Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #11

*Later that next day/Sunday evening*

Sam had finally finished adding the new rockets to her skateboard late last night and she couldn't wait to finally test them out this evening. She and Mikey had begun their training that afternoon, (luckily she had an earlier soccer game that weekend which meant she could spend the rest of the day in the lair) and currently they were on break, though this break was also due to both friends wanting to try out the new board as well. The two were standing in the dojo as Mikey began giving instructions.

"Alright, you have to be careful in the beginning because there's going to be a huge kick from the force from the rockets, which is going to make it really hard to maintain balance and speed. So for now, let's just practice getting you to maintain balance in the air."

Mikey pulled his board from off his back and placed it on the ground.
"You have the device right? And you turned it on?"
In order to get the rockets to work, Donnie had originally created a small device with an on and off switch that his brother could keep in his pocket. This way, if Mikey just wanted to skate around without using the rockets then he could do so. If the switch was turned on, then as soon as pressure was added to the board, the rockets would start working. Sam had studied the design of both Mikey's skateboard and of the control device and built her model based on the design that Donnie had created years ago.

Sam pulled her control device out of her back pack and turned the rockets on.
"I'm all set." She then put the device back into her bag.
"Alright, so first just practice getting your board to levitate off the ground some."
He then stood on his board, his weight activating the rockets. Slowly the board lifted him a couple feet off the ground. He then stared at Sam to signal that it was her turn to try. She placed her board on the ground and stepped onto it as she slowly started to rise off the ground as well.
"There you go, nice start. You might want to stop now though."
"Ummm, how do I stop?" Sam had now passed where Mikey's spot in the air was as she continued to slowly rise up and up.
"Hop off quick."
She jumped forward and her board fell to the floor.

"Heh, guess you need to weigh more than a twig if you want to gain control" Raph said in a nasty tone from the living room. He was sitting on the couch in front of the television as he continued to fight his hardest to gain the top spot in Drive Club, just like he had been doing all day. At times he could still hear Sam and Mikey conversing in the other room, and he never missed a chance to throw some type of snide remark at Sam.

Mikey just rolled his eyes as he tried his best to ignore his brother.
"Try again. You have to make sure your knees are bent a bit as the board begins to rise or else it will just keep going up, up, up. If you stand straight and tall then the board will continue to rise, but once you bend your knees some it helps to maintain what height you want to stop or continuing rising at. I'm not exactly sure how all that works and makes sense, but it's what I've learned in all the years that I've been doing this."

Sam got her board ready and tried again. She stood straight as she first stepped on her board, and once she got about a foot off the ground she bent her knees some. She was still a bit shaky, but she had stopped the board from rising any further.
"Nice! On to step two, carefully moving forward. Once you get off the ground and reach the height that you want, you then have to slightly lean forward on your board. But be careful because-"
That fast Sam had already tried leaning forward, but she had leaned a bit too far, and her board had sent her flying into the other room. Luckily she had leaped off the board before it had slammed into the far wall past the living room.
Mikey sprinted into the living room while Raph laughed as he continued to play his videogames on the couch.
"Sam, you alright?" he asked with concern.
Of course, Sam with her typical 'I don't care, it's no big deal' type attitude replied sarcastically.
"Peachy…" she groaned as her friend helped pull her up off the ground.
Mikey smiled at her. "Right, I have to keep reminding myself that I don't have to worry about you getting scared of anything or freaking out about something that's potentially dangerous. I'm sure you've done worse."
"Oh trust me I have" she replied with a chuckle.

"Twigs do crack easily" Raph called out.

Mikey closed his eyes as he tried to contain his frustration. The entire time Mikey had been training with Sam, all Raph had done was mock her and throw as many complaints and insults towards her as he could. Splinter wouldn't have let him get away with this, but at the moment he was meditating elsewhere throughout the sewers. There were a few different places underground he would venture off to where it was much quieter than it was at home. At least the other brothers just went and kept to themselves, but Raph purposefully made his presence known, and for the worst reason. Mikey knew that Raph was still upset about everything that had happened the day previous, both about the videogame situation and Mikey's lies, and also that Sam had provided more of a fight than Raph would like to admit. So, as his revenge, he was verbally disrespecting the girl.
As much as Mikey wanted to continue working with Sam on how to maintain control of her board, he could see that certain wires needed to be fixed after the two hard hits that the board had just received, so he decided that maybe it was time to head back to the dojo for more training.

