The Little Turtle.
' A day without laughter is a day wasted.' (Charlie Chaplin)
37) Laughing Matters.
I was trying to read up on my history, because of recent hectic activities involving battling purple dragons, foot soldiers or both at once, I had gotten terribly behind on my assignments. I was getting nowhere; the reading was difficult and not all that interesting, I concluded after having read the same sentence three times without managing to grasp it's meaning. Also it was proving difficult to read with only one good eye, the image often slipping out of focus when I wasn't paying attention. Thank you foot soldier number 3 for that punch in the face! Although a lucky shot, it hadn't made the punch any lighter, stupid amateurs where too damn unpredictable.
"That's a nice one!" Mikey exclaimed while he pointed to the shiner I now sported. My bruises never were visible the night of the fight, thank GOD cause that's when Dr Donnie goes over every single one of our boo-boos and auchies. He has a tenancy to go a little overboard with the ointments and bandages when he finds but a scrape on us. 'You have NO idea what kind of filth thrives in the sewers, just be glad you don't have a microscope, ignorance really is bliss.' He would say while nagging out ears off about being more careful despite the fact that his injuries weren't much better than ours.
I tried to glare at my brother but the black eye made it kind of hard. I was kind of happy he came to find me though, it gave me an excuse to put the history book down.
"I can top that though." He said while jumping on my bed so all the books I borrowed from Daren propelled around knocking over anything in their path. "Check this out!" he lifted his arm, ignoring my glare yet again, and a huge red-ish mark was visible on his biceps. I whistled in amazement.
"How did you manage to get past Don with that one?" I looked up at him after examining the bruise close up.
"I distracted him with my other arm." He said and showed his left bandage covered appendage. I smiled knowingly, between Leo and Don I honestly couldn't tell which was the bigger mother hen.
"I have an even better one though." I said and flipped myself to my feet. I pulled up my sweater a bit and showed him my back. I got that a few nights back an admittedly not so lucky shot by a now very hospitalized purple dragon.
"Dude, that's old." He said and blew my injury off.
"Hey, if anything I should get points for that, can you imagine what it was like fresh?" he seemed to think it over but decided himself the winner altogether.
"So yer gonna skip class later?" he asked changing the subject, while he watched me clean up the books HE had thrown about.
"No, why should I?" I said as I reached under the bed for the copy of mathematical problems II.
"Don't you think yer boyfriend is gonna be asking questions about how you got that eye?" I heard him tease from atop the bed. He managed to poke my head through the matras. Good thing I remembered on time that I was still squatting down under my bed, otherwise I'd have a nice bump on my head to go along with my eye.
"Hey, he is NOT my boyfriend alright?" I punched the place he was sitting from underneath the bed. "Secondly I'll just tell him the truth." I said as I crawled out. Gross I thought as I looked down to see my shirt completely covered in dust and grime.
"You'll tell him what, 'Hey sweety! Last week my ninja turtle brothers and I invaded the purple dragon HQ to save a vigilanty?' yeah actually you should open with that." He smirked.
"Actually yeah,I was gonna tell him, there is nothing wrong with what we did? Not like he's gonna go rat us out." I said as I dusted off his book. Somehow lying to Daren seems wrong, I felt guilty enough not being able to tell him about my family.
"Oh, boy you got it bad." He said I swatted him with the book.
"I have nothing bad! He's just my friend and I'm a horrible liar anyways. I mean what else am I gonna say, I tripped on the stairs and landed on my face?"
"Something like that."
"You can't be serious, I'll come off like such a dork. I'm a ninja dammit not some damsel in distress!"
"You sure get worked up a lot over nothing." He gave me a pointed look that I couldn't stand. But getting more upset would only prove his point.
"Jerk" I mumbled. To which he poked me in the side.
"Real mature. Trust me as a guy, he'll be less intimidated by you when he isn't aware you can kick his ass in five different fighting styles."
