Radical Transformation
"Oh yeah, that's good!" Mikey said as he stretched, just waking up from his sleep. He opened his eyes and looked where he was. He wondered why he felt so comfy. "Oh, morning bros."
His two brothers, sleepy as they were, couldn't hide their morning grumpiness and slight annoyance at their brother in orange. The reason why they were like that, and why Mikey was so comfortable was because he was laying ON his brothers, his torso across Raph, his butt slid in the gap between him and Leo, and his legs across Leo, who glanced at Mikey, sighed, and dropped back into his pillow, muttering 'brothers'. If it wasn't Raph and Donnie together crushing him, it was Mikey on top of him.
"Hey you guys are comfy," Mikey smiled sweetly.
"Mikey, gerroff me!" Raph said tiredly, pushing his brother toward Leo. But Mikey, instead, fell in the gap between Raph and Leo, and stayed there, smiling. He went back to sleep.
Both Leo and Raph groaned. The whole point of Mikey being at the end in the night was so that he didn't roll about and crush anyone. It just proves that Mikey can do anything in his sleep no matter where he was laying when the night began. The only reason Mikey was up there was because Donnie needed the softness of the couch for his injured side, which, when they got home, turned out to be a bit more than a bruise. Not just his side, but he had managed to rip part of his arm open again, and was in pain last night. April gave him a couple of strong pills, which knocked him out anyway.
Today, though, Leo awoke with his brothers at eight O'clock, and noticed that, when Mikey was getting changed, he was putting on a red shirt and Raph had picked up Mikey's orange one, frowning at it. Leo snorted.
"Is it me . . . or does this shirt look . . . orange?" Rah said groggily.
Leo said nothing, feeling too tired to answer. He shook his head and left the room, leaving his brothers to sort out their colours.
As Leo walked downstairs, he noticed Splinter wasn't sat in his armchair, but April was, and it looked like she was nursing a headache. She looked up as he came in.
"Hey Leo," she said, a little less energetic than she would have said it.
"Headache?" Leo asked. April nodded.
Leo went into the kitchen to make tea, and left the kettle to boil, coming back to sit on the couch where Donnie was still laying, breathing quite deeply. He was leaning on his uninjured side, with his arm carefully laid straight; the new bandages clearly showing.
"Donnie's gunna be a bit tired in school," April said, smiling at the sleeping teenager.
"Yeah . . . those Foot weren't the inexperienced lot we usually tackle," Leo said, looking at his brother. "I don't think we were ready for them."
Just then Raph and Mikey caused a distraction by trampling down the stairs, in the wrong shirts, which didn't go with their bandannas. They both stood still at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for their balance to settle in, then they made their way to the couch, forgetting Donnie was there and sitting on him, sliding off and onto the floor.
"Ow . . . huh?" Donnie woke up, looking exceedingly tired.
April looked at the two on the floor.
"Um, that's a bit of an odd colour combination there," she said, smiling.
They looked at her, groggily quizzical, then they both shrugged, and took off their shirts to exchange.
"Whoa guys, hope you don't take your shirts off in school like that," April suddenly said as they swapped shirts and frowned at her. "Well, look at you! I don't think normal teenagers have . . . muscles . . . like that."
Too tired to even bother to listen to anyone talk, Mikey and Raph shrugged and put their own shirts back on, now matching their bandannas. There was also a small, red scratch on Raph's cheek that went well with his colour.
April now turned to Donnie, who seemed to be having trouble figuring out what his hands were by the way he was frowning at them.
"Don, what's wrong?" April asked, Leo also looking at his brother, still lying on the couch.
"I feel really . . . weird," Donnie said. He moved to wing his legs off the couch, but he gasped in pain, and toppled off the couch onto Mikey and Raph.
"Ouch . . ." They all moaned.
Leo shook his head, smiling slightly, and helped Donnie up gently. His side was still painful, and the strong painkillers he took yesterday must still have their effect on him.
When Leo had helped Donnie back onto the couch, April moved over and sat the other two up, both looked incapable of doing anything from tiredness, though not nearly as much as poor Donnie.
"School's going to be fun today, Leo joked with a half smile as he kept his hand on Donnie's shoulder.
"My eyesight's a little . . ." Donnie said, frowning. "Fuzzy."
"You'll be alright by the time you get to school," April assured him.
()()()()
"I still feel a little weird," Donnie muttered, blinking hard and pulling his eyebrows up to see better. It didn't work.
The guys were back at school, and they had just had registration. Their first and second class of the day was PE, but April had writing Donnie and Mikey a note, explaining why they couldn't, and shouldn't, be doing PE. Donnie had been limping as bad as Mikey when he first walked on his injured foot. But he refused anything for it.
"It'll wear off," Leo told him. He wasn't sure how strong those painkillers had been.
"You hope," Mikey grinned at him, while Donnie frowned. "Hey, I hope those police aren't still checking kids."
All their faces stopped smiling and frowning, and eyes swept the corridors.
