MARIA POV
The air was thick with music and bodies as Valerie and I stepped into the frat house, the bass pounding so hard I could feel it in my chest. The smell of beer and sweat hit me instantly, along with the familiar chaos that accompanied every frat party on campus. It was exactly what I had expected, and yet, I still felt like I didn’t belong here.
My short black dress clung to my body in all the right places, though I tugged at the hem nervously. It wasn’t too revealing, but it was definitely shorter than I was used to. Valerie had insisted on it—saying it was “hot but still classy”—and I could only hope she was right. At least it covered what needed to be covered, though it left me feeling slightly exposed.
We hadn’t even been there five minutes when I saw it.
There, across th
