Radical Transformation
~
"Hey guys, is that all you're eating?" Mikey sat down at the table with a whole tray piled high with food, just for him. He looked at Leo and Donny's small meal.
"We don't have The Never-ending Stomach like you do," Donny smiled, and took a bite from his pizza, just as Raph and Prida came through the cantina doors.
"Man, all the food here and you don't take advantage of that?" Mikey said. "I mean, we got here early, so all the best looking pies and things are waiting to be taken, you might as well take 'em while they're there." Mikey bit into his pizza, smiling.
"Hey guys," Leo said, smiling at Raph as he and Prida sat themselves down. Leo pushed over a soda for Raph, and a slice of pizza he got for him.
"Man, are you sure your leg's alright?" Donny asked, frowning at Raph while taking a sip from his can of coke. "I mean, that was pretty slow, maybe you ought to go back to the hospital -"
"I don't think so," Raph interrupted, eyes narrowing at the word 'hospital'. He shuddered inwardly.
Donny shrugged. "Suit yourself."
"Whoa Mikey," Prida gawked when she saw Mike's tray. "How the hell can you eat all that?"
"Easy, I put it in my mouth - like so," Mikey stuffed a pizza crust in his mouth. "And I perform an amazing disappearing act." He closed his mouth and a second later he swallowed it, smiling and reaching for his next snack.
"You pig," Raph insulted, picking up his soda.
"Yeah, Mikey the amazing Magician," Donny smiled. "Show him any type of food and he'll make it disappear - very quickly."
They all chuckled, and were joined at that moment by Matt, TJ and Tyson.
"Hey, guys, s'ok if we sit with ya?" Tyson asked, bringing up a seat anyway.
"Sure, asking never stopped you before," Donny grinned, and Tyson smiled and went to grab some food. He had to wait in the queue that had now grown. Mikey once again pointed out how they got here early and grabbed the best grub.
"Is that all you think about - food?" Prida laughed, taking the drink Donny was offering her.
"Twenty-three seven," Mikey replied happily.
"What do you think about in the other hour?"
"TV," he grinned, and slurped on his drink.
Prida suddenly remembered her manners, polite as she was. "Oh guys," she said, smiling. "Thanks for -"
But Raph suddenly looked as though someone had shot him. He quickly gave her a look that plainly said 'shut up!' Leo saw this.
"- er, thanks for coming to that dinner," Prida made up quickly, even though she had already thanked them.
"No need to thank us again, we're thankful we came too!" Mikey said, grinning with food halfway to his mouth.
Prida smiled at them and glanced at Raph, who looked as though he had just met Death and escaped: Relieved. He smiled at her, and she realized how embarrassed he would have got. He kept his cool though, and his usual expression returned.
"Leo," Mikey moaned quietly as babbled broke out on the table. "When are ya gonna ask her?"
"Oh I already did," Leo said casually, taking a gulp from his drink.
"What? But you said -"
"So what I said. You keep badgering me, I asked her in Math class."
"Whaddid she say?"
"What did who say?" Matt asked, and everyone else looked at them. Mikey, for once, went ever so slightly red.
"Oh, that we invited Prida to dinner tonight," Leo said, straight out.
Everyone looked at her, and she smiled, catching on what her friends were up to.
"And I said I'd love to come," Prida shrugged, smiling and raising her eyebrows slightly to Leo, who wiggled his eyebrows once at her.
Tyson and Matt, along with a more talkative TJ quickly demanded details, and soon everyone was talking in their own conversation. Amazing Mikey, who talked more than anyone on the table, still managed to eat all of his food, which was way more than anyone else had.
Half way through their dinnertime, they decided to leave the cantina and have a walk around the school grounds. Just as they were getting up from the table, Mikey quickly ran over and joined the queue again.
Yelling at him that they were going to wait outside, the rest left the cantina and waited outside the door. A few minutes later Mikey appeared with a cornflake tart, smiling.
"Man, didn't they feed you guys at LA?" Prida laughed. They all started walking slowly. "I mean, its incredible how you eat and eat and you just don't seem to put on weight or get fat . . . what's the secret?"
"No secret," Mikey said through a mouthful of tart. "I just don't have a fat gene, heh."
Prida shook her head, smiling. "I wish I didn't."
Donny frowned at that and was about to say 'but you're not even fat', but stopped himself. Maybe Prida didn't want people gawking at her figure, and Donny wasn't about to let on that he saw.
After a fifteen-minute walk around the whole school, they decided a visit to the Music Room was in order. Mrs. Smallwood was happy to see them, and kindly let them listen to some music on her stereo as they stayed in there and kept an eye on the room, while she went to grab some late lunch.
While Tyson and Matt, along with Amba Jasins, who joined the group, discussed their own topics, Prida turned in her seat in the table to the guys, who all had their feet on chairs.
"So who's cooking tonight?" She asked happily with a smile.
"I will be," Mikey smiled. "No idea what you like, which is why April's gonna get some food when she gets her lunch break. I hope she is anyway, she asked her to in the car."
"Are you sure it's okay with your Aunt?" Prida asked.
"Sure! She thought it was a great idea. Well, actually she came up with it."
"Cool, I really wanna thank you for inviting me, I don't get invited to many dinners," she gave a short, nervous laugh.
"No sweat, dudette, we gotta return the favor somehow."
"Yeah but I was returning the favor to YOU, for saving me, it's just gonna keep going in circles," she said, grinning.
"Well, it wasn't actually US that saved you," Leo said. "It was really just Raph."
"We tried though," Donny put in. "That teacher stopped us."
"Well, whatever, your all my friends, and I guess in a way you all saved me - from Tooks many times."
()()()()
After dinner, everyone departed for the next class, which was English for the guys. As they were walking, Leo suggested that tomorrow they should do something to keep them in shape, while being at school. He suggested they ask someone if they could use the gym to practice in, seeing as how April wouldn't let them practice in her apartment, and they had no where else to go.
"But what about after school?" Mikey asked as they walked towards the English block.
