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Editor Note: The images used for this story were purchased and used under royalty-free license* from Istockphoto.com . ~Sephrena

Author Note: Please email me at AngelJediGirl (at) gmail (dot) com before posting this story to any other site. Posting to a pay site is prohibited.

Comments and suggestions are also welcome at the above email address.

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Foreword:
 
I've been trying to get a sequel to A Flower's Bloom finished. I started writing it in earnest in April, and I have it about halfway completed. I think I will release it in two parts.

However, some of the autobiographical pieces have become harder to write because of some things that have happened this summer. They don't affect the story at all, but it is more difficult to try to get my thoughts down. I want to apologize to everyone that has been waiting for a sequel, and I promise it's still coming.

In the meantime, I had an idea that really intrigued me for a story. Since I needed a break from AFB2, I started writing it one Friday. A week later it was already half as long as the sequel to A Flower's Bloom.

I didn't expect to be writing a serial story, but I don't yet know where or when I wanted the story to end. I have many ideas and things that I want to incorporate before then, and we'll have to see where the story takes us. If you have any suggestions or ideas for things you would like to see happen in the story, please send them to the email address above.

I also want to thank JP for all the help he's provided me.

I hope you enjoy the story.

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Sarah Carerra
Chapter 1 - The Beginning

It all started at a party. Well, I guess it actually started years earlier, but we'll get to that later.

Anyway, there I was, at Johnny Crawford's party. It was a good party. He always had good parties, or so I had heard. Johnny's dad was a scout for a record label, and he always threw these parties for his son. He benefitted from the parties by having a karaoke machine that the kids would use, and he had found a few new talents this way.

I'd never been to one of Johnny's parties before, but my best friends Emily and Ethan had made sure to drag me along to this one. I really didn't have a desire to be there. I'd much rather be at home, playing on my computer or reading a book.

I was surprised at how many people were there. It was widely known that anyone who wanted to attend one of these parties was welcome. Johnny's dad would not let him exclude anyone. But it was also widely known that the parties were chaperoned. Johnny's dad was always there, listening for new talent. His presence usually kept the parties decent, and the undesirables almost never showed up.

I was amazed at the size of the place too. We lived in a nice section of L.A., but I think Johnny's family must have had the nicest home in the area. They had set up food and non-alcoholic drinks in one giant dining room, a large hall contained a DJ with a dance floor, and a small concert hall held the karaoke. They'd even opened both the indoor and outdoor pools.

My friends and I managed to get some food and something to drink, and decided to listen to the karaoke while we ate. Sitting down in one of the seats in the hall, we ate while we watched those willing to make fools of themselves while trying to sing along to the song. We laughed at those who weren't any good, and marveled at a couple who seemed to do very well. We were having a great time together.

"I bet you could sing as well as that girl, Brett," Emily told me after one of the better performers.

I smirked at the thought. I enjoyed singing, but I didn't think I was very good at it. "I don't know," I told her. I really didn't want to sing in front of Johnny's dad, let alone half the school.

"You can't be any worse than this guy," Ethan told me while we listened to a large guy who was way off tune. He looked to be in his late twenties, and I guessed the only reason he was at this mostly teen party was to be seen by Johnny's dad. Emily and I both laughed at his comment. The guy really wasn't doing well at all.

"I don't know, guys," I told them again.

"Come on," Emily said. "I dare you to do it."

She seemed pretty insistent for some reason, and I was overwhelmed at the pressure she seemed to be putting on me. She was giving me that puppy dog look that always got her dad to give her what she wanted. It usually worked on me too, unfortunately.

"I don't think so," I said, barely resisting her super powers. "I really don't want to make a fool of myself."

They both chuckled at my statement, but they didn't seem to buy into my reasoning.

"You're a very good singer," Emily started to say. Ethan was nodding his head in agreement. "Just give it a try; it won't be that bad."

I grimaced at their insistence. This was the last thing I wanted to do at the party. "Is this why you dragged me to the party?" I asked them. Their guilty looks were enough of an answer for me. I knew that something had to be going on. They'd never shown any interest in these parties before.

"Look," Emily took the lead in continuing their fight. "You're an excellent singer. You know you love it. We just thought you might have a chance to try it professionally. Give it a shot. If Johnny's dad is interested in you then great; otherwise you can go back to singing when we're alone."

I grimaced at her explanation. I certainly didn't think I was good enough to get a recording contract, so what made them think differently?

