Sapphire was unsure of what to think as she was driven to school by her older half-sister. She wasn't a fan of the word 'half' being put in front of the word 'brother' or 'sister', as it made her feel different to her siblings. Then again, it was perhaps just a [i]little[/i] hard to place someone she had barely ever seen as her older sister. She had seen her in pictures that had been in the house, placed by their mother, but she couldn't recall a time she actually saw Alice face-to-face. Alice had apparently been there when Sapphire was born, but Sapphire couldn't really remember anything that happened when she was born.

It felt strange that Alice was the one taking Sapphire (and Fritz) to school, rather than their mother. Sapphire was used to her mother being there, taking her the whole way and comforting her when she needed it, whereas the girl could not help but feel almost like it was a stranger taking her. Yes, perhaps it had been a month that Alice had been living with them on the couch in the same house as them, but there was still an underlying worry in Sapphire despite the new acceptance of Alice that she had gained in the past week or so.

Sapphire still wanted her mother back. Still missed her mother. The lack of her mother somewhere in the car almost brought the tears back rolling back her face, but for some reason they did not come.

Perhaps it was the fact that there was too much else to worry about. Sapphire was worried about how things would be returning to school. The kids who didn't know why she was gone would all ask her why, and those who already knew would all try to ask how she was feeling. The one or two bullies that she was too scared to tell anyone about would most likely use her being gone or her mother's death as fuel to add to the pile of things they had to bully her about.

Sapphire's gaze moved from the back of the seat in front of her to the window beside her, staring outside with uncertainty of how the day was going to be. She was smart enough to know that being gone for so long probably meant there was going to be work that she had to catch up on, and she was going to be behind in the class. She didn't like school, so Sapphire knew it wasn't going to be fun catching up.

Once the car rolled to a stop, Sapphire waited for her mother to open the door, only to see Alice being the one doing it and once-again reminding the girl that her mother was gone. [i]That's[/i] what brought the tears dripping down her cheeks, and though not fully crying, she was still upset that she still wasn't used to her mother being replaced by Alice. That didn't stop her from taking Alice's hand and holding it tightly for what comfort it could give as Sapphire tried to control the tears as they rolled along her cheeks.