Chapter 3
"Fighters ready?" Master Splinter says looking between me and Leo. "Ike!"
It's been two week since my talk with Raph. I challenged Leo right away but he wanted me to get in top shape before fighting. I asked him every day until he said yes. Still took two weeks but I've been training every day too.
We both circle each other waiting for the other one to make a move. I don't want to because I know if I move first, I will lose. I wait for a moment when I see Leo start to move. I find it and move in as well. I try to kick him in the stomach but he blocks it by kicking my foot away. I get back into a fight pose a wait again. Leo is too hard to read. I can't get a beat on him. I blink for a second and then he attacks. Come at me with some rapid punches but I dodge each one. I bring my knee up and make contact with his stomach. He hunches over slightly but I'm too slow. He jumps back to regain his footing. "Damn." I say under my breath. He comes at me again before I can think and lands a good kick to my ribs. I stumble and he trys to take that opportunity to land a punch to my kidney but this time, he's too slow. I quickly dodge and land him a punch right on the jaw. He stumbles back and I back kick him right in his chest. He falls back on his shell. Quickly throwing his arms behind him he leaps up and is back on his feet. "Damn it." I say. I charge at him and he sees the opening I left open. He punches and I grab his arm quickly using his weight to throw him over me to the ground. Before he can get up I aim for his face with a quick punch but stop just before it makes contact. I flick him on the forehead instead. "I. Win." I say to him. He just smirks and I bow to Master Splinter.
"Alright! Now it's time to celebrate!" Mikey says. The other brothers join in on his fun except for Leo who is still on the ground. I walk over to him and reach out my hand. He takes it with a smile and stands up.
"You were great." He says smiling. I smile back before releasing my hand and bowing to him. He bows back and smiles at me.
"C'mon." I nudge his shoulder. "Let's go get some pizza." We walk out of the dojo together and even Master Splinter comes and enjoys pizza with us. I'm the first to break the silence.
"So," I swallow my bite of pizza. "When can I go to the surface with you guys?" Pizza slices stop in midair and all eyes turn to me. Leo lowers his slice first and looks me dead in the eye.
"We haven't decided on a mission yet. We need a little time to plan and coordinate."
"I understand that, but don't we need to get a sample before it's too late?"
"She's right, Leo." Donnie says. "If we don't get a sample soon, we may never be able to turn everyone back to normal."
"I know Donnie, but we can't just go up there without a plan. Do you want to just storm their headquarters and say, 'Hey look I'm a ninja turtle come capture me!'? We can't risk that." Leo says
"Well why not?" I say
"Huh?" All eyes are on me again.
"Bait has always worked in the past." I say taking a bite of pizza.
Donnie and Leo stand up at the same time. "NO!" they look at each other for a second before returning their gaze back to me.
"That's too dangerous May." Leo scolds.
"What if we can't get you back? What if they mutate you?" Donnie looks almost panicked.
"You can't live by what ifs' Donnie. And besides, if they mutate me, you'll finally have your sample."
"That is not funny, May!" Donnie yells.
I turn my gaze to my lap. "You're right, it wasn't. I'm sorry."
"She does have a good point though." Raph says.
"Raph." Leo warns.
"Just hear me out. We can set a trap for them to take her. We can follow them to their base. Donnie can get a quick sample while Leo and I take care of the Kraang. Mikey can follow wherever they take May to and bust her out, this way we also know Mikey isn't causing anymore alarms to go off." They all go silent thinking it over. Leo is the first to break the silence.
"How about this," Leo says. "Raph, you and Mikey can take care of the Kraang and I'll follow wherever they take May too."
"You mean you'll do it?" I ask excited.
"Sounds like a sure-fire plan." He says.
"Leo. I don't know about this." Donnie says.
"Relax D-man, Leo will be watching her and you'll get you're sample." Mikey says.
"Alright, Friday night we'll go. That gives us three days to plan. Donnie, can you get our weapons set up and make something good for May? She may need one."
"I'm on it."
"Raph, I need you training with May every day until then, think you can do it?"
"We've got this." He says smirking at me.
"Mikey, I need you training with them. Please, no more alarm trips."
"I'm on it boss!"
"Alright, let's –"
"You say something really cheesy here I swear I'll take to down right now." Raph says to Leo.
"Let's go…" he says all disappointed. Everyone starts to laugh and I can't help but smile too. I'm going to go to the surface. I'm going to help. I turn to look at Donnie who is staring at me and quickly turns his head and stands from the table.
