This right here is a fun chapter! And it's dedicated to chandrakantya, my other reviewer, and who nicely pointed out how much she liked Karai's and April's developing friendship. Thanks for your encouragement! I hope you enjoy!


April and Karai had three out of seven class periods together a day, and as much as Karai hated to admitted, it was nice to have a friend to talk to with absolutely no connection to the Foot, her father, ninjutsu, or the turtles.

(Well, the ruling was still out on that last one, but for the sake of her sanity, she was very intent on keeping those worlds separate for as long as possible).

But they had Calculus, PE, and English together, and those three periods were probably the highlight of Karai's weekday. Not that she's ever tell that to April, but she kinda assumed she knew. High school was a breeze and much needed break compared to the training and practice her father expected her to keep up with, and PE was Karai's favorite class to go to. April, not so much.

"I'm just saying," April said, pulling on her tennis shoes in the locker room, "nobody in their right mind likes gym class the best."

"Who said I was ever in my right mind?" Karai grinned at her darkly, bouncing up and down in place. She slammed the door to her locker shut, impatiently waiting for April to get finish getting ready. Karai refused to change in front of the other girls for two reasons: one, from not wanting to let her defenses down and be that vulnerable (she could and has fought while been in partial states of undress, but it was definitely not her favorite), and two, because the last thing she needed was for someone to see the remnants of the... talking-to her father had given her the other night for almost getting suspended. It was always April that took forever.

April rolled her eyes. "So you keep telling me." She stood up, and they walked out to the gym, lining up to wait for class to start.

"Funny," Karai said, bending down into a deep stretch. "Maybe one day you'll finally believe me."

"Sure," April snorted, "when pigs fly." She giggled, and Karai gave her a small smile, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, class," the bell rang, and their gym teacher walked up, hands on her hips. "Today we're going to be playing dodgeball."

The rest of the girls in their class cheered, and April grinned widely. "Great, I love dodgeball!"

"What is it?" Karai asked, eyebrow raised. She watched, unamused, as half the class scampered out to the other side of the gym, lining up a line of soft, squishy balls on the middle court line.

"You run forward, grab a ball, and try to hit someone on the other team!" April's smile grew as she tightened her ponytail. "It's fun, I promise! Just don't get hit, or you're out. Catch a ball, if you can."

Karai gave her an unimpressed look. "Sure," she muttered. April ignored her, eyes focused on the row of balls. "So, when do we-"

The coach blew her whistle, and without warning, April took off sprinting for the line of dodgeballs. Karai watched, eyes wide, as April gave a battle cry and hurled the ball across the room. The ball hit a blonde girl in the shoulder, and she made a face before going to sit on the sidelines. A ball whizzed by her head, and she blinked, definitely not prepared for the level of ferocity coming from the other girls in this game.

"OROKU!" the gym teacher bellowed, blowing her whistle. "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna play?" April turned and glanced back, grinning at Karai's call out.

"Yeah, Karai," April teased as she jogged back to stand with her. "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to play?" She held two balls in her hand and shoved one into Karai's, a wide grin on her face.

Karai tossed it in her hands lightly, then immediately pelted it into some girl's stomach on the other side of the room. The girl doubled over, the breath knocked out of her, and one of her friends laughed and helped her to the sidelines.

"Wow!" April's eyes were wide. "Nice shot!"

Karai shrugged. "Beginner's luck," she said, grinning a tad sadistically. She was beginning to like dodgeball. That was all the encouragement she needed, because after that she was in the front and pelting the other team, dodging, catching, and grinning the whole time.

Until she was hit in the leg. And by Irma of all people.

The coach blew her whistle, pointing for her to walk out, and Karai stomped over, scowling. Irma laughed and pointed at her from the other side of the room. Karai slumped down by April, who was already out, someone having caught her ball earlier in the game. She rested her chin in her hand, eyes dancing as she watched Karai's frustrated emotions play out on her face.

"That was stupid of me," Karai snarled. "I wasn't paying attention." Father would kill me if he knew I was bested by an untrained nerd of all people, she thought grimly to herself.

April laughed a little. "Whoa, competitive much?" Karai balled her hand up into a fist and thumped it into her thigh. "Just get her out next round."

