Radical Transformation
~
The next morning couldn't have come quick enough. Last night they all went to bed, feeling nervous; today they woke feeling extremely nervous. Raph had shared the box room with Mikey, who Raph complained snored. Leo and Donny had taken up the guest room again, but Leo had offered his half to Raph for his leg. They all seemed slightly surprised when he did, but Raph refused, saying he wished he would stop being treated as though he was about to die.
April was first up this morning. Her night hadn't been as restless as the guys'. They had all gone to bed slightly earlier than usual, and it had done the job: They were not so tired as normal when they woke.
As April walked through the room to the kitchen, she looked at the time on the clock. It was a quarter to eight. They guys should get up soon if they wanted breakfast, and to be at their new school on time. It wasn't good to be late and draw attention to themselves. She also felt nervous for them. Would any one be suspicious of them? About how they're four identical brothers? Of course they wouldn't. Nothing could connect them to the rumors about the green turtles who whoop crime's ass. April was still just getting the hang of all this. Her friends turning human, and then this absurd idea from the cop's head tells them they had to attend school. April couldn't help but smile as she put the kettle on and started to make five breakfasts. They wanted to be human, and got a bit more than what they bargained for.
At five to eight, April sighed. Having eaten her breakfast, she went into the guest room, which was downstairs, where Leo and Donny pretended to be asleep. They were only dressed in some of Casey's shorts and a long T-shirts for nightwear.
"Get up, you lazy pair," April grinned, stood at the end of the bed and pulled the covers off. "School time."
Leo and Donny groped for the covers, but when they couldn't find them, looked up and put on a face.
April laughed. "Sorry guys, but if you don't get up by the time that cop gets here then he really WILL think you're skivers."
With groans, Leo and Donny pulled themselves from the bed, and into the kitchen where April told them their breakfast was waiting.
"It's not just me who feels sick and nervous about this whole stupid idea of us going to school, is it?" Donny asked Leo, as they both grabbed their bowls from the kitchen counter.
"No. I feel the same." Leo reassured him.
April walked upstairs and into the spare room. Raph and Mikey were both on the floor, covers over their heads.
"Guys, it's morning . . ." April said, smiling.
Mikey moaned and pulled the covers tighter over his head.
"School time guys," April grinned. This was fun to torment them.
Mikey and Raph both grabbed their pillows and threw them at her. She laughed as she dodged them, then grabbed Raph's cover and yanked it off.
"Not well . . ." He moaned. But April could see the smile curving on his lips.
"Get up, breakfast's downstairs."
Raph just groaned and buried his head in his arms, trying to get back to sleep.
Mikey giggled when April crouched down and tried to wrestle the covers away from him.
"C'mon, you'll have a great time at school, that cop'll be here soon," April reminded them
Not wanting any nasty business with him, the two reluctantly got up and followed April down the stairs, where Leo and Donny were eating their breakfast slowly.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Mikey whined as he and Raph grabbed their bowls from the kitchen.
"Yeah, well I can't believe you're human," April smiled.
It was now twenty past eight, and the brothers were feeling nervously sick, which was the main feeling this morning. They had finished their breakfast, and Mikey had done the washing. Then they had each pulled on the clothes they wore yesterday, with a promise from April that she would get them some more from her friend's son, who was their age but had moved over to England with his dad. The woman had told April, after hearing April's story, that she would give them her son's clothes, as well as her son's school bag, which he had two of. The guys seemed embarrassed about all this trouble for them. They weren't used to clothes anyway, and only remembered to comb their hair when April looked at it and told them it was scruffy. Raph couldn't really do much with his.
At a quarter to nine, there was a knock at the door, and all of their stomachs did the twist. April answered the door and Giph was standing there.
"Ah, good to see you're ready," he said, looking at them all sat on the couch. "I think we should be going. It starts at nine, but you need to sign in and stuff."
The guys looked at each other. April gave them an encouraging smile, which they returned with a small, weak one. Donny picked up the bag from April's friend, Leo and Mikey slung one each over their shoulders; April had lent them. Only Raph didn't have a bag, but he and Mikey had secretly agreed to hide their weapons in Mikey's.
"Best be off then, thank you Miss," he said to April. He walked out the door, and the guys hesitated.
"Go on then," April said. She hugged them all before they walked out the door.
"This is ludicrous," Donny mumbled. His brothers looked at him with a face that said 'I agree'.
They followed Giph down the building's stairs and into the parking lot across the street. He walked up to his police car, and waited for them to reach it before he said anything.
"One in the front, three in the back, no litter and you will walk home when the day is finished. Understood?" He looked at them.
They nodded, and Raph got in the front, the others in the back.
The car smelt funny, but they dared not say anything. Giph drove away from April's apartment, and as he did, they felt like they could puke. He drove through town, past the shops they had looked in, and ten minutes later he pulled up in front of a large, wide building, with cement paths and trees and grass at the front, otherwise know as a large garden. They got out the car with a meaningful look from Giph at them.
"I called in and told them you'd be joining. So just go to the reception. And take those things from around your heads, they won't be allowed." Giph said, and then drove away.
The guys watched the car disappear round a corner, ignoring his order about the bandannas, then they all looked up at the building. Kids older, younger and the same age swarmed the place. Some sat against the trees on the grass, others walking with handfuls of books down the paths. Some kids stared at them as they walked past. The guys let their gaze turn up at the name of the building on a sign.
"Vinilla high?!" Mikey read. "Vinilla? Why not chocolate?"
