---

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.

*  *  *

Sarah Carerra Book 2: Summer Medley

Chapter 2.24 - Doctors and Pop Stars and Music Videos, Oh My!

I awoke late Wednesday morning, but I was thankful for the extra sleep. Waking up early and getting home late yesterday had been enough to make me glad that there wasn't anything big planned for today, at least in the Sarah world.

Megan, however, had a doctor's appointment this morning. It had been three weeks since I had collapsed on stage and had my surgery, and I had a check up this morning to make sure that everything was healing correctly. Frankly, everything seemed normal to me now and I didn't want a doctor poking around down there, but I was given no choice in the matter.

I climbed out of bed and took a nice, long shower to help wake me up. Then I headed back to my room to get ready for the day. By the time I was finished, it was already after 10:00, and my appointment was scheduled for 11:00. That would give me enough time to eat breakfast before Mom and I had to leave.

"Morning, Austin," I said to my brother while stepping out of the hallway. He was watching TV in the front room, and I turned toward the kitchen. But I stopped quickly when I realized that there were two heads rising above the back of the couch. Another glance showed me that Susan was visiting again, and she was looking at me as quizzically as I was looking at her.

"Morning, Megan," Austin replied. Then he noticed that Susan was looking at me and twirled around quickly with a look of fear on his face. I laughed out loud at his reaction. I wasn't dressed up as Sarah, but if I had been then he would have just outed me to his girlfriend. He sighed quickly when he saw me. "This is my girlfriend, Susan," he said in relief. "Susan, this is my sister."

"It's nice to meet you," I told Susan while stepping into the front room. "I haven't seen Austin this happy in a long time."

Susan laughed, and Austin grimaced. I knew that he probably didn't like what I was doing, but it would help him in the long run. I wanted to make Susan feel welcome here.

"It's nice to meet you too," Susan replied. "Austin is always talking about how great you are. It's nice to put a face to the picture he's painted."

Now I laughed. She really was a good girlfriend for Austin. She seemed to be bringing him out of the shell he'd been in for so long. It was also nice to see the real side of Susan. She had definitely been a different person when I was dressed up as Sarah.

"Well, I have a doctor's appointment in a while, and I want to get some breakfast first. I'll leave you two alone for now," I said and with a small wave stepped into the kitchen where Mom was reading a book.

"Morning, Mom," I said while pulling a bowl out of the cupboard and reaching for the box of cereal that was still on the counter. I carried both and a spoon to the table and placed them next to where Mom was sitting.

"Morning, Honey," she replied with a smile before returning to her book.

I walked over to the fridge and retrieved the milk. "Are you coming with me?" I asked her.

"If you want me to," she replied, giving me another smile.

"Only if I get to drive," I said which caused her to laugh. She nodded her head to let me know that I could, and I poured my cereal.

*  *  *

"Good morning, Megan," Dr. Holbrook greeted me as she stepped into the examination room that Mom and I had been led to. "How are you doing today?"

Jenny Holbrook had been the doctor who discovered who I truly was. Without her, I wouldn't be the girl I was today.

"I'm doing well," I replied. Even if she had been the one to lead me through my transition, I was still nervous about her examination. "No pain or anything."

"That's good to hear," she said. "Hop on up here and we'll get this over with."

I smiled nervously but did as she asked. I had already taken off my clothes and changed into the paper gown that the nurse had provided for me, but I still felt completely naked.

Dr. Holbrook didn't waste any time, and I tried to think of being up on stage singing while she went about her business. It must have worked, because before I knew it, she was done.

"Everything looks like it's healing really well," she said once I had been covered once again. "You appear to be a healthy young woman in all respects now. Congratulations."

"Thank you," I replied with a huge smile. I knew that already, but having a doctor confirm it helped.

"Now, for the future, you have two options," she said. "I'm sure your mom has a gynecologist whom she uses, and you are more than welcome to go to her too. Or, you are more than welcome to come back here. Whatever makes you feel the most comfortable is fine with me."

"Thank you," I replied. "I'll keep that in mind." I honestly had no idea what I would do in the future. This wasn't something that I had ever considered before.