Karai perked back up again. "We have another round?" She sneered in Irma's direction, pleased when the girl stopped laughing and looked properly cowed.

"Look, Mona just got her out," April said, pointing. Mona, a pretty girl with curly brown hair tied up with a pink scrunchie, jumped up and down, having caught Irma's ball and officially ending the game. Her friends surrounded her, cheering and patting her on the back excitedly.

"Great," Karai said, bouncing back up. "Let's go again!" She grimaced, feeling the bruise on her side pull, and tried to rub at it. Her father always knew best where to leave a mark that would bother her for weeks until it healed.

April stood up and eyed her. "You good?" she asked, starting to head over to their side of the gym.

Karai blinked. "Yeah," she said slowly, mind racing to think of an excuse. "Tripped down the stairs."

April winced sympathetically. "Yeah, I've done that a time or two," she said. Karai forced her face to look neutral, but on the inside her emotions were in turmoil.

"O'Neil! What do you think you're doing?" The coach said as they took their same place.

April gave her a funny look. "Lining up?"

The coach pointed to the other side. "Nuh-uh. We're switching it up."

"But-"

The coach blew her whistled, and April unwillingly trudged to the other side of the room, as far from Irma's clique as possible. She made a face at Karai, and Karai grinned darkly back at her.

The coach blew the whistle to signal the start of the game, and this time Karai took off like a light, ending up in the middle at the same time as April. She grabbed two balls, and so did April, a huge grin on her face.

"Don't think I'm gonna take it easy on you, Red," Karai said, eyes flashing.

April's eyes narrowed, and she flashed Karai an equally devious grin. "I expect nothing less," she said and scampered back, further away from the middle line and back to the safer areas.

It was like a dance. April would throw something and get someone out on Karai's side, who would retaliate, and then throw a ball at April, who would duck. And vice versa. Karai watched April. She moved with a sort of grace, a fluidity that Karai had never seen in the average teenager. It was the tell that April herself may have had a little bit of training. Karai filed that piece of info into the back of her brain, more focused on the task at hand. The process repeated itself until only Karai and April were the only ones left on their respective teams.

"Give it up, Red," Karai taunted, brandishing the ball casually. "You're never going to get me out."

April's grin was just as wide. "Please," she said. "Try me!"

Well, okay, if you're asking for it.

Karai threw the ball, and April reflected it, bouncing it off with the ball in her hands. Her feet slid into a familiar pose, and Karai squinted a bit.

That's the footwork of a kata! she thought to herself, recognizing it instantly. Her eyes grew wide as she added it to her mental list of evidence against April. Her suspicions about April having been trained started to come together even more. She was so busy thinking that she almost missed April throwing her ball at her, and on instinct, she flipped backwards and caught it, single-handedly winning the game.

April's arm slowly lowered, eyes wide, as she watched Karai's team circle up around her and yell in excitement. Even the coach walked over, looking grudgingly surprised.

"I'll admit, Oroku, that was some pretty fancy footwork," she said, clapping Karai firmly on the shoulder. "You ever thought about trying out for the gymnastics team?"

Karai shook her head, and the coach nodded. "Maybe you should. Tryouts are next week after school. I hope I'll see you then." She walked off, and April bounded up.

"Dude! That was awesome!" April said, admiration obviously sketched across her face. "I'm not even mad you got me out, because that was badass!"

Karai could feel her cheeks turn a little red, not really used to the praise and feeling really uncomfortable with this whole situation. "Thanks," she said shortly.

April didn't seem to notice. "Where'd you learn to do that? That's awesome!"

Karai thought for a moment, wondering what exactly she should make up this time. "I did karate in Japan," she said rather lamely.

April looked off in the distance, starry eyed. "Man, I wish I could do that. I have some friends who can do stuff like that, too, and it's awesome." Snapping back into it, she blinked and looked at Karai. "Well, I guess I better be changing. I'll see you in English," she said, and turned to trot off into the dressing room.

Karai stood alone in the middle of the gym, thoughts roaring loudly in her ears.


Karai is reeealllyyy starting to put it all together now. R&R!