Wonderstruck- A College!Ninjago AU

Music Notes

        Only four hours until the party finally starts. Jesus, I really hope the guys come. I decide not to deck out my apartment too much, I mean, c'mon, this isn't a birthday party. The whole complex has decided to come to the party, which is pretty fucking sweet, mainly because there'll be a bunch of girls who I know have been wanting to come over. Maybe I can even get Lloyd or Cole a girlfriend or something. My eyes are already set on someone, though.

        Ever since I met that girl, Nya, at the new guy's dorm, she's never left my mind. I mean, I know when I have a crush on someone, and this is waaay over the top. Her raven black hair and green eyes, that red top...ugh, it makes me quiver even thinking about her. And I love it. Her voice was so pretty I almost forgot her brother had been there when I first saw her. I had seen her again today and could barely speak. I ended up choking on my coffee when she waved to me. 

         The kitchen has chips and salsa, cake, Cheetos, and maybe anything else a college student can buy. Auugh. Shit. I forgot the soda. I groan and get off the sofa. So much for my COD marathon.

        "Sorry, guys," I say to the guys on the other side of my headphones. "I gotta go for a bit. Forgot some soda." 

        My words are followed by annoyed cursing and muttered "Fine."s. 

        "See ya later," I say. "I'll back on in like, a hour." Then I turn off my Xbox and place the headphones beside the console. I might hide this in my room or something so that no one decides to mess with this guy. I couldn't live with myself if someone hurt my precious Xbox.

        After I lock the door and head for the stairs, I stop to hear something vaguely familiar. A...piano? Yeah, yeah, that's it. But wait. There's more. Someone's...singing. And it's actually really good. Instantly I know who it is. I mean, no one can sing that well but Zane. He was choir since the beginning of high school, and obviously he was pretty decent before that. He must've had a fuckload of free time.

        "This is gospel, for the vagabonds,

        Ne'er-do-wells and insufferable bastards, 

        Confessing their apostasies,

        Led away by imperfect imposters.

        Don't try to sleep through the end of the world

        And bury me alive,

        'Cause I won't give up without a fight.

        

        If you love me let me go,

        If you love me let me go,

        These words are knives and often leave scars,

        The fear of falling apart

        Truth be told, I never was yours,

        The fear of falling apart."

        I stand there for the longest time, listening to him play and sing like he used to in high school. Seems he never stopped. I remember back when I used to come over to his house and we'd mess with the piano and barbells in the basement. I forget why I even stopped going. It used to be so fun. We would take Peeps--you know, those marshmellow chicks that I swear to God can make you high--and gummy worms into the basement, then try something we haven't done before that looked somewhat challenging. If we succeeded, then we got a Peep or gummy worm. Even if we kind of failed, we'd steal one anyways. Then I'd make Zane play video games, no matter how badly he sucked at every single one we played. He'd get frustrated from failing at games like Mario Kart and chuck nerf darts at me that we found on the floor. If anything, it distracted us from the challenges of school, and even made homework fun. I never picked up on singing, as hard as I tried, but he never really became a sprinter. Just the cute nerdy guy everyone loved for a while. 

        I haven't seen him in a while, actually, and it intrigues me to see what's he like. Without even knocking I manage to open the door with an extra key Lloyd gave me. 

        "Suprise, motherfucker, I'm comin' in."

        Zane gasps--okay, he makes a sound kinda like he's choking on water, and nearly pushes his keyboard over by accident. Obviously somebody didn't hear me coming in. 

        "Oh, God, I didn't see you," Zane says, sighing heavily. "Really, you have to tell me when you're coming in."

        "That takes all the fun away, y'know," I say, shutting the door and plopping on the sofa. 

        "It allows me to prepare, you douche."

        "For wait? So that your guests don't hear your singing?" I laugh, but when I look at Zane he appears rather embarrassed. 

        "Uh. Y-Yeah, actually." 

        "Oh my God, you can't be serious."

        "I am! I really am. I just, you know, don't like it when people hear me sing."

        "Well, Mr. Modest, what happened in high school?"

        "I-I was surrounded by a lot of people!"

        "So the National Anthem doesn't count?"

        He goes quiet after that. Every single girl you could possibly know had sung the National Anthem in our high school. It just came to be that girls were naturally good singers. Guys didn't put in nearly as much effort. When Mr. Modest over there sung it, he blew away everyone. Then others actually joined softly, and soon the whole school was singing the anthem, which no one ever did. The entire choir, not just him, you could say, brightened up the whole school. And now he wouldn't even sing around one person--his friend, as a matter of fact? 

              He sighs again with a smile and sits cross-legged on the sofa beside me. Then he asks me something I didn't expect him to ask at all.

        "Whatever happened to our friendship?"

        I look at him, a little confused. "W-What d'you mean?"

        "I mean, we used to go to each other's houses and spray each other with power hoses in the summer. We'd ride our bikes down that steep hill in your neighbourhood and I fell there once. Remember? I fractured my ankle. We'd get a giant piece of paper and randomly doodle a bunch of shit on it. We'd race in the park and you always won because you were so fast. What...ever happened to that?"

        Now it's my turn to sigh. "Jesus, Zane, I don't know. It was pretty fun, wasn't it? Except for that bike crash, yeah, that sucked." I hesitate. "It was probably my fault. You're too nice to degrade friendships. It was probably my unhealthy track obsession I had."

        "Had? You mean you don't run anymore?"

        "Not competitively, no. Just the normal track warm up and stuff."

        He nods. Immediately the conversation has gotten awkward.

        "So...do you wanna go the pool with the water guns this weekend and spray people? I think this is like, the last hot weekend we'll have this year."

        He looks at me with a slighty mischievous grin. "I don't even have a bathing suit. It's way too small."

        "Who said that you need a bathing suit? Just go in like a tank top and shorts."

        "But what about going in the water?"

        "The pool never states what you have to wear when you're in the pool."

        Zane huffs with a smirk. "Fine. But spray me and I will shove into the pool, no buts about it."

        "Cool. Just be there at like lunch or something. I don't care if you bring anyone." I suddenly, though, remember the reason I actually walked out here. "Oh, shit. The soda."