Hey everyone!

First off, I'd like to apologize for the sad-ness of the last chapter, but remember Skipper's words: Don't lose hope!

You know, you can tell if you are either an enthusiastic author or a sadist when you are actually quite joyous when people send in reviews saying they were crying while they read your chapter... yeah. I was actually pretty happy - that was the reaction I was going for.

Anyway, next chapter!

The ride back to Boston was just as silent as the trip to New York - the only difference was that the previous sounds of the scratches of Sarah's pencil against paper had been replaced by her occasional sniffle as she tried her best to hold back her tears and be strong for her mom. Vanessa realized, sitting in the dark silence, that no matter how much Sarah had changed in New York, only she would be able to decide whether to show it or not when they got back to Boston (neither of them could properly call it 'home' anymore.)

The truck finally stopped about a day and a half later. The girls felt the wooden shipping box being lifted and carried somewhere. Sarah halfheartedly gathered up her notebook and pencils (she hadn't drawn so much as a dot the whole way) while Vanessa patted down her ruffled feathers.

The box was set down and opened. Vanessa walked out first, then Sarah. The first thing that came to mind was their new surroundings. The remodel-ers had done a pretty good job - the walls were newly painted to look like an iceberg scene, there was a larger swimming pool that went right up to the glass (so the humans can bother us while swimming, too, Vanessa thought humorously) and there was shaved ice - I mean, 'snow' - falling from a few vents in the ceiling. The second thing that came to Vanessa and Sarah's mind was Oh, no.

For, standing right before them were the penguin elders: the burly brothers Mark and Max, who were responsible for keeping the peace (mainly due to their intimidating-ly bulky muscles rather than any idea they could have of justice); a matchmaker, Jeanie, who'd given up on Sarah long ago (she also had an ironically bad sense of judgment, which was probably the reason the penguins exhibit was remarkably low on chicks); and of course, the council itself which consisted of four penguins -BreAnn, Jay, Ben, and the leader of them all - Miranda. (1)

When the box opened, the elders were smiling, happy as can be, until the girls actually walked out. The smiles drooped instantly, but never disappeared completely - have to keep up appearances, you know. Miranda opened her arms, dotted in gray feathers that made it kind of look like she was re-growing down feathers.

"Ah, misses Vanessa and Sarah!" Miranda said in a welcoming tone that didn't convince anybody. "Welcome back! I do hope your stay abroad was enjoyable?"

Sarah looked away, trying to hide her smirk. Enjoyable? It was the best three months of her life.

"Yes, it was." Vanessa said cordially. "We were transferred to New York City. I was reunited with Sarah's father, actually." Vanessa hoped it would help Sarah if Miranda knew that Skipper still cared about his ex-wife.

But apparently not. Probably had to be present to win that award. "Really?" Miranda said. "How nice."

Always eager to get a new bit of gossip going, BreAnn asked excitedly, "What did you do to him?"

"What?" Vanessa said, thrown off guard.

"Well, after the way he'd treated you..." BreAnn elaborated. Everyone knew what Skipper had done, after Vanessa had explained long ago why Sarah had no father.

"Well... I yelled at him quite a bit, and slapped him a few times..." Vanessa said, remembering that first day and smiling a bit.

"And?"

"And what?"

"What else?" BreAnn said impatiently.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "There was nothing else. Skipper apologized to me, accepted - no, he welcomed Sarah as his daughter, and took all further responsibility for his actions. I forgave him."

Not only BreAnn, but the whole council was flabbergasted.

Sarah finally spoke up. "Haven't you ever heard of the saying 'let bygones be bygones'? Obviously not..." she added under her breath.

Miranda narrowed her eyes at Sarah and said in a clipped, steely voice, "Ah, yes… I wonder, Miss Sarah - did you do anything besides that infernal drawing while you were away, or did you, as you do here, not think your company worthy enough of your attention?"

Vanessa balled up her flippers in anger. After a whopping two minutes back, Miranda was already getting on Sarah's case?

Sarah got angry too, thinking the same thing as her mother. She strode up a couple of steps closer and said right into Miranda's face:

"Yes, I definitely did stuff besides my drawing. I skated at Rockefeller Center; I went to a party; I had my first kiss; I went to a wild party; I was presented with a heartfelt if badly written Spanish love song; and best of all, I finally saw how it felt to love someone with all my heart, and the sensation of seeing that love returned likewise..."

Sarah was almost in tears. All the bitterness she'd been hoarding up all these years was springing up like a fountain, and the assured knowledge of Private's love gave her courage to finally stand up for herself. Sarah looked Miranda in the eye and saw the shocked expressions of all the council members. She continued.

"What? You didn't think someone as different as me could ever find love? Well… thanks to you all, I almost didn't and never would have - not here. But finally, miraculously, I got out of here and only then could have had the chance to find someone to love. And I did!" She paused for a second, dropping her voice to a quieter, but just as forceful and proud tone: "No matter what you will ever do or say to me... no matter how you judge me or say I'm odd… Private loves me for who I am. He loves my talent at art, my darker worldview... heck, he even loves my sarcasm - he thinks it's funny!"

"Private?" Jeanie, the matchmaker, scoffed. "What sort of a name is Private?"

Vanessa was smiling very proudly indeed as she held back Sarah, who was fighting her mother's embrace to go punch the lights out of Jeanie.

"Don't you DARE say anything bad about him!" Sarah screamed. "He is kinder, sweeter, smarter, and definitely BETTER than any of you-" Vanessa held Sarah's beak closed,"- will ever hope to be!"

She finally calmed down a little bit, enough for Vanessa to know it was safe to let Sarah go without fearing for someone's bodily welfare.

"And for the record," Sarah finished, "his name is Private because that's his rank in the army - First Class Private."

With that, she turned, grabbed her notebook and pencils, and went to her old spot under a fake cave. She quickly registered how lucky she was it was still her, given the recent remodel, and that it was an even better spot now, seeing as it would protect her notebook from the 'snow' falling from overhead. It melted just as fast as real snow - the top of Sarah's head felt like she'd dipped it in the pool, and she could only imagine what it would have done to her paper.

Miranda gave a stern, furious glare in Vanessa's direction. "Why didn't you do anything?"

"Hey, I saved Jeanie, didn't I?" Vanessa said. She shrugged, holding back a laugh. "Kids will be kids."

(1) It didn't take long to figure out who was bad enough to have the punishment of being the namesake of an evil, old penguin - our school's worst gossip and bully, Miranda. I hate that girl. Plus - all the names are of people I don't like (except Mark and Max. They're pretty nice): my hated aunt, Jeanie; my almost-as-gossipy frienemy BreAnn; actually, I kinda like my uncle Jay, he just doesn't make good choices; and I forgot who I named Ben after. Whatever.

Not quite as sad as last time, but not as happy as before, either. I've been wanting to write for the elders for a while now, to see how bad I could make them. I hope it was bad enough!

Review!