The morning became immediately awkward as soon as I opened my eyes and found that Thomas was walking out of the en-suite bathroom with nothing but a small towel wrapped around his waist. It wasn't even a bath towel, it was the hand towel, and it didn't fit around him properly, so my gaze landed directly on the massive space at the side of his leg where nothing but his hand held the towel against his skin. Now, in an alternative world—perhaps where he was my boyfriend and I'd just woken up looking all beautiful with tousled hair and pink lips, with nothing but a thin white sheet covering my own perfect body—this might have been a good situation. In this world, however, I was actually lying there with bright red cheeks, half of my cleavage hanging (not so gracefully) out of my pyjama top from where my bra had slipped around in the night, my hair was tangled and all gathered in one space beneath my head, and most importantly was the real situation: Thomas was not my boyfriend and we were not waking up after a night of passion. Instead, we were sixteen-year-olds on a school trip, crammed into a small double bedroom in the attic of a creepy old youth centre.

Needless to say, when Thomas saw that I was awake (and watching him, more to the point) both of us moved quicker than lightning to cover ourselves. He darted back behind the en-suite bathroom door, and I sat up in bed with my hands over my chest, protecting my dignity and averting my gaze at the same time.

"Sorry!" he called out, as I smoothed my pyjama top down and swung my legs around to get out of bed. "I forgot to bring my towel in with me. I thought you were asleep. Could you...?"

His voice cut off as I pushed his towel through the gap in the bathroom door. I laughed, and heard him do the same on the other side.

"Thanks, Soph," he said. Soph. Nobody called me that... "Oh, by the way, the shower's freezing cold."

He wasn't wrong. Ten minutes later, after he'd finished in the bathroom, I lugged my own things into the tiny room and turned the shower on. Even after waiting a couple of minutes for it to warm up, the only water that came out of the head was ice-cold and trickled out in pathetic droplets. It took me double the amount of time to get ready than it normally would, and after leaving the bathroom fully clothed I had the sudden realisation that I'd left my hairdryer at home. So, not only was my body freezing cold, my hair was now soaking wet, too. Added to the awkward encounter Thomas and I had experienced earlier, it was evident that today was not going to be a good day.

I didn't expect it to be quite as bad as it was, though.

In true form, Hayley kept up her usual amount of enthusiasm while telling us all that we would be horse-riding that day. She'd explained that we'd all have an hour-long lesson in the arena before heading out onto the bridleways that ran around the centre for another three hours, and that we'd be finishing up with a half-hour ride on the beach. Secretly, I'd been excited about this—horses were my favourite animals and I already knew how to ride, having had lessons since I was five years old—but I had to maintain the straight-faced, I'm-so-bored act in front of the others.

Half an hour later, as we arrived at the stables and were paired up with our horses for the day, it became much more of a struggle to contain my excitement at being back in the saddle, and after realising that Ben was also a keen rider, I decided to give up the act completely. He explained to me that he'd ridden for a few years as well, and that he had a horse of his own. This automatically put him further up in my good books (as long as he didn't try touching my arm or kissing me again—that part had to go) and I rode beside him at the front of our group of ten, enjoying the conversation we were having about show jumping.

Or, at least, I had been enjoying our conversation...until, in the middle of the arena lesson, I realised that Thomas had been riding beside Lizzie for the duration of the activity so far. And, looking closer, I saw that the two of them were laughing and joking together, just like they had been in the rafting activity.

My mood instantly dropped. I became angry at myself for neglecting him and in turn giving Lizzie the opportunity to swoop in, and I felt my horse's body tense beneath me as I sat in the saddle, chewing on my lip with red eyes and tightly clenched fists. After this point, Ben became more of an irritation as I struggled to concentrate on the lesson without my eyes flickering back across to Miss Perfect and my crush. My bad mood began to brush off onto my horse, who seemed to become more plucky by the minute, much to the distress of the riding instructor standing in the centre of the arena, barking orders at me constantly as if I didn't already know what I was doing. Everything was going horribly wrong again.

