Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews...the really made my day, knowing that people out there are enjoying this story. Don't stop, because I could really use these reviews to make this story better than it is now. Again thanks.

Without further ado here is the third chapter. I am very sorry for the long delay. Lately I have been very busy and my chapter so long that it took a while to type.

Chapter 3

For the next couple of weeks Amy, Delia, Tiffany, and Samantha were with each other whenever possible. They had gone shopping with one another, seen a movie, and had arranged for all them to spend the height with each other five times. Three times at Delia's grandmother's house, mainly because Ari owned a pool. Delia, Amy, Tiffany and Samantha had enjoyed rejoicing in the cool water but Tiffany had absolutely refused to get into the water. The closest she had come to the water was sitting on the deck, beside the pool, watching her friends have fun. The other's had noticed and they had agreed to stay out of the pool from then on, for fear of leaving Tiffany out of the fun. They secretly wondered if she knew how to swim.

Twice they had stayed with AM's grandfather, and now their last sleepover before the families departed, was to take place at Alice's house. It was planned for Father's day night. The girls knew they would miss each other dearly, for they had become close friends due to their endless hours together, but they had gathered together every means of communication with each other: addresses, telephone numbers (which they knew would be limited, their mother had already said so. Long distance calls were not very cheap.) And of course e-mail. They all thought that their last day together would be a perfect, enjoyable one but, sadly they, were in some aspects mistaken...

"Samantha, sweetheart, you need to get up and out of bed because we had to be at Mr. Vreeland's house in an hour" Samantha painfully stretched her muscles as her mother spoke. (Sleeping on the old pull out couch was really beginning to take it's toll.) Instead of getting up, as her mother had instructed, Samantha rolled over on her stomach and pulled up the covers over her face. "Come on Sam," Carmen said, shaking her. "Why do we have to go to Mr. Vreeland's?" she asked grumpily "We're all having a big Father's Day get together. Amy, Delia and Tiffany will be there too." Samantha sighed and sat u p in her bed. Father's day was on of, if not the worst, day of the year for Samantha.

It reminded her, of course, of her own father; and it hurt knowing that, on Father's day, she didn't have a father to give a humorous card to or to have a celebratory diner with. Samantha felt sick with grief. Even though she had only been six when the accident had happened, she still missed him. She was scared that she was forgetting him. She had been so young. Even still to today, Samantha was still angry at God for taking her father away from her and her mother. She sat there for a moment, remembering how he had taken her to school in his old, beat up white Ford. He had always kissed her before she left the car. She vaguely remembered having chicken pox. Her father had stayed home from work to look after her. she recalled the several oatmeal baths and how he served her meals in ed. he had took her mind of the constant urge to scratch with the stories he read and the movies they had watched together.

She even remembered him taking her to play checkers and playing Barbie with her. That took a real man to do that with his daughter. He had always had the ones with missing limbs or chopped hair so that she could get the nice looking ones. Samantha eyes gathered tears as she recalled all these memories of her father and how today she would celebrate father's day without him.

Carmen sat down beside her daughter and as if seeing right through her thoughts, she spoke" I miss your father, too, sweetheart."

Samantha blinked furiously trying to hold back her tears. She wouldn't cry for her father when she knew he was in a better place. Carmen put her arm, comfortingly around her.

"I'll tell you what," she said, "I'm not going to make you go o the party if you don't want to be there. I know that it's hard for you to deal with right now."

Samantha shook her head, "no, I'll go."

Her father may be dead but he was still her father, and not going to the celebration would be like she was denying she had one at all.

"All right, then," Carmen said in a slightly worried tone, "go ahead and get dressed."

Samantha obeyed and got out of bed.

When Samantha arrived in the Vreeland backyard, what met her eyes was definitely a scene of activity. The fathers stood gossiping next to the grill, waiting or the lunch to be cooked and ready to eat. Bridget and Tibby were playing badminton against Jason and Robert, and many of the grandparents, including Lena due to her present state, sat conversing at the lawn table. Carmen went to accompany Lena upon seeing that she might want another younger woman to talk with. Samantha approached Amy and Delia who were in their bating suit and lounging in a three-ring kiddy pool. Tiffany stood beside the pool, fully dressed, and had no desire to join them.

"Well look who's here" Delia said, squinting up at her friend due to the bright sun.

