Donatello was bored. He had been sitting at his desk trying to think of a way to get April to notice him for far longer than he would like to admit. His legs were stiff from sitting for so long and his eyes were stinging from staring at the blank snowy pages of his notebook. He glanced at the clock on the wall to see it was starting to get late which meant Leo would be knocking on his door to get ready for patrol. He yawned, stood, and stretched his arms, and walked out of his room into the living area.
Michelangelo was sitting cross-legged about three inches from the television screen, furiously mashing buttons in his fighting game. He and Raphael had decided to pass their time trying to beat the final boss and were currently yelling at each other about what they needed to do to whoop some bad guy butt; metaphorically speaking.
They died again, and Raph groaned irritably. He threw the controller away, stood up, and huffed off to the training room. "This is stupid, I'd much rather kick actual bad guys than this."
Mikey watched his brother go before turning around to see the tallest of the 4 brothers was plodding his way to the sitting area.
"Hey bro! Where've you been all day"? Mikey asked, eyes now fixed firmly back on the screen.
"In the lab, you know working on, uh, some new stuff" lied Donnie. He tried to keep the blush off his face but it just didn't happen.
"You're a terrible liar dude" Mikey smirked at his big brother quickly before his eyes were glued to his game again.
Just as Donnie was about to retort, Leonardo walked into the room closely followed by Raphael. The two oldest brothers had their gear already strapped to various belts and were clearly ready to head out into the night.
"Are you guys almost ready to go? It's almost 10 and we have to get going," he glanced at Donatello quickly, "especially if we're going to stop by Aprils'."
"We're going to Aprils'?" Donatello Practically yelled. "Uh, I mean, that's cool I guess."
"Just hurry up lover boy, I want to get outside and stretch my legs." Raph yawned from behind Leo. Donnie just glared at him, but hurried off to fetch his Bo-staff and T-cell all the same.
"Come one Mikey, you can't keep playing this thing all day all night." Leo added to the baby of the bunch.
"Just let me get to a save spot!"
Raph slowly walked around to the other side of the room, "You know that game doesn't work that way." As he got to the other side of the television set, his foot "accidentally" popped the power cord out of the wall.
"Hey!"
Donatello returned from retrieving his gear, and had conveniently grabbed Mikey's stuff too. "Ok, let's go!"
Leonardo had stepped between Michelangelo and Raphael to prevent the impending wrestling match and sighed as Donatello practically sprinted out the door.
"Wait for me." Raph bolted after him and out of sight.
Mikey was sulking on the floor, so Leo handed him his gear with a sympathetic smile and ran after his brothers with the orange-clad turtle hot on his heels.
When they'd reached the surface, the four brothers forgot that they were angry at each other. They stood on the rooftops with the cool night air blowing across their brows. The stars were starting to peek out behind the dark clouds, and the sounds of the city floated up to them from the streets below. Neon signs lit up the city in a rainbow of colors. They smiled to themselves for the briefest second before Leo turned to them and suggested they get moving. As they leapt across the rooftops toward their friends' house they kept their eyes and ears peeled for a signs of the Purple Dragons.
"I think you guys should wait here while I check on April" Donatello said as they landed on the roof to Aprils' aunts' apartment complex.
"Why do you always want to see her alone?" Queried Raph, "You'd think you liked her or something."
Mikey snickered as his brothers' mercilessly poked fun at their love-sick sibling.
"Yeah," joined in Leo "It's like you think she's cute."
All three of the others turned to him with confused looks on their faces.
"Leave the snide comments to me, OK Leo?" Raph said after a slight pause. "Alright, go ahead. But be quiet for once!"
Donatello crept down the fire escape and tapped gently on Aprils' window. "April? Are you still awake?" He waited for a few moments just in case she was indecent and was putting on some clothes. The thought brought a fresh blush to his cheeks as he was picturing it, but when there was no answer, he knocked again.
After a couple more moments, he decided to try opening the window. If it was unlocked she was still awake and expecting them. If not, she was probably asleep. He grasped the little handle and twisted, his heart leapt as he heard a click, and the window swung noiselessly on its hinges. Donnie cautiously stepped inside her room just far enough to see if she was there. He saw a light on in her bathroom and heard the water running so decided to wait for her to come out so he could see her and say good night.
His thoughts drifted off to his reoccurring daydream about sweeping her off her feet, and her swooning as he told her he loved her. He grinned to himself then mentally shook himself back to reality as the faucet squeaked off and he heard the door opening.
