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sɪ́ sᴇɴ̃ᴏʀɪᴛᴀ.
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"𝕀𝕋 is science guys, come on! Hey, MacPhearson—do not put that heart in your mouth... I swear to God!"

I watched as our bio teacher rushed to the other side of the classroom, his eyes wide as he moved to stop Jet MacPhearson, a jock who was messing about with his friends. The rowdy group of boys laughed as Jet pretended to eat the frog heart, no one in the group acting mature while dissecting the small animal.

My legs swung back and forth, my head resting on my hand as I watched the scene.

"Can either of you help out?" April sighed in frustration at my lack of attention and Casey continuously messing around with the frog corpse on the tray.

I pursed my lips, turning to look back at my red-headed friend. She was staring at Casey angrily, a hand on her hip as her other held the scalpel.

"Does this not rub either of you the wrong way, you know considering..." I started only for April to rush to stop me.

"Yes, yes!" She rushed out, looking around to make sure no one heard me. I only rolled my eyes, knowing that there were no robotic Kraang around or any random ninjas listening in. "But I am trying not to think about that, Andi!"

There was no reply other than a yelp as Casey suddenly popped up in front of me, holding the small dead reptile. He jerked it back and forth while doing a sad impression of Donatello's voice.

"Look, I'm Donnie, and all I want is for April to love meeee, blah blah mehhhhh—!"

"Casey, stop it! That is not funny!" April exclaimed, forcing him to place the animal back on the tray.

Shaking off the disgust I felt, I could only be glad that we were all required to wear latex gloves while dealing with this procedure. The lights of the classroom flickered ever-so-slightly, a sign of the school being more rundown and not as up-to-date as it should be.

Colorful flyers were posted on the bulletin board by the door, and the whiteboard was filled to the brim with different equations for various Bio-related things. The stools that we were forced to sit in were extremely uncomfortable, and it was even worse seeing as April was more than eager to sit at the front of the classroom.

April was just about the only smart person in this Bio class, every other person either stupid jocks, popular mean girls, and kids who simply were done with life. The classic high school makeup.

I could not help but notice some kid, the only non-jock in the rowdy group with Jet MacPhearson and company, with his hoodie pulled up and his head lying on the table. If I remember correctly, he was forced into being with the group as he did not choose a group.

My heart went out to him.

Turning away from the stupid group, I looked back at my own group. Luckily, Irma—April's other friend—did not share this class with us, so Casey and I did not need to listen to insistent ramblings on facts that we did not care about.

Irma was nice enough, but she could get annoying very easily.

I stared down at my converse, smiling at the sight of a drawn-on smiley face. Seeing as the bottoms of the shoes were ruined by the sewers, I chose to make these my designated lair shoes.

It had been a few days since I met the turtles, and I had not been back to the lair since. Not because I did not want to, but because once I came home late, Mom (while she let it go) was also suspicious.

It was hard lying to her, so I made sure as she was getting off early the past few days, to be home exactly after school so her suspicions ran thin. Thankfully, tonight was the first night where she would be working her normal incredibly late hours.

Along with that, Casey and April had passed on the information that the turtles admitted to wanting to see more of my face around. Something about how they didn't "want me to be a stranger" and Casey had added especially Leo, which I still did not understand. Especially with April's added laugh.

"Casey, Andi, seriously, we need find the pulmonary artery!" April stomped her foot before shaking her head. "God, I wish Donnie were here," that comment alone started another round of arguing from Casey and April.

In response to them, I only cuddled further into my jacket, the sweater underneath providing extra warmth and softness. The darkwash jeans I wore were not all that tight, easily allowing my foot to come up so I could rest my head comfortably on my knee.

As much as I had wanted to do my makeup earlier—as there was a new trend that I more than wanted to try—I was too tired to get up any earlier than I had to. That led to a makeup-less day for me, as well as a bad hair day since my hair was just tugged into a low bun.

Obviously, considering I just learned about one of the biggest secrets in New York, I was still blown away about the turtles. However, considering I spent four months in one of the most top-secret government bases, you could say I handled weird relatively well.

I had thought about them a lot the past few days, especially the leader in blue; Leonardo.

"Casey, give me the scalpel! You can't cut there!" I looked to April panicking over Casey pretending to be a doctor.

Our teacher was still far too busy with Jet and company to take any note to what was happening up front.

I did not bother getting involved, simply watching the two of them fight over the scalpel. Casey kept claiming to know what he was doing only for April to reprimand him.

