This should be the time when my best friend Laura and I are making huge plans and laughing together all the time. Instead I can hardly bear to be in the same room with her.

She recently got engaged to a guy I think is the scum of the earth. She has only known Martin for a few months and we are all confident that he is using her because he works for her Dad.

She has never had a boyfriend before and is blind to everything except him.

He and I have never had a proper conversation as I find that he asks rude questions, never listens to anyone’s answers and says very inappropriately sexual statements.

Sadly he does not feel like ignoring me…

At their engagement dinner I had this nasty sensation of feeling itchy and nervous the whole night and I kept feeling like someone was staring at me.

I went to the bathroom after my speech halfway through the meal and Rebecca, Laura’s sister came in after me and asked if there was anything going on that we needed to talk about. It turns out he had been staring at me all night, even shifting in his seat at times to get a better view of me.

Rebecca was sure that Laura hadn’t noticed but she had heard some of the other guests talking about the relationship between him and me. I was so horrified that I wanted to throw up! In tears I told her that there was nothing going on and that I would never do anything like that to Laura. She hugged me and left me with her makeup to fix myself up.

Horrified I stayed in the bathroom for a while trying to pull myself together and feeling disgusted with everyone. That was a huge mistake; I never should have let Rebecca leave me by myself.

Suddenly the bathroom door opened and Martin walked into the ladies toilets and lent back on the door. I didn’t say anything and just focused on putting the makeup back into my bag.

He abruptly started talking for a while about how I was so much prettier than Laura and that I should show Laura how to dress and do her makeup. I couldn’t believe that no one was coming in, especially considering how packed the restaurant was. If only someone would come in then the conversation would have to end.

He then started talking about how I would look in a wedding dress and saying that Laura didn’t fit her dress properly but he thought that since I was bigger in some areas it would suit me more.

After hearing constantly from Laura how perfect Martin is and how much she loves him and he loves her I found it unbearable. I couldn’t take it any more after that and turned around to face him and told him that he should never talk like this to me again and focus on being with Laura.

I said that this was his last chance and that if he ever said anything like this to me or didn’t respect Laura I would make sure he would be out of our lives for good. I think he was happy to finally get a rise out of me because he smiled and started to come towards me as if to grab me.

He said that I had always been a challenge to him and that it was my fault he couldn’t stop thinking about me. I ran out of the bathroom, grabbed my coat and left the restaurant. I messaged that I had an upset stomach and Laura was so supportive and came over to see me the next day.

It has been a week and I still feel so ashamed and scared. I just wish that I knew what to do.

Picture: Getty Images. Posed by model.

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My kids’ primary school had a busy bee during the school holidays so parent volunteers could get in and tidy up the large unruly gardens around the grounds of our school. We had a great turn out of about 15 parents and soon got into the work of stripping out the dead plants and making everything look neat and tidy again.

Just before morning tea time, one of the parents announced she’d brought in cakes and fruit for everyone to share.

As the school was locked for the holidays, the only room we had access to was the gardener’s shed. Thankfully the gardener kept tea, coffee and sugar in his shed and another parent had thought to bring a flask of milk, so we were able to stop for hot drinks with our snack.

As everyone was busy, I volunteered to make the drinks and made my way to the gardener’s shed which was out on the other side of the school.

I noticed when I was in the shed that the gardener kept the tea and coffee containers on the same shelf as the pesticides, but it seemed okay as the supplies were in sealed tins.

I made the drinks up and had them on a tray, carrying them across the school grounds, when I realised I hadn’t stirred the sugar into the drinks.

After morning tea, a few people were starting to complain they felt sick. We put it down to the summer heat and started work on the gardens on the other side of the school.

As we got to the bank of trees where I had snapped the twig off the branch to stir the coffees, one of the parents mentioned that the trees were highly poisonous Oleanders and that we needed to wear gloves before pruning the branches as they contained a highly toxic sap.

It was only at this stage, that I started to think that stirring the drinks with a fresh Oleander twig may have been a mistake, but I was sure that the few drops of sap that had gone in the cups wouldn’t have been enough to make anyone sick….

A few hours later, about half the parents were complaining of stomach pains and were feeling sick. It got so bad we had to cancel the busy bee and all went home.

I found out a few days later that nearly all the volunteers had got bad stomach cramps (myself included) and one parent had ended up in hospital, but was now doing okay.

I didn’t know how to confess what I’d done. I didn’t know Oleanders were poisonous and would never have harmed anyone on purpose. In fact, I’d made myself quite sick as well.

When the parents got together again at the start of school this year, they all discussed what could have made them so unwell. It was decided in the end that it was either the cakes and fruit that had sat all morning in the hot car or somehow the gardener’s drink supplies had become contaminated with the pesticides he kept in there.

I’m thankful that everyone recovered with no real ill effects, but I still feel really bad that the parent and the gardener got the blame.

The mother kept apologising to everyone about her food and the gardener has now been banned from keeping any food products in his shed. They’re both so sorry to have caused everyone to be so sick, when I still think the finger should probably be pointed at me.

I think this year I’ll stick to what I know and only put my hand up for classroom volunteer work instead.

Picture: Getty Images. Posed by model.

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