Beep-beep! Beep-beep!

I stuck my hand out from under the covers and slammed my hand down on the alarm. I groaned and flipped myself over onto my back.

Right, today's my first day of 9th grade. Aka the most stressful year in school, in my opinion. As it's the first year, we need to prepare ourselves for the horrors of high school. Work overload, AP classes, extra lessons so often that you practically live at school, and so on. I sighed. This was going to be a long year.

I turned my head to look at the time and my heart skipped a beat. I sat up and rubbed my eyes to make sure that I was seeing correctly.

7:00 a.m.!

I'd been asleep for an hour longer! The shock sent me tumbling over the edge of the bed and I hit the floor with a loud thud that knocked the wind out of me.

"What was that up there, honey?" I heard my mom calling from downstairs.

"Nothing!" I called back as I got up hurriedly, which I quickly regretted as my arm protested in pain.

"Are you sure?"

I grit my teeth. "Yes!"

Dashing out of my room, I knocked on the other doors to wake everyone up before running into the bathroom to take a quick 5-minute shower. My hair needed washing, but I had no time for that, and anyway, I didn't really care.

I forgot to lock the door so my idiot brother Luke walked in looking more or less like a zombie.

"Angie, what's the matter with you? Have-"

I cut him off just as I stepped out of the shower.

"Have you seen the time? We're going to be late!"

He yawned and looked at the clock mounted in the hallway.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ang-Oh God it's 7:13!"

"That's what I've bee – WHAT?"

I turned to him and pointed to the shower.

"Shower. Now."

"Bu-"

"No excuses. I'll get Jade and we'll drag Cam from bed."

I'd dry my hair, but I didn't have time. I ran out and started pounding on Jade's door.

"Jade! Wake up!"

Silence.

"Jade!"

Still silence.

"JADE!"

Even more silence.

I sigh in defeat.

"I'll make you a chocolate cake with caramel frosting."

Like magic, the door opened. Jade stood at the door, with a grin a mile wide. She's only an inch taller than me but it's like she's more than that.

"Well, that cake sounds just lovely. But, did you have a reason for calling me?" She said as she twirled her hair. I groaned and pulled her out of her room, then I pointed at the clock.

"Ready to pull someone for dreamland?" I grinned at her. She grinned back and then walked over to Cam's door.

"After you," she said as she opened the door.

We snuck over to Cam's bed, and started giggling. He looks hilarious when he's sleeping. I climbed onto the bed, and at Jade's signal, I started jumping up and down on the bed.

"WAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUPWAKEUP!"

Cam shot upright and then Jade doused him with a bucket of ice cold water(with actual ice cubes in it!) and I jumped off the bed and together we ran out the door laughing like maniacs. Jade ran into the bathroom just as Luke walked out and shut the door behind her. Poor Luke got pushed out of the way. I heard Cam shouting and I ran into my room and shut the door. I locked it as well for good measure.

~~~~~

After I finished laughing, I dressed up.

Just as I was pulling on my socks(I'd hunted forever but I gave up and they ended up being mismatched), I heard Luke calling me.

"Yo Angie, hurry up! We're already late!"

I brutally yanked the left (right? I can never tell) sock on and I was just stuffing my books into my bag when Jade called me from downstairs.

"Angie! Come on! Cam is waiting in the car! He says we'll leave without you if you don't hurry! We're just waiting for you and Luke!"

"What?! Luke's still not ready?"

I opened the door and checked the time. 7:49. Crap. I ran and opened Luke's door and poked my head in.

"Dude, what are you doing? Found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?"

I heard noises coming from the walk-in closet.

He snorted. "I'm just putting my shirt on!"

"Well, hurry up, would you?"

I was sitting on the stairs with my bag next to me when Luke came out. I turned around and looked up and noticed that he had, once again, forgotten to do his pants.

"Hey, Luke. Zip up," I say, pointing to his waist.

"What-oh. I forgot again. Thanks."

I sighed. "What would you do without me?"

As Luke struggled with his zip, I shook my head and slung my bag over my shoulder and ran downstairs and accidentally ran past the kitchen.

I ran back towards the counter and grabbed my to-go breakfast.

"Bye mom! Bye dad!" I called, dashing out the door. I got in the passenger's seat next to a very impatient driver.

"What have you guys been doing? It's 7:53!"

"It's something called getting ready. Ever heard of it?"

Cam ignored me and kept up his ranting for another minute when Luke walked out of the house and saved our ears.

I interrupted Cam, "Okay, calm down, he's here."

He huffed. "Took him long enough."

Cam started up the car and then he and Luke got into an argument about time management. When they asked for my opinion, I made the mistake of saying that I wasn't really the person to ask because my time management skills were virtually non-existent. Luke claimed that I was on his side but I really wouldn't know as I was wearing earphones and listening to music.

When we got to school, I was the first one out of the car. I waited impatiently for my siblings. But Jade was taking her sweet time getting out.

"Jade! What are you doing?"

She blinked at me innocently. "We can't exactly get any later."

I facepalmed myself. "You are unbelievable."

I turned around to head into class. Then I stopped because I suddenly realized what class I had now. Math.

"Hey, Angie. Why'd you stop?" Luke asked as he clapped me on the back (pretty hard, by the way. Does he think I'm made of stone?) I smiled at him.

"Wanna piss off the principal by asking for late slips?"

Luke laughed. "Oh, that guy hates kids! He'll probably turn us away at the door though," he got thoughtful.

I held up my hand. "No worries, I got it covered."

"Oh really? How, then, if I may ask?"

I put on my best pouty face and said, "Oh, but sir, my math teacher insisted I come see you. If I go back empty-handed, he'll just send me right back."

Then we both cracked up.

~~~

"Well, then." I stood in front of the door to the math room. Gulping, I fiddled with the late slip. Luke leaned against the wall next to me.

"Well? Aren't you going to go in?" Luke raised his eyebrows at me. I glared back as a response. He knows exactly what my math teacher, Mr. Brown, is like. A true demon. Late slip or no, I was in for the scolding of my life, and try as you might, you could never be prepared for one of Mr. Brown's scoldings. Just thinking about it and I already felt like burying myself alive.

But go in I had to. And so, that is what I did. And let me tell you, it was only the start of all my problems.