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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 3: Concerto in A-

Chapter 3.22 - V.I.P. on Campus

The rest of the weekend was a mix of joy and sadness at the same time. I was anxious to share the song I had written with Austin, but I couldn't do that until I met with the band to help me finish it. All weekend I had to watch him mope around the house when I knew I had something that might cheer him up.

On the positive side both 'You Can't Hurt Me' and 'Ever After' were still in the top 10 songs over the weekend. 'You Can't Hurt Me' was still falling, although slowly. It was losing a spot every week and came in at #8 on the countdown. 'Ever After' had continued to rise and was now sitting at #2! I really hoped that it would make the leap to the #1 spot next week. Having it on top would definitely excite Emily. She deserved it.

On Monday morning I did have one thing I could try to cause Austin to smile once again. Initially he looked confused when I handed him a stack of backstage passes to the Sarah Carerra concert we would be performing at the school later this week.

"What are these for?" he asked me.

"These are backstage passes for the school concert," I told him. "I have 60 passes that I need to pass out today, and I want you to pass out 20 of them."

He stared at the passes for a moment as he realized what that meant. Then I was rewarded with a huge smile that I was hoping for as he looked up at me.

"Are you serious?" he asked, excitement overcoming his sadness.

"I'm serious," I replied, returning his smile. "Pick the 20 people whom you know who you want to be there or who you think most deserve it. Just make sure that you write down their names on the paper on top so we have a record of whom we gave them to, okay?"

"Okay," he said and I saw his mind start cranking away on who he wanted to invite to the party of the century as far as our schoolmates were concerned.

When we arrived at the school Austin jumped out of my car almost before I had come to a stop. I had to laugh at his enthusiasm, and I hoped that, if nothing else, it would distract him from how bad he'd been feeling all weekend.

"What's up with him?" Emily asked as she climbed out of my car.

"I gave him some backstage passes to give away," I told her. She started nodding, understanding what that meant.

"Do we get some?" Ethan asked.

"Obviously you have backstage passes," I informed them, wondering how he could even think otherwise.

"I meant do we get to pass some out?" he clarified.

"I have 40 that I need to pass out," I told him. "I figured you two could help me decide who to give them to. Any suggestions?"

"Jane, Kathy, and Ashley, obviously," Emily started.

"Obviously," I shot back and opened my bag to show her that their names were already printed on the top three passes. "Who else?"

We continued to discuss whom we thought deserved the passes as we walked to class. We started to gain a small following as people overheard us, and I knew that it wouldn't be long before the whole school knew what we were up to. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

I sighed as I collapsed onto the bench in front of my locker in the P.E. locker room. Once everyone realized that I was in charge of inviting people to the Star Party for the school concert, they had suddenly become my best friends. As if I wouldn't be able to tell what they were doing. I wasn't dumb enough to give them a backstage pass just because they suddenly were nice to me.

"That bad, huh?" Emily asked from where she was already getting ready for class.

"I always thought that people went nuts backstage when they get to meet Sarah," I replied. "But they can get downright catty when it comes to GETTING backstage passes. I've seen completely new sides to people I thought I already knew."

Emily rolled her eyes and nodded her head in understanding. She had seen how some of my fans acted when it involved a chance to meet me. This wasn't any different, except that this time I knew most of the individuals.

"So you are really in charge of handing out backstage passes?" Liz, one of the girls we shared the row of lockers with, asked.

"Yes," I told her. She had just reminded me that she was on my list. "And in fact, I have something for you. Both of you," I amended and smiled at Rebekah, the other girl. The two of them had become two of my best friends in P.E. Most of the class were still a little distant from me even though they had started to accept who I really was. But these two had taken the time to actually be nice to me while we changed and throughout the class.

The eyes of the two girls opened wide immediately and their excitement started to grow quickly as I pulled out two of the backstage passes, wrote their names on the passes before writing their names on the master list of everyone I had given a pass to. Then I handed each of them their pass.

"Sarah would love to have you join her backstage for a party after the concert," I told each of them, causing them to shriek excitedly. I immediately closed my bag and shoved it in my locker. Seconds later other girls from the class started to come down to our row, and I knew they would be looking for similar treatment.

Instead, I started changing. We still had a class to get ready for.

* * *

Filling my tray with food at lunch time was almost impossible. Everyone in the school was now aware of what I was doing today and I was hounded at every single step I made as I walked between classes. The lunch room was no different, and students, some whom I didn't even know, kept stepping in my way and prevented me from getting to the food as they pled their case. All of them left empty-handed.