"Nah, I 'pose they've gone to 'nother school," Donnie said. He felt glad, for once, that he had to miss out of an active class.
They were soon changed, well Leo and Raph, and walking out onto the field. Donnie and Mikey had shown their teacher the note, and were excused. Though when they were told what they would be doing in this class, they groaned and said that they didn't have to miss it anyway. They were doing Javelin, shot- puts and discus throwing today. Though Donnie did point out that he wouldn't have been able to anyway because of his arm, which was still throbbing.
"Okay, right, we choose what we get to do first?" Raph asked.
"Yeah, so she says," Leo replied, referring to the teacher.
They walked out to the end of the field where they began to dig things out of the boxes brought up by the teacher. Donnie and Mikey sat to the side, leaning against the black, metal fence that separated the school grounds from the cemetery.
"Ugh, great," Mikey moaned quietly with his head in his hands and his knees to his chest. "We'll just sit here, bored, and not do anything."
"Well we could revise for that Biology test that Mrs Lyne hinted she would do, set for fifth class today," Donnie said.
Mikey's face blanked. "A test?"
"Yeah, today."
"Today?"
"Today!"
"Cripes! Aw man," Mikey moaned. "This school day just gets better. I'm beginning to miss the peaceful tunnels of the sewers!"
Donnie shrugged. "Me too . . . but I really thought you knew we had this test."
"No, I din't!"
Donnie watched his other brothers for a second, then said, "okay then, erm . . . How many chromosomes are there in the body?"
Mikey looked at him, wide eyed. "I dunno!"
"C'mon Mike, guess!"
Mikey sighed. "Erm . . . chromosomes . . . two?"
Donnie's turn to sigh. "Well, chromosomes are in pairs, but there are forty-six chromosomes, so that makes twenty-three pairs."
Mikey groaned again and buried his face in his arms while Donnie continued to talk and explain about genes, inheritance, you name it, he explained it.
A couple of yards away, Leo, who was holding his javelin in one hand and was aiming, looked at his two brothers sitting out. One looked extremely bored and looked to be suffering from an overdose of Donnie's brain talking. He pointed it out to Raph, who stopped aiming and glanced at them. He smiled.
"Wonder what Donnie had to talk about this time?" He smiled, and aimed his javelin, hoping to get past the teacher's mark where she had thrown it.
"I think he's talking about that Biology test," Leo said casually, and jumped as Raph's javelin slipped as he threw it and landed between the person's feet next to them. They stood, staring at it wide eyed while Raph turned to Leo.
"Test?"
Leo grinned. "Yeah, test." He threw his javelin and it landed neatly in the ground, stuck out, way past the teacher's, who clapped and gave him praise. Leo smiled and walked away to do the next task, shot-putting.
Raph stared, then grabbed his javelin (the boy next to him still staring, still frit to death of nearly being skewered on the end of a stick) and threw it hard. It landing, slightly wobbly, next to Leo's, in line. Though not satisfied, Raph huffed and walked off to try and beat Leo at something.
A few minutes later, the guys on the field were joined by the Girls class, containing Prida, who was talking to her friends, Bonnie Sukes and Roxanne Johnson. Amba Jasins was walking along side them, laughing but not talking. Donnie and Mikey looked up, and exchanged waves from Prida, and they noticed, however quickly it was, that Roxanne slipped a small wave and a smile at Leo, who stared, and waved back blankly. Donnie and Mikey snorted.
The Girls class started to do their activities alongside the boys, and soon mingled with them. Donnie and Mikey shifted up as some of the girls who weren't doing PE seated themselves next to them, giggling annoyingly and glancing at them. Donnie and Mikey kept their gaze ahead, trying to ignore the constant chatter.
"Hey guys," Prida said happily as she appeared next to Leo and Raph, who had stood to grin at Donnie and Mikey, who were now edging further away from the girls, who were doing the same, only towards them. Leo and Raph turned back.
"Oh hey Prida," Leo smiled at her. She smiled back.
"What's wrong with Donnie?" She asked, seeing him sat out. She already knew Mikey's foot wouldn't be healed yet.
Leo looked up. "Oh, he, er, he fell down the, er, stairs." Raph frowned at him. "He managed to injure himself badly and rip his arm open." Leo turned away to throw his shot-put. It landed heavily with a thud eleven metres away, almost twelve. Prida gawped at the distance.
Next to them was a very unwelcome, handsome face. Tooks snorted.
"Probably got a slingshot hidden," he muttered, walking off.
"That's gotta be some slingshot!" Prida shouted angrily at him. She turned back muttering 'duh!' and smiled.
Then she noticed something on Raph's face, and stared. He stared back, frowning.
"Raph, how'd you cut your face?" She asked.
Leo looked at his brother, wondering what she was on about, then remembered last night he had got caught by one of the Foot. Raph put a hand to his face and felt the scar.