"There's just one more thing, if you feel up to it," she said. I'm sure I must have had a nervous look on my face, because she laughed at my response before continuing. "It's nothing like that," she said. "I'm going to be visiting my daughter in a few weeks. She lives up in Paso Robles, and I thought it would be fun to treat her and my granddaughter to your concert at the Mid-State Fair. I've got tickets, but I was hoping that you would be willing to meet her and maybe sign an autograph?"

"You didn't need to do that," I replied. "I could have gotten you tickets. But I would love to meet your granddaughter. I'll make sure that my dad gets you some backstage passes and you can come and visit before the show."

She was beaming at me now. I loved making fans happy.

*  *  *

Dad was waiting for us anxiously when we got home. I knew that there wasn't anything planned for Sarah today, so I wasn't sure what was making him so nervous.

"Hurry and put on the wig," was all he said when we entered the house.

"Why?" I asked for clarification.

"Just hurry," he said and tried to shoo me down the hall. I didn't know what was going on, but I honored his wishes and went to get ready. I heard the doorbell ring as I was finishing up my makeup, and realized that someone must have been coming to see me.

As I opened the door to Sarah's room I heard my parents greeting somebody in the front room. Figuring that they would be waiting for me, I walked down the hall and then peeked around the corner. If it was someone whom we didn't want to see Sarah, then I could quickly duck back down the hall.

"Josh!" I screamed instead when I saw Josh Holliday and his mom standing in the front room. A wave of emotions washed over me. Josh was still in the middle of his concert tour. Because he was flying around the country every weekend to perform, I hadn't had the chance to see him since the night we had performed together in Salt Lake City.

A large grin spread across his face when he saw me, and my heart nearly melted. I had forgotten how cute that smile was. I knew the last thing we had talked about together had been about his love for Megan instead of Sarah, but it looked like he still had an appreciation for Sarah.

"Hi, Sarah," he said and my legs started to feel wobbly. This reaction certainly helped me to realize that what I felt for Ethan was not the same thing as what I felt for Josh. Ethan had never made me feel this way.

"Come in and have a seat, Sarah," my dad said. "Josh has something he would like to ask you."

My breath caught in my throat again as I stepped into the front room and took a seat next to my mom. Josh and his mom took a seat across from us and Dad sat down in his favorite chair.

Last time Josh had come to my house to ask me something, I had ended up opening for him in Salt Lake City. Josh had a show here in Los Angeles on Saturday; was he going to ask me to do the same thing? Was I going to get the chance to get back on stage this week instead of the three weeks I'd have to wait for my own concert series to start? Granted, I would be on stage at the mall tomorrow, but the limited space at the mall meant that it wouldn't be a very big crowd. But Josh was performing at the Staples Center! That one venue held more seats than anything I had booked for my entire concert series!

I took a deep breath. I was jumping to conclusions. He wouldn't be here to ask me to sing again. This was something else.

"I was hoping you would perform with me on Saturday," Josh said, shattering the reservations I had just told myself. I felt my excitement rising again. "I mean, singing a few duets with me."

So it wasn't opening for him, but I'd still get to be up on stage with all of those people watching! And I'd get to sing that duet with Josh that we had talked about the night we first met, when he'd taken me to the Tween Awards!

"I'd love to," I replied. There wasn't any other answer I could give. I saw Josh smile big, and out of the corner of my eye I knew that Dad had expected the same answer because of the smile on his face. I had the feeling that Josh and Dad had been talking about this for some time.

"Great!" Josh exclaimed. "I have three songs that I've been working with Don to get approval to sing with you. Don, can we sing them all?"

"Yes," Dad replied. "I got approval for 'Lucky' last night.”

"'Lucky' as in Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat?" I asked.

"That's the one," Josh confirmed. "We'll open with that one, and then move on to the others. Are you an ABBA fan at all?"

"Not per se," I replied. "But I am a fan of Mamma Mia!"

"That's good," Josh continued. "My mom loves ABBA," He said, and his mom nodded next to him. "She had a really good idea for a second duet. Do you know the song 'Does Your Mother Know’?” I nodded. "Well I guess the original was actually written for one of the guys in ABBA. They changed it to a female lead for the Broadway show. Anyway, my mom thinks that it would be a good one to sing together if we split the verses between the two versions."