"Okay, let's just go to reception." Donny breathed deeply.
"Let's not!" Raph declared and was about to turn around. "Let's get outta here!" But Leo grabbed his arm.
"No, we'll be in serious trouble if they say to Giph that we didn't turn up. It could get us AND April into trouble." Their leader said.
They all looked at each other, with faces of humorous doom. Then they walked, slowly, down the path that leads to what looked like the main door. They joined the stream of kids also making their way in.
Inside was a tiled floor, and clean, pale blue walls. Lockers lined the wall down one corridor to their right, but they followed a sign that said 'reception' on the wall. They turned left, passing staring kids, and came to the reception, which was a desk, and a woman sitting behind it. To her left was a door, no doubt the principle's, hint the plaque saying 'Principle'.
The woman, Mrs. Sanbury (as it said on her desk plaque), looked up at them, and smiled warmly.
"Ah, you must be the quadruplets," she had a squeaky voice; full of life, despite the age she looked.
They nodded wordlessly.
Mrs. Sanbury pulled out a load of papers from her draw and started to take down some details, after asking a few questions. When she asked for their last name, and they said they didn't have one, she looked at them frowning.
"No surname?" She asked.
"No, er . . . we never had one," Leo lied (well, that bit was true). "Our, um, parents died when we were born, and erm, no one knew who they were, so we lived in an orphanage for some time before discovering our aunt and other relatives." He lied quite good.
Mrs. Sanbury immediately became sympathetic towards them.
"Oh dears, I am sorry, what a story," she said.
Leo felt guilty, but his brothers flashed him a smile.
A few minutes later she was telling them all the times of the school, for lunch, break, classes, and handed them a timetable. She told them this would be a temporary agenda for each of them.
A loud bell echoed in the corridors, and the all kids quickly disappeared into their classrooms. The guys were still stood in reception, now waiting for the principle, whose name was Principle Simmons. They were offered to sit down by Mrs. Sanbury, and they did do, but feeling very nervous. Mrs. Sanbury seemed to notice, and started rambling on about how strange it was to start a new school. The guys were thinking in their head how strange it was to START a school! They kept noticing how Mrs. Sanbury stared at each of their faces, trying to find a sign to tell them apart. They politely looked away.
After about fifteen minutes, in which Mrs. Sanbury chatted the whole time, footsteps coming from the corridor made them look up to see a man in a smart, black uniform, unmistakably the principle, Mr. Simmons. He was a thick build man, not fat, and was quite tall.
"Ah, Principle Simmons," Mrs. Sanbury smiled. "These are the young boys who will be joining us, as Chief Giph said."
Simmons looked down at the guys, who looked up, and gulped.
"Um. Yes, I remember Giph saying about you four being identical, that could get very confusing." Simmons had a low voice, in which they could hear every syllable perfectly. "Who's who, then?"
They stood up and said their names.
Simmons nodded. They got the impression that he wasn't one to cross, but he wasn't an unfair man.
The principle led them into his office, where he told them about the school rules, and where the important things were like the nurse. He told them they should have lockers to put their things in. He found four spare ones close to each other, writ down the four combination numbers on four separate pieces of paper and gave them to the guys. Simmons told them that the kids here were nice enough, and that he didn't like troublemakers. Leo, Donny and Mikey all glanced at Raph, who frowned as if to say 'what?' After talking for two hours, which was the time of the two first classes before break, the bell rang, and the sounds of kids coming from their classes echoed, muffled through the door. They all stood up, and Principle Simmons told them to come and see him at the end of the day so he could find out how their day went.
They left his office and walked away from the reception, where Mrs.. Sanbury was humming to herself, and into the sea of kids.
"Man . . . Is this what kids have to come to everyday?" Mikey said, glancing around to some kids being told off by a teacher.
"Not every day," Donny said, matter-of-factly. "They get Saturdays and Sundays off. Then they have spare days, Easter vacation, Christmas, summer . . ." He looked to his brothers who were staring at him. "What?"
"I bet no one would tell you've never been to school," Raph rolled his eyes. Donny grinned at him.
"Okay, so it's break time . . . Where's the cafeteria?!" Mikey said.
His brother groaned and shook their heads. Mikey shrugged.
"I'm gonna see if these lockers work," Leo said. "That's something to do until classes start again. Or we could explore the place."
While they were talking, they had been walking over to the lockers. They each looked along the rows for theirs. Leo found his, and next to it was Donny's. On the row above and two right, was Mikey's, and Raph's next to it. Leo, Donny and Mikey checked theirs, just to see if it had the right combination.
While they were doing that, Raph leaned against the lockers, arms folded. He watched the kids down the corridor to his left, which led outside to a nice, large enclosed garden, with trees that shaded it from the sun. The feeling of eyes on him was something he had gotten used to by now, but the feeling hit it at that moment and it felt strange. He looked away from the corridor to his left, and caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes and a chain hanging from around a neck in the crowd. The chain was intriguing, and the pendant on it was like a twisted, silver fireball. The eyes where the weird thing though: They were purple. Raph stared and the face came into view. The eyes and the necklace belonged to a girl, a very beautiful girl. She smiled at him and then glanced at his brothers before she disappeared through a door. Raph stared. Her eyes had been weird, but pretty. Purple? Purple eyes? They weren't bright purple, but to the ninja eye, they could be seen from a distance. Anyone else wouldn't have noticed.
"Raph?"
He shook himself mentally, and turned to his brothers, who where staring at him.
