Less than an hour until the party and I was practically chewing off my nails. Maybe I could just pretend I was sick. Or on Monday I could tell Ollie the truth – I was grounded and under strict house arrest. But that had been voted the worst excuse not to go to a party, especially a cool party with alcohol, loud music and popular people. People would think I wimped out or something, and I definitely didn't want to be known as THAT girl, especially throughout the rest of my high school career. I'd never hear the end of it, particularly if Francesca and her brainless minions had their way.

I decided to sneak out, go to the party, sneak back before 10pm and deal with the consequences later just like the typical procrastinator. But first, I needed to put this plan into action. Step One: the ultimate distraction, starring my beloved twin brother and sister as the main characters. This was the easy part.

I found Kat and Pat innocently leaping off their beds and crashing into the mountain of clothes, pillows and toys by their wardrobe. I had less than a minute to make this work, and the clock was ticking.

"Kat, Pat, I found your old toys under Mum & Dad's bed! Come see!"

They immediately jumped down and followed me to the master bedroom which was dark and empty. The door had a lock on it so I slammed it shut and dashed off to my bedroom just as the parents marched into the hall from the living room to investigate the noise and of course, they discovered their bedroom was locked, imprisoning their naughty little kids who could turn a room upside down before you could say, "My giddy great aunt Zelda."

I had also hidden the key in my jeans pocket so I had bought myself plenty of time to creep out. Good thing I already had my party outfit on – a red off-the-shoulder blouse, black tights and a short black sequin skirt. I had definitely met Sally Anne's standards on how she'd told me to dress up on the phone but that was only part 1 of the plan. Part 2 involved stuffing a couple of teddy bears under my bed sheets, flicking off the light and climbing out the window.

The night was chilly and the moon was bright, the grass glittering with dew as I slipped through the side gate and jogged down the driveway until I was finally free. I could hear distant yelling that sounded like when my mother was frustrated and I knew my plan had worked.

Excitement and nerves clenched my stomach and squeezed my intestines as I made my way through the peaceful streets of the town. Only two more blocks and three houses until the location of the party. I could almost hear the music.

According to my funky Minnie Mouse wristwatch that matched my outfit, I was only ten minutes late, but then again, all the cool people arrived ten minutes late. I mean, you didn't want to look too desperate or anything. The same applied to first dates but definitely not job interviews.

Sleek black sports cars pulled up and dropped off party goers like limousines dropping off A-list celebrities at the red carpet of some elite awards ceremony. Unfortunately, I didn't have any mysterious tinted car to emerge from so I just panted up the driveway, my feet already throbbing with blisters in my black ballet flats. I was slightly flushed from the long walk but barely exhausted enough NOT to party. This night was going to be...unpredictable.

"Lavinia! You made it!" Sally Anne jumped onto me and wrapped me in the tightest hug ever.

"Back off or else people will think we're lesbians," I joked, restraining her at arm's length. Sally Anne looked so stylish, as usual, with her tiny corkscrew curls highlighted in every shade of brown imaginable. Her eyes and cheeks sparkled with glitter and enthusiasm, and her arms were occupied with tons of plastic neon bracelets. 

"You look great!" We both exclaimed at the same time. "Jinx!"

The atmosphere was electric and absolutely fizzing with music, chatter and laughter and fun. I don't know what it was about parties but they just made you want to go crazy loco!

"Come and say hello to the birthday boy!" Sally Anne said, dragging me by the arm through the crowd. I recognized most of the people from school and a few others from schools all over town. Francesca and her brainless slut club were tossing their hair and dancing against any guy that walked past. I spotted Ollie by the drinks table with Hugo, who were apparently having a burping competition. As we approached them, Ollie let out the longest and loudest belch ever and a crowd of people cheered and clapped him on the back.

Then it was like slow motion. Ollie was in the middle of a wide grin as his eyes scanned the crowd until he saw me, and his smile faded, but only just a bit. Ollie actually looked normal for once. He'd spiked up his almond brown locks and he was wearing a t-shirt that said, "LMAO on my birthday. Got a problem with that?" For some reason that T-shirt made me feel a bit better.

