Class Project
This isn't my first fanfic, but this is my first TMNT fic. Hopfully all who read will enjoy!
"Woohoo!"
There was that shout of joy again, that soft tapping of feet on the roof. She always wondered who, or what, was up there around the midnight hour almost every night since had had moved to the top floor apartment in New York City. She glanced up at the ceiling a little irritated.
"I'm trying to study," She murmured under her breath. Every night for the past two months she would tell herself, 'tonight is that night I check the roof'. But, she never did. Mostly, because she was afraid of what she'd find out.
Her room door creaked open revealing her mother, dressed in her blue scrubs and white tennis shoes. Behind sleek black glasses the young women looked at her daughter in amusement. "How long do you plan on staying up? You're already starting to get bags under your eyes."
The teen sighed, leaning back in her chair. "I'm almost done. I swear, Pre-Calc will be the death of me."
Her mother chuckled, readjusting her messenger bag on her shoulders. "Well don't stay up much longer Rori. I won't be home till after you leave for school so I'll see you after your gymnastics practice. Make sure Simon gets groceries after school."
"Okay," Rori replied.
Once her mother left she closed the heavy book, her mind feeling heavy with information she couldn't seem to understand. Irritated, she tied her curly brown locks in a ponytail. Who ever created math can die a horrible death. I bet they had no friends since-
Tap…tap…tap…
The soft tapping of feet were once again heard above her. She was going to get to the bottom of this. She threw on a pair of sweat pants over her black shorts and a blue hoodie with her old high schools insignia on it. She vaguely wondered if this was going to become the stupidest thing she had ever done, but she decided not to think about it. She crept out into the dark hallway of her apartment to check the room next to her. Through the darkness she could see the outline of her older brother, curled under his sheets with only the top of his dark curly hair showing. She quickly darted back to her room, closing the door behind her, and went to open her window, climbing out to the fire escape.
"Rori Michelle!"
She froze in fear, brown eyes wide. "Simon!"
Her 6 foot 3 inches, muscular and athletically build older brother made his way over to her in just five strides. The anger in his eyes was evident as he yanked her back into the house by her forearm. "What were you thinking? What are you trying to sneak out for?" He questioned.
She snatched her arm back, embarrassed and shocked that her brother had found her so soon in her plan (not that she really had a plan to begin with). "I heard something on the roof-"
"That doesn't mean you go see what it is," He interrupted. "We don't live in the suburbs any more Rori. The city is dangerous, especially at night."
"I know that!"
Simon scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Obviously not. Be lucky that mom's not here or she would have beaten you." He leaned over, shutting and locking the window, before pulling the purple curtains closed. "Don't ever let me catch you doing something like that again."
She glared at him, not liking the way he was talking down to her. "You're not my father; I can do whatever the hell I want."
He towered over her petite 5'5 frame, arms crossed. "I'm not going to stand by and let you get yourself hurt because you decided to go look on the roof."
Rori had the sneaking suspicion that he was hiding something. "It's not like I'd fall off or something. Besides, I just wanted to take a peek."
Simon sighed heavily, sick of trying to get his sister to see reason. Sure she was a smart girl, but there were times where she severely lacked common sense. "Let's just get back to bed. We have school in a few hours."
But, once all the lights were off, and Simon was back in his room and Rori curled under her covers, she just couldn't shake the emotions that were going through her. Curiosity, fear, worry, anger. Through what could only be called some form of close sibling telepathy she could feel that her brother was hiding something, something big, from her. But what?
Hours later when she had to wake up at the dreaded time of 6:15, she rushed to the bathroom to take a shower before her brother could get up.
"Rori I need to take a shower too!" Simon shouted, banging on the oak door.
"I'll be out in a second!" She shouted back, running a brush through her brown locks of hair, letting it fall just below her shoulder. She looked herself over once more in the mirror, feeling cute in her skinny jeans and long-sleeved blue shirt. She left the bathroom to eat quick breakfast, then finishing up her morning routine.
"Ready?" Simon asked, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.
The two headed out to the parking garage attached to apartments, getting on Simon's motorcycle and making their way through the city.
"Bye Sy," Rori grinned, readjusting her bag on shoulders before heading into the school.
She arrived at her first hour class just in time for the bell to ring; taking her seat near the back of the computer lab. Her first hour was journalism- a subject she loved and hoped to continue on through college.
"I see you were almost late again," Her best friend Justin commented. "Way to be."
"Shut up," Rori said, playfully shoving him on the shoulder. "We got stuck in traffic."
Justin chuckled before they both turned their attention to their teacher, Mr. Neal. He took attendance before giving his students their next assignment.
"There is always something to write about in New York," The young teacher began. "You just have to find it. You need to find an interesting topic to write about and present it to the class next month. The only thing you can't do is get yourself killed because you decided to write about gangs. Leave that to people like Anderson Cooper." He then sat at his desk and left his students to their work.
"He's as vague as always," Rori muttered, turning on her computer. "Great. I have no clue what I'm going to write about."