"April!" he said enthusiastically, only to discover that the girl who stood in front of him, was not April, not even close. This girl was taller than April, with brown hair and glasses. She was lean, in a sporty-looking way, and Donnie couldn't help but notice that she was wearing very short shorts and a tank top that showed her midriff. She stood in the door with her hand still on the handle, clearly stunned at the fact that there was a huge green turtle standing not three feet away from her. Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open.
Donnie winced, 'Oh Crap'.
This was a disaster. He doubted April had told this girl about them. Especially since she looked like she was about to faint, which wouldn't be so bad. At least if she fainted she wouldn't make a noise and he could let April know what happened without the others finding out. Or worse, Aprils' aunt fining out. If she found out they would surely move away and take April with them, he couldn't bear the thought of that. He really did like her, he would never admit it out loud, aside from that first comment he had made when they first laid eyes on her, but that was because he had been so shocked by her he didn't even know what he was saying.
The girl was still just staring at him, he wasn't sure what to do. So he uttered an obscenity under his breath, but apparently, she had heard and the silence ended when she started freaking out. He could tell her heart rate had increased and her adrenaline was pumping by the look in her eyes, they were darting around looking for something, but for what? Then he saw her lunge for the standing lamp in the corner. Before he could react she had it firmly in her hands and had ripped it out of the wall.
"April!" She yelled at the closed door. "Ms. O'Neil!" her voice rose in pitch as the panic started to set in.
"Oh no, no don't do that!" he pleaded, taking a step toward her.
The girl swung the lamp with more force than he was expecting, but being a ninja he blocked it easily and disarmed her with a gentle shove to her shoulder and a tug on the lamp. She fell down with a squeak, but sprang up again immediately, apparently prepared to defend herself if need be. Donnie heard footsteps running up the stairs behind the closed door and decided to bolt for the window before he was discovered again. As he reached the window, something struck the back of his head and he practically fell onto the fire escape, with a glance back he saw the girl looking both terrified and determined as she started grabbing more items to hurl at him.
He closed the window hurriedly and sprinted back up to the roof. He scrambled over the ledge breathing heavily and collapsed onto the ground.
"What happened? We heard yelling?" Leonardo asked immediately.
"It's bad guys, it's very bad!" Donnie said panicking slightly.
"What? Did you try and kiss April or something else incredibly dumb?" joked Raph.
"God I wish that were the case. April wasn't in her room."
"So what's the big deal? It's not like anyone was in there's right?" there was a pause, in which Donatello looked at his three brothers very sheepishly. "Right?" Demanded Raph.
"Damn it Donnie!" snapped Leo, he walked away fuming silently just in case someone heard. It was unlikely all that ruckus went noticed by too many people. This was New York, most people would ignore yelling, but there was always a couple of people who would make sure it was nothing too serious. "We have to make sure this person won't talk. Was April there at all?" Leo stomped back over to his ridiculously smart but socially moronic little brother.
"No, but she will be. The girl was calling her name so I would assume they're friends." Donatello reached behind his head and felt a small bump forming where whatever had been thrown at him had hit him. "She's certainly got a good arm on her though, and good aim." he noted mostly to himself.
"What are you talking about?" Interrupted Raph.
"She attacked me with a lamp, then threw something at my head." He said, "It didn't hurt particularly just caught me off guard."
"It's a good job your head is so hard!" Chirped in Mikey, he and Raph high-threed and chuckled to themselves, oblivious to the seriousness of the situation.
"This is awful, what if she rats us out? We won't be able to live freely in the city anymore!" Leo was pacing trying to figure it out.
"Why don't we just wait up here for the time being and try and talk to April? I'm sure she can straighten everything out with this girl!" Mickey was playing a game on his T-phone and was only half paying attention.
"Why do you only have good ideas when you're not even trying, or even a real part of the conversation?" asked Raph.
"What?"
"Never mind."
Leonardo had stopped pacing and looked at his brothers, they didn't really have a choice, maintaining their secrecy was priority number one. They couldn't have people finding out about them or they would be in serious trouble. They had to make sure this girl understood what was going on and kept their secret, he didn't want to think what would happen if she refused.
"Ok, here's the plan. Donnie, try and get a hold of April as soon as possible. Raph and Mikey, go and make sure none of the neighbors are asking questions, if they are let us know so we can move if need be. I'll make sure no one tries to come up to the roof." Leo turned around to literally see no one standing there, his hot-headed and goofball brothers understood that containment was the key and had sprang into action as soon as he had told them to move. Damage control was in progress, all they could do was hope April picked her friends wisely.
