Olivia had officially survived her first week of college and her first week of living with her roommates, so she decided to celebrate. Her living situation actually wasn't as bad as she had thought it was going to be. Becky, Jenny, and Shante were so preoccupied with cheerleading that they were rarely home. Mark and Scotty were always at football practice or the gym and Chucky was now pledging a fraternity just as Olivia had predicted. The only person who was really home was Dylan. The two of them had gotten off to a rocky start, but they were quickly becoming friends. He had gone out to lunch with Olivia and her mom and Olivia tried not to feel left out as the two of them picked each other's brains. Her mom commented on Dylan's analytical mind and said that if they had camcorders in the '70s, she probably would have done the same thing he was doing with his student film. When they were home, they'd watch movies together, or 'films' as Dylan preferred to call them, but they weren't the slasher movies she watched with Abbie and Alex. There were subtitles and most of them had a message. The two of them swapped mix tapes and talked about unrequited love. Olivia poured her heart out to him off camera and Dylan did the same. She told him all about Alex breaking up with her via phone and he told her all about being in love with Mark, but the Mark that only he sees and not the macho jock that everyone else sees.

The two of them had just grabbed lunch and were now roaming around the city. Olivia worried about boring him with her obsessive talking about Alex. He insisted she wasn't, but Olivia had a feeling she was. She wanted to stop talking about Alex, but she didn't know how to stop. Everything reminded her of Alex; every girl with blonde hair, every girl with glasses, and if a girl had both blonde hair and glasses, Olivia nearly cried.

The two of them were exploring the area when Dylan insisted that they stop inside a music store. It was a little hole in the wall place that was known for having nothing but alternative music and hard to find records in stock. Olivia was instantly intrigued, but Dylan told her the music wasn't really why they were going there. Earlier that day, Olivia had confessed to Dylan that she felt unfulfilled. In high school she had softball, but in college she wasn't involved in anything. She didn't want to pledge a sorority or play a sport, but she still wanted a hobby or something she could lose herself in like the rest of her roommates had with sports, cheerleading, fraternities, and filmmaking. She knew she would never be as popular in college as she was in high school, but she still wanted to find her niche.

"There's a guy I want you to meet," Dylan informed her. "He's kind of a dick."

"Then why do you want me to meet him?" Olivia asked as they were a few feet away from the store.

"You'll see," is all Dylan told her.

When they walked into the store, Olivia tried to take in all of her surroundings. She had never been anywhere like it before. The Hudson University radio station was playing from a boom box by the cash register. The cashier was a college-age girl with long, greasy hair, a plaid jumper, combat boots, and more piercings on her face than Olivia thought was ever possible. Olivia self-consciously looked at her own clothes and started to feel like a dweeb. Her mini skirt, sandals, and neatly tucked-in lavender tank top were so passé in comparison to the way the female employees and customers were dressed. She hoped her nose ring would give her somepoints with them, but she knew her preppy ensemble would ruin any credibility the piercing would give her.

"Karen?" Dylan asked the cashier. "Where's Josh?"

"Josh, get your bitch ass out here!" Karen called out.

Olivia saw a tall, lanky guy with ripped jeans and an oversized flannel shirt walk out of the stockroom. His chin-length blonde hair was covered in an old beanie and Olivia swore she saw a rainbow bracelet on his wrist.

"Dylan," he said and they exchanged some weird handshake. "What's up?"

"Nada," Dylan told him. "I just want you to meet someone. This is Olivia."

"That chick you told me about?" Josh asked. "Thisis her? I thought she'd be…"

"Trust me, she's cool," Dylan said in her defense.

Olivia knew this guy sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite peg him yet.

"I know who you are!" Olivia said, interrupting their conversation. "You're Josh as in The Rock Block with Josh. I've listened to you every night this week on our school's radio station."

"Maybe she's good for something after all," Josh teased.

"What are you talking about?" Olivia asked.

"I need a chick," Josh told her.

Olivia gave him a confused look. "I don't know if Dylan told you, but I'm—"

"Not a chick to fuck," Josh told her. "A co-host. I wanted Dylan, but my boss thinks it's better if I have a chick as a co-host. Dylan brought you up. He said you have something about you. I pictured you as a girl who looked like Karen, but I Just don't—I don't know what to make of you."

"I'm not a prep," Olivia insisted.

"Oh, really? Where are you from?"

"Fallbrook," Olivia said nonchalantly.

"North or South?"

"North," Olivia said hesitantly.

"I thought so," Josh told her and smirked.

"But I'm on the cusp," Olivia said defensively. "I'm a couple of blocks away from South Fallbrook."

"Dylan and I are from South Fallbrook," Josh told her. "South High class of '89 for me. I've always hated you rich North High kids."

"I'm not rich," Olivia pointed out. "I don't live a preppy lifestyle and everyone knows that South High kids are the snobs."

"Do something with your look," Josh told her. "Everything about you just screams freshman girl from the suburbs."

"No," Olivia said and glared at him. "I can like the same kind of music that you like and still look as if I actually shower. Besides, if I change my look, isn't that conforming?"

