"Do you think this color washes me out?"

Charlotte looked up from painting her nails and tilted her head, trying to decide if in fact this dress I'm holding up in front of me isn't for me. "It doesn't wash you out, I just don't think I really like it."

Ugh. I threw it on my bed and went back into my closet. "I seriously have nothing to wear tonight, Char. What am I going to do?!"

"Gabriella," she says as she gets up and comes over to me, "if I have something to wear tonight then you do, too. What about that new Chanel dress your mom just bought you? It'd be perfect for tonight along with your Jimmy Choo pumps."

Oh my gosh, she's right. The dress. I walked out of my closet, went down the hallway to the coat closet and grabbed the dress my mom store in there. It was so pretty.

I quickly came back in my room and showed Charlotte the dress, "yes, this is it."

Char smiled and blew on her nails so they could dry quicker, "Duh. You can never go wrong with Chanel, everyone knows that."

True. And definitely not tonight. Tonight, I had to look my absolute best. It's Stacy Smith's big end of summer party and everyone looks forward to it all summer. It's pretty much to welcome back everyone from the Hamptons or whatever fabulous place they've been at during the summer. It's also a way to kick off the school year and this is our last year- senior year. We had to make tonight great. And I had to look great since my ex boyfriend was going to be there. Ugh. I had to show him what he's missing out on and why he'll never get better than me.

Okay, no. That's very narcissistic. But whatever. I hate him.

"Morgan told me that Lily told her that Ryan's definitely going to be there tonight," Char tells me as she scrunches her nose, "you going to be okay?"

Of course I will be. We broke up three months ago but we dated on and off for like two years. It was done, for sure, though, this time. And yeah, I loved him, but he wants someone else? He wants to explore his options? Well, fine. "We're still friends, it's fine."

We are still friends, but it's like a love-hate thing. I can't stand him anymore and we're only staying friends because our dads have been friends FOREVER.

"Well, I, for one, am really excited about starting senior year single," she proclaims, "do you have any idea how much fun we'll have? It's senior year, so many fun parties, so much to do before we leave this place for college. Ah, I'm excited just thinking about it."

And I was, too. I couldn't wait until graduation and I'm on my way to Brown. Leaving New York City behind. Sure, it's home and always will be, but I need a change. And I'm so ready for that to happen.

"Here's to senior year," I grab my champagne that my maid brought us a little bit ago since she knows we love to have a drink before we go to any party.

"To senior year," Char rose her glass up, "and being best friends forever."

"And being best friends forever."

Seriously. This year was going to be the best, ever.

"Are you drunk already?"

"What?" I pushed my hair out of my face as Morgan asked me, "no, I've had two drinks."

Two. One at home and one on the ride over here. I only drink at parties. Or at home before a party. And that's it. But do I seriously look drunk or is Morgan just pulling my leg? Because that's the last thing I want to look like right now. I have people to impress. Well... Ryan.

Morgan shook her head, "Sorry, I just, Char told me she's feeling tipsy and if Char is then I just assumed..."

"Well, no," I tell her, "I'm fine."

She nods and turns around and I followed her to our group of friends. Char is already sitting there with them since I ran to the bathroom really quick. This party was at the fabulous and grand Waldorf Astoria hotel. And everyone from school was here. Everyone from other schools were here. It was the party to be at, that's for sure. I mean, there's no place better than this hotel. It's one of the best in all of New York.

I've missed my friends. Besides Morgan and Char, I haven't seen many this summer since they each vacationed somewhere different than us.

Morgan, Char and I spent pretty much the whole summer in the Hamptons. Savannah went to Europe for a couple of months with her family and family friends while Cassie split her time between California, here and a few places in Europe. She went all over.

"Can you guys believe we're starting our senior year?" Cassie shakes her, still can't believing we're 10 months away from graduating, "It's crazy."

"Tell me about it," Morgan chimes in, "I think I'm pretty sad about it. And it hasn't even started."

Savannah scoffed and leaned back in booth, "Oh please, college is going to be the best years of our lives. I can't wait to go to Yale and never look back. All the guys are so much better at college."

True. That's a plus.

"Except I'm not looking forward to splitting up," she continues, "can't we all just go to the same college and rule it together?"

