College, as it turned out, was more difficult than Emma expected.
It wasn't the classes. Emma had a head for numbers, and engineering was second nature. She could do most of the equations in her head before her fellow students finished writing them down. What Emma was struggling with was the social aspect of higher education.
"Meet some people," she mumbled sarcastically to herself while trying to pick a dress. "It'll be fun."
"Did you say something?" Riley shouted from the bathroom.
"Just talking to myself."
Emma pulled out a simple black dress. It was lower cut than she would have preferred, but the skirt, unlike everything else Riley owned, did not threaten to expose her underwear if she leant forward slightly.
She tried it on, and it fit better than Emma expected. Of course, she was a cup size or two bigger than Riley, and it showed in the way the dress projected her breasts forwards.
"That looks great," Riley said, coming into the room.
"Do you have something I can wear over it to cover... these?" Emma asked, gesturing to her own chest and refusing to look her friend in the eye.
"Why would you want to? You're got great tits. Besides, we need to get going."
"Fine. Just let me go to the bathroom."
Emma, despite her intense sense of embarrassment, knew there was no point in arguing. She had met Riley in one of her classes, and the girl appeared to have made Emma her pet project; an awkward, nerdy caterpillar she intended to force into becoming a butterfly. Emma had a suspicion that, even if she did let Riley force her into a cocoon, she would probably come out closer to a moth, flapping wildly and getting in everyone's way.
She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, straightened her glasses, and did her best to at least make her unruly, brown curls look symmetrical. The mix of fear and apprehension had given her skin a slight greenish tinge. She was about to go to her first college party. At least it would be over soon.
The party was being held off campus, and there was a fifteen-minute walk from Riley's dorm room to get there. Emma was mostly silent on the way, saying just enough to avoid Riley asking her any deeper questions.
Emma had seen enough movies to know what to expect: a house blasting generic rock music, keg stands, young men ready to fight at the drop of a hat, probably someone running nude across the front lawn eventually.
What she found was completely different.
For a start, there couldn't have been more than two dozen people present. The music was nearly inaudible under the steady sound of chatter. Riley introduced Emma to a group of four guys as they entered. They were friendly, intelligent, and did not seem like they were about to start hitting one another.
"Here," Riley said, thrusting a cup into Emma's hands. "Vodka soda. You'll need it."
Riley had a mischievous expression, but Emma had come to expect that. She was always plotting something. While Emma had not been to a college party before, it was far from her first time drinking. She and Riley spent at least one or two nights each week getting drunk and watching old horror movies. She sipped her cup slowly and tried not to be too embarrassed whenever she noticed a guy staring at her boobs.
She stayed close to Riley, not wanting to be left alone among people she didn't know. They chatted to the same group of guys for at least an hour. The party seemed to be made up of a few such groups, Emma noticed, small individual circles of five or six people. She also noticed that the guys significantly outnumbered the girls, twenty against four.
Most of Emma's conversation was a back-and-forth between herself and a guy named Mark. He was tall, solidly built, a couple of years older, and also studying engineering. This gave some comfortable conversational ground for Emma to cover.
At some point, people started moving from the main part of the house towards the rear.
"Looks like time," Mark said, gesturing for Emma to follow them.
"What's going on?" she whispered to Riley.
"It's time for the blowjob contest," her friend replied.
Emma's heart skipped a beat. She can't have heard that right.
"The w-what?" she asked.
"The blowjob contest. I couldn't tell you earlier, or you wouldn't have come."
Of course she wouldn't have come. Emma had enough trouble talking to a guy she'd just met, let alone doing anything else. Her hands were shaking, and she felt a hollow feeling in her gut.
"I've never given a blowjob," she hissed as loudly as she could without anyone else hearing.
"They're horny college guys who've been thinking about it all night," Riley said. "It won't exactly be difficult."
"That's not the point."
Riley shushed her. One of the guys asked for the room's attention.
"I see at least one new face in the room," he said, making eye contact with Emma. "Let's not scare her off."
Besides Riley, energetic and blonde, there were two other girls on the opposite side of the room. One was short and petite with hair a little lighter than Emma's. The other was a curvy black girl.
"For the benefit of our newcomer, I'll go over the rules," the guy continued. "It's a contest of speed. Guys will be split among the contestants and the first girl to get all of her guys off is the winner. The only prizes are bragging rights, though there is the usual penalty for coming last."
A few of the other guys chuckled.
"Last place owes each guy in the room a blowjob before the next contest," Riley explained. "It's a full month away, so plenty of time. The idea is it will help you get better."
"Do I have to do this?" Emma asked.
By now, she was feeling sick to her stomach and only slightly tipsy, nowhere near drunk enough to do what was expected.
"If you don't, you'll ruin the whole evening for everyone and ruin my reputation," said Riley. "Get through it this one time, and I promise I won't make you come back. These people are my friends, and I don't want them blaming me for you chickening out."
