- Epigraph: "Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday."—Anonymous
- Tibby is jealous of her guinea pig, Mimi, since the rodent gets to be lazy all day, while Tibby has to work at the drugstore.
- Unlike other sixteen-year-olds who have their licenses, Tibby has to ride her bike to Wallman's; her crush, Tucker Rowe, spots her wearing her polyester work smock. It's mortifying.
- She cuts a piece of her smock and sends it to Bee (a.k.a. Bridget), and with that, we switch to Bridget, who is at a soccer camp off the Baja peninsula coast.
- Bridget's not shy or boring, and she promptly meets some friends—anyone up for sleeping on the beach? They have a slumber party in the sand.
- Next, Carmen's on the plane, going to South Carolina to visit her father, whom she rarely sees since her parents divorced when she was seven.
- She has high hopes for some serious father-daughter bonding on this trip: shopping, going to the movies, playing tennis—she even imagines her father asking her to move down there.
- As the plane lands, Carmen wishes she knew which way was the plane was going. Is she really talking about the plane? Is there something else she is worried about?
- She writes Tibby a note, saying she's sorry Tibby is stuck at home.