Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

The Pants return home to Lena. . . .
Lena lay on the wood floor of her room feeling sorry
for herself and generally hating everything and
everyone she knew.
If she could have made herself paint, she would have.
Painting and drawing always made her feel anchored.
But there were times when you felt miserable when you
wanted to feel better, and other times when you felt miserable
and you figured you’d just keep on feeling miserable.
Anyway, there was nothing beautiful in the world.
It was hot. Lena’s father didn’t believe in central air-conditioning
because he was Greek, and her mom loathed the window
kind of air conditioners because they were loud. Lena
stripped down to her push-up bra (handed down from Carmen,
who always bought them too small) and a pair of white boxers.
She set up the floor fan so it blew directly on her head.
Lena liked to annoy, irritate, and provoke her mother,
but she hated actually being in a fight with her. She hated
blowing up at Tibby. She hated Kostos and his new girlfriend.
She hated Effie for telling her about it. (She liked
Grandma for not liking Kostos’s new girlfriend.)