Chapter Text
“I don’t know how you can be friends with him still,” Kai huffed as Nya came to a stop in front of him.
Kai had been waiting for her just outside the exit for ten minutes. School and soccer practice had already ended, and the building had long been deserted; yet, Nya had been “busy” talking to Jay Walker about who knows what.
“We dated for three weeks at the end of last year, Kai, and ended on good terms. Why wouldn’t we be friends?” Nya sighed, crossing her arms.
“He had a crush on you since soccer season though! It was so awkward hearing him gush about you all the time.”
They began to make their way to Kai’s car.
“You act more like his ex than I do.” Kai spluttered, but Nya continued before he could say anything. “I get it, you’re salty about him not playing soccer this year, but no need to push your angst onto me.”
Angrily, Kai threw open the door and got into the car. Nya waited on the passenger side for him to open her door from the inside. The handle had fallen off two weeks ago, and Nya hadn’t had the time to fix it yet. Begrudgingly, he reached over and opened it.
“I do not act like that,” he grumbled, jiggling the key around in the ignition as the car struggled to start. He whacked the steering wheel—the resulting honk making him jump—but the car ended up starting after that, so he considered it a win.
“You just need to talk to him,” Nya said.
“We’re not even friends.”
“Um… maybe that’s what you think, but I know Jay still thinks you guys are friends. I keep having to come up with excuses as to why you’ve been so distant towards him this year. Hell, I don’t even know why you’ve been avoiding him this year.”
Kai’s eyes widened and then narrowed. “Where did he get that idea?” He elected to ignore the rest of what she said.
“Kai! You two were tight last year, what are you talking about? Talk to him. Oh, and by the way, he may or may not think that you have some sort of mental illness or amnesia? I’m not really sure what he thinks at this point.”
The car rolled to a stop at a stoplight, and Kai banged his head against the top of the steering wheel with a groan.
The rest of the ride home was quiet. Kai watched the road ahead of them, and Nya stared out her window intermittently between typing away on her phone. When they arrived at their house, the car rolled to a slow stop, and the two got out. Kai unlocked the house door, and they each went to their own rooms.
He tossed his schoolbag to the floor, loose papers immediately slid out of the open pocket. He ignored his impending homework and dropped onto his bed, screaming into his pillow.
Nya was wrong in all kinds of ways!
He rolled onto his back and stared at his ceiling. Nya was being unfair; she wasn’t seeing the situation from Kai’s point of view.
Jay didn’t make sense to Kai. The boy spent nearly a year crushing on Nya only to date her for three weeks and break up mutually. He had been a nationally-ranked goalie—as an underclassman—only to quit the sport. He had always been unconventionally smart: knowing the strangest facts, having the highest grades in any science or math class, but failing every history class he had ever taken, and barely passing his English classes.
He certainly didn’t quit sports to focus on school, he was still in cheer, anyhow.
None of that really counted as a reason to avoid him though. A growing dread had filled Kai on the first day of school when he first saw Jay after summer break. Since then, he had made it his mission to avoid the other junior no matter the cost. At this point, it was instinct to Kai to run the second he saw anything that looked even remotely like Jay.
A short guy with brown hair? Kai’s gone. A blue hoodie? The mere mention of blue has Kai flinching. All of those things combined? Nobody even saw Kai in the vicinity; he was out of there that quick.
So maybe Nya was wrong about Kai angsting over Jay, but maybe he should talk to him. At the very least, the other boy could help Kai understand chemistry (and help him overcome his apparent fear of short boys and the color blue).
Kai grimaced and sat up, glancing over at his bag. One of the papers falling out of it was covered in red marks, a fat 52 sitting in the top right-hand corner. He jumped out of bed and snatched it off the floor, stuffing it into his trash can. The longer Nya didn’t know about his failed chemistry test, the better.
With a heavy sigh, he resolved himself to, at the very least, talk to Jay tomorrow at school.
Now that his brooding session was over, he left his room and headed downstairs to see what kind of food they had lying around for dinner. With their parents always out of town for business, the two siblings were left to fend for themselves food-wise, not that either of them could cook particularly well.
Skylor used to come over frequently to cook them enough meals to last them a while, but she hadn’t been over since she and Kai had broken up.
“Did you finally decide to stop moping, brother?” Nya wondered from her spot on the couch.
“I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Kai said begrudgingly. He pulled kitchen cabinets open, only to shut them seconds later.
