Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago, just the story.

A little boy was walking through the halls of hospital towards his mother's room.  He was with his father.  He was also nervous about how his father is going to tell his mother what he did.  He didn't want to make his mother upset.

"Mommy!" the little boy yelled as they made it to his mother's room.

"Hey sweety," she said as he hugged her.  "How was school?"

"He got into a bit of trouble," his dad said.

"What happened?" the mother asked as she pulled away from the hug to face her son.

"T-This boy was being mean to me, s-so I h-hit him," the little boy confessed.

"What was he doing?"

"H-He was calling me mean names and h-he mentioned how you were here."

His mother sighed.  "Sweety, I know that sometimes kids can be mean, but you can't be mean back.  That makes you just as bad as him."

"But what am I supposed to do?"

"You need to tell him that whatever he says doesn't bother you."

The boy nodded.  "Ok.  I will next time, mommy."

"I never want you to be the bully.  I want you to always stick up for yourself and others."

Cole was playing the video game that Milton Dyer gave them with Jay.  They had trained for a while earlier and then Wu gave them the rest of the day off.  Knowing Wu, if he gave them the rest of the day off, the ninja would be working their butts off the next day.  A lot of them may not have known Wu for very, but they quickly figured that part out.

Cole couldn't quite figure out how Jay always managed to beat him.  Before he started training to become a ninja, he never imagined he would be hanging out with someone like Jay.  The only time he might have actually had a conversation with Jay previously was if he was trying to get Jay to do his homework for him.

He also couldn't believe how someone like Jay could end up dating someone like Nya.  Cole put his controller down.  "What does she see in you anyway?" Cole asked.

"I don't know," Jay responded.  He was already nervous enough when Cole asked him if he wanted to play "Prime Empire" because he didn't know if Cole would try anything.  He didn't want to have this conversation with him.  "I guess she just likes me for me."

"There has to be more of a reason than that."  Cole thought about a reason that Nya might be dating Jay.  "Do you do her homework for her?"

"She's more than capable of doing her own homework."

"Do you tutor her?"

"She doesn't need it."

"Then, why is she dating you?"

Jay looked directly at Cole.  "Did you ever think that she might just like me for who I am?"

At that moment, Nya walked in.  "Wow.  Didn't expect to see you two in here...especially without any witnesses," she said and whispered the last part.

"Is everything ok, Nya?" Jay asked.

"Yeah.  Everything's fine, Jay.  I just need your help with our...special project."

Cole paid no attention to how secretive Nya.  "Go ahead," he said to Jay.  "I'm just going to stay here and see if I can beat your high score."

Jay thought about saying, 'Good luck,' but he didn't want to test his limits with Cole.  Cole had actually been pretty nice for once and he didn't want to turn back to how he usually is.  Jay just followed Nya out.

Cole just sat there after the two left.  He thought about the person he became since his mom died.  The person he is isn't the person his mom wanted him to be.  Ever since ninja training started, he realized that he became the bully his mom didn't want him to be.  He does like playing sports at school, but he doesn't really like being such a jerk to people.  He has had more fun training to be a ninja with his team than he has had in a long time (though he won't admit it).  He might have only been training for a week and a half so far, but he doesn't mind it.  He looks down at the controller, knowing there's probably no way he'll beat Jay's high score, and decides to just leave for the day.  Most of the team had already left anyway.  He got up and started to walk home.

The next day

Cole sighed as he opened his locker.  It was just another day of acting like a jerk, practicing whatever sport that was currently going on, and ninja training (the last one being the part he was most looking forward to).  He couldn't stop thinking about one of the last conversations that he had with his mother.  'I never wanted you to be the bully.  I always want you to stick up for yourself and others.'  Her words echoed through his head.

Behind him, Jay was walking through the halls.

"Hey nerd."  Jay turned around to see a group of jocks behind him.  One of them came up to him and shoved him to the ground.

Cole heared the commotion and glanced over and saw what was happening.  He debated on what he could do and came up with three options: he could join his 'friends,' he could just pretend to be looking in his locker and hope they don't notice him (if they noticed him, they would want him to join), or he could do the right thing.  It took him a minute to decide what to do.

Cole slammed his locker and got in between Jay and the jocks.

"Cole!" one of the jocks said.  "Would you like to decide what we should to him today?"

Cole looked at Jay who was still on the ground and then back at the people who he used to consider his friends.  "No!"

"Ok.  Well, I guess one of us could decide-"

"I mean, no, you will not do anything to him!"

"Cole, you're defending this nerd," another jock said.

"I am.  We shouldn't be bullying him or anybody.  It isn't right."  Cole took a deep breath.  "And besides, he's my friend."

"Wow Cole.  I never thought you would start defending nerds."

"Well, people can change."  The jocks walked away and Cole helped Jay up.  "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," Jay said.  "Thanks."

"No problem."  Cole put a hand on Jay's shoulder.  "I know I've done a lot of things to you that I really shouldn't have, but I would like to try to be friends."

"I'd like that."

The bell rang for them to get to class.

"See you at the monastery after school," Cole said.

"See you there," Jay replied before they both walked off to get to their classes.

A/N: I'm writing more!  Yay!!!  I can't believe I haven't updated this in almost a month.  I hope you enjoyed!