Chapter 1

It was a dark and stormy night . . . at least I wish it was. Then maybe I would have an excuse, a lame one at that, to get out of going tonight.

"Liz, are you ready?" I poked my head out of the bathroom, toothbrush in my hand (and half in my mouth), wearing an old t-shirt and my favorite 'stay in the apartment' leggings, to see my sister Jane, looking gorgeous as always, wearing an ivory sleeveless cocktail length dress with matching shoes. Between her blonde hair falling in the perfect waves that were popular now but fashionable to her, and her fair skin she should have looked washed out, but instead she glowed and radiated light. Maybe it was the crystal blue eyes. "Lizzie, you aren't dressed!"

"Ram poo" I shook my head and held up a finger, then ducked back into the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste and rinse my mouth. "I am too dressed Janie. Perhaps not in your outfit of choice, but I'm certainly not walking around and brushing my teeth naked, that would be weird."

"Did you forget tonight's the party?"

I looked up at the ceiling as if I was thinking about what she was talking about. "Ahhh, not really"

Jane threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. "Then why aren't you dressed to go?"

I resorted to semi-pleading "Cause I'm tired Janie. I've spent all week dealing with sheer craziness because of all 'The big boss is coming to town!' madness and I therefore have been jumping through hoops trying to please everyone, cause I'm the new kid and if things go wrong next week - well there's a good chance the blame goes on 'the new employee who doesn't know what she's doing' and bye-bye new employee. It's Friday night and rather than partying and drinking or even studying I'd rather be face down on my bed sleeping. So please don't make me go Jane, puh-leeeeeeease!" Ok, full on pleading.

"Ok a few things Lizzie. 1) You promised you'd come tonight since I won't know anybody there except for Charlie and 2) If they plan on blaming their wrongdoings on you just because you're new, then they obviously don't deserve you." Way to lay on the guilt, I thought.

"Aw Jane, thanks. But I need this job to supplement my time in law school, both for the money and for my resume. I cannot afford to get fired from such a big firm such as DarBing LLP if I hold any hope to get a good job as an attorney. But, ok ok, I'm going to get dressed, just remember what a wonderful and adoring sister I am." She rolled her eyes at that.

"Thank you Lizzie! But hurry, we're going to be late!"

I dashed into my room, and its complete disarray of clothes (clean shirts that are wrinkled cause I hate ironing and only do it when I have to), casebooks from school, shoes, more school stuff, highlighters and well, more school stuff.

I grabbed my jade green silk sleeveless dress, with the neckline that was draped but still modest and a-line skirt ending an inch or so above my knee. I suede black 3-inch stiletto heels, sexy but not slutty, and got dressed. Makeup – slightly smoky eye to play up my golden brown eyes, since combined with my hair they generally look average-y (Jane disagrees) and lip balm for my lips since I dislike wearing lipstick and only do so when unavoidable. I didn't have time to straighten my hair like I would normally do, so I took some styling stuff to keep the frizz out of my brown curly hair that cascaded down to a few inches past my shoulder.

Cell phone, check. Some cash, check. ID, check. Hair clip in case the curls get out of control, check. House keys, check. Black clutch to hold all this stuff . . . where's my black clutch. Damn.

It took me another 5 minutes to find my bag wedged between the wall under my window and my desk. How it got there is beyond me. Finally I was ready and stepped out of my room.

Jane took one look at me and gasped. "Lizzie you look wonderful!"

"Thank you Jane. I could say the same for you, but that would be the understatement of the century" she started to deny this but I cut her off "I thought you would have been knocking on my door 5 minutes ago telling me we had to leave" Jane got a sheepish look on her face.

"I knew you would be running late so I backed up the time we had to leave a bit. We have just under 20 minutes."

"Great! I have time to straighten my hair." Jane put a hand on my shoulder

"No you don't, then we really will be late. Your hair looks fantastic curly Lizzie, I don't know why you straighten it" I could have come back with a witty retort, but held my tongue for a change. "Time to leave Liz" I grabbed my black shawl, Jane grabbed her sapphire blue one, and out the door we went.

Good? Bad? It's only the beginning but should I continue or throw it in the trash? Please review!!! Encouragement will make me post faster ; )