July 3rd, 2023

Nya and I were fixing vehicles in the base below the monastery. Nya looked over at me, "Pass me the socket wrench?" I handed it to her and she ducked below the arm of the Samurai X suit again. I fidgeted, feeling out of place. I tugged the wrinkles out of my purple shirt before I turned to Nya. 

"Nya?" My friend's head popped up almost immediately. 

"Yeah, what's up?" She asked.

"Um… have any of you ever gone to school?" I questioned and Nya immediately shook her head.

"I think that you and Lloyd are the only ones that have ever had a "school" experience. Oh, and Cole, but he ran away from his dad and didn't go to the dancing school, but yeah." Nya tightened a bolt, "Why do you ask me, short stack?"

I rolled my eyes. Short stack was a nickname that Kai started calling me because he loved teasing me about my height. (Yes, I'm only 5'3. Don't judge). Everyone else was at least 3 inches taller than me and I'd always have to tilt my head at someone. Exhausting.

"Stop calling me that. It's so annoying." I muttered and Nya grinned at me.

"Seriously though, why do you ask about school?" Nya turned to me after rolling her neck and her shoulders, "Oof, I'm getting stiff from all this work. Let's go and check on what the others are doing."

"Sure." I started walking, hoping that my question had been forgotten when Nya brought it up again. I really regret asking this question now. I thought to myself with a sigh.

"So why?" Nya prodded.

"I dunno. Maybe I just want to go to school, you know. Be with other people. Make new friends by myself and learn things." I looked over at Nya, "But it's fine. It's just a wish that's up in the air. It doesn't need to be taken seriously."

"Are you sure? We can talk to Master Wu, see if he can enroll you in a school…" Nya trailed off when I shook my head.

"No. It's fine." I ended awkwardly and Nya shrugged her shoulders. 

"If you say so." We walked into the gaming room and found Jay flat on the ground, his eyes glued to the video game console. Well, what was left of the video game console. It had been completely torn apart and I flinched when I stepped on something. I looked down to find that it was a wire. Nya blinked once, twice, and then she finally reacted. "Jay, what the heck happened?! Why did you take this apart?"

"It wasn't my fault, I promise!" Jay protested, "I was trying to fix the console because it kept freezing up. But then I didn't realize that I took it apart. I'm sorry!"

Nya facepalmed, "It's okay. The others are gonna be really mad about this though." 

"I know! I was about to hide when I thought you guys were the others!" Jay buried his hands in his hair, "I gotta fix this. But I need someone to stall for me. The guys might come in and play video games any second."

"I'll do it." I offered, raising up my hand with a shrug, "I'm no mechanical whiz, so I won't be any help fixing this thing."

"Oh, please stall for us. Thank you." Jay grabbed my hand, gratitude in his eyes, and I yanked my hand away slowly. Usually, I don't respond that well to compliments. Probably because I never received much in my life. I know, it's sad, but it's the way I was raised. What do you expect?

"Y-yeah." I said before stepping out of the room and looking for any sign of Kai or Cole. Usually, those two were the ones most likely to play video games when they weren't cleaning up around the monastery or training in the training courses.

"Hey, Liv!" Someone clapped me on the shoulder and I turned around with a yelp. I dropped down onto the ground and swept the person's legs out from under them. That person thudded to the ground with a groan and I pushed my hair out of my face. 

Kai moaned on the ground and I put my hands over my mouth, "Crap! Kai, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" I extended my hand automatically down to Kai, who took it and rubbed his hip.

"Geez, cool it, short stack." Kai stretched his back, "I'm just trying to get your attention. I didn't realize I'd scare the living daylights out of ya." 

"Oh, man." I rubbed my face and then remembered my mission, "Oh… um, can we go ahead and get something to eat? We should get takeout. We haven't done that in a long time."

"What, just you and me, short stack? I didn't know that you were that in love with me, even though I am pretty admirable and easy to love." Kai asked, his eyes glistening as he teased me. I ignored his jibes, my cheeks starting to heat up.

"Oh, please. I know that you're already seeing Skylar. I was thinking that we could grab my brother, Cole, and Zane too." I looked over at the video game room, where I could hear Jay quietly panicking, "Jay and Nya are working on something, I think. Where's Pix?" 

"P.I.X.A.L? She's making more mini-pixs, I think." Kai tapped the floor with his foot, "Um, sure. I'll just go ahead and ask my sister and motormouth what they want." He started walking to the video game room and I grabbed his hand.

"Actually-" Kai looked down at my hand, which grabbed his. I flinched away, "Sorry. I was going to say that Jay and Nya already told me what they want. Besides, don't they always tell you the same thing?" I knew that Kai would be very mad about the video game console, so I tried my best to prevent Jay from being burnt to a crisp.

"I guess that's fair…" Kai trailed off, "You wanna go get Zane and I'll go and snag Cole?"

"Where is Cole?" I asked.

"I dunno, Liv. Probably in the kitchen, making cake." I wrinkled my nose and Kai whispered down to me, "I know, I know. We can't discourage him though, short stack. Gotta give the guy some positivity, you know."

"Oh, I really hope that being a cook doesn't become his side job." I muttered and Kai barked out a laugh. 

"Zane's meditating with Master Wu. Make sure you take him out slowly. Master Wu… isn't a fan of being interrupted during his meditating sessions." Kai warned, wagging a finger at me. I smirked at him.

"Silent." I agreed before creeping down the hallway with a smirk. Distraction a success.