Rachel and Sarah rarely shared clothes, mostly because their tastes were very different. But Rachel did admire a few of her things, her denim Gap skirt being one of them. She thought a skirt would be subtle and sexy for tonight. She didn’t want to go too over the top, though, so she figured she would wear her converse sneakers with it.

Rachel snuck into Sarah’s room and opened her closet. There it was, hanging perfectly on a hot pink plastic hanger. She took it off the hanger and made a mental note to put it back exactly as she’d found it. She walked back to her room through their adjoining bathroom and looked through her closet for a shirt to wear with it.

Blouse, tee, long sleeved, short sleeved, black, blue, baby pink? She had a lot of options, but none of them felt right. She started digging in her drawers, and pulled out the tight white halter-top she had thought she lost in the move.

She tried it on and looked in the mirror. She felt good and knew that she would look hot at the party.

Rachel took off the outfit and hopped into the shower. She used her sister’s Bath and Body Works coconut lime breeze body scrub so her skin would be extra soft, in case Rob held her hand or touched her arm. She wanted to be perfect for him. She took an extra long shower -- getting herself cleaner than she had ever been before.

When Rachel got out of the shower, she put back on her comfy clothes, so that her parents wouldn’t suspect anything. She’d also wait to put on her makeup and perfume until after they left. If they saw her sitting in her room with a perfect face of makeup and smelling like perfume they would know she was up to something.

As 7 o’clock neared, Rachel took out one of her textbooks and began to read. She wanted to be deep into her homework when her parents walked in to say goodbye. At least she wanted it to look that way. As she sat there, staring at the pages, a wave of guilt passed over her. Maybe she shouldn’t go through with this. She didn’t recognize the person she was turning into and she wasn’t sure if she liked it.

Suddenly, Rachel heard her parents’ voices coming down the hall and then a knock on her door. Rachel looked at her watch: 7:15pm.

“Come in,” Rachel said, as she sat on her bed, staring at her Earth Science textbook.

“We’re leaving now. We are going to Mr. Chen’s Chinese restaurant and then to the movies. We’ll be back around 11:30-12pm,” Rachel’s Mom said.

“It’s nice to see you doing your homework,” her Dad added.

“OK, have fun. Say hello to the neighbors for me,” Rachel said.

“We have the Phillies game taping so don’t hit any buttons when you watch your show. This is a big game,” her dad said.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

As her parents turned and walked out of the door, a rush of excitement came over her. She peeked out of her window to watch as they drove their Station wagon out of the driveway and down the street.

She had done it. Her parents were gone, and she had half an hour until Rob was coming to pick her up.

She scurried into the bathroom to put on her makeup. She decided she would do natural makeup tonight. She didn’t want to go overboard on their first date -- plus, she didn’t know what the scene was going to be like. The last thing she wanted was to show up with too much makeup, or overdressed. She wanted to fit in subtly.

She put the finishing touches on her makeup and gave herself two spritzes of her CK 1 perfume. She headed downstairs and grabbed a Nature’s Valley bar. She didn’t have time to eat dinner, and figured a granola bar would do.

As she sat in her family room, dressed and ready, she couldn’t help but peek out of the window to see if Rob was there. She watched and waited patiently. A few minutes later, she saw a black Jeep Grand Cherokee pull into her driveway. The horn honked. She jumped up from the couch.

Rachel locked the front door and headed towards his car with a pang of excitement and nervousness. Her palms were sweaty as she reached for the passenger-side door handle.

Rachel opened it and got inside. She was impressed by his car and was even more impressed when she saw his outfit. He was wearing grey jeans with a white polo shirt, the collar popped. His arm muscles bulged through the tight sleeves and she couldn’t help but think about touching them.

She composed herself and said, “Hey!”

“Hey Rach, you excited for the party?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be fun,” she replied.

As Rob backed out of the driveway, she felt relieved. She had successfully snuck out of the house for the first time ever and she was with the hottest guy in school.

What could be better than this? she thought.

As Rob drove her to Jordan’s, they talked about how their weekend was going so far. Rob told her that he went into town with some of his friends last night. Apparently it was cool to hang out behind all the stores on Main Street in Bedford. Rachel couldn’t see any fun in it, but said, “ Cool! Rachel told Rob all about her time in the city with the girls but omitted that she was grounded for the rest of the weekend, or that she had even gotten in trouble.