After a few seconds, their voices began fading as another became more prominent.

There was a voice speaking, and at first I thought it was our teacher; however, upon further listening I realized it was not. In fact, it was someone who sounded as though they did not even belong here.

I perked up immediately, but the voice which I could barely make out was not any clearer. Furthermore, it was not even a voice, I realized.

It almost sounded like a song.

"...well, you can't tell by the way that I use my walk, I'm a woman's man..."

It was the Bee Gees, but why the fuck was Stayin' Alive stuck in my head? However, it did not sound like it was even in my head properly, it sounded like I was literally listening to a radio station playing this song that was cutting in and out.

"What the fuck?" I asked, especially when, for just a second, it looked as though the air in front of me shifted and changed color.

Like some sort of wave.

Shaking my head, the odd occurrence was gone and yet the song was still in the background. Deciding not to complain, I simply nodded along to it. Stayin' Alive was amazing, after all.

"Stayin' alive, stayin' alive...." I gently hummed, smirking as I watched April consistently hit Casey for accidentally cutting the wrong artery and ruining the entire project for us.

"Casey, we're going to fail now!"

"Don't worry, Casey Jones never fails!"

"Well you can tell that to our teacher once you explain why you cut the wrong cord!"

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"You know guys, I am so happy to finally have other humans who are in on the turtles," April explained as the three of us practically skipped through the streets toward a certain manhole later that day.

"I mean, the guys are cool and everything and I love them to death, but sometimes being the only human in a house full of mutants..." April trailed off as though unsure what to say.

Casey, who was wearing his mask with his hockey weapons attached to his back perked up.

"Sucks?"

"Honestly, yeah," April nodded her head before turning to me, "but thank God for you Andi, I'm not sure if I could stand being the only only girl to six guys!"

"Hey! We're not bad!" Casey defended himself.

"You and Raph were having a belching contest the other day," April deadpanned.

I scrunched my nose as the thought.

"So? I totally won that by the way!" Casey sniggered as April sighed.

"How about the loogie competition between you and Mikey?" She crossed her arms.

"Why are you just naming competitions that I've won?" Casey questioned with genuine confusion as April only sighed.

"My point exactly," she turned to me while motioning to Casey who shrugged.

I quirked a brow. "What about Donnie, you and him seem to get along well?"

Casey groaned at the sound of the lean turtle's name.

April's eyes lit up, "Oh, Donnie's cool, he always helps me with homework and he's good to talk to!" I did not miss the light in her eyes as she spoke about him. "He's like my best friend!"

"And," I coughed almost awkwardly, "Leonardo?"

April took on the smile of a viper, "He's probably the sweetest and most polite of the bunch," she explained, "Why? Interested?"

"Interested?!" Casey and I sqwaked at the same time, both of us turning our heads to face the other at our simultaneous voices.

However, thinking about Leonardo made me remember something.

I stopped, slapping the palm of my hand to my forward, "Oh shoot, I told Leonardo that I would bring Mexican food so we can eat together next time I saw him!"

April and Casey also stopped.

"You told him what?" April asked.

"Well, I did not necessarily suggest it," I kicked a random piece of trash out of the way, "he asked in a weird way, but I think he just wanted Mexican food," I explained.

"How'd he ask?" Casey shoved his mask up and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Well," I tapped my chin, "he said something about him and me eating together—just the two of us..."

"Like a date?!" April practically screamed excitedly causing me to shrug.

"Uhm... no? At least, I don't think so..." I explained, my brows furrowed in confusion.

"Sounds like a date to me," Casey shrugged, pulling out a hockey stick and leaning on it with a smirk.

"I don't think so, he would have said date if that was what he meant," I stated as April gave me a disbelieving look.

"Well, we're almost to the hole, I'm sure Leo won't mind if you bring food next time," she said as I shook my head and started backing away.

"No way! I already fought him, so I do not want to give him another reason to dislike me, I'll meet you guys at the lair!"

"Wait, Leo's really not like that—" April tried, but I only waved her off, zooming off in the direction I knew Sí Señorita's to be.

After grabbing the food, I hummed while moving away the manhole. Even now, I still surprised myself with my own strength as I held the bag of food in one hand and moved the manhole with my other.

However, what I saw down there upon moving the metal was not what I was expecting.

I screamed as my eyes were met with pure white threatening ones. Leaping back, I lost my grip on the food and it went plummeting down the hole. However, the eyes soon revealed themselves to be familiar kind blue ones, a blue mask in play.