"We're going around, see what there is in here," Leo told him. "You coming?"
Raph nodded. "Sure."
They walked down the left corridor; the one Raph had been looking down, and into the enclosed garden. A few kids smiled and stared at them, and much to their embarrassment, a few girls said hi, in a way they would have ran from. They walked around the bottom level, and it was that big that by the time they had found their way back to their lockers (which took some time), the bell went. They all looked at each other, and Donny brought out his timetable.
"Erm, Math," he said. "Room 43."
They looked at the doors closest them. They were all in the twenties.
"Must be upstairs," Leo said, now looking around. Most of the kids had disappeared into their own classes.
They made their way to the nearest staircase, and looked at the doors along the hall. The numbers were thirties. They walked along until they came to the forties. Then, at room 43, they had a pushing fight about who would go in first. Finally Leo was pushed to the front, with remarks like 'you're the leader, lead!'
Leo opened the door, with his three brothers behind him.
The class was not yet settled for working, which the guys felt grateful about otherwise the whole class would stare at them. The teacher, and some of the quieter students did look.
"Ah, you'll be the quadruplets," the teacher said. He was a thin, strict looking man, with dark rimmed glasses. He looked at their bandannas disapprovingly. "My name is Mr Reily. You will sit at the back." He handed them four orange exercise books. "Put your names on the books." He watched as they made their way to the back. Most of the class were watching them now, and they could feel their faces heat up.
There were five empty seats at the back, and they all sat together, which left one empty at the end next to Raph. They put their heads down, aware they were being stared at, but were grateful when Mr. Reily called back their attention.
The lesson soon got started, and the soft talking of the other students filled the room. Mr. Reily was as strict as he looked, but he did let them chat. Some girls on the front row, on the other side of the room, kept turning around and staring, then giggling and turning back. Leo, Donny, Raph and Mikey wished they would stop, and what made them steam was that Mr. Reily noticed but didn't say anything; instead he smirked.
The work he set wasn't too hard, but did require some thinking. The topic was Trigonometry. Mikey, Raph and Leo worked together, while Donny whizzed through them, finishing before anyone else in the class. Mr. Reily noticed him not doing anything, because he finished, and walked up to them all.
"Why aren't you working, Leo?" He growled, looking at Donny.
"I am working," Leo protested, looking up.
Mr. Reily's lip curled. "Alright then, Mike."
"I'm Mikey."
"Well whatever your name is then!" Mr. Reily hissed.
"Donny, Sir."
"Donny . . ." The teacher sniggered in dislike. "Why are you not doing any work?"
Most of the class were watching and listening.
"I've finished it, Sir."
Mr Reily seized Donny's book and read his work. He placed it on the desk, then ordered Donny to do the next exercise. Then he strode back to the front of the room to his desk.
"Man, he's one nasty piece of work," Donny shook his head. His brothers agreed.
The rest of the time, after the rest of the class had finished the first exercise, and Donny the second; Reily went through an explanation of trigonometry rules, then set some questions. Donny finished these, then helped his brothers.
When the class ended, Donny plunged a hand into his bag and grabbed his timetable. He sure didn't mind all this. On the contrary, he seemed to enjoying it.
"We've got biology next," he said, happily.
"No way! I'm not taking any mora this!" Raph said, hands out.
Mr Reily looked up, as the rest of his students filed out, to see what the noise was about.
"Raph, we don't really have any other choice," Donny said quietly, so Reily didn't hear. "I say we make the most of the time we have here."
"What if we never leave? What if we stay here?" Raph crossed his arms.
"Don't be so stubborn, and enjoy something for once," Donny said, then walked off. Leo and Mikey grinned at Raph, then they all followed.
Biology was downstairs, at the end of the first school building. It was a long room, with two columns of joined tables, and four rows in each.
When the guys walked in, everyone else was still just sitting down and pulling out their books. The teacher at the front was a small, squat woman. She had her dark hair in a bun, and a kind face.
"Oh, god morning," she said when she saw them. "Didn't know you'd be in my class, well, choose a seat then, I'll get you some books." She walked off to go and look in a cupboard in the desk, while the guys were left to find a seat. Most had been taken, and there were four left; but they weren't together.
Leo looked at his brothers, then they paired off. Leo with Donny sat on the second row on the right side column. Raph and Mikey went to the other side, first row. But while Raph followed Mikey down the middle of the two columns, he trod on something and lifted his foot to see what it was.
It was the necklace he had seen on that girl with the purple eyes. She must have dropped it. Raph picked it up and slipped it into his jean pockets, then sat down next to Mikey on the end of the row.
Biology was a steady class. The topic in this was about inheritance of the genes. As usual, Donny sped through the work, and Leo wasn't far behind. Mikey and Raph just doodled and didn't really get much done. The boy next to Mikey made a nice conversation with him. The boy's name was Matt Hill. He was seated next to his brother Owen.
"So where have you moved from?" Matt asked Mikey.
"LA," Mikey smiled.
"Cool, is it nice there? I've been on holiday before, but I was really young so I can't remember much."
"Oh, it's . . . Okay." Mikey lied. "But when you live there it doesn't seem much different to any other place."
Owen was looking at Mikey's book, which the teacher had handed him and his brothers earlier on.
"How come you haven't put down your last name?" Owen asked.
"Oh, I don't have one," Mikey said, wishing the questions would stop.
"You don't have one?" Owen asked sceptically. "Why not?"
But before Mikey could answer, Matt came to his rescue.