"How about the mysterious tapping on your roof at night," Justin suggested. "And those explosions you say you see outside of your house."
"Mr. Neal told us not to get ourselves killed," She replied. "It's a good idea, but I'd probably be walking into a gang war." She logged into her user and clicked her mouse across the blue 'e' to get to the internet. "Besides, what if the tapping on my roof is just a bird or something."
Justin gave her a sideways glance as he logged onto his computer. "But what if it's not? I know you Ror, you're going to go to your roof sometime in the next few days and find out."
Rori scoffed, looking at the good search engine screen blankly. "Simon caught me trying to go to the roof last night. He'll be on high alert the next few days."
"Well then give it to next week," The brunette boy suggested. "In the meantime we can go around the city at night to find the source of those explosions."
"What?" Rori snapped. "Are you crazy?"
"Only a little."
"Absouly not!
[A few hours later]
"I can't believe I'm out here with you," Rori groaned, zipping up her jean jacket. "I'm cold!"
"You're always cold," Justine replied. The two were walking around the city, looking for some action to write about. "Do you know what this could do for our careers?"
"Since when did we make this a group article?"
"Since a few hours ago," Justin grinned.
Rori sighed, shaking her head. Justin Khace had been her befriend since middle school- always being there to protect her when her brother wasn't around. Not that she needed much protecting- she was pretty much under the radar. He stood taller than her by a few inches with messing brown hair and stunning blue eyes that stood out against his caramel skin tone. He was a cutie for sure, but she just didn't have romantic feelings for him (though her mother always teased her saying that she did). He was her sarcasm buddy; always there when she wanted to hang out or just needed someone to talk to. Luckily, when she moved to the city with her mother and brother, his father was moving too- letting the two continue going to the same school.
"Justin there's nothing happening," She yawned.
"Obviously we're not looking in the right place," Justin replied. "Let's hit the alleyways."
"Are you insane?" Rori nearly shouted. "Do you know how dangerous those are? We could get killed!"
"We'll be fine," Justin said dismissively. He then paused, a smirk forming on his face. "Actually, let's check out that roof of yours."
Rori was dragged back home by her over-adventurous friend. They went up the fire escape ladders on the side of the brick building so her family wouldn't spot them.
"See there's nothing here," Rori said, though secretly she was disappointed.
"What time do you usually hear these noises?" Justin asked.
"Around midnight," She replied, moving around the rooftop. "Sometimes later. The explosions only happen every now and then at the street level."
"It's only ten right now," Justin muttered, looking at his wrist watch. "We'll have to plan an all-nighter for this to work."
"We have a month you know."
"We can't procrastinate on this. We need to get as much information on possible."
"What exactly is our topic?"
A smirk once again, crept onto his features. "What do you think? To find out what's behind those explosions and those weird noises on your roof. They could be connected." His phone hummed in his pocket and he took it out to read his message. "Man, I need to head home. Don't tell your family about any of this. We could get in trouble."
"But-"
"Promise me! This could jump start our careers! We could meet Andersen Cooper, or be on Oprah!"
Rori sighed, doubting that either of those things would happen. Though, she was curious to know if the explosions and the noises were connected. "Okay, I promise."
The two went their separate ways- Rori inside her apartment and Justin back to his. She found her mom watching TV in the living room.
"Hey, where were you?" Rori's mother, Lynelle asked. The thirty-five year old African-American mother had worry lines around her eyes. "I tried calling you."
Rori tugged her phone out of her jean pocket and realized her mother was right and that somehow her phone had been put on silent. "Sorry mom, I was out with Justin. We're working on a project."
"Alright," She replied, changing the channel. "Do you know where Sy is?"
"He's not home?" Rori questioned. "I haven't seen him since I told him after school I was hanging with Justin."
"He's been really…stand-offish lately," Lynelle said. "He's out later and later and since his 18, I can't do much."
"He's still in high school though," Rori pointed out. "He doesn't have total rights of an adult."
Lynelle sighed, sliding her glasses off and rubbing her tired eyes. "I fear that he's doing something…" she trailed off and Rori knew what her mother was thinking.
The Purple Dragons, Rori thought sadly. "Mom, I don't think he'd do that. I mean, he has a full ride to Penn State. Why would he give that up?"
Lynelle shrugged, ending the conversation and trying to call her son again. Rori moved to the kitchen to warm-up some Mac & Cheese, then shutting herself in her room for the rest of the night, playing Sims 3 on her laptop.
"Woo Hoo!"
Rori glanced up at the ceiling, a questioning glint in her eyes. "I will find out who's up there. If I can find that out and the explosions I could jump start my career."
Or possibly get myself killed.
[Author's Corner]
~The turtles should show up next chapter if everything goes as planned.
~Rori and Justin (who's last name is pronounced Case) are juniors in high school and Simon is a senior. Also, Rori and Simon's last name is Hendrix.
~Also, Rori and Simon are mixed- being half african-american and half cacausian