"Well, I was thinking at lunchtime," Leo shrugged. "I thought maybe Prida could join us; we have PE Theory tomorrow so she should bring her kit, it'll be fun guys."
"But what about dinner?!" Mikey said, looking horrified at the thought of missing dinner to use the gym.
"We'll grab a quick bite to eat, or bring something with us," Leo said. He sounded like he had made his mind, and only Mikey was against losing tomorrows slice of pizza. He was outvoted though.
When they got to class, they saw Prida was already seated, and that boy who had asked her to the nightclub was there again. He sighed and took off back to his seat before the guys got there.
"Some people don't take 'no' for an answer," Prida shook her head.
The four bros took a seat and asked her what was up. She told them, rolling her eyes.
"Prida, will you come to the disco? Please!" Mikey said, grinning.
"Mikey! Do you understand what 'no' means?" Prida laughed.
Mikey shook his head. "Nope, only 'yes'."
Prida rolled her eyes, and the class silenced as the teacher announced that tomorrow everyone should have had their draft copy of the Macbeth Essay. Everyone groaned, while Mikey and Raph shot each other confused wide- eyes.
"Oh cool, something to properly write about," Donny said, smiling. But when Prida and his brothers' head turned towards him frowning, his smile vanished.
"I meant - that we don't have . . . anything good to write about in this class - and that this at least demands more attention - not that I wanted to write it - I mean that, there's finally something that isn't too easy - er -"
"Donny, admit you just like this," Mikey said, rolling his eyes. Everyone except Donny chuckled, while he just put his head down.
Near the end of the class, five minutes before the bell when everyone was just writing down the last of their notes what they should use in their essay, Leo called over the noise to Prida.
"Hey, Prida, do you wanna use the gym tomorrow, with us?" He asked. "We were gonna bring something to eat from home, we figured we need to keep I shape."
Prida stared, and raised her eyebrows. "You guys need to keep in shape? I thought you were already in shape," she glanced at their arms, " from what I gathered."
"Yeah - well, we still need to exercise," Leo said.
"Okay then, sure," Prida smiled.
"Oh dudette, we'll meet ya at the lockers at the end of school, right?" Mikey said as the bell went.
"Okay," Prida nodded, trying to keep her smile from spreading to a wide grin.
//
So, as usual when waiting for the end of the school day to come because something fun is happening at the end, the guys' Business Studies class went much too slow.
"Man, how long have we got left?" Mikey moaned, tugging on Donny shirtsleeve.
"Twenty minutes, Mikey," Donny said, not even looking at his watch. He had just looked at it a minute ago.
"Oh man . . . " Mikey groaned, and then brightened up. "Hey Raph did ya ask Prida what she likes to eat?"
"Oops, forgot," Raph said in an unbothered tone.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you can cook something she'll like," Donny assured him. "Though don't over-do it, we don't want her poisoned."
Mikey frowned. "I don't poison people!"
"You poisoned all of us at one point, about two years ago!" Leo reminded him.
"It was an accident, I didn't mean to knock the bug spray in your breakfasts."
After being told to shut up by the teacher because they were making too much noise, the guys went back to being bored and quiet. Though twenty minutes later Mikey jumped out of his seat when the bell rang and whooped.
"Alright, let's meet Pri at the lockers!" Mikey said. He seemed the most excited about this dinner, but then he was the one who was going to be feeding and receiving praise for his food. Having a friend who wasn't older than they were around to share a dinner was pretty new.
As they waked towards the lockers, they couldn't see Prida yet, so they waited there for a few minutes, talking to people as they went home. Prida dashed down the corridor a few minutes after.
"Sorry guys," she panted. "I had to use the office phone to call Mai and tell her I'll be at your place again."
"That's okay, let's go then," Mikey grinned, which seemed contagious because Prida found the same wide grin on her face. She hadn't ever really been invited to a dinner, some of her friends at school were really nice, but they never offered because she and they considered her to be a loner. She was pretty happy about it.
They walked out of school, and made their way opposite to the direction Prida usually takes.
"So . . . does April trust me enough to let me know where she lives?" Prida asked.
"Sure! Saw you that first time and knew you were an angel," Mikey grinned. Prida laughed.
It took a little longer to walk home than usual, but since they spoke a lot, it seemed to automatically slow their walking pace. The wind was still as fierce as ever, and it blew bits from the road and threw them at their skin. By the time they rounded the corner the April's apartment, they were all rubbing sore arms and cheeks.
"Let's hope Splin - er - April's got that fire going," Donny said, glancing at Leo, who raised his eyebrows in a warning.
They raced up the stairs, with Prida in the middle of them, and walked down the small hallway to April's door. They had all agreed, along with Splinter, that he would remain upstairs all night, supplied with food and drink of course. And there was a TV in Ape's room, so he was well off.
Mikey opened the door, and let Prida in first. "Welcome again to the home of weird," he joked, raising his voice only so loud enough to let Splinter know they had returned.
"Well, can't be more weird than having purple eyes," Prida muttered to herself. "When is your Aunt gonna get in?"
"Oh she'll be back soon, she's gonna see if she can get home a little earlier from work tonight," Leo said. "Said she wants to have a proper chat with ya -"
"And that she wants to save you from us," Mikey added, grinning and shutting the door after Donny. He then gestured the couch. "Take a seat Prida, we got a movie if ya wanna watch it, or a game - I wanted to play pin the shell on Raph, but I don't think he'll lemme." Mikey grinned.
"Mikey - kitchen - now!" Leo ordered, staring at his brother, and pointing to the kitchen.
"Oh, right, okay," Mike said, and dashed into the kitchen area. "No idea what you like, but then I just mash stuff together and it usually works!" He called back to Prida.
Leo turned to Prida, who was sat comfortably on the couch. "Don't worry, he makes it sound gross, but he makes good stuff really."
"Thanks Leo, but really, don't exaggerate," Mikey joked sarcastically, checking the brown paper bags that April had left on the side, and taking some of the things out; considering them.
