Radical Transformation
~
April rushed into the staff room, a worried expression on her face. She only had to walk through the door, and her eyes immediately fell on the blood covering Mikey's foot and the floor.
"Mikey!" She said when she saw him. Everyone looked up. "I heard what happened! How did you do it?" She bent down next to him.
Mikey, wincing in pain, looked anywhere but his foot. "Tell ya later," he said, barely moving his mouth.
There were voices in the hallway outside the room, and a second later two paramedics came in, one carrying a case. The nurse nodded to them and left.
"Ah, I see I don't have to ask who needs the help," the woman paramedic said as she walked up to Mikey.
His foot was soon examined quickly, and the paramedics said they would take him to the hospital. Mikey asked for one of his brothers to go with him, and Donny was selected.
As they were helping Mikey out of the room, Leo held at the back with April, Raph and Miss Stevens.
"But, hey, since he's going to hospital, you should have that leg checked out," Leo said to Raph.
"I don't think so, Leo," Raph grumbled, limping. "I'm fine."
"Leo's right, Raph," April said, looking at him.
"I'm fine, okay? I don't need no medical help!" He walked, or limped, faster from them next to Mikey.
"Hey, how's it going, bro?" Raph asked.
"As good as anyone could when they nearly had their foot chopped off," Mikey grinned, wincing at the same time.
Raph smiled at his brother, then avoided the stare he was getting from the female paramedic, who was frowning at his limp.
Mikey was helped into the ambulance, with Donny at his side. One of the paramedics joined them in the back, while the other slammed the door shut and got into the drivers seat. The van pulled away and disappeared.
"Poor Mike," Leo said, turning around from the Sports Centre's parking lot.
"Hey!"
Prida was running towards them. She stopped in front of them.
"Is Mikey gunna be okay?" She asked, one hand on her hip, the other hanging at her side; she was panting slightly.
"Hope so," Raph muttered, still fuming inside about what Tooks has done. He wasn't going to get away with that.
"Okay guys, let's get back," Stevens said, turning and walking. "It's break now, so talk then."
Leo, Raph and Prida followed her back in the building, and Prida disappeared into the girls changing rooms, while Leo and Raph went in the boys. Tooks was in there, and Leo put himself in-between the space where Raph and Tooks were glaring at each other.
They changed quickly, and were out of the changing rooms just as the bell went. Tooks and his gang gave a final smirk to the two bros, and walked out.
"Ooo, is he gonna get it one day," Raph promised to himself.
Leo shook his head and walked out the Sports Centre. He could hear someone walking behind them, then heard Prida's voice call Raph's name. She always seemed to shout HIS name. Leo grinned and carried on walking, listening to his brother's conversation with his friend.
The weather was rainy now, and a cool breeze had lifted. It was dark because of the rain clouds, and it looked like the whether was showing how it felt about poor Mikey's injury. Leo stuffed his hands in his pocket, but them reminded himself of Raph so he folded them across his chest.
Prida, who only had a sleeveless top on and a pair of thin pants, wrapped her arms around herself, her conversation with Raph stopped.
Since it was break, school grounds filled with the buzz of talking; but since it was such a miserable day, most kids were inside, taking shelter. Some teenagers had walked out onto the field, and some were walking to and from school buildings. Lights had been turned on in some classrooms, and the lights shone noticeably from where Leo, Raph and Prida were walking.
When they reached school, they were soaking wet; their hair was matted to their heads, and their clothes were a darker color than they should have been.
Prida wiped her long hair off her face when they got inside, and Raph shook his head much like a dog would, spraying droplets back onto Prida. Leo did nothing to his drenched hair, but watched as Matt Hill trotted up to them.
"Hey, I heard what happened to Mikey," he said, "is he gonna be okay?"
"We hope so, we're not sure yet," Leo answered.
"What happened?"
Leo found himself telling Matt about Tooks' hatred to the four of them, and how the opportunity to hurt one passed, which just happened to be Mikey. He was telling it again, when TJ asked why Mikey had been sent to hospital. The poor guy was shaking slightly for his friend when Leo had told him about Mikey's foot.
"Raph, how come there's a dint in your locker?" Prida asked, pointing and frowning to his locker, which they had found themselves standing against.
"Ah, some one musta bashed into it," Raph shrugged. He didn't feel like letting Prida know he did it, might lead to questions about how he COULD dint a locker.
But Prida didn't look convinced of the quick, short lie. She dropped it through, and said she was going to the Girl's Room.
She was a long time in the Girl's Room, and the bell went while she was still gone.
"Raph, c'mon, we'll be late for next class," Leo said, turning to go but looking at his brother, who was frowning, waiting for his friend. Raph shrugged and followed, glancing back for some reason.
Next class was Math, and Leo split to go into his own room. Mr. Reily sneered unpleasantly at Raph as he walked in, alone.
"Where is your brother?" Asked Reily, in an unpleasant tone, smirking.
"Injury," Raph muttered darkly, not looking at the teacher. He walked to his seat before Reily could say anything insulting about Mikey, and be given another detention for speaking back, as he knew he would. He saw Prida rush past his classroom door a second after he sat down.
Math was boring and very lonely without Mikey. Raph was on the back table by himself, and was quite angry about the fact that some girls on the front row kept turning around and staring, as they did all his classes. But this time Mikey wasn't there to share the stare.
Because of this, Reily found this a good way to humiliate Raph, and annoy him, as there were no witnesses near enough to say he was mean to his students.
And because of this, Raph got a bad punishment for flicking his pen at the teacher as he walked away smirking. Reily exploded and said that for the whole of the next classes he had with him in next week, Raph would do double work, and would provide the answers for the whole class, by reading them out. This just caused Raph to throw an erasure at the teacher (he would have thrown something bigger but he had nothing), but in his anger, he missed and it landed in the teacher's cup of coffee on his desk. The drink spattered over the side, but Reily didn't notice.
At the end of class, Raph bolted out of the room, as Reily was just starting to finish his coffee; and just as he collided with Leo in the corridor, there was a sputtering from the room he had come from, and a bellow from the teacher within.
"What the -" Leo frowned, but Raph pushed him and they ran around the corner - right into Prida.
"Hey - what - oh, hi Raph," Prida said, as he helped her up off the floor. "What were you speeding round corridor for?"
"No reason," Raph said, grinning and continuing to walk rather fast.
Their next class was Physics, and Leo, Raph and Prida were together (along with Donny and Mikey), as they were in biology.
The teacher was called Mr. Coutts, and he was a lanky, funny man, who most students liked. He greeted Prida nicely, and joked about her two 'boyfriends'.
"Which ones're you then?" He asked.
"Leo, and Raph," Leo said, motioning his brother when he said his name.
"Right then," Coutts acknowledged them, nodding. "Find a seat and let's get started." He clapped his hands together, while Leo, Raph and Prida found seats on the row second from back.
Physics was not easy, nor was it too hard. But thinking brains had to be on, and eyes had to be watching and taking things in. Unfortunately Raph couldn't be bothered to apply, or use, both of these, and just sat flicking bits of erasure at the floor, still steaming about Reily, and what he would have to do in the future week's classes.
It was a slow class, so when the bell went, everyone looked at their watches just to see if they hadn't already gone over lunch time and into fifth class.
"Thank God," Prida sighed, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'm starving."
They made their way to the cafeteria, Prida explaining that you could eat your lunch in there, so they would.
