TW: mild sexual content, blood, gunshot wound
I could tell that Lloyd was pissed off with me.
What I couldn't do, however, was bring myself to care.
(Or that's what I told myself).
Stress after stress had been piled on my shoulders and I filed through them on the way back to the dojo, walking sullenly and silently. Lloyd was a few steps behind, his quiet presence making my hair stand on end.
First stress - exams. Exams were fast approaching; starting next week after prom, to be exact. I had to ace them if I wanted a chance at getting a scholarship.
Second stress - prom itself. I still wasn't convinced that I should go despite Kai's insistence, too worried that I'd bring the others down with my misery.
Third stress - the serpentine treaty. It wasn't going as smoothly as Garm and I had hoped, and I'd been given a mountain of books to read upon the serpentine's hierarchy, history, lore, etc etc, which just added to my already ginormous study pile.
Fourth stress - powers and prophecies. Pretty self explanatory. The lack of answers and the too many questions kept my brain awake deep into the night.
Fifth stress - Claire and the other bullies making school my own personal hell. I found myself unable to wander anywhere without a buddy to go with me. Just the other day, Alara found me alone in the hallway on my way to the bathroom and spat some extra-spiteful words that made me feel absolutely fantastic. If I was alone, I was a target.
Sixth stress - Axon's people. That gang that the ninja had spotted around my suburb? Either way, it made the team tighten security and I genuinely felt like a prisoner in my own home. Knowing that people were out there, ready for me to slip up and get me by myself just to take me out, was hell on my nerves.
Seventh stress... Lloyd himself.
My seven devils. Stress ate away at me. I was tired all the time, irritable, generally unhappy. This wasn't living. This was barely surviving.
And if Lloyd was just making it worse then... then I had to make a decision - for the betterment of myself. For my own mental and physical health.
It hurt. But Lloyd hurt even more. I could tell that words wanted to bubble out of his mouth but I couldn't be willing to listen. I was done. I was finished.
Maybe we can try again in summer, when everything's calmed down. When exams are over, when I don't have to dodge and plan routes to avoid being verbally degraded by people I used to consider my friends in school. When life has settled down as much as it can.
But until then, some distance - proper, real distance - was probably best.
Was it going to suck? Yes. Am I going to hate it? Absolutely. But is it the best course of action I can think of? Yeah, it is.
We entered the dojo just as Cole and Jay's metal swords clanged against each other in a parry. Garmadon was explaining the process to the captains in training but his words went right over my head. I tried to listen, but my brain was useless mush.
"Are you okay?" Jay asked when we had to go into pairs to practise the sword fighting techniques with wooden blades. He was patient enough to tell me what we were doing because I had no clue. "You look pretty stressed."
"What else is new," I muttered under my breath before giving a sigh. "I'm fine. How's your birthday going so far? Opened any presents yet?"
"Nope!" Jay grinned, bringing the wooden sword down on my guard a little harder than what I was expecting. The shock of the impact shivered in my bones. "I wanted to wait until my best friend got here!"
I couldn't help but smile at Jay's beam. He never failed to take my mind off of things.
"I don't see Chen..."
Jay pressed the tip of the wood into my stomach with very little force, scrunching his nose up playfully.
"It's you, sparky."
"Aw," I gushed, jabbing the sword to his side. He expertly diverted the attack and sent another one back at me which I couldn't avoid. "I'm flattered."
Ed was following Wu around, soaking in the knowledge that the Sensei was imparting on his new students. It warmed me to see that Jay's dad was trying so much to understand everything he could about his son's life.
"Your parents are so nice," I commented, returning my attention back to Jay. "I can see where you get your personality from."
"Thanks!" Jay grinned. "But they're not my biological parents. I was adopted."
"Oh?" I said, stunned. The sword fumbled a little in my slack grip. "I never knew that."
Jay shrugged. "It's not really something that comes up in conversation."
"I guess not," I gave. "Still. They really are nice."
"Yeah, they're great," Jay agreed. "But don't get them started on anything to do with mechanics or robots or whatever because they'll talk for hours. There was this one time at a parent-teacher conference-"
