THE OXFORD BET *VirginityGames*

Chapter 31 Summer ball!

Summer Ball came around too quickly for Francesca Taylor. But she made the effort anyway. She knew she would enjoy herself once she got there. Victoria and Francesca spent four hours getting ready, drinking, doing each others hair and make up and still arrived unfashionably late at the First year's Summer ball.

Victoria had received at least three

Where are you? X

text messages from Richard, her boyfriend.

Francesca shook her head and followed after Victoria, holding her drink high above her head. They manoeuvred carefully through the crowd as a group, meeting Izzy and Maria and Belle and Luke and Charlie and Richard in the process. But it was impossible to avoid bumping up against the mass of bodies, slick with glitter and sweat and gyrating to the pulsing beats emanating from the DJ booth on the makeshift stage out in the open air of the courtyard.

Her dress was perfect for the summer heat that still occupied the air as it turned 6pm. Her dress was crisp and fresh and was a dress that looked ready for a summer road trip. It was a lightweight off white crepe material and decorated with pretty blue and white floral. The bodice had corsetry boning to the front, back and sides that created a cinched hourglass. With a pair of perspex heels, it made her feel like cinderella.

The sun pounded down from a clear blue sky, making Francesca squint as they made their way towards the inside of the hall whilst she drained the last of her drink. The hall didn't seem to be as crowded as more people made their way outside, she glanced desperately around for a clear path back to her friends. She had lost them momentarily between the groups bashing against her shoulders as they sang a university chant.

To her left, a tall brunette named Emily was pouring a pitcher of margarita directly into her friend Charlie's mouth, a small group standing around them called out encouragements. "Charlie's gonna puke!" someone yelled, prompting a round of cheers as Francesca changed course abruptly. Three boys in front of her were whispering and sipping on their champagne, one of them looked familiar to Francesca. She recognised one of the boys was from Daniel's cricket team. Francesca headed toward them, hoping to find a place where she could stand and breathe for a second, or better yet, find her friends and find another drink. Suddenly the crowd surged, knocking Francesca sideways into the nearest a group of girls.

"Hey!" Emily said and sneered.

"Sorry," Francesca flinched and side-stepped, before a spray of beer foam hit her in the face, as she stepped back, she then realised a second later that the empty space she'd stepped into was awfully close to the edge of the University swimming pool.

"May I have this dance?"

She had heard that line a few too many times in the last year. It never got old. It almost made her laugh and scoff in the same moment.

"But we always get into fights when we dance," She argued teasingly.

Despite the fact, she took his hand all the same. Dancing with Daniel had always seemed like dangling off the edge of a cliff with no safety net below. It was such a simple thing, just two people swaying to whatever beat surrounded them, but they were not just people and that was the problem.

Every look, every movement, every breath they took meant something more. It was a constant yearning to connect, always flirting on the edges of surrender.

As they turned gently together amongst the other dancers, Francesca felt every emotion she'd ever had about him bubble up inside her. He overwhelmed her in every sense of the word, he made her dizzy and unsure yet he also made her more confident and more certain than she'd ever been before. She felt him push her gently away, spinning her around then pulling her back towards him a little harder than she was expecting. The force of it brought her closer to him than she thought it would and she only had a second to register the determined look on his face before his lips surged towards hers and captured them in a fierce kiss.