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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 2.09 - The Band Played On

I was putting the last pin into my wig when my phone rang. Tracy had pulled over on the way back to the studio to allow me to put the wig back on without the painful experience I had gone through the day of the concert, when I tried to pin it on in Dad's moving car.

I quickly finished and reached for my purse. I knew that someone was calling Sarah because of the ringtone, and I figured someone at the studio was wondering where I had gone. A quick glance at the screen told me that it was my dad calling me.

"Hi, Don," I said. He wouldn't be calling me on Sarah's line if he wanted me to call him ‘Dad’.

"Sarah!" Dad replied immediately. There was urgency in his voice. "Where are you?"

"I went out to lunch with Tracy," I told him. He was beginning to worry me now with his tone. Was something wrong?

I heard him sigh in relief before speaking. "Why wouldn't you tell me that?" he asked.

"You ran to your office!" I replied loudly. "I had plenty of time to go to lunch with Tracy and still learn the songs!"

"You still should have called and told me," he said. "I came back to find you gone, and nobody knew where you were."

"Dad," I said in a tone that I hoped garnered his attention. "I'm 16. I can take care of myself. I'm going to be away from you if we buy a car anyway. You have to accept that."

I heard him sigh. I knew that he was worried about me after last week, but I was fine.

"Yes, but you will also need to tell us where you’re going. Where are you now?" he asked in a calmer tone of voice.

"We're on our way back," I told him. "We just ran over to Callie's."

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit," he said, and I heard the line go dead. I sighed and returned the phone to my purse.

"I didn't get you in trouble, did I?" Tracy worriedly asked while pulling back into traffic. We were already most of the way back to the studio.

"No," I told her. "He's just been worried about me because of what happened last week, and he's being overprotective again."

"Still, I'm sorry. We probably should have called him," she said.

"There's no need to apologize, Tracy," I told her. "We didn't do anything wrong. Dad has to learn that he doesn't need to be there with me all of the time. I know he wants to, but it isn't always necessary."

"If you say so," she said while pulling up to the studio entrance. I was disappointed to see that there were people with cameras hanging around this time.

"Thank you for lunch, Tracy," I replied. "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Sarah," she said with a quirky smile. "It was nice to meet you."

I looked back at Heather, and gave her a small wave before opening my door and stepping outside. I'd only taken two steps toward the door before I was noticed by the photographers, and they started snapping shots as I approached. I tried to put a smile on my face while I passed, but I wished they'd leave me alone. I didn't look back at Tracy, because I didn't want them to focus on her.

Once I was inside the building, I found Dad waiting for me. He looked really stressed for some reason. I mean, it was only lunch! I had not been kidnapped or something.

"Hi," I said nervously when I approached him. I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

He smiled back, and I got the feeling that he wanted to wrap me in a hug. But he didn't. That wouldn't be proper between my manager and me. Instead he nodded his head, and I could see the relief wash over him that I was back where he could see me.

"What's wrong?" I asked him immediately. I wanted to know why he was so anxious about me being out on my own. Besides, I wasn't even alone because Tracy had been there.

"Nothing," he said. I didn't believe him for a second. But he didn't seem willing to continue the discussion. Before I could press for more information, he handed me a folder.

"What's this?" I asked him. I opened the folder and looked at the first page.

"These are endorsement opportunities," he replied. I flipped through some of the pages. Makeup, clothing, accessories, even..."

"No!" I said adamantly and pointed at one of the papers. Dad peered down at it and frowned.

"I already told them no," Dad said. "I thought I had taken it out of the file."

I looked back at the paper. There was absolutely no way I was going to endorse Tampax products after what had happened on Saturday.

I flipped through a few more pages before Dad interrupted me. "I just wanted to get you thinking about which ones you would like to endorse," he said. "We can go over them later this evening at home. Did you learn the songs Scott gave you yet?"

"No," I replied and handed the folder back to him. "I was planning on doing that now. We still have about an hour until the studio is available, right?"

Dad looked at his watch and then nodded his head. "Yes," he added. "Come on. Let's go back to the lobby where we can get some more privacy."

*  *  *

An hour later I stepped into the studio that had been set aside for my recording session. I was really excited to work on both of the new songs that Scott had given to me, especially 'Together'. I was jealous that I hadn't actually written 'Together' because I was totally in love with it. I couldn't wait to hear the full band playing it instead of my solo rendition on my own guitar. Furthermore, I was jealous that Jason would be playing lead guitar when we performed the song.

