Here's chapter three, sorry for the delay! Dedicated to three lovely reviewers; Jamesstarklover13, MagicStar28and WingCommanderVinyaya. Thanks so much for reviewing guys! As I said before, I am working my way through all my reviewers and giving them dedications, but it's me and I don't how often I'll be updating because of school and stuff, so I'm going to do more than one reviewer a chapter, because I don't want you all to feel left out! And thanks again to Magicstar28, for the PMing sessions and all the help!

Chapter Three

It's hot and bright outside, and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the cottage's cool interior. I'm suddenly hit by a mad whirl of energy and golden fur. "Sadie!" I cry as she jumps on me and licks my face like a mad thing. I drop to my knees and wrap my arms around her neck, burying my face in her soft coat. She's been doing this for a while now, ever since I went on the Crossing of Ingo. I think she's scared I'm going to leave her for that long again. "Don't you worry girl, I'm not ever going to leave you behind," I whisper, gently scrunching her ears.

"Why?" a voice says from the stairs, "Are you planning on going somewhere?"

I look up and see Roger coming down the last few steps. Oops.

"Oh...I only meant if I ever went to Uni or somewhere," I say, the lie automatically dancing off my tongue.

"I see. Where have you been?"

I look at him, puzzled by his cold tone.

"Er...down at the cove?" I say, trying to maintain a look of bewilderment to disguise the apprehension building up inside me.

"Oh really?"

I stare at him, stunned. "Er...yeah really? Where else would I have been?" I'm worried now, very worried…

"Why don't you tell me Sapphire?"

I blink. What...? What does he know? What has he found out?

"Stop playing games with me! I know that you weren't really down at the cove. I searched all over for you! I was really worried; the only reason I didn't tell your mother was because I didn't want to stress her out, not with the baby due so soon..."

I stand frozen with horror. He reaches out and puts his hands on my shoulders, giving me a little shake, a mixture of anger and upset in his eyes.

"Come on then; where were you?"

I flush red. "What does it have to do with you?" I pull away from him. "It's none of your business; you're not Dad!" I glimpse a cross between hurt and regret flit across his face before I turn on my heel and race upstairs, barging into my room and slamming the door behind me, flinging myself on the bed with a noise of exasperation. Why does he always have to interfere?!
He was really worried. Pipes up a little voice in my head. He must have thought that you might have drowned. No wonder he's upset. Imagine if he had to tell Mum that you were dead?

Shut up. I hate the fact that that particular voice is being reasonable. He's got no business following me around!

You don't know why he was looking for you. Reasonable voice says reasonably. He could have had a perfectly innocent reason. He's not spying on you, Sapphire.

Shurrup.

I hear laughter from Conor's room upstairs and glower. At least someone's happy. It takes another peal of laughter for me to realise that the perpetrator is female. Either that or Conor's suddenly gone through some kind of reverse-puberty. I from and look up towards the trapdoor. "Conor? Who's up there with you?"

There's a sudden hush before Rainbow's head pokes down from the ceiling. "Oh hey Sapphy! Where've you been?"

"Cove," I say, feeling guilty, "Sorry, lost track of time."

"S'okay," she says with a warm smile, agilely climbing down the ladder. Come to think of it, she's been spending an awful lot of time with Conor recently. What Grany Carne said before flashes back into my mind. Conor and Rainbow together? Well, nothing can have happened yet or she would have told me. Rainbow, unlike me, doesn't usually keep secrets from her friends. She's an open book.
"Hey, Conor told me you're going to Mal's party tonight!"

"Oh. Yeah." I blink, snapping out of my thoughts.

"What'cha wearing then?"

I open and shut my mouth a little, probably looking like a fish out of water. The idea of clothes hadn't even occurred to me. "Dunno..."

She rolls her eyes and grins. "I thought so. Honestly, Saph, I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd have turned up naked; you're the sort of person who'd forget you were even supposed to wear clothes, let alone chose which clothes to wear."

"Oi!"

She laughs, not unkindly. "I'll give you a hand choosing. I bought you something you might look good in...we're roughly the same size…" She grabs a bag from my bed and pulls something out of it. "What do you think?"

I stare at it. "Erm...I'm not really a dressy person..."

She laughs. "I know, but come on, it's a party..."

"Rainbow, red is not really my colour..."

She laughs again, this time slightly evilly. "I thought it'd make a change from bluey-greeny-seay colours…"

"Rainbow..."

Her smile is just as wicked as her laugh. "Don't even try to argue Sapphy."

"Oh good Lord..."

~x~

Almost one and a half hours later we are ready. I have been plucked, shaved, scrubbed, moisturised and tweezed within an inch of my life. My hair has been washed and brushed and curled and sprayed and styled and pinned. I've been squirted with flowery smelling perfumes, and had a mascara wand stabbed in my eye, ("OW!" "It's your own fault for fidgeting!").

Mum, Roger and Conor have all been tactfully ignoring the pleas for help from my bedroom, along with the muffled shrieks from the bathroom. (Eyebrows hurt when they get plucked! And just because shampoo is fruity and fancy doesn't mean it doesn't sting when it gets in your eyes.)

