One thing I really hated was weekends. Well, I loved the fact that I didn't have school those days and I could sleep in. However, wanting to sleep in and actually sleeping in were completely different.

I could rarely sleep in on the weekends because of those three brats. They were always running in the hallway and laughing, the earliest being eight in the morning. Other times, it was because I had dance rehearsal at ten.

I groaned when I heard them laugh and pulled myself out of bed, well knowing that they weren't going to stop, so I might as well get up now. Besides, I also had dance today. When I opened the door, I saw them quickly run into their bedroom as if they weren't doing anything.

Rubbing my eyes, I lazily made my way downstairs and to the kitchen. Mom was there, reading something on her phone as she drank out of her favorite mug. "Morning, Mom," I muttered as I dragged my feet to the fridge.

"Good morning, Ryder," Mom said back.

I scoffed. "There's nothing good about it. Seriously, you couldn't have stopped after me."

"If it makes you feel better, the triplets weren't exactly planned," Mom said.

"Neither was I," I pointed out. I grabbed a carton of milk out of the fridge before going to the cupboard to get my favorite cereal. However, when I poured it into a bowl, I only got about five pieces. "Seriously? Who ate my cereal?" I sighed and grabbed another box of cereal, but the same thing happened to the first one. "That's it. I'm making bacon."

"We're out of bacon," Mom said.

I gave her a flat look. "Is everyone trying to ruin my life?"

"Yes, we're trying very hard to ruin your life," Mom said sarcastically. "Why don't you have an egg or something?"

I sighed dramatically and opened the fridge to grab out an egg. "Why is my life so hard?"

"Ryder, stop being dramatic," Mom said. "People have it harder."

"I can be dramatic if I want," I said. "I don't have any bacon in my system and I might die."

Mom rolled her eyes and continued drinking out of her mug.

"Hey, can I have some coffee?" I asked.

"This isn't coffee," Mom said.

Weird. Mom usually had coffee in the morning. Although, it wasn't the weirdest thing that had been happening to her lately. There was the whole pickle thing and last night, we were having taco salad for dinner, but we couldn't put onions on it because, apparently, the smell was too strong for her.

...Wait a minute. No coffee, food cravings, and food aversions.

Oh.

While I was cooking my egg, I looked at my mom. "Mom, is baby number six on the way?" I asked.

"Is it that obvious?" Mom asked.

"It wouldn't have been if you didn't crave pickles," I said. "So... I'm getting another sibling? It is one, right? Not three?"

"Don't worry, it's just one," Mom said. "And please don't tell your siblings yet. Your father and I are planning on telling them soon."

Dad chose that moment to come in the kitchen. "Tell them what?" he asked.

Mom was going to reply, but I decided to ask my dad a question. "Dad, have you ever heard of a condom?"

"Yes, it's what I didn't use to make you," Dad said. "Don't worry, I regret not using it at that time, too."

"Ouch."

Dad looked at Mom. "You told him?"

"He figured it out," Mom said.

"Took him long enough," Dad said. "Come on, Ryder. You have a high IQ for a reason."

"Not to detect whether my mom is pregnant or not," I said. "By the way, we're out of bacon."

"We're what?" Dad asked. "What kind of madness is this?"

"You're the one who ate the last of it," Mom said.

"Oh, right," Dad said. "Flower, make me food."

"Make it yourself, Grayson."

"You know, I never got the name Flower," I spoke up.

"It's okay, neither did your mom when I first called her that," Dad said.

"So...”

"Wow, for someone with a high IQ, you sure are clueless," Dad said. "What's your mom's name?"

"Poppy," I said.

"And what's a Poppy?" Dad asked.

"A flower," I said. "Ohh."

"Idiot."

"Fight me."

Mom sighed and rolled her eyes as she walked out of the kitchen. "I'm going to go wake up Tulip," she said.

Tulip actually started taking dance lessons in the summer because she had been begging our parents to do it, and since my studio offered lessons starting at age three, they agreed to it. It was even better that the lessons always happened while I had rehearsal, so I was able to take her there.

While my egg was still cooking, I popped a piece of bread into the toaster. Dad began searching through the freezer, hoping there was still another pack of bacon somewhere. He was hopeless when it came to bacon.

Well, I was too, but still.

While I was eating my breakfast, Tulip came skipping into the dining room. "I get to dance today!" she said cheerfully. "Hey, Ryder...” She sat across from me at the table. "Do you think I can see your girlfriend today?"

I sighed. Ever since my family found out I was friends with Mae, they wouldn't stop bugging me, my siblings especially. Just wait until my grandpa found out about her. He was the master at shipping.

"Tulip, Mae isn't my girlfriend," I said.