By the time three o'clock rolled around, I was on the verge of tears thanks to my frustration. We'd just reached the beach after three hours of riding through fields and along coastal paths, and I'd been forced to listen to Lizzie flirting with Thomas knowing that there was nothing I could do to stop it. To make things worse, Ben had been flirting with me the whole way around, and I knew that Thomas could hear it. I was ready to launch off my horse's back and dive at Ben, in the hope that he'd fall and break a leg or something just as severe—anything so that I didn't have to spend another second listening to him—when Hayley, who was riding up front, called us all to a stop on the beach and declared a 'cake break'.

That was when things got exciting. And not least because we were being offered cake. (Who doesn't love cake, right?)

"So, then," Ben said, dismounting his horse and lunging across the sand to stretch his legs out. I walked with him, taking big strides to stretch my own calf muscles. "How much do you bet that Lizzie and Thomas will end up in bed together tonight?" He nudged me on the arm and gave a nod in their direction.

I looked over to where Lizzie and Thomas were standing, just a few metres away. She had her arms thrown around his neck and he was blushing like crazy, laughing whilst trying to stop her from jumping up onto his back. I sighed and kicked at the sand with my shoe.

"I'm betting nothing," I said, "because she won't be able to get into bed with him without getting into bed with me, too."

Ben laughed. "You make a good point. But," he said, "what if they decide to sleep in Lizzie's bed?"

I looked at him and raised my eyebrow. "Then you run over and stop anything from happening, obviously!"

Ben nudged my arm playfully. "Or I could take Thomas' place in your room. This is a school trip after all—who the heck ever follows the rules out of class?"

It was at the exact moment Ben said this that I heard a squeal from Thomas and Lizzie's direction. I looked over to see that Lizzie was lying on the floor, arms and legs still wrapped around Thomas' body, and that he was lying above her, laughing hysterically. I didn't know what exactly had happened for them to end up in that position, but it was enough to send me seriously over the edge. In a moment of blind anger, I turned to Ben and did the unthinkable: I touched his arm, too.

"You know, how about we swap rooms tonight?" I said, faking the smile that was parting my lips now. "I'd love to spend the night with you. It'd be so much more fun than spending it with him." I nodded my head in Thomas' direction with a look of disgust.

Ben's face lit up instantly. He grabbed my other arm, giving me no option but to grab his too, so that we were now standing together in a sort of embrace gone wrong, and he nodded his head eagerly. "Let's tell them!" he said, excitedly. "Let's go ask if they want to swap now."

Before I had chance to reply, he was rushing across to where Thomas and Lizzie lay on the floor, dragging me with him as he called out for their attention. As we approached, Lizzie looked up and Thomas moved from above her, standing and wiping his knees down.

"Hey, what's up?" Thomas asked, eyes darting between Ben and me. His cheeks were flushed—obviously, he'd been having a good time with Lizzie. My frustration intensified even more.

Ben smiled at Thomas. "Well, Sophie and I were just talking," he began, "and we wanted to know if you guys would be up for a room change tonight. I mean, I'd swap with you, Thomas, so that you could be downstairs with Lizzie, and I'd be upstairs with Sophie."

Thomas' eyes flickered over to mine. I felt myself swallow hard, as though he'd slapped me around the face, but then I remembered what he'd been doing with Lizzie just a few seconds ago and I snapped out of it quickly.

"Why do you want to swap rooms?" he asked, eyes still glued to mine. I couldn't understand why he looked so offended—it wasn't like asking him to share a room with Miss Perfect was such a big deal. He'd proved that point with his actions just now.

I shrugged, about to answer, but Ben jumped in before me. "We decided it'd be a cool thing to do tonight," he told Thomas, moving his head to smile at me. "You and Lizzie seem to be getting on well..."

"Really well," I added, under my breath. Thomas' pupils dilated and I watched his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he swallowed.