"Oh," he remembered. He had forgotten about it. "I caught it, er, when Donnie fell down the stairs he scratched me."
Prida was not convinced. But she didn't persist the matter.
PE ended another class later. After having done all the activities the boys did, Prida took down her distances, which were very good, and went to give Donnie her sympathy for falling down the stairs, though she still didn't believe it. The reason she went over to him was to see if he acted as though he didn't know what she was talking about. He didn't, and she knew that had been a lie. Just what where these guys keeping?
After getting changed, everyone met back up at the lockers. Tyson, Matt and Prida were talking about something as the four bros walked down the corridor. Three looking bored about something, one explaining about something and looking quite happy, however tired he still felt.
"Thanks Donnie," Raph said with a little sarcasm as they reached the lockers. "I'll get top scores now, just having listened to you!"
Donnie shrugged. "At least you know now what and how to say deoxyribonucleic acid and how many based pairs -"
"Donnie!" They all shouted. Prida, Matt and Tyson laughed as Donnie just stuck his lip out.
"Please help," Mikey suddenly said to Matt, with his hands together flat as though praying. "Please, you take him home and we'll have your brother!"
Matt laughed and shook his head. "You'd want to change back immediately!"
The break zoomed by quickly, and they were moving on to English. But just as his brothers went in, someone grabbed Raph roughly and whirled him around. He stared into the face of Tooks.
"What the hell-" Raph growled angrily, pulling his arm from Tooks grasp.
"I know where you got those forks things - those Sais!" He hissed. Raph stared. How did he know what they are? Tooks continued, "I'm on to you, I know you got them from that sewer place!"
Raph pretended he didn't know what he was on about. But his heart pounded fast.
"What the hell are you on about?" He growled, shifting his eyes quickly to see if anyone was listening and to see where his brothers were.
"Don't play dumb, I saw the photographs my dad took of that place, I saw those weapons on the wall. Remember? MY dad was the one YOU and you brothers knocked out! He claimed to have seen four identical kids - and guess what? YOU are four identical kids, and you tried to help something escape from the sewers! And I know that it was Mikey's drawing they found! I know he likes that stupid game! That was what the picture was of when they picked it up and brought it into the station! Mikey is short for Michelan-"
Raph was sweating now. He shoved his face right up to Tooks'.
"Listen! I don't know what you're trying to frame us for, but if you try anything I'll -" Raph threatened, but was stopped.
Tooks interrupted. "If you do anything I could easily just tell my dad who you are. He'll see all four of you and know straight away. You'll be behind bars before you can blink!" He now tuned his voice so that it was low and threatening, and leaned, if possible, closer. "You lay off my Prida, I don't wanna see you around her; and you keep a low profile in school, otherwise you'll find you'll probably never see her, if I can arrange that!" He turned and strode away.
Raph was left clenching his fists so hard he had penetrated his palm and made them bleed slightly. He was also biting his lip too hard, and soon tasted it.
"Raph! Get in here please," a voice behind him said.
He turned around and saw the teacher staring at him. Behind her, through the door, the class was waiting too. Raph walked in, still fuming silently.
His brothers watched as he sat down next to Prida on the end of the row. He kept his face away from his brothers, and slid down into the chair. How the hell did Tooks put all that together? Then something occurred to him that made him even more nervous. If Tooks, admittedly quite clever, figured that out . . . what would Prida, a highly clever girl, know?
Leo looked at his brother. There was definitely something wrong. Something had made him agitated, and Leo didn't like it. He would ask him as soon as this class was over, and they were out of earshot of any friends.
As the class begun, and the noise rose, Prida tried to ask Raph what was wrong, while Donnie, on the other end of the row, was busy trying to write, unable to focus properly on his paper.
"Mikey, what's the dude who has the castle?" Donnie asked, frowning. "The one 'oo this is about?"
"Macbeth?"
"That's him, man, I can't believe I forgot!" Donnie started to write again, though slower than usual.
"I don't think you forgot, dude," Mikey said. "I think April gave you to bad pills."
English went rather quickly for some of them, but for Raph, and Prida who was doing nothing but trying to talk to him, it went quite slow.
As they walked out of that room, Leo caught up with his brother in red, steering him away from Prida and co. and was about to ask him what happened outside the room when Donnie cause a SLIGHT distraction by walking into a wall, falling onto Mikey, who fell onto Prida, who caught Leo by accident and pulled him down. The whole corridor was in stitches, and even Raph was smiling. He bent down to help Prida up, shoving Mikey off her.
"Thanks Raph," she said, still chuckling about it. Donnie seemed a little disoriented, but joined along with the laughing. He was helped to his feet by Leo, who was laughing.
There was no way to ask Raph about it now that everyone in their year kept coming up to them asking what had happened. And soon they were in their Physics class, with other friends within earshot. Leo, slightly frustrated about it, sat down and tried to, instead, work out his brother's face.
