I wrote this after I had a bad day.

*Usual disclaimer*

Compleated 10/08/02

Bad Day

Had a bad day again, She said I would not understand, She left a note and said, "I'm sorry I, had a bad day again" She spilled her coffee, broke her shoelace, Smeared the lipstick on her face, Slammed the door and said, "I'm sorry I, had a bad day again" And she swears there's nothing wrong, I hear her playing that same old song, She puts me off and. puts me on, And had a bad day again, She said I would not understand, Left a note and said, "I'm sorry I, had a bad day again" She left a note and said, "I'm sorry I had a bad day..."- Bad Day, Fuel



Sara Pezzini walked into her house with a trembling chin. She had had the worst day in her life. From the moment she had woken up to just a few minutes ago collecting the mail. She threw her backpack down near a big blue recliner, dropped her motorcycle helmet in the middle of the floor and went to the kitchen, dropping the mail down on the counter.

With an characteristic whimper she held back more tears that had tried all day to break through and made her way back to her room. Once inside the first thing she did was turn on her radio to almost full blast. Mumbling under her breath about boys, finals and bikes that broke down at the worst of times, she pulled her shirt off and tossed it towards her laundry basket.

An unsteady sigh came from her as she hunted through her dresser drawer for her favorite sweater. It was a large blue one, modeled to look like a hockey jersey. When she stood back up her eyes landed on her fish bowl that sat atop her dresser and the dead fish that no longer swam in it. Her eyes went big and her bottom lip trembled even more. Her voice was a soft squeak, "Eric?" Pezz tilted her head to the side and tapped on the side of the glass, when the fish didn't move, Sara lost it. She broke down crying and threw herself on her bed, burrowing under the covers and curling into a ball.

James Pezzini walked into his house with a smile. He had had a good day work, despite Bruno Dante's ever present, presence. "Sara?" He made his way through his home, laying his briefcase on an easy chair, maneuvered his way around the front room and made it into the kitchen. "Bills, bills, wrong address, and another bill..." He sighed softly plopping the mail back down on the counter with arched brows and looked around. It was Sara's turn to cook dinner tonight, but not a thing was touched in the kitchen. It was then he heard the pounding of a base vibrating from down the hall. "Girls' gonna go deaf if she keeps listening to music like that..." James grinned softly, then made his way towards his daughter's room.

Sara jumped at the sound her father's voice and his knocking on her door. Hurriedly she threw her covers off, straightened out her hair and tried to look as normal as possible.

"Hey, kitten, you want to turn that down?" James grimaced softly as he entered her room He was about to speak again, then noticed the condition of his daughter. Her hair was all over the place, her nose a bright pink and her eyes puffy. "Sara?" Immediately he sat down next to her, watching as she tried desperately in vain to look as if nothing was wrong.

"Yeah, sorry dad..." With a shrug she turned her radio off then sat back down, rubbing the side of her neck. "Um I didn't get dinner started either, I sort of..." She fidgeted horribly, wiping at her eyes with the back of her sleeve and looked anywhere but at her father.

He watched with growing concern as Sara fumbled for something to say. Gently he laid a hand on her head and smoothed back her hair, tucking some of it behind her ear. "Honey, what's wrong?"

The tone of her fathers voice more then anything got to her. Her mouth opened as her eyes closed and all she could do was shrug as a single tear slid down her cheek.

"Sara..." James Pezzini went into full tilt father mood. He moved closer to her wrapping her up in a tight but comfortable hug and gently rocked her from side to side, petting her wild hair. "Sara what's wrong? What happened?" He frowned, shaking softly at the sight of his daughter in such pain, silently vowing to kill whoever had caused it.

"...Daddy..." She murmured softly, shutting her eyes tight and hugged her father back, burying her face in his shirt. With a single sniffle she started sobbing uncontrollably.

He sighed softly, closing his eyes and merely held her as she cried. He knew how hard it was for her to be doing this. His daughter was a strong, proud young woman and hated being caught in what she considered a "weak" moment. He only hoped she'd come around and see that emotions weren't a weakness, that it took more strength to show them.

When her sobs had subsided he gently lifted her up, and held her back by the shoulders, looking at her. "Honey? What's wrong?" With his index finger and thumb he wiped away a few of her tears, waiting for her to respond.

Pezz took a few sniffs, running her hand under her nose, then the other across her eyes. Her voice was low and raw from her crying, "I just, I had a bad day... It's stupid dad, just girlie emotions." Sara sat back rubbing at her eyes some more and attempted to straighten herself up. James grinned, relieved it wasn't too serious of a situation. "Sara, emotions aren't girlie, they're human... You want to talk about it?"

She shrugged, standing up and went over to her punching bag, taking a few half hearted jabs at it. "It was just a bad day... lots of little things, you know?" Her stance shifted, balancing out her weight. Her next punch was more solid and her jaw tightened as she glared at the punching.

"OK..." Her dad nodded, walking over to the bag and went around behind it, holding it in place for her. Sara had a hard time opening up, it always took a bit of work getting her talk to about what was on her mind. "Joe wants us to come over for dinner tomorrow, told him we'd love to, hope that's OK with you."

"Sure." Sara set her worked her jaw, punching the bag harder and followed it up quickly with another jab. Slowly she started building momentum, seeming to forget her dad was there, punching, jabbing and even kicking at the bag as hard as she could.

James watched her, holding the bag the best he could. He knew she was under a lot of pressure, some of which he was responsible for. It was hard on them living like they did. Sara was doing great in school, but it was coming up to finals time. She had been pushing herself hard. "You going to displace this bag to death or what?..."

Pezz jumped slightly, blinking. "Oh..." She rubbed the back of her neck then rolled her eyes at the comment. Psychology was one of her classes, they had been studying personality and the defense mechanisms theory. A soft smile came to her face, she had to admit, he was trying. "I'm sorry dad, I'll go get dinner started." Sara wiggled a thumb over her shoulder at the door and turned to go.

James smiled softly and walked around the punching bag. "Let's go out tonight, come on, we can go to your favorite restaurant, and then..." He chuckled wrapping his arm around her shoulders hugging her tight, "Eat ice cream till we puke. How's that sound?"

Sara laughed softly, leaning on him as they walked, "Sounds great dad... thanks...." She paused, chewing on her lower lip and looked up at him. "I love you dad." She smiled up at him lop-sidedly, tears brimming again.

"I love you too Sara." James smiled at his daughter then leaned down, brushing her forehead with a gentle kiss.