"I'm going to go conduct some more research and get our weapons ready." He says walking off. I want to stop him, but I don't know what to say. Donnie and I haven't talked in weeks, because I've been busy training with Raph.
"C'mon, May." I feel a large hand on my shoulder.
"Right, um…"
"What's wrong?" I shake my head.
"It's nothing." I stand up and start walking to the dojo. "C'mon." I call back. By the time Raph, Mikey and I are finished training it's about 11:30 p.m. I'm walking out of the shower with a towel wrapped around my neck and in PJ bottoms and a t-shirt. Yes, I finally learned my lesson. I go to the lab to see if Donnie is still awake. When I get there he's passed out at his desk with a pen in one hand and his goggles still on top of his head. I cautiously take his goggles off and grab a blanket off a nearby shelf. As I drape the blanket over him, he stirs just a bit. I stop my movements to see if he'll wake up but he just turns his head to the side and lets out a little moan. I blush a little and drape the blanket over his shoulders and tip-toe out. As I'm closing the door I hear Leo.
"He's passed out again?" I jump from his sudden voice and quickly put my hand over his mouth. I feel more than see his skin warm up and put my finger to my lips making a "Shush" noise. "You'll wake him up." His voice is muffled from my hand and I move it out of the way. "Sorry."
"It's fine. I didn't mean to scare you."
"Has he been in the lab all day?"
"Since dinner, yeah." I look at the door to the lab worried about Donnie.
"Don't worry about him. He'll be fine."
"I hope you're right."
"Look, um…" I turn my attention back to Leo to find him scratching the back of his neck and blushing slightly.
"I just wanted to talk to you real quick."
"Okay." I say waiting for him to start.
"Not here, c'mon let's go somewhere a bit more private." He turns around and walks towards the dojo. I follow him and close the door behind me.
"What's wrong Leo?" His back is facing me but I can tell he's really tense. "If you're worried about me going to the surface-"
"That's not it!" he turns and yells out. I stumble back a little at his sudden explosion but regain my composure.
"Okay then what's wrong?" He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
"It's been a while since I told you how I felt." And here it comes. "I just want to know if you've thought about it." I let his question sink in for a moment before answering.
"I just need more time, Leo. There are things about you that I like and things about Donnie that I like too. It's complicated right now." I say looking at my feet.
"But you still like Donnie more, don't you?" I continue to look at my feet.
"Why did I bother? I should have never told you."
"No!" I scream finally looking up at him. I clear my throat and calmly speak again. "I'm glad you told me. There isn't a day that hasn't gone by that I was glad you told me. I know you care a lot about me, it's just, I'm still sorting out my feelings. Things like this take time, Leo."
"How much longer, May?! I'm going crazy over here. And then I see you taking care of Donnie like he's a lost child. It bothers me."
"I'm not going to stop doing something for Donnie because you can't handle it."
"Donnie is still obsessed with April!" he screams.
"You don't think I don't know that?! You don't think how much it hurts me?" I say starting to feel tears well up in my eyes.
"May… I… I didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm fine, Leonardo." I angrily wipe the tears streaming down my face. "I'm fine." I suddenly feel his arms wrap around my small frame and he pulls me close to him.
"I just can't stand seeing you this way. Please, May, I know I can make you happy."
"Is this what you really want?" he pulls back to look at me.
"What do you mean?"
"Is this what you really want? Do you want someone like me who could pine for your brother all her life? That's not fair to you, Leo. You deserve so much better than a girl who can only give you half of herself."
"That's not fair. What about Donnie? What if he does decide he wants to be with you because he can't have April?"
"Then I don't want him." This makes him release his hold on me. "I want all of Donnie or not at all. I don't want to be second best."
"I wouldn't make you second best. You'd be my one and only, May."
"But you wouldn't be mine." I whisper.
"I can change that. I know I can." He steps closer to me and lifts my head by my chin so our eyes lock. His deep, blue eyes pull on my heart. "May. I love you." Before he can do anything else I close my eyes and turn my head away.
"I know you mean that, but I'm still sorting out how I feel. I don't want to put you in second place, Leo. If I want you, I want you to have all of me. So, until I figure out what's going on with me and Donnie, I can't return your feelings."
