Chapter 2

Bridget slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and glanced excitedly around the room. Her feet tapped out a little impatience dance on the carpeted floor. Where was everybody? They should have been here by now… Bridget fumbled for her cell phone. Then there was a loud thunk and something fell on top of her.

"BEE!" squealed Carmen. "Oh my God, I can't believe how much older you look!" She gave Bridget a crushing bear hug. Bridget hugged back.

"I can't believe it's only been a year-" Bridget began, then something fell on Carmen and Bridget fell over again.

"CARMEN! BEE!" screamed Tibby. "Where have you guys been? We thought you were dead!" she exclaimed. Lena stood about a foot away, preferring not to jump on people to show affection.

"Were we supposed to meet at Carousel 6 or 16?" giggled Bridget.

"6? 16? I was waiting at 12!" smiled Carmen.

"We were waiting at 16," Lena said. "And Tibby started to freak out."

Everybody laughed. Bridget felt incredibly happy and loved.

"So let's pile into the chuck wagon, shall we?" Carmen asked, pointed to her red car outside.

"But stop piling on me!" gasped Bridget.

Later on, the four girls were sitting in the tiny Honda driving to Bethesda.

"So I started working on my first major film," Tibby exclaimed. "It's computer animated."

"Move over, Pixar! Here comes Tibby!" Bridget teased.

"Don't worry, it sucks," Tibby assured. "I hate my teacher. But he said I had a good thing going with my filmmaking."

"How's art school?" Carmen asked Lena, who was staring out the window.

"Oh. It's going great. The scholarship was a real blessing." Lena replied. She continued to stare out the window.

"What's wrong, Lenny?" asked Bridget.

Lena fiddled with the pockets of her khakis. "Nothing. I'm just worried about next year. Art school was harder than I thought." This was awfully suspicious, but Bridget asked no further questions.

"What about you, Bee?" asked Tibby. "How's Brown?"

"Awesome. I just tried out for the National Women's Soccer Team. It is SO going to rock if I get in."

"You'll get in, Bee. We know you." Carmen grinned.

"Hey Carmen, was your Williams dream worth pursuing?" Tibby challenged.

"Oh yeah," Carmen said, absentmindedly. The car jerked to a stop as Carmen pulled up Tibby's driveway.

"TIBBY!" Two little voices, followed by two little bodies, came flying down the driveway.

"Nicky! Katherine! Hi guys! Boy, are you, um, big!" Tibby exclaimed, stepping out of the car and grabbing her bags from the trunk. She gave them a big hug.

"Remember Tibs! 2:00 at Gilda's tonight!"

"Got it! See you guys!" Tibby waved.

The little red car drove on.

"Bee, we're stopping at your place next. Is anybody home?"

"Well, I know my dad will be. Perry is staying at Harvard for summer classes. It's so lonely at home."

"How's Aisha Lennox?" Lena asked. "I remember you told me about her when you found out she was your roommate. You thought she had a cool name."

"God, Lena, you have a good memory. Anyway, she's awesome. Really smart and pretty."

"Oh. Okay."

"Is Win going to meet you at your house?" Bridget said.

Carmen blushed.

"Oh, Carmi, don't worry," Lena laughed. "Just be glad YOUR family isn't throwing you a gigantic homecoming party."

"Yikes, Lenny," Bridget giggled.

"It can't be that bad, Lena," Carmen consoled.

"Two words: Backyard Barbecue."

"Well, in that case it's completely different. Bee-bee, we're here!"

Bridget stepped out of the car and snatched up her duffel bag.

"No homecoming for me, girls. I'll see you at Gilda's tonight."

"Two o' clock," reminded Carmen.

"Gotcha. See you then!" Bridget rang her doorbell and Carmen pulled out of the driveway.

As they drove away, Carmen flipped on the radio.

"So Lenny, tell me more about this homecoming party."

"They're going to invite all their friends, Effie's friends, the cousins, aunts, uncles and clients. Oh yeah. And everybody's children. The backyard is going to be a zoo."

