[One New Friend, One Old Enemy]

After a long ninety minutes of boring science knowledge being stuffed into their brains, the four friends walked out of the lab. But a certain girl was also right next to Cole, walking out with them as well.

Once they were in the hallway, Skylor, Zane and Pixal noticed her.

Seliel looked at Cole, who was quite taller than her, and hoped for him to talk instead of her. But he just smiled at her and eyed his friends, indicating for her to make the move. She looked at the three friends and could read their annoyed expressions. She fidgeted with her fingers, avoiding eye contact. "I'm sorry for the way I acted before..." Then she slowly looked back up and dared to take a peek at their faces.

Cole seemed proud, but the others apparently weren't as pleased that quickly. "It's just that... I haven't really been treated that well here and probably just had the prejudice of you guys being the same way towards me. But when Cole was actually... nice to me, I realized I was just about to push someone away I haven't even gotten to know better." She admitted.

Zane smiled. "That is okay. And I'm sorry you haven't had the best of experiences."

"Yes, I'm sure the others are going to like you." Pixal continued.

Skylor looked at the two nindroids and smiled at their niceness. Then she turned towards Seliel. "It's alright. I'm Skylor, by the way. Skylor Chen."

"Zane Julien."

"Pixal Borg."

Seliel let out a laugh. "You guys really forget that you're basically well-known in all of Ninjago, don't you?" She playfully shook her head. "I'm Seliel Phantom."

"Alright, let's meet up with the others. I'm sure they're already waiting for us." Cole said. Then they all walked towards their lockers. And just as they had expected, the other four were already waiting there, with Kai leaning against the lockers and the other three sitting on the ground.

Once they were in proximity, they all turned their heads toward the five. Kai narrowed his eyes at Seliel. "What is she doing with you?"

Cole rolled his eyes and went to his locker to put his book away. "Knock it off, Kai. She's a friend." Though he was saying the obvious, something inside of him hurt as he said 'friend'.

After Seliel explained what she had told the others moments ago, they also softened their opinions about her. "Oh, it's no big deal. I'm-" Then Lloyd got interrupted by her.

"Seriously, what is up with you thinking I don't know who you are?" She laughed once again. Then she started to point at each individual. "Kai Smith, Fire Ninja. Nya Smith, Kai's sister and Jay's girlfriend, Water Ninja. Jay Walker, Nya's boyfriend, Lightning Ninja. And Lloyd Garmadon, the destined Green Ninja." She was satisfied with the reassuring nods she got in response. "I'm Seliel Phantom, nice to meet y'all."

"Nice to meet you too. But I gotta ask, how much do you know about us, exactly?" Kai asked.

Seliel thought for a bit. "Nothing much, actually. I know just as much as the media spill out. I'd say only your relationship statuses and names and stuff."

Cole then smiled. "Well, it's better for you to meet us in person, then."

Seliel smiled back. "That is correct, Mr Earth Ninja." She then smirked.

"Oh, so now we're already onto nicknames, huh?"

"Don't worry, I'll find better ones once I know you even better."

"I bet you will."

Nya and Jay glanced at each other. They communicated without using any words and immediately understood their friend's new... situation. Nya smirked at Jay and he realized what she meant. All Jay understood was 'we're gonna do something to get them together', and honestly, he wanted to help his best friend out.

"We have English class next." Zane broke the sudden silence. "Since we all participate in it, we should get going."

"Zane is right." Pixal confirmed.

Everyone started to walk out of the hallway, but turned around when they realized Seliel wasn't moving from her spot. "You coming?" Jay asked.

"You sure you haven't... I don't know... forgotten something?" She asked. When she saw the confused looks, she made her mind a bit more obvious. "Something booky?"

Lloyd sighed. "Why do we always forget the books?" The others didn't answer but walked back towards their lockers.

Seliel then walked up next to Cole and pulled out her key, unlocking her own locker which was unintentionally right next to Cole's.

"How ironic." He remarked.

She smiled quietly at him. She couldn't understand why she was being so extra nice towards the Earth Ninja in particular, but something inside of her didn't make any sense.

