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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 2.04 - Song and Sand

Uncle Kevin and his family were gone when we arrived home after seeing Mary. I assumed that they had already headed down to the beach, and Mom said she'd drive me down after lunch to catch up with them. In the meantime, I had something very important that I wanted to do.

I stepped into Sarah's room. Normally, I would have locked the door behind me, but with our relatives gone, I left the door closed but unlocked so that my mom could come and get me when lunch was ready.

I'd had two songs running around in my head since the concert - two songs that I wanted to write down on paper. It had been a while since I had written a song, but I needed to get these out of my head soon. I'd dabbled with one in my free time over the last week, but today I decided to settle down and work on the one I had been avoiding.

I opened my guitar case and pulled out the black guitar that we had purchased a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't had it for long, but I was in love with my new guitar. It was the perfect instrument, at least in my mind.

I took the guitar, picked up the notebook and pencil sitting next to the case, and stepped over to the couch. I sat down and placed the guitar on my knee, and then I flipped through the notebook to a blank page to write down the new song. The few pages with writing were filled with half songs that still needed work, including the other one I had also dabbled with over the last week. That song was about my new, crazy life, and just how amazing it had become. I couldn't wait to finish it.

But today I was focused on something else. My session with Mary and my parents this morning had led us to Josh on many occasions, and this song was all about him. It didn't mention him by name, but I felt that it would be a powerful song once I had finished it.

I started by plucking at the strings of my guitar, trying to find the song that was in my head and to bring it into reality. It took me a few minutes, but the melody started to flow out of me just as easily as it flowed through my mind. After another half an hour, and a lot of erasing in the notebook, I started to write the lyrics.

Many of them were already finalized in my mind, and I decided to try singing it before writing down a single word.

I started playing the tune once more. This time through, I started to sing where I knew the words belonged. I didn't know all of them, but the ones that I did know fit perfectly into the song. Once I had sung through the whole thing, I started frantically writing the words down in the notebook. As I did, more words came to mind, and I had to hear how they sounded in the song.

I went back and forth like this for another 45 minutes, until finally I felt that the full song was on paper. This was the quickest I had ever written a song, and I couldn't believe how well it had come together!

For one last time before lunch, I started to sing the song again. This time I tried to put my heart into it, to see how it would sound when I really performed it.

I couldn't believe that I had written a love song about Josh! I didn't think I was even going to be able to win him back anymore. But it was definitely a powerful song. As I sang, I could see his face in front of me, and it made the whole song worthwhile. I needed to call him, to try and do something to get him back.

When I finished playing, I sighed.

"That was amazing!" someone said from nearby. I yelped, I jumped, and I nearly dropped my precious guitar.

"Maddie!" I screamed at the voice. "What are you doing here?" They were supposed to be at the beach, but she wasn't even wearing a bathing suit!

"I'm sorry," she said, looking guilty at either coming into the locked room, or scaring me; I wasn't sure which. "I didn't know that you could sing like that! You were amazing!"

"It was nothing," I replied, and tried to shrug it off. I didn't want her to get close to my music career.

"No it wasn’t. It was a lot more than that," she said with a sly grin. "You don't write songs like that for nothing. Who was it about?"

"Nobody," I said immediately. The last thing I needed to do was start to talk about Josh. That would lead to the secret quickly. "It's just a song."

"Not when you sigh at the end like that," she continued, and the sly grin hadn't left her face. She looked around the room for the first time. "It's about Josh Holliday, isn't it?"

I was speechless for a second. How did she know? There was absolutely no reason why she would know who this song was about. As far as she was concerned, I didn't even know Josh Holliday.

"No!" I emphatically answered. She didn't seem to buy it though, her grin slid into a smirk at my answer. "I don't even know Josh Holliday."

"You know, I've been watching Sarah Carerra for a while now," Madison said, making me jump at her use of my alternate name. "I've been reading about her in magazines. I bought her single. I watched her concert last Sunday. And you know what? She had the same look on her face as you just did when she sang 'Open Your Eyes'. I'm just guessing, but you have it bad for him."

"I don't even know him!" I reiterated.

"Megan, don't lie to me, please," she said, taking a seat on the couch next to where I had been working. "I just learned that my favorite cousin is Sarah Carerra! I want to enjoy this moment!"

"I'm not Sarah Carerra!" I blurted out without even thinking. But the look on Madison's face told me that she didn't buy that statement for a minute. She knew, somehow she knew! I sighed and slumped back down onto the couch next to her.

"How did you find out?" I asked. The least I could do was try to not let the same thing happen in the future.

