This chapter is a little choppy. Like I said before I'm trying to spread out the different events and focus on the more important ones. So enjoy!
"Would you hurry up already?" Katie insisted as she pulled Kayla into the office by her left hand. Her right arm was up in a sling and Don had given her a note for both her gym teacher and swim coach excusing her from class and practice for a few days. He didn't want her to strain her arm after having it dislocated from last night's training.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." she grumbled as she was yanked into the office. Alana followed behind and the three stood in line. Kayla had just told them that she decided she would enter the contest with Katie playing piano. Katie was going to come over after school tomorrow, Wednesday, so they could decide on which song they would perform and start practicing.
Out of the corner of her eye Kayla saw Alana glance at her arm as they waited in line.
"Are you going to tell us what happened to your arm yet?" she asked calmly, her green-brown eyes meeting Kayla's chocolate brown ones.
Kayla glanced down at her right arm in Don's homemade sling and sighed. "Training." she murmured.
Katie and Alana glanced at each other. Katie looked up at Kayla with her dark blue eyes. "Raph again?" she whispered gently. Kayla nodded looking at the ground. They were quiet until it was their turn to sign up.
Katie wrote both their names and ages down on the paper and wrote singing with piano under the column labeled: routine. Then the three friends left the office. As they walked down the hall Katie was talking about what her cat did last night. Kayla smiled as she listened. She was walking by the wall with Alana next to her and Katie on Alana's other side.
Kayla was going to say something when she felt a shoulder slam into her left side and she stumbled. She managed to catch herself with her free hand and her knees on the ground. She looked up and saw Alex look back at her blankly with narrowed eyes after he shoved his way between her and Alana.
"What the heck?" Katie yelled down the hall after him, but he kept walking. Kayla stood up and blew her bangs out of her face, mentally brushing her annoyance off. Katie and Alana turned to her. "I don't get how you can put up with him!" Katie exclaimed as they kept walking. "I mean, I'm about ready to chase him down and beat the crap out of him myself!"
"Yeah, seriously." Alana agreed. "Even I'm getting ticked off. You've always had a short temper, why don't you put it to good use?" Kayla smirked at her friends. It was true, she'd always had a short temper. Her brothers always said she took after Raph in that department. But, just like Raph, she was working on controlling her temper, though she was trying a bit harder than he was. She also knew that if she really wanted to she could easily hospitalize Alex even with one arm in a sling, but that would get her in a lot of trouble.
"I'm just not gonna let him get to me." she told her friends as she shrugged. "I mean, what's the point? If I reacted I'd just be giving him what he wants, plus I'd be the one in trouble."
Alana thought for a moment. "Okay, yeah. I can see your point. But why don't you at least tell the counselor or something? That has to be harassment. Press charges." she insisted.
Kayla looked away and shook her head. "No. That'd make it awkward. I just want to get through the school year. Besides, I'm a ninja, remember? We stick to the shadows, not the spotlight." she smirked sneakily at her friends, who just rolled their eyes.
They were quiet for a while until they sat down in the cafeteria and talked. They had a good fifteen minutes before their first period started.
Katie glanced over at Kayla. "Do your…brothers know anything about this?"
Kayla took a deep breath. She was quiet for a while. "Leo does. The others don't." Her friends glanced at each other.
"Why don't you tell your other brothers?" Alana asked quietly.
Kayla chuckled quietly with a small smile. "I think Leo's the only one who could actually handle it."
"What do you mean?" Katie asked.
Kayla drew circles around the tabletop with her finger. "I mean, with Leo he usually knows how to handle things like this. He's sensible and…gentle about it, but firm at the same time, ya know? Donny might be another good choice, but…sometimes I think he might be a little too…timid …to help me. Especially with my temper. Mikey would probably just try to make me laugh and lighten the mood. And, I mean, that's not bad, it's just…it doesn't exactly help in the long run, ya know?" she glanced at her friends who nodded.
"What about Raph?" Alana asked.
Kayla rolled her eyes and breathed out slowly, making her friends chuckle a little. "Raph…wow, what to say. You guys know how Raph is. He's super over protective of me. If I told him about all this, well…lets just say that there'd probably be a murder investigation of a high school boy on the news the next day." her friends laughed a little and she couldn't help but smile a bit.
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Katie joked and they laughed a little bit more. Kayla was glad that she had two great friends who she could just talk to and get everything that was bothering her off her chest.
Kayla sighed as she picked up her skateboard and held it under her arm as she lead Katie through the sewers. It was Wednesday afternoon and they were going to Kayla's place, she was relieved that she didn't have to wear that sling anymore. She had about four songs that she was willing enough to sing that she could also find the sheet music to on the internet. They had about a month, until the middle of November, before the auditions.
As Kayla pulled the pipe and the entrance to the lair opened she lead her friend into the large, old subway station. They placed their things by the sofa before Kayla lead the way into the kitchen so they could grab a snack.