The cafeteria was a big building with slightly cracking light blue colored walls. It was full with kids, and after grabbing their dinner, they dashed to the nearest free table.
Prida had gotten herself a slice of pizza and a cornflake tart. Leo had a slice of pizza with chips, and Raph had a slice of pizza with a coke.
"Ya haff t' tell me how's Mikey, when ya ge' 'ome," Prida said, in-between tearing a chunk off her pizza.
Leo, who was watching the kids and thinking to himself, looked at her with a blank expression for a second.
"Yeah, kay," Raph said for him, seeing Leo's face. He knew what he was thinking. It was just too weird to be sat here, eating with humans. There were so many! But they were starting to get used to this.
After they had finished their dinners, Prida said she had to go to the library to do some homework. Leo said he'd join her and check out Vinilla's library, and Raph said he'd join them, but was going to call April at the office and see if Mikey was okay. He was worried slightly for his bro, the wound look nasty, and Raph shuddered when he remembered Mikey's blood covered foot. Jo Tooks was going to pay for that.
So Leo and Prida left for the library, which was near the main entrance, and Raph headed to the office to the phone.
Mrs. Sanbury was there, cleaning her nails, and smiled up at him when he walked up to the desk.
"Hello, dear," she said kindly.
"Yeah, er, hi," Raph said quickly. "Can I use the phone here?"
Sanbury looked as though he had asked her to kill the pope.
"Sorry dear, but you can only use the phone if it's an emergency."
"Well," Raph said slowly, thinking. "I wanted to see how my brother was, you heard of the accident that happened?"
"Oh yes! Painful by the sounds of it, but I'm sure he'll be quite fine in the hospital, their the best in New York!"
"Yeah, right," Raph rolled his eyes, "but it wasn't just his foot . . . you know? He was knocked out from the hit of the door, and the teachers were really worried for his memory . . ." Raph tried a soft, worried voice, bringing his eye brows up in a fearful frown. "I just wanted to know if he can remember who we all are . . . You know how hard it is for everyone to tell us apart . . . And he's my best buddy and everything . . . I'm sure he would do the same if that happened me . . . And I DID say I would be there for him . . ."
Mrs. Sanbury's face was close to tears. Her lip was trembling at him.
"Oh ok then dear!" She cried softly, grabbing a tissue. "That's so awful . . . of course you may!" She got up. "Excuse me dear," she said, then left dapping her eyes with the tissue.
Raph watched her walk away, then turned back to the phone, eyes wide, and trying not to smile at the effect he had just done on that woman.
"Man, it wasn't that bad a story . . . Even if it was a little untrue," Raph said to himself, picking up the phone and dialing April's mobile phone number. "Nutter . . ." he muttered. "Hope I never have to do THAT again . . ." There was a click on the other line, and April's voice came through.
"Hello?"
"Yo, Ape," Raph said, leaning on the desk.
"Raph? Where are you phoning from?"
"School, where else," Raph said, twirling the cord in his fingers, then frowning and staring closer at them, trying to imagine them green again.
"They let you?"
"No, but I had a good excuse," Raph grinned.
"Ah, you wanted to see how Mikey's doing?"
"Yeah, is he okay?"
"Yeah, doctors have stitched him up, nine stitches, and said it would be fine in a few weeks. They were worried it might cause some permanent damage because it sliced his muscle in two, but then said it was okay. He's in pain, Donny's here though. He won't have crutches for it, but he can't put any weight on it. He might have a few days off until the swelling goes down, then he can go back to school, but it's up to him. They said it wasn't that bad that they had to put it in a plaster, but it's wrapped up good. So, is it dinner time there?"
Raph's raised eyebrows dropped a little. "Yeah it is . . . Is there anything else you might wanna add in that little description there? You might have missed out things such as how high his screaming could reach."
"Don't be sarcastic Raph," she chuckled. "Mikey wants to say something -"
There was a noise, and then Mikey's voice was on.
"Yo Raph? Do me a favor pal, get that git Tooks for me?" Mikey said, sounding as though he was trying to force a grin.
Donny's voice could be heard in the background. "Hey, don't say that! You'll just encourage him to start a fight!"
"Yeah, but at least I know that'll get the job done!" Mikey's voice said back. They both started arguing to each other.
Raph smiled as he listened. At least Mikey's humor hadn't gone.
When the phone conversation ended, and Raph put the phone down, Mrs. Sanbury came back, smiling kindly at him.
He forced a smile back, and walked off, heading to the library.
It was half way through lunch, and the library was half full. It was quite large, and had lots of bookshelves everywhere. Raph found his brother and friend at the back.
Leo looked up as he saw Raph. "How's Mikey?"
"He's okay enough to start giving me orders, which I would gladly obey," Raph grinned, bringing a chair from another table and sitting on it next to Prida, opposite Leo. They both had papers in front of them.
"What orders?" Leo asked suspiciously.
"He asked me to kill Tooks," Raph said casually, smiling.
"Raph," Leo warned, knowing since he had an excuse for getting Tooks back, Raph was most likely going to do something. "Don't start anything . . ."
But Raph ignored him and looked at Prida's worksheet. Leo kept his eyes on his brother's expression.
Lunch ended half and hour later, and they were still in the library. When the bell rang, they packed their things and headed for the exit where the last few kids were going.
"Bye Mrs. Stein!" Prida waved over to her as the left. The librarian waved back, smiling.
Prida turned to Leo and Raph.
"Mrs. Stein is really nice," she said. "She and Mrs. Smallwood are the kindest in this school."
They got to afternoon registration, where Prida went off to her own room.
Next class was Biology with Mrs. Lyne. Prida met them just outside the room, and they went in together.
It was a quick class, and Leo sat by himself as Donny wasn't there, and he and Raph were still a little tight with each other. Prida moved herself from her space with her friends at the back to sit with Raph, and persuaded Leo to sit next to her (on the other side so he wasn't next to his brother). He did, with a glance at Raph, who avoided his gaze. Why does he have to be so damn difficult? Leo thought.
Biology was interesting, and Donny would probably kill himself for missing it when they tell him, which Leo planned not to do. Soon the class had ended, and Mrs Lyne was yelling over the noise about homework, which Raph didn't listen to, but Leo wrote it down. His brother shook his head at him, and Leo frowned.
"What's next?" Raph asked, watching Prida bring her bag to rest on her hip while she looked for her agenda.
"Er . . . PSE," Prida said, shoving her timetable back into her bag.
Raph frowned. "What's that?"
"Personal and social education," Leo said straight away.
Raph looked at him slowly. "What?"
Leo smiled. "Can't you say longer sentences?"
Raph's mouth fell open as that remark sank in.
"I thought not," Leo said, smiling smugly and walked off to the room number he had seen on Prida's agenda.
Prida giggled at the looked on Raph's face. Then she walked past him.
"C'mon, Raph," she said, smiling. "Let's get ta class."
Raph's fists balled, and his mouth snapped shut. He grinded his teeth and followed Prida, muttering, "he's gonna get it some time . . . after my little Tooks-bash, then it'll be a Leo-bash!"
PSE was a class made up of their forms, so Prida wasn't with them. Raph had to sit next to goodie-goodie Leo, who got on with his work, completely ignoring Raph, who the teacher had sat him next to, thinking it was amazing how identical they were. The topic they were studying was Drugs, and was easy to Leo as he had always studied the dangerous chemicals and things to be wary of them in street fights. He knew more than anyone else in the class, and this just got on Raph's nerves. Every minute his brother's hand was in the air. He was like Donny!