"I can't. I'm just not good enough for that."

The looks they were giving me told me that they thought otherwise. Other than my family, they were really the only ones that I had ever allowed to hear me sing. I just felt too self conscious to let anyone else hear me.

"Come on," Ethan said with some irritation. "You're better than you think you are. Just give it a shot."

"Yeah," Emily agreed. "In fact, if you get up there and sing, I will too."

I had to laugh at this new tactic. While Ethan was a fairly good singer, Emily was horrible, and she knew it. To be willing to stand up there and make a fool of herself, she really must have wanted me to sing.

"All right," I said, finally convinced to give it a try. "But I won't let you do that to yourself."

She laughed back at me, knowing her own limits, and started pulling me down towards the bottom of the hall. There was a DJ at the bottom who was running the Karaoke system. Emily walked up to him and whispered something into his ear.

"Are you sure?" he asked the two of us. Not knowing what she said, I could only look at Emily in askance. What was she planning now?

"Yeah, I'm sure," Emily said and then turned back towards me. "Just remember, do your best and don't worry about what everyone else thinks."

Uh oh, I was really worried now! She would only say something like that if there was the potential for embarrassment, more than my singing would cause anyway. Warily I asked, "What am I singing?"

"Don't worry", she said with a sly grin that I did not trust in the slightest. "You know the song."

With a final push from her I was climbing the stairs up to the stage. I stepped up to the microphone and waited for the music to start, worried more than ever about what song she picked for me.

Once the music started, I nearly freaked out and jumped right off the stage! I knew what Emily was doing, but I didn't want the embarrassment that this was going to cause me at school on Monday morning! I knew there were many other students from my school in the audience!

Let me just preface what happened next with an explanation. Remember when I said this all started years before? Well, it did. And because of that, my voice has not changed much as I've gotten older. At 16 years of age, I was sorry to admit that I was an alto. I would probably always be an alto. It was another reason I was hesitant to let people hear me sing. I was hoping to get up here and sing a song that wouldn't show the audience how high my pitch was, but Emily made sure to keep that possibility from happening. I would have to kill her for this.

A prelude to a Hannah Montana song started playing. While I must admit that she has some very good songs, they don't often get sung by guys! I could already hear a number of chuckles and giggles coming from those sitting in the first few rows. I felt myself turning beet red, and I tried to find Emily to glare at her, but could not see much in the slightly subdued lighting of the hall. The glare of the lights on the stage meant I'd have to suffer through this alone. I was terrified!

Moments later I realized that I had already missed my cue into the song. The words were leaping across the karaoke screen, but they weren't coming out of my mouth. With a nervous feeling in my gut, I jumped in at the first opportunity.

Emily had caught me singing along to the title song for Hannah Montana a couple of months ago when she had the Disney channel on one day. We were sitting on her couch trying to do some homework, but we were both really watching the show. I hadn't even realized that I was singing.

After the show was over she made me sing more. Her little sister had a soundtrack to the show, and Emily wouldn't let me go back to my homework until I had sung a few of the ones I knew the words to. She said I sang them really well. I thought there was no way I could compete with Miley, and she agreed, but she said that was more because my tone was different and not because she had a better voice. I didn't agree with that statement.

But she may have been right. While I continued to sing the song I noticed that the few people whom I could see off the stage were no longer laughing or pointing at me. Instead, they seemed to be sitting back and listening like my friends and I had done, when one of the better singers had taken the stage.

As embarrassed as I was to be singing a Hannah Montana song in front of people who would probably make fun of me for it later, I started to enjoy the experience. Like I said before, I did enjoy singing, and being able to share it with others was always one thing I enjoyed doing. I just wished my voice sounded manlier.

When the song ended, I found myself standing there smiling like a lunatic. That was the most fun I'd had in a long time! I didn't realize that I would enjoy singing to an audience so much!

Then I noticed the audience for the first time. They were all clapping, and now that the lights had come up a bit, I noticed that there were a few people standing at the same time!

Turning bright red again, I quickly ran off the stage and headed for my seat next to Emily and Ethan. Even though I had fun, I still wanted to make sure Emily paid for her antics.

I quickly ducked into my seat while the next person got up to sing the next song. I was happy when the lights dimmed, and it was harder to see the other people in the concert hall. I was still embarrassed at what I had done.

"That was so awesome!" Ethan told me with a large grin on his face. I'd never seen him look so excited about my singing before.

