The night came and Hannah and Shelly made sure they were in the sitting-room so that they could see Sacha before she went out. Sacha knew that they were there, so she delayed leaving her room until the last possible minute because it was such a private moment to her that she was embarrassed.

But eventually she had to emerge, it was inevitable: it was either run the gauntlet of Hannah and Shelly's ever-present stares, or stand up Phillip; and Phillip probably wouldn't understand. So she came out of her room and, even before she'd shut her bedroom door, Hannah and Shelly were there, having heard her door opening and come running to see her off and wish her luck and appraise her appearance.

"You look gorgeous, Sacha!" Shelly said, admiring Sacha's long dark skirt and short-sleeved, high-necked top.

"It wouldn't kill you to show a bit of cleavage, though" Hannah commented, looking her up and down. "Show the poor boy something! Something to get excited about, make sure he treats you well."

"Leave her alone, Hannah" Shelly tutted. "You look lovely, Sacha" she said again.

"I never said she didn't" Hannah said. "I just said she could afford to glam up a bit. Some jewellery, maybe. A necklace. Just 'cause it's Melbourne doesn't mean you have to look like you're going to a funeral all the time."

"Hannah!"

"I'm helping! Wait here" Hannah commanded Sacha.
Sacha checked her watch. Shelly could see on her face how nervous she was; it was so uncharacteristic that Shelly's heart ached for her. "She means well, Sash" she promised her. "I'm sorry. She's just excited about tonight, for you. You know how much she cares about you."

"Yeah" Sacha said, tugging at her skirt.

"You look . . . Classy" Shelly said.

Hannah came back from her room with a bag of make-up.

"No!" Sacha said firmly.

"Just a little. A bit of lippy, that's all."

"I already put some make-up on."

"You can't even tell!"

"That's the point."

Getting a glare from Shelly, Hannah backed down. "Okay, okay. But here, put this on." From behind her back she produced a beaded turquoise shawl. Carefully she draped it around Sacha's shoulders, and tugged and patted it into place. "Just for a bit of colour. It suits you" Hannah said.

Sacha looked down, more touched than she could explain. "Thankyou" she said awkwardly.

Shelly clapped her hands. "Now, go! Go! Date the hell out of that boy!"