The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares Read Free Book Online Page B

to be writing a letter from a faraway place, and then I thought, well, hey, just because we can e-mail and call and see each other all we want this summer doesn’t meant I can’t write a letter from a near place, does it? That’s not exactly a felony, is it?
    So, Lenny, I know it’s not like last summer. You don’t miss me, because you saw me several times yesterday and then I blabbed you into a near coma last night. But even though you are about to see me and possibly yell at me for being late (again), I can still take this opportunity to tell you that you are the best, greatest, awesomest Lenny ever and I love you a lot. So go crazy in these Pants, chickadee.
    Carmen Electrifying



 
    L ena didn’t go crazy in the Pants. The first day she left them at home in her room on top of the pile of letters from Kostos. The second day she wore them to work, got reprimanded by Mrs. Duffers, and had to take them off before lunchtime. She left them on the chair in the back of the store, where a customer saw them and tried to buy them.
    Her heart was still pounding from the horror of that experience when Effie strode in. It was closing time, and Lena hadn’t finished cleaning out the fitting rooms.
    “So guess who called today?” Effie demanded.
    “Who?” Lena hated Effie’s guessing games, especially when she was tired.
    “Guess.” Effie followed her back to the fitting rooms.
    “No!”
    Effie looked sour. “Fine.
Fine
.” She cast her eyes upward for patience. “Grandma. I talked to her.”
    “You did?” Lena stopped picking up clothes. “How is she? How’s Bapi?”
    “They’re great. They had a big anniversary party in the old restaurant last month. The whole town was there.”
    “Ohhh.” Lena could picture it. Her mind drifted slowly to Fira, to the view of the Caldera from the terrace of the restaurant her grandparents owned. “That’s so nice,” she said distantly. Picturing the harbor of course made her picture Kostos. Picturing Kostos gave her that zoomy feeling in the bottom of her abdomen.
    Lena cleared her throat and resumed gathering clothing. “How are the Dounases?” she asked evenly.
    “Good.”
    “Yeah?” Lena didn’t want to ask about Kostos outright.
    “Sure. Grandma said Kostos brought a girl from Ammoudi to the party.”
    Lena tried very hard not to move her face one single millimeter.
    Effie’s eyebrows went down. “Lenny, why do you look like that?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Like . . . that.” Effie pointed at Lena’s tight, miserable face. “You’re the one who broke up with
him
.”
    “I know.” Lena bumped her foot spasmodically against the mirror. “Your point being . . . ?” Lena needed to play stupid. Otherwise she might cry.
    “I don’t get you. If you feel this way, why did you break up with him?” Effie asked, not seeming to care that they weren’t having the same conversation.
    “Feel what way? How do you know I feel any which way?” Lena asked. She began sorting pants by size.
    Effie shook her head, as though Lena were a hopeless and pitiable moron. “If it makes you feel better, Grandma doesn’t like the girl he brought.”
    Lena pretended very hard not to care about that.
    “And she also said, and I quote, ‘Dis girl is not nearly as boootiful as Lena.’”
    Lena kept up with the pretending.
    “Does that make it any better?” Effie wheedled.
    Lena shrugged, impassive.
    “So I said, ‘Grandma, that girl probably didn’t break up with him for no reason.’”
    Lena threw the clothes down. “Forget it,” she stated. “You are not getting a ride to work.”
    “Lenny! You promised!” Effie said. “Besides, what do you care? I thought you said you didn’t care.”
    Effie always won. Always.
    “I
don’t
care,” Lena mumbled babyishly.
    “So drive me to work like you promised.” Effie was a genius at turning a favor into an obligation.
    The sky had turned so dark Lena couldn’t believe it wasn’t nighttime. Cradling the Pants in