"But she's pretty," Tulip said.

"Yes, she's very pretty, but that still doesn't mean she's my girlfriend," I said.

"Why?"

"Hey, who's the love expert here?" I asked.

"You."

"Exactly," I said. "So who would know if she was my girlfriend or not?"

"You."

"And there's you answer."

Tulip sighed frustratingly and crossed her arms over her chest. "You're stubborn."

"Thank you, I try," I said.

"DAD!" Tulip called as she got off the chair and went to the kitchen. "RYDER WON'T ACCEPT MAEDER!"

I rolled my eyes and continued eating my breakfast. When I finished, I went to the kitchen and dropped my dishes in the sink. "By the way...” Dad said.

"If this is about Maeder, I don't want to hear it."

"Geez, Ryder, not everything is about you," Dad said. "I was going to say that your grandparents are coming over for dinner today."

"Which one?"

"Well, I said it as a plural, meaning two of them are coming," Dad said. "Which ones do you think?"

My dad's dad never visited, only his mom, meaning that it had to be my mom's parents. Meaning the shipper. Meaning someone in my family was going to bring up Maeder and I would never be able to live it down.

"Why are they coming over for dinner?" I asked. "Not that I mind. But usually they come on birthdays or holidays."

"Because we're going to tell them, and your siblings about...” He couldn't continue since Tulip was in the kitchen. She wasn't really paying attention, but she might have overheard if my dad said it.

"Got it," I said before heading upstairs to get ready. By the time I was ready, it was quarter to ten, so Tulip and I got into my car before I drove to the dance studio.

When we got there, I took Tulip to the learning studio, where her classes were. She gave me a hug before running inside. I then went to the main studio, where my rehearsals were.

Right at ten o'clock, Lilith walked out of her office. "I'm glad to see everyone's here on time," Lilith said. "So, as most of you know, in order to compete in the upcoming state competition, our studio has to participate in some qualifiers. The upcoming one is a duet competition. It's in two months."

"Two months?" Arthur asked. "Two of us have to choreograph a duet in two months, perfect it, and perform? Is that even possible?"

"Of course it is," I said. "I had to choreograph a solo in two weeks once."

"And that is exactly why you, Ryder, will be one half of the duet," Lilith said. "You're a strong dancer and can choreograph in no time."

"Who's the other half?" I asked.

"The other half of the duet will be Mae," Lilith said. "You two both have the same style and I've seen that you already get along. So, how about you two head over to the secondary studio and work on your duet while the rest of us start getting ideas flowing for the state competition. Meet back here at twelve."

"Sure," Mae and I said in unison before heading over to the secondary studio. It was smaller than the main one and was usually used for people who were practicing small performances.

We sat down on the floor across from each other. "So... Theme ideas."

"We don't necessarily need a theme," Mae said.

"Oh, I know," I said. "But, normally, judges like it better if there's an actual story line as oppose to just movements and tricks and flips."

Mae nodded. "Okay. But themes aren't really my forte, so I probably can't help you think of something."

"It's not hard," I said. "Just think of your favorite type of story and we'll go from there."

"Well...” she said slowly. "Never mind."

"No, come on," I said. "You were obviously going to say something."

"You might think it's stupid."

"Mae, I'm not going to think your idea is stupid," I said. "There's no such thing as a bad idea."

"Well... I kind of like stories where the boy needs saving instead of the girl," she said.

I smiled faintly at that and looked down at the ground.

"See? You think it's stupid," she said.

"No no," I said quickly, looking up at her. "It's not that. My parents were kind of like that, to be honest. When they were in the senior year of high school, my dad was going through a tough time and my mom was the one to I guess you can say 'save' him. Hey... Would you be open to using that as a story for our dance?"

Mae smiled. "Yeah, sure. But... I kind of need to know what happened...”

So I told her the story of my parents. How they first met in detention, how they always stuck together, how my mom was always there for my dad when he was struggling, how I was born.

"Wow," Mae said when I was finished. "That's, honestly, a beautiful story."

It really was, in my opinion at least.

Mae and I then had to pick a song that we would dance to. That was always the hardest part, in my opinion. I didn't want to beat to match the choreography, but the lyrics instead. That was what made dance beautiful.

We ended up finding a song we could use and began choreography. I honestly loved dancing with Mae. It was our first time dancing together, but we were always on the same page. We had the same ideas and never disagreed once. We got a lot done in just an hour.

At twelve, we went back to the main story, seeing that everyone was on a break. "How is everything going so far?" Lilith asked.

"Great," I said. "We already got a lot done."

"Good," Lilith said with a smile. "I had a feeling you two would work fast. Mind showing us what you have so far?"

