Hi! Next Chapter! It kind of sucks...

Chapter 3: Morning

"Riiing! Riiing!"

Abby hit the 'snooze' button on her alarm clock. It was 7:00, Saturday morning. She wanted to get another hour of sleep in, but she just couldn't. The events of last night were still fresh in her mind.

She started to think. Okay-what happened? Everything was okay, then that girl- Arber, right?- caught the mondo-wierdos and babbled nonsense! She was telling us to help her…so weird… Numbuh 1 said that something was wrong with her eyes when she said that.

However, she couldn't think any longer. Somebody was banging on her door-the last person she wanted to see right now.

"Hey!" Cree said. "Wake up, loser! It's breakfast time!"

"For your information, sister, I am awake!" Abby shouted. "I'll be down in a sec. In the meantime, don't take my seat on the couch!"

"Why would I want to? I'm too mature to watch Saturday morning cartoons!"

"Mature? Then why did I see you picking your nose yesterday? Is it all a part of your 'maturity'?"

"Grr…why, you-" Cree didn't finish. She stomped away. When Abby was sure that she was gone, she got ready for the day- changed into her extra-long blue and white striped shirt, combed and braided her hair, and put on her huge red baseball hat.

"Girls!" Mr. Lincoln called from downstairs. " Pancakes are ready! What with the butter and the syrup and the griddles and the- oh you know what I'm talking about!" He made a weird noise.

"Pancakes? I better get down there before Cree eats em all!" She ran to she stairs, slid down the banister, and into the kitchen. As she expected, Cree was wolfing down the pancakes. Her father was, thankfully, making more.

Abby smiled. Her family was a bit crazy. She was in the Kids Next Door, her sister was evil and her father was a Bill Cosby clone. She grabbed a stack of pancakes, jumped onto the old, lumpy couch, and turned on the TV.

Just then, her KND Comuthingy rang. "Yeah?"

"Numbuh Five!" Numbuh 1's voice said. "I hate to call you in on a weekend, but we need to investigate last night's scenario further. We'll meet you at Lime Ricky's at 10. Got it?"

"Over and out, chief."

---

Meanwhile, down the street, the Delightful Children from Down the Lane were having a slightly different morning.

Amber rushed down the hallway. Okay-w-where was the dining hall again? She thought frantically. She rushed through the halls of her giant mansion, opening doors frantically, hoping that one of them was the dining hall. If she was late for breakfast, it meant punishment. And she only had two minutes.

Oh no, oh no… Just as the clock struck 9, she burst open a pair of doors. Father was waiting, along with her siblings. "Well…" Father said, "Better late than never, I suppose. Well, what are you waiting for? SIT DOWN!"

Amber groaned. Every morning was like this. She sat down next to Lenny and looked at her breakfast. Ham and scrambled eggs. Just like every morning.

She looked at her siblings. Daniel was sculpting his eggs into a little volcano out of boredom, and Michael was trying to squash it, lest Father see it. The squelch of eggs was the only noise. It was always this tense after punishment. One time, Daniel had jumped up and said, "BOOOOO-RIIIIING!" in order to break the silence. Oh sure, that had caused their punishment in the first place, but it was worth it.

That was just like Daniel- adventurous and fearless. All of her siblings were different. Michael was broody and easily angered. Lenny was secretive, intelligent, and mysterious. Leona was happy-go-lucky, hyper, and spoke whatever came to her head.

And Amber? She didn't really have a distinct personality. She was like a combination of the four. Her emotions were powerful, however. She didn't know how else to describe herself.

Father was a different story. He was mean, demanding, and, well, mean. He was the one who forced the five to attack the Kids Next Door. Like her siblings, Amber hated Father.

Half an hour later, breakfast was done. The Delightfuls were excused, and Father went to do "Super important villany stuff." The sibs had been instructed to stay in their room until lunch, which was in 2 ½ hours. Once again, Amber was faced with lots of time-and nothing to do with it. Then she remembered the plan she had devised last night. "Umm…everyone?"

"Wha…"

"I have an idea about what we can do."

"Really?"

"Well, it'll be kind of sketchy, but here's what we have to do…" She explained her idea.

All of her sibs groaned. "Please, Amber, not another one of your crazy escape plans!" Lenny said.

"Yeah," Michael said. "Remember last time?"

Yes, Amber knew all about last time. The plan? Take out a super-destructive machine, ditch it a few miles from town, and run for it. Unfortunately, Father caught Daniel trying to disarm the machine's locator, and they got a week's punishment, along with the added bonus of Father not trusting them with anything- even butter knives- outside of punishment.

That was over a month ago. But Amber's spirits weren't dampened. She was serious about this one.

"But I'm serious about this one!" she said. "It will work! Cross my heart and hope to die!"

Michael grabbed her shoulder. "Well, okay. But this is the craziest one yet, Am. One little resistance probably didn't convince them."

"Oh, it will." I hope…

Bye- SP