At long last the bell rang for the end of school, and the class got up and made its way out and home. Raph shoved his chair under the table angrily. Leo had really got on his nerves this class.
Leo was just putting his pen away, when he turned to Raph.
"You have detention tonight," he reminded his brother, who didn't need it. "Master Splinter knows you won't be in late, and I'll be patrolling, so here." He held out April's spare key.
Raph snatched it with a growl and stormed off. Leo not far behind. He left without saying anything, stopped at the end of the corridor and watched Raph make his way slowly to the math block.
Raph grumbled to himself as he walked down the stairs. He rounded a corner and faced Prida, who had just stopped at the sight of Ci Ci.
"What's going on?" Raph asked, frowning at Ci Ci. Did she always stay after school to insult Prida?
"Nothing, Ci Ci was leaving," Prida said darkly.
Ci Ci smirked. "No, I was just, like, wondering why you spend so much time here after school . . ."
Prida's fists balled. "None of your business!"
But Ci Ci acted as though she hadn't heard her.
"Could it be because your mom or dad don't greet you? Your sister beats you up-?"
"Shut up, Ci Ci!"
"Wha -?" Raph frowned.
Ci Ci continued. "Oh, I forgot! You only live with your sister . . . parents killed themselves in that car crash didn't they?" Her gang laughed nastily.
"Right!" Prida lunged herself at Ci Ci, who stepped back, alarmed.
Raph, quick as he was, placed himself in-between them both before something nasty started. (And this made him cringe as this is the type of thing Leo would do, but he didn't want fights between girls in the corridors, not that he'd seen one between school girls)
Prida didn't know where he had come from so fast. She stared, a little wide-eyed at him, frowning.
"Hey, don't fight," he said to her, instantly ashamed he sounded like Leo. "She's not worth it."
Prida just stood, fists balled, reminding Raph of himself. Prida glared at Ci Ci, who was smirking, out of reach.
"What is going on here?"
They all turned to look at Mr. Reily coming down the corridor. He stopped and stared, a suspicious stare. His eyes flicked from Prida, to Raph and Ci Ci, plus gang.
"She was going to hit me, Sir," Ci Ci said at once, pointing to Prida.
"Oh, you think that was all I was gonna do to ya?" Prida growled.
"Miss Valantine, fighting is against school rules!" Rely said.
"She was insulting my family!" Prida rounded on him.
His eyes narrowed. "What family?" He said, nastily.
Prida stared, while Ci Ci smirked, nearly laughing. Raph frowned angrily. Then Prida turned her body to the teacher.
"What?" She asked.
"I said, what family is there to insult? . . . They're dead."
Prida's mouth opened, and she stared.
"Yeah . . ." she said. "Yeah - they're dead! They're dead - in heaven! But at least they got there! You won't even pass the gate! You'd be thrown straight into Hell, where I hope you rot!"
"Miss Valantine!" Reily shouted, absolutely furious. "How dare you talk to a teacher like that!?"
"I dare! I dare to talk to someone who looks as if they've bin raised by bacteria!"
Raph stared wide eyed, shocked.
Mr. Reily was puffing himself out in anger. His face had turned red.
"How dare you say that!? This will be going down on report! And detention - in my room, NOW!" He pointed back along the corridor from where he came, and stared at her, eyes popping.
She glared at him, then, without looking at Ci Ci or Raph, marched down to his room.
Reily turned to Ci Ci and Raph, who were staring, mouths open.
"You - Raph! Gerrin my room as well, with your girlfriend!" Reily ordered.
Raph didn't even look at him, but walked past him, mouth shut, taking a glance back at Ci Ci and her gang, who were smirking satisfactorily.
Raph walked in the room to find Prida sat, hunched, in one of the chairs, arms folded, an angry expression set in her face. She was staring straight.
Mr. Reily walked in after him, and barked an order at them to clean the board erasers, clean his desk, write fifty lines on the board, and for Prida, to pick up every bit of paper on the floor. Then he left.
Raph watched the door a second after he disappeared, then turned to Prida, who was next to him, writing her lines 'I will not insult a teacher again' on the board.
"Hey," he said quietly. "I didn't know . . . that your parents were . . ."
She nodded. "Yeah, I live with my sister. Have done for a few years now . . . She's twenty one, old enough with a boyfriend and all . . ." She sighed. "Ci Ci's just a good-for- nothing tart . . . she's gonna be unbearable when it comes to the Prom soon . . . Show off with her date . . . Or she'll grab one of you four . . . Tooks'll be bothering me so much too . . . Don't think I can take it . . ."
"Hey, now this reminds me of yesterday when I saw you with Ci Ci after school," Raph said. "So I guess here's the part where I say 'what happened to tough-girl Prida?' You forget her, she's nothing, just a bug on the windscreen . . . just wipe her aside."
Prida laughed slightly, but sadly. "What about Tooks?"
"Tooks . . ." Raph's tone darkened a bit, and his chalk broke against the board. He picked up the bigger half. "Tooks . . . is more like a bird on the windscreen, makes a bigger mess . . . Can't see where you're going, so . . . you need to stop the car, grab a spade and scrape it out the way . . . or if you're squeamish, get a friend to do the dirty parts." He grinned.
Prida stopped writing, smiling slightly. "I wouldn't get anyone else in trouble for my problems, even though I know how much you'd like to punch his lights out."
"Hey, trouble is worth it," Raph said, smiling. Then it faded a little. "But then . . ." he turned back and began to write again, slowly. " . . . I've always had to have something to take my anger out on . . . Makes me feel better . . . But I guess some consequences are just . . ." He faded.
Prida watched him. His arm muscles tensed as he pressed on the board, and she found herself wondering just how strong was he?
At that minute Reily decided to punish them with his presence, and glided into the room, hurrying them on and saying how slow they were.
When they finished their chores an hour and a half later, Reily reminded Raph about his punishment for the pen throwing, and threatened Prida with suspension from the school if she ever talked back to teachers like she had.
They left the room, rubbing their sore fingers, and Prida's back aching from bending down and picking up all the bits of paper. They walked out of the math block, and headed for the main gates.
It was dark, and still raining slightly. There was still that cool breeze blowing around.
As they walked out of the school gates, they were both grumbling about Reily. They reached the road, where they both took separate ways, and stopped.
Prida fell silent. Her face was troubled, and she looked lost in thought. Raph couldn't help feeling concerned for her.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked. Even in the dark he could see a slight sad expression on her face.
She didn't give him a very enthusiastic nod, but a distracted, small one.
Raph stuffed his hands in his pocket. It was now very cold. He really didn't feel like going home and facing Leo and Splinter's faces. He knew he would have to, but it didn't have to be straight after detention.
"Hey, erm, you want me to . . . er, walk you home?" He asked, rather awkwardly.
She stopped staring at the wet pavement, and looked at him, smiling slightly.
"Yeah, kay." She nodded, and they set off, Raph started to limp noticeably again.
They started talking, not much, just little conversations, but she told Raph that she lived a few streets away. After five minutes, it started to chuck it down with rain, and the wind picked up. It was now very cold.
"Oh yuck!" Prida said, smiling and screwing her eyes up against the beat of water.
