The Street Festival: How A Wallflower Became The Hero

Chapter 18

At the police station Martina gave the detectives every detail of her experience on Saturday as it related to Barry. It was enough for them to charge him with rape.

By the time they went to trial, Martina had appeared on several local television programs and been able to convince five of the seven other victims to come forward and also testify against Barry.

Due to the number of victims that came forward, the district attorney was able to successfully push for Barry to be tried and convicted as an adult.

He received a sentence that would keep him locked away for many years to come.

In addition to the prison time, Martina found out that because she had bit the head of his penis almost completely off and then waited so long to call 911, they were unable to save it. They ended up having to completely remove his penis. He really would never be able to rape another person like that again.

The local news media hailed Martina as a hero and three local business owner's came together to pay his mom's rent for the next five years and another wealthy business man in the area pledged to pay for all of Martina's college expenses to any college she chose to go to after high school.

This resulted in Amanda being able to quit her second job as a waitress and take classes at the local community college.

Martina spent an entire three and a half weeks in the courtroom, in heels, hose, and skirts or dresses; not only testifying but also comforting and encouraging the other victims through their testimonies and helping to put Barry away.

By the end of the trial Amanda was thoroughly convinced that her child was much happier, better adjusted, and more comfortable as a girl.

She was amazed at how different Martina was from Marty. Whereas Marty continued to be shy, quiet, miserable, socially awkward, and constantly picked on, Martina was happy, bubbly, vibrant, outgoing, confident, charismatic, and so much fun to have around. She was beginning to have a social life and making close relationships with several friends too.

In early December, Marty attended the town Christmas Parade and Winter Queen beauty pageant, on the square, with his mom. He was one of the contestants in the pageant, and while he didn't win, he was voted Miss Congeniality.

His prize was a certificate for a free hair, nails, and face makeover at a local salon which he took advantage of on the first day of his two week Christmas break.

On Christmas Day Marty found more of the presents under the tree were girly presents addressed to Martina, than not. There were a couple skirts and blouses, one dress, a pair of skinny stretch jeans, a pair of flat sandals, a pair of sandals with two-inch heels, a three pack of padded bras, and a bunch of panties, in various styles.

When Martina asked why so many pairs, Amanda told her, "So Marty can wear a pair to school every day next semester. No one will know you're wearing them, but you'll know and it will remind you of what could be coming when summer break starts. In the meantime, you are going to start weekly sessions with a counselor that will help you to determine if this is really what you want to do for good. I don't want you doing something you'll regret later."

Over the next four months, he continued to attend school as Marty while visiting a counselor every Saturday afternoon dressed as Martina.

The counselor was able to determine that transitioning was absolutely in Martina's best interest. She wrote a letter of referral to an endocrinologist and two days into summer break Martina received both her first shot of male hormone blockers and a female hormone implant in her arm.

As an added bonus, one Friday each month during those four months of the spring school semester, Amanda allowed Marty to dress up as Martina and go hang out at the drive-in restaurant with Enid and the rest of the group he had met at the concert.

They were all members of the youth group from the Episcopalian church in town. After the second time hanging out with them they convinced Martina to go to church with them on Sunday, which she happily did every month after that, to include throughout the summer.

Speaking of summer, Marty spent that entire summer as Martina.

At the town's July Fourth Independence Celebration, Martina ran into Amy's brother and they hung out together for the fireworks display. At the end of the night, they exchanged social media info.

Over the following weeks they began messaging back and forth and on the third weekend of August they went out on their first real date, a double date with his sister Amy, and her girlfriend.

On August first, three weeks before school started again, Amanda took a note from the doctor, to the school guidance counselor. After a lengthy discussion with the counselor and the principal, Marty was disenrolled from the school.