The 4th Summer, Bridget Style
Chapter 1: Following your heart
Bridget never made a plan that couldn't be changed. It had been said of her so many times. So this summer, the fourth summer with the pants. Bridget's plans were going to change. The initial plan was for Bridget and her three best, childhood friends to spend the entire summer together on a low budget, college students didn't have a lot of money after all. School was over April 25th for her, but she was staying in res. another three days so she and Lena could drive back together.
Bridget and Lena had stayed exceptionally close over the past eight months. They tried to meet for dinner once a month and talked constantly. Lena Kaligaris, probably the quietest and most reserved member of their group had blossomed in her time away from home.
Lena Kaligaris, Bridget Vreeland and their two best friends Tibby (Tabitha) Rollins and Carmen Lowell had been friends since before birth and until this year, Bridget had thought that they needed each other for everything, but she had realized this year, that as important as her three friends were, there were other people that could influence her life just as deeply. For example, her roommate Aisha. Aisha and Bridget had thought, at the beginning that they were very badly matched. Aisha was a ballerina. She had applied to Julliard, but Brown had offered her a full scholarship, so obviously she'd accepted. She was a sweet, popular history major with exceptionally high grades. Unlike her three "best" friends, who just wanted to let Bridget be herself, Aisha taught her that sometimes following her dreams was the wrong thing to do and spontaneity isn't the best course of action.
Bridget had always followed her heart, and her heart had gotten her into tons of trouble. It was her heart that had made her pursue Eric. It was her heart, shattered by Eric, that had forced her to quit soccer. She had followed her heart to Alabama, where she met Billy, and started to play soccer again. She'd also met Greta there, and learned all the terrible truths about Marly. She never called Marly her mother anymore. She really never had been. A mother was supposed to be there. Marly never was. Alabama was a place of new beginnings. She had lived a year, depressed. No longer the outgoing "Bee" that everyone had grown to love, so when a chance came up she dug the little bit of the old "Bee" that was left and changed her plans. She took off for Alabama, following her heart for the first time in months. In Alabama her heart ran her.
So now Bridget knew that following her heart had done a lot of good, but it had also done a lot of harm. She realized that her heart had gotten her into way more awkward situations than she'd ever wanted. She was growing up. She needed to be sensible.