"Yeah, 'oh yuck'," Raph was drenched. His hair was matted to his forehead, even more than at lunchtime.
Prida's house came into view, as she pointed it out. It was on the corner, and was big. She ran and opened the gate, let Raph through then shut it. She grabbed her keys from her bag, and fiddled with the lock. A second later the door was open and she was waving Raph in.
"Er, I should be getting back," Raph started, but Prida pulled him inside, away from the downpour, shutting the door behind her and the noise of the rain diminished.
"At least warm up before you have to go out again," Prida said, squeezing her hair out.
Her house was nice and warm, and the wallpaper was blue. It was nothing like a posh house, but as though someone doodled patterns on the wall themselves, and it did look very nice. It was very big on the inside, too.
"Er, are you sure?" Raph asked, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Sure, I can lend you a coat, if you want, when you go back." She took off her shoes, and Raph, who felt out of place and awkward, did the same.
"Hey, it's okay, you can relax," Prida said, watching him.
Raph was just glad to see she was no longer sad.
"My sister isn't coming home from work till late, but she would have given you a ride home," Prida said, leading Raph through the big house and to the stairs. "The towel cupboard is in my room, c'mon, I'll show you a picture of my parents . . ." She ran up the stairs, with Raph following, slowly. He was in a girl's house! How weird?
Prida lead his around the landing banister, to her room, which was big. There was nothing girly on the walls or anywhere, so Raph sighed in relief, and relaxed.
The whole room was blue and silver, the bed sheets, the walls, the carpet, the wardrobe (covered in blue pictures of things). There were clippings and everything blue-tacked to the walls, and a few framed pictures of a young woman, obviously her sister. Some of her with what looked like her sister's boyfriend; some had her sister, her sister's boyfriend and her in the picture. On one of them Prida looked about a year or so younger, but she looked really pretty with a perfect smile. There were so many clippings, Raph found his mouth open.
"Hey."
He looked over to her, from the doorway, and looked where she was pointing.
He followed her finger to a framed picture next to another big newspaper clipping with a big picture on the front. He paid no attention to that once at first, and looked at the framed one. The frame had been engraved with patterns, and shone, as though regularly clean properly. The picture inside was of four, smiling people. There was Prida, in the middle at the front. She looked about eleven, and was grinning. Her grin hadn't changed much. Her sister was also a little younger than the first one Raph had seen of her. She was in the middle, just behind Prida, hands on her sister's shoulders. Then, at either side of their daughters, was a pretty woman, with redish-brown hair, and a small figure; and a tall man, with a handsome face, and dark hair: Prida's mom and dad.
"That's them," Prida said, half a smile on her face, gazing at the picture.
"They look like nice people," Raph said.
"Yeah, they were . . ."
But her voice faded into Raph's back-brain, as his eyes fell on the newspaper clipping next to the framed picture. The picture on the paper gave Raph's heart a sudden jolt, and it felt like it stopped.
In the picture was four figures, grinning and smiling. Raph's mouth fell open slowly as he recognized them, even if they weren't in color. He knew the figure at the front on the left by a mile off . . . it was him . . . and his brothers where behind him, grinning, at the disco that night when they were partying, with Tokkah and Rahzar. It was the same picture that came from the paper Master Splinter held up when they got home that night. They were all in their turtles forms . . .
"Raph? HellooOoo?"
He shook his head and focused on Prida. "Huh?"
"You looked a bit out of it then," she said, watching him. She turned to look at the picture he was starring at. "You seen that picture before?" She asked.
"Er - what? No, no I ain't . . ."
"Oh," Prida said, looking at it. A glazed over look fell in her eyes as she stared at it. "That picture was taken at this disco, and these were the 'entertainment crew'. But I don't think they were . . . I mean, yeah, pretty good for costumes, aren't they, but they don't look like costumes . . . I was there at that disco, it was wicked! They danced so great! It was funny . . . Then they came on stage, then this dude busted in with some green gunk . . . It was amazing . . . And Vanilla Ice played . . ." She broke off, with a small smile.
Raph stared, mouth open. He had forgotten all about their pictures in the paper. And his friend just happen to have it stuck on her wall!
"Er, erm, I think I should, er, get home, see how Mikey's doing . . ." Raph said, heading for the door. He noticed something on the side of her wardrobe. It was another news paper clipping, and he frowned as he read it. The title was 'Couple killed in taxi accident'. Raph's eyebrows turned up as he read it: Prida's mom and dad had been killed in the accident because of the taxi driver they had was drunk. He swerved off the road, hit by a lorry just before it crashed into a shop window. The impact of the lorry killed her father, while the glass from the shop window killed her mother. The drunk driver smashed his head on the dashboard.
Prida watched him read, her sad expression back. She could tell he was sad for her, by reading it. He straightened up, still staring at it.
"You want a coat to walk home in?" Prida asked, quietly.
Raph turned his head to her quickly, forgetting about her for a second.
"No, I'll be fine," he said softly.
Despite him saying he'd be fine, she forced him in a denim coat anyway, and said goodbye. It was the weekend tomorrow, so there would be no school, and Prida said, rather embarrassedly, that he could come round as her sister was mostly always out, and she was always alone. Feeling bad, he said he would if he could, and tried not to think of the torture his brothers would give him about it.
He opened her front door, and was met by a sheet of cold rain. He shouted bye, and walked down the yard to the gate. Prida shut the door.
He had only been in Prida's house a few minutes, and already the roads were flooding. He walked home, not bothering to run as he would get drenched either way. A few cars were on the road, and a taxi went by. This got his mind on what he read on the newspaper clipping. How awful it must have been to receive the news that your parents have been killed. Raph couldn't imagine that, and didn't want to.
In lesser time than he thought, he was turning the corner that brought April's apartment into view. Just as he ran to cross the street, his leg gave way and he fell down on the wet pavement. He quickly got back up, cursed himself, and carried on, the pain in his leg worse than before.
The trip up the stairs was as painful as ever, and Raph stopped once to give his leg a rest, for a few seconds. He reached April's apartment, and took out the key Leo had given him, and unlocked the already unlocked door. He frowned and opened it.
Mike, Splinter and April looked up at him as he walked in, looking at them.
Splinter was in his old armchair, and April was on the couch with Mikey, his bandaged foot on her lap.
"Yo dude, we were getting worried 'bout ya!" Mikey said, smile in place and looking very comfortable on the couch, nice and warm and dry.
Raph stared, and blew the water off the tip of his nose. His hair was wet through, and one side of his body was dirty, where he had fallen.
"What happened to you?" April asked, getting up and walking over to him.
"Nothing," he said, tiredly.
April took off his coat, asking him where he got it. But he didn't answer. He took off his sneakers, squeezed out his hair over the welcome mat, and trudged upstairs, where he walked into his and Mikey's room, and fell on his bed on the floor. He didn't know that school could be so tiring! And his leg was throbbing.
Back downstairs April hung the coat up to dry.
"Hope that's his detentions done," April said.
"For Raph? Are you kidding?" Mikey laughed.
"It's unusual for him to go straight to bed, and at an earlyish night for him, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Mikey said thoughtfully.
The night darkened, and Leo and Donny returned an hour later. There was no activity, and their searching was pointless in the downpour, in the cold and in the pitch-black night. They all hit they hay early, glad it was Saturday tomorrow . . .