In fact, I liked the song so much that I wished that we could use it as my second single. But I knew that would never happen. We already had too many things in the works to get 'Ever After' in place. I vowed that it would be the next one, though.

"Sarah!" My thoughts were interrupted by someone calling my name, and the next thing I knew I was enveloped in somebody's arms. "I'm so glad to see you're okay!"

I smiled. This was the first time that I had seen the band since I had collapsed on stage. While I deeply regretted not calling them to let them know I was okay, I was happy that they cared enough to worry.

"Hi, Sophie," I replied. I had practically been in her arms when I blacked out last Monday. She let go of me and stepped back, only to be replaced by Holly. Once she was done hugging me, I noticed that the guys had stopped setting up their equipment and had come over.

Without saying a word, Jason wrapped his arms around me, holding me tighter than either of the girls had. I blushed immediately. Jason was six years older than me, and had never done anything remotely like this. But he wasn't the only one. Both Connor and Stacy followed his lead. Nobody said anything until after every one of them had hugged me in his own precious, personal way.

"Don't ever do that again, Sarah," Jason said. I could see a caring look in his eyes. I'd only known these people for just over two weeks, but we had already become close friends. I couldn't imagine not having them up on stage with me.

"I'm sorry, guys," I said. "I should have called to let you know that I was okay."

"Don't worry about it," Stacy said, but he was nodding his head like he agreed with my statement instead of his own words. I couldn't believe that I had called Josh, but not these guys! What was I thinking? Why had I done that?

Scott stepped into the studio at that point, and the mood changed immediately. In the studio, Scott was the boss. The guys turned around and started finishing the preparations that they needed to use their equipment. I set down my own guitar next to the couch in the control booth. I wouldn't be using it today.

"Good, everyone is here," Scott said when he noticed us getting back to work. "Did everyone get a chance to go over the songs?"

Choruses of assent rang around the studio. We'd all had time to look at the songs and try to learn our parts. Now we just needed to bring them together.

"Great!" he enthused. Then he looked into the studio where the guys were still setting up their instruments. "When you guys are ready, we'll give it a shot at the instrumentals. Have you guys been practicing?"

"Yes, Scott," Jason replied. "That's why you gave us the music a few days ago, right?"

I laughed. I was given the music only a few hours ago, and I was already set to start singing. But I had forgotten how long it could take to learn a new piece on an instrument. They certainly deserved a lot of credit for making my music sound so good.

Once the guys were ready, Scott had them start with 'Together'. When Stacy's drums and Connor’s bass started the strong beat that gave the song its distinctive tone, it sounded even better than I had imagined. It sounded so good, in fact, that I started singing along without even realizing it. It wasn't until after the first strum of Jason's guitar that Scott turned toward where I was sitting with Sophie and Holly on the couch in the control room.

"Sarah, shhh!" Scott said. I blushed immediately, but I shut up. It didn't help that the girls next to me were giggling at the scene. Scott got a quirky smile on his face when he realized what he had just done, but he didn't say anything and went back to listening to the guys.

It took about 45 minutes before Scott was ready to try adding our vocals. It was obvious that the band had been practicing the song. From the start they sounded great to me, but Scott tweaked parts here and there and they sounded even better! It didn't take much to get them to Scott's desired perfection. When the girls and I stepped into the studio to work on our part of the song, I was worried that we wouldn't be up to the same level.

This time, when the beat started to sound around me, I started to sing and I wasn't interrupted by Scott. We didn't get through the whole song before I forgot my words, but it was pretty close to the end. The second time through was better, and soon we were on our way to having it finished.

The second song went much the same. 'Turn Around' was faster than anything else I had previously recorded, and after singing it three times in a row, I actually had to take a break to catch my breath.

"You're doing well," Scott told us when I told him I needed a break. "Everyone take ten. Then we'll come back and finish it up."

I nodded, and turned toward the small table that had my bottle of water on it. Uncapping the bottle, I took a long drink.

I was starting to get tired. It was getting close to 5:00 PM, and I already felt like I had been in the studio for a whole week. I realized that I didn't have the energy reserves I'd had three weeks ago when I was preparing for the concert. I figured it must be a remnant of the major surgery and bed rest that I'd just had. I hoped that I could get through this busy week they were throwing at me so soon after my surgery.

I stepped into the control room, where Dad was sitting on the soft, inviting couch while working on his laptop. He looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back and sat down next to him. The band and the girls came out of the studio after me, but continued out the door into the hallway, probably to find the restroom.

"How are you doing, Princess?" Dad asked me. He had a concerned look in his eyes, and I guessed he could tell how exhausted I was.

