Though she wished Edward good night, there was no saying if the night was really over. As she trudged up the stairs a little later that evening, Sarah felt as though she was bracing herself for the inevitability of running into Jareth. She couldn't help the impulse to look over her shoulder every few seconds. Surely he'd show up today, wouldn't he? After all, she was alone so wasn't this the time he was supposed to come? Growing ever more uneasy, it took Sarah longer to get ready for bed than normal and she'd even opened her window in the hopes that fresh air would help snap her out of her thoughts. All it really did in the end was make her suddenly drop the brush from her hair when she heard a hoot outside. As she always did on instinct, Sarah move to the window and leaned outside to look at J.

Opening her mouth to say something to the creature, Sarah paused and suddenly pointed at it, squinting her eyes suspiciously. "I still don't fully trust you," she warned the bird, though her actions and words didn't match. No one said that she had to talk to the owl whether it was Jareth or not, yet here she was. "I just wanted you to know that. You're not tricking me." J looked back at her for a moment before it hooted once and ducked its head into its feathers to preen itself. "Hey, don't ignore me!" Even with all the indignance to her tone, J didn't react. Sarah grumbled a few choice words under her breath.

"Well, you certainly act like him, don't you?" There was something fond in her tone that Sarah was unable to force out no matter how much she tried. Sighing, she stayed at the window for a while longer, just watching J as it went about its business. Though she still couldn't say for sure if the owl was Jareth or not, part of her still couldn't help but talk to it like it was. Dropping her head to rest on her arms that lay the windowsill, she sighed once more. "You didn't come today…." Her tone was slightly wistful. "I know I should be grateful for that, but I can't help but feel a little…." Lonely. The word came unbidden to Sarah's mind and immediately she pulled back from the window, closing it with a little too much force. Out of the corner of her eye Sarah was certain she saw J look over at her, but she couldn't say if it was because of the noise from the window or what she'd said. In that moment, Sarah decided not to care.

Instead, she fell into bed to try and focus on sleep, fitful though it eventually was. One night of pleasant sleep, it seemed, was all that she was allowed. Dreams still haunted her as they had before Jareth's return, and every time she woke, Sarah found herself casting frenzied glances around her room for Jareth's appearance, but he never showed. Not at one in the morning, nor again at four. Even at six when her alarm went off, Sarah found herself confusingly alone. Every time she left her room or turned her back, Sarah found herself expecting Jareth to suddenly appear, but her eyes landed on the same empty room as always. In fact, rather than actually get ready, Sarah found herself wandering around the house as though stalling and giving Jareth all the time he needed to show up. He never did. It was only when she heard a knock on the door that Sarah actually considered the time, blinking and racing down to answer it.

"You're late," Edward said. Of course it was Edward standing there. By now Sarah expected every knock on the door to be him. She nodded, reaching to grab her school bag and hoist it over her shoulder.

"Rough morning," was her only excuse, not sure how to explain what had happened, even to herself. If anything, Sarah would blame it all on sleep deprivation. That's all it was. Edward was analyzing her with a suspicious look. No matter whether he believed her or not, she definitely looked the part. Heavy bags weighed under her eyes and there was a decided slump in her posture.

"How rough?" Sarah blinked at him, not sure what he meant at first. It was only when she noticed Edward glancing behind her into the house that things started to click.

"He's not here," she informed Edward, shaking her head. "I haven't seen him since the other night." Sarah wanted to scoff at Edward for being paranoid, but hadn't she been waiting for Jareth all morning? "Did you skip class to come get me?" There was a note of surprise in Sarah's tone as that suddenly occurred to her. Not that she thought Edward needed the education, but he and the rest of the Cullens worked hard to keep up positive appearances.

"If I'm already going to break some rules, I might as well break them all," he commented, a strange sort of smile on his face. Sarah wasn't sure exactly what rules he meant, but she chuckled.

