• Luna's alarm blared, and she switched it off. She moaned, rolling over onto Seth, who growled.
    "Sorry, Seth," Luna whispered, getting out of bed.
    She shrugged out of her nightgown, pulling on her outfit. Seth jumped down and followed her downstairs for his breakfast. As they headed downstairs, Luna heard voices drifting up from the livingroom. She peeked around the corner and saw her mom and dad still in their bathrobes, drinking coffee. Seth trotted on ahead to the kitchen.
    "Luna, are you all right?" Luna's mom asked, starting to stand up.
    Instead of answering, Luna whipped around to the kitchen and cracked open a can of tuna for Seth. She dumped it in a bowl, grabbed a package of PopTarts and her backpack, then headed out the door.
    Once at her bus stop, she pulled her long, blonde hair back with a black twister. Her bus rolled up and she plopped down next to Angelina, her best friend.
    "Hey Ange," she sighed.
    "What's up with you?" Ange asked.
    "Another break in."
    "Man, you guys gotta either sell all your nice crap or move to a better neighborhood!"
    "Psh. Yeah. Good luck convincing Mom. She wouldn't give a crap if you were a millionaire. Oops, sorry I forgot... You are!"
    "Ouch, that was a little below the belt. Keep the gloves up! And what do you mean?"
    "Ain't your dad a lawyer?"
    "Yeah, so?"
    "So... Don't lawyers get paid an annual salary of, like, a quarter of a million dollars?"
    "Yeah but he's only been a lawyer for a couple years..."
    "That doesn't matter! In a couple of years, between your mom being a high school teacher and working 2 side jobs, and your dad being a lawyer and working 1 side job, you'll have over a million dollars!"
    "Yeah. "In a couple of years," being the operative words here. Yeah, in a couple of years we probably will, but not now we aren't."
    Luna turned and faced the front with a grunt. Man, I just can't win, can I? she thought. The bus pulled into the school.
    TO BE CONTINUED.......