Kayla stirred her cereal with her spoon absentmindedly. She was exhausted and sore. It was only about nine in the morning, and she hadn't gotten to bed until about three the previous night thanks to their…training session. All of them had injuries from the fight. Mikey had a cut on his head and right shoulder, Leo had cuts on both his biceps, Raph had cuts on his shoulder and hand, Don had one on his right shoulder, and Kayla had a bad bruise on her left side as well as a cut on her forearm.
"Dudes, did anyone get the license plate on that thing that hit us last night?" Mikey asked as he got a box of pizza off the counter, rubbing his head in pain, "Oy, my head."
Don, who was sitting in an armchair nearby reading a book about mythical monsters, spoke up. "Okay, that was just weird. First the Foot, then that hideous monster…"
"Yeah, it looked like your mom, Dude!" Mikey joked as he sat down between Kayla and Raph. Kayla couldn't stop a smile from briefly lighting her face, no matter how tired she was, it was still funny.
She heard Donny sigh. "Yeah, that would make her your mom, too, Dufus."
Mikey stopped laughing and thought for a moment. "Yeah, whatever."
"Keep laughin', Mikey." Raph pointed angrily at his little brother, but Mikey just started eating pizza, "Last night was an embarrassment."
"I'll tell you what's embarrassing," Leo interrupted, "You can't even follow a single order."
Raph rolled his eyes and chuckled sarcastically. "Oh, how cute. Ya been back for five minutes an now you're schoolin' us on your master plan."
"Ok, so this is my fault now, huh Raph? I'm the only one that has to be responsible?!" he asked, his voice rising as he stood up. Raph just shrugged.
"Hey, you're the trained masta, not me." he retorted before leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.
Mikey leaned over the table to interrupt. "Dudes, can it. Here comes Splinter." Mikey immediately dropped the slice of pizza he was eating to cover the top of his head where the bandaged cut was. Kayla looked down and began studying her cereal as she ate it. She was lucky that her injuries were covered up with clothes, unlike her brothers.
Master Splinter then walked in, humming a tune from his favorite TV show. When he noticed his children all sitting at the table he turned.
"Oh, good morning My children."
"Morning Sensei." Leo, Kayla, Don, and Mikey greeted back. Raph followed with, "Sup."
Don glanced at Kayla as he opened the pizza box, both glancing over at Leo and Raph, who seemed to be having a stare down as they ate their cereal.
"Every ninja's day should start with a healthy breakfast. It fills me with pride to see you five together again. If anyone needs me, I'll be watching my Stories." Splinter spoke as he left the kitchen with a cup of tea.
As soon as he was out of hearing range Leo muttered, "Hothead."
Raph muttered in response, "Splinta Junia."
Kayla shook her head as she rolled her eyes. It was sometimes hard to believe they were older than her, right now they were acting like five year olds. She looked over her shoulder to see Master Splinter sitting down on the sofa.
'With our luck he'll see some kind of news report about last night,' Kayla thought to herself as she turned back to her cereal.
She heard Splinter mumble, "Cody is going to break up with Dona, I just know it." as he turned on the TV.
"We interrupt the Gilmore Girls for this Special News Report."
"Monsters loose in the city? Strange reports are coming in tonight about a construction sight incident that sounds like something out of science fiction."
Kayla ducked her headand grimaced, waiting for what she knew would come, which it did a couple seconds later.
"Kids!"
All five siblings turned around to see their father glaring sternly at them.
"My room. Now." he commanded. They obeyed, silently leaving the kitchen and entering Master Splinter's room and kneeling down in their usual positions. From left to right sat Kayla, Raph, Leo, Don, and finally Mikey.
Master Splinter paced in front of them for what felt like an eternity before he finally spoke.
"Leonardo, I am most disappointed in you. You are the eldest of your siblings. I was counting on you to bring order to the chaos of this family. This is why I have forbidden any surface activity. We cannot return to the surface to fight evil, if we continue to fight each other."
"But Master Splinter, how can I be expected to do so when Raph-"
"There are no excuses when you are the leader, my student!" Splinter shouted.
Kayla saw Raph smirking as Leo was reprimanded, however she ducked her head in shame. It was all hers and Raph's fault Leo was in trouble. They were the ones who went against Splinter's orders, not Leo. Glancing over, Kayla saw Leo bow his head in shame, causing her to feel even more guilty.
Raph broke the silence. "We have ta go out and find who's responsible for this. There ain't no other solution."
