"This is my best creation yet."
As soon as the words came out of her mouth, they knew they were in for trouble. Whenever those six words were uttered everyone knew they should duck and cover and stay that way until it was safe. Quinn Pensky, smiling triumphantly, stood in front of her friends, holding up a pair of faded blue jeans. They looked quite ordinary, but since Quinn had invented them, they looked terrifyingly scary.
"What is it now?" Zoey Brooks put down the magazine she was reading and glanced cautiously at what Quinn was holding. She surveyed the pants, wondering what they were for. Perhaps they were pants that couldn't get wet or pants that could be eaten somehow. She twisted a lock of blond hair around her finger and hoped that whatever the pants did, they wouldn't somehow explode.
"Guess!" Quinn said excitedly.
"They give you super powers?" Nicole Bristow guessed. She was drinking a strawberry kiwi smoothie, her latest obsession. She twirled the straw around to mix the drink up. She loved the colour of strawberry kiwi smoothies- a nice shade of pink. She loved the colour pink. When I get a daughter, I'm naming her Pink, Nicole thought to herself. She paused. Either that or Claire. Claire's a nice name…
"No, guess again!" Quinn's toothy smile seemed to be glued on to her face.
"The pants will magically wrap itself around your mouth so you can't talk and then it'll somehow call security and have them drag you out of this room so we can be left in peace?" Dana Cruz said, snapping a little. She had been finishing up her already overdue Math homework and she definitely did not need someone shoving a pair of pants that were probably ordinary every day blue jeans in her face.
Quinn sighed. "No, guess again."
"Quinn, could you just tell us what your pants do?" Zoey asked, realizing how strange her question sounded. She flipped a page in her magazine where the headline was written across the top in big bold letters. BRITNEY SPEARS' NEW FAMILY TAKES A WALK IN THE PARK. Underneath was a large photograph and a long article that took up two pages. Zoey flipped to the back of the magazine where they had horoscopes.
"Fine, I'll tell you," Quinn said. She paused for a moment to get some effect and then started talking again. "I designed these pants so they'd fit all four of us perfectly for as long as we live! Isn't that cool?" She hugged the pants to her chest and twirled around. She spun around too fast and fell over, colliding into a chair.
"Quinn, are you ok?" Zoey cried as Quinn struggled up to her feet, pushing her glasses back on to her face. Zoey sighed and shook her head a little. She closed her magazine and tossed it on to the floor. Stretching out on her bed, she looked at Quinn with raised eyebrows. "How did you do… whatever you did?"
"Why'd you ask that, Zoey?" Dana said, groaning and throwing her pencil down. "Now she'll never shut up. We'll have to listen to her talk about her dumb pants all day now." She paused and then pushed her Math homework off her bed. "Well, that's fine with me. Listening to the dweeb is better than doing Math."
Quinn took a seat on Zoey's bed and started to explain how she had created the pants. "Well first I bought an ordinary pair of jeans and then I took your guys' measurements while you were sleeping. Then I had to program that into the machine that I built which can do some really cool…"
"Wait," Nicole said, interrupting Quinn's explanation. "You took our measurements while we were sleeping? That's so uncool." She had been sitting on the floor, drinking her smoothie and painting her nails 'Sparkling Watermelon.' Now she was staring at Quinn, open mouthed, her index fingernail only half painted. "I won't feel safe sleeping again!"
"It was only one time," Quinn said defensively. "Anyway, I took your measurements and I programmed them into this machine that's really cool. It can do all this neat stuff and it has a great memory system! Want me to show you guys sometime? I can even demonstrate with it! Last week I turned a pair of smelly gym socks into an apple pie!"
"Apple pie?" Zoey said her face dropping. "Um, it wouldn't happen to be that same apple pie you gave us for dessert after dinner last week, right?" When Quinn didn't answer, Zoey groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Great. We ate pie that was formally known as GYM socks!" She sat up in her bed and stared at Quinn. "Whose socks were they anyways?"
"Um…" Quinn bowed her head. "They were Logan's socks."
"That's SICK," Zoey cried. Nicole's eyes were popping out of her head and she accidentally started spreading nail polish over her finger. Dana groaned and muttered, "I knew we shouldn't have taken something from the dweeb. Especially food!"
Quinn crossed her arms over her chest. "Well no need to get huffy about it." She paused. "Anyways, obviously you can't understand the complexity and greatness of how these pants were designed. So I'll just skip the explanation." She grinned excitedly. "So who wants to try them on first?"
Zoey and Nicole exchanged glanced. Dana gave Quinn a sharp look. "Uh, you're kidding me right? What makes you think that we're going to try on your freak show pants after that apple pie incident? I'm going to have to brush my teeth ten times tonight to make my mouth feel clean after eating Logan's gym socks."