"Well, I knew something was up when you came home yesterday," she said. "I mean, you were wearing some wicked awesome clothes. But I didn't start to get suspicious until I saw Sarah on 'The Tonight Show' in the same clothes you had been wearing.

"I wasn't certain until I stepped into this room, though." She looked around again. I looked with her. The posters on the walls of Sarah, signed by me, were a pretty good indication of whose room this was. The other decorations that Mom and I had added after Dad had converted the room from a spare bedroom had only made it more obvious.

"That song sounded amazing, and when I heard it while passing by in the hall, I had to see who was singing," she continued. "I didn't expect it to be you. How could you keep this from me?"

"I'm sorry, Maddie," I told her. "This secret is very important to my life. If people find out who I am, I won't have a normal life anymore. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't think it was time."

"So you're doing the whole Hannah Montana thing?" she asked. There didn't seem to be any animosity in her question. Perhaps she wasn't really mad at me for not telling her.

"Yeah," I replied. "My therapist suggested it. She wanted me to have a regular life as a girl too. This was before we found out that I really am a girl. She wanted me to experience life as a female before I decided which way I was going to live."

Madison thoughtfully pondered this information. Then that sly grin appeared again.

"So, was it about Josh?" she asked again.

I laughed. I wasn't going to get out of this without telling her.

*  *  *

"Lunch is ready," Mom interrupted us a while later. This time we were in my room, where we were getting ready to go to the beach. Apparently, they had run some errands earlier and hadn't planned on heading down until after lunch.

"Okay," I told her from my dresser. I had just pulled out my only bathing suit, a black bikini. "Be right there."

"You can wear a bikini?" Madison asked me with wide eyes. Even though she seemed to have accepted me as a girl, it was apparent that she still didn't understand how far that statement already reached.

"Yeah," I told her with a sly grin of my own. I knew I could pass completely in the bikini. I'd worn it to the beach once since Mom had insisted on buying it for me. She would be totally surprised when she saw me wearing it.

"Put it on!" she said excitedly.

"After lunch," I replied, knowing that it would torture her. She just groaned.

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"Would you just take it off already?" Madison screamed at me. We had just placed our towels down on the sand, and she wanted me to take off the summer dress that was covering my bikini. I'd managed to lock myself in Sarah's room after lunch where she couldn't see me change, and she was practically dying to see what I looked like in the bikini.

I laughed, but started pulling the dress over my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James and Aunt Olivia stop to watch too.

For the second time in a row, I heard an audible gasp when I uncovered my bikini-clad form. Ethan had gasped last time I came to the beach. Today it was James' turn. I didn't like the way he was staring at me now that my curves were on display.

"I guess you really are a girl!" Madison exclaimed from beside me. I just grinned at her.

The rest of the afternoon was spent much the same way that we spent nearly every afternoon when we came to the beach. We rode the waves and sat in the sun. As evening was approaching, we even ventured out on the pier and rode some of the rides. I hadn't been out on the pier in ages, and it was nice to take a break from just sitting on the sand.

It felt just like old times.

*  *  *

A short while later we were on our way back home. Mom and Aunt Olivia had left early to get dinner ready, so Austin, Dad, and I had filed into Uncle Kevin's van with his family for the 15 minute drive back home.

Madison slid in beside me. "Music please," she called from where we were sitting on the back seat. I heard James grimace, but Uncle Kevin turned on the radio anyway. He then switched around the stations until he found one that was playing music. I grinned inwardly when I recognized it as my favorite station.

I had gotten Madison to promise to not tell anyone else in her family about Sarah, and we had to resort to talking about other things for a while. But when the intro started, I was only a second faster than Madison in recognizing my song coming from the van's speakers. She sat up immediately and turned toward the front.

"Turn it up!" she yelled. James groaned again. He apparently recognized the music too, but had a different reaction.

"Please don't," James added his own opinion on what the settings for the radio should be. "I can't stand Sarah Carerra."

I felt a stab of pain that my own cousin would say that.

"What?" I found myself saying before I even realized it. "Why?"

James turned around and looked at us. He looked almost betrayed that I would take Maddie's side in this argument. Little did he know...

"Because she's only been on the music scene for two weeks, and she's already got a number one hit. She should have to work for it," he said. "Besides, this song isn't anything fancy. She should do something original."

I just stared at him. I had never heard anyone tell me that they didn't like Sarah Carerra or her music. Hearing it from my cousin was not something that I had expected.

"How can you say that with Megan sitting right here?" Madison asked him, clearly distressed by his words. I winced. She knew my secret but James didn't! However, she was referring to me like he did.

