Wow! I don't think we've ever had tougher opponents in volleyball. These guys sure put up a fight. The best part was seeing AJ dive for the ball, miss, and fall on his face (more than once). The crowd that had gathered laughed at him, too. Unfortunately, when we were laughing at AJ, we missed a few balls ourselves. The outcome was pretty darn close, but not close enough. As I said earlier: GIRLS RULE! (We won, of course.)

"Nice game," I said to Brian, wiping my face on the towel that Joanne had tossed to me. "That's the toughest fight N'Sync has put up in years. You guys must be good because I know they're not." Chris came up and put me in a headlock. Justin ran up and tried to pry him off.

"Don't hurt her!" He shrieked. Chris loosened his grip and I wrestled my way out of it. "Let me!" Justin came around and picked me up, throwing me over one shoulder and carrying me down the hill. He walked ahead of everyone so I could see them. I hung with a disgusted look on my face for a few moments while everyone laughed. Then I dug my elbow into Justin's back so he had to put me down. Bob came up to us as we sat down on the grass.

"That was great, you guys!" He said enthusiastically. He high-fived all the girls and gave a smug smile to all the guys. They threw their towels at him. He laughed and dropped them on the ground. He started to walk away, then paused, turning back to us.

"I forgot to tell you," he said. "There's a yacht club dinner/dance at the restaurant tonight at 7:30. You're all invited and you can come for free if you perform, but come early. It's black-tie, though you guys can wear suits if that's all you have."

"We'll perform," I said. Though we're not professionals, Rachel, Maribeth, Jamie, Joanne, and I have been performing in small places for quite awhile now. A yacht club dinner/dance is the perfect place to get noticed. There are plenty of people who know people, who know people, who know people, who know people, and so on, that are going to be there.

"You can count us in, too," said Chris, speaking up for all of N'Sync.

"Us too, I guess," Brian said, "but we'll have to talk to the rest of the guys before we commit to anything."

"Hey," JC said, "if they won't come, you guys can always sing with us."

"Or we could always sing your songs," Joey offered. "We're quick learners." Joanne and Maribeth snickered.

"That'd be great, but we still have to talk to Kevin and Nick first," Howie said. "I don't know if they'll like that idea, but the suggestion might just make them come."

"Great!" Bob exclaimed. He looked at his watch. "You guys might want to go back now and get showered now. It's almost 5 o'clock."

"What about the tennis tournament?" I asked. "Don't you need us to help run it?"

"No," Bob said. "Connie (his wife) and I have it covered, but thanks anyway. Now go! Get ready. Be there by 7 if you can."

"Okay, see you then," Maribeth called out to Bob as we walked down the hill. We stopped at the bottom to say good-bye to the guys.

"Do you think Nick and Kevin are gonna come?" Jamie asked.

"Oh, definitely," AJ said. "The question is: Are they going to be civil?"

"Well, if they're not, I think the girls and I will be able to fix it real quick," Joanne said. "Bye!"

"We'll meet you guys at your boat at 7?" I asked Brian, always being the one to make the time arrangements.

"Okay," Brian said, giving me a quick kiss on the lips. "Bye." He and AJ walked away.

"What about you guys?" Rachel asked Chris, Justin, Joey, JC, and Lance.

"We'll just meet you up there," Chris said. "And I promise we'll all be on our best behavior." He threw Justin a warning look. Justin held his hands up in defense.

"Bye!" they all called.

"Bye!" we called back, turning away from them. We had so much excess energy that we jogged all the way back to the boat. When we got back, everyone went up to the shower house to take showers. By the time we got back, it was 6 o'clock (what can I say, girls take long showers). Unfortunately, they usually take even longer to get dressed.

"Okay," Joanne said, clapping her hands for attention. She ignored Jamie, who copied her clapping motion, eagerly awaiting for another one like an anxious infant. "We all have to help each other pick out the perfect dress."

"Let's start with you," I said to Joanne.

"Fine," she said. She went into her cabinet and pulled out two dresses. One was dark blue silk with thin velvet straps and the other was brown satin with bows along the back. We all studied the dresses.

"Blue," I voted.

"Definitely," Maribeth and Jamie said.

"Perfect choice," Rachel said.

Joanne put the brown dress away and threw the blue one down on the couch. "Next person?" She asked.

