4. Rules of the Sisterhood
The same night, Ana found out from her Mom that Gilda's was going out of business. The place was a mess. Dirty, grungy, and bluntly, old. Gilda's Fitness had served as the place where Tibby, Bridget, Carmen, and Lena had their rituals with the pants, and Ana had a feeling it could be her friends' place as well.
"Where is Gilda's, Mom?" Ana asked, as she, Carmen, and little sister, Lucy, ate their microwave dinners in front of the TV. Ana's dad, Rob, was out of town on a business trip, and this was how they usually lived when he was gone: lazy.
"It's down on South Boulevard, near that old vintage store," Carmen replied, mouth full of macaroni.
"Mom, don't talk with food in your mouth!" Lucy exclaimed, wiping her mouth. "That is just gross."
"What are you, forty?" Ana remarked. She turned to her mom. "We were at The Magic Lamp today. We found something to keep us apart for the summer."
"A pair of jeans."
Ana smiled. "Of the like."
"Wow," Carmen thought, "Gilda's brings back memories. I'm surprised it stayed in business for so long. The easiest way to get in is to go through the window in the back alleyway. But be careful of the ladder, though, it could be unstable." Ana gaped at her Mom. "What?"
"You are giving me permission to break into a fitness center?" Ana asked.
"Uh, yeah."
Ana smiled. "You are the coolest Mom ever!" She grabbed her tray and went into the kitchen. Dumped the food into the trashcan, picked up the cordless phone, and shut her bedroom door. She dialed 957-5833, and Carson picked up on the sixth ring.
"Hello?" Carson sounded like she had been running.
"Hey, Carson, it's Ana."
"Sup, Ana?" In the background, Ana could hear the laughter of Bridget, the swear words from Eric. She guessed that Bridget had beaten him at a shootout.
"Playing soccer?" she asked.
"More like Mom," Carson replied. "So…"
"I need you to get all the girls together and come pick me up after," Ana said. "I have the perfect place to start our summer. With the journal."
"Uh, I have a flight at five in the morning," Carson said stupidly.
"I know, but come on, trust me. Come on, Civic." Ana hung up. A few years ago, she, Jules, and Soph had given the nickname to Carson—Civic—since the beginning of her name is Car. They used to call her Car, but Ana had come up with the dumb Civic joke. Bridget and Eric called her that, too, and for a joke, on her sixteenth birthday, her parents had bought her a used Honda Civic.
The new Sisterhood laughed at the dumbest things.
Thirty minutes later, Carson pulled up on the curve of Ana's house. She honked twice, and as usual, annoyed the neighbors, and Ana jumped into the backseat. Jules was in a sweatsuit, Sophia in a sweatshirt and pajama bottoms, and Carson in blue jeans and windbreaker. AC/DC was playing on the stereo. Ana knew it was Carson's. She was into the classic/heavy-metal/punk rock.
"I need my beauty rest, so let's make this quick," Jules said as they sped down the street.
"What's in the bag?" Sophia asked, noticing the bag in Ana's hands.
"Oh, the journal, matches, a couple lighters—''
"Are we setting a place on fire?" Carson asked.
"No."
"Oh." Her voice was dull.
"Anyway, journal, matches, a lighter, candles, junk food, and gummy worms," Ana finished. She looked out the window as The Magic Lamp passed by. "Turn here, Civic!"
Carson turned on the back street, and pulled the car into park. "Is this some sick joke?" she asked.
"No…"
"Then where the heck are we going?"
Ana opened her car door. "Gilda's."
Jules looked at her. "Gilda's? The fitness place?"
"Isn't that closing?" Sophia asked. Ana led them to the back alleyway, and saw the ladder her mom was talking about. It was half-pulled down, so Carson, as tall as she was, pulled it all the way down.
"You are weird, Tatiana," Carson said. "Hold this for me." She handed Ana her yellow Adidas soccer ball, and climbed up the ladder.
"You think I'm weird?" Ana accused. "You brought a soccer ball."
"Yeah, well, in case we were going somewhere boring." Everyone else started up the ladder. They all squeezed through the small window, and scrambled to the middle of the floor. Ana carefully set out the candles, junk food, and set the journal in the middle of the circle they formed, just like their mothers did so long ago.
"This is like Sixteen Candles," Sophia said, smiling.
"I need Redvines," Carson whined softly.
"If we're telling our deepest confessions…I have to pee," Jules said smugly.
"Ugh, gross, J," Ana said. She sighed. "This place is sacred."
"It smells."
"I still have to pee."
Ana looked around at her Sisters. "Our mothers, Carmen, Bridget, Lena, and Tibby, met here 27 years ago, and now it's our turn. I say we are a new Sisterhood. The Augusts."
"I like it," Sophia said, smiling.
"Let's make rules, I've always wanted to do that," Jules said.
"And have people actually follow them?" Carson teased.
Sophia reached into her purse and pulled out a sheet of used shopping lists and a pen. "Use this to write them down, and later we'll write it over neater." Ana took the pen and paper, tapping the pen thoughtfully.
"How about, we each must write two pages at the least," she suggested. Everyone agree, and she scribbled it down.
"You must dish everything, no secrets," Carson laughed, and Ana wrote it down. "I was joking."
"Oh, no, Sisterhoods never joke," Ana said seriously.
After an hour of giggling, throwing food, and burning a couple fingers from the candles (Carson attempted to lick her fingers and simmer out the candle), Ana cleared her throat and addressed the group. "Our Sisterhood now has rules, and they go as followed:
Rule #1: You must write at least two pages in your entry of the journal, no less.
Rule #2: You must tell everything, unless it is a deep, dark secret that you must tell to your Sisters in person. No other exceptions.
Rule#3: The journal is not to have a single eraser mark in it. No erasing. Period. We want the journal to show that we all make mistakes. ("That was Soph's idea," Jules defended.)
Rule#4: The journal shall not be dirtied. No food, scratches, fingerprints, spilled drinks.
Rule#5: You must send pictures and give a complete detailed description. You must keep the photos in the journal for your other Sisters to see.
Rule #6: You must send the journal to the Sisters in order. No jumping out of line: Carson, Jules, Sophia, Ana.
Rule #7: DO NOT LET ANYONE ELSE READ!
And I think there should be a last one," Ana said, finishing off the list. "In honor of our mother's sisterhood, the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."
"Yeah? What is it?" Jules asked, mouthful of Cheetos.
Ana smiled at the memory. "Journallove. Love your pals, love yourself."
"I agree," Carson yelled a little too loudly.
"Me, too," Sophia said.
"Me, three," Jules said childishly.
And the Sisterhood of the Augusts stayed up eating, laughing, talking, and burning more of their fingers, until Sophia's cell phone rang. It was her Mom, telling her to come home.