"What do you mean?" James asked, confused.

Madison realized then what she had said, but I feared that it was already too late.

"Nothing," Maddie replied, but I knew that James would not accept that answer. When James realized that Maddie wasn't going to respond, he turned toward me. He didn't ask anything, he just lifted his eyebrows. I grimaced.

"Are you going to tell them?" Austin asked from where he was sitting next to Logan. He probably thought he was trying to help, but all he did was confirm that there was something the others didn't know.

I turned back to James, who was still looking at me. In fact, everyone in the car was looking at me now. I could even see Uncle Kevin glancing at me in the rear-view mirror as he drove. I didn't know what to do, and glanced up at my dad, who smiled slightly at me before nodding his head slowly.

I sighed. I hadn't wanted to tell them, but I knew I could not keep it a secret anymore. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and listened to the music. Once I knew where the song was, I started singing along. When I opened my eyes again, everyone was still staring at me. I continued to sing until the song came to an end.

There was silence in the van for a moment. Nobody knew what to say.

"Are you kidding me?" James finally blurted out. "You're Sarah Carerra?"

I stared intently at him. How could Madison do this to me? She had promised not to tell anyone, and now three more people knew my secret! Even if they were family, they were liabilities that could now leak that secret to the public. I hoped they could be entrusted with it. My life as I knew it would be over if they couldn’t.

"Yes," I replied softly but clearly. "I am."

*  *  *

When we walked into the front door of my house a short time later we were greeted by the wonderful smell of a homemade dinner. Mom was an excellent cook, and with the help of Aunt Olivia I figured we were in for a good meal. But there were other things on my mind that distressed me.

"Alright, we're home," James said to me. "Prove it."

Despite his initial reaction, he didn't believe that I was Sarah Carerra. Even Dad's confirmation wasn't enough for him. But there was an easy way to confirm it.

"Follow me," I said while stepping toward the hallway. As we passed the kitchen, I looked in to see Mom and Aunt Olivia who were hard at work. I grinned slightly at them and continued walking past. Madison had other ideas.

"Mom!" she said excitedly. "You gotta come see this!"

"What is it?" I heard Aunt Olivia ask in a slightly concerned tone. My own mother looked up too.

"Just come see!" Maddie continued, urging her mother to follow us. I knew my own mother would be right behind her.

I continued walking down the hall until I reached the door to Sarah's room. I turned back to everybody in the hallway, noticing the curious looks that most of them were giving me. They knew the truth now, and despite any negative emotions that brought to me, I was always happy to share this side of my life with those I loved. I turned the knob and took a step inside, allowing the others to follow me in.

"Welcome to Sarah's room," I told them. I could see James' eyes open wide when he saw some of the decorations around the room. The posters could have been purchased by anyone, but every single one of them was signed by Sarah Carerra. Some of the other pictures were harder to obtain. There was a picture of Josh and me on the red carpet, a few other promotional photos that hadn't been turned into posters, and a framed photo of Sarah Carerra with a young girl in what appeared to be an airport terminal.

But it still wasn't enough for James.

"Nice room," he said. "But it still doesn't prove that you are Sarah Carerra."

I smirked. I had a feeling he'd want more. While everyone had been looking around, I had stepped over to the one thing that would prove it to him without a doubt.

I turned toward the locked armoire and punched in the access code on a small keypad, unlocking it before pulling open both doors.

"What about these?" I asked him, pointing to the many wigs that were sitting atop foam heads inside. I stepped back from the armoire and started gathering my hair on top of my head, reaching for a few pins when I was done. My family continued to watch as I pinned my hair before turning back toward the wigs. I picked up the one I had used for both of my performances, and slowly placed it on my head before turning back to James.

"It's nice to meet you, James Campbell. My name is Sarah Carerra." I held my hand out as if we were meeting for the first time, and I watched his eyes widen once again, before his gaze turned crestfallen. Then I realized too late why he refused to believe me. He refused to believe me because he, like Ethan, had a crush on Sarah Carerra. He didn't hate her at all!

I sighed once again. This certainly wasn't the reaction I was hoping for.

"I'm sorry, James," I told him, dropping my hand in the process. "I didn't know."

He nodded, but nothing escaped his pursed lips. I had just crushed the dreams of another young man who had fantasies about meeting Sarah Carerra.

I quickly took the wig off and replaced it in the armoire. The magic of Sarah Carerra was lost to me for the moment, and I didn't want to be wearing it.

"Can...Can I have your autograph?" James asked a moment later. I smiled as I pulled the pins from my hair. At least I hadn't alienated him completely.

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