3. Thank God For The Sisters
A honk from a Honda Civic awoke Ana. She glanced at her clock. 11:30. Crap! she thought, and sprung out of bed so fast that she tripped over the sheets. Today she, Jules, Sophia, and Carson were going shopping for something to keep them together for the summer while they were apart. Their mothers had found a mysterious pair of pants, and she believed that they could find something of the like.
Carson was going to a soccer camp in New Mexico. She was going with her mom, Bridget, but she had to cancel the last minute do to her traveling soccer team championship, which came earlier than expected. Sophia was going to an art school in Italy, some small town by the coast. Ana knew she couldn't wait, since she had an amazing flair for art, like her mother, Lena. Jules was "going to rot this summer" as her mother, Tibby, put it. Tibby herself has said that so many years ago. But she planned on doing something exciting, besides babysitting. Ana herself was going to her grandparent's house for a reunion on her step-grandmother Lydia's side. Her parents, Carmen and Rob, had chosen to stay behind.
Frantic, Ana pulled on a pair of jeans, a tank top, and a jean jacket over it. Her hair didn't look half bad, so she gelled it and grabbed her purse, but checking for money first.
She sped down the stairs faster than she ever had before. And nearly slammed into her mother, spilling her juice down the front of her shirt. "Ana!" Carmen wailed, looking down at her shirt.
"I'm so sorry, Mom!" Ana replied, staring at the shirt. "It's just that I'm in a rush."
"Well if you had set your alarm like I've told you so many times you wouldn't have this problem," Carmen replied, walking into the kitchen. "Remember your school photo? Where are you going with the girls?"
Ana shook her head. "We're taking one last shopping trip before we leave each other," Ana answered, grabbing her sunglasses from the table. "Their outside. I'm late. Bye Mom."
"Bye baby, I love you!" Carmen yelled as Ana shut the front door behind her. Carson, who was at the wheel, the only one with their license, honked the horn twice more. She waved her hands to come on.
Ana sat in the backseat next to Sophia. "What took you so long?" Carson asked, pulling off the curb and roaring down the street.
"Carson that's a stop sign!" Jules cried from the front.
"I see it, I'm not blind," Carson replied, agitated. She turned onto the main road of Bethesda's Little Park housing area. "So what exactly are we looking for?"
"Anything to keep us together for the summer," Ana replied.
"Can't we just right letters and send pictures?" Sophia asked, looking out the window.
"Oh, Soph, you are so old fashioned," Carson wailed playfully, turning onto Bethesda's main shopping boulevard. "We're looking for something fun. To fit us. All of us. And I don't mean a pair of jeans." She gave a look at Ana.
"Let's look at the old vintage store, then," Jules said, pointing to The Magic Lamp, and old vintage store that sold everything from clothes to furniture, after applying some of her new lipgloss. Carson pulled fastly to the curb to parallel park, making Sophia let out a yelp.
"Chill out, Soph," Carson said, as everyone slammed their car doors shut.
Suddenly Ana felt very self-conscious. Everyone made her look, well, bluntly, ugly. Carson's beautiful hair was pulled into two hanging braids by her face. Even when she wore faded denim jeans and a year old soccer hoodie, like today, she still looked gorgeous. Jules was wearing a denim mini skirt, her hair tied up in a messy bun. She looked like a doll. Sophia's full brown hair was pulled half up, and her slim jeans and pretty tunic shirt made her figure dazzling.
The Magic Lamp was and older store, but had long been in business. It smelled of burning rose-smelling candles and old cloth. The store was darker, with a painted sign above the door, and a window with stacks of old antiques and clothes. It was the place Carson liked to shop, especially for her jeans.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" Jules questioned, flipping through a stack of old magazines.
"Anything that screams 'us'," Ana replied, holding up a pair of jeans with a huge hole in the knee. Definitely not. Sophia wouldn't be caught dead wearing those.
"There's a lot to choose from," Carson said, her voice sounding like she was in a closet. "I found a shirt. But it wouldn't fit with Sophia's boobs."
"Carson!" Sophia cried, looking around the room, then down at her chest. "They are not big."
"Only D range," Jules joked.
"You guys are heartless," Ana said, wandering over to the used book sections. After picking a few up, she found a brown leather covered notebook, with only a couple pages written on, mostly grocery lists and to-do lists. A few pages of a burn book. A few confessions to a crush. On the bottom of the cover on the journal, inscribed were the words Thank God For The Sisters. Opening the journal, there was a long list of previous owners under This book belongs too… The second name was Juliet. Ana glanced up. Jules had a feather boa and a hat on and was dancing around like an idiot. Father down the list was the same Sophia Louisa Carson-Flemming in beautiful handwriting. Carson's name and Sophia's name were used. And the last name was Ana P. Her name. Even spelled the same way.
"Guys, I found something," Ana called.
"What is it?" Carson asked, pulling her sweatshirt back on after trying on a shirt. She, Jules, and Sophia walked over, and looked at the worn journal.
"It's gorgeous!" Sophia said, flipping through the pages. "A few written things, but we can erase them."
"Look at the previous owner list," Ana instructed, flipping to the front of the book. They read it silently.
"Our names are all used!" Jules realized. "Oh my God!"
"This is a little freaky if you ask me," Carson said, the journal in her hands.
"What do you guys think?" Ana asked. "Do you guys like it?"
"Not too old fashioned?" Sophia asked sarcastically, looking pointedly over at Carson, who shrugged.
"Nah, I think it's good," Jules said. "We'll all write in it, then pass it on."
"Well, let's get it before we change our minds and kick ourselves for it," Carson said, pulling her wallet out from her back pocket and taking the journal. She took it to the register, everyone following.
"How much?" Carson asked, giving the cashier the journal.
The clerk flipped through it. "Well, since there's writing in it, ah, five bucks."
Everyone dug out their shared amount, and walked out with a new journal to tell one another their tales while apart. "Even the inscription fits," Sophia said. "Isn't that weird?"
"Too weird for words," Carson agreed. She spotted an ice-cream stand on the corner of the street. "Ice cream!" she cried, and ran ahead of the group to get their first.
"To celebrate!" Ana agreed, and they all raced to the stand.