~
April rushed into the staff room, a worried expression on her face. She only had to walk through the door, and her eyes immediately fell on the blood covering Mikey's foot and the floor.
"Mikey!" She said when she saw him. Everyone looked up. "I heard what happened! How did you do it?" She bent down next to him.
Mikey, wincing in pain, looked anywhere but his foot. "Tell ya later," he said, barely moving his mouth.
There were voices in the hallway outside the room, and a second later two paramedics came in, one carrying a case. The nurse nodded to them and left.
"Ah, I see I don't have to ask who needs the help," the woman paramedic said as she walked up to Mikey.
His foot was soon examined quickly, and the paramedics said they would take him to the hospital. Mikey asked for one of his brothers to go with him, and Donny was selected.
As they were helping Mikey out of the room, Leo held at the back with April, Raph and Miss Stevens.
"But, hey, since he's going to hospital, you should have that leg checked out," Leo said to Raph.
"I don't think so, Leo," Raph grumbled, limping. "I'm fine."
"Leo's right, Raph," April said, looking at him.
"I'm fine, okay? I don't need no medical help!" He walked, or limped, faster from them next to Mikey.
"Hey, how's it going, bro?" Raph asked.
"As good as anyone could when they nearly had their foot chopped off," Mikey grinned, wincing at the same time.
Raph smiled at his brother, then avoided the stare he was getting from the female paramedic, who was frowning at his limp.
Mikey was helped into the ambulance, with Donny at his side. One of the paramedics joined them in the back, while the other slammed the door shut and got into the drivers seat. The van pulled away and disappeared.
"Poor Mike," Leo said, turning around from the Sports Centre's parking lot.
"Hey!"
Prida was running towards them. She stopped in front of them.
"Is Mikey gunna be okay?" She asked, one hand on her hip, the other hanging at her side; she was panting slightly.
"Hope so," Raph muttered, still fuming inside about what Tooks has done. He wasn't going to get away with that.
"Okay guys, let's get back," Stevens said, turning and walking. "It's break now, so talk then."
Leo, Raph and Prida followed her back in the building, and Prida disappeared into the girls changing rooms, while Leo and Raph went in the boys. Tooks was in there, and Leo put himself in-between the space where Raph and Tooks were glaring at each other.
They changed quickly, and were out of the changing rooms just as the bell went. Tooks and his gang gave a final smirk to the two bros, and walked out.
"Ooo, is he gonna get it one day," Raph promised to himself.
Leo shook his head and walked out the Sports Centre. He could hear someone walking behind them, then heard Prida's voice call Raph's name. She always seemed to shout HIS name. Leo grinned and carried on walking, listening to his brother's conversation with his friend.
The weather was rainy now, and a cool breeze had lifted. It was dark because of the rain clouds, and it looked like the whether was showing how it felt about poor Mikey's injury. Leo stuffed his hands in his pocket, but them reminded himself of Raph so he folded them across his chest.
Prida, who only had a sleeveless top on and a pair of thin pants, wrapped her arms around herself, her conversation with Raph stopped.
Since it was break, school grounds filled with the buzz of talking; but since it was such a miserable day, most kids were inside, taking shelter. Some teenagers had walked out onto the field, and some were walking to and from school buildings. Lights had been turned on in some classrooms, and the lights shone noticeably from where Leo, Raph and Prida were walking.
When they reached school, they were soaking wet; their hair was matted to their heads, and their clothes were a darker color than they should have been.
Prida wiped her long hair off her face when they got inside, and Raph shook his head much like a dog would, spraying droplets back onto Prida. Leo did nothing to his drenched hair, but watched as Matt Hill trotted up to them.
"Hey, I heard what happened to Mikey," he said, "is he gonna be okay?"
"We hope so, we're not sure yet," Leo answered.
"What happened?"
Leo found himself telling Matt about Tooks' hatred to the four of them, and how the opportunity to hurt one passed, which just happened to be Mikey. He was telling it again, when TJ asked why Mikey had been sent to hospital. The poor guy was shaking slightly for his friend when Leo had told him about Mikey's foot.
"Raph, how come there's a dint in your locker?" Prida asked, pointing and frowning to his locker, which they had found themselves standing against.
"Ah, some one musta bashed into it," Raph shrugged. He didn't feel like letting Prida know he did it, might lead to questions about how he COULD dint a locker.
But Prida didn't look convinced of the quick, short lie. She dropped it through, and said she was going to the Girl's Room.
She was a long time in the Girl's Room, and the bell went while she was still gone.
"Raph, c'mon, we'll be late for next class," Leo said, turning to go but looking at his brother, who was frowning, waiting for his friend. Raph shrugged and followed, glancing back for some reason.
Next class was Math, and Leo split to go into his own room. Mr. Reily sneered unpleasantly at Raph as he walked in, alone.
"Where is your brother?" Asked Reily, in an unpleasant tone, smirking.
"Injury," Raph muttered darkly, not looking at the teacher. He walked to his seat before Reily could say anything insulting about Mikey, and be given another detention for speaking back, as he knew he would. He saw Prida rush past his classroom door a second after he sat down.
Math was boring and very lonely without Mikey. Raph was on the back table by himself, and was quite angry about the fact that some girls on the front row kept turning around and staring, as they did all his classes. But this time Mikey wasn't there to share the stare.
Because of this, Reily found this a good way to humiliate Raph, and annoy him, as there were no witnesses near enough to say he was mean to his students.
And because of this, Raph got a bad punishment for flicking his pen at the teacher as he walked away smirking. Reily exploded and said that for the whole of the next classes he had with him in next week, Raph would do double work, and would provide the answers for the whole class, by reading them out. This just caused Raph to throw an erasure at the teacher (he would have thrown something bigger but he had nothing), but in his anger, he missed and it landed in the teacher's cup of coffee on his desk. The drink spattered over the side, but Reily didn't notice.
At the end of class, Raph bolted out of the room, as Reily was just starting to finish his coffee; and just as he collided with Leo in the corridor, there was a sputtering from the room he had come from, and a bellow from the teacher within.
"What the -" Leo frowned, but Raph pushed him and they ran around the corner - right into Prida.
"Hey - what - oh, hi Raph," Prida said, as he helped her up off the floor. "What were you speeding round corridor for?"
"No reason," Raph said, grinning and continuing to walk rather fast.
Their next class was Physics, and Leo, Raph and Prida were together (along with Donny and Mikey), as they were in biology.
The teacher was called Mr. Coutts, and he was a lanky, funny man, who most students liked. He greeted Prida nicely, and joked about her two 'boyfriends'.
"Which ones're you then?" He asked.
"Leo, and Raph," Leo said, motioning his brother when he said his name.
"Right then," Coutts acknowledged them, nodding. "Find a seat and let's get started." He clapped his hands together, while Leo, Raph and Prida found seats on the row second from back.
Physics was not easy, nor was it too hard. But thinking brains had to be on, and eyes had to be watching and taking things in. Unfortunately Raph couldn't be bothered to apply, or use, both of these, and just sat flicking bits of erasure at the floor, still steaming about Reily, and what he would have to do in the future week's classes.
It was a slow class, so when the bell went, everyone looked at their watches just to see if they hadn't already gone over lunch time and into fifth class.
"Thank God," Prida sighed, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'm starving."
They made their way to the cafeteria, Prida explaining that you could eat your lunch in there, so they would.