He takes a step back. "I understand." he says as he leaves the dojo. I fall to my knees and cry. The only time I cried like this was when I lost my parents. A part of me feels like I just lost Leo and my heart is breaking again. I know I just broke his heart, but this isn't easy for me either. It's not like I hadn't thought about being with Leo. It seemed nice but there was always a little part of me that felt like I couldn't be with him because I have these strong feelings for Donnie.
I feel like I've been on the floor, on my knees, for hours. I wipe away the rest of my tears and head into the bathroom to wash my face. Before I get there, Mikey calls out to me. "May." I stop and turn to look at him and paint a smile on my face.
"Yeah?"
"Is everything alright with you and Leo?"
"Everything is fine, don't worry." And I quickly walk to the bathroom. I'm sure they all must have seen Leo storm through here. Can't say I blame him though. I turn on the water and rub my face. As I'm wipe the water away with a towel I see Donnie through the mirror standing in the doorway.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little fight with Leo. Nothing major." I lie.
"You were crying, it had to have been major."
"Must be my time of the month? It's not a big deal. I just got emotional that's all." I try playing it off some more but Donnie won't let it go.
"May, everyone in the lair is concerned. Leo just stormed through the living room looking like he just lost a battle against Shredder. Mikey is even picking up on something not being right. And you know Mikey."
"I promise everything's fine." I lie again.
"You're a horrible liar." He says to me and leans against the door frame crossing his arms. "I thought you could talk to me about everything."
"I can. I mean, I could."
"Is it about that guy you like?" he says smirking.
"What? No. No. Psh. Of course not. Don't be ridiculous." Donnie looks at me with a look that screamed "Yeah, that was supper convincing. Mind telling me the truth?" So, I sigh and grab him by the hand.
"C'mon, I'll tell you in the lab." We walk in and I throw Donnie into the room. I peak outside to make sure no one is listening then close the door. I grab some towels and plug up the underside of the door. The scan the room to make sure there aren't any holes were someone could listen in. Clear.
"Mind telling me what all the secrecy is about?" Donnie asks crossing his arm and tapping his foot. I let out a sigh then stand in front of Donnie.
"Leo told me something a few weeks ago."
"And that would be…." He edges me on.
"That he was in… love… with… me?"
"I KNEW IT!" he screeches. I run up to cover his mouth.
"Shhh! Not so loud do you want everyone to hear you?!" he gives me a muffled sorry and I put my hand down.
"What did you say?" he takes a seat in his chair and I pull up the stool I usually use.
"Nothing at first, he told me to think about it, and I have been but,"
"But…" he leans forward in his seat.
"I have feelings for someone else, you know."
"Oh, that's right, our mystery guy." I roll my eyes at his complete and total denseness.
"Yeah, Mystery Guy. Anyway, he just asked me again if I had thought about it and I told him I have but, that I didn't want to just say yes to him because I might never get to be with Mystery Guy."
"Why wouldn't you be with Mystery Guy?"
"Because Mystery Guy likes someone else."
"Wow. Talk about a love triangle."
"It's more like a hexagon." I say
"What do you mean?"
"It's like this." I grab a piece of paper and a pencil and start drawing little pictures of me, Leo, a question mark, and a figure head of a girl and another boy. "You see, Leo likes me, I like Mystery Guy who is the question mark, Mystery Guy likes another girl but the other girl likes a different guy and this other guy here actually likes her back. They could end up as a couple but both are too afraid to tell the other how they feel." I finish with my visual and let Donnie look it over.
"This looks oddly familiar." He's a genius, of course he's going to figure it out. I wait for him to say something but he just stares at the paper. "I got it!" he says at last and my whole body tenses up. "It's a classic soap opera cliché!" I nearly fall out of my chair. He really is dense! I shake my head and look at him in the eye.
"No, this is just high school." I take the paper from him and start to tear it up.
"Hey, I could have used that." He whines.
"I don't want to be reminded of my love life, thank you very much." I throw the pieces away in the trash can that has a bunch of crumbled up paper over flowing out of the can. "When was the last time you emptied your trash?" I pick up one of the papers and realize its sketch paper. When I unfold it, I find April's face staring back at me. Why am I surprised? I look over at Donnie who is beet red. "Are these all of April?" I ask looking at the over flowing trash can.
"Maybe." He says scratching the back of his neck and avoiding eye contact. I crumble the drawing back up and remove the towels from the door. "Where are you going?"
"I need some air."
"It's dark out, you really shouldn't go alone."
"Fine then, I'll grab Raph." I say shutting the door. I wanted to slam it but I thought better of it. "Raph!" I call out as I'm heading towards the exit.
