Alarm for the Birthday Girl

AN/ well, the 15th was my birthday, however, I did not turn into a werewolf when I turned 15…even though I really was hoping! So this is the edited, bete'd and then edited again version of Darien

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEP!

I rolled over, and sat up as fast as I could, slamming my hand down on the snooze button for the fifth time. Then I fell back hard against my pillows. I usually only press the snooze button about four times, but last night my friend Melanie and I had been raiding the mall until ten. I didn't get to bed until one in the morning.

"Darien!" My mom, Serina, yelled from downstairs. "Get up!! You need to get ready for school!" Oh joy. Time to go to H E double L. That's just my affectionate nickname for it. Melanie likes to call it the giant 40-room torture chamber of doom.

I crawled out of bed as slowly as humanly possible. Then I dragged my feet into the bathroom to brush and straighten the haystack I call my hair. I love my hair very much actually. As strange as it is. It goes all the way down to my lower back and is naturally black. I got some purple highlights in it too. All in all, pretty cool, when it decides it wants to behave, which is never.

I glared at my hair in the mirror. It was one of those days again. Another day when my hair was very unlikely to agree with me. eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner, and lip-gloss. I go a little crazy with the eyeliner sometimes.

I went back to my room after a heated battle with the straightener and a pep talk for my hair. My way of trying to keep it tame. I walked to my closet to pick out an outfit. Figuring that I should wear one of the new ones I got with Melanie, I decided on a pair of black skinny jeans and a blue strappy tank. The tank had lace with sequins on the bodice and hem. I threw on a professional looking black blazer.

And with that I ran out the door before my mom could see how much eyeliner I was wearing. She was always so prickly about that.

As I got on the bus, I immediately sat in the third seat to the right. My best friend, Anna, always reserved it for me. Most people knew better than to take it. Probably because Anna would give them the "burn-your-soul" death glare and punch them in the nose if they tried.

"Hey, Dare!" Anna grinned. My, she was in an unusually good mood today wasn't she?

"What's up?" I asked. She ignored my question and started to rummage around in her backpack.

Anna had her blonde pink streaked hair braided today, which was strange. Maybe she was sick. I was beginning to think something was up.

"Nothing. Soooo, Happy 15th birthday!!" She sang.

"My birthdays not for four days, Anna." I said. Anna pulled out a piece of paper and handed it too me.

"I know but I wanted to be the first to tell you." She laughed. She really was starting to scare me. No one is this happy in the morning. Especially Anna.

"Here's your present." She said. I unfolded the paper and gasped. I guess I forgot to mention that my best friend is a total artist. Well, now you know. I stared at the picture she had drawn. It was so beautiful and mysterious.

It was a wolf. It had silky black fur, and deep green eyes. Its head was tilted so that it was howling to the full moon, which hung in the center of a deep blue sky illuminated by tiny twinkling stars. I almost laughed out loud when I saw its ears. They had little purple streaks in them. The wolf was me. So that's probably why it had dark black rings around its eyes. My crazy eyeliner.

"Oh my God, Anna." I said. "This is so beautiful!" my eyes actually started to water. There was always so much emotion in Anna's paintings. "This is so much better than the black belted shirt I got you." She laughed and I realized that she was actually wearing it today.

"I love this shirt!" She said, hugging herself like she could hug the shirt. I laughed. She was so goofy sometimes. The bus stopped in the Pinckney High School parking lot and let everyone out.

"Well, time for our daily torture in the form of 'High school.'" Anna said.

"Oh fun. At least this is the last day." I sighed.

"Yeah for a week!" Anna snorted. "It's only spring break, Darien. It's not vacation yet."

"Hey, how's Grant?" I asked suddenly. Grant was Anna's boyfriend that everyone in my school knew about, but had never really meet. She kept saying that I would get to meet him someday.

"He's good."

And with that we entered the 40-room torture chamber of learning. I got to my locker just in time for the first bell to ring. Yes!! I had five more minutes all to myself now before I had to go to class. I turned away from my locker and ran into some one right behind me. The person started to laugh and I braced myself, knowing exactly who I would be dealing with.

Dustin Conway. My personal stalker. Oh what a great day this was turning out to be.

"Hey Dare Dare!" God, if he calls me that one more time I swear…

"Call me that again and you will wind up trapped in that vending machine." I threatened, pointing to the snack machine in the hallway.

"That's what you always say." He said calmly. "You never really do it though."

That's was only because the principle was in the hall. One day when she isn't around… He is so annoying! He could have stalked Anna. She'd think it was some sort of hilarious game. I decided to try to convince him.

"Hey, why don't you stalk Anna for awhile, you know, my friend with the pretty dark violet eyes??" He shook his head. "What about Melanie? With her cute freckles and bright blue eyes??" He shook his head again.

"What about that girl over there?" I said, pointing over in a direction where I thought I saw a movement. He looked over, a grossed out look on his face, and I turned around to see who I pointed at. It was some fat dude with pants pulled up to his belly button.

I made an ew face, too.

Dustin made a clicking noise with his tongue "I wouldn't dream of being with anyone but you. And plus, do I look that gay to you?" Dustin asked. I thought for a moment about how he was dressed. He was wearing a pink cashmere sweater, with a white collared polo. And white slacks.

"Why as a matter of fact, yes! Yes you do!" I said. I took his moment of shock to hurry off to my next class. "Bye bye."