By the time it's all over, Luan had to admire, no, stand back at her pile of work done like how a sculptor would finish a museum-coded mannequin and think, wow, how'd I survive the night?

Just kidding. In reality, she had her head pressed down the table, grumbling in exhausted frustration, like how Shakespeare must've gone writing Romeo and Juliet.

Last night was much more grueling than the rest. No sleep, no heap- that was her mantra. It's a long topic to discuss ahead of her, not to mention, the rest of the homework needed special attention too. She was supposed to be doing her presentation, writing that essay, but no, almost two hours, she'd spent just pondering, wondering where the heck her character slip was. What it had entailed, and if she even made it into the honor roll.

Had she? Had she?

Lifting her heavy head up like it was tied to a brick, Luan slammed her laptop shut as the birds pierced their chirps tauntingly into her eardrums. No, of course she would. All that work had to mean something. If she wasn't in it, then who was?

She glared a hole through the window, where the little choir stood at the metal of their fence. Now is not the time for singing. It's for…

She would say sleeping. If only.

Now in her room with a mug of her entire energy at hand, Luan took a swig. On her lap was her laptop, open to the presentation that stole her soul—ah… sleep. At least she's done with doing it all. Next step on the course, reporting it.

Blankets shifted from the bunk above. Great. Luan gritted her teeth. Someone's awake now.

As expected, Luna slid down the ladder. She jolted as she reached the bottom, finding Luan on her bed with steaming hot coffee. "Er, where's mine?"

"Morning," Luan muttered, deadpan.

Why was she cranky? Don't ask her. Ask all the questions her group mates asked. Luan, when are you sending the PPT? Luan, what're we gonna do for tomorrow's report again? Luan this, Luan that!

Luna furrowed her eyebrows, a little taken aback. "How's the all-nighter, dudette?"

Why even ask when you know the routine? Luan groaned in exhaustion, taking another sip. "Barely enough. The usual."

"Eh," Luna muttered absently, leaning by the bed frame. "Told ya I could've helped."

Luan shot her a side-eye. It took no cost to run somebody's morning. "Not like I'd want you to."

"What're you even so worked on about?" Not waiting for a response, Luna peered her head near Luan's laptop. "Vocal forms of African… Wait, you've been awake this whole time without even telling me the reason behind it was because of a music report?"

"So?"

Luna gawked at her incredulously, betrayal clear in her tone. "So? Now you're just acting dumb!" She poked a finger to Luan's temple. "You ain't goin' nowhere workin' hard, dude; work smart."

Work smart, huh? She slapped Luna's hand away from her. Two can play at that game. "If that were the case, I would've just gone straight to Lisa."

Luna clicked her tongue, walked to the closet and got her clothes and robe; rushing out the door without another word.

"That's right!" Luan smirked, heat rising up to her head. "Drown me out with your door-drumming! Bet you can make real music with that!"

Her yell hung emptily in the air.

Hm. Someone couldn't handle a little beef. Luan chuckled, placing a hand on her mousepad and swiping through the presentation. Not her fault Luna couldn't tolerate a heckling without scurrying off.

She yawned, deciding to finally get up. Still mind-muddled and struggling to keep her eyes open, Luan held the firm railings tightly as she took another step down, empty mug on the other hand. The mere act of walking down without falling off the stairs was an exercise in itself. She needed a wake-up call, stat.

The first mug was just practice.

Sounds of mugs and plates came about as the smell of brewing coffee pulled Luan into the kitchen along with them to join in the party, catching sight of Lynn sipping on her mug as she leaned on the countertop. Turning to the left side, sitting on the circle table were Lincoln, Lana drinking mugs of cold chocolate milk.

"What do you call a bird with a messed up body clock?" Her voice came out a little too hoarse. All their eyes turned on her. "A night owl!"

The three younger siblings exchanged looks at each other. A ragged Luan with wrinkled clothes, pink eyes, and a generally lousy disposition wasn't what anybody anticipated at six-thirty in the morning.

"Let me guess," Lucy sipped her drink. "Another night dancing with projects?"

"I'd say!" Lana whistled. "You have eye bags heavier than Lucy's head bust! "

"Sigh. He has a name."

Luan passed them by with a drag to her steps. "Oh, this? It's all part of my act. Talk about an early Halloween, eh, Luce?" She ruffled Lucy's hair, causing her to grimace.

"It's January."

Ignoring her, she faced the kitchen with a mumble. "Nothing a little coffee can't help with."

She approached the kitchen counter and Lynn scooched over. "Hey, how convenient," Lynn said, glancing at the full coffee maker. "Linc told me to pass it onto the next guy. All yours."

Luan nodded nonchalantly, grabbing a mug and filling it with the coffee Lynn had made.

The steam emanating from her cup was enough to make her mouth water.

Lincoln took a sip of his coffee—wait, wasn't he too young? Eh, whatever. "You look like you got salvaged out of an ambush." He studied her face. "Are you sure that's enough to get you through today?"

He's probably right. She couldn't see herself, but she felt it. There's no way she'd survive out there without the sufficient amount of caffeine.

Luan nodded, pulling the mug away from the coffee maker. "Yeah, I guess it is dangerous to go out there with only one mug." She yanked another mug from the hanging cabinet and fiddled with the coffee maker. I'll take two to go.

That makes three. Luan internally cheered. New record!

They exchanged concerned looks but didn't say a word, rather sipping on their own drinks instead. She had to giggle while drinking her own mug. Like this was their first time seeing her chug a middle-aged man's worth of Arabica.