"Geeze Owen, he don't have to tell you his life story. Don't be so nosey." Matt said.
Mikey couldn't help but smile a bit.
Half way into the lesson, and a lot of talking from Mikey and his new friend, Matt, both him and his brother Owen were trying to tell Mikey's brothers apart.
"Okay, so you said Leo was the one with the . . . Purple bandanna and shirt?" Matt asked.
"No, that's Donny," Mikey corrected.
"So Leo's in the blue?"
"Yeah."
"Right, so then him next to you is Ralph, and you're Mikey."
"Yeah, but it's Raph," Mikey grinned as his brother next to him growled.
"Oh, funny name."
"Funny guy." Mikey joked, and held his hands in surrender to Raph, who had just turned to him with his fists balled. But he was stopped by the teacher, whose name was Mrs. Lyne.
"Excuse me," she called to him, and the class turned around.
Raph looked at them, then lowered his hand. His cheeks turned slightly red. Mikey grinned, and across the room, so did Leo and Donny.
At the end of the class, after watching a video on chromosomes and genes, the bell rang, and it was finally time for lunch. No one rushed this time to pack their bags as there wasn't a next lesson to go to, so the guys weren't the only ones left in the room.
Mikey went over to Leo and Donny, while Raph was busy scribbling his name on his book. He straightened up from bending over the table, and looked at the back of the class where some girls were talking. As they walked past Raph, glancing at him, one girl was still left at the back of the room, looking frantically in her bag and pockets, searching for something. This girl was the one Raph had seen in the corridor, with the purple eyes. He walked up to her while his brothers were talked into conversation by the teacher. The girl didn't even see him as he stood next to her.
"Hey, looking for something?" Raph asked, showing his fist in which the chain was wrapped around and the pedant hung from it.
The girl turned around, looked at him and then at the chain. She smiled.
"Thanks," she said as he handed it to her. "This chain's very important to me, I was afraid I'd dropped it somewhere."
"You had, right on the floor," Raph smiled. He noticed her pretty features and her smooth skin. She was very pretty.
The girl fastened the chain back around her neck and looked up again at Raph, glancing at his brothers behind him, who had finished their conversation with Mrs. Lyne and had come to join Raph.
"Hi-ya," Mikey greeted politely.
The girl smiled back. She a tomboyish look about her. She had flared, light blue pants on, and a three length, white top; but her face had that adventurous and mischief look. Her hair was long, down to her waist, and was a really nice dark red-brown color. Her eyes were a dark, but noticeable purple.
"Hi," Leo and Donny smiled kindly at her.
The girl looked from one face to the other, and then chuckled.
"Sorry, it's just cool to see four identical faces," she smiled again. She had a nice smile, a bit tomboyish too.
"Yeah," Leo said, smiling.
"What're your names?" She asked.
"I'm Leo," Leo said.
"Mikey!"
"Donny," Donny smiled shyly.
They all turned to Raph, but he looked at her.
"What's yours?" He asked.
"Prida," she said, and blushed a little. "Prida Valantine."
"Prida? That's a funny name," Raph smirked, jokingly.
"What's yours then?" Prida asked, smiling.
"Raph."
"Raph? Funny name!"
Leo, Donny, Mikey and Prida laughed, while Raph studied her as she laughed, a one-sided smile on his face.
"So, where have you guys come from?" Prida asked, as they started to walk out of class. Everyone else had gone.
"Oh, LA," Mikey answered.
"Cool."
They started to chat about other classes, and found out that Prida was in one of the top set math, and most of their other classes. They walked around the school, and Prida told them she spends most her lunchtime either up the field or in the Music department. She told them the teacher was very nice, and was called Mrs.. Smallwood. But first, she said she goes to the cafeteria first to grab her lunch, as well as bringing a little bit to eat from home. The guys realized they hadn't brought any food with them, but then Leo pulled a few notes from his pocket.
"April made sure we wouldn't go hungry," he shook his head, smiling.
"April?" Prida asked.
"Yeah, April O'Neil, she's out aunt."
"April O'Neil is your aunt? Cool."
Just then, Mikey caught sight of his new friend, Matt, who waved him over. Mikey said he'd see them next class, grabbed some money from Leo and joined his friend on a bench, around the fountain in the garden.
Prida then started to tell them about the school. She led them through the halls, and were passing the gym when Leo glanced in at the apparatus. His jaw opened and asked Prida if the gym could be used at anytime. She said yes, if he found the Head of the PE department. With that, Leo said he might join them later and disappeared into the gym. As soon as he had gone, Donny asked Prida about the computers she was on about before Leo left them. She told him about the Computer suites. As soon as she said this, Donny asked her where they were, and dashed off as soon as she gave him directions. Raph and Prida watched him leave. Raph had never seen his brothers look so excited about something like this.
"Hungry?" Prida asked.
"Staving."
Prida led the way to the cafeteria, where they grabbed what they wanted, paid and walked out. It was a nice day so she suggested a walk up the field would be nice.
Being uncomfortable around just a girl, Raph didn't argue, or say anything, but followed her. But she wasn't like most girls, who would flirt and giggle, which drove Raph crazy. She seemed cool and uninterested in impressing him. Basically, she just wanted to make friends. Raph appreciated that.
~
Okay, before any one gets ideas, this is not going to turn mushy. I don't want Prida and Raph getting soppy and disgusting, just becoming really good friends. Okay? Okay . . . Lol, sorry about that . . . thanks!
