"Ready to party?" she asked.  "I bet you won’t be out drinking me today." 

            I laughed.  "I bet you I will.  Just as soon as I find my top," I stammered, surprised that I was even able to get the right words out.  She was beyond gorgeous.

            "So you want me to wait up here for you?" She asked, "There are people already showing up…thought it would be better if I escort you out."

            I finally found the top and watched Ashley walk across her room, taking a seat on her bed.  She placed my beer on the dresser beside her and stayed in the room as I changed.  I didn’t know why her presence was freaking me out.  She had been in our dorm room as I changed a million times.  I took a long, deep breath in before slipping off my pants.  I turned away from Ashley, even though she was staring off into space, making an effort not to look at me directly, but I could see her eyes twitching to her peripherals.  I changed quickly, but was having a hard time getting the straps done tight enough around my neck.  By my third attempt, I was getting frustrated but as I let out a grown, I felt Ashley’s hands on mine, placing them on my sides before she quickly knotted the strings.

            "How does that feel?" She asked, her cold breath on my neck.  The way she asked suggested something else besides the tightness of my bathing suit, but whatever she was alluding to, the answer was probably yes to all subliminal messages.  She walked back over to the dresser and grabbed the beer, handing it to me as I turned to face her.  She gave me a once over and grinned.

            "What?" I asked, nervously bringing the bottle to my lips and taking a sip.

            "You look…hot."  I smiled.  "You ready?"

            I told her yes and she grabbed my hand walking me out the room and down the flight of steps.  I could hear the music blaring from speakers already and as we reached the glass doors in the back of the house that opened to the backyard and pool, I realized that my definition and Kyla’s definition of a few friends consisted of extremely different numbers.  There were at least 50 people in the back yard and Kyla had only just invited these people less than an hour ago.  Some were already splashing around in the pool.  I didn’t recognized most of the people there, but I was certain that all of them were famous in some way or another…I mean almost everyone wore diamonds as they lounged around out back. 

            This was a world I knew nothing about and as Ashley introduced me to first of many people, I found myself wondering what I had gotten myself into.