Mikey's POV

After homeroom, I look for Raph again. What were those guys talking about earlier? I see Donnie and Leo across the hall, talking, but I decide not to drag them into it. The last thing we need is for all three of us to worry about Raph.

I head outside towards the football field, where he normally goes around 5th period. Sure enough, he's there, but he's not alone. He's talking to those guys who were giving me a hard time earlier. I hide behind the bleachers were they were talking.

"I don't care, you don't ever approach them. They have nothing to do with this," I hear Raph snap at the senior. "I'm done with that life, that's why Cody and I stopped being friends."

"You can't just walk away from us, Raph. Not without consequences."

"Then go after me, but they've been through enough, dammit and I'm not going to let you keep dragging them into something they don't belong in," Raph snaps. "Your fight is with me, not them. If I ever see you around one of them again I'll bust your skull open."

"Well, well, what do we have here?" I turn around and see the other guy from earlier directly behind me. He grabs the back of my hoodie and covers my mouth while dragging me out of the bleachers. Raph looks over at me as they shove me to the side.

"Mikey, what the hell are you doing here?" Raph demands.

When he goes to step forward I feel something sharp against my throat. I take a deep breath before grabbing the guy's arm and swinging it forward, before spinning around and kicking him. The senior goes to jump in, but Raph grabs him and slams him against the bleachers.

"Enough! Mikey, what the hell are you doing here?"

"What are you doing?" I shot back. Raph grabs me by the arm and drags me back into the building and to the restrooms. He doesn't stop, doesn't say anything, nothing.

When we get in there, he lets go of me and I look over and see him fuming.

"The hell were you thinking? I told you to stay away from those guys. And now you're spying on me?"

"You're the one acting shady. Who are those guys and what are they talking about?"

"That's none of your business."

"Your wellbeing is so my business."

"Stay out of it, Mikey," Raph's voice is dangerously low. "You don't go anywhere near them. You and the others are to stay away from them and anything they may bring and if they come near you, you tell me. This is serious, Mike."

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because it's dangerous, idiot. I'm doing something that needs to be done, but you guys need to stay out of this. This is something I have to deal with alone," Raph replies, but he calms down a bit. "Just stay away from this."

"Is it about Cody?"

"It's about Cody and a lot of other things. I've… I've done things I'm not proud of, Mike, but everything I've done I've done it for a good reason," he says. "Don't mention this to the others, either. I'm handling it, just trust me, okay?"

"I- okay, Raph."

Donnie's POV

Leo walks over to my locker, flipping through his textbook carelessly to emphasize the fact he's bored out of his mind.

"Hey, genius, I'm thinking we could all go see a movie tonight. Any plans with April?"

"Not tonight no. Hey, have you seen Raph today? He wasn't in second period, but when I texted him he said he was handling something. Haven't seen much of Mikey either."

"I'm sure it's nothing. Raph skips a lot and we don't see Mikey much anyway throughout the school day. Things are still tense right now so you're probably just overthinking it. If we don't see Raph in sixth period, I'll go hunt him down," Leo says. I don't say anything and a few minutes later, we see Raph and Mikey both walking down the hallway.

"Hey, guys," Raph says. They both stop and Leo gives me a smug expression as if to say I told you so.

"Why weren't you in second period?"

"Had to handle something, like I said. Everything's fine," Raph says.

That's a load of bullshit if I've ever heard it, but I decide to drop it. There's no winning anyway. I'll figure it out eventually. It probably has something to do with Raph's sudden determination to find Cody. I understand wanting to find his friend, but honestly by this point, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to get involved in this or not. There's no telling what could happen to any of us, especially Raph.

"Alright, guys, let's just get through the day. Meet outside the gym at the end of day?" Leo asks. We all nod and Raph and I head to our next class, Mikey goes in the opposite direction and Leo heads towards the office.

"Hey, no one's messed with you since we've been back, right?"

"Not really, why?"

"Just making sure," he responds.

"What are you hiding from me, Raph?"

"I'm not hiding anything, Don."

"Bullshit."

"Language."

"If this is about Cody, Raph, you promised me you'd lay low," I say. He stops, grabs my arm and drags me into the bathroom.

"I'm keeping my promise to you to the best of my ability, Donnie. But things are complicated. I need you to just trust me and know that I know what I'm doing."

"You want revenge."

"I want something else. I just need you to trust me."

"Does Leo know?"

"No and he's not going to find out because it's not safe for any of you," Raph responds.

"Look, man, I know what happened to us, it was scary and there's a lot to unpack, but we can't afford to draw any attention to ourselves," I say. "Please, just, don't risk yourself. If you can't do it for you, do it for me, Leo, Mikey and Dad. I mean, you've seen Dad the last few weeks. He's on edge and stressed and we can't keep doing this to him."

"I was involved in a gang, Donnie," Raph blurts out and when I go to yell at him he covers my mouth, and his voice goes dangerously low. "Relax, I left. Cody and I left and at first nothing happened, but they've started hanging around again. I'm handling it, but this is my fight and my fight alone. I need you to trust me."

"Why the hell would you get involved with a gang, Raph?" I ask and he looks at me for a few moments, studying me closely before sighing. "Why?"

"Because it gave you guys protection against the Foot. I knew about that group a long ass time ago and I planned to do everything in my power to stop it, but now, it caught up with me. Look, everything I did, I did to protect you guys and I'm going to keep doing that. I just need you to let me handle it and not tell Leo because if Fearless tries to get himself in this, it'll be a mess."

"Sounds like it's already a mess, Raph."

"D, I'm asking you, as your older brother, to trust me. Please," Raph says.

"Do you promise not to keep any more secrets from me?"

"Yes."

"Fine, I'll trust you, Raph."

"Good. If anyone tries to mess with you right now, tell me immediately. I need to know," he says. With that, my brother acts like nothing happened.

What the hell are we getting ourselves into?