Sarah woke up the next morning, sunlight streaming in through the bent ventian blinds. She stretched and yawned, her toes curling over the edge of the tiny dorm room bed. Her roommate, Alisha, was gone, which was strange, because Sarah usually had to drag her out of bed. Something important must be going on for Alisha to already be up.

Sarah swung her feet over the edge of the bed and stretched again. She padded over to the sink to wash her face and get ready for the day when a sticky note caught her eye. She reached over and picked it up, reading it's scrawled message"

"Sarah-You never sleep in, so I thought I'd let you stay there. Sweet dreams!-Alisha."

What in the heck is that supposed to mean, Sarah thought to herself. She turned around to get a good look at the clock behind her.

"Oh, my gosh!"

The digtal numbers read 4:23. Sarah had slept since leaving the auditorium the night before until 4:30 in the afternoon! Call for opening night was in almost thirty minutes, she would never be able to get ready on time!

"Oh, man! Why did I pick today to oversleep so bad?"

Then it dawned on her. Jareth had left her the night before, and she spent her night laying in her bed, sobbing into her pillow. It had hit her like a slap on the face-Jareth, leaving? Impossible! But it wasn't, it had happened. She didn't think that she could hurt that much, over somebody that she kept trying to convince herself that she didn't even care about. He would come back, though. She knew he would. He had to.

"Oh, man, I'm wasting time. They're gonna kill me if I'm not there soon!"

Fifteen minutes later, Sarah was running into the dressing room, hair still soaking wet from her hurried shower and shoes left untied. "Sorry if I'm kind of late, you guys. I overslept," she said sheepishly, and sat down to dry her hair and apply her makeup.

All too soon it was time for house to open. Students, families, and friends filed in to watch the opening night of the performance. Peeking out from behind the curtian, Sarah caught glimpses of her father, Karen, and Toby. She waved, then ducked backstage to catch the tail end of Professor Haskell's pre-show speech.

"...And remember, no matter what happens, I don't care if a light falls on stage and makes a big hole, the SHOW MUST GO ON! Now you go get your little thesipan rear-ends out there and break a leg!" The short, stocky Professor beamed on his cast, proud of the shape that he had whipped them into. Sarah took a deep breath, the smile on her fellow castmates reflected on her face. Even though she had to go through this wonderful experience with Jack, it was almost worth it.

Almost two hours later, the cast collapsed back stage, echoes of applause still ringing in their ears. They were tired, sweaty, and beat almost to death, but insanely happy. Opening night had been a huge success-the house was full, and the audience responded correctly in all the right places-laughed when there were puns, gasped when there were surprises, and were moved when moments were profound. Professor Haskell was in tears after their third curtian call, and delivered a speech to the cast that they were sure was beautiful, but seeing as how they couldn't hear through his sobs, they didn't particuarly care.

After changing into her regular clothes and washing off her makeup, Sarah went to head back to the dorm. She was stopped by Ashley and Brady, their fashes flushed. "Oh no you don't! The whole cast is going out to celebrate a job well done, you HAVE to come!"

"What kind of celebrating are we planning on doing?"

"You know...the fun kind," they answered with a wink.

Sarah was a little unnerved. She wasn't a big party girl, and she preferred to spend her time in her dorm room, studying or reading. "Well I don't know, you guys. I've got a huge test in two da-"

They didn't give her a chance to finish her sentence. "Oh, Sarah, shut up! Live a little, why don't you?" They grabbed her by her arm and drug her off to a waiting car. She was crammed in the backseat between the two, as well as with two other people, and the driver put the pedal to the floor. She got over her slight disorientation after being in motion for a couple of minutes, then realized who all was in the car with her. Ashley and Brady, of course, as well as Austin and Junia crammed in the backseat with her. In the front were Kevin and Emily, stuffed into the tiny passenger seat, but not seeming to mind. Driving the car was...

"Hey, Jack, were exactly are you taking us?"



The clock was striking three A.M. as Sarah stumbled out the door. She'd been spending the last five or so hours testing her tolerance level, and had found out that it wasn't very high. She was ashamed of herself for drinking like an idiot, falling into the steriotypical description of a college aged girl. She didn't as much time to mentally beat herself up as she would of liked, though-she was soon busy emptying her stomach of the vile she had placed there.