"You're incredibly lucky, Lena. Hey! I just remembered. Ryan will be a year old this summer. Oh my God, how could I forget?"

"We're here, Carmen."

"Oh! Yes, sorry. Here you go Lena. See you tonight! Good luck!"

"Thanks for the drive, bye Carmi!"

Lena pulled her suitcase from the trunk and walked to the door. Carmen pretended to drive away, but was really staying to watch the action. Lena rang the doorbell.

A flood of people poured out the front door and clustered so close around Lena that Carmen lost sight of her. There must have been 50 of them.

"WELCOME HOME LENA!" they screamed.

Carmen snickered and drove away. Now it was time for her to go home. She wondered if they had changed at all. The only one she had seen in the past year was Win, who came out every other weekend and on major holidays. She parked the car in the underground lot, and then took the elevator up to the fifth floor. Anxiously, she walked to Apartment #523. She knocked on the old, smelly door. She remembered that door, and its useless knocker that nobody used. Christina opened it.

"Nena! It's you! She hugged Carmen so tightly that Carmen thought she might stop breathing. "Come inside, come inside, Win is here. He's come to see you. You must see Ryan, the little darling. Quickly, come inside."

Carmen came inside. David was sitting on the sofa with Win and Ryan. Ryan was gurgling happily and drooling on a leather pillow.

"Hi Carmi," Win said, jumping up from the sofa and giving her a big kiss.

"Hello Carmen," smiled David, shaking her hand and giving her a quick hug.

"Want to meet Ryan?" asked Christina eagerly, holding Ryan up by his waist.

"Ah-go-bah!" shrieked Ryan giddily, waving his hands in the air. He was awfully cute.

"Well, you don't say," replied Carmen. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"Nena, I made you dinner," Christina said, gesturing to a fancily set table with heaps of taco shells, ground beef, peppers, and cheese. "Ben & Jerry's for dessert."

"It's great to be home, mom," said Carmen, hugging her mom again.

"It's great to have you home, Carmen," said Win. "Hey-can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure Win," replied Carmen.

"In private."

"Oh. Sure."

Win took Carmen by the hand and led her into her old room.

"To celebrate your homecoming-" he paused, "would you like to go to the Bethesda Yacht Club tomorrow?"

Carmen gasped. "Seriously? But it's impossible to get reservations-"

He eyed her anxiously.

"Of course!" she screamed, and gave him a huge hug and kiss.

Lena stood in the crowded backyard. She could not believe her parents. There were too many people here. All she wanted to do was crawl into a dark hole. Effie and her newest boyfriend, Josh, were making out on the tree stump. 10 or 11 children were having a water fight in the pool, and various people Lena didn't know milled around, burgers and beer in hand. It may have been Lena's homecoming party, but Lena didn't feel at home at all. She wished she was back at RISD. She hadn't told anyone, but in a week she was driving back up to Rhode Island with Paul Rodman.

"Hey Lena! Get over here!" hollered Effie, who had stopped kissing Josh and was now surrounded by a crowd of teenagers. "They want to see your artwork."

Lena stopped in her tracks. "No way, Effie. NO way."

"But come on Lena, they loved that picture you did of those pants you have."

Lena was shocked. Shocked and utterly flattened. Words could only come out one at a time.

"You…took…my…drawing?"

"Yeah," Effie scanned Lena's face. "Is that okay?"

"NO!" Lena screamed. Everybody in the yard stopped talking and stared at her. "Effie. That is MINE! That is VERY important to me!"

"Whoa, chill Lena," said Effie. "It's just a picture."

"No, it's not! It's-" She stopped, not believing herself. Here she was, not an hour from arrival, and she was throwing a temper tantrum.

"You can have it back if you really want," muttered Effie. "Here."

She handed the picture to Lena, who grabbed it and ran into the house. The minute she stepped inside, she stopped. Tears streamed down her face as she raced to her old room. She longed for its comfort.

