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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 2.38 - Hey! You're On TV!

I got to sleep in later than I had all week on Saturday, but not by much. I still had a busy day scheduled, and it started with a trip to see Mary. After I dressed and ate some breakfast, I successfully smuggled the photo album with my name on it out of the house again and headed for her office.

After she greeted me, Mary eyed the pink book curiously while I walked into her office, but I didn't let her see the front of the album. After I sat I looked down at the album on my lap for a moment before I looked back at her. She was watching me carefully, waiting for me to begin. She knew I had something important to say.

"Did you know about this?" I asked her and held the book up so that she could see what was written on the front. A look of concentration passed across her face as she tried to recall if she had ever seen the book before. Eventually she shook her head.

"No," she replied. "What is it?"

"This," I said while opening the cover and turning to the first page of photos so that she could see them. "Is a photo album of Megan from when I was a baby until now."

Mary became wide eyed, telling me that this was something she had not been aware of. Mom had implied that only Dad and she knew about the days pictured in the album, but I had thought that Mom might have shared that information with my therapist. Apparently I was wrong.

I handed the album to Mary to allow her to look at it more closely. She started turning through the pages while I spoke.

"I found this last Sunday," I told her. "I was looking for inspiration for a new song about my mom, and came across it. Apparently I've been dressing up as Megan for my whole life, not just since the accident."

"This is more than just dressing up," Mary said while turning the page again. "I mean, you have longer hair than what you would find on most boys in all of these pictures. This had to be at least a partial decision on your part to be feminized enough to allow for something like this."

I sighed. Had I been completely blind to what had been happening in my life?

"I've always had long hair," I told her. It was the truth too. "I always liked it that way while growing up. But I don't remember it ever being styled like these pictures. But it makes sense that I liked longer hair if it meant being able to have days like this with my mom.”

Mary continued to look through the pictures for a moment before handing the album back to me. Then I saw her concerned face.

"How does this make you feel?" she asked.

I sighed. "I was really surprised when I found it," I told her. "But most of those pictures happened on the best days of my life that I can remember while growing up. I think they are my best memories because I was dressed as Megan, even if I don't remember being dressed up. But I'm really okay with it. I wrote an amazing song about my mom and these memories."

I stopped talking for a moment and pondered what this meant. That's when it really hit me.

"I..." I started. I stopped speaking to make sure this is what I felt. I looked away as I thought about this, but my whole body was screaming back that this was the right answer! "I guess I've always been a girl…” Then I looked back at Mary.

The smile that Mary returned let me know that she too believed those words.

*  *  *

After returning home from Mary's office, I had a few hours to relax before I had to head down to Kate's studio for the last time. I wasn't expected there until after lunch, so I wanted to relax before I jumped back into the preparations for the tour. I sat down in front of the TV to watch one of the shows that had been recorded earlier in the week that I hadn't had a chance to watch yet.

While I was fast-forwarding through the second commercial break, something caught my eye. It looked like me! I immediately hit play again and the image on the screen solidified into a picture of Sarah! Seconds later I heard my voice come from the speakers!

"Mom!" I screamed in excitement while quickly hitting rewind to get back to the beginning. "My makeup commercial is on TV!"

I knew that she had been using the computer in Dad's office, so she arrived here within seconds. Dad was right behind her. Both of them had excited looks in their eyes too. Mom came and sat down next to me and Dad took his usual place in his favorite chair. Once they were settled in, and with a large smile on my face, I hit ‘play’.

The screen immediately burst into a star field, and I saw myself dance onto the screen to some upbeat music for a moment before the camera cut to close ups of my face to highlight my eyes.

"Want to know my secret to a dark, dramatic eye?" I heard myself say, even though the girl on screen wasn't talking. She continued to move around fluidly with the camera switching between a close up of her face and eyes to full body shots. The white dress looked beautiful against the backdrop of the stars, and I watched, mesmerized, as the commercial continued.

"Try the new Night Sky collection from Starlight and create a look that will catch the attention of all the stargazers," I continued to say. I couldn't believe that I was in a commercial!

"The Night Sky collection comes with everything you need for that smoky eye that can garner the attention you deserve up on stage or out and about on the town."

I looked so beautiful and graceful as I moved. I hadn’t believed Kate when she kept telling me how natural I was as a dancer, but the way I floated around the screen seemed to belie my own perception of my abilities. As I watched, I had the overwhelming desire to go out and buy more eye shadow - even though I already had a ton of it down the hall in both Sarah's room and my own.

