When Lyssa stormed outside, she saw Dan still sitting in the car on the street. He opened the door and got out. His eyes flicked over her dress, and then he looked at the plastic bags in her hand.

‘What happened?’ he asked, his expression worried.

‘Dad’s kicked me out,’ she said, her ears not believing her own words.

Dan looked shocked. ‘Come on, get in and we’ll go to my house. Your dad will come round.’

Lyssa got into the car and Dan put her plastic bags on the back seat.

‘I swore at him,’ she said faintly. ‘I called him a fucking hypocrite.’

‘Your dad?’ asked Dan, as he started the car.

‘I swore, and I never swear. I hate swearing.’ Lyssa felt as though she was in a weird dream, dressed as if she was going to a funeral on her eighteenth birthday, her life bundled into two plastic bags and school finished forever.

‘Sometimes swearing is good,’ said Dan as he turned the car around a corner.

Lyssa wasn’t really listening. How dare he call me a whore? How dare he judge me so harshly, when he’s a liar and a cheat? She was seething.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. By the time Dan had driven Lyssa to his mother’s, she was prepared to forget about her family, at least for one night.

Up in Dan’s room she sat on his bed, desperate to stop thinking about her father.

Dan lit a joint as the Hilltop Hoods came on through the sound system. Lyssa had never said anything about him smoking pot. She disapproved mostly, but today she found her voice.

‘Can I have some?’ she asked. He gave her a look and she frowned at him. ‘What? You going to judge me too?’

She stared at him until he handed the joint over and then she took a drag, the smoke filling her lungs, her throat burning.

‘Easy, tiger,’ he said, laughing at her.

Lyssa tried again, a smaller drag this time. Dan took it off her and they smoked in silence. He looked at her.

‘Why are you dressed like a stockbroker?’

Lyssa looked down at her dress. ‘Mum made it. She must have spent hours.’ She ran her hands over the invisible seams, the perfect tucks in the fabric. It was so beautifully made, but it was definitely not her style.

Dan stubbed out the joint and looked at her.

Lyssa remembered how much she’d missed hanging out with him over the last few weeks, and she leant forward and kissed him.

Her mind felt like it was floating and her father’s words seemed far away now. Lyssa started to laugh and Dan joined in.

‘What are we laughing at?’ he asked.

Lyssa stood up and twirled in her dress. ‘This,’ she said, and Dan started to laugh again as she made her expression serious and businesslike.

She undid the zip at the back, stepped out of it and threw it at him, the dress covering his head.

Dan pulled it off and stared at her lustily as Lyssa made her decision. This is it, she thought. She was eighteen, she was stoned for the first time and out of home. She had money, a life ahead of her, and she knew what she wanted to do as a career. She was a grown-up and she wanted to start acting like one, on her own terms.

She moved closer to Dan until she could feel his breath on her stomach. She put one knee on either side of his lap, kneeling on the bed.

‘I love you, Lyssa,’ Dan said. ‘I’ve missed you so much.’

His eyes told her the truth in his words, and Lyssa felt as though nothing in the world could bring her down, not even her father.

She kissed him and felt his hands on her back, up towards her bra, until he unclipped it and she pushed him back on the bed.

It had always been Dan who took the lead when they made out, but now it was Lyssa. She wanted to feel something else, something different. She wanted to start her life.

Dan met her urgency and together they pulled at his clothes until together they were naked on the bed.

His hands traced her face and then moved down to her breasts. Lyssa gasped as his hands slid between her legs and she realised she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

‘I want you to make love to me,’ she whispered.

Dan waited for a moment before he spoke. ‘You sure?’

Lyssa was never more sure of anything. She wanted Dan to be her first because she loved him.

‘I love you, Dan,’ she said, and pulled his hands back down to where she wanted him the most.

He groaned as he kissed her.

‘I have wanted you since forever,’ he said as they made out, their breathing heavy and intense.

Lyssa closed her eyes, and felt him on top of her. She opened her eyes to see his face, his blond hair falling over his eyes, his mouth red from kissing. He moved down her body until his tongue was inside her and she almost cried from desire. Her head was spinning and suddenly she just wanted it over. She pulled him up and nodded almost imperceptibly.

Dan reached over to his bedside table, opened the drawer, pulled out a condom and ripped it open.

‘I don’t want to hurt you,’ he whispered in her ear.

She tensed and then breathed out as he pushed against her.

‘You okay?’ he asked, looking down at her.

‘I guess so,’ she said making a face.

‘Am I hurting you?’ He seemed worried.

‘No. Um, actually, I can’t feel anything,’ she admitted.

‘Oh, that’s what every guy loves to hear.’ He laughed as he kissed her neck.

Lyssa laughed a little. Then he moved deeper inside her. She was definitely feeling something now. She clutched his back and focused on kissing him.

She was glad he was her first and she was also glad that the moment that was so built up as being the best or worst of a girl’s life was actually neither. It was just what it was. A girl voluntarily losing her virginity to the first boy she’d ever loved.

‘I thought it would hurt,’ she said, surprised, rolling onto her side. Dan pulled the covers on his bed over her, then got up and went to the bathroom.

Lyssa looked at his body as he ran back to bed.

‘I know, I’m a bit chubby,’ he said, patting his belly. ‘It’s beer. I need to lose weight if I want to be worthy of you.’

Lyssa laughed a little. ‘Do boys really think about that stuff?’

‘Oh yeah, we’re actually as vain as girls but we cover it up with a healthy dose of pretending to not give a crap.’

He pulled the covers up over them so it felt as though they were inside a tent.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ he asked again. ‘I wanted it to be good. My first time was shit. I guess the first time is always a bit shit?’ He looked at her, a question in his eyes.

Lyssa moved her body to him and put her leg over his. ‘I thought it was fine, but I wouldn’t mind practising some more.’

She felt him breathe in sharply.

‘You turn me on so very much, Ms Lyssa, supersmart super-model,’ he said huskily, as he pulled her on top of him.

‘Thank you, Mr Harrison, agent to the supermodels and Fatty McBeerguts.’

Dan’s laughter soon turned to gasps as Lyssa made her way down his body and returned the favour with the same attention to his body that he had given hers.

‘For someone who claims she’s inexperienced, you sure know what you’re doing,’ he said as she moved up again to him and then moved until he was inside her.

‘I’m a very quick learner,’ she smiled.

This time she moved at her own pace. He watched her, entranced.

Lyssa was unsure whether it was the joint, finishing exams, or losing her virginity, but she finally felt ready to live.