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Jay loved his parents. He knew he was lucky— all he had to do was look at his friends' relationships with their parents to see that. Between abandonment, neglect, and a literal warlord who attacked the city almost every day, parents who just tended to be too friendly with people seemed like the greatest parents of all time. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. Jay didn't tend to hang out with his parents in public much. (Not because he was embarrassed of them. There just weren’t many circumstances where they’d be in the same place at the same time other than when they were home.)
The only time it did become an issue was when his parents went to his school for any reason.
Jay wasn’t in any extracurriculars like sports or band that would have games or performances for his parents to go to, which minimised the number of times they came to his school, but there was always the unavoidable Open House and parent-teacher conferences. Parent-teacher conferences at the very least were private; Open House was public with the whole school and all their parents and even siblings.
On the day of his sophomore year’s Open House, Jay had already been having a bad anxiety day. He had been called on to answer questions in every class, and he was so tired from an early morning patrol that most of the time, he had been half asleep and not paying attention. So when we got home and his parents reminded him about Open House, he knew he wouldn’t have a good time.
Jay sat down to start his homework, but his mind was racing 1000 miles an hour trying to plan for every possible interaction that his parents could have that night. He just had to keep them focused. He just had to keep them quiet. He just had to keep them away from the engineering classroom so they wouldn't see the door display he helped make. They didn’t know anything about him being in the engineering club, and he knew they would be so proud of him and get really loud and—
Jay groaned and closed his books. He knew he wasn't going to be able to get any work done, so he just put his head in his hands and let out a sigh as his dad walked into the trailer, his hands covered in oil and his glasses fogged up from whatever project he had been working on. He was laughing at some joke he had thought of when he saw Jay.
“We’re almost ready to go, son,” he said. “I'm just going to wash off a bit, then we’ll be on our way.”
Jay sighed again and put his homework back in his backpack. He brought his bag to his room, then went back to the kitchen where his parents were doing their usual last-minute scramble to get out the door. He went outside and sat on the steps leading up to the door to wait for them. It took another 15 minutes for his parents to actually get out the door and for them to get in the car he and his dad had built together. Jay loved that car and was really proud of it, but it was loud and it stood out from all the modern, professionally built cars in the rest of the city. As they pulled onto the road, Jay could feel people looking at them, and he pulled his scarf up higher over his face trying to hide.
By the time they got to Ninjago High, the parking lot had been completely filled, so they had to park about a block away and walk to the school. They went to the crowded quad where everyone was waiting for it to start. Jay looked around and saw Lloyd and his mom at the edge of the crowd. Lloyd had his hood up and was curled in on himself, glancing around until he noticed Jay. Lloyd gave him an exhausted yet genuine smile, but he must have heard someone he didn’t want to deal with because he glanced to his right and quickly moved his mom in the other direction.
The Open House finally started, and they went to Jay’s first period. His teacher gave a short presentation on the class syllabus and the structure of each day, then the bell rang, and they went to his next class. Rinse and repeat until they had gone to all of his classes.
After that came the hard part. Families got to walk around the school and see all the displays that clubs had put up on their classroom doors. As the Walkers were going throughout the school and looking at the displays, Jay was trying desperately to come up with a plan to keep them quiet when they saw the Engineering Club’s door and to make sure they drew as little attention as possible. By the time they finally got to the Engineering Club’s display, Jay was still yet to come up with a good plan. His most realistic one was to hope and pray for a Garmadon attack that would stop them from seeing it all together. As they approached his club’s door, his parents looked at the display the same way they had looked at all the others, and Jay realised that he never actually told his parents that he was joining a club. They didn’t know! He was just starting to think that he would get through the night without a disruption when his mom noticed his name in the bottom right corner signature in the bottom right corner with all the names of the people who worked on the display.
“I didn't know you were in the Engineering Club!” she said way too loudly for someone who was a foot away from him.
His dad said, “Why, that’s a cause for celebration!”
His parents kept talking, but they were muffled to Jay. He could feel people looking at them, could feel their judgement, their laughter. His breath started to hitch, and he tried to do the breathing exercises Cole had taught him, but it wasn't working. There were too many people. He had to get out of there. He turned on his heel and walked off without a word, pulling his scarf even higher and fidgeting with the ends. He could hear his parents call after him, but he just kept walking.
He wasn't going anywhere in particular. He just kept walking until he found himself in the library. There were some people there, but his favourite table in the back corner was empty, and there was no one in the area.
He sat down and tried the breathing exercise again. In for 4, hold for 7, out for 8. In for 4, hold for 7, out for 8. In for 4, hold for 7, out for 8. As his breathing steadied out, he wiped the tears from his face with his sleeves and put his head in his arms. He was embarrassed and ashamed. He left his parents in the middle of a crowded school without telling them where he was going, and they probably hated him and never wanted to speak to him again, and—
“Jay?”
Jay’s head shot up and he turned around to see his parents. To his surprise, they didn't look angry or sad or hurt. They just looked concerned and maybe a little worried.
“I'm sorry,” Jay mumbled, pulling his scarf over his mouth again.
“No, we’re sorry,” his dad said. “We shouldn't have been so loud.”
“We know how hard this stuff can be for you Jay,” his mom said as they sat down on either side of him, “and we should've been more considerate.”
“You were just excited,” Jay said, pulling his scarf a little bit.
“We were,” his dad said smiling, “and we're proud of you son for putting yourself out there and joining a club in the first place.”
His mom gripped his hand firmly to comfort him and said, “Let’s go home, why don’t we? We can get takeout from that noodle place you love on the way.”
As they finally pulled back into the junkyard, Jay felt much better. He could feel that a storm was coming, and he was always much calmer when he was in his element. Between the smell of Chen’s Noodles, the static electricity in the air, and the comfort of their trailer, he was able to calm down.
And as he passed out their food, he realised that he had the best parents he could have and the only parents he would want.