The Ripple Effect

Reality

Daniel Wright woke up to the usual sound of his alarm clock on the first weekend since the second semester started. The boy was looking forward to the weekend as it was the day of the his first date with Acacia Taylor. He quickly got out of bed, fueled by excitement, and got dressed at lightning pace. The actual date wasn't for two more hours, but Daniel was in such a stir of excitement that he didn't stop to think that he might be overdoing anything. After getting dressed, Daniel looked at the clock and wasn't moved by the fact that he was early at all.

In this instance, Daniel's younger brother and sister were in shock to not only hear Daniel's alarm go off this "early" in the morning but to see that he was fully awake and dressed. On most weekend mornings Daniel didn't wake up until 1:30pm at the earliest, occasionally earlier if Daniel was having a hard time sleeping in, and took another hour to sluggishly make his way out of his room still in pajamas. Daniel's two siblings, Edith Wright and Adam Wright, were sitting on the living room couch watching daytime cartoons. However, when they heard the sound of the door to Daniel's door opening both of them turned around in shock. They were both welcomed with the extremely rare sight of their brother.

"Why are you up this early?" Edith asked with a curious tone.

"Why do you need to know?" Daniel shot back.

"Rude," Edith said under her breath before turning back around. Adam opened his mouth as if to ask a similar question but then closed it deciding to contemplate what he was about to say a few more moments.

"Where are you going?" Adam asked, after putting together the miscellaneous thoughts in his mind.

"On a date with my girlfriend," Daniel answered quickly. As far as he could remember, neither of the two knew he had a girlfriend, considering his own parents were taken by surprise at the thought.

"You have a girlfriend?!" Edith asked in excitement as she jumped back around in her place to look at Daniel.

"Yes," Daniel said plainly, trying not to provoke any other questions.

"What's her name?" Adam pitched in.

"Acacia," Daniel answered.

"That's a weird name," Edith said with a small laugh, "What, is it French?"

"Australian," Daniel corrected, "I for one think it's a beautiful name."

"Acacia," Adam repeated a few times as Daniel came around to sit on a chair next to the couch.

"Pretty name, isn't it?" Daniel asked Adam.

"Mmmmm, no," Adam replied bluntly, "It's kinda weird."

"It's impossible to please you two," Daniel said quietly as he leaned back in his chair.

"But it's weird!" Edith said, still laughing, "What's her last name?"

"Taylor," Daniel fed.

"I like that name!" Adam quickly butted in, "Why isn't that her first name?"

"Because her parents wanted to name her Acacia," Daniel replied, "Why isn't your first name Wright?"

"I dunno," Adam said with a confused look.

"What's she look like?" Edith asked, still excited

"Why do you care so much?" Daniel countered.

"'Cause I wanna know what kind of weirdo would choose to go out with you," Edith explained.

"Acacia isn't weird," Daniel defended.

"Of course she is," Edith started, "She wouldn't be going out with you if she weren't."