"Oh my god i'm gonna have a heart attack." Sarah got out of the car early that morning after a very sleepless night. Mr.Yamada wasn't sure we he expect four teenagers, who were all friends, to sleep on a vacation together. They absolutely did not. "I'm gonna have a literal heart attack."

"I'm gonna throw up." Vance got out and mocked her exact tone. "I'm gonna literally throw up"

"Woah, look at these guys." Robin tried not to laugh at everyone going to class in preppy uniforms. "Sarah, I think you could pull this off. I'll give you one of my navy bandanas too."

He was hinting at the navy and white color of the uniforms. Sarah didn't hear a word he said, too mesmerized by the school. It was exactly what Vance pictured it would be like. High buildings, flowers, clean side walks, and looked like it genuinely was filled with a bunch of rich people. He thought Sarah was a rich girl, but these people made her look poor. Mr.Yamada smiled at her face. "I think you'll like it here, Sarah."

"Holy shit." she laughed.

"Language." he warned her.

"Holy heck." she corrected herself, grinning widely as she followed him. It took her a moment to remember who her tag alongs were. She knew Bruce would behave and act accordingly, he always had as he followed his father. First, Sarah grabbed Robin. "You stay right here in the middle of all of us."

"You think i'm an issue?" he gave her a questionable look.

"No, because you're so small. I don't wanna loose you." she gave him a half grin, making sure he stayed in the middle while mumbling how he wasn't done growing and how maybe she was just a giant. Vance stays near the car. "Now for you, my lover!"

"I'm staying here." he shook his head.

"No." Sarah held her hand out, waving it dramatically. "Come on, take my hand. I wore my best outfit today, you want a bunch of people hitting on me?"

Vance rolled his eyes, taking her hand as Sarah pushed close to his side. "You really don't like it here?"

"No." he shook his head. "Not at all."

"Ramsey!" a tall man cheered as he saw Mr.Yamada. "I was wondering where you were, old man!"

"Old man?" he laughed in disbelief and accepted the hug. "I'm younger then you."

"Oh, don't lie." he gave him a look.

"Maybe not, but I look it." Mr.Yamada shrugged his shoulders. "You remember-"

"This is Bruce?" the tall man gapped at the baseball player. "Woah, look at you. You're so tall now, and have great shoulders. Still tossing around a baseball?"

"More like hitting those homeruns." Mr.Yamada praised his son. Sarah loved them so much. Mr.Yamada was the definition of a perfect father, he loved Bruce and Amy so much. He supported them no matter what they did or didn't do. He had his job but was involved with his kids no matter what, he put them first always. Sarah loved that and looked up to him so much.

"I'm so glad I got to see you again, Mr.Hayes. Memories are a little blurry." he laughed and shook his hand. "That's a nice handshake you have there."

"Can say the same for you." Mr.Hayes had to laugh as he let his hand go. "Who are these kids? You had more?"

His joke made Mr.Yamada laugh. "No, these are Bruce's friends. That's Robin, Sarah, and Vance."

"Woah. Nice hair, man." Mr.Hayes complimented Vance. "I had mine like that back before I started loosing it."

Vance squeezed Sarah's hand tightly, his face reading that he'd do anything to insult this pathetic man infront of him. Sarah pushed into his side more, a begging manor. "Thanks."

"Sarah is who you should be paying attention too." Bruce cut in as he nodded to her. "Sarah Barns. Rings a bell, right?"

"Of course. The Sarah." he smiled and shook her hand. "I've heard such amazing things about you from so many teachers."

"It's so nice to meet you, Mr.Hayes." Sarah smiled like she'd been granted a million dollars. "It's such a honor to get a second chance at a tour here. I'm very sorry for not being able to make it the first time."

"No worries, things happen." he smiled at her. "I'm just glad you got the big man here to consider taking that teaching position. Been trying to win him over for years."

"Oh, you know." Mr.Yamada feed into the lie so Sarah didn't have to. "Might as well check it out."

"Here." Mr.Hayes handed the both of them the pamphlets. "For the two of you so you can get to know the exact area, if this is your future."

Sarah's entire soul was on fire, she couldn't even think of anything else. She didn't think about leaving Vance, Robin, Bruce, Mr.Yamada, Gwen, Finney, Billys unfound body, and her parents. She didn't think of that yet, she couldn't when this has been the only thing she'd looked forward to for the past two years.

"When you walk in, you're immediately welcomed by our library. It's what we're most known for." he smiled and showed off the large library through the huge window. "It was-"

"-the first part of the building that was designed due to it being the only thing the owner genuinely knew he wanted to do." Sarah cut him off, staring mesmerized at the window. Robin held back a laugh, looking over his shoulder and giving a flirty look toward a couple walking past them. Bruce elbowed him as Vance elbowed Sarah, making her look toward Mr.Hayes and feel her entire body being set on fire. "Sorry!"

"No worries." he laughed. "You're a reader, I take it?"

"And a writer." she nodded. "I use to write the paper with my best friend. Not the whole thing but some of it."

"Well, we do have an opening on the paper now that Cassie is graduated and had to leave us." he pointed out as they walked down the hallway. "That being said, it's a three man job. Or, woman. How do you do with others?"

"She's great with others." Mr.Yamada buttered him up on Sarah. "Her group projects always do the best."

"Yeah, because she does all the work." Vance mumbled so no one heard except for Sarah. But, she paid him no mind, and that's what he was afraid of.

"Rams, you'd teach down this hall right here." Hayes smiled at his friend as they passed all the classrooms down the hallway. "Sarah, you'll be a sophomore next year, won't you?"

"Yes." she smiled.

"So, you'll be on the second floor the entire time." he pointed up the gorgeous staircase. "I hope you're not like a deer on ice."