"Ollie, let me introduce Lav, your special guest of honour," Sally Anne said, shoving me toward him. I shot a look at Sally Anne but she was already disappearing into the crowd with a thumbs up sign and a little, "Good luck!"

I smiled at Ollie and said, "Happy Birthday!" But it felt kind of awkward, so I just flung my arms around him, hoping this would ease the tension.

"Thanks, Lavinia!" Ollie said, and I instantly relaxed. So he wasn't mad at me, even though I hadn't done anything. But just in case, I gave him a little peck on the cheek, and Ollie blushed with pleasure. "I knew you'd come round one day, Lav," Ollie winked.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't push your luck, birthday boy."

Hugo, who had just finished burping the national anthem for his fellow audience, said, "Hey, Lavinia, you look hot."

"Uh, thanks?" I said uncertainly.

Ollie put an arm around me and said in a possessive tone, "Back off, Hugo, she's mine."

Hugo winked at me. "Watch out, he's a slippery one."

 I rolled my eyes and decided, since I didn't have a present for Ollie, I might as well humour him with my presence, even if it was just for one night.

"Anyway, wanna dance?" Ollie asked me.

"Yeah, sure. It is your birthday, after all," I replied, flipping my hair. Ollie took my hand into his, which was surprisingly cold, as if he'd been holding a can of coke fresh from the esky. I just noticed he was now exactly my height when before he had been only up to my chin.

"You've gotten taller," I told him as he twirled me around.

"It's great, isn't it?" Ollie grinned. "Now I can finally look you in the eyes without standing on my tiptoes."

"Congratulations," I said, accidentally adding a tiny dose of sarcasm, but luckily Ollie was immune to sarcasm.

"Thanks!" he exclaimed, eyes twinkling.

The room had dimmed and someone had turned on the disco lights that spun a spectrum of colours across the walls, flickering to the beat and morphing into different shapes. I bumped into Francesca, who at first didn't see me since she was lost in her own world, but then she narrowed her eyes and said, "Look who decided to show her face again. Come to break Ollie's poor little heart?"

"Don't listen to a word she says, Lavinia," Ollie told me, steering me away from Fran before I could cause some serious damage to her face.

"She's just so...ugh!" I groaned, glancing over my shoulder as we moved through the dancers. Ollie had his arm slung casually around my waist, and that was all I could feel at the moment as we headed for the hallway, which was so bright I had to squint.

"Well, I had to invite her or else no one would come," Ollie said.

"Seriously?" I said.

"Yeah, she's like the Queen of popularity and all that bullshit."

"You don't like her either?" I asked.

Ollie shrugged. "Who does like her, anyway? She's a ruthless bitch."

"Finally, we agree on something!"

Ollie laughed, He had the most hilarious and contagious laugh ever that I just had to join in.

"Oh my God, I'm so rude!" Ollie suddenly cried. "I forgot to offer you a drink!"

"It's alright, really, I'll get it myself," I said.

"No, I won't allow you! I'll be right back!" He dashed off, leaving me there in the hallway, accompanied by a snogging couple pressed up against the wall only two metres away from me.

When Ollie didn't return after five minutes waiting, I went into the main room where everyone was dancing to investigate what was taking him so long. And when I did find out, I just rolled my eyes.

The partygoers had formed a circle around Ollie, who was breaking it down on the floor, busting out some funky moves I never knew he had in him. Everyone was chanting, "Go, Ollie! It's your birthday! Go Ollie!"

Normally when people said that, you were required to strip down to your birthday suit, but I'm glad that wasn't the case at this party. Everything was at least rated PG.

When Ollie reached the end of his dance he posed for five seconds before being run over by a stampede of girls like he was some sort of celebrity. I laughed at his situation, but he seemed to enjoy having a dozen girls crushing him to death.

I felt an arm slip an arm slip around my waist and someone whisper in my ear, "Let's get outta here, babe." I was suddenly being whisked away by none other than Brad, Loren's boyfriend from the football team.