The next morning couldn't have come quick enough. Last night they all went to bed, feeling nervous; today they woke feeling extremely nervous. Raph had shared the box room with Mikey, who Raph complained snored. Leo and Donny had taken up the guest room again, but Leo had offered his half to Raph for his leg. They all seemed slightly surprised when he did, but Raph refused, saying he wished he would stop being treated as though he was about to die.
April was first up this morning. Her night hadn't been as restless as the guys'. They had all gone to bed slightly earlier than usual, and it had done the job: They were not so tired as normal when they woke.
As April walked through the room to the kitchen, she looked at the time on the clock. It was a quarter to eight. They guys should get up soon if they wanted breakfast, and to be at their new school on time. It wasn't good to be late and draw attention to themselves. She also felt nervous for them. Would any one be suspicious of them? About how they're four identical brothers? Of course they wouldn't. Nothing could connect them to the rumors about the green turtles who whoop crime's ass. April was still just getting the hang of all this. Her friends turning human, and then this absurd idea from the cop's head tells them they had to attend school. April couldn't help but smile as she put the kettle on and started to make five breakfasts. They wanted to be human, and got a bit more than what they bargained for.
At five to eight, April sighed. Having eaten her breakfast, she went into the guest room, which was downstairs, where Leo and Donny pretended to be asleep. They were only dressed in some of Casey's shorts and a long T-shirts for nightwear.
"Get up, you lazy pair," April grinned, stood at the end of the bed and pulled the covers off. "School time."
Leo and Donny groped for the covers, but when they couldn't find them, looked up and put on a face.
April laughed. "Sorry guys, but if you don't get up by the time that cop gets here then he really WILL think you're skivers."
With groans, Leo and Donny pulled themselves from the bed, and into the kitchen where April told them their breakfast was waiting.
"It's not just me who feels sick and nervous about this whole stupid idea of us going to school, is it?" Donny asked Leo, as they both grabbed their bowls from the kitchen counter.
"No. I feel the same." Leo reassured him.
April walked upstairs and into the spare room. Raph and Mikey were both on the floor, covers over their heads.
"Guys, it's morning . . ." April said, smiling.
Mikey moaned and pulled the covers tighter over his head.
"School time guys," April grinned. This was fun to torment them.
Mikey and Raph both grabbed their pillows and threw them at her. She laughed as she dodged them, then grabbed Raph's cover and yanked it off.
"Not well . . ." He moaned. But April could see the smile curving on his lips.
"Get up, breakfast's downstairs."
Raph just groaned and buried his head in his arms, trying to get back to sleep.
Mikey giggled when April crouched down and tried to wrestle the covers away from him.
"C'mon, you'll have a great time at school, that cop'll be here soon," April reminded them
Not wanting any nasty business with him, the two reluctantly got up and followed April down the stairs, where Leo and Donny were eating their breakfast slowly.
"I can't believe we're doing this," Mikey whined as he and Raph grabbed their bowls from the kitchen.
"Yeah, well I can't believe you're human," April smiled.
It was now twenty past eight, and the brothers were feeling nervously sick, which was the main feeling this morning. They had finished their breakfast, and Mikey had done the washing. Then they had each pulled on the clothes they wore yesterday, with a promise from April that she would get them some more from her friend's son, who was their age but had moved over to England with his dad. The woman had told April, after hearing April's story, that she would give them her son's clothes, as well as her son's school bag, which he had two of. The guys seemed embarrassed about all this trouble for them. They weren't used to clothes anyway, and only remembered to comb their hair when April looked at it and told them it was scruffy. Raph couldn't really do much with his.
At a quarter to nine, there was a knock at the door, and all of their stomachs did the twist. April answered the door and Giph was standing there.
"Ah, good to see you're ready," he said, looking at them all sat on the couch. "I think we should be going. It starts at nine, but you need to sign in and stuff."
The guys looked at each other. April gave them an encouraging smile, which they returned with a small, weak one. Donny picked up the bag from April's friend, Leo and Mikey slung one each over their shoulders; April had lent them. Only Raph didn't have a bag, but he and Mikey had secretly agreed to hide their weapons in Mikey's.
"Best be off then, thank you Miss," he said to April. He walked out the door, and the guys hesitated.
"Go on then," April said. She hugged them all before they walked out the door.
"This is ludicrous," Donny mumbled. His brothers looked at him with a face that said 'I agree'.
They followed Giph down the building's stairs and into the parking lot across the street. He walked up to his police car, and waited for them to reach it before he said anything.
"One in the front, three in the back, no litter and you will walk home when the day is finished. Understood?" He looked at them.
They nodded, and Raph got in the front, the others in the back.
The car smelt funny, but they dared not say anything. Giph drove away from April's apartment, and as he did, they felt like they could puke. He drove through town, past the shops they had looked in, and ten minutes later he pulled up in front of a large, wide building, with cement paths and trees and grass at the front, otherwise know as a large garden. They got out the car with a meaningful look from Giph at them.
"I called in and told them you'd be joining. So just go to the reception. And take those things from around your heads, they won't be allowed." Giph said, and then drove away.
The guys watched the car disappear round a corner, ignoring his order about the bandannas, then they all looked up at the building. Kids older, younger and the same age swarmed the place. Some sat against the trees on the grass, others walking with handfuls of books down the paths. Some kids stared at them as they walked past. The guys let their gaze turn up at the name of the building on a sign.
"Vinilla high?!" Mikey read. "Vinilla? Why not chocolate?"