"Do you always have to be late for everything?" Amy asked jokingly

"What can I say," Samantha replied, "I'm fashionable."

She looked at her friends, to the pool and back again. She clucked her tongue.

"You two are pathetic, you know that?" she said seeing the kiddy pool.

Delia smiled and scooted over to make room for Samantha. "We saved room for you." she replied splashing the water in the area next to her. "That is if you're not to good to sit with us pathetic folk."

Samantha smiled and since she already had her bathing suit on, stripped of her shirt and shorts. She climbed in with her friends and glanced up at Tiffany. "Aren't you going to get in, Tiff?"

She shook her head, "No thanks. I think I'll pass this time."

Samantha echoed. "You haven't gotten into a pool once but don't worry your secret's safe with us." "Secret? When did you find out about my secret?" Tiffany asked with a trace of panic in her voice.

"Don't act so worried," Amy sad nonchalantly. "Yeah, many people don't know how to swim."

Tiffany snorted, trying to hold back a small laugh, but when she spoke she sounded slightly offended. "you three think that my problem is that I don't know how to swim?" At this tiffany laughed, "You couldn't be farther from the truth. I'll have you know I can swim just as well as any of you, maybe even better. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't like to be seen in a bathing suit? Or that perhaps I nearly died because of water, that because of that incident I'm afraid?" Amy, Delia, and Samantha were stunned and speechless. This had been the first argument between them and they hadn't meant to make Tiffany angry. They watched her storm off in astonishment.

"Should we let her cool of?" Amy asked worriedly. Delia was beginning to feel guilty. "I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. I was hoping that by telling her she would feel more comfortable about the situation."

"I think that Tiffany needs to know that" Samantha replied.

The other two girls agreed. They stepped out of the tiny pool and found their towels on the back porch. After quickly drying off and wrapping their towels around them, they entered the considerable cool house. The air conditioner brought goose bumps to their skin. The girls found Tiffany in the deserted living room, sitting on the large comfortable couch, with silent tears flowing down her cheeks. Delia sat down beside her.

"I'm so sorry, Tiffany. I didn't mean to hurt you. "

"We feel bad'" Samantha added, "we didn't mean to accuse you of anything."

They said several other things in hope of cheering Tiffany up.

Tiffany couldn't help but smile weakly at her friends. "It's alright. I overreacted anyhow." she sniffled and continued, "Why don't you three sit down." her friends did what she asked of them. "I'm gong to tell you what is wrong, but I don't want you to go around advertising it, okay?" Amy, Delia, and Samantha agreed without hesitation. "Of course." Tiffany inhaled deeply and began.

"I was born premature and my lungs weren't fully developed. After spending a good deal of time in an incubator, I was allowed to go home. When I was around two years old I had to g back to the hospital. it was then that my mom found that I had ARDS or Acute Respiratory syndrome. It's a condition when fluids gather in you lungs. It makes it hard to breathe and do other things. I had to have surgery done to remove it, and I nearly died on the table."

"Is that why you don't like getting into the water/" Asked Amy. "Because of the fluids and lack of oxygen when you do swim?"

Tiffany gave a tiny nod. "Drowning is another way for ARDS to form. That's why I'm scared to get into the water."

"Have you been treated for it more than once?" Delia asked. "I've been hospitalized three times and I can't even count how many times I have been treated from home."

Her friends nodded. An exceptionally long silence resided between them.

"Sort of stupid isn't it?" Tiffany asked, "Being afraid of water."

Her friends vigorously shook their heads. "No, it isn't" "of course not" "Heck, I'd be scared too."

Tiffany looked at her friends and smiled. "You guys are great friends."

The girls smiled. "What else are we here for, other than pep talks?" Delia asked, "And occasionally boosting a friend's confidence"

"I have one question though?" Samantha interrupted.

"Okay," Tiffany asked expectantly, "what is it?"

"You said earlier that you didn't like being seen in a bathing sit; Why on earth not?"

"Well," Tiffany answered sheepishly, "Since I've been hospitalized and sick so much, I'm really thin."

"So," Samantha scoffed, "you should be happy, as you can plainly see I inherited bigger features from my mother's side of the family. At lease you're not fat like I am."

