"Time to get up," a high-pitched sounded throughout the room. A few of the girls around the room lifted their heads to glare in Pillow’s direction before trying to drift back into sleep.

"It’s Saturday," Aqua said, her voice muffled by the blanket over her head, "We don’t go to school today."

"But I wanna play," Pillow whined, then giggled. Suddenly, a pillow was thrown across the room at the girl. The 10-year-old quickly grabbed it.

"I wouldn’t have done that if I were you," Smartass told Bookworm, who looked quite annoyed at being awoken. Pillow grinned and then started hitting people with the soft object.

"Maybe if we ignore her, she’ll go away," Dani muttered, burying her head into her own pillow and guarding it from the snatching hands of the girl.

Zodiac looked up and glanced quickly out the window, "The sun’s just rising." A few of the others gazed out the window to the faint glowing sky of early morning. The sun was barely seen from between two buildings.

To be quite truthful, the view looked better in the morning than in the darkness of late night. The light that passed over everything was soft, making New York City seem like a friendlier environment. The roads were practically empty of carriages, only the far away sound of horses’ hooves broke into the mostly still silence.

"Well, since we’re pretty much awake already…" Shooter trailed off, locking gazes with some of the girls, grinning widely.

"What have you got in mind," Nova asked, already interested in what she had to say.

Shooter placed a finger over her mouth, silently asking for silence. The only sounds to be heard in the lodging house were the soft snores of the boys, muffled by the floor separating the two floors. She pointed down to the floor and several of the girls held back a laugh.

"What do you say that we give the guys a surprise wake-up call," Shooter whispered, "They probably won’t wake up until noon."

"I can’t believe that party lasted until 2," Artist said. A few of the girls laughed at the thought of the previous night.

One of the most memorable moments was probably when they caught Mush trying to start the forbidden game of Spin-the-Bottle. He had somehow brought a bottle in, most likely found outside somewhere or from a bottle of root beer that he had had earlier that day.

He had set it up in a back corner of the room. Little by little, some members of the group noticed that every few minutes, about two or three girls would head back in that direction. A few of the guys were back there as well.

After a few minutes, Nova and a few others had went back there as well. All it took was one spin of the bottle for them to figure out what was going on. Mush had gotten it in the mouth all right, but by a fist. Singer had simply put her fist in his way. It wasn’t enough to hurt him, but enough to get the message across.

At the thought of surprising the guys once again, the girls immediately agreed to Shooter’s ideas. Silently, they opened the door and walked down the hallway to the stairs. The wooden steps creaked at some points, but once one point was found, the other girls were careful over those spots.

Upon reaching the door, Chaos raised a hand as if to knock, but then turned and grinned almost evilly. Her hand rested on the doorknob for a second, her other hand counting to three. When the number was reached, she twisted the knob quickly and rushed into the room, the other girls following after her.

Yells sounded throughout the room and several of the guys shot straight up in their beds. A few of the guys on bottom bunks groaned as their heads connected with the wooden supports of the bed above them. The funniest reaction however was from the guys who fell off their top bunks in surprise. Then there were the ones who were sharing that accidentally pushed the other off the bunk.

Mush was one of the first up, the sudden movement making him fall to the ground below. He literally ended up kissing the floor, but barely managed to move his hands to soften the fall.

"Well, at least he got his kiss," Mink commented with a wide grin. Mush glared at her for a second, after he cleared his head of the morning’s cobwebs.

Spaz immediately went to Dutchy, who had nearly fallen off his own bunk. Giggling, she handed him his glasses.

"Thanks," he said, turning to look at her through squinted eyes before placing his glasses on his face. When he finally got a good look at what was going on, he smiled slightly and laughed. This was exactly what he expected out of the girls.

Guys were yelling, looking more amused than angry. A few of them promised revenge on the girls, the seriousness half-hidden by smiles of admiration at the girls’ bravery to pull the joke in the first place. Not that they at all minded waking up to a lot of girls in their bunkroom.