"And Sophie and I want some time to get to know each other a little better." As Ben said this, his eyes flickered over to Thomas'. I glowered at him. Could he have made that sound any more suggestive?

"Oh, you do, do you?" Lizzie said, licking her lips and grabbing hold of Thomas' shoulder. She waggled her eyebrows at Ben, who laughed shakily. I remained straight-faced. Thomas kept his eyes on me, a dent in his brow.

"I just meant in a friendly way," Ben said, sucking his teeth. "Besides, it's not like you two need to be together, is it?" He shrugged. "I don't see what the big deal is."

At this, Thomas raised his eyebrows and moved his gaze away from me. "Whatever," he said, shaking his head. "I don't mind. We'll have fun together, won't we, Lizzie?" He turned to her and I ground my teeth as I watched her throw her arms around his neck and peck him on the cheek, as though she already had permission to kiss him.

"Of course we will, honey!" she said, in a voice I almost laughed out loud at. She was so fake. How could he be attracted to someone like her? "We'll have the time of our lives!"

I turned around and began walking back to my horse. Ben followed behind, still chatting away to me, but I didn't listen to him. I blocked him out as much as I could for the rest of the ride, mumbling my replies and trying my hardest to avoid getting into conversation with him.

We arrived back at Sunnybrook just before five o'clock. We had an hour of free time, which the majority of people decided to spend outside. I, however, went back to mine and Thomas' room, annoyed and frustrated and sick of listening to the rest of the group acting so happily. I stayed there for forty-five minutes, my back resting against the headboard of the creaky double bed, devouring the book I'd bought along with me, until the door clicked open and a body walked in.

I looked up just as Thomas did. He gave a weak smile and pushed the door closed again. I shifted on the bed, closing my book and running my hand through my loose hair.

"Hey," I said, my voice level.

"Hi," Thomas replied. He took a few steps forwards, landing in front of his suitcase. I watched as he bent down and unzipped it, pulling out a jumper and standing back up again to slip it on over his head.

"You okay?" I asked him, my legs turning to jelly as the hem of his t-shirt rode up above his jeans, exposing his lightly tanned skin and a much darker patch of hair.

Thomas pulled a face. "I'm doing fine, I suppose," he said. "Pretty good, considering the fact you rejected me for tonight."

I smiled, thinking he was joking. "Hey, that wasn't my idea. Ben suggested it."

"You do everything Ben suggests?" Thomas asked, his voice wavering a little. His face was flushed red.

I sighed. "No. I just... He's a demanding guy. And you looked like you were getting along really well with Lizzie, earlier."

Thomas laughed dryly. "So, you didn't listen to a word I said last night?" he asked. I watched, frowning, as he shook his head and swiped a hand over his face. "Whatever," he continued. "It doesn't matter anyway. You're sleeping with him tonight, I get it. Just don't bother getting him to rave about it with me tomorrow. I meant what I said last night, whether you listened or not."

I opened my mouth, about to talk, but Thomas held his hand up. "Forget it," he said, reaching down to grab his suitcase. "Have a great night."

With that, he walked out of the tiny room, shutting the white door a little too loudly behind him. I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed heavily. Brilliant. I'd messed up my chances again. And, even worse, I was stuck with Ben for the rest of the night. There was no going back, now—I'd landed in the deep. I just hoped Ben wouldn't get too friendly.

I had a feeling, though, that Lizzie would be getting much more than friendly with Thomas. And I didn't like that thought one bit.

There were only two options: I could either ignore Ben's advances altogether, in the hope that Thomas would stick to his word and keep away from Lizzie, or I could follow my instincts after witnessing the two of them together on the beach earlier and do something slightly more outrageous: I could make Thomas jealous by playing up to Ben's advances. We could really do anything.

The decision rested in my hands. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't good under pressure. Especially not where creaky double beds and over-enthusiastic boys with wandering hands were concerned...