Title: The Life & Times of Sara Sidle

Rating: T

Summary: (You all know by now)

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

A/N: I will most likely be updating quicker since I am sick right now...I feel like my throat is being ripped in two and is on fire...but anyways, my internet wasn't working for a while, so I apologize!

November 2, 1984

Sara had been living with her foster parents for almost a month now. They were fairly nice people, but Sara felt out of place. They weren't her real parents, they weren't the people who took her home from the hospital after she was born. They weren't the people who told her stories every night when she was little.

At this moment, Sara was just getting up to get ready for school. School was going to be something- how would she be able to face everyone again? She didn't know how it would happen, but she assumed everyone would know about her mother killing her father.

She rolled out of her small twin bed and headed over to her closet. She slid the door open yawning, and she took out a long-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of long jeans. She grabbed a pair of shoes from the closet, fixing the laces and slipping them on her feet. They were too big for her, so she tightened the laces and tied them in double-knots. She sat up and looked at herself in the tiny mirror positioned on her wall. She ran her fingers through her hair and pulled out a small hair brush from the drawer in her dresser and began brushing her hair. A nauseaous feeling was growing in her stomach and she tried the best she could to hold back the bile forming in her throat.

After she was done brushing her hair, she grabbed her small backpack from the corner of her bedroom. She slowly cracked her door open and made her way down the hallway to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and went into the kitchen. Her foster mother was fixing breakfast.

"Good morning, Sara."

Sara nodded as she walked over to the bar and took an apple from the fruit bowl. She washed it off and took a bite of it before heading for the front door.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I grabbed an apple."

Nancy (her foster mother) frowned. "I swear, you need to get more meat on your bones."

"Could we talk about this later?"

She sighed. "Alright. Have a nice day at school."

I'm sure I will.

She walked out of the house holding her backpack by its straps and took another bite of her apple. She grimaced as its horrid taste filled her mouth.

"It's rotten," she muttered and walked over to the trash can outside and threw it away. She sighed as she headed off to school.

And thus Sara Sidle made her way to school.

Her foster parents, Nancy and Ted, had no idea what school was for Sara, or what happened to her when she went. Sara could only imagine what would happen during PE. The jocks would most likely 'accidentally' hit the baseball in her direction, and it would 'accidentally' hit her in the head, knocking her unconscious for about an hour or two.

The familar sound of a skateboard made Sara flinch. She turned around and saw none other than Joshua Deckard skating toward her.

"Hey Sidle."

She twitched when he said her last name. "Josh." She acknowledged him.

"Sup?"

"Sup? What does it look like 'sup? I'm walking to school."

He skated over to her side. "Uh-huh...well, I heard about what happened to your father, and--"

"Please don't start."

"I was just going--"

"Spare me, I'm in for enough as it is at school."

"I was just going to say I'm sorry. If you need anything, you know where to find me, right?"

Sara was a bit shocked- did he just say that? She could only nod as he put a hand on her shoulder and then skated ahead of her. For once in her life, Sara Sidle felt as though she had made a friend.

As soon as she stepped onto school grounds, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She lowered her head and stared at her feet as she walked. Eyes were latching onto her- she couldn't see them, but she could feel them. She made it to her locker and looked up.

On her locker in blue spray paint was 'MURDERER'. She closed her eyes and sighed before opening her locker and grabbing a few books. She ignored the occasional shoves and obscenities that were aimed at her. She put her lunch in her locker and closed it, heading for her first class.

She took a seat in the back of her history class. Everyone was looking at her- even her teacher. She cleared her throat as she opened her notebook and took out a pencil, taking notes on the next assignment. PE was in two hours. What would happen?

Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it...

She groaned as the bell rang and she went to her next class. Her classes went by incredibly fast because she was dreading PE. She didn't know what she was going to do when they got out on the court- she knew what those kids were capable of.

"Sidle."

She looked up to see her science teacher looking at her. "Yes?"

"You're going to be late for PE."

She closed her eyes, lowering her head. She got up and gathered her things. "Thank you..."

She walked out of the classroom into the girl's locker room. Unfortunately, there were girls in there already, and they were going to do everything in their power to put her down.

"So, Sidle..." She had just sat down in front of her locker on the bench in the locker room when Melissa Wellingstone walked over to her.

"What?"

"I heard your family fell apart."

She didn't say anything.

"On your birthday..." She shook her head. "If you really even want to call what your relationship was with your parents a 'family'."

"My life is none of your business."

"I suppose not, but uh..." she stood up. "You know, my parents don't like the idea of me coming to school with the daughter of a murderer."

"That's too bad for your parents then, huh?" Sara said slipping on her tennis shoes.

"At least my parents love me."

This made Sara freeze in her tracks. "What...did you just say?"

This made the girl grin. "I said..."

Sara had now completely turned around and a tiny flame of anger was growing larger by the second.

"'At least my parents love me'."

Sara lost it. She lunged at the girl and now she had the girl up against the locker.

"You listen to me- you ever say anything about my family again and you're going to regret it, you hear me?"

The girl laughed. "Are you supposed to be scary?"

Sara's knuckles had turned white and she was holding back the powerful urge to punch the girl right in the face.

"You're really scaring me, Sidle."

She laughed and Sara glared at her with one of her 'if looks could kill' glares.

"I also heard about what your family did to each other."

Sara felt her blood run cold. She wouldn't...

"Around nighttime...your dad would come home drunk..."

Sara sunk to the floor holding her head. "Stop it."

"...Your mom would start yelling at him..."

"Stop it."

"So, your dad would get mad."

"Stop it..."

"And they would start fighting..."

"Please, stop it."

"And you would get in the middle of it..."

"Stop it! Please!"

By now, the entire locker room had crowded around her and was listening intently with evil grins on their faces. Why were they doing this to her? She never did anything to them.

"And then..." Melissa was determined to finish her story.

"STOP IT!"

Sara was in tears. She sat huddled up in the corner covering her ears and the other girls just laughed.

"What's going on in here?"

Josh Deckard's angry voice filled her ears and she looked up to see him staring down at her and taking in the scene in front of him.

"Melissa, what did you do?"

She smiled. "Nothing, I was just explaining why Sara is in Foster Care."

He walked up to her. "That's none of your business, so I suggest you just run along with your little friends and stay the hell away from Sara."

"Ooh, Josh Deckard's standing up for the freak!"

He cornered her, and now she was up against the wall. "I swear, if you ever do anything to her, I will-"

"JOSH!"

The sound of the PE teacher's voice made everyone jump.

"You get away from her and the girl's locker room!"

He glared at the teacher and Melissa before kneeling down beside Sara. "I'm sorry."

He stood up and walked away. The PE teacher stared at everyone before walking out.

"Watch your back, Sidle."

Melissa left her with those words before walking out with the rest of the girls. Sara dried her eyes and lowered her head.