Kayla shook her head slightly to make her hair fall so it slightly covered the left side of her face and her left eye. She'd tried using cover up makeup, which she never did being a tomboy, but the bruise was still faintly visible. She knew she'd be answering the same question about a hundred times today: 'What happened to your eye?'

Kayla grabbed a few books from her locker before closing it. She turned to walk down the hall, almost not noticing Marcus and two of his friends Braden and Tyler.

"Hey Kayla." Marcus greeted with a small wave. Kayla stopped and smiled at him as she waved back.

"Hey." she answered as the three Juniors approached her. Marcus was wearing a green T-shirt and blue jeans, his black hair slightly ruffled and brown eyes bright. On his right Braden was a couple inches shorter than him, a bit pudgy with paler skin and light brown hair. On Marcus's left stood Tyler, who was black with short black hair and brown eyes, a bit more muscular than Marcus, who was pretty well-built himself since he and Tyler were on the football team.

As usual Marcus had a bright smile on his face, until he noticed the bruise on her eye. "What happened to your eye?" he asked worriedly. Kayla grimaced and refrained from rolling her eyes, knowing he was just concerned.

"Oh, it's nothing." she answered confidently. Marcus raised an eyebrow at her, clearly not believing her answer. Kayla sighed. "It's not that bad, I promise. I'll, uh…tell you later."

"Okay, why weren't you in school yesterday?" Marcus asked, sounding doubtful of her answer.

Kayla glanced anywhere but at him. "Again: I'll tell you later."

Tyler smirked good-naturedly. "What, you don't trust us?" he asked teasingly, gesturing to himself and Braden.

Kayla looked at her feet as she blushed in embarrassment. She really didn't know Marcus's friends that well, though they didn't seem too bad. Tyler was in her Anatomy class and actually seemed pretty smart.

"Well, I doubt you'd wanna hear my boring story." Kayla answered lightheartedly with a shrug.

"Alright, alright we can take a hint." Braden answered with a smile.

Kayla rolled her eyes with a smile of her own. "I gotta get going. I'll see ya later Marcus." Kayla said as she continued walking down the hall, the three boys going the opposite direction.

XXX

A couple hours later Kayla stood in the gym waiting with Alana. Kayla was wearing short, black running shorts and her white swim team T-shirt. Alana was also wearing running shorts, but they were blue, and she was wearing her black band T-shirt. Kayla nodded her head to the side, gesturing for Alana to follow her away from the small crowd of gym students. Marcus, standing among his own classmates, noticed and followed them.

When the three friends were several meters from the others Marcus and Alana looked expectantly at their friend.

"So? What happened?" Alana demanded, her voice barely louder than a whisper in case anyone was listening.

"Was it one of your brothers?" Marcus asked in concern. Ever since he met her family he'd been learning quite a bit about them and hanging out with them regularly, often chilling down in the lair with them. Master Splinter even let him sit in on a training session a couple times. Kayla also explained to him that sometimes they tended to get minor injuries in training, though sometimes they weren't so minor.

"It wasn't my brothers." Kayla answered quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was listening.

"But it was a family thing." Alana guessed.

"Obviously." Kayla answered before sighing. "Okay, look, ya know how the Foot is back in action?" both friends nodded. "Well, as usual my brothers and I were on patrol Saturday night when we had a run-in with a group of Foot ninjas. Long story short I took a blow to the face. Not that big of a deal, I've had a lot worse." Alana and Marcus glanced doubtfully at each other.

"Alright," Alana finally spoke, "but that doesn't explain why you weren't in school Monday."

Kayla crossed her arms and looked over and at the ground, biting her bottom lip. She sighed deeply through her nose. After several moments of silence she looked up at her two friends. "I had a nightmare Sunday night. My father thought it'd be best for me to stay home Monday."

Marcus and Alana glanced at each other again, both having similar pained expressions.

"What was this one about?" Alana asked gently, knowing that was a touchy subject for Kayla.

Kayla ducked her head completely, her chin to her chest, so they only saw the top of her head and her black hair was falling in front of her like a waterfall. After a moment she just shook her head briskly, showing she really didn't want to answer that question.

Alana gently patted her friend on the back before they headed back to their own classes.

XXX

Later that afternoon Kayla skipped going home and went straight to work. She parked her motorcycle in the alley by the Second Time Around before going in the alley doorway. As soon as she stepped inside the antique shop five pairs of eyes turned to meet her, four of them hidden behind colored masks. Kayla groaned as she shut the door.

"What are you guys doing here?" she groaned. She'd basically avoided her brothers all day Monday, staying in her room and meditating to try and come up with a few answers. She also came straight to work instead of going home for the same reason. Mostly because she was too embarrassed by her outburst the previous day to face them.

"We're just here talking to April." Don answered with a shrug, not showing any ill-feelings towards her.

Kayla glanced around and saw that the blinds to the windows were closed and the open sign was flipped around to show that the store was closed. Kayla rolled her eyes, put her bag behind the counter, and grabbed a broom to start working, not even giving her brothers a second glance.

"I think you guys should tell her what you saw." April suggested gently. Kayla didn't even acknowledge the comment, keeping her eyes fixed on the ground as she swept.