"What movies ya got?" Prida asked.
"Oh, I'll go get em!" Mikey said, about to dash out of the kitchen, but Leo stopped him.
"I'll get them, you just think about what you're gonna cook," Leo said firmly. He turned to Prida as Mikey stayed put. "He has to concentrate on what he's cooking, otherwise he overdoes it and either poisons us or stuffs us bloated." He joked. Then he disappeared upstairs, before getting the videos he made his way to April's room, where Splinter was.
Back downstairs Mikey was muttering to himself about what should be used, while Donny took a seat next to Prida, asking if she wanted a drink, and Raph was busy with the VCR, ejecting the Terminator video.
"Hey Mike, wanna make two milkshakes?" Donny called over to him. "Hey Raph, wanna milkshake?"
"Sure."
"Make that three milkshakes, Mikey," Donny called, then got up and walked over to the other part of the apartment where the table was, and the other TV, behind the stairs and down a lower platform. He smiled as he looked at what April had laid out on the table for them: There were a few little, pretty purple candles on the table, the silverware and dishes had been laid out and there was an extra chair. He didn't have to set the table; Ape had already done it. She really wanted them to have a great dinner. Overdone it a bit with the candles, but it was nice nonetheless. Donny took two candles off the table, he really didn't want it to seem like a romantic evening.
"Hey, never mind Mike, I'll do the drinks," Donny said, walking into the kitchen.
"Good, I thought for a minute I was a slave, who is tortured by his evil brothers to serve them and do thy biding," Mikey grinned. Prida laughed.
Leo came down the stairs at that minute with an armload of videos. He dumped them on the couch next to Prida, and started picking them up and reading them out to Mikey as well as the others.
"Ghostbusters . . ." Leo picked up the first one.
"Mm . . . nah," Mikey called from the kitchen.
"Hey, you're not the guest here Mikey, you just shut up, Prida picks," Raph called.
"Thanks, but that's okay, I'm, happy to watch what you guys pick out," she said, smiling and tucking her feet under her on the couch.
"Okay, Commando, with Arnold whazis name - Terminator dude," Leo said.
"Nah," Mikey said again, now looking at the wok, the frying pan and the saucepan, trying to decide which to use for this special dinner.
"Star Wars, Shrek, Buried Alive, The Mummy, The Mummy Return, The Running Man, Total Recall, Fright Night -"
"Fright Night?" Mikey looked up. "What was that about?"
"Oh I've seen that," Prida smiled. "This vampire moves in next door to this teenager, who knows what he is, and it's all about how the vamp interferes with his life by making his best friend and girlfriend vampires and blah de blah. It's good, old but good."
"You've seen it Mike, you just can't remember," Leo said.
"Yeah I can dude, it had that cool music on when she was been bitten, yeah, I think it was called Come to Me, it was cool."
"Wannit on or not?" Leo asked, waving the video.
"Put it to one side, and if he doesn't hear anything else good we'll have that on," Donny said. He looked at Prida. "Mike's kinda out video- chooser. Unless it's something the rest of us don't like, we choose."
Prida chortled. "Sounds like my house. I get to choose what goes on, too."
After the first lot of videos, Leo went back upstairs for some more, and then Raph went to get the third lot after that. Mikey finally decided he wanted The Relic on, with the lights off. Prida said she hadn't seen the movie before, so the guys didn't agree with Mikey at first, but he said it was a little horror film, pretty silly, and she agreed.
Leo tossed the video to Raph, who was crouched by the TV again.
"One Relic, coming up," Raph said, and popped the tape in the VCR. Donny switched the lights off, and sat down the couch, Leo sat next to Prida and Donny, and Raph sat on the floor, leaning against the couch. The only light was from the TV and a small battery powered one in the kitchen for Mikey to see what ingredients he was adding.
As the film started, Prida leaned over to Leo a bit.
"Is your Aunt gonna eat with us too?" She asked, eyes on the TV.
"Yeah, if that's okay with you?" Leo said. "She said she didn't want to butt in, but, you know, we said she could anyway, it's kinda her place."
"Great by me, I'd love to talk to her," Prida smiled, and sat back. It would be nice to speak with a news reporter.
Half way through the movie, when some guy was having his head forcibly pulled off his neck by the monster, the apartment door opened slowly, creaking ever so slightly, and everyone looked at it. Then April's head glanced around it, and she smiled.
"Didn't want to burst in," she said, apologetically. Everyone let out their breaths.
"Hey Ape, how'd work go?" Mikey said, behind the brown paper bags on the counter.
"Good, thanks, Mikey," April shut the door and kicked off her shoes, and then hung up her coat. She turned to the couch. "Hi Prida, how are you?"
"I'm great, thanks Miss O'Neil," Prida said, trying to sound as nice as she could. She didn't meet new people very often, so she didn't know if she had good people skills.
"Oh, call me April. I hope they haven't been wild, they usually are," she said, grinning at the guys.
Prida laughed. "They only threatened me that if I wouldn't come they would they would have to beat me up tomorrow."
"Hey - we never!" Donny and Leo said, smiling and throwing pillows at her. She got lost in an avalanche of tassels and cushions.
"Hey, well guys, don't smoother our guest to death, she's still got to try Mike's cooking," April chuckled, and dropped her bag by the stairs. She turned around when she heard the TV scream. "Are they trying to scare you now? By putting on this movie?"
"This ain't scary!" Mikey said, now stirring the contents of the wok, which was sizzling away. There was no smell yet, so they didn't have an idea of what it was going to taste like.
"You got something against us?" Raph asked, smirking.
"No, of course not," April said, walking past Raph and messing up his hair. "You're my favorite nephews."
"We're your ONLY nephews," Mikey said, smiling. April grinned back and walked over to the table to set the candles. It looked beautiful with the lights off, and she wondered why she was making it like this for the guys. Was it a little over the top? Oh well, it's pretty, they're grateful, she's happy.
