Musical High

Ten

"Pass the towel!"

Race stumbled around the cramped bedroom, his face covered in shaving cream. The other boys shoved him to the side as they tried to get ready for the day.

It was hectic in the lodging house. Everyone, no matter their age, had to share a room. If you hadn't seen at least one naked, you were going to soon enough. That was just one of the many things they had to deal with. Although, they didn't exactly mind, since they were all practically brothers. Things did get awkward though.

One of the older boys, Skittery, waved a single used towel in front of Racetrack. "For a buck I might!"

There were a few failed attempts at grabbing the towel from the shorter boy. Eventually, Snitch yanked it from his brother's grasp, tossing it towards Race. He swiftly wiped his face.

"Stop ruinin' all me fun!" Skittery shouted, fake-pouting.

"Ya fun is disruptin' me beauty rest," Pie-Eater stated from his bunk, "so shut up!"

"Ya wanna go?!"

"Fight me!"

He started stomping over, but was immediately pushed away by Mush, who still didn't have a shirt on. All of the boys had begged him to finally cover his chest with something, yet he refused. Said it "attracted the ladies".

"Stop pushin' eachothah' around! We gotta get a move on!" Jack, who was considered the leader of the bunch (since he's the oldest), commanded as he started lifting up Pie-Eater. There were plenty of protests from the brown-haired boy.

Bumlets walked past the leader, patting him on the back as he did. "I don't think anyone will care if we don't show up, Cowboy. They kinda hate us."

"They don't even know me! I'm in middle school!" Snipeshooter giggled. He was helping the only elementary student, Tumbler, get ready. And by get ready I mean bathe him. Yeah, they had to do that a lot.

The kids continued chattering for a while. A bit of hitting, plenty of yelling, and some other normal things. It was pretty much their normal routine in the morning.

After about twenty minutes, everyone was ready. They all went flying down the stairs and out the door. The lodging house's owner, Kloppmann, had to count them all as they left. Sounds like a fun job, huh?

"Hey, Mutey, c'mere a second!" Crutchy called. He was seated on the curb, where the boys waited for their bus.

Mutey walked over. Even if he didn't understand why his brother was calling him over, he guessed that it was rather important.

"Hold your hands out, okay? I wanna show ya a magic trick." The younger boy stuck his hands out. "Okay, great. Now.." Crutchy grabbed his cap and threw it over to Jack, "ta-da! The hat disappeared!"

There was an annoyed expression on Mutey's face as he marched over to get his cap back. Jack placed it backwards on his head, chuckling.

This was gonna be a long day.