---

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 3: Concerto in A-

Chapter 3.36 - Chorus of Agony

The rest of the weekend was more relaxing, except for the countdown of the Top 20. 'Your Time Will Come' stayed at #1 on the countdown, but 'Ever After' fell completely out of the Top 20, coming in at #23.

When I arrived at school on Monday there was a buzz of excitement running throughout the student body. It was widely known that the Chorus would be performing with Sarah Carerra in two weeks, and the concert rehearsals would occur here at the school. It was impossible to ignore the many people who were converting the stage in the auditorium into a replica of what we would be using for the actual concert. I poked my head in to see the progress before I headed to class, and I was happy to see that it would be ready for our first session this afternoon.

School was about as boring as it usually was, but I did my best to pay attention in my classes. The last thing I needed right now was for my grades to slip. Dad wouldn't hesitate to keep me from doing Sarah stuff if my grades faltered.

After the second to last class of the day ended I walked out to my car and drove the short distance home. I parked my car in the garage and I immediately walked back down the driveway and boarded Sarah's tour bus, which was waiting for me.

"Hi, Eddie," I greeted my driver.

"Hi, Megan," he replied and closed the door to the bus before he started driving back toward the school. I continued into the bus, greeting Cole and Mason as I did, before walking back to my room and closing the door. It didn't take me too long to transform myself into Sarah, and I finished just as we arrived at the school.

Cole and Mason followed me as I led them back into the school and to the auditorium. There, I found Mr. Benson talking to the assembled Chorus members who were sitting in the first few rows. He smiled when he saw me and motioned for me to join him at the front. As I was walking to join him I noticed the dancers sitting together nearby also.

"Hi everyone," I greeted the Chorus. There were a number of customary replies, and it was easy to hear the nervousness in some of their responses. I couldn't blame them, I had been very nervous the first time we went into rehearsals for my concert tour.

"I want you all to listen to what Sarah has to say," Mr. Benson said. "She's been in your position before. I'm sure she was just as nervous as you are the first time she did this."

"First time?" I said. "I'm nervous now too!"

That was enough to cause some of the students to laugh, which in turn broke the ice and eased some of their nerves. It was also the truth. I was worried about how much I was going to be asking of the Chorus over the next two weeks.

"I know I'm asking a lot from you guys," I told them. "Although it looks easy, putting on a concert is hard work. I understand that there are many things that you would probably rather be doing than spending the next two weeks rehearsing. I'm not going to require any of you to stay past the regular time that school ends, but I do ask that you give your best attempt to help us put on a good concert. Each of you agreed to this when you joined the Chorus earlier this year, and I want you to know that it will be worth your while to see it through."

There were some very scared expressions looking back at me now. I grimaced inside, but kept my face smiling. Three hours a day for rehearsals was considerably less than what we had done for my concert tour. It was more than what I thought most of them were willing to give. The dancers were being paid to be here, but the Chorus members were all volunteers — and they were high school students. I knew that Mr. Benson had talked about making their participation in the concert preparations as part of their grade, and I hoped that wasn't the case. I wanted them here because they WANTED to be here, not because it was required of them to be here.

I motioned for the woman who was sitting off to the side to join us, and she stood up and came over.

"I'd like you all to meet Kate Abernathy," I told the Chorus members. Everyone else in the room was very familiar with Kate. "Kate is my choreographer, and she has ultimate say in what we do on stage. Please give her the respect she deserves. Kate?"

Kate stepped forward, and I stepped back to let her take charge for the day. This was her show now. She introduced herself to the Chorus members and described what she expected of them. She was a lot nicer with them than she had been with me and the dancers the first time we had met for tour rehearsals.

Soon she had us up on stage and working on the first set of songs she wanted to get through today. I was already tired and sweaty when the bell rang to indicate the end of school for the day. Kate paused to allow anyone who wanted to leave the chance to do so. When nobody moved, she continued like nothing had happened. Shortly afterward students started to stream into the auditorium to watch us practice.