"Okay, let's just go to reception." Donny breathed deeply.
"Let's not!" Raph declared and was about to turn around. "Let's get outta here!" But Leo grabbed his arm.
"No, we'll be in serious trouble if they say to Giph that we didn't turn up. It could get us AND April into trouble." Their leader said.
They all looked at each other, with faces of humorous doom. Then they walked, slowly, down the path that leads to what looked like the main door. They joined the stream of kids also making their way in.
Inside was a tiled floor, and clean, pale blue walls. Lockers lined the wall down one corridor to their right, but they followed a sign that said 'reception' on the wall. They turned left, passing staring kids, and came to the reception, which was a desk, and a woman sitting behind it. To her left was a door, no doubt the principle's, hint the plaque saying 'Principle'.
The woman, Mrs. Sanbury (as it said on her desk plaque), looked up at them, and smiled warmly.
"Ah, you must be the quadruplets," she had a squeaky voice; full of life, despite the age she looked.
They nodded wordlessly.
Mrs. Sanbury pulled out a load of papers from her draw and started to take down some details, after asking a few questions. When she asked for their last name, and they said they didn't have one, she looked at them frowning.
"No surname?" She asked.
"No, er . . . we never had one," Leo lied (well, that bit was true). "Our, um, parents died when we were born, and erm, no one knew who they were, so we lived in an orphanage for some time before discovering our aunt and other relatives." He lied quite good.
Mrs. Sanbury immediately became sympathetic towards them.
"Oh dears, I am sorry, what a story," she said.
Leo felt guilty, but his brothers flashed him a smile.
A few minutes later she was telling them all the times of the school, for lunch, break, classes, and handed them a timetable. She told them this would be a temporary agenda for each of them.
A loud bell echoed in the corridors, and the all kids quickly disappeared into their classrooms. The guys were still stood in reception, now waiting for the principle, whose name was Principle Simmons. They were offered to sit down by Mrs. Sanbury, and they did do, but feeling very nervous. Mrs. Sanbury seemed to notice, and started rambling on about how strange it was to start a new school. The guys were thinking in their head how strange it was to START a school! They kept noticing how Mrs. Sanbury stared at each of their faces, trying to find a sign to tell them apart. They politely looked away.
After about fifteen minutes, in which Mrs. Sanbury chatted the whole time, footsteps coming from the corridor made them look up to see a man in a smart, black uniform, unmistakably the principle, Mr. Simmons. He was a thick build man, not fat, and was quite tall.
"Ah, Principle Simmons," Mrs. Sanbury smiled. "These are the young boys who will be joining us, as Chief Giph said."
Simmons looked down at the guys, who looked up, and gulped.
"Um. Yes, I remember Giph saying about you four being identical, that could get very confusing." Simmons had a low voice, in which they could hear every syllable perfectly. "Who's who, then?"
They stood up and said their names.
Simmons nodded. They got the impression that he wasn't one to cross, but he wasn't an unfair man.
The principle led them into his office, where he told them about the school rules, and where the important things were like the nurse. He told them they should have lockers to put their things in. He found four spare ones close to each other, writ down the four combination numbers on four separate pieces of paper and gave them to the guys. Simmons told them that the kids here were nice enough, and that he didn't like troublemakers. Leo, Donny and Mikey all glanced at Raph, who frowned as if to say 'what?' After talking for two hours, which was the time of the two first classes before break, the bell rang, and the sounds of kids coming from their classes echoed, muffled through the door. They all stood up, and Principle Simmons told them to come and see him at the end of the day so he could find out how their day went.
They left his office and walked away from the reception, where Mrs.. Sanbury was humming to herself, and into the sea of kids.
"Man . . . Is this what kids have to come to everyday?" Mikey said, glancing around to some kids being told off by a teacher.
"Not every day," Donny said, matter-of-factly. "They get Saturdays and Sundays off. Then they have spare days, Easter vacation, Christmas, summer . . ." He looked to his brothers who were staring at him. "What?"
"I bet no one would tell you've never been to school," Raph rolled his eyes. Donny grinned at him.
"Okay, so it's break time . . . Where's the cafeteria?!" Mikey said.
His brother groaned and shook their heads. Mikey shrugged.
"I'm gonna see if these lockers work," Leo said. "That's something to do until classes start again. Or we could explore the place."
While they were talking, they had been walking over to the lockers. They each looked along the rows for theirs. Leo found his, and next to it was Donny's. On the row above and two right, was Mikey's, and Raph's next to it. Leo, Donny and Mikey checked theirs, just to see if it had the right combination.
While they were doing that, Raph leaned against the lockers, arms folded. He watched the kids down the corridor to his left, which led outside to a nice, large enclosed garden, with trees that shaded it from the sun. The feeling of eyes on him was something he had gotten used to by now, but the feeling hit it at that moment and it felt strange. He looked away from the corridor to his left, and caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes and a chain hanging from around a neck in the crowd. The chain was intriguing, and the pendant on it was like a twisted, silver fireball. The eyes where the weird thing though: They were purple. Raph stared and the face came into view. The eyes and the necklace belonged to a girl, a very beautiful girl. She smiled at him and then glanced at his brothers before she disappeared through a door. Raph stared. Her eyes had been weird, but pretty. Purple? Purple eyes? They weren't bright purple, but to the ninja eye, they could be seen from a distance. Anyone else wouldn't have noticed.
"Raph?"
He shook himself mentally, and turned to his brothers, who where staring at him.
