High school.
A dangerous arena for teenagers, young and old, to duke it out to the death or to the brink of tears with tests, bullies, clichés, and stress.
And for sixteen year old news reporter, April O'Neil, life was a mix between misery and ecstasy.
Her father had gone missing a few weeks beforehand, and even with her birthday having been the previous weekend, there was still no sign of her mother. Living with her aunt, she had been going to Roosevelt High for her sophomore year, and had made her title as the school journalist.
The school sat in the more quiet part of Manhattan, and each day there was normal, in a routine: normal announcements, usual beat-downs and phone-calls home to expecting parents, same garbage for lunches, and the same old teachers that seem to be devils drinking in the frustration of their students.
The students attending were the same as well: jocks showing off, pretty girls and cheerleaders dominating the halls, skaters off being themselves, geeks and nerds quietly being alone. And then there were people like April, well-known, but not ridiculously popular. Kind in class, but not the brightest spark. Has plenty of friends, and are well liked by teachers.
And as the school reporter, she had even more respect. She went to the crappy theater performances, the football games, the events held at the school, from colossal to negligible. They were all written in the paper, all for the students and staff to read.
April was a talented journalist. Everyone knew that she was to become a reporter as her career, and her work certainly showed it. All of her writing was positive, and approved by all. She had already been given a couple offers to colleges and was on the verge of earning a scholarship. For April, High school was Utopia.
That is, until the four came.
It started out a normal day. April woke to her screaming aunt telling her to get up. Once again, she had fallen asleep at her desk, trying to finish her Trig homework. She'd shower, eat, and watch the news with her aunt. Then she'd complete any other homework before rushing off to school. She met with the other members of the journalism club, deciding on what to write for that week's newspaper. Then she went to her first class of the day, which happened to be Trig.
That was when her day began to differ.
Her teacher, Mr. Newman, took attendance, collected the previous night's assignment, and then directed his class's attention to the open doorway. "Class, I'd like to introduce you to our newest students: the Hamato's."
Four teens walked through the doorway and stood before the class. Everyone was taken aback by them, even April. They were all over five foot five, muscled, burly, and stood with confidence. They all had the swollen knuckles of martial artists, and their clothes were messy and their hair deshelved, as if they weren't used to dressing or taking care of themselves.
But that was all that they had in common. Even for April, who seemed to be the most open-minded person there was, it was hard to believe that they were all siblings. From first glance, they looked like three completely different people, and if they were siblings they would have to have been all adopted.
There were three boys and a girl. The first, a young man with black hair that was cut to his neck, and deep blue eyes, brimmed with determination. Clearly, he was the elder brother. He wore simple jeans, a blue and black T-shirt, and a black windbreaker.
Following, a taller boy, quiet noticeably the tallest of the group. Brown hair was swept over brown eyes, cut shorter than the previous brother. He wore a white shirt, khaki's, and a matching purple hoodie.
Third, the female sibling. She was short compared to her brothers, barely clearing five foot five. Her dirty blond hair was pulled back into a pony tail, revealing a face creased with laugh lines, freckles across her nose, and crystal blue eyes. She had on a light blue dress, black leggings, and an orange snowboarding jacket, which went with the outfit pretty well. Even though her jacket was zipped up, however, April swore the girl's neck was bandaged.
And finally, a gruff boy with tanned skin and white hair. Anger smoked in his green eyes, and when a couple of jocks snickered his way, he shot a look saying you're a mutt compared to me. He had on jeans and a red tank top, layered with a black leather jacket. The tank was low cut, not suited for the sudden cold weather. Across the left side of his chest was an ugly white scar shaped like a lightning bolt. It was partially covered by the red of his shirt.
The four looked about fifteen, and were glancing around the room, taking in the interior, as if making plans for a quick escape. April remembered seeing a restricted file by accident that four new freshmen were coming in that day. She also remembered one interesting detail: they had all been homeschooled before and today was their first time in a real school building. They lived with their father, Yoshi Hamato, who apparently used to be a teacher.
Mr. Newman cleared his throat. "Can you four please introduce yourselves?"
From the black-haired young man to the scary green-eyed boy, the four called out their names:
"Leonardo."
"Donatello."
"Michelangelo."
"Raphael."
April thought that was a bit odd. As far as she knew, their father was Japanese, even though the four looked nothing of Oriental origin. Why had they been named after Renaissance figures?
The teacher leaned over his desk and asked the girl a pardon. "You're Michelangelo?"
"Yes." She had a childish look in her eyes, as well as intelligent. With her up-turned eyebrows and mischievous smile, it was told first off that she was the type not to be trusted around matches or weapons.
The teacher looked appalled, but quickly recomposed himself. "Do any of you have nicknames you wish to go by?"
Once again, they responded in order:
"Leo."
"Donnie."
"Mikey."
"Raph."
April thought that the last two were odd. She at least predicted that Mikey would have gone by Angel as in Michelangelo, and Raph sounded like a weird codename. She had the decency to keep her opinion to herself, but a few of the jerk jocks in the front row couldn't seem to shut up.
"What's up with Mikey?" a burly football player named Ronald snickered. "What are you, gender confused?"
April didn't even see them move. One second Mikey and Leo were standing quietly up at the front of the room, and the next they were on Ron, each on either side of his desk. They stood like statues, eyes of malice gleaming into Ron's brain. He was obviously startled, because he yelped and fell out of his chair. It erupted a round of laughter from the class.
When Mr. Newman had calmed himself of his laughter, he ordered a grumbling Ron back into his seat. "Can you four please take a seat anywhere you wish?"
April watched as the four dispersed. Raph seated himself towards the back of the room, where the storage door was, and Mikey found a seat next to the window. Leo sat up at the front of the room near the door, and Donnie ended up sitting in the last available seat, which happened to be right next to her.
Up close, he was kind of cute, with pale skin and thick hair, and now she could see that his eyes were tinted red. He caught her looking at him, and she smiled in a greeting fashion. He returned the grin. He was missing a tooth, a gaping hole in his mouth. He was a bit scrawny, more so than his siblings, temporarily putting him as a nerd in April's mind. But not all nerd's are weird she chided herself.
The rest of the morning continued normally. As it turned out, all of the four new students were smart cookies, even Mikey who stood out as a skater. She must be an idiot savant April thought, and from her knowledge if Latin it meant 'stupid genius.'
At the end of first period, the four siblings got up and left together. Walking down the hall, they seemed to draw eyes to themselves, more than what normal new students get. April paused at that sudden thought. Why did I not think of them as normal?
She started down the hall for her locker. It was on the other side of the hall, but before she could get five yards away from the door, she heard her teacher's voice call out to her.
"April, may I speak with you for a moment?" Mr. Newman said. Through the chatter of the other sophomores, the math teacher's voice sounded tiny. "The four new students have not been in this school complex before, and I was wondering if you could show them around during your study hall time. I'll write you a pass during your lunch period."
"That sounds like a plan, Mr. Newman," April answered, "but I'm supposed to be interviewing students for the newspaper then."
"Well then, why don't you talk to one of the new students? From what I know, they used to live in the rural area of New York State, and only recently they've gone into the city. Maybe you could talk to them about city life, see what it's like from their perspective."
It was actually a really good idea, as she was looking for more newspaper articles. Interviewing the Hamato's seemed like a great idea. "Thanks, sir," she said. "I'll see at noon for that pass."
"See you, April," the teacher said, and the girl quickly bounded down the corridor, eager to get her things for her next class.