CHAPTER FIVE
(chapter title - Start of Something New Part 2)

"DAD! WHERE THE HELL IS MY HAIRBRUSH?" Thirteen-year-old Sara Davis yelled down the stairs.

"IS IT IN YOUR BATHROOM?" Roger called back up.

"NO!" Sara responded.

"WILL YOU GUYS STOP YELLING?" Mark asked, coming out of his room. It was six fifteen on a cold September morning and Sara Davis only had ten minutes until the bus came to pick her up for middle school.

"FOUND IT!" Sara called, walking down the stairs brushing her long blond hair with her favorite pink hairbrush. Today, she was wearing a pink sweater and a pair of form-fitting jeans that once had belonged to her mother. Her hair was pulled back in a braid and on her feet she wore white tennis shoes.

"Have a great day at school, baby." Mark told his daughter as he handed her a brown lunch sack.

"Thanks Daddy. Bye Dad!" Sara waved at her fathers as she grabbed her pink messenger bag and put it over her left shoulder. She then stepped out of the brownstone house and walked to the bus stop.

As she stood waiting, her best friends, Carolyn, Kristen, Jennifer and Tiffany walked over and the five of them started talking about weekend plans.

"We still gonna see that new horror movie?" Kristen asked, flinging her blond hair over her shoulder. Kristen Edwards had been Sara's friend since Kristen moved to New York when Sara was eleven.

"I don't know." Carolyn, Kristen's twin sister, said, totally unsure. Carolyn was sweet, innocent and very fun to be around.

"C'mon Caro! It'll be fun!" Jennifer Daniels, added. Jennifer was skinny, had dark black hair that swept passed her shoulders and was the head of the school newspaper.

"Totally fun." Tiffany Ingalls, piped up. Tiffany was the shy one of the group and the captain of the swim team and was going steady with Josh Drake, the captain of the boys swim team.

"Bus is here." Sara announced as the big yellow school bus headed down the street. It pulled up to the girls' stop and the five of them climbed on board. There weren't five seats together, so Sara and Jennifer ended up sitting in the front while Carolyn, Kristen and Tiffany found seats in the back.

As the bus rolled on to the middle school, Sara looked out the window at the landscape. The sun was just now starting to come up, making the sky look like a giant painting.

"What idiot decided to have school at seven in the morning?" Jennifer asked, startling Sara out of her thoughts.

"I dunno." Sara answered, stifling a yawn.

"Oh, how'd your date go last night?" Jennifer inquired.

"If you call hanging out with my fathers at the art fair a date - boring." Sara said, turning her attention to Jennifer.

"You guys went to the art fair? I thought you were gonna see Ghost Busters?" Jennifer said, confused.

"We were, but Dad thought the art fair would be more fun." Sara told her, noticing Jennifer's green sweater.

"Hey Jenn - is that new?" Sara inquired, indicating to Jennifer's sweater.

"No. I got it a couple years ago and I never wore it, ya know." Jennifer told her, standing up and getting off the bus, Sara following right behind her.

-----------------

School was over for the day and Sara was headed home. She found an empty seat on the bus and sat down. Jennifer, Carolyn, Kristen and Tiffany had after school activities they had to attend, but they all promised to call Sara later.

Digging out her CD player and her headphones, she didn't notice a cute guy sit down next to her.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked Sara.

"Hm? Oh, not at all." Sara told him, smiling.

"I'm Peter Baxley." the boy introduced himself. Sara put her CD player and headphones away in her bag.

"Sara. Sara Davis." Sara introduced herself, shaking Peter's hand.

"Oh, you're the rock star's daughter, aren't you?" Peter asked.

"Which one? There are so many rock stars out there." Sara said, adjusting the hem of her sweater.

"Roger Davis of the band - The Well Hungarians." Peter answered.

"Yup - that's my dad." Sara told him, smiling.

"So, do you play an instrument?" Peter inquired.

"Yeah - I play the guitar and piano."

"What kind of music are you in to?"

"I like rock n' roll, show tunes and classical."

"Show tunes, huh? What's your favorite?"

"Either CATS or Phantom of the Opera."

"I'm a fan of Les Miserables."

"It has some good music. I can play Bring Him Home and Castle on a Cloud on my guitar."

"That's cool. Maybe you could play for me sometime."

"Yeah - I would really like that." Sara smiled at Peter. He smiled back.

"I would invite you for dinner, but we're having dinner over at my aunts house. I can't stand her son. I've known him my whole life and he's an arrogant jerk."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. If it's okay with my fathers, then maybe you could come over tomorrow for dinner."

