Danny rolled over in his bed, warm rays of light shining through the window. He let out a relaxed sigh, that first day of summer sigh. He fumbled for the clock on his bedside table, cracking an eye open to check the time. 10:15 am, not too late in the day, but late enough to say that you slept in late. He placed the clock back on the table and slowly sat up in his bed. Yawning, Danny stretched his arms out to the side and above his head. His eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light. He flung the blankets aside, creating an abstract pile of fabric on his bed. The phone on the desk across the room blinked several times, signifying unread messages. Danny made a note to check the messages after he got dressed, which he did, very causally. It was relatively early, but the temperature had already climbed to a staggering degree, no doubt currently residing in the low nineties. Throwing on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, Danny grabbed his phone and made his way to the bathroom. Phone in one hand, toothbrush in the other, he had to work carefully to avoid needing a new phone. The messages, from Sam and Tucker, were invitations for the trio to do something that afternoon. Danny tapped away, and when he was satisfied with his responses, as well as his oral hygiene, he placed the toothbrush away and left the bathroom, heading downstairs. His parents were out gallivanting, off doing who knows what, but his sister, home from her first year of college, was sitting in the living room, fan in hand. She looked in his direction and smiled. Danny smiled back, genuinely happy to see his sister for the first time in months.
"Hey little brother." She greeted as he finally descended the last step.
"Hey yourself."
"Nice to see you finally wake up."
"Hey, it's summer, I'm allowed to sleep in."
Jazz chuckled and let out a groan.
"With all the equipment mom and dad have, you'd think they'd have a decent air conditioner."
"Well we do, but with all the equipment they don't like to run it."
"Oh, right, the ghost fighting weaponry is more important than a comfortable living environment." Jazz rolled her eyes. Danny collapsed onto the couch next to his sister. The whining was unnecessary, but he did have to agree, it was humid and disgusting in the living room. He had agreed to meet up with his friends at 11:30, so he still had an hour or so to kill, sitting around seemed like a reasonable activity.
Dash wasn't able to wake up on his own accord. Ever since they were younger, he and Kwan had had keys to each other's houses, just in case, although Dash was regretting that decision right about now. Kwan had barged into his room at 9 o clock in the morning, shouting something about the zoo, not that Dash was paying attention, but when Kwan got an idea in his head, he never let anyone forget it. Now Dash would admit to his soft side for animals, but not this early in the morning on the first day of vacation. His natural response was to groan and cover his head. When that didn't shut his friend up, he grabbed a pillow and threw it at the other male. It hit him in the face and landed in front of his feet with a 'fwump'. Kwan frowned and walked over to the blonde's bed. He grabbed onto the blankets, beginning to tug on them. Dash, however, was not giving up that easy and grabbed onto them as well. The two pulled, evenly matched, until Dash's mother walked in. She laughed and shook her head. Dash sighed and let go, sending Kwan toppling over backwards, the blanket falling on top of him. Dash fought back the urge to explode into laughter as Kwan wrestled with the blanket. Dash rolled his eyes and got up to help his friend, tossing the bedspread behind him and pushing his friend and his mother out of his room, slamming the door shut behind them. After he had managed to get dressed in peace, Dash headed into the kitchen, where his mother, as well as Kwan, was waiting.
"Bout time you got up." Kwan said, greeting his friend.
"It's like," Dash paused to look at the clock, "9:30 in the morning. How early am I supposed to be up?"
"We agreed last night that we were gonna go to the zoo today."
"Yeah, but the zoo is open all day, why do we have to go this early?"
"Why not?"
Dash sighed and shook his head. It wasn't like he had anything better to do, might as well spend the day at the zoo.
Most of the summer was spent in this manner. Danny spent the days with Sam and Tucker and Dash spent time hanging out with Kwan. Danny and his friends tried to get jobs at the mall, the zoo, the aquarium, the amusement park, the grocery store and the mini golf course, but they were either too young, too inexperienced or generally unfit for the position. Dash and Kwan didn't bother with summer jobs, opting to chill out at one of their houses, playing video games or watching TV.
Danny, Sam and Tucker were sitting in the park, enjoying one of the rare days where the humidity level was comfortable.
"So what should we do tomorrow?" Danny asked. Sam and Tucker looked at each other and then back at Danny.
"What?"
"Well, I wasn't sure when to tell you, but I'm leaving on vacation with my family tomorrow." Sam answered.
"Oh, that's cool. Tuck, what about you, anything you want to do?"
"Actually, I'm going with Sam and her family."
"Oh." Danny spoke, now disheartened.
"It's only for a few weeks." Sam tried to cheer her friend up.
"Yeah, maybe you could make some friends online." Tucker contributed. Danny gave his friend a melancholy glare, clearly not in the mood for his sarcastic remarks.
"What do you mean you're going to South Korea for a month?" Dash complained.
"My family and I are going to visit some relatives of mine. I haven't seen them in years, so I have to go." Kwan responded apologetically.
"What am I supposed to do for a month?"
"Hang out with your other friends?"
"I don't have any other real friends."
"You could always hang out with Danny." Kwan suggested.
Dash was about to retort, but he closed his mouth and frowned, eyes drifting to the sides. Kwan patted his friend on the shoulder before saying goodbye and heading out the door, leaving Dash alone for what could possibly the longest month of his life.