I am back and for a limited time offer you can read my fanfic which in now way has my self-insert OC for FREE and also you can for FREE leave a review about how great and amazing the fanfic is. Jk but also not really. Since it's finals time again it only seemed appropriate to write fanfiction instead of studying so I'll try to post weekly again for awhile. Fair warning I feel like the next couple of chapters will be a bit slow. They're mostly just building Cori's relationships with the others but its necessary I think. We are slowly approaching some bigger plot threads that I have been planning in my head for literal years but still a good couple chapters away. Hopefully you'll stick around for it :)

Casey sloppily scarfed down a meatball hoagie, spilling sauce all over his shirt. "Casey, you're disgusting," April commented. She picked at her salad with a fork as he devoured his sandwich.

"I'm a growing boy," Casey said between mouthfuls, "I need my nutrients."

"I seriously doubt that there are any nutrients in the food they serve here," Irma said, sitting to April's right.

The three were sitting in the school lunchroom. It was packed to the brim with students. They practically had to yell to hear each other. April, in disgust, turned away from Casey. She watched as students bustled about. A few teachers walked around the lunchroom, but they did little to stop the teenagers' shenanigans. April perked up as she saw a familiar figure walk past her table.

"Cori," she called out with a wave.

Her classmate did not hear her and continued walking away with a tray of food.

"What are you doing," Casey asked.

"Inviting a friend."

Casey spun around and caught a glimpse of Cori walking by. He leaned over to April and said, "Not her!"

"Not who?" Irma asked.

April ignored the two and stood up. "Hey, Cori," she yelled louder.

She waved her arms in the air and grabbed the attention of a couple other teenagers.

Cori turned around in surprise and stared at April. The redhead motioned towards the table. Cori hesitated before sitting down next to April.

"Oh, great," Casey muttered to himself.

"Uh, hey April. Hey Casey." Casey did not respond and took a sip out of his juice box.

"Hi, I'm Irma," the nerdy teen mumbled while holding her hand out. Cori shook Irma's hand and introduced herself plainly.

"Cori."

"You don't mind sitting with us, do you?" April asked with a cheerful expression.

"No, not really. I usually sit by myself so…"

The four of them sat silently for a moment until Irma asked, "Do you guys know each other?"

"Yes!"

"No!"

Casey and Cori glared at each other. "Cori is my lab partner in chemistry," April clarified.

"That makes sense." Irma dropped the subject, much to Casey and April's relief. They did not want to get into the specifics of their relationship with Cori.

"So, Cori. Did you want to meet up after school today?" April asked.

"I have work today, but I can probably swing by afterwards."

"Absolutely not," Casey interjected.

"Cori can come with us if she wants," April said through her teeth.

"Why? We barely know her."

"Well, it's not really up to you, is it? You're not the one who invited her."

"Where are you guys going later?" Irma asked her friends. She raised an eyebrow judgingly.

"Uh, we're just going to study in the park," April lied. "It's gonna be really boring; you wouldn't want to come."

"I love studying."

"Oh, I mean. We're tutoring Casey in chemistry, and I know how much you dislike chemistry."

"I love chemistry."

"Uh…" April looked over to Casey for help, but he offered none.

Cori cleared her throat and said, "You can always come, Irma. But, Casey kinda gets embarrassed that he needs two tutors. I can't imagine his self-esteem when he gets a third one." Cori turned over to Casey and flashed a smug grin. "Right, Casey?"

Casey frowned and was about to shout at the girl when April stomped hard on his foot. He stifled his cry and weakly said, "Yup. You know what they say. 'Three's a crowd.' My fragile self-esteem can't bear a fourth person."

Irma pursed her lips and tapped a pencil against the table in frustration. "What are you guys hiding from me?"

"Nothing," April reassured Irma.

"Hmmm…"

Irma leaned over and stared down Cori. Cori looked away uncomfortably and nervously brushed a strand of hair away from her face.

"So, what are you hiding, Cori?"

"Uh, nothing?"

"You're lying. You're avoiding eye-contact, and you've brushed through your hair five times already. So, what are you keeping a secret? Do you have some type of skin rash on your hands, and that's why you always wear gloves? Or maybe you're just mysophobic. Or do you secretly have a crush on Casey so you act like you hate each other, but in reality you're madly in love with him," Irma questioned. Cori almost choked on her milk. She coughed as April said "You're one for conspiracy theories, aren't you?"

Casey's face turned red as he said, "And, why would I like her, anyways? I know I could do better. Ow!"

This time Cori stomped on Casey's foot. She looked back to the inquisitive girl and said, "Wow, those are all horribly wrong. Trust me, Casey is the last guy I'd have a crush on. I wouldn't date him if he was the last guy on the planet."

