‘Well, what’d you know? A fellow American. Where are you from?’

‘New York.’

‘You’re not from New York originally. You’re too naive. You sound … I don’t know. California somewhere?’

‘I grew up in California.’

‘Uh huh?’ Cat eyed me expectantly, offering slow, encouraging blinks. ‘Where?’

I glanced at Michael again. ‘Um. Well, my mother moved around a lot. So … uh … we lived all over. San Francisco. Las Vegas for a while. Los Angeles. All over. We sort of moved whenever the rent was due.’

Cat laughed. ‘You know, my mother was a train wreck too. I don’t even call her Mom anymore. I call her Nancy.’

I looked at her then, almost smiling. ‘You too?’

‘Uh huh. It’s hard, isn’t it? It hurts. When they don’t love you.’

We shared a moment. A moment I knew I’d pay for later, when Michael flew into a jealous rage. He hated me connecting with anyone, even for a few seconds.

‘So you know what Michael wants, right?’ said Cat, leaning close enough for me to smell alcohol and pot. ‘Skinny little yes girls who do as they’re told. The younger and skinnier and more vulnerable the better. I’ve seen the pattern. Run, run as fast as you can. I can say it. No one else dares.’

She tried to wink, but ended up blinking instead.

I watched Michael, expecting to see his evil twin appear: the black-eyed, hunched-shouldered guy who flung me across rooms. But he just said: ‘Cat, I hear your daughter is getting friendly with one of the sound guys. Better check she’s not getting herself in any trouble, right?’

Cat rolled her eyes. ‘Christ. That’s all I need. A teen pregnancy.’ She went back to the mic.

‘ANNALISE! COME HERE THIS INSTANT, YOUNG LADY!’

From the back of the arena, a sandy-haired girl appeared wearing a flowery babydoll dress and DM boots. Her outfit was similar to Cat’s and she was pale like her mother, but her face was entirely her own: widely spaced blue eyes, messy brown brows and a square jaw.

‘What?’ the girl asked.

Annalise was younger than me and skinnier. She had the frail, vulnerable kid thing going on and I felt wary. I knew Michael liked that dynamic. It made him feel big and strong.

I hated Annalise on sight, with her bad goth eyeliner and plum-coloured lipstick. Who did she think she was, a teenage rock star?

Cat shouted: ‘Are you back there flirting with the sound guys?’

‘I was doing my school work,’ said Annalise. Then she noticed Michael and her voice turned breathy. ‘Michael. How are you? Are you rehearsing?’ She tried flicking hair around in a sexy way, looking for all the world like a little girl tottering in her mother’s high heels.

Michael turned on his deep rock-star voice. ‘Annalise. Are you being a good girl for your mother?’