The downside to having five siblings is that when one sibling has to be at school on time, the others are always running late.

"Guys! We need to get Rachael to school so she can sit and stare at the lovely wall in detention!" called a seventeen-year-old girl dressed in punk attire and standing in front of a black jeep liberty. She laughed when her sixteen year old sister, the afore mentioned Rachael, who was hanging out the jeep window, smacked her arm.

"Hold up!" responded the masculine voice that belonged to the older girl's twin brother from one of the windows of the apartment floor their family owned. "Preston is having issues with his pants and the fact that he has no ass to hold them up." The green-eyed beach blonde male laughed when the shoe of his thirteen-year-old brother collided with his head. He smirked mischievously and tossed the shoe down two stories to his sister, who caught it deftly.

"What am I to do with this?" she questioned him with her brow raised, and brandishing the shoe about.

"Eh, toss it through the window onto his seat."

The girl shrugged, "'Kay," and tossed it in without looking, unfortunately nailing her sister in the face.

"Ow! Riley!" scolded the girl who was now rubbing the red mark on her face.

"Sorry, Rae," laughed the girl Riley.

"Yeh, wh--"

Before she could finish, a smaller blue-eyed blonde emerged through the window. "Can't we just leave without them?"

The oldest sister sighed, "Sadly, no. Mum would get pissed."

"Oh ..." responded the ten-year-old who then retreated into the middle seat of the vehicle where she previously was.

Riley sighed, opened the front passenger door, and slipped into her seat. She slammed the door shut irritatedly.

"I'm going to be late for detention again," said Rachael, who was now completely in the car, as though commenting on how lovely the weather was.

"How many have you got left?" questioned Riley as she stuck the ear buds for her mp3 in and hit play.

"Eh," the other girl groaned. "Five. It'll probably be seven now because they add on two more every time I miss one."

Ri coughed and twisted around to face her sister. "Nuh-uh. Seriously?"

"Yeh," answered Rachael, frowning.

"Oh, that sucks," said her sister as she turned back to the forward position.

Rachael nodded, although Riley did not see that, and was about to say something else when her older brother, Riley's twin, Chris dumped a loudly protesting Preston into the car through the window, and got into the driver seat.

"Nice," Riley nodded as she buckled her seat belt and her brother started the engine.

"You know it. The Dukes inspire my soul," he nodded as he pulled out of the parking spot and nearly struck the black jaguar that was parked behind them. The driver of the car, a young man with short cut hair and a passive expression, raised his eyebrow and did not look overly happy. However, the messy-haired boy in the passenger seat next to him seemed to be laughing hysterically.

"Crack pots..." muttered Chris as he began the short fifteen minute drive to school.

Riley didn't respond as she turned up her music and shut her eyes.

Riley always dreaded school mornings--especially Mondays. They were stressful and overwhelming--mostly because her friends tended to make it as such. It seemed to be a ritual now that every morning they would run up to her and bombard her with verbal and physical greetings. It was not that she did not appreciate their affection for her, but on some mornings--or most, rather--she just needed time to adjust to the school setting. Still, the best analogy for how it made her feel would be someone dumping you in a tank of ice water when you have only just woken up.

She stood at her looker and shut her eyes as she waited for the worst. It came. She tensed her muscles, and grit her teeth, refraining from running as far away as fast as possible. The double doors just down the hall were looking rather friendly at that moment.

"Riley!"

A masculine body collided with her and not only did it do that, but it also wrapped its hairy, masculine arms around her waist and squeezed.

Her eye twitched and she twisted out of the death cling that the boy was giving her. She smacked him as soon as she was free. "Race Robert Wendell!" she yelled furiously.

"What?" he asked in faux innocence, knowing full well why is female friend was angry.

"Don't ever--AH!"

Her other friend had run up and wrapped her arms around Riley, much to the girl's dismay.

"Jada, if you don't unhand yourself from me ..."

"Aw. Riley doesn't like being hugged. What about stroking? Is that allowed?" the grey-eyed strawberry blonde asked as she demonstrated what she meant by running her hand seductively down Riley's arm.

Riley shoved the girl away from her, making sure no one had seen that display of affection--no matter how much it was meant as a joke. "Don't bloody touch me!" she yelled all too loudly as several people at the lockers nearest hers began to snicker and laugh. Riley glared hotly at her friend.

"Are you vexed, Ri?" Jada asked, pretending she did not know what was irritating her friend.

"No," the girl answered as the nerve under her right eye spasmed a bit.

"Oh good!" the girl grinned happily as she turned to Race and began to kibitz with him.

