Don't Wait

Chapter 1: Joey's POV (pt.1)

I can't believe that I would forget that its a holiday today. I woke up this morning groggy and dazed. I glanced at my alarm clock for a second and dropped my head back on my pillow. The alarm hasn't rung yet and it's still 8:15 a.m.

Its 8:15 a.m.

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIANIOUS!!! IT'S 8:15! I'm late for school! I leaped from my bed and sprinted to the bathroom. I must have set a record for being the fastest to get ready for school. I guess doing everything at once really helped. I still have to get my brush out of the toilet bowl. Don't ask. I'm never using that brush again.

Wolf was sitting at the bottom of the staircase, his food bowl in his mouth and his tail wagging excitedly. Storm was being crazy and bounding around me trying to get me to fall down the steps. I stopped for a moment to pet both of them on their heads.

"Not now Wolf. I'll feed you later. And Storm, jeez, stop trying to make me fall and crack my head open. We don't want that now, do we?"

I continued running, but stopped as soon as Daniel called me from the kitchen.

"Where are you going?"

Daniel was sitting at the table without his top on, absently stirring his bowl of cereal, and Lark was beside him quietly lapping up her water in her bowl.

"I think the question here is: Why aren't you ready?"

A look of confusion crossed his face. I'm starting to think that something isn't right here. Is he skipping college today? He's not the type to skip classes, is he?

"Ready for what?" Daniel asked.

My brow furrowed. If this was a joke, he was gonna pay for it. "Not funny Daniel."

"No one's laughing here, Joseph. Well, maybe the dogs are. At your stupidity."

I placed my hand on my chest in mock hurt, but the moment was ruined when Storm barked. He better not be agreeing with Daniel.

"Be serious. Why aren't you ready? Are you planning to skip college?"

Daniel frowned in realization. I hope he finally realized that its a weekday. Or is it? There was a nagging thought in my mind that slips pass me whenever I try to catch it. My hope was dashed when he looked at me with amusement in his eyes and I could see that he was trying to hold in his laughter.

"Why are you laughing? I just told you it wasn't funny."

"Don't you remember? It's a holiday today."

Ahhh... So it was a holiday today... That was why there was no alarm... Shoot... I woke up for nothing??? As if sensing where my thoughts are going, Daniel spoke up again.

"And I'll bet you remember that you were planning to sleep in until noon."

My memories of yesterday came flooding back to me all at once. I remembered jumping and whooping in joy when I found out that tomorrow - well, today - is a holiday. I remembered having a movie marathon with Daniel, with two huge bowls of popcorn between us and I had told Daniel I wanted to sleep in until noon.

I slumped at the dining table, next to Daniel and groaned. Gosh, I can't believe I didn't remember! Now 4 hours of my sleep had been wasted and I don't think I can go back to sleep anymore, not after this big disappointment.

"Well," Daniel spoke up. "Now that you know, you better get started on cleaning."

I looked up from my wallowing in misery. "What cleaning?"

Daniel placed his empty cereal bowl in the sink. "Since you're already awake and I'll doubt you could go back to sleep now, why don't you clean the attic while I hole myself up in my room?"

Daniel grinned and went up to his room with little Larky running after him as I glared at him. I let my head fall back onto the table only to hear Daniel's voice again.

"And while you're at it, you might wanna feed the dogs."