‘Of course you’re going to stand out,’ Bec says. ‘But that’s the point, isn’t it? You look stunning. Like someone straight off the latest catwalk. Not to mention you look hot as fuck.’
‘Thanks,’ he says. ‘But I know what people are gonna say. I thought Chase was supposed to be a guy. Why’s he wearing a dress?’
‘It’s not a dress,’ Bec reiterates, smoothing down the fabric. ‘You’re twice the man of any one of those boys. And this outfit just proves that!’
‘Couldn’t have said it better myself,’ I say. ‘Come here. I wanna take a selfie.’
‘That’s how you know you look good,’ Bec says. ‘You’ve even got Zach wanting to post on social media.’
‘It’s not for social media.’ I roll my eyes. ‘It’s for Mum! I promised I’d send her one.’
‘I need to fix my hair first,’ Chase says, holding his hand up to stop me taking a picture. ‘Though that reminds me. I better call my mum, actually. I want to show her the outfit before I spill something all over it. I overheard Harrington talking about brie and cranberry canapés. I don’t want either of those things anywhere near this!’
‘You’ll be fine,’ Bec says with a laugh. ‘I promise to protect you from the canapés, but you absolutely cannot call your mum right now.’
‘Huh?’ Chase says. ‘Why not?’
‘Because she’d lose her mind if she saw us drinking this.’ She reaches into the bottom of her garment bag to pull out some questionable-looking tequila. ‘I haven’t got shot glasses so it’ll have to be straight from the bottle. Some Dutch courage to start the evening!’ She unscrews it and passes it over.
‘Jeez,’ I say, grimacing as I take a sip. ‘Toxicquila,’ I read from the bottle. There’s a picture of a cartoon cactus with a culturally insensitive moustache and sombrero who’s violently throwing up. ‘Where the hell did you even get this?’
Bec shrugs. ‘It’ll put hairs on your chest.’
‘I’ll take all the help I can get.’ Chase takes a big gulp, grimaces and then peers underneath his binder. ‘Nothing yet.’ He frowns. ‘How long does this stuff take to kick in?’
‘Give it a year,’ Bec says, smiling. ‘I’m sure it’ll happen a lot sooner than you think.’
We manage to get through a third of the bottle of Toxicquila, and I completely forget about taking that picture for Mum. But it’s fine – there’ll be plenty of opportunities later. Even if it does mean that Hawthorn banners will be in the background. Not that she’d care about that in the slightest. I guess that’s what separates us from the legacy families. They describe us as ‘new money’ and make it very clear that we’re not like them. Not yet anyway. We have to earn our place if we want to be a part of their silly little club.