Ha, I think I'm going to do it, guys!
New chapter:
Notes: In this chapter, I wanted to show how big a character Josh plays in Sara's life and I wanted to touch up on some of Sara's past (which you will know what I'm talking about as you read further into the chapter) leading up to her working at the crime lab in Vegas. I wanted to show how emotional Sara could get about certain situations, such as the ones she does in the series. Ths kid described in this chapter in her history class is based off of someone my sister knows in real life- a kid goes to her high school and had the same points of view as the character does (which by the way, I think is total b.s.). Anyways, here's the next chapter!
November 29, 1984- 6:45 am
Sara rolled out of bed that morning and fixed the creases in the sheets as she made it up and got ready to take her shower. After making sure that the bed was made-up nicely, she ran into the bathroom and started the faucets to warm the water up for her shower. She ran back to her bedroom and searched through her closet to find the clothes she would wear to school that day, and picked out a pair of dark jeans and a orange-red blouse. She ran back into the bathroom (she was putting on quite a show for Ted who was in his bedroom fixing his tie), and she closed the door as she grabbed a towel and wash-cloth.
Before stepping into the shower, she slipped off the beaded bracelet Josh had given her. She felt bad to take it off, but she didn't want to ruin it. Taking it off made her feel naked; the bracelet gave her a strong sense of reassurance. It was almost as if the bracelet reminded her that Josh was always with her, that he was really her friend and that this wasn't some sick, twisted dream.
As she emerged from the shower, steam erupted from the closed shower door and she grabbed her towel wrapping it around herself. She immediately made a grab for the bracelet after she made sure her hands were dry, her hand hovering above it and grabbing it as if something had bitten her hand. She slid it on her wrist and grinned a little as she stared at it momentarily before opening the door and looking around the corners of the hallway to make sure the coast was clear and ran into her room, closing the door behind her.
She quickly slipped on her clothes and fumbled with her shoelaces until she had made sure that her sneakers were tied securely on her feet. She opened her door after grabbing a hair brush and started brushing out the now damp, long strands of brown hair. She walked back into the bathroom and grabbed the blow-dryer as she contined to comb out her hair as she dried it.
After killing about twenty minutes, Sara walked into the kitchen to find Nancy yet again fixing breakfast. She sat down at the kitchen table and Nancy smiled as she walked over to her bringing her a plate and a glass of orange juice.
"Thanks," Sara said taking the glass and gulping it down. She looked down at the plate in front of her and noted that there was far too much food on the plate for one person- it looked as though Nancy had fixed an entire pan of scrambled eggs for her, given her at least seven pieces of bacon, four pieces of sausage, and two pieces of buttered toast.
"Nancy..."
"Yes?" Nancy asked looking up from the frying pan currently on the stove.
"Uh...this can't all be for me," Sara said motioning to the food in front of her.
"Yep, it is. I have told you so many times to get more meat on your bones but your eating habits are still the same! Now eat up, I'm making pancakes and waffles as we speak."
Sara looked at her in disbelief- she couldn't possibly expect her to try and pack all of this food down her tiny body. She slowly rose her fork and poked at her scrambled eggs, suddenly not very hungry; the thought of packing so much food down herself made her feel a little sick.
Ted walked into the kitchen fixing his hair with a small black comb which he always kept in the pocket of his brown slacks. He straightened out the sides of his black business jacket and fixed his tie.
"Coffee's made," Nancy said handing him a travel mug.
"Thanks, Nance."
"Uh...Ted?" Sara said.
Ted turned to face Sara as he blew on his coffee, desperately awaiting the addicting taste and aroma of the black liquid bliss.
"Uh...Nancy wants me to eat all of this plus waffles and pancakes!"
Now, Sara wasn't one to tattle, but she honestly couldn't persuade Nancy on her own that she was fine the way she was and that she couldn't eat this much food. Ted smiled at Sara and then turned to look at Nancy putting a hand on his hip.
"Now, Nance...this is harrassment."
Nancy looked apalled. "Harrassment? I'm trying to put more meat on her bones!"
