Free The Diamonds by Ted Michael Page A

promise.”
    I stared into the eyes of my very best friend (for better or for worse, that's what Clarissa was, how much she meant to me) and struggled with a response. Everything inside me screamed to tell her about my trip to Anderson's house and my confused feelings for him, no matter how upset she would be.
    Then I heard it: “Laaaaadieeeesss,” said the voice, high and chirpy. “The party has arrived!” Priya hadsuddenly appeared outside Clarissa's bedroom door, a six-pack of Coronas in one hand and a bottle opener in the other. I'd almost forgotten she was coming. “Oh, and Lili's here too.”
    “Very funny,” Lili said, brushing past Priya and making her way inside. She was dressed as Liesel, I think, the eldest Von Trapp daughter, who fell in love with a Nazi but realized at the last minute that Nazis were totally lame.
    “Who are you supposed to be?” Clarissa asked Priya, who was clad in a slinky black number that stopped in the middle of her thighs.
    “I'm a nun,” she said, lifting one of the bottles in her hand. (Clarissa's parents were out for the night, which was why we'd chosen her house to pregame.) “You really can't tell?” Priya turned to face Clarissa's mirror. “Oh,” she said, “duh.” She reached down, grabbed a silver cross, and held it up to her chest. “How about now?”
    “Oh,” Clarissa said. “Now I see it. Totally. A nun.” She looked at me and laughed. “Don't you, Marni?”
    “Yeah,” I agreed. “Totally.”
    Priya opened her beer and took a swig. “Whatever, Marni. Let's see who goes home alone tonight and who doesn't.” She eyed my costume as though it were a garbage bag. “Then we'll talk.”
    “That's it!” Clarissa jumped up from her bed and grabbed my wrist. “We'll find you a guy tonight. Someone to take your mind off Jed.”
    I already have someone to take my mind off Jed. You dated him for almost a year .
    “That's such a good idea!” said Lili.
    “Brilliant,” said Priya, who was busily squeezing fresh lime into her Corona and drinking up the fizz as it overflowed. “Brilliant.”
    Clarissa grabbed her makeup case. “Lili, hand me my brush.”
    “It's a fashion emergency! Code Blue! I mean, Red!” shouted Priya, swishing beer on her dress as she shimmied. “Aw, shit.”
    “You guys, I look fine ,” I said. I was no longer some clueless middle school transfer student in need of a makeover. I had spent two whole hours getting ready, What was the deal?
    “Yes, you do,” said Clarissa, pulling out a compact with twenty different-colored eye shadows. “But you don't have a boyfriend anymore. It's a whole new world out there,” she said (Aladdin ,1992), “and starting tonight, you are officially on the prowl.”
    About an hour—and the rest of the Coronas—later, we all piled into Clarissa's Audi. I was the designated driver. Staring into the rearview mirror, I didn't think I looked that different. Sure, I was blushing, but that was because of the MAC blush; and sure, I was smiling, but that was thanks to the four layers of lipstick; and yes , my eyes were giving off an innocent, doelike vibe, but that was courtesy of Clarissa's shadingexpertise and not anything particularly new or interesting about me .
    “Can we listen to something less annoying?” Clarissa whined, flicking off the radio. She was next to me in the passenger seat. I stared at her profile. Even with all the makeup in the world, I would never look like her.
    “It's your car,” I said. “We can listen to whatever you want.”
    “I love music,” Priya shouted. “Turn it up!”
    Clarissa glanced over her shoulder. “There's nothing playing, Priya.”
    I twisted the wheel and kept my foot on the gas, pulling into the parking lot. “We're here.”
    “Thank effing God,” Priya said, tossing her empty Red Bull can out the window.
    “Priya! Wait for a garbage,” Lili said, getting out of the car and picking up the discarded aluminum from the ground. “You shouldn't