“Hi everyone!” I said enthusiastically as I went and joined my group of friends. They turned and welcomed me with big smiles, happy to see me.

“Hi Ariah! Did you see the latest posts by Jamie Markie on Instagram?” Georgie exclaimed excitedly as I made my way to stand next to her.

“The best news to hit this town in a while!” Sakura laughed.

“No, I haven't checked my phone this morning. Has he posted? He hasn’t posted anything in months!” I quickly got my phone out and logged in to Instagram, scrolling to Jamie Markie’s account.

A picture appeared on his feed stating that he was going to be doing a special concert to raise money for those affected by the wildfires that had been plaguing the region recently. I gasped and squealed. Our favourite singer was going to be performing this weekend at a local concert at a park down by the lake!

“Are you all going?” I asked looking around the group to see who would respond.

“Yes!” Was the enthusiastic unanimous reply.

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“We’ve just been online getting tickets and we got one for you too!” Georgie waved her phone at me, pointing to what looked like a confirmation email with tickets to the concert.

“Thank you so much!” I said gleefully. “I’ll just have to ask my Mom but I’m sure she’ll be really happy for me to go.” Although my friends had kept me busy during the days, my social life after dark had been pretty quiet since Dad had gone missing. I'd chosen to stay at home in the evenings to keep Mom company instead of going out. But now she was in a good place, I wouldn’t feel guilty about leaving her and I’m sure she’d want me to enjoy the concert with my friends.

“I'll pick you up, I think it starts about 8 so I’ll be at yours about 7 to give us enough time to get a car park and a good spot to watch the concert from.” Dylan offered.

“Thank you! That’d be great. I’ll make sure I’m ready on time!” I gave Dylan a massive hug, which he returned, his large arms wrapping around my back. His warmth made me smile and I noted how lucky I was to be part of such a caring group of people.

He let go and stepped back, giving me a mock frown and raising his eyebrow at me.

“Yeah, there’ll be no messing around, I want to be able to enjoy the concert without having to rush to get there. I’m also picking up Eamon and Raul…maybe I should pick you all up the day before knowing how you are with being on time.” Dylan said, giving me a smile. My reputation for tardiness was well known, I always meant well and tried my hardest to be on time but seemed to get distracted easily resulting in delays in me actually getting places.

“That might not be a bad idea.” I smiled back.