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ᴀᴘʀɪʟ ᴏ'ɴᴇɪʟ.
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ℂ𝕆ℕ𝕊𝕀𝔻𝔼ℝ𝕀ℕ𝔾 Casey Jones was just about my only friend, unless my own mother counted, you could say that I was rather protective of him. Sure we teased each other and I gave him a hard time, but I never took him for granted.

He was the only person who thought of me as more than the "pretty weird girl" and saw past my strangeness. So yes, I was definitely not ready to simply let him go.

That was why I was not ready for the girl called "April O'Neil" to come into the picture. April was a girl in our year, a quirky redhead who had more freckles splattered across her cheeks than I could count.

While she was nice, she was also considered an "outsider", if you will. April held some of the best grades in the entire school, but the mathematics and science departments was definitely her forte. That along with the fact that she had been in and out of school all year long made everyone take a double glance at her.

Of course, I was not one to judge, after all, my reputation was worse than hers. However, after April was assigned as Casey's tutor, the two quickly began growing closer and it left me in a pit of green jealousy.

As much as I hate to admit it, I feel like Tinkerbell to Peter Pan and Wendy. And it was most certainly not a good feeling.

Albeit, I have not even so much as introduced myself to April, rather I silently bag on her every time Casey turns me down because he is with her. This whole deal has been going on for a few weeks, and in complete honesty, I truthfully had no right to be jealous.

Casey is allowed to have other friends, plus April is helping him stay ahead in more than just math class. Not only that but in order for Casey to stay on the hockey team, he had to keep his grades up.

With this in mind, trying to compete for Casey's attention would just be plain stupid. Therefore, I am going to take the mature path and simply try to befriend April O'Neil as well. I only hoped she was not as wary about me as the rest of the school population.

I strolled into the library with purpose, a cup of apple juice in my hand as I walked. The library of our great school was a dusty old place, one which admittedly had relatively sucky books. It was not all too big either, simply a single story and a bit smaller than our school cafeteria. Teens rarely went in here to actually study: they came here to either mess around, make out in the back corner, or hide from hall monitors for skipping class. There was also a strict no food or drink rule inside.

The librarian gazed at me as I passed by her, the older woman suddenly standing up.

"Uhm, young lady, you can't have—" she started, jumping when I suddenly bared my teeth and hissed at her like a vampire.

She looked at me as though I were crazy (which I probably am) and appeared to not know what to do. Turning away from her, I smiled to myself as I spotted the one and only Casey Jones sitting across from April O'Neil at a table in the back of the library.

Matthew Prescott, a jock who was sitting with his groups of friends on the other side of the library, looked at my ass as I passed by. This was not just me being self-absorbed or cocky either, as odd as it was sometimes I was just able to sense certain things that people were doing. Normally my assumptions were correct, actually not just normally—they were always correct.

To be fair; however, this was supposed to be one of the last warm days of the year so I was determined to wear shorts as a farewell gesture.

"I brought you apple juice."

Both Casey and April jumped at my sudden appearance, myself having cut Casey off. They turned to me with wide eyes before it morphed into confusion. Casey scratched the back of his head.

"Uhm, thanks but I didn't ask for apple juice...?"

Casey yelped as I placed the cup down in front of him and shoved my way next to him on the small chair. It was a very tight squeeze, myself halfway on his lap with one leg dangling over him. However, I cared little for invading his personal space, Casey only groaning in response.

"Andi, c' mon..." I cut his whining off by swinging my arm over the table toward April nearly knocking the apple juice over in the process.

I notice April subtly flinch before seemingly getting ahold of herself, on top of that I also saw her reach toward her back pocket. It was a small gesture that the normal eye generally would not pick up, but even the smallest of actions never evaded my keen senses.

"Hi, I'm Andi," I introduced myself to the redhead.

She wore a casual yellow shirt with denim shorts, her hair pulled back in a short ponytail. She also wore a yellow headband, her look all around being that of "the nice girl next door".

April, thankfully, did not seem put off and instead grasped my hand as well.

"April," she grinned, seemingly happy to make a new friend, "you're the girl who showed up to school naked a few months ago, right?" She did not say it in a negative tone, simply a blunt one.