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" I asked him nervously.

Brad rolled his seductive steel grey eyes and chuckled. "Who cares? She won't mind," he said, running his hands down my arms, but I slapped them away and snapped, "No! Get your hands off me, you bastard!"

Brad's eyes widened and he glanced sideways to check if anyone had heard me over the music. "Ssh! Chill, babe."

"And DON'T call me that, you freak!" I yelled, smacking him in the face. Brad staggered backwards, clutching his cheek and looking horrified.

Ollie suddenly appeared behind me with Loren by his side, looking extremely pissed off that her boyfriend was trying to cheat on her. "Brad! What do you think you're doing?" she shouted.

Ollie led me towards the drinks table and handed me a plastic red cup of dark fizzy liquid and asked if I was okay. "You should be asking Brad the same question," I said.

 "Yeah, that was an awesome hit!" Ollie said, mimicking the smack with his fist. "Anyway, sorry I ditched you. I got a bit carried away. Quite literally, actually."

I snorted in the middle of drinking and bubbles burned my nostrils as I imagined Ollie being carried by a bunch of girls.

"So I saw Brad putting some moves on you, and to be honest, I don't blame him," Ollie said.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" I asked him.

Ollie just shrugged. "I mean, I am, after all, tempted myself, but unlike Brad, I at least have a bit of self-control."

"That's debatable."

"I guess it is," Ollie said with a shrug. "But the point is, that was very wrong of him to do that."

"If it was anything, I'd probably blame it on the alcohol," I said.

"Alcohol?" Ollie echoed.

"Yeah, I heard there was going to be alcohol in the drinks or something," I said.

"But I didn't – I mean, I don't have any –" Ollie looked confused, but eventually realisation crossed his face and he rolled his eyes. "Of course! People must've spiked the drinks with their own booze!"

"Uh, duh!" 

"Well, a little alcohol never hurt anybody," Ollie shrugged.

"You're joking, right?" I said.

 But before Ollie could reply, Sally Anne shimmied over towards us with Hugo on her arm like an accessory, which to Sally Anne he probably was. "Hey, guys!" Sally Anne greeted us with a swift flick of her hair. Hugo couldn't take his eyes off Sally Anne the entire time we talked.

"So, Lavinia, how you liking the party?" Sally Anne asked.

"It's my party, you know," Ollie said. "Which reminds me – it's almost cake eating time."

"Leave that to me, Ollie darling, since I am your personal party organiser slash BFF," Sally Anne said.

"Best Female Friend?" I asked.

"No, Best Fashion Fairy," Ollie corrected me.

"Non, mes amis, you're both wrong," Sally Anne said, grabbing a handful of crisps and stuffing them in her mouth, without managing to look like an absolute slob. "Best French Friend."

"Oh!" Ollie and I cried, finally understanding. Sally Anne was, after all, from France, and she never let us forget it.

I glanced at the clock on the wall and gasped. "Oh, dear, I better go soon!"

"Then let them eat cake!" Ollie declared.

"That's the smartest thing you've said all night," Hugo said, finally noticing that there were other people in the room other than Sally Anne.

Sally Anne marched over to the electricity outlet and pulled out the plug for the music so that there was a sudden dead silence and a groan through the crowd. "Ollie, darling, care to do the honours?" Sally Anne called out.

Ollie jogged up to the stage beside Sally Anne and grinned. "I thought you'd never ask."

Sally Anne handed him the microphone which he said into it, "Attention, everybody! I have an extremely important announcement to make."

"Get on with it!" someone jeered from the crowd.

Ollie poked his tongue out to whoever it was then said in a grand voice, "Let them eat cake!"

As expected, everyone whooped with excitement. It was the moment we were all waiting for. I helped Sally Anne bring out the cake and light up the sparklers as everyone gathered around the dining table to get a piece of the action. Sally Anne began singing 'Happy Birthday' and soon everyone joined in an off-key and rowdy version of the classic song.

I stood beside Ollie and felt him slip his hand into mine and squeeze. I rested my head on his shoulder as the song came to an end and the smoke alarms went off.

