Another double Malibu and Coke. I went to the toilet again, and felt as if I was in a fun house trying to get back to the table. When I returned, Jessica was doing her hot laugh again, sitting next to George, who was happily protesting as she put his hair into a ponytail. Jessica jumped backward, a guilty look on her face as I plonked myself down.

“Isn’t the weather just glorious here?” I announced.

“Er...yeah...” George’s hair stuck up like an antenna. “It’s very...sunny...”

“I’m going all in.” I pushed my matchsticks dramatically into the center to show George how wild and brave I was.

“Those are my matchsticks.”

“Whoops, sorry.” I tried to scrape them back to him, but they got muddled with the existing bets.

“Don’t worry about it. I think we’ve played enough poker now.”

“You’re right.” I nodded furiously. “Let’s do something CRAZY. Let’s...go skinny-dipping.”

I didn’t wait for their reply. I knew, from watching films, that if a sexy girl mentions skinny-dipping, all she had to do next was run toward water, leaving a trail of clothes behind her, then dive under the surface, giggling at her wild freeness, not even noticing the boy following her.

I started running off toward the pool, which was incredibly difficult in flip-flops, and let out what I hoped was a gleeful, sprite-like giggle.

“Fern! Wait!” Jessica called, and I could hear them follow me. My plan was working. “She’s really drunk,” I heard her tell George.

“I’m not drunk,” I called back. I reached the edge of the empty pool, and started scrambling out of my dress. But my dress got caught over my head, and I felt my balance go, going, the long suspenseful feeling of falling, and I plunged into the pool, dress still around my head, not sure which direction anything was, swallowing loads of water. The alcohol made me feel heavy and sleepy, and I didn’t fight very hard to get to the surface. I heard the sloshing noise of another body arriving. George. A sharp tug under my armpits. His skin slippery against mine. The tingles it gave me. I’d never been touched by a boy before. I felt momentarily happy that he was touching me in water and therefore I’d be weightless. But, when he dragged me up onto the stylish concrete, my water-soaked maxidress meant I was a deadweight. Jessica had to come over to help fully drag me out of the water on my stomach.

“I need to get her to bed.”

“Do you need help?”

“No. I’ll be fine. Her parents will be back soon. I don’t want them to see her like this. They’ll blame me.”

I sat up, and tried to shake myself out like a dog. “You never asked me what sort of vermin I would like to be,” I pointed out.