They arrived at their room like in the first period of that day, but this time they weren't there too late but before the bell even rung. Everyone knew where they were supposed to sit already, so that was at least nothing to worry about.

Since they were all kind of seated in the back of the class, they all huddled up there to talk and stuff. The other students weren't in the room yet, they were the only ones there.

"So, what's it like here?" Lloyd asked. He was sitting on top of his own table, facing Seliel.

She leaned back. "It's boring, to say the least. I don't know why you chose to come here in the first place, really." She trailed off.

"Well, we didn't really have a choice." Kai said. He was sitting in his chair and just turned himself around since he was sitting right in front of her.

"What do you mean?" Seliel raised an eyebrow.

"You see, the principal said we had to participate, or else we wouldn't be allowed to legally be Ninja." Nya said, leaning against Lloyd's table.

Seliel looked at them, shocked. "I didn't know that was a thing!" She blurted out.

"We didn't either." Cole sighed. He was sitting in his chair at his spot.

Just as they wanted to continue their rant, the bell rung. And in the same second, the other students entered the classroom. "Yo, what are you guys doing with her?" Someone shouted.

They all simultaneously turned their heads towards the door to be met with a familiar face. Seliel groaned. "Knock it off, Ryan." She retorted.

Ryan then went right next to Nya, making her and the others cringe. "I'm just saying." He then turned his head towards her and stepped into her personal space. "Our special guests deserve to be treated right, not by someone like that girl." He grinned.

Just as both Kai and Jay were about to step in and give Ryan a piece of their minds, Nya spoke up. "Look Ryan, I think she's pretty nice and referring to her as the girl isn't really something nice, is it?" Nya tried her best to not start a fuzz, but the way he was still close to her took up a lot of her nerves. "Now please, I don't like it when people step into my personal space like that, especially people I don't know... like you."

"Why of course." Ryan bowed to her, confusing everyone. "I hope to get to know you better, then." With that being said, he went to his spot and sat down.

Nya made a gag sound which, unfortunately to her, only her friends could hear. "Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen." She trailed off.

Jay, in the meantime, tried his best to ignore the guy who keept hitting on Nya. It was nerve taking to see him constantly around her whenever he had the chance. But Jay had faith in her and knew she would never want to be with someone like him.

After the teacher came into their class and began to talk about how important education was and how proper English knowledge was necessary for the students to find a job in the future, the bell finally released everyone into the long awaited lunch break.

They walked up to their lockers to put their books away. "So, where's the cafeteria?" Cole asked Seliel who was just throwing her book into her locker without any sense of coordination.

"It's in the other building, across the football field." She casually answered.

"There's another building?" Nya asked.

Seliel then looked Nya dead in the eye. "Well, yeah. Did you think this was the only building?" She asked sarcastically, then chuckled to herself. "There's also the physics lab, chemistry lab, and the auditorium." She listed.

"That sounds interesting. And I'm hungry as heck, let's go." Jay said as he was already walking out of the corridor.

After a short walk across the football field, and some fascinated gasps mostly coming from Kai, they reached the cafeteria. Seliel stopped just in front of the doors. "Here it is." She pointed at the glass doors, and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Cole stopped her by gently holding her back by the shoulder. As she turned around and immediately laid her eyes on his hand which was on her shoulder, he pulled away and blushed a little.

Seliel smiled, a slight hint of disappointment behind her voice. "Oh, I don't usually eat here."

"Why not?" Lloyd chimed in.

"Uh... I don't really like the food here?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.

Cole sighed, then smiled. "You don't have to be alone anymore. You have us!" He showed her the crowd behind him.

"That's very nice of you," Seliel smiled. "but I really don't wanna go in there now. I don't think you need instructions on how to get food, so... yeah." She then took out her phone and looked at the display. "Besides, I gotta do something important."

Skylor, who saw the truth behind her words, walked up to her and smiled warmly. "Alright, but remember that we," She pointed at her friends and herself. "are your friends now."

"Thanks. Really." Seliel smiled.

As the others smiled back, she made her way out of the building again. After sharing one last glance with the crowd of friends, Lloyd made the first move. "Well, here goes nothing." He mumbled as he opened the doors.