" Wasn't it you who told me always to be myself?" I countered as I collected the stuff I needed for class in a patched-up backpack.
"Of course you should, but let him get used to Thanny first before you begin kicking ass."
"He already knows I can fight, I saved his grandfather after all and I sort of threw him over my shoulder once …" I noticed Mikey holding his head in defeat, " ... it was an accident alright!" I defended, "I said sorry." it happened the first time I went to class, Daren came up behind me while I was being paranoid and yeah ... he grabbed my shoulder and I send him flying.
"Well he's still around right? Which means he's either an idiot or prone to masochism, or both." I threw him an angry glance when he called Daren an idiot, but I swallowed what I was going to say. Didn't want to poor oil on the fire.
"So what should I say to him?" I asked in defeat.
"Tell him you walked into a door or something." he said, not all that interested anymore while he browsed through my collection of comic books.
"That's lame." I pointed out and flopped next to him on my bed.
"You could borrow April's make up." He teased.
"Ssshht ! You dork!" I held my hand over his mouth and listened for any girlish screams or squeals, after a couple of seconds I released my brother and slapped him over the head. "You're lucky, if April even hears mention of one of those girlish things she'll drag me off and torture me with them." I said and shuddered a bit thinking about it
"You're such a drama queen." He said and pushed me off, "Seriously I blame Raph and his girl-phobic ways, if you want to admit it or not you are a girl don't you … you know want to do girl stuff?" he said this as if he really was being serious, which was creeping me out so I decided to just go topside a little earlier before he really did team-up with April and made me wear nail-polish and ribbons and pink miniskirts with unicorns … a ninja's worst nightmare.
"On that creepy note, I'm going topside." I said and walked out of my room leaving my brother sitting on the bed. "I expect you to behave normal again when I return." I yelled as an after though to which he just laughed.
"What did you say Thanny, you're going shopping?!" he yelled, and this time I really did April respond, so I made a run for it.
…
Class was over but it wasn't as much fun as it usually was, Daren hadn't bothered to show up. Which really bothered me cause the professor was obviously expecting him. I was feeling a little worried, maybe he had detention or something? But I quickly wrote off that thought, that goody-two-shoes couldn't get on a teachers bad side even if he tried. Nonetheless I decided to head for the local high-school anyways, I knew he probably wouldn't be there but I had no idea where else to search for him. It was pointless but I figured chances were greater of me running into him there than if I were to random wander around in the city.
I eyed some punks hanging out near the exit of the homeless camp. Maybe Daren had gotten into trouble on the way. I quickly put that thought out of my head. Not a good idea to go over the worst case scenario's. But I checked any alley I passed nonetheless.
Walking along with the 'normal' people instead of jumping the rooftops felt tedious and claustrophobic. It send my instincts into overdrive, constantly having people bump into you, coming up behind you. I knew it was beyond paranoid to think like this but anyone of them could have a weapon or knife hidden somewhere. If one crazy bastard decided to stab you, you'd never see it coming.
A man suddenly appeared in front of me and reached inside his pocket, I panicked. The crowd wouldn't let me back off, and that guy came right at me and was taking something out of his pocket. I flashed back to the night Hun cornered me in the alley and took out a gun in a similar fashion. When it turned out to be just a cellphone the guy was reaching for I slipped into an alley to catch my breath. This is crazy! It's New York of course there are a lot of people on the streets, just get over it dammit! My hands were shaking and the sounds were so deafening it made me sick to my stomach. I looked up to the sky, there was even a fire escape present so escape from this noisy world was so close by.
But giving into fear was not my style. I pulled up my hood, I don't know why but it made me feel safer. I felt for the kunai hidden in my boots, great now you are paranoid and a hypocrite. After breathing calmly for a couple of minutes I decided that I had my nerves back under control. I watched the endless flow of humans for a while before finding an opening and slipping in joining the flow, like cattle in a herd.
