WARNING: This chapter will contain mature themes and language, so please be aware whilst reading this that you have been warned

Greeting Reader and welcome to the fifth chapter! So this is the first chapter that doesn't take place in the Labyrinth delving more into Sarah's personal life and relationships Aboveground and possibly the only part of the chapter where Jareth is only mentioned. This chapter is going to be full of cliches from 80s and 90s high school movies especially with some of the OC's in this chapter for just a little fun but also this is how I imagine Sarah's high school experience to be. I must warn you that this is going a long chapter potentially consisting of 4 or 5 parts so please be aware it might take some time to be complete. thanks for reading and please leave a review :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any movies or books, characters, materials, songs, or anything associated with 'The Labyrinth', 'Nightmare on Elm Street', 'Child's play', 'Alice in Wonderland' or 'Cinderella'.

Eighteen

It was 1988 and it was finally here, the birthday she had been waiting for, Sarah's 18th birthday was 2 days away and she couldn't be more excited. Sarah was now a senior in high school where she excelled in English, art, and theatre although creative writing in English was her particular favorite and with her vivid imagination it was a piece of cake for her. Most days she kept herself to herself with very few friends, she never really 'hung out' with anybody outside of school, or if she was asked to she'd make up a poor excuse to get out of it because she had her commitments to the goblin king so she was seen as a bit of a loner. Many of her classmates would describe her as 'bookish' or 'quiet' and there were some who would call her more insulting names like 'weird' but Sarah mainly brushed these comments off as she didn't have the time to care for them although she harbored a secret desire to be accepted in her regular life than just her Labyrinth life. She was also halfway through her contract to the goblin king.

there was only one student who accepted Sarah for who she was, her childhood friend and neighbor, Ryan who was also classed a 'nerd'. Ryan had been neighbors with Sarah for the majority of their lives even going to all the same schools together, they have walked home together for many years as friends and they'd swing by each other's houses to do homework together but Ryan asked Sarah to hang outside of school or doing homework, she'd lie to him. Ryan has loved Sarah the moment he first saw her, they were both 5 years old when his parents had recently moved in next door to her formerly married parents, his mom and Sarah's made them meet each other but Sarah wanted to go back inside and play with her dolls however Ryan stared at Sarah completely lovestruck, both children were shy around each other but their mom's insisted on play dates until eventually, they became the best of friends. When they were both 7 years old, the two played 'wedding' at Sarah's house pretending to have a proper ceremony in the attic, Sarah raided the attic managing to find her mom's dust-ridden wedding dress and veil which didn't fit her so she scooped the majority off the floor and elegantly dragging the rest down the 'aisle' whilst making sure she didn't trip over and Ryan ended up wearing his best suit (much to his mother's disappointment) that he brought from next door and his dad's shoes, which were also too big. At the 'ceremony', the children gave each other the ring from their favorite keychains, exchanging them and promising each other forever, Ryan ended up kissing Sarah on the lips with both of them being equally disgusted by it and much to Sarah's horror, Ryan decided to shout out in their first-grade class that he was going to marry her when they are grownups. this put a dampener on the friendship, Sarah even went as far as to say she hates him but their moms forced them to patch things up...they still don't talk about it.

But unbeknownst to Sarah, Ryan wears his keychain ring on a necklace every day since their 'wedding' whereas Sarah threw hers in a drawer to forget about it.

As time flew by, Ryan grew into a fairishly attractive young man with a handsome boyish face which had been unfortunately ruined by his acne scarring but what brought his charm back where his engaging brown eyes with a cheeky glint, his hair was a mess of dirty blonde curls that fell just above his eyes which he tried his best to contain in his white pinstripe trilby, he has a skinny body, therefore, athletics weren't his forte (much to his father's disappointment) so he gets picked on by the jocks and neither did he care much for the latest fashions calling himself a 'rebel'. he got dumped in the 'weirdo' category along with Sarah. Ryans talents lie in his painting and drawings, he even thought about being an artist and hiring a studio out when they graduate with the money he had been saving from his after-school job at the mechanics in town which his father owned. there was one thing Sarah admired about him, he would always hold his own against his and Sarah's bullies which had gotten him a few black eyes and trips to the nurse's office because although he was skinny, he held a powerful punch. Ryan was adamant about not letting the popular kids win.