When she opened her door, the tears came even faster. Because it wasn't her room anymore. All her things were gone, replaced by a sewing machine and a sofa. Lena threw herself down on the sofa and let the tears flow. She didn't care anymore.

"Hey, um, Lena?" said a voice, coming from the door.

"What?" she mumbled.

"It's me, Ari," said the voice. Ari sat down on the sofa beside Lena. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I know how much that drawing means to you. Please just-" Lena studied the lines on Ari's face. "Come back outside."

She gave Lena a big hug. "Effie's gone to Burger King with all her friends."

Lena grinned and got up. She wiped the tears off her face. Thank God for Burger King.

Tibby sat at the head of the dining room table.

"We're having a fancy dinner tonight, Tibby!" smiled Katherine. "For you because you're here!"

"Tomato and Basil Spaghetti," Tibby's mom provided.

"Yucky," exclaimed Nicky, pounding on the table and pulling something large, green, and fluffy out from under his chair.

"Tibby, this is my turtle! He can wiggle, and go inside his shell!" Nicky shrieked. "Look! Look!" He held up the turtle puppet for Tibby to see. Tibby examined it. It was very cute, but she didn't say so because it smelled a wee bit like cat poop.

"Nicky, no toys at the dinner table," said Mrs. Rollins. She glanced apologetically at Tibby. Tibby said nothing. But she smiled.

"Brian is coming over tomorrow, you know," Mr. Rollins provided.

Tibby's smile grew wider. She hadn't seen Brian since Easter. She was looking forward to seeing him again, and she didn't look forward to many things.

"So how's the Sisterhood?" asked Tibby's mom.

"Great," said Tibby, not knowing what else to say. "We're doing the Pants inauguration tonight." She smiled even more and touched the tiny, silver pants charm on her ponytail.

"Really? Well, Ari and Christina and I were planning to do something similar. Traveling Shoes."

Tibby guffawed. "Did you seriously find a pair of shoes to fit all three of you?"

She shrugged. "Nope. We went out and bought matching shoes in different sizes."

Nicky thrust his turtle puppet down. "Mommy! I wanna' be in a sisterhood!"

Tibby put her hand on Nicky's shoulder. "I'm afraid you can't, Nickster."

"What about turtle? Can he be in a sisterhood?"

Mrs. Rollins guffawed this time. Tibby choked on her water.

"Why not Mommy?"

Mrs. Rollins grinned. "It's a girl thing, Nicky." She winked at Tibby.

"I'm a girl! Can I be in a sisterhood?" Catherine asked pleadingly.

"No! And that's quite enough about sisterhoods!" Mr. Rollins slammed down his drinking glass.

The meal went on, and despite Mr. Rollins's angry words, the smile remained on her face.

Bridget chucked her duffel bag on her bed and glanced around gleefully. Everything was still there. "There's enough space in this house," her dad had said. "Your and Perry's rooms are still intact." His words were true. Her cruddy little "I Heart Soccer!" poster remained on her wall, along with countless pictures of Eric. Seeing as there was nothing to do until her dad took her to Pizza Hut in three hours, she decided to kill sometime checking her e-mail. She sat down at her desk and flicked on the computer.

"You have 392 new messages!" it squealed.

"Darn," mumbled Bridget. She deleted all the e-mail that had come during the year, plus spam. There was a quick note that came from Eric. She clicked on it.

"Hi Bee,

Hope you got home safe! How goes the sisterhood? It's been, what, four years now? Anyway, talk to you later.

Love,

Eric."

She grinned and whacked the "Reply" button.

"Hey Eric,

I got home fine. The plane ride was quick and painless. The airport was not. First, this weird dude tried to confiscate my cell phone. He couldn't speak English. And then when I met Lena, Carmen, and Tibby, they all dogpiled on me. LOL How's Columbia? C-ya!

Love,

Bee-bee."

She sent it, then glanced at her watch. It had taken a full 45 minutes to sift through her inbox and answer Eric's e-mail. She sighed with boredom and thought about her choices. She could a) eat, b) sleep, c) play some stupid game on the internet. She chose choice c.