“You wanna dance?” Kelly asks.

“Um, not right now,” I say, looking around the room at the gyrating bodies. Whoever’s in charge of the music is leaning toward a pop/dance feel with lots of remixes. I spot Drew on the other side of the room talking to a short, blond girl in a pair of expensive-looking jeans and a stomach-revealing brown shirt. He sees me looking and waves. I wave back, and then quickly look away. I didn’t know he was going to be here. Oh my God. What if he heard what I said in the bathroom the other day, and now he thinks I’m stalking him? What if he’s saying to that girl, “I can’t believe Ally’s here—can she leave me alone for two seconds?”

“Hey, do you know her?” I ask Kelly, tilting my head in the general direction of Drew and the mysterious bellyshirt wearer. The keg is right next to the stereo speakers, so I have to scream to be heard over the music.

“Who?” she asks, leaning in close to my ear.

“The one that’s with Drew.”

“That’s Andrea Goldstein. You know, the one he works out with?”

“The one he what?” Did she just say MAKES OUT WITH?

“Works out with. At the gym, you know?”

“How do you know that?” I ask.

“I’ve seen it on the show,” she says. Oh. I want to ask her more, but I’m super aware of Sam and his camera bearing down on us. People are dancing in groups around us, and suddenly I start to feel really hot.

“Bottom’s up!” Kelly says, raising her cup. And when she downs her beer, I do too.

That’s the last thing I clearly remember from the actual party. The rest of it is kind of like a bunch of fuzzy snapshots in a flip book, or a memory from when you were a kid.

I can remember Jasmine telling me she’s leaving with Jason, the guy with the piercing. I remember feeling like the room was vibrating almost immediately after finishing my first drink. I remember Drew in the corner, talking to Andrea for most of the night, and I remember Kelly asking me what I thought of this guy named Rick she had been hooking up with.

I remember filling my cup, then losing my cup, then finding a random cup on the bar, which I then drank out of. I remember dancing to an Alicia Keys remix and thinking I may quite possibly be the best dancer ever to live. I remember laughing. A lot.

Then, all of a sudden, Kelly’s telling me it’s time to leave. I look around, and people are starting to clear out of the frat house. How can this be? There’s no way it can be one in the morning. We just got here. Someone has obviously set everyone’s watches and all the clocks in the place a few hours ahead. I’ll bet it’s one of those fraternity pranks that they’re always doing in movies.