Page 272 of The Sun Sister

‘Oh my God! Shit shit shit!’ I muttered under my breath as I heard the roar of the crowd only a few yards away from me. I’d been to concerts before here at Madison Square Garden – sat in the VIP box when Mitch had performed, and I’d even been backstage – but I’d never looked out at what felt like the whole of New York stamping and shouting and cheering in front of me. He (yes,Mitch) was on stage with his band.

No wonder rock stars needed to do stuff, I thought – my un-drugged heartbeat was pounding about a million to the dozen right now.

‘Hey, look who I just found,’ said Miles, tapping me on the shoulder as I retreated from my vantage point at the side of the stage.

I turned round and saw Vanessa standing there in my Burberry cap, with Ida by her side.

‘Oh my God! I didn’t think you were allowed out,’ I said as I went to give her a hug.

‘Well, tonight’s special, isn’t it?’ said Ida. ‘We thought you’d like Vanessa to be here.’

‘How are you?’ I asked her, noticing how her lovely skin no longer had that pasty colour to it and how her eyes – which were as wide as saucers as she stared out beyond the wings and onto the stage – were bright and alert.

‘Like, damn, ’Lectra, am I in Kansas, or what? I just seen, like, ’bout four of my favourite rappers back there.’

‘You’re not in Kansas, you’re right here with me, Vanessa, and I’m so happy you are,’ I said, looking up at Miles and smiling at him. ‘Stella?’ I shouted to my grandmother over the roar of the crowd. ‘Come and meet my friend Vanessa. She’s the one that started all this, isn’t she, Miles?’

‘She sure is,’ he nodded.

Stella turned away from a man with a clipboard who was organising the proceedings and came over to us. She looked elegant and composed in her black trouser suit with her signature jaunty scarf tied round her neck. She really was the most beautiful woman, even at her age, and I felt very lucky to have inherited her genes.

‘Hello, Vanessa, I’ve heard a lot about you. How are you doing?’

Stella’s natural air of authority made Vanessa a little tongue-tied, but she managed a few words.

‘Well, everything that’s happening here tonight is for you and anyone like you,’ said Stella.

‘Three minutes!’ called the guy with the clipboard to Stella as Mitch and his band played out his most famous song, which got the crowd stamping and cheering so hard it felt like the earth was shuddering beneath us.

‘You okay?’ asked Miles, indicating the rock star on stage.

‘You know what? I’m doing just fine,’ I told him.

‘Good, because I don’t want any competition for my affections, ya know?’

‘I know,’ I said, as he put his arm around my shoulders and drew me in for a hug. I justlovedthe fact that he was taller than me and made me feel all girly and protected.

‘Two minutes!’ the clipboard man called to Stella as the crowd continued to holler for more at the tops of their voices.

‘How are you, Electra?’ said Mariam, appearing with Tommy (who was looking smart and handsome with his new haircut and suit) on the other side of me.

‘Shitting the proverbial, as expected. I just want to get it over with now I’m here.’

‘You can do it, Electra, I know you can. And we’re all here with you.’

‘Yes, we are,’ said Lizzie.

And as Mitch walked off stage towards me, and I stood there with Miles’s arm around my shoulders, protected by the little family of waifs and strays I seemed to have collected, I really felt they were.

‘Oh, hi, Electra,’ said Mitch, halting right in front of us as he took a towel from one of his roadies and wiped the sweat that was dripping from his face. ‘How you doin’?’

‘I’m real good, thanks, Mitch. You?’

‘Yeah, great. Well, good to see you,’ he said as he gave more than a cursory glance at the handsome guy with his arm around me, who towered over his comparatively small, sweaty presence. ‘See you around.’

‘Sure,’ I said as he passed by and I gave a little victory wiggle inside.

‘Okay, Stella, thirty seconds, then you’re on.’