Outside was colder than he expected. They headed for the library. The seats and walls there were supposed to give people who wanted to read a quiet, sheltered place to do it. The moon and the odd security light lit the way.

“Why didn’t you want to stay in the hall?” he asked Milly.

She shrugged. “I don’t like noise and big groups of people.”

So, what did she think a ball was when she agreed to come?

She shivered again. Her dress had no sleeves. She probably felt colder than he did. He took his jacket off and put it around her shoulders.

“Is that better?”

She nodded. “Thanks.” She waved her hand in the direction of the hall. “I know most girls enjoy it, but I don’t know. It all seems a waste of energy to me.”

“Energy you could use riding?”

“Yes.” She grinned.

They got to the garden. Found a wall with a seat and no wind. She sat, and he sat beside her and stretched his legs out. He shoved his hands in his pockets, encountered the hip flask, pulled it out, and offered it to her.

“Do you want some?”

“What is it?”

“Whiskey.”

“I haven’t tried whiskey before.”

“It will warm you up.”

She pulled his jacket tight around herself. “I’m warm.” Then took the flask anyway. “Thanks.” She unscrewed the lid, took a sip and coughed a bit. In the moonlight he could see her eyes open wide. “It’s strong.” She gave the flask back to him.

He took it and had a swallow. He could feel the warmth trickle down his throat and through his body.

He wanted to put his arm around her, but he resisted the urge. No moves tonight. This is all about the bet and not about scoring.

“Do you live with just your dad too?” Milly asked.

“Yeah.” He took a swig of the whiskey, then handed the flask to her.

“How come?” She had another drink and shivered as it went down.

“Dad said Mum took off when I was a baby. Never met her.”

“That’s sad.” She handed the flask back. “My mum left a couple of years ago and went to England.”

He knew that. It had been all over town. Tom Gaisford’s wife had buggered off with some friend of his. He put the lid on and put the flask back in his pocket.

“Why?”

Milly shrugged. “She fell in love, I guess.”

“England’s a long way away.”

“There’s Skype.” She shrugged again then looked him. “It’s strange being at home without Wildfire there. When I was away I could pretend she was waiting for me but she’s not. And Hunter is so hurt. It’s so sad.”

“Yeah. But I’m doing my best to get him better.”

She hugged his arm. “I know.”

They talked on in the quiet and dark. After a while he looked at his phone to check the time.

“Do you have to go on soon?” Milly asked.

“Yeah. Should get back. Got to get those drums up on stage and make sure no bits fall off while we’re moving them.” He uncrossed his shoes. “Might get out of this suit too.” He figured if he just swapped the pants for jeans he’d pass. The white shirt and jeans would work. Anyway, with Isaac and his new look, no one would even be looking at the back of the stage.

Milly stood. “When we get to the hall, I’ll go and find Tessa and Jess. They’ll be watching. Do you think they’ll be near the stage?”

“No idea.” He hadn’t really thought about what girlfriends and dates did while the band played. “If you stick with Jess and Tessa you can’t go too far wrong.”

They wandered back to the music room. Luke had changed into his waistcoat and topped it off with the black hat.

“We’ll help you with the drums.” Luke grabbed the cymbals.

“Sure.” They all started getting the gear into position. The band hired for the ball took a break. The curtains closed. The lights went on in the main body of the hall. A tide of noise trickled up onto the stage. Now and then a loud shout rose above the rest.

“The natives sound restless.” Luke hauled the stand to the centre back of the stage.

Collins made sure this year’s pets looked professional. They were meant to win the Smoke Free Rock Competition soon and Collins probably saw this as a trial run. Probably planned on smoothing out any problems before the big event.

“You all know what you’re doing?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Luke turned to the rest of them. “You all set?”

Finally, time to take the stage. The curtains pulled back and Cole went on first. He took his place behind the drums and set up a steady rhythm the way they had decided he should. A hush from the audience. A waiting. No one in the school had heard them play since they moved the practices from the music room to the old shed at Zac’s place. Probably wondered if they were any good.

He knew they were good, and they were getting better each day. He watched Noah come on and go to the keyboard.