It slowed down when I got off the main streets. I came to the conclusion that I probably just went through hell for nothing. Even if Daren had taken that route I could just as easily have missed him in the crowd. When the school came in sight I made a run for the nearest fire escape. Relief coursed through my body as I landed on familiar ground. Joyfully I ran and jumped towards the building right across from the school.
I sat myself down closer enough to the edge to have a nice bird eyed view of the parameter. I wonder what it's really like in there? Kids always seem to complain about going to school, but apart from history I really enjoyed learning. I mean it's like training right? If you don't train you're not getting stronger, if you don't study you stay ignorant … well maybe that's a bit harsh.
I played with my kunai for a while, an hour or so passed and kids suddenly started coming out of the school. Must be the trouble makers who got detention I thought. I searched for Daren but when the last person walked through the doors and I still hadn't spotted my friend I decided to call it quits. It was a long shot to begin with, Daren probably had better things to do than hang out with us in the junkyard. I stood up, dusted off my pants and was about to head for home when I noticed a bright red color out of the corner of my eye … no way. One more person was sneaking off the school grounds.
There he was, his signature red head betrayed his presence like a beacon. I frowned, Daren getting detention? He was the last to leave and it seemed he wanted it like that. He didn't seem to want to interact with the other students at all, maybe he just didn't know them? I wondered. I found myself smiling, I got to hang out with my friend after all and I get to tease him about getting into trouble at school. I slipped my knife back into my boot.
The others who had gathered together at the gate where lighting up their cigarettes, Daren seemed hesitant to pass them. But when he did, the large one suddenly called out to him. I didn't hear what he said but whatever it was it made Daren lower his head just a tiny bit, it made the others laugh and made me want to punch his face through that gate.
I made my way down. I watched the little gang still eying and whispering about my friend. I half wished for them to try something, I'd gladly put them in their place. But unfortunately they went the opposite direction. I send them a final glare, stupid jerk I'll remember your face. I waited until they ceased looking back and followed Daren, I didn't make myself known until we were both well out of sight of those idiots.
I ran up behind him and tapped his shoulder in what I thought was a gently way but it made him flinch like I had popped him a good one on the head instead.
"Hey, you alright?" I asked, taking a step back to give him his space. He turned around quickly when he heard me.
"Thanny?" his eyes wide and unbelieving. "What are you doing here?" he yelled and fidgeted, looking around as if we weren't meant to be seen together. I didn't hold it against him, I could understand if he wanted to avoid further problems with those jerks at the gate.
"I came to find you, you weren't at the junkyard today so … well anyways, you wanna hang out or something?" I asked, stupid I was so worried about finding him that I hadn't at all thought about what I was gonna do or say when I did find him.
"Well … holy ... what happened?" he yelled suddenly and pointed to my face. I was confused at first but remembered he was talking about my eye. I looked at him prepared to give him a horrible excuse when I noticed one of his eyes didn't look as it should either. Because of his dark skin I didn't notice it earlier but now that I paid closer attention there was definitely some swelling starting and even a little cut next to his eye.
"Me?! What the hell happened to you?!" I accused him right back. Now my blood really started boiling ... did those jerks … I clenched my hand and fought the urge to hunt those bastards down. Daren chose that moment to start laughing like someone was tickling him without mercy.
"What's so damn funny?" I asked, still pissed off at finding my friend hurt. He didn't stop, he was near hysterics.
"ju ju just … I … and and and … you …." He couldn't stop laughing but I found it contagious and joined him. I could understand why he'd find it funny, the both of us kind of ashamed of our eye, probably making up the same lame excuses. It was stupid and definitely not funny at all but we were both of us idiots so we laughed.
"Wanna go to the park?" he asked after he got control over the random laughing frenzy.
"Yeah sure." I smiled and joined him, I noticed not for the first time that with him my paranoid attacks weren't all that bad.
We sat on the swings and quietly watched the other people going about their business.
