“Not good,” Lauren murmured, shaking her head.

“I’m just waiting for the right guy.”

“I’m afraid you don’t have that luxury.” Lauren’s voice became even more urgent.

Uncomfortable about the situation and disappointed about the fact that Lauren didn’t seem to understand her, Portia spun toward the door. “I’ve gotta get to my class.”

In vampire speed, a blur to the human eye, Lauren blocked the exit. “You’re skipping class today. There are more important things in life than school.”

“Don’t be so dramatic; just because boys and sex are important to you, doesn’t mean everybody thinks the same. You and I, we’re very different.” Portia squeezed her bag tighter as if it could protect her from the things she didn’t want to face.

“I agree, boys aren’t important. Sex is.”

Portia rolled her eyes. “For you maybe.” Imagining herself in bed with any of the guys she’d kissed held no particular appeal. Lauren’s standards, however, appeared to be somewhat lower.

“You’re turning twenty-one in what, five weeks from today?”

Confused about the change in subject, she answered automatically, “In six weeks. Why?”

Lauren pressed her lips together and hummed to herself as if contemplating a massive problem such as the eradication of world hunger. “Then we have six weeks for you to lose your virginity. Granted, that’s not a lot of time, but there are enough horny guys out there we can take if we don’t find anything better. I can count at least a dozen—”

“Hold it! What the hell are you going on about? I’m not just going out there to lose my virginity to some idiot. I’m going to have sex when it feels right. And besides, I’m not planning on dating until after college. I promised my father.”

Her parents had always drilled into her that it was important to find the right person. And knowing how happy they had been together, she had to agree. The love between them had been palpable. Portia wanted the same for herself. She didn’t want to throw her virginity away at some guy she didn’t care about. So far, she hadn’t met anybody who had even tempted her in the slightest to take this step.

“Weren’t you listening? You don’t have time to wait.” Lauren made it sound like the world was going to end. “You have to lose your virginity by your twenty-first birthday or you’ll be a virgin forever!”

“That’s ludicrous! Even at twenty-one I’m still young enough to attract guys. Besides, once I’m twenty-one, I won’t age anymore.”

“Exactly!” Lauren waved her hands in a dramatic gesture. “And that’s the point. At twenty-one your body will freeze into its final form. It’ll be set in stone. Your physical form won’t change after that. Which means, if you still have your hymen in place then, you’ll always have it.”

Portia’s heartbeat stuttered to a halt. Her hymen would remain intact? “But—” It couldn’t be.

“Every time you have sex after you turn twenty-one, you’ll be in pain, because each time the guy you’re having sex with will tear through your hymen. And every day it will grow back, because your body thinks you’re injured and will repair itself. Sex will always be painful for you. Do you see now?”

Portia swallowed hard. Her knees buckled, and she sought support from the desk behind her. “You can’t be serious ... this can’t be true.”

Why was this the first time she'd heard about this? Her mother had never mentioned anything about that, and her father had only always cautioned her about boys. She raised her eyes to her friend, her head full of questions.

Lauren shook her gorgeous locks. “I’m telling you the truth. Go, ask my father. He made sure that I lost my virginity with plenty of time to spare. Hell, he screened the guys himself and helped me pick one.”

Portia looked back at the few times she’d struck up friendships with boys. “One time, my dad found me kissing a guy in the backseat of a car. We moved to another town a week later, but …” Her voice faltered as she remembered the times she’d gotten close to boys, but it had never led to more than a few kisses and some touching. Before she could go any further with any of them, had she even wanted to, she’d found herself in a new town and a new school.

Lauren gasped. “Your father kept you away from boys? But he must know what he’s doing to you. He can’t not know.”

Portia shook her head, not wanting to follow the implications of Lauren’s words. “No! My father loves me. He would never do anything to hurt me.”