Rating: T
Summary: (You all know by now)
Disclaimer:
I own nothing!
Sara had made it through the school day almost completely unharmed. She was achy from falling almost 10 feet from the floor, but other than that she was in good shape. She was however worried about Josh. What would happen to him? If anything happened, she would undoubtedly feel responsible, as he did this whole thing for her.
She continued walking and kicked a small stone in front of her. It eventually fell into a manhole in the road, so she had nothing else to do to entertain herself. She sighed, wishing that she would hear the sound of skateboard wheels coming up behind her and Josh's familiar voice.
She gasped when she heard something coming up behind her, but then smiled when she saw a panting Josh running toward her with his skateboard in hand.
"Aw, I wanted to surprise you," he said with a smile.
She grinned. "Well, I was just thinking of you. So…" her tone changed. "How did it go in the principal's office?"
He shrugged. "Eh…I'm probably going to get detention, but that's the worst of it."
She sighed. "I'm sorry…"
"Hey, it wasn't your fault, you weren't the one who practically tried to kill someone."
"Yeah, but…I'm the reason you socked her…"
"No you're not, I've wanted to do that for a long time. If I hadn't had a reason for doing it today I was still going to get her eventually, she's an evil little devil spawn."
She smiled. "Yeah."
"So…" He began walking by her side down the street. "Want to do something?"
"What do you mean?" she asked with a tilt of her head.
"Oh, you know…go to a movie or the park or something."
"Um…okay."
"Great."
He smiled at her and put a friendly hand on her shoulder.
"Let me go ask Nancy. I'll be right back."
He nodded and stood outside her house as she ran inside and asked if she could go.
"Nancy!" she called running inside quickly.
Nancy looked up at her, her hair tied in a tight bun and a smear of oil across her face. "What is it?"
"Can I go out with Josh for a while?"
"Uh, yeah, sure, just come home before your father and I start calling the police wondering what happened to our daughter." She grunted and stood up pulling a red toolbox out of a cupboard. "I'm going to go tackle some broken appliances. Have fun."
She walked off and Sara ran outside excitedly.
"Okay! We can go," she said with a smile.
"You look excited," he said with a grin.
"Well I am," she added as they walked onto the sidewalk.
He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "So…are you feeling achy?"
"From the fall?"
"Yeah."
"Um…not too bad."
"That's good…does your head still hurt?"
"A little, but not much."
"Good."
They continued walking for a bit, but Sara was getting a bit confused as to where exactly they were going. "Hey Josh? Where are we going?"
He smiled. "You'll see."
She continued walking alongside him. They turned the corner passing an old building that used to hold office supplies, and he led her past that street around another corner.
She kept looking back at his face to see if his expression would hint at all to where he was taking her, but he just kept a large grin on his face the whole time, looking straight ahead of him at the road.
Soon, restaurants were in sight and tiny shops. He led her past the buildings and her face lightened up.
"Oh wow…"
She looked to see where they were. He had taken her to the beach. She hadn't been to the beach for at least 9 years, and she had always wanted to go back. When she looked at the ocean the sight she saw was breath-taking.
"How did you know?" she asked looking at him.
He smiled. "I just assumed you might like to come here."
He walked off to the side and Sara stared at the ocean. The sunlight was reflecting off of the blue waves as they came closer to the shore. She saw the seagulls flying around the ocean in perfect circles, looking for tiny scraps of food. The smell of the water and its inhabitants filled the air and she took a deep breath of the ocean air.
"Hey, you just gonna stare or are you coming?" came Josh's voice.
Sara looked at him. He was sitting on an old bench rolling up his pant legs and taking off his shoes. He pulled a sock off before untying the other shoe and pulling that sock off.
"Well?" he asked smiling.
"I'm coming!" she said quickly and took a seat next to him and began pulling her pant legs up and taking off her socks and shoes. He laughed as she fumbled clumsily with her shoelaces as he waited for her. He smiled and grabbed her foot, untying the laces.
"I can do it myself!" she said.
He laughed. "Obviously you need some help; it's taking you forever to get one shoe off!"
She smiled as he slid her shoe off her foot and she pulled the sock off. He grabbed her arm and quickly led her over to the shore where he stopped just as the water was coming in.
"You going in?" he asked.
Sara shrugged. "Only if you do."
"Alright, then!"
He jumped in as soon as he finished talking just in time to catch a big wave. When the water subsided and moved away from the shore, he sat in the damp sand with a crab crawling on his head.
Sara giggled as he pulled the crab off of his head and gave it a look before setting it down on the sand and standing up, brushing the sand off of him.
"Don't just stand there! Come in!" he prompted.
Sara's laughing stopped as she slowly made her way into the water. She stuck a foot in and quickly retreated. "It's freezing!"
