cole
His face hurt, a lot. He couldn't go home looking like this, giving his father yet another reason to throw a disappointed, less than subtle insult his way. Cole flexed his fingers on his right hand, brushing his other thumb over the mottled bruising blooming there. Standing at the bus stop, he glanced down the straggly line of other students whispering to each other.
He was so stupid.
Why'd he even think about opening his big, fat, stupid mouth anyway?
It almost hurt as much as the time he'd attempted, and failed at performing the Triple Tiger Sashay. The pinnacle of his disastrous achievements. He caught Nya's eye as she headed off in the direction of the mall, sending her a smile accompanied by the crinkles of his eyes. Cole hoped that was enough for everyone to feed on for more gossip.
The bus eventually made its way to the stop, the driver reluctantly opening the doors, tipping down his hat and wincing as the babble of talking grew louder and louder as each student stepped onboard. Cole deliberately plonked himself in the lone seat at the front and slid on his headphones, leaning against the window with a relaxed sigh as the tension noticeably left his shoulders.
He wasn't too concerned over this 'dating'. They'd date for a few weeks at most, break up silently and wait for some new drama to take over the school. Cole saw Nya as a little sister, slightly annoying, sure, but a little sister. She didn't seem too invested in this, but then again, Cole had been told he was exceptionally obtuse when it came to feelings.
Most students had long left the bus, leaving Cole, the driver and a few students towards the back to sit in an uncomfortable silence. At least I have my music. His fingers traced over the rim of his phone cover, absentmindedly adding in taps with the beat of the song. Then the bus sank down as its doors opened with a woosh, and Cole stepped out, nodding to the driver in thanks. It was a five minute walk from the stop to his house, and Cole wished he could slow down time.
His father wasn't happy with him before he left for school, and he sure as hell wasn't going to be any happier when Cole got home. He began his walk dragging his feet along, much to Mrs O'Conner's annoyance, and he had to run past her house to avoid being pelted by a volley of rock-hard cookies. Stopping a house shy from his, Cole swept his hair over his black eye in a poor attempt to cover it, and touched the bruise along his jaw, pressing it tenderly and grimacing at the pain.
He unlocked the door, not before pressing an ear to it and listening for the muffled hum of the piano keys and harmonizing quartet. Good. His father would be distracted for a while. Carefully, he tip-toed inside, pilfered a slice of chocolate cake he'd been saving in the fridge and remembered the grab a fork. When he was in the safety of his room, door locked, he set the plate down and flopped onto his bed.
His stomach grumbled, but his limbs and bones were zapped of energy, so from across the room, he reached out a hand and wiggled his fingers towards the cake on the desk pathetically. On his way back from retrieving the cake, he stopped by his mirror to see if his father would notice the new hairstyle when he nearly choked.
The bruises were gone.
The plate fell from his hands as his fingers pushed and prodded at the healed skin where it once had been mottled black and blue. It smashed on the ground, but Cole barely acknowledged it as he exclaimed the bruise-free area circling his eye. How? Seconds ago he'd been racking his brain for ways to disguise it, and boom! They were gone. He sat back on his bed in a daze, half noticing the door fly open and his father stomp in.
"Cole."
Over the years, Cole had noticed how different his father's anger was to other people's. Instead of loud, it was quiet, holding Cole's attention barely above a whisper. What was even worse was how his words reeked of disappointment and how his seething, silent anger seemed to hurt Cole more. It was like a whip, Col realised. It struck hard, it wasn't flashy, but it stung.
"What is this?" Lou pointed down the fragments of the plate and the cake crumbs littering the carpeted floor.
"I—uh—"
"Clean it up," his father's eyes swept across the room and he adjusted his red tie. "And I sent you that email about your school's dance team. Have you signed up yet?"
Cole bowed his head. This was possibly worse than Lou discovering Cole had been in a fight. "I...haven't. Yet."
"I expect you to have signed up once you finish your homework and when the quartet leaves I will be heating up last night's soup."
His father failed to mention the fact they'd been eating the same soup for a week.
"Okay."
Lou left frowning, as usual and Cole carefully scooped up the plate and cake and tossed it into the bin and frowned as he discovered an array of brown-grey pebbles scattered along with crumbs. His room was tidy because of his dad, and the rocks would have drawn his attention. Maybe he brought them in with his shoes or something. Cole thought he was imagining it - the rumble beneath his feet as he exhaled, but as soon as he focused on something else it disappeared. Today had been nothing short of strange.
He'd tried, tried so hard to pretend that email hadn't been sent to avoid auditions, yet here he was, sending an email to the dance coordinator praying they'd say the team was full. Cole held his breath as the email sent before getting his homework, and got his mix playing so at least one thing today went right.
skylor
Okay, maybe, she forgot she had her 'date' with Liam, but in her defense, she didn't want to go, and the only reason she remembered was because Harumi was sending notification after notification to attack her phone for ideas on outfits.
She really should have cancelled.