Then, I watched as the girl on the screen turned and looked toward the camera before it cut to another view of her flawless face. I saw the smile on her lips brighten her entire face for a moment before she spoke again.

"Give yourself the attention you deserve," she said while somehow keeping the smile from leaving her lips. "And shine with the power of Starlight."

As her mouth closed after speaking the last word her smile turned into a playful grin that shot a feeling of desire through my entire body before fading to a picture of the eye shadow for a few moments as the music came to a close. Then the screen went black.

"Whoa!" I took a deep breath. I had never seen a commercial that made me feel that way before, but I felt really giddy and happy and...and purchasey! That was awesome!

I immediately hit rewind as Mom wrapped her arms around me once again.

*  *  *

When I walked into Kate's studio after lunch, I immediately felt exhausted. Just thinking about how much work it was taking to put on this concert tour was enough to make me feel tired. As I looked around the room, it seemed like I wasn't the only one that felt that way. Yet we were only half way through learning the choreography. Next week we would take the information that we had learned here and put it to use on a stage.

The band had received a week off while the rest of us learned the choreography in Kate's studio. Today they were there watching us as we got to work going through each song once again. They would be joining us on Monday morning to provide the music instead of the sound system that we were using in Kate's studio, and they looked excited to see what we would be doing.

The dancers and I hadn't been performing for anybody as we danced around the studio throughout the week, but I put my best effort into performing for my band. The three guys certainly seemed to enjoy the show. I knew I still had a lot of room to improve, since it was still hard to get enough breath to sing each song while dancing, but I already felt much better while performing than I had that first day when I was gasping after each song. Exercising all day every day seemed to have made a difference, and I knew by the time we finished practicing next week that I would likely be able to get through the concert without feeling overexerted.

Dad, Scott, and Amy showed up toward the end of our session, and even they watched excitedly as we finished going through each of the songs and cleaning up any little flaws that Kate was still seeing.

"Good job, everyone," Kate finally told us. Her smile told me just how happy she was at our progress. "I'll see all of you on Monday. Bring your A game."

There were a few groans and sighs as people started to pack up their things. I turned and picked up my water bottle to help wet my throat. Not only was I sweating a bit from all of the exertion and the fact that we had so many people packed into a room this size, but I had also been singing most of the day. My throat felt a little sore, but it had held out well over the last week. I had been worried that I'd make myself hoarse, but that didn't occur. Next week wouldn't be as intense either.

"Can I have your attention please," Scott yelled above the noise that had risen in the room. Everyone quieted down immediately and I turned back to where he was now standing. He had a very familiar looking box in his hands that made my eyebrows rise in astonishment. "Sarah, can you come over here?"

He looked really excited as I walked over to him. If the box contained what I thought it did, then I knew why! I knew I had a similar expression on my own face!

"Yesterday marked an amazing event in the life of this young woman," he said while opening the box. Then he pulled out the black frame similar to the one I had seen a week and a half ago. He held it up for everyone to see the award, which had a platinum-plated copy of my CD on the left, a picture of the album on the right, and the plaque below both. I already knew what the words would say, since I'd read the ones on the Gold award last week, but Scott turned the award toward himself so that he could read the words to all the people in the room.

"Presented to Sarah Carerra," Scott read the inscription on the plaque. "To commemorate the sale of more than 1,000,000 copies of the Olympic Records album 'Intuition'."

He turned the award back around and handed it to me while those in the room started clapping and cheering. I blushed at the attention that I was getting from those whom I worked closest with in Sarah's life. I looked around the room. The dancers I had spent the week working with had been amazing. My new personal assistant Amy was quickly becoming a good friend. Scott had been wonderful in helping me to get to where I was today. Sophie, Holly, and the band were the best people I could have ever asked to be up on stage with. And finally, my eyes landed on Dad. I knew I had tears of joy running down my cheeks when my eyes connected with him. I couldn't comprehend where I would be without someone as wonderful as him watching over me all of my life.

"Thank you all," I said before I choked up, which caused some light-hearted chuckling around the room. "But this wouldn't have been possible without you. Let's make this concert tour something to remember."

The cheering that followed was much louder than when Scott had presented me the award, and I knew that it wasn't going to take long for my words to become reality.

*  *  *

I had seen a lot of exciting things over the summer. I'd performed a concert, I'd been on talk shows and been interviewed on the radio and in magazines. I'd recorded a platinum-selling album and I'd been preparing for a concert tour for a week now. I had even had two songs top the charts at #1 for multiple weeks, since 'You Can't Hurt Me' had been named number one again during the countdown on Sunday.

