Darrion Marine

Chapter One

You know those days when you forget your homework at school? You didn't set your alarm the night before because you fell asleep studying for tomorrow's test. Then you wake up late and miss the bus? Your parents have a meeting early this exact morning so your only option for transport is to walk the five miles to school? And to top all that off, you find when you walk through the school doors that everyone is staring at you because your shirt is inside out.

That's what it's like most days for Darrion Marine.

So much for being in a hurry.

Waking up in the morning and hearing the wonderful sound of birds chirping, the wind blowing outside, and the horn of the school bus honking. It's all very peaceful until you realize you slept in thirty minutes later than you were supposed to, and that horn was meant for you.

"Oh no!" Darrion shot up from her bed. How could she sleep through her alarm again? "Gotta get to school, gotta get to school..." she sang repeatedly to herself as she quickly threw her clothes on.

She looked into the full length mirror that stood beside the door. Her brown combat boots would go perfectly with her coral pink jeans and coordinating white/coral pink blouse. She made faces at herself in the mirror as she quickly put on mascara and lip gloss. Yanking a brush through her shoulder length blonde hair and tossing a bit of it on either side of her shoulders she decided she was ready for the day to begin.

She grabbed her Bible from her nightstand and backpack from beside her bed, then ran downstairs to find her father standing at the table packing the sermon for next Sunday. Dad's the Pastor of Balance Evangelical Church here in Tonopah, Arizona.

"Hey Dad." Her father is a very handsome man with brown hair and sparkling brown eyes. It was no surprise that Mom fell in love with him back in Bible college.

"Darrion, this is the third time this week. I think it's time you get a louder alarm." he said with a smirk. Dad always teased her because she was not at all morning person. Even as a two year old her parents had a hard time waking her up from sleep.

"Thanks Dad, but I have bigger things to worry about right now. Like the History test today. I'll talk to you when I get home." She gave her dad a hug before heading out the back door.

"No coffee today?" he asked calmly.

"Right," Darrion ran back inside and grabbed the cup that her father was pouring for her, "thanks Daddy."

"Oh, and Darrion." her father stopped her again. She looked back impatiently, "Happy Birthday."

She smiled excitedly then ran out the door with her to-go cup of coffee somehow leaking out from the lid. "Owe!" she said as the hot coffee touched her skin. She looked up and saw the school bus leaving. Picking up her pace she ran to where she knows it would stop next to pick up more students.

Being late was kind of a routine for her now. For the bus driver too. She thought back to when high school started. There were new teachers and school bus drivers and no one was yet aware of Darrion always being late. But now their getting the idea that time was not on her side.

She looked to her left and saw Jacob--her best friend and neighbor for the past fifteen years--waving from the bus for her to hurry. Slowly the bus came to a stop. She hopped on and ran to sit next to him.

Jacob is a tall and skinny, yet somewhat muscular, boy, whose just a few weeks younger than Darrion. He has beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair, a lot like hers. Except Jacob spends a lot of time in the morning on his hair to make it look neat and perfect, as opposed to Darrion who couldn't care less about how her hair looks.