"Come one Sam, let's get back to work. Next break we can go back and fix your board."
She picked up her board and saluted him. "Yes sir!"
Mikey smiled as he lead the way back to the other room. He was delighted to see that his rude older brothers words hadn't seem to affect the girl at all as she walked with a 'pep in her step.'

As the two walked across the room and through the large circular opening that lead into the dojo, Sam glimpsed over all the weapons that lined the walls of the opening. She was shocked at how many weapons these guys owned and wondered where they had found them all. As these thoughts swirled around in her head, she stopped and stared at one weapon in particular that caught her eye. Most weapons that were used in pairs were lined along the wall with their other half, but down towards the bottom center of the left wall was a lone sai. In the center of the left wall there were pairs of sai's starting at the top and leading all the way down to the bottom. The largest pair was at the top and as the pairs went down they slowly got smaller and smaller, the smallest being the one sai at the very bottom. It seemed a bit dusty since it probably hadn't been used in a long while based on its size. The handle was a bright red color and had a black engraving of the letters "C.A.P." going from the top to the bottom of the handle.

Mikey turned around once he realized that he had lost the girls attention.
"Sam?"
"Is that Raph's?" she asked softly as she pointed to the lone sai.
Of course Raph was already walking over to where they were standing once he heard his name.
"Is what Raphs?" he snarled.
He looked at what Sam was pointing at and replied with a mix of annoyance and confusion in his voice.
"Yeah, obviously it's mine. Who's askin-"
"How long have you had it?"
Her face was filled with worry and concern, but Raph didn't care.
"I don't know."
"Why haven't you been taking care of it?"
"What?"
"Why is it dusty and the blade dull?"
"Because it is."
"Where'd you find it?"
"On the ground."
"How'd you get it?"
"None of your business!"

As the two argued, Mikey noticed that Sam's hands were lightly shaking.
"Sam, you okay?"
"No she's not! Her family obviously didn't teach her about respecting people's privacy!"
"Dude can't you just answer some of the questions?!"

Sam clenched her fists together after the comment Raph made about her family, but she took a deep breath and was able to maintain control of herself.

"I'm fine, and he's right."
Raph and Mikey both turned towards her with slightly shocked expressions. Did she just agree with Raph, and at a time when he could hear her? Raph was used to her replying sarcastically or by using a joke to mock him, but she actually listened and agreed with him.

"He was nice enough to admit that it was his, so he answered one of my questions. I'll just leave it at that." She forced a fake smile and turned towards Mikey. "Come on, let's get back to training."
He replied with a gentle smile. "Yeah, let's go. Oh I made a list of all the cool moves I'm going to eventually teach you!"

The two then walked into the dojo. Sam could feel Raph's eyes glaring at her as she walked away from where they had all been standing. Eventually he went back to playing his videogames, and Sam couldn't have been more relieved. Seeing that sai really messed with her head. She hadn't seen that in so long and she so badly wanted to tell Mikey that she just wanted to go home. It had been a long time since she had looked back on the memories of when that sai was in her life, and seeing it so suddenly and without any type of warning was flooding her memory with flashbacks that she wasn't prepared to see. On top of that, Raph being a dick about it AND throwing an insult towards her family just brought on even worse feelings of anger. But luckily Raph had dropped things and went back to playing videogames, and moreover she had her new best friend. Thank goodness he was just being his dorky self that knew how to make her laugh and feel comfortable to bring her back to her senses. He didn't realize it, but him being him was literally saving her right now. She was afraid to think what could have happened if Mikey hadn't been in the room while the argument had gone down, but for now she was going to continue to have as many positive thoughts as possible. She had already cast everyone else out (since they had all ditched and ignored her in the first place) because of her past, and she didn't want it to tear her best friend away either.

