In this world of adults, it's hard to stay a child. But, deep down in our very heart of hearts, we are young. We are children. We are free and happy once again. Most of us don't realize that. But, some of us do. And those that do hold on to that last fragment of ourselves with all the might they have. And those people are forever happy and free from the harshness of life. Find the inner child in you and never grow up.

-Beep Beep Beep Bee-

The garishly bright-colored alarm clock was cut off in mid-beep by a sleepy young woman. She groaned and rolled over, taking the Mickey Mouse comforter along with her. It was far too early to wake up. Far, far too early. Besides, it was a Saturday. She could sleep as long as she wanted to and there was nothing that could-

"ALICE GADDI, WAKE UP OR I'LL EAT YOUR FACE!"

Alice bolted up, strands of her messy black hair scrawling all over her face. She squeaked and stumbled out of bed and into her worn, but beloved bunny slippers.

"ARE YOU UP YET?"

The young woman gulped and ran for the bathroom.

"C-Coming, Ate (1)!"

Well, except for that little fact. She twisted the faucet on and splashed cold water on her drool-encrusted face. Grabbing blindly for a towel, she looked up into the mirror with water-blurred eyes. A teenage girl stared straight back at her, raven hair askew and her mouth twisted into a grotesque sort of grimace. Flinching ever so slightly, Alice grabbed her scratchy, linty Little Mermaid towel and attacked her face with it, scrubbing until her cheeks burned. She sometimes hated how she looked. Her dark brown eyes were wide and big and sometimes were too large for her face. She was tan, copper-skinned with visible tan lines on her back from the copious swimming she did. Her hair was wavy, curly and poofy all in one; sometimes (or most of the time) she looked like a retarded lion. At least, that's what she thought and no one had ever told her differently, as her not-so-blasé questions about it were always met with blank stares and/or a change of topic. She was of average height: a little over five foot five. And her weight… well, she wasn't obese, that was for sure. She supposed she didn't look too hideous, but most of the time, she didn't even give a rat's bum about her appearance. Sighing, she took one more long look at herself before walking out the bathroom door, her favorite towel hanging over her shoulder.

She shuffled into the kitchen, where a great sizzling noise could be heard. She could hear loud declarations of war to the bacon and eggs and couldn't help but smile a bit. There she went again. She walked further into the kitchen and saw her two older sisters in their normal morning routines. Paulette sat at the table, her short raven locks pulled from her face in a tight, high ponytail and reading a comic book with her regular stoic expression. To the left of her stood her other older sister and Paulette's twin, Estelle, or Ellie for short. She stood at the stove, her long dark tresses pulled away from her face and into a messy bun. She wielded the spatula like a sword and stabbed at the popping eggs and bacon like it was a fire-breathing dragon. It might as well have been, with her loud vegetable cursing and determined face. Alice could easily imagine her older sister dressed in shining armor fighting a dragon with fried eggs for eyes and a long bacon tail, spewing out deadly streams of fat and grease. And then her sister would draw her long, formidable spatu-lance and lunge forward to behead the terrible beast of breakfast and—

"Oi! What the heck are you doing, you idiot?"

Alice looked up and found Paulette glaring irritably at her over the top of the book. The younger girl flinched and smiled, hesitantly. She was prone to daydreaming out of nowhere, always absentmindedly looking into space. And her short-haired older sister absolutely hated it. She said it made her look like even more of a dope than she already was; who apparently was already very dopey in Paulette's eyes. Alice slid into a chair and greeted her in a timid sort of voice.

"Morning, Ate Lettie."

The stern older woman harrumphed. Ellie turned from the stove and beamed at her younger sister and her twin. She waved the spatula at Alice with an air of cheerfulness.

"Good morning, Lissy!"

The mane-haired young woman smiled back.

"G'morning, Ate Ellie."

The cheerful twin giggled sweetly and hummed a random tune while turning back to the slightly burned bacon and eggs. Alice smiled and swept her hair out of her face. Ellie was the complete polar opposite of Lettie. She was kind and good-natured and never said a word of disdain to anybody, least of all to her little sister. The only thing the twins had in common was the blue 2008 Kia Picanto they shared. They had fought over it countless times before, but now that the two had graduated from high school, they argued twice as hard. Mama had promised to buy Lettie a car soon which in turn aroused Ellie's jealous attention and so this went on and ended in neither of them having their own separate cars. But, Alice reckoned she was pretty used to all this and knew to stay out of one of their "twinly" fights. She sighed and twisted a loose thread dangling from the corner of her towel. Fights or not, they had each other. The two were inseparable and did everything together. Well, yes, she was close with both her sisters, but she didn't have the bond that they had.

