I threatened an AU because it's what I love…. So here it is! Last fic they hardly got to interact at all so this one (short and sweet I hope) they'll get to spend more time together. Not expecting this to be long, just some slice of life and possibly more if it strikes me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, but I wouldn't mind another movie about it. You know. Just putting that out there for the universe.
If we're going with the movie timeline, roughly, that would make Sarah 15 in 1986-ish. So let's say she's 17 in roughly 1988. Life with no cell phones, can you even imagine it anymore?
Sarah swore up and down that, on their family road trip to see Niagara Falls when she was seven, she saw a fairy. There were numerous national parks that they stopped at for her benefit on that trip, something that her mother Linda had smiled about in that way that was all teeth and no eyes. Robert snapped pictures with his camera, which he would later leave undeveloped in a box that probably got lost when Sarah moved with him after the divorce.
But the most important part of that trip to Sarah would always be that she got to see an honest to goodness fairy 'in the wild.' Her classmates were just old enough at the time that her announcement was greeted with equal parts incredulity and hope. It was Bobby Perkins, who swore up and down he did not like Sarah which was why he kept pulling her long braids, that told her she was stupid and stuff like fairies didn't exist. He proceeded to give a very enlightening lecture about Santa Claus when the teacher swooped into the recess line and told Bobby that she would appreciate it if he led the class back to the room quietly. Sarah fumed on her little girl way, stomping out her rage until she took her seat and began to wrangle with numbers instead and forgot how much Bobby needed to go climb in a hole.
No one, in all that time, asked her to really describe what she saw. What she would have said might have surprised them.
"Get a load of these!" Dawn did a quick twirl in her all denim outfit and Sarah stifled a giggle.
"What am I looking at, Dawn? Other than a skirt that is going to get you kicked out of algebra for a dress code violation."
With hair extra big today, and even blonder than it had been last week, Dawn looked like she was ready to dance at a concert in a Poison music video. There would be mascara in Sarah's future, most likely at lunch, judging from the disapproving look Dawn was giving her. Secretly Dawn always wished she had a twin sister and her life's work was turning Sarah into that sister if it killed one or both of them.
"You, my little bookworm, are looking at the newest and greatest shoes I ever bought so far this year!"
The low metallic heels stood out from the dark grey of the school's flooring. Sarah noted the chewed gum flattened next to their lockers with disgust, she always seemed to see more than she wanted to. Stowing her chemistry textbook in her locker, she gave her long hair a quick brush while Dawn chattered on.
"I swear I thought you'd die of boredom before I saw you," The weekend had seemed long to Sarah, too, but some of that had to do with her dad pushing college brochures at her. "Your parents are not going to pull this babysitter stuff all spring break are they? I need you! The mall needs you!"
"Spring break isn't for a week," Satisfied enough with what she saw in the mirror, Sarah grabbed her math book and her friend both and shuffled them in the direction of algebra. Dawn played the dumb blond but no one was faster with numbers than her, and she'd scouted out the best schools for finance ages ago. Spring, summer, then a senior year stretched before them and Sarah had the feeling like she'd better enjoy it while it lasted.
Sadly, and Sarah was not proud of this fact, the only reason she was even in the same math class as Dawn was because she worked so darn hard and asked Dawn a lot of questions. So when the teacher 'randomly' paired them up with a new partner for the probability worksheet today, Sarah felt that trickle of dread that preceded a bad grade.
A spinner is divided into 15 equal regions numbered 1 to 15…
Ok, so far so good. Dawn was making faces at her from her new seat by the window, the general chaos of movement having obscured her obscenely short skirt from the eagle eye of Mrs. Shapiro.
What is the probability that 4 consecutive spins result in prime numbers?
Sarah knew all those words, she performed excellently in English, but somehow this combination of them at this moment looked like gibberish to her. The grim specter of college rose in her mind again as her father's voice droned on about grades and life choices and growing up. It was supremely unfair that all this had to take place on a Monday.
"How am I supposed to know this?" Sarah turned a doe-eyed hopeful face up to her partner and blinked hard as she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Rubbing at it, she refocused in on her partner who would shortly learn she was about as mathematically inclined as a wet rag.
The boy, dressed in a blue plaid shirt and unnervingly tight black pants, gave her a half smile and sat down in Dawn's still warm seat. He looked over to where she was slowly circling question one with her pencil.
"2.56%" He gave her that half smile again, and she found that his indistinct features fell into sharp relief the longer she looked. He was the kind of gorgeous that sighing women usually reserved for idols like Axel Rose. It didn't seem possible that this boy had been in her class all year and she hadn't noticed him. There should have been nasty stares from every girl in the room that she was within five feet of him. "That's the answer, if you need to show work you can see what I already finished."
"Oh thank you, you're like the answer to a prayer," Sarah copied over the first answer and saw he had already made inroads to the second and last questions as well. "You like to skip around, huh? I always have to do things in order."
"Do you have to?" He said it offhandedly, looking bored with the world. So he was one of those boys, the ones that couldn't see anything amazing about the world around them. Already he seemed just a smidge less beautiful to Sarah. Perhaps he was just too good for them all, and that's why His Highness wasn't a school idol she knew about.
Giving him one of her own twisty smiles she met his eyes after scribbling the last of his notes down. Equally intriguing, she couldn't decide if they were green or blue. "I suppose I don't have to. Would you explain to me how you think about it? I'm wide open."
Confusion clicked over to suspicion in his expressive face. Slowly he seemed to come to some conclusion. "Yes, I can see that you are. Where shall we begin…"
"Sarah," she supplied readily. "I hate to say this because I have a feeling you've been in my class this whole time, but I just can't remember your name. That isn't like me, I have a pretty good memory."
"Jareth. My name is Jareth." He stared down at the paper and some of his blond hair feel forward, looking a little shaggy but at least shiny and clean. Too many boys seemed to think showering was vaguely optional and it would have been beyond upsetting if he was among their number. Sarah was having a hard time placing him in a school clique. He didn't scream yuppie or punk, even though the cut of his clothes and the lack of brands plastered on it strongly implied designer. Loner, she supposed, which she could relate to in some respects.
"That's pretty distinctive; I'll bet you don't meet a lot of people with it. I've been 'Sarah W.' since I can remember just so people could tell us all apart. Is that an old Biblical name or something?" She was stalling so they didn't have to talk about math yet, but all good things had to come to an end and she read through another problem slowly.
"Or something," he agreed, and she didn't see it but this time when he smiled at her the smile reached his eyes.
