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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 2.44 - The OC Fair

I could feel Sophie's and Holly's shoulders pressed against my back as we waited in the dark for the music to start. This was one of my favorite segments of the concert, and I couldn't wait to perform it for my friends and family.

I heard a small click in my earpiece indicating that everyone was ready and in place, and I took a deep breath to prepare. I felt Holly and Sophie tense up at my reaction, and the three of us started to sing the unaccompanied opening lines to 'Super Trouper' while still ensconced in the darkness. A spotlight shone on us soon after as we continued to sing, heads looking toward the sky. Then as the music started up, the stage burst into a multitude of colored lights as I stepped forward while Sophie and Holly took a few steps back. The dancers were on the stage dancing along with us as I started singing the main part of the song.

Kate had taken a lot of inspiration from the Broadway show and had given us very theatrical choreography that was actually a lot of fun to perform. It didn't take too long before many of the fans were dancing along with us. Having the crowd involved certainly made the concerts a lot more fun, and this song was no exception. Everyone was laughing after the song had come to an end, just like they had at my previous two concerts. It didn't matter how many times I performed that song, it was fun every single time.

The lights came back up and I took a small sip of water from my water bottle before speaking to the crowd again.

"Thank you for joining in the fun," I told them sincerely. "Being able to perform for all of you is one of the best experiences of my life. I can't get enough of it. Truthfully, I always have the time of 'My Life'."

I briefly pulled my microphone away from my mouth as Stacy gave us a nice, heavy beat from his drums. Jason joined him with his electric guitar a few seconds later. Then Connor joined in with the two of them as I started to sing the song that best captured the feelings that I'd felt after my very first concert. This was not the best song that I had written, but I always had butterflies flying around in my stomach at the memories that the song invoked. Even after performing many times since, I'd never forget the night of my first concert.

I sang through the first verse, which described my feelings before the concert. It talked about all of the crazy excitement that came with learning the songs, learning the choreography, and getting up on stage. Then the song ramped up into a faster paced chorus that described part of the rush I always felt, and about how much it drove me to continue.

Then we repeated with a second verse about some of the things I had realized at the concert: how great the fans are, how amazing it is to be able to perform for them, and how great it felt to be up on that stage.

After the second chorus the song took on a slightly subdued feeling as I talked about the feelings that had overwhelmed me later that night back in the hotel room, when I sat there and stared out the window on a sleepy Salt Lake City with Emily at my side. That was followed by a soft section that only played a soft melody that was rather peaceful before we launched back into the chorus for the final time.

The rush overwhelmed me as the song came to a close. Not only was the crowd feeding it with their cheers, but the thoughts and feelings of that night came flooding back to me, just like it had every time I performed or listened to this song.

I took a moment to let the crowd settle as I tried to bring myself back to the moment. Then I addressed the crowd once again.

"This next song talks about fears," I said. "The first time I took the stage, I was scared to death. But fans just like you helped me to realize just how much fun it can be. But I had to overcome that fear to get to where I am today. The same was true for one of my friends, who is here tonight."

I turned slightly and looked straight at Paul. My family and friends had great seats in the fifth and sixth rows right in front of me, and I could see Paul's eyes widen in fright as he realized what I was doing.

"This young man," I said, "has overcome a lot in his life to be here. Thanks for being an inspiration to me, Paul. Thanks for being ‘Fearless’."

He shrunk down in his seat immediately as I said his name. People were looking around to identify who I was looking at, but for the most part he remained inconspicuous to those who weren't immediately around him. I didn't wait though, and launched straight into the song with only Jason's guitar accompanying me.

As I sang through the words that made up the majority of the chorus, I watched as Paul raised his head to listen. Then the rest of the band joined in with a crash of the drums for a moment before we settled into the first verse. I talked about how amazed I was to find myself in the public spotlight. I sung about how none of what had happened was something I had been searching for in my life. Then we launched into the chorus that talked about how scared I was at what was happening to me, but it also talked about how I was doing my best to overcome those fears and press on.

This was a very upbeat, fun song to sing, and Kate’s choreography played on that. Once again many of the fans were on their feet dancing along with us as I continued to sing about overcoming fears in life to accomplish the things that were placed before me. This song had yet to be released to the public, but the crowd’s reaction at each concert proved that it was going to be a popular one.

As the song came to a close and the crowd roared again, I basked in the spotlight for a moment before staring at Paul. He had one of the biggest, goofiest smiles I had ever seen plastered across his face. I felt a similar smile creep across my face. When the lights went dark and the large screen lit up with a small video about the band and me talking about our experiences this summer, I turned and hurried off the stage. I only had 45 seconds to perform my first costume change, and there was no margin for error.

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I was starting to get really nervous as I changed out of my last costume and into the outfit that I would be wearing when I would be spending time with my fans. It was a simple, white dress that had only a small flourish of gold along the right side to provide the Glam. But it wasn't the dress that made me nervous; I had worn much tighter and more revealing clothes before. What was really worrying me was the thought of spending all of that time in the presence of friends and family who didn't know the truth about me. I only knew them as Megan, yet they were here to meet Sarah.

