Mike woke a few mintes before his alarm was able to wake him as he pushed the button to cancel the alarm. He got up and walked downstairs and sat at the kitchen table, Raphie raised a brow at him. "You're up early, usually we have to drag you out of your bed," he chuckled.
Mike looked at him and shrugged, "guess I wasn't that tired, so just woke up," he said as Raph placed a warm muffin on his plate. Mike smiled a little and dug into the muffin, before he walked to school with Raphie.
"Hey, Mike? Can I ask why you're giving Nei a hard time? She's a really nice and sweet person, if you gave her a chance, you'll really like her."
Mike looked at Raphie, "with respect Uncle Raphie, it's none of your business. I don't want to get to know her, I want nothing to do with her." He said, he huffed a little, "I'll see you when I get home." Mike added as he left to the building and walked through the door of his classroom and took his seat next to Mark as they fist bumbed.
Leo walked in, holding his briefcase and placed it on his desk, he looked at his students. "Good morning everyone," he greeted with a wide smile.
"Good morning!" Everyone called back with equally wide smiles.
Leo smiled, "I have a treat for you all today, we are taking a trip to the forest to have a little scavenger hunt, does anyone here know what that is?" he asked, leaning againt his desk.
Mark raised his hand, "yes Mark?"
"Is it something to do with finding some things you have on a list or something?"
Leo smiled, "yes, that's exactly what a scavenger hunt is. Each of you will pair up in two's and work as a team to find the items that's on your list, every list will have ten items on it that you will need to find." He said as he turned and opened his briefcase and took out the lists, "now each of you pair up and come to with me as I lead you to the forest, I ask you all if you all will be willing to hold hands with your partner as we head out, this is known as a buddy system, that way I wont lose track of you all, the one in front will hold my hand as we head down there."
Mike sweat dropped, he was still grounded from going to the forest, he raised his hand up. "Yes Mike?"
"Can I come talk to you?" Mike asked, Leo smiled and gave a nod as he waved him over to him. Mike got up from his seat and walked over to Leo. "I don't think I can go, I'm grounded from going to the forest by daddy," he whispered.
Leo smiled, "don't worry, I'm sure your father won't have any problems about it, it's part of today's lesson, I'm very sure he will understand," he whispered gently. Mike smiled a little and gave a nod as he returned to his seat.
Mark leaned over to Mike, "what was that all about?" He whispered.
Mike looked at him, "my dad grounded me from going to the forest and stuff, but he said that it would be okay since it's part of the lesson." He whispered back.
Leo looked up, "alright everyone, grab your buddy and let's get going," he said as they all got up, took their buddies hands and left with Leo. As they reached the edge of the forest he stopped and looked back at his students, "okay class, I've marked the trees with some coloured ropes, so each of you won't have any problems or worries about getting lost, however, I will give each of you a whistle. If you don't know how to find your way back, give the whistle a blow and I will come to get you, blow the whistle each time with a five second gap until you see me." Leo informed as he handed each student a whistle and a list, they placed the whistle around their necks and walked into the forest with their buddies and began their search.
Mike looked at Mark, "what's the first thing on the list?"
"Some type of bark from a tree with a red rope around it," Mark looked around, "well there's a blue rope around that tree, so that red one is around here somewhere."
Mike smiled, "let's get exploring!" He chuckled as they began their search, Mike went in one direction as Mark went the other, they had no worry of getting lost. Both boys had been to the forest many times, they knew their way around. Mike looked around for the red rope that was tied around one of the trees, while he searched, Raphael was currently showing Nei around the forest when he spotted Mike.
"Mike!" Raphael half yelled, as he began to walk towards him with a slightly annoyed look.
Mike swallowed hard as he backed up, he turned and ran. Raphael took chase after him, Mike weaved through the trees as he ran, passing Mark and several other of his class mates as he ran further and deeper into the forest, he quickly climbed one of the trees, going as far and high as he could, and hid in the leaves on a strong branch as he cought his breath.
Raphael looked around for several minutes before he gave a frustrated grunt and walked back to where he had left Nei. Mike looked down and sighed in relief, watching Raphael leave, he was about to climb down when he noticed something stuck in between two branches. Mike reached over and took hold of it, it was purple and looked like a scale or somekind, carefully he climbed down and placed the scale into his shell and re-joined Mark as they continued the search for the items on their list.
Once the class re-joined Leo and showed him their findings, he praised them all and gave them each a scavenger hunt sticker for a job well done. As they all got back into the classroom to grab their bags and left, Mike approached Leo. "..Umm.."
Leo looked up at him from his desk chair, "yes Mike, what is it?" he asked with a smile.
"I um...I found something in the forest..."
"Oh? What would that be?" Leo asked.
Mike reached into his shell and took out the purple scale and placed it on Leo's desk, "I found that in a tall tree I climbed."
Leo stared at the scale on his desk, he quickly and shortly shook his head, "wait a moment, you found that in a tree? What were you doing, climbing a tree?! All of my items on the list were on the ground!" He said in concern.
Mike flinched a little, "I was running from my dad....He saw me in the forest and he just looked really mad....I know I could've just told him why I was in there...But he didn't look like he was in a listening mood..." He said in a small voice as he looked down.
Leo gave a sympathetic look to Mike, "would you like me to call you father and explain to him the reason why you were in the forest?" He asked gently as he got up and placed a gentle hand on Mike's shoulder.