Well, the younger kids did, because they were still at the age where girls didn’t matter to them. They were more interested in the dull colors of the blankets and pillows.

The insanity of the joke lasted for a few more minutes, leaving them wondering why Kloppman hadn’t come up to see what all the noise was.

XXX

Down in his room, the older man slept soundly, his earplugs successfully drowning out the loud sounds of boys and girls from upstairs.

XXX

Shout-Outs:

Buttons14 – Yeah, she is cool. But in reality, she would annoy me so much. I don’t know how I suddenly came up with her character.

Geometrygal – That’s right. LOL. Anyway, I’m glad that you liked the chapter.

Ccat – Yeah, it was fun. Hope you liked the chapter.

SmartassLeprechaun – Ahh, the evil ‘c’ word! (runs and hides) LOL, that’s what I’ve grown to call the word ‘cute’. (shudder) My boyfriend won’t stop calling me that, even though he knows I hate it. Anyway, it’s good that you thought the chapter was ‘cute’. As long as it’s not directed at me, it’s ok. You love Teen Titans! Yeah! I’m a lot like Raven and my boyfriend is like BB. We’re huge fans of the pairing. See the new eppy?

Akiko Iris – Yeah, I’d love to see that too. Let’s see, I don’t usually know anybody at parties and I’m not very social…hmmm, yeah, that’s not too fun to me. And I will draw your character with the outfit you sent. Just know that it will take more work for me to finish it.

Dimonah Tralon – Hmmm, if they make a sequel, they should make the guys do that. That would be funny!

Shooter O’Brien – Dang, it’s only the second week of school and I’m begging to get out. The only good parts are that one of my best friends is in 1^st and 2^nd with me and that last period, 5^th, is Library. It’s very quiet in there too. All I have to do is check out books for people, shelf and easy stuff like that.

ShortAtntionSpaz – It’s not that I hate Lord of the Flies, it’s that it’s not my first choice for a book to read. I love mysteries the most, I like stories that make you think at times. Lord of the Flies just didn’t do that for me. Thank you so much for the webpage. I’ll look into it when I can…probably this weekend.

Sparks Kelly – We rock! Yeah! It’s weird, in real life, I’m almost scarily quiet, but most people think I’m pretty cool once they get to know me. I’m the coolest quiet person. That sounds really strange. I guess it’s because I’m a good listener and can talk about almost anything. I’m glad that you liked the chapter. I worked pretty hard on it to make it as good as I possibly could. You do plenty though. I mean, you review and sent in a character. You’re totally awesome!

Oxymoronic Alliteration – Oh don’t worry about not reviewing much. I haven’t had much time for it either. I hope your college stuff is less…blah…later.

TheAngryPrincess13 – Someone still has your Newsies DVD? Or did you get it back by now? LOL, if my friend wants to watch it, she has to come over here! But I gave her a pic I drew of Racetrack to keep her happy for now.

Moonlights Sundance – I hope this chapter might have helped elaborate that part. I knew that I needed to explain a bit more. This is one of your fave stories?!? Wow, I feel special. Thank you!!!

Allaboutelephants22 – Yeah, I will be hooking them up soon. I didn’t want to rush into it though, because that wouldn’t have felt that right to do. I, myself, take things slow and develop the relationships so they can be seen forming. You actually have an outfit like Jack? That’s so cool. I had to make the vest for my Newsie outfit, probably because my parents thought I was getting too obsessed…not that there’s anything wrong with that. I made an eyepatch too!

Written Sparks – Good, I like knowing that I’m writing characters correctly. Review when you can. I’m looking forward to seeing your next one.

Koodles4you – Ok, first of all, I still have to see if I made call-backs. I had an ok audition but I forgot my monologue in the middle of it and ended up reading it off a page. Monologues aren’t really my thing. The good thing was that I wasn’t as nervous as I usually am. I actually wasn’t shaking for once when I walked off the stage. That’s a major breakthrough for me. And my mom said that she could hear me really well. I’m really loud on stage, though I’m usually quiet. I’ll keep you updated on how that goes.