“Thanks mom,” I say, my voice shaking. “Just what I needed. I’ll never do anything bad again in my entire life.”

“That’s enough. You go downstairs, to the drive. You sit down on your bare knees, hands on your head until I tell you to come back in. After that, you can call your friends and tell them you unfortunately won’t make it tonight.” She says all of this very calmly, but I see fury is shaking her.

She’s crazy. She really is. “I’m 17!”

“If you continue to act as a child, I’ll punish you as one. Now go and do as I told you.”

Tears are streaming down my face when I go downstairs. I have no choice but to do what she wants. My life is actually ruined. I can’t even tell Bette how I love her and chose her. I hate, hate, hate my mother forever. She’s the devil, and she doesn’t even wear Prada.

Bette Porter

I look at my alarm clock and see it’s already 11 am. I roll over and take the other pillow, pressing my head into it. The smell of Tina is slowly fading. I refuse to let my pillowcase be washed, I want to keep her smell.

I grab my cellphone and see Seth texted me. He asks me if I’m nervous for tonight – shit, tonight! Tonight’s the small gig at The Planet. I so hope I’m not gonna screw things up.

When I see the hour of the arrival of the message, I roll my eyes. 6am. If he sent this to everyone, Tina won’t have been able to go back to sleep. She can’t once she’s up.

I head downstairs and see Kit sitting at the breakfast table. She looks like she can fall asleep at the table any moment.

“Hey,” I say. “Got more of that?” I ask, pointing at her eggs and bacon.

She nods. “Over there.” She waves her hand in the direction of the hot plate. I take a plate and help myself.

“Delicious,” I say, my mouth full. “Did you make it?”