I've ruled out uni because I want to live at home.

I've ruled out uni because I want to earn money.

I've ruled out uni because of my grades.

Study with the Open University and there's no need to rule out anything.

With our respected degrees, you can learn from home and work alongside study.

We're open to all. Plus, you'll have the support of expert tutors. So rethink your

future with the degree you didn't think was possible. The Open University. The future is open. Claire? Claire, the year is 2009.

University Avenue hums with a new kind of energy because downtown Palo Alto just got its first American apparel.

For a 17-year-old girl, fashion pickings were slim here, unless you were raiding

the racks at Chico's, no offense to our moms, who rocked it with pride, but this was different.

American Apparel felt like the future, clean lines, soft cottons, halter straps, and a playlist

that whispered rebellion. Passion Pit, Phoenix, the soundtrack of a

generation, trying on its first taste of cool. You stepped inside and instantly felt older, edgier,

like someone who owned vinyl and smoked clove cigarettes behind bookstores. Tonight is the last chance

dance, the final slow burn of senior year, under string lights and stars on the school quad.

There's a boy, of course, one you've been texting, and one you just know that will pull you close when the chorus drops.

Spoiler, he goes to you all night and you end up sobbing on the kitchen floor at the after party, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

You need the dress. No, the dress

finds you. A light mint skater dress clinging in just the right way, a halter strap that kisses

your shoulders, hem brushing just above the knee. It makes your chest look full and your stomach

look like a snatched Disney Channel original movie star. You don't just feel pretty.

You feel invincible. You're the girl you always dreamed of being, the cool girl. The girl who

...