"You are an excellent singer, Brett," Emily agreed with him. "But I've never heard you sing that well before. It's like you had confidence in what you were singing. Before, you seemed to be self-conscious of your voice. Tonight you let it shine through."

Their comments had deepened the blush that was still covering my face. I turned to Emily, and tried to scowl at her, but I don't think it came out that way. "How could you do that to me?" I asked her.

"Do what? Make you sing to the best of your ability? That doesn't sound like something you should be mad about."

She was only making it worse. How could I be mad at her when she used that kind of logic? "But...the song!"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Don't give me that," she said. "You know that you've got a higher pitched voice, you should be proud of it. I wanted you to understand that."

I wanted to yell back at her that I didn't want a high voice, but before I got a chance there was someone behind us.

"Excuse me, young lady," he said. We all looked up at him.

"Yes?" Emily replied.

"Sorry," the man said with a wave of his hand. "I meant her."

He was pointing at me, which made me want to sink even further into my seat! Alright, alright, I didn't look like the average teenage guy at the age of 16 either. In fact, I looked a lot more like Emily than I did Ethan. Suffice it to say that my testosterone production was not the best, and my slight build and unnervingly feminine features often led people to mistake me for a girl. My long dark brown hair probably had something to do with it too. Maybe it was time to get it cut. I had let it grow a couple feet long, nearly to the bottom of my back. It definitely was not the kind of hair that most guys had.

I swallowed as he turned back to me. "Can I have a word with you for a moment?"

I was freaked out now, and I heard Emily answer "Of course" for me. With more trepidation than I would have liked, I stood up and followed Johnny's dad, for that's who it was, out of the concert hall and down the adjacent hallway to a plush office. Why did he want to talk to me?

"Have a seat," he told me, indicating a plush chair in front of his desk. He walked around and took his own chair while I complied.

"That was amazing," he told me, and then smiled at the shock I was sure was evident on my face. "You truly have a gifted voice. How long have you been singing?"

"I uh," I started, but found the words hard to come by. "I, well, I don't really. Not with others around."

"You should," was his only response. "You're very talented."

I was blushing again. I hadn't had this type of reaction in years. My face was going to explode if I kept rushing blood to it.

"In fact," he continued, pulling something out of his top drawer. "I'd like to offer you the chance to make a demo CD. You've got the type of voice that we're looking for."

I was completely shocked now! I wasn't good enough for a recording contract! Why would he be offering me one? And, and, he thought I was a girl! That could definitely be a problem!

"What's your name?" he asked me. I hesitated. I could have come clean now, but it might have risked my chance to sing more, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I wanted to sing more. I wanted a contract, even if I didn't know that I did just five minutes earlier. I'd have to play along for now. I could always tell him the truth about my true gender later, right?

"Megan," I told him. The name leaped out of my mouth without conscious thought. I had used it enough times in the past.

"Megan...?" I looked at him blankly for a minute before realizing that he wanted more.

"Oh, sorry, Megan Campbell."

"Well Megan, are you busy tomorrow afternoon?" he asked.

I shook my head slightly. I couldn't think of anything that I had planned for that time tomorrow.

"Good," he said with a comforting smile. "How about you meet me at my studio at 3 o'clock and we can record a demo CD. I can then get it over to my company and hear what they have to say."

"O...okay." I replied. This was happening so fast, I couldn't believe he was offering me this chance! I couldn't believe that I actually wanted it for that matter!

"Great!" he said while standing back up. He extended his hand, holding a business card. "Here's my card. The address for the studio is there on the front. Make sure you bring a parent, because you'll need them to sign some papers."

I took the card and looked at it briefly. In shock he led me back to the concert hall and told me to enjoy the party.

Moments later I slumped into my seat next to Emily.

"What did he want?" she asked me almost immediately. I handed the card to her.

"He wants me to come down to his studio tomorrow and record a demo CD."

"Oh my gosh Brett, that's great!" she exclaimed while wrapping me in a hug. "Now do you believe that you’re as good as we said?"

I had to admit that I must be better than I thought I was. I didn't think there was anything particularly great about my singing, but maybe I was wrong.

"Come on," she said while grabbing my arm and turning towards the door. "Let's go tell your parents."

We left the party and were soon in Ethan's car, driving towards my house.

"There's only one problem," I told them, not sure how to broach the subject.

"What?" Emily asked cautiously.

"Well," I responded, reluctant to open this topic with my friends. "He thinks I'm a girl."

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