Chapter Text
I do not own any of these characters.
"Somebody told me once that running from the rain don't make no sense. I had my own dark cloud for a while now, it goes where ever I'm going, yeah. They're telling me the grass just might be greener on the other side but I don't wanna take a chance on dirt when I got grass even though the grass has died.”
Tara picked herself up off the floor when she heard her phone buzzing. Donna’s name popped up and she quickly pulled herself together. “Hello”
“Don’t you hello me! Opie let me know what is going down there. I’m on my way to kick ass and take names!”
Tara quickly replied, “Hold up there, Tiny Beast! It’s all done now and I was going to take a nap.” Donna quickly interrupted, “That’s fine. It’s noon now. Get a few hours of sleep and I’ll be by around five-ish. I’m going to bring take out and we are having a girls night.”
Tara was so relieved after talking to Donna that she almost forgot all of her bags in the trunk of her car. She looked out the window and saw Hale writing some notes and no Gemma, Unser, or Jax outside. She cautiously opened the door and Hale looked up from writing notes on his report.
“Hey, Tara, are you ok? Jax told me you were going to email me the footage and give a statement later. It’s ok if you don’t feel up to it right now.” Tara smiled and said, “It’s ok, come in and we can talk in my living room.”
As Hale entered the house, he was impressed with the changes Tara made. He had hung out with her in high school here several times and picked her up for the Homecoming dance shortly after her first run-in with Jax during the Homecoming game her freshman year.
“I don’t think I’ve been in here since we went to Homecoming together.”
Tara laughed, “Oh for the good ole days before I fell for Jax Teller’s extra special brand of bullshit.”
The prospect that Jax had park halfway down the block called and let him know Hale was in the house with Tara. He knew it was related to the incident that day but it also brought on a twinge of what he thought was an ancient insecurity where all three of them were involved.
October 1994
Tara was getting ready for her first high school dance, Homecoming. David Hale asked her right after school started. She liked him. He played football, baseball, and was on the student council.
They had hung out over the summer when they played spin the bottle, and he was her very first kiss. After school started, he walked with her to class and the cheerleaders and football players all ate lunch together. It seemed like a natural consequence of their mutual orbit in the high school social hierarchy.
Then there was Jax Teller, or “Jaxass” as Donna and Tara had started calling him after the incident at the Homecoming game last weekend. Everyone in school had heard that Jax pushed up on Tara after she ran into him while cutting through the smoking area to get to the game on time.
Half the school, well the female half, were insanely jealous of her. The other half, the guys, wished they had the cajones that Jax had because they all had a serious crush on Tara.
Hale was royally pissed and wanted to defend Tara’s honor but they weren’t a couple so he just made sure to walk with Tara between classes. Jax had started making it a point to irritate her after she had the audacity to reject his advances. He thought she should have some backup trying to deal with the obnoxious, self-styled biker Prince of Charming.
Hale was probably the only guy in school who had no issue stepping up on Teller and his white trash band of “brothers.” Sure, he’d had his ass handed to him a few times over the years but it was worth it. His dad was a county judge who knew that the Sons of Anarchy weren’t just “Harley enthusiasts” and their automotive shop and clubhouse were a front for some seriously illegal activities.
So when Tara said she was going to Opie’s birthday party at the SAMCRO clubhouse, he was shocked. Those guys would eat her alive. Then Tara said her dad was alright with it because him, John Teller, and Piney Winston were old war buddies. Hale knew Piney would watch her like a hawk but she could also hold her own after kicking Teller in the nuts.
He had also overhead Jax say in Algebra that he was “going on a run” the night of the party, so at least he wouldn’t be there to harass Tara. David knew enough to know that a run was usually sketchy but the less he worried about that, the less he cared about Teller.
Tara thought Jax would be nicer after Opie’s party and the kiss they shared, but he said nothing at school. He kept right on irritating her. She knew he was acting like he played her, so she kept playing right along. She was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing his snub stung even a little. That is exactly what Jax’s playbook worked on. High school girls’ insecurities. Treat them bad and they’ll want you more.
“Oh look, it’s Miss Goody Two-Shoes and Captain America. Have you named all of your babies yet?” taunted Jax from behind them as David walked her to math class. He was ready to retort back when Tara interrupted, “Oh looky, it’s Jaxass, the Biker Gang Prince Of Nothing. Shouldn’t you be hitting up some skank Croweater-in-training instead of harassing me?” Hale almost fell on his ass laughing at the look of disbelief, then rage, on Jax’s face.
No girl ever talked to Jax that way. Every girl wanted Jax to just look at them, let alone corner and kiss them, and here was little Tara Knowles, a freshman, calling him out on his bullshit. That shit couldn’t go unchecked. “Oh darlin’ you only wished you were half as talented as a Croweater.”
Tara laughed so loud half the hallway stopped to see the side show. “Yeah, I’ll think I’ll pass on having the honor of catching whatever strain of gonasyphaherpalitis that Petrie dish you call a ‘club’ have cooked up this week.”
With that, she turned on her heels and dragged a dying laughing Donna into class as the bell rang. Opie looked at Jax and couldn’t help but laugh at Tara’s ability to get under Jax’s skin and stay there. He knew Tara had ties in Jax and it was fun to see him finally meet his match.