He smiled. "Come on, don't chicken out!"
"I'm not!"
"Alright then, prove me wrong, Ms. Sidle."
She smiled and backed up. He frowned thinking she was giving up, but his eyes widened as he saw her running towards him.
"Ah!"
She jumped at him knocking them both into the water. A wave crashed down on them and as the water once again retreated from the shore, they both laughed looking at each other.
"I wasn't expecting that!" he said with a grin.
"I didn't think you were," she added.
They both sat on the damp patch of sand as another wave came up to shore.
"You should wait until sunset," Josh said. "It's the most beautiful thing you'll ever see."
She smiled looking up at the sun in the sky.
"Well…almost the most beautiful thing you'll ever see."
She smiled as he shot her a grin. He got up leaving her to stare at the ocean and all its glory. She didn't hear him walk behind her until the cold ocean water came pouring down on her head.
"Hey!" she said shooting him a look. "That was uncalled for!"
He just laughed as he held up the plastic yellow bucket he used. "Hey, don't blame me, that kid let me borrow this," he said pointing to a small kid who just pouted.
"Hey mister, I didn't know you were going to do that!" he said crossing his arms.
Both Sara and Josh laughed as the kid stomped off after snatching the bucket back from Josh's hand.
"Well, I think that-" Josh couldn't finish his sentence as a gallon of water splashed him right in the face knocking him down. As he spit the water out of his mouth, he could hear Sara giggling. He shot her a look.
"Don't look at me, Mr. Deckard, the kid over there did it," she said pointing to the tiny kid from before who was now building a sand castle.
He grinned as he got up brushing the sand off of him and running after her. She laughed as she started running away from him and the entire beach stared at them running after each other.
When they finally stopped, it was the late evening and they both collapsed on the shore panting with exhaustion. The cold water of the ocean felt refreshing as it brushed against their bodies as it neared the shore.
"The sun will set in a few minutes," Josh said sitting up.
Sara sat up and hugged her knees.
"I've always wanted to show someone the sunset," he said. "My father showed it to me when I was little…that was before he wanted me to be 'Mr. Huge Sports Star'. He had just told me the greatest things in life were free…" he smiled turning to look at her. "I didn't believe him, so he showed me the sunset."
She looked up at him as he continued.
"Afterwards, I ruined the moment."
"How?" she asked tilting her head.
"I asked him if the best things in life were free, how come TV wasn't."
She laughed. "I suppose that sort of does ruin the moment."
He laughed. "I suppose it does."
As the sun began to set, the sky took on different shades of red, orange, and a beautiful purple. The ocean breeze was now growing colder as they sat down on the shore watching the sun fall under the horizon.
"Sara?"
She turned to look at Josh who was now looking at her with a rather sad expression on his face. "What is it, Josh?"
He sighed, moving closer to her. "I…I need to tell you something."
"Anything, Josh. I'm all-ears."
He closed his eyes lowering his head. "I'm moving."
Her eyes widened and she choked on her words. "I…I…what?"
"I'm moving," he said again, his head still lowered.
She smiled- this had to be a joke. He couldn't be leaving. "No, no, this is a joke, isn't it? It has to be, right? I mean…"
He looked up at her with sad eyes and a frown.
"No…no, you can't be leaving…you can't be," she said, her eyes now glistening with tears. "Why?"
"My parents…don't want me staying."
"Why?"
"They…they think you're a bad influence."
"What?" she whispered.
He laughed a little. "Heh, yeah, I know…I laughed when they said it…I told them they were wrong and that I punched Melissa because I wanted to."
She shot him a look, but her eyes were still moist with tears.
"Yeah, I know, bad defense but it was the truth."
"…They think you punched her because of me?" she asked.
He nodded. "But I'm not angry with you, it's not your fault. It's Melissa and her friend's damn fault."
A tear ran down her face as she panicked. "You can't leave, what will I do without you? You're…" she swallowed hard and choked down more tears. "You're the only friend I've ever had!"
"I know…I…I'm sorry, Sara," he said looking at her sad face.
"No, this can't be happening," she said hugging her knees. "This can't be happening, it can't be happening, it can't be happening," she said over and over again. "It's not fair!" she cried, the tears running down her face more quickly now. She didn't try to hold them back anymore.
"Sara…I'm really sorry…I don't want to leave you," Josh said putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a tight but friendly squeeze.
"No, no, no, no, no, no…" she got up from the damp sand, not bothering to wipe the amount that was over her clothes and she ran to the wooden bench. She grabbed her shoes and slid them on quickly.
"Sara, wait!" Josh said getting up and running over to her. "Please, wait!"
She wrapped her arms around herself as she ran off. She didn't know where she was going, only that she needed to get away- somewhere away from everyone else.
Somewhere away from reality.