It was a beautiful, sunny June day. Fifteen-year-old Pam Beesley nervously adjusted the straps on her blue bikini top as she peered at herself in the mirror of her bedroom.

  “Pam, that suit looks great on you! I wish I had your body” her friend Michelle said looking down at her still flat chest and thin girlish figure.

  Pam, the more timid of the two girls had already started to develop a woman’s curves. The bikini top’s triangle strips of cloth did little to conceal her large, full breasts. Her tiny waist dipped in alluringly from her chest, then rounded out in a gentle swell to her hips and buttocks.

  It was a figure that Michelle would have proudly flaunted at Scranton High School’s “Goodbye Seniors, Hello Freshman” picnic at Lake Walenpaupak.

  Pam, however, just wanted to cover up and hide. She didn’t like to be the center of attention. It embarrassed her.

 “Just wait until all the hot senior guys get a load of you!” Michelle squealed.

 “I think I’ll just wear my shorts and t-shirt over this,” Pam replied, already desperate to cover up, even in front of her long-time friend.

  “Why? No one will notice you dressed like that!” Michelle pouted.

  “I know. That’s the idea,” Pam said to her friend as she tugged her white t-shirt over her head.

  “C’mon Pam, are you gonna sit on the side-lines all day today? You promised me you’d go with me to the picnic. I want to meet some new people! High school boys, Pam! Don’t you want to get to know the people you’ll be in high school with in September?”

  “I guess,” Pam said unenthusiastically. “You know I get nervous around new people, Michelle. I just don’t like talking to strangers.”

  “I know, but you promised! Hey, I have a great idea!” Michelle said clapping her hands together.

  Pam groaned and rolled her eyes. Michelle’s great ideas were usually crazy, far-fetched things that Pam would never consider doing. Deep down though, Pam loved her friend. Things were certainly never boring when she was around. And there was something exciting about letting Michelle coax her into doing fun things she would never try on her own.

  They’d been friends ever since Pam was seven years old. That was the year a new girl, Michelle, had moved in two doors down from her. Michelle was also seven, and had the same Strawberry Shortcake bike that Pam had. That was all it had taken for a fast friendship to form.

  Now, eight years later, Michelle was staring at her, in a black bikini that clung to her thin frame, with that mischievous gleam in her eye. Pam knew that look all too well. She was both excited and terrified by whatever idea Michelle had cooking in that nimble brain of hers.

  “No seriously, it’s a really great idea,” Michelle repeated for emphasis, seeing the hesitant look on Pam’s face.

  “Alright, I’ll bite. What’s your idea?” Pam asked.

  “Well, we won’t know many people there today. Most of the Scranton High School students come from Lackawanna Middle School or St. Regis Prep, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess. Why?”

  “Well our little middle school had, what thirty people graduate?”

  “Twenty-nine” Pam corrected.

  “Right!” Michelle said. “I like those odds….”

  “What do you mean?” Pam asked warily.

  “What I mean is, since hardly anyone there will know us, we can be whoever we want to be!”

  “Huh?” Pam asked.

  “Well, just for today, you can be, I don’t know… Lauren,” Michelle said.

  “Who’s Lauren?” Pam asked, thoroughly confused.

  “You can be, silly! It’s a made up person. And, I can be Niki…or whatever. Get it?”

  “Not really,” Pam said, pondering her friend’s words.

   “Just for today, let’s pretend to be someone else. This way, if we do or say something stupid, we’ll have a clean slate for September when school starts.”

  “That’s dumb, Michelle,” Pam said, frowning at her friend’s idea. Still, she had to admit, it sounded kind of fun.

  “It’s not dumb. Think about it. There will be hundred of kids there today. Some will be Scranton students, some will be new freshmen coming from different middle schools, some will be alumni, and some will be from other high schools just there for the party. If we pretend to be someone else, who’s going to remember come fall?”

  “I don’t know,” Pam said, her stance wavering. She took a deep breath while she chewed on the inside of her lip. It did sound interesting. Pretending to be someone different for a day…Michelle could definitely do it, but could she pull it off?

  “What’s the worse that could happen?” Michelle demanded, sensing that her friend was wavering. “If you meet someone, tell them your name is Lauren. Then come fall, if you ever see them again and they say, ‘Hey Lauren!’ All you have to say is, ‘Sorry, I’m not Lauren. I’m Pam.’ You know what they’ll say? ‘Wow, you look just like this chick Lauren.’ And that will be that!”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “That’s because it is,” Michelle said slowly emphasizing every word, as she teased the sides of her long hair into a silver clip.

  “Well, what do we do if we see someone we know?” Pam asked smugly, thinking she had foiled Michelle’s little plan.

  “Well, that could get tricky,” she admitted, smoothing the sides of her hair into place with her fingers. “Best bet is to probably just look away, like you didn’t hear them. Or better yet, smile and wave at them. Then, just walk away, like you have to go to the bathroom or something.”

  “I don’t know….” Pam said fearfully, pursing her small pink lips.

  “Come on! You know this will work. I want to be Niki today! It won’t work unless you’re Lauren.”

  Pam hesitated. It really would be fun, pretending to be someone else for the day. Maybe Lauren could be more outgoing than Pam was. She had often wished she was more adventurous and daring, like her friend Michelle. Maybe this could be her chance to try. No one would have to know, she thought.

  “Alright, I’ll try it,” She agreed quickly, before she changed her mind.

  “Yipee!” Michelle exclaimed, grabbing Pam for a quick hug.

  Pam pulled back and grabbed her by her shoulders. “But listen to me, if this doesn’t work; we’re out of there quick, ok?”

  “You got it, Lauren,” Michelle said, sing-songing the name “Lauren”. Then, she grabbed the hem of Pam’s t-shirt and pulled it up past her chest. “Lose the t-shirt Pam. Lauren doesn’t want to look too stuffy at the lake today!”

  Pam glared at her friend as she pulled her t-shirt back down. Michelle laughed. This was probably going to be a disaster.