‘I know.’ It doesn’t. ‘How come you were?’ I ask.

‘I wanted to talk to you,’ she says. ‘It was the third time I’d come by Annie’s house. Long story, but Susan Carlton showed up at ours, closely followed by Graham.’ Meg screws up her nose. ‘It turned into this horrible argument and I just ran out. I went straight to Rachel’s. When she said you weren’t there, the only other place I thought you might be was Annie’s. The first time it must have only been just after ten but I got her out of bed.’

‘I must have just missed you,’ I say. It was the time I’d slipped out to Bob and Ruth’s. It must have been why Annie was waiting for me when I got back.

‘Well, she denied you were there but I saw bedding on the sofa. She always invites me in but she couldn’t get rid of me quick enough, even though I was outside in the middle of a storm.

‘Mum was a complete mess when I got home, quoting Graham that if you hadn’t come back he wouldn’t have had the police on to him. According to her, if that hadn’t happened then Susan wouldn’t have found out and turned up on our doorstep, meaning Graham wouldn’t have called off their relationship.’

‘Seriously?’

‘I know. She’d gone totally nuts. But she was mad at you, and I was so certain Annie was lying that I went back. That time she told me you were having a bath!’ Meg snorts.

‘Funnily enough I was,’ I smile weakly. ‘But you were right to be worried.’

‘Annie looked so pissed off when I turned up, and with Graham so wound up and my mum and …’ Meg trails off. ‘I was worried, but I was looking for you for myself, too. I just really needed someone to talk to.’

‘I don’t care why you were there, I’m just glad you were,’ I say. ‘Thank you.’ I reach out and take her hand as the nurse comes back in again.

‘I can’t believe what happened and that you were drugged and—’

The nurse clears her throat loudly. ‘Visiting time’s over for now,’ she says. ‘Stella needs rest if she wants to go home later.’

‘I’m pleased I met you, Stella.’ Meg leans forward and kisses me on the forehead. ‘Promise me you’ll come back to Evergreen?’

‘You know, I don’t think I will,’ I say, smiling sadly. ‘But I’d love for you to come see me some time.’

Eight hours later I’m wrapping my cold duvet around me in my own bed. I snuggle into my pillow, tears dampening the cotton beneath my cheeks. All around, our young faces beam back at me from behind their glass frames and I fight the urge to rip them all down.