()()()()
After physics, and after eating lunch in the canteen and walking to the Music Room where they were going to stay for the rest of the lunch hour, Leo finally steered Raph away, shouting over his shoulder to the others that they were going to the toilet, shutting up Raph's protest that he didn't need it.
But Leo only pulled them into the Music corridors, where he stood facing Raph with his arms folded.
"What happened?" Leo asked. He knew something had; after knowing his brothers all his life he knew when something was eating at one of them, or bothering them.
Raph didn't say anything straight away, but then reluctantly told his brother what Tooks had found out and how he was blackmailing him.
After he had told Leo, his brother began pacing, obvious to his face and the way he held his head in one hand, arm resting on the other wrapped around his midsection, that he was as troubled as Raph was; but also angry.
Leo stopped his pacing at turned to Raph, who was looking out the window.
"This is what happens when YOU bring your weapons to school," he said angrily. "If you hadn't, Tooks might not have been able to put info together . . . and if Mikey's hadn't have gone and drew the SAME picture as the one they found, Tooks wouldn't have guess at all . . ."
"Look, I know what we should and shouldn't have done by now!" Raph said. "So lets just find this man quickly, and get him to change us back." He turned and walked off, not back into the Music room. Leo watched him. He knew that Raph had only said that because he wanted Leo to shut it, and wanted to get out of there, but he could hear in his voice the strain he had to use to say those words. Raph didn't REALLY want to find this man, he didn't want to change back; Leo knew that. Raph had grown too used to this life, and had liked it too much. Leo feared it for all his brothers, and mostly for him too.
Leo returned to the Music Room alone. His brother asked where Raph was, and he replied:
"Getting some fresh air, feels sick." It was slightly true. Leo was sick with worry that Tooks might tell his dad about them. So if he was sick, then Raph must be, having been blackmailed. Had Tooks actually said Prida shouldn't be in their company? This guy really needs to be sort out . . . but one touch and they'd have to run to avoid the cops. Leo didn't like Tooks, and had only know his for a week and a few days, but he knew this was a boy who kept his word . . . for something like this anyway.
"Where abouts did he go?" Prida asked. She wanted to talk to Raph, ask him what was going on. She figured if she confronted him, he would tell her some parts, even though she was certain he would miss others out.
"No idea, which Raph, who knows?" Mikey said, shrugging.
Lunch time finished a while after Leo had come back in alone, and they met back with Raph at registration. He had been on his own in the form room, so caught up in thoughts that he didn't see his brothers walk in until Mikey tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped.
Next class was Biology, as Donnie had said in PE. And, as Donnie had said, they DID have a test. It turned out to be easy, but only because Donnie had told them most things they needed to know before. He, of course, received top marks, though he got two wrong because he mixed the around. His excuse was that he was still in a lot of pain and that he couldn't think straight.
With that class over, there was only one more of the day - of the week - and then it would be the weekend. Their last class was PSE. They said goodbye to Prida, and to Matt and Tyson, and left for their room.
Only Mikey and Donnie really spoke in the class. Leo and Raph were too preoccupied with their thoughts to listen or to care. Soon, the other two noticed something was wrong, and demanded to be let in on it. Leo promised they would - he would - tell them after school, and so with the promise of bad news in the air, the class went slowly, as though time was deliberately torturing them. When the bell ended, they shot out the room, and ran a few blocks before they stopped, and Leo told his brothers what Tooks had said to Raph.
"Ut oh dudes," Mikey said after Leo had told them. "This ain't good . . ."
"Well you boosted his chances of finding out," Leo snapped. He ran a hand through his hair, as he did now when he was nervous or too frustrated.
"Let's get home," he said after a while. He began to walk and his brothers followed.
"Should we tell Master Splinter?" Donnie asked.
"No, he'll only worry . . . what we need to do is find that man, and find him quick . . . so we can change and slid back into the invisible reality again . . ."
Leo glanced at Raph after he had said it. His brother was staring at the pavement, a saddened look on his face.
Okay, please forgive me, the ending was rushed and I'm terribly sorry. A real author never rushes their fics, so I'm sorry! Oh and hey, guess what right . . . I realised a while after I had introduced Matt Hill (Mikey's pal) that someone else was called the same. You never guess who? I thought it was pretty freaky, but I was watching the end of TMNT 3, listening to the groovy music, lol, and I just glanced at the cast list, and the guy who plays Raph is called Matt Hill! I was like, Whoa! I honestly didn't know! Lol! So, anyway, I wanna say that I really do appreciate all the reviews I got, and take them to heart, so thanks to you all, and LenniluvesBrian, Thanks! And definitely to Glitter, who I was shocked at. Me? An award for this bunch of words, I was pretty chuffed lol, thank you all so much! I would name mure, but its late, my back and fingers are killing me, and I'm tired! Now I know what Donnie feels like! Lol, thank you so much, love ya, you're like, my best friends, lol, okay, sorry . . . night all! (oh yar, forgot : SFAM = sorry for any mistakes for people who dunno what that means ;))
"Oh yeah, that's good!" Mikey said as he stretched, just waking up from his sleep. He opened his eyes and looked where he was. He wondered why he felt so comfy. "Oh, morning bros."
