My body was a firework factory. I could hardly concentrate on what was happening around me. The jostling around the bar, the ocean of teenagers wearing black, congregating at the front of the small stage to get the best view. The sound guys walking around the stage setting-up, tweaking amps, saying one-two-one-two into mikes. We joined our cluster of college friends, and I clutched my plastic cup and listened to the boys take the piss out of Scott for drinking an Archers and lemonade, the girls all laughing at the boys’ jokes and making none of their own. Then the lights went down and everyone started cheering. I could make out Liam’s silhouette in the blackness. This boy onstage had just texted me. This boy onstage had stared at me in my English lessons. This boy onstage wanted me to be watching him. The lights went up and the crowd pushed forward, taking me with it. The lead singer, Declan, clutched the microphone off its stand, his unwashed hair hanging in long clumps around his face. “This one’s called ‘Burn the Bin,’” he said, before screaming indecipherable noises while the guitars and drums started up. The crowd quickly became a mosh pit, and the girls and I squealed as we got jostled and elbowed by young men flinging their bodies into each other. We were edged away from the stage, genuinely scared we’d get accidentally punched. It was far too exciting, watching Liam play. He had one leg up on an amp, thrashing his head, looking so confident and sexy, and wow, even though I had no idea what was happening musically. Mike and his friends seemed to approve. They were reigniting the pit, smacking their chests into one another. Some of the cooler girls from our college tried to join in. They launched their skinny bodies in with the blokes, but only lasted ten seconds before running out again. Jade turned to me, rubbing her shoulder from where a boy had smashed into her, and, with too much nervous energy and nowhere for it to go, I smiled and started randomly doing a mad dance routine. She laughed and joined in, and Sally started too. I was laughing so hard I almost forgot about Liam. I looked up to find him staring at me from the stage. He smirked and shook his head, before returning to his thrashing, and it was possibly the sexiest moment of my life to date. When their set finished, a mist of sweat hung over us. I cheered and clapped and jumped, feeling this sense of pride that I was connected in some way with the band that was being cheered for. The lights came back on and everyone looked at each other blearily, like we’d been in a collective fever dream, then ran over to the bar before the line got too long.