"She is." Vance cut in as Sarah's face fell and turned to looked at him in disbelief. "She falls over her own feet."

"She always walks across bleachers without even stumbling. I've seen it." Bruce cut in to save Sarah. "He's taking about when she's actually on ice."

"Well, aren't we all?" he laughed. "Around winter the sidewalks do ice over some, so be carful."

"Of course." Sarah let Vance's hand go and struggled completely out of his embrace, walking forward.

Bruce lingered back to walk next to Vance. "Vance, what are you doing? Come on, you know this is important to her."

"I don't need you to tell me that." Vance snapped at him. "I spend every day with her, I know it's important."

"So why are you trying to make her feel bad about being here?" Bruce stopped him from walking to get a straight answer. "Did you see the look on her face when we showed up?"

"Yeah, I did." he stared with a glare, but there was more hurt behind it. "That's the problem. She loves it here. She's gonna leave."

Robin walked with Sarah as Hayes and Mr.Yamada spoke to each other. "Don't worry about your boyfriend. He'll come around."

Sarah shrugged as they walked. "It's not a big deal."

"Well, I promised Finn i'd watch out for you. So, say the word and i'll round house him." Robin rose his eyebrows at her as Sarah had to laugh. "Say what you want about me being small, but he's not big either."

"That's true." Sarah agreed. "Let's maybe save the round house kicking for another time, though?"

"Sure thing." he shrugged his shoulders. "Want me to set his hair on fire?"

"Robin!" she scolded and laughed at once.

The dorms were Sarah's best part, she'd been able to view them while everyone was in school. That resulted in everyone spreading out. Sarah snuck off alone to view the dorms that weren't being used, reserved for the next scholarship students. She looked out the window and saw a perfect view of the courtyard. She's be able to see the flowers form, the leafs fall, winter to frost over, and the rain puddles to form.

"Sheeps." Vance caught her attention as she looked back as he walked in. "What are you looking at?"

"The courtyard." she turned back to the window. "Do you wanna know how I found out about this place?"

Vance never asked, he'd always assumed it was a teacher. "Billys Mom went here. He thought i'd be a good fit, so he told our principle and that's why they've been watched me so much for the past two years."

Vance felt guilt when her sad eyes shifted from the window to look at him. "It's not just my dream, Vance. It's his too."

"I'm sorry, Sheeps." he had to say it, feeling weird saying sorry in such a sincere way. "I'm not trying to ruin this for you. I just...I don't know what else to do. I tried to warn you about this part."

"Are you not proud of me?" Sarah stared at him with those big, brown, sad eyes that killed him every single time.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I am." Vance shook his head. "Your nerdy ass brain is getting you somewhere in life. Somewhere no one else will likely be able to go to. You're my tutor and my Sheeps, obviously that makes me feel good."

Sarah had to give him a sad smile. "I don't understand then."

"Because Aspen is four hours away from Denver." he made sure no one was coming toward the empty dorm. "I don't wanna.....I just feel like i'm gonna.....fuck off."

"You have to tell me what you're thinking, Vance." Sarah rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I can't read your mind."

"I don't wanna miss you." he stared at her with a glare at the fact that she made him say it. "I will."

Sarah inhaled, nodding her head as she brought her hands up to hold his face. She gave him a sad smile before leaning in and pressing her lips onto his. It was a lot lighter then their other kisses, Sarah was such a harsh kisser but right now she wasn't. Vance wasn't sure how to act about it, it felt like they were having their first kiss all over again, just in a different form. So, he just tried to mimic what she was doing.

"I think you'll be a really great aspect for us, Sarah." Mr.Hayes spoke when it came to just him and Sarah speaking in his office. "I hope you enjoyed the tour, because I want you here with us. A full ride. Your grades and your extracurricular are beyond impressive, we could really use someone like you here."

"I loved it here. Thank you so much, for all of it." she seemed sad, her eyes were watery. He was hoping it was because she was overly happy. "But, I can't. I'm so sorry, Mr.Hayes. But, I just can't."

"Sarah." he frowned and stared at her. "This offer might not stand in the future if you change your mind."

"I know." Sarah rubbed her eyes with a shake of her head. "I actually wanted to give you something. Someone who deserves this more then I do. It comes with a little catch though."

Mr.Hayes was shocked when Sarah pulled out a school record and handed it to him, sniffling a she scooted closed and flipped it open. "Look at that. Same scores as me, same tutoring level, same amount of helped kids. The extracurriculars aren't the best, but we could work on that."

"It's impressive." Mr.Hayes nodded as he looked up at her. "We aren't offering middle school right now though, but I will keep this on file for the next year. What's the catch?"

Sarah took a deep breath. "He's got a little sister. They're a packaged deal."

Fifteen minutes later, the four in the hallway looked over as Sarah exited the office. Mr.Yamada stood up first with a smile. "So? Are you gonna rock some navy and white?"

Sarah took a deep breath. "No. No, I didn't get it. Someone else did a little better then I did, so they're gonna give it to them."

"I'm so sorry, Sarah." Bruce frowned as he stood up. "This blows. Let's get out of here."

"Yeah, let's go home. Catch a movie or something." Robin agreed as he stood up, taking her bag for her. Vance wasn't the smartest, but he was smart enough to know Sarah got in. He didn't just think she was the smartest person in the world because he thought the world of her, he thought she was the smartest person in the world because she was. She was smart. Way smarter then anyone at this school, he knew she'd gotten in.

It was what he said that kept her back, and he felt nothing but guilt for that.

"What happened?" Bruce asked when they made it outside. "It was just hot and sunny ten minutes ago."

Sarah wasn't necessarily superstitious, she believed in coincidences more then she did anything else. But, apart of her just knew the unexpected rain was Billy telling her how disappointed he was for what she'd just done.

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kylie speaks

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