"Edward Cullen, always going above and beyond." Sarah had begun to realize how important it was to distract Edward with light-hearted banter whenever the topic of Jareth came up. And, maybe, she hoped to distract herself as well. The air between them was companionable and Sarah made it to school just in time for second period. Spotting Mike, she said a quick goodbye to Edward before jogging a little to catch up to the other boy and slipping into class just as the bell rang.

"You don't usually skip class," Mike commented in a hushed voice from his adjoining desk in the back of class. "This isn't like you." He looked put out. He had ever since she'd caught up with him this morning, though Sarah never questioned why. If he was upset with her about something, he'd tell her, right?

"I know, I know," Sarah said, shaking her head. Though technically she was admitting fault, there was nothing in her tone or body language that felt the least bit apologetic or regretful for showing up late. After the weekend she had, Sarah felt like she deserved all the sleep she could get. "Busy weekend."

"Do you want to ta—."

"No." Sarah's rejection came out more harshly than intended, but there was nothing worse she could imagine than reliving the stress of the weekend, especially whispering it to Mike in the back of government. She forced a smile, hoping to off-set how rude she'd sounded. "I meant to come in earlier too. I wanted to talk to Mr. Varner about the costume budget." Mike gave her a strange look.

"You didn't hear?" he asked, surprised. Even if Sarah didn't keep up with local gossip, usually she was on the ball when it came to the theater club information. "You should have been here this morning, everyone's been talking about it." Sarah noted the disapproval in Mike's tone, but ignored it. She had a feeling he was mostly annoyed that she'd come to school with Edward, not that she'd been late.

"I overslept," Sarah said in her own defense, shrugging her shoulders. Too much was going on in her life at the moment for her to care much about Mike's opinion of her friendship with Edward. "What's wrong with Mr. Varner?"

"Nothing, he's fine. But he's not going to be managing the theater club anymore." Sarah wanted to comment that she didn't think Mr. Varner had ever managed any part of the club, but she held her tongue. Whether he did anything or not, he'd been the only teacher willing to take on the task.

"We lost our supervisor?" asked Sarah. "How are we supposed to find someone to replace him on such short notice. We can't even hold rehearsals without a teacher and the production is only…." Mike was shaking his head, leaving Sarah to trail off. He seemed unconcerned.

"Apparently it's been so popular that they hired a new theater teacher," he told her, growing less annoyed the longer they talked. There was at least some pride in him that he could be the first one to break the news to her. Sarah was quick to turn her undivided attention to him, even reaching over to grab onto his arm as she did so.

"Really?" It was too good to be true, Sarah almost didn't want to believe it. All this time she'd resigned herself to being the only one that truly cared about theater at all, meaning she'd have to carry the entire production. Considering the stress her personal life was devolving into, Sarah had found herself dreading the idea of the play, but now if there was a committed adult interested as well, especially one with experience….

"Yeah," Mike whispered back, eyeing the teacher warily after Sarah's overly loud outburst, but they had avoided notice. "It's been pretty sudden. And it seems weird that they'd hire a new teacher like this in the middle of the year," he mused.

"Still, this is great new—." Sarah's words cut off quickly as she processed what Mike had just said. It was strange, but strange things did happen. However, how much of a coincidence did it have to be for strange things to happen immediately after the return of a certain magical king back into her life? A light throbbing began in her temple, making her deflate suddenly. The longer she thought about her suspicion, the more it seemed like certainty. Finally Sarah pulled back from Mike and dropped her head down to her desk with a very long sigh.

"I should have just gone back to bed," she muttered into her arms. Maybe there was no guarantee of her suspicions, but the beginnings of a Jareth-sized headache were already forming, and that seemed like all the proof she needed.

Though Mike kept trying through the rest of class and up until they had to separate for their next period, Sarah paid him no attention. She only vaguely replied to him, but it was obvious she wasn't listening and was far too stuck in her own head. Even by the time lunch rolled around, her headache hadn't really gone away, nor had her nagging feeling that things were only going to get more annoying from here. She sighed into her lunch.

"Edward Cullen is…."