Inside, there were many students, sitting at various tables, eating and chatting with friends. They immediately noticed how the tables were divided into groups: one huge table with lots of teenage boys, all wearing the same football jackets with different numbers on the back and left front, close to their table, a table with lots of girls who looked like they were the stylish rich kids. Then there were also lots of tables with smaller numbers of people sitting, probably the less popular ones, and lastly, a completely empty table. That's exactly where the eight friends were headed to.

As they sat down at the table, Pixal spoke up. "It's better if we go take our food in groups of four so that someone stays here."

The others nodded at her suggestion and Lloyd, Kai, Cole, and Skylor stood up at the same time and walked over to the tray stand. Then they walked up to the old lunch lady, Gabriella, who didn't seem all that fascinated to serve another set of teens.

As Gabriella gathered their food, the Ninja and Skylor looked closely at what they were getting. It seemed like macaroni and cheese on one side of their tray, a glass of brown liquid, hopefully cocoa, and a very small sized piece of chocolate cake on the other side. Cole seemed pretty excited, still.

As they walked back towards their table, Kai noticed the attention everyone was giving them, and being the Kai he is, he waved like a queen walking through rows of servants. Some girls giggled at that, whereas some football players rolled their eyes and groaned, making Kai smirk.

After they sat down, the rest of the others went to grab their food. Lloyd looked down at his food. "This looks... not as appetizing." Then he sniffed at what was at his plate. "This doesn't even smell like mac and cheese." His nose scrunched up.

"Relax, Greenie. Maybe it's not that bad." Cole grabbed his fork and picked up a little bit of food and stuffed it in his mouth, slowly chewing. As the chews got slower, his whole face scrunched up. "Alright, it is that bad." He edited after swallowing. Cole then grabbed his glass and drank a bit. He made a gagging noise and almost spat on Kai who backed away immediately. "It's not even cocoa, it's just water with a bit of cocoa powder mixed with," He licked the insides of his cheeks. "salt."

The others looked at him as if he was turned into a green frog. "What about the cake?" Skylor asked him.

Cole looked at her, then eyed the slice of cake on his tray. "I'm gonna regret this." He grabbed his fork again, rubbed the rest of mac and cheese on a paper towel and cut a bit of cake with it. He held it up to his mouth, eyeing his friends who were waiting anxiously for his reaction. Then he engulfed it. After some careful chews, he swallowed.

"So?" Kai asked.

Cole looked down at his cake. "It's amazing." He gasped, dipping his fork in it again and eating it.

Just then, the others arrived. Nya looked at the full plates. "Why aren't you eating?" She asked.

"You're gonna know why, sis." Kai answered in a monotone voice.

She just raised an eyebrow and took a bite of mac and cheese and immediately felt the need to spit it out, so she grabbed the paper towel, which was on her tray, and spat into it. "I feel betrayed."

"I'm gonna take that as in 'don't eat that'." Jay told her as he put his fork down again.

"Zane, Pixal, why did you even get food? You don't need to eat, right?" Skylor asked.

Zane and Pixal looked at each other, then back at her. "Oh, we don't need to, indeed. But we figured it would be better if we did, so that we don't... stand out." Pixal smiled weakly.

"There's really no need to worry, Pix." Cole stated. "There's no way people are gonna see you two as different, knowing how you're a ninja," He pointed at Zane with his fork. "and you're Samurai X." Then he pointed at Pixal. "They should be grateful and respectful." Then he took another bite of cake.

"Thanks, Cole." Zane and Pixal both said at the same time.

Skylor leaned closer to Nya to whisper into her ear. "They're adorable." She remarked about the nindroids.

Nya nodded. "They're too pure for this world." She smiled as she looked over at them as they were smiling at each other. "It's sad to see them so self conscious about themselves and their appearances."

Just as Nya finished her sentence, she felt someone taking her hand from under the table. When she looked at her other side, she saw Jay blushing and avoiding eye contact, smiling also. So she just looked him directly in the face as she intertwined their fingers and squeezed his hand.

She felt her own heart doing happy things, and based on the bigger smile appearing on her boyfriend's face, she could feel his doing the same happy things.

