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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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Sarah Carerra Book 2: Summer Medley

Chapter 2.42 - Paramount Theatre

Waking up for church the following morning was really hard. That was why I decided to stay in bed. Mom didn't like that decision, but at least she knew how tired I was. She was unhappy that I had missed so much church during the summer because of my new "job". I'd have to make a bigger effort to attend church on Sunday mornings after my future Saturday performances.

I would have gladly slept all day if Emily hadn't come over and jumped on my bed after she got home from church. We had family coming over this evening for a small party to celebrate Mom's birthday, and Emily wanted to spend some time with me before they started showing up.

After taking a shower to help wake me up we collapsed on the couch in Sarah's room.

"Tell me all about it!" she said excitedly as we sat and listened to the countdown.

So I did. I told her about how awesome it felt to have so many people screaming for me. I told her about how much fun it was to see them singing along with my songs. I told her about how cool it was to see the smiles on the faces of everyone near the stage.

She looked really excited when I finished. I knew that she had been sad that she hadn't been able to attend, but I also knew how much she was looking forward to Thursday night when I was performing at the OC Fair here in Los Angeles. I was excited too. Her family, Ethan's family, Paul's family, and all of my extended family had tickets to that performance. Most of them did not know my true identity, but I was super excited to be able to perform for them.

I had been worried about 'You Can't Hurt Me' falling out of the number one spot on the countdown since the CrayZ song I had displaced was still sticking in there at number two, but his song was listed at number three this week. Then I became worried about what had taken its place, or if my song had already fallen to second. 'Intuition' had only been on top for three weeks, and this would mark the third week that 'You Can't Hurt Me' would be on top if it had held the spot.

I sighed in relief when the number two song was announced. It wasn't mine.

"Who is Desdemona?" I asked with a confused look at Emily. She shrugged as we listened to the girl's song 'Daddy's Little Princess'. It started out much like my own songs did, but then she sang a few lines without any accompaniment before the song turned hard. That definitely wasn't what I had been expecting. Despite being a lot darker and more rock-like than what I usually listened to, I did like the song.

I started to fret slightly once the song was over and my own song started playing. Desdemona had a really good song, and I had no idea who she was. Was this the last week that I would be on top? I was slightly depressed at that thought as we moved on to other things. The music industry changed so quickly that I shouldn't expect to be able to hold the top spot for very long, but I couldn't help but want to hear my song again at the end of the countdown.

The rest of the afternoon was spent having fun and talking. When my family started showing up, I bid Emily farewell and turned my attention toward them.

"You look tired," Tracy told me after she had handed Heather to me and taken a seat next to me on Sarah's couch. Dad had decided he didn't want to hide Sarah's room from everyone, since it had another TV and couch to help keep people entertained. But I was worried enough that I figured I'd be spending most of my time in there keeping people from getting into my stuff. Everyone who came in appeared star-struck as they looked around, and of course they had to touch everything. I felt slightly violated as they pawed all of my things.

"I'm exhausted," I replied while making faces at Heather to make her laugh. She obliged with a gleeful giggle that warmed my heart and helped increase my energy reserves. "But Dad says it gets easier the more I do it."

We weren't alone in the room so we couldn't talk about last night's concert openly, but she still knew what I was referring to. Before we could say anything else, Katy came in and almost had a heart attack when she saw the room. I knew that she was a big fan, and she looked about as star-struck as anyone else I met while appearing as Sarah.

"I'm so excited for Thursday" Tracy said with a large smile on her face. "I've wanted to see her perform in person for a while now."

I smiled at her. "It should be a lot of fun," I said. "I just wish I could be there."

"You aren't going to be there?!" Katy asked, shocked. She came over and took a seat next to us.

"No," I replied, hoping that she would buy the cover story Dad and I had created. "I'm going to be one of Sarah's assistants, and I have to go get certified that night."

She remained shocked. I wasn't sure if it was because I was turning down going to a Sarah Carerra concert or because I was going to be one of her assistants. Probably both. Tracy started laughing at her reaction.

"Missing one concert seems like a small price to pay," I continued. Katy still looked speechless.

"That is so cool!" she screamed, making everyone look over at us. "I was just excited to meet her on Thursday. It would be so much more fun to work for her!"

