All Bets Are Off

Chapter 1

Too toot too toot too toot. The constant sound is penetrating through Dara's ears and entering her dreamless sleep jarring her awake. Her hand automatically reached out and groped on the bedside table to turn off the alarm clock so she could return back to sleeping. She slept late last night and she couldn't remember why she turned on her alarm clock so early anyway. She was already falling asleep again when she heard another sound. She irritably reached out to her alarm clock to turn it off again but the sound insists. She opened one eye while she grabbed her alarm clock hitting the off button to make it stop before she realized the sound wasn't actually coming from it. She looked around and saw her phone ringing. She sleepily answered it.

"Yeah?" She could feel her consciousness going back to slumber again.

"Yah! Dara, where are you?" It was Suzy. The one who share the apartment with her.

Dara had her mind answering but her mouth only grunted.

"You're going to be late. It's already 7:45 and we need that script," Suzy said.

It took a moment before it registered in Dara's mind. Her eyes snapped open and instantly went to the digital clock. Holy shit! She jumped up on the bed frantically.

"Gotta get ready. Call you later," Dara said before dropping the phone on the bed and sprinting to the bathroom to take a shower. Ah damn! She's gonna get fried. Or worst, fired.

Dara probably made it in the Guiness Book Of World Record after she finished showering and picking on any clothes to wear in her closet for a total of 20 minutes. This is the fastest she had moved in her entire life. She put her hair up in a sloppy ponytail, not bothering to blow dry it, picking on the stack of folders in her messy desk and running out of the house while mentally calculating the minutes it would take if she took the bus. She opted to ride a taxi instead even though it would cost her almost two days worth of meals. Better that than actually losing a job again and costing her a month of no income while she look for another job.

"Can't you go a little faster?" Dara asked the driver and leaned heavily on the seat while letting out her breath. Suzy probably didn't get home last night which explains why she's now running late. Her human alarm clock decided to party last night with her boyfriend and left her with an unreliable machine. She opened her folder to arrange the script all in sequence. Today's going to get hectic. Her boss specifically told her to come early for the Spotting, calculation of the script's duration, as today was the day they had one of the biggest artist in the music industry as a guest in one of their TV shows. It had taken almost 2 months to actually get a schedule from their company and she won't get surprised if her boss turned apoplectic if she got late even for a minute. She threw a couple of bills in the front seat thanking the driver and got out hurriedly once they have reached CSW, the TV Network she's currently employed at as a scriptwriter. In training. She half walk and half ran towards the entrance, one hand clutching the folder to her chest and the other hand groping her bag for her ID. She was about to clip her ID on her shirt when she crashed into someone. She lost her balance and she fell backward. "Shit!" she muttered but her eyes were on the papers she had carelessly put on the folder yet carefully arranged in sequence scattered on the folder as he landed on her bum. Now she's gong to do it all over again. She bit her tongue from cursing and she got on her knees to hastily pick it up.

"Sorry, miss, are you okay?" The guy she crashed in squatted to help her retrieve the scattered papers.

"Yes, yes. I'm okay," she said dismissively snatching the papers off the guy's hand then she suddenly grabbed his hand to ogle at his digital watch. 8:29.

"Ah shit!" She was unable to stop her mouth from uttering an expletive out loud as she quickly took all the papers and unthinkingly stack them in the folder standing up then sprinted off to where the elevator is, pressing the button several times before deciding that the elevator is taking way too long. Turned on her heel and ran to the stairwell to get to the 5th floor all the while cursing the alarm clock.