Possibly trigger warning

Contains scenes of bullying, verbal assault/harassment, adult content/ language/ swear words and physical violence against women.

Remember, nothing is as it seems

There was no thought

No moment of doubt

Just, a reaction

A blade descended a pone it's exposed and vulnerable target. Unseen by the rest. Should it hit, that would be it. A killing blow that would do more damage to the rest of them then it's intended mark.

It would be an unexceptional loss

So she dashed forward, sliding between the blade and it's target.

There was no time to bring her own sword up, to defend herself with. So she took the full hit and felt pain explode across her chest. Saw the blood begin to flow. Watched the terror fill their eyes and wordless screams echo around her as everything went black

She had faith in Donny to fix her up if he could.

There was no thought, no moment of doubt. Just a reaction as she slipped between the blade and Leo's exposed neck.

(Sunday)

I can't remember how this obsession came to be. What changed or even when it started. All I know is I love this show, love it more than I need to breath. It's crazy, it's kinda meant for younger kids but I can't take my eyes off it, I stop whatever I am doing to watch. I hang up the phone, put down my fork and push my homework away until the episode is done. It's a short 20-ish minute escape from my pathetic existence. But I crave it, every Sunday at 9 am like clock work.

I hit the save changes button on my computer screen as my phone buzzes beside me, it's my five minutes warning to push pause on everything and to curl up in front of my tv screen. Hot chocolate? Check. Over sized pjs to lazy around in? Check. Big fluff blanket to curl up into? Check. Eyes opened wide to take in every possible detail? Double check. Pen and paper to write every tiny thing I see so I can discuss it in detail on the forums tonight? Check and check! I snuggle up, lean back and turn the tv on, it's an all new episode today, the guys will be going up against their arch nemesis that somehow survived an explosion!

I get the oddest sensation of des a vue just as the opening credits flash across the screen. For the next 22 minutes my eyes feel glued to the screen. As much as I love this show I really think they should just do away with that one bad guy already. No really how many times can someone almost magical survivor death and narrowly escape their fate? I remind myself that this show is marketed to young kids half my age. Still…. This guy has been dropped hundreds of feet off a building, down into a pit, was almost burned alive like 3 times now, had an mini bomb go off mere inches from the back of his head and now he's a massive mutant that needs to eat mutagen to keep going. No ones hate can be that strong that they would go to such extreme measures just to hurt one person they thought to be dead… could it?

Anyway. Its weird because even though I haven't seen all of the episodes I still seem to know what's going to happen before everyone else most of the time. I signed up to this fan webpage that's dedicated to them so I know I'm not the only young adult that likes it. There's some older adults too, they post about the older version of the show every now and then. Some are really crazy and out there stories about them that I know would never happen, but people love to live vicariously thou others. I know some people are trying to draw inspiration to keep fighting, or their working through their problems and trying to be more like them. That's ok, I understand this because I'm doing it too. I get caught up in their adventures, the crazy antics and amazing characters, even though their all slightly one dimensional with overly simplified life goals…. Again this show is marketed to pre teens and under so I should just enjoy it as is without trying to complicate it like the almost adult that I am.

My average every day life is tragically boring in comparison, even comes complete with your standard teenager issues too. No I am not rebelling in a standard way, just trying to survive high school mostly intact.

1. The unattainable love interest: I am totally crushing hard on the captain of the basketball team Lenny (heeell-o! Those arm muscles should be illegal, simply too good to be true), it's a Romeo and Juliet star crossed lovers kinda love… if he knew I was alive anyway

2. The pain in my kesster: I got a pair of bullies that always bug me at lunch time, sometimes after school too. I have no idea what I did to them, but they make it a daily mission to mess me with.

3. The a-hole holding me back: My home room teach seems to have it out for me, along with my principal, their total jerks and take far too much pleasure in punishing me, sometimes for no reason at all!

4. Good guy: A bonus is that my gym teacher is supper nice and helps me out all the time. He's really wise and a gentle soul.

5. Great friends: Thou I only have a few friends and we don't hang out very often I still wouldn't trade them in for anything.

But I'll worry about all that tomorrow, right now I need to finish this new chapter so I can post it before bed time in another 14 hours

(Monday)

"Vivian! Your going to be late for school again!" My foster mom Amanda haulers up at me. I can almost see my foster dad Curt standing behind her tapping his toe. They will drive me to school before hitting up the gym, after he'll go to work at the auto shop and she'll head down to the lab for a few hours. We will all meet up for supper, but between 3:30 and 7 I'm basically free to do as I please… so long as I stay out of trouble.

"I'll be right down" I yell back at them slipping on my socks. I bounce down the stairs and grab my slice of toast cramming my feet into my ankle boots.

"Is that even allowed at school?" Curt picks at my blue shirt edge. "It's practically see threw your gonna give the boys the wrong impression wearing somethin' like that"

My shoulders drop as one hip sways out to the side. "Its fine, I've warn this shirt before"

"That's a shirt?" he doesn't look like he believes me.

"It's an A-symmetrical tunic top" He's lost at my explanation, 2 minutes tops he's forgotten about his original argument and were driving to school "It covers my lady bits" Now he's not even looking at me, his face a slight shade of red, he's so easily embarrassed talking about female body parts next I go technical and new age slang on him, he hates thinking he's getting old "Tunic tops go great with these black leggings and looks fab with the new kicks you got me" If all else fails I can get him in motion with flattery "Which was an awesome find on your part and at a great price like that!" His head is spinning I can tell, I grab my black leather blazer on my way out with Amanda almost dying of laughter. She knows what I'm doing, she showed me how to get what I want. "Come on I shouldn't be late again!" Curt is back in motion and heading towards the van.

Getting out of the house is the easy part of my day. Getting back to the house is the second easy part of my day. It tends to go down hill from there. Seeing Ricky and Bryon waiting for me at my locker sets the bar realllllll low for todays events.

"What's up dork?" Ricky is not the sharpest tool in the shed, big burly and slightly intimidating from sheer size alone. He's mostly harmless with his name calling, unless you get him really mad then it's best to go hide somewhere up high so he can't get you.

"Seen any good T.V shows lately?" now Bryon is supposed to be the brains of the pair but he's not much smarter then Ricky. He's a little faster on his feet but can't put any muscle mass on his body to save him. I think that's why he picked Ricky to be his buddy. What Bryon lacked in size Ricky made up for. And what Ricky couldn't figure out Bryon helped out.

"No I generally don't watch TV, why?" I slip my hand past them, thumbing the lock in circles until they move out of my way.

"You sure about that?" Bryon leans agents the locker looking down on me.

I pause for a moment, it's Monday and I was up late last night posting a new chapter on that fan page after thoroughly putting a troll in his place on the forum for picking on this kid. The forum's we're busy after the new episode had aired. The boys were at it again, taking on the bad guys running to the rescue, kicking butt and taking names. "Yaa, I'd rather watch a movie" where's he going with this?

"Oh cool, so what was the last movie you watched, was it supper amazing? How about all that and a bag of chips?" Bryon's digging for something and all the red flags go flying in my head. He knows something and is trying to get me to admit to being up on that forum, those are the same lines I was using last night.

"I don't remember, some action movie, it was a while ago. Can you please move out of the way now, we're going to be late for class" On cue the bell goes off and the door down the hallway into my home room slams shut with Mr. Sheppard glaring daggers into me. Great, now I'm stuck outside that door until after announcements are done and gotta do a walk of shame up to my desk in front. I'm like 10 steps tops away from that door ass. You could have waited for me, because I know you saw me! I grumble at the two jerks still talking to me. I choose to ignore them and processed to grab my morning books from my locker. I keep ignoring them as I shut my locker, spin the combo lock a few times and take my post up beside the door.

It's the normal chatter but today the schools pride and Joy of the wrestling team Roland is in charge of telling us what's going on. For a kid not much older then me he packs a punch, I swear he's taking steroids.

"Shout out to Myles, celebrating his birthday (beware his pranks today) Deacon won another science award and is going to be featured in the local papers. The wrestling, football, basketball teams and cheerleading squad will be holding try-outs after school to replace a few students that transferred. To the kids spray painting the boys locker rooms, they know who you are so please stop. There will be a rally today just after lunch in the gym. School day 5, early dismissal today (2:15), please stand for the national anthem."

Mr. Sheppard is addressing the class before letting me in but that's ok, I play yesterday new episode out in my head again. Our brave hero's were at it again. Rushing into danger weapons drawn, wits about them and a haphazard plan somehow working out in the end. They stop the bad guys, save the day and kicked some serious butt in the process.

"Vivian, would you care to join us or do you plan on learning out there today?" Mr. Sheppard looks down his nose at me with a sneer in place. The door is wide open in front of me, a few of the popular girls are giggling at me not so discreetly as Roland comes cantering around the corner towards us. He puts the breaks on and slips into class just skimming past me. His standard red muscle tank is tucked into ripped at the knees blue jeans and of course his sneakers are haphazardly tied. The rebel, over all bad boy charm is on full display as he swaggers by a few girls winking at them. I have no idea how he has a girlfriend or why she puts up with that but to each their own. I finally make my way to the front only to have Roland snag a seat beside me, far from his usual spot in the far back corner.

"Yo Viv" He has a deep tone, I'm sure many call it sexy and masculine. "I got a favor to ask of you"

"I'm not doing your homework for you again Roland, you didn't even try to change any of it and I was almost busted for writing your paper for you… again" I glare at him.

"oh, yaa sorry about that, I had extra practice" he rubs the back of his neck trying to and mostly succeeding in looking sorry. "But that's not what I was talkin' about. Your old man…" I cut him off with a glare.

"Is dead, what about him?"

"What? Curt Jobias died, when?" he looks shocked.

"No Curt isn't dead, My old man died four years ago in a car accident, he was friends with Curt who took me in" I explain.

"Oh good. I mean that sucks about your parents and I'm sorry for your loss, is that why you missed that first month of school?" I nod confirming this for him. It happened at the end of summer and I went to live with Curt and Amanda while they applied for guardianship over me, since they lived in a different part of town I had to transfer schools too "Oh that shitty, I lost my mom when I was really little, barley remember her" he's none plus about it but his tone went soft, so he does have a heart hidden behind all that macho B.S "Anyway, about that favor I was hoping you could put in a good word for me to Curt? I applied as an apprentice to his shop and really want the job, I love working on cars and stuff"

My eyes reach for the sky "And stuff? I hope you don't plan on saying something like that during the interview. And you still owe me from the last favor, how you gonna repay me for that mishap?" I throw a mean curve ball, metaphorically speaking.

"Aaaa… I can buy you lunch?" he points to my desk, sans Lunch container.

"Crap" I do a mental check list of the contents of my school bag. I didn't bring any money with me either. "Fine buy me lunch to pay back the first one, what about this one?" I'll forgive his other owing favor if he makes it worth it.

"Like the other one about the reading assignment from last year or talking to Curt for me other one?" He scratches at his head, I didn't think there was enough brain cells in his head to remember that far back, or he's on the verge of busting one of his remaining ones.

"You two done?" Mr. Sheppard taps my desk bringing both our attentions back to the fact that we're in school.

"Yes sir" I lower my head embarrassed again.

"Good, turn to page 184" He turns back to the blackboard and starts handing out assignments for the week as Roland pretends to stab him in the back when he isn't looking.

"I hate that guy" he grumbles out.

"Me too" I whispers back at him earnings me a small half smirk.

After a grueling first period I make my way through second and third without incident. I am also not surprised to not see Roland in the cafeteria. I guess I don't get lunch today after all. About 15 minutes through the one hour break I sit down at my usual watering hole awaiting my friends to show up, maybe they will have something to spare. My phone buzzes and it's the fan page telling me that a new chapter has been posted by my favorite author. Oh he writes really long chapter's but there so good. I double check that no one is around me before clicking on the link.

Oh he tells the best stories. I get absorbed into this tale just as quickly as I always do. At the 30 minute marker I realize that my friends won't be saving me today either, I also remember that they are all at cheerleading practice today, since it's Monday and all. My stomach goes off just as a fat little finger wraps around my phone and takes it away from me. I shriek at this, that page is still open anyone can read it!

"What-cha reading dork?" Ricky hands my phone over to Bryon while getting his over sized ass in my way.

"Its nothing just give it back!" I half yell at them hoping a teacher will hear the commotion and come see what's going on.

"Oh it looks like a story of some sorts, off … a … that website. I knew it!" Bryon snorts in victory. "You are such a dork reading about those losers from a babies TV show." He holds the phone up high above my head playing a twisted game of Monkey in the middle. "Come on dork I thought you wanted your phone back, go on take it" Bryon suddenly goes sideways, taking the brunt of a full body slam. The walls shake on impact and it's just a matter of seconds before teachers come running to see what's going on. I jump for my phone but Ricky snatches it away, only to have Mega hotness himself Lenny take the phone back.

"You know Ricky you shouldn't take things that don't belong to you. It's rude after all" Lenny holds my phone in his hands. I may never clean it again.

"Whatever Jennnie." Like I said Ricky isn't very smart, Lenny could lay him out with a few well placed kicks but he won't "Dork face has it coming reading that kids fan crap"

"Jennie? That's new, how long did it take for you to come up with that one?" Lenny flips the phone over and startles at the page in front of him. "Still not very creative but I'll give you an E for effort. It's probably the best grade you ever got" he turns away from Ricky and looks at me head on. I am so embarrassed I may never come back to this school again. "You like tmnt?" He asks me.

Yep, never coming back here again. Well they have all read it so I might as well own it. "Yaa. BattleWisdom is a great author what of it?"

"He is is he? How do you know it's a guy?" Lenny lets an eye brown raise up as a little smirk plays at the corner of his lips. It's a shockingly similar look that Leo gets on his face when he's planning something devious.

"Girls write a lot of emotional stuff and give the guys girlfriends to add drama and romance to it plus they have flowery, Jem stone hippy dippy names. Guys write about the battles and have tough sounding names. This personal clearly knows a few things about combat. They stay focused on the brothers and dishing out justice. Not something you would normally find in a females writing. Plus his profile says male." I may die of embarrassment. I can feel the heat climbing up my cheeks and then feel it flair when Lenny smiles at me. "Look out!" I jump forwards aiming to kick Ricky away or at least to divert the shameless cheap shot Ricky took when his opponent wasn't looking. To my amazement I land the blow but it's not very effective. I feel my knee give out and Lenny has to drop my phone to grab me before I hit the ground. I stumbled and take us both down to the ground with matching oomph sounds. Thankfully Myles grabs my phone as Deacon squares off with Ricky, so much for being smart. Sure he's tall but he's got nothing else going for him.

Ricky just laughs at him. Where the heck are the teachers? We've made so much noise and quite the commotion.

"Ricky" Lenny helps me up off the floor. "You two got no business over here so why don't you go find someone else to bug" with Lenny back on his feet and Bryon still trapped in a head lock with Roland it would be the smart thing to do but my luck holds true. Mr. Sheppard walks around the corner and instantly turns on us.

"Roland what is the meaning of this?"

Roland shoves Bryon's face a little closer to the wall "Mr. Sheppard, I caught someone bullying another student" Roland smoothly answers him

"Really because all I see is four people against two at the moment. Let him go" Mr. Sheppard smirks at me. "Why am I not surprised to find you in the middle of this mess, causing me more trouble as always. To the principles office with you"

"I think for the lady's protection we will accompany her there" Deacon backs up a few steps out of Ricky's reach. "I need to make a phone call anyway"

"Protection from what?" Mr. Sheppard growls at him.

"Not what, who" Deacon corrects as he takes up a post to me left leaving Lenny to my right. Myles takes point while Roland covers our back. Mr. Sheppard makes Ricky and Bryon fallow him as they fallow us.

