"YouTube," said Zamora, the next day, after popping into my dorm room.

"YouTube?" I replied.  "You want to watch a music video or something?"

"Turn on YouTube," said Zamora.

Dutifully, I loaded up YouTube on my browser.  I felt some red come to my cheeks because I just knew she was judging me by all the lame bands that popped up in my suggestions.

"Now type in clothes haul," said Zamora, and so I did.

"Wow, what is this?" I said as we watched a young woman about my age, walking around her bedroom while modeling clothes.  

"See this right here?" said Zamora, tapping on the corner of the screen.  "This is the clothing company.  If you make a video, wearing their clothes, they will send you the clothes for free."

"What?" I replied.  "Free clothes?"

"Yes, free. But you have to act now, Lucy, before everyone is doing it," said Zamora.

"That's it?  You just wear their clothes and walk around for a minute, and they send you everything for free?" I said.

"Yes, this is the promotion.  And best of all, you can monetize your videos. This means that you can also make money if people like how you model the clothes," said Zamora.

"Holy shit, free clothes and a way to make money?  And all I have to do is show them off a bit here in my dorm room?" I said.  "That sounds too good to be true."

"Ha!  I do not spend my time with bullshit, Lucy.  Everything I say is true.  You will see.  Find one brand you like, and we will inquire about their promotion," said Zamora.

My heart racing, I typed in the name of this one brand that specialized in these super cute jean shorts that I just knew would look perfect on me.  To my surprise, they did, indeed, have a link for girls who wanted to sign up for their YouTube promotion campaign.

"See? I told you," smirked Zamora.

After I filled out all of their forms, they asked me to pick ten different items from their online catalog.  Ten!  And yes, I admit that it took me quite a while before I made my final decisions.

And then, when everything was done, they sent me a message telling me that the clothes would arrive in two days, and then I had ten days to post a video on YouTube of me modeling them.

Little did I realize just how much that first video would change my life.