Rhys Black woke to the sound of his parrot screeching loudly from its covered cage. He stumbled out of bed and pulled the sheet off of the cage. Krinkle calmed down immediately. Clint glanced over at the clock by his bedside. "Thanks Krinkle, you got me up before the alarm went off." He told her affectionately as he pulled a pair of jeans on and ran his fingers through his hair. He shoved his feet into a pair of sneakers and looked through the pile of clothes on his floor for a clean shirt. "Aha here we go!" He exclaimed, pulling a Korn t-shirt on. "RHYS! BREAKFAST!" His mother yelled up the stairs. "I'm coming, I have to feed Krinkle first!" He called back loudly. He carefully measured out half a cup of seeds for her and took her water dish out and went to the bathroom to fill it up. He found it occupied. "Carla, can you fill Krinkle's water dish for me?" He asked opening the door wide enough to slide the dish in side ways. "Yeah, just close the door already, you're letting a draft in!" She complained. "Fine whatever." He replied and closed the door abruptly. "Here." She said opening the door and holding the dish out to him. "Thanks." He said and walked back to his room and put the dish in Krinkle's cage. "Bye girl, see you after school." He called to her as he ran down the stairs. "Breakfast is on the table, by hun see you later." His mother told him pecking him on the cheek. "Mom, don't kiss me I'm too old for it." He said stopping her for a moment. She smiled sadly up at him and said. "You're growing up so fast." She sounded as though she hated the idea, but Rhys heard pride behind her sadness. "By Mom, I'll see you later then." He told her, giving her a brief hug. "By have a good day at school." She told him, and with that she went out the door. Rhys went into the kitchen and found his brother Greg finishing his breakfast. "If you hurry up I can give you a ride to school." Greg told him. Rhys nodded and hurriedly ate his eggs and toast and drained his orange juice. "Wait for me! I'll just be one second." Carla said coming into the kitchen. She drank down her orange juice and grabbed a piece of toast and followed her brothers outside. "By kids see you after school!" Their dad called after them as they drove off. Then he resumed raking the leaves into piles.

"So what do you think about Mom and Dad switching roles?" Greg asked his younger siblings. "Well it's certainly interesting." Rhys commented. "No kidding." Carla said with a snort. "Don't snort Carla, it doesn't become you." Greg chided her. "Fine. So what do you think about all this, Greg?" Carla asked him. "I think that it's working out better than it did when the roles were reversed. Dad's a better cook than Mom ever was, and I can tell that Mom enjoys what she is doing at her job. While Dad hated his job when he worked." "No kidding, and Mom makes three times as much as Dad ever did, and she doesn't travel as much as Dad used to." Carla observed. "Yup that's true. Well here we are." Greg said parking his jeep. He turned off it off and shoved the keys into his backpack and climbed out. "Have a good day at school guys!" He called to his brother and sister who were in front of him. Rhys walked quickly through the halls to his locker and pulled his textbooks for first hour out and put his other books in and then zipped his backpack up and started off for his first class. Rhys slide into his seat right as the bell rang. He pulled his history book and a notebook out of his bag and settled down for his first class. "Class please put your books away, there is going to be a surprise quiz today." Their teacher announced. Everyone groaned. Desks creaked as students complied. Rhys looked down at the papers that were handed to him. He took one and passed the others back to the next person. He studied the instructions carefully and then began. When he came to a dead end he stopped and tried to recall the answer. If he couldn't he skipped the question and went to the next one. When he got to the end he went back to the ones that he hadn't known and answered them as best as he could. "You time is up." The teacher announced suddenly. Rhys quickly glanced over his answers and changed one of them before he handed in the paper. Then he looked up at the clock and was surprised to see that the whole class time had been used up. "Homework for the weekend is to write a twelve page paper on one of the countries that we have read about this past week. Include a resource page." Rhys gathered up his bag and went to his next class. And the rest of the day in his classes there were tests, and surprise quizzes. All of them including his physical education class. He somehow managed to climb all the way to the top of the rope and ring the bell. He was surprised; he had never been able to do that before. "Boys report to the basketball gym." The coach said blowing his whistle. Rhys was confused. The coach had never had them go to the basketball gym while the seniors were practicing before, but he followed the others as he had been asked. When he entered he could tell that something was up, because the seniors were sitting on the bleachers and lounging around. "Alright you pansy's are going to play a game of basketball. The team captain's are.oh Josh Bright and Henry Camford. Pick your teams." "Alright, who picks first?" Josh asked. "You start." Henry drawled in a bored tone. "Rhys Black." He chose. Rhys was surprised, but walked over to his side. "So Rhys, who should we pick next?" Josh asked. "Grant Carvey." Rhys called out after Henry picked. Josh shot him a grin, knowing all too well that he was going to like him.