Chapter Six - Newbies

The next day at school, Nya sat alone in the cafeteria. Skylor had been ill so she couldn't come in and she was the only person who would actually hang out with Nya, besides her brother. She was reading one of her favourite books named 'The Boy who fell in love with the swan'. It was a romance novel about a young boy around fifteen. He was unloved by everyone but the graceful swan saw him for who he truly was. By the end of the book, the swan had saved the boy's life and the swan turned out to be a beautiful girl, also about fifteen. They fell in love and lived happily ever after. It was a great book, at least that was what Nya thought.

Jay sat another table chatting with Cole, as usual. Cole was eating his usual slice of warm pepperoni pizza whilst Jay drank his chocolate milkshake. Jay looked over at Nya's table, spotting her sat alone. As Cole finished up his food, he looked up at his best friend. He flicked a random strand of smooth black hair out of his face and frowned.

"What you looking at?" Cole wondered, catching Jay's attention.

"Nya's sat alone." Jay replied.

"So?"

"She's usually with someone. A close family friend, I think." Jay said.

"How do you know if she is a close family friend?" Cole frowned again.

"She was at Nya's house when we were studying last night. I think I remember Nya saying something like she was dating Nya's brother." Jay reminded himself.

"How exciting." Cole rolled his eyes sarcastically. "I'm surprised she has friends."

"Oh, come on, Cole. She isn't that bad." Jay smiled.

"Not that bad? I remember you saying like two weeks ago that you hated her guts and never wanting to see her again." Cole raised an eyebrow.

"We both know that is not what I said." Jay crossed his arms.

Jay's eyes turned back to Nya's table. She was still sat alone. For some reason, he felt a little sympathy for her. She hadn't got any friends except for Skylor. He thought that she must have been lonely all those years, especially with it just being her and her brother.

A boy with blonde locks and another boy with straight bleach-blonde hair wandered up to Cole and Jay's table. They stood in the way of where Jay was looking, making him look up, a little annoyed. Cole rolled his eyes.

"How may we help you?" Cole asked, frustrated.

Lunch time was one of the only times in the day when Jay and Cole actually got to spend time with each other. They had very few classes together and they still didn't even get to sit beside each other.

"Don't be so rude, Cole," Jay ordered. "Hi. What can we help you with?"

The boys exchanged looks before they glanced back at the two best friends.

Cole quickly peered over at Jay and glared. Cole wanted to talk with Jay and these boys were interrupting their time.

"We're new. We were kind of hoping that you'd show us around or at least tell us some stuff about the school." The first one smiled sweetly.

Jay looked his emerald green pearls and smiled. "Sure."

"Thank you so much." The other smiled back.

"Please, sit down." Cole offered sarcastically.

Jay rolled his eyes and leaned closed to Cole. "Don't be horrible. They're new here so at least tell them where their next classes could be. Don't you remember how you're first day was? They're probably nervous."

"Fine."

The boys sat opposite each other at the table. They definitely didn't look nervous. But everyone has different opinions on school, right?

"I'm Lloyd and this is Zane." The boy with green eyes pointed at his friend.

Zane waved at them.

"I'm Jay and this is my best friend, Cole." Jay introduced them.

"It's nice to meet you." Zane spoke up, holding out his hand to shake Cole's.

Cole gently took his hand and shook it. He was a little weirded out. Usually he isn't introduced to someone by a hand shake.

"Sorry about that," Lloyd said awkwardly. "Zane is more of a, uh... formal person."

Cole let go of Zane's hand and nodded.

Jay's eyes returned to where Nya was sat. And of course she was still there alone. By the look of it, she had nearly finished her book. Jay smiled at the group and placed his hands on the table, making it look like he was going to get up. Their heads turned to look at Jay.

"Sorry to leave you guys hanging but I really have to go talk to someone. It's about this project for my History class but I'm sure Cole will tell you everything you need to know." Jay told them.

"What? You're just leaving me?!" Cole questioned.

"Like I said, gotta go talk to someone." Jay winked and smiled. "It was really nice meeting you two, we should all hang out at my place sometime."

And with that, Jay picked up his bag, his empty carton and walked off.

"Oh, he lives in a mansion by the way." Cole added.

Lloyd and Zane exchanged looks.

Nya smiled and slammed her book shut. She had finally finished her book for the seventh time. She really loved it. She nearly jumped as she spotted who was sat opposite her.

"Hey."

"Jay?"

It gave her a fright because he wasn't there a few seconds before.

"I saw you were sat alone. Want some company?" He smiled.

"Why do you think I need company?" She frowned.

"You usually sit with your friend. Where is she?" Jay looked around the cafeteria.

"She's ill."

"So did you want company then?" Jay wondered.

Nya narrowed her eyes at the boy sat before her. After a few seconds of thinking, she placed her book down on the table and sighed. "Sure."

"So about the project--" Jay began.

"Is that all you want to talk about? The project?" Nya rolled her eyes.

"Well, I kinda told Cole I was gonna ask you about the project so..." Jay smiled awkwardly.

"But Cole is sat over there so he won't hear what we are talking about." Nya raised an eyebrow.

Jay turned his head to look back at the table. The three boys looked like they were having a fun time. Turns out Cole was having a greater time than he thought he would.

"You can go back over there if you want. I'm fine sat here alone." She told him.

"Nah." He turned to look at Nya again. "I want to hang out with someone knew for once."

"Cole's boring you, huh?" Nya giggled.

