Chapter 4
"I
dunno, Aunt April…" June said, fixing her hair one last time in
her visor mirror. "Maybe my bright plan will make me look like, I
don't know, a female player or something…"
"No, I
think it's a good idea!" April reassured her, "It's probably
the only
way you could pull it off without hurting anyone's feelings.
Besides, won't it be really hard to decide who you would really
like if you didn't give each of them a fair shot?" June looked a
little uncertain as she swept her bangs to the side of her face.
"Your right…" she said.
"After all, isn't that how it
was with all of your other boyfriends? Didn't you give them a shot
before actually going steady?"
June paused momentarily.
"Uh- yeah! Yeah! That's right! That's just what I did!" She
said quickly.
"Well then! Let's get to it!" April
said, patting her leg and hopping out of her car. June flipped up her
visor, opened and locked the door, and closed it with a slight slam.
She followed her aunt into an alley, and then helped her lift off the
lid of a man hole. June went down first and waited for April who took
care of closing the secret entranceway.
They walked for a while
without talking, but April kept stealing glances of her niece. She
looked sure of her self, staring straight as she walked, her eyes
focused on her destination. But there seemed to be a little worry on
her face.
"Everything
will be okay, June," April said calmly, causing her niece to look
at her. "The guys won't judge or anything. Well… maybe Raph,
but he's really nice when you get through his shell- pardon the
pun." June turned her gaze forward, and April could have sworn she
saw a slight smile on her face.
Finally, they reached the
Turtle's home. "Guys!" April called. Normally they would have
been warned of her visiting by the sun that shone through the manhole
over their home, but since it was tourist season, she couldn't risk
being seen. It was easy enough the other day, but as summer began to
heat up, the population grew as well. "Guuuuuyyyyysss!" April
called, making her way into the room. It
is so convenient that sewers intersect,
she thought as she and June reached the living room.
"Hey!
April! June!" Donatello called out from behind his computer. He
jumped up and rushed toward them. "We were hoping you'd show up
so! It's really great to see you!" he said as if they hadn't
seen one another in years.
"Hi, Donny," June said, glad to
see he was glad to see her nonetheless. "Um… I have something to
bring up to you and your brothers, are they around?"
Donatello nodded eagerly and shouted out to his brothers, "Leo!
Raph! Mikey! June's here and she wants to tell us something!"
As soon as he had finished his announcement, a crash could be heard from another room, and Michelangelo shouting, "I'm okay!" He rushed out from wherever he was and gave June a big hug. "Alright! June! You're here!"
"Yes, yes, Mikey, I am indeed here." She said, returning his hug. Leonardo appeared with Raphael right behind him, a scowl on his face.
June smiled once they all entered the room. "Alright, here's the thing," June started. She looked over her shoulder at her aunt, who nodded for her to continue. "Well, as you may or may not know, I really think you guys are great. I mean, really great. That's why I was thinking…. Well…. Maybe- would you guys like to go out with me sometime?"
All of the boy's jaws dropped. Even Raphael's eyes grew wide at her request. As if on command, all of the boys shouted at the top of their lungs, "YES!"
Unbelievable…
Raphael thought to himself, I
do NOT believe what I'm hearing!
He snapped to his senses. "What do you mean, 'you guys?' You
can only go out with us one at a time- if you were even serious about
it, that is…"
June looked at him, again standing in a
corner, leaned up against a wall with his arms wrapped around his
chest. She smiled at him, slightly cocking her head to the side. "So,
how did you like the CD?" She asked simply, going way in the
outfield. Raph's eyes grew big again, but then narrowed down to a
glare.
"Oh,
he's been listening to it non stop!" Michelangelo said with a
smile. "Especially this one song… It's pretty hard core rock-"
"It's Avenged Sevenfold, you idiot," Raphael glared, giving
him a glare. June smiled, "Yeah, it's called 'Seize the Day,'
I thought you would like it, Raph. And please, I do have a method to
my madness- let me explain," she said, answering his first
question. "I thought all of you guys are totally cute," June
began, "and I would really like to maybe date one of you, for the
sake of summer romance and all. Well, I thought about who I would
want to date, but to be honest; I can't make up my mind who would
like to go out with more. So I was thinking, since traditionally guys
are the ones who call the shots on dates, so I thought, maybe you
guys could set up a date of your preference and see who comes out
victorious."
