BEEP BEEP BEEP
"Urg.." Louden struggled to lift his hand off of the bed to hit the snooze button on his alarm clock. "Aw, screw it." He pulled his pillow over his head.
It shut off about five minutes after it started.
"Thank God..." He started drifting back to sleep, but was woken up by an insistent pounding.
"LOUDEN!! This is Madison! Why'd you let your stupid alarm clock run?! It woke me up! You have to get up too, or I'll knock this door down!"
"In a minute!" He tried to gather the strength to sit up. After about thirty seconds, he did.
"What's taking so long?" his little sister said from behind the door, stomping her foot.
"I'm UP. Go away, I'm gonna get dressed."
"Fine." He could hear her spin around and stomp down the stairs.
Neither of them were all that much of a morning person.
--
He came down stairs in his street clothes (a black tee, jeans, and a sweatshirt). Maddie and her friends were chatting, so Louden made himself coffee and sat down.
"Morning, sleepyhead,"Maddie said, "Mom and Dad left, but they said to say hi."
"Thanks for telling me. And thanks for the rude awakening this morning, " Louden muttered sarcastically.
"No prob. That'll teach you," she said obnoxiously.
Louden watch beeped. "Oh shit! I'm gonna be late!" He said jumping up from the table. He grabbed his stuff and was about to leave when Maddie said, "Louden, aren't you forgetting something?" He saw she was holding up his Blackberry.
"Thank-you," He slid the phone in his pocket and kissed Maddie on the head, "See ya tonight." And with that, he left.
"Bye," she muttered. She heard someone at the backdoor.
"I'll get it!" Katie called. Maddie heard the door open, "It's Natalie!"
--
Madison stood up as she heard the footsteps and chatter of Natalie and Katie get closer. She sneaked to the side of the door way, and readied for the attack.
Natalie took one step into the kitchen and-
"NATALIE!!"
"AAAAAAAAGGHHH!!"
Madison had just proceeded with her traditional strangle-Natalie-with-a-glomp ceremony.
"Madison... can't... breathe..."
Once Maria had talked Madison into letting Natalie out of the death trap (thank God we have Marias), they started talking about (extremely) random things we had done in reality, seen on the internet, or drawn on breaks between work and/or electronic devices.
"So, I saw a car come out of the driveway right before we pulled in. Who was that?" Natalie asked.
"My brother, of course." She paused. "Oh, yeah, this is your first time at my house. You couldn't have met him before."
"What's he like?"
"Well, there's a picture of him over there." She pointed to a shelf that ran along the wall of the kitchen.
Natalie stood up and walked over to the picture, which was surrounded in a black wood frame.
"He looks familiar..."
"Katie said that too. Why-"
"I know! It's- It's- Without the messy hair-" she stuttered.
"What?"
Meanwhile, at the Hero Headquarters, Louden was putting his stuff down on a chair in the lounge. Louden looked up and saw Beav and Jingi jogging toward him.
"Hey! What's up Beav? Jingi?" Louden asked.
"Last night we were worried about you! Dude, how long are you gonna be staying with your parents?" Beav asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"SHHHHH! I don't want Cube finding out about that!" Louden hissed/
"CU-OW!" yelled Beav. He was about to yell Cube and spit on the ground, as was tradition in Hero HQ whenever someone said his name, but Jingi stomped on his foot. He knew Louden didn't want to hear it.
While Beav was occupied with his throbbing foot, Jingi walked away with Louden to the small gym they had in the back(It was about as big as a fighting studio)
A few people were scattered around, fighting with each other, hitting dummies, or
exercising.
"Oh, by the way, your Uncle dropped something off for you," Jingi walked over to the small water station they had. He took a small envelope. Louden ripped it open and 5 tickets spilled out.
"Five?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, its just he never gives me more than two. I wonder why he gave me so many..."
At that moment, American Beetle walked through the doors and looked as if he was searching for someone. Louden walked over to him.
"What's wrong, Beetle?"
"I can't find Neo, and I need a spotter. Have you seen him?"
"No, but I could probably manage it."
"Okay," and with that, they both walked away.