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know. Get some legal advice. Keep going to class so you get a reference from the Academy?’
    â€˜But I did it. I was at the servo. We totally did that guy over.’
    â€˜You going to do it again?’
    His hurt and angry look answers me.
    â€˜Exactly. So why are we lying around here? They need to know that.’
    Christian looks at me. Really looks at me. I think I’ve finally gotten through.
    â€˜You’re like a forty-year-old man trapped in a geeky sixteen-year-old body, aren’t you?’
    â€˜Yes, I think I am.’
    For all the trouble Christian’s facing, it’s been an awesome afternoon.
    Me and my mate hanging out, debating burgers, jumping off rocks, enjoying each other’s company.
    When we get back to our room in the boarding house, Abigail’s sitting on my bed with a picnic basket and a major scowl. Christian bails out immediately.
    â€˜We had a date,’ Abigail says.
    â€˜I forgot. I’m so sorry. Christian’s got some really messed-up stuff going on. I can’t tell you what it is but it’s serious.’
    â€˜Tell me one thing. At any point this afternoon did you remember you were supposed to be with me?’
    Her words sting because she’s right. I feel terrible, I didn’t think about her once. I’ve been avoiding her since the formal. I haven’t admitted it to her, or even to myself, but there’s no avoiding it now. How can I spend a whole afternoon not thinking about the girl I’m meant to be in love with?
    â€˜It’s not working, Sammy, and I don’t know how to fix it.’
    â€˜I know. Me either.’
    â€˜Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this any more?’
    â€˜Maybe we shouldn’t.’ I say it before I can even think about it. ‘I mean if that’s what you want.’
    â€˜Yeah, it’s what I want,’ she says. It’s not what she wants but she’s not going to let me see that. She’s pulling back. The ice queen that I worked so hard to melt is freezing over again. I can’t believe I’m the one that’s triggering her defence mechanism.
    If anyone had told me a week ago, a day ago or even ten minutes ago that we would be breaking up I’d have thought they were mad. But that’s what’s happening. After everything we’ve been through – my relentless campaign, her stubborn resistance and those amazing weeks when we felt so close that touching was almost too intense – we’re here sitting miles apart on the edge of my bed with an unused picnic basket between us.
    It’s over.
    For the next week I’m determined to help Christian get to his court case and keep out of juvenile detention.
    It’s not an easy task. His mate, Aaron, turns up. At first this seems like good news but he persuades Christian to change his statement, to say that it was Christian’s idea to take the knife. Aaron reckons the good kid doing well at the Dance Academy will get away with it. He won’t, but Christian goes along with the plan because he thinks it’s the sort of thing mates do for each other.
    I call Kaylah to see if she can talk sense into Christian but that doesn’t work.
    I can’t believe after all our time, all his hard work over the year, he’s going to throw it all away for some loser.
    On the day of the court case, the loser finally comes through. He waits right to the last moment to say that Christian should tell the truth about the knife.
    Christian comes out of court and says the magic words we’ve been reciting all week: ‘Suspended sentence’.
    It’s the best news ever. Christian gets to continue dancing and I get to keep my best friend.
    That’s right, I actually have a male best friend. We even have our own handshake. It’s sort of stupid, like a fake high five, but we don’t care.
    From now on it’s Christian and me: no court cases, no girl worries, just learning to do