The blonde stayed out long enough to watch the early morning twilight create pretty pink and purply colors in the sky.

Note to self, the girl thought. Stretch from time to time.

Spencer not so elegantly made her way back into the house while she tried to work out the stiffness in her back. The door closed behind her carelessly and noisily. "Bastard door…" she mumbled tiredly rubbing a sore elbow.

The blonde started and let out a squeak. Her dad was making breakfast in the kitchen. She was so sure he heard her come in and was anticipating the million and five questions as to where she was and why she was coming back just now. Already making up excuses in her mind in case he started firing questions at her, Spencer crossed the space between the door and the stairs.

I was… getting some fresh air.

I left my sweater in the car.

I was out for a jog.

She scoffed at the last one. Yeah, "jogging," dismissing that one. Like they were going to believe she was out exercising this early in the morning… or at all for that matter.

However, the dark-haired man didn't turn around. Instead, he just kept stirring whatever he was cooking on the stovetop, continuing as if he didn't hear a thing.

Spencer, a little more careful now, tiptoed quietly up the stairs to her bedroom. Somehow though she still managed to step on her own pant leg. She stumbled on the steps loudly and ended up pantsing herself in the process. She peered down the hallway to make sure that nobody saw that with a red face. Pulling her pajama bottoms up still thoroughly embarrassed though nobody saw, she ran the last few steps into her bedroom shutting the door behind her and collapsing face first onto the bed. But the girl failed to notice, because she didn't look back towards the kitchen, that her dad still stirring, let out an amused sigh and was shaking his head with a knowing smile.

-----

"Ashley."

A mumble escaped the brunette's sleeping form.

"Ashley," an impatient prod to the girl's ribs accompanied.

Groan. "Quit poking me, woman."

Kyla rolled her eyes. "Stop calling me 'woman,' Ashley. I'm your sister."

This earned a snort from the half awake teenager. "Hardly…" she mumbled under her breath. Sheets were pushed lazily aside as the girl turned from her stomach to her side. Through a squinted, groggy stare the girl looked expectantly at brown eyes so like her own. "Mmm?"

She regarded her sister with a curious look.

"Speak, Kyla." Ashley grumbled rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

The girl just smiled impassively at her sister.

"You came into my room and woke me up. Now what do you want?"

Unfazed by the brash tone of her sister—dismissing it as just grumpiness—the younger girl pulled out her cell phone from her jeans pocket. Her eyes were trained on the screen while she clicked a few buttons. "Mom texted me." She commented.

Ashley waited. A moment passed. She sighed. "And…?" Her sister had a habit of ending her sentences sounding like she was going to say something more.

Kyla's eyes, which were distracted by something on her cell phone, lit up then with realization. "Oh yeah."

ADD much, the girl thought to herself.

"Mom told me to tell you that, uh…"

Eyes darted to large digital clock on her wall. It read 9:42. Yup, she thought. Definitely too early for this…

Ashley turned back onto her stomach. She listened as a few more buttons were clicked while her sister scrolled her inbox. "'Remember to punch in the security code when you come home at 4 in the morning, or just stop going out at all doing hell knows what.'" The girl stood to her full height. "Direct quote." Her fingers idly pressed buttons she memorized by heart as she composed another text message.

Ashley rolled her eyes at her sister's retreating form. Maybe I should just stop coming back

The door was pulled quietly shut as Kyla left.

The girl sighed dramatically. Her covers kicked off the bed theatrically. Leaving her lying sprawled in her tank and boy shorts. The girl's nose twitched. "I want music," she declared to her empty room. The brunette stood lazily and fed a CD into her player. In 3 seconds the speakers were bleeding post-hardcore melodies onto her carpeted floor.

So depressing, the girl thought.

Ashley smiled.

A few houses away…

The youngest Carlin woke up only four hours after collapsing on her bed. The sounds of heavy rock drifted in from her open bedroom window.

"Hm-wha…?" the blonde questioned her pillow.

From the hallway came a scoff. Groggy Spencer picked up her head to find her mother standing there laundry basket in hand, a disgusted look on her face. "How rude. You think they could turn it down, huh?"

She caught her daughter's half opened eyes. The girl shrugged spasmodically before dropping her head back onto her pillow.

Paula, her mother, walked into Spencer's room. No permission was needed because the woman started to pick up random articles of discarded clothes to throw them into the basket with no objections. As she neared the window Paula stopped. Her ears strained to determine which direction the disturbance was coming from. Spencer's bedroom window faced the backyard. Since the view showed little, she settled on glaring at their neighbors from behinds' roofs.

"Teenagers…" she mumbled under her breath before proceeding to leave her daughter's room to go on to the next child's.

Spencer sighed before rolling over onto her side. And now she lay on her back. A couple of seconds later she threw her arm on top of her face. She lay still for a moment, eyes shut tight before the blonde flopped onto her stomach.

1, 2, 3…

The sixteen year old groaned. "I'm awake."

"Oh that's nice, honey." The smiling face of her mother popped into her bedroom. "Lunch'll be ready in a few," Paula explained.

"Ready right now actually." A tall dark haired man appeared by her mother. "Morning, squirt."

Spencer stretched lazily. "G'morn'n dad," came out as a garbled half yawn and greeting.

"You missed breakfast."

"Yeah…" she ran a hand through her hair. "Was pretty tired this morning, you know?"

Her father nodded with a slight smile. A comfortable silence set in. "Hey, me and your brothers are going to the supermarket later. You know, stock up on some food. Cupboards are pretty bare." His daughter nodded uninterested. "Come with us, kiddo."

"Sure," was her halfhearted response.

The man sighed content. "So what do you think of the new place, Spence?" He eyed the room with a satisfied smile.

For a moment, the girl's blue eyes fogged over with something. Though in an instant it was gone. A forced grin replaced it. Her parents didn't know the difference. "It's, it sure is something different, Dad."

This seemed to satisfy them.

"Well," Paula, laundry basket still in hand, started to move, "I'll go put these away."

"Right." Arthur watched with comforted smile at his wife before turning his gaze to his daughter. "Lunch is on the table. Just… y'know, might want to clean up a bit, Spence." The man pawed at his face.

It took a moment for Spencer to take the hint. "Oh," her hand was quick to her own cheek. Ew. A disgusted look crossed her face as her fingers came in contact with something warm and slightly sticky. Drool.

Arthur chuckled a deep, warm laugh. Goodness, I love my family.