Tara fell face first in all things she did.

It wasn't something that many people knew about. She was quiet, sure, but she gave off a feeling of elegance in her movements. Elegance and mystery.

So how were they to know she always fell face first when trying new things? In both the figurative and literal way to top it off. Like when she signed up for ballerina lessons as a little girl and fell face first during her first pirouette. Or how in middle school she caused a fire the first time she tested out a large spell. Then there was the first time she attempted to ask someone out on a date.

That was the one that still caused her to shudder.

Sometimes, just sometimes, she swore that when she recalled that particular event she could hear a crash of ominous thunder sound in the background while the skies darkened rather significantly.

But maybe it was just her imagination.

Anyway, the first time she asked someone out. That was horrifying... terrifying... and anything else scary that ending with the word 'fying' at the end of it.

It was just bad. Icky bad, nervous sweating bad, jitters in the hands bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Not to the bone, of course.

The person she asked out... she could never forget her. How could she forget her? You never forget your first and Tara, she never forget her first anything.

Because, as stated before, she always fell face first. Always. It had become a tradition and she expected it.

Judy Masters.

Judy, I call her Judy... Judy... in the sky...

God, that song she made up was bad, wasn't it? And it was partially plagiarized as well. Another example of falling face first while trying something new.

Judy was one of the beautiful people. She was perfect, shiny, and even a bit sparkly. Sometimes when she smiled Tara swore her teeth would glitter.

That was just the kind of girl Judy was.

She was sparkly. And Tara liked sparkly things. She always had since she was a little girl. Sparkly things were fun to play with and sometimes they caused fires.

Yes, she was that kid who burned ants with a magnifying glass. One could be comforted to know that she did it more out of scientific curiosity rather than the need to bring about some sort of ant holocaust.

So Judy was sparkly and Tara liked her.

One day Tara became totally overwhelmed by the sparklyness that was Judy and decided she had to ask her out. Even if she fell face first while doing so.

She chanted her favorite mantra over and over in her head as she walked over to Judy. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

As a child, her mother read her the Little Engine That Could to her a few too many times, you realize.

Chanting her mantra, Tara walked over to Judy who looked up at her with deep hazel eyes and she felt herself become frozen in the sparklyness that was Judy.

This feeling caused her to have one reaction only.

She turned on her heel and ran. Leaving Judy, in all her sparkly glory, highly confused about her actions.

A few months later, Judy and her sparkle left town.

Just another example of her falling face first. Falling face first with a loud kerthump and that damn crash of ominous thunder sounding in the background.

Sometimes she thought she was cursed by the gods. Or was that goddess? She never was quite sure just who she should be loyal to. Or if she should be loyal to anyone, because knowing her luck she'd pick the wrong deity and just get herself smote for her troubles.

But maybe she was being pessimistic.

Face first in all things. That was how her life had always gone and she accepted it.

Accepted until she met Willow.

Now Willow wasn't like Judy. She wasn't sparkly. At least, not if you didn't look at her closely.

Because Willow had a different quality to her. She was more glowy than sparkly. She glowed of kindness, warmth, and everything good in this world.

While Judy, well, she just sparkled. And that mainly came from her devastatingly good looks. Not that Tara would know as she hardly ever talked to Judy and instead observed her from a very safe distance.

Of course, Willow was good looking too and unlike Judy, she felt comfortable with her. Comfortable with Willow and the glowy feeling that she gave off.

Days after meeting her, Tara had fallen face first again. Face first in love with Willow.

Somewhat predictable don't you think?

Once she realized that she'd fallen face first, Tara spent all of her time worrying about just what would go wrong. Because in her life, everything always went wrong.

And things went wrong, just like she predicted. Went wrong in the form of Oz returning to Sunnydale. Immediately on seeing him and hearing Willow say his name, she knew she'd just taken another fall.

Kerthump. Thunder crash. Sky darkens.

The images all ran through her head as she rushed out of the room and away from Willow. Away from her feelings for the other girl and what they meant to her.

She was ready to give up Willow. Just to make her happy. It was always easier for her to give things up rather than fight for them anyway. Resigning herself to that awful trend of bad luck that followed her everywhere.

Then it happened. It finally happened. Her luck, it changed, and Willow was at her dorm, telling her that she loved her, handing her a candle with a smile.

Extra flamey, she said, but to Tara it was extra glowy.

When their lips met in a kiss, she felt her heart stop in her chest while a feeling of absolute peace filled her. She had finally found her place in this world, somewhere she belonged.

But luck was luck, and mere seconds later, she fell face first onto the bed with Willow tumbling after her.

And for the first time in her life, Tara thanked her habit of falling face first. Because it led to some extremely enjoyable events that evening.

So what's the little moral of our story?

There isn't one really. Just know that sometimes, just sometimes, it's okay to fall face first in things.

Because we all have a little Tara lurking inside of us.