We are all at Just Cavalli club. It is extravagant and opulent with purple neon lights and girls dressed in angel wings dancing next to metal pillars. The Alkaline party is spread over a large area, some of it flowing into an outdoor area with a huge dance floor and torches. I stand at a little cove and watch the crowd that surges around Cash everywhere he goes. Everybody wants a little piece of him. He looks at me and waves me over, but I shake my head.

‘Going to the toilet,’ I mouth, and point in the direction of the toilets.

Someone calls and he turns away from me after mouthing the words, ‘I’ll be waiting here for you.’

I turn towards the toilets and walk into Gavin.

‘Sorry,’ I apologize.

‘You’re cool,’ he says with a lazy smile.

‘That was a great performance today,’ I say.

‘Thanks. I’m very good at playing the second fiddle.’

My eyebrows rise. ‘You don’t believe that. You have just as many fans as Cash.’

He grins. ‘I suppose you’re right. I definitely have more than I can get through, anyway.’

Not sure how to react, I smile politely.

‘How are you getting on with the others?’

I scowl. ‘Not good. They seem to hate me even before I open my mouth.’

He laughs. ‘It’s not you, babe. Come on, I’ll buy you a drink and tell you how it all works in this business.’

I glance in the direction of Cash and see that he is occupied and will be for some time to come. Besides, I badly want to know what I am doing wrong and Gavin is the only one who seems to like me at all. I smile gratefully at him. ‘Thanks. I’ll really appreciate any pointers you can give me.’

We go to the bar and Gavin taps the bar.

‘Tequila OK with you?’

I nod and he orders two shots of tequila with lime and salt and two bottles of beer. We do the tequila, lime and salt thing quickly. I notice his eyes linger on my mouth when I put the lime between my lips and suck it. Then he picks up his bottle and so do I. He points to a sofa a couple have just vacated.

‘Let’s be comfortable,’ he says.

I follow him and we sit at the table. A waitress brings two more tequilas and we down them immediately.

‘Hoo,’ I exhale. ‘That’s me done.’

He grins. ‘Lightweight huh?’

‘I haven’t got hollow legs like you,’ I retort.

He laughs.

‘So,’ I say leaning in. ‘Tell me, what am I doing wrong? Why does everyone hate me so passionately?’

‘You’re not doing anything wrong, love. Long, blonde hair, big lips, and seductive, secretive cornflower blue eyes. What’s not to like?’ he asks cheerfully.

I frown at the sexual description, but I have noticed that this is the way all the band members talk. They always seem to be coming on to you even when they’re not.

‘If Cash had taken Ke$ha or Selina Gomez or any other celebrity as his girl, there would be no problem,’ he explains. ‘But because he took an ordinary girl, it turns everybody into green eyed monsters thinking that you have risen above your station and taken what you don’t deserve. As long as you are with Cash you will have to put up with it. It will never stop. They’ll always hate you.’

I stare at him unhappily. ‘That doesn’t sound very hopeful. Isn’t there anything I can do to make the situation better?’

‘Nope. The nicer you are to them the worse they will be to you. Your best bet is to just ignore them and enjoy your time with Cash. Soon enough it will be all over.’

My eyes widen. He sure didn’t pull his punches. I pick up my beer and take a small sip. It’s one thing for me to tell myself that obviously my relationship won’t last. How can it possibly? We are from different worlds. But it is quite another thing to hear it spelt out so succinctly by someone else. I swallow the beer and the lump in my throat and to my horror my eyes unexpectedly fill with tears. Why I am crying I do not know.

‘Hey,’ he says, his face creasing up, and puts a hand on my shoulder.

‘Oh, God, I feel like such a fool,’ I say, gently pressing my knuckles into the corners of my eyes so I don’t spoil my make-up.

‘Come here,’ he says, and suddenly drags me to him. Before I know it he has pulled me to him and is kissing me. On the mouth! It takes a second for me to get over the shock of the fact that I am in his lap, his hands are around my waist, and his hot mouth is on mine. I turn my face away and placing both my hands on his chest I push away from him. I push away so hard I feel myself falling backwards. I land on the floor humiliated and furious. From my prone position on the floor I see Britney is standing over Gavin. Her face is twisted with anger, or perhaps even hate.

‘Get up,’ she snarls.

‘What the fuck?’ he says.

‘Get up you little worm.’

‘Calm down, Britney,’ he says, looking around him worriedly.

‘If you don’t get up I’m going to tell my brother what you did.’

He flies up from his seat and looks at her with shifty eyes. ‘Listen,’ he starts to explain, but he gets no further.

‘That’s for what you did to me,’ she says, and delivers a vicious karate chop to the side of his neck. He goes white, his body arches, and his mouth opens and closes like a goldfish.

‘This is for Tori,’ she cries ferociously and aims two blows in quick succession into his midriff. He clutches his stomach and bends double. His face is contorted and a hoarse rasp struggles out of his mouth.

