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

A young teenage girl was riding her skateboard on the streets of Nom where she lived.  She loved riding her skateboard.  It made her feel free and made her forget about everything else in her life.

When she got home, she tried to sneak upstairs to avoid her father, but unfortunately, lucky was not on her side.

"Where have you been?" her father asked.

"I was skateboarding around Nom," she answered.

"I got your report card," her father said with disappointment in his voice.

"You did?" she asked nervously.

"Yes, I did."

"I'll work harder and bring my grades up," the girl said to try to reassure her dad.

"You will and I believe a new school will help with that," her father told her.

The girl's eyes widened.  "A new school?  But what about Nom High School?!  That's the only high school in Nom!"

"With me being the mayor of Nom, I managed to pull some strings and get you into Ninjago High School."

"Ninjago High School?" the girl asked in disbelief.  "I don't want to go there!  I've heard stories of what that school is like!  And I don't want to transfer in the middle of my sophomore year!"

"I believe it will be good for you."  The girl's father walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.  "Look, I know how hard it has been for you since your mother left, but maybe a new school will help."

The girl nodded.  "Ok.  I'll give it a shot."

Seliel was with PIXAL in the back room of the monastery where the Samurai X mech was being kept.  "You seem to be getting the hang of using that thing," Seliel commented.

"It is not that difficult," PIXAL said.  "Although, I am still not sure I should be using this mech without Nya's permission."

"It's ok.  Nya will understand."

"If you are sure."  PIXAL got out of the mech and came down to stand right next to Seliel.

"Do you want to hang out tomorrow?" Seliel asked PIXAL.

"I am sorry, but I cannot," PIXAL answered.  "I have plans."

"Are you hanging out with Skylor?"

"No.  I have plans with Zane."

Seliel smirked at PIXAL.  "Ooh.  You have plans with Zane.  Sounds like somebody has a boyfriend."

PIXAL sighed.  "Skylor said the same thing."  She looked at Seliel.  "And Nya gave me that same look.  We are not dating."

"But do you wish you were?"

"That is not relevant."

The two of them started walking to the room where they have the video game console set up and saw Nya trying to teach Cole and Kai how to build a simple machine.

"How's that?" Kai asked.

"Good...if you want it to blow up!" Nya said.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes.  I have told you guys how to do it at least 100 times now!"  Nya was getting frustrated at how hard it was to try to teach the two boys.  "I'm trying to help you to pass this class!"  She then turned to her boyfriend.  "Jay, it's your turn.  I quit."

Jay stood up and walked over to Cole and Kai.

"You're handing us over to Jay now?!" Cole exclaimed.

"Yes, I am," Nya said and turned to walk away.  "I'm gonna go train with Lloyd, Zane, and Skylor."  She started to walk to the training yard.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" Jay said and began to start trying to teach the two.

Cole had Jay stop for a second and got up to talk to Seliel who was currently talking to PIXAL.  "Hey Sel.  Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah.  Sure," Seliel said.  "What is it?"

"You're pretty good at riding a skateboard and I was kind of hoping you could teach me."

"So, the big bad jock of the school really doesn't know how to ride a skateboard," she teased.

"Will you teach me or not?" Cole asked with his arms crossed.

"Yeah.  I guess.  Meet me at the skatepark tomorrow at 1 and don't be late."

"I'll see you then."

"Cole!  Get back over here!" Jay called him back.

"I better go back over there."

"Good luck."

"I'm gonna need it."

The Skatepark

The next day

Seliel was waiting for Cole at the skatepark.  It was currently 12:59 and she was questioning why she even believed that Cole could be punctual.  She honestly doubted that he would show.  She knew that he has changed from how he was when they first met, but she still didn't think highly of him.  She wasn't sure why she hoped that Cole would show up when he probably wouldn't.  She looked at her watch again and it showed that it was now 1:00 with still no sign of Cole.  She decided to wait around for a little bit to try to give him the benefit of the doubt.

She waited for half an hour and Cole still wasn't there.  She stood up and grabbed her skateboard when she finally heard the voice of the person she was waiting for.

"I'm here!  I'm here!" Cole yelled as he ran over to her.

"Look who finally decided to show up," Seliel spat.

"I'm sorry," Cole apologized.  "Father issues."

Seliel wasn't expecting that answer and she could relate to that and decided to let Cole off the hook.  "It's alright.  Just don't make a habit of it."

Seliel began teaching Cole how to ride a skateboard.  He fell a lot at first, but eventually started getting the hang of it.  When they stopped, he was doing pretty good.  He was no way as good as Seliel though.

They sat down to drink some water and Seliel wanted to ask Cole about what he said earlier.  "If you don't mind me asking, what happened with your father earlier?"

Cole looked uncomfortable by the question, but still answered.  "Oh...uh...my dad is a member of The Royal Blacksmiths and wants me to follow in his footsteps.  We kind of got into an argument about it earlier.  He's been trying to push me a lot to follow in his footsteps since my mom died."

Seliel was surprised by Cole's confession.  "If it helps, my mom left me and my dad when I was little."

Cole looked up at Seliel.

"And my dad...he wants me to be this perfect child.  He wants me to act a certain way and get good grades.  If my grade drops below a B at all, he freaks out.  He used to freak out if it wasn't an A, but I wasn't getting A's so he became happy with B's.  Since he's the mayor of Nom, he wants to have this perfect image for the family.  He pretends that my mom is dead in order to help with that image.  I don't know how to tell him that I can't be the 'perfect child' that he wants."

"It's been difficult for me to get my dad to understand that I don't want what he wants for me."

"I guess we both have messed up fathers."

"Yeah, I guess so."

They looked at each other and laughed a little.  This was the first time that the two of them actually managed to get along together without any insults.  They most of the time tried to avoid each other at the monastery and at school.  Cole was trying to make an effort to be a better person and Seliel was getting a new perspective of Cole's life.

All of a sudden there was a ringing in Cole's pocket and pulled out a communicator.  Jay, Nya, Zane, and PIXAL made communicators for the whole team.  Well, at least the seven elemental masters.  PIXAL secretly made a couple extra for herself and Seliel.  They looked around to make sure no one was watching or listening in.

"What's up?" Cole answered.

"There's an attack by Borg Tower.  Meet us there," he heard Lloyd's voice reply.

"I'm on my way."  He turned towards Seliel.  "Make sure to stay away from Borg Tower until we take care of it.  I don't want you to get hurt."  He realized what he said.  "O-or PIXAL for that matter."

"Go," Seliel said.  "We can finish your skateboarding lesson later."

Cole nodded and left to go help the others.

When Cole got out of view, Seliel pulled out her communicator.  "Hey Pix, grab the mech.  I have a feeling that the others could use our help."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed!