you would think that nicole hursh was a morning person because of the way she laughed in the early mornings of school.

that assumption would be proven very wrong by anyone who has spent the night with her before. it didn't matter if it was 3 in the afternoon or 6 in the morning, nicole would hurl a fit upon anyone for waking her up. it seemed as if no matter what she tried she woke up with a headache and a sore body.

so you would also assume that when nicole's alarm clock went off she wasn't happy, at all.

she groaned for a very long time before she threw herself off her bed to turn off her alarm clock. she had such troubles with waking up that she had to put her alarm on the other side of the room to get up.

her feet touched the ground and she pulled herself out of bed to stop the distributive noise. she stumbled as her vision blacked out as it always does.

"will there ever be a time i don't see stars when i stand?" she asked herself, groaning eternally.

the sound of the morning news came from the living room and her vision cleared as she looked out of her bedroom door. the world hadn't quite caught up yet, casting shadows onto the walls. it rains one night and the entire morning decides to be a grey blue?

nicole walked into the kitchen and spotted her father at the table.

"morning nic," he said as he looked up at her, his reading glasses falling off his nose were a high statement of "my work is frustrating".

"morning," nicole replied as she grabbed a bowl and poured some fruity limited edition cereal into the bowl. she turned the tv that sat on the kitchen counter on. when they upgraded to a larger tv, the smaller one went there. she tuned into care bears, a show she would never choose over the other ones, but one that would do for 7 o'clock in the morning. she turned to her dad as she ate.

nicholas hursh didn't speak to nicole, he knew what she wanted. it was anytime now that she would bring up the disaster of the docks.

as if reading his mind, the girl launched into the debate.

"i don't understand. why can't everyone just pitch in money to save it?"

her father sighed, opening his work bag to deposit his items.

he grumbled as he rubbed his face with his hands. nicole didn't stir but he went on to talk anyways.

"nic, not everyone can afford that. i know you're entire friend group is from this side of town but money is tight everywhere and we're lucky we have a small enough family to live in an apartment," he started to explain as the pot full of soup over-boiled on the stove.

"can't they move to mom's side?" she heckled as nicholas stood to put his lunch into a thermos. he laughed when he heard her statement. nicole was smart, she was just trying to prolong conversation to come to a better conclusion. everyone knew the goon docks were where family's with moderate money lived.

"nic, do you think the people here are rich?"

she couldn't help but have her face go red. she didn't like her dad making her out to be a fool.

"fundraisers," she stated as she stirred her spoon around to catch the last bits of cereal. he chuckled at his daughter again.

"your cookies would never make enough money to save anything, you'd have to pay them."

"excuse me?" she asked, but she knew he was right. her cookies turned out burnt and bitter. mikey walsh, one of her best friends, was clearly the chef of the friend group.

"go get ready," the older man laughs out, standing up with his daughter who is clearly putting on a show to make him feel bad.

"all i'm saying is that it's unfair," she informs him as she places her bowl into the sink before turning to get changed.

"we already know it's unfair,"

"sure,"

nicole walked down the narrow (very narrow) hallway to her bedroom. she shut the door and sighed at her surroundings. it was very 'nicole'. crafted posters hung on the walls, cd's were pinned up, as well as stars plastered onto her popcorn ceiling. her comforter was tossed onto the floor in a mess just like the design printed on it was a mess of colours.

"capitalism sucks," nicole groaned as she went to grab clothes from the dresser her goldfish sat on.

"doesn't it robin and saoirse?" she said as she made a face at the fish, "you're quite lucky to be assured of your forever home."

she grabbed some pants to go along with the shirt she slept in. no one would ever know she slept in the led zeppelin shirt, and she knew this because she's done this dozens of times.

she tucked her shirt in as she reached for a belt, stumbling about as she hit her foot on the wall.

"hell on earth! who put that there?"

she reached down to comfort the pain away when her father called her out.

"i'm coming! will you give me a minute? jesus."

she walked out to the living area and put her converse on. she admired the writing mouth had put on it, not that she allowed it at the time, but you would suppose it made good art to stare at now. who wouldn't chuckle at the sight of his dinosaur with stick figure legs?

"grab a coat, it's a cold morning," her father told her as nicole picked her bag up. she ignored her father's pleas and grabbed her denim jacket instead. a lot of people argue that those are quite warm themself, but don't let those people fool you. nicole hursh shivered that morning on her walk to her dad's car.

as soon as the car was started, nicole took it upon herself to change the station to a more mainstream one. sadly, there was nothing more than a talk host ruining her morning even more.

"don't they know what music is? everyone seems to hate me this the morning."

nicole kicked her feet on the dashboard and watched the scenery. the school was relatively close to her house, and all of her friends, but her father and a dozen other people made it a habit of taking main street. her father had the excuse of getting his morning donut at the cafe but mikey and data have none. except the fact they claim it's to meet mouth on the walk, but he's not a very reliant person to meet up with.

on cue, nicole saw the trio walking as she passes them.

"can i just walk with them today?" nicole asks as her dad turns into a parking space for the cafe. he turns to get a look before seeing the goonies.

"go on then," he sighs as he gives her a smile and opens his door with her. nicole waved goodbye to her father and turned to walk downwards main street to her group of friends. mikey was speaking to data, who seemed to be listening for a change. mouth took it upon himself to drink a can of coca cola, even this early in the morning.

nicole walked right up behind them and placed a hand on mouths back, causing him to turn with a karate pose ready.

"put the hands down, you couldn't use them even if i was going to mug you," nicole laughed out.

"who do you think you are nicky, huh? sneaking up on people! i could've messed you up," he threw back at her, clearly cross with the situation of getting startled.

"if you even tried to punch me i would end you," nicole glared, turning to mikey and data with a smile.

"how're you this morning?" mikey asked the girl that was having trouble with situating her bag onto her back.

"i'm just grand. you know, just love getting reminded that i have to move out of my childhood home within the next two weeks, and that most of my lifelong friends are leaving this weekend," nicole replied with sarcasm flying into the cold air.

"not true, my dad isn't going to sign those papers," mikey declared, stuck in daydream mode that his father will suddenly discover his job gives him checks with 4 extra figures on them.

"he might as well find time travel and go back in time go stop the rich assholes from being born," mouth snorted, rolling his eyes.

"shut up,"

at the same time, the universe thought it would be absolutely perfect to explode data's bag open, causing all of his screws and such to fall onto the pavement just a couple of blocks from school.

"fuck!"

mikey instantly got to his knees to help data clean up. nicole wasn't as quick, she might love her friends and love helping others but bending down at the dawn of the morning when her limbs were still tired? data owed her one for eventually bending over and scooping the metal up.

"you gonna help?" she asked mouth who only stood there watching them. he shook his head real fast, like he was a carnival game and someone broke the controller.

"nope. i have to go, i have to help tutor a student at the school," mouth lied straight to their faces. nicole was about to protest but mouth turned around and kept walking.

"asshole!" mikey yelled after him as the 3 day there picking up nuts and bolts.

"tutor my ass," the girl mumbled causing mikey to smile to himself. nicole was dramatically reliable when it came to attacking her friend clark.

as they scooped the last bits of tools up and into data's bag, data thanked them.

"thank you guys. truly."

"it's no problem data," mikey told him as he patted his back and they all stood.

"it is a problem. we better haul our asses to school before we're late!"

the trio ran down main street early in the morning, even if nicole hurrah had a strict rule of no running outside of track season, due to her laziness.

the sun rose higher and the friends ran down a newly formed sidewalk that would only be repaved 30 years later.

time flew like that.