I had received permission from Principal Hall to let Austin and me distribute most of the passes during one of the afternoon classes, so even the students who were going to receive a pass later in the day left empty-handed after talking to me. I had instructed Austin to do the same for anyone who wasn't a close friend to help keep people from getting out of hand. I'd been checking up on Austin throughout the day like I had been doing since he had been beaten up, and so far he hadn't had any problems either. I only hoped that luck would last through the rest of the day.

Eventually I made it to the table where my friends were already sitting. Some of them were amazed at how many people were following me around, but I was starting to learn how to ignore the clamoring as much as possible as I went about my business. They could hate me all they wanted because at the end of the day only my true friends were going to get a pass to my big party.

"Don't worry," I said before anyone could say anything. "I have one for each of you."

All of them smiled immediately, and it also cleared the air at the table. I knew that they were all anxious to learn if they would be invited, and now they had their answer. However, if I pulled the passes out of my bag with so many people around, a riot could ensue. They would receive their passes this afternoon like most of the other lucky students.

"If nothing else, everyone knows your name now," Ethan said, which caused me to laugh. The attention I was getting today was not exactly the type of attention I wanted, but it certainly beat the attention that I sometimes received from some of my fellow students.

"The question is whether or not they hate me after today," I replied.

"I think most of them will be nice to you," Jane replied. "They now know that you have big connections to Sarah, and they won't want to jeopardize their chances to get something from you later."

"You might be right," I told her. "But that won't make my day any easier."

"Don't think about the ones who are going to be upset," Emily said. "Think about all of the people whom you are going to make really happy today. Focus on them and ignore the rest."

I paused and stared at Emily as I thought about what she had said. That sounded like a great idea. I had been so worried about all of the people who were going to be mad, but I should be thinking about people like Liz and Rebekah. They had been so excited for the chance to meet Sarah. This was the first time that I had full control over who would be at the Star Party. This was the first time that I exclusively chose who would meet Sarah. And I had a responsibility to myself to make sure that I picked the right people. I had a responsibility to make sure that it was going to be the best party ever. Inviting people like Liz and Rebekah would help to fulfill that responsibility, and we would have a blast at the same time.

I nodded to Emily. She was right. I wasn't going to worry about those individuals who didn't get an invitation. Instead I would focus on the positive side of making this list.

"Uh oh," Ethan said, breaking my new promise as Ethan watched someone approaching. I followed his gaze, and frowned. How was I supposed to focus on the positive aspects of making a backstage list if I had to deal with someone like Johnny Crawford?

Johnny sauntered up to the table, and I knew immediately what he wanted. Johnny and I had a very rocky relationship, to say the least. Johnny was Scott's son, and he had tried to use his dad's connection as my representative from Olympic Records and as my producer to further his own agenda. He had a crush on Sarah, but there was no way that I would ever let him get close to her. He had been told by both his father and my own father that he needed to stay away from her.

"No, Johnny," I told him before he said anything. "You know that you aren't invited backstage. I'm not going to give you a pass."

Immediately his stance shifted and I knew I had upset him already. But I didn't care. I'd dealt with him enough times to know that I didn't want anything to do with him.

"Come on, Megan," he said in a much nicer tone than I expected. "What's the harm? There are going to be lots of people there; she won't mind."

"I was given specific instructions by Sarah not to give you a pass," I explained. "I'm not going to give you one."

Johnny started to turn slightly red with anger. I started to worry. The last time I had seen Johnny mad like this he had almost been arrested when he hit the police officer who was dragging him away from the table where I was signing autographs at my album release. I'd been avoiding him ever since and this was only the second time that we had talked since then. I had managed to avoid him completely as Megan since the school year ended, but now I was worried about what he would do next.

Before I even knew what he was doing he reached out and grabbed my bag from where I had set it next to me on the bench.

"Hey!” I screamed and tried to grab it back. But he was too strong and he yanked it out of my hands. He retreated a few steps, and I jumped up to go after him. "Stop now, Johnny, or I'll make sure you are banned from the concert!"

"You can't do that!" he yelled back, unzipping the top of my bag and reaching in. He found the stack of passes held together by a rubber band immediately, and pulled it out.

"Last chance, Johnny!" I yelled as he started to pull one of the passes out of the stack. "Give them back to me or you will never be allowed at a Sarah Carerra event again!"

The whole cafeteria was watching our exchange now. There were many witnesses to what happened next, but even if every single one of them signed an affidavit about what they saw I still wouldn’t have believed it.

Out of nowhere a large hand slammed down onto Johnny's shoulder, holding him in place as the giant's other hand grabbed the stack of passes from him.

