonde looked around the room airly. "Your girlfriend is crazy."

Kai opened his mouth, offended as he got to his feet. "I didn't ask to be her boyfriend in the first place."

"Well she's pretty hardcore." Lloyd mumbled. "And maybe batshit crazy."

Kai tried to bring himself to defend her, but the words never even made it to his brain. Instead, he asked "How's your meditation going?"

Lloyd jumped over the couch and onto a pile of beanbags, grabbing a controller and booting up Minecraft. "Okay."

"Any progress on energy?" He took the other controller offered and joined the world, double checking the current durability of his netherite chestplate.

"Nooooo." Lloyd paused as his sword glanced off Kai's shield. "How's the Master of F-Fiyah going?"

Kai's memory clicked of his practice posing yesterday night in front of the mirror. "Oh you are so dead. And I'm taking your sharpness, looting three, fire aspect, knockback sword after I do it."

"No, please don't. I spent ages getting that sword, do you know how many levels I had to afk at the XP spawner for? So many. And don't get me started on the time I gave you a god-apple and then you used it to go fight Cole!" whined Lloyd. "Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease—"

"Oh my god, I'm not going to kill you. I'm just going to assassinate Harold the cow."

"We have a peace treaty Kai, you can't do that!"

"Kai." came Misako's warning voice. He dropped the controller like a hot potato to greet his guardian.

Misako unwound the green scarf at her neck, dropping her keys into the oyster-style bowl at the front table. "Have you done your homework yet? Or studied for that History test tomorrow?"

"Actually, we don't have school tomorrow, mum." Lloyd piped in, finally being helpful. "Something happened and they shut down the school."

"What happened, exactly?" Misako frowned.

"A teacher died." Kai said offhandedly, "But I'm pretty sure Mr Dareth was over exaggerating since football practice wasn't cancelled. Just school."

Misako's frown stayed on her face. "Is Nya home yet?"

"She's hanging out with Jay," Lloyd said. "She said she got invited over for dinner with the Walkers."

Nodding, Misako smiled, "It's been a while since I've seen Ed and Edna. The Walkers are a very nice family, and Jay is a very nice boy. I'm sure Nya likes spending time with him."

"Uh, why would she like spending time with Jay?" Kai wondered aloud.

Misako looked at him with a laugh. "She likes him, Kai. Haven't you noticed?"

He opted not to reply so his brain wouldn't dwell on more friends having 'crushes' or crushes, on his little sister. Staring out of the window absentmindedly, Kai sat up a little straighter as he noticed a black car roll up the side of the pavement. It was the same one that had followed him on the way home from practice. He couldn't tell what brand it was, but he made the instant connection to that girl who had limped through the cafeteria. She'd been picked up by a black car with an older girl wearing a hood half concealing her white hair.

Frowning, he looked away and went back to nether-mining for ancient debris, suspicion settling in the back of his mind.

A/N: IHENWUOFNIOUN so i just wanted to say the scene where dareth runs in and goes

'Teacher dead in the gym...thought you should know.' was based off the scene from the philosopher's stone where quirrell runs in goes 'troll in the dungeons!'. Ps, i hate jk rowling, but that scene stemmed from there. Look, kids, i know half the scenarios in this fic are hardly realistic but that's teh point! I've literally gone insane! additionally, mos is going to have double updates every week to finish before December! 

ALSO OH MY FUCKING POG WE GOT 90K WORDS IN THIS CHAPTER AND I SWITCHED POVS SO MANY TIMES BUT YOU GET WHAT YOU GET LMFAO

-dommie out