Leaning her back on the counter, she pressed the bitter aftermath on the roof of her tongue. It's every high school student's mantra: coffee is the best wingman. When running on a questionable body clock, coffee renewed her. She needed as much as three hours of adrenaline for the morning classes, and a bit more energy to spare for Music class at the end of the day.

Looking at it, she technically did sleep eight hours a day, from after school to the middle of the night. But today was different. She'd be at school until five to six, while still squeezing in time for homework later on. On days like this one, she'd run on only four hours sleep at best. With jet lag like that every week, nobody can claim they survived the day without a drink of a good brew.

After drinking the two mugs, she tossed them both on the kitchen sink where a pile grew before climbing up to her room. Hate to be the one washing that. Lol.

The clock on her nightstand said she'd already wasted ten minutes of her day. So, technically, she had only thirty minutes left to get ready and eat improvised breakfast. She sighed heavily. What a good way to start a bad morning.

Rubbing her eyes, Luan walked to the closet to get her robe and clothes. She hung the robe over her shoulder, left the clothes on her bed, and walked out the door. Where Lisa and Leni were lined up to the bathroom.

Riiiiing!

Leni and Lisa glanced at her with skeptical looks. She backed away and skipped to her room. "Oof, it's my roll call… uh, Leni! Save my spot for me!"

Leni beamed as Luan walked into her room. "No problem, Luan!" She paused briefly. "Wait, save? I don't see any keyboard around here?"

Looking over the messy bedroom, Luan immediately recognized where that sound came from. She looked down on the vibrating, yellow telephone on her vanity mirror. Huh. Nobody has called there in days.

Approaching her desk, Luan picked up the phone urgently. "Funny Business LLC. You bring the money; I bring the funny. Luan speaking."

"Your fun is our business," was an irony. Business and fun were the last thing on her mind. In the blur of maintaining her current grades while striving for higher ones, the days when she could take a break became rarer- and during the weekends when given the opportunity to, comedy and being busy in general no longer got into her list.

A woman's voice resounded in her ear, an interested client it seemed. "Sorry ma'am, but Funny Business isn't up and running right now," Luan said.

But the middle-aged woman prodded desperately, mentioning that she surfed everywhere on HeadBook for a clown service in Royal Woods to serve at her son's birthday party. "This weekend?" Luan asked.

She was offering a lot more than just chocolate funnel cake, but every little piece of the food they've prepared on the table as well. "And if the service is exceptional, I'll pay extra."

Luan licked her lips. More food to spare in case dinner isn't enough, not to mention, a bonus in her allowance? That sounded enticing.

Her lavender bag laid idle on the ground, sitting at the corner of her eye.. You know… maybe she could indulge in a little party; maybe she wanted to.

But… the Festival of Talents was coming. And what about school? What about studying? What about the whole myriad of reasons she gave the gang whenever they invited her to a hang out? If they found out, what would they say? That she only had time for herself? For money?

"You still there?"

Luan sighed, pausing for a moment. Let her down slowly. "Ma'am, I really can't. I haven't been taking clients since August."

"But the page hasn't said anything."

She cringed in embarrassment. Whoops. Better go update that. "Yeah, I haven't… um, found time to open it lately. I apologize for taking your time. But I can recommend you someone-"

Huh. Luan pulled the handset off her ear. They hung up.

She brought the phone back in place, still reeling at the reminder of what wasn't there anymore. Funny Business… a name she hadn't associated with in a while.

Just like the Thespians hangouts beyond the club. Or stand-up comedy. Or anything funny for that matter.

"Um, elder sister, I think it's time you get your proverbial keister in here." Lisa leaned by her door, towel on her head. "As you can see, our time is running out."

She blinked, glancing at her clock. Oh crap, 10 minutes before we go! Luan stumbled to find the things she needed for the shower and bolted straight to the bathroom.

Funny Business can wait, but school can't.

Out of all the siblings, she was last to hop in the shower and leave the bathroom. With only a quarter to when class would start. When she came back into her room to change, her laptop and some notebooks were still scattered on her bed. She had to tug her and Luna's bed upside down just to find where some of the notebooks went in a caffeine-driven adrenaline rush, before taking Mr. Coconuts out the bag he had hid in since noon yesterday.

Luan groaned irritably. How could she be so dumb to take all the time in the morning to drink coffee, while her own bag wasn't even ready?

And finally, when she approached Vanzilla reeving on the driveway, looking like half of her still belonged in bed; Lola greeted her with a growl. "It's about time you got your butt out of the house!"

"There ya are!" Lynn peeked at the open door of the van, perched on the seat behind Lola's. "We had to restrain her so she wouldn't step on the pedal herself."

Leni invited her in without another thought and rushed Vanzilla through the traffic. The 15 minute ride to school didn't offer her room to fully comprehend anything she had done the night before. All it left her was time to compose herself physically for the report on the first period- which was next to impossible when you sat with the twins on both sides.

She found herself along with Luna and Leni stumbling on the hallways to their respective classes, all while being the end of Luna's glare. She was still seething over earlier? Seriously?

They managed to get in right when the bell rang. With a sigh, Luan plopped down her seat, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and regulated her unsteady breathing. First thing in the morning and she was already messed up. Luan blew a string of her hair up in frustration. Today's entrance to school isn't gonna stop her; as long as she's well equipped and practically trembling from the cold breeze of anticipation. She took her time last night to study her notes intricately, taking each page like a word from the Heavens, like a gospel that'd define her salvation.

And it would hopefully, stay true to its purpose, and save her from tipping off the edge of another failure.