I could respect that.

"Yep," I chirped, "and to answer your question," I lifted my boobs with my hands slightly before dropping them, "yes: these are real,"

"Andi," Casey tried but failed to hide his snickers.

April quirked a brow but shrugged.

"Are you joining us for tutoring?" She questioned.

"Are you guys actually studying?" I shot back.

April closed her textbook. "Not really, we were just talking about random things,"

I pouted, a sudden thought crossing my mind, "in that case, do you guys want to grab some Mexican food and then head over to my place for some movies?"

"Do I ever!" Casey cheered. "Is your mom going to be there?"

"No, Casey," I rolled my eyes as April flashed him a confused look.

"She has a really hot mom," Casey explained.

"You hit on her mom?"

"Yep, like every time he sees her," I shook my head.

We all stood up and grabbed our bags.

"Wow, Jones, just wow," April scoffed as we all left the library, making our way out of the school.

The sun was still high but the sky was giving way to a more orange color hinting toward sunset being just around the corner. Alike to always, the city was busy and crowded. However, this section of New York City, in particular, tended to slow down a bit toward the evening times. It was not like the major parts of the city where it was busy 24/7.

The once green leaves were beginning to fall, another reminder of the oncoming cold season.

I walked on Casey's right side while April was on his left.

"So, April, Casey told me you're kinda crazy when you're not studying," I broke the comfortable silence.

April rose a brow, her face morphing into one of concern. I notice Casey scowl at me from the corner of my eye but he does nothing more.

"He said what?"

April was obviously getting the wrong impression of what I meant.

"Yeah, he said one time you guys studied at the park and some jar of guts attacked you, then last week some crazy ninja robots apparently came after you," I explained casually.

April fell into a violent coughing fit, her eyes blowing wide with panic.

Casey had told me these slightly unbelievable stories about his little adventures with April. However, despite them being so extreme they were unbelievable, I believed him for a few different reasons.

Reason one was that even if those stories should seem unfathomable and insane to me, for some reason it just... did not. For causes that I cannot even begin to explain it just did not cross me as completely unreasonable nor impossible.

It was almost as though... I had experienced weirder. But I knew that was impossible.

Then again, was it really? I mean I still can't remember my first sixteen years of existence, so who knows what I had previously seen that was forgotten.

Second off; however, was that Casey would not lie about something like that. Especially to me. Besides, there was no fibbing the excitement in his eyes as he explained his story. Unlike me, Casey had always been 100% honest with me.

On top of that, Casey always explains how he wants something more than just the standard "apple pie" kind of life. In his words, it was "who wants a normal life anyway?"

So overall, yes I believed Casey Jones when he told me that he fought both a jar of guts and robot ninjas with April O'Neil. Besides, April's reaction all but gave away his truthfulness.

"You told her?!" she finally hissed at Casey, ignoring the wide look of wonder in my gaze.

Of course, I would look like that. Who would not after learning her best friend fought something completely out of this world?

"Casey, I told you not to tell anyone!" April cried.

"Don't worry, Red," Casey brushed her off while using his newfound nickname for April, draping an arm over my shoulder and smirking sideways at me, "Andi's cool, trust me she's totally trustworthy and the absolute best with weird," he praised, using overdramatic hand motions.

April tossed me an unsure glance that was wiped away at the look I threw her.

"Don't worry, O'Neil," a nickname for the redhead was born, "I'm cool, but I am curious as to where you got that rad Tessen from?"

April stopped walking immediately, her hand quickly going to her back pocket to cover the dark fan-like blade. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and suddenly she was staring me down.

"How did you know I have that?" Her voice was cool.

My eyes widened in response, not expecting that hostile of a reaction.

Oops, must have struck a nerve there.

"Uhm, it's kinda obviously sticking out of your back pocket," I retorted before continuing, "did your dead grandmother give it to you or something? I mean, dang, that was kind of intense,"

"Andi," Casey sighed while April blushed in embarrassment and tossed me an apologetic glance.

"Yeah, something like that," she rubbed the back of her head, "sorry I just get kind of defensive about it," she explained.

