Early mornings are my worst enemy. Monday mornings especially...

As soon as my phone alarm began to ring I wished it was exactly eight hours ago. Why do we kids have to wake up super early to get to school? Right now, I very much wish I had that time-turner thing in Harry Potter so I can go back in time and have some more sleep! I defiantly tried to cover myself with my blankets in an effort to get five more minutes of sleep.

But then Mom had to pop into my room. She's sort of my back-up alarm clock. Not that I ask for it. She pulls open the curtains and lets the morning light into the room. I'm not Dracula but it feels as though I'm burning from it!

"Ricky! It's past six! Get up!"

I groaned in response.

"Don't give me that, young man! Now get ready or you'll be late!" Mom says as she walks out of the room.

My brain still hasn't switched to "awake"-mode yet. But I don't have much of a choice, do I? So with ill grace I reached for my glasses, got out of bed and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning, Kuya Ricky!" squeals a voice as soon as arrived at the kitchen.

That's my little brother, Kennedy Castillo whom we nickname "Ken-Ken". Like the little bundle of energy that he is, he was already wide-awake and alert. He was already wearing his grade school uniform, completely ready for school.

Sitting right next to him is my Dad, also dressed up for the day in his usual business attire. He was sipping coffee and checking his emails in his laptop at the same time.

"Morning Ricky..." Dad greets me as soon as I approach the table.

"Morning Ken-Ken...Morning Dad..." I yawned as I pulled a chair.

Mom sets a plate of eggs, corned beef and fried rice in front of me. I take a carton of mango juice and pour myself a cup.

"Hey, where are Ate Mary and Lola?" I asked, noticing the seat usually reserved for my eldest sister empty. Right next to it was another empty seat where my grandmother

"Your sister is still in bed. Her classes start at ten later." says Mom, looking at the clock.

This is what's unfair between high school students and college students. The college students can have flexible time schedules while the rest of us have to wake up a couple of hours before our first class at seven-thirty. Shouldn't we all have at least eight to ten hours of sleep?

"What about Lola?"

"She already ate and she's busy preparing to open the shop. Speaking of which, I have to hurry and help her. It would help if you wake up early to help out."

What's earlier than six thirty? Doesn't she want me to sleep at all?

"You are looking tired, Ricky. Did you get to bed early?" Dad asked me.

"I had that assignment to do for Sir Albert."

"Isn't he the mean teacher you always say assigns difficult assignments and demand them the next day?" asks Ken-Ken.

"He never changes. Ever since I was a student of his..." Dad shivered at the memory. "So did you get to finish your assignment?"

"Yeah, I did." I nodded.

Well, I don't want to brag but I am a very good student. I study hard for my exams and get good grades. Even if I'm given a very hard assignment or a project I do it diligently. Whether the due date is tomorrow or next week, I always make sure to get my homework done as soon as possible.

That way I can have more time to do some of my... ahem* other interests...

"But did you go straight to bed right after or did you play around with you tablet again?" Mom asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I did..." I answered sheepishly trying to avert my gaze.

Mom always has that tendency to read my mind whenever I look at her in the eyes. Or probably that she could see bags under my eyes.

Well, technically I did lie down on my bed...but I didn't exactly sleep. Okay, I admit it: I was up until twelve to read the new online release of Fairy Tail. Can you blame me? It's my favourite Manga. Even if I'm a good student I do have other interests, you know?

Then again I might have contradicted my earlier statement about having the need of 8 to 10 hours of sleep.

"Well, I saw Kuya last night using his tablet to surf the net!" says Ken-Ken.

I choked on my juice. "No, I didn't! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"But I saw you! I was going to the bathroom to pee and I saw you reading Manga! You were reading Fairy Tail again, weren't you? Did the Natsu and Lucy-" Ken-Ken continued on, completely unaware of the trouble he just got me.

Both Mom and Dad were giving extremely scary looks.

"RICKY..." they both said in that scary ominous tone we know that our parents only use when we're in big trouble.

I'm busted, aren't I?