“Wake up! Wake up!”

“Mommy made waffles!”

She stirred in her bed not fully awake but unable to go back to sleep thanks to the two little creatures that hopped around her room. She groaned and the creatures laughed. Dirty little goblins, they were!

“You’ll be late for school again, sis!”

“Yeah, yeah! Late again! And we’ll eat your waffles too!”

She tossed a pillow at them. “Raphael and Gabriel… let me sleep!”

The children dodged the pillow and ran out of her room. They roared with laughter. The sound of their steps made her picture a hundred running elephants inside her head.

Luana sat up in her bed without even trying to hide how lazy she felt. Sunlight seeped through the white venetian curtains and half illuminated her messy room. Not that she had done, of course, but she could never make the twins clean up their own mess. She usually resigned and cleaned it all up on Fridays but by Monday morning it wasn’t tidy anymore.

She took a deep breath. The smell of fresh, warm waffles was enough to mildly motivate her. She stood and dragged her feet down to the bathroom.

The girl stared into the mirror. She thought she looked funny with her puffed up eyes and disheveled hair. Her face was as pale as it always were when she woke up.

Luana splashed cold water on her face and brushed her teeth. Argh, not strawberry flavored toothpaste again! They knew she liked the fresh mint one!

She spit all the cursed toothpaste as soon as she was done, and proceeded to comb her hair. It went a little past her shoulders, long enough to look pretty and short enough not to trouble her too much with taking care of it. It was as soft as the hair of everyone else in the family, and pretty much the only thing she liked about herself. Her hair and her dark brown eyes.

Luana didn’t feel quite awake yet. She had stayed up very late working on her math homework and hadn’t had as much sleep as she’d like. She stared at the shower and felt as if the shower stared back at her. Maybe cold water all over her body would make her more alert. The little water she had splashed on her face hadn’t helped much.

She slipped out of her pajamas and showered as fast as she could. She hated cold water with passion.

Once the water had stopped flowing she wrapped a towel around her and rushed back to her room. She had always wondered why people seemed to like fluffy towels so much; they bothered her because even though they felt nice she didn’t think they did a good job on getting her dry and warm.

She searched the mess (or debris, as she liked to call it) for clean jeans and once she had found a decent pair of pants she picked up the first long-sleeved shirt that hung in her wardrobe. The shiny sun wouldn’t fool her; it would be a windy day according to the weather forecast. The girl dressed and picked up her school bag. After making sure her homework was there she rushed downstairs –

– to find her little brothers fighting over the last waffle.

“Why, you little-” she growled.

“Luana!” her mother scowled. The children grinned evilly the way only younger siblings can. “Don’t talk to them like that. Here, I’ll make you a couple more waffles.”

Her mother was a petite woman with short brown hair and a fierce green gaze. Raphael and Gabriel resembled their mother – and had taken from the height of their father, it seemed; they were rather tall for their five years of age – while Luana had their father’s looks and mother’s small frame. The girl was a day from turning fifteen and hadn’t grown past five foot and a little, which bothered her to no end.

“No need, mother. I’m late anyways, I’d better just have whatever’s left” Luana glared at the twins and sat down to eat breakfast.

The children brought her shoes and she nodded in appreciation.

“Thank you” she patted their heads with a small smile. “But you two are not yet forgiven!”

Luana enjoyed her waffle leftovers and a glass of lemonade. Once she was done she stood, grabbed an apple and walked to the front door. “Have a good day, bye!” she said, and closed the door behind her.

The typical suburban neighborhood was empty. No people jogging as usual, no late students as herself. She had a weird feeling, as if she was being watched. Luana spun on her heels in hope she’d surprise the offender, but saw only peaceful gardens and trees that waved their leaves on the morning breeze. Nothing even moved.

The girl dug her teeth in the apple and kept on going. She looked up at the clear blue sky as she chewed the fruit, and felt it would be a great day.