Down in the apartment, April burst through her door at a full sprint. "What! What is it?"
Her friend, Holly, was shaking like a leaf pointing at the window. Her breathing was harsh and she couldn't quite seem to form full sentences yet. She just kept repeating "Big," and "Holy Crap!"
The turtle boys wouldn't be stupid enough to come into her room if they had seen someone else would they? She grasped her friend by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "What did you see?"
"Big...Green...Thing!" Holly tried. She had no idea what she had seen, just that it was not human, and it was really tall.
"What on earth is going on up here?" Aprils' aunt had finally made it up the stairs to the spare bedroom. She was a dumpy woman, who wore lots of tweed jackets and ugly skirts, but she was sweet, and was always concerned for other people.
"I think she saw a big rat on the fire escape." April automatically responded; she had been preparing for this situation, just in case.
"A rat, I ran up those stairs for a silly little rat?" Aprils' aunt huffed as she straightened her hair.
Holly's eyes snapped to April's, making sure the red-head understood what, exactly, was going on. "No, it was really big! Like, really big!" she protested eyes wide as April tried to telepathically calm her friend down.
"I'm sure dear, but it's still just a rat. You are in New York City after all." Aprils' aunt tutted as she retreated back out of the room.
Once the door was closed ,and April was sure her aunt was back down-stairs, she turned to Holly who looked thoroughly confused and scared. "OK, try again, who did you see?"
Holly looked mortified at the question, "A giant, talking turtle... Why aren't you listening to me?"
"Hold on a moment, and don't freak out anymore. I'll explain what I can in just a moment." April reached for her phone that was on the dresser, it had six messages all from Donatello sounding quite desperate.
"I'm really sorry April, but I think I scared your friend!"
"We really need to talk to you, is your friend OK? Is she calm yet?"
April we really need to know if everything's OK!"
"April?"
"APRIL!"
"Sorry, I panicked for a sec there!"
She shook her head and, replied to the texts with a quick message.
"She's fine, stunned but OK. I'll try to calm her down, then bring her up to you guys."
She looked back at her friend and smiled softly. This was going to be really hard. Walking over to Holly, she grasped her by the arm and walked her over to the bed. They sat together, Holly still wide-eyed and April still not sure where to start.
"What the hell is going on? What was that thing? And why aren't you as freaked out as I am?" Holly asked a little hysterically.
"Well, if you saw what I think you saw, then they're friendly, and you have to believe me on that!" April really wasn't sure where to start. How was she supposed to explain that she hangs out with four mutant turtle brothers and their master, a giant rat?
"Oh well, now I feel much better." Holly snapped back. "Wait a minute... You said "they're". There's more than one!" She started shaking again.
"Oh boy. OK, so remember I told you my dad was kidnapped?"
Holly nodded, not trusting her voice again just yet.
"OK, well, I was there when he was taken. They would have taken me too, but the Turtle you saw saved me when I fell out of the helicopter. If it weren't for him I wouldn't be here." April hoped that would at least convince her they were friendly.
"Right... You fell out of a chopper and giant bipedal turtle, saved you? Just how hard did I hit my head in the shower again?" Holly ran a hand over her head, checking for bumps.
April sighed, she knew it all sounded crazy and she would expect some doubt if she had to tell someone, but Holly was smart and knew she wouldn't make things like this up. She decided that they would have to do something drastic to convince Holly to keep her mouth shut.
"Would you be willing to meet them, all of them, and talk to them?" April had her phone out already, ready to send a message to Donatello if Holly would cooperate.
"How long exactly have you known about these things?" Holly asked with suspicion dripping off every word. She narrowed her eyes at her red-headed friend, mentally debating if she was the crazy one, or if April was stark raving mad.
"Uh, about six months."
"Six months!" yelled Holly. April hastily tackled her friend into the bed, hand clamped firmly over her mouth.
"Shh, keep it down! My aunt doesn't know about them. Only I really know about them, and I swear they're friendly."
"You're crazy! Completely mad!" Holly hissed, she was so confused still, she couldn't understand how there were great big green monsters running around, or how April seemed to know all about them, it made no sense. She took a calming breath "Alright. How did they get here? Where did they come from?"
April thought about the turtles and splinter and wondered how much she should really reveal. She didn't think that Holly could deal with finding out about their crime fighting escapades, that might be too much for her to bare.