"Sure," I said and Mae nodded in agreement.

Lilith told the rest of the dancers that we were going to show them what we had while I hooked my phone up to the speaker. I then told Arthur to press the play button when I gave him to signal.

Mae took our places on the floor as everyone sat at the edges of the room. I gave Arthur the signal and he started the music.

I would say Mae and I probably choreographed at least half of our duet, and we still had two months to choreograph the other half, as well as perfect it.

When we finished what we had, everyone applauded. "That was beautiful so far," Lilith said. "I especially liked the story line of the boy needing the saving instead of the girl. How did you think of that?"

"It sort of just came to us," I said.

The rest of the dancers then showed Mae and I what they thought of so far for the state competition. It was soon twelve-thirty, also the time both the rehearsal and Tulip's class was over. I left to pick up Tulip before we went home.

On the way home, Tulip went on and on about how her day went. She was such a talkative girl.

As soon as we got inside, Tulip ran to Mom and began telling her the exact same things she told me.

"How was your rehearsal, Ryder?" Dad asked.

"Good," I said. "There's an upcoming duet competition that we have to participate in to qualify for the state competition. Lilith chose me as one half of the duet."

"Who's the other half?" Dad asked.

"... Mae."

"Oh, Mae," Dad said with a smirk. "You're not-girlfriend."

"She isn't my girlfriend."

"I know, that's why I said not-girlfriend," Dad said. "Seriously, Ryder, clean out your ears."

I sighed and shook my head before heading upstairs to my bedroom to play some video games. I still had a lot of time to spare before my grandparents came over.

Time went by really fast, however, and before I knew it, Dad called us downstairs before Grandma and Grandpa were here. I turned off my gaming system and TV before heading down the stairs. When the triplets came down, they basically tackled my grandpa into a hug.

"Hello to you, too," he chuckled as he hugged them back. "How are my favorite triplets?"

"We're the only triplets you know," Nolan pointed out.

"Exactly why you're my favorite," Grandpa said. He then saw me and held out his arms for a hug. "There's my favorite oldest grandson."

I rolled my eyes and gave him a hug. "Hi, Grandpa."

"Hello, Ryder," he said. "So, how's dance going? Any upcoming performances or competitions I could come to?"

"There's a duet competition in two months that I'm part of," I said.

"We'll be there," Grandpa said. "Right, Izzy?"

"Of course," Grandma said. "Although, Ryder never gave me a hug yet. We haven't seen each other in months."

I hugged my grandma. "You know we saw each other last month, right?"

"Oh, I know," she said.

Tulip quickly ran over and hugged Grandpa. "Grandpa, guess what?" she said excitingly.

"What is it?" Grandpa asked.

"Ryder has a friend that's a girl, but she's not his girlfriend," Tulip said. "Me thinks he's lying. Her name is Mae and she's really pretty and she's a dancer, too!"

And here it comes.

"Gene, don't start it," Grandma said, knowing exactly what Grandpa was about to do.

"Start what?" Grandpa asked. "Maeder? Maeder has a nice ring to it. Almost as good as Popson and Tarlie."

I sighed and shook my head as I sat down in one of the chairs. "Why? Just... Why?"

"Oh, so her name is Mae," Orchid said with a devious smile. "Good to know if I ever see you two in school together."

"I swear, if you bringing up Maeder at school, I won't be afraid to start the senior pushing freshmen in the locker tradition."

"No need to be rude," Orchid said.

"Yeah," Alan agreed. "Name one thing we did to you that meant you can be rude to us."

"Breathing."

"Mom, tell Ryder to stop being mean," Orchid said.

"Tell Orchid to fight me."

Mom sighed and rubbed her head. "Grayson, you deal with them."

"Ryder, stop being rude," Dad said. "Orchid, stop bugging him. By the way, Mae is his duet partner."

"Dad!"

"What?" he asked innocently. "I'm sorry, did you want me to keep it a secret?"

"That would have been nice, yeah," I said. "You know, I have a secret that I'm sure everyone would like to hear."

"Don't do it, Ryder," Dad said, knowing I was well talking about Mom's pregnancy.

"I'm sorry, did you want me to keep it a secret?" I mocked.

"Kids, your mom's pregnant," Dad said before I could.

"Grayson!" Mom said.

"Wait," Orchid said. "You're having another kid? What, five isn't good enough?"

"One would have been fine," I said.

"We were going to tell you guys a bit more nicely," Moms said, glaring at dad.

"They were going to find out anyway," Dad said.

"You know what this means? "Grandpa asked. "Another Popson baby!"

Mom sighed. "Dad, when are you ever going to stop the shipping?"

"Never," Grandpa said.