Today was another dull day of going to High school, Ryan was sitting downstairs waiting for Sarah so they could walk to school together. The boy gingerly tapped his brown brogues against the wooden floor, he occasionally touched his exposed fingers together as he was wearing his tattered fingerless gloves but his mind was focusing on nothing, He always felt unwelcome at Sarah's house. Robert came into the main room from the kitchen and saw Ryan quietly sitting waiting for her, Robert scanned over Ryan with disapproval followed by a small headshake and quiet tut as he always thought Ryan was a weird kid but he was one of the few friends Sarah had so he allowed it, "Sarah, c'mon Ryan is waiting for you!" The older man yelled up the stairs, he looked back over at the nervous-looking young man.

"Women, am I right?" Robert chuckled at his own humor hoping to get an answer from the 'weird' boy sitting in his lounge area, Ryan kept on waiting for his crush to come downstairs mindlessly staring into the distance, his response was that his fingers were still fidgetting. Figuring she'd take her time, Robert spoke:

"So Ryan" Robert began walking over to him with his newspaper under his arm causing Ryan to alertly jump out of his daze because even though Ryan knew Robert for years because both their fathers went way back, both being the high school football stars of 64' with his father always giving Robert sweet deals at the mechanics, Ryan still got nervous around him. Clearing his throat, he hurriedly tucked in his shirt and shuffled around in his seat so that he was sitting with his back straight, he answered

"Yes Mr. Williams" He coughed still clearing his throat

"So Ryan, you and Sarah have been friends for a really long time and I was just wondering, when are you going to finally my daughter out?" he smiled at him

Ryan was taken aback by the question "Umm...' Ryans brown eyes grew and his expression shunned, he could feel his body temperature rising with his fingers nervously creeping over to the tattered fibers of his gloves where he began tugging at them. Robert, on the other hand, loved seeing the young man squirm with his eyes growing and eyebrows rising to wait for the 'weird' boy to answer, Ryan cleared his throat again " ... I don't know what you mean...me and Sarah are friends, always have been" He unconvincingly smiled back

"Oh c'mon Ryan, you've been doing those puppy dog eyes at my Sarah ever since you laid eyes on her and I know that you've been to the nurse's office a few times for her, so please don't try and kid an old man" he shook his head chuckling

"Is it really that obvious I like her?" Ryan admitted looking back down at his dapper shoes feeling embarrassed with himself

Robert prepared himself to sit in his armchair bringing his newspaper out from under his arm, he sat and gave the newspaper a good shake before continuing, "I think your feelings are a little stronger than that but hey, it's none of my business if you make the move or not but I will say get there before some other guy does, that's all I'm saying"

"Saying what?" Sarah finally descended from her bedroom looking radiant as ever, making Ryan stand up to greet her beauty

"Uh...saying how lovely you look today" He blushed making sure to hide it with a mock curtsy "My princess"

"Geez Ryan, how old are you? we haven't played prince and princess since we were, like, six" Sarah looked at her friend unimpressed by his childishness brushing him off to fix the large plastic bangles she had stacked on her wrists and tousled her hair out of the way, Sarah stopped in front of the mirror by the entrance to stare at herself, she stood admiring her reflection examining her face and outfit, tousling her long brown locks feeling the slight crunch of hairspray she had in it feeling somewhat satisfied with herself, she turned to her friend "And besides, I'm going to be 18 on Friday" she dreamily breathed before returning to her vanity. Ryan noticed her perpetual fussing over herself had turned into a habit over the years taking longer and longer upstairs, it would take Sarah 5 minutes to get ready whereas now it takes her up to an hour.