"Aargh! Shut that off!" People were complaining.

"Quickly, blow out the candles!" Sally Anne urged Ollie. Ollie nodded and took a deep breath just as someone threw a balloon towards the cake. The balloon came into contact with the candles and instantly exploded.

Confetti rained down on the cake and flakes of it ended up in the sparklers, and since the confetti was made of shredded tissue paper, they quickly burst into tiny fireballs that floated down onto the tablecloth, catching on fire.

The events that followed were all in a blur as people screamed and the flames licked the table and the cake just sat there, melting sadly into its plate since it was made of ice cream. Sally Anne scurried off to search for the fire extinguisher while Ollie tried to push me out of the fire's path. My shoe stepped on the end of the table cloth, which was dangling down onto the floor because someone attempted to pull it off the table but failed. I fell forward onto the ground and felt something hot as hell on the back of my legs. The tablecloth's fire had leapt onto my black tights, which were supposed to be low fire danger, but at the moment, it felt like they had been soaked in alcohol or something.

I heard Ollie shout my name and Sally Anne's high-pitched scream as she tried to work the extinguisher. I tried to crawl away, tried to wriggle out of my tights somehow, but it was like the flames were melting them into my skin and the pain was excruciating; I felt like I was dying. Was this how it was going to end?

Foam sprayed everywhere and tamed the flames until everything was coated in creamy white and the hot prickling on my legs faded. Sally Anne rushed to my side and gripped my arm, helping me sit up.

"Oh, Lavinia, I thought you were going to burn to death!" she cried, hugging me.

"Where's Ollie?" I asked, surprised that I actually cared.

Sally Anne whipped her head around, scanning the area. "Je ne sais pas," she shrugged.

"Oh, no, where could he be?" I asked, my voice trembling with concern. I mean, I wasn't completely heartless!

Suddenly, a patch of foam started moving and as it sat up it took me a few seconds to realise it was Ollie under all that white. He coughed out some white gloop, rubbed foam from his eyes and blinked at us.

"Ollie!" Sally Anne exclaimed, suffocating him in a hug.

Ollie spluttered some more white stuff and said thickly, "I think I swallowed some foam."

We all burst into a fit of laughter, forgetting all about what just occurred and how much work the clean up was going to be. Then it all came back to us.

"Where did everybody go?" Ollie asked.

"I think they left as soon as they could to get away from you," I replied dryly.

"Why? Because I'm the fire and I am dangerously hot?" Ollie smirked.

"Sure, Ollie, that's exactly why." Sally Anne and I rolled our eyes.

"Anyway, if they're all gone, we're going to have to clean this up," I said, shooting a look at Sally Anne.

"Je suis très désolée, mes ami," she said sheepishly. "I didn't know how to control the extinguisher."

"Well, then, let's get started," Ollie clapped his hands, spraying us with foam.

"Hey!" I scooped up some foam from the ground and flicked it at him.

"Guys, we need to focus on cleaning," Sally Anne reminded us.

I was in the middle of pressing foam into Ollie's ear when I glanced at the clock. Oh, no, it was already 9:30!

"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm gonna have to run along home now," I said, brushing off my hands.

"You can't leave us here! We're your best friends! Six hands are better than four!" Ollie cried.

"I'm grounded, so I wasn't even meant to be here," I said.

"Then why'd you come?" Sally Anne asked.

"Yeah, Lavinia, why DID you come if you weren't allowed?" Ollie asked, a strange glint in his eye. I hope he wasn't thinking what I thought he was thinking.

"Don't get any wrong ideas, alright? I was only being nice," I said firmly to Ollie.

Ollie winked and said, "It's alright, Lavinia. I understand. You don't have to say it out loud if you don't want to."

I rolled my eyes. "I have to go."

"Then go. What's stopping you?" Ollie said.

Sally Anne was giving me a weird smile as she tapped her cheek, puckered her lips and pointed to Ollie. I couldn't help cringing and sighing, but I gave him a quick kiss after wiping away the foam from his cheek.

