Every morning, my family rises at precisely five o clock. No earlier, no later. The reason is slightly different for each of us.

Dad has to go to work at six in the morning. He goes to work at the local Pizzeria. I usually find him reading his newspaper at the table, reading up if any rivaling pizzerias are in town. My father is so paranoid.

My mother has to get up to work at the local daycare. She usually leaves before all of us, because the Sunnydays Daycare opens at six, so she needs to be there for any early children off to work.

Thomas and I leave at five-thirty. School starts at seven-thirty, but we go right to Radar's place. His mom owns Darla's Giant Pancake House, and every morning, we eat there for breakfast, except on weekends. Mercury meets us there too.

Radar's mom is really nice, and let's us have whatever we want.

While we're there, we eat and chat, and do whatever. That's also the time Thomas does his homework, which he saved for last minute.

In fact, Thomas and I were already up, and ready to go. I stuffed all my books into my bag, while Thomas put on his raincoat. He tossed me mine after.

Mom handed me an umbrella, and kissed me on the forehead. "Share the umbrella with your brother, okay sweetie?" Mom was really pretty. She had super long black hair like me, but my brother got her eyes and mouth. I had most of my dad, with blue eyes and a small nose.

I nodded, and put on my rain hat. I loved the rain. Sometimes, after dance when my muscles were sore and tired, I would just sit in the rain without any raincoat or umbrella. It felt amazing.

I followed Thomas out the door. I opened the umbrella. Thomas looked at me, a little nervous. "I forgot to do homework again. I'll have to do it at Darla's. By the way, what was question seven?" I stared daggers at him. "Please tell me?"

Can those eyes get any bigger. "E-eighty f-f-four." I bit my lip. "Thanks, Cricket. I know you don't like to-" I raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I get it. Geez, it rains practically everyday."

He's right on that one. I don't know why, but it rains more than the usually it should in central Wisconsin. Thomas asked why once, and he only got wiggly fingers in his face and "It's the curse! Ooooooh!"

So, no. I don't know why it rains.

We were soon at the entrance to Darla's Giant Pancake House. We stood under the roof, and Thomas shook out the umbrella. We opened the door, and we were warmly greeted by Radar's mom, Darla.

"Hello, hello! Pleasure to see you lot again! Allison and Rory are in the usual seat." I smiled, and nodded a thank you. I like it that Darla understands me not wanting to talk. Most adults think it's stuck up, or shy, but Darla understands.

Thomas said thank you, and we went over to the corner of the restaurant.

Altogether as friends, we had chosen a booth to sit at. It was in the corner, with a good view out the window. We had even decorated it, and we had designated areas.

Mercury and Radar were already sitting, and Mercury was laughing about something. She had bright red hair, which was in a bun. At first, Radar wanted to call her traffic light, but we decided against it. She had bright blue eyes, and a petite body. We called her Mercury because her father worked at the planetarium, and she didn't want us to call her Pluto.

We called Radar, well, Radar because of his giant glasses and computer smarts. He had dirty blonde hair, and he was pretty tiny for his age.

Thomas and I slid into our booth. I had window seat. I waved hello, and Thomas said hey, and then fist-bumped Radar.

"Hey guys!" Mercury grinned. "Guessing you didn't do your homework again, Thomas." Thomas was in the middle pulling out his geometry. "You could say that."

"Hey Cricket! How's it hanging?" I half-smiled. "That's cool, that's cool. Guess what Radar did?" I raised an eyebrow, and Thomas looked up from his worksheet.

Radar looked annoyed. "I didn't mean to break my glasses. It was an accident."

I rolled my eyes. This was probably the seventh time Radar broke his glasses. Thomas smirked.

"This is why you can't have nice things, Radar. How'd you do it this time?"

Radar looked embarrassed. "I was reading, and the book fell on my face." Mercury burst out laughing again. "Good god Radar. That's the funniest one yet!"

Radar sucked in air through his teeth. "It's not that funny when your glasses broke because of it!" I gave him the 'are you kidding me' look.

"Don't look at me like that, Cricket! Sure, I thought it was a little funny afterwards, but-you know what, it's funny. But now my mom is pretty mad."

I snorted. It's incredibly rare for Darla to get mad. But when she does, it's like a bear combined with an angry tiger, combined with a cobra. Unlike most moms, she doesn't play the 'I'm not mad I'm disappointed' card.

Mercury nodded. "I agree with Cricket. Darla won't be ma-" "I know, I know!" Radar said irritably. Thomas looked up from his worksheet. "What's the story problem answer?"

Radar pushed his (notably new) glasses up his nose. "Thomas, the problem answer is: Thomas didn't do his homework and now he isn't getting an A. Credit me on that answer."

Thomas groaned. "Come on, guys, I'm already in enough trouble with my mom and dad. I really need to do good on this. Pleeaaassseee help me!"

Mercury sighed, and looked at Radar. Radar huffed. "How do you deal with him Cricket?" He began walking him through the problem, while Mercury and I ordered breakfast. Today, I just ordered some eggs and bacon. However, Mercury ordered a giant stack of pancakes.

As I was chewing, I gestured towards Mercury's plate with a question look. Mercury shrugged. "I need to treat myself sometimes."

Darla didn't make us pay, so we tried to be courteous and not order everything on the menu, but sometimes we ate expensive things, just to do so.

After all of us ate, we were packing our stuff for school. Thomas looked stressed. "Radar, I'm not sure if I got it right. I mean, you told me what to do and stuff, but I don't know."

Radar looked completely unfazed. "Relax, the worst they can do is land you with an extra credit project."

Thomas bit his lip. "Whatever." I put a hand on his shoulder, and smiled.

Mercury chuckled. "Let's just head to school. Hurry up, before we're late."

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Hey bros! Sorry, this is a pretty long chapter. Buuuuuuttt, here we are!

-Clo