Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

During their first summer apart, four teenage girls, best friends since earliest childhood, stay in touch through a shared pair of secondhand jeans that magically adapts to each of their figures and affects their attitudes to their different summer experiences.During summer break, longtime friends Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget each embark on adventures that they share with each other through a pair of jeans that they have decided will be worn by all and so will absorb all of their stories.

Chapter One



＂Can you close that suitcase?＂ Tibby asked Carmen.



＂Its making me sick.＂



Carmen glanced at the structured canvas bag splayed wantonly in the middle of her bed. Suddenly she wished she had all-new underwear. Her best satin pair was sprouting tiny ropes of elastic from the waistband.



＂Its making me sick,＂ Lena said. ＂I havent started packing. My flights at seven.＂



Carmen flopped the top of the suitcase down on the carpeted floor. She was working on removing navy-blue polish from her toenails.



＂Lena, could you not say that word anymore?＂ Tibby asked, wilting a little on the edge of Carmens bed. ＂Its making me sick.＂



＂Which word?＂ Bridget asked. ＂Packing? Flight? Seven?＂



Tibby considered. ＂All of them.＂



＂Oh, Tibs,＂ Carmen said, grabbing Tibbys foot from where she sat. ＂Its gonna be okay.＂



Tibby took her foot back. ＂Its gonna be okay for you. Youre going away. Youre going to eat barbecue all the time and light firecrackers and everything.



Tibby had nonsensical ideas about what people did in South Carolina, but Carmen knew not to argue with her.



Lena let out a little hum of sympathy.



Tibby turned on her. ＂Dont make that pity noise, Lena.＂



Lena cleared her throat. ＂I didnt,＂ she said quickly, even though she had.



＂Dont wallow,＂ Bridget urged Tibby. ＂Youre wallowing.＂



＂No,＂ Tibby shot back. She held up hands crossed at the wrist in a hex sign to ward off Bridget. ＂No pep talks. No fair. I only let you do pep talks when you need to feel better.＂



＂I wasnt doing a pep talk,＂ Bridget said defensively, even though she was.



Carmen made her wise eyebrows. ＂Hey, Tibs? Maybe if youre nasty enough, you wont miss us and we wont miss you.＂