Scars Under The Mask

Everything Was Normal

It was a peaceful October morning, starting out like any other, birds chirping, the wind gently rustling through the trees, the sun peeking over the horizon to greet the earth, warming up the land it cast its glowing rays over, including the Hamato household.
The sun greeted the windows and slowly filled the house with light, but did not stir the members of the home. No, that job was reserved for the alarm clock, which went off with a loud...
BRRRING!!!
7:00 AM. That got the house up and moving. On the second floor were four rooms and two bathrooms, one at each end of a long hall. The first door had "MIKEY ST." nailed to it, and was covered in skateboard stickers and video game posters. Inside was a terribly messy room from ceiling to floor; well, mostly the floor. It was hardly cleared, covered in clothes, a few skateboard parts, fast food wrappers and bags, and any other junk one could imagine. And the stench, well, it was probably enough to knock any human unconscious. Well, any human but Mikey.
In the bed, covers strewn half on it and half on the floor, lied a groggy, tanned, 16-year-old boy. His eyes snapped open once the alarm went off, groaning and wrestling with the covers to shut it off. His blonde curly hair - in need of a haircut - fell into his baby blue eyes, but they were half closed, so he didn't even care. He sighed and fell back into bed, sun streaming in through his closed blinds, which didn't really do much but cast blinding light onto the freckled boy's face. He was short but fairly muscular, covered in freckles and sun spots from being outdoors all day, whether it was skateboarding, surfing, or doing any other activity under the sun.
Desperately wanting to fall back into dreamland, Mikey grabbed a pillow and held it over his face, blocking out all the light that was waking him up. It didn't last long though, before he heard a knock at his door.
"Michelangelo? For goodness' sakes, get up, or you'll be late again. And I am not bailing you out for another truancy anytime soon."
He heard a voice, stern but loving, outside his door. It was his father, doing his rounds about the house, waking his sons and cooking breakfast and whatnot. They didn't have to leave for another hour, but still, he made sure everything - and everyone - was up and running.
Mikey glanced at the clock one more time. Fifteen minutes had passed?! He must have fallen back asleep. He grumbled one last time before forcing himself out of bed, throwing on an orange tank top and cargo shorts, as well as some wristbands with skateboard brands on them.
Half asleep, he pushed through all the clothes strewn across the floor and out the door, turning into the bathroom. One of his brothers was already in there, brushing his teeth with an electric toothbrush.
"Mmmph, hey Mhikey," he mumbled through his toothbrush. He was tall, almost a head taller than his brother, with messy brown hair and bright, albeit still tired, chocolate-brown eyes. He already had his clothes on, a white sweater vest over a violet collared shirt, and black glasses which he pushed up the bridge of his nose with his free hand. They had tape on the sides of them after they had snapped when falling asleep at a desk with them on.
"Mornin' Donnie," Mikey said, grabbing some hair product and sleepily fluffing his hair with it. Donnie, finishing up, smiled widely to get the fronts of his teeth, which he got most of, except for a wide gap in the middle of his front teeth. He had had it since he was a child, and though his father had offered to get braces for him to fix it, he didn't care enough to get it straightened. There were better things in life to focus on instead of a little tooth gap.
The older brother rinsed his mouth and lifted up his glasses to rub his eyes, before heading out of the bathroom. "You'd better hurry up, if you aren't ready when we leave you're walkin' again." Flashing a newly-brushed smile, Donnie headed out the door and down the stairs.
Mikey sighed, finishing fluffing his hair with product. It had the perfect curly surfer/skater look, and his hair was really all he cared about in terms of appearance. Deodorant and brushing his teeth really weren't all that important. His natural scent probably attracted all the ladies anyway, so what was the point?
Turning off the light behind him, he sleepily made his way downstairs, really not wanting to make his way to school any other way than in a car. He turned after coming off the stairs and went into the kitchen, where aromatic scents drifted to his nose, and he breathed a sigh. Breakfast was his favorite part of the morning. Entering the kitchen, he saw that on the stove were some scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast on plates and in pans. Donnie already had eggs piled onto his plate in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other and was heading over to the dining room table. Mikey grabbed some orange juice and a plate for himself, the scents starting to finally wake him up. Piling on the last of the food for himself, he followed Donnie's path to the dining room table and saw his whole family seated.
