What Divides Us

A/N: Okay, this story may not be a updated very often, seeing how I am writing A Million Miles Apart, and that's my biggest priority. This is basically just a story with the turtles as human boys, going to school, eating pizza and having fun together. And I'll write for this story when I feel I need a break from all the space-stuff and all that.

There will be no real plot throughout the 'story', except when I get the idea to write a kind of 'story-arc' like a two or three-parter. And their age might vary from being kids to teenagers in different chapters, but never beyond sixteen; like I said, there's no real plot throughout the stories. And just so you know, I'm still not 100% sure of how schools work in America, so please be nice, alright?

I will try to write as many chapters about the others as I can, but I have a feeling it will be kinda Donnie-centric. When I get new ideas I will put them in the story but if you have ideas or suggestions, feel free to tell me.

First Day of School – Part 1

Well, the day had come. First day of second grade. I was brand new in this town, had no friends, and nothing was familiar. My family had just moved to New York City from our house upstate, and let's just say I wasn't too happy about this change. I loved the old house. It was big, had a huge lawn, lots of trees to climb, and it was only a few minutes away from a lake that was perfect to swim and fish in. We still owned the house, so we had somewhere to go during the summer or any holidays, but we had moved away from Northampton because my dad got transferred to New York and we had to move closer. And both Mom and Dad thought it would do me some good to move to a new city, so that I could 'make some friends,' as they said. But I didn't really want any friends; I was fine with being alone and an introvert, so why did we have to move? Couldn't Dad just have bought a small apartment in New York where he could live while he worked and then come home to our house during the weekends? That would've worked too.

I sighed heavily as I got off the school bus and walked towards the big school building. My mom had offered to drop me off at school on her way to work, but I had refused. The last thing I needed was to be seen with my mother on my first day. If I was going to make new friends, I wanted to be myself and not be seen as some kind of momma's boy who needed his mommy to drive him to school. It would only cause bullying or at least teasing - I knew that much about how school and kids worked.

I looked at my watch and saw it was almost eight o'clock, so I started to jog towards the doors. I stopped at a window where I could see my reflection in the glass and took a look at myself. Since it was still August and rather warm outside I had left my jacket at home and was currently sporting an unzipped light-grey hoodie, a purple t-shirt, my cargo shorts and my black converse, with my brown duffle bag thrown over my shoulder. My thick brown hair was tousled from the wind blowing through it, giving it just the right look of easygoing and serious. I looked into my brown eyes and my black 'hipster glasses', as people liked to call them, and sighed heavily.

I hated my glasses and I couldn't wait until I got older and my mom would buy me contact lenses so I could replace these stupidly dorky glasses. The bulky frames painted me up as an even bigger nerd than I already was. I had always felt weird around other kids since I was actually interested in school and learning. Sure, I liked to run around and play like other kids, but I also loved reading and adding fascinating new information to my archives. Especially with math and science. And that's why I was usually alone and sometimes bullied. But the bullying never went beyond being called a few names, like nerd, freak or four-eyes, so it was easy for me to either ignore or figure out their tactics. Nothing I couldn't handle. Well, once a third-grader girl stole my books and hid them in her backpack. That time I had to go to my teacher for help. But other than that, I could handle most of the mean kids at my old school.

I sighed and walked through the school doors, immediately getting confused. The hallway alone was filled with so many kids of different ages running around and I had no idea where to go. Everyone seemed to be going in circles, talking or yelling at their friends so they could be heard and walking in different directions to their classmates. I had no idea where to go, or who to ask for help. I saw a kid with neatly combed black hair wearing a blue dress-shirt with the sleeves folded up to just below his elbows, with a black t-shirt underneath, and carefully tapped him on the shoulder.

"Uh, excuse me? I'm new here- can you tell me where to go? I'm supposed to go to room twelve." The boy turned to me and smiled lightly at me. He had friendly grey-blue eyes and his smile felt genuine and not sarcastic or forced, like so many other kids at my old school did when I tried to talk to them.

"Oh, yeah, sure. My friend and I were on our way there right now. Just come with me." I smiled gratefully and followed him down the hallway and then up a staircase, then down another hallway. A slightly shorter boy with blonde hair and an orange hoodie, a green t-shirt and jeans shorts ran up to us. He had a bright orange backpack slung over his shoulder and a big, bright smile on his face. There were freckles sprinkled all over his cheeks.

"Hey, Leo! You made a new friend?" The boy, who apparently was named Leo, smiled at the other boy and then looked at me. For some reason I smiled back at the two, even though it was rather small, and adjusted the strap over my shoulder.

