I look effortlessly put together. Well, I hope I look effortlessly put together. Knowing what to wear is so freaking hard because I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard, but I’m on TV, for fuck’s sake. So I have to look at least presentable.

I open my notebook to the first blank page and pretend to write something in an effort to ignore the stares. Ally Cavanaugh, I write in bubble letters. THIS SUCKS, I write next to it. It starts to make me feel better until I realize the kid behind me is looking over my shoulder, trying to see what I’m writing. Freak. I close my notebook and stare straight ahead until the professor walks into the room.

“Good morning,” he says, walking to the lectern, and the class finally shifts their focus. Well, most of them do. There are still a few who continue to stare at me, and I’m reminded of that scene in the movie First Daughter starring Katie Holmes. Katie is the president’s college-aged daughter, and when she goes to her classes, everyone stares at her. She has to have the Secret Service with her in class and everything, so she’s kind of on display.

Anyway, Katie handles the pressure really well and even manages to meet the love of her life, though, unbeknownst to her, he’s actually an UNDERCOVER SECRET SERVICE AGENT who’s been sent to protect her. This, as one can imagine, becomes quite the situation and serves to raise tons of questions and problems, not the least of which involves whether or not he was pretending to be in love with her the whole time. And is he going to get fired for his improper dealings with the president’s daughter? Through the whole thing Katie manages to exude an air of confidence and ambivalence toward the scrutiny she is under, and refuses to be rattled by the revelation that her new love may be a sham.

Well. Except for a small transgression where she skanks around a little bit, in an effort to make the ex-boyfriend jealous, since for some strange reason, he’s still guarding her safety after the truth comes out.

Anyway, the point is, Katie (well, Katie’s character—I don’t want to get into that whole weird Tom Cruise situation) will be my role model. I can be regal. I can hold my head high. I will look straight ahead, concentrate on the professor, and ignore my nosey classmates.

“Excuse me,” the boy sitting behind me says, poking me on the shoulder. He is apparently oblivious to the fact that the professor is talking. When I turn around to look at him, he grins. “Are you going to be a stripper too?”

“Come on, Ally,” Grant says, taking a bite of his cheeseburger. Ketchup squirts out of the bun and lands on his plate. “It’s not that bad.”