"Next time it'll be on the lips," Ollie said cheekily.

"In your dreams," I replied with a shudder.

I hoped two kisses and a dance were equivalent to a satisfactory birthday present for this guy, otherwise all the trouble I had gone to just to come would've been for nothing. But in the end it was all for nothing anyway so it was the same either way. Except I was probably in heaps of trouble for sneaking out. Especially if I came home looking the way I did.

"Hey, can I use your bathroom?" I asked.

"First to your right next to the stairs," Ollie directed me.

I scrubbed off most of the foam from my hair, clothes and face before checking the burns on my legs, which were all red and raw. Then I left through the front door, fresh air clearing my head, but only for a moment.

On the footpath were half of the party people, calling their chauffers or whoever to come pick them up. Most of them were snobby bitches and the rest were guys who were too cool for school. I tried to swerve around them without being noticed but of course they saw me.

"Oh, look, it's Lavinia the loser!" Francesca called out. The girls cackled while the boys just puffed on their cigarettes and wolf whistled. I decided to ignore them, but the alcohol in their bloodstream eliminated their common sense.

"Tell your little darling Keith that I said hi!" Lindsay cooed. This time the boys laughed.

"Oh, and don't forget to give him a kiss for me!" Francesca teased. The girls tittered but I just kept on walking away from them, cursing each and every one of them under my breath and hoping they'd all die from some horrible disease like bitchitis or popularia. 

 As I walked I gazed up at the endless navy-blue sky sprinkled with stars and heard the soft clickety-clack of skateboard wheels on the concrete. As much as I was glad to see him, he couldn't have come at a worse time when the drunk party people were only thirty metres away.

"Keith, we have to get away from those people," I hissed before he could give me a hug.

"Why?" Keith asked, glancing at them.

"Don't stare or else one of them might recognise you," I told him.

Keith looked hurt. "What, are you ashamed to be seen with me?" 

"No, no, it's not that, Keith," I assured him. "It's just -"

Too late.

 The gang of girls had reached us already and were checking Keith out and whispering.

"Is that her boyfriend?"

"Wow, you weren't lying to us, Fran!"

"He sure is cute."

"Lucky Lavinia. She has him all to herself."

"Not for long, girls, you'll see," Fran said with a smirk.

I shot a look at Keith that said, "I told you we should've gone..."

Keith just shrugged and turned to grin at the girls that were ogling him and giggling uncontrollably. Here we go, I thought, rolling my eyes.

"Oh, hi, Keith. It's been a while," Francesca said, twirling a strand of hair.

"Yeah, I guess it has...Freeda? Or was it Felicity?" Keith squinted at her in mock confusion.

I stifled a laugh at the expression on Fran's face when Keith couldn't remember her name. But of course, Fran played it cool and said, "Call me whatever you like."

There was an outbreak of giggling and "Ooh"s. Keith raised an eyebrow at me. "What's wrong with them?" he asked quietly.

"I'm still trying to work that out," I replied. Keith smirked.

"So are you, like, Lavinia's, oh, I don't know...boyfriend?" Lindsay asked.

Keith didn't hesitate as he flung an arm around my shoulders and replied, "Duh."

Despite the icy night air, my face was on fire.

 Loren took a step forward, crossed her arms and said, "Prove it."

 There was a round of high fiving as Keith and I glanced at each other sheepishly. "I knew it couldn't be true," Francesca said smugly. "You probably paid Keith to be your boyfriend just to show us that you're not-"

Keith looked annoyed with them so he locked eyes with me and mouthed, "Ready?"

I must've looked really confused because Keith chuckled, buried his fingers in my hair and leaned forwards, before planting a small kiss on my lips. That shut the girls up.

Someone started clapping and when I turned I realised the boys had been watching as well and soon they all started applauding. Keith grinned at me, snatching my hand and helping me on the skateboard, guiding me along the footpath, far away from those stupid bitches and their dumb boyfriends. My hair trailed behind me like golden banners and Keith's fingers entwined with mine until it felt like there was only one hand, joined for eternity.