1998

'Ladies and gents, it's a tie!' shouted Mr. H. 'The Belles of the Ball are Robin Lewis and Sammy Day!'

You had to be friggin' kidding me! Robin looked like I'd just slapped her face again. I, on the other hand, put on my most gracious smile. I was going to be an actress, after all. Now was the time to put on a show. I'd just won Belle of the Ball!

Robin composed herself and put on her game face. She beamed and cried, 'Ooh!'

We both strode confidently to the front of the room to the sound of cheers and boos. I hoped those boos were for Robin.

I reached the front first and gave Blair an excited look. Robin quickened her pace and wedged herself between me and Blair, so she was standing in the centre.

'So ladies, who wants the sash and who wants the tiara?' asked Mr. H.

'I'll take the tiara,' answered Robin. She squealed as Mr H lowered it onto her head.

I arranged the sash over my shoulder and looked over at my table. Penny had her thumbs up in the air and Bec blew air kisses at me. I blew an air kiss back and giggled before glancing at Robin. She had her hands clasped against her chest and was pretending to cry. I half expected her to start thanking god and the Academy.

It really was only right that she'd won Belle of the Ball too. She'd worked so hard for five years at this school to get it. If she hated me before, she must be loathing me now for hijacking her moment. Not that she was showing it. In fact, she was acting like I wasn't even there.

She grabbed Blair's hand and led him to the middle of the dance floor as Trisha Yearwood's 'How do I live' started.

Blair shot me a wide-eyed look as if to say, 'Save me.' I laughed and waved them off good-naturedly before returning to my table.

'Go Sammy!' shouted Bec. I high-fived her and jumped up and down, still not quite believing that I was the Belle of the Ball.

'Sammy!' Penny pushed her seat back and ran around the table to hug me. 'This is so cool!'

'Who would have thought this would happen, huh?' I marvelled.

'I can't believe Robin just grabbed Blair for the slow dance,' said Mei-Ling. 'What a bitch.'

'Nah.' I shook my head. 'It's okay. It's Blair I feel sorry for.'

Penny laughed.

'What's so funny?' There was that annoying drawl again. Robin's tiara glinted under the lights as she stood before us, hands on her hips.

'Nothing,' said Penny.

'Where's Blair?' I asked.

'Obsessed much?' she retorted.

Most likely he'd made an excuse to cut their dance short and, pissed off, she wanted to take it out on me.

I braced myself for yet another showdown. How many did I have to endure with this girl? But to my surprise, her attention wasn't on me. Her eyes bored into Penny. Don't tell me she was going after my best friend now?

'Aw, Penny.' Robin cocked her head and pouted. 'We heard Sammy turned down Blair to go to the formal with you because she felt sorry for you. You know? Because you couldn't get a date and all.'

Was I going to have to have another catfight with Robin, right here, right now? I wouldn't let her speak to Penny like that, so I was definitely up for it.

I looked at Penny, who gave Robin a sweet smile. 'Thanks for your concern Robin, that's really nice of you.'

Robin looked confused. To tell the truth, I was a little confused, too. Where was Penny going with this? Two seconds later, I had my answer.

Slosh!

Robin screamed as an entire carafe's worth of diet coke hit her in the face. I swore I could hear it fizzing on her skin. It dripped from her chin and matted hair, and dribbled down her dress.

'That's for being such a bitch to me!' yelled Penny before she scooped up a carafe of Fanta.

Slosh!

'And that's for being such a bitch to Sammy.'

'Oh my gawd!' she screeched before running off to the ladies toilets. Our table applauded and I glanced around to check that no teachers had seen what Penny had done. Luckily for Penny, Mr. H seemed to be busy dancing with Principal Sutton, and Robin's screams had been drowned out by the sound of everyone on the dance floor squealing when 'Men in Black' came on.

'Penny! That was brilliant!' Something told me that Robin wouldn't be telling on us. Not after what she'd done to me last night.

Penny dusted her hands and beamed. I don't think I'd ever seen her this jubilant.

'I'm only sorry I couldn't do the same thing to that whole table.' She nodded towards Teaghan, Lauren, Mudsey and Jason, who were standing up from their chairs and craning their necks to survey the room. They were probably wondering where Robin had gone. She never went to the bathroom without at least one of her minions in tow.

'I'd do it to Martin too if I had the chance,' she added. I looked in the direction she was glaring and saw the bra dangling, mintie spitting, foundation lined twit getting the steps to the 'Men in Black' dance wrong.

'Come on.' I grabbed Penny's hand. 'Let's go to the dance floor. You can step on his foot or something.'

'You're such a dork.' She giggled.

'Barbie Girl,' 'Return of the Mac,' 'Whatta Man', 'Be My Lover' – we danced and sang to 90s greats in our little corner of the dance floor, not caring what we looked and sounded like. And Penny did get to stamp on Martin's foot. Hard. And twice. 'Sorry, not sorry,' I'd sung out the second time as he'd hobbled away.

This was so different to our first time at the formal, when we'd huddled together at our table, too scared to draw attention to ourselves. This time, Lauren and Teaghan laughed and pointed at us, but we ignored them. We really were dancing like no one was watching.

The only time we paid that group any attention was when Robin finally returned to the dance floor. Her dress was stained and her hair was pulled back into a wet-look ponytail. She'd actually pulled out two pieces of hair in the front, so they hung down and stuck to her cheeks.

Bec and I were waving our hands in the air to 'No Diggity' when the song faded out and the guitar intro to Green Day's 'Time of Your Life' made everyone cheer. The electric blue suited DJ announced that it was the last song of the night and my feet came to a standstill. My heart thumped.

The crowd paired off and Penny and Mei-Ling took my hands in theirs. As we stood in a circle and swayed to the song, I closed my eyes and listened to the lyrics.

'Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go. So make the best of this test and don't ask why. It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time.'

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

'I said I'd save a slow dance for you.' Blair held out his hand.

I took it and let him lead me to the middle of the dance floor. I didn't care that practically all of year 12 was looking at us. I looked back at their happy faces and suddenly it was as if a flash bulb had exploded.

The room turned milky white, like an overexposed polaroid. Then everything faded away.

***

It's coming down to the wire - who will Sammy choose when she's back in the present? Blair or Colin?