"Oh please try them on!" Quinn cried, putting her sad face on. "I worked so hard on these and I know for sure that these are perfect! And I didn't use anything gross on them… no gym socks. Please just try them on! Besides, think how fun it would be if we all wore the same pants! We could be like… a sisterhood!"
"Uh, yeah, sounds like fun," Dana said sarcastically. "Parading around in a pair of totally gross pants that three other girls besides me are wearing sounds like a blast, but sorry, I'm busy so count me out." She picked up her Math textbook from off the ground and flipped to the right page.
"Maybe we should give it a chance," Zoey said hesitantly, catching the crushed look on Quinn's face. "I mean… it could be fun you know… wearing the same pants." She made a face a little, but quickly let it drop away. "We could maybe put designs on it and stuff to make it look cool. You know, write stuff on it and draw little pictures…"
Nicole's face brightened. "Hey, you know, that does sound like fun!" She blew on her well manicured nails and frowned when she saw her sticky pink finger. Glancing over at Quinn she said, "You try them on first though… just in case."
"Alright," Quinn said. She started to pull off her checkered purple pants when Nicole screamed and threw the bottle of nail polish at her. Quinn gasped and held up her created pants in front of her face. Nail polish splattered over the front, making a pink blob appear on the front right leg. Quinn slowly lowered the pants from her face and stared at Nicole.
"Well…" Nicole glanced around defensively. Zoey, Dana, and Quinn were all glaring at her with open mouths. "It looked like she was stripping! Am I the only one who wouldn't want to see that?" Dana threw a pillow at Nicole's face and Zoey picked up the nearly empty nail polish bottle from the floor. A little bit had stained the carpet, but it wasn't as large as the blob on the pants.
"That's ok," Zoey said slowly. "We can just wash the pants."
"Well, actually, I don't recommend we wash the pants," Quinn said, zipping her purple pants up again. "You see, the machine I used to make the pants what they are right now… well… it's hard to explain." She rubbed her forehead. "Let's just say… if it gets wet then I suggest you never eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches again."
Nicole frowned. "I love peanut butter and jam!"
"Exactly," Quinn said. "Well anyways… I guess the nail polish stain makes the pants look more… um, personal." She held the pants in her arms and headed for the bathroom. "I'll go change where I can have some privacy then." She shot Nicole a look before walking off.
That night, at 11:45 PM, the four girls were sitting in a circle in the student lounge. It was past their curfew and they were supposed to be in bed, but Quinn had suggested that they be 'sneaky' and 'devious' and do a spiritual ritual while breaking the rules.
"Why are we doing this again?" Dana said, yawning and looking grouchy. She pulled a packet of gummy worms from her bag. "Anyone want some? The sugar might give you some energy for awhile." She ripped the package open with her teeth and distributed them around the circle.
"Okay," Quinn said. "Light the candles."
Nicole glanced around, looking nervous. She hoped they wouldn't get caught. Turning her attention back to the three other girls she said, "Um… what candles? You never told us to bring any candles." The gummy worms were passed to her and she pulled out a red and yellow one and twirled it around her fingers.
"I told you to bring candles," Quinn said, irritated.
"No you didn't," Nicole said, frowning.
"Yes I did."
"No you didn't."
"YES I did."
"NO you didn't."
"YES I DID!"
"NO YOU DIDN'T!"
"Okay, guys, shut up or we'll be caught," Zoey hissed at them. She snatched the bag of gummy worms from Nicole and said, "Let's forget about the candles and continue on. Quinn, what was this weird plan of yours? Making a sisterhood based on the pants?"
Quinn nodded eagerly. "I think it would be a good way for all of us to get to know one another better!" She placed the pants with the now dried pink nail polish stain in the middle of the circle and held her hands out for Dana and Zoey, who were on either side of her, to take.
"We already know each other fine," Dana said huffily. She examined the pants in the middle of the circle. The nail polish stain still stood out brightly even though they were sitting in the dark. They didn't dare turn on the lights in case they got caught. And since they had no flashlights or candles…
"Hands," Quinn said impatiently. The four of them held hands and Quinn instructed them to close their eyes. They all did as they were told. There was an eerie silence for a few seconds before Quinn started speaking.
"Tonight we make the Sisterhood of the Nail Polish Stained Pants. We are together forever until the end of our journey. The pants will symbolize our friendship and my brilliant mind." Pause. "And also that Nicole is very naught with nail polish."
The four girls opened their eyes and stared at each other. There seemed to be a different air among them. The atmosphere was different. They all stared at the pants, blinking. Perhaps there was magic in these ordinary pair of jeans after all? There was a moment of awed silence. Then Dana sneezed and the four of them gathered up their belongings and headed for their dorm rooms.