But none of those things could compare to the excitement I felt as I rang the doorbell to the band's bachelor pad Sunday afternoon. I was excited to finish the song I had written for Mom! I was excited for a chance to share the feelings that the song invoked with others. But most importantly, I was excited to see the look on my mom's face when I sang it for her the first time.

I wouldn't get to see that look on Mom's face for another week, but I could at least share it with my band. The band had agreed to help me put the other instruments we had at our disposal into the song, and we still needed to practice it enough to be able to perform it during the rehearsals that would start tomorrow.

The door opened, and I found Holly standing there with Stacy. They looked a little flushed, and I felt my own surprise wash over me as I noticed how they were looking at each other briefly before they turned toward me.

"Hi, Sarah," Holly said. She looked guilty when she saw my face, which still registered my surprise.

"Hi," I was finally able to respond. "How long have you two..."

I trailed off. But it didn't take long for Holly to complete my sentence.

"Been dating?" she finished. I nodded. "Not long," she continued. "Stacy asked me out a couple of weeks ago. I thought it would be fun to get to know him better, but I never expected this."

I smiled back at them as they turned to look at each other lovingly. "Well, invite me to the wedding, at least."

They promptly laughed, and then stepped back to let me into the house. I chuckled at their enthusiasm for each other as I passed by and Stacy closed the door behind us. I was still shaking my head after walking down the hall and into their studio where I put my guitar case down on the table. Jason, Connor and Sophie were already waiting for me.

"Hi, guys," I said while opening the case and pulling out my guitar before finding a seat.

Everyone turned to pay attention to me since we only had a limited amount of time to get this song done. It was 3:00 PM now, but Connor was going over to his parents' house for a family gathering later this evening, which didn't leave much time for us to finish the song and practice it enough to incorporate it into tomorrow's rehearsal before he had to leave.

"What have you got for us today?" Jason asked me.

I smiled back at him. "Today I have a birthday present for someone very special to me," I explained. I strummed the guitar lightly for a moment while trying to figure out how to introduce the song to them. "I think it describes itself pretty well," I finally told them.

Without any preamble I started the soft, loving melody that had poured out of my head the week before. As I sang 'My Hero' for them, I watched their faces, trying to figure out at what point they knew who my song was for. They had all met Mom before, but even if they hadn't it became apparent quickly. My mom meant so much to me, and this song did a really good job of letting other people know just how important she was in my life. I couldn't wait to let her hear it for the first time.

This song wasn't likely to win any awards. It wasn't likely to be chosen as a single. But it held a special place in my heart. This had quickly become one of my favorite songs as it was tied up in so many wonderful emotions in my life. The looks that the band and the girls gave me after I had strummed the guitar for the last time proved that I had captured those emotions in the song.

They stared at me with wide eyes for a moment; silence permeated the room.

"Wow," Holly said quietly. Affirmations of that sentiment followed from the others.

"That is one heck of a birthday present," Sophie said. "You’re going to make your mom cry."

I laughed. I hadn't thought about that, but she was right.

"When is her birthday?" Jason asked me.

"Friday," I replied. "I was hoping that you guys would be willing to help me perform it for her for the first time after our rehearsal."

"Of course," Jason replied immediately.

"We would be honored," Sophie piped up. She had one of the biggest smiles I had ever seen on her face. "But you have to come and sing it for my mom next."

I burst out in laughter. I had written this song for my mom, but I hadn't considered what other people would think when they heard it. I could see how other people could use the song for their own mothers. I hadn't ever met any of the band's families. I knew most of their families lived in the area, so that might be something that would be fun to set up.

"That's not a bad idea," I told them, prompting strange looks from them. "I mean, would your families be interested in a small party? I'd love to meet them and we still haven't had a release celebration party. How about we put something together?"

"That sounds interesting," Jason said. "My sister would love to meet you, I'm sure."

"I'm not sure that you'd want to meet my brothers," Stacy said. Jason and Connor roared with laughter at his words, which had the effect of making me want to meet them to understand what they were laughing about.

"It sounds like a plan then," I told them. "I'll talk to Amy and she can try to set something up."

I looked around the room once again. Each of the others had a look of appreciation on their faces now that I was willing to do something like this. But the truth was I wouldn't be where I was today without them. This was the least I could do to help repay what they had given to me.

"Let's get to work," Jason said and reached for his own guitar. "The song won't finish itself."

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