I grimaced slightly. Most of the "meet and greet" passes for the OC Fair had gone to my family and friends, yet most of them didn't even know who Sarah really was. Interacting with them in a setting like that was not something that I was looking forward to. One mistake and the secret would be out. But they had asked Dad for the tickets, and I wanted them to have the chance to meet Sarah.

At some point I was going to have to tell Katy the truth. I already had some ideas on when I wanted to do that, but it wouldn't be at the concert. I was still worried about letting more people in on the secret, even if she was one of my favorite cousins.

The rest of the party wasn't too bad. We had a lot of fun talking about Sarah and her life. I managed to impart the things that Tracy wanted to hear while still keeping the secret intact. It was after the birthday cake had been cut that part of my world shattered, literally.

Katy, Tracy, and I were walking back to Sarah's room with our cake. Dad had told everyone that they could not bring food in the room, but I made an exception for my favorite cousins. As we approached the door I heard excited voices inside, followed by a sound that would haunt me for many days to come.

"I can't believe it's here!" I recognized the voice as Derek's. I had to assume that the other voice was Kyle's.

"I know," Kyle replied. "You'd think that she would keep it with her."

I immediately became worried and stepped toward the door just in time to see Derek raise a pick and bring it down against the strings of my guitar. The sound it emitted was hideous and wrong.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed at him! He jumped, startled at my yell, and I watched in horror as he lost his grip on my baby and it tumbled out of his hands toward the floor! He swore as he reached forward to try to stop the guitar's fall, but it caused him to lose his balance. The guitar hit the carpet face down, seemingly unharmed. But it continued to lay there as Derek took a step forward to stop his own fall and regain his balance. My poor baby was no match for his large foot, and the crunch I heard as he stepped on and broke through the back of the guitar was deafening to my ears.

I realized a moment later that the loud wail that was echoing around the room was coming from me as I felt my knees buckle and I fell to the floor. My cake tumbled to the carpet beside me.

Dad was there immediately, along with many other members of our family. He quickly grasped the situation and ordered everyone out of the room. Then he reached down and pulled me back to my feet. He wrapped his arms around me and I started sobbing into his shoulder. I loved that guitar! It was perfect! And now it was in pieces on my floor!

"Are you okay?" Katy asked while hovering just outside the door, unsure of why I had reacted the way I did. I couldn't respond to her, but I knew my reaction was totally out of character. It wasn't Megan's guitar that had been destroyed. But I couldn't hold back the tears that were streaming down my cheeks. It WAS my guitar!

"Sarah had just given Megan that guitar," Dad told her. Leave it to him to already be working to protect the secret. "It was very special to her."

I felt another set of arms around me as Dad passed me off to Mom, who directed me toward the couch and sat me down before pulling me into another hug. I vaguely saw Aunt Judy start to pick up my cake as Dad started to collect the pieces of my guitar from the floor and put them back into the case. I vaguely heard Uncle John yelling at Derek in another room. But none of it mattered. I had lost one of my precious babies! And I had a concert to perform in two days!

That was the end of the party. Katy had to go because her dad didn't want Derek there anymore, and I had to dry my eyes long enough to say goodbye to her and to Aunt Judy. My aunt hugged me closely in comfort. She knew my secret, so she knew how much this hurt. She apologized for her son's actions, but it still didn't help me feel any better.

I did not know how long I stayed on that couch. People came to say goodbye, but they all started to blur together in my grief. At some point Mom helped me change and get ready for bed, and it wasn't long before I was dead to the world.

*  *  *

The next day wasn't any better. It was a six hour drive up to Oakland, which meant we didn't even have time to go guitar shopping to find a replacement. I crashed into the hotel bed about as depressed as I had been the night before. I had hoped that I would be able to find a replacement on the morning of the concert, but between the interviews and other responsibilities that I had before the concert started, I didn't have time then either. When I took the stage for the sound check, I was holding an acoustic guitar that Jason had loaned to me. I felt off while singing and we had to replay a number of songs because the sound techs weren't happy with my singing.

I wasn't sure I even wanted to perform another concert anymore. That feeling persisted for much of the day. The band tried to raise my spirits. My family did the same. None of them were successful. It wasn't until I was squeezing the band's Carerra Bear during our pre-concert ritual that I started to feel the despair slowly withdraw from my system. I held onto that Bear for a long, long time, and eventually I became aware of comforting arms wrapped around me.