Mike shook his head, "no it's okay, he'll see the sticker you gave me anyway, but thanks for the offer."
Leo smiled a little, "would it be alright if I took the scale with me to study it?"
Mike looked up and smiled a little, "sure." He looked at the clock, "I better get going, don't want my Uncle Raph or Raphie doing a search party for me if I'm not home on time." Mike chuckled a little.
Leo chuckled, "no I don't suppose anyone would want to see their uncles running around and barking orders into megaphones to find their nephew."
Mike laughed and shook his head, "no, it would be soooo embarrasing!" He smiled, "well, see you tomorrow in class teach." Mike smiled as he walked out of the classroom and walked back home. Slowly he opened the back door and walked quietly inside, looking around.
"Mike, come here!"
Mike jumped at hearing Raphael's voice, he swallowed and walked into the living room, to see Raphael sitting on the couch next to Raph. Raphael stood up as he stared at Mike with a heavy strict look as he spoke in a deep serious and low tone, "I am highly disappointed in you, you disobayed me deeply for going to the forest today and I-"
Mike stared at Raphael with a deep glare, "I NEVER DISOBAYED YOU FOR GOING TO THE FOREST! I EVEN TOLD MY TEACHER THAT I WAS GROUNDED FROM GOING THERE BY YOU! HE TOLD ME THAT I SHOULDN'T WORRY ABOUT IT SINCE IT WAS THE LESSON TODAY FOR A SCAVENGER HUNT! AND THAT YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND! HE EVEN GAVE US A STICKER FOR IT! I CAN'T EVEN TALK TO YOU ANYMORE WITHOUT YOU THINKING I DID SOMETHING WRONG! YOU BLAME ME WHEN I HAVEN'T EVEN DONE ANYTHING!!" He yelled before he burst into tears and ran upstairs to his room, slamming the door shut.
Raphael stared after Mike in shock as he slowly sat back down, rolling Mike's word over and over in his head. "Am I THAT bad a father to him?"
Raph looked at Raphael and placed his hand on Raphael's shoulder, "your not a bad father Raphael. The kid's just going through some changes, what with ya girl and that he wants ta be with ya. It's just something new ta him, give him time and he'll accept her and this new change."
Raphael sighed and gave a short nod, "I truly hope he will come to accept her and to see that she will be as good for him as she is for me, I've been dating her for nearly a year now. I would very much like for her to be my wife, I had planned to ask her tonight....But with what happened just now, it might not be the right time."
Raph gently rubbed Raphael's shoulder, "I know what ya mean bro....But I think Mike needs ya more right now, more than anything. Try ta talk ta him, heck, even try ta explain ta him about everything that went on with ya and your girl."
Raphael looked at Raph, "he might not want to talk to me now, or ever again."
"Hey, ya never know unless ya talk ta him right? Wasn't it ya who said ta him, that he can talk ta ya about anything? So why not go talk ta him, I think both of ya need ta talk about what's running through ya heads and shells."
Raphael smirked as he wrapped his arm around Raph and placed a big kiss to his cheek, "you're a good one Raph," he said, getting up and walked to the stairs.
Raph wiped his cheek, "ya a sloppy kisser bro!"
Raphael chuckled quietly to himself, as he got to Mike's bedroom door, he took a deep breath, knocked gently, opened the door and walked in. Raphael gently sat down on the edge of the bed, "Mike? Would you like to talk?"
Mike kept his back faced towards Raphael, "I have nothing to say to you."
Raphael swallowed slightly, "okay, you don't have to talk to me...But will you please listen?" He looked at Mike and took a deep breath, "I know these past few days haven't exactly been the best for either of us. I'm sorry I haven't been as patient as I have with you, I didn't consider what type of stress you may have been going through, with Nei coming to meet you and us going out." He sighed, "the fact is, I really like and she likes me, she can be good for you as she's good for me, if you would just give her a chance. I know you'll like Nei if you just got to know her." Raphael added, he got up and leaned over, placing a kiss to Mike's cheek, as he leaned over a small box fell out of his pocket, landing beside Mike's stomach. "She's coming over for dinner tonight, you're very welcomed to join, but I won't force you if you don't want to eat with us. But please, please behave for me, I know you can and you've been the best son any father could ever hope to have. Please, I'm begging you, be good for me tonight."
Raphael, placed another kiss to Mike's cheek and left, as he went to prepare their meal for that night. Mike looked down at the small box that was resting against his stomach, he picked it up and opened it to reveal a diamond ring, it was neatly shaped into a large S swurved around the gold ring with diamonds. Mike raised a brow at it, before closing the box, he got up from his bed, walked to the window, opened it and was ready to throw it out. Mike drew his arm back, ready to haul that small box as far as he could, but never did, instead he lowered his arm and sighed.
Slowly Mike walked downstairs and up to Raphael, he tapped Raphael's waist and held the small box out to him, "you dropped this in my room.."
Raphael looked down and quickly tapped his pockets before he took hold of the small box from Mike and opened it, Mike noticed a look of relief had crossed on Raphael's face as he leaned down and placed a big kiss to Mike's cheek, "thank you."
Mike shrugged and made his way to the living room, wiping his cheek, "you're a sloppy kisser daddy!" He called as he turned on the tv. Raphael chuckled and continued on making dinner.
