All or Nothing *ON HOLD*

Caught

Chapter Three: Caught

Celeste gave a loud groan of annoyance when she heard her phone alarm going off at six a.m. sharp. “Shut the fuck up. I promise one day I’ll just take a hammer to you,” she muttered softly, her voice muffled due to the fact that she laid face down. She blindly reached for her phone with her right hand as she felt along the surface of the nightstand beside her to turn it off. Its shrill tone was grating on her eardrums and she already felt a large headache coming. It was far too early for this bullshit.

Eventually she managed to find her phone, turning her head slightly so she could look at the screen as she turned it off. Screw Mondays. Actually, no, screw every god forsaken day of the week. She let out a heavy sigh of frustration when she situated herself on her bed so that she faced the ceiling. Her dark brown hair was tousled and running around everywhere. Most of it was resorting back to its natural state of being extremely wavy with a faint hint of curls. Normally she would have immediately jumped out of bed to tame her mane of thick hair with a straightener but now she just felt too fatigued to really care. 

Celeste yawned widely when she began to roll herself out of her thick covers and out of bed. She placed her bare feet down on the cool hardwood floors beneath her before flinching and bringing them back up under the warm covers. Would five more minutes really hurt anyone? She knew for a fact her parents were already off to work and the only two souls in this house was her and her younger brother, Clark. She forced herself out of bed, moving quickly out of her room. She had an hour and a half to get Clark ready for school too. She trudged down the hall, her eyelids half open as she walked towards the seven year old’s room. Upon reaching it, she opened the door quietly, closing it behind her with a soft click.

Clark was still asleep, his shaggy, dirty blonde hair covering half of his face as he slept. His left arm was splayed over his head, his elbow bent and his hand touching his right shoulder. His right hand was near his face and closer inspection proved the young boy was sucking on his thumb gently. The covers were thrown off to one side which indicated that he must have either had some kind of wild dream the night before or had just gotten too hot. 

“Clark, wake up.”

“Mm, five more minutes, Cel,” the small boy mumbled in return, his lips hardly parting and his words coming out odd as they attempted to flow around the thumb that remained fixed in his mouth. 

“I didn’t get five more minutes, you don’t either. Get dressed. What do you want for breakfast?” Celeste asked softly, shaking her brother gently.

“Doughnuts. No, pancakes. Wait, bacon. Actually, just give me all of them,” Clark told her, opening one light green eye to look at his older sister. He sat up in his bed, removing the thumb from his mouth. He wiped the drool from his mouth and rubbed his eyes roughly as he tried to wake himself up.

“I’m not stopping anywhere for doughnuts, pancakes are a possibility, and we have no bacon. Guess you’re getting pancakes, little guy. I’ll go make them. Meet me downstairs once you’re dressed.”

Celeste turned to walk back out of Clark’s messy hellhole of a room, gingerly stepping over toys and miscellaneous Lego pieces that scattered the floor. She reached the white door, kicking a stuffed Triceratops out of her way as she reached for the brass doorknob. She paused when she heard her brother let out a small whine and said, “Don’t kick Jeremy!”

“Clark, you are seven years old and I just cannot believe,” Celeste paused, turning her head to look back at her sibling who was currently standing beside his bed, pulling on a Giants baseball shirt he more than likely found on the floor. She watched him for a few moments before rolling her eyes. “I just cannot believe you came up with a classy name like Jeremy. Nice choice,” she told him lightly.