"The lady said no!" he forcefully told Johnny. "Do you have a hearing problem?"

"N..No," Johnny stammered, and I had never seen him so scared before. I would have reveled in the fear that was crossing Johnny's face if I hadn't been just as terrified myself.

"Now apologize," my rescuer said and roughly shoved Johnny forward toward me.

"I'm sorry, Megan," escaped Johnny quickly. I knew he didn't mean it. He was scared to death. But if it meant that I got the passes safely back in my hands, I would accept it.

I nodded, and the hand clamped on Johnny's shoulder released him. Johnny took off immediately, but my eyes never left the person who had just intervened. He picked up my bag that Johnny had dropped and then stepped toward me, holding both the bag and the passes out to me.

"Here," he said. It wasn't exactly in a nice tone of voice, but it was better than what I was used to hearing from him.

"Thanks, Jared," I replied, taking the items from him. Jared Lumbart was the last person that I expected to come to my defense! He had been nothing but mean to me since the first time that Megan had set foot in this school. I couldn't even comprehend why he would step up and do what he had done. It didn't make any sense to me.

"This doesn't mean we're friends," he growled back before he turned and returned to the table he had been sitting at. I just watched for a moment before I was able to return the passes to the safety of my bag and return to my own table.

I spent the rest of the lunch period staring at my food in incomprehension, unable to eat.

* * *

"Do you have all of the names?" I asked Austin. He nodded and handed me the list he had filled out. Some of the names on the list were his friends, but there were others whose names I didn’t recognize. I handed the list over to the secretary in the main office of the school, who began looking up which class each of them was in. She had already gone through my own list while we waited for my brother to arrive.

It was about five minutes later that she had the list filled out and wished us luck. Austin and I then left the office for our mission. We had 49 of the 60 passes to pass out during this period.

We started spreading good cheer in the freshman classes. I watched from the doorway as Austin entered each of the classes. Principal Hall had made an announcement that we were coming by to hand out the passes, so each of the students were mesmerized immediately when we walked into the classrooms. Anticipation was rampant as Austin moved through each room. Groans of disappointment were drowned by the excited shrieks of the people he handed passes to. I smiled as I watched their reactions. Austin even got a few kisses on the cheek from some very good looking freshmen girls when he handed them a pass.

Then we moved on to the other classes. I had the privilege of seeing the reaction from nearly every single individual who had been invited to the Star Party when they received their backstage pass. I normally didn't get to see these types of reactions, and I was overwhelmed by the emotions that some of them displayed.

It had been over three weeks since my last concert, and I had almost forgotten how excited my fans could be at the prospect of meeting me. I still didn't understand why they felt that way about meeting Sarah. I hadn't done anything special. I had written and sung a few songs, but I still didn't feel like I had done anything to deserve the responses I received from my fans. Some of my schoolmates were in tears as I handed them their passes.

When we reached the final classroom, I took a deep breath. I had three passes left to distribute, and on the other side of the door were one of my first and one of my last decisions for receiving a pass. The two individuals who would be receiving the passes were nearly as opposite as two people could be. But I wanted both of them there, even if it was for entirely different reasons.

I opened the door, and Austin followed me inside. The class fell into silence almost immediately as the teacher stopped talking and the students gave me their rapt attention. I scanned the classroom until I found the two students I was looking for.

I started walking toward the first almost immediately. As I approached I saw her smile. Everyone knew she was one of my friends, so it wasn't much of a surprise when I handed a pass to Jane.

"Thank you, Megan," she told me.

"It's my pleasure," I told her. Then I turned to walk toward the other student. Everyone in the classroom could see that I still had two passes in my hands, and as I passed each of them they tensed up and then softly groaned as I passed them. Except for the one I was approaching. He started to look uncomfortable almost immediately, and he slightly turned away from me as I got closer.

"These are for you," I told Jared Lumbart while placing both of the remaining passes down on his desk, causing many of the people in the class to gasp. "I want you to bring somebody special with you. And thank you, Jared."

I smiled, and he scowled back at me. He wasn't happy with what I was doing, but the thin curl of his mouth told me that he wanted the passes. Jared and I had a rocky past, but perhaps we could now put it behind us.

"This doesn't mean we're friends," he echoed his sentiment from lunch.

"I know," I told him. "But that doesn't mean that I don't want you there. Enjoy them."

He nodded, and I turned around. I was smiling as I walked toward the door.

Austin was shocked as I approached him, but I knew one thing for certain as he turned and opened the door to let me out.

This was going to be the most interesting Star Party ever.

* * *

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