I finally skulk downstairs and hover around in the hallway, nervously fiddling with the hem of the dress, plotting the ways to punish Rainbow, even though she's been insisting that it's only for one night and that she'll never make me do it again. Speaking of the dress, she had to tactfully pad it out in certain areas, as we're not completely the same size in all the same places. It also comes to above my knees. I don't think even I've seen this much of my legs outside of the shower in a good while.

"You look fine," Rainbow says, straightening the red flower clip in my hair, beaming like a proud mother hen.

"Rainboooooow! It's a dreeeeeeess!" I wail, pouting at her, but kind of knowing I'm not going to get anywhere. "And it's shoooort!"

"Love it, Sapphy! Love the dress!" she says sternly, waggling a finger at me. I roll my eyes and swat at her. She ducks, grinning. "C'mon! It's only for one night! One night only. Just try it. If you really don't like it, I'll never make you wear a dress again. Unless it's at my wedding or something. I promise."

I hear footsteps behind us and turn to see Conor descending the stairs. He stops and stares slightly when he sees us. "Rainbow! You look amazing!" he says, looking ever so slightly star struck. "You really do! Wow! I mean…" he suddenly catches sight of me as well and breaks off, initially because he's embarrassed that I caught him being mushy, and then because he really sees me. His eyes nearly pop out of his head and he has a sudden coughing fit. "Saph..." he chokes, when he's finally finished coughing. "You...you're wearing make-up..."

I scowl. "Blame Rainbow," I mutter, shooting the lady in question another death glare.

Rainbow grins, her cheeks ever so slightly pink. Mmmmhm. I'm really beginning to think that Granny Carne was right here. "Eyeliner, foundation, mascara and lipgloss. I never thought 'd see the day…and I did her hair. I feel so proud…" She wipes away a pretend tear, her blush finally subsiding.

Mum waddles in, kissing Conor's cheek. "Bye darling, have fun!" She turns, and her mouth drops open slightly, when she sees me, her face lighting up. She beams. "Sapphy, are you wearing eyeliner? And a dress! Don't you look grown-up?" She sniffs slightly, wiping at her eyes; although unlike Rainbow I don't think her tears are false. "Both my babies are so grown up…Conor doing A-Levels…you doing GCSE's…and now wearing dresses and going out to parties…"

I look down, blushing fiercely. "Okay, let's go now..." I say quickly, before the hormones completely take over and Mum has a sobbing fit whilst clutching us both to death.

Mum kisses me and Conor, still looking a little teary eyed, and waves us off as we all walk out the door and climb into the car that she and Roger bought second hand for Conor's eighteenth birthday. They didn't have enough money after the wedding to get him a good quality one for his seventeenth, so they decided it was better to wait a year and get him a vehicle which was safe and which probably wouldn't break down. Conor starts the engine and fiddles about with levers and stuff as I watch him nervously from the back seat.

"Conor, are you sure you know how to drive this thing?" I'm a little apprehensive about driving with Conor. I mean, he's very responsible, and wouldn't do anything like drink and drive, and he passed his test first time, as he constantly reminds me, but still. I can't help remembering how, for a long time, he had trouble riding his bike in a straight line, and I've avoided travelling with him in the car so far, just in case.

"Saph, I'm am eighteen!" he protests, looking a little miffed. "And I passed the test first time!"

"How much did you pay the examiner?"

"Hey! How dare you suggest corruption?" He looks over his shoulder and glares at me, before promptly reversing by accident and running over what sounds like a flower pot. "Whoops! That's never happened before..."

I look at Rainbow. "If the car plunges off a cliff, do you think we could make it out a window before we hit the water?"

She laughs, pushing her short blonde hair out of her face. "We could certainly try. I'll be hanging on to you for dear life as you're quite possibly the best swimmer out of the two of us…"

"Leave Conor to drown?"

"Definitely." She grins back at me.

"Well!" Conor says , frowning at us. "I guess I now know where both of your loyalties lie! But seriously, stop being so dramatic Saph! We're going to be totally fine. This car ride will be as smooth as a…smooth thing."

"As smooth as Sapphy's freshly shaved legs?" Rainbow pipes up proudly, before yelping as I kick her.

Conor laughs, and releases the clutch, before putting his foot down on the accelerator. The car jerks forwards. Rainbow and I glance at each other before simultaneously plugging in our seatbelts.

Tra la, that was chapter three, sorry it took so long! I wrote about half and then got writers block, and coursework and stuff got in the way too, ugh, GCSE's this year! Chapter four is half written, so hopefully it should be up soon, but I can't promise anything, I'm afraid.

Please review, all of you reviewers are amazing people, and it's because of you guys that I get out of bed in the morning and think; You know what? I'm going to type up my Ingo fic today. Screw Spanish homework!

That is why I love you all! *Massive group hug*

Sapphy

xxx

P.S. By the way guys, I wrote an Ingo songfic! It's the one called 'Sophia' and I would really appreciate if you read it. I hope you like it!