Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or anything like that. The genius that was Anne Brashares' idea does not belong to me.
Prologue:
The fourth summer of the Pants was one we knew we all wouldn't forget after it was over. Our lives up to this point had been a whirlwind of memories. It seemed like ever since we found the Pants, something huge had happened every summer. Looking back on our old selves was like flipping through a dusty photo album. We looked back at our young selves with compassion, like a proud mother looks back at the childhood of her daughters. Growing up without a mother, my friends had always been a big deal. They were always there for me to lean on. Carmen, Tibby, and Lena were all people I could cry to, laugh with, fight with, make up with, and share with. It had just been like that.
If you haven't grown up with us, you wouldn't know how we became The Septembers. Carmen's mother Christina, Tibby's mom Alice, Lena's mother Ari and my mom Marly all realized that it would be beneficial to take an aerobics class during their pregnancies. Things like cravings (Alice loved French fries, and my mom couldn't go an hour without eating cantaloupe) and weight (Tibby's mom was the petite one) differed, but they all joined a class at Gilda's for expecting mothers. It was after the class and after we were born that we all began hanging out and seeing each other.
Then our mothers drifted apart, and we became closer. It was after my mom died that they sort of went their own ways. But us? It was the most imperative time in my life for me to have sisters such as Tibby, Lena, and Carmen. It was hard for me to accept, hard for me to talk about; even hard to think about. I was just a little girl who had lost her mother and I didn't know what to make of it. Carmen, Tibby, and Lena were always there, though. They always seemed to know the right thing to do even when I felt so lost.
My mother's absence in my life has been a sandy foundation for me to balance my life on, but it affected me so much that I don't know where to go without it hovering behind me like an insistent bee. I can let go during daylight, around my friends, at a party or at work, but during nights when I'm alone in my bed with the darkness and insomnia, Marly is all that consumes my thoughts. She becomes a part of me at night. We have late night conversations, laughs, and cries, and we're together again. I feel so close to her that it almost gets spooky. And then I wake up the next morning and she's gone, like a ghost that slid delicately out the window. Then I start my day without her, and I try as hard as I can not to think about my mom every flaming minute of the day.
The Pants have helped me so much in getting through the journey of life without one of my parents. The Pants, the magic Pants, Pants that fit all of our individual physiques with precision, have been shared for three short years. They were like the jumping off point for the first summer Carmen, Tib, Lena and I spent away from each other. They brought us even closer when we thought we were crammed together like a can of sardines. The four of us share the Pants, we share memories, and we share each other. Every one of us has qualities that each of us value. If we're feeling sucky, we go to Tibby; she can get mad at the world with us. For advice, we have to call Carmen. Carmen doesn't think that she and life get along very well, but for us there's no other to ask and she always knows what to do. Lena is always the one that can calm us down. Her quiet, observant ways make you feel like you know the answer to anything. And me, Bee? I just get to make sure everyone has a good time.
Which is why, with me around, this summer was going to be unforgettable.