"Well, they used to be turtles, just regular turtles, but they mutated when they were exposed to a dangerous chemical substance and they have been living underground for the last 15 years or so."
"What mutated them? It would have had to have been something pretty special to alter the DNA of a regular animal so drastically?" Holly couldn't help herself, her love of science had overtaken her fear and now she was curious.
"I have no idea, but Donatello is extremely smart and I bet you could discuss theories with him." April cracked a small smile, she had her now. Holly was far too inquisitive to pass up talking science with another brainiac.
Holly still looked cautious though, she had thought the green monster was going to eat her or something, but now she was being told by her best friend that it was a mutated turtle who had saved her life. What was she thinking? Those things were monsters! Holly looked April over once more trying to see if there was anything that might give away that she was lying, or that she was hallucinating. But when nothing presented itself, she decided that this might actually be real. "I don't know April. This sounds crazy!"
"I'll tell you what, come up to the roof with me and at least meet them. If you don't like it, I'll bring you back down here and we can go one with our night as planned." April offered.
Holly thought once more, weighing all the options over. She couldn't very well forget what she had seen, but she couldn't tell anyone either. Who would believe her? They would put her in the loony bin for sure. Plus who was she to judge someone because of their looks, no one looked twice at her when she moved New York. All the kids in her class thought she was weird and avoided her. April was her first friend and had remained her closest friend since that day. She sighed and finally admitted defeat.
"Alright, I give in. I would at least apologize for throwing that stapler at one of their head. Oh, how many of them are there exactly?" Holly asked nervously.
"Four, well five if you include Master Splinter"
"Who now?"
"Never mind, just put on some clothes and follow me up the fire escape!"
The turtle boys were sat on the roof of Aprils' apartment for almost a half an hour before they got any news. April had convinced her friend to keep quiet and to meet them on the roof so they could all straighten everything out. Leonardo was back to pacing, Raph was leaning against a roof access looking sullen. Donnie had recovered enough to keep calm and continue thinking about a certain red-head, while Mikey was still sitting cross legged thumbs racing over the screen of his hand held game, tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth.
"What is taking so long?" Raph demanded, as if that would help any.
"Give it time, I'm sure Donnie scared that poor girl pretty bad. How would you feel if you came face to face with something that didn't exist?" Leo reasoned.
"I wake up to Mikey's cooking every day, I know exactly how she feels." Raph shot back.
Michelangelo just glared at Raphael. Raph never seemed to hate his cooking that much since he always ate it, and usually took seconds.
They all turned as the ladder started rattling against the bricks of the building, scraping harshly and digging deep grooves into the concrete. Aprils fiery hair was visible first, she hopped over the low wall and smiled at her mutant friends.
"Hey guys, sorry we took so long. I really need to start locking that window when I have company over." April smiled sheepishly at the guys. She was literally about to lock the window when her aunt had called to her that the pizza was burning.
"Hey April!" Donnie said overly enthusiastically. The others nodded at April as they noticed a brown haired girl climbing up onto the roof.
"Guys, this is Holly. First off, who came into my room?"
"That was me," Donnie grinned rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry about that, I thought it was you in the other room." He turned to Holly, "Sorry if I startled you, I really didn't mean to scare you."
Holly stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest. "It's fine, sorry I assaulted you with a lamp, and the stapler." Aprils head snapped around at her friend. "What, I thought he was trying to rob you, or eat me! I had to defend myself."
"You got beat up by a girl with a lamp, oh that's rich!" Raph laughed at Donnie's expense.
"Dude! How'd she hit you with a stapler, you're supposed to have ninja reflexes!" Mikey joined his brother laughing as Donnie turned red in the cheeks.
"Would you guys knock it off, this is still a serious situation." Leonardo turned and looked Holly straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry to sound rude here, but we need to be sure that you aren't going to tell anyone about us. We have to remain hidden from the world to ensure our safety."
Holly gripped her arms a little more tightly. "Who exactly am I going to tell? If I started raving about giant talking turtles, I'll get carted off for a psychiatric evaluation."
"True, but you still could talk." Leo said, pressing the issue.
Holly pursed her lips, but eventually sighed and let her hands drop to her sides. "I'm not going to talk."
"Good. Now that that is out of the way, I'm Leonardo. Everyone calls me Leo." Leo held out his hand to the girl who stood on the roof of the apartment in a track suit and no shoes. She hesitated, but only for a moment before grasping his hand and shaking it gently.