*Friday evening/ school ends*

The bell rung and soon the entire school building was filled with noise as students were packing up their belongings and shoving their chairs under their desks so that they could run and catch up to talk with their friends. It was yet again another Friday night and everybody was excited for the plans they had in store. Sam listened to all the commotion as she leaned up against her locker in the hallway. She was currently using her spare phone to map and track locations that were usually hot spots for criminals since her and Mikey had some fun plans in store for that night. She was so absorbed in what she was doing that she didn't notice the five guys that walked over to her until she head the *slam!* of a lacrosse stick against the locker in front of her, the stick passing right by the front of her face.
"Dang, you didn't even flinch! How do you do that?"
Sam smiled as she looked up at Kyle, the most energetic of the five boys.

The Asian males in front of her were all members of her soccer team that she was a part of outside of school. Kris, Key, Kyle, Kevin, and Ken had known Sam for years and were some of the few people who actually talked to her in school. The only time they ever talked to her was when she was the only one in the hallway or if they got paired up in class, that and of course they talked to her at games and practices, but that's where the conversations would end. Them being on the same soccer team was the main reason they talked to her in general, but they were also some of the handful of people her age she had known since she was a kid. Each of them had siblings who had been friends with Jamie, Amber, Brian, and some now still friends with Jay, and then eventually also befriended the rest of her Caucasian family members.

Key walked over and threw his arm around Kyle's shoulder.
"Gee, you treat girls like that and you wonder why you're still single" he said mockingly. "So Sam, you coming to the final game today? You'll be surrounded by mostly Asian people" he said with a smirk.
Jokingly, Sam put her hand over her heart. "Oh goodness, you know that's my dream come true, how could I ever resist?" Key rolled his eyes and smiled before going back to messing with Kyle.
"What's that?" Kevin asked. He participated in many of the same academic clubs as Sam and was interested in the gadget she was using.
"Just an old phone I re-wired and sometimes use for simple things like GPS."
"You going somewhere?"
"Just looking for some places to hangout tonight."
He gave her a confused look. "I thought you were coming to the game."
"I am, but Jay is heading out with his group afterwards and I'd rather not be the awkward…whatever wheel I'll be since everyone in their group is dating someone now."
"Oh, so you're going out afterwards" he said as he raised his eyebrows in shock.
"Yeahhhh…" she said with a funny expression as she wondered where the boy was heading with these questions.
"You're going out with someone" Ken smirked.
"I am. With me, myself and I. The best trio you'll ever meet."
"You're behavior says otherwise madam" Ken replied.
"Ex-squeeze me?"
"You didn't even notice us walk up behind you, and you ALWAYS deflect any move I make. And it's not easy being able to deflect THESE!" he shouted as he showed off his muscles.
"Better confess now before I tell the future brother in law" Kris smirked. Kris was the younger brothers to Jay's girlfriend, Brenda.
"…you wouldn't…" she said with a worried expression.
"Then it looks like you better confess."
"*sigh* okay I may have made a new friend recently" Sam stated timidly.
"OOOOHHHH!" Key, Ken, and Kyle went crazy as they put their hands over their mouths. Kris and Kevin who were usually the somewhat calmer ones of the group even joined in on teasing her.
"Wow, and big brother doesn't know a thing! It would be such a shame for him to find out."
"Dude, Kris c'mon. I mean it's no big deal like we just met…a few weeks ago…I think?"

Sam had been spending so much time with her new friend that she honestly had lost track of the time. How long had she and Mikey been hanging out? She knew it had been about a week now that she had been hanging out in the lair, but she couldn't recall how long the two had been hanging out altogether.

Kris made a serious face now, leading the other three to do the same.
"Spill, where'd you meet?"
"Subway."
"Were you alone?"
"I was traveling by myself but the area was crowded."
"How old is he?"
"15."

She then felt Key put his right arm over her shoulders and Kyle put his left arm around her waist.
"So it's a he?" they asked in unison.
Sam froze as she realized what she had said. Usually she was calm and collected in situations like this, but lately she found herself slipping more and more. Was a new best friend that much of a distraction?