I had a very strong feeling that there was much more to the story but chose not to push.

"You're cool, O'Neil," I shrugged, "but the more important issue here is whether we hit up Sí, señorita or Taco Hut?"

There was barely a second before we all looked at each other and gave simultaneous nods.

"Sí, señorita,"

__________

"This movie sucks," Casey complained from where we sat around the television in my apartment's living room.

Nachos, burritos, chips and salsa, and various other Mexican food sat around us as we binged. April and I shrugged finding that the rom-com truly was not bad. In fact, it was rather good.

"This is honestly better than pizza," April moaned a few minutes later, "I feel like I have eaten pizza way too much in the past few months,"

"Why?" I offhandedly question while dipping my chip in the mild salsa.

"Well my friends love that stuff..." she trailed off before her eyes turned a bit sad, "they used to eat it all the time: literally for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,"

"Used to?" I rose a brow. "They dead like your grandma or something?"

"Oh my God, Andi! You can't just say that!" Casey flapped and tossed me a glare.

"Whattt?" I drew out holding at arms up. "It's an honest question?"

I had not seen April hang around anyone other than Casey and Irma Valentin. Irma Valentin was a goth eccentric smart know-it-all. I personally did not have an issue with her but I was also not jumping for the hills to be her friend.

However, Casey seemed to all but hate Irma, easily becoming annoyed with her smart attitude.

"Yeah," April looked saddened, "we all had a falling out a few weeks back," she coughed.

Casey and I sent each other looks before shrugging.

"Eh, don't worry, Red," he leaned into her, throwing an arm over her shoulder, "you have us now. Casey Jones and Andi Carrington—best friends for life!"

"With the addition of our newest best friend," I grinned, leaning onto April's other side, "April O'Neil!"

April rose a brow at us but grinned nonetheless, seeming happy with our attempts to cheer her up.

"Thanks, guys," she smiled.

"Don't mention it, Red,"

"Yeah, plus pizza sucks, our thing can be Mexican. Burritos for the win, dudes!" I cheered happily as April gave me a certain look.

"That sentence just made you remind me of someone," April laughed.

Before I could question who, the sound of a key entering a lock sounded, and all our attention was diverted toward the door. We watched as the apartment door swung open and my mother walked in with a frazzled expression and her blonde curls a mess.

It was then I noticed the half-empty bottle of wine in her hands.

I quirked a brow.

"Tough day?" I asked my mom and Casey wasted no time in unabashedly checking her out.

My mother nodded heavily, bringing a hand up to rub her eyes.

"Yep," she paused upon noticing April's awkward form, "who's that?"

Thank God, she was too smashed to care that I brought home a new friend without her permission.

"Oh, that's—" I was cut off by April's polite voice.

"April O'Neil, nice to meet you," she smiled at my mother.

My mom gave her a long look that made April shift uncomfortably.

"The name is Whitney," my mom finally said, her shoulders slumping as she relaxed, "I'm going to go finish this then pass out, I'll see you in the morning, kid," Mom rubbed my head affectionately as she passed our forms.

"Can I join you, Whit?" Casey called as my mom disappeared into the hallway.

"If you touch me or my wine, I will kick your ass into next year, Jones!" She hollered before the sound of her door closing rang out.

"Wait," April's eyes went wide, "Was that your mom?"

"Yeah," I nodded, turning to look back at her.

"Oh wow, she's so young—I thought she was like your sister or something!" April appeared blown away.

"I told you," Casey elbowed her, "Whitney's hot,"

"You're disgusting, Casey,"

I rolled my eyes at Casey's usual flirtatious remarks about my mother. However, April had a point. The relationship my mother and I shared was more of siblings than actual mother and daughter. It was slightly weird but I didn't complain. I rather liked it.

"Yeah, my mom is dating some rich douchebag hippie named after Satan," I explained nonchalantly as April's mouth fell agape.

"Excuse me?" She blinked while Casey huffed.

"Damn Lucifer," the hockey player scowled.

I casually turned back to the movie as April appeared to process the information.

"Okay then," she shrugged, "rich douchebag hippie named after Satan, what else is new?"