The other girls sighed, almost in slight aggravation, and rolled their eyes. Samantha had noticed the day she had met her friends that she was bigger than every one of them. She had secretly hoped beyond hope that there would be someone present at the get together that would be bigger than she, save Lena, who was expecting, would. The Lowell family had been the largest in almost ever area of the human body. She had confided in her mother but always, her mother had said that she wasn't fat at all; only that she was born that way.

"For the last time," Amy said irately, "you are NOT fat!" you're just built that way."

"Uh-huh, yeah," Samantha replied, not believing Amy what wasn't just being nice but was also telling the truth. Delia rolled her eyes once again.

"Any way," Delia said trying to prevent another argument, though from the looks of things it wouldn't occur. She knew both were only joking and just getting out their feelings. "Where is your bathing suit, I bet you would look great in it."

Tiffany really wanted to tell them that she forgotten it at home, but she knew very well that Tibby had packed it, knowing that her daughter would want to swim eventually, and Tiffany didn't want to lie to her friends. She knew her fiends wouldn't treat her that way.

"It's in the car," she answered, knowing where the conversation was going.

"Let's go try it on, please," Delia asked.

Amy and Samantha had the same pleading looks on their faces. "But..." Tiffany's excuse died on her tongue as her friends pleading looks turned to pure sadness.

"Please go swimming with us." Amy said.

They expectantly waited a couple of seconds for her replied, but Samantha ruining the suspenseful moment by commenting, "Actually, it would be more like sitting in water than swimming." her remark was followed by glares from Amy and Delia.

"Okay, I'll shut up," she responded more to herself than anyone in the room. However, this brought a smile to Tiffany's face.

"Alright, but if I see just one snicker on either of your faces, I'm taking it back off."

The girls excitedly walked out to Tibby's car, retrieved the bathing suit, and forced Tiffany into the bathroom to change. Amy, Delia and Samantha tapped their feet, impatiently waiting for their friend. Finally Tiffany's voice could her heard through the door.

"Do I have to go out like this?"

"You promised us you would!" Amy replied.

"I didn't promise!" Tiffany exclaimed.

"At lease let us see what it looks like on you," Delia said acting as the peacemaker, as usual.

There was a loud sigh from the other side of the door and. They heard a click and the door swung open. Tiffany wore a two-piece that was a little more than a bikini and was red with blue Hawaiian flowers covering it. It had crossing straps on the back and ties on the sides of the bottoms.

Amy cat called, Samantha growled and Delia said, "You look great!" "More like sickening," Tiffany replied as she looked at her stomach.

"Don't pay any attention to that." Samantha responded but still her friend sighed.

"Look,' Amy said, taking matter into her own hands, 'all we're doing is sitting in a kiddy pool, in the privacy of our own back yard and it's with family so it's no like your going to be made into a laughing stock. And if you need even more reassurance than that, I'll lend you one of my shirts to sear over it."

Tiffany nodded. "Alright, I do it." Amy left her spot next to the door, heading for her room and retrieved one of her bigger soccer shirts.

"Here, put this on." Tiffany did so and the shirt fell just below her bottoms. "Perfect."

"I guess so," Tiffany replied.

"Great," her friends said in unison. "Let's go." Samantha said.

They headed toward the pool in a fit of excitement and laughter. Tiffany tried her hardest to imitate the others' good moods about water but found herself struggling to succeed. Amy, Delia and Samantha quickly positioned themselves in the pool so that they could allow Tiffany room to sit down. They laid back, with some difficulty, and let the cold water wash all the heat and sweat off them

"Are you sure I look presentable?" Tiffany asked trying to push down the now soaked shirt to hide her stomach with little or no success.

"You look fine," Delia responded.

Tiffany gave a small laugh. "You guys are really great friends. I'm glad that you talked me into this."

"My mom always says that true friendship sees through appearances, material possessions, and even time if it is well formed," Samantha chimed in simply, as if it was a law she lived by.

The girls sat in silence, each pondering Carmen's wise words. They thought of their mothers' friendship, and hoped that their own friendship would grow to be just a strong, maybe even stronger.

I originally made this chapter longer but decided that I would make it the next chapter. There will be a father's day event in the next chapter as well as the discovery of the pants. This isn't the best chapter that I have written but I think it is really sweet. Please review…I really enjoy knowing you opinions.