DISCLAIMER: If it's a character, scene, idea, setting, etc, from Labyrinth, it's (c) Henson, Lucas, Froud, etc. OCs are mine.
Gravity follows its own laws and ownership. Still got that link for the meaning of flowers? You can find it in previous chapters.

Stay tuned after the chapter for A/N.

While the tanner worked on the journals for Sarah, Jareth conducted a great deal of correspondence with the High Court, reviewing the laws and traditions for a Royal Fae to interact with a mortal, having the intention of marriage. Despite his attempts at subtlety, the experts he consulted gained a complete grasp of the situation, even without the circulating rumors of the Goblin King's infatuation with a mere child. There was sufficient concern that the One of Farsight sent a delegate to speak directly with Jareth. The delegate returned, able to ease the minds of the Ones; the Goblin King had no intention of snatching a child, but had already let part of his heart slip away. All agreed that the situation required further monitoring, but no decisive action. Yet.

Friday, June 15th

~evening~

The girls all came over for a group primping session, and it was soooo much fun! We tried all sorts of different hair & make-up stuff, and borrowed each other's jewelry. Martine has quite the eye for what really goes together. AND got a group picture with Karen, with Dad, with Toby, with Merlin, and with an owl. Hmm… I'm not quite sure how that one came about. Maybe when we opened the window, and it was just there, minding its business, and looking a little bit cuddly, Amy thought it would be fun? I know enough about owls to know that they're not the tamest of creatures, so I was wary, until he cocked his head, and looked at me, and gave a small hoot and… I'm still not certain about it. Anyway, we let him in the room, and had Dad take the picture, and we agreed that the owl would be our mascot. Come to think of it, I think that Dad thought the owl was one of my stuffed animals. And. Oh. Oh, no. An OWL?! But seriously, he wouldn't come to observe and eavesdrop on a group of 15 year-olds getting ready for a school dance. It wouldn't make any sense!

Deirdre tried braiding everyone's hair in all sorts of ways, and then Kaitlyn did pins and curls, and Tricia tried up-do's, and THEN came the make-up, courtesy of Portland. Yeah… by the time we were done, we had giggled til we couldn't breathe, or even barely sit up, much less stand. Good thing we only had shoes for a couple of pictures!

The last group pic we did was all of us with cold cream on our faces (to take off the makeup), and those of us who were going to do curls had our hair in sponge curlers, and wearing our casual weekend clothes. THAT'S a good picture!

Oh! And we did everyone's fingernails. We THOUGHT about doing really fun color stuff, but decided to each match our own dress, but not be too strange about it. Mine are nearly clear, but with some blue glitter.

AND! We talked to Karen about whether or not we should call the boys. Ultimately, we decided not to, as not everyone was going as official dates. We DID call Kaitlyn's college-age sister, and had fun trying to tell her stuff. She probably couldn't actually understand much of what we said, because we were kind of loud.

And we reviewed our plan for NOT going off, and our signals if we wanted some kind of alone time, AND our ALL-GIRL ALERT and our need help in the ladies' room signs. Oh, and I reminded them that Dad's a chaperone, so nothing really strange, please. They agreed, again.

Saturday, June 16th

Yeah, I'm ready early… the downside of doing a dress rehearsal is that I'm ready, and David's not due here for another 20 minutes. We're already going to arrive at the dance on the early side, nearly the minute that it starts, so I hope he doesn't actually get here much sooner. OH! Something that none of us realized, but… since Dad's chaperoning the dance, he had to be there before it started, so… he couldn't corner David, and give him one of those "terrify my daughter's date" kind of talks! Score! Think I'll call the girls, see who else is ready.

Shoes – check
Dress – all ends in, zipper, etc
New earrings! – check
Necklace – no necklace – WAIT! I nearly forgot David's ring. Phew! That was close. Going to the last all-school dance, and forgetting the boy's ring. NOT-A-GOOD-IDEA.
Purse – aspirin, band-aids, breath mints & spray, lipstick, emergency numbers, safety pins, tissues, powder compact. Yup, got it all!

Excerpt from the Yearbook, the section about the various school dances.

Yearbook Staffer Bekah attended the End of Year Dance, and made many interesting observations:

For the first time in 8 years (not 5 or 6 as some school rumors have held), the End of Year Dance was SOLD OUT. Thanks to those who turned in extra tickets, as that did allow a few more to attend. BUT learn your lesson NEXT YEAR, and purchase those tickets early!

By far the most fun couple to watch was… (drumroll, please)

Sarah Williams and David James (not a local student).

Every time I turned around, they were talking or laughing (especially when dancing) just the two of them, or with various friends – and even with your friendly neighborhood yearbook reporter!

This is especially interesting to note because Mr. Robert Williams, Sarah's Dad, was one of our able chaperones. Somehow, kids whose parents chaperone seem to have less fun than all the rest of us, but I'm glad to say that was not the case here.