His two brothers, sleepy as they were, couldn't hide their morning grumpiness and slight annoyance at their brother in orange. The reason why they were like that, and why Mikey was so comfortable was because he was laying ON his brothers, his torso across Raph, his butt slid in the gap between him and Leo, and his legs across Leo, who glanced at Mikey, sighed, and dropped back into his pillow, muttering 'brothers'. If it wasn't Raph and Donnie together crushing him, it was Mikey on top of him.
"Hey you guys are comfy," Mikey smiled sweetly.
"Mikey, gerroff me!" Raph said tiredly, pushing his brother toward Leo. But Mikey, instead, fell in the gap between Raph and Leo, and stayed there, smiling. He went back to sleep.
Both Leo and Raph groaned. The whole point of Mikey being at the end in the night was so that he didn't roll about and crush anyone. It just proves that Mikey can do anything in his sleep no matter where he was laying when the night began. The only reason Mikey was up there was because Donnie needed the softness of the couch for his injured side, which, when they got home, turned out to be a bit more than a bruise. Not just his side, but he had managed to rip part of his arm open again, and was in pain last night. April gave him a couple of strong pills, which knocked him out anyway.
Today, though, Leo awoke with his brothers at eight O'clock, and noticed that, when Mikey was getting changed, he was putting on a red shirt and Raph had picked up Mikey's orange one, frowning at it. Leo snorted.
"Is it me . . . or does this shirt look . . . orange?" Rah said groggily.
Leo said nothing, feeling too tired to answer. He shook his head and left the room, leaving his brothers to sort out their colours.
As Leo walked downstairs, he noticed Splinter wasn't sat in his armchair, but April was, and it looked like she was nursing a headache. She looked up as he came in.
"Hey Leo," she said, a little less energetic than she would have said it.
"Headache?" Leo asked. April nodded.
Leo went into the kitchen to make tea, and left the kettle to boil, coming back to sit on the couch where Donnie was still laying, breathing quite deeply. He was leaning on his uninjured side, with his arm carefully laid straight; the new bandages clearly showing.
"Donnie's gunna be a bit tired in school," April said, smiling at the sleeping teenager.
"Yeah . . . those Foot weren't the inexperienced lot we usually tackle," Leo said, looking at his brother. "I don't think we were ready for them."
Just then Raph and Mikey caused a distraction by trampling down the stairs, in the wrong shirts, which didn't go with their bandannas. They both stood still at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for their balance to settle in, then they made their way to the couch, forgetting Donnie was there and sitting on him, sliding off and onto the floor.
"Ow . . . huh?" Donnie woke up, looking exceedingly tired.
April looked at the two on the floor.
"Um, that's a bit of an odd colour combination there," she said, smiling.
They looked at her, groggily quizzical, then they both shrugged, and took off their shirts to exchange.
"Whoa guys, hope you don't take your shirts off in school like that," April suddenly said as they swapped shirts and frowned at her. "Well, look at you! I don't think normal teenagers have . . . muscles . . . like that."
Too tired to even bother to listen to anyone talk, Mikey and Raph shrugged and put their own shirts back on, now matching their bandannas. There was also a small, red scratch on Raph's cheek that went well with his colour.
April now turned to Donnie, who seemed to be having trouble figuring out what his hands were by the way he was frowning at them.
"Don, what's wrong?" April asked, Leo also looking at his brother, still lying on the couch.
"I feel really . . . weird," Donnie said. He moved to wing his legs off the couch, but he gasped in pain, and toppled off the couch onto Mikey and Raph.
"Ouch . . ." They all moaned.
Leo shook his head, smiling slightly, and helped Donnie up gently. His side was still painful, and the strong painkillers he took yesterday must still have their effect on him.
When Leo had helped Donnie back onto the couch, April moved over and sat the other two up, both looked incapable of doing anything from tiredness, though not nearly as much as poor Donnie.
"School's going to be fun today, Leo joked with a half smile as he kept his hand on Donnie's shoulder.
"My eyesight's a little . . ." Donnie said, frowning. "Fuzzy."
"You'll be alright by the time you get to school," April assured him.
()()()()
"I still feel a little weird," Donnie muttered, blinking hard and pulling his eyebrows up to see better. It didn't work.
The guys were back at school, and they had just had registration. Their first and second class of the day was PE, but April had writing Donnie and Mikey a note, explaining why they couldn't, and shouldn't, be doing PE. Donnie had been limping as bad as Mikey when he first walked on his injured foot. But he refused anything for it.
"It'll wear off," Leo told him. He wasn't sure how strong those painkillers had been.
"You hope," Mikey grinned at him, while Donnie frowned. "Hey, I hope those police aren't still checking kids."
All their faces stopped smiling and frowning, and eyes swept the corridors.
