Gosh, the nostalgia was real.
The white and yellow brick paint of the school halls streamed past April. Her heart was flooded with pumping elation as her classmates all greeted her, one-by-one. Most of their appearance's changed by the time period that she was gone, most of them stayed the same. But what was the most important was that April was back to see their faces.
"Hey, April!"
"Jeez, April, haven't seen you in a while."
"April, sit with us at break!"
The yellow-shirted girl noticed that blood flurried inside her cheeks. Embarrassment broadcasted her head to bury itself under the books she was holding. She wasn't used to all this attention; everything in her life had suddenly become so social and lively.
Recognition electrified April as a low, cocky voice sounded beside the girl. "Red!" Her close male friend slapped her shoulders playfully. "You came back!"
His name was Casey Jones: vigilante of New York, hockey player and her only friend who knew about the turtles. His 'Casey Jones' mask was always accompanied by his side, the symbol of a skeleton. The tall boy also wore a freakishly filthy vest and carried numerous hockey sticks that jutted out behind his back. His short black hair curled subtly at the top, and like Donnie, he had a wide gap in his teeth. Most times, he was annoying, but she felt that deep inside she could trust him with her life.
"Yep, I'm back, and I'm ready to have a normal life again," April conceded.
Casey giggled as he cast a sideways glance at her sneakily. "Now that we're both going to school together, we can have more quality time." His dark gaze plunged into hers dreamily- she hated that cheesy look. "Just you and me."
Oh, and did she mention he had a crush on her just like Donnie?
***
'Given the formula d=3t+8, find the value of:'
The tap of April's fingers on the calculator wafted inside her ears satisfyingly, yet struggling to block out the noise that droned from her classmate's chatter. The teacher had been gone from the classroom for about fifteen seconds, and now the chitchat was making her lose precious focus on her studies.
"Guys," she hissed at the particular gossiping-group, mostly the popular kids like Jackson Chambers and Natalie Kovlovsky; the kings and queens of the social hierarchy. Frustratedly, they didn't notice her and continuously tattled away. When April squinted, she could tell that they were giggling about something on the computer screen. Something she couldn't catch sight of.
Nonetheless, they could not ruin her first day back.
"Guys!" she forced her voice louder, and the group of kids one by one turned their heads to stare at her.
Pleased, April continued. "Could you please keep it down?"
In that moment, she noticed something... strange. Even though they had all heard her, they were still staring at her with wide eyes, static. An eternity passed before they all rotated their heads back to the computer, sniggering and speaking in hushed voices. Some of them were even glancing back and pointing at April.
Are they talking about me? April stretched her sense of hearing the furthest she could, but the group was alert about the ginger girl and spoke as quietly as possible. What are they saying?
A pang of curiosity clawed her, and Casey leaned in close at her right. "Don't pay attention to them, Red. Gossiping is the only hobby they have." His foul breath whirled against her ear.
Despite the smell, April chuckled and let her face melt into a frown. "I just hope it's not anything bad."
***
Ring-ding-ding-ding-ding!
The deafening school bell ricocheted into April's eardrums, seeming to send a shock through her skull. She hadn't gotten used to that either. Casey smoothly rode on his roller-skates beside her, twirling his hockey stick between both hands. "Sit with me in the cafeteria, I gotta show you a really cool video-"
"Actually, I think April should come with us," a shrill voice declared from behind, making both of them jump. April shuddered as soon as she rotated her head around.
There she was. The golden star of the school, overshadowing everything else. The centre of the gossip around Roosevelt High School who all the boys would pluck their own eye out for.
Natalie.
Glistening blonde hair streamed down her impossibly miniature waist, gorgeously curled up at the edges. Thick black lashes twined at the start of her fox-like eyes that resembled ice chips. Her spray-tanned skin accompanying her expensive black clothes only enhanced her beauty.
What would she want to do with April?
Casey, as expected, cooed over her immediately like the flirt he was. "Woah," he breathed, "you're kinda my style."
At times, life could really be unexpected- a glitch in the atmosphere- because Natalie ignored his lovestruck compliments (which she never does being the player she was) and grabbed April's shoulder. "April, I've got something special for you."
A twinge of unease was what April could sense inside her stomach. "W-What is it?" The anxious girl plastered on a grin.
The blonde beauty winked without an effort. "You'll have to find out!"
"Hey!" Casey's protest was abrupt. "What about me? I'm her boyfriend- I mean best friend!" He stumbled on his words the moment April shot him a sideways glare. Most of the times, he was abundantly annoying.
"Chelsea, Natasha!" Natalie called half-heartedly, snapping her fingers. Two shadows vaporised by her side and the unshadowed themselves to be her best friends, acutely on the same level of "gorgeous" as her. Subtle discomfort weaved itself around April by threads of jealousy as they strutted past.
Each of them latched onto Casey's elbow and started purring into his ears.
"Hiya, handsome.."
"I've always fancied a hockey boy..."
April's stomach flipped over and over, flooded with revulsion. Furthermore, she couldn't determine what was more disgusting- their flirting or Casey actually falling for the two fake girls. His eyes were hazy as he contently let him leash him away like a puppy.
Natalie raised an eyebrow and placed her petite ring-invaded hand on her left hip. "So, let's bounce!"
The two teenagers speed-walked through countless hallways. Every step they took broadcasted another block of perplexity building up inside April. "So," she wondered aloud, "where are you taking me...?"
"I have something' to give ya-" Natalie's voice was apathetic. "-To celebrate your school debut!"