"Hi Katie. Hey Kayla." Don greeted them as he sipped his coffee standing in the kitchen. Kayla grabbed a plate of cookies she found in the fridge and handed them to Katie. She raised her eyebrow at her brother and crossed her arms at him.
"What have you eaten today?" she asked him.
Don looked slightly confused. "Um…what do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said: what have you eaten today?"
Don sighed. "I…um. So far I've eaten…a granola bar." Don grinned guiltily at his sister as she narrowed her eyes at him. Katie stepped back so she wasn't in the kitchen with them.
"You need to eat more than that, Donatello. You can't keep starving yourself while you're on your computer all day long." Kayla opened the fridge and grabbed a red apple from the shelf. She tossed it across the kitchen and he caught it in one hand an inch from his face. "Eat." she commanded before leaving the room, followed by Katie.
When they were both in Kayla's bedroom Kayla shut the door and Katie sat on her bed.
"Okay, what was with that?" she asked as she set the plate of cookies on the bed and took one.
Kayla looked back at her as she turned on her computer. "What?" she asked.
"That!" Katie motioned with her hand towards the door. "You ordering Don around."
"Oh that." Kayla sat down in her computer chair and waited for it to turn on. "Well, Don's been…skipping meals lately. He's been working really hard lately and he sometimes doesn't even eat one whole meal the whole day. He's basically been living off his coffee. I wrote to Leo about it a couple weeks ago and he told me to tell Don that he wants him to eat, and he asked me to make sure it happens, ya know?" Kayla shrugged before wheeling her chair to the bed and grabbing a cookie before wheeling back.
When her computer was on she opened up her music software and searched for the four songs she'd previously picked out. She clicked on the first one. As soon as it started playing Katie grimaced and shook her head. Kayla smirked as she moved on to the next song. She had a feeling her friend wouldn't like that song. Katie listened to the other two songs. The second one was a maybe but the third one was another no.
"Alright, here's the last one I picked. About half of it is nothing but instrumental so you'll have some time of your own in the spotlight." Kayla grinned at Katie as she pushed play. Katie listened quietly, her head to one side as she leaned back on her hands. The first minute was nothing but music. Kayla saw Katie close her eyes calmly. When the artist started singing Katie peaked her eyes open and looked directly over at Kayla.
"This one. Definitely. I can definitely see you singing this." Kayla couldn't help but laugh a bit at her friends reaction.
"Alright. I'll print off a copy of the sheet music so you can have it and practice at home." as she typed away on her computer to find the sheet music again she couldn't help but think about how she came up with that song. She'd never admit out loud that it made her think of Leo whenever she heard it.
She clicked print and after her printer spit out the music she glanced over it and handed it to Katie. "How about we both practice on our own a bit for the next couple days and then maybe we could go somewhere and practice on Saturday? I could ask April if we can use her apartment. She has a keyboard to practice on in her spare bedroom." Kayla suggested as she handed the paper to Katie.
"Sounds good." Katie smirked as she took the paper. Kayla took another cookie before Katie spoke again. "Hey, are you doing anything on Halloween? I'm kinda having a small Halloween party. You know, just me, you, Alana, and a couple other friends. Think you can come?"
Kayla smirked and shook her head guiltily. "Sorry Katie. Halloween's a really big family thing around here. I mean, having four brothers who can't walk around topside without wearing baggy clothes and hiding in the shadows, we kinda take every chance we can to hang out up top. Halloween's the one day out of the year my family can just be a normal family together."
Katie nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I know. I just figured I'd ask just in case."
Kayla smiled but before she could say anything there was a huge crash from the living area of the lair.
"Mikey!" Don's voice echoed throughout the lair and Katie and Kayla glanced at each other.
Kayla shook her head. "I can only imagine what he did this time…"
Kayla groaned and stretched in her bed, arching her back a bit. She'd been taking a nap for a while so she wouldn't be too tired for Trick-or-Treating later that night. They were lucky that Halloween was on a Friday this year. Her brothers were all going as themselves but she had picked out her own costume. She rolled onto her right side and looked at her clock. It was going on five thirty and she knew she had to get changed.
She rolled off her bed and reached into her closet to grab her costume. Once completely changed she straightened her hair with her flat iron. It went down to about the middle of her back. She looked herself over in the mirror.
It was a Mulan costume she'd found a couple weeks ago. It was a pale green, vest-like dress that was about knee-length with slits in the sides at the bottom; and dark green around the neck and chest area. The shirt under it was light gray and long sleeved with dark green cuffs. The area just under her chest and a little past her waist was covered with a turquoise-colored piece with a burgundy-colored belt around her belly above her waist. She also wore dark green, puffy pants with white socks that were almost at her knees and black flats.
