Eh… Sorry. I know I'm taking too long to update, I'm just snowed under with pointless homework. I mean seriously, when will I ever need to know what rhythmic devices Shakespeare used? Even HE didn't know!

...Because the Joker is a solitary card…

Whoosh. Thud. Whoosh. Thu-

"Whoa!"

-THUMP.

"Owww…"

I picked myself up off the floor, rubbing my sore arm gingerly. Déjà vu or what, right? After I made Don slip up like that, Splinter made me stay here and do katas for two hours. I missed 3 of my shows!

I don't get it. If anything, I did us all a favour. Raph was about to get his shell kicked, and every time that happens, he breaks something. Usually the TV. And then Don's mad 'cause he has to fix the TV, and Sensei's mad 'cause he can't watch his "stories", and Leo's mad because he's always mad at Raph.

So I made a little joke to defuse the situation. Okay, that wasn't the reason I was doing it – Don's face was too hilarious for words – but still. I turned a potentially crappy afternoon into a very crappy afternoon. For me. I could at least get a "nice one, Mikey." Or someone could've saved me a slice of pizza.

That's right. They ate without me. I could hear them in the kitchen. Raph said something – I couldn't make out much of what he was saying, but I think I heard the word "jackass". Everyone laughed. Three guesses who they were talking about.

I edged closer to the open doorway, peeking through. They were all sitting at the table, munching on pizza. My mouth watered. Why did it have to be pepperoni?!?

Leo said something and Don nodded. Some of his words were lost in the echoing corridor, but I heard enough; "…childish…be more responsible…"

That hurt. It's one thing to have crap said to your face, another to hear it behind your back. What the shell happened to honour? He talks about it enough.

But the weird thing was though, looking at them, they seemed… happy. Way happier than usual. Normally you can't put Raph and Leo in the same room for five minutes without something getting broken, but now they were talking and laughing and punching each other on the shoulder… I mean in a good way. Even Splinter's ears were perked up. That always happens when he's happy, he gets all embarrassed if you mention it.

I'd never seen them like that before. And I started to wonder, what if they were that happy because… I wasn't there?

I don't know how long I stood there, just watching them. All I know is, when I tried to move, my left leg had gone completely dead. Like, completely. I hit the floor with a thud.

"OW!" Why does this keep happening to me?

I sat up and looked into the kitchen. The noise I made falling over made Leo jump and knock Don's arm, making Don spill his coffee on Raph. Now they were glaring at me again. I'd wrecked everything… again.

They're better off without me. I know what I have to do now.