Waking Up in Vegas

Chapter 1

“Carly!” Carly Jackson laid sound asleep facedown in her thick law textbook, completely oblivious to the world around her. “Carly!” Her best friend Nichole flopped down beside her on one of the two tiny twin sized beds in their concrete-walled dorm room. Carly immediately sat up and looked around dazedly. “Wha?” she asked, trying to bring herself back to reality. Nichole laughed and rolled her eyes. “Asleep in your book again? Carly Rayne Jackson, don’t you ever have any fun?” she asked pointedly. Carly yawned and stood up to stretch. “I don’t have time for fun.” she replied, crossing the room to her overloaded desk. Papers and notebooks were stacked in uneven piles across the top, some even beginning to spill over onto the small table beside it. She tossed her textbook into the desk chair and turned around to face her best friend. Nichole scoffed. “It’s summer! Everyone has time for fun.” she pouted. Carly just shook her head. “Not when you have a full-ride scholarship on the line.” she pointed out. She crossed her arms stubbornly. Nichole rolled her eyes again. “I don’t think Harvard would have any opposition to a 21 year old kicking back and enjoying one of her last youthful summers!” She stood up and crossed the room to where Carly stood. “Let’s do something!” she suggested eagerly. Carly laughed at her roommate’s eagerness. “Like what? You wanna go see a movie? Go get something to eat? I have a few hours.” she said. Nichole shook her head. She was grinning from ear to ear. “No I mean REALLY do something. Let’s go on a vacation!” she suggested enthusiastically. Carly sighed. “Nichole I don’t have ti-” “You have all the time in the world! Harvard already guaranteed you the scholarship.” Nichole interjected. Carly nodded. “Yeah, as long as I don’t let my GPA drop below a 3.8-” “And you have a 4.0. I think you’re good.” Nichole cut in again. Carly sighed and walked around Nichole to sit back down on her bed. Nichole quickly flopped down next to her. “Please Carly? We haven’t done anything together since freshman year! Nothing like a trip anyways. I know your grades mean a lot to you and I know going to Harvard has been your dream since you were in middle school but you can’t spend your entire life working and studying. You need a break.” she urged. Carly sighed as a slight grin broke out across her face. “What did you have in mind?” she asked quietly. Nichole grinned, seeing her beginning to cave. “Well we never did anything for your birthday back in April! The big 2-1. That’s a pretty huge milestone. But somebody was studying for finals THREE WEEKS EARLY and didn’t want to do anything.” She crossed her arms. Carly rolled her eyes and laughed. “Well I’m agreeing to do something now, better late than never.” she said defensively. Nichole nodded. “Fair enough.” They sat in silence for a few moments. Suddenly Nichole leapt up from the bed and stood in front of Carly. “Vegas!” she squealed excitedly. Carly eyed her skeptically. “Vegas?” Nichole nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah!! We’re both 21. And no 21st birthday is complete without a trip to Las Vegas!” Carly hesitated. She wasn’t really a partier or a drinker, unlike Nichole. “I dunno Nik.” She said skeptically. Nichole poked out her lower lip and crossed her arms. “Come on! You don’t have to get drunk and go crazy or anything…just go to go! To say you went to Las Vegas for your 21st birthday.” Carly sighed again. Nichole was leaping from one foot to the other with excitement. “Oh Carly please!! My mom’s a travel agent so she can get us a cheap room and flight. We can just make it a weekend trip, nothing fancy or huge. Just a few days. Pleaaase?” she pleaded. Carly looked up at Nichole and laughed. “How soon can your mom work everything out?” she asked, finally giving in. Nichole squealed with excitement and hugged Carly tightly. “Yes!! Ok so if I call her right now she can probably schedule a trip for this coming weekend. Friday through Sunday maybe?” she suggested. Carly nodded and stood up. “Sounds good. Go ahead and start calling, I’m going to take a shower.” She said, gathering up her clothes and shower things. Nichole nodded enthusiastically and made her way over to her side of the room. She yanked her phone off of the charger and immediately dialed her mother’s number. Carly made her way out of the room and down the hall towards the communal bathrooms. She shook her head and laughed to herself. She couldn’t believe that she had actually let Nichole talk her into going to Vegas. It definitely wasn’t her scene. Carly Jackson was your stereotypical “good girl”. She hadn’t been to a single party in the entirety of her three years at UCLA. She had come to Los Angeles from her hometown of Gettysburg, Pennslyvania after graduating high school as her class valedictorian. She had received scholarship offers from dozens of universities and colleges across the country, but had ultimately decided to attend University of California, Los Angeles.  Her parents had voiced their concerns; having their daughter live on the other side of the country for four years hadn’t exactly been in their comfort zone. Carly had insisted on going. She had been dying to get out of her boring hometown. UCLA was only one step in Carly’s ‘master plan’. She already had a full-ride scholarship lined up to Harvard University once she graduated in the spring. Ever since she was a young girl she had dreamed of being a lawyer. Most girls read princess stories and fairy tales growing up. Carly had read old law textbooks that her parents bought for her at yard sales and other places. She was one of the brightest students that both her high school and college professors had ever seen. It was no surprise that Harvard had contacted her a few months ago and offered her the scholarship, so long as she stayed out of trouble and kept her GPA up. She shook her head again as she stepped into the shower. She had no idea why Nichole had suggested Vegas of all places. She didn’t drink. She hated parties. She was, admittedly, a bit of a loner. She smiled slightly. She knew that Nichole had suggested Vegas as more of a trip for herself rather than Carly. But she didn’t mind. Nichole was the polar opposite of herself. Where Carly could spend an entire weekend by herself reading, Nichole spent most of her weekends partying and having a blast. Carly was a straight A student, where Nichole barely passed her classes every semester. She was a wild-child from New York City, yet somehow she and Carly got along perfectly. They had been paired together as roommates their freshman year at UCLA and they had continued requesting each other as roommates every year since. She sighed as she began lathering up her long brown hair. She was both looking forward to and slightly dreading the upcoming weekend. She hated wasting valuable time that she could be studying. But it was just one weekend. Nothing could possibly go too terribly wrong in just three days.