the sisterhood of the traveling pants book 1

'Don't you think you should try them on?' Lena asked practically. Now that somebody cared about them, they looked a little nicer. The pants suddenly looked different to Carmen. 'Are those the pants you got at the secondhand place next to Yes!?' Tibby absently hugged the pants, slightly deflated at getting her way so fast. 'Fine,' Carmen said benevolently, handing them over. Three of them were flying off on big adventures the next day, and Tibby was launching her career at Wallman's in scenic Bethesda for five cents over minimum wage. Tibby was demanding a little display of unconditional love. 'You really want them?' Carmen didn't feel like mentioning that she was planning to throw them away. 'You mean these?' They were creased in three places from inattention. Tibby usually liked clothes that were ugly or challenging. She capped the polish remover, walked over to her dresser, and held up the pants.

'You can say, 'Hey, Tibby, want those pants?''Ĭarmen looked baffled. ' Her eyes lighted on the pair of pants folded on the top of a stack of clothes on Carmen's dresser. She had tears welling in her eyes, but Carmen knew she didn't want them to show. 'God, Tibby, what is anybody allowed to say?' Bridget asked. The three of them sat, scolded into silence. 'I see through that! You're doing psychological analysis on me. 'Carma!' Tibby shouted, getting to her feet and thrusting a stiff arm at Carmen. 'Hey, Tibs? Maybe if you're nasty enough, you won't miss us and we won't miss you.' 'I wasn't doing a pep talk,' Bridget said defensively, even though she was.Ĭarmen made her wise eyebrows.

I only let you do pep talks when you need to feel better.' She held up hands crossed at the wrist in a hex sign to ward off Bridget. 'I didn't,' she said quickly, even though she had. Tibby had nonsensical ideas about what people did in South Carolina, but Carmen knew not to argue with her. You're going to eat barbecue all the time and light firecrackers and everything. 'Oh, Tibs,' Carmen said, grabbing Tibby's foot from where she sat.

'Lena, could you not say that word anymore?' Tibby asked, wilting a little on the edge of Carmen's bed. She was working on removing navy-blue polish from her toenails. My flight's at seven.'Ĭarmen flopped the top of the suitcase down on the carpeted floor. Her best satin pair was sprouting tiny ropes of elastic from the waistband. Suddenly she wished she had all-new underwear. 'Can you close that suitcase?' Tibby asked Carmen.Ĭarmen glanced at the structured canvas bag splayed wantonly in the middle of her bed.

The sisterhood of the traveling pants book 1