Summer was so excited. She and Zach were going to a fancy party where she would get to meet Arnold, er ah Governor Schwarzenegger! The party was going to be at an old mansion outside of Newport and everyone who was anyone in So Cal would be there. Summer and Marissa had spent two full days of shopping to find the perfect dress for the event. She had actually bought 3 dresses.

One was long silver Chanel evening gown that made her look about 25, a shorter little black dress by Donna Karan, and a funky multicolored Calvin Klein dress that she knew the minute she got home she would probably never wear. Good thing Daddy's credit card has an insanely high limit. In addition to the dresses she had bough 5 pairs of shoes and countless accessories. Oh well, how often does she get to party with the Terminator?

Actually Summer didn't really like any of Arnold's movies. She was more of a romantic comedy girl, but she had dated enough boys that she had seen more action movies that she could count. Why did guys think a good movie for a date was one where a half-man half-cyborg went around blowing people up? Or in Seth's case a half-man half-spider. At least that movie had Kirsten Dunst and a romantic storyline to go along with all the violence.

Marissa was really jealous that Summer was going to this party. Actually it was a fundraiser for the Tsunami victims. Caleb and Julie were invited, but apparently Caleb didn't have enough pull anymore to get any extra tickets. Actually, he probably didn't was Marissa to go, especially since she would show up with the guy who mowed most of the party-goers lawns.

The relationship between Marissa and Caleb had been strained before, but after Caleb's revelation about his "error in judgment" Marissa was no longer civil to him. Sure, she didn't really like Lindsay because Lindsay and Ryan had hooked up, but the way Caleb had crushed the poor girl by calling her a mistake was the final straw. Things were so bad between her mom and Caleb that Marissa probably could have moved back in with her dad, if he didn't live on a sailboat.

But Summer and Zach were going and since Zach's dad was a Senator they would get to meet all kinds of important people. Summer had spent the entire day getting ready, starting off with a two hour spa treatment, including facial and seaweed wrap, followed by a manicure and pedicure and ending up in Flavio's chair for highlights and a trim. Now she had only 2 hours to get herself dressed and ready to go.

"Shit!" Summer exclaimed as she looked at the clock. How could it already be 6:00? For a moment Summer let herself think what it would be like to have a mother here to help her get ready. Someone to help her do her hair and take a picture to be kept for posterity. But she would have to settle for the opinions of a small plastic horse.

"Oh my God Summer, you look amazing!" Zach exclaimed as he picked her up, precisely at 8:00. "You look pretty hot yourself. Is that an Armani Tux?" she asked running her had up and down his arm enjoying the sensation of the rich material on her fingertips. "Uh yea, my dad insisted that I get a new tux tonight. He wants to make sure that I don't embarrass him in front of everyone."

"As if you could be an embarrassment to your dad" Summer replied with a little huff. "What would you like get a B in advanced calculus or something." Zach shifted uncomfortably, "Well yea, actually." Summer looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Look we better go or we are gonna be late for our big night" Zach said as he extended him arm out and escorted Summer to the car.

"So your dad isn't happy with a B in advance calc?" Summer inquired. "They wouldn't even let me in that class and if I got a B I would probably die of excitement." Zach shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He cleared his throat and said "A B is like an F to my father. Remember I am supposed to go to Harvard and become the president or at very least a senator." He snorted and pointed ahead, "Wow the place looks amazing."

The house did look amazing, actually it was more of a mansion than a house. It was an old Victorian set high up on a bluff overlooking the ocean. The house was ablaze with lights and partygoers mingled on the high decks overlooking the cliff. "Wow" Summer said softly. Zack pulled up to the valet parking and he took Summer's arm and escorted her up the step and into the party.

Inside was a sea of beautiful people, most of them dressed in black. Summer was glad she had gone with the silver Chanel. She felt like she could hold her own against anyone as long as she was dressed well. Zach's dad soon hurried over and they spent the next 45 minutes meeting and smoozing with all sorts of political type. Actually despite the glitz and glamour Summer was a little bored.

"Hey Zach, I was hoping you would be here" a voice called from behind them. Zach turned and saw his best friend from boarding school Brad. "Oh my God Bradford, how's it going?" Summer watched as the two guys hugged and waited to be introduced. Zach eventually remembered his manners and introduced Summer to Brad. "This is Brad Johnson we went to boarding school in Maine together for 4 years."

