Chris was slowly nodding off. It had been a taxing night and he had gotten up early the next day to complete homework. Right now, he couldn’t remember why he’d decided it would be a good idea; final school year or not, he thought that perhaps staying up nights on end just to complete work wasn’t going to help him in the long run. Chris closed his eyes.

“Got ‘em!”

“What--?”

Someone shoved something under his nose and he looked up. Daniel was grinning down at him.

“Tickets to Rio, Socy! We have a vacation starting in Decemberrrrr.... and I thought going to a place that’s a bit warmer wouldn’t do us baddddd... Don't you remember?”

“What?” Chris repeated, trying to get his thoughts to move faster. “Us? Ah. Yeah. We did talk about something like that…”

Daniel sighed and pulled up a chair from a nearby desk.

“Yep, and my mom,” he stated, “managed to get three tickets to Rio and a hotel. Julia’s coming too!”

“Oh, I dunno, Daniel… a trip with you guys?” Chris struggled not to yawn. “Wouldn’t that be weird?”

“Why would it be weird?” Daniel rolled up his eyes. He whispered, leaning closer, “Look, you don’t know how Julia is at new places… I'll need some support here...”

Chris groaned. “Are we going to stay at the same place as before? I know it was cheap, but do you remember the--”

“I'm not that rich, dude. We’ll have to deal with the blinking lights and stuff. It's either that or going to tia Maria's.”

“It’s the insects the size of small dogs that bother me, but if the alternative is your aunt's....”

Daniel smiled. “Thought you'd say that! By the way, my mom got permission from yours already.”

“Oh, right, she mentioned something when she called last night…so I’m coming no matter what?”

“Pretty much. You need a good break, man!”