The Sisterhood

Carmen stared into her wardrobe, it felt very empty. She sighed and wondered if she had time to go to the mall. Her clock was mean and warned her, she only half an hour to get dressed and do her hair. Tonight, the sisterhood was meeting for dinner before the summer began. Carmen had barely passed her summer exams and now she just wanted to climb into bed instead of going out. The only positive thing was that the summer was going to be fantastic. She had got a summer camp job as an acting instructor. She was going to help a group of kids direct a play. It wasn `t a major production but it still made her happy. Her phone vibrated and her ring-tone rang out.

"Hello." She said knowing it was either Tibby, Bee or Lena calling to check what she was wearing and that she was definitely going. With the pants gone, they had promised to meet up at least every three months no matter what.

"Hey, it `s Bee, I just wanted to know what you are wearing." Bee sounded happy and she sounded like she was excited for the dinner and this made Carmen excited but it also made her feel guilty for wanting to go to bed.

"I am wearing my black skirt and a pink shirt." Carmen chose on the spot and hoped she had remembered to put her shirt in the wash.

"Great. Can `t wait. See you in 20 minutes." Bee hung up and Carmen found the shirt. A small miracle that she had remembered to wash it and had actually put it back in its proper place. Now where was her skirt?

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Lena stared at her computer and took a deep breath. This was real, she had got the job. She could not believe it, Lena rarely allowed herself to apply for big jobs and she had never held hopes for getting the job. She had been right not to hope until now. She had got the job in Greece. It was unbelievable but true. A small art company had been looking for students to go to Greece and paint. They would pay the students to go and they would hold a gallery at the end of the summer to showcase the work. Lena had applied mostly because of a chance to go to Greece again. She had never expected to get the job and had lined up a job at the restaurant she had worked at a few summers ago in anticipation of failure.

Lena allowed the joy to spread through her. A summer in Greece, she remembered going there last summer with Carmen, Bee and Tibby. It had been a visit with a purpose, to find the pants but the pants had not been found but something else had been found. Lena reflected now on how important that visit had been to them, the sisterhood. It had highlighted how they had neglected their friendship and it had given them a chance to rekindle it and they had done. This thought brought her back to earth. She was meeting them in twenty minutes and she was wearing her pyjamas. She looked at the email again, to confirm her joy.

She got dressed but her thoughts were on Greece and Kostos. She would see him again maybe. Feeling brave, Lena stopped getting dressed and opened her email account and wrote a small email then went into her contacts and found Kostos, now he would know she was heading back to Greece.

Bee laughed as she locked her apartment door. It had only been two days since she had seen Tibby but it felt like years and now she would get to see all of them again. She loved her friends so much. Her life was so full, it gave Bee a sense of immense happiness. Perry was now preparing to move in with some of his friends from college and had gone out on a few dates with a girl. Bee had found the girl shy and quiet but as Eric said Perry was shy and quiet. Her dad was slower but he had started to play golf with Eric which led to her father playing golf with other men. Eric was partly responsible for her family finding happiness. She was so lucky to have him. He lived with her and this summer unlike last summer they had decided to get jobs near each other. She smiled as she parked the car. The restaurant was Tibby `s favourite. It was quiet and small and the food was unusual. It would never be Bee `s favourite but she loved it for Tibs.

She sat down at the table; it was a record for her to be first here usually Carman was here first with menus laid out and their drinks ordered, then Lena and Tibby would come next and then Bee last and late. It felt strange to be first here; it gave her a sense of unease. Seeing Tibby come, she pushed the unease away.

Tibby almost fainted when she saw Bee at the table. Where was Lena and Carmen?

"Hi." Tibby said, looking at Bee. "What's happened? Where is Lena and Carmabella?"

"They are not here yet." Bee said and smiled. Tibby knew Bee was probably proud to be here first. Carmen often teased Bee about her lateness and now Carmen herself was late.

"Will we order drinks?" Bee asked. Tibby nodded. Tibby glanced round the restaurant. It was her place well hers and Brian `s place really. They had found it one night coming home from the cinema. Brian had wanted a drink and from then on, it was a routine whenever they wanted a drink to come here. The owner even knew her and Brian by name. Tibby had not appreciated Brian talking to the manager at first. She had thought that Brian would probably be an annoyance but the manager was in his fifties and liked to know his customer and now he recognised them and always saved them the table by the window, her favourite. She missed Brian now. It felt almost criminal to not have him beside here in this restaurant.

"Tib." It took Tibby a second to register first that it was her name and secondly that it was Carmen `s voice. She had not seen Carmen in two months. They hugged and sat down, five minutes later, Lena arrived late. The first course led to the main meal and finally dessert. To Tibby, the meal had only been two seconds in reality, it had been two hours and now Lena was talking about a new plan for the summer.

"Greece?" Carmen and Bee shrieked. Tibby remained silent. She was equally shocked but she knew Lena and knew she would not want to make a big deal out of it. Lena nodded and looked down.

"Is Kostos going to be there?" Tibby asked. It was one question but in a way, it was a thousand questions.

