Written

Chapter 1

The shrill screaming of my alarm clock rings through my bedroom as my hand fumbles against the nightstand, hoping to locate the snooze button. It is 3 a.m., a time of day that most people are not accustomed to seeing. But this is regular for me, this is life every day.
Most of my friends went away to school in the fall, and they are now slowly returning along with the summer. They lead the lives of normal college students, normal nineteen and twenty year olds with fake I.D.s and crappy summer jobs at the Dairy Queen. I chose a different path, one that still seems to be frowned upon though I am already doing better than most of them.
During my senior year in high school I took almost a full load of courses at the community college, earning myself a spot in their summer program which placed me a full year ahead of my classmates. Rather than uproot and relocate for school, I decided to stay in town and continue at the community college. I told everyone that I'd made my choice based on the school's award-winning Radio Broadcasting program, but in my heart I knew that I wasn't ready to leave this town yet. I convinced myself that my mother and my brother Ryan needed me around, though they both swore they would be fine without me. I am still not sure if I believe them, but I don't plan on finding out anytime soon.

So while the rest of my friends were packing their lives into boxes, I threw myself into academics and took as many classes as I could to get ahead. I narrowed my studies to focus on broadcasting and interned with two different radio stations while still technically in my freshman year of college. The second station I interned with was home to The Mike on the Mic Show, the most popular morning radio show in Atlanta. In recent years, Mike on the Mic expanded its audience to other major cities, including Nashville, Phoenix, Birmingham, and Chicago. It was honest luck that I stumbled upon it when I did.
Starting as an intern, I was eventually hired on as a creative marketing associate for the station. During table-reads and idea pitches, my humor earned me a guest speaking spot on Mike on the Mic, a rare opportunity that I was determined to seize.
After my first initial appearance, I was asked to return as a guest several more times. Ratings for the show seemed to spike on mornings that I appeared, earning me a promotion to assistant producer specifically for Mike on the Mic. Rare for someone not yet twenty.

That promotion is what has me fumbling around my bedroom this morning, and every morning at 3 a.m.. Mike and his cohost Gail go on air at 5 a.m., meaning that everyone who works on the show has to be at the station at 4:15.
There are some mornings where I think that it will kill me, literally kill me to continue living this way. Working from 4 in the morning until noon, then going home to sleep until 5 or 6 p.m., then attempting to properly function in social environments. My only days off are Tuesdays and Sundays. My mother worries that I am already a workaholic, but she was the one who taught me to answer the door when opportunity comes knocking. And opportunities like this rarely come knocking at all.

After nearly falling asleep in the shower, I make myself semi-presentable before heading out the door. One of the perks to working in radio is that I never have to dress up or put too much effort into my appearance. People in this city know my name and my voice, but rarely do they recognize my face. Mike and Gail both show up to work in sweats or even pajamas sometimes, but I make it a point to at least wear jeans every day. Catherine, the Executive Producer of the show, always wears business clothes even at 4 a.m.

As I breeze through the double doors at the station headquarters downtown, it's like stepping into another world. The quiet darkness of the early morning city is extinguished behind me as I enter the bright building, already bustling with people. Music is blaring through the building, louder than would be considered appropriate for normal business people.
I make my way to the fourth floor, the highest level of the building, where the Mike on the Mic show is created. The show is quite a feat for only four people to put on every day, but the station backs us financially and somehow we always manage. There are only four rooms on the fourth floor, one of them is the break room, one is Catherine's office, one is the holding room, and one is the radio studio. The holding room is possibly the nicest room in the building, and also the least used. We only open the holding room when we have guest speakers on air or celebrity interviews. Given the recent success of the show, neither of those are all too uncommon these days.