"Staring at me?" Sarah supplied, glancing over at Jessica. It wasn't like she meant to be so abrupt with these kinds of things, but there were only so many updates she could get on what Edward was doing before Sarah felt like she really would start going crazy. Things had been complicated enough with just one magically infuriating being constantly occupying her thoughts. Having two of them fight it out both in her brain and real life… well that was a little more than Sarah felt like her sanity could handle. Jessica was predictably taken aback and annoyed.

"Yes," she said sassily, making Sarah really want to roll her eyes. She very nearly did, but held herself back as she scanned the lunch room. This time when she found Edward sitting alone, it was no surprise. Once again, as she made eye contact with him, Edward crooked a finger in her direction. Raising an eyebrow, Sarah shook her head at him. The shock that crossed his face had her repressing a smirk, especially as she raised a finger of her own to beckon him over. Her lips twitched for the first time in several hours as Edward—with a befuddled look—slowly stood from his table and walked over to hers. The whispers around Sarah grew more fervent as he got closer only to suddenly and suspiciously stop as Edward was within human hearing distance. Sarah felt tempted to laugh, but she barely held it in.

"Mind if I join you?" Edward asked with his most charming and polite smile. By now Sarah knew full well that it was intentional, especially since he directed his words towards Jessica in particular who was clearly overwhelmed by the attention. She was not the only one, however, and a chorus of voices came from around the table.

"Why her?"

"You can sit by me."

"There's space over here!"

Even with the hounding, Edward still smiled politely towards everyone, though shaking his head with an expression that looked apologetic—even if Sarah didn't believe for a moment that it really was. "Sorry," he said, "how about next time? We're costars so it's only natural that we're friendly, isn't it?" The way he said it, Edward made the whole situation sound like it was the most reasonable thing. There were flaws in his logic—most importantly that Edward had never even talked to Jessica outside of rehearsals before—but as always Edward had a way of making it easy to forget all of that.

Having him join their table instantly controlled the attention of the entire cafeteria. Sarah's whole table, of course, found their focus on him and either pressed him with questions and praise about his acting or just strained themselves to listen in on the conversation. Even people who didn't regularly sit with them found themselves milling around the table in a way that they never would have around the Cullen table. It wasn't what Edward had wanted, that much Sarah knew since the crowd made it impossible for them to have any kind of private conversation, but it felt better. They had talked about too many serious things lately, it was good for both of them to have a break. While Edward fielded his admirers, Sarah took the chance to quietly chat with Angela. Though turned away from him, Sarah still found herself aware of Edward, feeling small sparks of cold and magic radiating off his skin. She didn't know how she felt about it, but at least it was a distraction… for as long as it lasted.

"A new supervisor, hm?" Edward said, by way of opening conversation between them as they walked to biology. Sarah very nearly cringed. Of all the conversations to have with Edward, that one felt like the one she wanted to have the least.

"So I heard," she finally replied, shrugging her shoulders. Her Jareth-themed headache still hadn't gone away, which she took as a premonition for things to come. Her words were lackluster, but Edward must have already noticed her lack of enthusiasm. He didn't look surprised.

"Are you worried?" As they reached the class and Sarah began grabbing out her biology notebook, she paused to glance over at Edward.

"Worried?" she repeated. Yes, Sarah was worried, though the feeling had fallen like dread into the pit of her stomach and refused to leave. It was hard to believe that Edward would be nearly so calm if he suspected what Sarah did, however.

"About the program," Edward supplied, causing Sarah to return her focus to getting her things rather than looking at him. He took that as confirmation. "You don't have to worry. If he tries to make any changes you don't like, we'll support you. I'm sure the whole club would be behind you considering all the work you've put in." It was sweet in its own way, Sarah acknowledged. Edward really was a good person and she knew he meant well. It was nice… even if he was pretty far off the mark.