"Yep, I know and I'm still thinking about what to get you" he lied, Ryan had been planning a surprise party for her at the mechanics for over a month, making sure he bought her favorite birthday cake and buying all the party supplies from his own money. He had also been thinking about proposing to her at the party.

"Now c'mon princess we've got to go slay the dragons in the dungeon" he chuckled with Sarah playfully his arm, "School isn't that bad" she sighed.

Before making their way out of the door, the pair checked over their bags making they had all their school supplies with Ryan only caring to look over at his love, the bags were full with all the things they need for the day and Sarah made sure she had her crystal hidden way at the bottom of her bag so no one could see or find it. the thought of her not checking herself over before she left flashed into her head with her abruptly stepping over back to the mirror, this befuddled Ryan with Sarah was too busy fussing to notice Ryan appearing behind her, she paused noticing something was off "What the?" Sarah questioned leaning in further into her reflection 'there's something not right' the girl stood over-analyzing herself 'Nope, there's nothing wrong with me' Sarah leaned back again only to notice Ryan had been pulling a funny face at their reflections the entire time, causing her to blush.

"Sarah you look fine now let's go" he groaned

before giving her hair one final finger brush she smiled then frowned at her reflection "Fine" she moaned moving away from the mirror to the main door, before opening it she turned back

"bye, dad!" she waved

"see you later, Kiddo" said Robert, eyes barely lifting from his newspaper

"Bye, Mr. Williams" he gave Robert the peace sign

"See you tomorrow, Ryan" Robert yawned still fixated on his newspaper

Sarah opened the main door and the teens left the Williams household.

Robert heard the sound of the door clicking shut, he lazily turned his daily newspaper onto the next page never lifting his eyes, "Weird kid" he mumbled to himself.

It was winter again, mean snow fell the night previous but luckily the gravelly path outside their houses had been cleared offering them a safer option for their trek. they could feel the cold gravel and pebbles pressing against their shoes, the bitterness of the cold air bit their cheeks and noses with Sarah's hair lightly blowing in the wind, the wind felt like it was passing through the teens giving them unpleasant chills rattling down their bodies with small dregs of rain pitter-pattered onto them as they made their way. In recent years, Sarah started wearing small amounts of makeup to high school much to Irene's encouragement, it usually consisted of a pale pink lipstick, rose-colored blush, and some light mascara to enhance her pretty features but today her lips appeared redder and her lashes looked longer and more curled with an unusual blueish tone, she was concerned about the rain ruining her makeup so she reached into her school bag pulling out the pearlescent compact mirror Jareth had gotten her, her walking gradually slowed down so she could fuss over herself. Ryan noticed Sarah lagging behind him.

slumping his shoulders and rolling his eyes, he groaned before turning around and walking back over to her, "Really Sarah? you're not turning into one of those girls, are you?"

Checking over to see if her lipstick had smudged or her mascara hadn't transferred, She paused her fussing but her eyes never wandered from her reflection "What do you mean one of those girls?" she questioned

"You know what girls I mean, girls like Muffy and Steffy, y'know, dumb girls"

Not responding to him, Sarah clasped her compact shut returning it back to her school bag, she quickly shot him a dirty look and continued walking

"You mean girls that guys like" she shouted back at him

"Oh, c'mon Sarah" he groaned, with a quick step he made sure he caught back up to her "they're not the kinda girls guys actually like, and if they do it's only for their bodies. I mean Steffy is the biggest slut in school but she's too stupid to even realize that"

The pair continued awkwardly trudging against each other with nothing but the noise of the gravel crunching between them, Sarah remained quiet because she knew Ryan was correct but she wasn't going to let that stop her from wearing her makeup no matter what Ryan thinks, she felt her body going into auto-pilot just making her way towards school with Ryan in the background complaining about something she didn't care about, her mind blanked and her eyes glazed when Jareth swam into her head remembering the first time she wore makeup to the Labyrinth. He was horrified.