"Yeah, I would like that. I just have to ask my mom first."

"Okay." Sara wrote down her phone number, screen name and email for him as he did the same for her.

"This is my stop. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Nice talking to you."

"Yeah, you too." Peter stood up so that Sara could get off the bus. As she stepped off the bus, she saw Mark in the front yard, raking leaves. She smiled at him and went over to hug him.

"Hey Sara. How was school?" Mark asked, wrapping her into a tight hug.

"It was good. It turns out that Jennifer, Carolyn, Tiffany and I have four of our classes together and the same lunch. I only have one class with Kristen this year." Sara told him as she went and got a rake out of the garage.

"Meet any new friends?" Mark inquired.

"Yeah - a girl namedCaitlyn Coffin and a boy named Peter Baxley." Sara answered, raking the leaves off of the sidewalk.

"Are they nice?"

"Peter is. Caitlyn's a real bit-" Sara started to say when she saw Roger's car pull up in the driveway. She put the rake in the garage and went to meet Roger.

"Hey honey. Hi babe." Roger greeted his two favorite people as he stepped out of the car.

"Hi Dad." Sara greeted him, running over to him and hugging him. Roger smiled and hugged him back.

"How was work?" Sara asked, wrapping an arm around Roger's waist.

"It was okay - I'm working on a new song that I'm gonna sing at Family Fun Night tonight." Roger answered, making Sara stop in her tracks.

"Did you say 'Family Fun Night'?" Sara inquired.

"Yeah. You told me you were looking forward to this." Roger told her, walking to Mark and planting a kiss on his cheek. Mark smiled and kissed Roger back.

"I remember saying something like that." Sara said as she went to check the mail. There was a bunch of junk, a letter from her cousin in Michigan, some bills and an invitation of some sort.

Sara brought in the mail and instantly opened the letter from her cousin in Michigan.

Dear Sara,

How are you doing? I'm fine. School's boring, though. But what else is new?

I showed Zeke this year at fair. He did a whole lot better than I thought he would. You remember me talking about him, right? I hope so - I've only been talking about him for the past four months.

Anyway, great news - Josh and I are back together. We went out for dinner and a play last night. We ended up seeing La Boheme. It made me cry at the end - I'm not going to tell you why, just in case you decide that you want to see it.

Another piece of news for you is that mom, Chris and I are coming to New York next month to see you, Uncle Roger and Uncle Mark. How are they doing by the way? Is Uncle Mark constantly reminding you and Uncle Roger to take your AZT or has he let up on it? I'm just joking, girl.

Oh - I now have a screen name - it's RadamesIsMine247. What's yours? Maybe we could chat sometime.

Well, I'm gonna wrap this up.

Love, Peace and Happiness

From your favorite cousin,

Melanie

Sara smiled as she read the letter from her fourteen-year-old cousin. She couldn't believe that her Aunt Cindy and her two kids, Chris and Melanie, were visiting next month - just in time for her birthday.

"Sara, would you set the table please?" Roger's voice called from the living room, startling Sara out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, sure Dad." Sara called back, putting the letter down and walked to the living room. Roger smiled and looked up from his guitar. Mark was nowhere in sight.

"Where did Daddy go?" Sara asked, getting three mats and setting them on the table. She then went to the silverware drawer and got the silverware out.

"Oh, he went to pick up your Aunt Maureen, Aunt Joanne and Scott." Roger answered, strumming a chord on his guitar. Letting out a frustrated growl, he crossed out the line he had written on the paper in front of him and wrote in new words.

"Does Scott have to come?" Sara whined, placing the silverware around the table and getting out three more mats.

"Sara Elizabeth Cohen-Davis, no whining." Roger told her firmly. Sara sighed and set the rest of the table in silence. She then picked up the letter in the other room and stormed upstairs to her room and closed the door.

Her room was painted a light purple with a sponge-painted dark purple ceiling. On the far wall, hung a poster of her favorite band - MC Squared and a couple smaller posters from her middle school musicals. Next to those, were two movie posters and charcoal drawing that she did herself of Man o War.

Her bed was on the other side of the room. It was a queen-sized bed with a light purple duvet cover with a pattern of dark purple stars. There were various colored pillows and a few stuffed animals - including her pink stuffed unicorn and pink security blanket.

