“We listened,” Bunny reminds me. “Will you listen, too?”
“I’ll try.” I’m painfully aware that this was all that Mat asked of me: to try. I didn’t do it then. But here, with my sisters, maybe I can now.
“We could tell you that none of what you described is true.” Ari grips my hand. “That Bunny and I feel like the most pathetic freshmen to have ever attended Wash U.”
“We could also tell you why we love you,” Bunny chimes in, without missing a beat. They’re so in sync that sometimes I wonder if they plan their speeches ahead of time. But how could they, this time, when they didn’t know what I was going to say?
“We don’t love you because you’re copies of us, and it’s certainly not because you obey,” Bunny continues. “Which, frankly, I’m not so sure you’re that great at anyway. Remember the time you took my strappy sandals and colored in the clear heel with a black Sharpie?”
“Not my fault,” I protest. “That was during my Frozen stage, and you would not stop bragging about your icicle shoes. I wanted icicle shoes like Elsa, too.”
“Girls,” Ari warns. “Not the point.”
“Right,” Bunny says, her lips twitching. “Where was I? Oh yes. We love you because you’re you, Winnie. People like being around you. You make people smile and laugh. You have this uncanny ability to make others feel like the best version of themselves. That’s why people gravitate toward you. Our whole family, we all revolve around you. You’re the glue. The very core.”
“But that’s not something we can tell you,” Ari adds. “Or at least, we can, because we just did. But it’s something that will sink in only when you believe it yourself. That’s why I’ve always liked Mat, you know. With him, you always seem more confident. More you.”
I pull my hands from their grasp. Not because I don’t want their support but because our palms are getting sweaty. “That could take forever. The whole believing-in-myself bit.”
“Well, yeah,” Bunny says. “I mean, look at me. I know I seem like the ever-wise older sister—”
Ari nudges me and pretends to gag. I stifle a giggle.
“But don’t forget, I’m only twenty months older than you and six minutes older than Ari. I’m a work in progress, too.”
“Thank you for that, O humble one,” Ari says with an exaggerated eye roll. She turns back to me. “The key is to surround ourselves with people who will help us become the person we want to be. That includes people who encourage us to take steps in the right direction.”
I chew on the inside of my cheek, not convinced.
Bunny shoots to her feet. I recognize the brisk movement, the decisive action. This is the mannerism she adopts when she’s about to take charge. “Do you love our parents, Winnie?”
“Of course I do.”
“This is the same lecture I’ve been giving Ari all week,” she says. “If you love them, you have to give them a little credit. Give them the chance to prove you wrong, to show that they’ve been growing and adapting right alongside us.” She takes a deep breath. “Maybe this is both your and Ari’s chance to clear the air.”
“What do you mean?” I ask. “What does Ari have to come clean about?”
Bunny and I both look at Ari, who seems to be trying to fold in on herself. “Oh, um. You remember how Bunny was being totally outrageous at Family Breakfast, because she was trying to set the stage, in case I decided to confess?”
“When, Ari,” my other sister interjects. “For when you decided to confess.”
“I didn’t actually make up my mind until this very moment.” Ari straightens, her shoulders unfurling like the petals of a flower. That’s when I remember that she met someone, too. Someone unexpected. “What do you think, Winnie? I can be brave if you can. Want to do this together?”
I’m still not sure what Ari’s secret is. But I know one thing. Everything is easier—and better—with my sisters.
“Okay,” I say reluctantly.
We come together in a group hug, and that’s when I realize that Mat was wrong about one thing, at least. My sisters may cast a long shadow, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing for me to linger in their shade.
I don’t have to hide there. Instead, I can seek refuge. I can admit my insecurities. I can bolster my true self so that when I finally emerge, into the light, I am that much closer