"It's, interesting, to meet you." She screwed up her face at him, not sure if she wanted to laugh or scream at the whole situation. Her eyes drifted over to the others.
"That's Mikey on the floor, and the sulky one is Raph." Leo pointed to his brothers. "You already met the so called genius Donatello." Leo narrowed his eyes at the purple clad turtle.
"I guess I should apologize for attacking you. Sorry about hitting you with the stapler." Holly grimaced at him.
"It's alright, you didn't hurt me. I will admit that I was surprised that you didn't just keel over." Donnie laughed nervously. Holly let out a strained laugh. April just kept quiet beaming happily to herself. She had been dying to tell someone about the turtle brothers. She never would reveal their secret willingly but now that someone else had stumbled upon them it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.
"This is so awesome!" April squealed. Leo gave her a weird look, as did Holly. "Sorry, but it's nice to have someone else around that I can talk to about you guys!"
"You've wanted to talk about us?" Donnie asked
"Well yeah, it's kind of hard keeping such a big secret. Besides it will be nice to talk to a girl for a change." April stated plainly.
"You said that these guys had started life as ordinary turtles' right?" Holly directed the question at April, but Donatello was the one to answer.
"Yes that's right, we were pets, but when our owner was covered in a mutagen some of it splashed on us and we changed into what you see now." Donnie gestured at himself and his brothers.
"It's a shame you all look like you do, when you could have looked as good as me." chimed in Mikey.
Raph smacked him over the back of the head. "You wish half pint. Besides we all know I'm the good looking one." Raphael tapped himself on the plastron to emphasize his point.
Holly raised an eyebrow at the other two in amusement, and finally a small smile cracked on her face. She shook her head before continuing with her line of questions, "But where did the mutagen come from? This can't just be some radioactive runoff? For something to actually change the DNA of a living creature." She trailed off absolutely in awe of the implications.
"Ohh, she's very quick." Donnie gushed, thrilled that Holly might be able to grasp some of him more advanced theories.
"That's why she's my science partner!" April replied brightly.
"I hope that's not the only reason I'm your science partner." Holly huffed, crossing her arms back across her chest.
"We're still trying to figure all this out ourselves." Leo admitted.
"What about your owner? What happened to them?" Holly asked.
"He mutated too, but he took care of us and has raised us as his family." Donnie said.
Holly rubbed her forehead with her fingers, "I don't think my brain can take much more of this."
"Why don't you tell us about you then? How did you and April meet?" Leo asked.
Holly blinked a few times before trying to make coherent thoughts come out of her mouth. Soon though, April was helping her fill in the details for the guys. Holly and her mother had moved to New York just about the same time April's dad had been taken. They both ended up being the new kids in the same school so decided to hang out with each other rather than try to fit in with any of the per-established clicks at the school. She and April took most of the same classes together, with a few exceptions, one being that Holly took Auto Shop while April had a study hall.
Donnie was interested to learn more, but the others cut him off before he could ask too many boring questions that they didn't care about.
Raphael just stood in a corner, brows furrowed and scowl firmly in place. "Now that we're all chummy- chummy, can we go on our patrol? You know, like we were supposed to two hours ago."
"Yes, we should go, but if you like, we can come here again. I know that I still have questions." Leo offered. They needed to get back and inform Master Splinter what had happened. He wouldn't be happy, but he would see they had tried to fix the mess they had made.
"Its fine by me!" April turned to Holly, and so did four other sets of eyes.
Holly suddenly felt timid, which was not something she felt often. She took a step backwards again and stammered, something else she didn't usually do. "Umm, su... sure, I guess."
"Alright, well we'll see you girls tomorrow." Leo waved as he motioned for his siblings to follow suit. Without a backwards glance he took off over the roof tops at full speed.
"It's about time, later April." Raph looked stiffly at Holly, "and you too I guess."
Holly was taken aback, what the hell was that? Did she do something? She pursed her lips and frowned behind her glasses, what a jerk!
"Don't worry, he's just putting on a tough front. It's kind of his thing." April winked at her.
"See you Ape, and is there any chance you could bring some pizza with you tomorrow?" Mikey gave them his best puppy dog eyes.
"Let's go Mikey, see you Holly. Bye April." Donnie waggled his fingers at April then proceeded to shove Mikey toward the next roof top. They ran and leapt across to the next building almost silently.
Holly was amazed, and ran to the ledge after them. She watched as their frames grew smaller as the bounced out of sight into the night sky. April walked up behind her friend and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Let's go back inside, your toes must be frozen."