"Fine," Irma said in disappointment. She opened her notebook and wrote down something.

"We can hang out tomorrow, Irma," April said. She felt bad having to leave her in the dark all the time. "Fine," Irma reiterated without looking up. April sighed in exasperation and chugged the rest of her milk.

o-o-o-o-o

Mikey sat upside down on the wall that surrounded the lair's "living room." He scrolled on his T-phone, occasionally showing a meme to Raph who sat next to him. He was reading a comic, barely paying attention to his brother.

"Dude, look at this one that Crow sent me," Mikey said as he shoved the phone in his older brother's face. Raph glanced down at the screen to see a video of a dog.

"Mikey, I don't care about your dog videos."

"Aw, be nice Raph," Leo said. He was sitting on the floor watching his favorite show, "Space Heroes." Without looking away from the television, he added, "You're just jealous that Cori texts Mikey more than you."

"I'm not!" Raph said a little too quickly. He crinkled the comic in his hands as he said it.

"When's the last time you even got a text from someone that's not your family?" Mikey asked. Raphael did not answer. Mikey grinned smugly and said, "Oh, that's right. No one." The irate turtle grabbed Mikey's legs and flipped him onto the floor. Michelangelo laid on the floor in a daze while Raphael stood up. He crossed his arms and turned away indignantly.

"Me and Cori don't need to text each other all the time. I'm not desperate for attention like you."

"Yeah, you're totally jealous," Leonardo said. Raphael was about to exact his revenge on Leonardo when he heard someone say, "Hey guys." They all turned to see Cori standing there. She was wearing her black leather jacket and scarlet scarf, but no mask. Her messy hair was barely tied into a ponytail. Wisps of her brown hair stuck out awkwardly. Her gloved hands were shoved into her pockets as she looked at them expectantly.

Before Raph could greet her, Mikey jumped up and yelled, "Crow! You came!"

Cori looked around and asked, "Where's April and Casey? I saw them earlier and I thought they were going to stop by."

"They left around two hours ago," Leo said. He turned back to the TV and let his brothers explain the rest. "Yeah, we were hanging out for a bit but then Casey got bored so April left with him," Raph said. He did not blame them for leaving. Usually, Raph could entertain Casey by taking him up to the surface to beat up some thugs. But for the past couple of days, Splinter kept Raphael under a strict regime and was not allowed to leave the lair. His brothers would occasionally go on patrol, but they were less eager to go with one man down. He looked forward to whenever Cori would come over. She was the only one keeping him sane during his two week grounding.

"Oh. I guess it is kind of late," Cori said while checking her phone for the time. Her work shift had ended around 10 p.m., but it took her almost an hour to finally head over. "I'm guessing Donatello's in his lab," she asked.

Mikey sat down and grumbled, "Where else would he be?"

Cori shrugged and started to make her way to sit next to Mikey. She stopped when she saw what Leonardo was watching.

"Is that…Space Heroes?"

"Yeah. You've seen it?" Leo responded slowly, his entire focus on the cartoon.

"Um, yeah. I love this show," Cori said. Leo paused and quickly focused his gaze on Cori. He looked at her with wide eyes and said, "You do?"

The girl sat down next to the turtle with her legs crossed. "I watched it all the time in middle school. Although I never saw the last season. I heard that the studio—"

"Had production issues and never released the season except in Japan," Leo finished. He rubbed his hands together and looked at her with starstruck eyes. "I've never met anyone who watches Space Heroes and likes it! Who's your favorite character?"

"Probably Dr. Mindstrong. He's definitely the best one."

"No way! Captain Ryan is the best. He's the fearless leader!"

"Yeah, but Dr. Mindstrong is the one who comes up with all the plans. If anything, he's more of a leader."

"But Ryan gives inspiring speeches. Mindstrong is always way too nihilistic for his plans to work. The crew would give up hope!"

Raphael plopped down next to Mikey and mumbled, "Ah shell, she's a nerd too."

Cori and Leonardo continued their argument as Raph watched. Watching the cartoon show was one thing, but hearing them argue about it was completely unbearable. He leaned over to Mikey and said, "You got any more videos? I wanna drown them out as much as I can." His younger brother smiled and started to show him another dog video.

"Oh wait wait wait…This is the best part," Leonardo interrupted their argument. He pointed at the screen, and the two of them watched as a villain cursed Captain Ryan after his plans were foiled. They both laughed from the cheesiness of his lines. Cori's laugh was much softer than Leonardo's.

When they caught their breaths, the two became fully engrossed with the show. They continued watching the show for the rest of the night, laughing and gasping as if this was their first time seeing the cartoon. Occasionally, Raph would ruin their fun with a groan or eyeroll. Leonardo was just about to play another episode when Cori checked her phone. It was much later than she intended on staying up. She sighed and pushed herself off the floor saying, "Sorry Leo, Captain Ryan is going to have to wait to explore the depths of the badlands."

