It might have been the high from the presentation and the adrenaline that meant walking into music class was less terrifying. I remembered I was moving on to the next phase of practising the performance. Oh, that’s right, I thought, I need to practise ‘Time After Time’ without the backing track but with my classmates accompanying me, one playing cello, and three others playing violin, while Ingrid plays the piano. That means my classmates also need to hear me sing. Easy, right?

Ingrid led me and my band into one of the rehearsal rooms, which at least meant that I didn’t need to sing straightaway to the whole of the class. When my group started playing, all I could think about was how beautiful it felt. I didn’t know if I could actually start singing, scared to mess-up what I was hearing. But I started and Ingrid nodded along encouragingly. There were some croaks and some squeaks, and some thoughts of Mum being alone, feeling like hell, but I persevered. I got to the end of the song, and then we repeated it and I was determined to sound exactly like my Mum’s eighties pop idol. I reckon I sounded okay. When we were through with rehearsals, my bandmates, including Ingrid, gave me high fives.

All in all, it was a good day at school and I started to think that I could get back on track. Matilda had made amends, I was feeling confident about my music performance and I really loved being around Caroline. I decided that I would start trying again.

Part of trying again was knowing that I had to go back to another support group meeting, so I asked Dad to take me to another one the next week.

Sue seemed happy to see me, and so did Sandy and Ryan. ‘Hi Phoebe,’ Sandy said, and I actually started to think that one day, we’d probably end up being good friends. She seemed really cool.

Sue started to go through the information again, explaining the rules of the meeting and the effects of alcohol, and then I was completely in shock as Jamie walked into the room and took a seat across the table.

He knew I was there but he didn’t acknowledge me with a smile or a wave or anything like he usually did. Sue must have noticed something was wrong. Maybe I was fidgeting or squirming in my seat or something because she stopped reading and asked, ‘Is everything okay, Phoebe?’

At that point, Jamie said, ‘We know each other.’

‘Are you okay?’ Sue asked again.

Jamie turned to me and said, ‘I’ve been coming here for a long time and I swear on my life that I’ll never tell a soul that you were here.’