Kali meets Mr Popper's Penguins

Chapter 1

It was just another fine Friday at the junior high school in New York City. 

Well, it was all fine except for one student, who we all know as the spunky young adventure girl Kali Harpercop. 

She was walking down the school hallways with her friends Teeders, David and Cynthia during passing period. Plus there was another girl walking with them who was Kali's other friend, Janie Popper. She was on her phone texting somebody. 

Kali's 3 closest friends seemed to know why she was acting so agitated, but knew she couldn't avoid talking about it forever and decided to get it over with with the adventure girl right now. 

"So..." David started but paused for a moment, hesitating to say it. "How's it going between you and Mikey?" he asked the extremely quiet adventure girl. 

The tomboy wearing the yellow bandanna on her head only breathed out through her nostrils a bit fast and loud once she heard that name. 

Mikey, who was really one of the teenage mutant ninja turtles Kali had developed a crush on once she first met him, and they've sorta been dating since her family moved to New York not too long ago. 

"Uh... good?" she replied sheepishly, with a fake smile. 

"And by good, you mean terrible" Teeders clarified, seeing right through Kali's lies. Her best friend couldn't hide anything from her even if she tried. 

Nothing gets past Teeders. Well, except maybe some things. 

"Okay, okay" Kali sighed in defeat, admitting it. "Mikey's really been kinda distant lately. I don't think he understand how the whole relationship thing works out" she explained how Mikey had viewed her nothing more than a friend. Even his brothers had told her they don't think he even knows what a relationship is. 

"Maybe he's falling in love with his own obsession of pizza" Cynthia joked but the others all looked to her seriously, not taking her joke too kindly which made the rich fashionista fall silent and not say another word.   

"Well, you could give him a break" Teeders told Kali. "You've only been dating for a few months"

"And just think of all the other crazy boys you've dated before" David added, trying his best to help. 

Kali gave only a small smile to her friends but still felt agitated. Teeders, David and Cynthia had never seen the brave adventure girl so nervous before in their lives, considering all they've been through together on their adventures.  

Just then, Janie had gotten a text message and read it while sighing. 

"What's up?" Kali and the others turned to her and asked, noticing her disappointed expression. 

"Nothing" Janie replied quickly, not wanting to talk. 

Kali and her friends knew that Janie had been having issues with a boy she liked named Cooper Keegan and attempting to ask him to the upcoming school Snowball dance. 

"You know, you could always talk to your dad about it" Kali suggested to her friend. 

But Janie had become distant with her father, Tom Popper since he divorced her mother. She was even suppose to go to her dad's this weekend but obviously didn't want to. 

"If you ask me, boys are dumb" Cynthia advised. "Then they grow up to be men... then they're stupid"

"Hey!" David glared at Cynthia slightly for a second, before answering. "....Actually, that's fair"

"Hey!" Teeders just then got an idea, telling Kali. "Why don't you ask Mikey to the Snowball dance" 

"Er, I don't know..." Kali hesitated. Being a tad nervous since Mikey had never been to any kind of human dance before. 

Plus he wasn't allowed outside the lair in broad daylight unless he was wearing his new wrist watch clocking device Donnie had invented to make him look like a normal human teenager. 

"Come on, how do you know he'll say no if you don't even ask him?" Teeders asked her friend to boost her confidence. 

"And I hear there's gonna be a buffet~" David added, knowing how much Mikey loved to eat. 

"Alright," Kali sighed in defeat. "I'll talk to him about it" 

Then the school bell rang and the teenage adventure kids met up for lunch with the Ross kids. 

After school, Kali walked straight home by herself, coming into her apartment building and throwing her backpack on the couch. 

"Hi, sis!" Kali's younger siblings, the twins ran past her, briefly saying hello before heading outside to play. 

"Hey, sweetie" Kali's mother Jane greeted her as she came into the kitchen where her mother was washing her hands. 

She had just gotten back from hanging out with her friends at the Central Perk coffeehouse. 

The tomboy said nothing and only sighed as she sat down at the counter. 

Jane turned to her daughter in concern, noticing her depression state. "What's wrong?"

Kali was quiet for a minute before saying. "Mom... what if you like someone but they don't like you back... in the same way?"

Jane thought for a moment, figuring out how to best explain to her daughter. "Well... you be straight up honest and tell the person how you feel"

"That's what I told your father..." Jane mentioned, before she suddenly had a lump in her throat, trying not the tear up. Her husband Walter and Kali and the twins' father had gone missing a few months ago. 

"But Mom, what if Mikey doesn't feel the same way I do for him?" Kali asked, not knowing what she should do. 

Jane was quiet for a moment before putting her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Just give him some time" she told her softly. 

The tomboy sighed, looking up at her mother before leaving to go upstairs to her room. 

She thought about what her mother had said, wondering if she should be honest with Mikey. 

She thought for a few more hours on her bed before heading back downstairs, as it was time for dinner.