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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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Chapter 7 - Like a Record, Baby Right Round Round Round

Tuesday morning presented the conundrum I didn't want to face. Leaving my hair down made it pretty obvious that I had gotten a girl's haircut. But putting it up showed off the very feminine studs that were in my newly pierced ears. It was a lose-lose scenario. At least I was able to remove the nail polish, preventing even more embarrassment.

"I don't think it matters," Emily told me when I stepped outside to walk with her to school. "Both are going to be noticed eventually."

I frowned, but left my hair hiding my ears. I figured it was the lesser of two evils. "I should have waited until the end of the school year."

"No," Emily disagreed. "You'll get through this, and you look much better. I can't wait to see you with makeup on now."

"Like this?" I said, pulling a photo out of my backpack and showing it to her. My mom had taken the photo last night after we got home from the salon. She wanted to remember my first salon experience, apparently.

"Wow!" Emily squealed in delight while taking the photo from me to get a better look. "You're beautiful!"

"It was kind of surprising," I said shyly.

"What was?" Ethan said, making me jump and shriek like a little girl. I hadn't realized we had already walked all the way down to his house.

"Sorry," he apologized, but didn't say anything about my reaction. "What was surprising?"

"This..." Emily answered, handing him the photo.

"Wow!" he agreed with Emily. "You're hot."

That comment proceeded to turn my face really red. The last thing I needed was Ethan, my best guy pal, thinking I made a hot girl. I noticed Emily wasn't doing anything but laughing at my torment.

"You're going to have to get used to it, Megan," she said, before chuckling again.

"It's Brett during school hours, remember." I scolded her. "I don't need to get into any more trouble than I'm already in.

"I don't know about that," Ethan said, returning my photo to me. "You look more like Megan than you do Brett, even wearing boy clothes."

Now I was embarrassed and worried. What were the other kids going to think?

*  *  *

With great relief I took a seat at the table next to Emily and Ethan at lunch.

"Tough morning?" Emily asked.

I nodded. "You don't know the half of it. Everyone thinks I'm a girl now."

Someone started giggling. I noticed it was Kathy on the other side of the table. Kathy was a friend, but we weren't close like Ethan, Emily, and I. With her were Jane and Ashley, two other girls that hung out with us sometimes. I'm not quite sure why Ethan and I spent so much time around girls we weren't dating. It’s not like I'd ever really been on a date because of my accident six years earlier.

"It's probably because..." she said when she noticed my look. ”You do look like one."

"I know, I know," I said in a disgruntled voice. "But do people really have to rub it in?"

"They'll get over it," Emily said, trying to bring my spirits up. "Once the novelty fades."

I sighed. I was afraid that the novelty would last longer than the school year.

"Why do you?" Kathy asked. I stared at her for a minute, not understanding her half question. "I mean, why do you look like a girl all of a sudden? At least more of a girl."

"What does that mean?" I asked angrily.

"Nothing," she said defensively, realizing her mistake. "It's just...don't get mad, but you've always been a bit girly, you know."

I sighed. That seemed to be the story of my life lately. Maybe I really am a girl, and I never was a boy. Unfortunately, I had too many memories before the accident to believe that.

Kathy was still looking at me, I realized moments later. She was waiting for an answer. I couldn't really give her one. Unlike Emily and Ethan, she didn't know the story. That was privileged information. Only those who could be trusted knew.

"So that I can sing," I eventually said. I figured sticking with a partial truth would be better than an outright lie. At least this way I might have an excuse that she would buy. Perhaps not.

"So you can sing?" she repeated, obviously not understanding my explanation. I just nodded.

"We went to Johnny's party Friday night," Ethan elaborated. "She sang there, and Johnny's dad was interested in her voice."

"She?" Ashley asked. This just kept getting better and better. I managed to kick Ethan under the table, and delighted in the squeal he emitted.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing his leg.

"What he means," Emily continued the explanation. "Is that Johnny's dad thought he was a girl, and asked him to make a demo CD."

"Oh that's cool!" Kathy exclaimed. "I didn't know you could sing!"

"She has a beautiful voice," Ethan said, way too dreamily in my opinion. A second kick to the same spot got that look off his face.