At the head of the table was his father, with his dark, neatly kept hair that swept past his gentle eyes. He was eating some rice and eggs in a bowl, along with a cup of tea and a small empty bowl, that was presumably full of miso soup. With his Japanese heritage, he enjoyed the foods he grew up with, even though he was happy to prepare the easy, traditional American breakfasts his sons preferred.
Mikey sat down at the table next to Raph, the second oldest brother, who was layering bacon on toast and tearing into it. He was wearing a letterman jacket with sports patches scattered around the arms and back, and an athletic t-shirt underneath. His hair was black and slightly curly, but short and close to his head, and it didn't look like he touched since he woke up, but it was still managed. His green eyes were tired and grouchy, because if there was anyone that didn't like waking up in the morning more than Mikey, it was Raph.
Opposing the two sat Donnie, sipping at a cup of coffee, and Leo, who was finishing up eggs piled on to toast and full of salt and pepper. Leo had light brown hair, some might say dirty-blonde, neat and pulled into a point, probably stiff from the product that kept it that way. How he took the least amount of time in the bathroom was beyond anyone in the house's comprehension, but he still managed to be the neatest out of the four brothers. His sparkling blue eyes were surprisingly bright and ready for the day, which wasn't uncommon; Leo was always a morning person. He was wearing a neatly pressed shirt with their school's mascot and colors on it, and a slightly scuffed watch on his left hand.
Mikey started eating, digging into all his food and spilling crumbs everywhere, earning annoyed side eyes from his brothers, especially Raph, who scooted his chair away from the youngest boy. "Jeez Mikey, calm down, or you'll spill things all over my letterman."
He turned towards his older brother, mouth full of food. "Doesh it matter bro? Itsh not like a fhew crumbs will ruin it." Crumbs were flying out of Mikey's mouth, disgusting everyone at the table and aggravating Raph.
"Of course it matters! It's game day - how will it look it look if I show up looking like a slob?" Raph grumbled, taking his empty plate to the sink.
Mikey swallowed, grinning at his brother. "C'mon, it's not like they'll put you on the bench for it or anything." With that, he went back to tearing into his bacon, while Raph simply rolled his eyes and went to washing his dishes.
Suddenly, Leo's voice rang out from back at the table. "Guys, it's 7:40! We should be getting ready to leave soon. I have a test first period!" With that, the oldest brother also popped up from his chair and washed his dishes before heading over to get his books in order. Mikey sighed. Did they really have to leave so soon? They'll just end up being 15 minutes early. Well, maybe he could slip in a quick nap in that time.
The family finished up their food and went to get the things they needed for their day of school, washing dishes, gathering books, and finishing up their morning routines. Mikey tossed all the essentials into his Vans backpack: headphones for when class got slow, some comic books he hadn't finished reading, and a handheld video game. All ready for another day of school!
As they trudged out to the car, their father following them with keys in hand, their sleep-deprived minds suddenly perked up.
"SHOTGUN!!" They all cried at once, suddenly full of energy and bounding towards the car. Desperately trying to be the first one to the handle, Mikey and Raph tried to push each other out of the way while Donnie, with the longest legs, sprinted ahead of both of them, landing on the door while his brothers' hands piled on top of his.
Donnie smirked, keeping a firm grip on the handle. "Better luck tomorrow bros. Into the back you go!" The three other brothers grumbled and mumbled to themselves, a chorus of "He always gets it..." and "One of these days, Don..." as the tallest brother took his seat and the others piled in behind him.
Their father started the car, and Donnie scooted his seat back, enjoying the extra leg room. Mikey, who was sitting right behind him, interjected with a loud "Hey!" and pushed back against the seat. But Donnie resisted, pushing back again, determined the get the most out of the morning ride.
"You don't need that much leg room, dude!" Mikey pouted, curling up his legs, frustrated that he would have to contort himself just to be comfortable.
He heard Donnie chortle from the front seat. "Come on, you'll be fine! It's a ten-minute drive, you'll live."
