Christa POV

"Come on, girl! You gotta dance like you want to be here!" Cati bumped me with her hip, and tried to get me to move around more. Her voice was barely audible since the speakers were pumping out nothing but pop.

"Yeah, Christa! I thought you loved to dance!" I rolled my eyes at Lisa, who simply stuck her tongue out at me while she cracked open another beer. I danced backwards, successfully taking myself away from the crowded dance floor. I looked for Rosalina, and finally found her talking closely with Maya. After a couple minutes of debating, I almost ran over to them.

"Hey guys…" They both smiled, and Rosalina laughed lightly.

"Looks like Lisa and Cati already got a hold of you." I looked down, my shirt already wet with beer and wine. I began to retort furiously, until I realized Rosalina wasn't trying to make fun of me. I laughed, and shook my head, before pointing to the corner of college guys.

"Yeah, and I bet Kevin would just love to get a hold of you, Rosalina." Her eyebrows went up in surprise, before answering me with another laugh.

"More like Mrs. Lief would want to get a hold of me, that woman is crazy." Maya and I laughed, agreeing quickly. The photo shoot was awful, and dinner was just awkward. Worse still, Trina had given her all of our numbers, for "future reference." We were all worried as to what that would entail.

Suddenly, Lianna danced up to us, grabbing all three of us by the hands. "Why aren't three of the hottest, most spectacular girls I know dancing their asses off? I do believe we've just crashed a frat-boy party with the best booze, and boys," she quickly spun us in a circle before pulling us into a hug.

"And don't look now Rosalina, but I do believe Kevin Lief is checking you out right this very minute." Her eyes narrowed conspiratorially as Rosalina shook her head quickly.

"No, Lianna, don't you dare!" Rosalina shrieked as Lianna spun us through the crowd before casually pushing her away, right into the arms of Kevin.

"Now, that Rosalina will finally relax, hopefully, it's time to get you to loosen up!" I tried to escape her grasp quickly as shook my head.

"No, really guys, that's not necessary at all. I mean,"

"Christa, sweetie, have you ever even had a beer before?" Lianna wrapped her arm around my shoulder, steering us toward the coolers. "Maya will vouch for this too; it's not really that bad. It's just a buzz. We did this all the time as freshmen."

"I know, but,"

"Look, girl. I don't give a shit what you're going to tell us, even though I'm sure it will be something about the guys, or your boyfriend Nat, or Jesse, or your parents." Lianna fished a beer out of the cooler and popped the top open.

"And I'm sure you'll say something about how they won't approve. But the thing is, you can do whatever the hell you want. You're a star, a celebrity, for god's sake." Lianna handed me the beer as Maya continued talking.

"The point is, if you want to drink a beer, then drink a beer. I'm not saying you have to get drunk, but no one has gotten drunk off of a few sips of beer. Most people just act like it, because it's incredibly easy to act drunk." I stared at the can in my hand, drumming my fingers on the aluminum can.

Maya sighed. "Look, girl. If you don't want to drink it, that's fine. But I know you've been feeling suffocated, and I'm sure you feel like you're not being listened to by anyone. You probably feel like you don't get to make half of the choices you normally do, and tonight, you're at a party where almost no one knows your name, your relationships, or your history. If there was any night to choose exactly what you want, then tonight is it." I simply nodded, and walked away. I knew they were talking about me, sighing and shaking their heads. I knew they were talking about how much of a cowardly freshman I was, and coming from them, and their knowledgeable senior advice, I had never felt smaller, more babied, and more out of control than right then.

I rounded the corner and found a small room in the club, littered with beer bottles. There were a few unopened cans in a red cooler, and a large fluffy couch. My grip tightened on the can I was still holding. I wasn't dumb, or naive and I certainly wasn't going to be that freshman. I just didn't really like to party. I sat down, and surveyed the room. No one would find me here, I was sure. I looked down at the beer again.

Just one sip wouldn't hurt.

"Heeeyyyyyyyyyy babe. You know, you're reaaallllyyyyy hot. And cute. And smart and funny and ohmygod I think I love everything about you…except for well, you know. How you're always paying attention to that other girl…Lily? Daisy? Rose? Rosie? Ohh yeah, hahahah, Rosalina. How come you've never written me a song? 'Christa' could be your next big hit baby, hahahaha. But of course you wouldn't, baby. I know I don't really have your heart, you gave that sucker away a long time ago, huh? Well, cutie, just leave me a message when you actually mean that you loooovveeee me. I looooovveee you Nattie-boy. Isn't that cute? Can I call you that? Maybe not, because it doesn't feel like we're in an actually relationship anyways? That's okay, but I'm just warning you, you better be okay if I find another third wheel relationship for me…huh? Hahahahaha. Isn't awesome to finally be talking together? Isn't this great? Aren't just in loooooooooove? Looooooovveee you too, Natty-poo."