Clumsy moments (other than my own): 18 different instances of punch spillage, with the most notable caused by the nicest person there, Erin, the school paper's editor for next year. Poor Erin tripped on the table leg, and got punch on herself, two chaperones, and that old wall of wrestling mats.

CAN-YOU-BELIEVE-IT?! Spotted at the dance:
Several of last year's grads, one or two of next year's freshmen, some students from that other high school, and a walking wrinkled something, wearing a sparkly bath towel as a hat.

Now's the time to fess up, people: who smuggled in a costumed younger sibling?

Saturday night

Tired. OOOOHHHHH so tired, and my feet HURT, but I really really want to get this written out so I don't forget it. David arrived, right on time. Natch. With a wrist corsage that was a blue violet, a blue rose, and an amaranth. It doesn't sound as though it would look good (okay, I was going to have to look up the flowers, but Karen told me), but it's beautiful. Karen told me about hanging it, so that it would dry, and be a memento. Karen took lots of pictures of the two of us, and reminded David what time I had to be home. Then she pulled me aside, and gave me emergency cash and coins for a pay phone, saying that a woman always needs to be prepared to take care of herself. I must have looked confused and worried, and she apologized for leaving it til that moment, but she couldn't let me go without knowing that I'd be fine. THIS even with Dad at the dance?! Oh, well. She truly sounded as though it was more of a tradition than about being worried, so I hugged her, and we left.

David got the car door for me, and… as he helped me in, he whispered in my ear that I looked beautiful, like an angel or a princess, "because that's what you are." I shot him a look, and he reminded me that we had talked about the meaning of names, so we got a small laugh. Traffic was fine, and there was a small line to get in, but nothing compared to later!

We checked in with Dad right away. When he hugged me, he whispered to ask if Karen had given me the emergency envelope. Yes, Dad. I gave him a good hug in return, and David shook his hand in a very adult way, as though they were equals or something. Ahhh the benefit of an older boy.

On our way to find my friends, Evee tried to trip me. Weird. I mean, we've never been good friends, but this whole year has been weird. Maybe she blames me because Deirdre used to be her best friend, but now hangs out with the rest of us? But Evee was getting seriously mean, not just sticking up for your own friends, but trying to insult everyone else. ANYWAY, I would probably have fallen flat on my face, except David caught me. Except it was more like the world slowed, and he helped me jump and he lifted me and moved me around Evee or something. When we were passed her, he looked me straight in the eyes (I LOVE his eyes, it's as though they change colors), and asked if I was okay. I nearly couldn't answer because of how he was just LOOKING at me! But yeah, I'm fine. He didn't look quite convinced.

We reached the spot where we were going to meet up with everyone, but we arrived first. So I introduced him to other people around us and he asked Blair, who's in a couple of classes with me, but SUPER busy with all the clubs and committees, if she thought I was okay, because we nearly fell walking across. She looked at me, and raised an eyebrow, and we agreed to stop into the ladies' room, David under solemn promise to STAY PUT and wait for my friends.

Blair told me that she saw the attempted trip, and was TOTALLY impressed with how David caught me and kept me from falling. I know, right?! Anyway, she said that she was looking forward to seeing us dance, because if he can move like THAT when we're just walking…

Yeah, expectations were pretty high, and not disappointed. We danced so much! Our group switched partners some, and I never danced with Brian, and we had lots of fun staying together.

Thing is, I might have made a mistake. I might have used that "w" word. The girls were taking a break together, just down the hall, and talking, and saying how much fun it was and everything, and we all agreed and stuff, and I jumped in about "…that it never had to end for us." And I think I actually used the whole phrase.

Except nobody uninvited, or unexpected, or not really wanted showed up, and the dance OBVIOUSLY ended, as I'm home. But that was a close one. Maybe I don't have one yet because it isn't my birthday yet. I hope.

And… when we left, all of us left together. Somehow, we all parked in different areas, which was fine. When David went to open the car door, we both paused, and he kissed me a little. I mean, he kissed me, and it was sweet and nice, and not icky and not creepy, so I think I kissed him back. I wanted to, but I don't really have a lot of practice. I'm so glad that that happened then, instead of once we were back at my house; I KNOW that Karen was watching and listening. David kissed my hand at the front door, and told me to have sweet dreams. I know what I want to dream about! And I think I know what I want to have as my wish, if I somehow haven't already used it.

A/N: See! We finally got to the dance! (I was determined to give it to you, so I didn't proof-read it as carefully as I'd like, so PLEASE help me with typos) And seriously, always ALWAYS make sure you have emergency cash and phone numbers.

So - what wish does Sarah want to make, assuming that she hasn't already somehow wasted it?

And thanks to Newbie83, for allowing me to put her in the story. I promise that we like Newbie83 in this chapter! Go glomp / send PMs to thank!

You know the drill - please review / comment, and HELP ME FIND TYPOS!