Ninja Stars

Chapter 2 - "Wait, boys?"

Chapter 2 - "Wait, boys?"

I watched the trees pass us silently, a mixed blur between me and the glass. After a comforting silence, April reached down and twisted the knob of the radio. Olly Murs, I blame Hollywood’s upbeat chorus burst through the speakers, making me jump. April laughed and turned it down.

“Here I was, thinking ninja’s were never surprised,” She scoffed, tapping along to the beat, bouncing her red hair. She started to mouth to the words and grinned at me when she saw me looking. “Come on spy girl, you can sing Olly Murs right?”

I smirked at her. “He’s British; I think I know his songs.” She laughed at my answer and his next song came on. They were playing the entire album.

“So…how old are you? You look eighteen, but the boys and I are fifteen and sixteen, s-“

“Wait, boys?” I stared at her, my hands palm down on the dashboard. My inky black hair made a dark curtain between the window and I, but I could see April bite her lip in frustration. She coughed and nodded, a scared expression settling over her features when I slumped against the chair.

She turned a corner and started apologizing, over and over again, way to fast for me to even decipher the scrambled words. It was amusing when you thought about it, her face going as red as her hair.

After I said it didn't matter, she let out a long sigh. “Thank God, I thought you were going to karate chop them. Anyways, how old are you?” This red-headed girl was very animated, and should’ve gotten on my nerves, but I found it comforting.

With a smirk, I replied, “fourteen. I’ve stayed with Sensei Hamiki all my life. This is my first birthday away from home.” April nodded, and then her eyes widened.

Then came the squeal.

I jumped from my seat and narrowed my eyes from her, seeing the satisfied full grin stretched out like plastic across her face. Her one hand was on the steering wheel and the other was poised over her mouth in a shocked way. “It’s your birthday soon!?”

I put my finger in my ear and twisted it. “Yes, and I think I've gone deaf. I can’t hear you anymore-e…” I joked sarcastically, a small smile on my face. She didn't care, and her smile was bigger than a Cheshire cat’s.

Then it disappeared. “Uh, Onyx…did Sensei Hamiki explain that Sensei Splinter and his…students, live somewhere out of the ordinary?” she asked, and she started gnawing at a thumb nail, turning again around a round-about. Everyone drove on the wrong side of the road in America. I kept thinking we were going to crash.

I nodded my lips tight now, she’d asked me before. She asked me if I knew what it was, and I shook my head, letting it sit gently against the glass, arms crossed. She took my muteness as missing my Sensei, which it was, but I was here to represent him. I was here to represent his hard work to Sensei Splinter.

Suddenly, we stopped. The car was parked along the curb of the road and sat there. April started digging in her bag for something, and pulled out a union jack purse, a chain hanging down the side. She grinned at me and told me to wait a second whilst she ‘popped inside to get greasy pizza’s’ from an old pizza hut.

When she went into the shop, a grin as she greeted the cashier, I dug into my duffel bag. When I found what I was looking for, I slipped the dagger into the sole of my boot. My bladed fans went into the belt hidden under my shirt. A poised spider was my mark. My ninja stars were tucked into little pockets that I’d sown under my shirt sleeves, and the sharp edges of the stars were protected by thick leather. Then, something buzzed next to my hand.