"Kayla." Leo spoke quietly, not using his usual 'Fearless Leader' voice for once. Kayla continued sweeping, not showing any sign that she'd heard him. "Kayla, look at me." Leo spoke again, his voice still quiet, but firmer and almost pleading. Kayla stopped sweeping and turned her head just enough to show that she was listening, but still hiding her face behind her bangs and hair.

Leo sighed, knowing she was going to be stubborn. "Last night on patrol we saw…a lot…of activity from the Foot." Kayla tried to make it look like she didn't care, but under the cover of her hair she narrowed her eyes and listened carefully. "We didn't confront them at all, but overall last night we heard they broke into a couple warehouses and stole from some gangs. We're still not sure what they're up to exactly, or who's in charge, but we plan on going out again tomorrow night. Master Splinter doesn't want us going out every night." Leo explained.

Kayla nodded and walked away to sweep behind a tall shelf so they couldn't see her, still not making any eye contact with anyone in the room. She could hear them talking quietly among themselves.

"Is she really still upset about not going with you?" April asked quietly.

"Certainly looks that way." Donny answered.

"She jus' needs ta get over it. It's not like there was a lotta action last night. She needs ta grow up." Raph retorted.

Kayla sighed as she started sweeping, trying to tune them out.

"Guess you can hear everything they're saying." a familiar voice commented, making Kayla jump slightly in shock. She quickly went back to sweeping, peaking slightly out from behind her hair enough to see her oldest brother watching her with his arms crossed, leaning his shoulder against the shelf. Kayla looked back at the ground and ignored him.

"Still mad at me?" Leo asked quietly. Kayla stopped sweeping and looked at the ground. She thought for a moment before shaking her head. "Then why aren't you talking to anyone?" Instead of answering Kayla went back to sweeping, hoping he'd go away. She was embarrassed about snapping at her brothers on Monday, and too embarrassed to apologize and admit she was wrong. That's one way she was like Leo, never wanting to admit when she made a mistake.

"Kayla, look at me." Leo ordered firmly. Kayla stopped sweeping but didn't turn around. Before she knew what was happening a hand grabbed her left shoulder and spun her around. She stared at Leo's plastron, not wanting to meet his eyes. "Just please look at me." Leo whispered pleadingly. Kayla sighed before lifting her head slightly to look up at him. Leo looked into her eyes, noticing the guilty look in them.

"I'm sorry." she whispered before dropping her eyes again.

"For what?" Leo asked quietly, having an idea what she was talking about, but he wanted to hear her say it.

"For overreacting yesterday morning. It was immature. I just really wanted to go with you guys and I felt like you were treating me like a baby."

Kayla heard a quiet sigh from above her head before two strong arms wrapped her in a hug which she immediately accepted, dropping the broom and hugging back.

"I'm sorry we made you feel that way." Leo whispered as he rested his chin on her head. "But you know the rules. And with the Foot being back in action we can't risk you getting hurt when we don't fully understand their motives. You know it has nothing to do with your age. It's just that you're in school and we want to make sure you're able to focus to the best of your abilities in class."

Kayla nodded, pressing her face into Leo's shoulder briefly before pulling back and smiling gently up at her brother. Leo smiled down at her before ruffling her hair playfully. They both laughed quietly before Kayla grabbed the broom off the floor and followed Leo out from behind the shelf.

Mikey had his back to them, doing exaggerated hand motions as he described the fight from the weekend, while April was behind the front counter leaning forward with her hands on the countertop, and Don and Raph leaned back with their shells to the counter, both looking bored. Kayla grabbed Leo's arm to stop him. Leo stopped and looked at her questioningly.

Kayla put her finger to her lips, signaling to be quiet, and then pointed at a bucket full of water for moping that was right behind Mikey. Leo smiled and laughed silently to himself as Kayla handed him the broom and walked stealthily up behind Michelangelo.

Don, Raph, and April saw her and looked confused for a moment, but Kayla put her finger to her mouth again before picking up the bucket of water. April covered her mouth with her hand, Don smiled, and Raph gave her an devious smirk.

Kayla carried the bucket right behind her unsuspecting brother before-SPLASH.

"Aaaahhh!" Mikey's piercing girl-scream echoed through the shop. He shook his head, his soaked mask-tails whipping around and splashing Kayla, who just laughed along with everyone else.

"Finally! Someone learns how ta shut 'im up!" Raph shouted, throwing his hands up and looking up at the ceiling.

Mikey looked back at Kayla, water still dripping from him. He was trying to glare at her, but the playful twinkle in his eyes and the smile he was trying to hide told her he thought it was funny. He nodded at her. "Touché." he complimented her as April threw him a towel from behind the desk.

"Nice job." Don complimented her with a nod.

"Thank you." Kayla said as she bowed, causing her brothers and April to laugh.

"So, this mean you're back ta talkin' ta us?" Raph asked, a small hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Kayla looked thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know…Maybe I'll just talk to my nice brothers-Oh wait! That wouldn't include you." Kayla grinned as Raph glared at her with a smirk on his face.

"Touché."