This was not the Amanda Justine knew. Distracted and constantly spacing out, yet helpful, extremely concerned, and not afraid to show it. What was wrong with her?
It was the weekend or so after the school fundraiser. A weekend or so after Amanda had gone off to help April's friend. A weekend or so after she had changed. Maybe it was just her excess concern leaking out, Justine had thought, but boy was she wrong.
"I can handle it, Amanda," May insisted.
"Don't worry about it, May," Amanda replied as she picked up the rest of her friend's books.
Justine watched from the sidelines, daring to steal glances at the small crowds murmuring amongst each other.
May was just as confused, and even more concerned. Whatever happened that day must've done something to Amanda.
After the trio had walked out of the school and escaped the crowds of rumors, Justine noticed the small smile on Amanda's lips. The way the corners were held up made her look gentler and kinder than the normal Amanda would want everyone to know.
"Hey, sis," Justine called with a hint of worry in her tone.
Amanda turned to her older sister, concerned. "Is there something wrong?" she asked, stopping abruptly, causing the other two to stop as well.
Justine twisted her lips into a thin line as she stared into her little sister's big, brown eyes filled with concern. She sighed. "It's...it's about you, Amanda."
"Did..." -said girl diverted her eyes to the ground in shame- "Did I do something wrong?"
"Well..." May started, rubbing the back of her neck. "Not really..."
Justine sighed and turned to her sister, "It's just that you've been acting odd recently. Is everything okay? Did something happen the day of the bake sale?"
Each question pushed Amanda closer to the edge. She didn't want to (was not allowed to) expose anything about April's friends, but she also didn't want to hide anything from her closest friends and family. How was she supposed to deal with all this?
"Amanda?" Justine started, reaching her hand out to her sister.
Suddenly, Amanda broke into a sprint, gripping May's hand and taking her best friend with her to who-knows-where, leaving Justine in the dust.
Being the elder sister, Justine followed. The problem was: Amanda had a head start and she was much, much faster than her older sister. How? No one cared to know, but now Justine wished she knew.
Soon, thunder rumbled and the dark sky began to drizzle, forcing Justine had to take shelter so she rushed home. A few blocks away, Amanda pressed herself against a fence as May looked at her worriedly.
"Amanda-"
"I need all ways to contact April, quick," Amanda said, clasping her hands on May's shoulders.
"What? Why?" May asked. Okay, what the heck was going on?
"I just need it," Amanda pressed.
"Amanda, I get that you'd like to spend more time with April, but why all ways to contact her?"
Amanda's hands slipped off May's shoulders as she walked ahead with her back turned. Guilt made its way to May's heart as she watched her best friend wade the sidewalks to her home. Amanda's smile was gone, her head was hung, and her long light brown hair was droopy, whether it was from the rain or not, she looked miserable.
May sighed as she walked up to her friend and smacked a hand onto her best friend's shoulder, making her look up in surprise.
"I'll text you all ways I know how to contact April and her address," May said. Amanda's dark brown eyes went wide in surprise with a tad of glee. "But you better know what you're doing. I may be open and honest to April, but that doesn't mean that she's the same. She's my closest cousin, yet she still hides things from me. So if you find out what those things are, be sure to let me know, alright?"
Amanda nodded her head enthusiastically, a bright grin plastered on her face as she interlocked her fingers below her chin. She hugged May tight as the latter hugged back. Amanda pulled away, but kept an arm's length away from May.
"I already know some things that April's been hiding from you, but I can't tell you, not yet. Not until I get all the facts. Alright?" Amanda said.
May chuckled, "Take all the time you need, Almond."
Amanda returned the chuckle, "Remember when I said not to call me that? Forget it, time for a new Amanda."
"A new, positive Amanda?"
"Probably...not. But, you get the point," Amanda smiled.
9
"Wait...what?!"
April slammed her hand on the table, making the teacups on Mikey's tray jump.
"You heard me the first time, April," May replied as Mikey caught the two teacups on his tray without spilling a single drop before exiting the kitchen, "Amanda's been acting strange and she said it has something to do with the day she helped your friend. I know you're not all in all honest with me, but Amanda is. You have to trust her, April. Amanda's not the girl you think she is. You told me that she sings, that's normal, you also told me that she's kind to your friend's cat, that's normal...ish, she usually doesn't show it, though. The Amanda everyone knows is emo, goth, and doesn't give a care in the world. The real Amanda is kind, gentle, loving, caring, and all that nice stuff. The only thing that the real and known Amanda have in common is that fact that they're both pessimists."
"And you're an optimist, that's how you two became best friends, right?" April asked.
"Yeah," May chuckled, "Remember when you told me that one of your friends is an optimist as well?"
"Well...more or—" April started, but was interrupted by a turtle's yelp and clanking. "Mikey!" April exclaimed, running out the kitchen, only to find Mikey ushering Leo back to bed. The a damaged pot, tray, and cups were scattered on the floor in a rather large pool of tea.
9
"April? April, is everything okay?!" May asked.
"What happened?!" Mrs Baker asked as she rushed out of her office, followed by Justine from her room and Amanda from hers.
"I...I don't know, I was talking to April and then something happened," May panted.
"Is she okay?!" Justine asked, leaning over the rail.
