ighio
We were strangers starting out on our journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
At the beginning with you

No one told me I was going to find you
Unexpected what you did to my heart
When I lost hope you were there to remind me
This is the start

Life is a road and I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever
Wonderful journey

I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
At the beginning with you

We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true
Now here we stand unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you

Life is a road and I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever
Wonderful journey

I knew there was somebody somewhere
Like me alone in the dark
Now I know my dream will live on
I've been waiting so long
Nothing's gonna tear us apart

Life is a road and I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road now and forever
Wonderful journey

Life is a road and I wanna keep going
Love is a river I wanna keep going on
Starting out on our journey
Life is a road and I wanna keep going
Love is a river I wanna keep flowing
In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you



"Hey Sara."

Sara looked up from the thick paperback book she was reading and smiled when she saw the face of Carol Henley.

Carol Henley was Sara's best friend, well at least in Julliard, outside of Julliard Sara's best friend was Chenille; Sara had met Carol on her first day in Julliard, Carol had been there a week already, and the two had instantly hit it off. Carol had lived in the small town of Montana almost her whole life but when she turned 13 she had been moved to New York City when her father had gotten a job offer; Sara had instantly shared a bond with Carol, considering how she had to live in Chicago after her mom died.

"Hey Carol, what's up?" Sara questioned as she put the book down beside her, paying her full attention to Carol.

"This is up." Carol pulled a piece of paper, with a list of names on them. "Our first play is coming up..." Carol's voice trailed off as she sat down next to Sara, a big grin plastered on her face.

Sara nodded, letting her eyes focus on the paper Carol was holding, a piece of paper that foretold everything she wanted to know. This was what Sara had been waiting for ever since she walked foot into Julliard, to be able to perform in front of a crowd, to show everyone what she was made of. "Well? Am I on the list?"

Carol's smile grew even wider. "Lead. You're the lead! Sara you did it!" Carol screamed, grinning.

Sara closed her eyes as she let Carol's words sink in, she let the words soak into her brain, she envisioned herself on a stage in the most beautiful costume, dancing... dancing in front of tons of people, tons of cheering people. Cheering for her, cheering for her talent, a talent she had worked so hard on last year; Sara opened her eyes, and let out a scream escape her lips. "Oh my god!"

Carol leaned over and hugged Sara, smiling big for her friend. "You did it! They picked you out of everybody and all you say is oh my god?" Carol questioned jokingly. "I am so happy for you Sara."

"Oh my god." Sara muttered underneath her breath, still not allowing herself to believe that this was true. "I have to call Derek." Sara said suddenly, pushing herself up from her bed.

"Huh?" Carol asked, confused. "I thought we were going to celebrate you getting the lead."

"We are." Sara said, nodding her head a bit. "But I have to call Derek first."

"He's all the way in Washington Sara, you don't even have the money to call him and plus he might be like cutting someone up." Carol said, scrunching her nose up, for effect.

Sara rolled her eyes and she grabbed a phone card. "That is why I'm using a phone card and I'll guess I'll just have to take the chance won't I?" Sara smiled and ran out of the dorm room she shared with Carol.

Carol nodded, but pushed herself up. "Hey that's my phone card!"

"Is Derek there?" Sara twisted the phone cord around her finger as she awaited Johnny, Derek's roommate, to answer her.

"Yo Sara, how's it going? Haven't heard from you in a while." Johnny said, as he lounged himself on Derek's bed.

"Been real busy with all these auditions." Sara answered, leaning herself against the wall.

"Ah, and how are those auditions going?" Johnny looked up when the door to his and Derek's dorm room open up.

"Great! I got the lead Johnny in our first play, which is why I'm calling, is Derek there?" Sara asked, her eyes hold an anxious look in them.

"Yeah, he just walked in, here he is." Johnny threw the cordless phone right when Derek walked in.

Derek dropped his backpack and all his books in order to catch the cordless phone Johnny threw to him, Derek cast Johnny a look as he walked over to the desk in the dorm room.

"Sara." Johnny stated, picking up a magazine and flipped through it. "She just got the lead in their first play."

"You got the lead?" Derek questioned, turning his attention to the phone and away from Johnny.

"I got the lead!" Sara screamed into the phone, getting some attention from the other students.

Derek smiled, laughing into the phone. "Oh my god that's great Sara! I knew you could do it, what did I tell you? I told you all you had to do was to believe in yourself and you could do anything you want, you could be whatever you want to be."

Sara smiled. "I'm here because of you Derek, you made this all possible."

Derek shook his head. "Sara you made this possible, you just needed a little push and I was there to give it to you. I'm so proud of you, and right now I bet your mom is too."

Sara's smile faded away. "You think?"

"I know. When is it? Maybe I can come." Derek held the phone with one hand as he picked up his agenda book.

"Wednesday, 5 pm." Sara replied, her heart pounding extremely hard.

Derek open the agenda book to Wednesday and frowned when he saw an appointment penciled on for 5 pm. It was the day he was taking his tests, Derek closed the book. "I can't make it. I have testing to do on Wednesday at 5 pm, I've already re-scheldued once, I can't do it twice, I am so sorry Sara."

Sara dropped her eyes, grateful that she was on phone instead of person with Derek, because being on the phone with them gave her the ability to look incredibly sad and not having to worry about Derek's reaction to her sadness. "It's okay, I just wanted to tell you, to hear your voice. Good luck on your tests, although I know that you don't need that luck, you'll ace it."

Derek frowned when he heard the disappointment in Sara's voice. "Thanks. I wish I could come but if I pass this test I'm closer to what I want to be."