The ninja was quick to grab the food bag before it could hit the ground, his gaze flicking up and meeting mine nervously.

"Leonardo?!" I called in a panicked tone, my pulse only just going back down. "What the hell?!" I spat angrily, glaring down at him.

He looked sheepish before it morphed into an apologetic look.

"Sorry, April and Casey came back and told me you went to grab food—I thought that you might need help carrying it or that you might get lost in the tunnels. Plus, I felt bad... you didn't need to get it today, I was just suggesting it for sometime in the future... just the two of us..." he spoke his explanation extremely quickly and added the last part nervously.

I shrugged, "Oh, well thanks," I said before climbing down the hole, moving the metal back in place.

"Let me help you—" I did not even let Leonardo finish sentence before I hopped off the ladder and landed on the ground easily, "—or not..."

I smiled at him, the both of us quickly walking in the direction I knew the lair to be. I did not bother telling him that I would not have gotten lost. It was not that the lair was particularly easy to find, it was just that I had a rather good sense of direction.

"Mmm," Leonardo hummed happily, "what'd you get, it smells good," he tilted his head down to me.

I smirked in reply, remembering how I got the turtles each something I believed they might enjoy.

Or at least hoped they would. After all, what do you pick for guys who eat pizza, sushi, ramen, and pizza-dumplings religiously?

"Lots of things," I answered cryptically earning an interested look in reponse.

We got to lair within minutes, and as the both of us walked in—Leo trailing behind while also holding the bag of food, we were greeted by nearly everyone in the lair. Well, actually, everyone only gave verbal greetings while Mikey physically approached us.

"Dudette, you're back!" He cheered before wrapping me in a huge hug.

My eyes widened in surprise as the (surprisingly cuddly) turtle snuggled me for a hot second before releasing me and staring at me with a hopeful expression. I was unsure on what he wanted so I only turned around to look at Leonardo questionably, only to notice Leonardo was already tossing Mikey an irritated look.

"Mikey, give her some space," he groaned as Mikey all but ignored him.

He simply continued staring at me before saying a single phrase, "Pizza?"

"Try Mexican," I smiled back, following Leonardo as he headed to their apparent kitchen.

"Awww, but also yum," I heard Mikey say as he followed after us.

The turtle's kitchen had a single run-down refrigerator along with an equally as run-down oven and microwave. There was a makeshift but sturdy counter with three barstools and a table meant to seat six toward the back.

Leonardo placed the food on the counter and got out plates while I began taking out the containers. Raphael and Casey found their way into the kitchen leading me to wonder where Donnie and April were hiding.

"So Leo," Casey started while leaning casually against the counter, "Andi looks like she needed so much help!"

I gave him a questioning look only for Raphael to suddenly mock Leonardo in a whiny sad tone of voice.

"Ohhh, but she might get lost in the dark tunnels, or what if she needs help carrying everything? i bEttER gO!"

Casey and Raphael fell into a laughing fit joined by Mikey.

Leo crossed his arms with a huff, pouting sourly, "look just because I have manners—"

"Leonardo, here you go," I suddenly pressed Leo's plate of mini chimichangas to him.

Everyone other than Casey looked to it curiously.

"Woah, what is it?" Mikey pointed.

"Chimichangas," I answered easily, "they are like little fried burritos, and soooo good—it's my favorite, thought I'd make you try em'," I smiled slyly to Leonardo who was already blushing and staring at me with a shit-eating grin.

"O-Okay," he agreed immediately as I turned to Mikey.

"Mexican pizza for you, of course," I barely got out before Mikey was thanking me and taking the plate of food away.

"Casey, yours is in the bag," I waved him off earning a groan while handing Raph his, "and some tacos for you, Raphael,"

"Ha, sweet," he grinned taking the food away while Casey complained about why I couldn't hand him his food too.

"Where are Donnie and April?" I asked, grabbing my own chimichangas.

"Donnie's lab, they're doing nerd things," Casey answered through a mouthful of food.

"Andi," I turned to Leonardo who was eagerly motioning to the living room, "want to come watch Space Heroes with me while we eat?" He asked hopefully.

Raphael and Casey snickered while I tilted my head.

"What's that?"

"Only the best show ever—"

"Try the lamest," Raphael interrupted his brother who all but wilted and tossed him an upset frazzled expression.

"Raph, you are just a hater..."

"Sure, let's see what this is all about then," I grinned, as Leonadro eagerly led me to the pit.