The cafeteria was a big building with slightly cracking light blue colored walls. It was full with kids, and after grabbing their dinner, they dashed to the nearest free table.
Prida had gotten herself a slice of pizza and a cornflake tart. Leo had a slice of pizza with chips, and Raph had a slice of pizza with a coke.
"Ya haff t' tell me how's Mikey, when ya ge' 'ome," Prida said, in-between tearing a chunk off her pizza.
Leo, who was watching the kids and thinking to himself, looked at her with a blank expression for a second.
"Yeah, kay," Raph said for him, seeing Leo's face. He knew what he was thinking. It was just too weird to be sat here, eating with humans. There were so many! But they were starting to get used to this.
After they had finished their dinners, Prida said she had to go to the library to do some homework. Leo said he'd join her and check out Vinilla's library, and Raph said he'd join them, but was going to call April at the office and see if Mikey was okay. He was worried slightly for his bro, the wound look nasty, and Raph shuddered when he remembered Mikey's blood covered foot. Jo Tooks was going to pay for that.
So Leo and Prida left for the library, which was near the main entrance, and Raph headed to the office to the phone.
Mrs. Sanbury was there, cleaning her nails, and smiled up at him when he walked up to the desk.
"Hello, dear," she said kindly.
"Yeah, er, hi," Raph said quickly. "Can I use the phone here?"
Sanbury looked as though he had asked her to kill the pope.
"Sorry dear, but you can only use the phone if it's an emergency."
"Well," Raph said slowly, thinking. "I wanted to see how my brother was, you heard of the accident that happened?"
"Oh yes! Painful by the sounds of it, but I'm sure he'll be quite fine in the hospital, their the best in New York!"
"Yeah, right," Raph rolled his eyes, "but it wasn't just his foot . . . you know? He was knocked out from the hit of the door, and the teachers were really worried for his memory . . ." Raph tried a soft, worried voice, bringing his eye brows up in a fearful frown. "I just wanted to know if he can remember who we all are . . . You know how hard it is for everyone to tell us apart . . . And he's my best buddy and everything . . . I'm sure he would do the same if that happened me . . . And I DID say I would be there for him . . ."
Mrs. Sanbury's face was close to tears. Her lip was trembling at him.
"Oh ok then dear!" She cried softly, grabbing a tissue. "That's so awful . . . of course you may!" She got up. "Excuse me dear," she said, then left dapping her eyes with the tissue.
Raph watched her walk away, then turned back to the phone, eyes wide, and trying not to smile at the effect he had just done on that woman.
"Man, it wasn't that bad a story . . . Even if it was a little untrue," Raph said to himself, picking up the phone and dialing April's mobile phone number. "Nutter . . ." he muttered. "Hope I never have to do THAT again . . ." There was a click on the other line, and April's voice came through.
"Hello?"
"Yo, Ape," Raph said, leaning on the desk.
"Raph? Where are you phoning from?"
"School, where else," Raph said, twirling the cord in his fingers, then frowning and staring closer at them, trying to imagine them green again.
"They let you?"
"No, but I had a good excuse," Raph grinned.
"Ah, you wanted to see how Mikey's doing?"
"Yeah, is he okay?"
"Yeah, doctors have stitched him up, nine stitches, and said it would be fine in a few weeks. They were worried it might cause some permanent damage because it sliced his muscle in two, but then said it was okay. He's in pain, Donny's here though. He won't have crutches for it, but he can't put any weight on it. He might have a few days off until the swelling goes down, then he can go back to school, but it's up to him. They said it wasn't that bad that they had to put it in a plaster, but it's wrapped up good. So, is it dinner time there?"
Raph's raised eyebrows dropped a little. "Yeah it is . . . Is there anything else you might wanna add in that little description there? You might have missed out things such as how high his screaming could reach."
"Don't be sarcastic Raph," she chuckled. "Mikey wants to say something -"
There was a noise, and then Mikey's voice was on.
"Yo Raph? Do me a favor pal, get that git Tooks for me?" Mikey said, sounding as though he was trying to force a grin.
Donny's voice could be heard in the background. "Hey, don't say that! You'll just encourage him to start a fight!"
"Yeah, but at least I know that'll get the job done!" Mikey's voice said back. They both started arguing to each other.
Raph smiled as he listened. At least Mikey's humor hadn't gone.
When the phone conversation ended, and Raph put the phone down, Mrs. Sanbury came back, smiling kindly at him.
He forced a smile back, and walked off, heading to the library.
It was half way through lunch, and the library was half full. It was quite large, and had lots of bookshelves everywhere. Raph found his brother and friend at the back.
Leo looked up as he saw Raph. "How's Mikey?"
"He's okay enough to start giving me orders, which I would gladly obey," Raph grinned, bringing a chair from another table and sitting on it next to Prida, opposite Leo. They both had papers in front of them.
"What orders?" Leo asked suspiciously.
"He asked me to kill Tooks," Raph said casually, smiling.
"Raph," Leo warned, knowing since he had an excuse for getting Tooks back, Raph was most likely going to do something. "Don't start anything . . ."
But Raph ignored him and looked at Prida's worksheet. Leo kept his eyes on his brother's expression.
Lunch ended half and hour later, and they were still in the library. When the bell rang, they packed their things and headed for the exit where the last few kids were going.
"Bye Mrs. Stein!" Prida waved over to her as the left. The librarian waved back, smiling.
Prida turned to Leo and Raph.
"Mrs. Stein is really nice," she said. "She and Mrs. Smallwood are the kindest in this school."
They got to afternoon registration, where Prida went off to her own room.
Next class was Biology with Mrs. Lyne. Prida met them just outside the room, and they went in together.
It was a quick class, and Leo sat by himself as Donny wasn't there, and he and Raph were still a little tight with each other. Prida moved herself from her space with her friends at the back to sit with Raph, and persuaded Leo to sit next to her (on the other side so he wasn't next to his brother). He did, with a glance at Raph, who avoided his gaze. Why does he have to be so damn difficult? Leo thought.
Biology was interesting, and Donny would probably kill himself for missing it when they tell him, which Leo planned not to do. Soon the class had ended, and Mrs Lyne was yelling over the noise about homework, which Raph didn't listen to, but Leo wrote it down. His brother shook his head at him, and Leo frowned.
"What's next?" Raph asked, watching Prida bring her bag to rest on her hip while she looked for her agenda.
"Er . . . PSE," Prida said, shoving her timetable back into her bag.
Raph frowned. "What's that?"
"Personal and social education," Leo said straight away.
Raph looked at him slowly. "What?"
Leo smiled. "Can't you say longer sentences?"
Raph's mouth fell open as that remark sank in.
"I thought not," Leo said, smiling smugly and walked off to the room number he had seen on Prida's agenda.
Prida giggled at the looked on Raph's face. Then she walked past him.
"C'mon, Raph," she said, smiling. "Let's get ta class."
Raph's fists balled, and his mouth snapped shut. He grinded his teeth and followed Prida, muttering, "he's gonna get it some time . . . after my little Tooks-bash, then it'll be a Leo-bash!"
PSE was a class made up of their forms, so Prida wasn't with them. Raph had to sit next to goodie-goodie Leo, who got on with his work, completely ignoring Raph, who the teacher had sat him next to, thinking it was amazing how identical they were. The topic they were studying was Drugs, and was easy to Leo as he had always studied the dangerous chemicals and things to be wary of them in street fights. He knew more than anyone else in the class, and this just got on Raph's nerves. Every minute his brother's hand was in the air. He was like Donny!