"I don't like the idea," Raphael said
strongly. Stupid,
shut up!
"It sounds like your just doing it for kicks!" Shut
up!
"Well,
I kind of agree with it, Raph," Leonardo said. "What she says
makes sense. If she likes all of us, including you, which I don't
really see how that happened, it is the only way she could make her
mind of who to date, if any of us. And if you haven't noticed, we
don't really get a lot of girls who are interested in us, so for
once, why don't you just accept the fact that someone does
like us, and that someone wants to go out with us!"
Raphael
lowered his head and stared at the ground. Why
can't I just shut up? Look at what I've started now… Leo has a
point… I'll just be quiet and see what happens…
June
looked at Raphael. He
looks really upset, she
thought as she became concerned as well. She felt her eyebrows knit
together with worry, but Michelangelo brought her back to the
discussion. "So, who gets to go first?" He asked anxiously.
"Don't worry, I got the fairest way of doing it- names out of
a hat!" She said, producing a baseball cap and sheet of paper.
"Totally childish- but it works. So everyone, I've already
written your names on the paper, so all I have to do," she said is
she started ripping the sheet in four squares, "is fold them up,
shake 'em around, and Aunt April picks!" She set the hat down on
the sofa that was nearest to her, folded the papers into the tightest
possible squares, placed them in the hat, covered the opening with
her hand and shook like a maniac. After a few seconds, she moved back
over to her aunt and said with a smile, "Now the time we've all
been waiting for! Aunt April, you do the honors!"
April smiled
and reached into the hat and pulled out the first paper square. She
unfolded it and read out the first name- "Leonardo!" Donatello's
and Michelangelo's jaws dropped at the news. "What?!"
Mikey groaned, "Leo always
goes
first!" Leonardo just smiled proudly.
"Next is Michelangelo,"
April read. "HA!" He shouted, jumping in both Donatello's and
Raphael's faces. "SO in your face! In your FACE! HAHA!"
"Donny
goes third, and that leaves Raph in fourth place," April said.
Donatello looked happy with the outcome and Raph showed no emotion
whatsoever. "So, here's the deal," June explained again, "you
get to pick your dream date and let me get involved in it. From
there, I'll pick the guy who I like the most. Other than that,
nothing much has changed- we're all still friends no matter what,
right?" All three boys smiled, "Of course!" "This is a great
learning experience for us- and it's a great social experiment,
too," Donatello said matter-of-factly. "Yeah, and dudes, I
totally
cannot
wait to partake in it!" Michelangelo said.
Raphael brooded as
the others celebrated. What
am I going to do for a date? I don't have a romantic bone in my
body- what am I gonna do? I'll just keep and ear and an eye out for
what the others are doing… that'll give me ideas…
"So,
what do you guys wanna do for now?" June asked the brothers. "Well,
I was just going to challenge all of these losers to a match of Dance
Dance Revolution- you want in?" Michelangelo asked her. "Sure! We
can make it like a tournament! So who's all in?" She asked.
Naturally, Donatello and Leonardo spoke up, but when Raphael didn't
say anything, June looked over at him. "Raph?" She asked quietly,
hoping not to hit a nerve, "Do you want to play?" "Common,
Raph," Michelangelo laughed, "I wanna see you boogie down to
Kelly Clarkson."
"I'm not playing," he growled, not taking
his eyes off the ground. "I don't want to be in on your stupid
little tournament, let alone a dumb game like that- I got better
things to do." With that, he stood up and stormed out of the room.
June watched him leave. Is
it something I said…?
she thought, I
hope it's just his way of testing the waters…
"Earth to June, let's get this party started!" Michelangelo
laughed, brining her out of her thoughts. She perked up, moving
toward the DDR mat laid out in front of her. "Yeah, on my way!"
She said. She looked off into the direction Raphael went, but didn't
see him, then went on the play the game.