Brad was cute, not cuter than Zach, but pretty cute. He had red hair though and Summer didn't like guys with red hair, unless they were named like Brody or something. Soon two more guys in tuxedos joined Zach and Brad and they began to reminisce about a summer trip to Europe they had all taken years ago. One of the boys fathers had just bought a new Ferrari and they wanted to go check it out.

Zach looked at Summer apologetically. "I'm sorry, this is probably kinda boring for you, but I haven't seen these guys in forever. Do you want to come check out the car?" he asked with a shrug of his shoulders. "Ah, no thanks, I'll just hang out here. I though I saw Cameron Diaz earlier, maybe I'll go stalk her or something" Summer replied. "You could go talk to my mom" Zach suggested. "No thanks, I'd rather not embarrass myself tonight."

"You should probably go spend some time with her. She is really a nice person if you get to know her" Zach offered. "Zach, she hates me and thinks that I am a moron" Summer said her voice rising a little. Zach's mom was a sore spot with Summer. Summer was rarely intimidated and hardly ever felt like embarrassed of herself, but when she was with Zach's mom she felt like a worthless idiot. "Summer," Zach sighed "she doesn't hate you, you guys are just different. Please go talk to her." And with that he kissed her on the cheek and left with his friends.

Great, Summer thought. Here I am at a fabulous, albeit slightly boring party and I am all by myself. Looking around the room she spotted Zach's mom talking to several women across the room. Summer figured she might as well get it over with and headed towards her. "Summer, hi!" his mother greeted her as she walked up. "Well, you look … very nice" Zach's mom said after an awkward pause. She then introduced Summer to her friends and they continued their discussion of the plight of Somalian orphans. Summer stayed as long as she felt she had to and then politely excused herself.

The encounter with Zach's mom left Summer slightly shaken. No matter what she did she wouldn't be good enough for Zach's family. They didn't care that she got a one-of-a-kind Marc Jacobs top for only $350 on sale at Fashion Island. They didn't care that she could tell if someone had had a chin implant just by looking. They only cared that she couldn't name all the high ranking officials in the U.N.

Summer looked around and Zach was still no where to be seen so she headed over toward the bar. She needed a drink and she deserved one after all she had put up with tonight. Maybe a couple drinks would restore the confidence that Zach's mother had crushed. It didn't matter that Summer wasn't even 18, it was always easy to alcohol at these events, but tonight in her cocktail dress Summer definitely looked 21.

"Vodka rocks please" Summer told the bartender. She sat at a nearby table and sipped her drink, watching people mingle and dance. Where the hell was Zach, she wondered. He had been gone for 45 minutes supposedly looking at a stupid car. "Is this seat taken?" a male voice asked from behind, startling Summer. "I…uh" she stammered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you its just that all the other seats are taken. My name is Travis" he said while extending a hand."

"I'm Summer, sure you can sit down." Travis was good looking, damn good looking Summer caught herself thinking. And he was older, way older, like probably 30. "I'm just waiting here for my boyfriend, he went with his friends to look at some stupid car " Summer blurted out suddenly aware that she indeed had a boyfriend and wasn't free to flirt. Zach thought that Summer flirted too much and most of the time Summer wasn't even aware that she was doing it.

"Well it must be a really amazing car to leave you sitting her alone looking like that" Travis said as he flashing his dazzling smile at her. "Yea, well you know boys and their toys. I'm sure you have a few toys that you would abandon your girlfriend for." Travis laughed, "You're right about that, I have too many toys and that's probably why I am sitting here alone."

Summer looked around trying to spot Zach. She was enjoying taking with Travis and flirting with him made her feel more in control. So she didn't know about orphans in Albania, but she could still wrap a man around her little finger. That was a damn useful skill. She and Travis talked for 20 minutes. He was one of the governor's lawyers and spent most of his free time surfing. Thank God he doesn't have Sandy's eyebrows Summer thought to herself.

After a while he asked her to dance. Summer hesitated, she didn't know if Zach would be angry with her for dancing with someone else. Oh well, screw him. He is the one who left me for an hour to go hang out with his boys. Summer just hoped that no one would blow her cover. She had told Travis that she was a 21 year old junior at USC. The song was a slow one and Summer settled into Travis's arms. They weren't even halfway through the song before Summer felt someone grab her arm.