You Can Have It All (Roses book 2)

Six

A/N

I'm still fangirling. Partly over Simon wishing me luck, but also because people actually enjoyed my singing. A girl from my year messaged me saying that she respected me, because I'm really shy, yet I went up to sing. I still can't get over the fact that I got people singing along too. And people actually cheered for me. What the hell?! I'm used to being ignored by everyone at school.

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The next morning, Ricky FaceTimed me again. Only this time I was awake. I was thinking about Becky, and the fact she had been hidden for me for all these years. How my parents had lied to me for so long. I knew that I could never have any trust in them again. Not that they would even want to see me again, especially after yesterday.

'Morning,' Ricky said, smiling.

'Hey,' I said. His voice this morning made me shake. It was the relief of hearing him after everything that had happened. The fact that he was real, I hadn't imagined him, and the fact that he was always there.

'What's wrong?' Ricky said, noticing something was wrong.

I couldn't make the words. It still didn't seem right to me. I couldn't get it to sink in. 'I... I have a sister.' I said quietly.

Ricky heard. His eyes went wide. 'What?' He said.

'She came and found me yesterday.' I said. My hand was literally shaking, making my phone shake.

'Oh my god.' Ricky said. 'Are you okay?'

I nodded. 'I went to see my parents.' I said.

Ricky put his head in his hands, then looked up again. 'You shouldn't be near them, Hazel.' He said. 'Did you go all the way to Nottingham?'

I shook my head. 'They were staying just down the road from the studio. I took my sister home, and saw them to sort something. We can get free tickets for people to go to your shows, right?' I said.

'Yeah...' Ricky said.

'It turns out my sister loves your band, so I got it round my parents for her to come along to Nottingham.' I said.

'I can get her a ticket.' Ricky nodded. 'I'll sort it. Oh my god, I can't believe this.'

'Me neither.' I said, almost in tears.

'How did you get your parents to agree?' He said. 'They hate us.'

'By being a 'manipulative bitch'.' I said wile doing air quotes.

'With you, I hate to think.' Ricky laughed. 'Anyway, what are you doing today?'

'I've got to go out for lunch with Ben, and he's asked the band as well, and then back to the studios for rehearsals with them for tomorrow.' I said. For once, I actually had a really busy day.

'I can't wait to see you tomorrow.' Ricky said. 'And to meet your sister.'

'I can't wait to see you either.' I said.

I got ready to go out, making an effort and putting on one of my casual dresses. I wanted to make a good impression, since I would be spending more time with the people I was going to meet.

I drove to the pub in the middle of town, and found a space in the full car park. Ben was waiting outside the pub for me. He waved as I got out the car.

'Hey,' he said. 'Everyone's here. We were starting to wonder where you were.'

'Sorry,' I said. I had lost track of time when I was getting ready, from thinking things over. It was still sinkin in.

'Anyway, who was that girl you were talking to yesterday?' Ben asked as we walked into the pub.

'My sister.' I said. The word sounded strange coming from me. Ben stared at me.

'It's a long story.' I said.

We walked up to a table, with all women sitting around it, all about the same age as me.

'Guys, this is Hazel.' Ben said to them. 'Hazel, this is Billie,' he said, pointing to a woman with long blonde hair pulled out of her face with a bandanna. 'She's the drummer. This is Carmen,' he said, turning to the person next to Billie. 'She's your guitarist - for when you're not playing. This is Eve, and she's your bassist, and then here's Rose, and she plays keyboard.'

'Hey guys,' I said awkwardly. I couldn't believe that Ben has got me a band that was just women. I knew I wouldn't see them that much, but it was still great to be able to get to know them. I was so much better at talking to women than men.

'Hey,' Carmen said. 'You okay?'

I nodded and sat down. I know I didn't look okay. My eyes were still red and puffy, and they had massive dark circles around them because I didn't get much sleep last night.

We all sat and chatted for a while. Everyone was so nice, and I couldn't believe I would be performing with them tomorrow. It was weird to think that I would be singing at a real concert, with so many people there. Capital FM Arena had ten-thousand seats. That weirded me out a bit, because the audience at The Voice had only been tiny, and now I was going to a massive place. One thing I was worried about was going wrong. I'm not the best and always getting things right, and I was just worried that I would mess it up. I didn't want to mess up my first time with this band with me, or my first major performance. And I didn't want to mess up in front of Becky. I wanted her to see who I really was when I was at my best. I wanted her to have a good time. I felt like I owed it to her.

I had been thinking things over. If I had never applied for The Voice, I would still be at home with my mum, and not knowing my dad. We would still be happy, and we would still be talking. I wouldn't meet my dad, and I wouldn't have known Becky. She could have been happier by living with my dad without my mum around, and without the thought of me making them annoyed and angry. She could still be happy, and not knowing that her dad had hidden a sister away from her. She would be able to trust him. I didn't know what would be better though. Knowing your parents hid a sister away from you, or not knowing you have a sister? This had been going around in my head, and I didn't even know what I would want.

But if I had never applied for The Voice, I would be stuck as this useless person with no job, and disliked by everyone. I would just have stayed that easy target for everyone to laugh at. I would never have met Ricky. I couldn't imaging a world without him now. I suppose I had begun to take him for granted, but I was happy to have him. I was amazed that he liked me. If I hadn't have gone on The Voice, I would still just have a stupid crush on him, and be called a weirdo by almost everyone, because I was obsessed over this band member. I would never know how it feels to wake up hearing him tell me that he loves me.

After lunch, we went back to the studio. It was just down the road from the pub, so we all walked. All of the band had already dropped off all of their instruments at the studio, and I quickly went to my car to grab my guitar, and then caught up with everyone.

'I can't believe we get to work with you.' Billie said. 'When I first saw you on The Voice, wow.' She laughed.

'I can't believe I get to work with all of you.' I said. 'It seems unreal that tomorrow I'm going to be performing. I'm not ready at all.'

'Yeah, usually we would have longer to rehearse together.' Eve said. 'But you should be fine.'

We went into the rehearsal room of the studio, and once we got practicing, it sounded so good, even if I did say so myself. They were so good, and it just amazed me that they would be playing for me. For Eyes Open, I grabbed my guitar and played with them. I hadn't really played guitar with people before, apart from when I was performing on The Voice. It takes a while to get right because you all have to stay at the same speed, but once I got into it, it seemed so easy. I couldn't believe that tomorrow, I would be singing in front of a massive crowd.