At long last the bell rang for the end of school, and the class got up and made its way out and home. Raph shoved his chair under the table angrily. Leo had really got on his nerves this class.
Leo was just putting his pen away, when he turned to Raph.
"You have detention tonight," he reminded his brother, who didn't need it. "Master Splinter knows you won't be in late, and I'll be patrolling, so here." He held out April's spare key.
Raph snatched it with a growl and stormed off. Leo not far behind. He left without saying anything, stopped at the end of the corridor and watched Raph make his way slowly to the math block.
Raph grumbled to himself as he walked down the stairs. He rounded a corner and faced Prida, who had just stopped at the sight of Ci Ci.
"What's going on?" Raph asked, frowning at Ci Ci. Did she always stay after school to insult Prida?
"Nothing, Ci Ci was leaving," Prida said darkly.
Ci Ci smirked. "No, I was just, like, wondering why you spend so much time here after school . . ."
Prida's fists balled. "None of your business!"
But Ci Ci acted as though she hadn't heard her.
"Could it be because your mom or dad don't greet you? Your sister beats you up-?"
"Shut up, Ci Ci!"
"Wha -?" Raph frowned.
Ci Ci continued. "Oh, I forgot! You only live with your sister . . . parents killed themselves in that car crash didn't they?" Her gang laughed nastily.
"Right!" Prida lunged herself at Ci Ci, who stepped back, alarmed.
Raph, quick as he was, placed himself in-between them both before something nasty started. (And this made him cringe as this is the type of thing Leo would do, but he didn't want fights between girls in the corridors, not that he'd seen one between school girls)
Prida didn't know where he had come from so fast. She stared, a little wide-eyed at him, frowning.
"Hey, don't fight," he said to her, instantly ashamed he sounded like Leo. "She's not worth it."
Prida just stood, fists balled, reminding Raph of himself. Prida glared at Ci Ci, who was smirking, out of reach.
"What is going on here?"
They all turned to look at Mr. Reily coming down the corridor. He stopped and stared, a suspicious stare. His eyes flicked from Prida, to Raph and Ci Ci, plus gang.
"She was going to hit me, Sir," Ci Ci said at once, pointing to Prida.
"Oh, you think that was all I was gonna do to ya?" Prida growled.
"Miss Valantine, fighting is against school rules!" Rely said.
"She was insulting my family!" Prida rounded on him.
His eyes narrowed. "What family?" He said, nastily.
Prida stared, while Ci Ci smirked, nearly laughing. Raph frowned angrily. Then Prida turned her body to the teacher.
"What?" She asked.
"I said, what family is there to insult? . . . They're dead."
Prida's mouth opened, and she stared.
"Yeah . . ." she said. "Yeah - they're dead! They're dead - in heaven! But at least they got there! You won't even pass the gate! You'd be thrown straight into Hell, where I hope you rot!"
"Miss Valantine!" Reily shouted, absolutely furious. "How dare you talk to a teacher like that!?"
"I dare! I dare to talk to someone who looks as if they've bin raised by bacteria!"
Raph stared wide eyed, shocked.
Mr. Reily was puffing himself out in anger. His face had turned red.
"How dare you say that!? This will be going down on report! And detention - in my room, NOW!" He pointed back along the corridor from where he came, and stared at her, eyes popping.
She glared at him, then, without looking at Ci Ci or Raph, marched down to his room.
Reily turned to Ci Ci and Raph, who were staring, mouths open.
"You - Raph! Gerrin my room as well, with your girlfriend!" Reily ordered.
Raph didn't even look at him, but walked past him, mouth shut, taking a glance back at Ci Ci and her gang, who were smirking satisfactorily.
Raph walked in the room to find Prida sat, hunched, in one of the chairs, arms folded, an angry expression set in her face. She was staring straight.
Mr. Reily walked in after him, and barked an order at them to clean the board erasers, clean his desk, write fifty lines on the board, and for Prida, to pick up every bit of paper on the floor. Then he left.
Raph watched the door a second after he disappeared, then turned to Prida, who was next to him, writing her lines 'I will not insult a teacher again' on the board.
"Hey," he said quietly. "I didn't know . . . that your parents were . . ."
She nodded. "Yeah, I live with my sister. Have done for a few years now . . . She's twenty one, old enough with a boyfriend and all . . ." She sighed. "Ci Ci's just a good-for- nothing tart . . . she's gonna be unbearable when it comes to the Prom soon . . . Show off with her date . . . Or she'll grab one of you four . . . Tooks'll be bothering me so much too . . . Don't think I can take it . . ."
"Hey, now this reminds me of yesterday when I saw you with Ci Ci after school," Raph said. "So I guess here's the part where I say 'what happened to tough-girl Prida?' You forget her, she's nothing, just a bug on the windscreen . . . just wipe her aside."
Prida laughed slightly, but sadly. "What about Tooks?"
"Tooks . . ." Raph's tone darkened a bit, and his chalk broke against the board. He picked up the bigger half. "Tooks . . . is more like a bird on the windscreen, makes a bigger mess . . . Can't see where you're going, so . . . you need to stop the car, grab a spade and scrape it out the way . . . or if you're squeamish, get a friend to do the dirty parts." He grinned.
Prida stopped writing, smiling slightly. "I wouldn't get anyone else in trouble for my problems, even though I know how much you'd like to punch his lights out."
"Hey, trouble is worth it," Raph said, smiling. Then it faded a little. "But then . . ." he turned back and began to write again, slowly. " . . . I've always had to have something to take my anger out on . . . Makes me feel better . . . But I guess some consequences are just . . ." He faded.
Prida watched him. His arm muscles tensed as he pressed on the board, and she found herself wondering just how strong was he?
At that minute Reily decided to punish them with his presence, and glided into the room, hurrying them on and saying how slow they were.
When they finished their chores an hour and a half later, Reily reminded Raph about his punishment for the pen throwing, and threatened Prida with suspension from the school if she ever talked back to teachers like she had.
They left the room, rubbing their sore fingers, and Prida's back aching from bending down and picking up all the bits of paper. They walked out of the math block, and headed for the main gates.
It was dark, and still raining slightly. There was still that cool breeze blowing around.
As they walked out of the school gates, they were both grumbling about Reily. They reached the road, where they both took separate ways, and stopped.
Prida fell silent. Her face was troubled, and she looked lost in thought. Raph couldn't help feeling concerned for her.
"Hey, you okay?" He asked. Even in the dark he could see a slight sad expression on her face.
She didn't give him a very enthusiastic nod, but a distracted, small one.
Raph stuffed his hands in his pocket. It was now very cold. He really didn't feel like going home and facing Leo and Splinter's faces. He knew he would have to, but it didn't have to be straight after detention.
"Hey, erm, you want me to . . . er, walk you home?" He asked, rather awkwardly.
She stopped staring at the wet pavement, and looked at him, smiling slightly.
"Yeah, kay." She nodded, and they set off, Raph started to limp noticeably again.
They started talking, not much, just little conversations, but she told Raph that she lived a few streets away. After five minutes, it started to chuck it down with rain, and the wind picked up. It was now very cold.
"Oh yuck!" Prida said, smiling and screwing her eyes up against the beat of water.