"That sounds interesting," I told him. And it did, too. That song was usually sung between an older woman and a young boy, or perhaps the other way around originally. Having two teenagers sing it would be different, but it might be kind of funny too.

"Then, to finish up, I thought we could sing 'I Need You'," Josh told me.

I couldn't help it. I gasped. "You mean..."

"Yes," Josh nodded. "Clarissa doesn't want anything to do with the song anymore, so I need someone else whom I can record it with."

Clarissa Montague and Josh had been an item just under a year ago. Clarissa was older than both of us, but she had a good voice and had a pretty decent fan base. She had latched onto the opportunity to sing a duet with Josh for the Grammy awards. But when the two of them broke up a couple of weeks later, she refused to record the song with him.

Now, I would get the opportunity! The song itself was a really beautiful piece that I had loved back then, and I would love to sing it now.

"I'd be honored, Josh," I replied softly. When we had first discussed singing a duet together, I had balked at the idea. That had been during dinner before the Tween Awards, and Josh hadn't been the best date in the world. But by the end of the night my feelings about him had changed. Seeing him tonight had proven to me that those feelings had only grown in the time since our concert. Singing such an emotional and memorable song with him was definitely something I wanted to do.

"Awesome!" he said excitedly. I hoped for a moment that he would give me a hug to celebrate, but it seemed that emotionally he really had moved on. He looked like he wanted to do something, but he didn't. "We're having dinner over at my aunt's house on Friday," he said instead. "I'd like you and your family to come, and we can do some practicing there." I nodded back to him, sad that he wasn't going to do what I wanted him to do.

"I'm sorry I can't stay longer," he said suddenly, ripping what was left of my heart out of my chest. He had just gotten here! I didn't want him to leave! "But I've got an interview in an hour and we still need to make it downtown."

He stood up, followed quickly by his mom and my parents. I reluctantly stood too and followed them to the door. I didn't know what else to say, but he turned and looked at me before stepping outside.

"Thank you, Sarah," he said. "I was half afraid you would say no. I know how you feel about me, and you know that I can't completely return those feelings. But I hope that we can stay friends."

Friends. He had a big smile on his face, but I still felt like I had just been dumped by my soul mate. Maybe I had. I smiled back. It was partially a fake smile, but I too hoped that friendship would still be in our cards. Besides, friendship might be the key I needed to win him back from myself. This was so confusing, just like the night of the concert all over again.

"Bye, Sarah," he eventually said when he realized I couldn't muster any words.

"Bye, Josh," I was finally able to reply. Then I had to watch in pain as he walked down the steps and got into his limo.

*  *  *

I was in a funk for much of the afternoon. Not even the excitement of tomorrow's concert or the thought of singing with Josh on Saturday was enough to put a smile on my face. I didn't realize that my feelings for Josh had grown that strong. Watching him retreat from me hurt. I didn't know what else to do.

Eventually, Dad had enough of that attitude and sat me down in front of the TV in the front room. Mom sat down next to me and Dad took a seat in his chair again. Even Austin was present for whatever he wanted to show us.

"I know that you are feeling bad about Josh, Princess," he said. "But I have something that will cheer you up. I was going to save it until after dinner, but I can't stand seeing you mope around the house anymore. Without further ado, I give you the music video for 'You Can't Hurt Me'."

That perked me up immediately! He had the music video and he was waiting to show it to me until now? I should have been mad at him, but I was too excited to see it to think of anything else.

He pressed play and I was mesmerized as I appeared on the screen walking down a street with my back to the camera, wearing the schoolgirl outfit that Julia had dressed me in. After a few steps, it appeared like I looked at a sign to my right that pointed down the alley toward a 'Stairway to Stardom' and briefly touched it with my hand. My head turned to look down the alley, and with the opening notes of the song playing, I turned and started walking down the alley.

As the first part of the opening melody came to a close, the scene changed and I saw myself approaching the wrought-iron staircase. I stopped and my hand caressed the sign pointing up the stairs as the second half of the opening melody began with a crash of Stacy's cymbals. Then with an eager, almost excited expression on my face I stepped toward the stairs.