"Nah, I 'pose they've gone to 'nother school," Donnie said. He felt glad, for once, that he had to miss out of an active class.
They were soon changed, well Leo and Raph, and walking out onto the field. Donnie and Mikey had shown their teacher the note, and were excused. Though when they were told what they would be doing in this class, they groaned and said that they didn't have to miss it anyway. They were doing Javelin, shot- puts and discus throwing today. Though Donnie did point out that he wouldn't have been able to anyway because of his arm, which was still throbbing.
"Okay, right, we choose what we get to do first?" Raph asked.
"Yeah, so she says," Leo replied, referring to the teacher.
They walked out to the end of the field where they began to dig things out of the boxes brought up by the teacher. Donnie and Mikey sat to the side, leaning against the black, metal fence that separated the school grounds from the cemetery.
"Ugh, great," Mikey moaned quietly with his head in his hands and his knees to his chest. "We'll just sit here, bored, and not do anything."
"Well we could revise for that Biology test that Mrs Lyne hinted she would do, set for fifth class today," Donnie said.
Mikey's face blanked. "A test?"
"Yeah, today."
"Today?"
"Today!"
"Cripes! Aw man," Mikey moaned. "This school day just gets better. I'm beginning to miss the peaceful tunnels of the sewers!"
Donnie shrugged. "Me too . . . but I really thought you knew we had this test."
"No, I din't!"
Donnie watched his other brothers for a second, then said, "okay then, erm . . . How many chromosomes are there in the body?"
Mikey looked at him, wide eyed. "I dunno!"
"C'mon Mike, guess!"
Mikey sighed. "Erm . . . chromosomes . . . two?"
Donnie's turn to sigh. "Well, chromosomes are in pairs, but there are forty-six chromosomes, so that makes twenty-three pairs."
Mikey groaned again and buried his face in his arms while Donnie continued to talk and explain about genes, inheritance, you name it, he explained it.
A couple of yards away, Leo, who was holding his javelin in one hand and was aiming, looked at his two brothers sitting out. One looked extremely bored and looked to be suffering from an overdose of Donnie's brain talking. He pointed it out to Raph, who stopped aiming and glanced at them. He smiled.
"Wonder what Donnie had to talk about this time?" He smiled, and aimed his javelin, hoping to get past the teacher's mark where she had thrown it.
"I think he's talking about that Biology test," Leo said casually, and jumped as Raph's javelin slipped as he threw it and landed between the person's feet next to them. They stood, staring at it wide eyed while Raph turned to Leo.
"Test?"
Leo grinned. "Yeah, test." He threw his javelin and it landed neatly in the ground, stuck out, way past the teacher's, who clapped and gave him praise. Leo smiled and walked away to do the next task, shot-putting.
Raph stared, then grabbed his javelin (the boy next to him still staring, still frit to death of nearly being skewered on the end of a stick) and threw it hard. It landing, slightly wobbly, next to Leo's, in line. Though not satisfied, Raph huffed and walked off to try and beat Leo at something.
A few minutes later, the guys on the field were joined by the Girls class, containing Prida, who was talking to her friends, Bonnie Sukes and Roxanne Johnson. Amba Jasins was walking along side them, laughing but not talking. Donnie and Mikey looked up, and exchanged waves from Prida, and they noticed, however quickly it was, that Roxanne slipped a small wave and a smile at Leo, who stared, and waved back blankly. Donnie and Mikey snorted.
The Girls class started to do their activities alongside the boys, and soon mingled with them. Donnie and Mikey shifted up as some of the girls who weren't doing PE seated themselves next to them, giggling annoyingly and glancing at them. Donnie and Mikey kept their gaze ahead, trying to ignore the constant chatter.
"Hey guys," Prida said happily as she appeared next to Leo and Raph, who had stood to grin at Donnie and Mikey, who were now edging further away from the girls, who were doing the same, only towards them. Leo and Raph turned back.
"Oh hey Prida," Leo smiled at her. She smiled back.
"What's wrong with Donnie?" She asked, seeing him sat out. She already knew Mikey's foot wouldn't be healed yet.
Leo looked up. "Oh, he, er, he fell down the, er, stairs." Raph frowned at him. "He managed to injure himself badly and rip his arm open." Leo turned away to throw his shot-put. It landed heavily with a thud eleven metres away, almost twelve. Prida gawped at the distance.
Next to them was a very unwelcome, handsome face. Tooks snorted.
"Probably got a slingshot hidden," he muttered, walking off.
"That's gotta be some slingshot!" Prida shouted angrily at him. She turned back muttering 'duh!' and smiled.
Then she noticed something on Raph's face, and stared. He stared back, frowning.
"Raph, how'd you cut your face?" She asked.
Leo looked at his brother, wondering what she was on about, then remembered last night he had got caught by one of the Foot. Raph put a hand to his face and felt the scar.