We couldn't help, but laugh. Ruling a college? That's a little crazy. Ruling our school? Now that's believable because we do. It's us five versus everyone. Well, not exactly versus. But we're popular ones. People want to sit with us. People want us attending their parties. People want to be our friends.

And we are friends with a lot of the people, but do we trust everyone? Nope.

It's us five against the world and I'm pretty sure it'll always be like that. I mean, we've been friends since the 3rd grade. All of us.

"Hey guys!"

We all turn towards Stacy who's standing in front of us.

Stacy Smith. She has her own crowd, but it's not a competition. She's nice, she's sweet, she's gorgeous and she knows her boundaries. I mean, it sounds so narcissist, but she knows better than to try to compete with us because we'd take them down. We're more popular. No questions about it.

"Thanks for inviting us," Morgan holds up her drink, "great party."

Stacy smiles and sips on her martini, "thanks. Music's playing soon and food should be out shortly so help yourselves to whatever you guys want."

We thanked her and she walked away. I picked up my martini and took a sip. It was so easy to get alcohol in New York. Most people didn't even care if you were under 18. Which we all are. Well, I'm 2 months away from 18, but whatever. As long as you're rich or you have a well respected family, they don't care. You can get whatever you want.

"So Savannah," Char turns to her, "how's William?"

Savannah blushed and closed her eyes for a second while letting out the biggest smile, "He's um, he's good. He should be around here somewhere soon."

I turn towards her a bit, "Yeah? You guys finally hooked up last night?"

She nodded and smiled, "We did. I mean, I kind of knew it would happen since at the beginning of summer something was there. But I was off to Paris and Italy and stuff and he was going to the Hamptons so timing sucked. But saw him yesterday and we finally kissed."

"Aww, Sav, I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks, G," she picked up her drink, "obviously nothing's official yet, but I like him so we'll see where this thing goes."

Savannah and Morgan are the only ones with boyfriends in the group and that was fine. We all can't be single at the same time. Or taken at the same time. How boring would that be?

The music started playing, Morgan and Cassie slipped out to grab themselves another drink and we quickly followed after a short while. Before I knew it, we were all out and about mingling with everyone, catching up with people we haven't seen all summer and swaying along to the music. Parties in New York City are sophisticated and classy. And most importantly, fun. It has to be classy because well, everyone lives in nice penthouses or townhouses. We like to dress up here. I mean, I don't all the time. Being in sweats and a t shirt is my favorite thing in the world, but definitely not at a party. Nope. It's social suicide.

"I'm gonna go use the restroom," I tell Cassie over the music.

She nods and continues dancing and mingling with some of our friends.

And after I used the bathroom, I went to the bar and ordered myself another martini. I have a car service. It's one of my last days of summer. I deserve to have a little bit of fun, right? Right.

I turned around with my drink in hand and before I knew it, I was screaming at some guy to watch it because he bumped into me causing my to spill.

"I'm sorry!"

I looked down at my dress and shoes to make sure I didn't get any on there, "Yeah, you really..."

Upon looking up, I was met with the bluest of eyes that made me lose my thoughts. What else was I going to say? Ah, it's not important anymore. This guy. This guy that was standing in front of me was the most gorgeous guy I have ever seen in my entire life. So hot. And oh my gosh, I just yelled at him.

I just yelled at the hot guy.

"Umm," I tried rebounding from probably being such a bitch, "it's okay. I'm fine."

Not only did I make the most annoyed noise, but I'm pretty sure I was about to tell him that he should watch where the fuck he was going. So not nice.

He looked right into my eyes and for a second, I think my heart stopped. Who is this guy? Where did he come from? And why is he so freaking attractive? Like, I have to get to the bottom of this right now.

"You sure?"

I nod, "I'm sure. Sorry. I thought you were someone else and so I was about to yell at you..." Nice save, Gabriella. NOT.

He laughed as he stepped forward and past me and said something to the bartender. And then he turned back around and leaned against the bar with his arms crossed, "I guess I'm pretty lucky."

God, he was so hot. Like so hot. I need to know who this is.

I didn't have a chance to really say anything else about the matter because he turned around and grabbed some drinks the bartender gave him and then handed me one, "Sorry about that. Next time I'll look where I'm going."

And then he walked away. Just like that. No name. Nothing. And it made me mad.

So mad.