Lenny leans in closer to me, taking my arm and making it hard to focus on anything else "That was a good kick but you need to improve your form if you want to actually hurt someone with it" he whispers to me "Where did you learn that anyway?"

"Umm, I was just imitating someone I saw do it on a movie" I scramble for a none lame answer.

"Oh, which movie?"

"I don't remember" I watch the office get closer to us and dread the phone call that's about to happen

"That's a shame, if you have some free time you should swing by my family's dojo, I could show you a few moves so they know you mean business if they ever bug you again"

"Really? I basically never have any plans but I wouldn't want to interrupt any lessons they have going on" I mentally chid myself for sounding so lame with that answer, cringing away at how I must sound like such a loner right now.

"Really? Don't got any plans with your friends?" he try's again.

"They hang out at the mall after school, not really my gig"

"Oh, umm family plans?"

"Not until supper at 7" There I go again sounding like the dork Ricky keeps accusing me of being.

"Oh, what about your boyfriend?"

"oh I don't have a boyfriend" Could I sound any more pathetic? Inner me just keeled over onto a fainting couch.

"How do you not have one?" he holds the door open for me as we walk into the office.

"No ones ever asked me out" The answer is out of my mouth before I can sensor myself and I'm horrified to my very soul. I rush past him and plunk my ass in the first chair I see that doesn't have any others around it.

He takes the first seat right there by the door, as far away from me as he can get and sits with a spin as stiff as a pole and looking very uncomfortable . Myles takes the spot beside me and barley sits still. Roland takes the corner seat like he owns it, like it's his thrown or something and slouched down legs going wide and arms taking up ever square inch of arm space. Deacon stays standing in a corner like he's watching over everything. Ricky and Bryon slither in behind a pompous looking Mr. Sheppard as Mr. Kerr, our school principal comes out of his office.

"What did he do now" Mr. Kerr reaches for the phone looking between Mr. Sheppard and Roland.

"He body slammed me into the wall for no good reason" Bryon whines at everyone.

"Then maybe next time you should get out of my way" Roland's face twists up in a toothy grin. "I …" He pauses with a look from Deacon.

"Roland was simply using his skill set to his advantage" Deacon pushes his glasses up his face as he faced off with Mr. Kerr. "Mr. Kerr, Mr. Sheppard didn't see these two bullying the lady, Roland realized that there were no teachers at all in that section of the school and acted rashly but his intent was not to harm, but merely to get them to back off"

"Roland acting rashly is an understatement" Mr. Sheppard stepped up next. "He had Bryon half eating the wall while Lenny, Deacon and Myles had Ricky cornered"

"Only after…" I shut up with a quelling look from Deacon.

"Only after Ricky tried to tackle Lenny from behind did Myles and myself step in, we would hate for the school to be without its star basketball player due to back injuries with the semi championship coming up. Our school could really use that extra grant money if the team wins this year" Deacon is really good at this, I can see Mr. Kerr is on the verge of popping a brain cell with how smoothly he is talking us out of trouble, if we would only keep our mouths shut and let him do his thing. "Roland could always use more practice time off the mat, that is if you still think he can go pro and bring more students in?"

"Yes very good points, I can't have either out of their game when we're this close to winning some government grants" Mr. Kerr looks pained by the idea of letting them off the hook. "But Myles should have kept walking"

" Are you saying that the school doesn't have a zero tolerance policy in effect anymore? That students can't stand up for not only themselves but other students as well?" Deacon is whipping the floor with them. "I'm not sure if I would feel safe coming back here knowing that. Maybe I should get a transfer slip going? If I hurry I can enter my electrical engine design at the next school and still qualify for the T.E.R.R.Y award."

"No!" Mr. Kerr looks ready to die at that idea, Deacon has won that award 3 years running now and is probably the only reason this school has a science lab anymore, a very nice lab to boot. "Its fine, the school has a very strict policy in place but this is a case of he said she said and without proof…" Deacon holds up his phone at this.

"Should we call the police then? I caught most of the exchange on camera. Ricky and Bryon were both involved in taking personal property, illegally searching through said personal property. Obviously teasing and making fun of a singled out, lone female while using intimidation tactics to further their game while she was clearly upset about the invasion of privacy" I could kiss this man right now. Watching my four biggest tormentors having to swallow that large a pill is priceless.

"On camera?" Mr. Kerr double checks,

"Yes" Deacon flips his phone he's been holding in his hand this whole time around and pushes a button, you can almost make out the sounds of Ricky and Bryon laughing at me, and then there's my squeaking voice demanding they give my phone back. A much louder grunt of disgust that is clearly Roland standing beside the phone. Deacon pauses it there. "Did you wish to see the rest of it or wait for the police to arrive?"

"No its fine, no need to ruin everyone's afternoon after all. You five are dismissed, we will deal with these two" Mr. Kerr shows us out of the office. Mr. Sheppard red face looks ready to pop while Ricky and Bryon are almost shaking in their boots. I don't think it's the mildly veiled threat of sicking the police on them that has them worried.

"And all better" Deacon smiles at us after we walk around the first corner.

"Guess I need to keep an eye on you, cuz after that their gonna be gunnin for ya" Roland relaxes his arm on top of my head.

"There always gunning for me" I swat at his arm but it's in vain.

"Vivian!" my oldest and dearest friend Rachel comes bounding around the corner. "Oh what happened? Did those two jerks bother you again?" she imposes herself between me and Roland, he can either rest his arm on her head or drop it. He leans in more and rests his arm across her blond locks. Nobody messes with her hair. "Hey buddie do you mind?" she try's to lift his arm up but she's simple to small to accomplish this task. "Maya! Make jerk face rest his arm somewhere else!"

"Jerk face?" Roland takes his arm back, and for the life of me he looks like he's truly hurt by the comment.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Maya is… well lets call her a little moody. She means well, I think. But she has this peculiar sense of humor that's very heavy on the sarcastic side. "If you didn't want to be a leaning post then grow some more Roch"

"That's not my name and you know it Manie!"

"Well that took all of 30 seconds for you two to start the name calling back up" Isolda sighs at us in generally. "Did the witless wonders bother you again Viv?"

" Yaa this time they took my phone, but they got it back for me and mr. Smartie pants over there got us all out of trouble too" I wave at the guys around me.

"Oh! That was so sweet of you" Isolda buts her way between me and them as well.

"They upped their games again." Maya starts chewing on her bottom lip. "Hey moving steroid commercial, you got first period with her right?'

"I don't use those. Why does everyone think I use them?" Roland demands looking at Lenny who has been very quite this whole time.

"Probably because of how you tripled your muscles mass in just over a year. Steroids are useless and fill your body with liquid to puff up, if he did gain his muscles that way they wouldn't hold out against anyone with real ones. The fact that he keeps winning even when facing superior opponents just points to them being real and not from a supplement" Deacon rambles on for a moment.

"Or its because he looks like that overstuffed asshole on the product cover" Myles doesn't even wait for the resounding roar that erupted out of Roland before he takes off down the hallways crackling in laughter.

"Shit for brains get back here! I'm gonna break that pretty boy face in half!" Roland sprints down the hallway after him.

"Look dinner and a show" Maya's hip sways out to the side.

On cue my stomach complains and my friends all stare at me in horror. "You forgot lunch again didn't you!" they point accusing fingers at me.

I stare at the floor in front of me . "Maybe" I won't confess right away.

"The cafeteria is closed by now Viv!" Isolda pouts at me.

"Why do you keep not eating?" Maya scowls at me.

"That is terrible for you! Why didn't you come find us once you realized it" Rachel pouts at me.

"Because Roland was supposed to pay back a favor and feed me." I show girl pose in front of the spot he was standing. "No Roland no food"

"Sorry" Lenny sputters at me for a moment. "He was helping me with something, that's why he asked for my help finding you after a search in the junk food shop welded no results. I had to track down Myles to help locate Deacon to find out the usual watering holes you might be at"

"That sounds like a complicated system. Why would you know where I am? I almost never see anyone down there during lunch"

"My fourth period class is down there and I see you waiting everyday for Isolda. Plus a process of elimination after a quick brain storm concluded that there was only a few plausible options as to your wear abouts …" I blink at him a few times trying to deceiver his word vomit.

"They knew you would be here since no one ever sees you during lunch time and it's really the only quite place around" Isolda explains for me. "Now what are we gonna feed you this time?"

"I can take her to the students councils room, they have a mini fridge that'll have something to eat in it." Lenny answers.

"Oh, like what?" Maya try's to stare him down. My she is being supper defensive today.

"Sandwiches, maybe a salad" Lenny answers her. "As the present of the student council board I can bring in other students without anyone complaining and it is kinda my fault she missed lunch so it's only fair that I help her find one now" he rubs the back of his head like he's thinking too hard about something.

"You allowed to bring this many in at once?" Maya steps in front of him, slightly getting in his face.

"Probably not but if it'll make you stand down I'll risk it" Lenny doesn't even blink at this.

"Don't get in trouble on my account again." I reef on Maya's arm dragging her back a few steps. "You guys already helped me a bunch today as it is I wouldn't want to bother you anymore…"

"No bother at all" Lenny smiles at me.

"Go help feed my girl then good sir" Rachel wraps an arm around Maya forcing her to turn around walk away from us. "We need to figure out how to keep her safe at lunch time without us around. Isolda, we need a way to trick her into joining a lunch time program that runs on the same day as cheer practice, what's our options?" I'm left standing there awkwardly as my evilly plotting friends ditch me.

"I'll see you in class" Deacon turns on a dime and walks away. "Better hurry up, lunch will be over in 15 minutes"

My stomach rumbles at me again. "Lets go see what we can find for you, if you'd like to that is" Lenny offers me an arm to hold. I'm strongly tempted to take it.

"Ummm, sure food sounds good" I relent and take the offered arm, his muscles feel just as strong as they look, I can feel them bunch and cord up as we walk and I have to mentally scream at myself not to drool on him or do something else equally embarrassing.

Down a short hallway an old classroom has clearly been converted into this hide a away spot for the best of the best this school has to offer. A few old couches are mostly arranged around a creped looking coffee table. There is a new mini fridge, water cooler and microwave off to one side. "Nice you don't have to wait in the never ending line at lunch time" I nod enviously at the microwave.

"Just one of the perks of this job" Lenny opens the mini fridge and I miss his body heat next to me already. "Lets see, we have unidentified sandwich A. And B. This looks like it could be made with Tuna, this one is bollagna and chesse. We have a long weekend special with extra mold on it" he pulls out a plate with fuzzy mold growing underneath the plastic wrap and almost gages throwing it in the trash can. "Ok, we have your standard green salad, mushy Cesar salad and whatever this is?" He pulls something forwards but doesn't show it to me. "My bad we normally have more or at least better choices in here" he ruefully grins at me.

"That's ok. The Tuna is probably the safest bet anyway" he hands it over and sits down beside me.

"Not a salad girl?" He leans back, makes a face and leaches forwards again to rest his elbows on his knees. "Don't lean back, something stabbed me"

"Ok" I halt my backwards momentum. "Thanks, for everything today" I sheepishly wave the sandwich in the air before taking a small bit to make sure it is edible. "I don't mind a salad every now and then but it needs something a little heavier to go with it or you just end up hungry again an hour later"

"Like a good steak" he offers up.

"Yaa, like a good steak" I agree before taking a bigger bit. "This is surprisingly good tuna sandwich. How did you know there would be extra food in there?" I ask nodding back at the mini fridge.

"Room policy. Take something leave something and add extra every now and then" he answers.

"Do I need to bring an extra sandwich with me tomorrow then?"

"No don't worry about it, I add new stuff all the time. Deacon is infamous for forgetting food, and that sleep is actually pretty important too." He grins again at me as the bell goes off.

"Oh, I've made you late for fourth!" I go to stand up but he stops me.

"Its fine, finish up and I'll walk you back to class so you don't get into any trouble. I required your assistance regarding the up coming school rally" he flashes a sly grin at me next.

"What could you possibly need my assistant for?"

"Why setting up the matts of course" he answers.

"Shouldn't I actually go help set them up then?" I offer up.

"Naa, Roland is in charge of that today, he'll cover for me without batting an eye lash"

On our way back to my class we hear some people arguing in the gym so naturally he has to go investigate.

"Oh whatever Roland! You where totally hitting on that tramp" I recognize that voice, and I don't like her.

"No I wasn't, a friend of mine is into her" Roland dumps a large pile of mats on the gym floor. "I was simply helping out a fellow classmate that's all cherry" Roland looks ready to dump and run. Cherry is an inspiring model, she's drop dead gorgeous but a total bitch.

"Hey Roland need some help in here?" Lenny half yells across the gym getting both their attentions.

"Yes, I am behind and the rally will start soon" Roland calls back. "Cherry was just on her way back to class because we can discuss this later" Roland points a look at her and she angary storms off smashing her heels into the recently polished floors as she goes.

"Why don't you just dump her already?" Lenny askes him as we walk up. I go to plug my ears but Roland waves it off.

"Because she keeps the other crazies away"

"Sounds legit to me" Lenny's head snaps back around to look at me oddly. "Bitches be loco?" I try again, thankfully they both laugh and agree with me. With just three more matts to go Roland heads down to the office to let them know the gym is ready for the students. This prep rally will most likely take the rest of the school day and I'm kinda glad. It'll show off our big name stars, the cheerleading squad too, list of basic credentials needed to join and who to talk too if your thinking about trying out after school today. My class gets there first and my teacher eye balls me helping set up the last mat, he waves me off and I know I'm not in any trouble. Guess I really was late because I was helping set up the gym with Lenny and Roland. Isolda winks as she walks past me and I'm a little confused what its for. Then promptly forgot all about it when Lenny offers to walk me back to my class. "That is my class over there" I point to the group of kids taking their seats on the bleachers.

"Oh, well since there here, if you don't mind I could use a bit more help"

"Oh sure, what else do you need help with?" I look around, everything seems to be in place already.

"The cheerleading squad needs help, the dang radio isn't working again and your really good at electronic equipment stuff" Isolda offers up.

"Oh, okay let me take a look" I turn around and we walk back in single line towards the girls starting to gather around a cd player.

"Excellent news everyone I found someone to help with the radio player problem" Isolda announces, we got a few funny looks but Maya hands me a small tool kit she brings everywhere with her. I carefully open it up and start poking around inside, nothing seems to be disconnected. I test a few more wires and tighten two up but that shouldn't have made it stop working. I tripled check to make sure nothing is fired, frayed or otherwise damaged but it looks ok to me. I put it back together and sigh at them.

"You should have plugged it in first" I point at the other end of it.

"Oh, my bad" Isolda half giggles at me.

"Guess I should go find a seat before there all taken" I turn around only to have Roland swing his arm around my shoulders.

"Someone messed with the matts" I see a few out of place and sigh, no wonder these things take forever to set up. "Be a doll and help Lenny fix them for me? I gotta… go help Deacon set something up" he takes off without waiting for my answer, I don't see Deacon anywhere in the gym yet but dutifully head back to shuffle the mats around, looks like someone kicked at a few of them for some reason. Lenny could have fixed this easily enough on his own, I may honestly be slowing him down.

"Thanks for all your help" Lenny starts chatting at me again.

"Its no problem at all. You saved my keester today"

"Are you going try out for any of the teams today after school?" We stand up straight.

"Oh I don't think so, I'm not very athletic"

"What about the cheerleading squad?"

"Oh definitely not, I don't think I would make a very good cheerleader, a little to quite, certainly not very perky and happy kinda person"

"Yaa cuz Maya and Isolda make great cheerleaders. It looks good on your resume to be apart of school activities" he smiles at me walking back to the water fountain. "Most of those girls don't fit that stereo type either, they just plaster a smile on and keep going. Can you smile really big?" he asks, then waves me on to try. I feel really awkward but try my best. "Hey that wasn't so bad a few more times and I bet you'd look just as overly cheery as the rest of them. What about making a Y with your arms?" he holds his arms up first "Give me a Y" smiling and Laughing mostly to myself I raise my arms up too. "Straighten out your arms…. Like so, see you could make a great cheerleader" I feel some heat start up in my cheeks again and bow my head. "and as a bonus you get out of last period early for any games the school has, trips are mostly covered for away games, you could spend more time with friends, maybe make a few more?"

