Daniel had made sure we got the VIP treatment at the gig. We had a table right at the front, near the makeshift stage. It felt amazing to be inside a real-life club, all dressed up, even if it was with my brothers. His band was awesome, and it was astonishing to see Daniel come alive when he played and sang. Of course I'd seen him play before, but it never failed to amaze me how much he transformed on stage.

I also really enjoyed watching the interactions between all the people at the club, especially between the men and women. It all seemed so effortless. It made me think of Josh. I wished he could be here, at the club with me now. A few guys asked me to dance, but Crane warned me them off each and every time, in the mild but assertive way that only Crane could achieve. I don't know how he managed it, but he appeared everywhere all at once.

"She's fifteen," he said immediately when one, particularly handsome guy who looked to be in his twenties approached me, taking my hand as though to lead me onto the dance floor.

"She sure doesn't look fifteen," the guy said, eyeing me from head to toe, in a sexy rather than a creepy way.

"Well, she is," Crane said shortly, taking my arm and guiding me away from the guy.

"He just wanted to dance, Crane!" I protested.

I wouldn't have minded dancing with him at all.

"Uh huh, dance with us then," he said, gesturing to Molly and Guthrie who were dancing wildly to one of Daniel's songs.

When the band finished their first set, Daniel announced that they were taking a short break, and then, he surprised all of us by sweeping a very pretty red headed girl up in his arms and kissing her, just as he came off stage. I'd definitely spotted her, in the way that girls can size up other attractive girls in the vicinity, but I hadn't paid her much attention. She had been dancing, right up at the front of the stage with a couple of other girls, both brunettes.

"I didn't know that Daniel had a girlfriend," Molly said, sounding surprised.

"Neither did I," I said. "Crane did you know about this?"

"Uh no…" Crane said, looking and sounding equally as surprised.

Guthrie, did you?" I said.

Guthrie didn't answer. He was standing, mouth wide open, fixated on the sight of Daniel and the red headed girl pretty much making out in front of us.

I hit his arm with the back of my hand.

"Guthrie!"

"Huh, what?" he said, finally looking away.

"Did you know that Daniel has a girlfriend?"

"No- I didn't know anything," he said.

"Well, who is she?"

"Beats me," Crane said.

Daniel came up for air and Crane waved him over. He made his way over to us, leading the red headed girl by the hand.

"Hey guys, you having a good time?" Daniel said, a big grin etched on his face. He was radiating with happiness.

"You're great; the band are great!" Crane said, "Right guys?"

We all made noises of assent, but I couldn't take my eyes off the red head. Up close, she was even more beautiful. I think Hannah's beautiful, but she's more girl next door kind of pretty. This girl looked like she could have been a model. She was just a little taller than me and had green eyes, the colour of a cat's.

"You got someone you want to introduce to us, Danil?" Crane asked, a wry smile on his face.

Daniel pulled the girl a little closer to him and put his arm around her waist.

"Everybody, this is Scarlett," Daniel said. He looked adoringly at the girl, "Baby, this is my brother Crane, his girlfriend Molly, my youngest brother, Guthrie and my sister, Heidi."

"I've heard so much about you guys," Scarlett said, with a wide smile. "I've been wanting to meet you guys for some time now."

Some time? How long had Daniel been seeing this girl?

"Good to meet you, Scarlett," Crane said, shaking Scarlett's hand.

"You have a beautiful name!" Molly said.

"Thank you," Scarlett said. She ran a hand through her thick red mane, "My parents gave me the name when I was born with red hair."

"How long have you and Daniel been seeing each other?" I asked.

I felt Guthrie nudge me from behind, but I ignored him. I didn't see how it was rude to ask.

"Since the start of the summer," Scarlett said.

"You kept that one quiet," I said, looking at Daniel pointedly.

"There's been a lot going on at home," Daniel said. He kissed Scarlett on the lips. "But when I knew you guys were coming to the gig, I thought it would be a perfect time for you guys to meet."

"You should come to the ranch and meet the others," I said.

"I would love to," Scarlett said, "I've been on at Daniel for a couple of months to introduce me to his family. He met all of mine in the first couple of weeks of us dating!"

"Is that so?" I said, folding my arms and glaring at Daniel.

Scarlett seemed nice enough, but it bothered me that Daniel had kept this girl secret for 4 months. It made sense. He had been away from the ranch a lot of evenings. Sometimes he didn't come home until the next day, but I figured he'd been staying with a friend. But he had been having a whole other life that none of us knew anything about. Or maybe one of the others knew but hadn't let on.

Daniel ignored my obvious ire.

"I gotta get a drink before our second set; anyone want one?" he said, untangling from Scarlett.

Scarlett said that she would have a beer and Molly said she would have a glass of white wine. Obviously, Guthrie and I were too young to have an alcoholic drink in a public place and Crane was driving so he said he only wanted a soft drink.

