There must be some word today,
from my boyfriend so far away,
please Mister Postman look and see,
if there's a letter, a letter for me
--Please Mr Postman//The Carpenters

"I swear nothing exciting ever happens around here!" Kristen exclaims, dumping her A&F shoulder bag on my bed before flopping down on it.

Normally I would be shocked-not to mention having the shit scared out of me-if someone just walked into my room like that while I'm in the middle of carefully curling my hair, but hello, this is Kristen Gregory, my best friend of five years.

"Why, what do you want to happen? Precious Zac coming to ol' Westchester and sweeping you off your feet? I'm sure Abeley would love to hear all about that..." I grin. Chris Abeley is Kristen's boyfriend of four months, and they are devoted to each other. The only problem is that Kristen is also in love with pretty boy Zac Efron, or his hair to be more precise.

"Be quiet, Mass!" Kristen giggles, throwing a throw pillow at me. "I just mean, Kori was on the phone to me from Mississippi-you remember Kori my cousin don't you?-and she was saying how exciting things are getting over there. There are all these hot European Foreign Exchange boys there, and one is the son of an English Lord! That's just one example; there are tons of reasons why other schools are way more exciting than ours. Even Westchester itself is becoming a dull place full of glossy credit cards and celery diets."

I toss my freshly curled hair behind my shoulder and switch off my tongs, the red light on them flashes and then slowly dulls. "Kris, come on, Westchester is interesting and exciting!"

Kristen sits up and scoffs, folding her long tanned arms across her Ralph Lauren polo, "How?" She raises an eyebrow.

I struggle for words, "Well, President Obama once drove past the Town Centre, and um...Carrie Randolph had Westchester's Best Garden prize and her Mom was on TV and everything!"

"Yeah, real record-breaking, call-the-papparazzi stuff." Kristen rolls her eyes and walks over to my desk where my incomplete algebra homework lies.

"You still haven't finished it? It's so easy!" She flops down in my desk chair and spins round on it.

"Oh my God, Kris you'll be a lifesaver if you help me!" I scamper over and point to Question 2 (Yeah, I haven't got very far).

"So if 2x-3y=3x, then one of the unknowns will be a negative number right?" Kristen raises her blond eyebrows at me.

"Kris, please can you just do it!" I plead.

"Fine, but you really won't learn..." She picks up my scratched Mont Blanc pen anyway and fills in the answers.

"So, did you hear about Alicia Rivera's third cousin or whatever, coming to Westchester soon?" I ask, threading a DKNY dress on to a hanger and putting it in my closet. I power on my MacBook Air and click on my e-mail.

"Yeah, but he's a bit of a dork. Her words not mine!"

I giggle, "In what way?"

"Well, he tucks in his shirt and wears a belt which is so dork-"I throw a goose-down pillow at a smirking Kristen, blushing.

"I did that once, in Fifth Grade or something Kris!"

She carries on laughing though, and has to duck when another cushion sails her way. "It's still hilarious that you did it in the first place! The jeans were like baggy or something!" She bursts into another fit of laughter and I roll my eyes, turning back to my e-mail.

"Hey, listen to this..." I read out the following:

Hey guys!

The estate is open to all on Saturday 'cos the folks are out of town sooo....PARTY!
Bring yourselves, bring your friends, and bring your drinks, whatever. Just come, 'kay?
8:00pm till whenever people start regaining their consciousness.
Come or miss out on the biggest New Year's party, baby!

xoxo Alicia

"So, wanna go?" I ask Kristen.

"Yeah, whatever. Ooh, maybe we'll see dorky Jake or whatever his name is. Do you think he tucks his shirt in to baggy-"

Another puffy cushion comes into contact with Kristen's shoulder.