Welcome to Ninjago Academy

Chapter 10

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Harumi asked her history teacher. Her hand waved freely in the air trying to get his attention.

"Uh sure," Mr. Powers said, before continuing his story about how he almost died in the tombs of the ancient serpentine.

Harumi got up from her desk, not before grabbing her phone and slipping it into her back pocket that was covered by her hoodie.

She quietly slipped out to avoid dragging attention to herself. Once she was in the hallway and out of earshot of the classroom, she sighed deeply.

She had one plan, and one plan only: to gain popularity. Being homeschooled up to her third year of high school, poked a hole straight through her high school fantasy, so with the two years she had left she planned to become the Queen Bee at this school.

And this was easier said than done. With little interactions with other kids her age since birth, her social skills should have been at an all-time low. But with her AI companions and online social classes, her abilities to speak to others and appeal to pleasantness were boosting her chances at achieving her goal.

But as she was only one week into her plan, the only thing she needed to get was information. Information on everyone and everything. The overly friendly Principal's kid, Lloyd Garmadon, gave her a basic rundown on how things work and the existing people in this school. Basic information that she could build on with the correct help.

Her goal for today was to become friends with the current Ms. Popular, Vania Shintari. She was kind, a gossiper, and decently friendly. She was an easy target for friendship, yet might be hard to get to because of her green-haired friend who was attached to her hip.

Harumi's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of coughing. Looking to her left, a small group of people, two of whom she recognized as Lloyd's friends, Zane and Pixal, the other two seemed unfamiliar.

This was Harumi's first chance to interact with someone, other than Lloyd, who had stayed in contact with her answering any questions she had.

"What happened to those two?"

"Failure to practice Chemical safety," The white-haired boy said robotically.

"This one touched his eyes, and this one inhaled chemical dust," The girl pointed to each boy when presenting their illnesses. "We're taking them to the nurse."

With a single nod of understatement from Harumi, the group carried on their way to the nurse's office, not realizing the huge achievement that Harumi felt she accomplished.

Turning on her heel, Harumi started her walk back to the classroom, forgetting about her need to use the bathroom. She would have to go during lunch instead.

Back in her history class, Harumi took her seat before slipping off her green cardigan to reveal her thin-strapped tank top. The heat of the classroom and the humidity of the air made her skin feel sticky.

"Ms. Harumi," Mr. Powers called her nail. Harumi lifted her head to acknowledge the teacher. "You are violating the dress code, either put back on your sweater or report to the principal's office for a detention."

Harumi wasn't ready for detention on her first week of school, so she quickly grabbed her cardigan and was about to put it on when a voice stopped her.

"Piss off, Clutch," 'Tox' said, lifting her head from her phone. Her neon green lipstick pressed against her lips in a thin line.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Powers said, turning from the blackboard.

"I said piss off. She can wear what she wants, and also, that tank top isn't violating the dress code." Tox snapped back. "It covers her stomach and tits."

"Well, you seemed to forget that it exposes her shoulders," Mr. Powers replied. "Which can cause a distraction to other students,"

"Wow, people are attracted to shoulders now?"

"That's not what I-"

"Is anyone here horny from Harumi's shoulders? Anyone? Yeah, I didn't think so,"

"To the principal's office, both of you!" Mr. Powers said, pointing towards the door. Tox rolled her eyes before grabbing her backpack and standing up. She glanced over at Harumi and motioned her to follow her. Harumi quickly obeyed, grabbing her backpack and rolled up her sweater before leaving the room with Tox.

Before they left the room, Tox gave Mr. Powers double birds while sticking out her tongue in mischief.

"Wow, thanks for standing up for me," Harumi thanked, once they were in the hallway.

"It's nothing, just gives me another excuse to piss off that jerkface," Tox cursed, a big smirk expanding on her face.

"I'm Issa, but everyone calls me Tox," Tox said introducing herself.

"I'm Harumi, but my family and friends call me Rumi," Harumi said. She was lying about the friends part since she, at the moment, didn't have any friends.

"Well, Rumi, you are going to sit with me and my friends during lunch," Tox said. It wasn't an invitation, more like a command, but Harumi didn't mind. She achieved her goal without even trying and was on her way to make friends with the Queen Bee.

Her happiness was cut short by the reprimanding that was soon to come by the disappointed principal.

"Yes, Tox. I know that the dress code rule is stupid, but I didn't make it," Mrs. Garmadon said, rubbing her forehead calmly.

"But why can't you get rid of it," Tox pressed.

"Look I argued my way out of the Ninjago city uniform law, but in place of the uniform they gave me strict laws that students had to follow and punishments if failure to follow the rules." She explained.

"But, it's not fair," Tox complained, her anger growing.

"It's not and I understand that, but I can't do more than I already have," the principal apologized. "And for your previous actions, I'll have to give you both a week of detention starting today. From 3-4:15 you must report to Mr. Peterson's room for detention. And don't try to skip it,"

"Whatever," Tox grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Let's go,"

Harumi got up, waving a quick goodbye to the stressed-out principal who went back to her principal duties.

"Man, my parents will not like to hear I got detention, the second week after school started," Tox whined, her hands covering her face.

"My parents won't care," Harumi shrugged, staring down at the floor.

"Lucky you,"

That was something she wasn't lucky with. With a traditional housewife, who doesn't do chores or cooks and only spends her time bragging, shopping, or getting hair, nails, or waxes done, for a mom, and a politician dad, who would cheat his way to get what he wants for a dad, she couldn't exactly spend time with them.

The bell rang as the two slowly made their way back to their classrooms, allowing them to hurry off to lunch to be served first.

"Vania, this is Harumi, Harumi this is Vania," Tox said, introducing the two girls once they were seated at their table.

"Oh my! Hi!! It's very nice to meet a new person!" Vania said over-enthusiastically. Harumi smiled, trying to match her energy.

"Same to you!" She replied.

"Let me get your Clap Chat so I can add you," Vania said, pulling out her phone.

"Oh sure it's, uh, RumiRoo223," Harumi answered, pulling out her phone to accept the add request.

"Uh, Vanni?" Tox said, tapping Vania on the shoulder. "Code XC"