Then, just as she was about to type out a less than gentle 'Can't go, sorry' , the little white bubble popped up, the three dots bobbing up and down when she received:
😘🌹 see you tonight
And she chickened out. Besides, she still had enough time to talk with Nya and Pix to get Clouse to pick her up from the mall. Skylor tossed her empty carton into the bin and walked back to the girls, her stomach in turmoil as her mind battled with the idea of telling her friends about her impromptu dinner that night. It's only fair, she decided as she sat back down, Nya told us everything...or did she? Skylor could tell the girl was holding back certain pieces of information that would have been nice to know. But she knew not to press Nya, because she looked on the verge of tears and she'd managed to gobble down two of those sorbets things in the mere hour they'd been there.
Nya's explanation was skimmed over at best, as she'd often paused at words and stopped swirling her spoon around.
"Cole and I are...dating."
"Well that solves it then." Pixal said dryly, whipping out a tone she rarely used.
"How long?" Skylor dared to ask.
Nya seemed unprepared for that answer. "Since you...came to school?"
"Ah."
"Do you like him like that?" Pixal's questions were a bit more straightforward, as they always had been. A similarity between Pixal and Zane. It was a lack of subtlety that was more often unnerving than helpful.
"Ye-es."
The drawn out confirmation had Skylor raising a red brow.
"The whole thing at lunch, you don't think Davis took it a bit far?" Skylor asked, tacking onto Pixal's blunt question tactic. "Shouldn't your boyfriend have stepped in a bit quicker?"
"He knew I could handle myself, and when he thought I needed help he stepped in." Nya started on her third carton.
Just then, the bell trilled again and the door swung open. Nya sighed loudly as a mop of brown hair made it's way over to the counter to order. The three girls made a silent decision to ignore him and move to a different topic. Their plan was foiled, however, when he collected his order, spotted them and started walking over.
"You're supposed to be at home, Kai."
"Yeah, but I wanted to eat something."
"We have plenty of food at home."
"But I wanted fro-yo." He tried pouting, which Skylor simply ignored to scroll through her phone.
He slid into the seat next to Nya, ending up opposite Skylor holding a fro-yo with just about every topping sprinkled on that screamed sugar rush.
"So, what are you gals talking about?"
"No. Just. No." Nya wrinkled her nose and Skylor and Pixal laughed quietly.
"Is it about boys?" Kai tried again, pitching his voice higher.
"No." Skylor.
"Maybe." Nya.
"We were talking about astrophysics."
The last one came from Pixal, and they all looked at her. Sometimes, the smart girl could be a bit out of it.
"All right, who are we dating?" Kai said in that ridiculous squeaky voice. They didn't respond, because the question was quite obvious. Pixal had been dating Zane before Skylor had come to Ninjago High, and Kai had literally gotten into a fight earlier that day because he found out his sister was dating his best friend.
"Still going strong with Zane, Pixal?" He was now impersonating a therapist - a bad one at that, because in between his words he was shovelling spoonfuls of fro-yo into his mouth.
"As I expected," he nodded, "My sister's going out with a complete fucking prat, Skylor's alone as usual and —"
"Excuse me?" cried Skylor and Nya in unison.
"Obviously, I have no idea how Pixal and Zane have bumbled along for this long —"
Pixal's cry of annoyance came in there.
"I'd rather not think about my sister dating anyone really, but since she's chosen to date a prat who's basically my brother, I mean honestly, she could have chosen to kiss anyone else, I mean, even Jay, then, I would laugh, but I've already got detention for two weeks and talk with Wu so I can't really do much now, can I?"
The girls were fuming, but Kai seemed oblivious to their growing anger.
"And it's not like Skylor has much experience with boys." His curt words hurt a bit more than expected, and Skylor kept her flinch internal.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I guess, being homeschooled doesn't offer you a choice of handsome boys like me, does it?" He waved his spoon around carelessly, flicking a bit of Oreo crumb onto the wall. "A pity."
She rolled her eyes "It doesn't, thank the universe," Some part of her was glad Liam had asked her out on a date and then she was immediately disgusted with herself. "I've got to go."
"Why?" Skylor knew it was abrupt-they'd only been at the fro-yo place for just over an hour, but she might as well leave. She could feel her throat choking up - is that what her friends thought of her? A pity? Were they pitying her because she'd been locked up in a big house her whole life and could barely function in front of other people without snapping? She was trying so hard, but she was on the edge constantly, watching, waiting for something to go wrong.
Her chest crumpled inside of her - she couldn't keep doing this, pretending to understand everything going on, how everything worked, trying to keep her father from driving himself over the edge from being a workaholic, she couldn't keep masquerading at something she so desperately needed to talk to someone about.
But that someone was dead.
Skylor left, calling for Clouse to pick her up with a sick feeling in her stomach, her head pounding and wishing, just wishing, wishing that the universe would have pulled her a favour all those years ago to keep her mother from dying.
A/N: oh wow look its a slightly crappy chapter filled with hints. its a bit of a hc of mine that those with elemental powers always heal faster... anyways, Im trying to push through this big ass writers block with school as well. sometimes i swear the school thinks we're machines. I've been fiddling with the cover of mos and the sequel 'a little bit messed up' (the title is a work in progress), so if you see the cover change randomlt then that's my usual fickle self. also wanted to remind yall that mos contains some sensitive content, as always, swearing, but any tw will be mentioned at the start of the chapter and in italics before a certain paragraph. you'll see more of evan and zane next chapter, and if you didn't know evan julien = echo zane.