Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Lena read Bridget’s letters on the flight from Athens.
Both the ones she’d been getting throughout the summer,
and the ones she’d picked up at the post office on the way
to the airport. The plane cruised through time zones, and
Lena’s heart made the painful journey from the forge in
Oia, where she wanted it to be, to a girls’ soccer camp in
Baja, where she felt it was needed.
Lena had known Bee well enough and long enough to be
worried. She knew Bee’s life had been remade at one time.
There were fault lines from then. Bee sprinted along in a
torrent of activity, but once in a while something unexpected
slammed her hard. It left Bee slow and uncertain. She fretted.
She wasn’t good at putting herself back together.
Bridget was like a toddler sometimes. She grasped for
power. She demanded it. But when she got her way, she was
left only with herself, and that terrified her. Her mom was
gone, and her dad was timid and out of touch. She needed
to know someone was looking out for her. She needed
someone to promise her that the world wasn’t empty.
Effie snored next to her. Lena turned and pushed her
sister’s shoulder. “Hey, Eff ? Eff ?”
Effie smiled in her sleep. Lena suspected she was
thinking about the waiter. She pushed her shoulder
harder. “Effie. Wake up a minute.”
Grudgingly, Effie opened her eyes. “I’m sleeping,” she
complained, like it was a sacrament or something.
“You’re good at sleeping, Effie, I’m sure you’ll do
more.”
“Ha-ha.”
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