"Sarah? Sa-rah? Earth to planet Sarah are you there?" Ryan playfully knocked on Sarah's forehead

freed from her daydream, she looked up to see they had finally reached the school entrance, she could see the flags flying on their pole and the bustling sound of the students, but that isn't what she care about when her face shifted into anger when she slapped Ryans hand away from her, Ryan retracted his hand looking genuinely hurt

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she seethed

"What the hell is wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with you?!" he spat back

they fell silent again, both scornfully refusing to look at each other until...

VROOM!

A powerful car engine growled thundering onto the scene causing all the students to turn their heads, the students stared with their mouths wide open in amazement at witnessing the flashy red sports car pulling up in front of them, the occupants blared out loud pop music along with the cacophony of giggling, talking, and screaming coming from them sounding like a bunch of hyenas. Hearing the expensive car screeching into the student parking lot made Ryan wince with Sarah turning to see how the who the obvious culprits were of such racket, the popular kids.

the queen bee Muffy grandly stood up from the passenger seat from where she had been sitting almost looking like she was waiting for her applause, stomping on the white leather seats of Brad's car with her kitten heels, she made sure everyone knew she was there "HEY SARAH!" Muffy's high pitch greeting cut right them and she gave Sarah a massive wave with a big false grin. the friends rolled their eyes at each other both letting out a groan, Ryan leaned over to whisper "don't go and appease her highness and her puppets" with Sarah shaking off his comment, she gathered the little enthusiasm she had and she turned to face the popular kids all sarcastically waving at her.

"Hey Muffy" she responded returning Muffy's fake smile

The glamorous popular kids unloaded from the car as Sarah gazed in awe at the stylish trio, Muffy was in the passenger's seat next to Brad her on-off 'boyfriend' who had been driving the latest coverup of his insecurities with Steffy in the backseat, they made their way towards the school building in a chorus of fake laughing and smiles with Brad occasionally leering towards his female 'friends'. Sarah always thought they looked always so perfect like they were people from the magazines and they were just walking from a photoshoot in Paris, their hair and makeup were always immaculate, Muffy and Steffy's outfits were always correct and Brad was the 'perfect' image of masculinity. She had to admit she was always mildly blown away by them, she wants to be one of them.

Bringing Sarah out of her awe, the popular kids almost walked past them whilst snobbishly looking at Ryan and Sarah but Muffy stopped flashing her pearly white teeth giving Sarah an insincere smile, she eyed Sarah up and down judging her with her chewing gum irritatingly clacking around in her mouth, she never held her own bag as she would get Steffy or someone else desperate for her approval to hold it for her. Everything about Queen Muffy and her gang repulsed Ryan, he made sure to step back from Sarah when he saw Muffy's stuck-up face engaging in fake conversation with his friend.

"Hey Sarah" she oozed cheerfully

"Hey Muffy" she awkwardly smiled

Muffy gave Sarah a charming smile with her hand on her hip, she glanced over at Ryan quickly throwing him a dirty look but returned to Sarah readjusting her face again to a smile.

"So Saffy, have you done my English homework?" she questioned, "Because I'm super behind and you don't want your best friend to fail this year?" Muffy gushed acting with a false sense of hopelessness giving Sarah the puppy dog eyes

"And why can't you do it Muffy?" Ryan groaned, Muffy's sweet facade dropped rapidly to loathing within a matter of seconds when she dropped her arm and shot daggers at Ryan "Because I have cheerleading after school that's why and I'm not at home trying to cover my acne scars am I? Freddy Kruger" Muffy's acerbically insulted Ryan even further when she boasted her picture-perfect skin to him which made the group go silent with Sarah feeling awkward whereas Ryan was resisting the urge to slap Muffy, Sarah glanced over at Ryan with a slightly disapproving look, annoyed him for answering back to the queen bee but Ryan looked unbothered. Deep down Sarah knew if she didn't say anything letting the silence continue it won't be long until Ryan is in the nurse's office again from Brad dropkicking him, being the mediator she spoke:

"um...Saffy?" Sarah questioned

the two-faced girl switched back to her 'nice' face turning back to Sarah, "Of course, you're Saffy silly" Muffy gushed playfully slapping Sarah on her arm, her tone quickly changed to being serious by domineeringly placing her hand on Sarah's shoulder, She could feel the popular girl's french tip nails digging into her "But Saffy, you really don't want me to fail this year? Right? I am your best friend after all" she questioned sweetly, cocking her head and continuing with her deceitful puppy dogs making sure were her nails digging in harder.

Sarah winced at the mild pain with Muffy squeezing harder until she responded "Oh yes, Of course!" Sarah turned to grab her school bag from her free shoulder filing through the books and documents she had stashed, She pulled out a royal purple textbook with Muffys elegant handwriting on the cover. During the whole interaction, Ryan etched up his upper lip as he couldn't help but feel disgusted by Sarah's submissiveness to her main bully, he watched his friend passing over her bully's homework trying his best not to interfere.

"here you go Muffy" Sarah pleasantly smiled at her when the manipulative girl removed her clawed hand from her 'friends' shoulder

"Why thank you Saffy!" she over-enthusiastically praised, "Let's hope I get a good grade" Muffy crossed her fingers and grinned like the Cheshire cat at her victim. Sarah didn't know if what Muffy said was a compliment for her hard work or a threat if Muffy didn't get a good grade, she had spent the whole of her evenings last week doing Muffys report of American literature still making sure it looked like Muffy did a different author to her so the Homework didn't look copied, Sarah had cramped her hand numerous times trying to copy Muffys handwriting. This also affected her Labyrinth trips, which Jareth wasn't happy about.

"I'm sure you will" Sarah breathed, wanting Muffy to leave her and Ryan alone

"See you in English, Saffy" Muffy turned giving Sarah a mocking little wave before getting another insult to Ryan "And you too, Chucky" she sneered at him, blowing him a kiss. Not letting her irk him, he plainly responded "Whatever Slut" which got a vague reaction from Muffy although she pretended to act as though she wasn't bothered when her puppets called over to her standing by the school's entry.

Finally away from the friends, Sarah looked down sighing and readjusted her school bag on her shoulder, she was ready to walk into school only to realize Ryan was standing in front of her with his arms folded stopping her.

"Sarah, seriously, what the fuck?"

Sarah didn't answer ignoring his question, she unsuccessfully tried to push past him but was stopped by Ryan grabbing her arm, with some slight force he swung her back so they were directly looking at each other.

"oh let it go, Ryan, it's just homework"

"But it's not just homework Sarah, you've been letting Muffy control you ever since middle school and you do nothing about it" he explained exasperatingly

"Look, doing Muffy's homework keeps me in the popular kid's good books and stops me from getting bullied by them"

"Are you freakin' kidding me Sarah?! it doesn't, can't you see that? Muffy along with her stupid clone and the over-roided gorilla are over there right now laughing at you" Ryan pointed at the popular kids who were still standing directly outside the school entrance, they were huddled together maliciously giggling amongst themselves, Sarah looked over to the glamorous group to see Muffy turned so she looking straight back at Sarah with an evil grin then turned back to laugh with her friends. Sarah and Ryan didn't know what the group was laughing and talking about but they got a grim feeling that they were being talked about, they turned back to each other.