Her favorite thing in her room was her bulletin board. It had pictures of everyone in the Bohemian family - Collins, Angel, Maureen, Joanne, Roger, Mimi, Mark and evenone of Benny and his wife, Alison. Sara would look at the pictures every day and soak up inspiration. She had a canvas set up in the middle of her room with newspaper spread around the ground. A small table and a picture were to the left while towering bookshelves filled with books on painting, horses and mysteries filled the shelves.

Then there were her CDs and various DVDs. She only had a few CDs and even fewer DVDs. She had the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of CATS, Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific, The Music Man, Singin' in the Rain, Oklahoma, Annie, The King and I, Little Shop of Horrors and had recently gotten Aida with her babysitting money.

Beside her paintbrushes and paint,her second favorite thing in her room washer computer. It was an old Apple, but it worked just the same. It had once belonged to Collins, but he gave it to Sara as a 'welcome to middle school' present. It had Internet and chat, so Sara was happy.

---------------

Sara took a moment to change into her paint clothes - an orange sweatshirt and jeans with holes in the knees. She pulled her hair back with a black rubber band and turned on the Broadway recording of Aida. She hadn't listened to it yet, so she was anxious to hear it.

As the first track played, Sara looked over at the picture on the table - her mom sitting on a bed, smiling. Her long brown hair was down and framed her face. She was wearing a bright pink top, a pair of jeans and socks. She had her elbows on her knees and was sitting forward on the bed. The picture was going to be a surprise for Roger for his birthday - the same day as hers.

"Sar, can I come in?" Mark asked a little while later.

"Sure. Come on in Daddy." Sara said, not bothering to cover up her canvas. Mark smiled and came in the room carrying a plate of cookies and milk.

"Just set them right over there." Sara told him, pointing to one of her speakers that wasn't cluttered with things.

"Okay." Mark said, setting the plate and glass of milk down and walked over to see what Sara was doing.

"That's a great picture of your mom." Mark whispered, not wanting to disturb Sara.

"Thanks Daddy." Sara thanked him as she continued to draw her mom's face.

"Your Dad's gonna love it." Mark told her, smiling.

"I hope so. It's taken me forever to get every single detail rig-crap!" Sara fished another pencil from her collection not too far away from her and picked up where she left off.

"Well, I just came to let you know that Aunt Maureen, Aunt Joanne and Scott are here and we'll be eating in about ten minutes." Mark kissed her cheek and started to walk out the door.

"Hey Daddy, can you do me a favor?" Sara asked, not looking up from her painting.

"Anything, Sar."

"Could you send Aunt Joanne up here? I need to ask her opinion on something." Sara told him.

"Sure. I'll send her right up."

"Thanks so much Daddy."

"You're welcome." Mark closed the door behind him as he exited the room. Sara smiled and nodded her head to the tune of Fortune Favors the Brave from Aida.

"Sar? Can I come in?" Joanne asked.

"Sure, Aunt Jo!" Sara told her, wiping the paint off her hands and face before opening the door for Joanne.

"Hey baby! How're you?" Joanne inquired, stepping into the room.

"I'm good, just working on a painting for Dad for his birthday." Sara told her, hugging her close. Joanne smiled and hugged Sara back.

"Can I see it?" Joanne inquired.

"Sure. It's not done yet, just letting you know." Sara told her, leading her to the easel. She had decided to do the background a midnight blue and was just starting to work on Mimi.

"Oh, honey! This is beautiful!" Joanne said, looking at the picture.

"Thanks. Mr. Martin, my art teacher at school, wants me to enter one of my drawings in the school art fair next week." Sara told her, picking up her tarp and carefully put it over the picture so that her Dad wouldn't see it. She then walked over to her bed and sat down, Joanne following right behind her.

"Sar? Something the matter?" Joanne asked, brushing the stray hairs out of Sara's eyes.

"No - it's just this really cute boy might have a crush on me, but I don't know for sure." Sara told her, leaning back on the pillows. A wide smile spread across Joanne's face.

"Well, sweetie, what's his name?"

"Peter Baxley." Sara told her, picking up her stuffed unicorn and traced its features with her right index finger.

"Let me tell you something about boys, honey." Joanne said, pulling Sara into a hug. "You're much happier without them. They'll only bring you down."

"Really?" Sara asked, looking up into Joanne's brown eyes.

"Really?" Joanne repeated, kissing Sara's forehead.

"POOKIE! SARA! DINNER'S READY!" Maureen called up the stairs. Joanne and Sara laughed and headed down the stairs. Sara was so lucky to have a woman that she could talk to about personal stuff that even her fathers wouldn't understand.