"Hey, Mikey. I was just showing this kid the way to our classroom. He's new here." Mikey smiled even wider (if it was even possible) and looked me straight in the eyes. His round baby blues seemed to lock onto my soul, but in a friendly way- somehow. It was a strange effect, but his overall happy, innocent appearance made it work.

"Hi, dude! My name's Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey! And this is my friend Leo! What's your name?" He asked it loudly and reached out his hand for me to grab, and I'll admit, I was a bit taken aback at how straightforward he was and how his whole being was bubbling with happiness and friendliness. His loud voice didn't help much either. It was a new feeling for me, but I quickly shook it off and grabbed his hand and shook it.

"Donatello, but my family calls me Donnie." Mikey and Leo smiled and led me to a room with a world map on the wall, a few vases with colourful flowers on various flat surfaces, and a whiteboard where the words 'Welcome Back!' were written with colourful pens, along with flowers and a big sun drawn around the them. On the wall, right across from the door, were two huge windows that allowed a view of a lawn with a few trees, a swingset, a big climbing frame, monkey bars with rings to swing from and bars to climb on, and two slides, one small and one bigger. Scattered about were a few benches where kids could study, talk with friends or just enjoy the sunlight.

I smiled and sat down at the bench closest to the window, in the first row. I had a feeling I was gonna like it here, even if I didn't make friends. At least the school itself looked pretty nice. But those thoughts were interrupted when a kid with red spiky hair and acid green eyes, standing several inches taller than me and with twice as much muscle on his body, walked up to me, slammed his clenched fist onto the desk and glared at me as though I'd killed his beloved puppy in cold blood.

"Hey, kid! That's my seat. Move it!" I looked up at him, startled out of my thoughts, and out of instinct I felt a little scared- mostly because of his muscles. The always-chattering analytical voice in my head quickly drew the conclusion that this kid could throw me across the room and and beat me up alarmingly easily. But I shook that feeling off and narrowed my eyes at him. I knew from experience that the worst thing you could do was give in to a bully- then he would just keep coming back with his demands and would never quit pushing you around. So I frowned up at him and tried to look defiant.

"I don't see your name on this bench, so why don't you just take another seat and leave me alone?" He was visibly a bit taken aback by my words, but he covered his lapse by raising his fists from the desk, loudly slamming them right back down, pointing his finger at my face, opening is mouth and sucking in a huge breath to scream at me with. However, I got lucky for once as a young woman walked into the room and placed some books on the desk at the front of the classroom, effectively cutting off any tirade that had been coming my way.

"Raphael, stop that immediately and sit down! Class is about to start." Raphael frowned at the teacher, then at me, before he stalked off and plopped down onto another bench. Leo, who was sitting beside me, leaned over to bridge the space between us and whispered to me while the teacher was writing something on the board.

"Don't worry about Raph- he picks on every new student... and some of the old ones, too. We got two new students last year and he tried to scare both of them- and succeeded. You're the first one who's stood up to him. You're pretty brave." I nodded and returned my gaze to the board as the teacher, a young woman with brown hair tied into a bun, finished what she was writing on the board and turned to face us. On her nose was a pair of round glasses and her green eyes looked kind but firm.

"Welcome back from summer vacation, class. Did you have a good time?" The whole class said 'yes' in chorus, except me; I rested my chin in my hand, rolled my eyes and mumbled to myself.

"Yeah, it would've been if I didn't have to move to this stinking city." The teacher, whose name seemed to be Mrs. Foreste, smiled at me and waved me up, and even though I shook my head, she still managed to, somehow, coax me out of my chair. I walked up to the front with a sigh and she put her arm around me, smiling at the class.

"We have a new student in our class today! This is Donatello Jackson, and he just moved here from Northampton. I hope you will treat him nicely and make him feel welcome." I looked out over the sea of students and saw one redheaded girl with pigtails, a yellow t-shirt and freckles on her nose and cheeks, a boy with black hair, messy clothes and a massive gap in his front teeth as three or four were missing, a girl with short black hair, a pair of glasses and a purple tank top, and a pudgy boy with a dorky smile and a blue t-shirt with the Superman logo on the chest. Then I had to sit down again, but I managed to catch a glimpse of that Raphael as he sat at his new desk with a frown and folded arms over his chest. It was clear he didn't really like me. I didn't exactly like him, either.

Our first lesson was about grammar and spelling, but I had a hard time concentrating. It didn't really matter anyway since I already knew how to spell the words in the book and I was really sure of the grammar as well. I just sat there and read in the grammar book to make it look like I was working. It was also a little hard to concentrate since I saw that Raph was glaring at me, a frown on his face. I tried to ignore him and concentrate on my work.