He really needed to learn how to cook. Mostly for his own sake, if he could actually cook, there would be no reason for Nya to cook, there would be no reason to suffer her “cooking.”
“Whatcha making?” Nya came into the kitchen and sat at the table. She brought her backpack with her and pulled some homework out of a folder, much more organized than her older brother.
Kai tossed a loaf of bread onto the counter. “Sandwiches.”
“I miss our gourmet chef.”
Kai rolled his eyes and tossed a block of cheese onto the counter with some bacon and lunchmeat. “I don’t.”
“You’re just salty because you guys broke up recently,” Nya decided. “Why’d you break up again? I thought she was cute—and a good cook.”
“Her dad was an ass. She had some… daddy issues to go along with that and went along with whatever he said.”
Scoffing, Nya tapped her pencil against her temple. “As if you don’t have those.”
Kai spread butter on several slices of bread and tossed a chunk into the frying pan already sitting on the stove. It sizzled upon contact. “Hers… were on a different level. The one time I met that guy was more than enough.” He began to build their sandwiches.
Cheese, bacon, ham, and garlic salt for him, and cheese, extra bacon, pickles, and ketchup for Nya. Not only was she a bad cook, she had bad taste, too.
They were quiet as dinner began to come together. Kai watched the sandwiches carefully, ensuring they were just the right amount of done before taking them out of the pan. He liked his nearly blackened, and Nya preferred hers only barely golden brown. He had to seriously focus to get them anywhere near how Nya liked her sandwiches. (It turned out brown anyway, but he tried.)
When the sandwiches were finished, Nya packed away her homework—surely finished—and helped Kai bring their food into the living room to be eaten on the couch. Tonight, they would be watching Kitchen Nightmares in hopes of gaining some wisdom from Gordon Ramsay. Given that they were on season five and nothing had improved, Kai had a feeling that his wisdom was not being imparted onto them. Still, it was entertaining to watch him yell at people.
They finished the episode and brought their dishes back into the kitchen. It was Nya’s turn to clean up, but Kai wiped down the counter as she washed the dishes.
“Did you do your homework?” she asked him, already knowing the answer.
“Haven’t thought about it…” he muttered.
She turned off the water and turned around. “You need to get it done. I don’t know how you’re still eligible for soccer. You’re even worse this year than last.”
“It gets done.” Maybe once he and Jay made up, they could do their homework together. Then, at least, he wouldn’t feel so strange asking for help. He couldn’t ask his little sister for help on homework; she was supposed to be the one asking him for help!
As soon as he finished wiping the counter clean, Kai returned to his room. The longer Nya nagged him, the more frustrated he would get, and he definitely wouldn’t get his homework done after that. It was hard enough for him to think while doing homework, being angry on top of that wouldn’t help.
Kai sat at his desk and tried to get some homework done.
He knew she was just trying to help, but he had spent their younger years taking care of her. It felt like a punch to the gut when Nya told him to do his homework. As they had gotten older, it seemed like Kai took less and less care of Nya, and she took more and more care of him. It wasn’t fair to either of them.
Their mom and dad were supposed to be home at the end of October though, and they’d be staying a while (until the end of winter at least!). This would be the longest they had been home since Kai’s freshman year. Having them be at home would certainly beat making dinner for themselves every night and constantly being checked on by their godfather.
Kai decided to quit before he picked up the lighter sitting on his desk and lit his homework on fire. Only one of three homework assignments were completed, but he spent a whole half hour on it, and he was really tired.
He pulled the shirt he was wearing off and climbed into bed with a long yawn. He could’ve been asleep half an hour ago if not for his homework.
“You should’ve been up half an hour ago!” Nya screamed, banging on Kai’s bedroom door. “We need to go. Like, now.”
Kai startled awake, drool drying on his chin. He stumbled out of bed and got dressed as he tried to regain his balance. “One minute!” he called.
He stuffed any papers he had lying around his room into his backpack and threw it onto his shoulder. He dumped it in Nya’s awaiting arms and rushed into the bathroom. Without a glance in the mirror, he slathered his hands in gel and ran them through his hair. Kai brushed his teeth with one hand as he rearranged his hair with the other.
“I’ll be waiting in the car!” Nya yelled across the house. “There’s a Poptart waiting for you!”
He’s pretty sure he ate some gel in the process.
After his hair was appropriately spiked, he washed off his hands (and his toothbrush) before rushing out of the house and to the car.
He clambered into the driver’s seat and barely glanced at his sister as he sped down their street.
