As Lizzie walked up the stairs to her dorm, she could hear the familiar woops and cheers of her neighbors. It was Friday and that meant there would be parties raging in every corner of campus. She lowered her head and opened the front door to the building. Inside the corridors was thankfully quiet, but leaflets and posters exploded over everything, advertising the weekend fun. She went to her mail box and unlocked it. There was, as usual, nothing inside. She had stopped hoping from news from home. She no longer wanted to hear about how miserable her mother was, and she had absolutely no desire to know what her father was up to with his new woman. The whole thing had been enough to make her never want to trust a man again. As she began to drag herself up the stairs, she sighed with relief at knowing at least she didn’t have to worry that someone out there was cheating on her.
As she approached the door to her room, she heard the clicking of heels coming up behind her. She hurried to get her key in her lock before anyone tried to start a conversation with her, but she was too late. Hands slammed down over her eyes, and the girl giggled.
“Where the hell have you been all day?” she asked playfully, “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Rachel, Lizzie’s best friend, dropped her hands so Lizzie could turn to face her.
“I was studying,” she said defiantly. “If you hadn’t noticed, we’ve got finals coming up.”
“Yawn… Who cares?” Rachel said jokingly. “You look worn out.”
Lizzie managed to unlock her door and stepped inside, checking herself out in the mirror as she entered.
“I was up early. I’m getting stressed out from all this.”
“Well, then, that’s the perfect excuse,” Rachel smiled and raised her eyebrows as she sat down on Lizzie’s desk chair.
“Perfect excuse for what?” Lizzie bent over and turned on her lamp before flopping down on the bed and rubbing her eyes.
“Tonight,” Rachel said with excitement. “Fuck all these parties that are happening here… I’ve got us somewhere really awesome to go.”
“Huh?” Lizzie said leaning up on her elbows. “I hope it involves guaranteeing me an A on all of my assignments. Otherwise count me out.” She rolled back down and breathed out. She could see the stack of books in front of her and felt a chill prickle her skin. “Ugh, so much to do.” She picked up her pillow and covered her face before screaming into it and laughing.
“You’re so boring,” Rachel said as she pulled the pillow away. “You’ve spent most of your weekends here being little Miss Goody Two Shoes, studying every chance you get. Who cares if you don’t get perfect grades for once, just let your hair down and let’s go and have some fun.”
“I can’t…” Lizzie said. “You know what I’m like.”
“I do,” Rachel smiled. “And that’s exactly why I’m not taking no for an answer.” She got to her feet and bounced over to Lizzie’s closet. She flung open the doors and began to leaf through the hangers and outfits.
“No,” she moved along to the next dress. “No… no….”
Lizzie rolled her eyes and checked her cell phone. As usual, she didn’t have any messages or missed calls.
“Ugh, definitely not….” Rachel said as she lifted out a dress that Lizzie didn’t even know she still had. She had vague memories of her mother forcing her to wear it when she was younger, and it was still as hideous as she remembered.
“Hmm, this is okay…” Rachel stopped on a tight little black dress that had a plunging neck line. “In fact, this is perfect.” She pulled it from the closet, closed the doors and hung it on the front as she grinned from ear to ear.
“Okay Miss,” she said, “Get up off your butt and get showered, we have somewhere to be.”
Lizzie looked up at her friend and smiled. “Where are you forcing me to go?”
“I’m totally not telling you until we are on the way… I’m not having you bail on me.”
“Oh, great,” Lizzie said as she reluctantly got to her feet. “So you’re dragging me out of my room, making me fail the entire semester and for what? I don’t even get to know?”
“You will get to know… when we get there!” Rachel winked as she grabbed hold of Lizzie by the shoulders and pushed her towards the bathroom. “Now shower!”
Lizzie saluted her as if to say ‘yes ma’am’ and then closed the bathroom door just enough to have privacy but still shout through to Rachel. She turned on the shower and the room steamed up quickly. She stripped and looked at herself in the mirror. Her body had always been one of her biggest enemies, but lately she was finally starting to feel comfortable in her own skin. She had beautiful curves, and as she was maturing, she was realizing how much men loved them. Even though she did her best to stay away from them, especially after the betrayal she had seen from her dad and the bizarre experience with the German exchange student, she still loved to notice the effect she had on men. And Rachel had been right… wherever they were going, the dress she had picked out was sure to turn some heads. She got into the shower and let the warm water wash away the last remaining bits of sand and sea air from her hair before she scrubbed and primped herself with various body gels and oils. Afterwards, she felt like she had spent a day at a spa. She felt relaxed and vibrant, and even the stress of her impending exams seemed to have evaporated.
“Thanks for talking me into this,” she said to Rachel as she walked back into her dorm room and dried her long blonde hair with a towel. “You’re right, I do need to get out more.”
“You need to get laid,” Rachel said without looking up from her magazine.
“Rachel!” Lizzie gasped. “That’s the last thing I’m thinking about.”
“Hmm,” Rachel peeked at her over the top of her magazine. “If you say so…”
Lizzie spritzed on some perfume, applied her mascara and ruby red lipstick and wriggled into the figure-hugging dress that showed off her perfect hourglass figure.
“Stunning,” Rachel said as she applied her own blush, “You are a vision.”
“I feel good in this dress,” Lizzie agreed, “So this party better be worth it.”
“Oh, it’s not a party,” Rachel said casually, “It’s an initiation.”
“What?”
Rachel smirked and blotted her lips. “You’ll see….”