I knew Stephanie was going to kill me as I stood there hugging that bear; the tears sliding down my cheeks meant that she would probably have to touch up my makeup. But when I finally opened my eyes and passed the bear to Sophie, who along with Holly had been hugging me, I felt calm and collected as Stephanie touched me up. When we all placed our hands on the bear and yelled together, I actually felt happy. I wasn’t 100% yet, but I knew that I could perform for my fans. When I heard the introductory music that signaled the start of the concert intro, I felt the tingle of excitement start to flow throughout my body. When Stacy's drums and Connor’s bass opened the starting song, I felt the rush take over like it always did. Even if I didn't have my guitar, I had my fans to make this night wonderful.

"Are you having fun yet?" I yelled into the microphone after the first song had come to a conclusion. The crowd roared like I expected, and I knew that I was feeling the same thing. I WAS having fun too.

"Do you want to have more?" I yelled once they had calmed down a bit. They screamed loudly again. The Paramount Theatre was the smallest venue on the tour, seating slightly less than 3,000 people. But the noise those fans generated rivaled anywhere else I had performed as it reverberated around the small theatre that had been designed with acoustics in mind.

I smiled at their reaction. This day had started out terribly, but now there wasn't any other place I'd rather be.

"Welcome to the Intuition Tour," I told them and then the band launched straight into 'Intuition'. As I sang through the song that had started my career, I marveled once again at how the crowd sang along with me. 'Intuition' was the first song that I had released, and it was the first song that had topped the charts. Everyone seemed to know the words to at least the chorus, if the volume of the noise that accompanied me was any indication.

Intuition was a love song, of sorts. It talked about how I knew our relationship was meant to be when I had my guy next to me. It wasn't something I had written, since the record company had given me the song, but I hoped that I would get to "feel" what the song talked about someday. I hoped that I found someone who would love me for who I was, both Sarah and Megan together. But until that happened, I was content to sing the upbeat song for the crowd, and they were willing to listen.

They cheered again when the song came to its conclusion, and I stepped over to the side of the stage to where a water bottle was waiting for me. After rehydrating my throat, I returned to the middle to continue the concert.

This next part had been something that I requested to have included. The people I worked with were very important to me, and I wanted to give them the recognition they deserved.

"I want to introduce you to some very important people before we continue," I said into the mic when the crowd’s screaming had died down somewhat. I knew that I was pictured on the big screen behind me, and I could even see the small red light indicating where the camera was. We had a number of them around the theatre to help display my image on the big screen when there wasn't some special effect accompanying my performance on it.

I saw the image on the big screen change to include the entire band as I turned around and started walking the few feet to where Jason was standing.

"Give it up for the band, 'Pop Fly'!" I yelled as I clapped, garnering the cheer I had hoped to get for the band. They all had huge smiles on their faces at the recognition they were receiving. When I reached Jason, I turned back to the crowd.

"Jason Olson, band leader and lead guitar," I said. I knew that a close up of him was being shown on the screen behind me, and I watched as he took a short bow before playing a quick riff on his guitar. The fans cheered just as hard for him as they did for me, and he totally deserved it.

I then stepped over to where Connor was standing. "Connor Christiansen, bass guitar," I told the crowd. He too took a bow and played a small solo before receiving the same response that the crowd had given to Jason.

I had to chuckle at the lopsided smile that Connor had on his face as I moved as close to Stacy as I could. He was on a slightly raised platform, and I could just barely see his head over his drums while standing this close. "Stacy Miller, drums," I introduced him. He stood up and bowed before taking a seat on his stool again and launching into his own solo. The crowd didn't disappoint him either.

As he was playing, I made my way over to where the girls were standing. I stepped between them and pulled them both into a small three-way hug for a short moment before introducing them. "These two girls are as talented as I am, yet for some reason they don't want to take the spotlight." There was some laughter from the crowd for a moment before I could continue. "Sophie Lund and Holly Anderson," I introduced them. I left them to bask in the roar of the crowd as I stepped back to center stage.

"I couldn't do what I do without these wonderful people," I explained. "Not only are they the best band to work with, they are also accomplished songwriters themselves. This next song is one they wrote for me, and I'm proud to be able to sing it in their honor. I'm not the same person that I was when I met them. No, they've made me a 'Different Girl'."