‘And this one is for messing with my brother’s girlfriend,’ she says, and executes a sideways kick into Gavin’s nuts just like Rita Ora does to the bad guy’s belly in her Black Widow video.

His eyes bulge with the agony and shock, then he blinks and crashes to the right, knocking down a stool. He curls up on the ground, odd choking sounds crawling out of his open mouth.

‘Oh, and just in case it’s not perfectly clear yet, you are uninvited to my party, tomorrow,’ Britney spits. She turns to me. ‘Come, Tori. Let’s go.’

I am too stunned to do anything so Britney holds her hand out and helps me up from the floor. I take one more look at Gavin writhing on the floor before I turn away. All around us people are staring. As we take our first step we come face to face with Octavia. Her mouth is open in astonishment. She snaps it shut, and throwing a furious glare at us, she dashes forward to help Gavin.

We walk to the toilets without saying a word. I turn to face Britney. ‘What did he do to you?’

She takes a shuddering breath. ‘You know that night at the party in Cash’s house.’

‘Yeah,’ I say.

‘He pushed me up against a wall and forced his fingers inside me. I didn’t expect it so I was too shocked to do anything, but luckily someone else came into the room and he let go of me. I ran away and came to find you.’

‘Oh! My God, no.’ I stare at her in horror. Suddenly it all makes sense. That is why she had been crying and in such a state. What a sick bastard. I wish I had kicked his face in too.

‘Why didn’t you tell anyone?’ I ask her gently.

‘I didn’t want to get him in trouble. I always fancied him and I was afraid that maybe I had encouraged him. I liked it when he first started kissing me, but then he started to get rough.’

‘Oh, Britney. It’s not your fault. I’m so much older than you and he managed to take me by surprise. I thought he was a nice guy trying to help me. It was all just a pretense.’

‘I think he must be very jealous of Cash. That is why he did that to me and you.’

‘Hell, Brit, when did you find out about me and Cash?’

‘I’ve known for ages. The two of you are like two elephants roaming about the house at night.’

‘We didn’t really make that much noise, did we?’ I protest, red faced.

‘You woke dad up,’ she says flatly.

‘What?’ I blurt out in horror.

‘Exactly.’

My jaw drops open. ‘Mr. Hunter knows?’

‘Um … I might have told him,’ she confesses with a sly grin.

My eyes pop open. ‘You did not,’ I cry.

‘I did,’ she admits calmly.

‘He’s not upset, is he?’

‘Why should he be?’

‘Oh my God! I’m freaking out right now. Tell me exactly what he said,’ I demand urgently.

‘Actually he just laughed and said, “Looks like I killed two birds with one stone.”’

I look at her worriedly. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

She shrugs. ‘You know how dad is. He’s always talking in riddles. I asked, but he refused to explain further.’

I chew at my bottom lip. ‘And you don’t mind?’

‘Mind?’ she asks in a surprised voice. ‘I think it’s wonderful. I wish he would marry you.’

I stare at Britney, all kinds of thoughts and sensations slam into me at her innocent words. Marry? Cash and me? I was thirteen when I bought a little fake gold ring and pretended to be Mrs. Cash Hunter.

‘It’s not that kind of relationship,’ I croak.

‘But wouldn’t you like to marry my brother though? It’ll be such fun. We’ll be real sisters then.’

‘It’s way too early to tell, Brit. We barely know each other.’ I pause for a second and quickly steer the conversation away from this topic. ‘Are you going to tell Cash about what Gavin did to you?’

‘I don’t know,’ she says thoughtfully. ‘It could break Alkaline up.’

‘But you have to tell someone. What he did was wrong. He’ll do it to someone else if there are no consequences. Maybe you should at least tell your dad.’

‘You’re right. I’ll tell dad. He’ll know what to do. He always does.’

I smile at her. ‘You were badass out there. Those self-defense classes sure came in handy.’

‘Look at my hands,’ she says showing her hands.

They are still trembling with reaction and I grab them in mine. ‘I know your dad will be super proud of what you did today. It was very courageous,’ I tell her.

She grins at me. ‘I’m not the same person I was before. Thanks to you.’

‘I’m so proud of you, Brit. You’ve come a long way in a very short time. Thank you for sticking up for me.’

She looks at her fake nails nonchalantly. ‘No problem. I can always fit a little drama into my life.’

I laugh.

‘Cash will be looking for you. You should repair your lipstick quickly,’ she says.

I look at the mirror and see that my lipstick is smudged and smeared on my left cheek. I pull out some toilet paper and wipe my mouth and cheek clean before I apply a new layer of lipstick. Then I turn around and hug her. ‘You do know that I didn’t kiss him willingly, right?’

‘I know you and I know Gavin,’ she says simply.

I smile at her.

‘Come on, let’s go find Cash,’ she says.

We go out. Enrique Iglesias is singing I Like It, and Cash is outside looking for us. ‘Where have the two of you been? I’ve been looking all over for you girls.’

We go back to the party and neither Gavin nor Octavia are anywhere to be seen.