Blazing: Ninjago Oneshots

Obligation (II)

Warning: contains some swearing

Skylor

I held back the tears threatening to spill out as I seated myself in first period English, dreading the rest of the day. My entire world was falling apart before my eyes, and following my father's arrest and detainment, yesterday had gone by in a blur.

I'd been lightheaded and on the verge of fainting in the interrogation room, shivering from both cold and fear. My mother was the only one who tried to comfort me in any way, but she'd been taken away shortly after for questioning as well, even though my parents had been divorced for over a decade. They'd confiscated my phone, so I couldn't contact anyone until they returned it after searching.

I tried not to think about the cringe things they almost definitely found on there.

All those years... he'd kept everything from me. And though I wasn't with him often, I had enjoyed much of the time I spent with my father. I'd taken advantage of the luxury he'd provided for me, the money he'd made from... those things.

It was sickening to think about and I felt disgusting. Not to mention terrified that someone close to me could've done such a thing.

And somehow... that Ninja knew me. Which was frightening on another level. Either I was on their watchlist already for some reason I didn't know about, or it could be something worse. I tried not to think about it, since thoughts of the possibility had plagued me for long enough in the interrogation room.

The investigators concluded that I was innocent, but despite this, I felt deserving of some form of punishment. Perhaps this was it.

Whispers were already following me on the bus, and even more so now that people had witnessed the silent exchange between Kai and me.

We'd been close since freshman year when we were assigned lab partners in biology class. He started out by constantly flirting with me the way he did with just about every other girl he ever interacted with, which was somewhat annoying, but as time went on he began showing a different side of him, one that was a lot more serious and down-to-earth. Rumors about us began circulating in the second semester and hadn't stopped since. But we were just friends.

Over time, though, I couldn't deny that feelings had begun to surface. And despite the widely accepted claim that Kai had a crush on me, his attitude towards me hadn't changed since then, so I suppressed them for the sake of our friendship. Besides, he always went to dances with other girls, anyway.

But now...

I suppose it was fair that he'd drop everything after realizing I'd profited off of slaves and illegal organ sales. But as selfish as it was, I'd wanted him to throw an arm across my shoulder the way he often did and tell me that it would be okay, that everything would turn out alright. That he wouldn't treat me any differently because of it.

Turns out that was too much to hope for, especially given all the unanswered texts from the night before. How stupid of me to spam him at a time like this.

And I probably deserved it, but that didn't stop me from wishing I'd be facing a different consequence.

My phone buzzed while the teacher handed out our graded reading checks to reveal a text from Rue, the so-called "queen bee" of our grade.

hey sky so I know it's been hard for u lately so I think it might not be a good idea for u to sit with us today if u wanna avoid questions and stuff u know. I hope things get better soon tho

I pursed my lips and shoved it back into my pocket. This was something to be expected given the morning's events, so I wasn't surprised and didn't find myself caring all that much. Classic of her to excuse exiling me from our usual lunch table as her worrying about me.