Principal Hall had asked us to leave the rehearsals open to anyone who wanted to watch them, and I had agreed. The only caveat was that anyone watching had to keep quiet, and Cole and Mason had brought enough of their security team to ensure silence. Anyone disrupting the rehearsals would be asked to leave.

It was after a fairly intense attempt at one of the songs that I found myself panting as I looked around the auditorium. I noticed that some of the Chorus members were tired and wanted to go home; but as they watched how hard I was working to prepare myself, they had taken it upon themselves to match my effort. I was proud of them. Even Mark Corbin had kept from complaining...too much.

I turned my gaze to the many students in the seats watching as Kate called out the latest set of things we had done wrong. Many of them were huddled in small groups and talking quietly as they watched, but I found one lone girl watching us with a smile on her face.

I smiled back at Amber Hartfield and gave her a little wave before turning my attention back to Kate.

I was exhausted when Kate called an end to rehearsals for the day. The rest of the chorus seemed just as tired. I smirked at how little work they had done compared to me and the dancers, but I had to acknowledge how hard they had worked. I just hoped they all returned tomorrow.

* * *

"Megan, can I talk to you?" I looked up from my P.E. locker the next day to see Amber standing at the edge of the bench I was sitting on. I took a deep breath, but turned toward her. My body complained, but I ignored it. I was in excellent shape, but it had been about a month and a half since I'd performed a concert and I ached from all the practice.

"Yes," I said, and surprisingly Amber smiled at me. Emily and the other two girls I shared the row of lockers with seemed just as surprised at her reaction.

"I just wanted to say that I was sorry," she blurted out, and I knew she wanted to get this over with. She was embarrassed to apologize to me, but she didn't need to be. "I've been going through some tough things, and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

I opened my mouth to respond, but found myself speechless! Frankly, I was shocked! I wasn't sure how to respond. Even after I had talked to her as Sarah I never actually believed that she would apologize to me. I knew how much pain she was in. It wasn't an excuse for the way she had been treating me, but I understood why she had lashed out.

"It's okay," I finally managed to say.

"No, it isn't," she replied, "but I guess she already told you why?"

"Who?" I asked, acting confused. This was a time when I was certain that Amber had hoped Sarah hadn't shared the information she had learned at Amber's house. Although I knew what had happened that day, I was going to give her the privacy she wanted and deserved.

"Sarah..." she started, and then looked surprised when I looked at her uncomprehendingly. When she realized that Sarah hadn't told me anything, or so she thought, the tips of her mouth curled upward slightly before she caught herself.

I knew that she was sincere. I knew it in my heart. But I also knew she didn't want people knowing about her parents' divorce and what she was going through.

"It's okay," I told her again. "Whatever it was I forgive you."

Amber stared back at me. I knew that she was carefully studying my face for some form of deceit, but there was none to be found in my expression.

Eventually, she nodded, and without another word she turned and walked out of sight around the lockers. I turned to Emily and gave her a look that indicated I didn't know what had just happened.

But when I turned back to my locker to finish getting ready I discretely wiped away a tear of relief. She wasn't the only one who had been giving me a hard time at school, but at least she was one less.

* * *

The second day of rehearsals came and went with only one person dropping out of the concert. Mr. Benson had given everyone the opportunity to leave if they wanted to, but he had apparently told them that they would not be performing with the Chorus if they did. I was leaving who got to perform in his hands. As long as I had the "important" members of Chorus there that night - the ones who were actually singing solo lines - then he could do what he wanted. I had hoped that they would all be there, but George, the boy who had quit, had never been one of the ones excited about the concert. He had been in Chorus before it was announced that Sarah would be performing with them, and was really only there for a grade.

Kate worked us hard, but not to the point where we would break. I admired her ability to inspire us to keep going and to instill in us a desire to improve. She was very good at what she did, and I was glad to be working with her.