Sadly, her bladder seemed to be against happy things at the moment. "I gotta use the restroom, be right back." She told everyone as she reluctantly stood up, releasing the hold on Jay's hand.

"Be quick." He told her, doing his puppy eyes.

Nya's heart aww'ed at the sight. She nodded, ruffled his hair a little, and walked out of the cafeteria.

Her footsteps were big, walking towards where she thought she had seen the sign of 'WC' earlier. She smiled as she saw the sign, realizing her memory didn't fool her. Nya walked up to the door which was colored in pink completely. As she looked at the door right next to it, she saw it was completely blue. She rolled her eyes at the concept of color coordination of separating males and females and opened the door.

There were a lot of stalls inside. Nya saw that no one else was in the restroom, so she just walked up to one stall and did her business.

While she was washing her hands in one of the white porcelain sinks, she couldn't help but have a weird feeling. She didn't seem to bother, though, she just wanted to quickly go back to her friends.

As she looked into the mirror in front of her to check on her hair, she saw someone else in her reflection. She inwardly groaned. Joselyn.

Nya turned around to look into her face. "Hey, Joselyn." She said in the sweetest, most not sarcastic sounding tone.

Joselyn, however, didn't seem pleased. She stepped closer. "Hello, Nya."

Nya knew something was up, but she just wanted to go out of her way, honestly. She didn't want to have anything to do with her. As she was about to grab the doorknob, Joselyn spoke up.

"You know, I can see why you like him."

At that, Nya turned back around. "What?"

"Jay. He's really one of a kind, isn't he. What a shame if someone were to... have an interest in him as well."

Nya could sense the venom in Joselyn's voice. She was going to snap, she could feel it. "Are you trying to tell me that you first try to hit on my brother and then on my boyfriend?" Nya tried her best to keep her cool.

"Who said I wanted to have him?" Joselyn answered with a small grin.

"Alright, girl. What do you want?" Nya rolled her eyes at her antics.

"You know," Joselyn went over to a mirror and looked at her already perfectly styled hair. "there's so much about you that no one knows about." Then she turned around to face Nya again. "What a shame if anyone were to find out."

Nya didn't know what she felt at that point. "I don't have time for this." She grabbed the doorknob again and opened the door. But she gasped at what she saw on the other side.

There was a girl standing, waiting for the door to be opened, basically. Her short, brown curls shining brightly as the sun rays shone through the many windows. Her style was similar to Joselyn's: tons of makeup on her face, a yellow, very tight crop top hugging her figure perfectly, a black mini skirt, and lastly black high heels. She was at the same height as Nya.

"Nya!" She beamed. "How long has it been?" She leaned forward to hug Nya, but she stepped back, not taking her eyes off her. "Naww, still the no-touching concept?" She pouted, then she laughed.

"What are you doing here?" Nya asked, her voice filled with both fear and anger, but mostly anger.

The girl stepped inside, closing the door behind her. "I should be asking that to you, actually." She narrowed her eyes at Nya.

When Nya didn't respond, she spoke up again. "I see you're one of the Ninja now. But seriously, do you really think you're part of the boys?"

"I never intended to, but here I am."

"Yeah, look." The girl eyed Nya closely. "No matter how much you're trying, you'll never be accepted. Do you really think they'd want you if you didn't have that pathetic water power? Huh?"

Nya tried to seem annoyed. "Those words don't work with me anymore."

"Naww, you're a big girl now, I see."

Nya narrowed her eyes. "I will not fall for your games anymore."

"But Nya, you know how I always get what I want." The girl's voice filled with more venom the more she spoke.

"Just leave me and my family alone." Nya told her as she wanted to make her way back towards the door, but the girl stepped in front of her.

"You have a family now?" She asked sarcastically. "Let's see for how long." She laughed. "I bet you haven't even told them about what happened back in the time." She assumed. When Nya remained quiet, she laughed again. "I also saw you have... a special someone now..." She continued.

"Stacy, Jay would never like you!" Nya went into defensive mode quickly.

"We'll see about that. Remember, I always get what I want."