"I understand, you better call me once you ace that test." Sara said, forcing a smile.

"I will." Derek said, throwing his agenda book on his bed.

"I got to go, Carol wants to take me out to celebrate." Sara said, turning to Carol, who was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Okay, look call me after the play, tell me how it went." Derek replied, saddened that their conversation was ending so quickly.

"I will, again good luck, bye." Sara sighed and hung up the phone sadly.

"So?" Johnny questioned, as he watched Derek sit down on one of their beds with a dejected look on his face.

"Her play is on Wednesday at 5, the exact day and time my testing is scheldued." Derek replied, draping his arm over his face.

"There are other plays, go to those." Johnny said, reading a magazine article.

"Not as important as this one, she's got her first lead in her first play, and I can't be there." Derek said, grumbling.

"That are how long distance relationships work, I told you a million times that they are just too damn complicated, you should just quit and find another girl, a girl who will make your life a whole less complicated." Johnny stated, his eyes glued to the article.

"I can't, I won't. There isn't another girl like Sara, until you've fallen in love, you won't understand. Me and Sara have been through a lot, a lot of bad shit back in Chicago and we overcame all of it, you just don't give up on something like that." Derek replied, sitting up and staring at Johnny.

Johnny looked up from his magazine and rolled his eyes. "If it's another white ballerina you want, I bet that there are tons of them out there, and some of them might even live in Washington. Why are you gonna put your neck out there to keep a relationship with a girl that is nowhere near you?"

Derek groaned. "It's not about the color of her skin or what she does that makes me love her, I just love her, everything about her. I got this same shit back in Chicago, you don't choose who you fall in love with ... it just doesn't work that way."

Johnny sighed. "Whatever floats your boat man."

"So?" Carol asked, as her and Sara made their way out of the school.

"He can't make it, he has testing." Sara replied, she waved her hand for a taxi.

Carol shook her head, sighing. "I know you love him and all, but how can you put up with this? You guys haven't seen each other since the day you both left Chicago, half the time you two are too busy to call each and when you do you guys talk about stuff the other one doesn't understand, try to tell each other inside jokes that they weren't there to listen to so one of you don't understand the joke. He's going to miss your first play, your most important play, and it's just not about that... you're in love with a guy you never see, how does that make you happy?"

Sara got into the taxi and told the driver where to go, she then turned to face Carol. "Love's not supposed to be easy, no one, and I mean no one understands me like Derek does. He taught me that the only person I have to be is myself, the reason I am here today is because he pushed me to rediscover my dreams, I would be nowhere without him, so don't you dare ask me how I put up with it. We overcame a lot of obstacles in Chicago, and we'll do the same now, it doesn't matter that he can't make it, all that matters is that he loves me and that I love him back. Some people go through their whole lives never experiencing love, I'm 18 and I have experienced it, and experiencing love... I am not letting it go, okay Carol?"

Carol nodded. "Okay, I got it Sara, don't blow up on me."

[ Wednesday, 5 pm - The Play ]

Sara could feel the knots welling up in her stomach as she awaited the cue for her to come in, she couldn't rid the feeling that something was going to happen, something bad, she felt it the whole way in the taxi ride back to Julliard, and now the feeling was even stronger. The only time Sara felt this terrified was when she had been notified that her mother had died in a car crash, the same feelings she felt back then were creeping up in her body, and it was making her a nervous wreck. Carol, on the way back to Julliard, had already commented on how nervous Sara looked, but Sara had passed it off as a little case of cold feet before her debut in the play, but now, of course now, Sara knew it was more. The feeling was unbearable, she could feel a few droplets of sweat trickle down her face, she pushed them away, noticing for the first time that her hands were trembling.

What was she so afraid of? She was ready for this, she had been ready her whole life, she should have nothing to worry about, but she could feel the signs that something bad was going to happen. She had called Derek in the taxi but Johnny had said that Derek was still doing his tests, Sara couldn't pinpoint where these feelings were coming from.

"Sara, you're up." The director of the play hissed, motioning for Sara to go onto the stage as elegant as she could.

Sara gulped down her fear and entered the stage, she could feel everyone watching her... everyone's eyes were on her, except one pair of eyes weren't there...

Derek wasn't there.

Sara already knew he couldn't show up but now seeing with her own eyes that he was at the play, sitting amongst the audience, Sara felt raging disappointment and fear enter her body, she closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the music, but the fact that Derek wasn't there wouldn't go away.

Sara felt herself getting picked up by her dance partner, she opened her eyes and glanced down at Fredericko, she gave him a glance and tried to keep a hold onto his arms, as he twirled her around. For some reason Sara couldn't let herself trust Fredericko; Sara looked past Fredericko and saw a big black cord, she turned to Fredericko to warn him but before she could Fredericko had tripped over the cord and sent them both flying to the ground.

*Snap*

That was when Sara felt the incredible pain shoot up her foot and rise up throughout her whole leg, she let out a scream, when she tried to move it. It hurt like hell, she could hardly move it, Sara saw all kind of people running up to her and Fredericko to see if they were okay. Sara reached her hand over when she saw Roy come running to her side.

"Baby, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Roy asked, his voice in a quickened state.

Sara shook her head quickly. "I think I broke it." Sara said indicating to her foot, which had swollen up a bit in the last minute.

Roy looked down at her foot and frowned when he saw that Sara's foot look like it had gotten twisted half way around. "Medics!" Roy screamed, his voice in a scared tone. "Where are the damn medics, just hold on Sara."

Sara closed her eyes, as the medics come running over to her.