Never Change

Chapter 1

Zara

The bright morning sunlight streams through a crack in the closed curtains, hitting the sleeping teenage girl, namely, me, Zara Skylark, on the forehead. I groan and turn over, but a strong breeze blows the curtains wide open, filling the room with sunlight. I grumble and pushes my covers away, then sit on the end of my bed, rubbing my eyes.

"Why so early?" I ask, speaking to no one in particular. I stand up and walk over to my dresser, humming a tune as I walk. I grab a towel and a change of clothes, then head into my bathroom to take a shower. My hummed tune becomes a song, and I sing loudly as the cold water rushes down on my skin and through my thick dirty-blond hair.

Once I'm out, I get dressed into a white top with a wolf on it, black shorts, and blue converse with wave designs. I'm a fashion designer, and most of my clothes have been designed by myself.

When my singing gets extremely loud, while I'm brushing my hair, I hear a loud noise come from the room next door. "Shut up, Skylark! We both already know that you're an amazing singer!" I laugh as my best friend Destiny's annoyed voice floats through the wall.

"Thanks!" I reply cheekily, pulling my hair up into a high pony tail. I walk out of my room, still singing, and start cooking omelettes in our small kitchen (shrimp for me). Destiny and I live in a condo in Waikiki together, and we've lived there since age 10.

My grumpy best friend stomps into the kitchen, her wet hair dripping on the floor and soaking her magenta robe. She perks up slightly at the smell of food, but stays silent.

"Tomato and cheese, as usual," Destiny buries her face in her arms, and flops into a chair, nearly missing the seat. "Ouch."

I hide my smile as I turn back to the frying pan. Destiny is definitely not a morning person, whereas I feel like I never have to sleep.

In a few minutes, both omelettes are finished, and Destiny and I put them in the sink to clean later. I dash back in my bathroom, brush my teeth, then head back into the dining room. "Well, I'm going to head to work then," I hoist my white purse over my shoulder and grab the keys to my white Lexus.

"See you later," Destiny replies, not taking her eyes off her phone.

She's probably texting some boyfriend of hers, I think as I cruise down the street. Destiny has an unhealthy habit of getting a boyfriend way to easily, and then finding a new one in under a week. For some reason though, her previous boyfriend is never too upset about the breakup.

I smile as my car drives by La Loca Mango, one of the best cafes, in my opinion. It's on the beach, a few doors away from my studio, and my boyfriend, Tario, is the manager there, which means that I get discount drinks.

Once my car is parked in my reserved spot, I walk over to the door, unlock it, and walk inside.

My design studio is painted dark blue with wave patterns, and has a huge white table and matching bar chair in the centre of the room. I have unused manikins along one side of the room, fabric boxes and shelves along the longest wall, other supplies along another wall, and manikins modelling outfits surrounding my desk.

Along the last wall, there are pictures of my idols and some of their sketches. There are also my sketches, a few pieces of cool or meaningful fabric, and photos of clothing ideas or rare fabrics.

I smile, turn on the light, and a soft flow of shimmery light fills the room, its source my old crystal chandelier. I sit at my desk, send a greeting text message to my boss to let him know that I'm at work, and pick up where I left off.

Destiny

I groan, trying to block the sound of my best friend Zara's singing with my pillow and covers, but she keeps getting louder. I love her, but sometimes she can be very annoying.

"Shut up, Skylark! We both already know that you're an amazing singer!" I yell through the wall, pushing my covers away and standing up shakily.

"Thanks!" Zara replies, and I smirk before grabbing my towel, magenta robe, and my zoo uniform. I jump into a quick, hot shower before shuffling into the kitchen for breakfast, clothed in my robe and fuzzy slippers.

"Tomato and Cheese, as usual," I grumble, then head over to my favourite armchair to sit. Unfortunately, I almost miss the chair, and end up sitting on the armrest instead of the seat. "Ouch."

Soon, Zara places my omelette in front of me, and starts eating her shrimp and sea asparagus omelette at rapid speed. We finish quickly, and Zara heads off, grabbing her keys and she opens the front door. I sit in my chair, texting Zach, my new boyfriend, and say, "See you later," to Zara.

"Well, I'm going to head to work then," she says, then closes the door behind her, leaving me alone in the house.

I re-enter my bedroom, throw on my uniform, and run my brush through my hair a few times, braiding it carelessly. Monkey's can get their fingers tangled in hair, so we always have our hair up. After speed-brushing my teeth, I grab my duffel and car keys, then hop into my silver Mercedes Benz after locking the front door.

I drive over to Waikiki Zoo, which is a 20 minute drive from our condo, and park my car in the area reserved for members. After taking my stuff out of the backseat, I walk inside through the staff only entrance, and drop my bag off in my locker, number 16.

"Marlany!" I hear an annoyed voice call my name. There's only two people at the zoo who calls me by my last name, and stand a little straighter when I see that it's Deavin, the zoo manager.

"Yes, Miss Deavin?" I respond politely.

"You are exactly one minute and thirty-seven point nineteen seconds late for work. I expect you to be on time tomorrow, early even. Now chop chop!" She snaps, and I scurry off to where the monkey show is located.

I gently take Jade, my monkey, out of her cage, and she scrambles onto my shoulder. I feed her a treat from my pocket absentmindedly, and one of my coworkers, Callie, gives me a sympathetic look.

"Did the Deavil get you again?" All the workers agree that Deavin is the devil in disguise, so our secret nickname for her is Deavil.

I nod unhappily. "I mean, it was a minute and thirty seconds! Like that really matters," I scoff, and Jade, sensing my unhappiness, wraps her tail around my neck.

"I know. Once, I accidentally parked my car in her spot, as it was my first day on the job, and she put me on probation for a month!"

"That's nothing. Some guy was delivering a new animal to the zoo, and he parked his car in the loading zone. The Deavil actually stood there with a timer, and once he had been there for more than ten minutes, she put him on probation. And he doesn't even work here!" Another worker, Dean, shares his story with us.

"Why are you all standing around here?" We whip around to see Squeea, aka mini Deavil, tapping her foot impatiently. The Deavil's niece is our assistant manager, and an extremely rude one at that.

"Nothing," Callie replies.

"Exactly! Get to work, all of you!" Mini Deavil orders, and we scramble around to look productive.

Yeah, today is going to be a long day.