"I … guess that could be fun" in reality I think I would die if I tried out and was turned down. "I don't have a job or a car though so I don't know how I would get to the games or any of the latter practices"

"I'm sure someone could give you a ride, and out of town games there's a bus everyone takes" he leans one shoulder against the wall

"Well… I guess I can always ask Isolda's parents to pick me up on the way to school, or maybe Maya can pick me up for some games…"

"The cheerleaders help each other out that way, some of the players on the teams pick the girls up too, just depends on who is closer to who or who's already on the way there. It's a system of sorts"

"Well, it would be nice to get out of the house more often, and it would put the girls at ease at lunch times, I guess there's no harm in just trying out" I shrugs it off mostly.

"Excellent, oh darn" he looks back at the gym, it's almost completely full of students now.

"Oh no! Now I'll have to sit beside some freshmen" I pout at this idea, not because I had any other friends in my current class but because I am taller then them and they sit on the hard ground…. Again the bleachers aren't much better but at least your ass isn't cold to boot.

"… Or, I'm just throwing it out there you can come sit with me." He bits the edge of his lip waiting for me to answer.

"… but, I'm not like apart of the student council or the boys basketball team, I'm sure…"

"Its cool, another perk of the job, you where helping me set up, and maybe you can help me tear it all down after too? It'll be easier to find you after this way"

"…Well, I guess if you won't get in trouble. I won't mind helping after either, there will be some time before try outs right? I might as well keep myself busy till then" He smiles ear to ear and shows me towards a bunch of seats off to the side of the podium. It feels odd sitting in front of the school like this. My heart beats a little faster and he shows me to the first seat closest to the main stage and sits down next to me.

"Not much for being center stage I see" he grins while I roll my eyes. "Just try not to think about them, or pitcher them mostly naked"

"Why would I do that?"

"No idea, people says it's supposed to help with nerves but personally I just pretend no one is there. And practice any talking I need to do for days before hand"

"The key to your success?" he chuckles with me.

"Yaa something like that"

Mr. Kerr takes the podium first, gives out his spulle and lets Lenny take over, he has to calm everyone down before he can rattle off a basic list of what's going down. He then show cases both the girls and boys sport teams, listing various achievements, the cheerleading squad does a short piece. He brings it all to a close by telling everyone he hoping to sees a lot of people out for the try outs, because if you never try you'll never know if you can. Mr. Kerr reminds us of the coming game this Saturday and before he came shut the system down Myles sneaks up and announces a big party at his place after the game, win or loss and everyone that shows up to cheer us on is invited! He gets chased off by Mr. Kerr as the gym goes crazy again. It's 2 but everyone is dismissed for the day and as the gym empties of students I am left dreading the coming try outs, why or more importantly how did I get talked into it in the first place. Right mega hotness himself suggested it and I feel for it.

"Lenny says your trying out for the cheerleading squad?" Isolda sneaks up beside me startling me.

"Yaa he kinda talked me into it. Was it a bad idea? Should I run away before totally embarrassing myself?"

"Not at all, you've helped us practice a bunch of times and where a natural at it, if anything knowing Rachel will basically guarantee you get in" her head bobbles up and down in thought. "It'll look great on your resume, we can keep an eye on you during lunch, stud muffin over there solved our problems for us"

"Stud muffin?" Deacon rolls his eyes at this. "What is with the female populations obsession with muscled men like that?"

"There pretty to look at" I answer him. "But it does depend on the woman's personal preference too"

"We are bombarded with images of men looking like that and told to think that we should look for a man just like it. We are simply falling for the same tactics as you boys do in regards to female models, how tall and slender they are. Or how about the porn industry? Do any of you realize that most of the boobs are fake, the waist lines photo shopped and skin smoothed over?"

"Its not natural to be that good looking all the time. Most of us are aware that there fake, some choose to ignore that anyway. That's the beauty of a fantasy, we all know there not real but we still indulge in them" Deacon gets this glint in his eyes. "And how can a man tell what a woman's personal preference is when none of you tell us what's going on in your heads, were not mind readers you know"

"No one is asking you to be mind readers, we hope that if you really are paying attention to us that you will be able to figure out what's wrong, or maybe just ask us? One should never underestimate the power of a good vocabulary my good sir" Isolda starts that up and it's my queue to leave, I frantically wave my hands around seeking help but Rachel is busy talking to Myles and Maya is getting the cheerleading squad girls into a line and sorting out a number system that will make the judging process go faster.

"Pst, this way before they see us" Lenny grabs my hand and pulls me away. "Thank goodness we got out of there before he got going" he continues our brisk walk for a few more steps

"Never mind him, she gets a grip on an interesting topic and consider your day done, even if it's just 9 am and your first cup of coffee" I giggle at the memory.

"Duly noted. I prefer tea myself but coffee comes in handy every now and than" He doesn't drop my hand even as we slow down and I take note of a few evil stares aimed at us.

"Did I do something wrong?" I didn't mean to ask the question out loud but now that its out there I'll do my best to roll with it.

"Umm, not that I'm aware of why?" his hand looseness its grip a little bit and I feel him start to pull away. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I don't think your capable of doing anything wrong, but were getting a few evil glares from that group of girls, I was worried that's all" I realized my slip up to late and keep my eyes averted hoping he missed it.

"According to Mr. Kerr I do a lot of things wrong. Just ignore them, there never happy with anyone"

"Mr. Kerr is a terrible person and hates everyone. Nothing is ever good enough for him. So long as you stay out of his way he doesn't care too much about what you do in the daily grind." I can finally look back at him without blushing.

"Guess I'm S.O.L then? Being the boss means I get to get in his way a lot"

"Funny, I would thought of that as a perk to the job" he bursts out laughing at me drawing more attention to us, earning a few more evil glares in the process.

"Yaa I guess it is in a way"

"Yo captain" a boy shouts out to us. "Were ready over here if your done" it's a not so Subtle suggestion that he get done so they can get on with it.

"Yaa I'll be right there" he waves them off. "Guess I should get going, good luck with your try out"

"Yaa they need you over there, thanks and good luck finding a new teammate" I give a dinky little wave off as he takes a step back.

"Thanks" he turns around and jogs over to his team, he gets hassled about something and I almost don't look away in time. I would just die if he caught me looking at him like that. A girl snickers at me as I walk past her, I hope she's just your standard mean girl and didn't see my ogling him.

Try outs is easy, I know this routine because I helped Rachel make it up. Even so it's been a few months and stumbled a bit with a last minute change she made to it. I am oddly voted in, 12 out of 17 girls liked me. Two other girls are picked to round us up to 20 even. Were told we were given special permission to do daily practice in the gym this week since there is a game on Saturday… oh yea?… well I'm on the team now. I need to go pick up a better sports bra tonight, black botty shorts and a tight dark colored tank top. Presumably so they can watch our form and make sure we're doing it right to avoid injuries and to get use to showing off more skin then we might like. What was I thinking! Sigh. Were dismissed and sent home but the sport teams are still doing their thing so I just wave goodbye to Lenny and the others. It didn't even feel awkward, thou Roland pinning a poor freshman without mercy simply so he could wave back was humorous.

Back at home I wait for Amanda to tell her the exciting news, who promptly rushes us off to get what I need for the next day. Back home Curt gets excited about it but wants to know what prompted the change so I end up telling them about my whole day in detail. Only to calm Curt down about the bullies in class and how a certain boy, cough cough …Roland … coming to my rescue twice in one day. There he owes me another one. I'm exhausted by 9 and pass out on top of my sheets.

(Tuesday)

I swing out high and wide to distract him as Leo goes low.

Mikey pops out of a time portal to drop in from above.

Donny fidgets with something while Raph and Mona Lisa cover him

It's all going according to plan, soon, soon we can be free of the shredder. Donny just needs a little more time..

I startle awake dripping sweet. Wow, that was one messed up dream. I think at first that it's just my mind telling me to be brave about cheerleading practice today. Then I start to wonder if maybe I do need a few more friends. Or possibly I need to cut back on my tmnt binge watching and fan story reading, I can perusing them for hours at a time. Yikes I need to get out more often. I'm sure most normal people don't dream about going on crazy adventures with giant mutant ninja turtles, yet somehow it felt more like a memory then a dream.

Yaa I'm going crazy. I shake my head at this pulling on some clothes for the day. I get downstairs ahead of schedule and Apr… I mean Amanda has my new stuff all washed and ready to go. It occurs to me that daily practice means daily washing, maybe if this works out I should get a second outfit so I don't have to be doing laundry every day. We even make it to school on time! Roland promptly takes a seat beside me in class and I'm a little worried about what could be happening today.

"Walking steroids commercial reporting for duty" he half jokes with me. I am a little confused until I see Ricky and Bryon flipping me off from outside the door.

"Oh god they really are gunnin for me aren't they?" I look back at him slightly terrified of what this could mean.

"Looks like it, what's your schedule for today?" he reaches for me class list print out sheet still in my binder. "Day six, science next, room 21 with Mr. Smith. Myles will keep an eye on you next."

"Umm no offense or anything but what can he do against them" I nod at the empty doorway.

"You'd be surprised what he can do against bigger guys. He meet Lenny a few years ago when his parents signed him up for some classes hoping to help him deal with his own bullies in school"

"Really? Interesting, how did you meet them? And Deacon too, you're an odd sods sort of group"

"Funny, I was thinking the same about you and your friends, ya don't seem to have much in common. Deacon helped me with some homework and I meet Myles at a party, shortly after that I meet Lenny. Turns out Deacon helps a lot of people with their homework, he knew Lenny before I did. You gals?" he askes quietly

"I meet Rachel first, she introduced me to the others and declared us all the best of friends forever more from that day forwards. And it's kinda just stuck with us." I shrug it off as the bell goes off. He folds the sheet up and puts it away in his binder before handing me my phone… MY PHONE! I start internally freaking the fuck out.

"Lenny forgot about stashing it in his pocket after yesterdays cluster fuck, gave it to me this morning to make sure you got it back. Says he really sorry, he didn't snoop, just turned it off to save the battery life as much as possible for you" he explains for me. I breathe a little easier but am still horrified by what he could have done with it. I wait until Mr. Sheppard has his back turned to us to turn it on and shove it in my bra hoping the volume is still turned off... Bless Lenny for not messing with the volume button! I feel it vibrate a hole bunch and know I have several messages to deal with.

As soon as class is over I'm out that door, Roland hot on my heels, and as soon as I'm out that door my phone is open and in my hands. I have 22 messages, most of which I don't recognize the numbers… What? I open the first one. It's from another girl on the Squad letting me know that if I need a ride to a game I can reach her at this number. As fast as my fingers can fly I'm responding with a thanks and saving it into my phone book. Next one is from another girl letting me know that she orders the uniforms for the team and to see her asap so we can find me a temp uniform until my own comes in, in about two weeks. Another thanks and another new number in my book. All in all I get 15 messages from the squad letting me know who's at what number and who can drive me, who may need lifts and who has no idea what's going on either. If it wasn't for Roland I may have face planted a few times getting to my next class. I don't have time to go over the next 7 messages so I shut my phone and give Roland a thank you hug before disappearing into my next class. I get a bunch of glares from some of the girls but ignore them assuming their mad that I made the cut and they didn't. Maya said to expect that for a few days to weeks.

After class I am greeted by Myles, right, Roland said I was getting escorted around school to avoid anything bad happening to me because of the witless wonder boys. They were very unimpressed by him being there, and looked ready to hurt us both. I had three girls from the squad in third period and didn't even know it until today when they asked if I wanted to sit with them. A bit awed by this I said sure and got to experience a form of popularity for the first time. We even got some gossip like chat in before class started and I forgot to check the last of my text messages. The bell goes off for lunch and Rachel meets me at the door to remind us all that there's daily lunch practice to get us all up to date on the current routines. I am a bit nervous dumping my stuff into my locker, what if I don't get the routines as fast as the others? What if I royal mess them up?

"Hey, what you thinking about so hard?" Lenny walks up to my locker.

"Oh, hey yourself. I'm just a little nervous about cheer practice that's all"

"Oh yaa, you ladies got extra practice time too, dang I was hoping you would be free for lunch today. Guess I'm on my own then" he ruefully grins at me.

"What about Roland? Deacon? Myles?"

"Roland has extra gym practice today, Deacon is in over drive mood so he's basically locked himself in the science lab for the next few weeks until his current project is complete and Myles almost never stays for lunch. It's cool I can hang with a team mate in the cafeteria" he waves it off and I have this urge to invite him to practice but I don't know if I can do that, next I feel like throwing up, what if I made a fool of myself in front of him? "You ok? You look ready to hurl"

"Just worried about practice that's all"

"Aww, just relax I'm sure you'll do great… hmmm, why don't I walk you to the gym" he swings an arm over my should after spotting Ricky and Bryon creeping my way. "Wouldn't want anything happening to you before hand." He shuts my locker and spins the lock before guiding me away from them. I am in giggling school girl crush mood with his arm draped around my shoulders like this. Hips occasionally bumping into mine as we casually meander to the gym. Both slowing down the closer we get. His pulls me in tight for a one armed hug and butterflies upend my stomach. "Well I guess you don't need me anymore. I hope practice goes over well" he lets go and I almost swoon back into him.

I try for a light hearted chuckle first off. "Thanks for walking me here" I wave goodbye as he walks away, only to be greeted by some guys a few steps later. I sigh contentedly walking into gym, only to come face to face with some mean girls glaring a hole in my head just on the other side of the swinging doors.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" I'm a little thrown off by this.

"Ummm, going to cheerleading practice" I answer them, mood completely ruined now.

"Yaa you know you only got that spot because your friends with Rachel right? Not out of talent or anything important like that" the one in the back I recognize as another cheerleader but I can't put a name to the face.

"I'm guessing that you didn't vote for me. But since I got a majority vote into the group then I'd have to say you were wrong about me" I pull my inner Maya up to face them. There just trying to get me to quit so there friend can join. I can deal with these stuck up bitches on my own easy peasy.

"Ok you got some moves I'll give you that and you have helped us come up with some sick new ones but you still don't belong on this team" She huffs out at me.

"Who cares about the stupid cheer squad. I'm talking about you cozying up to Lenny. Think your some big shot now do you? He's only pitting you, someone like him could never be interested in someone like you" I can feel the hate for me in her angry words.

"He offered to walk me here" I can't think of anything better to come back with

"Oh please the whole school knows he saved you fat ass yesterday. He's only doing this to make sure you don't mess something else up"

"I'm not fat" I can feel the tears threatening to fall. I have never been secure in the way I look, this cuts me to the core. Maybe there right and he's just trying to be nice to me. Maybe it's all been in my head.

"Oh that's just wrong, did you really think you ever had a chance with him? Please he should only be with the best of the best and clearly that's not you" she stares down on me as I feel like running away from them. "Don't be a cry baby about it, just go back to whatever hole you crawled out of"

"ROSE!" Rachel pops out around the corner raging and red faced. "Vivian is far more talented then you can ever hope to be. She earned her spot and if Lenny was interested in you he would have tapped it and moved on by now. Lord knows you practically throw yourself on him every chance you get in a pathetic display of desperation. Lynn you get to do laps all practice, better get started because I expect to hear numbers for every lap, no less then 40" Lynn goes pasty white and takes off for the change rooms as fast as her legs can go. "Come on viv, we have better things to do then listen to this harpy"

"Saved again by someone else, how terribly sad" Rose sneers after me.

