A/N: Now I'm going to start straying from the sequence of the four main characters' point of views. They won't always come in order now, and I'll be adding the perspectives of some supporting characters, like in this chapter. Let's give it up for Turtle to narrate his tale!

- Turtle's POV -

Most people wake up in the morning using alarm clocks, or having a parent come in to yell at them. Sometimes they even sleep with their pets the night before, because everyone knows that dogs and cats are both early and loud risers. However, those are all the normal ways of waking up.

I woke up listening to my twin brother's sleep-talking. Or rather, sleep-screaming. 

"AAAAHHH!" Riptide sobbed. "No, don't leave me Tsunami, I love you. You're not gonna choose THIS loser over ME, are you? ARE YOU?!"

His room was all the way down the hall, but it sounded as if that white-and-purple-haired doofus was in a bed next to me. I shuddered at that thought. However, that wasn't the worst part yet.

No one - I repeat - no one wakes me up at 4:30 in the morning. Unless it's myself going downstairs to steal a bowl of milk and cereal, of course. But if other people disturb my peaceful slumber, then they are totally bound for punishment.

Wait, what am I saying? I don't even have an idea for what the punishment will be! I mean, I'm not strong enough to beat Riptide in a fist fight - although the last one we had was in fourth grade, and I can't exactly scare him with yelling threats either because I'm a quiet, whispery wimp.

Mumbling nonsense words, I buried my head under my fluffy pillows and fell asleep again, just like before. I'll deal with the messy brown mop I call a bedhead at the time I'm supposed to wake up.

But I couldn't fall asleep, so I grabbed my phone and went to our group chat, where I texted and Kinkajou responded almost immediately.

Me: anyone awake???

Kinkajou: Hi.

Just a simple 'hi'. That's weird; everyone can expect her to say stuff like, "YO WASSUP I LOVE MANGOES" or "Well, HEY THERE my beloved awesome friend to great for the entire world!". Each text bubble Kinkajou sends has got to have at least five words.

Me: so, how's it going?

Kinkajou: ...

Me: What's wrong?

Kinkajou: What are you doing at this time in the morning?

Me: Annoying brother woke me up

Me: Is everything okay?

Kinkajou: no. Not really. 

Kinkajou: i had the worst night evr

Me: What happened? R U OK?

Kinkajou: Can I tell you @ school?

Me: sure

Kinkajou: bye

Me: bai

That was the shortest chat I ever had with the spunkiest, happiest, sweetest, most adorable girl in my school. Well, according to my opinion, at least. Now I wasn't sleepy at all. Breath quickening, my mind raced with horrific scenarios, maybe a bit on the crazy side but still possible.

Did one of her parents pass away? Had Glory gotten into a car accident? WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED?! GAAH!

So I spent the next two-and-a-half hours worriedly thinking about what caused Kinkajou to act the bizarre way she was, before eating breakfast with the others and heading onto the bus.

And today was the one day I actually couldn't WAIT to go to school. Right when I set foot on the campus sidewalk, I started looking for you-know-who.

Now, even with her short height, Kinkajou was always easy to spot. Everyday she had on really bright pieces of clothing, there was some type of candy in her mouth, and most importantly, her famous Shipping Journal was with her like some type of secret agent notebook.

This time, though, the bell rang after a fitful fifteen minutes, signaling that my time was up. Sighing, I headed to my locker and then homeroom like the quiet person I usually was.

I didn't have any classes with Kinkajou until lunchtime. Luckily I packed myself a sandwich so I didn't need to wait in the long line like my poor twin. 

Unfortunately, I still did not see any cute, spunky-looking human being who was chewing gum. I did, though, see someone in a gray hoodie with jeans, who was holding what looked like the Shipping Journal. 

Aha! Some mean jerk stole Kinkajou's journal!

"H-hey!" I yelled, voice gradually getting louder as I ran up to the trash can. "What are you doing?" I demanded ferociously.

The person looked at me. I gasped.

Kinkajou rolled her eyes and looked down at her feet. She was wearing dull brown sneakers. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm destroying my stupid notebook."

Those words took a huge stab at my heart. "Why?"

"Turtle," Kinkajou sounded as if all her energy had been drained out of her. "Why do you even care?"

"Because you texted me that something really bad happened last night and you would tell me."

She turned away from me and started walking towards an empty table in the back. "Geez. Well, please forgive me for not keeping my utmost promise. Now leave me alone because I'm not telling you anything.

"Oh, right." Kinkajou's head suddenly snapped up. "I forgot."

With a wild swing to her arm, the girl hurled her Journal of Ships towards the trash cans. Right when the book was about to fall in, I leaped up and snatched it. That treasure definitely can not blend in with all the junk.

