When We Met
Chapter 1: New Kids In Town
"Everyone has a right to pursue a happy life.
The difficult part is to be given that right.
Everyone has a right to pursue a happy life.
The difficult part is to fulfill that right.
I too have a right to pursue a happy life.
The difficult part is to work out a compromise for that right."
-Frederica Bernkastel (Maturibabyashi-hen)
Leonardo's Perspective
As I watched my brothers doing their own stuff, I looked the car window, trying to find New York City. A tiny raindrop fell and soon, the rain poured hard. Droplets of rain soon tainted on the clear car window outside. New York is finally approaching...which means that I have to say goodbye to our old life in Japan. Our father decided that it's time to move to somewhere safer, and I guess New York is the answer. It's time to make a fresh start now that we're in America. I better act...American or something...I don't know. Somehow, I miss Japan already. But, we had no choice.
"My sons, we are here."Our father said. My chin rose up and face stuck to the window. Geez, New York sure is beautiful...but rainy today, I guess. It sure is amazing here.
"This is New York?"My brother, Raphael asked. "It's incredible here. I mean, the structure of the buildings and-" "Yeah, yeah, Donatello. We get it."Raphael said as he continued reading his magazine. Donatello just sighed and went back to reading his book. Me? I'm still staring at the window.
Then, I saw something that caught my attention: a boy with baby blue eyes, freckles, wearing a black shirt with an orange jacket on top of it with a hood, orange pants, and white rubber shoes. His hair is sandy brown and his skin is the lightest. Right now, the boy is walking to school maybe? But what caught my attention is, he's alone...and he also has a bandage on his cheek. Poor guy. He's all alone, walking to his school, and some people being rude to him.
But what's strange was on the inside: I sort of feel...a connection to him or something. He does look like us or something. But why do I have this strange feeling?
"Whatcha' looking, Leonardo?"Raphael asked. "Over there."I said. Raphael and Donatello looked out the window and saw the boy walking alone to school.
"Poor guy."Donatello said. "The boy really need some friends around...what the heck happened to his cheek? It's like...bruised or something."Raphael said. I still stared at the boy in orange and people, pushing him. He fell to the ground and landed on a wet puddle of water. Tears sprung out of his face as he collected his books and ran, not caring if the sign said "Stop". Cars beeped and some are yelling at him.
Somehow, maybe Raphael is right: maybe he does need friends.
But as I looked at the car window, I saw my own father and sensei, putting a guilty look on his face and sighing. I got confused: why is Master Splinter this sad ever since he saw the boy?
Somehow, this is getting stranger and stranger.
XX
"My sons, we are home."Master Splinter simply said as he parked out car in the parking lot. We started grabbing our suitcases as we looked for our apartment. Master Splinter got the key and opened the door. Then, we all went in.
The apartment isn't all so bad. It's just like one of those regular apartments you see on cartoons and stuff. I brought my suitcase inside my new room and dropped it. I collapsed on the bed, panting from lifting the heavy suitcase. After a few minutes, I started cleaning my room, arranging my things, putting my clothes inside the drawers, hanging the photo frames and making my own bed. I sat on the chair, exhausted from the heavy work.
"Leonardo, dinner is ready!"
As I heard the voice of Raphael, I immediately stood up and raced to the kitchen.
"So, what are we having?"I asked. "Ramen."Donatello simply replied as he set the ramen on the table. I grabbed my chopstick and started eating. The rain poured harder every now and then.
"My sons, you will be starting school by tomorrow, so you must be prepared. Understood?"Master Splinter asked. "Hai, sensei."My brothers and I responded before we continued eating our ramen. I looked outside, the rain still pouring harder. We all kept silent as we ate out dinner.
When Master Splinter headed to the restroom, Raphael finally broke the atmosphere.
"I wonder what school will be like. Do we get to eat in the classroom like back in Japan?"Raphael asked. "Well in America, they use this room called cafeterias where they use it to serve food."Donatello said. "What about chopsticks?"I asked. "No, Leonardo. They use spoons and forks instead."Donatello replied. "I wonder how they use it."Raphael asked. "Well, let's learn tomorrow."Donatello said. "Sounds like a plan."Raphael said.
"Geez, Master Splinter is taking too long. I better check it out."I said as I rose up from my seat and left.
As I heard a sob, I immediately opened his door.