"She's right you know. I can't ever seem to save myself" I try not to sniffle but it happens anyway.

"She's also the school whore. Ignore her ok. You have many great quality's she can't even fathom let alone hope to gain in her life time. Maya care to sick someone on Rose for picking on Viv?"

"What'd she do?" Maya asks as her brain flips over to who is best suited for the task based on the intel she is given.

"She tried telling our girl she's pathetic and unworthy of someone's attention" Rachel answers and Maya sees red then black.

Maya jumps up screaming "I'm gonna pound that little sluts face in myself!" it sends Rose fleeing from the gym.

"I have some amazing friends" I laugh with Rachel. "Thanks guys" Lynn pops out of a side door and immediately goes into her laps without a single word to anyone. "You don't think she'll hate me for that punishment do you?" I worry about what kind of statement that can send to the other girls.

"listen up" Rachel bellows out. "Lynn's been dying to tell you why she's in trouble, Lynn?" the gym as a whole stops to watch the girl running around by herself.

"I'm in trouble for being a bully, a tempting to intimate and picking on one of the new girls" Lynn bellows back at us slightly out of breath. "I accept my punishment in regards to my actions and will endeavor to be a better and more caring person hens forth, for my actions are a direct reflection of, and may effect my team in negative ways and this is not the cheerleading way" She's half blue in the face but keeps up the pace calling out one as she rounds the last corner.

"I run a tight ship and expect everyone to treat others with respect, you don't all have to be besties but I do not tolerate bullies in my squad!" Rachel yells out next. "If you can not be civil to others you are not welcomed here" the old squad members don't bat an eye lash at this, us newbies look awe struck that little itty bitty Rachel can be so strong and fierce looking. "That being said we are a family here, there is always someone that you can run too if you need help. Now today will practice vocal projection, were we aim to not hurt ourselves but be load enough for everyone to hear us"

It's a long lunch break learning to speak up without yelling. My throat still hurts at the end of it but milk and water calm the burning down. I still say as little as possible for the rest of the school day. Isolda takes me to last period and Maya gives me a ride home. I flop over onto my bed, I finally have a chance to dissect my dream last night in peace and quiet.

It was a very strange dream. There I was, a female mutant turtle fighting beside the boys, and kicking some ass too! Although a sweet idea I think it means I need to lay off the AU story lines on that fan webpage. A girl turtle, hogposh… although… it would make more sense that mutant boy turtles date mutant girl turtles and not humans. Hmmm, one could argue that since they are mutated are they still considered just turtles or would that make them at least partly human? They are humanoid after all, they could be part of even mostly human on a genetic level. Either way they certainly are not the by product of a genetic leap forwards, and half the time it doesn't say what or who's DNA they were mutated with… I hit the power button on my computer and wait for it load. I need a few other opinions on this.

(Wednesday)

"Running across the rooftops takes some getting use too. It's hard on the feet, not sticking the landing can hurt joints, and if you ever have to roll to absorbed impact your shell is taking a beating" light blues eyes pierce into my soul. "Its this black crumbly stuff they put up here, it'll take skin off if your not careful"

"Its called ash fault" Donny corrects without even looking up from his tablet.

I wake up with a smile on my face, I remember that day, Mona Lisa didn't stick her landing even after Leo's warning, took a chunk out of her skin and twisted her ankle…

Wait what?

Ok it's official I've lost it. I really need to lay off the fan site for a bit. I try to recall but am unable to remember who wrote that story or what it was called. Either way my sense of reality is going sideways on me if I'm putting myself in someone else's shoes like that.

Instead of debuting on my slipping mental capacity I get dressed for the day, eat breakfast and wait for my ride to be ready. I look over at the clock and realize it's only 6:30 in the morning… Since when do I get up before 8am? Oh well guess I got some extra time.

"What you looking for?" Curt asks as he walks into the room.

"My yoga mat I have some extra time for a few katas" I answer looking under the couch I could have sworn that's where I put it last.

"Since when did you have a yoga mat and what the heck are katas?" Curt pauses mid step to look at me awkwardly.

I sigh and give up. "Never mind I'll find it later. I'm a smudge tired still, I'm all ready for class so just wake me up when it's time to start ok" I answer crawling onto the couch for a short nap.

… … …

"Hey short stuff, time to go to school" Curt's poking me in the face

"Food, lunch or money" I garble out at him rolling off the couch.

"You said you were ready to go, your lunch has already been made at any rate" Curt looks irritated with me. Sure enough it's sitting there waiting for me but I don't remember making it… or getting dressed… or how I made it to the couch... "What does your yoga mat look like maybe I can find it for you today"

"I don't have a yoga mat, been thinking about getting one, man I must have been sleepwalking or something this morning" my head hurts as I grab my jacket.

"Aaaaaa…. Maybe we should take you down to the hospital or something first" Curt looks really worried. "Ya do realize it's almost summer right?" I'm completely baffled starting at my winter coat in my hands. "What'cha eat for breakfast anyway?" He peers into my bowl. "So, no more yogurt and granola and strawberries for breakfast for you missy" I don't disagree with him.

"Maybe I just need to get out for a bit, some fresh air won't hurt. Besides I don't want to miss practice today and risk getting kicked off, but I promise to call if I start to feel any worse ok?" I slip my feet into runners today just to be safe.

He sighs at me but relents shutting the door behind us.

School goes by normally enough… for the first half. I seem to have suddenly become a master at projecting my voice over night. I also seem to be a natural at athletic stuff like jumping, yet I almost didn't pass gym last year. It's a little freaky but I let it slide, even the part where I felt the need to correct Rachel about how she was doing a dance step wrong. I'll talk to her later about it. We all agree to hit the mall up after school, the squad knows some great places to find some cheap active wear.

"Hey" Lenny walks up to me at the vending machine. "What you doing after school today?" he try's for a casual lean against the wall and it makes me smile. Sure buddy I totally don't see that your trying to flex muscles without seemingly like it while trying for an air of indifference. Too cute but I wasn't born yesterday.

"I'm hanging out with the squad after school, I need more active wear for practice" I answer him. He's a total hottie but I'm not just going to swoon like a love struck fool for him, he's going to have to work for it a bit. Well that's what Maya said I should do… he looks a little lost for a moment.

"Aa, cool. More equipment is better than less" he grins at me.

"No, I'm more concerned about the quality of the equipment rather than the amount of it" I fight the urge to giggle like a school girl at the innuendos going on right now. "How effective it is, is also important too. It needs to be able to do the job right the first time or there's no point in trying it on a second time " I think Maya would be proud of me right now.

"Quality over quantity then?" I nod with a small agreeable mhmm sound. "Well then I know the perfect place to get the most bang for your buck. Meet me at the food court at 5, in front of the little Chinese palace and I'll be happy to share a secret with you" he's fighting his own grin and it makes it hard to not laugh at it all.

"I heard that the noodles suck at the little Chinese palace" I try not to involve food in this twisted game.

"Oh you don't go for the noodles. You go for the rice balls" seems he has no problem dragging the food into this..."And the meat of course" he wiggles his eye brows at me suggestively and I feel heat creep up my cheeks. "They got the best meat around if you know what to look for. 5 pm ok" he winks walking away with a huge grin going and the second he's around the first corner I'm off faster than the flash to locate Maya and kiss her for the advice!

I can't focus for the life of me during fourth or fifth period. Isolda even looks excited for me. The bell rings and I'm off like a rocket out that door.

"Hey dork" Ricky reaches my locker first.

"I don't have time today" I hip check him out of my way, reef my locker open toss my books inside and slam it back home before he can recover. "Later Ricky" I practically skip out of the school to his bewildered and confused look. Rachel is waiting for me with her mom and has convinced her to swing by my place first. I don't want to make it too obvious that I did anything but need to improve a few things. Maya is on Skype while Rachel is digging through my closest for me.

"Short and black" Maya offers up.

"No that's too aggressive for her" Rachel counters. "Something light and causal" she pulls a blue blouse out.

"Too stuffy. She can't go from shy and unaware to sexual in nature to nun in 24 hours. Boys are stupid and need a clear and concise instructions for what you want. And she clearly wants him between her legs so…"

My head snaps around to stare at her wide eyed "MAYA!" I shriek "It may have been a little charged but that doesn't mean…"

"A little? Girl you were practical drooling at the idea when you got to us" Maya's devil may care grin is firmly in place.

"I was not!"

"The thought crossed your mind, admit it, you would have taken it right there if he had offered" Maya digs in a but deeper.

"Maya! That's how you conduct your business, Viv has more class then that" Rachel shakes her head. "She would have at least made it to the janitors closet first" they bust a gut mocking me.

"AAAA! I thought you guys were going to help me not make fun of me!" I half scream at them.

"What's going on in here?" Curt bangs on my door in warning. Crap I forgot it was his day off.

"Don't come in I'm not fully dressed!" I freak out at the door opening up. It promptly slams shut without any one getting an eye full. "I need to change before going to the mall and I won't be home for supper but should be home soon after, I'll have my phone on me and call if I need anything ok"

"Why are you changing first? Who's going with you, how late are you going to be?" Curt inquiries from behind the door.

"I'll be with the squad finding cheap places to find active wear, I should be done around 7..8? 9" I spot Maya and Rachel giving me funny faces and shaking their heads no at me

"Well which is it?" Curt sounds confused again.

"9" I go with that. "I will be home by 9 absolutely latest. Finding good sport bras that don't let the girls bounce around all willy nilly can take a long time you know" it's a little throat cut going right for his number one "nope" topic but I don't have time for this.

"Right, I'll let Amanda know when she gets home, call us if you need a ride or anything" and like so we can hear his fleeing footsteps away from us.

"Works like a charm every time" I giggle a bit with them as Rachel reaches back into my closet determined to locate something just right for me.

At the mall I keep checking my watch and growing frustrated that it's not 5 yet. But I do find a good sports bra at the sporting good store. Rachel shuues me off at 4:55 saying it's good to be a few minutes late, I won't look desperate. So fully loaded with new lines thanks to Maya, a kick ass outfit thanks to Rachel and butt loads of encouragement from Isolda I do my best not to run to the food court. The Chinese palace is kitty corner of me, beside the juicy juice stand. I'm hoping I didn't miss him somehow.

"Just one today ma'am?" I am greeted by a lovely lady in some traditional Chinese robes.

"No I'm meeting someone here" I try to keep as much excitement out of my voice as possible but I see the smile lift up at the edges for me.

"Would you like to see if they are already seated? We have a few waiting for their dates" She offers up.

"That would be fantastic, I'm about 5 minutes late" She takes a walk with me but I don't see him. I say thanks and sit back down in the waiting area for him feeling less sure of myself. It's not a fancy restaurant, but it's a nice one for a mall food court option. I try to keep my eye off my watch and keep a look out for him but end up accepting a glass of water while I wait.

5 minutes, 10, 15, 20… My nerves are fraying around the edges and I shoot off a text asking what I should do to Isolda. I get a red flaming emoji from Maya and sad eyes from Rachel. There coming to rescue me as a group. I get a few others from the remaining squad that are still here as well. Even Lynn is shocked that he was a no show and offers her apologies for it. Alice worries something might be wrong and to text him but I don't have his number. Why didn't I get his number from him? Why didn't I give him mine! That lovely lady from before looks miffed on my behalf as well.

"Some boys" she mutters out loud for all to hear.

"Yaa, guess it was too good to be true. Why would Lenny like me?" I sigh as she startles.

"Lenny, as in Lenny Holland?" She asks giving me her full attention.

"Umm, yes do you know him?"

"Comes here every Thursday with his parents, if he said he would meet you here then I would be worried about him rather than mad or upset" She looks down at a sheet on the podium. "He asked for a corner spot for today, that's his reservation sign we passed" … over in the dark corner? He got us a dark corner spot that's pretty secluded from the rest of the restaurant… oh butterflies are back…

"He at least meant to come here, guess I won't pound his head in then" Maya looks disappointed with the news.

"But that means something is wrong or happened to him!" Rachel freaks out a bit and rapid fires text messages off faster then I thought possible. "Dang it no one has his number" She looks back up at the hostesses who shakes her head no at us, she doesn't have it either. "Hey he had your phone for a while maybe he programmed it in for you" curiously I start flipping through my contacts and sure enough there's a new number in it with him name beside it. He even took a selfie to put his photo beside it all. Cheeky. I don't recognize what's in the background, I shot off a text message inquiring if everything is ok.

"its been like 45 minutes, I'm sure you can take the reservation sign down now. Sorry for holding the table up" I shiver waiting for a response and grow worried with each second that ticks by and I don't hear back from him.

Maya drives us all back to my place where we stare at my phone for another hour but to our growing horror there's still no response. Finally they leave for the night and I can't stop myself from shooting off another text message. -Please let me know if your ok, Vivian-

(Thursday)

Swords clash, someone cry's out in pain, Raph bellows in rage. Mikey looks scared holding a limp body in his hands, Donny is distracted tending to another female. We are running out of ways to keep them safe, Leo and I can't keep this up for much longer…

Wow! I jolt up in bed. Scary dream. I dismiss it looking at my phone, still no response from Lenny. I rush through getting ready and flip the news channels looking for something but find nothing. As a result I'm grumpy for the car ride to school.

I dump my stuff and take a seat, eyes glued to the door waiting for Roland to come. Then grow petrified when he doesn't come to class. I try to calm myself down, he plays hooky from time to time, I'm sure nothings wrong, I just need to take a chill pill. Still something is digging at the back of my brain, something went wrong last night and I'm out of the loop again.

After class I brush off Ricky and Bryon who look mad about this, I am on a mission damn it, I don't have time for them. I rush down hallways ignoring the odd stares I am getting. A little birdie told me Myles has second period in room 8 just down here. Jackpot! I spot him and shove a girl out of the seat beside him.

"Myles" I square up with him.

"Oh good I was going to find you after this class" Myles looks absolutely bummed out this morning. "Lenny's at the hospital" my blood freezes in place as everyone in the room goes quite at this. "The dojo was attacked last night, someone set it on fire and Lenny ran inside to help his parents get the late afternoon class of little kids in there out safety. He's being treated for possible smoke inhalation along with his parents, the extra instructors and some of the kids" by now he has everyone's undivided attention. "I'm not family so they wouldn't tell me anymore, I just know he would feel bad about not being able to tell you himself and to say he was sorry about the missed date. Don't be mad at the dude ok"

"I'm not mad, I'm ok being stood up for that date, it was for a good reason." I remember to breath again and shoot off a text message to Rachel about it, between the two of them everyone in school should know about it soon enough. I grab a pen and jot down my number on his arm. "text me when we know more ok?"

"Sure dudet"

I scamper out the door and rush to my next class knowing I'll never make it before that bell goes off. Second and third have me fielding questions about Lenny as best as I can, but I know even less then Myles and send them to him after a bit. Some people are worried about the game this Saturday now, if he can't play what are the odds of us still winning? According to the math geeks in our school probability now stands at less then 50/50 odds. Cheer practice is pretty tame for us, mostly just working on getting our chants in sync.

Ricky and Bryon try to corner me after fourth but half the squad tells them off. After school they finally get me. No messing around, just crack me upside the head. I've never been punched before and it knocks me on my ass. Someone cry's out as I crumple to the floor. Next thing I know Donny drop kicks Bee pop from the side into some lockers while Mikey and Mona Lisa rip into Rocksteady. I shake my head trying to clear the cobwebs but only succeed in rattling my brain around more. Donnie's in my face now asking me to blink if I can hear and understand him. Left then the right. He ducks out to get something and next thing I know its Deacon telling me to do the exact same thing for him. Left then right. Mr. Sheppard comes barreling around the corner with a ghostly outline of Shredder's outfit around him, it disappears fast enough but I'm left scared of him anyway.

