𝑮𝑰𝑹𝑳𝑺 𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬 𝑮𝑰'𝑺

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰɪᴠᴇ: ᴅᴜɴᴋɪɴ & ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴄᴏʀʀᴇᴄᴛ

JANUARY 12th, 2024

6:15 AM

I step out of my hotel room, extremely awake and ready to start my day. I woke up at 5:15. I mean, what would you expect? I had to slick my hair into a ponytail, shower, do my makeup, and get dressed.

Me, Jaden, and Cayden all agreed to go down to Dunkin before the tournament starts.

I am the first one in the hallway.

"C'mon, where are they?" I groan under my breath.

I lean against the wall on the opposite side of the hotel rooms and start waiting.

The door to the right of my hotel room opens first. A very tired looking Jaden walks out of the room, rubbing his temple.

"Good morning!" I exclaim.

Jaden flinches slightly. "Too.... early." He grumbles.

I look him up and down. He's in a hoodie and shorts. "Did you just wake up?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

Jaden pauses to think for a moment.

"No, I showered." He says. He then lifts up his arm and smells himself. "Give me a minute." Jaden looks down before re-entering his hotel room.

I scrunch my nose.

Ew.

I am left alone in the hallway again, but only for a minute, because I hear the door to the left of my hotel room slowly creak open.

Out walks a very grumpy looking Cayden. The first thing he does is bump his head on the doorframe. "Ow." He winces, closing his eyes and leanes against the doorframe. "Why are these doors so short?"

"Why are you so tall?" I state the obvious.

"Why are you so short?" Cayden smirks.

I stick out my tongue at him.

I mean, I'm not that short. Just a little.... below average. Five foot three at fourteen years old is pretty normal.

I think.

Cayden is just unnecessarily tall. He's fifteen, and six foot three. How is that even possible?

~

I'm still talking to Cayden as we wait for Jaden to come back out.

"Okay, so I have weapons today, and Jaden has open forms, and then you have traditional challenge?" I list, trying to plan out my day.

Cayden nods, rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Yeah." His voice is still raspy from being in that in-between sleep-awake state.

"Alright. So then, we can warm up, and then take a break, maybe have lunch, and then warm back up before--" I get cut off by a loud snore.

I look up from my phone that had the schedule from today's tournament. I am shocked to see Cayden, still leaning against the doorframe, sleeping.

How does one fall asleep standing up?

Just then, Jaden walks out. "Sorry I took so long."

"SHH!" I quickly shush him. "Cayden's sleeping, so be quiet."

Jaden looks from me to Cayden, and then back at me. He looks so confused.

I slowly take a couple steps forward, until I'm close to Cayden. I look back at Jalen, signaling for him to keep quiet. I lean in close to Cayden's ear.

"WAKE UP!" I shout at the top of my lungs.

Cayden jumps awake. He looks absolutely terrified. "What? What happened?" He quickly says, shaking his head to wake himself up.

"You fell asleep, dimwitt. Now let's go, mama wants some Dunkin." I smile, rubbing my hands together.

~

We're now waiting in line at the Dunkin that we found last night when we explored the hotel. There was a bunch of underground shops here, and there just so happened to be a Dunkin.

The two boys are both pretty sleepy, and I am trying to keep them awake as we wait.

"Oh my gosh, I forgot to ask about something." I quickly remember the events from last night.

Neither one of the boys say anything.

I shrug, and continue speaking. "When I was sleeping last night, like, ten-thirty-ish, there were a bunch of loud bangs on the door!" I explain.

Jaden and Cayden look at each other before the start snickering.

"What?" I ask, not getting the joke.

Neither one says anything, they just start laughing harder.

My eyes widen with realization. "Don't tell me--"

"It was me!" Cayden says through his laughter.

I lightly hit him with the rolled up paper I got from the tournament I got that has our schedule. "Dude!"

Him and Jaden continue laughing, and I move up in line.

"And my mom told me I was hallucinating." I shake my head. "Today's going pretty well so far. I'm doing my two favorite things.... Getting Dunkin and Being Correct." I smirk, before laughing with the boys.

~