The two started bickering back and forth, annoying Raph, who was gazing out the window, frustrated already, with his headphones turned up so loud that the rest of the family could hear the music spilling out of his ears. Leo was writing something in a notebook, oblivious to his noisy siblings.
"Donatello! Michelangelo! Stop this at once, or so help me I'll pull over right now and you'll be walking the rest of the way!" Their father's sharp voice rang from the driver's seat, and Mikey and Donnie snapped their backs up straight and immediately silenced. They may be rowdy teenagers, but if they learned one thing from their karate lessons when they were kids, it was obedience.
Their father ran a local karate studio in town, just a few minutes of walking from their own school, and had urged them to take some of his classes when they were younger. Being rambunctious little kids, they jumped at the opportunity to beat up bad guys like they saw on TV, but later learned it was slow to start, with a lot of focus on obedience and physical toning. But they stuck with it, at least until they got to high school, when their schedules got so full it was exhausting to visit the studio among everything else; Leo's ASB meetings and events, Donnie's advanced classes and clubs, Raph's football games and practices, and Mikey's, well, Mikey didn't have that much going on, but it wasn't all that fun without his brothers, so they dropped. But now, in their Junior year, the skills they learned in those years still stuck with them, even if they forgot most of their forms or specific moves.
Nonetheless, the car was quiet after their father raised his voice, until they got to school at least. Then it was full of clamoring as the family exited one after the other like a clown car, nearly toppling over each other in the process.
Their father rolled down the window, parking the car in the middle of the drop off line, much to the annoyance of the other parents behind him. "I'll see you boys tonight, I can pick you three up for dinner and then we can head to Raphael's game." The boy in the letterman jacket grinned somewhat smugly. He was "on his way to becoming a star player" of the football team, as he put it, and asked his whole family to support him at his games to watch his rise. The brothers didn't mind as much, his father loved to be involved in his son's school life, Mikey went with all of his friends, Leo was in charge of the section of the bleachers full of students raising spirit and cheering their team on, and Donnie would just sit and do homework or study or watch the halftime marching band show. It wasn't the worst thing the family could be dragged to, anyways.
The four brothers smiled and waved at their father, who rolled the window back up and started to drive away as the boys turned towards the gates of the school. They didn't have much longer until school started, so they started branching off towards their first classes: Raph and Leo to their English class they had together, Donnie to Physics, and Mikey to his morning Art class.
Mikey started heading to his classroom, a bit perkier than he was in the morning. Art was one of his favorite periods, other than lunch of course, as it was one of the only places he could really express himself.
"Hey, Mike!" A voice came from behind him. He turned around, hearing the familiar voice. It was two girls - Olivia and Maddy, two of his closest friends from Art class. Maddy was waving at him and heading towards him and the classroom, a tall, very pretty girl wearing a crystal necklace, sporting bouncing brown hair, sparkling eyeshadow, and brown, earthy clothes matching the season. Olivia had shorter hair, almost like Leo's, and was wearing a Varsity dance jacket, sparkling clips in her hair, and a sketchbook under her arm.
"Hey, dudettes!" He yawned. "Man, school hasn't even started and I'm already ready for it to be over."
"Same" Maddy said, catching up to him. "I already want to be home, I was up till 3AM watching Drake and Josh and I feel like death."
Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Why did you do that to yourself? You know you have to be here early anyway."
Maddy shrugged. "I have no idea."
"Well, at least tonight will be fun. The football team will probably lose horrifically, but the Blue Hole will be lit as always." Olivia grinned. The Blue Hole was the section of the bleachers where all the students gathered together, wearing the school's signature blue color, and cheered on the team, marching band, and dance performances during the game and halftime. It was always crazy, kids would throw flour at the end of the games and sometimes bring random objects into the crowd, like a pineapple or cactus. How that connected with school spirit, no one really knew, but at least it was a blast. Leo led the whole group, being ASB president, and while Leo wasn't the biggest party dude around, he sure knew how to rally school spirit.
Mikey smiled. "Yeah, definitely." They continued chatting as they walked towards the Art classroom, with just a few minutes to spare before the bell rang for first period.