"Vivian can you hear me?" I blink up at Deacon as an answer again. "How many fingers am I holding up?" I look over but can't focus on his hand. It looks green.

"Three" I answer. "Maybe six'

"Right I'm calling you an ambulance" Deacon reaches for his phone only to have Mr. Sheppard stop him.

"Already done"

"Great" He flips his old school turtle com out. "Then I can call the police and report the attack" he punches in 911 before Mr. Sheppard can say otherwise

"You have no proof" Mr. Sheppard snarls at him.

"How about a witness" Rose steps around a corner. She must have been the one screaming. "I saw it all, unprovoked and brutal" She's shaking a little bit in her boots but standing up tall. "It was a cheap shot from behind" She's stating it like a fact. "And since everyone knows I don't like Vivian or associated with her in any manor I have no reason to lie about it" She's gaining some speed and confidence as she thinks about it.

"Has anyone called the police yet?" Mr. Stanford walks around the same corner as Rose did. "Miss Rose expressed some concern about a fight breaking out in the halls… we should also call an ambulance for Miss. Vivian as well" he spots me on the floor but my eyes are all for tail poking out behind him as he walks towards me.

"Done Mr. Stanford" Deacon is back to being himself but now I can't shake the image of him being Donny from my head.

It's a whirlwind of activity and I keep seeing these ghostly after images of tmnt characters around people. Finally the medics arrive and all I can think to say is my face and brain hurts. They cart me off and call my adoptive family. Both will meet me at the hospital shortly. I get escorted into a room, answers some questions and a scan of my brain before they clean and wrap my head up. Apparently I was bleeding from a head wound. April and Casey fly into my room but it's Amanda that gets into my face and freaks out over the head wrapping, it's Curt that screaming into a phone about a lawyer. I am so confused right now. I am allowed to leave but must wake up every hour for the next three days at night and to avoid naps for a week. Then on Monday I am to come back for a secondary scan to make sure my brains weren't scrambled. Next the police come to interview me. Apparently Deacon showed them the video he had, it was up to me if I wanted to press charges on Ricky and Bryon or not for assault. I think at first that will only make things worse at school but with the look on Curt's face I decide too, someone needs to teach them a thing or two. So a statement is taken and a number is given to call if I have any questions or concerns about this.

Finally back at home I rest my poor abused head on a pillow and send a text message off to Maya. I get nothing but am not surprised, it's nearly 11 o'clock at night. Isolda and Rachel will be asleep by now too, still I let them know what's going on before asking a question to the forums about ghostly after images after your brains goes for a ride. I'll check it in the morning.

(Friday)

"Behind you Venus" I twist without thinking pulling my blade up to meet a downward slash attack. "Mikey go high and cover Donny" I spot a hole in our defense while Leo takes out another foot trying to get to the cornered Raph and an out cold with a broken leg Mona Lisa.

I wake up swinging but end the motion wiping sweat off my face. That wasn't so scary. Is it a bad sign that my dreams aren't bothering me as much? Dear lord why am I up at 6am? I feel wide awake too. My alarm goes off and shortly after that I get a text message from Maya asking if I'm awake as per doctors orders or if she needs to come wake my ass up. I let her know I'm in the land of the living still and power up my computer. There's a few responses but nothing to helpful. They mostly think it means tmnt was on my mind at the time and since the brain does funny things without injury they think nothing of it and have never heard of anyone else suffering the same thing. So I say thanks and write it off as brain trauma weirdness. Then I lay back down for a nap before school.

Back at school Roland is waiting for me at my locker. One look at my bruised face has him seeing red when he finds out what happened. He was sick yesterday and somehow feels guilty that he wasn't here to keep me safe.

"I like you" Maya tilts her head as Roland sputters at this. "Break up with Bitch face then come find me after school ok"

"She's a good crazy deterrent" He's still a little lost with her bluntness but seems to be rolling with it fairly well.

"I'll be a better one. I also won't flirt with other boys behind your back or freak out when you talk to other girls. Think you can handle me?" she lets a hip slide to one side and I can see the gears turning in his head.

"Question is can you handle me. Saturday night, Myles place after the game."

"Oh it's on boy. Cyaa around cupcake" she waves off walking down the hallway to her classroom.

"You have no idea what your getting yourself into do you?"

"Nope, that's why we need to talk. About the other day, Lenny…"

"Its ok, Myles already told me what happened, is he going to be ok?" I still haven't heard anything from him.

"Yaa doctors let him out yesterday morning, said if he rested up and took it easy he could play in the game on Saturday but reduced his playing time to less then quarter of his normal amount"

"He won't be happy about that"

"He's not impressed but happy everyone got out ok with nothing more than minor cuts and bruising, he's gonna flip when he sees your face" Roland takes a seat beside me. "He also wants to make it up to you and hopes you'll agree to the after party Saturday night and maybe a movie after?"

"Are you asking me out for him?" I'm not sure what to think.

"No, letting you know before Lunch that he plans on asking you out again. Just wondering if I need to collect the pieces up after a no or not" he eye balls me. How awkward.

"Depends, will I need to pick up any broken pieces after your date Saturday?"

"Nothing caused by me" I think it's the best I'll get from him.

"Then you don't need to worry about Lenny, I understand what happened and I'm just glad everyone is ok, he's back at school today then?" he sighs at this.

"Good, he's new to the dating game so be gentle ok. He's back to school and limping around playing it up so he looks that much better when he does something crazy and it works out somehow at the game." He shakes his head at this before muttering under his breath "Stupid fearless leader" my head snaps back around to look at him oddly.

"What did you call him?"

"I called him stupid idiot boy why?"

"Oh, never mind I heard something else"

The bell goes off as Mr. Sheppard walks into the classroom looking haggard. He declares a study period and sends us all to the library.

Third period I get a lecture from Mr. Stanford about self defense and the whole class has to practice a set of moves depending on what area is being targeted. I get a few angry glares until they see my face and suddenly it spreads across the school like wild fire that I was attacked on school grounds. I am not at all surprised to see the student council barge into the gym meer seconds after the bell rings. They must have been allowed out early to investigate the claims. I'm a little worried and am not the only one to back away from a spitting mad Lenny who can't form full complement words let alone a sentence. Roland oddly enough gets him to calm down enough to be functional again. Rachel fly's through the doors and has to bit her lip seeing all the supper pretty colors blossoming across my face finally. I didn't look this bad last night or even this morning when I woke up.

"Oh hunny!" Rachel barley gets the words out before choking back a sob.

"You look like shit" Isolda creeps up from the other side as Maya storms in from the other gym. I'm a little shocked when the rest of the squad shows up and shows concerned. Rachel does run a tight close knit ship after all. I spot Lenny waiting for his chance to talk to me so I excuse myself for a moment and feel most of the gym watching us.

"Sorry about my temper. I get a little crazy about certain stuff and a lady being hit is a sore spot for me. How are you feeling? Does it hurt at all?" he fidgets for a moment clearly wanting to assist the damage himself to make sure I really am ok.

"Its ok, everyone has something that sends them over the edge. Thank you for your concern. I went to the hospital and was taken care of, I'm still following the instructions I was given but yes it does still hurt. My brain went for a ride and didn't approve of it after." I try to joke but even I don't think it's funny. He takes pity and chuckles at it for me.

"Then may I suggest never taking that ride again" he tips me face up that I didn't realize I had dipped down in the first place. "Did you need anything at all? Tylenol , water? A dark room to rest in?" I blink at this causing him to rush through the next piece. "Head trauma can hurt more in bright lights, doctors often suggest dark room rest to keep the brain happy" he takes his hand away. "The student council room has a student recovery area where we can dim the lights, comes with a lot of ice packs for you and everything"

"Another perk?" I offer up.

"Something like that" he flashes his eyes sideways and looks nervous suddenly. My heart rate tripled times it on me. "Umm, look I know Myles and Roland already talked to you but I still wanted to come say sorry about the other night, I was really looking forwards to that" he debates with himself for a scant moment before half blurring out and wincing after. "Will you give me a second chance and go with me to Myles party after the game Saturday?" he looks adorable so I throw Maya's advice out to door and answer him right away instead of making him sweat for a moment.

"I heard about the dojo so I'm not mad, I was worried for you when Myles said you were in hospital" I rush through myself. "And I would be happy to go to the after party with you"

"Cool" he looks a little lighter on his feet. "Maybe we can hit up a movie after if your feelings up to it" he pushes his luck and inner me swoons at this.

"Yaa, that sounds good to me" I have a date. A real bonified date for Saturday and I can't keep the grin off my face

"Awesome. You have my number in your phone already, I'm getting a new one after school today so if you send me a text message I can call you after I get it and we can figure out what to go see" he looks as happy as I feel.

"Sure, sounds like a plan" I bit my lip trying not to do anything embarrassing besides fidget with everything but I have no idea what to do next. Friends to the rescue! I spot Roland walking up from behind and watch Lenny spot someone from behind me. I see an arm that can only belong to Maya.

"Sounds perfect, time for cheer practice" she turns me around and I noticed everyone is watching me with eyes wide open and holding their breath. I have a feeling cheer practice won't be so productive. "Cyaa tomorrow night" Maya winks at Roland and Lenny doesn't get three steps before asking what that meant. "Soooo?" Maya gets the ball rolling.

"He asked me out and I said yes" the girls bubble up and freak out on this, I can't help but look back to see Lenny getting a few pats on his back while he's looking back at me. I also have the feeling that the high school grape vine is going to be hard at work for the rest of the day.

I'm flying so high nothing brings me down. I can't stop grinning and giggling at myself even when I get glares from a few some unhappy females. At the end of the day Isolda takes me out to get a new outfit after school and at supper time Curt thinks I'm smoking drugs and Amanda can't get a coherent thought out of me I've been crushing on this man for years now, to finally have his attention is amazing.

Then I crash and burn and freak out. This only proves that I'm on drugs to Curt and Amanda finally realizes what's going on.

"Boys are stupid simple sweetie, just breath and be yourself. He'll like you just the way you are I promise"

"Boy?" Curt snaps back to attention. "What boy?"

"Lenny" I giggle at Curt making him want to gag. "He's the present of the student council, Captain of the basketball team. He's also in the honor class"

"What else he got on that resume of his?" Curt squares off with me.

"Him and his friends got me out of trouble on Monday, convinced me to sign up for cheerleading because it would look good on my resume. Then have been walking me to and from class all week to make sure this didn't happen, Roland feels terrible that he was sick the other day when it did happen and Lenny was at the hospital because his parents dojo was attacked and set on fire. That's why he didn't show up for our first date but he asked me out to the party Saturday after the game but he suffered from some smoke inhalation and has to take it easy" I sigh again, here I'm free to be as big a dork as I want to be, Amanda won't let anyone bug me here.

"First date?" opps, let that slip. "Why was he just standing around while the place went up in flames?"

"Oh that was the other day when I came home to get changed before heading to the mall with the squad for more shopping. He had a reservation at the little Chinese palace for the two of us. He wasn't standing around, he was helping his parents and other instructors getting the students out of the building" I get a look from Amanda but get diverted from asking what to why not?.

"Well too bad until I meet him there won't be an after party to go to"

"Aaaaahhhh! CURT! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!" I wail out pulling my biggest puppy eyes out. "I already said yes! Amanda make him let me go!" I let the tears fall and feel my life shattering around me into unrecognizable mush.

"Curt dear be reasonable, she's almost 18 anyway and this boy has helped her before and sounds like a good kid, it's one after party just a few blocks away from here, we can always drop in" Amanda gives me an idea and I latch on to it like a drowning woman set adrift.

"Myles said that anyone that came out to cheer us on was welcomed to the after party, just come watch the game, you can meet him and cheer me on at my first game as a cheerleader!" dangerous hope blossoms in me.

"Hmmmm…" he can sense the trap but finally relents. "Fine but if I don't like him no after party"

"EEEEEEEEKKK!" I girly scream in his ear throwing myself at him. "Thankyou thankyou thankyou" I squeeze for extra effect and bounce up the stairs. "I'm going to finish my homework tonight and go to bed after ok, have a good night, love you guys!"

"She's twisted, sicking you on me like that" Curt grumbles out getting up to do the dishes for the night.

I hit my bed and freak out asking for help from my girls.

-How do I make Curt like Lenny? –

Rachel answers first. -Why what's up?-

-Curt said if he didn't like Lenny I wasn't allowed to go to the after party-

-Sick Amanda on him- aaah Rachel you read my mind some day's.

-Already did, he agreed to come to the game tomorrow to meet Lenny, so long as that goes over well I'm good to go-

-Alright, let me work my magic, I'll make it perfect so he loves Lenny and trust him with his life when I'm done. Xoxo's luv ya-

Isolda answers next. -What happened now?-

-Rachel is working the problem for me-

-Oh dear, I'll be right back-

-You left Rachel in charge of this mission?- Maya texts me a moment later

From there it turns into a cluster fuck of back and forth text messages for three hours, they have a plan of attack and Myles is in on it. I am not sure if that's good or bad yet. I send of a text to Lenny and wait for his phone call. It only takes an hour and we agree on the first movie he suggests, I think I surprised him with an action movie. It looks good and I'm really not a lovey dovey kind of person. After a short conversation we say goodnight. After I struggle through my single homework assignment for the weekend and pass out well after midnight.

(Saturday)

We jump, run, Dodge and kick our way to freedom at last. We have too many injured and not enough hands to help everyone. Mikey still has a passed out Renet in his arms but takes point while helping April help Leo along with a sword sticking out of his side, Raph carries Mona Lisa in his arms, blood dripping off her foot. Donnie's bleeding and hobbling along while a very dizzy from a head wound Casey covers our retreat. Master splinter already has the med room prepped for us, we need stitches at the very least. Lisa needs bones reset, Leo needs to have that sword removed, carefully, all in all I think we got lucky this time.

Out of the corner of my eye I spot trouble, I don't think about it, I don't hesitate, I just slip around and use my body to block the killing blow meant for Leo. My world goes black and the last thing I hear is his heart breaking scream of terror. His voice flutters into my brain –"Don't die, please you can't leave me, I never realized how empty was world was until you showed up, please Venus de milo I love you"-

I jolt awake again crying. What was that? Is my mind trying to scare the ever loving shit out of me or something? I'm shaking when I get up out of bed. I try to do some calming breathing exercises but they don't really help. I try to shake it off but that doesn't work either. I head downstairs and eat breakfast fast. Then back up to shower and get dressed for the day. I take a look at my green dress and hope it's not to much … or too little, now that I think about it that's a lot of cleavage I got going on. I call Isolda in a panic.

"Am I going to look like a whore in this dress"

"Whaaa?" she sounds like the living dead. "What are you taking about? It's 9 am on a Saturday you heathen, why are you waking me up at this god forsaken hour on a weekend?"

"I had the scariest dream last night and now I can't get back to sleep. That green dress Rachel helped me pick out, are you sure I don't look like a cheap whore in it? I don't want to look sleazy"

"No you don't look like a cheap whore now let me go back to bed"

"Like are you sure your sure? Can you take one more look at the pictures for me?" I hear her sigh and a few buttons being pushed, after a slightest of nano seconds she's back on.

"Yes I'm sure I'm sure that don't look like a cheap whore, plllllllease let me go back to bed now"

"Oh I don't know anymore that's a lot of cleavage to be showing off on a first date…"

"Vivian!" she shouts in my ear. "You don't look like a cheap whore." I sigh in relief at this. "Yours clearly a high priced call girl, now leave me be" I gasp at this as the line goes dead. I wonder what's eating her this morning, she's normally so easy going even in the mornings before her coffee. Hmmmmm.

"Maya…"She responds with a growling warning.

"If no one's dying then this can wait till noon"

"No ones dying I'll try back…" she hangs up on me too. Mental note don't disturb the beast before noon ever again, it may cost me my life. I have one last chance.

