1998

The sound of rolling thunder grew louder, like it was coming right at me.

'Watch out!' someone shouted.

I opened my eyes and realised it wasn't rolling thunder at all. It was the rolling wheels of an enormous set design hurtling towards me along a stage floor.

I yelped and jumped out of the way. A cut out of an old ship set atop spikes of glittery blue, green and white ocean waves whooshed past. It was the set from one of the first scenes, when Viola and her twin brother Sebastian found themselves shipwrecked and separated.

I'd landed precisely where I'd wanted to be in '98. I looked down and saw that I was wearing my black Bonds top and baggy brown Bloch pants – I used to wear these all the time.

Oh shit! It suddenly dawned on me that I'd made a terrible, awful, stupid mistake. I'd forgotten to imagine myself the night before the play when I could have packed a spare bra and shirt in my bag and stashed them where Robin couldn't find them.

Think, Sammy, think. What had happened exactly? Robin had handed me my first outfit and told me to get changed. My first scene was as Viola, the girl, so the costume had been a tight dress with a sewn-in bone corset. It had been so tight, my bra hadn't fit underneath it.

After the first scene, she'd thrust my boy costume at me. She'd said there'd been a last minute wardrobe change and I wouldn't be wearing the brown shirt I'd rehearsed in. I'd looked down to see a flimsy white silk shirt. I'd searched for my bra. She'd said there was no time to find it and that I'd be fine without it.

She hadn't given me the chance to check my reflection as she'd steered me out of the changing room. I remembered getting a glimpse of myself in a mirror backstage and not noticing my exposed nipples. Little had I known that a dark backstage area and a stage lit up in eye-searing yellow were not the same thing. On stage, my boobs had looked like two fried eggs. That was according to my brother Ben, who'd been in the audience.

And so I'd delivered my lines under the unforgiving glare of the stage lights. The audience had laughed and I'd had no idea why – the scene wasn't supposed to be funny. When I'd left the stage, Mrs. Rockman, the home economics teacher, had told me what I'd looked like in a way that had sounded accusatory, like I'd deliberately ditched my bra.

I remembered fleeing to the changing room in tears, mortified that my parents – along with everyone else – had seen everything. I'd looked up to see Blair twirling my bra around his finger. I remembered how hurt I'd felt at the sight of him flinging it over to Mudsey, who'd shot it back like a slingshot. Robin had laughed and asked, 'Lost something, Sammy?'

They'd also stolen my normal clothes, so I'd been forced to stand in a corner with my arms wrapped around my chest, not knowing what to do. Penny had given me her bra and told Mr. H what had happened. He'd tracked down a musty black dinner jacket for me to wear and I'd performed the rest of the play with tears shining in my eyes – tears that I'd let spill over my cheeks between scenes.

Robin, of course, had denied knowing that the shirt was see-through and gotten away with it.

Now, without any spare clothes as backups, I'd have to somehow cling like grim death to the bra and top I was already wearing so Robin couldn't knick them.

I spotted Penny standing under a huge white arch covered in fake flowers. She was wearing her Romeo + Juliet t-shirt.

'Penny, the sets look amazing! You should become, like, a visual designer or something when you grow up!' I felt smug knowing her future career path before she did.

'Um, thanks.' She pushed her glasses up her nose and moved a bunch of fake roses higher up the arch.

That's right, I'd forgotten that we were fighting. I knew I had to apologise.

'Penny, listen –'

'Oh my god, Sammy!' Robin bounded up to me carrying a pile of clothes. I recognised the electric purple of the bone corset dress immediately. Electric purple? Jeez. Costume authenticity clearly wasn't high on Robin's priority list. I saw that Teaghan's candy pink Lady Olivia skirt had glitter all over it. It was like Disco Barbie meets Glinda the Good Witch. Glinda the Bad Bitch more like it.

'The play's just about to start and you haven't even done your make up yet?' Robin asked in a high-pitched voice.

My hand flew up to my cheek. I hadn't?

'Or your hair,' Robin continued. 'It looks awful. But don't worry – I have a hairbrush and some butterfly clips you can use.'

She shooed me towards the change room like I was an annoying fly.

'Okay, okay.' There was no way I'd let Robin steal my clothes this time – I'd have to watch her like a hawk.

Robin seemed to have the same idea. I could feel her eyes on my bare back as I faced the corner and wriggled into the purple spaghetti strap dress with the cha-cha-skirt. It had been ripped and shredded with scissors to make it look like I'd survived a shipwreck. It was more Fame-meets-West Side Story-meets-Prom Night than Shakespeare.

'This dress doesn't look very 1600s,' I told Robin as I struggled to zip up the back.