"…It's a he."
"OOOHHHH!" all five boys exclaimed as they jumped up and down in the empty hallway.
The five boys continued to tease Sam as they all exited the building. They each waved goodbye to each other, but Kris called out to her once the other three had walked away some.
"Don't worry, we'll keep your secret, just be careful okay?"
She smiled playfully. "Am I not always careful?"
He smiled as he looked down and then back at her, his hands tightly holding onto the straps of his backpack.
"You are, but…it's just been awhile."
"What do you mean?"
"You being this energetic and happy. Before you say anything" he said with his hands up in defense, "I'm not saying you're always down in the dumps or anything, but you've just…been on your own for a while. I haven't seen you this goofy since, well, before everything happened. I just don't want you to let your guard down. I know some shitty guys and I just don't want you hanging around anyone like them."
Sam's smile shrunk, but still remained on her face.
"Don't worry. Just because I found someone who has the same interests as me and is easy to talk to doesn't mean I'm going to go soft and allow them to do whatever they want to me. I still know how to kick ass and look for red flags. I got this" she said, swiping her hands over her shoulders.
Kris laughed so loud he had to instantly cover his mouth. He wasn't used to seeing her act so silly anymore and it was hilarious to see her act this way again.
He reached his arm out and Sam walked forward as the two hugged. As the two let go and Kris turned to go join his friends, she said some last words of thanks to her childhood friend.
"Thanks for still caring, even though I'm sure Jay asked you to check up on me."
"Honestly he did, since he knows I look after you like you're my own sister. But I'm glad I did."
He turned to go jog after his friends. "I've missed you kid!" he said as he took off.
"You can't call me kid when we're the same age!" she called out to him.
She saw him turn his head back for one last smile, and then he turned a corner and was gone.

As Sam walked towards her apartment building, she began to process what Kris had told her. He missed her? She had never left, she had been here the whole time. Even during her dark days she had been here, it was everyone else who had turned on her. She was confused at what he had meant by that, that and all the comments about her being so happy and fun again. Jay had said that the last time they hung out as well. She hadn't really noticed a change in herself until she realized what Kyle had been talking about earlier. She froze in place along the street as the thoughts processed through her head. He was right, all five of the boys had walked right up behind her and she hadn't really paid any attention to who it was. Usually she was always on alert of her surroundings, and knowing that her being so wrapped up in her plans with Mikey for later that night had distracted her like that began to worry her. She then remembered the previous weekend when she had been fighting along-side her new best friend and made note of her composure then, and as she thought of other moments like this she began to calm down and started to walk again.
"Okay, I haven't forgotten all I've been taught, I just need to be more aware. I can still be happy and excited, I just can't let my emotions get in the way. I still have to be very cautious of my surroundings and I also need to find ways to prepare myself for sudden situations that require quick thinking. I definitely need a refresher on that."

The rest of the way home Sam couldn't keep herself from smiling. As she continued to process what the boys had told her, she was now really beginning to notice the effects of her friendship with Mikey. She had been distracted because of her plans for later that night, which was a first for her because until what she assumed had been a matter of weeks ago, she never had plans. She was thrilled knowing that she would continue to have this excitement every night since her and Mikey always hung out together. He was literally the perfect friend for her, not only because they both had a lot of the same interests, but also because he seemed to egg on her inner adrenaline junkie self. Instead of reprimanding her for jumping roof tops and for sneaking into buildings, he joined her in doing so. And now he was actually turning her into even more of an adrenaline junkie by helping her train and even by helping her master her skills on her newly updated skateboard.

She realized that for the first time in a very long time that she felt feelings of safety and comfort that she hadn't felt in a long time. Thanks to Mikey she was never alone because she was either with him or thinking about him as she looked into places to go or for things to do with him. She wasn't even upset that the five childhood friends she had just talked to never even mentioned her coming to hang out with them until their game started, or even after it ended, because she knew that she was already heading somewhere else. She was a bit hurt that Kris still only saw her as a sister, but at the same time she had been so preoccupied lately that she hadn't really been thinking of romantic feelings towards anyone, so it didn't bother her as much as it had in the past.

When she got to her room she realized that she had received a message on her phone from Mikey asking if she was okay. She was supposed to head straight home after school, get what she needed for that night, and then head down to the sewers. As she updated Mikey on what had happened, that quickly she forgot all about past romances and was only focused on getting ready as quickly as she could so that she could go see her best friend.