"Rachel" I'm not sure if she's even concise on her end or just going threw the motions of answering her phone. "I'm having doubts about the dress!" there it's out there, I can never take it back now.

"Vivian, remember when you first came out of that dressing room? Your eyes where shinning in delight, you loved that dress, you still love that dress. Your just freakin out over tonight, tell you what after I finish getting my beauty sleep we can go hit up the mall or a movie to help take your minds off things. I'll wake Isolda up but you get Maya"

"Why do I get her?"

"Because you woke me before noon" she hangs up on me and I'm left alone with my thoughts again.

Rachel thinks I just need to take my mind off things, maybe a peruse through the fan site will help, maybe I'll find another author to fallow or a great one shot. Might as well try it. Scanning through the first few pages shows nothing new that looks interesting to me. So I test my luck and hit the last page option. Maybe something from a few years ago will sound interesting? I find a little jem on the very last page and saved it. Someone wrote a poem about the boys. It was cute and a well done haiku, two pages later I find someone had re-written songs from different points of views. It was cheeky, but I opt to not read all 50 plus songs right now. I'll save some for a rainy day. I run across a large selection of romance pieces and skip 5 pages. One grabs my eye oddly and I click on it. Not because I really like most of the romance stuff but because it's by my favorite author. BattleWisdom wrote a romance piece? Hmmm… I click the link and get sucked in. It doesn't read like a normal romance. You know the kind, where girl falls into boys arms, girls life is in jeopardy, boy saves girl, boy falls in love and they live happily ever after. Those move too fast, sometimes taking place over a few hours and they always seem so fake to me. Sure love can happen like that but it's rare. No this one is different, the boy sees her, the boy likes her but he doesn't know how to show or tell her or really the full extent of what he's feeling. It's an odd perspective to see through. The girls make it sound like the guys know what their doing, all smooth and easy going, he's painting a very different picture here. One of confusion and worries about messing up. Of fears she won't care back or will reject him. His main character is Leo, who doesn't know how to proceed, all his training is on fighting, not being a lover. He stumbles, he makes mistakes, he gets angry, he makes her angry. He gets everyone angry at and with him. Then finally he gets the courage to just ask the girl out and she says yes! It took months of close calls and almost to finally happen. My heart falls. He left it on a cliff hanger! She's injured, in a como and they never got to go on their date!

"NNNNOOOOOOOO!" I wail at my screen. There is no next chapter! He hasn't update this story in almost two years! He's never left a story unfinished before! I need to know what happens! Is it true love? Do they find their happily ever after? For the first time ever I scramble to write a review.

To: BattleWisdom

From: TheOtherSide

I need to know how it ends, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Time sent: 8:45 am Saturday

Message status: received

I stare at my screen, how long will it take for him to answer? Will he answer? My phone goes off, it's Maya calling me.

"Hey, get dressed, I'm coming to get you. Isolda says Rachel said that you were freaking out this morning and that we need to distract you. You got five minutes"

"I'm already dressed and ready to go. I'll meet you downstairs, just park in front I'll come out to you" I power down my computer and sit in the big bay window waiting for her.

Sigh, back to the mall we go. And it's not just my girls, half the cheerleading squad showed up to help take my mind off things. They half drag me around to almost all of really nice clothing stores and make me try on other dresses. When I rejected them all Rachel wipes her hand clean of the mess. Declaring the green dress still the raining champ and what I will be wearing tonight at the after party. She shares the picture of me in it and the girls all ogle me. So not understanding my issue with it. Some think I should improve the bounty I'm offering up with a plus 2 sizes push up bra. I rejected that post hast. My girls are big enough as it is, either he likes me the way I am or he can go somewhere else. Another girl suggest a tummy control slip, another points out that he'll know if he has any luck taking the dress off me tonight. I'm horrified by the thought and put them in their place. I'm not altering how my body looks and he can just wait until I'm ready for that. I get applauded for my courage as Maya points out that, that is not Lenny's style to jump and run, it'll be a glorious conquest story one day, but I'll make him work for it. Red to my soul from embarrassment I half yell at her in anger. I don't scare her. Besides it's almost time for the game. We rush back home, change and fly to the game just in time. Curt and Amanda wave at me from the stands as I stand there in my borrowed uniform, it's a little big but it'll work for now, I'll have my very own in another 4 days and before the next game. I feel nervous looking out at the crowd and feel my knees turn into putty on me.

"You'll be fine, just pretend no one's there" Lenny whispers into my ear wrapping me up in a hug from behind. "Who were you waving too?"

"My adoptive family. There here to meet you" he goes stiff and slowly release me.

"Really?" he doesn't look so good anymore.

"Are you going to be ok? I hope that isn't a problem, Curt won't let me go to the after party if he doesn't approve it first, I'm sorry I should have said something sooner…"

"Its cool, I just don't know how that conversation will go over, having never meet the parents before" he shuffles for a bit.

"Curt will try to drive you crazy or admit you're darkest secret to him, he's a bit of a hard ass but a good guy once you know him. Amanda will want to know about your life goals but she's laid back and easy to get along with, she'll be easy to win over, get her on your side and she'll bend Curt's fingers in your favor" He sighs at this.

"Oh no man! Mama bears be sweet to their little angles but will rip you in half without warning if they think you ain't no good. Daddy's may point the gun at your head but it's the mamas you gotta be worried about" A boy on the team gives his two cents and next thing you know Lenny's sweating buckets and looks ready to bolt for the doors in terror.

"Just relax and be yourself, sell your finer points like you would at an interview and you'll be fine" another boy try's to cheer him up.

"I've never had an interview before, I've always worked at the dojo" he looks ill again.

"Ok dude, this way we got you covered captain, gathering round!" the assistance captain calls for a huddle and even though there only a few steps behind us I can't hear what there talking about. Rachel ruffles her pom poms trying to get our attention. We each signal that were ready and the first song comes one. It's an easy little cheer with very little in the way of body movement so we get through it easily enough. The ball drops, the game is on and Lenny is not focusing right. Oh dear. We scream and cheer them all on but I keep trying to grab his attention to tell him everything's going to be ok. He just needs to relax a little bit.

It takes a few close calls but he finds his groove. He scores 5 points before he signals he needs off, his chest and lungs must be bothering him. He's off on the side line for a long time before getting back out for a bit. At half time I'm pulled up and away from him to do another simple routine, the same one as the try outs. We nail it and look like a real squad as the crowd goes wild for us. It boost moral for us, dampen there's , I'd call it a win win. The other squad doesn't look as well put together as us and I swell a bit with pride. Lenny's back on, then off for another long rest shortly after he gets back on the other team has realized he's injured and do their best to take him out. Someone hits him in the back with a ball, another try's to trip him, he has three blocking him at another point. After some outcry something finally gets called and the other team gets a penalty for it. After they back off him. He kept his head up and kept his team mates from retaliating at all. I spot Curt's nod of approval at his actions. This is great, if he keeps this up he'll win Curt over without having to say a word to him. I can almost hear the sounds of a house party in my ear. I've never been to one before, I'm finally getting excited for it.

It's close but we take the win 21 to 16. I can't help it, I'm screaming and jumping up with the other girls. Can this day get any better?

I'm a ball of nervous energy when Lenny walks up to us. Curt is trying to stare a hole through his chest, Amanda smiles sweetly but I just get the image of a bangle tiger ready to pounce from her. I think he's buddies maybe right, Curt maybe holding the gun but I suspect that it'll be Amanda that pulls the trigger.

"Good evening" Lenny starts first

"Hey" I meekly greet out. "So this is Curt and this is Amanda, they adopted me four years ago after my parents died in a car crash" I'm not sure where else to start.

"I knew her father and felt she would be better off with someone she knew" Curt hops on board faster while Amanda eagle eyes everything going on. I bet she could tell you who was standing where right this second in a police report and be scary accurate.

"Its 50/50 odds in the system. I got lucky I guess" he smiles but I'm shocked, I never knew.

"Your adopted too?" Amanda finally says something.

"My parents left me on a doorstep one night, Mr. Stanford and his wife took me in." I'm shocked, another thing I didn't know.

"Is Mr. Stanford ok? I haven't seen him in gym class all week" I get nervous for a different reason.

"Mom and dad are fine, just busy rebuilding the dojo" he smiles at me making my checks flush suddenly.

"Oh! The Saffron Hope Dojo?" Amanda speaks up again

"Mhmm, that's the one" Lenny nods at her

"I heard it was another dojo that was found responsible for the attack, OH! You're the young instructor that was hospitalized after going back into the burning building to rescue a trapped student" She gasped

"My official title is fuku shidoin" At the blank stares he smiles slightly at me. "It means I am the assistant teacher, it is an honorific title to designate that I am an inexperienced instructor within the organization. I am not a teacher, but I'm not really a regular student either. It means I'm working my way through the ranks and can one day be the master of the dojo if I so choose." Oh hey look I learned something new today after all. "Little Max, he was in the bathroom when it happened and didn't hear the alarm going off. When we realized he wasn't with his class I ran back in to get him, I figured he had gotten lazy and used the excuse to go rest his legs for a little bit." Lenny doesn't seem fazed by this at all.

"You could have died" Curt takes a moment to really look at Lenny, you can see the gears in motion.

"Yes, but Max would have had I not tried, it was worth the risk" Lenny's conviction on that is evident.

"You going to be a firefighter when you grow up?" Curt eye balls Lenny, this maybe a make or break questions.

"The thought had occurred to me" his head tilts to the side in thought " But, after running threw the blazing fire barley able to see or breath, having such a hard time finding the bathrooms in a place I know better then the back of my hand" he holds it up like it's a foreign object. "I realized it's not the life for me, I want a family of my own one day and seeing my parents terrified faces when I finally came back, like they thought they had lost me, just no, I couldn't do that to my wife or kids every time I went to work. Leaving them worried sick if they were going to ever see me again. No I think I will keep helping the way I am now."

"Oh yaa? How you helping out now? What kind of long term financial plans do you got husband to be?" Curt tosses that curve ball and Lenny goes a little red in the face, maybe he let too much slip.

"In another 15 years I can be a full fledged teacher at the dojo, probably take it over and let my parents retire around my late 40's as a master like my father did from his father" That's an impressive history for a family dojo in this city. "I help unfocused kids stay on track. I help the angry ones find productive, helpful ways to channel their extra energy. I show the timid how to be more confident. I help them all be the best them possible all while showing them how to keep themselves safe in everyday life" He nods once at this. "Its not a glamorous, extravagant or a particularly flashy life. It's more humble and low key and that's the way I like it. I don't need the extras when I got everything I need back at home" Amanda is swooning at this, Curt's not so sure yet.

"And what if she wants more then just humble? What if she desires more?" I'm not sure if I should feel insulted or not with that. Thanks Curt for assuming I'm a gold digger.

"Then I'll just work harder and save more" I'm blown away by the answer.

"Or maybe she can work harder to pay for her share" I throw that idea out there.

"Two incomes are always better then one" it's not really an answer but I get where he's coming from. "If she brings in more and wishes to have more then it's her money to do with as she pleases"

"What if she doesn't want to work in a dojo?" I throw out next.

"What one does with their life is up to them, pursing the family business is my dream, if she'll support me then I'll support whatever her dream is" He smiles at me again like he's forgotten about everyone else around us

"Smooth" Curt nods once and I can't breath, does that mean they made up their minds? "Ok Casanova, she's home by 10…"

"Aaaa! Amanda!" I pull out the crock tears and best "why did you kick my puppy" face ever, the movie starts at 9 and he already got the tickets!

"Midnight will he fine" Amanda hates crock tears and caves fast with them. "According to a few others the party doesn't start till 9 anyway, give her a few hours to have some fun, in another few months she'll be mostly free to do as she pleases anyway. Just gotta face it, she's not a surly 14 year old anymore that doesn't want to interact with other people, she's growing up so big" Amanda reaches for my face, I swear if she pinches my cheeks I'll go postal on them. To my great relief she just pats my cheek once. "Have fun tonight dear, were going to a movie so will see you at home later ok"

"We are?" Curt looks confused as she pulls him along. "Call if you need anything" He takes her arm more firmly as they walk away I get a piece of their conversation I never wanted to. "You know boys at that age…"

"You mean how boys always are regardless of age?" she retorts. "She's a smart kid, have a little faith in her" at least Amanda doesn't think I'm that easy…

"So yaa that was interesting" I swing on tip toes for a moment. Awkward.

"Yaa, I need to thank the guys for all the advice I didn't use. But I'm glad it worked out in the end, so what do you want to do when this is all over in a few more months?"

"For a job? I don't really know, I never gave it much thought, I was mainly focused on surviving high school" he chuckles with me.

"Fair point. Maybe I can help you pick something out? The average person switches careers 3 to 5 times in their life, so nothing says you have to stick to what you first pick"

"That sounds kinda boring" I try to joke.

"Yaa a little but I can't imagine it's any worse then sitting around doing nothing for months on end with no money for anything"

"fair point, how about we worry about that after tonight, I need to go get changed for the party"

"Do you need a ride?" he offers up fast.

"Aa, no that's ok, Maya and the others are picking me up, something about making sure I did something with my hair" I point to the pony tail mess on top of my head.

"And what's wrong with a pony tail?"

"That's what I said!"

"I think it looks just fine, it's also safer if it's pulled away from your face. You can see what's going on around you better, less of a target at night that way" I start laughing at this.

"Well I guess there's that, but to be honest I just don't want to deal with the curl anymore after five minutes" he laughs some more with me this time.

"I'm really glad we finally got to meet. My life has been fare more interesting with you around"

"Oh I don't know about that" I don't see how his life could ever be boring. "You could have had your pick of girls, plenty would have spiced up any empty spots in your social life"

"Social stuff like hanging out at the mall isn't really my thing. I like curling up with a good book and a fresh full pot of calming Jasmine tea. I keep thinking about writing a book one day" oh he's a god sent angle! A man that likes to read!

"You've though about writing a book? About what?" I feel like I'm starving for more details about him.

"Ok you two" Maya tugs at my uniform. "Walk and talk, I need food and I need it now. You got all night to get to know each other better, I may expire soon"

"Food? I like food" Roland appears beside Lenny making him jump. "What? Where are you going? Men need real food not that salad bar crap"

Maya rolls her eyes up hip swaying out to the side "Please" Maya wiggles her fingers at him. "I'm a steak and potatoes kinda girl"

"Yes!" Roland intertwines their fingers while he pushes Myles into Rachel.

"Aaaa…." Lenny points at them.

"Oh you missed it, Maya told Roland to break up with crazy because she wanted to date him"

"… ok" He takes it all in stride as we let Isolda and Deacon take lead, already deep into a conversation about some kind of interstellar travel theory.

"Hey Vivian" Isolda turns to me. "Deacon…"

"Oh no!" I push the thought away. "leave me out of that, meet you guys at the bugger joint down the street?" I beg Maya to say yes with my eyes.

"Sure" Roland agrees for her, she oddly lets him. He tosses a set of keys at Lenny. "Not a scratch buddie" Roland drops Maya's hand in favor of tossing his arm around her shoulder to pull her in closer.

"I gotta go set up the house, so I'll see you guys around 7 right?" Myles dodges around a straggler still hanging out in the gym.

"I'm not a burger girl, if I help you set up can we pick up pizza along the way?" Rachel inquiries.

"Pizza?" Myles ears perk up at this. "Baby doll you had my heart from the word go, after we can toss some confetti around and call it good enough" Myles swaggers over giving her a light hip bump. "Cars this way dudet" Rachel lets out a very girly giggle at this and lets him take lead.

"Vivian" Isolda sighs at me. "Burger joint, really? That's so bad for you"

"Your not worried about those two?" I nod towards the retreating backs of Rachel and Myles.

