‘I don’t need a crown to be a queen,’ he says, flashing perfect white teeth. ‘But thanks for the vote of confidence. See you later, yeah?’

Despite Kellen’s encouragement, it’s almost eleven and I still haven’t managed to make my move with Cameron. Every time I think it’s the moment, something happens to distract me. He asked me to come save him later, but he always seems wrapped up in something. Whenever I want to go over, it just feels like I’d be interrupting.

Looking around, it doesn’t seem as if anyone else is having the same issue. Everyone is losing their inhibitions and getting much more flirtatious. Half the students have ditched their masks, and I see people coupling up left, right and centre. People I would never have imagined getting together. I guess people actually do wait for the very last moment to say how they really feel. That or the spiked punch is a lot stronger than I originally thought. I look down at the cup in my hand and take a big gulp.

‘Still staring at Cameron?’ Bec says, joining me.

‘Oh, I actually wasn’t.’ I laugh. ‘For once.’

She smiles at that. ‘He totally wants to take you to the boathouse.’

‘I don’t know,’ I say, watching him. He’s laughing with Owen and Josh about something. ‘I don’t think he’s like that, you know? He doesn’t seem the type to have a meaningless one-night stand? I think he’s more the take it slow kinda guy.’

‘One-night stands don’t have to be meaningless,’ says Bec. ‘Think about you and Josh. That wasn’t meaningless, right?’

She makes a good point. It might not have been romantic, but it’s certainly something I’ll always remember. It was special, in its own way.

‘Besides,’ she continues, ‘you can’t keep delaying the inevitable. You do realize we’re leaving tomorrow, right? I’m not sure you have the time to take it slow, Zach.’

‘I think it would be nice to just … hang out, you know? Spend some time with him. We don’t need to tear each other’s clothes off.’

‘Easy to say when you already saw him naked today …’

‘I didn’t look!’

‘Course you didn’t.’

‘I didn’t!’

She smiles at that. ‘You’re sweet, Zach. You know that? They don’t make a lot of guys like you. Cameron would be lucky to have you. Even if it is just for one night.’

‘It’s hot as balls in there,’ Owen says, wiping sweat from his brow and unbuttoning his shirt.

‘You’re such a straight boy!’ Josh laughs as he comes to sit down on the grass next to me. ‘You put in all that effort dressing up in a snazzy suit, grooming and manscaping to make yourself look like a real gentleman, and then you come out with “hot as balls”. And you wonder why you’re single.’

‘Hey!’ Owen fake frowns. ‘I’ll have you know my mum says I’m a catch.’