"We're going around, see what there is in here," Leo told him. "You coming?"
Raph nodded. "Sure."
They walked down the left corridor; the one Raph had been looking down, and into the enclosed garden. A few kids smiled and stared at them, and much to their embarrassment, a few girls said hi, in a way they would have ran from. They walked around the bottom level, and it was that big that by the time they had found their way back to their lockers (which took some time), the bell went. They all looked at each other, and Donny brought out his timetable.
"Erm, Math," he said. "Room 43."
They looked at the doors closest them. They were all in the twenties.
"Must be upstairs," Leo said, now looking around. Most of the kids had disappeared into their own classes.
They made their way to the nearest staircase, and looked at the doors along the hall. The numbers were thirties. They walked along until they came to the forties. Then, at room 43, they had a pushing fight about who would go in first. Finally Leo was pushed to the front, with remarks like 'you're the leader, lead!'
Leo opened the door, with his three brothers behind him.
The class was not yet settled for working, which the guys felt grateful about otherwise the whole class would stare at them. The teacher, and some of the quieter students did look.
"Ah, you'll be the quadruplets," the teacher said. He was a thin, strict looking man, with dark rimmed glasses. He looked at their bandannas disapprovingly. "My name is Mr Reily. You will sit at the back." He handed them four orange exercise books. "Put your names on the books." He watched as they made their way to the back. Most of the class were watching them now, and they could feel their faces heat up.
There were five empty seats at the back, and they all sat together, which left one empty at the end next to Raph. They put their heads down, aware they were being stared at, but were grateful when Mr. Reily called back their attention.
The lesson soon got started, and the soft talking of the other students filled the room. Mr. Reily was as strict as he looked, but he did let them chat. Some girls on the front row, on the other side of the room, kept turning around and staring, then giggling and turning back. Leo, Donny, Raph and Mikey wished they would stop, and what made them steam was that Mr. Reily noticed but didn't say anything; instead he smirked.
The work he set wasn't too hard, but did require some thinking. The topic was Trigonometry. Mikey, Raph and Leo worked together, while Donny whizzed through them, finishing before anyone else in the class. Mr. Reily noticed him not doing anything, because he finished, and walked up to them all.
"Why aren't you working, Leo?" He growled, looking at Donny.
"I am working," Leo protested, looking up.
Mr. Reily's lip curled. "Alright then, Mike."
"I'm Mikey."
"Well whatever your name is then!" Mr. Reily hissed.
"Donny, Sir."
"Donny . . ." The teacher sniggered in dislike. "Why are you not doing any work?"
Most of the class were watching and listening.
"I've finished it, Sir."
Mr Reily seized Donny's book and read his work. He placed it on the desk, then ordered Donny to do the next exercise. Then he strode back to the front of the room to his desk.
"Man, he's one nasty piece of work," Donny shook his head. His brothers agreed.
The rest of the time, after the rest of the class had finished the first exercise, and Donny the second; Reily went through an explanation of trigonometry rules, then set some questions. Donny finished these, then helped his brothers.
When the class ended, Donny plunged a hand into his bag and grabbed his timetable. He sure didn't mind all this. On the contrary, he seemed to enjoying it.
"We've got biology next," he said, happily.
"No way! I'm not taking any mora this!" Raph said, hands out.
Mr Reily looked up, as the rest of his students filed out, to see what the noise was about.
"Raph, we don't really have any other choice," Donny said quietly, so Reily didn't hear. "I say we make the most of the time we have here."
"What if we never leave? What if we stay here?" Raph crossed his arms.
"Don't be so stubborn, and enjoy something for once," Donny said, then walked off. Leo and Mikey grinned at Raph, then they all followed.
Biology was downstairs, at the end of the first school building. It was a long room, with two columns of joined tables, and four rows in each.
When the guys walked in, everyone else was still just sitting down and pulling out their books. The teacher at the front was a small, squat woman. She had her dark hair in a bun, and a kind face.
"Oh, god morning," she said when she saw them. "Didn't know you'd be in my class, well, choose a seat then, I'll get you some books." She walked off to go and look in a cupboard in the desk, while the guys were left to find a seat. Most had been taken, and there were four left; but they weren't together.
Leo looked at his brothers, then they paired off. Leo with Donny sat on the second row on the right side column. Raph and Mikey went to the other side, first row. But while Raph followed Mikey down the middle of the two columns, he trod on something and lifted his foot to see what it was.
It was the necklace he had seen on that girl with the purple eyes. She must have dropped it. Raph picked it up and slipped it into his jean pockets, then sat down next to Mikey on the end of the row.
Biology was a steady class. The topic in this was about inheritance of the genes. As usual, Donny sped through the work, and Leo wasn't far behind. Mikey and Raph just doodled and didn't really get much done. The boy next to Mikey made a nice conversation with him. The boy's name was Matt Hill. He was seated next to his brother Owen.
"So where have you moved from?" Matt asked Mikey.
"LA," Mikey smiled.
"Cool, is it nice there? I've been on holiday before, but I was really young so I can't remember much."
"Oh, it's . . . Okay." Mikey lied. "But when you live there it doesn't seem much different to any other place."
Owen was looking at Mikey's book, which the teacher had handed him and his brothers earlier on.
"How come you haven't put down your last name?" Owen asked.
"Oh, I don't have one," Mikey said, wishing the questions would stop.
"You don't have one?" Owen asked sceptically. "Why not?"
But before Mikey could answer, Matt came to his rescue.
