Jasmin
I know this might seem a bit cliche, but getting accepted into college was the greatest thrill of my life.
My poor Daddy was so proud of me that he cried a tear before turning away from me and pretending that he'd gotten something in his eye.
But all that excitement quickly soured once I actually arrived on campus. For one thing, the dorms were full, leaving me at the mercy of the college's housing algorithm, which paired me up with Briana, a sophomore, in a modest two-bedroom apartment a few blocks away.
I guess it was my small-town naïvety that made me gush when I met Briana as I was taken away by her bountiful blonde curls, well-endowed figure, and trendy clothes.
But she took an instant dislike to me, telling me that the algorithm had made some kind of mistake in assigning her a roommate, especially one with such a dowdy and out-of-date wardrobe.
I did my best to get along with her, I really did. But she seemed to find it her life's mission to taunt me about everything, including my accent, what I ate, my conservative upbringing, and especially the way that I dressed.
She made a special point of bragging to me about her boyfriend Camden, supposedly one of the hottest guys on campus, who was madly in love with her because she treated him like a "real woman," whatever that meant.
I figured it was best to avoid her as much as I could, so I found myself sneaking off to the library every night even when it probably would've been more comfortable to study in my room.
As hard as it was to keep up with my studies, what really sapped my spirit was not having any kind of social life. It truly felt like everyone on campus was having the time of their lives except me.
One evening, everything came to a head when it started raining so I decided to forego the long walk across campus and write my biology paper at home.
Briana, like some kind of bloodhound, sniffed out that I was in my room, and she barged in to yell at me about eating the cheesecake that she had left in the refrigerator, although I had done no such thing.
"I'm warning you, Abigail!" waggling her finger at me as she shouted. "I'm going out to meet my boyfriend now, but if I find that you ate any more of my food when I get home, I'm going to kick your scrawny little ass."
As I always do when I'm nervous, I clutched the cross pendant on my mother's necklace, the only tangible reminder I have left of her.
"I didn't eat your cheesecake, Briana," I said, doing my best to not let my anger show. "I heard you moving around the kitchen late last night. You probably ate it yourself then and just forgot."
"How dare you, twerp!" said Briana. "Are you trying to insinuate that I'm fat?"
"What? No," I said.
"Because Camden thinks I'm beautiful," said Briana. "In fact, he calls me his beautiful princess. Of course, an ugly frog like you wouldn't know anything about that."
"Why do you have to be so mean?" I said, fighting to hold back tears. "What did I ever do to you?"
"You're ugly, and you're stupid," said Briana. "I can barely stand to look at you. And no guy is ever going to want you."
"No, that's not true," I said even as the trembling in my voice betrayed the fact that I feared she was right.
Despite my Daddy doing his best, I'd just never figured out the secret of boys. Every day, I lamented the fact that my mother was taken from me right when I needed her advice the most.
"Yes, it is, frog face," said Briana. "You better get used to being a virgin for the rest of your life!"
Whether it was me missing my mother so much at that moment or the pain of hearing Briana's taunting words, I simply couldn't take it anymore.
I barged past Briana and went running out into the night, my chest heaving as tears flowed down my face. Blindly, I ran and I ran, not caring where I went as long as it was far away from that spiteful bitch and her words that seemed to cut deep into my very soul.
The rain was really pouring down, and it wasn't long before I felt myself gripped by a deathly chill and my dress was soaked to the skin.
Confused and lost, I somehow stumbled my way into a back alley in a part of town that I didn't recognize. Frantically, I looked for someplace to get out from under the rain and warm up, but all I could see were overflowing dumpsters and a few shards of broken glass on the ground.
And it was then that I saw the door. It was an unmarked metal door with a small latch. I had no idea where it led to, but I pulled it open, hoping I could at least get out of the rain.
To my utter surprise, however, when I stepped inside, I was immediately assaulted by the sound of music being played at high volume. I was in a short hallway, the walls rather grimy to the touch, and I caught glimpses of graffiti along one side, but it was too dark to see much.
It certainly wasn't a pleasant place to be in, but at least I was dry. And my curiosity about the source of that loud music propelled me to keep moving forward.
At the end of the hallway, I saw that it branched in two directions, and I turned left to follow the music. A few steps later, I was nearly bowled over by two young women who were too busy laughing and chatting to pay any attention to me.
Cautiously, I continued to proceed forward, and then I was nearly blinded after I rounded the corner and was hit by flashing lasers that were moving in sync with the rhythm of the bass notes that I could feel in my skull.
After a moment, my eyes adjusted, and that's when I saw that I was standing on the edge of a large space packed with hundreds of young people dancing and gyrating to the lights and music.
Even an inexperienced small-town girl like myself knew that I was looking at a nightclub.
Judging by the fashionable clothes that everyone was wearing, this was a place populated by trendy and cool people, worlds away from anything I'd ever known.
I probably had my mouth hanging open for several minutes as I stared at the sexy and revealing dresses that many of the girls wore while also admiring the chic, sophisticated outfits that the guys had on.
I was only jolted out of my reverie when this young and impossibly handsome young man wearing a tight button-up shirt approached me, a big smile on his face. But I couldn't understand a word of what he was saying due to the music.
"What?" I said, shouting at the top of my lungs.
"I said, I love that dress," said the guy, his mouth just inches from my ear. "You look so hot!"
That time, I understood the words, but it took my mind a minute or so to process that he was being serious.
"Really?" I said once my brain kicked into gear.
"Yeah!" said the young man, flashing me a thumbs-up as his eyes raked over my body, causing an unexpected shiver of pleasure to run down my spine.
Looking down, I saw that my simple little dress from Target had become molded to my body, my breasts sharply outlined by the wet fabric, my bare shoulders glistening in the laser light.
I let out a little gasp but then remembered that I was no longer in my hometown, and half the girls in the club were wearing more revealing outfits than what I had on.
"Um, thanks!" I shouted back to the young man, doing my best to look as though I were used to receiving such flattering comments.
"What's your name?" said the young man, once again leaning in close to my ear, and this time I caught a whiff of a lovely masculine smell mixed with a high-dollar cologne, a combination that got my heart racing.
Reflexively, I was about to tell him my real name when I realized that simple little Abigail who had never once been approached by an attractive young man had no chance of ever being allowed into such a trendy and cool place as this.
"Jasmin," I said, the name coming from somewhere deep in the recesses of my mind.
But the instant I said it, I knew it was right. It had the sexy allure befitting a hot young woman who went out to nightclubs and chatted up good-looking guys.
"Very nice to meet you," said the young man, this time his mouth so close to my ear that I could feel his breath on me, which sent another jolt racing down my spine.
And that was the night that Jasmin was born, changing my life forever.