"Brett has an excellent voice," Emily said, glaring at Ethan along with me. "But it's higher than most guys."

"I don't sing in public," I explained. I was just glad that nobody had mocked me for my singing at the party yet, and I hoped everyone had forgotten about it.

"Okay," Kathy said. "But that still doesn't explain why you have to look like a girl."

"I probably don't anymore," I said. "I told Johnny's dad the truth when we made the demo. He said he'd submit the demo, but the likelihood of the record company wanting my voice in a male talent was small, and he didn't want to worry about pretending to have me be a girl."

She nodded, along with Jane and Ashley. They seemed to have bought the lie. Now I just needed to think up a plausible excuse about why I was going to keep doing it.

*  *  *

We were walking home after school when my cell rang.

"Megan!" my dad was practically screaming into the phone. "Hurry home, I've got exciting news!"

"What is it?" I screamed back.

"You've got a meeting with the record company. They're interested in your voice!"

"Yes!" I screamed, not into the phone this time. I also did a little jig. Ethan and Emily were just staring at me like I had lost my mind. I yelled back at them, "The record company is interested!"

They joined my jig.

*  *  *

"The meeting is tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock," my dad said.

"Yes!" I voiced my inner excitement. "I get to miss school too!"

He didn't seem to be as enthusiastic about that prospect as I was. Dad, Mom, Ethan, Emily, and I were sitting around our dining table. We'd run the rest of the way to my house, and they wanted to hear the news nearly as much as I did.

"They said you have a great voice, they loved your vocals on that song they were pitching, and," he paused, looking at Emily and Ethan for a moment. "They like your image."

"My image?" I needed clarification on that one. They hadn't ever seen me. I mean, I'd just gotten the wigs last night.

My dad nodded. "I talked to Scott this morning. He seemed interested in our ideas and passed them on to the label. They seemed to agree with them."

Emily and Ethan looked lost at where the discussion had gone, but Dad seemed to be avoiding the Sarah Carerra bit for some reason, so I followed his lead.

"You've also got an appointment with an image consultant at nine," he stated, bringing a large smile to my face. I'm glad he was well connected at work. "She's very good and she'll help us get you jazzed up for the meeting."

"That's so cool," Emily blurted out, and I couldn't agree more. Turning to me she asked, "Do you need any company?"

I wasn't quite sure how to respond. My dad didn't seem to want to tell them about Sarah for some reason, and I couldn't agree without letting her in on the secret. It was Dad who was able to answer.

"Not this time," he told her, causing her shoulders to drop. "Maybe next time."

"If there is a next time," my brother said from the couch where he was watching TV. He apparently didn't think I had a chance. Then again, I'd made sure not to let him hear me sing too much. Maybe he didn't know how good I was. I was still starting to realize how good I was.

"Anyway," my dad continued. "We can talk more about the details later. You go have fun with your friends for now."

He winked at me, confirming my suspicions that he didn't want them to know about Sarah Carerra, and I wondered how I was going to keep such a big secret from them.

*  *  *

Later that night, while I was getting ready for bed, Dad knocked on my bedroom door. Quickly pulling my nightgown over my head, I let him in.

"Hey," he said, smiling at me. He really seemed to be taking this change well. "I'm so proud of you."

He wrapped me in a hug, and then kissed my forehead before letting me go. It was definitely something he never would have done if I was still Brett.

Geez, I certainly took to being Megan a bit too quickly. I realized that Brett now seemed to be the alter ego, even though that was who I was every day, all day, less than a week ago.

I smiled at him. "Why don't you want them to know about Sarah?"

"I don't want to make you keep secrets from them," he said with a frown. "I know how much they mean to you. But for now, at least until Sarah's career has been established, I think it would be best if fewer people know her real identity."

"That could be hard, Daddy," I said. Daddy? That was new. "They know about the meeting, they'll want to come to sound recordings and things."

"I know, Princess," he told me. Princess? This was starting to get weird. "We'll figure something out. We can let them in on it soon, I promise."

I just nodded, wondering again how I was going to be able to keep it from them.

"Good night," he said with a smile.

"Good night."

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