This afternoon with Katy had proven that I could deceive even my closest friends and family, but that didn't make me worry any less. It only took one wrong step or one errant comment to clue them in. I would constantly have to be on my toes to prevent anyone from learning the secret. And because there were also fans who were going to be backstage that I didn't know personally, having anyone find out here would be detrimental.

I slipped on the heels that Julia had provided me with and let Stephanie touch up my makeup. Then I stepped outside my dressing room to find Dad and Amy waiting for me. Mason and Cole were also nearby. When Dad caught sight of me, he started laughing.

"Don't worry about it, Princess," he whispered quietly. "They'll see what they want to see. Just act normally and we'll get through this just fine."

"I hope so," I replied as we turned and started walking toward the area where everyone was waiting for me to join the backstage party. Earlier I had sung about overcoming my fears, but with every step closer I felt my trepidation grow and grow. I knew that Dad was right, and that I could get through this without giving away the secret, but that knowledge wasn't enough to keep me from having to apply ‘Fearless’ to my life once more to help me overcome my fears.

As I stepped through the door, though, my nerves left immediately. The very first person I saw had the same smile on her face that always helped to put me at ease whenever I was talking with her. It had the exact same effect on me now, and I smiled in relief.

"Mary!" I greeted her excitedly and gave her a friendly hug. "I'm so glad you made it!"

She looked slightly shocked at my reaction, but she hugged me back briefly before replying. "Thank you for the tickets," she said before turning my attention to the young girls at her side. "These are my daughters, Isabel and Andrea."

"Hi!" I greeted each of them with a hug like I had their mother. Isabel appeared to be around 12, and Andrea had to be at least 10. They eagerly hugged me back. "You have an amazing mother," I told them.

The two girls seemed to be in awe of me, and were having trouble finding their voices. They just nodded in agreement for a moment. When it became apparent that they weren't going to say anything right away, I turned back to my therapist.

"I wish you guys would have come by earlier," I told her. "I've got a present for your girls on my bus."

Mary opened her mouth, likely to refuse the need for gifts, but Amy spoke up first.

"I'll go get them," Amy said, smiling. I hadn't talked to her about the gifts before, but she held her hands out in about the size of the Carerra Bears for confirmation, and I nodded at her before she took off to get them.

"I need three of them!" I called after her, and saw her nod again as she continued out of the room.

I didn't get to spend much more time with Mary and her daughters, as there were many people who wanted to meet me in the room. But I had them promise me they wouldn't leave until after Amy came back. Then I was mingling through the crowd, trying to say 'Hi' to everyone as I passed.

As I greeted the various members of my family, it was apparent that they had no inkling of who I really was. Just like Dad had said, they only saw what they wanted to see. They saw a young pop star in front of them, so there was no way they could connect Sarah with the girl they had met earlier in the summer. I was amazed at how easy it was to deceive them.

As much as I would have preferred to talk to some of my extended family, I didn't get a chance to spend any more time with them than I had Mary and her girls. The number of people backstage at this concert was much larger than any of my other performances because we had given so many passes to family, and I wanted to make sure that everyone, both family and other fans, got a chance to meet and talk to me. I couldn't help it. I had to try to please all of them.

But even so, there were still some people who I had to take a longer time with. The first was when I came to Katy and her family. Katy, fortunately, knew of my time limitations and we only had a short greeting since we'd spent so much time earlier. Her mom, however, deserved to have more.

Aunt Judy knew the truth. By the look of excitement on her face I knew that spending too much time around her would be a bad idea, since she was radiating pride and excitement that she usually reserved for her own family. I had to be very careful because nobody else knew that she was really my aunt. We talked vaguely for a bit, but she stayed reserved enough not to cause any problems. Uncle John was intrigued to meet me, but as he didn't know the truth it wasn't much more than my interactions with any other fathers of my fans.

Derek, however, was awestruck. He couldn't stop staring at me, which made me really uncomfortable. This was the same cousin who had thrown up earlier this summer for staring at me like he was now. I started to feel slightly sick myself at his attention, but there wasn't anything I could do to stop it without giving away my secret. However, there was something that I could do to make myself feel better.

"It's nice to meet you, Derek," I told him after we had shaken hands. He had held my hand almost reverently, but he glanced up to meet my eyes as I spoke. "I understand you are the one who smashed the guitar I gave to Megan?"

The horror that crossed his face at those words definitely elated me. I coyly smiled as I continued, because I was having too much fun to keep a straight face.

"I hope you apologized to her," I told him. "That guitar was very special to me."

"I'm so sorry!" he started groveling. "It was an accident!"

He looked so stricken that he had disappointed me that I couldn't keep up my fun anymore. As much as I wanted to hurt him as much as he had hurt me, I knew that I couldn't do that to him. I'd had my fun, but I didn't want to torture him.

