Chapter Text
Lloyd Garmadon hated his father. Not even because he was an evil warlord – although that in itself was pretty bad – but because it was his dad’s fault everyone hated him. Thanks to him, Lloyd was one of the most hated people in Ninjago City, second only to the man himself. He had no friends, and people he’d never even seen before glared at him and whispered about him daily. So needless to say, he was surprised when he sat at his desk on Tuesday morning and a girl in his class dragged a chair over and sat across from him.
“Hey. Garmadon, right? What’s up?”
Lloyd glanced behind her at some girls who were watching them, giggling.
“Oh, uh, hey. Nothing much, really… You’re Nya, right?”
“Yep, that’s me. I mentioned to my friends – that lovely group over there”–she hooked a thumb over her shoulder – “that I don’t care what people think of me, so they dared me to come sit with Garmadon’s kid to prove it. Little do they know that I think they’re a bunch of prissy losers, and of all the people whose opinions I could care about, I care about theirs the least.”
“Oh. Huh. Good to know.”
“I should hang out with you more, actually, just to bug them. Well, not just to bug them. You seem nice. Nicer than them. I’d much rather hang with you. If that’s alright.”
“I mean, if you don’t care about being seen with the son of Garmadon…”
“Hey, I don’t give a crap who your dad is. And it’s not like I didn’t wanna sit with you before. I just had no reason to. And now they just gave me a perfect opportunity. Welp, class is about to start. See you at lunch!” She hurried back to her original table where all the girls burst out laughing at her.
Lloyd was practically in shock. A girl wanted to hang out with him. Sure, it had originally been a dare, but she genuinely wanted to hang out with him. He couldn’t believe it.
--
“Yo, Lloyd! Over here!”
It was lunch time, and as always, Lloyd was struggling to find a free table. He knew better than to ask to sit with other people by now. Luckily, Nya was calling him. Well, yelling at him. From across the room. Standing on a table. An already taken lunch table. And just generally causing a commotion.
He hurried over to her with his lunch bag, keeping his head down.
“Hey, Nya.”
“Hey, Lloyd!” She jumped down from the table, grinning. “How’s it going?”
“Alright, I-”
“Hold up one sec,” she said quickly, cutting him off. She turned to the occupants of the table. “Hey, you using this table?”
“Uh, obviously. Get your own table.” The entire group glared at her. Lloyd inched backward.
“Nah,” Nya said, unfazed. She climbed back up and sat down on it, crisscrossing her legs and opening her lunch bag. “So, Lloyd, sorry about that. How’s it going?”
“Nya, come on,” Lloyd urged nervously. “We can find a new place to sit.”
“No. I like this table.”
“Ugh. Fine, loser.” The group at the table left, shooting both Lloyd and Nya dirty looks.
“Ha! I didn’t even know if that was gonna work.” Nya got off the table and sat in a chair, gesturing for him to take the seat across from her.
“Uh, thanks?”
“No problem. Now. No more interruptions. How’s it going?”
“Alright, I guess. He glanced around the room nervously. “People are staring at us. Are you not worried?”
“Nah. You don’t care, do you? People stare at you all the time. I think I can learn to handle it.”
He smiled. She was going to learn. That meant that this wouldn’t be a one time thing.
“Yeah, I guess. Thanks. For, y’know, sitting with me and everything. Not a lot of people would be brave enough to do that. And by not a lot, I mean no one.”
Nya just waved him off.
“Hey, no problem. I never pass up the chance to cause drama. Especially when it’s about something that’s pointlessly socially unacceptable. That always makes it more fun.”
Lloyd was beginning to see how Nya operated. She pretty much thrived off of chaos and making people she didn’t like feel uncomfortable. And of course, she loved proving people wrong. And she was no pushover. Not at all.
“So, what’s your mom like? I mean, she married a warlord, so does that say anything about her?”
“What? Oh, no. My mom’s actually super nice. She’s… really sweet. Nothing like my dad.”
“Huh. Well, at least you have that.”
“Yeah. I’m… really lucky.”
Nya smiled.
“I like you, Lloyd Garmadon. I don’t know anyone else who could be in your shoes and call themselves lucky. I like the way you roll.”
Lloyd found himself grinning back.
“Thanks, Nya. You’re not too bad yourself.”