It was just when the movie finished that Mikey finished cooking the dinner, and shooed everyone to the table, hoping the movie's ridiculous gore had not taken away their appetite. As they were sitting down, with Leo next to Donny, who was next to April, who would be next to Mikey, who was next to Raph, who was next to Prida, who then was near Leo; Prida turned to April.
"I wanna thank you for inviting me to dinner," she said.
"It's okay, I'm happy to have someone who isn't identical to talk to," April said, smiling. Prida grinned.
"Prida keeps saying thank you," Mikey whined, jokingly. "It must be a disease."
"She knows manner, unlike you lot," April said to them. But they were all now agreeing with each other how it must be an illness. April and Pride tittered.
Mikey served his cooking, which smelled excellent, but looked . . .
"Gross?" Raph said, glancing at his brothers with his nose pulled up in slight disgust.
"C'mon, that's not nice," April said, and Mikey beamed. "You know all of Mikey's cooking looks gross." Mikey's stopped smiling and pouted. "But it always tastes much better than it looks." Mikey thought this time before he grinned again.
Raph looked at Prida. "You're the guest, you have the honor of digging in first!"
"Raph!" April and Leo both said.
Prida grinned. "I've eating things that look alive before, done by my sister, I'm sure I'll love it." With that she tucked in.
With disgusted looks form the rest of them, except Mikey, they all hastily took a small bite, but were soon eating it quite happily, commenting that it was great, which it was. Even Prida said her sister should trade recipes with Mikey, who grinned.
"Told ya it was good," he said.
"How would you know though, you never eat it until we do," Raph said, elbowing him.
"Well I can't exactly say 'its disgusting don't eat it', what kinda chef would I be then?"
"An honest one?" Donny smiled. The dim light from the candles and the darkness behind him lit up his handsome face, as it did all of their faces.
As they finished their dinner, and as April and Prida started chatting, Mikey announced that he had cooked a little after dinner stuff, and came back with a pudding of some sort. It actually looked nice for once, and it was sweet and filling.
"That was great Mikey," Prida said as she put her knife and fork down on one side of her plate. She looked amazingly pretty in just the light from the candles, which really showed a glint of the purple in her eyes.
"Fright Night movie now?" Mikey asked.
"Fright Night," they all agreed.
"Hey, careful with the video, it's old," April called after them as she remained to clean up the plates. Prida stopped and helped her. "Hey, let me do these, you go sit down."
"Are you sure?" Prida asked, stacking two plates on top of each other.
"Yeah, sure, go on," April said, taking the plates.
Prida thanked her and walked over to where the guys were finding the Fright Night tape. Mikey shoved it in, and sat down on the couch with Leo and Donny, while Raph took the floor again, leaning against Donny's legs.
"Hey, one of yous get up, Prida has to sit down," Raph put his head back and looked at his brothers.
Mikey and Donny were about to get up, but Prida stopped them.
"No, it's okay," she said, and sat down on the floor next to Raph. "You guys stay there."
With the lights still off, the glow from only the TV made them all drowsy, but no one said anything. When one bit of the movie came on, where Amy, Charlie's girlfriend (the teenager) gets bitten, Mikey turned up the volume as the music in the background started. His brothers looked at him.
"What? I like this music, it's mystical," he said, shrugging.
Almost to the end of the film, Raph felt something on his shoulder and he looked to see Prida snoozing peacefully on him. He glanced about, not knowing what to do with her, but tapped Leo on the leg.
"Oy, Leo, er, I think she's asleep," Raph said quietly.
"Dude, what did you put in that food?" Donny asked Mikey.
"I didn't poison her!" Mikey moaned. "I hope not anyway . . . Should we wake her?"
"No, that's not nice, she's probably exhausted," Donny said.
"I would be too if I forced myself to eat Mikey's cooking for the first time," Raph said, pushing Prida back into a sitting position and trying to get her to stay as she kept sliding against the couch to him.
"Well, Mai has our telephone number," Leo said. "If she phones back before Prida wakes we'll tell her she's asleep and Mai will probably come pick her up."
"Okay," they all agreed and their eyes returned to the TV.
A few minutes later April came downstairs, having just seen how Master Splinter was, and if he wanted anything, she found all the guys on the floor against the couch, and Prida laid out asleep on the cushions, her head propped comfortably on two pillows. April shook her head, smiling, and went to get the spare duvet cover Donny uses to put over her. The guys didn't even hear her when she laid it on Prida, but when the corner touched Mikey's ear, he nearly jumped out of his skin, and April grinned and placed a finger over her lips. Mikey clutched his heart and sat back down, smiling.
()()()()
After the film, and another after that, the phone rang and April picked it up. She spoke for a few seconds, gave directions to her house, then put it down and whispered that Mai was on her way to collect Prida. The guys nodded, and ten minutes later there was a quiet knock on the door.
April walked over and opened it, showing Mai and Korey.
"Hi," April said politely as Mai did the same, then Korey. They shook hands, introduced themselves, and April let them in, leaving the door open. Mai saw her little sister on the couch, and the guys on the floor leaning against it. They looked up and gave a wave and a smile.
"I am sorry," Mai said, meaning Prida lounging about on the couch. "I hope she wasn't too much trouble."
"No, she was great, lovely girl," April said, smiling.
Mai turned to the bros. "Hi guys," she said, walking over to Prida. They all chorused a 'yo' back.
"Yo!" Korey grinned, and slapped Mikey a high five, who was on the end. "Well, thanks for having her, it got the little pest outta our hair."
"Korey," Mai said, smiling.
Korey picked Prida up gently and the duvet fell onto the guys. "Oops, sorry guys," he grinned, and walked over to the door with his little sister- in-law.
"Thank you so much," Mai said again.
April commented on where Prida must have got her continuous manners from, and Mai laughed. They soon said bye and took Prida to the car. April closed the door and turned back to the guys, who were looking at her.
"Have fun then?" April asked, smiling.
"Yeah, definitely," they all smiled.
"Yeah, can we do it again sometime?" Mikey grinned.
