I mean, the whole cast is there. You have the boisterous, all-too-eager drunk, the cute boy who tells you one beer won’t do any harm, and me: the awkward Chinese girl who’s sipping on a Coke.

It looks like the classic coming-of-age tale, with the cool kids trying to pull the cello-playing band geek off her moral pedestal.

Except for me, the more peer pressure I get, the more I unconsciously develop a pact with myself not to cave.

And although it was never my intention to remain alcohol-free throughout university, my sobriety now represents an act of defiance.

While I have nothing against alcohol itself, I don’t think consuming it should be a social obligation. What I choose to drink shouldn’t determine how much fun I have or how much fun people think I am as a person.

In general, I get one of two reactions when I tell people I don’t drink: “Are you serious? Good for you,” or “Are you serious? We need to get you plastered.”

It’s usually the latter.

I guess that’s understandable. A 2004 Health Canada survey indicated that 75 per cent of students have tried alcohol by the time they hit Grade 9.

And 47 per cent of them engage in binge drinking at least once.

In my first year at Ryerson, I attended a house-warming party with some new friends who, after a couple shots, started taking pictures of each other spooning a guy who had passed out on the host’s bed.

The good-looking business student I had been crushing on sidled up beside me on the couch and said, “You’re not going to drink? Come on, you’ll have more fun.”

At the time, I simply didn’t have an interest in alcohol, but looking back, that’s when my attitude changed.

I told myself: I don’t drink because people want me to drink.

Of course, having a “milk on the rocks” reputation doesn’t do much for my street cred.

In fact, I’ve even had my conservative, religious friends not invite me to a party because they thought I’d be uncomfortable with the “moral depravity.”

And it can be awkward when it comes to after-work drinks with co-workers and your boss, but sometimes being sober means having the advantage in that social situation.

For example, I interned at a newspaper last summer and whenever the employees would go out for drinks, I had a great time tagging along.

Being the only non-drinker, everything I said was suddenly 10 times funnier or insightful to the drunken reporter or editor.

Also, it just so happened that my boss was a classy, wine-only woman who found it impressive that I didn’t give in to peer pressure.

 
It also didn’t hurt that most of our other company was more than a little tipsy near the end of the night, as it gave me an excuse to trash scantily clad pop stars with her.

In this situation, it was the lack of alcohol that broke the ice with my boss and made the working relationship more comfortable.

 So, while I might not have the wild, blood-shot-eyed Facebook pictures or the shelf of empty Jack Daniel’s bottles to prove it, I’m a sociable and friendly person — I swear.

 
I just don’t need a drink to bring it out.