Chapter Six: Bridget

You must be the change you want to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi

Bridget stared at the ring on her finger. She couldn’t help it. She kept peeking at it, sneaking nervous glances towards it. She was pretty sure some of the passengers were starting to think she was crazy, or obsessive-compulsive, or both.

Not that she cared.

She was going to get married to Eric! She felt like screaming with happiness, but refrained from doing so and in turn causing panic and alarm throughout the plane.

Still, it was pretty much the best thing that had happened to her. She hadn’t even gotten the chance to call Carmen, Lena, or Tibby yet, but promised herself she would do it the minute she landed in Baja.

For this trip, she’d booked a flight. Once she reached Baja, she’d take a bus the rest of the way there, to the soccer camp. She was excited, so excited, to set foot on that soil again,

Truthfully, Bridget hadn’t properly played soccer in over a year. Yes, for the first three years of university, she had played on the girls’ team. However, at the beginning of her last year, she had to drop out to focus on her studies. Sure, Coach was disappointed, but he understood how important it was to her to graduate with the top marks in the class.

Bridget leaned back in her seat, glad nobody was behind her to complain that she was “invading their personal space” or “bothering them”. She smiled, still absentmindedly turning the ring on her hand around and around.

It felt so good, the cool metal. She couldn’t wait for this summer to begin. She wasn’t sure what she was more eager to do; to get to camp, to see Eric again, or to get married.

Perry and her Father both knew – at least, she’d seen the surprised look on her father’s face when he saw the ring, and how it changed to approval when he realized it was from Eric – and Perry had congratulated her in an awkward sort of way. Even though he was now getting out of the house more, and getting a job, he was still unfamiliar with certain aspects of the social world, romance being one of them.

And Eric – he’d been the best. After their romantic dinner, they’d gone to his lofty apartment and made love. It had been different this time than the many others. This time, it felt like they were finalizing something. Like they were signing a contract; one that said they were finally going to be together.

Bridget smiled as she thought of the way his fingers made her skin tingle, her body shiver, her heart speed up –

No. You cannot start having fantasies about your boyfriend on an airplane, she commanded herself strictly. These few weeks were going to be absolutely Eric-free. She wasn’t going to allow herself to miss him, or to want him, or to even spend a second thinking about him, about their relationship, or about their wedding. Once she was done in Baja, she’d see him again. They’d kiss and hug and make up for everything that they’d missed, and it would all be okay.

But she was most certainly not going to act like one of those lovesick fools, the one Carmen had once accused her of being. She wasn’t going to gush about Eric, or talk about him to everyone, or brag how lovely he was. If anyone asked, she’d tell them minimal information.

In short, she wasn’t going to allow herself to get sucked into the pit of no return.

Bridget leaned forward in her seat, looking out the window, down at the tarmac. By the looks of it, they had a good ten minutes or so until take-off.

She needed to call someone.

Tibby was most likely getting ready to fly across the country. Bridget wasn’t mad at her for stuffing her plans upon them in the last second. In fact, she almost respected Tibby for taking that wild leap. Then again, it wasn’t really a surprise. Tibby often took wild leaps – especially without thinking – and landed in hot, sticky situations.

She didn’t even know Lena’s number, and since their conservative, smart, un-technological friend didn’t use her cell phone – but rather borrowed Effie’s in a time of need – her only choice left was Carmen.

“Hey, it’s Carma,” Carmen responded after the first ring.

“Hi. It’s Bee. My plane’s leaving soon, but I needed to talk to you.”

“Sure. About what?” Carmen asked casually.

Bridget took a deep breath. No. Do not tell her about the wedding, the ring, or anything about Eric.

“!” Bridget blurted out before she could stop herself.

“Are you kidding me?!” Carmen yelled out in surprise.

Of course. Only Carmen would have understood that, being the person she was. Carmen had long ago gotten used to Bridget’s nervous fast-talking, as well as the other odd things she did when under stress or pressure.

“Yeah. I’m completely honest.”

“Oh. My. God. First Lena, now you,” Carmen exclaimed.

“What?” Bridget asked, confused. “Lena’s getting married? To who?”

“No, she’s not getting married,” Carmen snapped. “She found the pants.”

Bridget’s breath stopped in her throat.