~
"Hey guys, is that all you're eating?" Mikey sat down at the table with a whole tray piled high with food, just for him. He looked at Leo and Donny's small meal.
"We don't have The Never-ending Stomach like you do," Donny smiled, and took a bite from his pizza, just as Raph and Prida came through the cantina doors.
"Man, all the food here and you don't take advantage of that?" Mikey said. "I mean, we got here early, so all the best looking pies and things are waiting to be taken, you might as well take 'em while they're there." Mikey bit into his pizza, smiling.
"Hey guys," Leo said, smiling at Raph as he and Prida sat themselves down. Leo pushed over a soda for Raph, and a slice of pizza he got for him.
"Man, are you sure your leg's alright?" Donny asked, frowning at Raph while taking a sip from his can of coke. "I mean, that was pretty slow, maybe you ought to go back to the hospital -"
"I don't think so," Raph interrupted, eyes narrowing at the word 'hospital'. He shuddered inwardly.
Donny shrugged. "Suit yourself."
"Whoa Mikey," Prida gawked when she saw Mike's tray. "How the hell can you eat all that?"
"Easy, I put it in my mouth - like so," Mikey stuffed a pizza crust in his mouth. "And I perform an amazing disappearing act." He closed his mouth and a second later he swallowed it, smiling and reaching for his next snack.
"You pig," Raph insulted, picking up his soda.
"Yeah, Mikey the amazing Magician," Donny smiled. "Show him any type of food and he'll make it disappear - very quickly."
They all chuckled, and were joined at that moment by Matt, TJ and Tyson.
"Hey, guys, s'ok if we sit with ya?" Tyson asked, bringing up a seat anyway.
"Sure, asking never stopped you before," Donny grinned, and Tyson smiled and went to grab some food. He had to wait in the queue that had now grown. Mikey once again pointed out how they got here early and grabbed the best grub.
"Is that all you think about - food?" Prida laughed, taking the drink Donny was offering her.
"Twenty-three seven," Mikey replied happily.
"What do you think about in the other hour?"
"TV," he grinned, and slurped on his drink.
Prida suddenly remembered her manners, polite as she was. "Oh guys," she said, smiling. "Thanks for -"
But Raph suddenly looked as though someone had shot him. He quickly gave her a look that plainly said 'shut up!' Leo saw this.
"- er, thanks for coming to that dinner," Prida made up quickly, even though she had already thanked them.
"No need to thank us again, we're thankful we came too!" Mikey said, grinning with food halfway to his mouth.
Prida smiled at them and glanced at Raph, who looked as though he had just met Death and escaped: Relieved. He smiled at her, and she realized how embarrassed he would have got. He kept his cool though, and his usual expression returned.
"Leo," Mikey moaned quietly as babbled broke out on the table. "When are ya gonna ask her?"
"Oh I already did," Leo said casually, taking a gulp from his drink.
"What? But you said -"
"So what I said. You keep badgering me, I asked her in Math class."
"Whaddid she say?"
"What did who say?" Matt asked, and everyone else looked at them. Mikey, for once, went ever so slightly red.
"Oh, that we invited Prida to dinner tonight," Leo said, straight out.
Everyone looked at her, and she smiled, catching on what her friends were up to.
"And I said I'd love to come," Prida shrugged, smiling and raising her eyebrows slightly to Leo, who wiggled his eyebrows once at her.
Tyson and Matt, along with a more talkative TJ quickly demanded details, and soon everyone was talking in their own conversation. Amazing Mikey, who talked more than anyone on the table, still managed to eat all of his food, which was way more than anyone else had.
Half way through their dinnertime, they decided to leave the cantina and have a walk around the school grounds. Just as they were getting up from the table, Mikey quickly ran over and joined the queue again.
Yelling at him that they were going to wait outside, the rest left the cantina and waited outside the door. A few minutes later Mikey appeared with a cornflake tart, smiling.
"Man, didn't they feed you guys at LA?" Prida laughed. They all started walking slowly. "I mean, its incredible how you eat and eat and you just don't seem to put on weight or get fat . . . what's the secret?"
"No secret," Mikey said through a mouthful of tart. "I just don't have a fat gene, heh."
Prida shook her head, smiling. "I wish I didn't."
Donny frowned at that and was about to say 'but you're not even fat', but stopped himself. Maybe Prida didn't want people gawking at her figure, and Donny wasn't about to let on that he saw.
After a fifteen-minute walk around the whole school, they decided a visit to the Music Room was in order. Mrs. Smallwood was happy to see them, and kindly let them listen to some music on her stereo as they stayed in there and kept an eye on the room, while she went to grab some late lunch.
While Tyson and Matt, along with Amba Jasins, who joined the group, discussed their own topics, Prida turned in her seat in the table to the guys, who all had their feet on chairs.
"So who's cooking tonight?" She asked happily with a smile.
"I will be," Mikey smiled. "No idea what you like, which is why April's gonna get some food when she gets her lunch break. I hope she is anyway, she asked her to in the car."
"Are you sure it's okay with your Aunt?" Prida asked.
"Sure! She thought it was a great idea. Well, actually she came up with it."
"Cool, I really wanna thank you for inviting me, I don't get invited to many dinners," she gave a short, nervous laugh.
"No sweat, dudette, we gotta return the favor somehow."
"Yeah but I was returning the favor to YOU, for saving me, it's just gonna keep going in circles," she said, grinning.
"Well, it wasn't actually US that saved you," Leo said. "It was really just Raph."
"We tried though," Donny put in. "That teacher stopped us."
"Well, whatever, your all my friends, and I guess in a way you all saved me - from Tooks many times."
()()()()
After dinner, everyone departed for the next class, which was English for the guys. As they were walking, Leo suggested that tomorrow they should do something to keep them in shape, while being at school. He suggested they ask someone if they could use the gym to practice in, seeing as how April wouldn't let them practice in her apartment, and they had no where else to go.
"But what about after school?" Mikey asked as they walked towards the English block.
