Before we left the house we had this huge debate over what to wear. I took her advice and wore a short white skirt with a tight red shirt that belongs to Kelly. I almost froze to death on the walk over here, since Jasmine also refused to let me wear a coat, saying there would be nowhere to put it when I got to the party.

“Hey, ladies. You girls need cups?” a curly-haired frat brother says, approaching us. He’s holding a stack of clear plastic cups in one hand and a stack of dollar bills in the other. I look at him blankly.

“We’ll take two,” Jasmine says, smiling. She pulls two five-dollar bills out of her strapless bra, and hands them to the kid. He pulls two cups off the stack and gives them to us.

“Uh, Jas,” I tell her once he’s out of earshot. “You just paid ten dollars for two plastic cups.” Is this some sort of bizarre ritual? I’ve heard of fraternities having, like, secret underground activities and stuff, but I thought they were for frat brothers only. And I think, but I’m not exactly positive, that they involve secret insignias and the occasional wild animal.

Jasmine rolls her eyes. She does this a lot. Not in a mean way, but in a can-you-believe-she’s-so-sheltered kind of way. My only comfort is that she rolls her eyes at Simone more than she rolls them at me. And I think she secretly finds our cluelessness endearing.

“It’s for the beer,” Jasmine says. “So that we can get some.”

Oh. Right. I guess it makes sense. I mean, we didn’t expect to come here and just drink for free, did we? Frat brothers are, after all, just broke college students. They can’t just buy beer for everyone and let us come over and drink it for nothing.

“Hey, guys,” Kelly says, pushing her way through the throng of people. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to show.”

“Of course we were,” I say, rolling my eyes to convey that I wouldn’t miss it for the world, even though I didn’t decide until the last minute that I wanted to go.

“Let’s get you some beer,” she says. She’s wearing tan flared pants and a blue gauzy shirt. Her hair’s in pigtails. “Come on.” She grabs my hand and starts leading me through the crowd.

“I’ll catch you later,” Jasmine says to me. I look at her, confused, but she gestures toward Kelly’s back and rolls her eyes.

“You sure?” I say, feeling bad for ditching her.

“Yes,” she says, “positive. I got my eye on something a little better over there, anyway.” She looks to the side of the room, where a guy with spiked hair and a nose ring is leaning against the wall, looking bored.

I smile and follow Kelly to the keg. A hot frat boy fills up my cup and hands it to me. I take a sip. It’s warm.