Ninjago - Heart of Stone

Chapter Thirteen: The Hunt

"It feels like we've been walking for hours!"

Cole didn't turn around to face Jay as he responded to his complaint. "That's the fourth time you've said that, and we've only been gone forty-five minutes."

Jay moaned dramatically, kicking at a clump of earth with a powerful swinging motion. "This is ridiculous," he grumbled, "we're never going to find the Celestial clock by walking around the island. This place must be massive! We could be out here for days, and we'd miss it!"

Cole refused to show his team that he agreed with Jay, and only half out of spite. He knew how hopeless the odds were, and he seriously regretted having said nothing when Julian suggested they hunt down the clock in separate groups. Even though they would cover more ground if they were split up, he didn't like the idea of his friends hunting around a dangerous island alone. Especially not Lexi.

"Cole?" He jumped slightly at Nya's words, turning to face her quickly. She frowned, looking him over. "You alright? You seem... agitated." She pursed her lips. "Should we maybe take a break?"

Cole shook his head vehemently. "No. I'm fine, Nya— we should keep moving."

"Oh, come on," Jay whined, coming up behind him and swinging an arm around his shoulders, "we're all tired, Cole. Can't we just take a few minutes to drink some water?"

Resisting the powerful urge to push Jay's arm off, Cole sighed. If he was being honest with himself, he would like to take a break, and he did need water. Besides, he had the nagging suspicion that Nya and Jay had been waiting for the opportune moment to broach conversation with him-- they obviously had something they needed to say. Their eagerness to be paired with him for the hunt could not be because they enjoyed hiking with a mountaineer.

"Fine. But only for a few minutes, then we have to go."

Jay rolled his eyes, but Nya nodded. "Okay," she said cheerily. Too cheerily. Something was definitely up.

"So. Cole." Jay fixed him a sharp look, thought his eyes were dancing, so he looked more goofy than stern. Yes, they were about to have a talk with him. Cole's heart started racing; he'd never been good at this.

"What?" He hoped he sounded clueless enough that they understood he had no idea what was going on. Nya was grinning stupidly, her cheeks slightly pink, and Jay was disguising his chortling behind his fist. "Guys, what is it?"

"Oh, come on," Nya laughed, "don't play dumb-- it's so obvious!"

"What's obvious?" He demanded, now more annoyed than confused. Neither of his friends seemed to care about this, for Jay kept stuffing his fist against his mouth, and Nya laughed even harder and went red as a tomato. "Come on," he said, looking back and forth between them, "just spit it out!"

"You and Lexi," Jay crooned, clasping his hands together before his heart and batting his eyelashes, gazing up at the canopy of trees as if a siren was watching from above. "You like her!"

Now it was Cole's turn to go red. "What? N-no-- I don't, I swear I-- what's so funny?"

Nya and Jay were both doubled over with laughter, wheezing and hacking like they had a lung infection. "Oh, come on," Jay gasped, through bouts of helpless cackling, "you're terrible at hiding it."

"You tense up whenever she comes within three feet of you," Nya said, straightening up and fixing her wild ponytail, "you go red whenever someone says her name, and you're always staring at her, thinking it's no obvious when you look away if she starts to notice."

Cole ran a hand through his unruly dark hair, his face draining of colour. "Is it really that obvious?" He asked weakly, looking at Jay desperately. He couldn't look Nya in the eye, afraid that she would give away what he already knew to be true.