"Well, I was thinking at lunchtime," Leo shrugged. "I thought maybe Prida could join us; we have PE Theory tomorrow so she should bring her kit, it'll be fun guys."
"But what about dinner?!" Mikey said, looking horrified at the thought of missing dinner to use the gym.
"We'll grab a quick bite to eat, or bring something with us," Leo said. He sounded like he had made his mind, and only Mikey was against losing tomorrows slice of pizza. He was outvoted though.
When they got to class, they saw Prida was already seated, and that boy who had asked her to the nightclub was there again. He sighed and took off back to his seat before the guys got there.
"Some people don't take 'no' for an answer," Prida shook her head.
The four bros took a seat and asked her what was up. She told them, rolling her eyes.
"Prida, will you come to the disco? Please!" Mikey said, grinning.
"Mikey! Do you understand what 'no' means?" Prida laughed.
Mikey shook his head. "Nope, only 'yes'."
Prida rolled her eyes, and the class silenced as the teacher announced that tomorrow everyone should have had their draft copy of the Macbeth Essay. Everyone groaned, while Mikey and Raph shot each other confused wide- eyes.
"Oh cool, something to properly write about," Donny said, smiling. But when Prida and his brothers' head turned towards him frowning, his smile vanished.
"I meant - that we don't have . . . anything good to write about in this class - and that this at least demands more attention - not that I wanted to write it - I mean that, there's finally something that isn't too easy - er -"
"Donny, admit you just like this," Mikey said, rolling his eyes. Everyone except Donny chuckled, while he just put his head down.
Near the end of the class, five minutes before the bell when everyone was just writing down the last of their notes what they should use in their essay, Leo called over the noise to Prida.
"Hey, Prida, do you wanna use the gym tomorrow, with us?" He asked. "We were gonna bring something to eat from home, we figured we need to keep I shape."
Prida stared, and raised her eyebrows. "You guys need to keep in shape? I thought you were already in shape," she glanced at their arms, " from what I gathered."
"Yeah - well, we still need to exercise," Leo said.
"Okay then, sure," Prida smiled.
"Oh dudette, we'll meet ya at the lockers at the end of school, right?" Mikey said as the bell went.
"Okay," Prida nodded, trying to keep her smile from spreading to a wide grin.
//
So, as usual when waiting for the end of the school day to come because something fun is happening at the end, the guys' Business Studies class went much too slow.
"Man, how long have we got left?" Mikey moaned, tugging on Donny shirtsleeve.
"Twenty minutes, Mikey," Donny said, not even looking at his watch. He had just looked at it a minute ago.
"Oh man . . . " Mikey groaned, and then brightened up. "Hey Raph did ya ask Prida what she likes to eat?"
"Oops, forgot," Raph said in an unbothered tone.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you can cook something she'll like," Donny assured him. "Though don't over-do it, we don't want her poisoned."
Mikey frowned. "I don't poison people!"
"You poisoned all of us at one point, about two years ago!" Leo reminded him.
"It was an accident, I didn't mean to knock the bug spray in your breakfasts."
After being told to shut up by the teacher because they were making too much noise, the guys went back to being bored and quiet. Though twenty minutes later Mikey jumped out of his seat when the bell rang and whooped.
"Alright, let's meet Pri at the lockers!" Mikey said. He seemed the most excited about this dinner, but then he was the one who was going to be feeding and receiving praise for his food. Having a friend who wasn't older than they were around to share a dinner was pretty new.
As they waked towards the lockers, they couldn't see Prida yet, so they waited there for a few minutes, talking to people as they went home. Prida dashed down the corridor a few minutes after.
"Sorry guys," she panted. "I had to use the office phone to call Mai and tell her I'll be at your place again."
"That's okay, let's go then," Mikey grinned, which seemed contagious because Prida found the same wide grin on her face. She hadn't ever really been invited to a dinner, some of her friends at school were really nice, but they never offered because she and they considered her to be a loner. She was pretty happy about it.
They walked out of school, and made their way opposite to the direction Prida usually takes.
"So . . . does April trust me enough to let me know where she lives?" Prida asked.
"Sure! Saw you that first time and knew you were an angel," Mikey grinned. Prida laughed.
It took a little longer to walk home than usual, but since they spoke a lot, it seemed to automatically slow their walking pace. The wind was still as fierce as ever, and it blew bits from the road and threw them at their skin. By the time they rounded the corner the April's apartment, they were all rubbing sore arms and cheeks.
"Let's hope Splin - er - April's got that fire going," Donny said, glancing at Leo, who raised his eyebrows in a warning.
They raced up the stairs, with Prida in the middle of them, and walked down the small hallway to April's door. They had all agreed, along with Splinter, that he would remain upstairs all night, supplied with food and drink of course. And there was a TV in Ape's room, so he was well off.
Mikey opened the door, and let Prida in first. "Welcome again to the home of weird," he joked, raising his voice only so loud enough to let Splinter know they had returned.
"Well, can't be more weird than having purple eyes," Prida muttered to herself. "When is your Aunt gonna get in?"
"Oh she'll be back soon, she's gonna see if she can get home a little earlier from work tonight," Leo said. "Said she wants to have a proper chat with ya -"
"And that she wants to save you from us," Mikey added, grinning and shutting the door after Donny. He then gestured the couch. "Take a seat Prida, we got a movie if ya wanna watch it, or a game - I wanted to play pin the shell on Raph, but I don't think he'll lemme." Mikey grinned.
"Mikey - kitchen - now!" Leo ordered, staring at his brother, and pointing to the kitchen.
"Oh, right, okay," Mike said, and dashed into the kitchen area. "No idea what you like, but then I just mash stuff together and it usually works!" He called back to Prida.
Leo turned to Prida, who was sat comfortably on the couch. "Don't worry, he makes it sound gross, but he makes good stuff really."
"Thanks Leo, but really, don't exaggerate," Mikey joked sarcastically, checking the brown paper bags that April had left on the side, and taking some of the things out; considering them.