"I'm really tired," I said before I closed my eyes and laid my head on his shoulder. I forgot how comfortable this position could feel. I could stay here all day...

*  *  *

"Sarah," someone said, and I opened my eyes while lifting my head from Dad's shoulder. Had I fallen asleep?

"Sarah," I heard again. I caught the speaker this time, and my eyes settled on Sophie. She had a concerned look on her face. "Can we talk to you for a moment?"

Holly was standing next to her, sharing the same concerned look. I wasn't sure what they wanted to talk about, but I didn't think that it was going to be anything good. I sighed and stood up. Sophie and Holly stepped back outside the studio and continued down the hall, pulling me into the Women's Room. Once inside, I leaned against one of the sinks and waited for them to speak. Sophie began.

"We're concerned about your relationship with Don," she said. "I know you said you were close, but we think you might be too close, if you know what I mean." I grimaced. I had a feeling they were going to talk about this after catching me sleeping on Dad's shoulder.

"Yeah," Holly added. "Sarah, he's old enough to be your dad!"

I chuckled inwardly at her words, but I also felt apprehension. I knew that this was going to happen eventually. However, it had come a lot sooner than I thought it would. I had no choice but to tell them the truth now.

I inhaled slowly, took a deep breath, sighed, and then looked at them. It was obvious that they had my best interests at heart, and they were only doing what they thought was right based on what they knew.

"He is my dad," I told them.

I could see the confusion on their faces at my statement. They obviously hadn't considered the possibility that I was related to him.

"What?!" Sophie asked.

"Don is my dad," I told her again. "My real dad. Sarah Carerra is just a stage name."

"What?" she asked again. Her look of confusion had grown.

"You don't have to worry about my relationship with him," I said, trying to get it through to her in another way. "There isn't anything going on between us other than a normal father/daughter relationship."

"Don is your dad?" Sophie asked. At least she appeared to have absorbed some of the information that I had told them.

"Yes," I replied. The two of them continued to stare at me like they had just found out that I wasn't the person they thought I was. In a manner of speaking, they were right.

We stood in silence for a moment before Holly spoke up. "Then what's your real name?"

"Megan," I replied. "Megan Campbell."

"Megan..." Sophie said like she was thinking the name over. "I guess that fits, but why wouldn't you tell us before now?"

"The more people who know, the greater the chance that my secret will get out," I told them. "And if my secret gets out, then my regular life ends. I don't want to be in the spotlight all of the time. I very much like being able to turn off the attention."

They thought about that new information for a few seconds. I could tell that they felt slightly betrayed by me. We had grown really close, but they didn't really know me.

"Wait," Holly spoke up again. "Are you doing the Hannah Montana thing?"

I sighed again. I couldn't believe that I had let two more people in on the secret! These last two weeks had been nothing but trouble when it came to people finding out about me.

"Yes," I replied and then lifted the wig up until it reached the point where they could see the separation between it and my head. I wasn't going to unpin it here, though. "This is a wig."

"Wow!" Holly exclaimed, excitement creeping into her tone. "I never thought that something like that would ever really happen!"

"I must warn you that Don...that my dad, will want you to sign a non-disclosure agreement now," I told them. "He's extremely particular about not letting the secret out."

Before we could say anything else there was a knock on the door.

"Are you girls coming?" I heard one of the guys ask, but I couldn't tell which one because his voice was muffled. "Scott wants to start again."

"We'll be right there," I yelled at the door before turning back to the girls. "Look," I told them. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you guys. I didn't even get to tell Chloe, my best friend, for two weeks. I hope this doesn't change anything. I'm still the same person."

We stood there in silence for a bit longer. Eventually, Sophie nodded and Holly followed her lead.

"Still friends?" I asked, hoping the answer was yes.

"Of course," Sophie said. "But you're going to have to dish the whole story at some point.”

"I will," I promised them. "But we’d better get back to the studio before Scott comes in looking for us."

They smiled at my light-hearted joke. I hoped that this new knowledge wouldn't change our relationship. At least the two of them were in a good mood when we stepped outside to go back to work.

*  *  *

"I had to tell Sophie and Holly the truth," I told Dad while we were driving home later that evening.

"What?!" he asked, completely caught off-guard by my statement. "Why?"

"They were worried about my relationship with you," I told him truthfully. "They thought there might be more between us when they saw me resting my head on your shoulder. I didn't want them to think that."

I saw Dad grimace at the implied meaning behind my words. I knew that he didn't want to think about something like that just as much as I didn't want to think about it. He seemed to think something over for a few minutes before he spoke.