"There smart enough to stay out of the kind of trouble I am worried about in regards to hormonal teenagers. What's wrong with the salad bar?"

"After my first cheerleading thing I need some comfort food. Go with Deacon and tell me all about the argument later" I nod to the last man standing alone and waiting for her.

"Its not an argument." He corrects me. "An argument is had when one wishes to prove themselves right, we are having a lively discussion were we are trying to find out what is the most likely correct answer to our theoretical topic"

Lenny and me both give him a blank stare at this.

"It's a friendly debate to find the answer" If I didn't know her, I wouldn't have realized that she's swooning on the inside. She has it bad.

"Ok, why don't you two hit up the salad bar and go run interference with the glitter bombs at Myles place before everyone is left looking like a disco ball again" Lenny offers up

"That is an excellent idea" Deacon pulls such a duck face at this. "I still haven't gotten all of the sparkles out of that shirt" And like so there both off in the opposite direction of us.

"To the burger joint then?" I wave us on. I'm suddenly starving.

After food and some… lets call it interesting conversation Lenny drives me home. He waits downstairs while I shower at hyper speed and get dressed, I pull my hair up into its standard pony tail but wonder if maybe I should do something extra with it. Since I share a bathroom with Amanda I open up a cupboard on her side and find a scary amount of hair products crammed inside. I think she's defying the laws of physics somehow because every time I pull a spray can out two seem to take its place. Finally! A simple mousse to help give the curls some bounce should do the trick. I comb all the way through and scrunch the ends up and turn some heat on to help the drying process. I'm up here for about a half hour, longer then I wanted to take but I moved as fast as I could.

Turns out Lenny thought I would take longer. He's laying down on the couch with his phone in his face, the tattle tale music of a crappy time waster game playing in the back round.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to take so long" He jumps up and stares at me. "I'm over dressed aren't I?" I grip the edge of the summer short flared green dress, simply black ballet flats should keep my feet from hurting for any extended walking I may have to do.

"Not at all. You look amazing, green really suits you" He offers me an arm. " You didn't take long, I'll be a few minutes at home then we can see how much trouble everyone got into"

"Ok"

He took almost as long as me, now were late but fashionable so. He went cargo shorts and button down top but left it undone with a men's version of a white tank top underneath. Must keep eyes facing forwards and looking up. His eyes are up, his gorgeous blue eyes are up. Ogle tanned muscles goodness from across the room where it's harder to tell what I'm looking at. That's my new mantra for the night. Were greeted at the door by a smiling Rachel and cheering Myles. Looks like a good chunk of the team showed up too. His shouting only draws more attention to us and suddenly were bombarded with questions.

"Oh your finally official now?" I don't even know this chick but she seems to know me. "Oh that took him forever to get around to asking you out am I right Vivian? For a moment there I thought you would have to ask him out to show him how it's done!" Lenny beside me looks worried as I feel like bolting back out the door. Who TF is this chick hanging off my side acting like she's known me all her life? "You two have basically been dating for a week now we were all just wondering, how did you do it?"

"Do what?" I finally sense a break in her non stop chatter to squeezed a word in.

"Oh so your naïve that's so adorable" I see Maya cutting a swath through the crowd and know this is about to turn ugly. "So how did you two, you know, do it? That's why your late isn't it"

I blink swearing that I herd her wrong, but as Lenny goes red in the face while Maya looks ready to mane and murder I'm shocked to the core. She thinks we're late because we we're getting it on? Off the hop? Before our first date? How…. Crass of her! "Excuse me!"

"Oh come on, the untouchable Lenny, you've had him eating out of the palm of your hand all week, I mean he got his lackeys to escorted you around the school. Nicely done by the way, really brings your pathetic damsel in distress act full circle" I feel heat rise up my face and a violent urge coming on. "That's how you did it right? Oh wow is me? I need a savior, oh who will be my knight in shinning armor?" Where is she getting these ideas from? "Did you faint at all? Toss yourself on him, does his six pack feel as good as they look?" I was seeing red, now it's gotten dangerously close to black. "So how did you finally get him naked and all hot and bothered?" She's grinning like a fool, thinking that I won't say anything in a room full of people that are mostly staring at me. Lenny won't hit a lady, Maya has been stalled by some groupies of this woman and poor Rachel is going to bust a brain cell her face is so red in anger at it all.

"Well since you really want to know" That does it, the bitch is going down. "We we're late because we both had to shower and get dressed" Maya looks confused, Rachel is still on the verge of popping a brain cell and Lenny has the best poker face going on right now. "After the game my parents insisted on meeting him, then I just couldn't help it anymore" She's foaming at the mouth thinking dirty things, I can see it in her eyes. "So we grabbed a bite to eat with Maya and Roland at the burger joint, I was starving. After he oh so kindly drove me home since Maya ditched me, patently waited downstairs while I showered and got dressed. After I accompanied him to his place and again waited downstairs while he had a shower and got dressed. I can tell not everyone showered after the game, guys, that's gross" A few chuckle at this while I get to see slut-ie Mc-sluterson go 50 shades of red. "Then we came here, parked and walked inside. Nothing happened" She doesn't believe me. "Not one body part touched another without clothing between them. Look you want a good guy, then you got to be a good girl. Not a ho" I de-attach her arm from around me to several laughing it up. "I didn't throw myself at him, I didn't play at anything. I was just me. Kinda plain, a little boring ol' me. If he wanted something plastic then he could have found something at the adult toy store ok" She's fuming now, I will most likely pay for this later on but Maya dying of laughter is worth it, I think she maybe having some trouble breathing she's laughing so hard. "And even if something did happen I'm not about to turn around and blab it in front of everyone, have some class and keep your legs closed for a change, you'd be surprised how many great guys will come around on their own when you don't act like a 2 cent hooker" That last bit may have been over kill, she looks upset but I'm not backing down now. Lenny looks proud of me for not resorting to punching her in her smug caked on make up face. "Excuse me, I'd love to stay and chat but I require a minimum IQ level that you clearly don't have. Plus an interesting topic that is currently lacking at the moment. My real friends are waiting for me" I finally pull away and nod at Lenny to join me as I make my way across the room to a bent over in half Maya that's still learning how to breath again.

Maya wipes at a tear in the corner of her eye. "Oh I wish Isolda could have seen that"

Myles taps me on the shoulder. "Sorry about that. I didn't know she would be here or I'd have warned you. If I could figure out how she keeps finding out about the parties or where she hides when I'm trying to send her home I'd put a stop to it" Myles looks up the stairs and all around us like he looking for someone. "I swear she's spy or something because she just disappears into thin air"

"You announced it to the whole student body at the same time, how could she have not heard about it?" I roll my eyes.

"Well that's the thing, she's not a student from our school but as far as I can tell no one here knows her or how she keeps finding out about my parties!" he sounds so frustrated at this.

"Maybe it's a student that isn't here?" I think about it for a moment. "She could live near by too"

"I am right on the border of two school zones" Myles taps his fingers thinking about it as well. "Oh well if she's still here in another hour then I'll call the cops again."

"Myles" I wonder … "She's from a rival school right?"

"Yaa, why?"

"Well she clearly likes coming to your parties, why don't we befriend her, then see if she can help us?" I offer up, it's a dirty underhanded though, they looked perplexed and I internally freak out thinking I went to far.

"She means as a way to get a sneak peek into the play books, or intel on team secrets and players as a way to get an edge over that one team for the finals" Deacon clears it up for them.

Rachel scratches at her head with a hip jutting out to the side. "Isn't that like cheating?"

"Yaa kinda" Myles agrees with her.

"I think it's a brilliant idea" Isolda leans into Deacons side clutching his arm. She wobbles a bit grinning at me funny. "Sure it's underhanded but I think any intel gathered on a rival team Pryor to the game is put to use, who cares how you got it, just that you did"

"Have you been drinking?" she try's not to giggle at us but it's a dead give away. "Isolda, your not of drinking age yet!" I freak out looking around us, no one seams to care about it or be paying us much attention. "If the cops show up its Myles's parents that will pay the hefty fine" I hiss at her.

"Oh it's fine, I had my two before we got here, I'll sober up in an hour or two" she waves this off.

"How did you even get any in the first place!"

" From me" Deacon shrugs it off. "I didn't realize she was a light weight or I'd have only had one with dinner"

"Your not legal drinking age either!" I hiss at them.

"Chill" Lenny pulls me back a step. "His parents have a restaurant and let him have a drink at supper, moms side of the is family is French so it's just a little wine, she'll be fine in a bit, he knows what he's doing"

I narrow my eyes at Deacon. "Scouts honor, we will stay where everyone can see us at all times, no funny business" he raises his available arm up in surrender. "She was nervous about the party so I thought a drink or two would help her get over it"

"It is her first party" Rachel intercepts my protest at this. "She normally just goes home after the games"

"Yaa now I gotta watch over all three of ya to make sure everyone behaves themselves " Maya finally finds her footing again and stands up straight. She eye balls Myles tugging at Rachel's shirt trying to get her to dance with him, then narrows her eyes at Deacon's arm around Isolda's waist. Finally her eyes settle on Lenny already set into little slits in a silent warning.

"They'll be fine, lets find the dj and get a few good songs in while we still can" Roland rounds a corner and slips his arm around her shoulder again.

"I know where the dj is, but I want a dance out of you tonight" Maya slips her arm around his waist

"A dance?" Roland looks so dejected with the idea

"Yes or I'll make sure you never find the dj" she swings low "But I promise you don't have to do any fancy steps, I just want you out on the floor with me"

"Ok, I can do the white man shuffle for a song" he grumbles out. "Lead the way"

They disappear around another wall before Myles speaks up. "The dj is always in the same spot… Oh, ok never mind I understand what he was doing"

"And just what was he doing?" I narrow my eyes at him.

"Letting Deacon escape into another room" Rachel answers me pointing to the empty spot where Isolda use to stand.

"Come, we can check on everyone in rounds for the night, lets go dance for a bit" Lenny grabs my hand and I forgot everything else.

I didn't know he could dance! Well for a guy he can, I lay out a few sweet moves and groan at Isolda, poor Deacon is trying to keep it pg rated but Isolda seems to have other plans in mind. Whatever she whispers in his ear gets his attention, he swings them out of the room and only Lenny telling me that's the way to the kitchen and a small side bathroom keeps me from running after them. Deacon's a good guy, I don't see him taking advantage of her, I'm more worried about her saying or doing something that will embarrass her come morning. She likes him and booze does funny things to the brain. Maya coming out of the same door lets me relax again, she wouldn't let anything to bad happen. Now where did Rachel and Myles go? Never mind Lenny has my hand again as the song drops the beat and a dj remix starts up. Not really my style but Lenny seems to he jumping around in tune with everyone else so I fallow along.

An hour latter, several rounds around the house and I got a good lay out for the land. Lenny fielded questions like the pro he is. But I need to cool off, so I let him know I'll be right back and dip outside to get some fresh air as he talks to a team mate about something. I take a few steps out and admire the view Myles has here. There's a swing set out back, gazebo, pool, hot tub and what looks like an outdoor home sauna. Lucky guy, he's living the dream. I turn around to go back inside but stop. What was that sound? I take a few steps back out and listen hard, I'm about to give up when I hear it again, so I fallow the sound around to the side of the house. The rose bush looks like it'll bloom a lot in a few more months, there's tons of buds already showing up. There, that sound again… but what is it? It sounds familiar but I can't put my finger on it. It's really dark around here, the lights from the back door is well behind me and the front is no where near here. Nothing from the Windows helps either, there mostly dark on this side of the house.

"Hello?" I call out, the sound stops. "Are you hurt at all?" I try again. My heart rate spikes as the bushes to my right beside the open field like back yard rustle around

Out pops a disheveled, tear stained face of my would be attacker from earlier tonight. "Am I hurt at all?" she gestures to her face and ruined make up. "Why do people ask such stupid questions, or course I'm not ok but what would you know about hurt feelings?"

"More then I want too" I answer. "To be fair you where trying to hurt and embarrass me, I simply won the nasty name calling " I sigh and sit down on the grass.

She glares at me for a while without moving. "I don't get it"

"What's there to get?" I pat the spot beside me, she's clearly not going anywhere, if she wants to duke it put again I guess I can go for round two, thankfully away from everyone else.

"Why you? Why not me? Why not any of the other hordes of females that wanted his attention, that probably should have gotten it, why did he pick you?" … I'm flabbergasted, really? that's what this is all about? Because I got the boy?

"For real?" I half turn to stare at her open mouthed.

"…Yes" she finally takes a seat. "There's smarter girls out there, prettier, more talented, better educated girls, he could have had his pick"

"I ask my myself that too" her head whips around to look at me "Truthful…" She nods once at me. "I have no idea. I just thank my lucky stars that he even knows I'm alive. Maybe I did something spectacular in another life and earned it? A saint maybe?" I get a ruefully smile out of her. "Your right, I'm a little plain and boring compared to what he could have, but maybe there's a charm to me that neither of us see's that he does. He wants to take over his family's dojo and instruction kids. Would you be ok living that humble life?" I'm happy to see her really thinking about it and taking her time.

"No, I want much bigger things in life" She answers honestly. "And I don't want to work if I don't have too. Knowing he doesn't want a career in basketball… he's less Appling to me know. Maybe I'm just being supper shallow, but I want a fancy life with all the best things in it, I want to spend my day in an oversized kitchen cooking goodies for my kids school bake sale or lounging by the pool side after he comes home from work, maybe start my own product line"

"Shoes?" I point to the wicked looking heels she has in her hands.

"Maybe, there my own design, I even made them" she beams a bit about it.

"You are very talented. I also think you would die of boredom if you didn't work. Maybe what you want to do doesn't seem like work, but if someone's willing to pay you for what you do, then I think it still counts as a job" she doesn't seem so bad anymore. "Look, I don't pretend to be anything other then what I am, maybe you should give it a try and see what happens ?"

"Just be me?" she looks at me like I'm crazy. "But boys…."

"Are stupid simple, well that's what Amanda and my mom always said."

"I wish my mom was still around to help out with all this. My dad works all the time, I never see him and his advice is just terrible"

"Wait a sec" I dial Amanda's number from memory. "Hey Amanda I got someone here that could use some mom's advice" I hand the phone over knowing Amanda is always happy to help. I watched the girl take my phone dumbfounded and put it up to her ear. I take a few steps back dusting myself off and wait for the call to be done.

"And that's why I picked you" Lenny gets a startled scream in his ear for his sneaky ways but takes it in stride. "Even after all that your willing to help. I heard that you weren't going to press charges on Ricky and Bryon, what made you change your mind?"

I finally answer the question that many were asking. "My mom always said that if you can stop someone else from getting hurt then you should. Amanda says people deserve second chances until they don't. I didn't really understand either until that moment. Curt was raging about them, demanding to know who else they had hurt and why nothing was done about it until it was too late. Anyway as a list of small time complaints were rattled off I realized that none of those students come to the school anymore. I'm willing to bet that they left to get away from Ricky and Bryon. And had they just spoken up more, did more than maybe, just maybe my incident could have been avoided. Ricky and Bryon had all the second chances they were going to get and I was doing my part to make sure it didn't happen again to anyone else as best as I could" Lenny hugs me from behind.

"I am so glad Deacon and Myles decided to take the long way to their lockers that day" He puts his head on top of mine watching the night sky ahead of us.

"It could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for them, I never did thank them for all the help. You know they remind me of pair of some other people, so much so that in the initial moments after my head connected to the wall I thought they were those other people"

"Oh yaa? Who did you think they were?"

"Oh it's silly…"

"Those are the best moments"

"Really wanna know?" he makes some agreeable noises. "Fine but don't make fun of me and you can never tell them!" I get more grunts at this. "I thought Deacon was Donny and Myles was Mikey"

"Donny and Mikey from tmnt?" he finally lifts his head

"…Yaaa"

"I think they would find it funny but be honored that they remind you of such characters, they like the show too"

"They do?" I spin around to look at him.