"Geeze Owen, he don't have to tell you his life story. Don't be so nosey." Matt said.
Mikey couldn't help but smile a bit.
Half way into the lesson, and a lot of talking from Mikey and his new friend, Matt, both him and his brother Owen were trying to tell Mikey's brothers apart.
"Okay, so you said Leo was the one with the . . . Purple bandanna and shirt?" Matt asked.
"No, that's Donny," Mikey corrected.
"So Leo's in the blue?"
"Yeah."
"Right, so then him next to you is Ralph, and you're Mikey."
"Yeah, but it's Raph," Mikey grinned as his brother next to him growled.
"Oh, funny name."
"Funny guy." Mikey joked, and held his hands in surrender to Raph, who had just turned to him with his fists balled. But he was stopped by the teacher, whose name was Mrs. Lyne.
"Excuse me," she called to him, and the class turned around.
Raph looked at them, then lowered his hand. His cheeks turned slightly red. Mikey grinned, and across the room, so did Leo and Donny.
At the end of the class, after watching a video on chromosomes and genes, the bell rang, and it was finally time for lunch. No one rushed this time to pack their bags as there wasn't a next lesson to go to, so the guys weren't the only ones left in the room.
Mikey went over to Leo and Donny, while Raph was busy scribbling his name on his book. He straightened up from bending over the table, and looked at the back of the class where some girls were talking. As they walked past Raph, glancing at him, one girl was still left at the back of the room, looking frantically in her bag and pockets, searching for something. This girl was the one Raph had seen in the corridor, with the purple eyes. He walked up to her while his brothers were talked into conversation by the teacher. The girl didn't even see him as he stood next to her.
"Hey, looking for something?" Raph asked, showing his fist in which the chain was wrapped around and the pedant hung from it.
The girl turned around, looked at him and then at the chain. She smiled.
"Thanks," she said as he handed it to her. "This chain's very important to me, I was afraid I'd dropped it somewhere."
"You had, right on the floor," Raph smiled. He noticed her pretty features and her smooth skin. She was very pretty.
The girl fastened the chain back around her neck and looked up again at Raph, glancing at his brothers behind him, who had finished their conversation with Mrs. Lyne and had come to join Raph.
"Hi-ya," Mikey greeted politely.
The girl smiled back. She a tomboyish look about her. She had flared, light blue pants on, and a three length, white top; but her face had that adventurous and mischief look. Her hair was long, down to her waist, and was a really nice dark red-brown color. Her eyes were a dark, but noticeable purple.
"Hi," Leo and Donny smiled kindly at her.
The girl looked from one face to the other, and then chuckled.
"Sorry, it's just cool to see four identical faces," she smiled again. She had a nice smile, a bit tomboyish too.
"Yeah," Leo said, smiling.
"What're your names?" She asked.
"I'm Leo," Leo said.
"Mikey!"
"Donny," Donny smiled shyly.
They all turned to Raph, but he looked at her.
"What's yours?" He asked.
"Prida," she said, and blushed a little. "Prida Valantine."
"Prida? That's a funny name," Raph smirked, jokingly.
"What's yours then?" Prida asked, smiling.
"Raph."
"Raph? Funny name!"
Leo, Donny, Mikey and Prida laughed, while Raph studied her as she laughed, a one-sided smile on his face.
"So, where have you guys come from?" Prida asked, as they started to walk out of class. Everyone else had gone.
"Oh, LA," Mikey answered.
"Cool."
They started to chat about other classes, and found out that Prida was in one of the top set math, and most of their other classes. They walked around the school, and Prida told them she spends most her lunchtime either up the field or in the Music department. She told them the teacher was very nice, and was called Mrs.. Smallwood. But first, she said she goes to the cafeteria first to grab her lunch, as well as bringing a little bit to eat from home. The guys realized they hadn't brought any food with them, but then Leo pulled a few notes from his pocket.
"April made sure we wouldn't go hungry," he shook his head, smiling.
"April?" Prida asked.
"Yeah, April O'Neil, she's out aunt."
"April O'Neil is your aunt? Cool."
Just then, Mikey caught sight of his new friend, Matt, who waved him over. Mikey said he'd see them next class, grabbed some money from Leo and joined his friend on a bench, around the fountain in the garden.
Prida then started to tell them about the school. She led them through the halls, and were passing the gym when Leo glanced in at the apparatus. His jaw opened and asked Prida if the gym could be used at anytime. She said yes, if he found the Head of the PE department. With that, Leo said he might join them later and disappeared into the gym. As soon as he had gone, Donny asked Prida about the computers she was on about before Leo left them. She told him about the Computer suites. As soon as she said this, Donny asked her where they were, and dashed off as soon as she gave him directions. Raph and Prida watched him leave. Raph had never seen his brothers look so excited about something like this.
"Hungry?" Prida asked.
"Staving."
Prida led the way to the cafeteria, where they grabbed what they wanted, paid and walked out. It was a nice day so she suggested a walk up the field would be nice.
Being uncomfortable around just a girl, Raph didn't argue, or say anything, but followed her. But she wasn't like most girls, who would flirt and giggle, which drove Raph crazy. She seemed cool and uninterested in impressing him. Basically, she just wanted to make friends. Raph appreciated that.
~
Okay, before any one gets ideas, this is not going to turn mushy. I don't want Prida and Raph getting soppy and disgusting, just becoming really good friends. Okay? Okay . . . Lol, sorry about that . . . thanks!