“Wow, that’s sick,” Rob said. “It’s so cool you went into the city. I love the city. “Have you ever been to the clubs?”

“Nope, not yet,” she said, “ but I’ve got my fake,” she said proudly.

“That’s pretty sweet,” he said. “I’ve got my older brother’s ID: it works every time. Maybe next weekend we’ll go into the city so I can take you to one of my favorite dance clubs,” Rob said.

“Yeah, that’ll be fun,” she replied.

Rachel was thrilled at the prospect of making a future date with Rob. The night was going perfectly so far, she thought.

As the two pulled up in front of Jordan’s house there were at least fifteen cars parked on the side of the street and in his driveway.

“Wow, there’s a lot of people here,” she said.

“This is only a quarter of the kids that are supposed to show tonight,” replied Rob. “Almost the whole school knows about this -- well everyone who anyone knows.”

Rachel felt so cool. She was part of the “in” crowd. This was a new thing for her; she had never been part of that crowd in Pennsylvania, even though she secretly wished she had. She had only been to one house party, and it had been pretty lame. She imagined that party nothing next to the one she was about to enter.

As Rob parked the car and turned off the ignition, he turned and said, “Wait there, I’ll get your door.”

Rachel was shocked: she had never had a guy open her door for her. “OK!” she replied.

Rob came around the front of the car and opened up Rachel’s door for her. She hopped out and they walked side by side into Jordan’s house.

“Hey man!” a voice said from inside.

“Jordan, my man! What’s up bro?” replied Rob.

Jordan stopped and looked at Rachel. Rob said, “This is Rachel, she’s new, not sure if you two have met yet.”

“Nope, haven’t met. Hey Rachel welcome to the par-tay!” said Jordan.

“Thanks for having me,” Rachel replied.

“Want a brew?” Jordan asked, holding up two cans of Budweiser.

“Yeah man,” said Rob. “You want one?” Rob turned and asked Rachel.

Not wanting to look like a loser, she said, “Sure, I’ll have one.”

Rachel couldn’t believe this was happening. She didn’t really drink: she had only drunk a few times before with her friends in Pennsylvania, but never out at a party. She decided that this was going to be her only drink of the night, especially because she had to sneak back into her house and pretend that she was doing homework when her parents arrived.

“Cheers,” Rachel said, clinking their beer cans together.

Rachel smiled and took a sip. She realized she didn’t like beer that much. She took a few more sips and then held it in her hands. She figured if she carried it around with her, it would look like she was drinking even though she really wasn’t.

Rachel looked around at all the people at the party. Most of them were drinking and she saw a few of them on the back porch, smoking. Everyone looked liked they were having a good time. She secretly wanted to get in with the popular crowd and she knew tonight was going to be the night. She wanted to be popular partially because she thought it would be cool, but mostly because she wanted Rob to really like her. She thought that if she were in with all his friends, it would be easy for him to fall for her.

Rob took Rachel around and introduced her to most of the guys on his football team. Rachel thought the guys were nice, and was excited that they were talking to her. Rachel had never had any guy friends before: all of her friends at home were girls. She didn’t mind this, but always wanted to be in with the guys, too.

The radio was blasting an Eminem song and some of the kids started dancing and singing to the music. Rachel watched on the outskirts of the room as she continued to talk with Rob. Rob was giving Rachel the low-down on all the kids, bringing her up to speed on who was dating who, who played what sports, who drove what car. Rachel’s brain was starting to hurt with all the information.

The party started to pick up and get really crowded, and Rachel and Rob decided to go out on the back porch. As Rob opened the sliding glass door and motioned Rachel through, she was surprised to see that nobody else was on the back porch. Rachel had seen a group of kids out there smoking a few minutes ago, but figured they must have gone back inside.

Rob walked over to a rocking love seat and sat down on it, and Rachel followed him. The two sat there, rocking back and forth together, talking.

“So, you liking it so far?” said Rob.

“You mean, Bedford or the party?”

“Well, both,” said Rob.

“The party’s cool and I’m warming up to my new life in Bedford. It’s a bit of an adjustment, but it’s better now.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Rob said, as he stared into her eyes.

“Me, too,” Rachel said, as she looked back at him, and then looked away.