"Oh," he remembered. He had forgotten about it. "I caught it, er, when Donnie fell down the stairs he scratched me."
Prida was not convinced. But she didn't persist the matter.
PE ended another class later. After having done all the activities the boys did, Prida took down her distances, which were very good, and went to give Donnie her sympathy for falling down the stairs, though she still didn't believe it. The reason she went over to him was to see if he acted as though he didn't know what she was talking about. He didn't, and she knew that had been a lie. Just what where these guys keeping?
After getting changed, everyone met back up at the lockers. Tyson, Matt and Prida were talking about something as the four bros walked down the corridor. Three looking bored about something, one explaining about something and looking quite happy, however tired he still felt.
"Thanks Donnie," Raph said with a little sarcasm as they reached the lockers. "I'll get top scores now, just having listened to you!"
Donnie shrugged. "At least you know now what and how to say deoxyribonucleic acid and how many based pairs -"
"Donnie!" They all shouted. Prida, Matt and Tyson laughed as Donnie just stuck his lip out.
"Please help," Mikey suddenly said to Matt, with his hands together flat as though praying. "Please, you take him home and we'll have your brother!"
Matt laughed and shook his head. "You'd want to change back immediately!"
The break zoomed by quickly, and they were moving on to English. But just as his brothers went in, someone grabbed Raph roughly and whirled him around. He stared into the face of Tooks.
"What the hell-" Raph growled angrily, pulling his arm from Tooks grasp.
"I know where you got those forks things - those Sais!" He hissed. Raph stared. How did he know what they are? Tooks continued, "I'm on to you, I know you got them from that sewer place!"
Raph pretended he didn't know what he was on about. But his heart pounded fast.
"What the hell are you on about?" He growled, shifting his eyes quickly to see if anyone was listening and to see where his brothers were.
"Don't play dumb, I saw the photographs my dad took of that place, I saw those weapons on the wall. Remember? MY dad was the one YOU and you brothers knocked out! He claimed to have seen four identical kids - and guess what? YOU are four identical kids, and you tried to help something escape from the sewers! And I know that it was Mikey's drawing they found! I know he likes that stupid game! That was what the picture was of when they picked it up and brought it into the station! Mikey is short for Michelan-"
Raph was sweating now. He shoved his face right up to Tooks'.
"Listen! I don't know what you're trying to frame us for, but if you try anything I'll -" Raph threatened, but was stopped.
Tooks interrupted. "If you do anything I could easily just tell my dad who you are. He'll see all four of you and know straight away. You'll be behind bars before you can blink!" He now tuned his voice so that it was low and threatening, and leaned, if possible, closer. "You lay off my Prida, I don't wanna see you around her; and you keep a low profile in school, otherwise you'll find you'll probably never see her, if I can arrange that!" He turned and strode away.
Raph was left clenching his fists so hard he had penetrated his palm and made them bleed slightly. He was also biting his lip too hard, and soon tasted it.
"Raph! Get in here please," a voice behind him said.
He turned around and saw the teacher staring at him. Behind her, through the door, the class was waiting too. Raph walked in, still fuming silently.
His brothers watched as he sat down next to Prida on the end of the row. He kept his face away from his brothers, and slid down into the chair. How the hell did Tooks put all that together? Then something occurred to him that made him even more nervous. If Tooks, admittedly quite clever, figured that out . . . what would Prida, a highly clever girl, know?
Leo looked at his brother. There was definitely something wrong. Something had made him agitated, and Leo didn't like it. He would ask him as soon as this class was over, and they were out of earshot of any friends.
As the class begun, and the noise rose, Prida tried to ask Raph what was wrong, while Donnie, on the other end of the row, was busy trying to write, unable to focus properly on his paper.
"Mikey, what's the dude who has the castle?" Donnie asked, frowning. "The one 'oo this is about?"
"Macbeth?"
"That's him, man, I can't believe I forgot!" Donnie started to write again, though slower than usual.
"I don't think you forgot, dude," Mikey said. "I think April gave you to bad pills."
English went rather quickly for some of them, but for Raph, and Prida who was doing nothing but trying to talk to him, it went quite slow.
As they walked out of that room, Leo caught up with his brother in red, steering him away from Prida and co. and was about to ask him what happened outside the room when Donnie cause a SLIGHT distraction by walking into a wall, falling onto Mikey, who fell onto Prida, who caught Leo by accident and pulled him down. The whole corridor was in stitches, and even Raph was smiling. He bent down to help Prida up, shoving Mikey off her.
"Thanks Raph," she said, still chuckling about it. Donnie seemed a little disoriented, but joined along with the laughing. He was helped to his feet by Leo, who was laughing.
There was no way to ask Raph about it now that everyone in their year kept coming up to them asking what had happened. And soon they were in their Physics class, with other friends within earshot. Leo, slightly frustrated about it, sat down and tried to, instead, work out his brother's face.