"Yeah, 'oh yuck'," Raph was drenched. His hair was matted to his forehead, even more than at lunchtime.
Prida's house came into view, as she pointed it out. It was on the corner, and was big. She ran and opened the gate, let Raph through then shut it. She grabbed her keys from her bag, and fiddled with the lock. A second later the door was open and she was waving Raph in.
"Er, I should be getting back," Raph started, but Prida pulled him inside, away from the downpour, shutting the door behind her and the noise of the rain diminished.
"At least warm up before you have to go out again," Prida said, squeezing her hair out.
Her house was nice and warm, and the wallpaper was blue. It was nothing like a posh house, but as though someone doodled patterns on the wall themselves, and it did look very nice. It was very big on the inside, too.
"Er, are you sure?" Raph asked, feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Sure, I can lend you a coat, if you want, when you go back." She took off her shoes, and Raph, who felt out of place and awkward, did the same.
"Hey, it's okay, you can relax," Prida said, watching him.
Raph was just glad to see she was no longer sad.
"My sister isn't coming home from work till late, but she would have given you a ride home," Prida said, leading Raph through the big house and to the stairs. "The towel cupboard is in my room, c'mon, I'll show you a picture of my parents . . ." She ran up the stairs, with Raph following, slowly. He was in a girl's house! How weird?
Prida lead his around the landing banister, to her room, which was big. There was nothing girly on the walls or anywhere, so Raph sighed in relief, and relaxed.
The whole room was blue and silver, the bed sheets, the walls, the carpet, the wardrobe (covered in blue pictures of things). There were clippings and everything blue-tacked to the walls, and a few framed pictures of a young woman, obviously her sister. Some of her with what looked like her sister's boyfriend; some had her sister, her sister's boyfriend and her in the picture. On one of them Prida looked about a year or so younger, but she looked really pretty with a perfect smile. There were so many clippings, Raph found his mouth open.
"Hey."
He looked over to her, from the doorway, and looked where she was pointing.
He followed her finger to a framed picture next to another big newspaper clipping with a big picture on the front. He paid no attention to that once at first, and looked at the framed one. The frame had been engraved with patterns, and shone, as though regularly clean properly. The picture inside was of four, smiling people. There was Prida, in the middle at the front. She looked about eleven, and was grinning. Her grin hadn't changed much. Her sister was also a little younger than the first one Raph had seen of her. She was in the middle, just behind Prida, hands on her sister's shoulders. Then, at either side of their daughters, was a pretty woman, with redish-brown hair, and a small figure; and a tall man, with a handsome face, and dark hair: Prida's mom and dad.
"That's them," Prida said, half a smile on her face, gazing at the picture.
"They look like nice people," Raph said.
"Yeah, they were . . ."
But her voice faded into Raph's back-brain, as his eyes fell on the newspaper clipping next to the framed picture. The picture on the paper gave Raph's heart a sudden jolt, and it felt like it stopped.
In the picture was four figures, grinning and smiling. Raph's mouth fell open slowly as he recognized them, even if they weren't in color. He knew the figure at the front on the left by a mile off . . . it was him . . . and his brothers where behind him, grinning, at the disco that night when they were partying, with Tokkah and Rahzar. It was the same picture that came from the paper Master Splinter held up when they got home that night. They were all in their turtles forms . . .
"Raph? HellooOoo?"
He shook his head and focused on Prida. "Huh?"
"You looked a bit out of it then," she said, watching him. She turned to look at the picture he was starring at. "You seen that picture before?" She asked.
"Er - what? No, no I ain't . . ."
"Oh," Prida said, looking at it. A glazed over look fell in her eyes as she stared at it. "That picture was taken at this disco, and these were the 'entertainment crew'. But I don't think they were . . . I mean, yeah, pretty good for costumes, aren't they, but they don't look like costumes . . . I was there at that disco, it was wicked! They danced so great! It was funny . . . Then they came on stage, then this dude busted in with some green gunk . . . It was amazing . . . And Vanilla Ice played . . ." She broke off, with a small smile.
Raph stared, mouth open. He had forgotten all about their pictures in the paper. And his friend just happen to have it stuck on her wall!
"Er, erm, I think I should, er, get home, see how Mikey's doing . . ." Raph said, heading for the door. He noticed something on the side of her wardrobe. It was another news paper clipping, and he frowned as he read it. The title was 'Couple killed in taxi accident'. Raph's eyebrows turned up as he read it: Prida's mom and dad had been killed in the accident because of the taxi driver they had was drunk. He swerved off the road, hit by a lorry just before it crashed into a shop window. The impact of the lorry killed her father, while the glass from the shop window killed her mother. The drunk driver smashed his head on the dashboard.
Prida watched him read, her sad expression back. She could tell he was sad for her, by reading it. He straightened up, still staring at it.
"You want a coat to walk home in?" Prida asked, quietly.
Raph turned his head to her quickly, forgetting about her for a second.
"No, I'll be fine," he said softly.
Despite him saying he'd be fine, she forced him in a denim coat anyway, and said goodbye. It was the weekend tomorrow, so there would be no school, and Prida said, rather embarrassedly, that he could come round as her sister was mostly always out, and she was always alone. Feeling bad, he said he would if he could, and tried not to think of the torture his brothers would give him about it.
He opened her front door, and was met by a sheet of cold rain. He shouted bye, and walked down the yard to the gate. Prida shut the door.
He had only been in Prida's house a few minutes, and already the roads were flooding. He walked home, not bothering to run as he would get drenched either way. A few cars were on the road, and a taxi went by. This got his mind on what he read on the newspaper clipping. How awful it must have been to receive the news that your parents have been killed. Raph couldn't imagine that, and didn't want to.
In lesser time than he thought, he was turning the corner that brought April's apartment into view. Just as he ran to cross the street, his leg gave way and he fell down on the wet pavement. He quickly got back up, cursed himself, and carried on, the pain in his leg worse than before.
The trip up the stairs was as painful as ever, and Raph stopped once to give his leg a rest, for a few seconds. He reached April's apartment, and took out the key Leo had given him, and unlocked the already unlocked door. He frowned and opened it.
Mike, Splinter and April looked up at him as he walked in, looking at them.
Splinter was in his old armchair, and April was on the couch with Mikey, his bandaged foot on her lap.
"Yo dude, we were getting worried 'bout ya!" Mikey said, smile in place and looking very comfortable on the couch, nice and warm and dry.
Raph stared, and blew the water off the tip of his nose. His hair was wet through, and one side of his body was dirty, where he had fallen.
"What happened to you?" April asked, getting up and walking over to him.
"Nothing," he said, tiredly.
April took off his coat, asking him where he got it. But he didn't answer. He took off his sneakers, squeezed out his hair over the welcome mat, and trudged upstairs, where he walked into his and Mikey's room, and fell on his bed on the floor. He didn't know that school could be so tiring! And his leg was throbbing.
Back downstairs April hung the coat up to dry.
"Hope that's his detentions done," April said.
"For Raph? Are you kidding?" Mikey laughed.
"It's unusual for him to go straight to bed, and at an earlyish night for him, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Mikey said thoughtfully.
The night darkened, and Leo and Donny returned an hour later. There was no activity, and their searching was pointless in the downpour, in the cold and in the pitch-black night. They all hit they hay early, glad it was Saturday tomorrow . . .