"Perhaps we should have told them sooner," he replied. "They have just as much at stake in keeping your secret. They have a right to know. We should probably tell the guys the truth tomorrow morning too."

I nodded. It would be easier if they knew. If nothing else, I could be more open with Dad when they were around if they knew the truth. But it still felt like everyone in the world was learning my secret now. It didn't seem like much of a secret when I considered how many people now knew the truth. I just hoped that every single one of them would be able to keep my secret safe. We’d have to make sure that the band would be able to call me by my proper name depending on who I was dressed up as, even though I didn’t expect to be Megan around them much. Knowing both personas and using the wrong name seemed like the easiest way for someone to slip up and let the secret out.

"Perhaps you shouldn't put the wig on in the morning," Dad suggested. "That might do the trick."

"That’s a good idea," I replied. Letting them meet Megan for real would be the best way to get them comfortable with my dual identity. But it would sure be weird to be working with them without the wig on. I guess I could always put it on later if needed.

We hadn't had time to work on any of the new songs that I had written. They weren't ready to be recorded, either. I needed the band's help to write down the instrument tracks that I wasn't familiar with. Because we wouldn't be recording, Scott did not want to give us the use of a studio, and the members of 'Pop Fly' were reluctant to have us over to the place where they did most of their practicing. Dad took the initiative and invited everyone over to our house. He thought that we could practice in Sarah's room if we moved the couch into the corner. I doubted the guys would have agreed as quickly as they did if they knew how feminine the room was, but it seemed to be a good solution until more permanent practice accommodations could be found.

"Do you want to go over the endorsements?" Dad changed the subject.

"No," I replied while shaking my head. "I really just want to go to bed early and sleep."

My dad looked over at me with concern for a moment before turning back to the road. "Are we throwing too much at you, Megan?" he asked. "This timetable isn't set in stone. We don't have to do everything this week. If we have to delay the release date of the album, we can. I don't want you to think that you have to tire yourself out, okay? The most important thing is for you to recover, and being exhausted isn't going to help you or anyone else."

"I don't know, Dad," I replied. "I definitely don't have the energy I had before the concert, but I think we can still do this. I just need a good night's sleep."

He looked over at me again. He knew that I wasn't telling him the truth. I was really worried about being able to keep up with the demands that they were putting on me this week. I thought that I had been ready for them, but the way I felt right now told me that wasn't the case.

"Tell you what," Dad interrupted my thoughts. "I'm going to push the filming of the music video off until next week. That will keep you working for only a few hours tomorrow and a few hours at the photo shoot on Wednesday. Then you'll have most of the rest of the week off. 'Wake Up!' would like you back on Friday, if you're up to it. That would be short and we can play anything else by ear. How does that sound?"

I smiled, and I could see relief flow through my dad's face. He knew that I wouldn't try to back out of Sarah's commitments, so he was doing it himself. I loved him for knowing how best to help me. I never could have suggested doing that myself.

"I'd like that, Dad," I told him. "I don't know about 'Wake Up!' though. I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

"I know, Princess," he replied. "But I think you should do it. I know that you are nervous and scared about appearing in public after last Saturday, but you have to do it sometime. Going back to 'Wake Up!' will give you a chance to get used to the public again in a friendly environment. Both Aubrey and Matt have stated that they will be respectful in any questions they ask. But it would be helpful to talk about it with them. The public needs to know you are okay, and you need to know that you will be okay in public too."

I sighed. I really, really didn't want to go back on that show. He was right about everything. I didn't want to be out in public, either. I knew I would have to eventually, but I wasn't sure I was ready. However, I knew that this was something that I had to do. Ready or not, I had to get back in front of a crowd if I was going to have a career in this industry.

"Okay," I told him. "I'll do it. But only if I get to sing 'You Can't Hurt Me' for them."

Dad nodded. He knew what that song meant to me. ‘You Can’t Hurt Me’ was the song that I had written after the press conference. I'd played it for him after finishing it, and he had been really proud of my ability to take the adversity from the press conference and turn it into such a powerful song.

"I think that will be acceptable," he said with a large smile on his face. "But you are going to perform it yourself. The band won't be there for you on this one. I want everyone to see that this is your song, and that it's coming from your heart. Having you perform it alone with your guitar will help everyone see just how much it means to you."

I couldn't help but smile back. That sounded like a perfect plan. I didn't doubt that the song would sound better with the band there, but I knew it was powerful even if I performed it solo.

"Okay," I agreed. "I'll do it."

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