'You never complained about it in the dress rehearsal.' Robin made no effort to help me zip up.

I spun around and held my bra in front of me, hoping to psych her out by hinting that I was onto her scheme. Then it occurred to me to just tell her that I knew what she was up to.

'I know you want to take this bra and then give me that white silk shirt you've got in that pile of clothes there.'

Robin's face went almost as white as the shirt. 'What are you talking about you freak?'

'You know what I'm talking about.' I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my fist, my bra dangling in front of her face. 'That's why I'm going to hide this.'

'You're crazy,' she muttered as I bundled up my clothes and makeup bag and strode towards the mirrors.

I didn't look as awful as Robin had insisted. I still ran a brush through my hair and used a little mousse to give it some volume. I finished my makeup and left the changing room with my clothes under my arm and a purpose. I needed to find somewhere to stash these clothes.

Backstage, students milled around rehearsing their lines and talking about what they were going to wear to the formal tomorrow night.

'I'm wearing a mauve corset top and a long satin skirt,' Sara Cho said excitedly to Shona Timms.

'Mine's empire line and floaty,' replied Shona. 'Like Rose's dress in Titanic.'

'Sammy!' Mr. H's voice boomed behind me. I spun around and hugged my bundle of clothes to my chest, hoping that my bra wasn't in sight.

'Hi Mr H!' I greeted him brightly.

'Break a leg out there. You've been a star in rehearsals and you're going to shine tonight.'

'Thanks Mr. H, I won't let you down.' I vaguely recall saying something like this to him the first time around and being so upset with myself when I had let him down.

I turned and kept walking. I was getting increasingly desperate to find a place to hide my clothes.

A-ha! In a corner of the backstage area I spied a black prop box covered in silver paper stars. It had sat in that corner since before anyone could remember and now hardly anyone noticed it.

I glanced around me to see if anyone was watching. Robin, Blair and Jason were nowhere to be seen. Lauren was twirling her hair and laughing as Mudsey pretended a cardboard sword was his penis. Teaghan paced up and down, reading her lines.

I quickly shoved my clothes in the box and closed the lid.

****

'Conceal me what I am and be my aid, for such disguise as haply shall become the form of my intent.'

Paul from social studies class, his captain's hat sitting slightly askew, smiled stiffly as I delivered my lines. He wasn't supposed to be smiling – hellooo? What about the very recent shipwreck? Man, this was a shitty production.

'Be you his eunuch and your mute I'll be.' His tone was flatter than hair styles were in the early naughties. 'When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not see.'

'I thank thee, lead on.' I said to applause. The lights dimmed and I ran back to my starry prop box.

No. No, no, no, no, no. All my clothes were gone. My bra, my black Bonds top, my brown Bloch pants. I rifled through the musty contents of the box. I found a stained silk red scarf, a green felt top hat like the type you spent $25 on when you were pissed on St. Pat's Day and neon orange netting. There was nothing in here I could use.

Who had seen me put my clothes in the box?

'Sammy!' Lauren hissed behind me. 'You're supposed to go straight to the change room when you need to do a costume change. You've only got 10 minutes 'til you're on again.'

'Ow!' I exclaimed as she tugged my arm.

'Sssshhhhh! You're supposed to whisper back here.' She practically dragged me by the elbow to the change rooms, where Robin stood with a clump of costumes at her feet.

'Here's your shirt.' She threw the silky see-through life-ruiner at me.

'What happened to the brown shirt I was supposed to wear?' I wondered if she'd give me the same excuse as last time.

'Silly Lauren accidentally spilled Ribena on it.' Yep, same excuse.

I held the shirt against my arm and could see the colour of my skin through it.

'What are you waiting for?' Robin asked with a smirk. 'Put it on. You have your bra to wear with it, right?'

'Uh, yeah.'

The smug look on her face told me that she knew exactly where my bra was. I made a snap decision to hightail it out of here. I'd thought I could outsmart Robin, but here I was, bra-less yet again. I just had to figure out where to hide before I could sneak out and wait at mum and dad's car.

'I'm going to get changed in the toilets,' I said, figuring I could lock myself in one of stalls and wait it out.

'There's no time for that,' screeched Robin, gripping my arm. I tried to wriggle free and felt Lauren's hand clutch my other arm.

'What the hell are you doing?' I squealed as I struggled harder to escape. I could see about a dozen other girls looking over at us. Shona Timms and I made eye contact. I remembered that I'd sometimes helped her study for tests. She quickly looked away. So much for the sisterhood. This was the like the spin the bottle party all over again.

I heard Teaghan laugh behind me and felt her rip open my back zipper. I gasped as my dress fell to the floor.