Suddenly I felt something hit me in the back of my head and I turned around to see if anyone had tried to get my attention, but saw that everyone behind me was bent over their exercise books, pencils scribbling eagerly in them. I looked down at the floor and saw a small crumpled paper ball that I assumed someone had thrown at my head. I bent down, picked it up and unfolded it. There was no text or image so I assumed someone had just tried to get on my nerves. And I had an idea of who it was. I shrugged it off and put the paper down in my bag and looked down at my book again.

When the first lesson was over we had a small break and some chose to eat a small sandwich or a fruit, or drink a package of juice. The red-haired girl with pigtails stood up and walked over to me. When she smiled I saw that she had braces but in my eyes, she was kinda pretty. She smiled at me and her blue eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Hi! My name's April." She said and reached out her hand towards me. I smiled unsurely at her and shook her hand.

"Hi. I'm Donatello, but you can call me Donnie." She smiled at me and I saw she had small dimples in her cheeks. Then she looked at Raph, who was playing with his pencils, and then back at me.

"Don't mind Raph- picks fights with everyone, even some older kids. Just ignore him and don't let him push you around. He only fights with kids that try to fight back." I looked at Raph, then at April, nodded at her and smiled.

"Thanks." Then Mrs. Foreste came back in and sat down at her desk.

"Well, class, let's start again, shall we?" April skipped back to her bench and the lesson went on again. The next lesson was math, and this time I was ready to shine. I knew most kids would call me a swot, but I didn't care. It's not like it was anything new. Mrs. Foreste gave us all a math book and asked us to open page five. She then wrote up a math problem on the blackboard and asked us to solve it. But I didn't need to look in the book, I already knew the answer. I raised my hand and the teacher seemed surprised that I hadn't even consulted the book.

"Yes, Donatello?" I looked over the problem one more time and then gave my answer.

"The answer is twenty-four." The teacher read the problem and visibly did the math in her head, and then nodded with a bright smile.

"Yes, that's right. How did you come up with the answer?" I walked up to the blackboard and took a piece of chalk before breaking down the problem.

"Well, we first had thirty dollars and then used up six, so I subtracted six from thirty, since we no longer have six, and got the answer twenty-four." While I explained how I had solved the math problem, I wrote 30, then 6 under it, drew a straight line under them and then pointed on both numbers. "Now, since I can't subtract six from zero or seven from zero, I 'borrow' ten from the 3 and that makes the first zero ten instead." As I kept on explaining I saw that most of kids didn't really pay attention, but others, like Leo, seemed try and copy what I told them. When I was done I walked back to my bench and sat down again and the lesson went on. I saw that some kids looked at me enviously and I smiled lightly at that. It felt a little good to know that some of the kids in here were jealous of me. But only a little.

The bell rang and by then it was time for lunch. This time I didn't need to ask for directions, I just followed the rest of the kids down the stairs and down a hallway to a hall filled with tables and kids who had either sat down to eat or stood in line to get something to eat from the cafeteria. But I had brought lunch with me so I just walked past the line where Leo, Mikey, April, Raph and the rest of the class now stood and waited.

I saw that a bunch of kids, both older and younger, had chosen to sit outside since the sun was still out and it was rather warm, so I chose to do the same. I walked out and sat down in the shadow of an old, gnarled oak and opened my bag. I picked up my purple lunch box and opened it. Inside was a sandwich, a red apple, and a few strawberries and carrot sticks. Inside was also my green water bottle filled with milk. I sighed in content as I took a bite of the sandwich and leaned against the trunk of the tree. I really liked the summer, and even if school had started, I still thought of it as late summer rather than early autumn like some kids at my old school did. I guess since people say that school starts 'next fall' and we have most of the summer to be lazy, go on vacation and do other fun things, they see the season when school starts again as something separate.

As I started to eat my lunch, except for the apple, which I always saved for last, I picked up a book from my bag and started to read. My dad had bought me this book when I turned eight a few weeks ago and I had already read it, like, twenty times. It was a book about the solar system, adapted for kids, of course. But it was adapted for older kids, much older, and I loved it. I stretched out my bare legs in cool grass and enjoyed the warm air. I had just started to read about Jupiter when I was interrupted.

"Oh, here you are." I looked up from the book and saw both Leo and Mikey standing there with red plastic trays of food, looking down at me. I was a bit surprised, so I closed my book and put it aside.

"Uh, hey. Did you want something?" I tried to sound nice, but I wasn't sure it worked so well. Mikey placed his tray down in the grass and sat down in front of me.

"No, not really, dude. We were just wondering if it's okay if we sit here? You look kinda lonely." Yeah, and that's how I liked it. But I didn't say that. I just shrugged and looked back down at my book, longing to pick it up again as my manners kept my hands firmly away from it.

