Chaos | A Ninjago High School AU

Chapter 1

Jay's POV

I stand behind the curtain, hyperventilating. My chest is tight and my hands are shaky. I close my eyes and try to tune out the current situation, but I can't.

"One," I say slowly to myself, taking a big breath in like my therapist told me,"two." I keep trying to breathe in and out slowly, but my heart won't stop racing. Some of the dread settles in my stomach where I feel like I'm about to throw up. The whole world feels like it's closing in on me.

"Mister Walker, it's time," the assistant principal tells me, fueling my dread even more. Each step feels heavier than the last, and my breathing picks up even more. I feel as if I'm going to collapse. Once I see the entire school sitting in the chairs in front of the stage, I freeze. I reach for my water bottle, shakily taking a sip. My head pounds.

"Hello Ninjago High," the principal greets. The crowd silences. "I am happy to welcome all of you to a new school year. You all saw your schedules on your phones, right?" The students respond with a gurgled mumble. "To get you all hyped up, I'm going to welcome our wonderful cheerleaders up to the stage!" A dozen girls all with high ponytails run onto the stage with no one other than Harumi front and center. They start their routine, which I am fairly sure is not school appropriate, but I can't focus on it. I can only focus on the disaster that's about to happen.

My therapist told me that becoming ASB president would help me, that it would show me that there's nothing to fear and that it would help my anxiety go away. If anything, it's done the exact opposite. Every night I went to bed dreading the first day of school where I would have to give a speech. Progressively, I've felt worse and worse leading up to now, and now it feels like everything is about to explode. She also told me to enroll in a class where we give lots of speeches, which I'm also not thrilled about.

"Thank you ladies," the principal says once they're done. They jog off the stage and join the crowd. "And now, your ASB president, Jay Walker!" The people clap as I walk on stage. Once I reach the podium, I look out onto the crowd. There are thousands of people staring at me, waiting for me to slip up so they can laugh at me. Near the front row, Kai Smith and all the football boys sit and wait until they can make fun of me. My throat closes up, so I quickly take a sip of water. Once the clapping dies down, all eyes are on me.

"H-Hello everyone," I get out awkwardly, surprising myself that I can get anything out. My heart pounds in my chest. "This year is going to be an amazing experience." I read off the notecard I have propped on the podium. Everything around me starts closing down. Everything gets fuzzy. "I'm going to keep it short... b-because I know you guys want to talk to your friends." I cut off several minutes of my speech, not looking up at them. "I-if everyone is a little n-nicer this year, it will create a b-better environment for everyone. O-our goal for this year is to make everyone feel included. Thank you." I walk off stage quickly, not even waiting for the applause. I gasp for air as soon as I get back stage, sliding down against the walk and curling into a ball. All of this was a terrible idea.

---

Kai's POV

The guys and I all leave the assembly together, Cole walking next to me. We sit at our regular table in the quad, chatting about our summers even though we spent most of them together.

"You know that night that we all went to the movies?" Griffin asks me. I nod. "Camille and I smashed."

"You could do better than that bro. You're a stud. You've got to aim better on the popularity pyramid. You're up here," I stick my hand up in front of me, eye level. "She's here." I stick my other hand up chest level.

"Hey, it was good. Besides, I'm not the one you should be saying that to," he tells me. I furrow my eyebrows, but then he gestures next to me. I look to my right and see Cole looking longingly at Nya. She's sitting under a tree with one earbud in, doodling something in her notebook. I sigh.

"Cole," I turn to him, putting my hand on his shoulder. "I think it's time for you to give it up. It's been two years. You've changed. She sure as hell changed. I can get Harumi to set you up with one of the cheerleaders."

"Aren't you and Harumi 'on another break'?" he asks me, still looking at Nya.

"Yeah, and? We still talk to each other," I inform him.

"This is what, the fifth time? If you and Harumi can get back together that many times, Nya and I can get back together once. I'm going to go talk to her," he stands up, rolling his neck. I reach into my pocket and pull out a peace of gum. "What's that for?"

"You. Your breath reeks from last night. How much did you drink?" I ask him. He shrugs, taking the gum.

"Not enough," he pops it in his mouth, turning away to talk to Nya.

"She doesn't want to talk to you. She's told me to tell you many times," I call out to him, but it's too late. He's too far gone.

"He's going after her again? He has so much potential, yet he's wasting it on her," I hear a sweet voice say next to me. I turn and Harumi is standing there with her arms crossed.

"I've been trying to get him to move on for over a year, but he won't budge," I sigh, peering out of my sunglasses.

"I don't understand why he keeps going after her. Yeah, when we were sophomores and she was a freshman it made sense, but now? She's changed for the worse," Harumi sits down next to me. When Nya sees Cole walking over, she rolls her eyes and puts in her other ear bud.

"Shit happened to her, and she blames it on Cole. It makes sense that she's changed," I defend her. Harumi groans.

"I know she's your sister Kai, but even you have to admit that she's a bitch now. She won't even talk to you without snapping at you, being rude to you, or demanding something from you," she tries to prove a point.

"That makes two people," I direct at her, and she gasps.

"Last time I checked, I was the one who broke up with you," she defends her ego. I look at Cole who is trying to talk to Nya, but Nya is not having it. She's upset with him and is grabbing her stuff.

"Damn, who's that?" I hear Griffin ask, so I turn my head in his direction.

"Woa," I say to myself. A girl with scarlet hair that's pulled into a high ponytail walks across the quad. She has on a pair of skinny jeans with a yellow long sleeve shirt that has a v neck. Every part of her is flawless.

"She's not that hot," Harumi declares when she sees all of us looking at her.

"But she is," I respond. She groans, picking up her backpack.

"You guys are disgusting. Let's go girls," at Harumi's word, all of the cheerleaders stop what they're doing and leave with her.

"She turned me down again," Cole sighs, sitting back down next to me and running his hands through his hair. "She smelt the alcohol in my breath and flipped."

"You have no chance at having her back until you quit," I inform him. He sighs.

"I know."

A/N: chapter 1 done, any thoughts?

I'm going to write the epilogue for my other story then come back to this (I already have this entire book planned out chapter by chapter so I can bounce in between)

Thank you guys for reading it means a lot to me and never be afraid to comment; I love looking at them