"What do you want, Heidi?" Daniel said.

"Nothing," I said moodily, irritated with him.

"I'll get you a lemonade then," he said, knowing it was my favorite.

Scarlett stayed with us while Daniel went to get the drinks. We headed back to our table and were joined eventually by Daniel and the other members of his band, which we had known for some time. Guthrie sat near the other band members and chatted to them while Crane and Molly talked to Daniel and Scarlett who was sitting on Daniel's knee, even though there was a chair right next to her. I sat quietly, just listening to them talk. We found out that Scarlett was also a musician, but a classically trained one. She played the violin and was in an orchestra. She loved country western music though and she had met Daniel one night at one of his gigs. She worked in a music store in Sonora where she also lived with roommates and her little dog, Cosmo. She was friendly and nice and yet I felt deeply irritated that Daniel had kept her a secret. It didn't dampen how much fun I found the evening though.

On our way back to the ranch, I went on and on about how I couldn't believe that Daniel had kept Scarlett to himself for as long as he had. Guthrie hadn't seen the big deal.

"Adam kept Hannah a secret until the day he married her and brought her home," he pointed out, which was true.

Later, in bed that night when I was reflecting on the evening, I thought hard about what was bugging. Was I jealous of Scarlett for hogging so much of Daniel's time? No, that wasn't it. If they liked each other, I understood that, given how I felt about Josh. Suddenly, I had one of those light bulb moments where everything becomes clear. I wasn't jealous of Scarlett- I was jealous of Daniel. Of the freedom he had to come and go as he pleased. Of the fact that nobody monitored his every move. The fact that he had, as it seemed, quite easily managed to date Scarlett for four months without us knowing until he was ready for us to know. And here I was, desperate to see Josh and having so many roadblocks in my way. I cursed the world for being born a girl.

/

Sunday was fraught. While it started off in good spirits with Guthrie and me sharing details about Scarlett with the very interested rest of the family, who it appeared also had been unaware of Scarlett's existence, even Evan, it soon went downhill from there. Starr cried on and off pretty much the entire day. Brian disappeared for the entire afternoon without letting anyone know where he was going which caused another fight between Adam and Hannah. Brian didn't help matters when he went at the whiskey again in the evening. As Crane and Molly had left to go to their own place with pretty much the rest of Crane's stuff in the morning, there was no calming influence in the house. Guthrie and Evan made a quick escape outside. I looked after Starr for a few hours and then pretty much stayed out the way in my room finishing my homework and then reading. I wanted to call Olivia's house and ask her dad when she might be coming back or what was happening with her but I didn't have the courage.

So I was actually looking forward to school the next day to get away from the drama.

Debate club usually meets on a Tuesday, but as I was passing down the hall on my way to the library, I heard my name being called.

I turned around and saw Mr Lodge, the teacher who runs the debate club coming towards me. He's nice but a bit disorganised. He looked just as harried as he usually does that day as he toted a set of folders in his arms.

"Heidi, I'm glad I caught you," he said, sounding harassed, "I'm trying to chase down all the members of debate club today."

He whipped a piece of paper off the top of one of the folders and thrust it towards me.

"Here."

"Thanks, but what is it?" I asked, looking at the piece of paper.

"There's a debate meet, this weekend in San Francisco, leaving Friday after school, coming back Sunday evening."

"This weekend?" I said, incredulously.

Mr Lodge looked sheepish.

"I know it's short notice; I lost track of when the letters were supposed to be given out. I'll understand if you can't make it on short notice."

"How much does it-"

"All the information's in the letter," Mr Lodge said, waving his hand dismissively and hurrying away, "If you're coming, bring the letter signed and the money to club tomorrow."

I moved out the way from the middle of the hall to the side so I could read the letter without being in anyone's way. I skimmed it quickly, looking for the price. I knew that would be a sticking point, with money being so tight in our family at the best of times, but especially right now. But surprisingly, it hardly cost anything at all! The letter explained that through Mr Lodge applying, the school had received money from a foundation for just this kind of thing. Clearly Mr Lodge wasn't as useless as he appeared. We would get workshops and get to meet and debate with kids from other schools in California and we would get to stay in a hotel. I had only stayed in a hotel once before, when I was 10 and Adam finally let me go away with Olivia's family for a few days one summer. The hotel was really nice, with a swimming pool and with complimentary soaps and shampoos in the bathroom. Olivia and I had shared a room- we both had enormous double beds, and I had thought it was the most terrific and glamorous thing in the world. But, the most exciting thing of all about this impending trip was that Josh was part of debate club too now and so hopefully Mr Lodge found him to give him the letter as well. If Josh went too, we would get to legitimately spend 2 whole days together. And there would surely be opportunity for us to be alone.

Happy New Year everybody. May 2021 be better than 2020. 😊