It would be such an odd sight to anyone who knew that Aldo was the leader of a gang. But to those who didn't know a thing it would look like we were a bunch of friends having lunch. 'Those' being my dad who was serving us lunch.
"so, you just moved here after your parents separated. And who are you staying with, your mom, dad?" asked my dad, who sat at the head of the table.
"yep my dad, he's a teacher," Aldo answered, then devoured a whole sandwich.
"oh at the high school?"
"no, primary school. Science teacher," Aldo replied oh so nonchalantly. "my brother goes there."
"what grade?" Blaze asked, from the couch, keeping his eyes trained on the TV screen but ears alert, as usual.
"6. Donatello, know that kid?"
He hopped off his seat and turned to us, grinning. "Donny?! so you're Aldo. He's my best friend."
"nice meeting you, kid. He's not too much trouble, is he?" they shook hands.
Blaze shrugged. "we're both trouble." And went back to his movie.
"oh sir." Aldo put his sandwich down and dusted his hands. "I hope you don't mind my shades; I have bad eye sight."
Dad shook his head. "that's alright son. I figured that was the case, you're too polite to have bad manners."
My team and I were just sitting there, watching Aldo act like a normal human being. It wasn't quite settling in yet, that this person was the person whose cronies beat us to a pulp.
When Dad finally left for work we filed out to the porch where the tiger slept in the corner. We sat around the table in silence for the first few minutes until Connor cleared his throat.
"what now?" Connor asked.
Aldo turned his head, rubbed his eyes then turned back. "I told you, I need your help."
"I don't see why you would need our help controlling your men. You didn't have much trouble before," Emi grumbled.
Aldo scowled. "it's not their fault. They're loyal men!"
"some 'loyal' men they are," I mumbled.
Aldo slipped his shades down by a centimeter only for Matt to force it back on with a sharp breeze from his finger. The tiger stirred awake but I told her nothing was wrong and she went back to sleep.
"keep that on man, we don't want trouble," Matt said.
"Look, if you won't help me then I'll just leave." Aldo began to stand but then Flora spoke.
"they're not acting like themselves, bit dazed and insane?"
Aldo sat back down and pursed his lips. For some reason he wouldn't meet Flora's eyes. "yeah, exactly."
"so your guys are high, what are we gonna do about it?" Emi said, rolling her eyes.
"it's not like that. They don't even look like themselves. Almost like animals, I figured you guys would know something about that," Aldo explained.
"didn't you say, you guys were collecting animals for someone?" I asked.
He nodded. "it was a quick job. Got some of the rookies to do it." Then he stiffened up and put a hand to his head. Matt cracked his knuckles. But then Aldo dropped his hand and shook his head. "they were the first to start acting up."
"was it like an infection?" Connor asked.
"yeah kind of like that. One day the rookies were feeling a little under the weather the next a dozen of them are knocked out. Then all of a sudden all my men turn on me. I managed to hold them off until I left but my powers didn't help much," Aldo said. "maybe my eyes are not working, can I try on one of you guys?"
"NO!" all five of us said together.
He smirked and laughed. "ok, ok, I won't. Just kidding, they're working fine. Scared a baby on my way here."
"not funny man," Matt griped.
"hey I'm going through a rough patch, just trying to be a little optimistic." Aldo grinned, and that was scary enough to scare a baby.
"you have a terrible sense of humor," I said.
"thanks."
"that wasn't a—never mind. So how do we do this? We go down to your base or whatever you call it--your home? and we beat them back to their senses?" I suggested.
"already tried. Hit one with a table. Didn't work." Aldo shrugged.
"ok, hitting people with tables is crossed off the list," I said, "why don't we try speaking to them, nicely?"
"what?" Aldo said, dumbfounded. "what do you want me to say, 'hey bros what's got you all so high? why don't we have some tea instead of blood and drugs.'"
"ok enough with the sarcasm," Emi groaned. "tomorrow you get ready and meet us at the bus stop. We'll go speak to them after tomorrow."
"why after tomorrow?"
"because I said so, they're not going anywhere are they?" Emi glared.
Aldo shifted uncomfortably and folded his arms over his chest. "no, but I don't." The last part was almost whispered but it was loud enough to be heard.
"what about your pops?" Matt asked.
Aldo wrinkled his nose and said some profanities under his breath. "don't like the guy."
"well you got no other choice, now do you?" Connor said.
Flora nodded. It was final.
Luckily the forest was basically a hop, skip and a jump away so we accompanied him to his dad's place. Once we were in the center of the forest, he knocked on a tree and the ground opened up to a staircase. He reluctantly followed it down and the hole closed up after him.
"why exactly are we helping him again," Matt asked.
"we're heroes aren't we?" I said.
Everyone mumbles yeahs. And we began our journey out of the forest again.
"also what are we doing tomorrow?" I asked.
"we're visiting Flor's grandma. We need some advice," Emi said.
"your grandma is a...?" Matt looked to Flora expectantly.
"she's an earth whisperer. She knows a lot about things that happen on and in the ground," Flora explained.
Matt nodded. "ahhh, makes sense. Your grandma nice?"
"she's like the witch from Hansel and Gretel, except she won't eat you. She'll probably just feed you till you pop."
"nice," Matt said, looking satisfied.
~~
The tiger slept in my room and was basically our treasured guests since she arrived. Dad didn't mind, as usual. These days she mostly hangs around Zooli, who feeds and bathes her (how she controls the animal is beyond me). I made the tiger promise me to never leave without my permission, and if she disobeyed I would know because we were now linked.
Saturday felt hella long. And crazy but, it ended alright with my comfy bed against my back. Sunday morning came round in a jiffy. I got ready, and walked to the bus stop, but when I got there the only person there was, Connor. I stopped dead in my tracks, and took a careful step back and turned around. What was I doing? Contemplating. Contemplating what? How much more of an idiot I could get. Once I agreed that I'd look even more like an idiot standing there like that I readied myself and turned. Waved. Smiled. Acted normal, right? Normal people act like that right?
"hey you're early?" he said when I reached him.
I nodded and sat, at the edge of the bench—far away from him.
"sleep well?" he asked.
I looked ahead. "like a baby."
He laughed. "that's good."
And for approximately one-minute no one said a thing and it was without a doubt, awkward. Not that I was counting.
"so ah Ray, I was wondering...?"
I took a peek at him. He smiled. Why was his smile so damn sweet? Ugh, I slapped myself mentally.
"hmm? You were wondering?"
"there's this girl I like. And I want to tell her I like her, what should I do?"
A/n: if you're wondering what primary school is then let me enlighten you, because its confusing and I have even confused even myself and those who know what it is. Primary school is basically grades 1-8. secondary school is 9-12. while high schools are only 11 and 12. well, at least this is how its done in my country. so that should put Rayne and her team in the year 10, in secondary school, not yet in high school. i'll edit that part, when i get the time. but yeah, hope you liked the chapter and i hope i'm not boring you. ta.