Adam and Isaac came on. Isaac had the violin with him and the coat that swayed as he moved. Not sure how he managed that. But Isaac liked to get things right.

He stopped drumming. A hush in the hall again. Isaac in centre stage drew the bow across the strings, the violin wailed, then he launched into Stardust. He was bloody good and something about the way he played was different. Usually he just played, but tonight he was performing out of himself. He watched, Zac had his eyes closed, and moved with the soul of the sound.

The hush from the audience became even deeper, then Luke’s voice soared through the sound of the violin. The strings wailed and climbed to match Luke’s voice. Everyone played, making the number sound the way Zac had imagined it. The drumsticks followed the sound and he played to the crowd.

Afterwards they sat in the music room. It was like being drunk. The applause went on and on. Who knew performing could be like that? He knew he loved music, knew sometimes he could be carried away by the sound of something. But, fuck.

He’d made a mistake wearing his shirt though. It was so wet it stuck to him. He probably had a t shirt somewhere in the ute. Nope didn’t bring the ute. Might have to get his jacket back off Milly.

“Not bad.” Collins came into the music room. His old face had a grin from ear to ear.

“You did well, boys. A couple of things we need to work on but nothing big. You were brilliant.” Collins didn’t get that complimentary very often.

Luke sat on a desk. Even he was quiet.

Isaac put the violin back in its case. “I think we need to make the bridge soar a bit more.” Isaac used the violin bow to demonstrate a soaring bridge.

Noah scratched his cheek as he thought about that. “Could just leave out the repeat.”

Cole left them to it. They were the ones with all the music training. He just played what he felt. Left the terminology to the rest of them. Collins and Luke joined in the discussion about the bridge. He took off the shirt. It felt disgusting.

“Are you stripping, Mr Davies?” Collins asked without even turning around.

“No. The shirt’s saturated. I need to get a t shirt or something.”

“Make sure you find one and put it on, before you go back into the hall. There might be something you can wear in the lost property.”

Disgusting. You could smell the lost property from the hall. He’d find something else.

Tessa, Milly and Jess turned up. Tessa looked at him and grinned.

“And now you dress like that, Cole?” She turned to Jess. “He goes on stage in a shirt when he looks like that without one.”

“Hey, over here.” Luke pulled Tessa’s attention back to him.

She launched herself at him. “You’re still my favourite, though. You were awesome.” She flung her arms around his neck. Jess watched Luke and Tessa together and then looked over at Isaac.

“Did you like it?” Zac asked her as if his life depended on her answer and Jess nodded. He grinned.

Milly came up beside him.

“Do you need your jacket back, Cole?” she asked.

“Yeah.” That would solve the shirt problem.

She took the jacket off, gave it to him and he shrugged into. The jacket felt a bit strange, skin against lining. It smelled of her perfume. It felt like being surrounded by her.

“Did you get to see the set?”

Milly nodded. “We were in the hall, right up the front. I thought you were really good.”

So, you should feed the music critic up on whiskey before she got to listen to you play. Might remember that.

“What do you want to do now?”

Milly shrugged. “Tessa says there’s an after-party planned at Karangahake. Were you going to go?”

“Yeah.” Best bit about a ball is the after-party. Everyone just seems a little crazier. The whole purpose is to get drunk and have sex.

“Do you want me to take you home first?”

Milly shook her head. “I’d like to go and see what an after-party is like. Tessa says they’re fun.”

He looked at her. She still looked like Alice in Wonderland. Very neat. Very classy. The after-party was probably more Tessa’s scene than Milly’s. Tessa had already ditched her shoes and still looked in danger of falling out of the top of her dress. She stood on tiptoes kissing Luke. And bloody Luke was running his hands all over her ass and had the hem of her dress hitched up even higher than before, like he wasn’t even going to wait to get her alone.

Collins wasn’t as engrossed by the bridge discussion as he looked. “Inappropriate, Mr Reilly and Miss Butler,” he said over his shoulder.

“Okay,” Cole said to Milly. There’d be no drinking and no sex for him at the after party then. If he wanted to keep his job, he’d need to look after her and get her home in one piece.