"It's okay, Derek," I told him. "Just be careful of other people's things in the future."

"I will. I promise!" he said, and I knew he meant it. I smiled and signed the poster he had brought with him before I moved on.

Amy caught up to me at that moment, carrying a box that had the bears inside. I thanked her and waved Mary over to me. It was much easier for her to come to me then for me to make it through the crowd back to her. She and her daughters started pushing through the crowded room and I turned to sign a few more autographs as I waited. Once they arrived I took two of the bears from the box.

"These are special bears for my most special fans," I told the two girls while handing them the bears. I could see and hear some jealousy from the crowd around us, but I didn't care. I got to decide who these bears went to - nobody else. "Remember them when you need someone or something to hug, okay?"

Mary's daughters clutched the bears tightly while nodding. I wished I could talk to them more about the bears, but I knew I was already going to be meeting with fans a lot longer than I normally did, and I was already exhausted from the concert. If I was going to get to bed at some point before the sun rose, I needed to keep moving. We said our goodbyes for a second time, and I was once again moving through the crowd.

I almost wished that we could have these backstage meet and greets before the concert, when I wasn't so tired. But the elation and the excitement that each fan brought after a concert was ten times greater, and ten times more fun to experience. As tired as I was, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Emily and her family were next. It was pretty cool meeting her parents as Sarah, since they knew who I really was. But the elation on Anna's face at finally meeting me was what I really cherished. She was such a great girl, and I felt bad that she was being kept out of this part of my life. But there were still things I could do to show her how much I appreciated her.

"I understand you were sad because you couldn’t come to Salt Lake City," I said to her after she had finished squealing with excitement. She frowned and nodded silently. "Well, Megan and Emily have told me how awesome you are. I have something special for you to make up for it. Would you like that?"

She nodded again, grinning this time, and I turned to Amy who handed me the last of the Carerra Bears.

"Do you recognize this?" I asked Anna. Her face lit up immediately as she took the bear from me.

"It's just like Megan's!" she said excitedly, and louder than I wanted her to. I didn't need people knowing that Megan had a bear like this.

"It is," I replied. "Megan and I both have bears like this on our beds. They are there for us whenever we need to hug something. This one is yours, and now you can be just like us, okay?"

She beamed as she nodded once more, and I wrapped her in a hug to show her how much I cared. I still couldn't tell her the truth, but at least she was now a part of this world.

Ethan and his family were next. His mom was surprised that his sister was more excited to meet me than he was, since it was well known in their household that he had a crush on Sarah. But since they didn't know the truth, they had no idea that he had already spent a lot of time with me.

The last people I was able to meet and spend time with were Paul's family. I had watched him as I moved around the room, and he had continuously pulled his family around the room so he could avoid me. I knew he hoped that he didn't have to interact with me at all, so when I saw them turning to leave, I made sure to intercept them before he could get away.

They were about to walk out the door when he looked over his shoulder for one last glance, and almost gasped to find me right behind him.

"Hi, Paul," I said, and I couldn't help but smile at the shriek he emitted as his surprise caught up with him. "Leaving so soon?"

"I just...I just..." he was struggling to speak. If I thought he had been scared of girls before, this must have been his worst nightmare! I had never seen him look so nervous and scared before.

"It's okay," I said and reached out and took hold of his hand. "I'm not going to bite."

Paul's dad started laughing, which didn't help his son's composure, but I ignored him to keep Paul focused on calming down. It took a moment, but I could see him relax as he realized I wasn't going to cause him to die.

That's when he looked me in the eyes.

That's when he really freaked out.

I knew instantly what had happened! I had managed to deceive my entire extended family! I had managed to deceive my closest cousin! But one look in my eyes was all it took for Paul to see through my secret!

He opened his mouth to speak, and I did the only thing I could. I clamped my hand over his lips while looking around nervously. His parents were staring at us now, wondering what was going on.

I still heard "Megan" escape his mouth around my hand, but it was quiet enough that I was pretty sure no one else had heard it. I REALLY hoped nobody else had heard it!

"Not here!" I hissed quietly. This was about the worst thing that could happen! I'd had no desire for Paul to find out the truth! He needed someone like Sarah to look up to! He had feelings for her that I couldn't reciprocate! I did NOT want to deal with this! But now I had no choice!

More words flew from his mouth, garbled by the hand I still held there. Thankfully, he quickly realized what I was doing and quieted down. I hesitantly removed my hand, worried that he would scream the secret out for everyone in the room to hear.

But he didn't. He just stared at me, mouth agape as he struggled with the knowledge that I didn't want him to know.

"I'm sorry, Paul," I said. There was so much more I wanted to tell him, but most of the people in the room were looking at us, and I knew that this was the moment of truth for the night. Either I got out of there with my secret intact, or this would be the end of Sarah Carerra as I knew her.

He didn't respond. He didn't say anything. He did the only thing that I desperately wished that I could do.

He fled.

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Want more Sarah Carerra?
Hear the songs that inspired this piece of the concert at sarahcarerra.com