Ten. Claudine.

Tonight it was Christmas Eve, and we were having this huge party. Jez had ordered Chinese and we were all meeting downstairs at eight to eat it.

So, naturally, I started getting ready at quarter to seven.

This was going to be my big night. Tonight I could really let my plan kick in, everything depended on tonight for me. I needed to look absolutely fabulous. I had the look planned in my head. I wanted to look… hot. Everything had to be perfect; I wanted to make myself gorgeous. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to wear. I wanted to look sexy, but at the same time beautiful, I wanted to be heaven but with a little bit of hell. I'd brought almost my entire wardrobe to Jez's, but I still didn't know what I was going to wear yet. So, with three dresses, a skirt, a pair of leggings and two tops in hand, I headed down the corridor to Lola and Stefan's room.
Lola didn't answer straight away, but I heard her yell, "Come in!", and Stefan, I assumed, was downstairs with Jez and BB leaving Lola to get ready. She seemed to be having a similar crisis to me, as in clothes, there were two outfits laid out across the bed.

"Can you help me pick what to wear?" she said, sitting down on the bed and allowing herself to bounce slightly.

"Snap." I said.

We went through our options together, discussing jewellery and hair and nails. I forgot how much fun Lola could actually be, once you got past the annoying parts, she really was fun. By quarter to eight, we were both dressed.

I'd chosen a classic little black dress with my name necklace, which could never grow old, some gold bangles and strappy heels, which were also gold. I kept the make-up simple, gold eye shadow with mascara and, of course, red lips.

'Simple' and 'Lola' were just words that didn't work in the same sentence. She wore black also, but teamed it with all yellow accessories, a huge belt, bracelet and beads, with yellow shoes and footless tights. She wore clear lip gloss and lined her eyes with Dazzle Dust.

Lauren turned up, just as me and Lola were finishing off our make-up. Typically Lauren, she was still dressed in her clothes from the snowball fight we'd all had before. However, Lola managed to make her look great in a green skirt, black top and a green shrug, the most party-ish clothes of Lauren's we could find. We straightened her hair and made up her eyes with green eyeliner and heavy mascara.

When we got downstairs, we were only five minutes late in the end, but we didn't beat the Chinese food, which everyone was unwrapping in the kitchen as we came downstairs. As we seated around the table, I chose carefully my seat, opposite Danny, so I could easily glance at him every so often. Jez sat on my left, and then Lola, Stefan, Ronnie, Lauren, BB, Danny and then Jade, who was between the two of us.

"OMG, I can't believe it's Christmas day tomorrow! It's, like, c-h-r-i-s-m-a-s!" Lola sang, though I had no idea why she felt the need to spell it out. I used my fork to pile some noodles onto my plate, thinking I probably shouldn't be eating so much.

"It's c-h-r-i-s-t, babe…" Jez started to say, but it was obvious by Lola's expression and the way the words seemed to fade on Jez's tongue showed that he hadn't wanted to burst her bubble.

I remembered what I was supposed to be doing, and then looked down slightly. I let my hair fall over my eyes, and then looked up again. Danny was looking right at me. My little plan was working.

"… and I just can't believe that it's, like, a day to go! And then all the sales start on Boxing Day!"

I smiled at him, but only slightly. At my side, Jade was staring, looking right at me with not what seemed like anger but simple envy, or disappointment. I saw her take Danny's hand across the table.

Look at that, I must be freaking you out.

Just eating noodles and casting flirty glances over at Danny every so often got sort of boring, so I decided to join in Jez and BB's conversation, which was about their radio show they did together last year. I didn't really contribute much; it was just easy to laugh along when they discussed interviews and guests together. I was pretty sure that they saw me as part of the conversation, every so often one of both of them would look at me.

Danny was talking to Jade again. This called for action. I very subtly brushed my fork off the edge of the table top, pretending to have been reaching for the sweet and sour chicken.

Why, I thought, was I doing this? I must really want Lauren to be happy. This trick was so old.

I stood up and bent down to pick up the fork.