"Master Splinter, everything okay?"I asked. "Yes Leonardo. Now you better start fixing your things for school tomorrow. The way to Roosevelt High School might take a while."Master Splinter said. I sighed. "Hai sensei."With that, I closed the door and headed to my bed.
XX
My alarm buzzed. I woke up and looked up at the time.
7:00 AM
I immediately got up and grabbed my clothes: a white shirt, a blue jacket with a hood, jeans and rubber shoes. I removed my clothes I used last night and turned on the shower while closing the shower curtain.
As I was done, I rubbed myself with my towel and hung it. I put on my white shirt, and then topped it with my blue jacket. Next, I put on my jeans, wore my blue socks and tied my shoes. I grabbed my blue bag with the things needed for school.
Then I left.
XX
"Leonardo, breakfast is sushi!"Donatello exclaimed. I removed my bag and settled down to eat.
Donatello handed me over the chopsticks and the plate of sushi. I started eating it while Raphael and Master Splinter came in.
"Good morning, my sons."Master Splinter said. He looked at all three of us, dressed and prepared. He smiled. "I see you are well-prepared for your new school."All three of us nodded.
As soon as we put our bowls in the sink, we grabbed our bags and left...but we were stopped by Master Splinter.
"Do you know your way to school?"Master Splinter asked.
"Hai, sensei."We all said.
"Did you shower really well?"
"Hai, sensei."
"You didn't leave anything behind?"
"No, sensei."
"You fixed your things?"
"Hai, sensei."We groaned.
"Did you read the handbook of the school?"
"Sensei!"
Splinter just chuckled. "Be good, my sons."He said. As soon as we left, he rushed to the door and screamed, "Only use your ninjutsu skills when a villain is among this town, not just because someone calls you weird!"
"Sensei!"We exclaimed as we rushed down the stairs. Donatello and I rushed down using the stairs while Raphael slid on the handrail.
As soon as we went down, we quickly exited the apartment building and stopped first, panting from exhaustion.
"Come on, let's just walk."Raphael suggested.
As we walked on our way, I saw that kid yesterday, still wore the same thing...but even more wounded than before.
I quickly walked to the kid. "Hey, I'm Leonardo."I said. But the kid just ignored me and left. "Cheer up, Leonardo. We should try to socialize him when we meet him again."Donatello said. "Thanks, Donatello."I said. "Well, hurry up then! I don't wanna be late."Raphael said as he ran. We quickly followed him until we reached Roosevelt High School.
"Well, here it is guys."I said. We took a deep breath and went in bravely.
XX
As we got out of the office, we proceeded to our lockers. Luckily, our lockers are beside each other's so we can rush to the classroom at once.
The bell rang.
We looked at our schedule.
"I guess we share the same classes in first. Then, I share with Raphael. Then Donatello, then solo, then we'll meet each other at lunch, Raphael shares with Donatello for the next few classes and we'll be together in the last. Clear?"I asked. Raphael and Donatello nodded.
Our first class was History, which means we have no idea what the teacher's going to talk about. At least we were enrolled as Japanese transfer students, so no problem with that.
As we took our seats, I saw that boy again at the end of the classroom, sitting at the far end of the classroom in the dirtiest desk, feeling lonely.
I sighed.
"Guys, it's that kid again."I whispered. Donatello and Raphael looked at him. "What's up with that kid?"Raphael murmured. "Don't know. But we better talk to him when we find at him at lunch."Donatello mumbled.
"Are you the new kids?"A person asked. We looked around and saw a girl with her group of friends. She had blonde hair, tan skin, pink shirt, athletic shorts and sandals. Half of her group of friends are boys while the rest are girls.
"Yeah. I'm Leonardo Hamato. These are my brothers: Raphael and Donatello."I said as I pointed to each of my brothers as I said their names.
"Well...I'm Cassandra Hikle or Cass as they say it."Cass said.
"I'm Joey Bobert Jr."Joe said.
"I'm Yukari Tint."Yuki said.
"I'm Lewis Rubery."Lew said.
"I'm Evelyn Rosaria."Eve said.
"I'm Henry Magnuson."Henry said.
"I'm Maria Ocees."Mari said.
"The name's Claudine Merces."Claudy said.
"Jake Roson here."Jake said.
"I'm Randy Buttercup."Randy said.