Puffing out her cheeks, Alice broke the thread off and let it slip from her fingers. She then propped her face in her hands and stared off into space. The three sat in companionable silence, before a door slammed from upstairs and heavy footsteps padded onto the hardwood floor. A moment later, the toilet flushed and a loud descent of the stairs soon followed.

"Dude, what's for dinner?"

A tall, lanky teenage boy walked in, scratching his mussed-up raven hair. He yawned, loudly. Ellie blissfully ignored him and Alice sent him a lazy smile. But Lettie's eyes twitched, violently.

"It's breakfast, you idiot."

He shot her one of his signature half-smiles and plopped down next to Alice.

"Not for me, Lets."

He grinned at the younger girl beside him and ruffled her already messy hair.

"Mornin', babyface."

Alice shot her older brother a half-hearted glare. This was her older brother, Jonah. Or Jonie for short. He was 18; one year older than the twins. She knew not to let his appearance fool you. He might look like the definition of nonchalance and breezy freedom, but in actuality, he was a genius. The raven-haired teen was a prodigy. He excelled in every single academic subject that was offered at the high school and even now he took advanced classes in the nearby university. It was no doubt to Alice that her older brother was as near to perfect than any human being on the face of the Earth. Not only was he blessed with the brains, but after he aced Geometry (which he took in 4th grade), he took up soccer. He mastered that in the span of two years. Then he took up basketball. Mastered that. Track. Check. Tennis. Check. Volleyball, lacrosse and swimming. Check, check and check. She couldn't come up with something he wasn't good at. He was perfect. He (she had to admit) was also quite the looker. He was tall with raven hair that constantly shaded his narrow cinnamon-brown eyes. It was easy to see the intelligence and humor in his eyes. But his signature half-smile was the killer. That was the smile he gave her now. Jonie waved a hand in front of her face.

"Earth to Al, Earth to Al. You there, babes?"

Alice jerked backwards and slapped his hand away.

"Hey! Don't do that. I was just-"

"Daydreaming?"

He finished and stood up in one swift, fluid movement. He flashed her a backwards grin and moved forward towards Ellie. The teen plucked the plate laden with bacon and eggs from his younger sister's hands and knocked Lettie's book from her hands.

"Hey!"

He smoothly placed it in her still outstretched hands and smiled, easily.

"And you call me lazy. Chop, chop, kiddies. I've got me a soccer tourney today and 'Nang(2) and 'Tang(3) said I have to take you lot with me."

Ellie let out a groan followed by Lettie's angry comment.

"Hey, hey! What? No one told us about this!"

Jonie waved a hand, dismissively, his other hand already holding a piece of bacon. He glanced at Alice and winked.

"Little Al here knew."

She gulped. Now that she thought about it… But it was too late to amend anything now as the twins circled in on her.

"What! You knew?"

"Wah, how could you, Lissy?"

Before she could say anything, a plate with bacon, eggs and rice(4) were thrust into her hands. Jonie ushered her from the kitchen with an almost motherly tone of voice.

"Go dress up and eat. Or the other way around. Just get ready. We leave in a half hour. Ya got me, babyface?"

She nodded and scurried up to her room. Alice shook her head. It was just another typical day in the Gaddi household.

So, yeah. This was mostly just an introduction to the Gaddi family. Please R&R, crticise, praise. Anything. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me and ask. If you have any suggestions, please bring those to my attention. Any flames, I will accept, but I probably won't be very thrilled. Just so you know, they're Filipino.

(1)Ate is a way to address an older female ie. sister

(2)'Nang is short for Inang which means "mommy" in Tagalog

(3)'Tang is short for Tatang which means "daddy" in Tagalog

(4)Bacon, eggs and rice. Filipinos eat rice with everything. Well, at least, I do. How can I help it? It's so scrumdillyumptious. 3