Chapter 1

Summer, what a great time of year. No school, hanging out with your friends, and swimming. These are all activities I like to do in the summer. My name is Julianna Brooks, Anna for short. I am 12 years old. I love summer vacation. The sun and bright blue sky are incredible. Today is the first day of summer vacation. I woke up this morning thinking of all the things that I would do today. My favorite activity is swimming. I love going to water parks with my friends. When I opened my curtain to look at the beautiful day I saw. rain. Huge droplets of rain bounced off my window and landed on the green grass below. This was not what I had expected. No swimming today. I decided to invite Katherine and Tessa, who are my friends over to play. I texted them. I got immediate responses from both of them.

They responded yes! I told them to come over at 10.

“Julianna come eat some breakfast,” my mom called from downstairs.

“Coming,” I replied.

My friends call me Anna but my mom likes to call me Julianna. I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. Mom had cooked my favorite, blueberry pancakes. I sat down and hurriedly ate my breakfast.

Mom asked, “What’s the rush?”

I started to reply but was cut off by the doorbell. I hurried to the door and opened it. It was Katherine.

“Hi Anna,” Katherine exclaimed.

Katherine’s full name is Alexandra Katherine Banks but she doesn’t like her first name so she goes by Katherine. Katherine and I raced upstairs to my room. Yesterday had been my birthday and I had received a new laptop.

It was blue, which is my favorite color. Katherine had wanted to see it. She let out a gasp of surprise.

“It looks so clean” she exclaimed. “Mine is really dirty.”

Just then the doorbell rang for a second time.

“Oh that must be Tessa” I announced.

We raced back downstairs. And sure enough as soon as I opened the door Tessa was standing outside soaking wet.

“I forgot my jacked” she said teeth chattering.

“I have some clothes that you can borrow” I responded.

Once Tessa had on dry clothes we headed into our living room to decide what to do. Finally, we came to a conclusion that we should make popcorn and watch Trolls our favorite movie. Once we had made the popcorn and settled down in the movie room we started the movie. That movie is the best! I could watch a

I could watch a thousand times and not get tired of it! Ok so maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. Anyway once the movie was over we checked outside. Finally the sun had come out. We hurried outside to see how it felt. Man was it humid. We decided to swim in my pool. We got on our swimsuits and put our toes in the water to feel the temperature. It was cold, not freezing, but cold. We decided to get hot before we got in. We headed over to my in ground trampoline. All three of us can do backflips, front flips, back handsprings, front layouts, and back layouts. We all used to be in gymnastics. We were level 9. I quit and moved to soccer. Katherine quit and moved to dance. Tessa quit and moved to swimming. After we had jumped on the trampoline for an hour and a half we were sweaty and ready to jump in the pool. All at once we took a running start, jumped and did a front flip into the pool. It felt amazing. We had a contest for holding your breath the longest under water and a handstand competition in the water. We swam for about two hours. 

We had missed lunch. Mom brought us sandwiches and lemonade. When it was time for my friends to go home I thanked them for coming over. After they had rounded the corner I headed back inside.

My mom called, “Julianna it’s time to go get your siblings.”

 I two younger siblings, who are twins. One is a boy and one is a girl. I also have an older brother who is married and has three children. The twin boy is named Cooper and the girl is named Anastasia. They are two years old. We go outside, hop in the car and head to the daycare.

Chapter 2

As we drive to the daycare I switch on the car radio. Music floats out of the cars speakers and reaches my ears. As we stop at a red light my mom turns to me with a serious look on her face. I am trying to figure out what could be so serious.

My mom says, “Julianna I am pregnant.”

I gasp.

“Pregnant?” I sputter.

“Yes.” She replies.

I try to stay calm. My mom is pregnant again for the fourth time? I can’t believe it. I am excited and scared at the same time. When mom gave birth to the twins she became really sick. The light turns green but I don’t even notice. When we arrive at the daycare I am deep in thought.

“Julianna.” My mom said.

“Julianna.” She said again.

“Julianna!” She said for the third time.

“Huh? What?” I respond.

“We are here.” She replies softly.

“Oh sorry! I was just thinking” I trail off.

“I know I sprung this on you suddenly, but it is going to be ok.” She says.

“Yah I know.” I reply.

We get out of the car and head into the daycare.

 As soon as Anastasia saw me she yelled, “Anna!” and ran to me.

“Hiya Anastasia!” I replied to the excited two year old.

I found Cooper watching Trolls, which is his favorite movie, because he has the same name as one of the characters.

“Hey Cooper it time to go” I say.

“No!” He wails loudly.

“We own that movie you can finish watching it at home. Ok?” I asked.

“Ok!” he replies.

He stands up, grabs my hand, and starts marching towards the door towing me behind. Once we are all back in the car and buckled, we head for home. Once inside we put the twins to bed. My mom calls me to the living room. My dad is there as well. This can only mean one thing. We were talking about the pregnancy.