“She…found…THE PANTS?” she yelled out. Yup, the other passengers definitely thought she was crazy now. They were staring at her like she was high or something. Bridget shot them an embarrassed/apologetic glance.

“Yeah. They were floating in the Mediterranean, in Oia. She fished them out of the water,” Carmen clarified. “She’s going to try sending them to you after the…funeral.”

“Oh,” Bridget said, remembering the initial reason Lena even went back to Greece.

“Yeah. Then they’ll come to Tibby, then to me. Then they’ll go back to Lena again, then to you, then to Tibby…” She trailed off. “You get the point. We each get them once.”

Bridget’s heart filled with excitement. Those things were like a memory – they held moments of their teen years, of them growing up. Bridget smiled.

“So, anyways, why’d you call?” Carmen asked casually.

“I guess I just wanted to talk to someone.”

“So you’re getting married to him, huh? Well, be sure to take a couple of photos of your hand – I want to see the ring.”

Bridget laughed and rolled her eyes. “Will do,” she responded.

They chatted until Bridget heard the announcement over the loudspeaker to shut off all electrical devices and fasten their seatbelts.

She quickly said goodbye to Carmen, then hung up the phone.

Leaning back in her seat, she smiled up politely as the attendant came by to check her seatbelt, not really paying attention to anything around her.

Lena had found the pants. Bridget wasn’t going to waste a summer missing Eric – she was going to waste one having fun.

That was a promise. And Bridget made sure she never broke promises.

The plane landed with a familiar jolt in her stomach, a feeling she personally loved experiencing.

Bridget sat back in her seat, allowing all the other impatient people to exit the plane first. She wasn’t in a rush anywhere, so she may as well enjoy her first few minutes in Baja.

When she finally did exit the plane, and after going through all the necessary procedures – baggage, security check, etc. – she exited the airport. Out front, there was supposed to be a big yellow car, a taxi that would take her to the bus station, where the colorful bus would then drive her over to the camp grounds.

Bridget took in a deep breath of the fresh air. A million memories came back to her – several involving Eric – so she shook her hand involuntarily and tried to get her mind off him.

It was almost like she was supposed to be thinking about him or something. At least, that was how it seemed.

"Bridget," she said as the man reached to take her bags from her hands. "Bridget…” she paused for a second, unsure of what to say. “Bridget Vreeland.”

Soon to be Richman, she said, only to herself.

No. You will not think of Eric.

For a while, she managed. As she got into the taxi, she smiled at the scenery. It had been different last time, and as she hadn’t come via airplane, she’d had no time to appreciate the beauty of Mexico. Or, rather, of the airport in Baja California in Mexico.

Same difference.

Bridget watched in amazement as the countryside rushed by.

There were trees, fields, hills, and so many people. Dressed vibrantly, in colors Bridget had never seen before, in clothing she’d never learned about, speaking to others in words she could only imagine.

And then, they were at the bus station. It seemed like the ride had been hours long; the clock confirmed it was only fifteen minutes. Too short, she told herself. Too short.

She wanted to learn about as much as Baja as she could. Everything she couldn’t learn about before.

She practically jumped onto the bus. Finally, she was on her way to camp! Bridget quickly walked to the back of the bus, and set herself in an empty seat, next to a guy who was sleeping. She set her bag on the floor and smiled at him.

She did a double-take. He looked exactly like Eric. Well, minus the whole broodingly-sexy thing. This guy was more skaterboy-ish, with a hat on his head to prove it. She appreciated the fact he had enough class to wear a freshly ironed pair of jeans, rather than the ratty soccer shorts most boys here were sporting.

He snored lightly and yawned. Then he opened his eyes, rubbing them lightly. Bridget politely looked away, pretending she wasn’t staring.

“Hey,” he said with a friendly smile. “You must be the other coach.”

Bridget squinted her eyebrows. The other coach? That was weird – she’d been under the impression she was the only coach here. Besides, this guy barely looked older than seventeen. Surely he couldn’t be qualified to coach.

“I’m Jordan Rivers,” he said, extending a friendly hand towards her. Bridget smiled politely and shook it.

