Hi Guest, thank you for your comments. I'll do what I can to clear up any confusion you have. Basically, 'High School Drama' was an idea of mine long before I wrote the 'Traveler's Series'. I didn't want to write it back then because it just seem like there were so many other FFs about the turtles in HS and I didn't want to seem like I was copying what other authors were doing. As my 'Traveler's Series' continued I incorporated my FF HSD into it. As stated in the last chapter on 'Journey's End', I was debating about writing 'HSD' just to show how it was originally supposed to go. 'The Travelers Revised' was actually supposed to be a single book and wasn't even supposed to go where it did. Let me know if this explanation helped and to all my readers, thank you for those who reviewed and please keep them coming. Peace :)

Ch 6 Cover-ups

The next day, Raph stood in front of his locker with the others laughing and talking around him. And although he spoke and listened to what was being said, his eyes constantly roamed the hallway looking from the entrance to Leo's locker. It was ten minutes before class was to start and Leo had yet to show up.

"Raphael." Mona put her hand on his arm. The others were starting to leave and Mona was getting impatient. "We should get to class."

"I'll be along in a moment," He told her. "You go on ahead."

Mona huffed in annoyance. "Why are you waiting for him?" She demanded. "Doing this will only make you tardy and then the teacher will give you a warning and you…."

"There he is." Raph said as Leo appeared in the hallway running and panting hard. He ran toward his locker and, after opening the door, quickly began to put his books away while pulling out the ones he needed. After grabbing his books, he began to walk quickly toward his science class.

"Hey Leo," Raph called to him. Leo turned and smiled.

"Hey Raph," He looked up at Mona nervously. "Hi…uh….Mona…"

"Mona Lisa." Mona said rather hotly. "You remember?" She sneered down at him. "Raphael's girlfriend."

Leo looked away from her feeling rather embarrassed but Raph quickly cut in. "Come on Mona," Raph looked up at her. "Don't be like that." He turned back to Leo. "Why are you late?" he asked as they started toward their classes. "We were starting to get worried."

"YOU were starting to get worried." Mona corrected him.

Leo ignored Mona's tone and shook his head as he looked down at the floor rather sheepishly. "I started taking the bus today," He explained. "And I got on the wrong one." He let out a chuckle. "I didn't realize it till I noticed I was in an area I didn't recognize."

Raph chuckled and clapped his hand on his shoulder. "Well, I'm glad you made it before the bell rang." They stopped in front of Mr. O'Neil's science room. "How's your project coming along?"

Leo smiled at him. "It's almost done." He told him. "Just a few more things to do and…."

"Raphael," Mona interrupted. "We are going to be late."

"I'll see you at lunch." He told him as he and Mona began to walk away. "And good luck with your math test."

Leo nodded to him. "See you then." He said and watched as he walked across the hall toward his class room. He smiled shyly at him until he noticed Mona once again glaring hatefully at him. He let out a sigh and walked in to where Mikey was sitting at their table waiting for him.

Leo sat at a large table where Mikey and two other teens currently sat at. He nodded hello to them and pulled out his science book. "Hey Leo," Mikey greeted him. "I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it on time or not." He nodded to the clock. "What happened bro?"

Leo smiled at him. Even though they had only known each other for two days and already Mikey was making Leo feel like he knew him and the others for years. "Got on the wrong bus," Leo responded as he shrugged his shoulders. "No big deal."

""Leonardo?" Leo looked up at Mr. O'Neil as he walked over to him. "Since you are in the mood to talk, how about you tell us what you know about the different layers of the Earth's atmosphere?"

Smiling, Leo stood and cleared his throat. "The Earth's atmosphere has five layers," Leo began with a proud smile. He spoke for several minutes about the subject before finishing up. Mr. O'Neil smiled and nodded at Leo as the young turtle took his seat.

"Well done Leonardo." He said, than turned to the rest of the class. "Let's get ready for a quiz on Chapters 3, 4 and 5. The class groaned as they put their books away and prepared for the quiz.

"Leo!" Mikey leaned over to him. "That was awesome dude," He picked up his pencil and watched as Mr. O'Neil began to write sentences on the board. "How did you know all that?"

Leo chuckled. "I've been studying space since I was able to read." He told him. "I would love to be an astronaut when I graduate." He looked down at his paper and began writing. "If I'm able to..." His voice trailed off as the words his father said yesterday came back to him once again. He let out a small sigh and began answering the questions.

