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Lloyd’s the most hated person in Ninjago City, everyone goes out of their way to make that clear. And, because of that, he’s used to everyone else who happens to be on the bus at the time he gets on, blatantly avoid him. No one will sit in the row before or after him or even across the aisle to him, even if those seats are the only ones left.
Once, when he was younger and not as used to it, he would be uncomfortable at their avoidance which was then primarily at school (and still is) and for a time, he was lonely at seeing literally everyone else in the whole city interacting with each other or having friends.
Back then, he used to hate going on the bus because of that but now, he has no choice, it’s the one rule that the school has: he has to arrive by school bus. Now he’s used to the avoidance, the blatant hatred, that he doesn’t care about being lonely all the time anymore.
Okay, that was a lie, he still does care, just a little.
Things had been the same way for years, as soon as he got on the bus, everyone else sitting in the seats in front, behind or to the other side of him will get up from their seats and find somewhere else to sit. It’s worse on the school bus, kids will get up and all stuff into the other side of the bus, enough that the vehicle drags along the road on that side.
It’s been like that for years and no one (except his mum) has sat with him, and because of that, when, on his fifteenth birthday, a black-haired girl he’s seen in the hallway before, dropped into the seat beside him after she had gotten on at the stop after his.
His brain had officially given up.
“Um, you do know who you’re sitting next to, right?” he asked, not expecting an answer.
That was the second of many surprises that day.
“Yeah, I know,” the girl told him before she took out a book and stuck her nose in it.
She had actually answered him!
“Oh okay,” was all he could say.
Silence, which he was more comfortable with when compared to conversation and talking, bloomed between them once again.
“I’m Nya, by the way,” she said after a few minutes.
“Huh?” he asked, his brain refused to process the information he had just been given.
“My name? It’s Nya,” the girl - Nya - repeated.
“Oh,”
Good going, Lloyd, you’re sounding like an idiot in front of the only person other than your mum who wants to talk to you.
“Hi?” he greeted, not too sure what to do next.
Before he had a chance to say anything else (and run the possibility of annoying the only person other than his mum who’s talked to him), the bus finally arrived at the school.
The other students file off quickly, eager to get away from him as soon as possible.
As she was sitting in the aisle seat, Nya got off before him.
“Oh, and Lloyd?” the ravenette called. “Happy Birthday,” she wished before she disappeared into the crowd of students entering the school building.
Which sent his mind whirling. How did she know ?
Although, that line of thought was soon interrupted by none other than the head cheerleader, Chen.
Chen had thrown a scrunched-up wad of paper at his head and because he had been preoccupied by the thought of ‘how did she know?’ it hit home on it’s target.
“Hey Garmadork! Who’s that girl?” he asked as he approached. “Did you pay her to talk to you? To be nice to you?” he asked.
Ha! You wish.
He didn’t say anything, instead he pulled up the hood of his hoodie and headed toward the building.
“Hey! I’m still talking to you!” Chen shouted after him.
He didn’t turn around.
“Why’d you sit with him ?” Kai asked when Nya had joined him.
“‘Cause I feel bad for him, he’s always alone, on the bus, at school,” Nya answered as they entered the building.
“Really? He’s Garmadon’s son ,” the older of the siblings said as they made their way to their lockers.
Even as he said that, the feeling that he had gotten before when Nya was in trouble, sat heavily in his gut.
“So?” Nya asked as she unlocked her locker and swung open its door.