Once content with her costume she grabbed her trick-or-treating bucket; a moderate sized, orange, plastic jack-o-lantern with a black handle; and left her room. As she walked into the TV area she saw Mikey with a large map spread out across the kitchen table.
"Hey, Mike. What's that?" she asked curiously, peaking over his shoulder at it.
"It's a map. I've strategically marked out every house we went to the last couple years that handed out good candy. If we go in this specific order we should make it to every one of them." Mikey crossed his arms, proud of himself as he admired his handiwork.
"Wow." was all Kayla could say. She honestly didn't even know he could say the word 'strategically' much less plan out something like this. It was his enthusiasm and craziness that usually made Halloween fun every year.
Mikey looked over at her and just realized what she was wearing. He whistled and her face went bright red as she punched his arm.
"Shut up." she grumbled as she clutched the handle of her bucket with both hands.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Mikey asked as he rolled his map up and stuck it in his belt by his nunchucks.
"Mulan." she blushed in embarrassment. Her brothers knew that she still liked a lot of the Disney movies that she grew up with.
Don walked in and grabbed his bow staff from where it was leaning against the counter. He looked at her as he slipped it into his belt on his shell. "Nice costume." he complimented her. "Mulan, right?" he asked.
Kayla nodded. Her brothers knew that Mulan was one of her favorite Disney girls. Not her number one favorite, that was Ariel, but she always preferred the ones that could take care of themselves. Not the ones that always had to be rescued and couldn't do anything, she felt that made girls look weak.
"Alright. We ready ta go?" Mikey asked excitedly, almost like a little kid as he hurried towards the entrance.
Kayla looked around. "What about Raph?" she asked.
Don looked back at her as he followed Mikey. He looked guiltily at his little sister as she followed him. "Um…he can't make it. He said he had some things to do tonight."
Kayla stopped dead in her tracks and stared blankly at her brother. She dropped her bucket and the dull thump echoed off the walls.
"W-what do you mean he can't come?" she asked in a shaky voice.
Don and Mike glanced at each other, even Mikey's enthusiasm deflated slightly.
"He wouldn't explain. He just said he was busy." Don answered quietly, his brown eyes gentle.
Kayla looked at the ground. She never openly admitted it to anyone, she always acted like she just tolerated their Halloween traditions, but in reality it was one of her favorite nights of the year. She sometimes even preferred it over her own birthday. It was the one night out of the year she could just hang out with her family just like any other family. It was bad enough that Leo wasn't here with them, but now Raph wasn't coming trick-or-treating with them?
Kayla was numbly aware that Don had pulled her into a hug and she accepted it, wrapping her arms around his shell as much as she could. She didn't cry. She forced herself not to. Instead she picked up her bucket and followed her brothers out of the lair. She was dimly aware of Don keeping a close eye on her but she kept her emotions in check. She had to…
Kayla squinted her eyes tight shut before opening them and looking around her room. Her clock said it was 2:34 AM on Saturday. Mikey, Don, and her had been trick-or-treating until around 9:30 before they came home. She looked over at her desk where her bucket was. It was filled to the brim with candy. She didn't say anything, but she noticed when Mikey thought she wasn't looking he took some of the candies that she didn't like out of her bucket and replaced them with some of his own that he knew she liked. He never did that, especially when it came to candy…or pizza.
She sighed and rolled over onto her back, not entirely sure why she was awake. Then she heard a crash from the kitchen. She propped herself up on her elbows and listened.
"I told you, Donny; it's none a your business!" she heard Raph yell. She flinched and sat up more, listening.
"I'm your brother, Raph. That makes it my business." Don pointed out boldly.
"Oh, don't even go there with me, Donny. Don't even try to act like Leo cause you ain't him. I wasn't gonna bow down ta him, an' I ain't gonna bow down ta you."
"I never said anything about Leo or bowing down, Raph. I'm trying to keep this family together. You know how much this holiday means to this family. Especially Kayla and Mikey. Do you know how hard it was for them tonight? How much they missed BOTH of their big brothers?"
"Don't gimme that crap, Don. I'm not gonna waste my time with some stupid kids night. You all need ta grow up."
Kayla looked up when her door cracked open and Mikey peaked in at her.
"Can I stay in here with you?" he asked quietly. Kayla nodded and scooted over. Mikey sat on her bed next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder as they listened to their older brothers argue.
"It's not a stupid kids night, Raph, and you know it. They need tonight. It's the one night that we can actually be on the surface without having people run away from us screaming. We need that to take a break from our lives."
"Yeah, an while we're takin' a break crooks are goin' round stealin' things and vandalizing property. Grow up Don. It's about time for all of us." Kayla heard footsteps go up the stairs to the second floor where Raph's bedroom was.
She felt Mikey wipe her face. She didn't even notice the tears falling. Her and Mikey laid down on her bed and she buried her face in his plastron. She didn't normally share a bed with Mikey, but right now they both needed it.