July 16th, 2023

"I like your new eyes." Skylar said, tapping the spot below her own amber eyes, "You look really pretty." I was sitting at Skylar's noodle house again. Skylar and I were getting closer after the chatting we did when I ran here a few days ago. Kai often teased me about having a crush on Skylar myself, but I always deflected it, saying that Kai would've killed me by now if he knew it was true. 

"Thank you." I murmured, "But I don't understand how I would've got them, especially from a dream. That doesn't make sense, Sky." 

"Ninjago and elemental powers are weird. They come in different forms. Some understandable, some not. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you aren't hurt." Skylar said, and she looked over at the clock. "Hey, can I ask you something?" 

"Sure." I pushed a strand of hair out of my face.

"So… Kai and I are going on our first date ever and it's… I'm so freaking nervous, Liv. You have no idea." Skylar buried her face in her hands, her scarlet messy bun slumping forward with her.

"You're right. I have no idea." I sipped on some black tea, "But I can tell you that Kai is really nervous himself. I mean, he's been around the monastery, hardly focusing. Everyone knows that he's afraid of messing up on this date too, Sky. He wants to do this, though." I took another sip of tea.

"We've just… run into some issues sometimes saving Ninjago. We never really actually had time to make things official. Yet." Skylar muttered afterwards and I took another sip of tea to muffle my snort.

"Well, it's your chance to make it official tonight." I smiled, "You've got this, Skylar Chen. You are an extremely confident and amazing woman. You'll do great. Just… don't laugh or react weird when Kai messes up. I know that he will, just saying." Skylar tossed her head back and laughed. She turned to me.

"Thanks for listening, Livvy." Her amber eyes shone bright, "You know what you should do?" She said and I tilted my head.

"Please, enlighten me. I'm all ears." Skylar reached into a cabinet and after shuffling around for a bit, she pulled out a flier. "There's this contest down by the bay. It's a viola and violin contest. I know that you play both very well. You should join!"

"Me?" I shook my head and took another sip of delicious black tea, "Nah. I can't play well. You shouldn't ask me to…"

"Girllll." Skylar groaned, facepalming, "No need to be modest. You play viola and violin so well. And piano. And guitar. And the drums. And-"

"I'm not as confident performing in front of other people." I murmured, looking down at what little tea I had left in the cup, "I fumble up on viola notes all the time. I hardly play violin well in front of my own family. I only play well by myself." 

"I've heard the recordings." Skylar wriggled her phone in the air and pressed a button. Instantly, my horrible playing started going through the speakers and I grabbed at Skylar's phone, but she held it out of reach. 

"Sky, stop it!" I hissed, flushing furiously, "I don't want people hearing me play! Skylar!" Then, a boy came up to us and he smiled, his head bobbing up and down in the rhythm of the music.

"Hey, is that Sea's Storm?" The boy asked and Skylar paused the video. I sat back down, my face completely red with embarrassment as everyone in the noodle house turned to look at Sky and I.

"Yeah." Skylar nodded, grinning teasingly at me.

"Who played that? That was so awesome!" The boy said admiringly and I peeked out from behind my fingers. Skylar gestured at me.

"The one and only Livana Garmadon." She said in a presenting tone and I wrinkled my nose at her. The boy turned to look at me and I flushed even harder under his gaze. The boy smiled at me.

"That's really nice." He commented, "Love your eyes, by the way." When he turned around to leave, I swatted at Skylar's shoulder, my finger catching in her hair before slipping out. Skylar looked over at me, still grinning.

"Why did you do that?!" I moaned, "I hate it when people listen to my recordings. Who sent you that?" I asked and Skylar glanced down at her phone.

"It was Lloyd. He sent it in the group chat. I'll add you to it right now." Skylar clicked on a few buttons and I heard my phone buzz. I glanced at the notifications center to see that Skylar had sent me a " 😝" emoji. I rolled my eyes and tucked my phone away, my face gradually cooling down.

"Noted. I'm gonna kill Lloyd when I get home, then." I said casually, sipping the rest of my tea. Skylar sighed and brushed her scarlet hair back. 

"Look, Livvy. Your playing is amazing. That guy loved it. No one seemed to hate it from what I saw. You know that you can play well. So join the contest! I promise that you'll do well." Skylar insisted, pressing her finger down on the violin shown on the flier.

"...You really think I'll be okay?" I asked and Skylar nodded furiously.

"Of course you will." I grabbed the flier and folded it, tucking it into my pocket. 

"I'll think about it, Sky. Thanks. Have fun on your date with Kai tonight." I said, leaping off the tall bar chair. "Bye-bye." I did my signature salute fling before I walked out the noodle restaurant, my mind still on the viola and violin competition.

-:-:-:-:-

I laid down on the bed, still thinking about the musical competition. I will admit, I'll never truly say that I'm good at something because I know that somewhere out there, there is someone better than me.

My phone buzzed and I looked over at my texts. It was Victor. I opened my private messaging channel with him and he texted me.

Heyyy

Hi. How r u?

Good. What about you? Doing new things? 😉

Thinking about joining violin & viola competition

Not sure if I want to though…

Why? Ur so goodddd 

Not sure… maybe I will…

You abt to sleep?

5 min

K. Gonna sleep now. Ttyl??

Sure. I'll text u when I can

Thx. Gn, V

Gn, Livvy

I put my phone away and then closed my eyes. Why am I so bothered by this? It's just a musical competition. Nothing more.

But if I go out there…

Who knows what people will say?

I shook my head. Music was something that I cared about, something that had helped me cope for a very long time. That's why I loved Mom's lullabies as a kid.

So… what is really stopping me from doing what I want?