Dylan laughed, but Josh just covered his eyes and shook his head. Olivia was never this rude to people, but she knew Josh wasn't the type of guy who would give her a shot or even respect her if she wasn't blunt with him.

"I hate this girl," Josh said to Dylan even though he was smiling. "This is going to be perfect. I'll call my boss and tell him about her."

"So…?" Olivia said, trying to get a direct answer from him.

"Show up at the studio next Friday at 6," Josh told her. "And don't wear anything from The Gap."

"Ralph Lauren, it is," Olivia said sarcastically. Josh looked at her in disbelief and Olivia knew she had him right where she wanted him.

"Thanks," Olivia told Dylan once they had left the store.

"No problem," Dylan responded. "I think you've found your niche."

"Now that that's taken care of, I want to work on making Alex mine again," Olivia said glumly.

"You need to get her something," Dylan said excitedly. "Ship it to her. That's the only way since she won't see you or accept your phone calls."

"I can't buy Alex's love," Olivia told him with a disgusted look on her face. "She's not that kind of girl."

"Not jewelry or anything like that. Something only you can get her. Something distinctly Olivia and when you send it to her, don't put a return address. When she opens it, you want her to know it's from you without some bullshit return address telling her it is."

"I know exactly what to get her," Olivia said excitedly. She grabbed Dylan by the hand and started leading him to a nearby toy store.

Olivia was grateful that Jurassic Park was all the rage among little kids and there were dinosaurs everywhere. Olivia went straight to the individually packaged dinosaur figurines and frantically searched for the ones she wanted. She thought about the "gang" that she and Abbie had started. Looking at these dinosaurs took her back to the simple times of drawing dinosaurs in the driveway with colorful sidewalk chalk while listening to New Kids on the Block. It was only a year ago, but it felt like a lifetime. She thought about Alex in her dorm in New Jersey and Abbie being practically married.

Olivia only had ten dollars in cash, but her mom had given her a credit card for emergencies. She knew her mom wouldn't consider this an emergency, but buying these dinosaurs was something she had to do for peace of mind. Even though they were in college, Olivia was still their T-Rex, Abbie was still their velociraptor, and Alex would always be their brontosaurus. Olivia grabbed three sets of Cabenmichael dinosaurs and charged them to her credit card. One set was for herself, one was being sent to New Jersey, and the other was being sent all the way to Texas for her best friend Abbie.

Dylan agreed that it was a great idea for a gift and the two of them were soon on their way to the post office to arrange for the gifts to be shipped out. Once they had been shipped, Olivia became even more nervous than she was before. She knew Abbie would love the dinosaurs and display them proudly in her apartment, but Alex was a different matter. She worried Alex would think they were juvenile and give them to Jared instead of displaying them like Abbie would. Or maybe she would like everything about them except for the fact that they were from Olivia. That alone might cause her to throw them away.

Meanwhile, at a dorm in Princeton, Alex was putting the finishing touches on her hair and make-up.

"You look beautiful," Dana told her after thoroughly examining Alex's appearance. "Are you nervous?"

"More nervous than I've ever been before," Alex admitted. "What if they don't like me?"

"I'm President," Dana said and started kissing her. "The girls are going to like who I tell them to like."

"But the rules," Alex began.

"The girls don't need to know you're my piece of ass on the side," Dana told her as she started to hike up Alex's dress.

"No," Alex said, stopping the hand that Dana was using to push her panties to the side. "Not right now."

"You're right," Dana agreed. "I should go help the girls prepare. See you later."

"Yeah," Alex said nonchalantly and gave Dana a quick kiss on the lips.

She was officially someone's friend with benefits. Dana thought she was beautiful, but she would never commit to a freshman.

When she was in high school, Alex couldn't fathom attending a sorority rush event. She never thought she was pretty enough or interesting enough, but here she was casually hooking up with Dana Miles, the president of Beta Gamma, the hottest sorority on campus. She had met some of the Beta Gamma girls while having coffee with Dana and they told her that she should rush. One of the girls went on about how Alex would be with like-minded girls with her same background instead of the girls she was used to hanging out with.

"I'd like to propose a toast," Bree said to Alex as she handed her a shot glass filled with Jack Daniels.

"To what?" Alex asked, taking the shot glass.

"To the future of Beta Gamma," Bree said. "And us, the two hottest girls to ever walk the planet."

Bree and Alex quickly downed their shots and left their dorm room. Their friends were meeting them in the quad and they didn't want to keep them waiting. As Alex and her friends entered the Beta Gamma house, she realized that they all looked so much alike and her look wasn't too different from theirs. They all wore blazers or cardigans and the entire executive board except for Dana had blonde hair. She wondered what her high school classmates were doing and she wished they could see her now. She wasn't Four Eyes anymore or that nerdy girl they had made fun of in high school. She was gorgeous and Beta Gamma was practically courting her. Alex smiled as she looked around at the girls she would be spending the next four years with; she had finally found her niche and she wanted to forget all about the girl she used to be.