"What movies ya got?" Prida asked.
"Oh, I'll go get em!" Mikey said, about to dash out of the kitchen, but Leo stopped him.
"I'll get them, you just think about what you're gonna cook," Leo said firmly. He turned to Prida as Mikey stayed put. "He has to concentrate on what he's cooking, otherwise he overdoes it and either poisons us or stuffs us bloated." He joked. Then he disappeared upstairs, before getting the videos he made his way to April's room, where Splinter was.
Back downstairs Mikey was muttering to himself about what should be used, while Donny took a seat next to Prida, asking if she wanted a drink, and Raph was busy with the VCR, ejecting the Terminator video.
"Hey Mike, wanna make two milkshakes?" Donny called over to him. "Hey Raph, wanna milkshake?"
"Sure."
"Make that three milkshakes, Mikey," Donny called, then got up and walked over to the other part of the apartment where the table was, and the other TV, behind the stairs and down a lower platform. He smiled as he looked at what April had laid out on the table for them: There were a few little, pretty purple candles on the table, the silverware and dishes had been laid out and there was an extra chair. He didn't have to set the table; Ape had already done it. She really wanted them to have a great dinner. Overdone it a bit with the candles, but it was nice nonetheless. Donny took two candles off the table, he really didn't want it to seem like a romantic evening.
"Hey, never mind Mike, I'll do the drinks," Donny said, walking into the kitchen.
"Good, I thought for a minute I was a slave, who is tortured by his evil brothers to serve them and do thy biding," Mikey grinned. Prida laughed.
Leo came down the stairs at that minute with an armload of videos. He dumped them on the couch next to Prida, and started picking them up and reading them out to Mikey as well as the others.
"Ghostbusters . . ." Leo picked up the first one.
"Mm . . . nah," Mikey called from the kitchen.
"Hey, you're not the guest here Mikey, you just shut up, Prida picks," Raph called.
"Thanks, but that's okay, I'm, happy to watch what you guys pick out," she said, smiling and tucking her feet under her on the couch.
"Okay, Commando, with Arnold whazis name - Terminator dude," Leo said.
"Nah," Mikey said again, now looking at the wok, the frying pan and the saucepan, trying to decide which to use for this special dinner.
"Star Wars, Shrek, Buried Alive, The Mummy, The Mummy Return, The Running Man, Total Recall, Fright Night -"
"Fright Night?" Mikey looked up. "What was that about?"
"Oh I've seen that," Prida smiled. "This vampire moves in next door to this teenager, who knows what he is, and it's all about how the vamp interferes with his life by making his best friend and girlfriend vampires and blah de blah. It's good, old but good."
"You've seen it Mike, you just can't remember," Leo said.
"Yeah I can dude, it had that cool music on when she was been bitten, yeah, I think it was called Come to Me, it was cool."
"Wannit on or not?" Leo asked, waving the video.
"Put it to one side, and if he doesn't hear anything else good we'll have that on," Donny said. He looked at Prida. "Mike's kinda out video- chooser. Unless it's something the rest of us don't like, we choose."
Prida chortled. "Sounds like my house. I get to choose what goes on, too."
After the first lot of videos, Leo went back upstairs for some more, and then Raph went to get the third lot after that. Mikey finally decided he wanted The Relic on, with the lights off. Prida said she hadn't seen the movie before, so the guys didn't agree with Mikey at first, but he said it was a little horror film, pretty silly, and she agreed.
Leo tossed the video to Raph, who was crouched by the TV again.
"One Relic, coming up," Raph said, and popped the tape in the VCR. Donny switched the lights off, and sat down the couch, Leo sat next to Prida and Donny, and Raph sat on the floor, leaning against the couch. The only light was from the TV and a small battery powered one in the kitchen for Mikey to see what ingredients he was adding.
As the film started, Prida leaned over to Leo a bit.
"Is your Aunt gonna eat with us too?" She asked, eyes on the TV.
"Yeah, if that's okay with you?" Leo said. "She said she didn't want to butt in, but, you know, we said she could anyway, it's kinda her place."
"Great by me, I'd love to talk to her," Prida smiled, and sat back. It would be nice to speak with a news reporter.
Half way through the movie, when some guy was having his head forcibly pulled off his neck by the monster, the apartment door opened slowly, creaking ever so slightly, and everyone looked at it. Then April's head glanced around it, and she smiled.
"Didn't want to burst in," she said, apologetically. Everyone let out their breaths.
"Hey Ape, how'd work go?" Mikey said, behind the brown paper bags on the counter.
"Good, thanks, Mikey," April shut the door and kicked off her shoes, and then hung up her coat. She turned to the couch. "Hi Prida, how are you?"
"I'm great, thanks Miss O'Neil," Prida said, trying to sound as nice as she could. She didn't meet new people very often, so she didn't know if she had good people skills.
"Oh, call me April. I hope they haven't been wild, they usually are," she said, grinning at the guys.
Prida laughed. "They only threatened me that if I wouldn't come they would they would have to beat me up tomorrow."
"Hey - we never!" Donny and Leo said, smiling and throwing pillows at her. She got lost in an avalanche of tassels and cushions.
"Hey, well guys, don't smoother our guest to death, she's still got to try Mike's cooking," April chuckled, and dropped her bag by the stairs. She turned around when she heard the TV scream. "Are they trying to scare you now? By putting on this movie?"
"This ain't scary!" Mikey said, now stirring the contents of the wok, which was sizzling away. There was no smell yet, so they didn't have an idea of what it was going to taste like.
"You got something against us?" Raph asked, smirking.
"No, of course not," April said, walking past Raph and messing up his hair. "You're my favorite nephews."
"We're your ONLY nephews," Mikey said, smiling. April grinned back and walked over to the table to set the candles. It looked beautiful with the lights off, and she wondered why she was making it like this for the guys. Was it a little over the top? Oh well, it's pretty, they're grateful, she's happy.
