As Martina leisurely and somewhat confidently strolled back up the street, taking in the sights, sounds, and aromas of the festival, a crowd was beginning to form in front of a stage set up in the road, just past the far north end of the square ahead.

Curious about what people were starting to gather for, Martina headed toward the stage to find out.

A band began conducting sound checks as Martina approached and from the looks of them, she deduced it was a rock band.

Curious, Martina decided to hang out and see what they sounded like.

As she waited, she began to self-consciously look around, worrying about whether anyone was studying her or not. She was also curious if there was anyone around from school that might see through her disguise.

After a minute or two of people watching, Martina realized she only recognized a few of the teens from a group near her. They were students from her school, but she didn't have any classes with them nor had she ever had any interaction with any of them.

One of the girls from this group noticed Martina standing alone and she quickly moved over to where Martina was standing and enthusiastically greeted her. "Hi! You a big fan of Etherial Truth?"

"Who, " Martina nervously replied.

"Um, the band that's about to play," the girl answered as though she expected Martina to know, while motioning towards the stage.

"Oh, actually, I've never heard of them before."

"Really?!? I'm, sorry. You were standing here, so I just assumed . . . Well, you're in for a treat. We love them. You will, too. I know you will," the girl excitedly told Martina.

Just then another girl from the group came over.

"Wow, you have really pretty eyes," the second girl told Martina with a smile as she continued looking directly into her eyes, making Martina very nervous. "You're very pretty."

She squinted, studying Martina's eyes closer. "Your eyes are . . . mesmerizing. What kind of contacts are those?"

"They're called circle lenses or 'O' lenses. I got them online from Korea."

"Circle lenses? I've never seen anything like it. What you think, E?"

"They're really cool looking," The first girl replied, then asked, "So, you here by yourself?"

"Yeah."

"You're more than welcome to hang with us. Come on, join our group. I'm Enid, by the way, and this is Mylena . . . Come on."

Enid took Martina by the hand and led her over to the group she had been hanging out with and began introducing her to them.

Martina was so nervous she was starting to sweat. She swallowed a lump in her throat.

"Guys, this is my new friend, Martina. She's gonna hang with us for the concert . . . Martina, this is Jamie, that's Mindy, Rachel, Benji, Tammi,Ray, Rita, Stan . . . "

"And I'm Jon," the last guy said before Enid could introduce him.

Jon took Martina's hand and brought it towards his lips. He leaned forward and gave the back of her hand a light peck while gazing into Martina's eyes.

Martina felt a tingle run up her spine.

Umm, what was that, Martina thought to herself, while quickly pulling her hand back.

"Ignore him," Mylena told Martina. "He's just a big flirt. He can't help himself."

Several of the teens laughed. Jon smiled and winked at Martina.

He then said, to no one in particular as he backed away, "I know what I like, and what I see . . . I like."

Martina's cheeks turned red and Rita noticed. "Now you're just embarrassing her, Jon. Give it a rest."

"So where you from," Rachel asked, taking the focus off of Jon and changing the subject.

Martina had to think quick, she certainly didn't want to say, "I'm from here," since that would imply she went to the same school as them and would invite questions that could only end up with her being exposed.

She quickly came up with an answer she felt was safe.

"Arkansas, a small town outside of Little Rock. I'm uh, I'm here visiting my Aunt."

At that moment their conversation was interrupted by the keyboardist on stage. He began to loudly play a beautiful 32 bar intro and the band went right into their first number.

Martina enjoyed that first song, a violin accompanied, mostly melodic, pleading tune juxtaposed with a jolting, electric guitar, and guttural, screamo vocals on the chorus. The lyrics were about how special and unique each of us was and how suicide wasn't the answer to life's problems.

It was sung by the band's lead singer, a tiny, young college-age girl who would later introduce herself as Lainy.

Martina was impressed by how she sang beautiful melodious high notes through the verses and then immediately delivered the chorus in a deep-throated guttural growl. She couldn't believe such a strong, deep voice could come from a girl so petite and tiny in every way.

During the second song, with Rachel on Martina's left and Jon on her right, everyone in their group placed their arms on the shoulders of the person to either side of them and they all swayed in unison with the music.

Martina couldn't believe how well, seemingly everyone, knew the lyrics of a song she was just hearing for the first time.

After the third song, the lead singer began to talk. She shared with the audience, her own past depression, alcoholism, suicide attempts, and eventual recovery.

As Martina listened to Lainy speak about her life and kept saying how she would be dead now if it weren't for God. That's when Martina realized this was obviously a Christian band. She looked around and saw this didn't stop all the teen screamo fans around her from loving the music anyway. In fact, Lainy's story energized the group Martina was with.

Actually, the charismatic personality of the lead singer was drawing her in as well and she knew she would be listening to these guys long after today.

During the next song, many teens around Martina were headbanging, slam dancing, and everyone was having a wonderful time.

Martina wanted to join in on the dancing, since, as Marty he had never had the nerve to try it.

She was just about to join the group when she remembered she had on heels, which weren't exactly the proper attire for slam dancing, and so, she instead continued to just watch.

Martina stayed for the entire concert. She was enjoying every song and and once it was over she tried to walk away, but was unable to get anywhere before Enid stopped her.

Enid told her that their group hangs out together on Friday nights at the local car hop fast food restaurant out on the highway and invited her to join them, if ever she was in town on a Friday night.

Martina told her that sounded like fun and again tried to leave. Jon quickly stepped up and asked if he could join her for a bit. She almost accepted his invitation before deciding against it and left him wondering what he hadn't done right.

Jon was used to his cute dimpled smile, baby face, and charming personality being difficult for girls to resist. He couldn't understand how he had just been rejected.