"It's a free country. You can sit wherever you want, but I'm not really good at talking to people, so I can't promise I'll be very good company." Leo just shrugged, put his tray down in the grass and took a bite out of his sandwich. When there wasn't any speaking done for a good twenty seconds, my desire to read overcame my sense of politeness and I slowly opened my book back up and resumed reading. Jupiter is two and a half times bigger than all the other planets in the solar system combined? Is that including Pluto, considering it's part of the solar system but technically not considered a planet? What stance is the author coming from? Wait, what's the publishing date on this? I wonder if it came before Pluto was demoted... I mean, it wasn't that long ago. Does Pluto's inclusion really make a difference to the the fact, though? I suppose if I'm wanting exact data, then yes, since it would add mass, but it's just for generalized comparison- My train of thought was utterly derailed when the book- and the diagram of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, that I was studying distractedly as I thought- was suddenly not in front of me. Blinking out of my theorizing, I finally located the missing book. Mikey was holding it, looking at the page I was on. At first I was a bit shocked, but I quickly got irritated and tried to snatch it back.

"Hey! Give that back!" Mikey just avoided me and ignored me,skimming through the book with obvious disinterest.

"How can you read this stuff? There're no superheroes, monsters or mutants in it!" Leo rolled his eyes and also tried to snatch the book away from his friend. I crossed my arms over my chest and tried to look smug.

"Well, some people don't like to read anything but comics and science fiction. I happen to like reading about the universe and the planets. So, if you wouldn't mind." When I said 'wouldn't' I managed to get ahold of the book and snatched it from the blonde boy. He looked at me with wide, surprised eyes, then smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh, really? Well, then, I'm not surprised you don't have any friends." Leo, who had just brought his milk carton to his lips, choked on the milk and hit his friend over the head.

"Mikey!" I just shook my head and shrugged.

"No, no, it's okay. No kid has ever really wanted to be friends with me and I'm cool with it. It's the way it is: some have friends, some don't. That's life for ya." Leo and Mikey shared a look and then stared at me with pity. I just rolled my eyes at their looks, returning my gaze to my book and starting to read about Jupiter again, when I felt a hand on my shoulder, making me look up again. Leo smiled at me and Mikey grinned while sipping on his juicebox.

"Well, you have us now. We could be your friends, if you'd like." I raised a brow dubiously. Could I trust these two? Or would they just ditch me? Or were they doing this because they pitied me? I shrugged off his hand and took a bite from my apple.

"Look, I'm used to being alone all the time. I'm fine with it, and I don't need you to pity me. So thanks, but no thanks." Leo grabbed my book, closed it and kept it an arm's length away from me. I dropped my apple to the ground and tried to grab the book back, but it was still tauntingly inches away from my fingers.

"Hey! Give me my book back! Knock it off!" Leo held it up over his head and looked at me seriously. Mikey placed his arm around my shoulders and also tried to look serious.

"We don't pity you. I just think nobody should be alone just because they're not good at talking or making friends." I narrowed my eyes at him and snatched my book out of Leo's hand.

"Yeah? Well, you're not exactly convincing me when you keep stealing my things!" I put it back in my bag and picked up my apple from the grass. Leo placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Maybe not, but still. You're not even trying. Just because you're used to being alone doesn't mean you like it, right?" I halted from taking another bite out of my apple. I looked at Leo. I thought for a second and lowered my hand.

"No, I guess not." Mikey squeezed me with his arm around my shoulders and ruffled my hair with his other hand. And, despite myself, I couldn't help but laugh when he did.

"See? Life is so much more fun when you have friends to share the fun with! Trust me on that." I smiled back at him and threw my apple, watching it sail through the air until it landed in the garbage can a few feet away from us. For the rest of our lunch break I sat under that tree and talked with Leo and Mikey, and I found myself enjoying their company. Yes, Mikey was a bit random, but he was still more fun than I had first thought. When I'd first seen him, I'd thought he was super annoying, but now I could see that he had a good sense of humour. And Leo wasn't quite as uptight as I had thought when I met him. He was a fan of that cheesy Space Heroes cartoon that I had heard of.

I had a feeling I might like this city more than I thought.

To be continued...

A/N: And done! It only took more than a year to finish. That's not so long, right? Anyway, this and the next chapter will probably be the only chapters that have a P.O.V from one character, since I wanna try something new and don't have the patience to rewrite the whole thing. And if you have an idea for a story for me to write, please feel free to send me requests or ideas! :)

I hope you liked this first chapter of my new story and please review, favorite and follow! G'night everybody!