"We only have a year left with them, Ryan, then we'll be free of them. You'll go to art school and I'll do...*Shrug*...whatever" she assured him with a weak smile

"and that's another thing, you've not even got anything planned for after we graduate it like you don't even care about your future, like the Sarah Williams I know, has gone and blah-blah" Sarah's eyes glazed over, Ryans voice became muffled noise to her only hearing him say 'blah blah blah', her mind was dreaming of Jareth trying to figure out what he had planned for her big birthday and what amazing gifts she was going to be showered in 'only 3 years left until the contract ends or I could say yes on my birthday and finally, be with Jareth' she internally happy squealed to herself 'what is that noise? oh Ryan's still talking to me, is he still bitching to me about Muffy? and yeah, I know I don't have any plans for after high school because I'll be moving to the freakin' Labyrinth not long after. UGH, can't you just get off my back Ryan? everyone knows you have a crush on me. wait...why am I shaking?' Sarah's eyes refocused on Ryan's angry face who was still shouting at her about whatever and figured that she was literally being shaken out of her daze.

"Ryan, get off of me!" she grabbed his lean arms breaking herself free by pushing him off of her.

Ryan smoothly brushed out the creases on the arms of his jacket, reaching his hands to his hat he tucked the loose strands of hair that had fallen free from was he was shaking her, he regained his cool composure with the school bell ringing in the background.

"C'mon Sarah, otherwise we'll be late for class" Ryan cooly stated before he turned, adjusted his schoolbag on his shoulder, and walked towards the school entrance leaving Sarah standing there by herself to gather her thoughts. She looked at the back of the young man walking in front of her until her eyes wandered to the school building looking at how old it looked in the cold setting, 'Geez, this is where mom and dad met. that feels like so long ago now' Sarah looked over at the windows then redirected her head so she was looking at the flag pole, she didn't really care that she was going to be late or that she was the only person standing there and the falling snow didn't seem to bother her either, she looked over the building aimlessly remembering when her mom showed Sarah the pictures of her and her dad in high school and they were, of course, high school sweethearts.

Robert was the football superstar who was adored and admired by all, he was the model student along with being one of the smart kids too, whereas Linda had difficulties fitting it, she had recently moved over from England, therefore, she didn't have many friends, she was shy and bookish too with a wild imagination much like her daughter, she had joined the theatre kids in the hopes of making friends and to be in a safe space where she could be free and creative. They met when the young Robert volunteered to be part of the school play 'Cinderella', Although at first, Linda was mistrustful of Robert believing him to be a thick-headed jock who only wanted to join to poke fun of the theatre kids however working together with Robert being cast as the Prince and Linda worked as part of the backstage crew, Linda could see that she had misjudged him, the pair grew close and they fell in love.

they were from two different worlds but they didn't care because they loved each other...until they got divorced and Linda moved back to England with her boyfriend and Robert married Irene.

The memories of her mom still affected Sarah to this day and she felt lonelier the longer she went without seeing her mom, she still harbored small feelings of hatred towards her dad for having an affair with Irene who was a homewrecker in her opinion, she wanted to hate Toby too, she worried a few times that she was going to do something to hurt him but the Labyrinth taught her that he is innocent and that she loves him dearly. The icy breeze nipped at her cheeks reminding her it was it to go inside, she shuffled her school bag on her shoulder.

'6 years since I last saw her' she sadly remembered to herself, Sarah mentally prepared for the day ahead wondering what the day had in store for her and how she was going to manage her Labyrinth visit today, 'not long now Sarah and you'll be outta this dungeon' she assured herself trying to think of something amusing before going in 'huh, to think if mom and dad were in high school, that must mean Irene was in middle school or something' instead of amusing her that thought sent a shiver down her spine, failing her attempt at self-amusement, she sighed gathering all her wills strength.

"Come on feet..." Sarah ventured into another day of high school.

...

And there it is everyone, the start of potentially the longest chapter! I'm so excited to do this one for you it's been bubbling in my brain for ages! this Chapter is going to be very Sarah-focused with Jareth popping in the first few parts but he'll come and save the day in the last part, so if you want to know what happens and how he saves her please leave comments and reviews :) again, I will warn there will be mature themes and language in this chapter therefore reader discretion is advised.

Thanks for reading!

Razzlekid95