AN: God, I love MCR! They rock my socks. I just got two new My Chemical Romance CD's (I haven't been able to find them anywhere for some odd reason I don't know…) I got, " Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge" and " I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Heart". I already have " The Black Parader", and I love that CD. Any MCR fans? What are your favorite songs? Anyway, I got to get on with the fic :P.

Harsh Realities

Chapter Two:

Strange Reunions With Old Acquaintances

By: Narcoleptic Suicide

Sarah woke with a start. She brought her hand to her forehead and wiped the coating of sweat off of her brow. The sunshine was blinding so she turned to her other side and buried her face into the pillow groaning. She felt like she hadn't slept at all.

" What an odd dream…" Sarah thought to herself. She tried to remember exactly what had taken place in it, but all memory of the dream was already fading.

" Oh well," she said aloud, " At least it's a nive day."

It was indeed a beautiful dayt. The sun shone through the window, a crisp aqua that remained unmarred by any fluffy white-or dark blue-clouds. A soft breeze flowed through her opened window and she lifted her head momentarily from her pillow to feel it run through her dark hair.

Sarah sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She then yawned and stretched her arms above her head, clenching hands together and twisting her body to the right. Resisting the urge to flop back onto the bed, she forced herself off the fluffy, cozy trap of doom and walked out of her room and into the bathroom down the hall. Sarah went through her usual morning routine and then noticed she was in the same clothing that she had worn yesterday.

" I must have forgotten to change in my panic." She reasoned to herself and then ran to her room to change. She slipped into a green cotton tee shirt and blue jeans. Sarah then put on a pair of well-wornb sandals and trudged down the stairs.

" Hey, Sleeping Beauty has aweoken!" her father announced jokingly. He sat at the table, a cup of coffee in his right hand as he read the newspaper.

" I didn't sleep in that late dad." she said and rolled her eyes at his antics.

" It's noon Sarah." Stated Karen, her stepmother, as she walked in with a tray of blueberry muffins.

"Are you joking?!" asked an alarmed Sarah, " I never sleep in that late…"

" Well, apparently now you do." Her father muttered; he was currently immersed in a sports article. Football, she'd bet, but Sarah didn't really care for sports. She was one of those creative types, and certainly not athletic. Sure, she did well in gym, but she wasn't about to commit her life to the physical fitness and hard work sports demanded.

" Sarah, would you mind going down to the store? I need some items for dinner tonight." Karen asked.

Sarah wanted to groan, but contained herself and grabbed a muffin. "Sure, what are we having?"

" Well, I thought that we should have chili tonight, we haven't had it for a while." the stepmother said.

"Alright." Sarah said through her muffin, it was barely audible.

Sarah finished up her muffin and tossed the wrapper into the trashcan. Before she walked out of the door, she made sure to grab the grocery list and money from the counter. She set off down the sidewalk at a jog, hoping to make better time so she could go to the park after she retrieved the needed items.

When she reached Hannaford she stopped and walked in catching her breath. Sarah walked down the long aisles, grabbing each item and placing it in the cart. She then made her way to the cash register with the shortest line and began to place each food item onto the belt.

" Sarah? Is that you?" asked a rather familiar voice. She glanced up from placing the items on the belt and saw a rather familiar face.

" Oh, Jeremy! I haven't seen you in a while! I didn't even recognize you until I heard your voice." she exclaimed as she gazed into his blue eyes.

" It has been quite a while hasn't it? Since the final performance of Oklahoma last summer for the Summer Stage project, right?" Jeremy asked with a grin and a far off look on his features, obviously remembering the good old times.

" Yeah. I really miss that cast. You were such a good ----!" she complimented.

"Well, you were a good Gertie too. Although I still think that you should have been Laurie. Are you doing the Summer Stage Project this summer?" he asked.

" Of course. Are you?" she responded.

" Yes, you are trying out for the lead, right?" Jeremy said.

" It depends, what's the play?" she asked.

" Actually, they're doing a musical again"

" For the second time in the row? That's weird, it was strange that they did a musical last year, but two years in a row?"

"Yeah, I know. Mrs. Shaw is going through a musical phase. We'll be doing, The Phantom of the Opera."

" I love Andrew Lloyd Webber, he's a musical genius!" she exclaimed.

" I know. But are you trying for lead?"

" I'll try, but don't think I'll get it… I never do, I'm usually the supporting actress, a big role, but never the lead. I'm sure you'll do great! You might even get Erik, and if not him, then Raoul.

" Sarah, don't be a pessimist. You have a good chance of getting lead."

" Maybe." Sarah said, still feeling doubtful. However, before the conversation continued, another costumer who was waiting to buy her food interrupted it. They both apologized and chatted a bit over the musical as he finished ringing up all of her items.

" Well, it was great seeing you again, Jeremy." Sarah said as she paid him.

"Yeah it was. Do you mind giving me your number? I want to talk to you more, but summer is still a couple of months away. " Jeremy asked shyly as he ran his long fingers through his dark brown hair, a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Sure" Sarah replied, beginning to blush slightly as well. She wrote her number on the back of her receipt and handed it back to him.

" Hear from you soon." She said as she walked out of the store with her groceries in hand.

" Count on it!" he yelled back as she walked away causing her to laugh softly to herself.

That had been an unexpected run-in. She had most definitely enjoyed it though. Perhaps she could develop a normal friendship out of this? Then again, maybe not. She never did have much luck gaining normal friends. But then again, where was the fun in that?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

AN: Alright, I know, it's short. Only three pages, bla bla bla. The reason this is shorter than usual is because this is the best place to stop. The next chapter will be longer, I promise. It just doesn't work as well to end it in another place. I am not very happy with this chapter… Sorry about the guy's name, it's my bf's name and I haven't seen him since school ended, so that's the only name I can think of, aside from Steven… but that's the name of one of my best friends, and doesn't seem to work well enough for the character.:P Sorry, please forgive me for the chap, I'll make it up to you next time. --