"She can't eat that much Nance, leave the kid alone."
Nancy gave Ted her best death glare before Ted walked over to her and pecked her on the lips.
"G'bye, Nance."
Nancy was still glaring at him, but Sara knew they were just playing and that it would all be forgotten by dinner that night...unlike two certain somebodys Sara once knew...
"Have a good day, kiddo," Ted said giving Sara a hug and then walking out of the house while he climbed into his white Volvo.
"Well...at least eat something," Nancy said looking at Sara.
Sara grinned and grabbed a piece of toast. "Okay." She ran into the hallway and grabbed her backpack and walked out of the house. She smiled to herself as she ate the piece of toast and made her way to school. She normally wouldn't be happy about going to school, but on this day, she had so many other things to occupy her mind. Josh had asked her to the Christmas dance at his church- no one had ever asked her to do anything like that for as long as she had lived. For once she might get to spend the Christmas as a happy 12-year-old, not a sad, lonely, insecure child coming from an abusive family.
"SARA!"
Sara heard Josh's voice coming closer and closer before she turned around to actually see where he was. She didn't, however, get a good glimpse of his position because before she knew it, Josh had run into her sending them both to the ground.
"Oh my god, Sara! Are you okay?" Josh asked looking her over for injuries.
"I'm fine, Joshie," she said with a smile as he helped her up.
He was panting, but he smiled. "Okay, good...I'm sorry, I-"
"It's okay."
He nodded a little, embarrassed. "Okay, uh...then, shall we?" he asked motioning to the ground ahead of them.
"We shall."
They made their way to school, and they both went their seperate ways when they had to go to their lockers. Josh still kept Sara in his view, though- his big brother instincts told him to never let her out of his sight for fear something may happen. Sara found this humorous and cute at the same time- he was always near her and this made her feel safe.
She opened up her locker and put her things away before closing it up- it was a brief stop at her locker today. She headed off down the hallway to her history class and before she entered the classroom, she heard and saw Josh make a Fonz impression before disappearing around the corner. Sara giggled as she made her way into the classroom before her expression changed- great, the Wicked Witch of the West was wearing the perfume that always gave Sara a headache. Today, Sara was glad that she always sat in the back of the classroom because she wanted to be as far away from the smell and the woman as she possibly could. Sara wondered if the woman had mixed the concoction on her own, thinking to herself while smirking evily That Sidle girl always gets a headache with this!
Sara rolled her eyes at the insane thought, but part of her was still uncertain if it was true...it didn't seem that out there to tell the truth...
Sara looked down at the bracelet on her wrist and looked at the carvings on each individual bead- she could only imagine the grueling time and patience his grandmother must have put into creating such a small but beatiful piece of work. She ran her hands over each of the carvings, feeling their smoothed edges and soft but deep impresions left in each bead.
She slid it off her wrist, again feeling not as secure as before, but she held it securely in her hands as she inspected it further. She noted that the carvings looked to be japanese characters, and Sara wondered what they symbolized.
"Sara, come up here, please," the Wicked Witch of the West croaked.
Sara swallowed hard and slid the bracelet back on her wrist- she would need Josh with her for this one all the way!
"O-Okay..." she said quietly as she made her way up to the front of the class. She stood where the Wicked Witch instructed her to and then looked around through the students in the classroom until she picked another.
"Brad, come up here."
Sara sighed deeply- she had never known too much about Brad, but she did know one thing- he did not have a good reputation around the school. Sara never had really gotten a good vibe from him either, something told her to the moment she saw him that she would dislike him. The kid made his way through the rows of desks and kids as he attempted to hide the wad of gum he had in his mouth. He hid it under his tongue, which Sara quickly noticed, and he made his way to the front of the classroom with his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans. He ran a hand through his dark red hair and smiled. "Yes?"
"I would like you and Sara to have a debate."
Sara tilted her head a bit in curiosity.
"I would like you too to discuss your different views on women's rights."