Kinkajou whipped around and stamped her foot. "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" she roared. Every student looked over at our direction, then back to each other, whispering. They were probably about to spread a rumor that we were a couple that was about to break up or something.

"My problem," I replied. "Is that you're not acting the way you usually are, and you're not telling me what's wrong. According to most people, not talking about it will only make things worse."

"FINE! MY PARENTS ARE HAVING A DIVORCE AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT ARE YOU SATISFIED?!"

It felt as if an invisible sword had cut clean through me. I couldn't speak nor move; I just stood there frozen with shock, staring at the person in front of me.

Finally, Kinkajou, realizing what she had said, clamped a hand over her mouth and turned on her heels, escaping out the cafeteria.

I finally got to my senses. "Kinkajou, wait up!" I screamed, chasing after her.

Unfortunately, she was a much faster runner than me. However, the good news was that we were about to hit a dead end at the end of the hallway, so she'll have to stop there, right?

Wrong. 

Kinkajou, glancing back at me, quickly looked around. Then, she jumped high up in the air and pulled at a ceiling handle. The handle fell down to reveal a ladder! Kinkajou then scaled the ladder faster than a mouse and slammed the handle shut to the ceiling right as I got there.

I groaned. "Here goes nothing," I told myself.

Snatching the handle and taking it down, I placed a shaking foot on the ladder. I took a deep breath. You can do this, Turtle. No, I can't. YES YOU CAN AND THAT'S FINAL. 

Very slowly, I wobbled up the ladder to find myself standing on the rooftop of the school. The sight was astounding; you could see the pale sky, the school entrance, even the gym teacher yelling at a group of silly freshmen. There was one thing that didn't fit, though.

And that thing was a teenage girl curled up in a ball at the edge of the roof, miserably sobbing her eyes out.

"Get away from there!" I shouted. "You'll fall off!"

Kinkajou's teary eyes met mine. "Does it look like I care?"

"Well, you should, because you can't just die there and end your life. You matter to a lot of people!"

"Like who?" she returned snappily. "My mom said she's ashamed of me, my dad's too busy being with another person, my sister is always out doing her stupid modeling job, and nobody in this school really cares about me. They all think I'm just this silly lady who dreams of unrealistic crap like ... like shipping. Which is why I wanted to get rid of my journal."

I immediately said, "Hey, that's not true! You're perfect the way you are. You always bring a smile to everyone's faces because of your cheerful personality, people want you to be their partner in projects, and if I recall correctly, Sunny even once asked you to predict her romantic future! And ..."

Wiping her eyes, Kinkajou snorted. "Go on. That's probably all you can say about me anyway."

I felt my face heat up. "And I've always had a crush on you ever since second grade."

An awkward silence filled the air, as both of us stared at each other with red faces. I thought about how glad I was that Riptide wasn't here, or else he would start singing Love Story by Taylor Swift and sprinkle rose petals everywhere.

"He would?" Kinkajou asked.

"Wait," I scratched my head, "did I say that out loud?"

"Yup, you did!" she giggled the giggle which made my heart beat a hundred times faster. "Hey, maybe we should do that too."

Suddenly, the rainbow-haired girl grew silent. "Wait, so about that crush of yours ..."

"Oh, uhh," I gulped nervously. "You don't need to return the feelings. I'll get over it. Well I mean, I'll never get over you 'cause you're awesome but you know what I mean, and it's okay if I, I mean you, I mean we don't-"

"Turtle," Kinkajou cut in softly. "I only said that because even though I spend my time plotting so many relationships, no one has ever told me they had feelings for me."

The next sentence I heard took a huge leap in my chest.

"And I'd love to be your girlfriend."

So we were back to being quiet, sappily eyeballing each other while wearing huge stupid smiles. I was about to end that silence by suggesting where we should go for a first date, when a voice cried,

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU KIDS DOIN' UP ON THE ROOF?"

Crap.

A/N: Hopefully that long wait for another chapter wasn't THAT long, was it? I mean, only a bit more than a week, and updating once a week is my usual schedule.

And I'm really sorry to be annoying, but I want to ask the question I asked last chapter, because only the awesome animussaviortribute answered it. (Thank you, fam!)

Would you like to read and give your feedback on a rewritten version of my old story 'The Day I Died'? 

That story is among my favorites and I want to continue it, but like I said, no one enjoys putting their efforts into writing a book for no audience, so I want your honest opinion. It's okay if you say no, because you're simply not interested in reading another book. I get it and I won't feel offended because I shouldn't take anything for granted. I will feel offended, though, if I do not get any clear answers. 

I know that there are there are at LEAST ten users that read this book, and I'm super happy and grateful that you all take your time to read each chapter I post, and it means a lot to me every time I get a comment or vote.

So please tell me if you'll read it or not! If I get answers, I won't ask again in the next chapter!