Leo awoke to the sight of blackness. He remembers the part in his parents books how dad used to wake up to the sound of an old pick up truck. His dad didn't have a pickup truck, but his Lamborghini could certainly wake him up in a heartbeat.
Leo walked down the hallway and hit his little brother and older sister's room once to wake them up. As he walked down the stairs, he could hear the sounds of shuffling and doors being open, followed by arguing because, once again, Amelia had gotten into the bathroom first.
Leo felt for Bobby, because there wasn't much he was good at, running to the bathroom being one of those things. Leo's room was on the bottom floor of the house. It was the biggest room of the house, had a full bathroom, and whenever he felt like it he could sneak off to a party thanks to a door at the end of the room.
As Leo made his way down the hallway that led to his room, he heard the all too familiar sound of Booby's pittary-pattery feet coming up to him to ask the same question, every morning.
"Can I use your bathroom", he asked, a towel and clothes in one hand, shampoo and soap in the other. "No Bobby!" Leo said annoyed. He wasn't exactly a morning person. "Why not", Bobby asked Leo while trying to run in front of him. It wasn't working since the hallway was small and Leo was in pretty good shape.
"Because, you always use my shampoo, body wash, and cologne", Leo replied opening the door to his room. He turned around to face Bobby, knowing all too well a comeback was coming.
"But, look right here" Bobby replied, holding up his items in tow. "HAA!" Leo replied. "Like I'm supposed too believe that. I already know that if I let you use my shower, that you're going to use all of MY stuff, and then leave a mess. And then, once I discover said mess, you'll be doing sixty out the front door."
"No I won't, and even if I do I swear that when I get home I'll clean it", Bobby said, with a look of victory on his face. "And, just what exactly am I supposed to do, get ready for school in a pool of water", Leo replied. "Just move around it", Bobby said.
Leo gave his little brother a baffled look before closing the door on him. Leo gathered his things before heading into his bathroom. It was larger than the one in his parents' bedroom, and the cleanest bathroom in the house.
When Leo and his parents came down to Lockhart, Texas to look at this house, Amelia and Bobby weren't in tow. One was off at camp, the other thought it was lame to fly 1000 miles just to look at a house. Leo on the other hand saw an opportunity.
His hunch proved correct as he discovered this room. As with sibling rule, whoever calls dibbs on a room gets said room, and as with such things there's always a sibling that doesn't like the dibb.
Leo's argument was that it was on the bottom floor, and he had laid claim to it. Amelia's was that as a girl she needed the bigger room with the bathroom. It all backfired on her when she brought up the fact that she was older.
Leo took this opening and said that the younger one should get the bigger room. It was a good thing Bobby was both at camp, and a destroyer of rooms, because otherwise that statement would've led to Bobby getting the room.
After Leo brushed his teeth, he put on his shirt, and couldn't help but notice how undersized the shirt was. He smiled at himself in the mirror, glad that his workout regimen was working
He looked at himself closely, and thought back to when he had received the call that he wasn't going to be interviewed by ESPN. Leo aspired to be an NFL Quarterback, so he was more than a little ecstatic to hear that ESPN was coming to his school to interview the team.
Everyone knew that most of the questions would be to Leo, as he had set several school and state records that season, and had been the final piece to LTX's so called "Dream Team".
But something had happened with the interviewer for a soccer game, and thus said reporter never did said interview. It was only the first round of the playoffs, against a team they were heavily favored to beat.
But, alas they lost thanks to a missed field goal, and lady luck being against Leo. They were still set to be interviewed, loss or no loss, but there was no longer any magic to their story. No magic, no story, no interview.
That was only the first (and second for that matter) terrible things that would hit Leo in the span of six months. From a broken arm, to a break up, to his parents calling off the trip to Florida.
That last one was simply icing on the cake to what turned out to be the worst summer of his life, before he even went on summer break. But, Leo persevered and came out stronger than ever before.
His goal this year was simple: win State. Wouldn't be easy, but last year he had several other goals that he was trying to accomplish (several ruined in that hellashish period) and yet still went to the playoffs.
When he walked back down the hallway, he'd noticed Bobby was nowhere in sight, and heard Amelia cussing something out in her room. Amelia didn't have a car, so she had to take the bus just like Bobby.
When he'd first gotten his car he had tried to give them a ride to School, but it turned out to be too much of a hassle. So, now they both had to get showered and dressed before the bus arrived at 5:30.
Leo getting his license was the only positive of pre summer, because now he could leave at 7:45 instead of 5:30. Leo walked into the kitchen, picked up a pan, and cracked a few eggs into it.
His parents had graveyard shift type of schedules, which meant that not only was Leo in charge of getting his siblings to school on time, he was also in charge of breakfast. His mom used to make breakfast, but because of Leo telling his parents that he wasn't going to give Amelia and Bobby a ride to school anymore, they had given that task to Leo.
Not that anyone was complaining. Sometimes Leslie would be so tired that the pancakes would be raw, or there would be shells in the eggs. Yes, what should've been a punishment ended up saving them from the punishment.
After the eggs, toast, and sausage was done, Leo sat down in the living room with his plate (having already made theirs) and turned on the T.V. After wolfing it down, Leo went back into his room to steer clear of the inevitable argument that always occurred over whose plate was who.
After they had left, Leo went outside to workout. The sun wouldn't rise for another hour and a half, but it was already in the mid eighty's. That's Texas weather for you. Even though Leo had worked out through hotter temps, he knew when not to try to push it.
The sun was barely poking through the horizon, but it was now in the ninty's, and Leo still had practice, and maybe work. He still hadn't showered, and he had homework that he still hadn't finished.
After tying his shoes, Leo walked out the front door into the boiling morning heat. Leo walked briskly to his car, hoping to escape into the chill of his a/c. Turning on the car, he headed to school.