Riley rolled her eyes and turned back to her locker, claming herself as she did the combination. The lock clicked open and she removed it before opening the newly unsecured door. After placing her purse and lunch bad on the top shelf of the metal locker, she exchanged the books in her bag with the ones she needed in her locker.

Her two friends were still bantering--stupidly--when she finished and relocked her locker. Jada, being the quicker of the two companions, immediately linked her left arm with Riley's right. "Didju know there's five new students in our school?" she asked gleefully.

Riley shook her head in reply. "Non."

"Oh, they don't seem that great," said Race as he linked his own arm with Riley's free one. "They're all of the male orientation."

"Yes!" confirmed Jada, although in a much more pleased tone. "And they're all hot. Even the blonde one--who I really think is queer--is cute." She grinned. "Want to go meet them? Of course you do! Let's go ..."

Jada then proceeded to drag Riley off in the direction of a group of tall boys, but stopped as there seemed to be a miscommunication. Race, unfortunately for Riley, had apparently heard none of the conversation and was still walking the other way towards their homeroom. Riley had taken her chance of freedom and had briskly walked off to visit her other friend, Domi who was at her locker trading out her books.

Riley hugged the girl from behind.

"Hey, Ri ..." the girl greeted cheerfully as she thumbed through a text book--probably for some unaccounted homework Riley noted.

"Hola," Riley answered rather tiredly as she released her friend from the embrace.

"Were you attacked this morning?" Domi asked as she finished what she was doing and shut her locker.

"Yes," Riley nodded in confirmation. "They seem to have in their heads that I like being slammed into my locker and stroked in the morning."

"Which, of course, you don't," laughed Domi with a slight roll of her eyes.

"Non. I don't."

Domi pouted understandingly and pat her friend on the shoulder. "This is why I arrive to school after you. By the time they've noticed I've entered the building they've already used their morning energies on you." She laughed when Riley gave her a 'look'.

"Traitor," said the girl simply.

"Aw. Are you going to be mopey and emo today?" joked Domi, catching up to her crony who had started to walk away.

Riley bit back some vile words. "Dominique, don't. Just stop." She obviously had not found the joke funny.

The other girl considered her friend for a moment before nodding. "I will. Sorry." She then lightly hugged Riley before linking arms with her.

"Can we go the longer way to homeroom?" asked Riley as they walked.

"Sure," smiled the hazel-eyed girl as she pushed her wavy, golden-brown hair behind her shoulders. She led Riley towards a set of stairs that would take them the back way to their homeroom.

Upon arrival to the empty classroom, Riley unlinked arms with Domi and dumped her messenger bag on the floor next to the double desk she usually sat at. Domi quietly did the same and took the seat next to her at the table. She remained silent and pulled out a book to read as Riley took to staring at the empty wall that was before them.

Many of the classrooms in the large school were like this. Blank; empty. This was because the school was built over one hundred years previous in order to accommodate large numbers of students--specifically in the tens of thousands. However, as the earth became overcrowded, more colonies were built, and terra forming started the earth school populations slowly diminished and the need for large schools evaporated all together. This school in particular currently had only five hundred students attending it, making the need for the majority of the classrooms virtually nonexistent. The classroom they were currently in was located just outside the classrooms that were used, and that is why the walls were blank and looked as if they had been that way for many years.

The sound of Shania Twain being sung off key in male acapella broke Riley suddenly out of her thoughts. "I FEEL LIKA WOMAN!"

"That's probably because you are a woman, Race," Jada laughed as she sat at the desk next to Riley's and Domi's. She glanced at Riley and smiled. "Is Riley-face feeling more social?"

"Is Jay-monkey still in her morning state of hyperness?"

"Is Riley-face going to smack Jay-monkey if she says yes?"

"Is Jay-monkey going to shut up?"

Jada paused and thought a moment. "Is Riley-fa--"

"STOP!" Domi exclaimed in annoyance as she set her book down on the desk.

"Anti-fun hermit ..." Jada stuck her tongue out.

"Annoying bug," Domi bit back.

Riley chuckled as she cradled her head in her arms on the desk.

"It ... laughs ..." Race commented from his seat next to Jada.

The black-haired girl stopped laughing and looked up as she glared at the boy. "It speaks, yet it has only one brain cell. Such a marvel ..."

"Oh! Burn!" cheered Jada as she began laughing.

Finally, the bell rang as a reminder for people to get to homeroom, and the foursome quieted as the rest of their classmates and their teacher entered the room, followed by a group of five unfamiliar male faces.

"Oh, looks like Domi has new boys to pimp," Race snickered.

Domi glared and Jada smacked him. "My job!"

Riley sighed and tuned out the rest of homeroom.