I launched into the song immediately with almost a scream. It definitely wasn't something I normally did in my music, but this also wasn't one of my normal songs. It toned down a bit once the band started playing, but it still continued to be a heavier sound, even though I would still classify it as pop music.

Despite the heavier undertones to the song, it had a really good message. It talked about how this industry could change someone, and in fact had some lines about the changes that the band had observed in me. When I had first heard the song, I was shocked to realize how much I had changed since putting on the wig for the first time. The song talked about the confidence that had grown in me. It talked about the pride I took in my work. It talked about the way I fell in love with every fan whom I met. The strong beat and quick rhythm had many people on their feet bouncing around with the dancers and me on the stage. I enjoyed watching them have a blast as I continued to sing and move through the choreography.

This was one of the hardest songs for me to sing well. It required a lot of breath, and between the fast lyrics and quick dance steps I often ended the song out of breath. Tonight was no exception, because I was panting and doing my best to replenish my oxygen levels as the crowd roared at the end. This song wasn't on my album and it hadn't been played on the radio, so this was the first time that many of them had heard it. But it sounded like it was well-received.

As the lights on the stage dropped to bring us into near darkness to prepare for the next song, I took another deep breath and turned to get into position. Sophie and Holly were right there. Jason and the band weren't much farther away. I realized then how important they were in my performances.

I was still sad about what had happened Sunday night, but I realized that it wasn't the end of the world. As long as I had these wonderful people on the stage with me, it didn't matter what guitar I played. I wasn't sure that we would be able to find a proper replacement for my broken guitar, but I knew that it wouldn't matter.

It was the people who were important.

*  *  *

Once again I was exhausted as I boarded the bus late that night. I knew that I would be sleeping most of the next day if I was going to be ready for the OC Fair on Thursday. One day wasn't a lot of time to recover, but I knew that some artists played back to back performances. I couldn't imagine doing something like that, but I was sure it was something that I would learn how to do from first-hand experience.

After changing into something that I could sleep in for the ride back home, I was ready to slide into bed when there was a knock on the door to my room. I opened it to find Dad standing there. I let him in and then closed the door behind me to keep from bothering Austin, whose bunk was right outside. I could already hear him softly snoring.

"How are you doing?" Dad asked me while I sat down on the bed. He leaned against the dresser.

"I'm okay," I said. "Exhausted again, but okay."

He chuckled slightly before he spoke. "I think you are always going to be exhausted after a show," he said. "You try to give the fans everything you have, and that is going to make you feel drained. But that is also one of your biggest strengths. I'll let you sleep in tomorrow, but we'll need to replace your guitar in the afternoon."

I sighed. I really didn't want to go guitar shopping again. I had really loved my guitar, and now it was still sitting in pieces on a table in Sarah's room. I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, and Dad had obliged my desire to leave it there.

I nodded to let him know that I would go. Despite my desire not to, I did need a guitar. Perhaps I should even find a couple of them in case something like this ever happened again.

"We've also got an appointment with your principal on Friday," Dad told me. I sat up stiffly at that information.

"Why?" I asked suspiciously. Principal Hall had proven to be a friend at the end of the school year, but I still remembered how mad he had been at me before that.

"We need someone whom we can work with at your school," he said. "You'll miss some days because of your career, and he can help us make sure that you get everything done that you need to without telling the entire school why you are gone."

"You're going to tell him the secret?!" I nearly screamed. How could Dad even trust him with that information after the way he had acted? I certainly didn't want him to know!

"He's a good guy, Megan," Dad explained calmly. "I've been talking and working with him on a few things, and I trust him. He'll do the right thing and help make sure that the school year goes smoothly for you. I promise."

I wasn't sure that I believed him, but I nodded reluctantly. It was apparent that Dad had already made up his mind on this issue, and I wasn't likely going to be able to change it.

Dad kissed me on the forehead before heading for the door. All I could do is hope that everything would work out okay as he closed the door behind him.

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Want more Sarah Carerra?
Hear the songs that inspired this piece of the concert at sarahcarerra.com

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Special Thanks
I have to give a special thanks to Faeriemage for letting me use Desdemona during this chapter. If you haven't read it yet, check out 12-String now.