It was just when the movie finished that Mikey finished cooking the dinner, and shooed everyone to the table, hoping the movie's ridiculous gore had not taken away their appetite. As they were sitting down, with Leo next to Donny, who was next to April, who would be next to Mikey, who was next to Raph, who was next to Prida, who then was near Leo; Prida turned to April.
"I wanna thank you for inviting me to dinner," she said.
"It's okay, I'm happy to have someone who isn't identical to talk to," April said, smiling. Prida grinned.
"Prida keeps saying thank you," Mikey whined, jokingly. "It must be a disease."
"She knows manner, unlike you lot," April said to them. But they were all now agreeing with each other how it must be an illness. April and Pride tittered.
Mikey served his cooking, which smelled excellent, but looked . . .
"Gross?" Raph said, glancing at his brothers with his nose pulled up in slight disgust.
"C'mon, that's not nice," April said, and Mikey beamed. "You know all of Mikey's cooking looks gross." Mikey's stopped smiling and pouted. "But it always tastes much better than it looks." Mikey thought this time before he grinned again.
Raph looked at Prida. "You're the guest, you have the honor of digging in first!"
"Raph!" April and Leo both said.
Prida grinned. "I've eating things that look alive before, done by my sister, I'm sure I'll love it." With that she tucked in.
With disgusted looks form the rest of them, except Mikey, they all hastily took a small bite, but were soon eating it quite happily, commenting that it was great, which it was. Even Prida said her sister should trade recipes with Mikey, who grinned.
"Told ya it was good," he said.
"How would you know though, you never eat it until we do," Raph said, elbowing him.
"Well I can't exactly say 'its disgusting don't eat it', what kinda chef would I be then?"
"An honest one?" Donny smiled. The dim light from the candles and the darkness behind him lit up his handsome face, as it did all of their faces.
As they finished their dinner, and as April and Prida started chatting, Mikey announced that he had cooked a little after dinner stuff, and came back with a pudding of some sort. It actually looked nice for once, and it was sweet and filling.
"That was great Mikey," Prida said as she put her knife and fork down on one side of her plate. She looked amazingly pretty in just the light from the candles, which really showed a glint of the purple in her eyes.
"Fright Night movie now?" Mikey asked.
"Fright Night," they all agreed.
"Hey, careful with the video, it's old," April called after them as she remained to clean up the plates. Prida stopped and helped her. "Hey, let me do these, you go sit down."
"Are you sure?" Prida asked, stacking two plates on top of each other.
"Yeah, sure, go on," April said, taking the plates.
Prida thanked her and walked over to where the guys were finding the Fright Night tape. Mikey shoved it in, and sat down on the couch with Leo and Donny, while Raph took the floor again, leaning against Donny's legs.
"Hey, one of yous get up, Prida has to sit down," Raph put his head back and looked at his brothers.
Mikey and Donny were about to get up, but Prida stopped them.
"No, it's okay," she said, and sat down on the floor next to Raph. "You guys stay there."
With the lights still off, the glow from only the TV made them all drowsy, but no one said anything. When one bit of the movie came on, where Amy, Charlie's girlfriend (the teenager) gets bitten, Mikey turned up the volume as the music in the background started. His brothers looked at him.
"What? I like this music, it's mystical," he said, shrugging.
Almost to the end of the film, Raph felt something on his shoulder and he looked to see Prida snoozing peacefully on him. He glanced about, not knowing what to do with her, but tapped Leo on the leg.
"Oy, Leo, er, I think she's asleep," Raph said quietly.
"Dude, what did you put in that food?" Donny asked Mikey.
"I didn't poison her!" Mikey moaned. "I hope not anyway . . . Should we wake her?"
"No, that's not nice, she's probably exhausted," Donny said.
"I would be too if I forced myself to eat Mikey's cooking for the first time," Raph said, pushing Prida back into a sitting position and trying to get her to stay as she kept sliding against the couch to him.
"Well, Mai has our telephone number," Leo said. "If she phones back before Prida wakes we'll tell her she's asleep and Mai will probably come pick her up."
"Okay," they all agreed and their eyes returned to the TV.
A few minutes later April came downstairs, having just seen how Master Splinter was, and if he wanted anything, she found all the guys on the floor against the couch, and Prida laid out asleep on the cushions, her head propped comfortably on two pillows. April shook her head, smiling, and went to get the spare duvet cover Donny uses to put over her. The guys didn't even hear her when she laid it on Prida, but when the corner touched Mikey's ear, he nearly jumped out of his skin, and April grinned and placed a finger over her lips. Mikey clutched his heart and sat back down, smiling.
()()()()
After the film, and another after that, the phone rang and April picked it up. She spoke for a few seconds, gave directions to her house, then put it down and whispered that Mai was on her way to collect Prida. The guys nodded, and ten minutes later there was a quiet knock on the door.
April walked over and opened it, showing Mai and Korey.
"Hi," April said politely as Mai did the same, then Korey. They shook hands, introduced themselves, and April let them in, leaving the door open. Mai saw her little sister on the couch, and the guys on the floor leaning against it. They looked up and gave a wave and a smile.
"I am sorry," Mai said, meaning Prida lounging about on the couch. "I hope she wasn't too much trouble."
"No, she was great, lovely girl," April said, smiling.
Mai turned to the bros. "Hi guys," she said, walking over to Prida. They all chorused a 'yo' back.
"Yo!" Korey grinned, and slapped Mikey a high five, who was on the end. "Well, thanks for having her, it got the little pest outta our hair."
"Korey," Mai said, smiling.
Korey picked Prida up gently and the duvet fell onto the guys. "Oops, sorry guys," he grinned, and walked over to the door with his little sister- in-law.
"Thank you so much," Mai said again.
April commented on where Prida must have got her continuous manners from, and Mai laughed. They soon said bye and took Prida to the car. April closed the door and turned back to the guys, who were looking at her.
"Have fun then?" April asked, smiling.
"Yeah, definitely," they all smiled.
"Yeah, can we do it again sometime?" Mikey grinned.