"I am not sure." Lena said. "I have to go though even if he is not there, I want to go, to see Valia and to paint the beauty I never managed to capture."

"So, what do you think will happen if he is there?" Carmen said. "Lenny, we want you to be happy but Kostos is dangerous to you. Are you sure you want to do this?" Carmen voiced our fears, Kostos was fickle, he had brought Lena happiness and he had also brought her tears.

"I don `t know but I know I have to go." Lena said and this time she looked at us. Her eyes begging us to understand even though she knew already we would understand.

"Go Lenny and have an awesome time and just remember we love you and can always be there for you." Bee said.

"Thanks." She said and grabbed my hand and Carmen `s and squeezed. We all smiled.

"I had better go." Bee said. "Eric will be home."

"OH." We all said but smiled. Bee laughed.

"Call me when you land in Greece and Carmen, I will pick up my denim jacket tomorrow and don `t think I forgot your promise to wash it this time." Bee said and Carmen frowned then we all laughed. It was time to go home.

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Carmen lay in bed; it was something she often did with pride and pleasure. She loved having her own room and was enjoying the peace of an empty house. Josh and Alice were out and she had their flat to themselves. Last year, she had gone back to college with confidence and unlike her fist year, her second year had been full of socialising and fun.

She had made two good friends and proceeded to live with them. Josh was a history student and Alice was a physics student but they all loved drama and acting. She turned over again. Carmen had a list of things to do, her mother wanted her to call and the bathroom was a mess and she also needed to put the finishing touches on one of her assignments. She was a geek and wrote her essays a hundred times until they were perfection.

"Car." A voice rang out, the future of a peaceful morning vanished. Josh bounded up the stairs and appeared at her door.

"I got a date tonight." He said and Carmen instantly awoke from her half slumber. Josh was a great guy and good looking too. She had been in love with him for a year but he was invisible to her love and saw Carmen as a good friend. Carmen wished she could be brave like Bee and flirt with him. Carmen managed to flirt with every other guy on campus but with Josh, her words just left her and it was like she was fourteen again where she wrote out topics of conversation.

Josh jumped on her bed. Carmen wished she did not have morning breath and wished he had not told her.

"Good for you." Carmen said, turning her head into the pillow so he could not see her sad expression.

"I know, Hannah is hot, funny and super sweet." Carmen hated the way Josh used super as an adjective and hated that she was not hot, funny or super sweet.

"Where should I take her? Maybe Italian or Chinese." Carmen needed him to leave now before she burst into tears.

"I do not care where you take her? She probably does not care either. She is probably only after your good looks just like Mel or Sarah who stayed in your life for one night then left." Carmen `s temper won, her good side disappeared as she opened her mouth and was shocked at her words, Josh had been hurt by those girls and now she was bringing them up. Carmen had lashed out at Josh because he had hurt her and now she had hurt him. Josh was also shocked but unlike Carmen, he did not have a temper. He stared at her then replied calmly.

"Carmen, you could at least meet her before judging her and there is no reason to be mean." He said this and each word dropped like a weight between them. Carmen could barely choke back the tears, Josh was disappointed by her lack of response and now Carmen would not know how the date went. Josh would ignore her for a couple of days. Carmen was shocked to realise she was so jealous that she was upset she would not know how the date went. She buried her head deeper in the pillow and heard Josh stumble downstairs before she let the tears fall.

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Tibby smiled as she looked through the course manual. Tibbys course was unusual and for the summer, she had to come up with a movie. She had been pondering on what to do for days and still no inspiration came. Brian had plenty of ideas but none of them suited her mood for this movie. Her tutor had said her work was good but that she stayed in the same area. Tibby needed to explore and she was not good at exploring. She needed something new.

Tibby glanced up at the plant; it was full of new life. Her mom had bought it for her to brighten up her room. She never fed it, Brian always did and on this morning, it reminded her of a cheesy chick flick she had watched with Carmen where the girl had bought the boy a plant and said it was a symbol of their love. Tibby supposed the plant could be a symbol of love, love grew and it also needed food and water in the form of dates, phone calls and emails. Tibby had never considered doing a movie about love but now it seemed a good idea, she had never done one before and not just any love movie, it would be one based on a plant. Tibby pulled out her laptop and looked at some of her pictures and it came to her, her parents had come from an age of flowers and plants and hippies. Maybe her parents growing love could be compared to the growth of a plant. Tibby knew that videos and pictures of her parent's teenage years and first love existed in the attic under clouds of dust. Maybe it was time for those dusty movies to be given a new life.

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Bee was on a field which was not unusual and she was with Eric which was not unusual either. They were racing around the field, Eric was faster but he always let Bee come close before he took the victory. After this, they were helping Perry to move boxes and then Bee was going to visit Greta for two nights. She would miss Eric but then again she always did and Eric, he was one love sick guy, he left her about a thousand messages a day and Bee always replied just before he went insane for not getting a reply. She pushed herself to run faster and laughed as Eric beat her yet again to the finish line. Bee hated coming second place except when it was to Eric at which case it was perfectly fine as he always comforted her. Bee adored his comfort. Smiling, she noted that Lena would be at the airport now.

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