There's nothing scary about it--Miss October is carving herself a ripe future 

Amanda Paige of the University of Virginia is pondering the subject of her thesis with an attitude that is anything but cavalier. "I think I'm going to write mine about artificial reproductive tec ...hnology and how it's changing family dynamics," says the brainy 21-year-old sociology major. "Now a couple can have a baby who has many parents. Who's really the parent--the egg donor, the person who's raising it or the person who carried it? It's really interesting." Interesting indeed, especially when these matters are being weighed by someone who can be as effervescent as Kate Hudson with puppies. But it's easy to see where Amanda gets her serious side: Her dad is a cardiologist, and her mom's a nurse. Was there ever any pressure to follow in their footsteps? "My parents never encouraged me to be a doctor, because my dad worked such crazy hours," she says. "My mom wanted me to be a nurse, but I hate hospitals and blood." But Miss October may be willing to play the part on Halloween, one of her favorite holidays. "It's a way of dressing slutty without getting in trouble," she grins, "so I dress sexier. I was a Greek goddess and a sailor girl. This year I want to wear a little Goldilocks outfit with sequins, like Britney Spears did once. Hey, you've got to get attention somehow!"

Miss October hardly has to exert herself to grab gazes, as she recently discovered on a night out in Los Angeles with Hef and his girlfriends. "It's difficult to explain to your friends," she says. "It's weird to be put on a pedestal and have people take pictures of me, because I'm just a normal person. Why would they want my picture?" (You see? Even the smartest people can have surprising gaps in their knowledge.) Amanda's hair falls over her eye and she blushes slightly when we ask if she's ever caught someone's gaze and tried to get him to cross the room. "It just happens," she says. "I prefer guys to approach me but not in a sleazy, cheesy way." With her studies and sorority commitments, how does she make time for romance? "It's not too difficult if he's experiencing the same thing. There is an understanding, so when you do see each other between classes or on the weekend, it's more intense." What would Miss October do with all that intensity if she didn't have to share a house with three roommates? "I made myself a bubble bath, with candles, a few weeks ago, and it was sensuous and romantic. It would be fun to walk into a house and discover that a guy has lit all these candles for you and has covered your bed with rose petals. But I suppose I'll have to wait until after I graduate for that." Really? Somehow we think Charlottesville is going to be teeming this fall with guys carrying roses, candles and copies of The Journal of Artificial Reproductive Technology.

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