The happiness and excitement of the girl on screen was quite evident when I took my first step up the stairs, but that didn't last very long. Almost in slow motion, and in tune with the beginning words of the song, a tomato came flying from off the screen and hit me on my left arm. A shocked expression crossed the girl's face as the force of the unexpected impact knocked her off center and she fell to her knees.

Next thing I knew, the picture had switched to a group of people who were throwing tomatoes. A few looked like reporters; some looked like concerned fans or parents. There was even one who looked an awful lot like Brady Townsend, the reporter who had turned the press conference into a living nightmare.

When the scene changed back to show me kneeling on the stairs, it included a close up of me that showed the pain and anger that I had felt. But there was also a fierce determination in my eyes and I watched mesmerized as I stood up and took another step up the stairs. Then another. Amid the rain of tomatoes, I watched and listened as the girl struggled to make it up those stairs. Finally, she collapsed at the short landing half way up only to be hit by another tomato before the video cut to the band and me on the top of the building.

The contrast between the confident young woman singing on top of the building and the picture that I had seen of the nearly defeated girl on the stairs was amazing! I couldn't believe how different I looked between the two scenes! The clothes helped to make a difference, but somehow there was an extra confidence showing through while I sang. Mom had once told me that I had a fire in my eyes when I performed. I had never noticed it before in the playbacks I had seen of my performances, but I saw it now. I wondered if that look had anything to do with the rush that I felt when I performed.

When the first verse came to an end, the video switched back to where I was kneeling on the stairs. The pain and anger on my face was subtly different. It was almost as if I was mad at myself for letting the tomatoes and the jeers from the crowd get to me. Then the determination returned again, and I watched as the defeated girl on the screen stood up and took another step forward. With each step she stood straighter, taller. It wasn't long before the tomatoes that were hitting her had no effect on her. Then, the tomatoes stopped hitting her altogether. Instead, they'd miss her or fall short of the stairs.

By the time I reached the top of the stairs, that fire I had seen during the chorus was starting to appear on my face. Just before the video cut back to us on top of the building there was a new girl staring at the camera. She had a fierceness in her eyes that gave me chills. The video then cut to the band and me playing through the second chorus. That same fire I had seen in my eyes the first time was, if anything, even more pronounced the second time around. I sat silently watching, only to have the rush start to creep into my bones. Just watching myself perform was enough to invoke that fire that built within me.

As the song softened to the short interlude between the second and third chorus, I watched as the scene cut back to the girl on the stairs. Immediately, she turned and started walking toward the stage that was now visible behind her. Along the way, she fiercely pulled hard on the various articles of clothing she wore, and as she got closer and closer to the stage she left a trail of clothes, and her old life, behind her. In her place was the confident angel that had been singing on stage wearing the white dress with the color dancing around her.

Once she reached the stage, she quickly donned the silver heels that were waiting for her, and grabbed the white microphone Dad had bought me just in time for another crash of Stacy's cymbals to ring out. She started singing immediately, voicing the end of the chorus softly before all other noise stopped and I sang 'You Can't Hurt Me' with so much emotion that I felt the fire burning throughout my whole body intensify.

The frenetic pace of the chorus kicked in at that moment, and I saw the fire I felt burning in my body as I sat there watching it appear on the face of the girl as she sang the final chorus of the song. Somehow, the camera had captured every emotion, every feeling I had felt while writing this song. I couldn't ask for a better debut music video. I suddenly understood that this song would define who I was for a long time to come.

As I watched myself sing the last 'You Can't Hurt Me' of the song, I watched the video cut to a close-up of my face, and I got chills again at the fierce determination mixed with the fire of the rush I knew I had been feeling at the time burning in her eyes. Then, the video cut to black.

Only three words escaped my lips as the video ended. But those three words told my small audience everything:

"Play it again!"

*  *  *

*  *  *
Want more Sarah Carerra?
sarahcarerra.com proudly offers another exclusive behind the scenes look at the making of Sarah Carerra. Today, learn about how the 'Big 3' songs were created and what inspired them. 'Intuition', 'Ever After', and 'You Can't Hurt Me' are arguably Sarah's greatest songs, and now you too can learn more about what made them what they are today. Head on over and see for yourself here.

Thank you,
Megan