Author's Note: I love the dynamic of the Tara and Jax in the present but I wanted to play around with the past that we haven't seen yet.

I don't own SOA characters. I just like to play with them a bit.

Freshmen Year

Alive

Her hands were shaking as she poured the fire water down the drain. 4 bottles down, 1 more to go she thought to herself as she sat the bottle down on the tile gently. She stared at the last bottle of Jack Daniels, with her lips pursed in a thin line as she watched the brown liquid go down the drain.

Strange? She thought this liquid could overtake someone so easily to lose all their senses. The banging started on the bathroom door jolted her back to the present. She started to shake the bottle making it pour faster.

"I'll be out in a minute." Her voice cracked slightly.

"What the hell are you doing in there, Tara?" her father's voice came through the door.

She thanked her lucky stars as the last drop went down the hatch.

"I'm washing my face, dad." She lied as she wiped her hands on her jeans. She had opened the window earlier this morning when she decided to pour out all her father's booze. As she began her climb out the window she realized how quiet it had gotten. It made her pause for a moment. Only for a moment.

The pounding started. "Where did you put it!" came the really from behind the locked door with a chair propped under it for good measure.

Tara landed on her feet like a cat, grabbed her red backpack before fleeing on foot. As her hair flew behind; her red converses looked like a blur she was running so fast. She never felt so alive. Would she be punished? Yes. Tara would worry about that later.

School was three blocks away from her house and she was still late getting to the quad just as the bell rung. She huffed gripping the straps of her backpack and hauled ass to homeroom. As she rounded the hallway toward class, she saw a boy and girl talking at the lockers. She was almost pinned on the lockers as the boy twirled his fingers in the girl's long black hair. As she ran passed them, she rolled her eyes; of course it would be Jax.

"TARA! WAIT UP!" he called to her. Tara slowed her pace, opting to walk. He caught up to her and smiled.

"Tara Knowles is late for class? Hell must have froze over." He poked fun with a shocked look on his face.

"I know but it was totally worth it." She grinned more to herself. Jax looked at her quizzically "you're gonna tell me right?"

"Maybe."

They got to the classroom; Jax and Tara gripped the knob at the same time. Tara quickly pulled her hand away as Jax opened the door.

Mrs. Prodgers was not excited to see the two tardy students. Tara sort of froze but Jax gave Mrs. Prodgers a sweet smile as he eased Tara in her seat taking his own seat.

"Good Mornin', Mrs. Prodgers." He said.

"And why are you late? Mr. Teller, Ms. Knowles?" she asked with her hands squared on her hips.

Tara hated being singled out especially with her classmates watching.

Silence

Mrs. Prodgers in the horrible blonde wig she insisted on wearing. It was curly and very fake looking; very distracting in Tara's mind. "Well, not all at once!" she raised her voice slightly. The giggles made Tara slouch a little.

Jax put up his hands in defeat before putting them back down. "Mrs. Prodgers you got us, ma'am. I took Tara to get some breakfast and I had coffee cuz I was feelin' really tired but wanted to focus on the announcements that you would be making." He said.

The hushed giggles turned into full volume laughter as Mrs. Prodgers realized that she was being made a fool of.

Tara went to open her mouth to try to justify the tardy but by this time Mrs. Prodgers was livid.

"Not a word, Ms. Knowles. You thank Mr. Teller, I'll be seeing you two after school for detention." Without another glance Mrs. Prodgers went to the front of the class and began reading off the announcements.

Tara frowned at Jax who had a goofy smile spread across his face. What an ass! She thought to herself. So much for her day of freedom.

The day passed relatively quickly for Tara, which definitely worry about what the hell she was going to do when she got home. She had been giving Jax the silent treatment all day because of detention. He had given up apologizing by midday anyway…maybe giving up wasn't the right word because she had 3 other classes with him and didn't see him. She assumed he ditched with Opie and his girlfriend Donna. Those three were thick as thieves. Tara flitted in and out of their circle due to the fact every time her father heard her hanging out with that "white trash product" of a motorcycle gang he either punished or hit her for it.

The last bell rung signaling that school was over. Yup, over for everyone but me Tara sulked. She dragged ass getting to the detention as her peer ran past her to go off in get into as much trouble as a teenager can in a town as small as Charming.

She caught a glimpse of blonde hair as she got closer to the classroom door. She peeked in to see Jax sitting in a desk at the front leaning back in his chair. Mrs. Prodgers was saying something that seemed amusing to Jax by the reaction on his face. Tara shook her head typical Jax, no books. In that moment Tara just said fuck it.

Tara walked right pass the classroom and out the side door towards the grassy quad area. She kind of just plopped on the ground without a second guess. Not giving a hell if she was caught or not. After last night; she hadn't realized she was so tired. Didn't feel her eyelids closing.

A light tapping on her shoulder woke her up. Tara had fallen asleep against the tree and yawned waking herself up.

Jax bending down with his head resting on his fist; staring at her. "Wanna get out of here rebel?"

She laughed as she got to her feet. She shrugged her shoulders "okay".

As they walked out of the school zone to Jax's bike, he kept glancing at her. "I wanna know why you were late?" he said curious. He took his helmet and fastened to her head without thinking twice.

"Your ears clean, Teller? Didn't I say maybe?" she said. Jax laughed, shaking his head as he got on the back, Tara go on wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Right, maybe." He said repeating her words before taking off.