Susan's dad pulled up outside the address Jo had given, they had already picked up Lucia as she lived almost next door to them.

“Are you sure this is the address? It’s a terrible neighborhood.” Her dad asked, feeling out of place in his flash BMW.

“Yeah, this is the one. Hold on, I’ll just go get her.” She slipped out of the car before her father could object.

Jo’s apparently lived in an apartment block, it was a little run down. It made Susan very aware of their blatant flaunting of their affluence, pizza ovens and flash cars. Jo, it seemed, didn't even have a back garden. She ran up the stairs to the first floor and knocked on the door. It was answered by a tiny woman, Susan wasn’t tall but she towered over her and she was bone thin. “Hi, is Jo in?” she asked, feeling very self conscious.

“You’re her new friend, Susan, was it?” the woman asked, waving her into the house.

“Yeah, that's me.” She paused as the woman closed the door.

“It's nice for Joanne to have a girlfriend. She's been so much happier recently” She said, leading the way down a narrow corridor.

“Oh I’m-” she stopped herself, “Erm… yes.” she continued, for some reason not wanting to correct her.

“She’s just in her bedroom.” She took her through a living room which was over filled with furniture. “It’s nice of you to collect her, I don't drive you see, and her dad is on night shift.” she knocked on one of the two doors off the living room, “Jo, your ride’s here.” she called. “I’m sure she won't be a moment.”

Susan stood awkwardly, rocking on the balls of her feet. “So, erm… What does Jo’s dad do?” she asked, trying to think of safe topics of conversation.

“Oh, he works at the power station down the road. Been there twenty year now.” Susan couldn't help wondering how old Jo’s mum was, she seemed old and frail compared to any of her other friends' parents.

Fortunately Jo emerged, Susan catching a glimpse of a poster covered bedroom before the door closed behind her. She had a soft gig bag with her.

“I thought you might want this back.” Susan said, passing her the page with the poem on it.

“Oh god, you didn’t read this did you?” She took the page and glanced at it. “It's absolute drivel, I’m sorry to have inflicted it on you.”

“Hey, it wasn't that bad. You got everything?” Jo nodded, setting the piece of paper on the mantle.

“You be careful of that guitar.” Her mum cautioned her.

“I will mum, it's only going from here to the car and back.” She gave her mum a hug and led Susan by the hand back along the corridor.

“We should have her back by eleven.” Susan called out behind her, “Nice meeting you.”

They made their way down to the car, Susan popping the boot for her to put her guitar in before getting back in the front seat.

“Thanks for the lift Mr Niche, it's a beautiful car.” She wiggled in the seat, “Rich corinthian leather.” Both of the girls giggled at the deadpool quote.

They arrived at Jenny's house, Susan realised that it was even bigger than Anne's and felt even worse for Jo, they got the guitar out of the boot and said goodbye to her dad.

"Wow, nice house." Jo said. "Yeah, Jenny's dad's a lawyer."

"Come on, you have to see the pool house, it's amazing!" Lucia said, oblivious to everything she dragged Jo by the arm into the back garden. "The pool is nice but it's kind of a waste, it doesn't get used except in summer." She nattered, the other two girls following behind. "Now the best bit is the separate pool room, it's HUGE!" She said, sliding the bi-fold patio door open.

Right enough, the pool room was probably bigger than Jo's apartment, Susan was feeling really bad she couldn't imagine how Jo felt being the 'poor friend'.

Jo however was gazing around the place in awe, "Man, if I lived here I would swim every day it would be so sweet."

Kelly had found them and heard the remark, "I've never seen you at the pool, do you swim much?" She asked, swimming being a huge part of her life.

"Not for a while, no. I feel a bit uncomfortable in a swimsuit, and it's not like I can wear trunks." She admitted candidly.

"You could wear a swim shirt, loads of boys wear those. I've got one you can have if want." Kelly suggested, "I could come with you, I love the pool."

"Erm, yeah, I guess I could try that." Jo admitted, "perhaps if you come."

Anne had heard this and came over to whisper in Jo's ear, "Don't get naked near her, she's an absolute pervert!" Jo snickered and Kelly cast her sister an evil look.

"We could all go together, that might be cool." Anne suggested.

"What! You never go to the pool, I've been asking for years! Do you even know how to swim?" Kelly asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm trying new things." Anne said, "drop it, please?"

Jo gave her a knowing look. "I think we could do a group thing, maybe next week? My social calendar has never been this full!"

Jenny's parents were chatting to the other girls as they came into the main room, as soon as her mother saw Jo's guitar case she threw her arms up, "honey, Jenny has told me so much about you, I am so looking forward to hearing you sing!" She was a bit over the top. Jo saw Jenny shrug helplessly over her mum's shoulder.

"Eh, yeah. I mean, we're all going to sing but em, Jenny did say you might like to hear me play." She said, a little bemused.

"Oh yes, I would love that, Jenny plays piano but she hates to sing along." She turned to her daughter, "perhaps you could accompany her? She's really good, I've had her learning since she was three. Every child should play a musical instrument in my opinion, I myself play the harp. Not exactly a traditional session instrument." She hustled Jo off to the bar in the corner, "come and talk to me, tell me all about yourself, what music do you like?"

As Jo was abducted by Jenny's mum, Susan looked to Jenny with panic in her eyes, Jenny just shrugged "She's like that, as soon as she hears her play she'll say something mildly insulting about me and leave us alone for the night.

That didn't reassure her at all but as she headed in her friend's direction Jenny's dad started talking to her and she didn't want to seem rude, she nodded and made interested noises in all the right places but the man noticed that her attention was elsewhere. "Don't worry, she's safe. My wife is in charge of music scholarships at the local university, she likes to vet talented young people she meets. Worst case, nothing comes of it, best case, if she likes her and her music, she might put her forward."

Susan was shocked, she never knew what Jenny's mum did for a living, now she was nervous for her friend in a different way.

Before she could speak to Jo and warn her about the impromptu interview she had her guitar out and was tuning it.

"Okay dears, gather round, this nice young girl is going to play us some songs to get you in the mood to sing."

With that, and still with the same bemused smile, Jo launched into song. She had never heard her sing at a normal volume before, it had always been muted due to the circumstances. This time she let loose, her voice filling the room, the guitar rising to meet it. She started off with a song Susan knew well, the scientist, the way she sang it was sad and filled with longing, the guitar part didn't seem overly complicated but the vocals shone out, it seemed she hit every note.

When she finished that song Susan led the applause and Jo smiled as she moved straight into what looked like a super complicated fingerstyle rendition of bittersweet symphony. It was amazing, Susan found herself captivated, the music soared and crashed, a woman's voice fit the piece perfectly, she was so pleased Jo had played that song, it showcased her playing and singing wonderfully. It was over before Susan was ready but then Jo played fields of athen' rye she played it slow and sad but the song really showed off her vocal range, Jenny's mum came in singing counterpoint on the chorus and by the second verse Susan had a tear in her eye. When it finished the small crowd was silent until Jenny's mum told her "play something simple and upbeat to finish."

She sang whiskey in the bottle, it was a good choice, it had a similar cadence to the last song but more than double speed and everyone knew the words, enough so that they were all singing along after the first line.

Susan glanced to her right and caught Anne leaning into Abby's shoulder, they thought they were being discrete but Susan had seen, and had been seeing, little movements during the school day, a brushing of hair off the others face, hands held when they thought no one was watching, a touch at the waist going through doors. She saw and didn't mind, they would tell her when they were ready.

Jo finished the song and packed up her guitar to cheers and claps, Susan went to congratulate her, she gave her a big hug and wondered if Anne saw those same gestures in her interaction with Jo.