Girls Who Play Guitars

•it's showtime•

Ellie stepped onto the raised platform where the Silent Moth cover band was about to wrap up. She wrenched the microphone off the confused singer, who squabbled a little then, realising who she was, handed the mike to her with a small, curt bow.

Hurrying the band, whose instruments had come to a slow, faltering end when she'd walked onto the stage, Ellie waited until they had stumbled off the platform behind her. She clipped the microphone back into the stand and looked around at the crowd who cheered and called out 'Happy Birthday' but she waved them down as she sought the faces she needed to find.

First things first, she thought. Birthday things second.

Under the spotlight, she could make out her parents in the corner, staring at her with awed curiosity. Lachy, in his Slider beanie, leaned over the bar, helping himself to a cheeky can of Jim Beam while Brenin found himself a cosy nook in the corner where he could cross his arms and shake his head sternly at her. Slouched by the bar looking athletic in a cute floral skirt and t-shirt, Coral chatted to Kim, who watched Ellie with suspicious eyes from under a black beanie. Daniel and Meg pushed through the glass doors and came to a standstill behind Gav, their mouths falling open when they saw Ellie up on stage.

But over by the balcony door was the person she'd come to see.

Jessie.

Jessie, with her head resting on James's shoulder, watching her with that sly, smug, smarmy smile.

"Hi," Ellie coughed into the microphone. "It's me. Ellie. Thanks for coming to my party."

Everyone roared and clapped and someone yelled out: "Play 'Green'!" then someone else yelled out: "Play a song with Glue!"

Ellie ignored them.

"I've got a bit of housekeeping to do before we can start the actual party," Ellie said, and everyone cheered again. "In the crowd today, we have the very beautiful, very talented, Meg Murphy, who plays bass for Slider. Meg, come up here!"

The crowd clapped, and Coral called out, "Whoa, yeah! Megsy!"

Meg's face dropped. Ellie knew she hated being on stage without fixing her make-up.

That didn't matter now.

"Come here, Megsy."

Gav herded Meg forward, and she had no choice but to do what Ellie asked of her. She sidled onto the platform and stood sheepishly beside Ellie in her black overalls, chewing her fingernails as everyone clapped and called out to her.

"And," Ellie continued, "over by the bar we have the one and only—drummer extraordinaire and my best friend in the entire world—Kim Amato."

Kim stared at Ellie like she was auditioning for an Alice Cooper video—all scowls and grimaces—while the crowd cheered her on. Kim was having none of it. She pulled on her denim jacket before mumbling something to Coral, who frowned and glanced at Ellie as Kim took a step towards the door.

Ellie kept going, desperate for Kim to stay.

"You all know Kim as Slider's drummer, but to me, she's something else. The only problem with Kim is—"

Kim moved through the crowd as Coral tried to stop her by pulling at the back of her jacket.

Ellie kept going, speaking more quickly to make sure Kim heard what she needed to hear.

"The problem with Kim is that she doesn't know how much she means to me. Because I never tell her. I take her for granted. She's my hero. My own absolute rockstar. Without Kim, there would be no Slider. No 'Green'. Without Kim, there would be a void in our record collections. And our lives. Kim is the strongest, most dedicated, most generous person I've ever known—"