Holly just nodded, and let herself be steered back toward the fire escape, down the ladder and back through the window into Aprils' warm bedroom. How was she going to sleep tonight? There were so many questions buzzing around her cranium that she could hardly stand it.
The turtles had finished their patrols and had made it back in the lair undetected. Even though they didn't get to beat up any one, tonight had certainly been eventful. Leonardo had gone straight to Master Splinter and informed him of what had happened. He had then sat his boys down for a serious conversation.
"Do you think she is trustworthy?" Splinter asked his adopted children.
"I think so sensei, she seems like a good person." Leonardo answered first.
"And what about the rest of you? What does your instincts tell you?"
"I think she's awesome!" bellowed Mikey, "She nailed Donnie in the head with a stapler!" He laughed to himself as Donatello glared at him out of the corner of his eye.
"I will say she seemed genuinely startled when she saw me, which would mean she's not a spy." Donatello added.
Splinter had noticed that Raphael had not said one word, he hadn't even looked his master in the eyes. Very suspicious.
"Raphael, do you have any input in this conversation?" Splinter eyed his son carefully, trying to read his emotions. But for once, Raphael was playing his hand close to his chest.
"We only spoke to her for like twenty minutes, I can't tell what a person is like after twenty minutes." He spoke to his master and father, but kept his eyes focused anywhere else.
Splinter had a feeling about what was going on, but didn't push his son for an explanation. If he wanted to talk, he would talk.
"We're going to go back tomorrow, and eventually if you are OK with it, we'll bring her here so you can see for yourself." Leonardo hoped his father would not be disappointed in his decision.
Splinter stroked his beard thoughtfully. It would be nice to have another set of eyes and ears on the surface, but he could not risk his families' safety. "I will need to meet this young lady at some point, but we do not need to let her know where we live just yet."
Raphael glanced for the briefest second at his sensei, but lowered his gaze back to his knees. A chorus of "Hai, sensei" was heard, and the meeting was over.
Mikey stretched his arms and stood up, "who's hungry?"
"I'm famished." sighed Donnie. It had been an especially hard day for him, and some dinner sounded wonderful. That and a good long sleep.
"I could go for a slice of pizza or two. Is there any left in the fridge?" Leo followed Mikey into their kitchen space, with Donnie close behind.
Raphael stood in silence and turned towards his bedroom.
"Aren't you hungry Raph?" yelled Mikey.
He didn't even turn around, he just stomped right through his door and slammed it shut.
His brothers peeked out around the stone archway that led to their kitchen. They gave each other a nervous glance, eyebrows raised. It wasn't often that Raph got in one of those moods where he didn't even want to break something.
"What's eating him up?" Asked Leo to no one in particular.
"Do you think he doesn't trust Holly? Or do you think he's mad that I screwed up so royally?" Donnie asked nervously.
"Who knows, I bet he's just mad he didn't get to beat up some of the Purple Dragons" Mikey said through a slice of pizza.
"There had better be some of that left for us." Leo snarled.
"There's plenty left for you Leo!" Mikey pretended to sound hurt, "There just might not be enough for you and Donnie."
"Hey!"
The brothers continued to squabble for a while until they made it to the sofas and turned on a movie. One by one they drifted off to their own rooms, throwing a quick glance at Raphaels' door. Whatever was eating him, they could worry about tomorrow. Hopefully whatever it was, he got over it before they went back to see April and Holly, the last thing they needed was him offending their new acquaintance.
Inside his room, Raphael stomped back and forth in his room. What had happened today was really bothering him. He stopped pacing for a moment and turned to spike, his pet turtle. "I don't know about her spike. She gives me a funny feeling in my gut." He returned to his pacing. Spike just chewed on the lettuce leaf that was in front of him. Raph couldn't figure out what is was that was bothering him. It wasn't that she had hit Donnie in the head, that was just funny, and it wasn't that she had freaked out as that was to be expected. So what was it?
He mulled it over as he watched his pet finish his dinner. It was probably getting early by now, and he should hit the hay, especially if they were going back to Aprils tomorrow. He wanted to be fully rejuvenated if he was going to figure out why this girl was on his mind so much. There had to be something. He didn't think she was going to tell the secret, from what little they had talked, she seemed cool, just as April had. But what was different?
Raph groaned and threw himself on his bed. He'd figure it out tomorrow. This was too much thinking for his liking, which was normally Donatello's field of expertise. With one final glance at his beloved spike, Raphael rolled over and drifted off to sleep.