"Girl Braves"
Chapter 1
In Bookish on March 11, 2009 at 4:42 am
I flung the Marlboro Lights onto the dashboard. They skittered across the faded green vinyl then wedged up against the windshield. My shiny metal key slipped snugly into the ignition. The hulking International Scout shook to life, its engine hoarse and raw. It sounded as if metal were eating metal and the whole thing was about to blow.
“Whoa, Tess! It’s gotten louder,” Lisa said.
“You think?” I bellowed.
Our black Labrador-poodle backed away in the driveway, a ridge of fur pricking up on his curly back. The Scout’s commotion swallowed up his scolding barks.
“It’s okay, Robber. Don’t freak,” I called out to the dog.
It was probably against the law for any vehicle to be as loud as the Scout. And decibel level wasn’t the only thing illegal about the boxy, rusted-out jeep. With its five-years’ expired registration and my learner’s permit, requiring an adult to be present whenever I drove, Lisa and I were outlaws on the dirt roads of Crested Butte. This only added to the goose bumps percolating on my forearms. Being at the wheel of my own car — at least for the summer – was a thrill. If we made it out of town without getting busted, we were home free.
Long Before BFF Acronym, Girls Pledged to Love Forever
In teen girls on October 4, 2011 at 8:56 pmA favorite theme in children’s and young adult literature is childhood best-friendship so intense that it inspires a ritual or oath to commemorate it. 
This undying sentiment has been distilled into the texting acronym ‘BFF,’ bestowed on that one and only friend who has earned ‘forever’ status. While some girls may attempt to have more than one BFF, technically by calling someone ‘best’ you are designating an exclusivity only one soul mate can earn.
Authors celebrate the bond of best friends, exploring various ways that children and teens pledge their undying devotion. “Blood Sisters” mingle blood, either by pressing bleeding forefingers together or drinking wine with blood dripped into it. 
Oaths to meet again in the distant future have a romantic flair matched only by sworn promises ‘never to forget’ an adventure, as platonic soul mates Tess and Lisa vow in Cinnamon Girls. One of the things I love about their friendship is that it is not encumbered by the murky motivations of seeking validation or sexual pleasure that sullies the girls’ relationships with Andy and Tucker. Friendship asks only that the BFF be trustworthy. Or, if the BFF totally f**ks up, as humans and especially teens are wont to do, the friend must promptly ‘fess up. Almost any failing can be forgiven as long as you are rigorously honest.
Of course modern parents dread that BFF status may be set in stone via a tattoo that their child will have to have painfully lasered off in the future.
No matter how you show the depth of your bond with a female friend, it is my hope that you will remember that feeling forever, keeping the final ‘F” in your BFF pledge for a lifetime. After all, boys come and go but blood sisters are forever.