Leo was half bent over the TV, already putting in the next VCR tape, when he heard the bad news. He whipped his head around and whined, "What? But the next episode is the best one in the Alpha X arc!"

"Leonardo, it's already 1 AM, and I have school tomorrow…"

"So?"

Cori raised a dark eyebrow and smirked at the turtle. Leo shrugged and said, "Fine, but I'm not waiting to watch the next episode." He sat back onto the floor, staring at the TV expectantly as the intro started to play. Raphael stood up quickly and said, "I can take you back to your place, if ya want."

Before Cori could accept his offer, Mikey jumped up and said, "Raph, aren't you forgetting that you're grounded." He emphasized the last word, grinning impishly at his brother. Raphael frowned and pushed the younger turtle's face away.

Mikey bounced back and continued saying, "I'll take Crow back to her place."

"What? No way, I was gonna–"

"Mikey's right," Leo interrupted. He did not bother to peel his eyes from the screen as he scolded Raph. "Splinter said 'no leaving the lair under any circumstances.'"

Raph huffed, crossing his arms before replying, "What? Like you've never snuck out before?"

This time Leo did turn around to face his brothers.

"Okay, that's different because we all did it as a team for a very important mission. Walking Cori back home is not a 'very important mission.'"

"Oh, so you're saying I'm not that important," Cori teased. Leo's eyes widened and he fumbled through his words in an awkward attempt to apologize. Cori cut him off before he could continue his struggling, saying, "It's okay, I was just joking…" The flustered turtle finally closed his mouth shut and turned back to the show.

"Don't worry, Crow," Mikey said as he jumped up. "I promise a timely and safe journey back to your apartment. Let's go!" He giddily ran out the room and waited for Cori on top of the steps leading out of the lair. Cori started to leave but then looked back to Raph. With a shrug, she said, "I guess I'll see you guys around."

Raph, still too annoyed by his brothers, only nodded as a way of saying goodbye. Leo said his goodbyes without turning to watch her leave. He stared straight ahead at the TV, not so much out of interest but more so out of avoiding another awkward moment with her.

Cori followed Mikey out of the lair. They trudged through the sewers for longer than Cori would like. She pulled her red scarf over her nose and grimaced. While the few visits she had in the lair were nice, she could never stand having to go through the sewers to reach it. The smell burned her nose and left a sour taste in her mouth that would last for several hours. Not to mention, her clothes reeked afterwards. If she was going to see the turtles this often, she would have to visit the laundry mat a lot more. The stench was so disgusting she almost did not notice Mikey talking excitedly to her.

"How you liking the lair? Pretty cool, right? Don just fixed up this arcade machine we found in a dumpster and it's soooo fun. I already got the new highscore, although ever since Raph has been staying at home I notice he's been catching up. I mean, I can't lose my score to him. It's a matter of honor."

He looked at her with bright blue eyes, expecting her to say something in return. Cori was too overwhelmed by the stench of the sewers along with Mikey's energy. Mikey turned his gaze away when she did not say anything. Cori silently cursed herself for not thinking of something to say. She continued to follow him in the dark of the sewers. Mikey held a flashlight, illuminating their way. After turning around a bend, he stopped and looked down a tunnel. He shined his flashlight down it before saying, "Oh, I've been here before! This is where we fought those squirrelanoids."

This time Cori did have a response.

"The what?"

"Yeah, like it was super freaky because these squirrels got mutated and turned into these huge monsters. And they tried to eat me! Don't worry, we totally flushed them down the drain though."

Mikey smiled and acted as if what he said was a normal occurrence. Cori pulled her scarf down and asked, "Do you guys fight mutants…that much?"

"Oh yeah, all the time. Honestly, I've been super bored these past couple of days cuz there's no baddies to fight. Whenever we go on patrol, we're only out for like two hours because Leo doesn't want to stay out long without Raph. I could go for a good fight with a mutie right now."

Cori shuddered, thinking about her last experience with a wild mutant. That was barely even a week ago that she and the turtles fought the monstrous mutants at the abandoned World Wide Genome Project building. She was hoping that would be the last mutant she saw for a while, save for the turtles. Mikey stopped and stood next to a ladder leading to the surface. He gestured towards it and said, "We have arrived."

"Thanks for walking me back, Michelangelo."

"Hey, it's what I do. And you can call me Mikey."

"Right. Sorry…Mikey."

She reached out and grabbed a rung on the metal ladder. She took one step up before stopping and looking down at the turtle.

"Next time I visit, you should show me that game you were talking about."

Mikey smiled and gave her a thumb's up. "You got it!"

Cori returned his smile and continued to the surface, back to her apartment.