The whole time, I was holding my breath. Between that, the wedgie and Mary Kate digging her little claws into my shoulder to keep her balance with her bad ankle, it was a really friggin’ uncomfortable seven minutes. And it felt like an eternity because it was as tense as hell.

There we were, proceeding down the hallway in an orderly fashion as instructed – outwardly calm, obediently evacuating the dorm. There we were, just Mary Kate and I … and two six-foot-plus figures in grey XXL sweatsuits looming over us with their hoods drawn down low over their shadowy faces. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing you wouldn’t see on an average night in St Theresa Hall. Nothing remotely sketchy, shady or suspicious – right?

There we were, at the open front door. The cold wind and snow were on our faces. There we were on the front steps. No Long Huggers in our way (phew). There we were, walking down the steps. Four steps to go – three steps to go – two, one. Our boots touched down in the snow, and the boys bolted across the quad, disappearing into the anonymity of the whirling blizzard.

Safe, I thought, finally exhaling.

We tramped through the snow to join the rest of the dorm girls, and I managed to pick my wedgie through my winter layers. But, just as I got rid of that pain in my ass, there came another one – Tambourine Spanker, who was wearing her L.L.Bean ski parka and kitten-print pajamas, and acting as Sister Hellda’s little helper by counting all of us, suddenly called out:

‘Wait! Sister Hilda, there’s a problem! The girls from one oh two!’

Fire trucks were flashing, honking, driving right onto the quad. The sirens were screaming accusations at us, the blinding red and white lights flashing in our eyes like interrogation lamps. Mary Kate and I stood shoulder to shoulder, frozen with guilt. Tambourine Spanker must have spotted Pat and Dom! All that stress and worry, all that effort and secrecy and Mary Kate’s genius and holding my breath and my wedgie and the exploding Pepsi can and risking concussions to break into the Rowers’ room and steal their enormous clothes for invisibility cloaks, all for nothing.

I was gonna get kicked out. And, for the second time that night, I thought how much I really, really didn’t want to.

But then, as Sister Hellda hurried down the dorm steps towards us, Tambourine Spanker finished her thought: ‘I haven’t seen them at all!’

Mary Kate and I exhaled heavily.

Sister Hellda stormed over, her dark eyes wide in panic above her hawk nose, but right then Mary Kate piped up in a sweet voice: ‘They’re at the regatta, Sister Hilda, remember?’

‘Yeah, the varsity regatta at Springfield,’ I chimed in. ‘Remember? They’ll be back Sunday night.’

‘Oh.’ Sister Hellda looked flustered. ‘Right. Of course. Right.’