"Yaa, the image forum is mostly composed of students from our school"

"It is? How do you know that?"

"Because I run it" I stare at him open mouthed. "They know I want to write books one day and offered to sign up to fallow me so it looks better when I do send off a book idea because then I already have a fan base of my own to prove that people like what I write" I'm drawing a blank on who the creators pen name is, I'll double check it when I get home, then I need to locate his page and see what he can do…. Does this count as stocking him?

"You got any other web pages full of groupies I should know about?" I joke with him

"Ummmm…."

"Yaa he's on snapchat too, goes by the same pen name too" my would be attacker startles us both. "Thanks a lot, Amanda sounds like an amazing person. Names Kelly by the way" we shake hands. "Nice to meet you, I better jet before Myles calls the cops on me again"

"How do you keep finding out about the parties anyway?" I toss the question out there.

"BattleWisdom posts about them. I fallow him and get notified and since I am one of his groupies I kinda tracked down this place in my efforts to meet him"

"OMG! He's here right now?" I freak out on the inside. "He's a student at my school!"

"Oh sweetie…" Kelly pity's me for some reason.

"Who is he?" I demand.

Kelly just pushes a hip out with great dramatic flair before turning around and walking away from us "Your in his arms" she tosses back to me.

I'm not sure if I'm terrified or thrilled about this. Either way I'm stiff backed, rooted in my spot and frozen in time. Small things come back to me.

"Yaaa…. " oh god the p.m I sent this morning. "About that..." OMFG! That first day when he caught me reading his last update! Oh can this get any worse? "I was wondering what is TheOtherSide like anyway?" I groan at this, mental note don't ask questions that you really don't want the answers to. "I was trying to bring it up all week when I put two and two together but couldn't figure out how to without sounding creep or weird at all" He lets me pull away from him first. I feel like crying for some reason "Hey its not everyday that you get to meet a genuine fan of your work without knowing who there rooting for first, and it's so sweet the way you defend Myles on the forums last Sunday when Ricky and Bryon found them" oh this just keeps getting better and better. "Roland likes that you stepped up and your colorful selection of words too boot"

"Oh I'll never be able to look them in the eyes again" I bend over in half feeling the burning fires of hell spread across my face.

"I didn't need to ask them to keep an eye on you, they were simply returning the favor that your long standing account generate from other people online. It's impressive that you stuck with the show for so long" oh I have romance pieces up on that account! Thank gods I have a second one that the really embarrassing stuff goes under. "Hope that doesn't seem creepy at all, that I back tracked you online like that"

"Not really, I was just thinking about doing the same to see what your written style was like, but I don't need to do that anymore" I stand up straight, lets get the teasing over with.

"Thanks" I'm shocked at first. "Not many stand up for others like that, it was the lease we could do after you basically had them booted from the webpage in general" He holds his hand out. "I was thinking about getting a fellow writers option on a new story idea. Roland's advice only goes so far, Myles means well but… well it's Myles and Deacon really has selected knowledge about certain things and is completely useless in other areas" did he… did he just ask for my help, to collaborate with him? On a story?

"A good beta tester is always helpful to have too" I offer up

"Yaa but good ones are hard to find, TheOtherSide does some amazing work according to the others so I figured I'd ask her? A girls option would be great"

"Oh yaa, in what way?"

"Well I got a this idea for a post apocalypse world tmnt finds themselves in and they find some other mutants and their basically just trying to survive. I got lots of technical advice from Deacon but female pov's are hard to write when you aren't one or have much experience with them" he scratches the back of his head, I think his next story has a romantic theme in it. "So do you think she'll help me?"

"I think one should ask with absolute clarity about what exactly they are expecting from their beta readers"

"Well I was once told that men don't do romance so well, and there will definitely be some of that going on in this new story so I was hoping maybe she could help get the female parts down for me?" he try's again.

"I think she would be happy to give you some insight into the female pov's" I can't stop the grin that forms to answer his smile.

"Excellent, it's almost movie time we should get going soon" he looks down at the watch beeping at him. " did you want to stop for a healthy snack before hand?"

"Naa, lets grab some popcorn while we're there" I bit my lip while he loops his arm around me.

Back inside we run across Roland first, he promises to pass the world along that were heading to the movie now. We wave goodbye to Rachel and Isolda who appears to be dealing with a pre hang over headache. Myles is snorting he's laughing so hard at the bitch fest Deacon is enduring right now from several woman at once about taking better care of his dates. The walk back to his car is quite but nice. The mindless chit chatting is pleasant for the car ride with the music playing softly in the back round. I'm nervous at the theater as he grabs the snacks, I almost fumble my drink and have started to chew a hole in my bottom lip, right corner.

"Where to sit?" he asks me. A million answers fly through my brain. Rachel said to pick a visible spot least I give him the wrong idea, but where is a good spot? Isolda said in the middle, Maya said off to a side towards the back but not the last row. Amanda says the front rows. AAAAAAA!

"What's wrong with the back row?" I mumble out loud.

"Nothing wrong with it, people can't kick the back of my seat then"

"Straight up so no one can lean back and squash my legs!" I nod in agreement

"Then back row it is" He leads the way and Maya's warning about boys and middle of the back row seats were no one can see you very well ring in my ears. Then again were not in the middle of the row, we can clearly be seen from many places and this is Lenny were talking about, I'll be fine. I fallow him up and take the seat to his left, for whatever reason I don't want to get in the way of his right arm. He doesn't think anything of it and I sigh to myself. I resist the urge to lean into him, this is an action movie not a romantic comedy so cuddling may not be a thing. I lean slightly into him, he leans slightly into me, my heart rate spikes again. Don't people kiss after a date? Oh god I haven't brushed my teeth in a few hours now, do I have any gum on me? I do a mental check list but don't recall putting gum in my purse. Crap. Crap. Crap! Ok just chill, he may not do that at the end, Lenny seems more of a few dates kind of guy before trying to make a move. Odds are in my favor that I don't even need to worry about it tonight.

"So" he pauses to make sure I'm paying attention. "Any predictions for the movie?"

"Hmmm…." I stop thinking about the potential problem to think on this.

"Did you see any of the previews for it?"

"Yaa I saw one, I think it'll have at least one gruesome scene, two max. Plenty of the protagonist messing up and his instructor having to bail him out a bunch. 50/50 odds said instructor makes it out alive. Of course he'll get the girl who is most likely a complete dolt, if she screams at her reflection or a shadow the movie losses a star" I point my fingers at his face looking over imaginary glasses.

He holds his hand up in surrender chuckling lightly. "Ok ok, don't shoot the messenger. I think there's going to be at least 3 gory scenes, the protagonist will be saved twice by his instructor that makes it out alive somehow, the girl will probably be a dolt but if you scream at anything she doesn't I get to pick the next movie we see"

"Oh really? And if we both scream?" I narrow my eyes at him laughing at me.

"I don't scream during movies, I like horror stories so action won't be a problem"

"Alright if you jump I get to pick the next movie, deal?" We shake hands on it.

"Deal" he's still grinning at me when the lights go down and the pre show starts up. We answer the pre show questions together, I proudly get more answers right and he owes me a coke now. Sadly I loss to him and one other during the theater app game and owe him a coke too. At some point in time he flipped the arm rest up between us and we moved closer. He almost jumps and I almost scream but hold my tongue. Just two gross scenes, protagonist mentor lives somehow after helping him a bunch of times and the love interest girl was a dolt but didn't scream at anytime stupid so they don't loss a star on that. It's 11:15 when we get out and bombarded by text messages from our friends demanding to know how it went. Knowing they will know that I saw them I put my phone back in my purse without answering. I have 45 minutes to make sure my breath is fresh just encase. Maybe less because I can see him taking me home now to stay in my parents good books but I hope he doesn't just yet.

"Well I hoped you like it" He curls around me for a moment, folding me into a hug.

"Yaa I had lots of fun tonight"

"Me too" his phone goes off again and he finally caves after looking at the number. "I swear Myles if someone isn't dying… Someone's not dying right? Ok good can this wait a little longer? Hmmm… yaa, ok I'll ask" he puts his phone against his shoulder for a second. "They plan on going to the beach tomorrow morning, did you want to join us?"

"Oh the beach is open for the season already?" I thought it didn't open for another week or two.

"No Myles parents have a private beach we can make use of"

"I will have to ask Amanda and Curt but if they say yes I'd love to go, what time?" I flip my phone out and search for Amanda's cell phone number.

"It's a few hours from here so we will be leaving at like 9 in the morning" I pause, there's a new episode on tomorrow morning. Crap I haven't missed a show in years now. "We can watch the new episode after we get there, the water will be cold so we probably won't be going for a dip this time around, just hanging out, playing a few games stuff like that" I shoot the text off. I can always record the show and watch it later on if they don't want too.

"Sure, what kind of games?"

"Depends on who brings what" he answers bringing his phone back up to his ear. "Yaa just waiting on the go ahead from her parents, I'll let you know for sure in a few I should take her back home now so everyone gets some sleep in before tomorrow morning, cya in a few bro" he's on long enough to get a goodbye from Myles and were back in motion heading for his car.

The ride home suffers from some tension from both of us, I'm back to chewing on my lips pretending to be digging for my keys when really I'm scrambling for some gum or tic taks. Something, anything at this point. I still haven't found any by the time we get to my place, nor have I herd back from Amanda and my heart sinks when I see the kitchen light on. There waiting up for me! Oh now is a bad time to become helicopter parents! We don't even make it up the sidewalk before Curt is opening the door for us, he waves us both inside and I'm freaking out, they didn't really go to the party and find out I wasn't there did they? I scramble through my text messages and find one from Rachel that confirms it. Crap!

"So how was the party?" Curt narrows his eyes at Lenny.

"A typical Myles party lots of people, lots of food and drinks, music was being played too loud and someone got lost in the garden as always" there was a garden there? How did I miss that? "We had a blast but left a little early to grab a bit to eat, just down at the burger joint again" I plaster a smile to my face, someone told him the cover story thank goodness. "I know Vivian sent a message but I figured we should come in and ask personally plus you'll probably want directions if it's ok with you" smooooth…

"Do you even have a bathing suit dear?" Amanda asks me.

"Umm somewhere I believe, but Myles said the water will be too cold still so were just chillin out for the day, what kind of board games do we have? I figure I should add something to the pile"

"Books, comics, movies and or cd's are always welcome in the pile as well. Myles parents will be leading the way"

"Oh really?" Curt narrows his eyes in suspicion.

"Its part of a gated community so they have to enter the key code and write down names of approved guests on their property"

"Sounds fancy, lets go find a game or movie to bring along while Curt gets the address dear" My heart races along, I'm allowed to go! " I'll find a few options go brush your teeth" she waves me off to the bathroom with a wink. I have never brushed my teeth so fast and vigorously in my life. I take my millionth look to make sure nothing is stuck between my teeth and practical skip to the spare room. To my horror she has some of my old tmnt movies out too when Lenny walks in.

"Oh wow!" he picks up the vhs tape, how could she! "I have seen this in forever, hey we should bring this Myles never saw it" ... I love you Amanda! "We could make it a movie marathon with these old school vhs tapes. I still have my old vsh machine, I'll have to dig it out I don't think Myles dad has anything under 5 years old at the cabin… Oh!" he reaches for the monopoly game hiding in the corner.

"Be careful with that one, Vivian's never lost a game before" Curt nods at it. "You'll be hard press to win against her at any of them." He nods to a few newer ones too.

"I have never lost this game either" he holds up the Chinese checkers game box. " A challenge would be nice." He puts it off on the side. "So many gems in here, never bring this one" he holds up the chest game. "Deacon is a ruthless cut throat player and will take you down in three moves without mercy if you make the first move wrong."

"Got it, just putting that one away" I gingerly place it back inside the cabinet. He takes a pic and sends it off, another minute passes before his phone starts blowing up.

"The guys want to know if we can bring all the old tmnt movies with us? Roland is looking for his vhs player now"

"Sure" I answer. Oh emotional Rollercoaster ride is coming to a stop. I am going to give Amanda the biggest, tightest thank you hug ever in the history of thank you hugs.

"Awesome!" his smile is infectious.

"Awesome, lets get some sleep then, what time will someone be by in the morning? Sleepy head here can be cankerous without food in her first" Curt laughs at my outcry.

"Roland, Maya and myself will be back at 9am for her, Rachel, Myles, Isolda and Deacon will be riding with Myles parents, the majority of stuff coming with will be with us" Lenny steps back to let me out first.

"Great see our guests to the door, Curt your helping me put everything back" Amanda stalls him for us, better make it fast then! I half run down the stairs with Lenny not far behind me.

"Yay parents!" I joke

"At least they care about you enough to pry, not everyone can say that"

"I guess I got lucky then" I swing a bit on my jelly legs unsure what happens next. Lenny smooth as always reaches for my hand, laying a butterfly kiss on my knuckles.

"Yaa, they seem like great people" he whispers to me. "I had a blast tonight and can't wait for morning to come" he places just as sweet kiss on my cheek before taking a step back. Damn blush is showing to high heaven.

"I had a lot of fun tonight too, I hope everyone likes our picks for tomorrow, drive safe and let me know when you get home ok" I open the door for him hearing the floor squeak letting me know that the parental units are coming this way.

"I will, goodnight" he tips a fake hat making me laugh at him as he swaggers out the door.

"Goodnight" I call out to him as he turns slightly to wave at me. I close the door after he gets into his car and giggle at Amanda who ushers me off to bed while Curt makes gagging noises.

Could this get any better?

(Turtles lair, NYC)

Leo pleads with his brainy brother. "Why won't she wake up?"

"Only she can decide when she's ready Leo, she's almost all healed up so I don't think it'll be much longer but coma patients do weird things Leo, some times they wake up, some times they don't. The brain is like a computer and comas act like a virus. We got lucky with you, you came back to us but she may not. I'm sorry Leo but all we can do now is keep talking to her, remind her that were waiting for her back here on this side, see if her brain does a virus scan and detects it, after that it'll need to reboot or do whatever the brain does when a coma patient wakes up"

"But she was talking, she said something isn't that a good sign?" What did she mean when she asked what happens next?

"It can be a very good one, but her brain waves haven't changed much it could have been a muscle mistake too" Donny's shoulders sag, he half rolls in on himself "Look Leo I can't say for sure what's going to happen and I don't want to hurt you but I won't lie about the odds either. I'm sorry" he sounds so dejected

"Its ok Don, your doing your best. The secondary infection looks better all the time, the wound is healing up great. I guess on the plus side she can't be up and pulling the stitches on us this way" Leo forces a smile and they both know it. That doesn't stop Donny from forcing his own back, that they both know isn't real either.

Donny walks out of the room leaving his grieving brother begging Venus to wake up. He shouldn't leave him like that, Donny knows Leo feels bad about what happened, but had Venus not slipped between Leo and that blade they would have lots him for sure. She took the hit, the killing blow meant for him. Now they all owed Venus a life in savings their brother when they couldn't and it wasn't something he was ever going to forget. They needed to repay that debt so he slipped out the door with Raph, off to do something Leo would never approved of while Mikey kept him busy until they got back. The hospital had something in a secure area that he needed to help save her life and by the gods he would get his hands on it one way or another.

(Sunday)

To: TheOtherSide

From: BattleWisdom

Wake up, wake up Venus and find out what happens next with me

-L

Time sent: 8:49 am Saturday

Message status: not received

It occurs to me that I should check my emails, but I'm having too much fun packing this bag for the impromptu beach visit today. Yaa it's still a bit chilly but that's what blankets and cuddles with a boy are for. Besides all that stuff can wait till later, right now I got a life to live.