The next week seemed to fly by. Three hours a day was enough to exhaust all of us; yet the dancers, band, and I worked an additional eight hours on Saturday that the Chorus members didn't have to do. Sunday was the only real day of rest we got, and then we were back at it again on Monday.

When Wednesday rolled around I felt that we were about as ready as we could be, and our dress rehearsal had very few issues that we needed to correct. Thursday, when I entered the auditorium for our last dress rehearsal before the concert, I was surprised to see that nearly every seat in the auditorium was filled. Principal Hall had apparently given the teachers the option to watch the final rehearsal instead of holding their last classes of the day. I hadn't planned on performing a second concert for the school, but we'd had a lot of people watching us all week so there was little difference this time.

As the bell rang on the last class of school Friday afternoon I felt a tingle start to permeate my entire body. Anticipation set in and I knew that it was going to be an amazing evening.

I rushed home and changed quickly before once more heading out to my tour bus. My family and my best friends rode with me down to the Nokia Theatre. The bus pulled into the back lot that was created by blocking off most of Georgia Street on the west side. There were already a number of busses and tractor-trailers parked there. My entourage wasn't quite as big as it had been for my tour, but there were still an impressive number of vehicles.

Once inside the theatre I spent a few minutes greeting everyone who was working on preparing for the concert. Many of them were veterans from my concert tour, but there were some new faces hired specifically for tonight, and I wanted to make sure that each of them received at least a "Hello" from me.

Hair and makeup was next before I put on my first costume, the one that matched what every member of Chorus would be wearing to start the concert. Then I found myself involved in the last minute details before my band, the Chorus members, and I gathered in a large room backstage.

"I want to thank all of you," I told the assembled group. "I know that you put a lot of work into preparing for this concert. I know that the last two weeks have been long, and that we are all tired. But I also know that we are going to be awesome tonight!"

There were some chuckles at my enthusiasm. I turned to Amy who was holding the most important thing in the world right now. Taking the band's Carerra Bear that we used before each concert I turned back to the crowd. A smile spread across the lips of my band members and curiosity lit the faces of the Chorus members. Even Ethan was looking on in wonder. He had been to many of my concerts, but this was something he had never been privy to.

"This is a Carerra Bear," I said, and there were a number of nods coming from the Chorus members. The bears had started to become common knowledge, so most people knew what they were.

"This one belongs to the people who perform with me on stage," I continued. "It has the signature of every member of my band on it," I said while turning to Jane and pointing at the new signature that had been embroidered on the bear's tummy. Her eyes lit up immediately and she smiled broadly as she saw her signature.

"These bears mean a lot to me," I told the assembled group. "And we have a small ritual to help give us luck and to help us succeed on stage. I've invited all of you here today because you are instrumental to tonight's performance. Let this bear give you the success you need."

I closed my eyes and hugged the bear tightly. I envisioned the success we would have tonight. I asked for the help and strength I needed to do my best. And when I opened my eyes I felt the rush of emotions and anticipation I felt at every one of my performances overwhelm me.

I turned toward the band and Holly walked over to me, took the bear, and hugged the bear tightly before passing it on to Sophie, who passed it on to Jason, and so on until every member of my band had done the same. Then I pointed at Jane, and she became the link between my band and the rest of the Chorus members. Each of them took their turn. Some of the boys looked reluctant to hug the bear, but one look from me was all it took to convince them, and each of them smiled as they went back to their seats.

"Let's get this party started!" the band and I yelled together indicating we were all ready for what was to come.

I smiled at every single person in that room as they left before following them out to take our places for the concert.

It was time to make the magic happen.

* * *

* * *
Want more Sarah Carerra?
Book 1: I Am A Rock Star is now available for the Kindle! Click here for more information. Become a fan of Sarah Carerra by joining her on Facebook or Twitter by clicking the buttons below.
   

If you've read book 1 I'd love it if you shared your opinions with others. Review the Kindle version at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006IZG49M. :)