"That would be cool," Mikey said as he wrote down the questions on the blackboard. "I'm going to be in television when I graduate." He told him smiling proudly.

Leo smiled back at him. "Well, good luck to you Mikey," He told him. "I hope you make it."

"You too bro," Mikey said with a wink at him making Leo smile widely.

The rest of the morning went fast and soon enough, Leo found himself walking through the lunch line. He made his way to the table where he found the others already eating.

"How'd you do on your math test Leo?" Donnie asked as Leo sat down next to him.

"Thanks to you I think I did okay." He responded. "I do know I passed but I'm not sure by how much." He took a forkful of spaghetti. "We'll get our test back tomorrow."

"Oh great," Renet giggled. "What a way to start the weekend."

"You should have heard Leo in science class today." Mikey boasted. "He really put Mr. O'Neil in his place."

April looked at him rather incensed. "What's that supposed to mean Mikey?" She demanded.

"Oh, uh…"Mikey started turning red. "I meant nothing by that April." He said quickly while putting his hands up in defense. "It's just that he called on Leo to explain the Earth's atmospheres and I think he was kind of hoping to embarrass him but Leo knew what he was talking about and sailed right on through with a great explanation." Mikey laughed while Leo started turning red.

"Mikey," Leo looked at him sternly. "You don't need to go into that."

"Aw come on Leo." Mikey looked at him proudly. "I think it's great that you know about all that and that you want to be an astronaut."

Raph and Donnie looked at Leo in awe. "An astronaut, huh?" Raph said with a twinkle in his eyes. "That's pretty cool Leo."

"I would love to work at NASA." Donnie said, practically drooling. "To be a part of the space program and look for new life on planets far away." Donnie got a dreamy look in his eyes and sighed. "That would be so awesome."

Leo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, well," He let out a nervous chuckle, "It's something I'd like to do but all I can do is wait and see where life takes me." He shrugged. "I'm still not really sure what I want to do when I graduate."

"What about joining our basketball team?" Slash asked. "Did your dad sign the permission slip?"

"Well," Leo looked down at his food. "I….um….haven't had the chance to speak with him about it yet." He told them. "I've got till the middle of October so I'll see if I can't speak with him about it sometime between now and then." He chuckled nervously and went back to eating.

"What do mean between now and then?" Mona looked at him suspiciously. "Don't you see your father every day?"

"Well…um...no…not really," Leo looked at her. "You see, he tends to work well into the night sometimes and I'm usually asleep when he comes home and a lot of times he's usually gone before I wake up."

"Well," Raph looked over at him. "If you want us to help convince him, we can come over and…."

"NO!" Leo suddenly yelled out. Everyone looked at him in surprise. "I mean…." Leo looked from one person to the other and chuckled nervously. "That's not necessary." He told them. "I'm sure I'll see him tonight or maybe during the weekend and I'll speak to him then."

Mikey nodded at him. "Speaking of the weekend," He squeezed Renet's hand. "Will you be at the concert on Saturday?"

"Ah yeah, sure," Leo smiled nervously at them. "Looking forward to it."

"So am I!" A familiar voice called out causing Casey to huff in annoyance.

"Angel, aren't you supposed to be in study hall?" He asked.

Angel forced herself in between Donnie and Leo. "You know study hall can be done in the library or a class or…." She waved her hand around. "Here." She said with a smile then turned to Don. "You'll be at the concert, right Donnie?" She asked excitedly.

"Yeah," Donnie said as he took a bite of his salad. "I'll be there."

"Maybe you could save me a dance?" Angel asked, her eyes sparkling with hope. Leo watched as everyone at the table snickered behind their hands as Donnie continued to be completely oblivious to Angel's attempts at getting him to notice her.

"Um…sure Angel," He said with a shrug. "Why not."

"Oh, speaking of dances." April suddenly sounded very excited as she looked at Leo. "Leo, we're looking for people to help set up the gymnasium for the Halloween dance." She looked at him rather intently. "Would you like to help?"

Leo hesitated for a moment. "Well, when are you doing this?"

"The Thursday before Halloween," Renet answered him. "We're all going to be doing it…"

"Yeah, Renet's great at decorating." Mikey said as he took a large bite of his food.

