Chap­ter 21 of If These Wings Could Fly opens with the pro­tag­o­nist prepar­ing to vis­it her friend Liam, who is help­ing her with art home­work. The day begins with her moth­er casu­al­ly men­tion­ing that Liam called, which sends the pro­tag­o­nist into a mix of emotions—amused by the idea of hav­ing a “boyfriend” yet focused on prepar­ing for the vis­it. As she heads to the bath­room, her younger sis­ter Juniper, ever curi­ous and a lit­tle envi­ous, begins apply­ing lip gloss and ques­tions her rela­tion­ship with Liam. This play­ful sib­ling inter­ac­tion high­lights a dis­tinct con­trast between the sis­ters: Juniper is still inno­cent and naive, while the pro­tag­o­nist, though still young, exhibits a more mature under­stand­ing of the world and rela­tion­ships. This sets the stage for a fam­i­ly dynam­ic that blends inno­cence with the grow­ing com­plex­i­ties of ado­les­cence.

As the pro­tag­o­nist con­tin­ues to get ready, her oth­er sis­ter, Camp­bell, enters the room and con­tin­ues to probe, ask­ing whether Liam is sim­ply a friend. The pro­tag­o­nist reas­sures her, empha­siz­ing that Liam is a nice per­son, which seems to alle­vi­ate some of Campbell’s pro­tec­tive con­cerns. This brief but mean­ing­ful exchange exem­pli­fies the pro­tec­tive nature of siblings—Campbell’s con­cern for her sister’s well-being reflects a sense of care and respon­si­bil­i­ty, which is often seen in close-knit fam­i­lies. While Campbell’s ques­tions may seem sim­ple on the sur­face, they reveal a deep­er emo­tion­al bond and a desire to ensure that her sis­ter is not hurt. These moments give insight into the protagonist’s famil­ial rela­tion­ships, show­ing how trust and love are intri­cate­ly woven into every­day inter­ac­tions between sib­lings.

The emo­tion­al depth of the chap­ter is fur­ther illus­trat­ed as the pro­tag­o­nist makes a “pinkie promise” to Camp­bell to be care­ful while spend­ing time with Liam. This small but sig­nif­i­cant ges­ture sym­bol­izes the trust and emo­tion­al close­ness between the sis­ters. Camp­bell, in a more intro­spec­tive moment, express­es her guilt for being harsh with Juniper ear­li­er, which sparks a larg­er con­ver­sa­tion about the fair­ness of life and the con­se­quences of their actions. Campbell’s real­iza­tion about the impli­ca­tions of her behav­ior adds a lay­er of com­plex­i­ty to the chap­ter, high­light­ing the intro­spec­tion and moral growth that chil­dren expe­ri­ence as they nav­i­gate their rela­tion­ships with those around them. These reflec­tions on guilt and fair­ness show the grow­ing emo­tion­al depth of the char­ac­ters, reveal­ing the inter­nal con­flicts that arise from nav­i­gat­ing famil­ial dynam­ics and per­son­al respon­si­bil­i­ty.

Lat­er in the chap­ter, the pro­tag­o­nist chal­lenges Campbell’s belief in kar­ma, sug­gest­ing that life may not always be as sim­ple as a sys­tem of rewards and pun­ish­ments. This con­ver­sa­tion adds a philo­soph­i­cal dimen­sion to the chap­ter, with the pro­tag­o­nist ques­tion­ing whether good deeds always lead to good out­comes or if life is gov­erned by more com­pli­cat­ed forces. Campbell’s firm belief in a just world is met with her sister’s more skep­ti­cal per­spec­tive, which sparks a debate about moral­i­ty, fair­ness, and the nature of jus­tice. This dis­cus­sion invites the read­er to think about how we view the world’s moral fab­ric, par­tic­u­lar­ly when it comes to the fair­ness of life and the con­se­quences of our actions. Through this exchange, the chap­ter high­lights the com­plex­i­ties of nav­i­gat­ing moral ques­tions dur­ing ado­les­cence, when the world seems to shift from the sim­ple rules of child­hood to a more nuanced under­stand­ing of right and wrong.

The chap­ter skill­ful­ly weaves togeth­er themes of sib­ling rela­tion­ships, grow­ing up, and grap­pling with larg­er ques­tions about fair­ness and moral­i­ty. The protagonist’s rela­tion­ship with her sib­lings is por­trayed in a way that is both light­heart­ed and deeply reflec­tive, offer­ing insight into the way fam­i­ly dynam­ics shape our under­stand­ing of the world. Through their inter­ac­tions, the char­ac­ters explore themes of trust, respon­si­bil­i­ty, and emo­tion­al growth, which are uni­ver­sal expe­ri­ences that res­onate with read­ers of all ages. As the pro­tag­o­nist nav­i­gates her con­nec­tion with Liam, her family’s influ­ence plays a sig­nif­i­cant role in her under­stand­ing of her­self and the rela­tion­ships around her. The humor and light­heart­ed moments con­trast beau­ti­ful­ly with the under­ly­ing emo­tion­al depth, mak­ing the chap­ter a poignant explo­ration of fam­i­ly and growth.