"School Days" (Ninjago Fanfic)

Regret

Summary: Zane follows Cole into the washrooms as he is full of negative thoughts.. and regret.
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Cole ran to the nearest washroom he could find, he remained covering his mouth with a hand, full of regret.  He kept replaying the thought of him attacking his friend over and over, feeling more and more terrible. It was like a horror movie, where the thought just jumped at him and startled everyone. Cole felt like the biggest jerk ever.

'Great! Just great!' Cole thought to himself, 'Now Kai will hate me. Now all my friends will turn against me. Now-'

Cole was letting his anxiety get to him, for the terrible thoughts flew in his mind.  He was practically pulling his hair, while he had his knees tucked into his chest.  This was a side of Cole no one knew of, people thought of him as calm and chill, while he secretly had terrible anxiety.  His never wanted anyone to know. 

"Cole?"  There was a sudden voice, Cole immediately pulled his head up to see whoever was there.  He didn't see anybody at first, until he saw a head appear from the bathroom entrance.  Cole quickly wiped his eyes, trying to hide his recent water-works.

"Zane?" The boy said, he was honestly surprised one of his friends came looking for him.  Without speaking, Zane walked towards Cole, sitting right next to him. 

"Are you alright?"  The pale boy said, he had never seen this side of Cole, where he was fragile.

Cole relaxed a bit, his original fear was Kai following him, since he knew Kai would straight up continue the fight.  But this was Zane, he was almost always calm and polite, Cole felt like he could talk to him.  Cole let his legs lay against the floor, as he rubbed his neck with his hand. 

After a moment of silence, Cole made up the courage to talk. "Yes.  I mean- no, I-" Well, Cole tried, but in the end he put a hand to his face, where his nose came out between his index and middle finger. 

He took a breath, calming himself, he lowered his hand from his face, so it rested on his knee.  "What I mean is- yes, I'm okay."  Cole started, locking his eyes onto the boy next to him. 

"But I guess I feel ashamed..."  Cole finished, he had a small urge to cry, but was able to keep any tears down. 

Zane looked at Cole with with icy blue eyes, which stared right back at him.  Cole never understood why, but he always got lost in Zane's eyes.  He thought they looked nice and even cute, but obviously didn't bring it up ever, especially near people like Kai, who'd embarrass him for it.

"Ashamed?  What for?" He was sitting criss-cross, having his hands in his lap calmly.

"For attacking Kai like I did!  He probably hates me now.." Cole finished his sentence in muttering, feeling even more awkward about the whole thing. 

He crossed his arms, leaning against the wall in an even more slouch way as he turned away from the boy next to him.  Zane stared at Cole in disbelief, raising one eyebrow, everyone always thought it was cool Zane could do this so easily, where it was a challenge for the rest of the group. 

"Kai thought you'd hate him."  Zane had a hand on Cole's shoulder, signalling him to look at the pale boy.

Cole whipped his head around, his face now full of confusion. "What? But-" Cole spoke a moment before thinking again.

Like- it did kind of make sense, he was the one to hit Kai. But on the other hand, Kai was never like that, he was always hot-headed and only got upset if it was something real, like at the thought of his parent's death. Cole thought for a moment as Zane powered his hand away from his shoulder, which for some reason made Cole in less comfort. He didn't say a thing, he kept his hand to his chin for a good five minutes.

Without warning, Cole immediately stood up, pulling Zane up with him. Cole grabbed the boys shoulder, his face inches from him.

"Thank you, Zane," He said before taking off, leaving Zane in the bathroom alone.

Zane didn't get an explanation, but it's not like he needed one. Cole was obviously going back to the lunchroom, to apologize. Anyone who knew Cole could know that due to serious-sorrow face.  The boy rubbed his neck with his hand, feeling a bit awkward jut stand there.  Due to that, Zane decided to head back, where he'd hopefully find Cole. 

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In the lunchroom, Jay, Lloyd, and Nya were all trying to cheer up Kai.  He had his head against the table with his arms covering his face, he felt just as ashamed at Cole, but it's not like he was crying or anything, just a little upset.  Meanwhile, his face was fine, sure it hurt him, but he was fine.  Kai turned his head a bit to let his eyes appear, just enough to see the rest of the table.  Lloyd and Nya had given up on Kai and where chatting about ways to get him and Cole to apologize, while Jay was drawing in his sketchbook, with an almost depressed facial expression.

"Maybe I could go after Cole,". Lloyd whispered to Nya, trying to think of plans of some sort. 

"What's the point?" Nya said, resting her head in her hand.  "Zane already did, who knows what's happening.

Agreeing with Nya, Lloyd sighed, looking over to Kai.  He surprisingly had his head up and was looking at his miserable friend, who had been drawing a landscape.  The two looked at each other, wondering why Kai was so interested.  Lloyd whispered something to Nya, making her giggle a bit.  Causing him to laugh also, not loud enough for Kai to care, though.

Jay didn't even realize the face peering over his shoulder, his head was just too full to comprehend anything else.  He was thinking about where Cole went, he was worried of him and Kai.  Kai, Jay wondered about Kai before turning his head.  He jumped a little due to the boy he was looking for had been right there.

"H-Have you been watching me?!" Jay whispered at him, clearly embarrassed that nephew never even noticed him.

Before Kai could say anything, the lunchroom doors bursted open, with two men at the door.  To Kai's surprise, it was Cole, and Zane behind him.  Lloyd and Nya were confused, they thought Cole wouldn't want to talk to Kai for that day, but there he was.  Cole ran over to their table, practically dragging Zane behind him.

"Kai!"  Cole shouted, making it to their table.  Cole panted a second before putting his hands on Kai's shoulders, much like he did to Zane not long ago.  Kai looked at him with a surprised, shocked, and confused face.

"I'm so sorry please forgive me."  Cole was hugging Kai with a face that make Lloyd almost choke on his water.  Kai gave Nya that 'help me' face, however she did no such thing.

Kai just let him hug him, with a simple "It's okay." (Scratch that- there was too many.) Cole eventually let him go.  Even thought this all happened, Kai was still going to Cole's little slumber party, saying he was gonna 'get him back.'

"How did you get him to-" Nya looked at Zane, who was smiling at the whole forgiving thing.

"No idea exactly," Zane said with a slight shrug, turning to his head to the girl next to him.

Zane rested his head on his hand, sighing with his eyes closed.  He sat in silence before finishing his answer to Nya's question;

"I guess he just likes me."
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I'm so sorry it came out later than expected!! I'll hopefully have the third part by next week. If not- I'm so sorrrrry.