"I'm helping too," Angel said and placed a hand on Donnie's arm. "Will you be helping Donnie?" She asked him eagerly. "Maybe we could go to the dance together." Her eyes suddenly lit up. "We could even get costumes together."

"Of course Donnie will be helping." Mikey said. He looked over at Raph with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"And I'm sure he'd love to take you to the dance Angel." Raph said with a smug expression.

Donnie looked up at Mikey with his eyes filled with anger. "Guys..." He whispered angrily.

Mikey took another bite of his food and started laughing. "Come on bro." He said with his mouth full of pizza. "You'd love to go dancing."

"Mikey," Renet hissed. "Stop talking with your mouth full."

"It is disgusting Mikey." Donnie told him with narrowed eyes.

"You just don't appreciate good food like I do." Mikey retorted, he let out a loud burp and patted his stomach. "So how bout it Leo," He turned to him. "Can you help out?"

Leo smiled and nodded at them. "Sure," He told them. "I'll be happy to help."

"Great!" Casey said as he began to lick his fingers of the pizza grease. "The Halloween dance is that Friday." He looked over at Leo. "You'll want to get a costume Leo." He smiled at April. "We're going as the big bad wolf and Little Red Riding Hood."

"Yuck Casey!" April exclaimed when Casey attempted to put his arm around her shoulders. "You're almost as bad as Mikey!"

Everyone laughed as Donnie shook his head. "Such Neanderthals," He commented looking from Casey to Mikey.

Leo laughed then groaned when the sound of the bell rang loudly. The teens gathered up their treys, books and papers and prepared to leave the cafeteria. "Hey Leo," Raph walked over to him. "Ya want me to help you pick out a costume?"

"Sure," Leo said smiling at him. "What are you going as?" Leo asked as they walked toward their next class.

"WE..." Mona took Raph's arm. "Are going as Anthony and Cleopatra," She stated vehemently.

"Oh," Leo looked away from them as Raph rolled his eyes. "I've already got a cowboy costume from the last Halloween party I went to at my last school." Leo said while mentally crossing his fingers. "So I'll just wear that." Leo hated lying to Raph but it was clear to him that Mona did not like Leo hanging around her boyfriend.

Raph nodded at him. "Sounds good," He said.

An awkward silence seemed to hang over them as he and Leo nervously looked at each other. "Well, um…" Raph began as Mona stared down at him expectantly. "We don't have gym today so I guess I'll see you in study hall." Leo nodded then walked toward his history class where Spike and Casey were playfully pushing each other in front of the door. The two of them stopped what they were doing when they saw Leo coming toward them looking rather confused.

"Ya alright Leo?" Casey asked as they walked into the room.

"Uh, yeah," Leo said dejectedly. "I just don't understand why Mona hates me."

Spike chuckled. "You're kidding right?" He asked. "It's only you're second day here and you're already almost as bad as Angel is with Donnie."

"Yeah, come on Leo." Casey said as they all sat down at their designated desks. "Everyone can see what's going on."

Leo looked from one to the other. "What do you mean?" He asked, clearly perplexed. "What do you think is going on?"

"Oh please," Spike said as he took out his book and rolled his eyes. "The way you look at Raph?" He shook his head at him.

"Yeah," Casey smiled at him. "You've got Mona so jealous I'm surprised she hasn't challenged you to a…."Casey looked at him mischievously wiggled his eyebrows. "Showdown'".

"And I would be careful of her if I were you." Spike added. "She's on the wrestling team and she can dish it out better than any of them."

Leo shook his head. "What's that supposed to mean?" He demanded, looking at them incredulously. "I'm not into Raph and I am certainly not trying to steel him away from Mona." He sat back against his seat and huffed in annoyance.

"Well...if you say so Leo," Casey began, "Personally, I'd….."

But Leo would hear none of it. "If Mona and Raph are having problems and she's looking to blame me, then there's something more going on between them then even she's aware of." He told them angrily.

Casey and Spike watched as Leo took a deep breath then lowered his eyes and a look of sadness crossed his features. "Besides," Leo continued. "I'm still trying to get over what happened between me and the last person I dated so I'm not really looking to find another one right now." He looked up at the other two who were looking at him curiously. "But thanks for the heads up," he told them hastily. "Next time I see Mona I'll talk to her and apologize for any misunderstanding between us."

Casey and Spike nodded sympathetically at him then the three of them turned their attention to the teacher walking into the classroom.