"Of course." Jay smiled.

The two fell silent as Nya looked down at her book and started fiddling with the pages. Jay caught himself looking into her eyes.

I'd love to have eyes that colour, he thought.

Nya looked up once again. "What genre of books do you like?"

Jay thought for a second. "Sci-fi."

Nya rolled her eyes jokingly.

"Is it that obvious?" Jay frowned.

Nya nodded and giggled a little.

"What about you?" Jay asked.

Nya leaned closer to Jay and whispered, "Nobody knows that but I have a soft spot for Romance."

"Romance? You?" Jay frowned.

"What's wrong with reading romance?" Nya wondered.

"Nothing it's just I didn't really imagine you being the sort of person who would enjoy reading romance." Jay replied.

"Not many people would think that." She nodded.

"What do you like about it exactly?" Jay asked.

"It's kind of..." She paused. "Calming."

Jay nodded in agreement.

"You can't say that Science Fiction is calming because that is the complete opposite." Nya smiled.

"You're right." Jay looked down at his hands.

There was another awkward silence.

Jay peered up at Nya and frowned.

"If you have a question, just ask." Nya told him.

"Do you ever wonder where your parents are now?" Jay asked.

"I told you. They left when I was two."

"But where would they go?"

"Maybe they went back to their hometown, pretended like Kai and I never happened, and died ten years ago in a car accident." Nya suggested.

Jay fell quiet.

"Why don't we head outside to the field? We have about ten minutes left anyway." Nya put on a fake smile.

Within two minutes, they two had headed out to the school's main field. There was many groups of boys playing football but the two sat down more towards the end, where nothing could really interrupt them. The grass was a mossy green and newly cut about a week ago. It wasn't damp and it wasn't super dry either. It was like it was in the middle of the two.

"I don't see your brother very much when I come over." Jay stated.

"He usually heads into the nearest town. There aren't enough customers around. Probably because of the location." Nya replied.

"I'm sure that's it," Jay said, knowing no one would trust Nya's brother to sell a pillow let alone swords and armour. "I don't think a blacksmith shop in the middle of nowhere is all that comfortable."

"It has it's benefits," Nya told him, "No nosy neighbours. No drop-in salesmen. No fishy movie star kids coming to boast about their amazing life in the city."

Jay put his empty carton in his bag. "So I'm fishy now."

"Who asked you to show up? I was perfectly fine alone."

"You still let me in anyway."

"Because you seem so lonely. You only ever talk to Cole," Nya replied, "Plus, I felt bad for you."

"Sorry for me?" Jay's eyes flashed. "You're lucky that someone would come hang out with you when no one else will. You're lucky that someone like me wants to actually help you on this project. You're lucky that someone like me is a good person."

"I knew it!" Nya flared. "I'm your good deed to help you get more attention!"

"No way! There's more to it than that." Jay interrupted.

"Only because I found you out." She grumbled.

"Because you're a caring person at heart."

Nya turned to him.

"My father is barely ever here and Cole doesn't understand me all that well," Jay said, looking at his hands. "But you do. You see who I am. Yes, I'm the kid of a famous movie star and you know to be careful around them but you are the only person who will give me a chance. Plus, I want to help you. I know what you are going through."

"Why do you want to help me so bad?" Nya frowned.

"Because you're my friend." Jay replied.

Nya's neck flushed red.

"What's wrong?" Jay wondered.

Nya smiled a little, "It's just, um... I'm not used to hearing that."

Jay smiled back and took her hand. "Well, now we'll be friends at school and out of school."

Nya groaned and pulled away. "Say I was to sink to your intelligence level and believe everyone when they say I'm rude, what would happen?"

"I didn't mean to call you rude, Nya." Jay sighed. "You're just different."

Nya narrowed her eyes, "Different how?"

"Well for starters, you only wear black."

"Because it doesn't get dirty."

"You don't ever leave your house unless you have to."

"People don't look at me there."

"For the Create-A-Tale competition in English class yesterday, your story ended with Snow White eaten by vultures and Cinderella drowning herself in a tub."

"I thought it was a better ending."

"Skylor told me you bought your brother a dead frog for his birthday!"

"To remind him we all die and end up rotting underground, eaten by maggots so we should enjoy our birthdays while we have them. I found it thoughtful."

"And apparently you dressed up as a bride for Halloween."

"Weddings are scary."

Jay gaped at her.

"Fine. So I'm a little different," Nya glared. "So what?"

Jay hesitated. "Well, it's just that in romance stories, different usually turns out... evil."

"You're saying I'm going to turn out to be a witch," Nya raised an eyebrow.

"I'm saying whatever happens, you get a choice." Jay replied gently.

Nya said nothing for a while. Then she touched Jay's hand. "Why do want to be friends with me so badly? What's wrong with everyone else?"

Jay met Nya's eyes. For the first time, he let in the tides of doubt.

"Because I have trust issues," Jay said, voice catching. "I can't trust people like everyone else can."

"Funny," Nya smiled.

"It doesn't make me feel ordinary." Jay added.

"That's why I like you."

Jay smiled, "Because you aren't ordinary either?"

"Because you make me feel ordinary," Nya correct him. "And that's the only thing I've ever wanted."

The bell rang from the school, one, for they had lost track of time. And the echoes of students shouting football scores faded into the buzz of students in the distance, both Nya and Jay had made a wish. That one week from now, when they finished their project, they'd still be friends.