“Julianna” dad began.

“I know I know, you sprung this on me suddenly and you’re sorry” I said reproachfully.

“Julianna, your mom and I thought that it might be wonderful to have another child.” My dad replied.

My mom cut in, “A new sister or brother. Before the twins came along you wanted a new sibling.”

“I know but I only wanted one and there was two. I am also scared that you are going to get sick.” I say.

“Don’t worry about me I am going to eat healthy food and stay in shape. Ok?” Mom askes.

“Ok.” I say.

I hear Anastasia crying upstairs.

“I’ll run up and get Anastasia to stop crying before Cooper starts.” I yell as I run up the stairs.

I burst into the twin’s room and pick up Anastasia. I check on Cooper. He is still asleep. That’s good. Mom had decided not to tell the twins about the pregnancy until later because they would not understand. I take Anastasia to the bathroom and then take her downstairs to the movie room. I put on Strawberry Shortcake. Then I raced back upstairs to retrieve Cooper who had started crying. I hurried him to the bathroom and then to the kitchen to get a snack. We get him some fruit gummies. We head to the movie room to watch the movie. Once the movie is over we eat dinner and head to bed. I stay up reading. I hear my parents talking quietly downstairs. I am sure that they are talking about the pregnancy. When my mom came up earlier to tell me good night she told me she was going to have to go to the doctor the next day because she needed a checkup. Mom had been cramping a lot. 

Mom had also told me she had been pregnant since February. She told me that the baby would most likely be born the end of September. That was a while away I still had time to adjust. I was reading a book on how to spend your time when you are bored in summer. They actually had some good ideas. One of them was go ziplining. That would be fun. The only problem was where a ziplining place was. We probably couldn’t make it anyway. Not with mom pregnant. Mom had promised we could go to a waterpark next week and six flags in July. July was still one month away. Well at least we had something to look forward to. Finally I decided to lie down and try to fall asleep. I was asleep in an instant.

Chapter 3

One month later we were packing water bottles, sunscreen, and tickets. We dressed in shorts and t-shirts. My dad, mom, Anastasia, Cooper, and I are going to Six Flags. We hop in the car and start the thirty minute drive. Finally we arrive. My siblings are super excited. This is there first time at Six Flags. My mom is going to stay with the twins and my dad is coming with me. I want to try the new ride called the Joker. My favorite ride used to be the Titan, but depending on how fun the Joker is my favorite ride might change. We arrived at Six Flag ten minutes before it opened. We were third in line. Ten minutes later it opened. I headed straight for the Joker with my dad. We were first in line. We got strapped in. The ride started. It was scarciting which is a mix between scary and exciting. I decided that this was my new favorite ride. We met up with mom later and decided to play some of the games. I played three. 

My siblings played none. I won a panda, a pink tiger, and a black and orange rubber snake. I gave the tiger to Anastasia and the snake to Cooper. I kept the panda. We left at three. On the way home we stopped at sonic. I got a strawberry slush. Next we stopped at Starbucks so my mom and dad could have something to drink. Once home the twins had a nap and I called my two other friends over. Their names are Sydney and Sammie. They came over ten minutes later. We played volleyball and soccer. They left three hours later. It was six when we sat down to eat dinner. My mom had another doctor’s appointment at seven. She left at six forty-five. At eight my dad got a call from mom. She was instructed to lay low and take twice the amount of pain medicine she was already taking. When she got home at nine thirty I was upstairs in my room reading. I heard my mom come in the front. She came upstairs and told me good night. Then she left my room. About ten minutes later they called me downstairs. 

Once I was downstairs my dad smiles and began.

“Julianna we have some wonderful news.”

I try to keep calm and reply “What wonderful news?”

“Your mom is having triplets!!!” He exclaimed.

“Triplets?? Last time she had the twins she got sick and now she is having triplets??” I cry.

My mom smiles.

“I am healthy and not taking any of the medicines the doctor has subscribed.”

I stare at both of them. That may be rude but I am shocked so I just stare. Triplets wow. I know my mom is healthy. I didn’t know my mom was taking medicine. Not a big surprise though because she never takes medicines the doctor prescribes.

I am excited about having three baby siblings. I am not excited about having to change three new diapers. 

My mom starts talking again.

“They are expected September 29.”

“NO!!!” I exclaim.

“I know your birthday is the next day. We don’t have to celebrate your birthdays together.” Mom responds.

That was close. I don’t want celebrate my birthday with siblings that are twelve years younger than me.

“You can go to bed now.” My dad says.

I head upstairs. I gather a note book and a pen and climb in bed. I open the notebook and made four columns. I needed to come up with name ideas for the triplets. The first column was if they were all girls.