"R-really?" April knew that she was supposed to feel happy, but something... wasn't right. Her telepathic powers said so. "In the.. bathroom?" The eerie opened door of the female bathroom was where Natalie led her, shadows licking up at the corners of the inauspicious doorway.
Before April could think another thought, strong hands clutched her shoulders and hair and didn't let go. The air stopped and they violently dragged her through the bathroom and forced April's head downwards and- what was going on?
"Hey, stop!" she hissed, but her voice was muffled by only more hands clenching her legs causing her to nearly lose balance. Distressed thoughts raced in a circle in her head and her heart quickened- what was happening? Why didn't they let go?
It hit her. Hard and clear.
She was being bullied.
All she could hear was her own protests as the myriad of hands forced her head down a toilet seat; waves of fury incessantly crashed over her, a peaceful sea now under a belligerent, ruthless storm.
Severely bullied.
April screamed for help, yet her voice only made bubbles in the gruesome seat's water. The next part was painful- as the toilet sea flushed, April's loose strands of red hair wailed in agony as they almost got whirled away into the grosteque abyss.
April managed to heave her head above the water for a few, quick heartbeats. Shock electrified her from head to toe- all the kids that were holding her down were all the girls that were in Natalie's group- some even greeted her this morning. Anger pulsed and powered through her and she managed to open her mouth. "Why are you doing this, you blonde freak?" It was aimed at Natalie.
In her peripheral vision, the blonde bee's face flared with amusement. "Why didn't you tell us you lived in a sewer, Red? Are you a rat in disguise?" The echoes of her hideous laughter hurt April's ears.
"She sure smells like one," one of Natalie's friends sniggered. "Smells like she hasn't showered for a month."
April drew in a sharp inhale of bewilderment. How did they know she lived in the turtle's lair? Although April could only see disgusting toilet water in her face, she could hear the whole scene expand before her.
"Show her this," Natalie commanded to her minion.
Two more grimy hands grasped April's hair upwards. A phone got shoved into her face. Herself was on the screen, climbing down the sewer manhole. Natalie. She must've taken photos after being curious why April wasn't coming to school.
Instead of of feeling her cheeks heat with humiliation, a growl automatically grumbled in her throat and it was done in a flash- her teeth yanked on one of the arm's that was holding her's skin. A howl of agony gifted her satisfaction from beside.
"She bites like a rat too!" A minion sneered.
"I'm not a rat!" April struggled to keep her voice above the chaos. "I live in an apartment with my dad, I like shopping, I like music, I'm just a normal girl! I'm just ordinary! I'm just like you guys! Why are you doing this to me, you hideous buffoons? Why-"
Bam.
Sharp pain reverberated through her side. The indescribable agony rippled through her bent body. Water shot in her face once again, but didn't stop.
"Ugh, she has the nerve to call me hideous? Has she ever looked in the mirror?" The click-clack of Queen Bee's heels ascended behind April. The redhead could sense Natalie crouching down to her eye level with a glare seemed to shoot out burning-hot lasers. Her tone of voice softened, but mockingly. "It's just that most of us don't live in sewers, honey."
Wham.
Natalie's fist pounded the back of April's head. The world spun. Disgusting liquid once again coursed through her mouth and stung her eyes. The substance dripped down her fringe- she didn't even know what was happening anymore. The millions of hands grabbing at her were chains, and this was all one big torture chamber.
It was endless.
April nearly gave up on resisting. If only the turtles were here, they'd save her. If only the turtles were here, they'd comfort her. If only the turtles were here, she wouldn't have anything to worry about.
But mutant turtles weren't allowed in the school.
If only they were human.
April's boiling, furious blood threw itself higher and higher, hungrily, like flames she couldn't control. A thousand thoughts raged inside the back of her mind per second, materialising a distressed tsunami. They both grew so big that, she couldn't take it anymore.
For a few heartbeats, all she could see was white. The fiery feeling that scorched through her skin was the second part of the process, the alien, agonising feeling making her howl. The hands that chained on April's arms evaporated. The walls caved around the human-kraang hybrid rattled unsteadily. The strong, enduring power was radiating out of April's head in an instant, knocking all of the students around her off their puny little feet. Their small bodies crashed against the walls, without even making physical contact with her.
That just then was the effect of her Kraang-bred psychic powers.
The mental blaze of fury allowed itself to continue. April snatched both arms of a random minion at her left and drove her knee through their stomach. Some footsteps ambled noisily from behind so April flipped, propelling her heel into their eyes. Their pitiful yet pathetic cry was inaudible to her. They got what they deserved.
Two more girls who had shaken off the dizziness caterwauled forward forcefully. The muscle memory of the moves Splinter had taught her summoned in April's veins. The ginger summersaulted over both of them. The shameful, despicable minions crashed head-first into the wall behind her. None of them knew how to fight. How sad.
April cracked her knuckles, dazed by outrage. She wasn't going to waste all the training she had done with Splinter, was she?
***
"Expelled."
April couldn't bare to look Principle Hughes in the eye right then. Yes, she deserved to be expelled. The girl dug out her tragic memory- she had caused about fourteen students injuries, and half needed to be tended at the hospital.
But what about the causes that led up to her actions? What about Natalie and her friends flushing her face down a toilet? What about the bruises on the back of her head where Natalie pummelled her, or the amount of hair she had lost?
Expectedly, Principal Hughes didn't even question them. After the bell rang, April had taken her last step inside the school forever.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
