Anne came back from the bathroom to find Jo sitting on a stool, she had her dad's electric guitar plugged into the amp but set low enough that you could hear the strings almost as loud as the amp.

She was playing a Nirvana song, and softly singing along. Anne recognized the song but couldn't place the title, something about angels and devils. She was really good. All the girls had stopped talking and were slowly nodding their heads to the rhythm.

She finished and was about to hang the guitar back on the wall but the girls all protested, they all wanted her to continue. "Okay, it has to be something quiet though. How about hallelujah? It sounds good sung low."

She expected her to break into a rendition of the Leonard Cohen song but this was nothing like the original, or the version Jeff Buckley sang. It was soft and throaty and most of the words were different. She didn't understand it, that said, she liked it. The engrossed girls watched her unbelieving. None of them knew Jo was so good.

When the song finished Jo didn't immediately hang up the guitar, "I've never heard that version before, what was it?" Anne asked.

"That's my take on the Nick Cave song. I like it, I thought you might."

The girls all assured her it was awesome. "Anyone else play?" No one came forward but Kelly admitted, "I sing. I could do 'I wish I was a punk rocker'" she suggested.

"Not too loud, I've heard you belt that one out." Anne warned her.

She proceeded to sing a rather good rendition of the song, Jo came in on the guitar about a minute in and managed to compliment the singing perfectly.

"We should do singstar next week!" Jenny insisted, "you could all come to our house. We have all the disks!" There was a general agreement that they should do that if their parents agreed.

Jenny lived the furthest away of all the friends so they all needed lifts and her parents didn't like her having sleepovers so they would need to be collected too. Looking at the time the girls settled for bed, Anne wasn't surprised. Even after people were in bed the murmured conversations continued for some time.

Anne had no idea when she had fallen asleep but she woke with no idea of the time, the lack of windows made it hard to guess. Abby had rolled over in the night and had a hand draped across her stomach. She lay for ages, feeling the closeness of her girlfriends body, listening to the soft breathing, and in some cases snoring, of her friends. She smiled to herself, thinking of the previous evening, it couldn't have gone much better.

She heard a soft scrape from somewhere downstairs so she knew one of her parents was up. She carefully disentangled herself from Abby's grasp and quietly got up without waking her, then tiptoed down the ladder, it's cold metal rungs digging into the bare soles of her feet.

She padded lightly down the stairs to find her dad making coffee. Unlike Mr Rosenberg he used a french press, Anne didn't think it made as good coffee but it was what her dad liked. He poured her a cup and said "I'm surprised to see you up, it was a late one last night." She yawned and took a sip of the slightly bitter brew, wrinkling her nose before replying, "Yeah, it was good though. What time is it?"

"Almost eight, give them all an hour and then you can make them breakfast." He put the milk back in the fridge, "Was that the new girl playing guitar?" At Anne's nod he said, "Puts me to shame, makes me think I should practice more."

"Actually, Jenny was thinking about a singstar night next weekend. Would that be okay." His face dropped, "Bugger, it our anniversary this week, you were going to be staying at Abby's remember? Kelly was going to stay at her friend Becky's house. Perhaps Abby's parents can drive you? I can ask them later if you like."

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"I think Kelly was invited too, I doubt she would want to miss out on a party with the big girls! I wonder if they would mind her staying too." She mused.

She went out and picked up the Sunday paper from the garden. They only got the Sunday papers, it was a bit of a ritual to sit and read each section from the heavy bundle, handing the section you read to the right and reading the next one handed from the left.

They sat down together, her mum arriving a few minutes later and quietly joining in their reading, a few sections in heather joined them, accepting the last coffee from the pot as Pete put another on to brew. By the time the second pot of coffee was gone they were only waiting for Kelly, Abby and Jo so Anne put a load of bacon under the grill and went to fetch them.

She poked her head over the lip of the loft hatch and the muted conversation stopped, three guilty looking faces relaxed with relief realising it was Anne.

"Heavy conversation?" She asked, "breakfast is on, bacon rolls or muesli are the only options."

"Just introducing Kelly to your masturbation guru." Abby joked.

"Great, well come down when you're ready." She said, not rising to the bait.

As she disappeared Jo muttered, "I'm starting to wonder whether every girls she knows is either a lesbian or bi-sexual."

"Really?" Abby asked intrigued.

"Never mind, I didn't say anything." She quickly recanted, "so, you want dating advice from me? You realise I haven't had a girlfriend in two years?"

"Okay, so how did you meet your first girlfriend, had you already come out or… how did you know she was gay?" Kelly asked.

"Well, thinking back I think I was probably already putting out a butch vibe, I wore trousers and had short hair, I wasn't big into clothes and makeup. I knew I liked girls, unlike your sister, but I would never have said 'Im a lesbian.' I just... didn't label myself." She took a shuddering breath, "but then I met Eve. She's a year older than me. She's very much not 'out' that was why we broke up, I came out and she didn't."

"So, how did you meet?" Abby asked, enthralled.

"She sought me out, saw the way I looked and made an assumption, she kind of stalked me. At the time I thought it was cute, thought that she was just too nervous to talk to me but I'm pretty sure she was just being predatory. She worked out the times I was alone and only spoke to me then, she never introduced me to her friends, saw me at my house or alone at school but never out and about. At the time I noticed but didn't care. She was cute and liked me and, well, we kissed a lot. I got such chapped lips my mum thought I was I'll!"

"Anyway, I told my friends I was gay. She told me she couldn't be caught with a gay girl and now she doesn't even acknowledge me in the corridors." She said, fighting back tears.

Abby scooted over and gave her a hug, "I'm so sorry. People are dicks." She said whilst rubbing her back.

"And she was your last girlfriend?" Kelly asked.

"First and last." She sniffed with her head buried in Abby's shoulder.

"So, you never… you know? With her?" Jo broke off the hug and wiped her eyes. "Nope. I talk the big talk, make out that I'm this super experienced lesbo dyke and reality is, I'm just a softcore wannabee!"

She swallowed and took a deep breath. "I guess the only real piece of advice I can give from experience is about coming out." She sighed, "telling your parents is both the hardest thing to do and the easiest. At least with mine, I told my friends first because it seemed easier, less pressure. Once I worked up the courage to tell the olds, they were cool, like really cool. My friends all drifted away but my parents are so much closer now."

She gave Abby a cheeky grin "Although, you guys have a good thing going, sleepovers with your girlfriend? That won't happen once they know." She laughed. "Make the most of it."

She got up and helped the other two to their feet. "Bacon sounds good just now, I'm a bit emotioned out."

"What about internet dating?" Kelly asked.

"Oh hell no, apparently almost all teenage lesbians online are actually middle aged men!"