"That's…." Sarah began to speak before trailing off and shaking her head. She didn't know for sure if she was right about her suspicions, so she didn't want to voice them and ruin the atmosphere. But then again, there would be nothing good about catching Edward by surprise. "Would you promise me something?" Edward looked surprised by the sudden request.

"Of course," he answered, though with a note of hesitation in his tone. "Anything." Sarah believed him. By now it felt hard to believe that Edward wouldn't faithfully look out for her the best he possibly could. She took his hesitation to be confusion rather than anything else.

"Just… don't get too upset? No matter what the new supervisor is like… don't let it get to you."

"What do you mean by that?" Suspicion laced Edward's tone and expression, reading as much into Sarah's words as he possibly could. For a quiet moment, Sarah hesitated. Was it better to warn Edward now and face his stubborn protection or to take a chance that she might be wrong and the new teacher was harmless?

"Just… you know what? Never mind."

"Bella…." The word was measured, but Sarah knew that he was pressing her firmly for an answer. Edward never liked not knowing something and she knew how much it drove him crazy that he couldn't just read her mind for the answer. Sarah shook her head. As always with Jareth, she felt the irrational fear that even speaking aloud would cause suspicion to turn to reality.

"Don't worry about it," she said with a small laugh, sounding almost genuine. "I think I'm just nervous, that's all." An excuse that sounded reasonable enough with her fervent dedication for the theater program and the stress she'd been under lately. Though Sarah didn't think Edward fully believed her, it was enough for him to drop the subject. As often happened, Sarah deflected any follow-up questions by asking him to reteach her the science topic of the day, meaning she was able to make it through both science and PE safely. Her head still pounded and she hadn't forgotten even for a moment her fears about Jareth, but at least she'd masked them. Small victories.

It was only as PE ended and Sarah reluctantly began changing out of her gym clothes that real dread began to settle back into her stomach. Even her most naïve of hopes doubted that anything good would come of rehearsal today. She had almost convinced herself to skip when she exited the locker room and all but walked into Edward. Quickly she rearraigned her expression into a smile as she greeted him. Luck, it seemed, was never in her favor.

Though she normally tried to be one of the first people to rehearsals every day, Sarah found herself dragging her feet. She was well aware that it did nothing more than drag out the inevitable, but what else was there for her to do? When she did enter the auditorium with Edward in tow, the two were some of the last people to arrive, joining the small crowd milling around below the stage. Immediately Sarah's head went on a swivel, turning this way and that in a desperate attempt to find a figure she either didn't know or that she knew all too well. She saw no one. Tapping Edward lightly on the arm, knowing he was taller and better able to see over the crowd, she leaned up to whisper to him.

"Do you see anyone yet?" Between her frantic searching and the tone of her voice, it wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. A smile tugged at Edward's lips, either finding her amusing or endearing, Sarah couldn't decide which. Right then it was hard for her to care.

"It's really going to be okay," he tried to tell her, but Sarah spotted Alice and beelined for the other girl. As Sarah pushed through the crowd she could hear others wondering the same as her.

"Did you hear about the new teacher?"

"Has anyone seen him?"

"I heard he's hot."

"No way, who said?"

"Isn't he late?"

Sarah checked the time. It was only one minute until they were supposed to start. Slowly the tension lifted from her shoulders. Reaching Alice, Sarah let out the breath she'd been holding all this time.

Suddenly, the lights went out. Cries of alarm sounded around the room and Sarah heard people scrambling through the dark. Next to her, Sarah sensed Edward tensing and her own heart seized in her chest. Someone screamed.

Everything came to a sudden stop as the spotlight burst to life illuminating a figure on stage, his back turned to them and surrounded by a cloud of glitter. A swelling fanfare of classical music blasted through the speakers, making them all jump with collective surprise. As the music reached a crescendo the man—with all the grace of a trained dancer—spun on his heel to face them, striking a dramatic pose. The room filled with startled gasps and some confused, scattered applause, but Sarah heard none of it. She just dropped her head into her hands and groaned.

"Oh goddammit," she muttered. "Why did I ever get out of bed?"