()()()()
After physics, and after eating lunch in the canteen and walking to the Music Room where they were going to stay for the rest of the lunch hour, Leo finally steered Raph away, shouting over his shoulder to the others that they were going to the toilet, shutting up Raph's protest that he didn't need it.
But Leo only pulled them into the Music corridors, where he stood facing Raph with his arms folded.
"What happened?" Leo asked. He knew something had; after knowing his brothers all his life he knew when something was eating at one of them, or bothering them.
Raph didn't say anything straight away, but then reluctantly told his brother what Tooks had found out and how he was blackmailing him.
After he had told Leo, his brother began pacing, obvious to his face and the way he held his head in one hand, arm resting on the other wrapped around his midsection, that he was as troubled as Raph was; but also angry.
Leo stopped his pacing at turned to Raph, who was looking out the window.
"This is what happens when YOU bring your weapons to school," he said angrily. "If you hadn't, Tooks might not have been able to put info together . . . and if Mikey's hadn't have gone and drew the SAME picture as the one they found, Tooks wouldn't have guess at all . . ."
"Look, I know what we should and shouldn't have done by now!" Raph said. "So lets just find this man quickly, and get him to change us back." He turned and walked off, not back into the Music room. Leo watched him. He knew that Raph had only said that because he wanted Leo to shut it, and wanted to get out of there, but he could hear in his voice the strain he had to use to say those words. Raph didn't REALLY want to find this man, he didn't want to change back; Leo knew that. Raph had grown too used to this life, and had liked it too much. Leo feared it for all his brothers, and mostly for him too.
Leo returned to the Music Room alone. His brother asked where Raph was, and he replied:
"Getting some fresh air, feels sick." It was slightly true. Leo was sick with worry that Tooks might tell his dad about them. So if he was sick, then Raph must be, having been blackmailed. Had Tooks actually said Prida shouldn't be in their company? This guy really needs to be sort out . . . but one touch and they'd have to run to avoid the cops. Leo didn't like Tooks, and had only know his for a week and a few days, but he knew this was a boy who kept his word . . . for something like this anyway.
"Where abouts did he go?" Prida asked. She wanted to talk to Raph, ask him what was going on. She figured if she confronted him, he would tell her some parts, even though she was certain he would miss others out.
"No idea, which Raph, who knows?" Mikey said, shrugging.
Lunch time finished a while after Leo had come back in alone, and they met back with Raph at registration. He had been on his own in the form room, so caught up in thoughts that he didn't see his brothers walk in until Mikey tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped.
Next class was Biology, as Donnie had said in PE. And, as Donnie had said, they DID have a test. It turned out to be easy, but only because Donnie had told them most things they needed to know before. He, of course, received top marks, though he got two wrong because he mixed the around. His excuse was that he was still in a lot of pain and that he couldn't think straight.
With that class over, there was only one more of the day - of the week - and then it would be the weekend. Their last class was PSE. They said goodbye to Prida, and to Matt and Tyson, and left for their room.
Only Mikey and Donnie really spoke in the class. Leo and Raph were too preoccupied with their thoughts to listen or to care. Soon, the other two noticed something was wrong, and demanded to be let in on it. Leo promised they would - he would - tell them after school, and so with the promise of bad news in the air, the class went slowly, as though time was deliberately torturing them. When the bell ended, they shot out the room, and ran a few blocks before they stopped, and Leo told his brothers what Tooks had said to Raph.
"Ut oh dudes," Mikey said after Leo had told them. "This ain't good . . ."
"Well you boosted his chances of finding out," Leo snapped. He ran a hand through his hair, as he did now when he was nervous or too frustrated.
"Let's get home," he said after a while. He began to walk and his brothers followed.
"Should we tell Master Splinter?" Donnie asked.
"No, he'll only worry . . . what we need to do is find that man, and find him quick . . . so we can change and slid back into the invisible reality again . . ."
Leo glanced at Raph after he had said it. His brother was staring at the pavement, a saddened look on his face.
Okay, please forgive me, the ending was rushed and I'm terribly sorry. A real author never rushes their fics, so I'm sorry! Oh and hey, guess what right . . . I realised a while after I had introduced Matt Hill (Mikey's pal) that someone else was called the same. You never guess who? I thought it was pretty freaky, but I was watching the end of TMNT 3, listening to the groovy music, lol, and I just glanced at the cast list, and the guy who plays Raph is called Matt Hill! I was like, Whoa! I honestly didn't know! Lol! So, anyway, I wanna say that I really do appreciate all the reviews I got, and take them to heart, so thanks to you all, and LenniluvesBrian, Thanks! And definitely to Glitter, who I was shocked at. Me? An award for this bunch of words, I was pretty chuffed lol, thank you all so much! I would name mure, but its late, my back and fingers are killing me, and I'm tired! Now I know what Donnie feels like! Lol, thank you so much, love ya, you're like, my best friends, lol, okay, sorry . . . night all! (oh yar, forgot : SFAM = sorry for any mistakes for people who dunno what that means ;))