"Dude, where did the girls go?" Thomas looked around the hotel room as if they'd appear. Nat looked up from the movie.

"Weren't they supposed to be back three hours ago?" The dinner was supposed to be over by ten, and it was already two in the morning.

"Guys, don't worry about it, they can all handle themselves, I'm sure." Everyone looked at me oddly.

"What? I'm just saying,"

"Dude, who would still be eating at dinner at one in the morning?"

"Truck drivers?" Thomas rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, dude." David raised his hands in defeat.

"Look, guys, if it helps, I'll call Trina, and check on everyone." Cooper took his phone out of his pocket and dialed Trina's number.

"Hey Trina, its Cooper. Where are you guys, you were supposed to be back four hours ago?" On the other end of the line we could hear a lot of music and laughter.

"You guys are at Kevin Lief's birthday party? What? Why?" Cooper paused as Trina tried to speak over the music. "Okay, well, I hope the rest of the girls know there's a dual rehearsal tomorrow. The press wants to catch the two bands practicing together and it would be really good publicity," Cooper nodded, before frowning. "Oh. Well, have you seen them at all? I mean, NO Trina, I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to make sure that everyone would be ready to rehearse together tomorrow. Okay, well, see you soon. Bye." Cooper sighed and the guys immediately attacked him for answers. He held his hands up quickly.

"Guys, guys, calm down. Trina says they're on their way back."

"That was a long wait for a table Coop." We all knew that Nat was suggesting they weren't at a restaurant anymore.

"Look, apparently Mrs. Lief practically dragged them to her son's birthday party herself. She wanted them to experience the luxury life of Florida or something like that."

"Well, from the sounds coming out of Trina's phone, I doubt the leaf lady is still there, and I bet her son is all over those girls…AND I'm willing to bet an entire year's worth of allowance that they're at one of those college parties." David stated matter of factly.

"Yeah, well, that punk better not lay a finger on Lisa or else I swear I'll show him who's boss!" Thomas pounded the floor angrily.

"Okay, Thomas. We get it, you really, really, like Lisa. But what about Christa? She's like three years younger than the rest of the band, and we know for a fact that she's never partied before…" Nat trailed off wordlessly.

"I'm sure Christa's fine, you guys. I'll bet nothing even really happened." We all rolled their eyes slightly at Alex's sleepy input. As the youngest, Alex still was able to see the best in everyone, and overlook the more…high school attitudes towards parties and stuff.

About a half an hour passed when Cooper's phone rung, waking everyone up from sleep.

"That's great that you're back, Trina! Okay…well, we'll just discuss the details of the rehearsal really quickly tomorrow morning…Are you girls alright? Trina, you sound really out of it. Oh, well okay. Het the band was wondering about Christa – Rosalina and her went to their rooms already? Okay, well, I guess we'll see you guys tomorrow, bye." Cooper hung up, slightly bemused.

"That's odd. Normally Trina's awake until four a.m. preparing plans for rehearsals."

"Isn't Christa coming to say goodnight to all of us? She normally does…" Alex blinked away sleep, lazily.

"Maybe I should go check on her. I'll be right back you guys." Cooper held his hand out to stop Nat from opening the door.

"Actually, Nat. Maybe you should wait until tomorrow, Trina said that none of the girls, including Christa, wanted to be disturbed until tomorrow morning, because they were really tired from the photo shoot today." David and Thomas made eye contact with me and we rolled our eyes.

"Point being," we said at the same time, "they're all drunk." I thought for a bit.

"Except for maybe Christa." Everyone nodded at my words as Cooper turned the light out again.

"Alright guys, let's go back to bed. We have a long day tomorrow."

As I lay back down on my pillow, my ear hit my phone. I pulled it from under my head and looked at it quickly. I squinted; there was a voicemail on my phone. I clicked on the icon and listened to the message. The voice, tone, and words made me gulp quickly. I sat up, and looked around. All the guys had fallen back to sleep. I pressed another button, and listened to the message more closely, even though I didn't need to.

"Heeeyyyyyyyyyy babe…"

I already knew who it was. I listened to the message again, and I kept trying to make out Nat's form on the floor, while trying to tune into her voice.

This was not good, not good at all.