"Me!" Jamie jumped up and rushed to her cabinet. She pulled out three dresses. One was identical to the brown one Joanne had brought out, except for the fact that it was white. There was also a black velvet dress with bow in the back and a powder blue shear dress with spaghetti-straps.

"White," Rachel said.

"Yep," we all agreed.

"K," Jamie said. She put all the other's away and laid hers carefully on top of Joanne's.

Then it was Rachel's turn. For her, we agreed on a simple green silk dress with beads across the back. For Maribeth, we picked a deep-purple satin low-back dress with a v-neck. Then it was my turn. Chaos reigned!

I took out the four I had shown AJ. There was the blue one he had worn, a gray one that was identical to Maribeth's, green satin gown with a thick velvet zig-zag down both sides, and a black satin gown with spaghetti-straps and one simple line of rhinestones across the chest area where the fabric was folded down and sewn down about on in from the top. It was pretty much a tube dress with straps.

"I like the purple one," Joanne said.

"I like the black one," Maribeth said.

"So do I," Rachel agreed. There was silence and we all turned to Jamie.

"I like the satin one," she said.

"Three of them are satin," I said, frustrated. She always did this to avoid being the last person to decide. "Oh, well, whatever," I said. "I'll wear the black one. Do you think Brian will like it?"

"I think he'd like you without those gowns on," Maribeth said, jokingly.

"Thanks," I said, sarcastically.

"Okay," Joanne said, clapping her hands together again. I grabbed Jamie's hands before she had the chance to clap. "Let's get changed."

We all went into our cabins and got changed. When I was done, I opened my door, but stayed in my room. I opened my cabinet and rummaged for my jewelry box. By the time I found it, everyone was done changing and was now putting on their jewelry.

"I feel bad for Justin and them," I said, opening my jewelry box and searching for my earrings. When I found them, I held them up to my ear and examined myself. Perfect! They were tiny diamond studs with one thin hanging diamond squiggly-line per earring.

"Why?" Rachel asked.

"Because they don't have dates," I said simply.

"Well, we will be hanging out with them, won't we?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah," Joanne said. "Of course. If anyone's going to be left out, it'll be Kevin and Nick if they don't get their act together."

"If they come, that is," Maribeth said. She came over to my cabin and started rummaging through my jewelry. After a minute of her taking up my mirror space, I shoved the box in her hands and scooted her out of the room. She smiled triumphantly and started searching again. When she was done, she handed the box to Joanne. I shook my head. Whatever, I thought. I studied my reflection in the mirror.

"I need a necklace," I said. Joanne nodded and rummaged to find one.

"Here," she said, picking up a silver chain from inside the box. On the center of the chain was a drop and a diamond shaped silver wire surrounding a diamond. My mother had given that to me. Joanne came up and held it around my neck. "It's perfect," she said, fastening it around my neck as I held my hair up.

Rachel came up to me, holding up my silver heart pendant.

"Can I wear this?" She asked.

"Sure," I said. "I'm glad you asked first, unlike some people," I said, shooting a glance at Maribeth. She just shrugged, grinned, and went back to her own business.

When Rachel put on the necklace, she put all her excess clothing away and sat on my bed next to where I was standing. I looked at my reflection, then held my dark auburn hair up in different styles and studied it.

"What should I do with my hair?" I asked. Rachel moved my hair around in a few different ways before deciding.

"Here," she said, going to her cabinet and pulling out a clip. It was a thin strip of diamonds (if you can't tell already, I've got a thing for diamonds). She took a very thin top layer of my hair and put it back loosely in the clip. One strip on either side in the very front (which was shorter since my hair is angled) fell out and lined my face. "Magnificent!" She said proudly.

I took one last and final look in the mirror, then turned to everyone else. They were all cleaning up their areas. When they were done, they looked at me.

"Everyone ready?" I asked. They all nodded.

"Let's go rock some boats!" I said. "Everyone knows their lyrics, right? Do you want me to bring the song sheets?"

"I have them right here in case anyone forgets," Maribeth said, holding up her purse.

"Great," I said, grabbing my purse. "Let's hit the road!"

"Why would we want to hit the road?" Jamie asked, looking confused. We all groaned and walked out of the boat. I locked up and we were off.