𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 | Dara is just generally very confused

THERE was something very specific about the smell of school buses. Even before Dara opened her eyes, she knew she was on one, just from the smell of dust, sandwiches lost to a crack between the seats and teenage odour. It did little to provide her with some comfort as she struggled to remember how she knew what a school bus smelt like, when she couldn't remember ever being on one.

She gulped, her breathing picking up as she forced her eyes open. It took a few tries, but Dara managed to do it in the end, blinking as she got adjusted to the light filtering through the dusty window. Well, so far so good.

Dara twisted in her seat, pushing her head further into whatever was supporting it and looking around again. In front of her were rows of seats, some filled by teenagers that looked fifteen or sixteen, roughly the same age as her. But, as her mind tried to conjure up her age, it drew a blank and Dara panicked. How could she not know her own age?

What sort of person didn't know there own age?

"Uh..." She stopped panicking, becoming aware that the seat behind her was breathing. Dara froze, before tilting her head backwards as far as she could. Her eyes met with a pair of electric blue ones, panic as clear in them just as it was in hers. "Who are you?"

"I-I don't know," The pillow stumbled out, tripping over his words. Dara tried to push herself off, but found that her hand was occupied, holding onto the boy's.

"Can you get off my hand?" She asked, as the boy hurried to let go of her hand, allowing Dara to push herself off of him. It turned out, she had been lying lengthways across the backseat, her chest and head leaning against mystery boy's shoulder, and her legs stretched out along the seat, over someone else's.

"Glad you're up." Mystery boy and Dara both spun around, looking down at the other end of the back seat. Next to the other window, a girl was pulling headphones from her ears and sticking them into her pocket. "I was starting to think that I was going to have to wake you when we got there and I know just how grumpy Dara gets when she's woken up."

The girl fiddled with the braids in her hair, pinning flyaway hairs back from her face as she spoke.

"Are you Dara?" The mystery boy asked, looking down at Dara, who nodded.

"I think so," Dara stuttered. It was the only name that came to mind. "Do you know her?"

"No,"

"Great," Dara muttered. "Who are you?"

"Uh-" He stumbled over his words, rubbing the back of his head and his forehead creased. "Jason, I think?"

"You think?"

"All right, cupcakes, listen up!" A small guy at the front of the bus stood up, stopping the conversation before Dara could ask more questions. The guy was built like a baked bean, with pristine Nike trainers, a spotless whistle and a large megaphone attached to his waist. He stood in the aisle, but Dara had to sit up a little straighter to try and see him properly over the tops of the seats.

"Stand up, Coach Hedge!" Someone called, as the bus began to laugh.

"I heard that," He growled back, scanning the bus for whoever shouted that. His eyes landed on Dara and Jason, both of whom straightened up under the scrutiny. He glared some more, before turning away and looking back around the rest of the bus. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay in your trios. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip I will personally send you back to campus the hard way."

The guy picked up a baseball bat and mimed hitting someone.

"Do you think that's legal?" Dara asked, more to herself than anyone else.

"Can he talk to us like that?" Jason was also mumbling to himself it seemed.

"Always does." The amnesiac pair turned, looking over at the other girl, who was chuckling to herself. "This is the Wilderness School; 'Where kids are the animals!'"

She seemed to wait for them to laugh, but Dara and Jason just watched her with confused expressions.

"I think there's been some kind of mistake. I'm not supposed to be here." The blond boy, Jason, shook his head, his face deadly serious.

"I-I don't think I am either," Dara muttered, trying to think of where they even were and who had placed them. Maybe Coach Hedge had hit both of them over the head with his baseball bat, and that's why neither of them could remember anything. Someone laughed from the seat in front of them, before turning around.

"Yeah right, love birds. We've all been framed!" He grinned impishly. "I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't crash her father's BMW."

"I didn't crash the car, Leo!" Piper shot back, slouching so that she could kick his chair.

"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story?" Leo looked like Santa's elf. There was no other way to describe it. His hair was curly and black, only showing the top of his slightly pointy ears and if he kept drumming his fingers, Dara was going to break them, because the constant tapping was getting on her nerves. "Anyway, I hope one of you two has your worksheet, cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Dara had a raised eyebrow, unsure of how to approach the talkative guy.

"I don't know you. I don't thinks she does either," Jason said, as Dara nodded along with the other amnesiac's thoughts.

"Funny joke, you two." Leo grinned like a crocodile. "I'm not your closest friend. I'm his evil twin."

"Leo Valdez! You got a problem back there?!" Coach Hedge hollered from the front. Leo winked at the trio on the back row, before spinning around.

"Sorry, Coach! I'm having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone for me, please?" Leo grinned again, as Coach Hedge grunted and unclipped the megaphone from his belt to continue yelling at the four of them. Except, Coach Hedge just sounded like he was doing a really bad Darth Vader impression.

Everyone began to howl with laughter, as the coach tried again and the megaphone began to produce the sounds from a children's interactive barn set.

"Valdez!" Coach slammed down the microphone, as Piper turned to Leo and tried to get him to reveal his secrets. Dara could feel her head spinning at the amount of information and noise that was rocketing through it.

"Guys seriously." Jason's voice stopped them in their tracks, his eyes wide and unsure. "What am I-I mean we-doing here? Where are we going?"

"That's what I want to know." Dara backed the other teenager up as Piper shot them both a confused look, her eyebrows knitted together.

"C'mon, are you joking?" 

"Does it look like either of us are joking?" Dara replied, shaking her head. She had no memory, and the other two were just laughing?

"Aw yeah, they're joking all right." Leo replied, a maniacal look in his eyes that Dara didn't exactly trust. "Are you guys trying to get me back for walking in on the two of you last week?"

"What?" Jason and Dara spluttered out, horror covering their faces as they shot each other looks. She'd been making out with him recently?

"You know, I think they're serious." Piper muttered to Leo. She tried to reach over and feel Dara's forehead, causing the girl to scramble away and back into Jason.

"Hey, no. No touching." Dara snapped quickly, as both she and Jason shuffled to the furthest side of the bus, eyes wide. Piper pulled her hand back, a brief look of hurt flashing across her face as she glanced between the two.

"That's it!" All of their heads snapped back to the front as they looked at the short coach. "The back row has just volunteered to clean after lunch!"

Everyone else on the bus cheered, and Dara presumed that cleaning duty wasn't a good thing.

"There's a shocker." Leo mumbled, as Piper turned back to the others.

"Did you guys hit your head or something? You really don't know where we are? Or who we are?" She asked, looking like someone had told her that her cat had just been run over. Dara gulped, feeling guilty, even though she had no control over this.

"It's worse than that, I don't know who I am." Jason murmured as Dara sat back in her seat. This wasn't good.

Hiya, 

So, Dara is going to be a whole load of fun and I cannot wait to get more into her character. This won't have regular updates until Young Gods is finished, but it'll have some here and there. Also, I can't see anyone else other than Danny Devito playing Coach Hedge.

I'm not sure whether to do Questions of the Day again for this novel? Let me know what you guys think.

Love Li xx