AN: Thanks again for the review...I hope the story is still enjoyable. I had written a few chapters which have all been posted, but now I'm back to needing to write new chapters again before I can post anything. Hopefully it'll be up by tomorrow at the latest, I'm a little busy this afternoon, but I can always write whilst sat on the bus. Anyway...please review! :)

Chapter Seven - The Reaction

I woke up to the sound of Carmen shouting. I glanced at the clock, which read 2 am. I stretched, yawned and rolled over, wondering whether I'd imagined it, until she shouted again.

"I will not calm down Lena. Bridget is a lesbian, she lied to us her whole life."

Lena's voice was quieter, but equally distressed. "Will you please keep your voice down or you'll wake her up. Bridget discovered something new about herself, did you really expect her to come tell us as soon as she realised? And she's bisexual, not lesbian."

"Yes," Carmen snapped.

"No you don't," Lena sighed.

Carmen sighed and there was silence.

"Tibby?" Lena whispered. "Have you got anything to say?"

"No," she muttered in response.

I got out of bed and clung to the back of the door, hugging it with one ear against the wood to hear better. They were analysing their feelings on me and though I felt bad to be listening to their discussion, I knew it might have been the only way to know how they really felt.

"Tibby, don't stay on the fence with this," Carmen snapped. "If you're mad, you should say you're mad."

I could hear Tibby clear her throat in an awkward, nervous way.

"I'm not mad," she stated. I imagined Carmen's face turning to disappointment at the news that noone was on her side, until Tibby spoke up again.

"But I can't get my head around it. I always knew Bee was a passionate person, passionate about life and the people in it. I never expected any of those people to be gay or for Bee to be gay back."

A long silenced followed, a few coughs, some deep breaths, but mostly an awkward, standstill silence.

"Maybe we should sleep on it." Tibby offered. "Carmen you need to get through your anger, it was a shock, sure. But she's still Bee, even if it will take some getting used to. Lena, I commend your acceptance of it, but come on, you can't be that okay, that quickly. This changes things, whether we want it to or not."

I wanted to cry; I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I wanted more than anything to go out there and hug Tibby for her wonderful honesty. But I knew I couldn't let them know I'd heard, not yet at least. I climbed back into bed and tried to fall back to sleep, but my friends thoughts kept running through my mind until finally the apartment was quiet and the sun peeped through the gap in the curtains. A new day was beginning and maybe a new chapter of my life.

-

I finally climbed out of bed and wandered into the living area. I jumped on sight of Carmen sat on the sofa, staring into space in front of her. I walked over and sat down, cautiously.

"Carm?" I asked, unsurely.

She turned to face me, her face red from tears. I bent my head to the side and gave her a sympathetic, but curious glare. Her mouth curled into a smile and she wrapped her arms around my back.

"I'm so sorry Bee," she sobbed.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not," she cried. "I was awful to you, I made it sound like I didn't accept you as you are. But it's not that. I was just mad that you didn't tell us."

"I'm mad at me for that too," I whispered, resting my head against Carmen's. "It wasn't easy for me keeping it from you. I wanted to tell you so many times."

"But we're the Sisterhood…the four of us," she mumbled.

I laughed a little. "Exactly. How could I change that when it's so special?!"

We sat in silence, content with having found peace between us, until Lena and Tibby stumbled out of their bedrooms on after the other. Lena came out first and almost threw herself at us in hugs, glad that we'd sorted things out. When Tibby appeared, she was still cautious and unsure. I watched her greet the room in a mumbled sentence and make herself some cereal. Lena was fine, Carmen was getting there and Tibby, well Tibby wasn't as far along as the others. She didn't say it out loud, but I knew her little speech the night before was more to gather her thoughts than to persuade the others that things were okay. She ate in silence and made an excuse, before leaving the apartment. Carmen and Lena shared a look of sorrow that summed up everything I felt about their reactions. Maybe I'd always hoped for them to be happy like Lena, or get mad, but only at the lack of truth, like Carmen. I hadn't anticipated any of them to react the way Tibby had.