"So what's your story?" he asked as he pointed to my eye. "… and don't give me the I-fell-down-the-stairs excuse." He interrupted me, I glared at him a bit but he gave me a knowing look.
"I can't tell you." I said, deciding that I really didn't want to lie to him.
"s'cool." He said but he didn't sound okay with it at all.
"I know it's unfair for me to know how you got yours." I whispered and watched his reaction carefully. He managed to look sad and angry at the same time. "I saw those guys laughing at you, did you get in a fight or something?" the question popped out before I could think better of it.
"Sorry, you don't have to answer that." I said.
He started swinging again but seemed deep in thought.
"No big deal actually, it's so mainstream its boring actually. The nerd getting bullied by the big popular guys." I didn't know what to say to this.
"I try to stand up but it's hard you know, it got kind of bad today and I got in a fight with Jason. Well I don't know if I'd call me getting pummeled a fight but …" he sighed, "I just wish that I could hurt him back for once, you know." He looked at me and I smiled.
"I understand." I said, and I really did. Being the little girl made me the target often enough in our battles and it's only through extensive daily training I can handle it, but those times few times that I get hurt or lose it is really humiliating and frustrating, even if my bro's always have my back. Knowing that for reasons you can't control you have to lose to some guy. I thought back to my ten year old self fighting against Hun, how scared and helpless I had been. "I was in a fight too." I said honestly.
He looked at me and was at loss for what to say, I don't know what kind of idea's I had planted in his head with that last comment but I decided that I would deal with the consequences later.
"I made you a deal a while ago. I think now is a great time for you to collect your favor." I said as I jumped from the swing. I looked over his shoulder to see him with a puzzled look on his face.
"Don't you remember? I threw you over my shoulder and you said you'd forgive me if I taught you how to do that?" it took him a while but he seemed to recall said event.
"Come on." I called and walked to the more sandy area of the playground. I heard him follow, hesitantly. I smiled at him, his careful behavior somehow reminded me of a little duckling.
"Now give me your arm." I ordered.
"Thanny, please don't make me take that dive again." He complained but surrendered his arm anyways.
"I'm just gonna show you what to do." I said and laughed at him for being such a big baby. I showed him where to pull and how to twist your body when you feel the weight of the other person. And after an hour of us tumbling together in the sand he managed to sort of flip me once.
I smiled as he freaked out, thinking he had hurt me. In reality I pushed myself off so to make it easier for him, all he had to do was guide me over his shoulder. I wasn't going to tell him that though, I had the feeling that he wasn't giving it his all out of fear to accidentally injure me.
"There you go." I said and flipped myself back on my feet as I always did. But it seemed to shock him for some reason.
"I have to warn you though, it might work with someone smaller than you ..." I said while gesturing to myself. "… it's a whole other story throwing someone who's larger, so don't go trying that without looking like a fool." he looked at me as if I was insane but nodded anyways.
"Duly noted, master, I'll just knock them out with my karate punch of awesomeness!" he said and held out his fist. I frowned at his weak stance but even more at his wish to mess up his hand. Out of reflex I grabbed it.
"Don't punch with your knuckles, idiot, and get your thumb out of there. This way you'll really do more damage to yourself than anyone else." I said and adjusted his fingers.
He looked at me quite puzzled and I knew I had taken him too seriously.
"How do you know all this stuff anyways?" he asked as he went back to grab his backpack which lay discarded next to the swings.
I flinched and looked down, what do I say? I couldn't think of a good excuse and I didn't want to either. I remained silent and he seemed to catch onto my internal conflict.
"Watched a lot of karate kid huh?" he said and smiled. I beamed at him quite grateful for the way out, though we both knew I was keeping secrets and we were both equally sad about it.
"Something like that."
"Well thank you for the lesson and for teaching it to me without making me wax your car a million times." I laughed, not for the first time it pained me to think just how well he would get along with Mikey. If only he were a turtle.