"I hope she is," Amanda replied as she hopped down the stairs.
The four waited in anticipation as she heard thumping, shuffling, scolding, and ushering from May's phone. Soon, however, April came back.
"May? You still there?" April asked. With that, they relaxed
"As sure as heck I'm still here!" May exclaimed, "You couldn't just leave me like that!"
"Sorry, May, it's just that my friend was pois—"
"We got it the first time you said it, April," Justine cut in, snatching the phone from May's hand and put it on loud speaker.
"We're just as concerned for you as we are for Leo," Amanda added.
April sighed, "Okay, I get it. It's just that Leo got up when he isn't supposed to, and everyone's just worried he'll push himself too hard."
"Why would he do that, darling?" Mrs Baker asked.
"Because he always does," a low, rough voice grumbled. "The hell, Leo?! Get back to bed!" it exclaimed, soon followed by footsteps, a weak yelp, and a door slam.
A stressful sigh escaped someone else's lips, "We're gonna need chains to hold that turtle down."
Justine let out a nervous and unsure chuckle, "...Pardon?"
"Turtle?" May asked, "April, you're telling me we're concerned for a turtle?"
9
"Sorta..." April replied unsurely as she turned to the turtles. Mikey was cleaning up the tea mess, Raph could be heard scolding Leo and threading to smack the green out of him if he doesn't stay in bed, and Donnie was drinking coffee in the pit straight out of the pot. They were all stressed, and now four other people were trying to throw themselves into the issue. Three out of a four of these people were people she only met last week!
"More or less," Amanda added nervously.
Amanda's sister sighed stressfully, "Amanda, I know that you have a sweet, sweet heart, but a turtle? Seriously?!"
"I feel offended," Donnie commented, his red brown eyes filled with stress and tiredness as his mask sat on the top of his head.
"Dude, you can't be offended," May said, "Unless you're a turtle."
Justine scoffed, "Yeah right."
Donnie's eye twitched at the comment and got up. "If anyone needs me, I'll be in my lab," he said, walking to his quarantine. "Making a cure for a poisoned turtle!" he added, and with that, he slammed his lab doors shut.
9
"Girls," Amanda called, "you seriously offended him. Go apologize."
"What?" Justine and May chorused in offense.
"Amanda's right, girls," Mrs Baker said, "If April wants to worry about a turtle, then let her, but that doesn't give you an excuse to offend anyone."
Justine bowed her head in shame while May looked away, both mumbling apologies to the elderly.
9
"Sewers?!" Justine exclaimed.
"Are you sure we're going the right way, dear?" Mrs Baker asked.
"I'm sure, mom," Amanda replied.
"Why would April even set up a meeting in the sewers?!" Justine yelled in exasperation.
"Maybe she wanted to talk about this issue in private?" May said, trying to sound optimistic.
"True true," Amanda said, looking at her phone. "We should be...right...here!" She looked up and saw that they were in a large chamber with several pipes and grates.
"Are you still sure?" Justine asked.
"No," Amanda grumbled.
"Well, that's just great!" The older sister yelled, turning her heel, "Let's go home!"
"Hey, sorry I'm late."
They all spun around and saw May's cousin in a black and yellow jumpsuit and a black headband. Her hair was in pigtails and her arms were crossed. A large bruise clung to her right cheek.
"April!" May exclaimed, running to her cousin. "Are you okay?!"
April smiled a tad, despite the pain on her cheek. "I'm fine, May. Just a bruise."
"On your face!" May pointed out worriedly. "What are you supposed to tell your dad?! That you went out and fought a bunch of gangsters?"
"Yes," April answered bluntly, dropping her smile.
"Wha-how?" May stammered, stunned. By then, the other three were able to make it to them.
"Your dad knows, right?" Amanda asked. April nodded, diverting her gaze to the ground.
"Hey, uh," Justine started. April looked up, "We—May and I— are so sorry about you know…earlier. We were just really surprised on how concerned one can be over a turtle."
The corners of April's mouth twitched up in a smile. "It's okay," April replied.
"So... we're good?" May asked.
"Definitely," April said, playfully nudging May's arm with her elbow. April let out a small gasp as her clasped her shoulder in pain.
"April!" May gasped, poised to catch her cousin if she ever falls.
"I'm fine. My shoulder's just sprained."
"Sprained?!"
"Do you need any help, darling?" Mrs Baker asked.
"No..." April panted, "I...I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Justine jumped in.
April let out a soft, pained chuckle, "Yeah, now stop asking those questions. You're beginning to panic me."
The three were not convinced, but Amanda changed the subject before they could question anything else.
"So... how's Leo?" she asked, rubbing her arm nervously while avoiding any eye contact.
April sighed as she diverted her gaze opposite of Amanda's. "He's fine. Donnie put some kind of non-toxic desensitized formula that prohibited Leo from moving his limbs." She chuckled lightly, "You should've seen face when he found out he couldn't get up."
There was a moment of silence. No one dared to speak as April's grip tightened around her arms.
"Can I…Can we…?" Amanda began, turning her gaze up to meet April's.
April shrugged her good shoulder with a smile, "I know Leo will probably kill me and the guys for this, but I wouldn't let you come into the sewers if they didn't tell me to."