"Yup!" he says playing a video game with Mikey.
"Mind joining me on the surface? I just really need some fresh air."
"Late night?" he smirks.
"Don't start with me, Raphael. I'm in no mood." He puts the controller down and hops over the couch. "C'mon, let's go talk." We get to the surface and I stretch out my limbs
"AH! Smell that city air." I say to him.
"So, what happened?" We make our way up to a roof top and I give full disclosure to Raph about what happened between me and Leo then me and Donnie. Of course, he starts to laugh. "Sounds like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place." I slap his arm.
"It's not funny."
"It's hilarious. It's like you're stuck in some bad soap opera."
"I just don't know what to do. I broke your brother's heart tonight. And then Donnie, without even realizing it, broke a little of mine too."
"Maybe you shouldn't focus too much on the guys right now."
"Huh?"
"We've got company." He grabs me and we hide behind a billboard on the roof top. "We've got to back. There are too many for us to fight."
"We'll never get back with this many around."
"Dammit." He looks around and points across the roof. "Over there the air vent. Your small enough, climb down and unlock one of the windows from the alley way. I'll crawl in through there. Go." I quickly run across the building and slide down the shoot. I punch out one of the vents falling to the floor like the skilled ninja I've become and rush over to the side of the building. Quickly finding the biggest window I pop the lock and open it up. Raph is sitting by another window and I wave him over. He jumps in and I quietly shut the window and put the lock back in place. We hide behind a counter with Raph keeping an eye out. After about 30 minutes or so he whispers to me, "Coast is clear." We get up off the floor and dust ourselves off. "You look like a real dust bunny." Raph laughs.
"Shut up. It's not my fault that no one is around to clean." I take a look at our surroundings and it seems we ended up in a convenience store. I start going down the small isles pick up supplies that we might need.
"Hey, May, look." I peak my head out from the isle to find Raph in a purple mask now. "I'm Donatello, I love science and math and being a dork." He grabs a mop, one with the really long yarn attached to the end. "Oh, April! I love you so much. Mwah, mwah, mwah." He fakes making out with the mop and I'm almost on the floor dying.
"Stop! Stop! I can't take much more! You're acting too much like Mikey!"
"Hey, I have my funny moments too." He says taking off the purple mask and putting back on his red one.
"Thanks, Raph, I know you were just trying to cheer me up."
"Like I said, you're like a sister to me now." I smile up at him and he just rolls his eyes. We return to the lair with supplies in hand.
"We're back." I call out. Mikey jumps up from the couch.
"We were worried, you were gone so long. Oooo snacks!"
"Sorry," says Raph "We had a run in with the Kraang." All heads snap up. "Relax we didn't fight. We took shelter in a convenience store. Where I got all these goodies." I say holding up the treats and supplies.
"Awesome!" says Mikey grabbing a hand full of candy I picked out and rushing to the kitchen.
"I'm just glad you're okay." Leo says as he walks up to me taking some of the goodies from me. "I'll just put the rest of these in the kitchen for you."
"Thanks." I say not looking at him.
"May!" I hear Donnie call.
"What's up?" I ask.
"Are you okay? Nothings broken, right?" he looks me over.
"I'm fine, Donnie, will you stop worrying."
"I'm sorry; you were just gone for so long."
"It was only an hour tops."
"Still." I look up at Donnie and his purple mask and bite down on my lip to keep from laughing. Raph looks over at me at the same time I look at him and we can't contain it anymore. We both burst at the seam, just cracking up and dying. Everyone is looking at us with a confused expression.
"What's so funny?" asks Mikey.
"Nothing, nothing." I say waving it off.
"Just a joke I remembered." And Raph starts another fit of laughter, which in turn gets me going again.
"I think it's time for bed." Master Splinter says coming into the living room with a confused expression as well.
"Hai, Sensei." Everyone says in unison and we all start walking off to our rooms.
"Thanks again, Raph, I had fun."
"Anytime." He says patting me on the back.
"Since when did you get to be a big softy?" ask Mikey.
"Never. So, such your mouth." He growls at him.
I just giggle and say good night to the boys. I slam my body onto my bed and look up at the ceiling. Maybe what Raph said was right. Maybe I should stop thinking about the boys for a while. Let things be, you know. Yeah, if only it was that simple.
I curl myself into a ball under the covers and think about Friday night. Just two more nights then we can go and help everyone in the city. I can't wait. I close my eyes and lose myself to sleep.