“Bridget Vreeland,” she replied, feeling her heart flutter lightly when his blue eyes, so similar to Eric’s, crinkled at the edges to form his smile. He reminded her of Eric when they’d first met. Young, cute, and innocent, both had more in common than she’d imagined at first. Even the way he smiled seemed similar.

Come on Bridget. Don’t get carried away.

Ah yes, there was that little mental voice that always liked to pop up to give her back her sense. Sometimes she wondered what she’d do without it.

“So, what do you play?” he casually asked, and Bee found herself lost in their conversation about the game. Maybe this would be easier than she thought.

They arrived at the camp in about an hour. Bridget waved goodbye to Jordan, with whom she'd spent most of the bus ride, arguing about positions and plays and who was the greatest soccer player in the world.

She headed to the girls area of the camp. About a year ago, Baja had extended the camps grounds to allow boys to come as well. Since the program was so popular, they'd wanted to diversify. This was one of the main reasons they'd built two extra sections - cabins for girls, and cabins for boys - to keep privacy and peace in the camp.

She'd caught a few admiring stares from some of the campers passing by her. Bridget wondered whether things would have been different if the camp had been co-ed when she'd been here. Would she really have felt the need to have a fling with Eric, or would she have found some other guy, someone she would have been able to build a relationship with and not end up hurt?

As they stared, she felt some sort of pride in the ring she was wearing on her finger. If any guy tried to hit on her, after all, she'd be able to just pull it out and flash it at them, and they'd back away.

Bridget found her cabin easily - 121 - and she set her things on the ground. The cabins were large - there were only six, one for each team, and each could sport about twelve girls plus a coach in it - and there was plenty of room in them. She laid out her clothing neatly and began unpacking. And then the girls barged in.

They came in like a tornado. Six of them, at the same time. All blonde. They introduced themselves quickly - Mara, Brittany, Lynnsey, Ashley, Taylor, and Christina - with their squeaky high voices, and flipped their hair over their shoulders like a professional model. Bridget smiled at them warmly, wondering whether she'd been like this back then.

Four more barged in after that, although these girls carried more normal names - Rachel, Lisa, Noelle, and Janey - and they had no hair flipping. They were all dressed in jeans, and she was relieved to find no twenty-four karat gold-diamond jewellry on them. Then, behind them, barged in a small Asian girl. She introduced herself as Manny Chu - half Portugeuse, half Chinese - and was bouncing a soccer ball in her hands. And finally, to top it all off, a slightly clumsy brunette ran into the room. "Samantha Lee Rogers," she introduced herself, and Bridget ignored the snickers of the other girls, "but you can call me Sonny."

"All right girls, now that you're all here, let me introduce myself. I'm Bridget Vreeland, and I'm your coach for the summer. I came here as a kid myself, about eight years ago. I love soccer more than anything, and I hope you do too. I expect all of you to have fun this summer." She caught one of the blonde girls - was it Mara? Or Lynnsey? She couldn't tell - roll her eyes, and was about to tell her off when the PA system went on.

"All campers report to the dining hall for initiation! I repeat, all campers to the dining hall!" Bridget sighed to herself and smiled. The summer was finally beginning.

And it was going to be awesome.

AN: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You guys are awesome, and thanks for being so patient.

Okay, so I realize I've been MIA for about five months. I actually have a reason, so don't start killing me yet!

1. In about the middle of July, my best friend's dad passed away. As you can imagine, it was pretty hard to write. I spent alot of time on the phone consoling her, and I really didn't feel like typing anything. So if it makes you feel any better about me not updating, I had a crappy summer.

2. In mid-September, when I finally decided to start writing something again, my NEW laptop (which I'd gotten for school but was using to write instead of doing homework, so sue me) broke down. It took the stupid people at HP almost a month to figure out that something was wrong with the harddrive thingy, and they had to erase all the memory, which means I lost the second half of this chapter, which I'd completed about a week earlier. Then, my mom put my USB in the washer a week ago (don't worry, its okay) and I decided to go through it to check if everything was okay. I found this, and remembered I haven't updated in a long time, and finally decided to do it!

Thanks for all the support and for being sooooooooo patient. You guys all deserve to get an Edward Cullen/Jacob Black/Jasper Hale/Chace Crawford/insert any other random guy here from Santa for Christmas! I love you all, and please review!!! :)