Sara could speak volumes about women's rights, heck she could write a humugous book on it, but she was a bit afraid of what Brad would say about the subject himself. If he said something to set her off...
"Sara, go first."
Sara nodded and cleared her throat a little. "Well, uh...I believe that women should have just as many rights as men. They shouldn't be singled out just because they're of a different gender, they play a just-as-important role in society that men do."
Right away Brad had scoffed at her words. Sara turned and looked at the other member of the debate who only rose his hand, eager to get his words out.
"Go ahead, Brad," the Wicked Witch said.
"Alright, what this girl here doesn't know," Brad said pointing to Sara. "Is that men do all the work- they bring home to dough, they fix the cars, there's really nothing they don't do. Now, I think it's easy to understand why she doesn't know this." He looked straight at Sara. "Because she's a female."
Sara was apalled at that statement and would have lunged at him like a tiger at his prey, but she didn't. Instead, she thought this out rationally and decided to give him what-for with her superior vocabulary and her stronger political views, but he would still get a mouthful.
"Women get jobs too, and they clean the house, they help to support a family- heck they give birth to their children, and they play a much bigger part in this world than the one you have stated, Mr. Hogan."
Brad was taken-aback at the firm yet calm tone in Sara's voice as she spoke. She had used his last name, now he felt this was serious.
"And all women should do is stay at home and clean."
Sara's eyes widened-- he did not just say that...
"Ex...excuse me?"
"All women should do is stay home and clean and take care of the kids."
With her jaw slightly dropped, she slowly walked closer and closer to Brad, her right hand rising and pointing straight at him.
"What makes you think that, huh? What if I said something like that about men? How would that make you feel? It'd piss you off, wouldn't it?"
The Wicked Witch of the West was now looking more like the Wicked Witch of the West- her skin was getting a green tint to it.
"Wouldn't it?" Sara asked again, now right up in his face. "Everyone's entitled to their opinions and I respect that, but I'm not going to just stand here and watch as you bash every single member of the female race spreading your bull crap!"
She left him staring at her with big eyes as she walked out of the classroom. Once outside, she took a deep breath, letting off some steam. She walked through the halls to the bathroom and walked inside. She cupped her hands and filled them with water and washed her face. After cooling down- both emotionally and physically- she dried her face off with a paper towel and walked out into the hallway. The classes were letting out and she grabbed her things from the history classroom and made her way to her next class.
As school progressed, nothing else like that happened. She went to her math class and then PE, which went over quite well. Melissa had backed off ever since she had stuck up for herself, and that was weight off her shoulders. She made her way to the lunchroom where she sat with Josh and talked a while as they ate their lunch.
"So Josh, um...I was wondering what these characters meant on the bracelet. I know they're japanese, I just don't know what they mean," Sara said holding the bracelet up.
"Ah..." Josh slowly took the bracelet from her tiny hands and held it up so she could see. "You see, this one..." he said turning it around and pointing to a single bead and its carving. "Means 'honesty'."
Sara nodded as he continued to look at the beads and their carvings. "This one means 'innocence'..." he turned it to another. "'Kindness'...'wisdom'...'beauty'..." And he blushed as he found the last one.
"What does that one mean?" Sara asked.
He turned to face her and his cheeks were flushed with the bright redness of embarrassment and shyness. "...'Love'."
She smiled and slowly took it back from him. He looked around nervously before she put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, I was curious."
He smiled as he noticed that she wasn't making this into a big deal and began eating his lunch again. "So I heard you bitch-slapped Brad."
She shot him a look.
"What? The news was everywhere!"
She smiled. "I suppose I did."
"Did he deserve it?"
She smiled at him. "Don't you think I would only have done it if he deserved it?"
He grinned. "Of course."
They finished their lunches and made their way to their last classes of the day. As the end of the school-day came, Josh bid Sara farewell as they approached his house, sending her hellos from both Frankie and George. She made her way home, barely walking through the door before Nancy had asked her how her day was at school.
"Just another day in paradise," she replied with a smile and walked down the hallway to her bedroom and dropped her backpack on the floor.