I smiled. "Nice to meet you guys."I said. "Look, we'll talk at lunch. Meet us at table number 15."Cass said. Soon, they left.
"But what about the kid?"Raphael asked. "We'll try to talk to him by chance before we go to table 15."I said.
Soon, someone opened the door.
A tall man not older than forty, has a long face, mustache and wearing those teacher's uniforms from the 1800's had a sour expression. He took a seat and looked at us.
"Stand up!"He exclaimed. "Good morning, Mr. Suberin."We all said. Only the boy we saw remained seated. "Sit!"Mr. Suberin exclaimed. We all sat and looked at the teacher.
"I see we have new students. Stand up and introduce yourselves!"Mr. Suberin exclaimed. Raphael, Donatello and I stood up and went to the front.
"Konichiwa. I'm Leonardo Hamato. These are my brothers: Raphael and Donatello."I said. "No one told you to speak in Japanese, Mr. Hamato. Two hours in detention!"Mr. Suberin exclaimed as he kicked us and threw us our detention slips.
"This guy has a lot more temper than me."Raphael mumbled. "One more hour in detention for him!"Mr. Suberin exclaimed as he punched Raphael and gave another detention slip. We just sat down, bruised and hurt.
First period is going to be the worst one ever.
XX
We proceeded to the cafeteria and got our food.
"Now to find the kid."I said. "There he is."Raphael said. We saw the kid, sitting alone at the dark end of the cafeteria. He slowly ate his food and sighed.
"Let's do it."I said. We slowly approached the boy.
"I'm Leonardo. This is Raphael and Donatello. What's yours?"I asked. "Your here to bully me, aren't you?"The boy asked. He certainly has a high pitch voice. Tell you the truth, it's kind of adorable.
"No, we're not. We found you walking alone in the rain yesterday and people being rude at you. We felt concerned about this and we want to talk to you. We want to be friends with you."Donatello said in a gentle voice. "There you guys are!"A voice exclaimed. We turned around to see Cass. "Come on."She said. When she looked at the boy, she sneered at him. Of course, we don't want to argue with her, so we followed her. The boy just threw his lunch and went off.
I sighed.
"Sorry I'm late."A girl said. We turned around to see a girl who looks like she's 16, is a redhead and wearing a yellow shirt with the number 5 on it.
"Guys, this is April O'Neil."Cass said. Donatello suddenly felt love struck. "She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."Donatello mumbled. "Lover boy."Raphael commented as he put on a smirk on his face. Donatello sneered at him.
"I'm Leonardo Hamato. My brothers are Raphael and-"But I was interrupted by a love struck Donatello. "I-I'm Donatello."He said. I just rolled my eyes. "Hi."April said as she sat down.
"So, what do you guys want to talk about?"Cass asked. Somehow, I don't trust Cass and her group...except for this April. Something is up between Cass, her group members and the boy. But now, I rather lay off the topic first to avoid argument.
"Well, the new guys must tell about Japan. How was life there?"Cass asked.
I sighed and started the topic about Japan.
XX
As we left school after detention, we were greeted by father.
As he looked at us, he felt...concerned.
"What happened to you?"He asked. His voice was a bit stern. "We got beaten up by a bully."I said. I didn't want to say teacher...because well...bad things might happen.
Master Splinter sighed. "Dinner will be served. After that, go topside. Make sure to be back by two in the morning."He said.
"Hai, sensei."We all said.
Soon, we grabbed our chopsticks and began to eat.
I heard a climbing sound from the window. I shrugged it off and continued eating the fish.
XX
Night here sure is cooler than back in Japan.
"Man, I love it up here!"Raphael exclaimed. As Raphael and Donatello soon talked to each other, I saw something that caught my attention: it's the boy again, sitting on the rooftop...but is injured worse.
"Guys, look."I said. Raphael and Donatello looked at the boy again.
"Him again?"Donatello asked. "I'll go first."I said as I went down to the rooftop. I slowly walked up to the boy. But I think the boy felt my presence.
"It's you again from school, isn't it?"The boy asked. I sat down next to him and nodded. There was a few moments of awkward silence. Finally, I broke in.
"So...what's your name?"I asked. "You don't want to know."The boy said. I pat his back. He sighed.
"I'm Michelangelo Izoko."
TBC...
UPDATED: I forgot to put the main quote for the story BTW. Sorry, peeps. -_-'