Leo scoffed. "Save the brute vigilante junk for that Night-watchman"
Raph and Mikey muttered, "Nightwatcher." in response.
"Oh whatever." Leo responded.
Raph stood up, "I'm goin' out." and his siblings watched as he left the room, Leo shaking his head in annoyance.
Kayla thought for a moment before standing up and following Raph.
Just as she reached the doorway Don's voice stopped her, "And where are you going?"
Kayla looked back and saw her other three brothers and her father staring at her. "I was gonna go hang out with Raph." she suggested hopefully.
Don gave her a pointed look from where he stood with his arms crossed. "And how many homework assignments have you completed today?"
Kayla rolled her eyes. He knew as well as she did that at about ten in the morning she could barely do simple multiplication, much less the homework she originally learned over a month ago.
"Exactly my point." Don answered at her silence.
"But Don, I-"
"Kayla, you're supposed to get at least five assignments done a day. Now get started." Leo interrupted her.
Kayla glared at him for a moment before turning and leaving the room, muttering under her breath, "You're in no place to tell me what to do, Leo."
Kayla slouched on the sofa with a groan. Mikey was sitting next to her eating a bag of potato chips and watching X-Men. Don looked across the lair from where he was sitting at the computer waiting for a call on his headset.
"Shouldn't you be doing homework?" he asked. Kayla slowly turned her head to glare at him, but he was undaunted by it.
"Don, it's going on two in the afternoon. I've been working nonstop on my homework for the past four hours. I think it's safe to say I deserve a break every now and again."
Don rolled his eyes and turned back around in his chair. At that moment the payphone hanging on the wall rang and Don got up to answer it.
"Cowabunga Carl Party Services. Cowabunga Dude." he greeted just like any other phone call. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "Oh, no. You don't have the wrong number. She lives here." there was another pause. "Sure. Hold on a moment." Don covered the mouthpiece with his free hand. "Kayla, it's for you."
Kayla looked over the back of the couch at him. "Who is it?"
"He says his name is Marcus, and that he knows you from school."
By now Mikey had turned the TV on mute and was listening intently, and Leo, who was sitting in the kitchen, was also listening. Kayla didn't know what to do. She was afraid of talking to Marcus in general, but talking to him over the phone with her brothers around?! That was the worst possible scenario imaginable.
'Raph could be here.' a little voice pointed out. Raph hadn't come back since he left that morning.
Kayla sighed and got off the sofa. She took the phone from Don and held it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Hi, Kayla. It's Marcus."
"Yeah, I heard. What's up?" Kayla asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.
There was a moment of silence. "I think you know what this is about."
"Maybe, but I want to be sure."
Marcus sighed. "The Shadow Archer?"
Kayla gulped. "How'd you know?" she asked quietly, acutely aware of her brothers listening.
Marcus was silent again. "I recognized your eyes from the alley and from gym class. Plus, it's not hard to put together once I've seen you fight."
Kayla pursed her lips, unsure how to feel. "What are you going to do?" she asked fearfully.
"I'm not gonna go around telling everyone, if that's what you're afraid of. I just want to know some things."
Kayla sighed. "Okay, look; I can't really talk about this kinda thing over the phone. How about next Wednesday we meet up somewhere at school and I promise I'll tell you everything? Deal?"
"Deal. So, see you Wednesday?"
"Yeah, see ya Wednesday." Kayla smiled as she hung up the phone, but when she turned around Leo was standing near the wall a few yards away, watching her with his arms crossed.
"Who was that?" he asked.
"Marcus. He was in my gym class last semester."
"Kayla's got a boyfriend!" Mikey sang from where he sat on the sofa.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Kayla yelled at him. "Shut up, Mikey."
"So, what's so important that you can't talk about it over the phone?" Leo asked, ignoring Mikey's interruption.
"What is this? An interrogation?" when Leo didn't respond Kayla answered, "It's just something that I don't need my brothers listening in on, okay?"
"Like a date." Mikey put in. Kayla glared at him.
Leo stepped up so he was right in front of her, his brown eyes suddenly gentle. "Kayla, is Marcus really a friend? Or is he…going to hurt you?" he asked quietly.
Kayla felt her body heat up in rage. "Marcus is my friend! He would never hurt me! He's not a bully!" she stopped for a second before adding, "And he's not YOU!" Kayla spun on her foot and raced back to her room, slamming her door shut, trying to block out the shock and pain that she saw flash through her brother's deep brown eyes.