"Sarah? Woah, girl, you shouldn't of drank so much."

She was faintly aware of the words being spoken almost into her ears, and of her hair being pulled away from her face and held at the nape of her neck. The fingertips grazign aganist her skin felt like Jareth's, so she was turning to face him with open arms when she placed the voice with a face.

"Jack. What do you think you're doing?"

"Being a good host. This is my cabin, after all, and you did get wasted on my liquor. I just thought I'd be nice."

"It's not working."

"Then why do you look like you're about to seal me inside a passionate imbrace?"

Sarah dropped her arms to her sides. Her vision was blurring, and everything was spinning around. She tried to stand up, but fell into Jack after taking a step or two. "Let me go, Jack. I'm fine."

"No, Sarah, you're not. I shouldn't of let them talk you into coming out here, I knew you weren't the kind of girl. Come on, you're going inside and going to bed."

Sarah felt too much like lead to protest. She let Jack lead her inside, up the stairs, and into some unknown bedroom. He flicked the light switch and instantly she collapsed to the floor, her eyes burning, every sense suddenly coming to life.

"Oh, man, I'm sorry. I forgot-here." He flicked the switch back off and turned on a soft lamp. Even that light hurt her eyes, but not as badly as the huge florescent light above her head. She weakly manged to crawl into the bed, her eyelids drooping. Jack retreated into the adjacent bathroom, returning with a wet washcloth that he pressed to her forehead. "Just go to sleep, Sarah. Don't wake up until you have to." He leaned forward with everyword he spoke, his lips getting closer and closer to coming in contact with hers. He finally briged the gap, his lightly brushing hers. He pulled back to see her reaction, but she was already asleep. He turned off the lamp and left, closing the door behind him.



The whole encounter was seen by Jareth, almost jumping on his bed with fury. Everything he could get his hands on went sailing towards the opposite wall. He smashed the crystal he had been watching it with on the stone floor. Tears of frusturation and heartbreak were flowing out of his eyes as he stalked off to sit in the window. "That boys a liar. Everything he's doing to her is trying to win her over again, so he can have his way with her. I won't let that happen. I won't!" He voiced outloud, to what he thought was nobody.

"That's what you think, Jareth."

He turned from his perch on the windowsill, staring into the empty room, that wasn't so emtpy anymore. "Who are you, and what in the hell are you doing in my castle?"

"You know perfectly well who I am. I'm just as capable of watching you as you are of watching me. Don't think that your intentions with Sarah are any different from mine. She's what we both want, that's the similarity between you and I. We're both fascinated with her, aren't we?"

Jareth's mouth dropped open in surprise. The man standing before him, garnished in lavishly decorated clothes that could rival any royal was Jack.

"You're a mortal. You can't be here, this is some trick my head is playing on me."

"That's what you think. There are other dimensions than just the Underground and the mortal world, Jareth. Did it ever occur to you that I could of come from one of them?"

"I can defeat you."

"Jareth, you know all about the mortal world, don't you? Have you heard of what happens when a King dies, and he has two sons?"

"Of course. The oldest son takes the throne, and his oldest takes it after that."

"So would you say that the oldest son of the deceased King would have more power?"

"Well, technically, yes, even if the youngest is better suited, and has more strength, knowledge, so on and so on."

"It works that way in the non-mortal worlds, too, Jareth."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm the oldest." With his last statement, Jack pulled a scepter from behind his back. He pointed it at Jareth, and he was flying towards the wall above his bed. Jareth could escape from the invisible bonds that held him, even though he was trying as hard as he could.

"You're not going to keep me from the woman that I want the most. And you know what I'm going to do, just because I'm such a nice big brother? I'm going to let you watch the whole thing." A crystal, tinted red, floated to Jareth's eye level. He couldn't turn his head or close his eyes-he was forced to watch.

"You'll pay for this. I'll find a way to make you pay, Jack."

"Ha! I wish you the best of luck. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lady to attend to..." With a tap of his scepter and a swish of his cloak, he was gone.

Tears fell down Jareth's face, soaking the collar of his shirt. This is all my fault, he thought to himself. I should of never left her last night! If only I wasn't so hot-tempered...his troubled thoughts ended in more sobs.

"Sarah. The world really is going to fall down, and I won't be there to save you. Please forgive me, my love."