“I think that’s a new record,” she commented cheerily. Shockingly, Nya wasn’t pissed.
“On what?” he wondered. “Speed of getting ready or how late I woke up?”
“Probably both. Do you have your soccer bag?”
He stared at her. “My soccer bag?”
“You don’t have it, do you?” she deadpanned. He shook his head in shame. “Better hope Lloyd’s willing to share, brother.”
Kai groaned. Lloyd’s clothes were not Kai’s size, and he was not good at sharing.
They didn’t break a record getting to school; Kai was a careful driver, he had to be, considering his rather pathetic excuse of a car. Still, they made it to school on time. He made it to class just as the late bell was ringing, and he’s sure that Nya made it on time.
Instead of paying attention in class, Kai had made the executive decision to plan out what he was going to say to Jay when he talked to him today, but by the time class ended, all he had decided was when he was going to talk to him. He’d talk to him at lunch, or after school when Nya normally saw him, or maybe during passing period, or study hall.
Kai hadn’t really decided on anything, actually.
Everytime he spotted Jay out of the corner of his eye during a passing period or in a class, Kai resolutely avoided looking at him. Nothing had changed since yesterday, even if he had made the declaration that he would get over himself and talk to Jay. By the time lunch rolled around, Kai was hyping himself up to talk to the other boy. He took deep breaths in the lunch line and stiffly walked over to where Lloyd was sitting and sat down beside him.
He slapped his hands to his face and groaned. Taking another deep breath, he pulled them off his face. Kai stared straight ahead at the wall.
“Are you… doing okay, Kai?” Lloyd wondered softly. They were the only two at the table so far.
“I need to talk to Jay,” Kai replied stiltedly.
“Jay Walker? You’ve been avoiding him all year…”
Kai took an angry bite of his burger. It was dry and took a while to finish chewing. “I promised Nya I’d talk to him.”
Lloyd sighed. “And you still haven’t talked to him, have you? Why don’t you go talk to him now? He’s over there with-”
“No!” Kai cried, latching onto Lloyd. “I’m not ready yet.”
His friend gave him a look and pulled his hand free. “Are you ever going to be ready?”
Kai groaned and slapped his hands over his face again. “Don’t talk to me.
“Oh, right. I need to borrow your clothes for practice today.”
“You’re a really contradictory and needy person, y’know?”
After lunch, Kai’s other classes dragged on. The end of his pencil was bitten to hell and back, and he absorbed nothing his teachers said. There was no way he was going to talk to Jay during study hall, his mind had been running between two extremes all day—it was either racing or absolutely stagnant. He fell asleep during the free period.
At the cry of the bell, he blinked awake and wiped the drool off his face. Kai shrugged his backpack onto his shoulders and walked out of the library with a new determination.
He recalled something prophetic from his dreams—although he had no clue what had actually happened in them—and found he had a new resolve to talk to Jay. Kai would catch the other boy at his locker after the last bell of the day rang.
His last class of the day went much better than every other before it. Then again, it was his favorite class, and his favorite class was P.E. so maybe that wasn’t saying much. Still, the class went well!
By the time class ended, Kai was feeling almost as good as when he tripped Acronix at soccer practice two days ago. He marched out of the gym and through the stream of people leaving the school. He stopped, briefly, to let Nya know he would be talking to Jay shortly before continuing with his mission.
I can do this. I can do this.
The school was big, and the junior hallway was on the opposite side of the building from the gym. It was a far walk, but Kai barely noticed it.
Hey, Jay. I know I’ve been kind of distant this year, and I just want to say sorry for… all that. I was… going through- No that sounds stupid, Kai. My mom died- That’s such an obvious lie, c’mon now. Anyway! We should hang out more, I also need some serious help with my homework.
Good! I can do this!
As he passed by the senior hallway, his eyes caught on a flash of blue. Ever since he had begun to avoid Jay, the color seemed to stand out in his vision. A loud, contagious laughter came from down the hall and Kai knew for sure that it was Jay.
But, what was a junior doing in the senior hallway? The hallway was a dead-end, and Kai knew Jay’s schedule; he didn’t have any classes that way.
He pivoted and headed down the hall. He still needed to talk to Jay.
As he approached, the bright smile Jay wore on his face came into view, and the open locker he stood beside slammed shut.
Revealing the very large, very imposing Cole Brookstone. Jay’s best friend.
He had forgotten about Cole Brookstone.