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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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Chapter 8 - Meet Sarah Carerra, Teen Superstar (In Training)

"Good morning, Princess," Dad said to me the next morning when I entered the kitchen for breakfast.

"Morning, Daddy," I said, playing along with this new game we had going. I think he was trying to show me that he was okay with my decision, but it was still weird.

Austin, my brother, nearly choked on his cereal at this display. I could understand why, because we'd never quite acted this way when I was dressed as Megan before.

"Eat up, and we'll get going," my dad told me, ignoring Austin's reaction.

I nodded and grabbed a bowl for myself. I might be embarking on a new life as a popular singer (hopefully), but I wasn't getting anything special for breakfast that morning.

*  *  *

"Are you ready, Megan?" Mom asked me while I was washing my breakfast dishes.

I turned to look at her, flipping my hair out of my eyes at the same time. This new haircut looked beautiful, but the bangs had a tendency to fall over my eyes. It was just one more thing to get used to, I guess. "Yeah, I'll be right there."

After placing my dishes in the dishwasher, I walked down the hall to the spare room. My dad had decided this was going to be Sarah's room, and while it was pretty vacant right now, he hoped to make it feel like a green room and dressing room combined into one. Right now, it only held the wigs.

Walking into the room I found my mom holding one of the wigs. It was the same long blonde with dark highlights, but this one had soft waves and curls in it. In fact, it looked a lot like my current hair, just a different color.

"How about this one?" she asked me. I smiled and nodded at her and then took a seat in the chair she indicated.

My mom set the wig down carefully, and then started gathering my hair with her hands. She twisted it, or did something to it that I couldn't see without a mirror, and pinned it to my head. She then picked the wig back up and placed it on my head, pinning it to my own hair to prevent the wig from accidentally falling off.

"Take a look," she said, allowing me to stand up.

I walked over to the full length mirror my dad had put on the wall yesterday, and peered at myself. I'd tried on each of the wigs before now, but this time was different. It was for real.

I was amazed at the difference! I enjoyed the way I looked as Megan. I thought I was pretty. But Sarah seemed to be in another league. Even with light makeup and wearing simple jeans and a pink tee, I could tell that she was going to be something sensational.

"Wow," I voiced when I saw my mom step behind me in the mirror. Her smile matched my own. "I can't believe how different I look!"

"You're gorgeous, honey," she said. "With or without the wigs."

"I'm scared," I told her, turning around and returning her hug. "What if something goes wrong?"

"Don't worry," she said soothingly. "Your dad will be there at every step, and I'm just a phone call away."

"I know," I told her, trying to keep the tears out of my eyes. The last thing I needed to do was mess up my makeup. "But I wish you were going to be there too."

"In time, honey," she said, stroking my back in a comforting gesture. "You know why your dad wants to keep your identity secret."

I nodded, but it didn't provide any comfort.

*  *  *

"How are you doing?" Dad asked me while we walked into an upscale downtown office building 40 minutes later.

"I'm nervous," I replied. In all honesty, I was stressed out.

"You'll be fine," he said with a large grin. "You're handling this better than most of my new clients."

I didn't know if that was true or not, but it did make me feel better. I was just happy he was there to support me.

"Julia is a nice girl," he continued when we were in the elevator. She gets paid well to make sure you look your best. If you don't like her ideas please say something. She'll work with you to make an image both of you will be happy with."

"Ok," I said.

Two older men in the elevator were staring at me more than I thought was appropriate, but I didn't know what to do about it.

"Don't worry, Sarah," my dad said, still trying to calm me down. "She's worked with a lot of young girls like you, and she's one of my best contractors."

I loved my dad! I didn't know if he was aware of the stares I was getting, but his comment about me being young certainly had the desired effect on the two guys.

We got out on the 20th floor and stepped into a luxurious lobby. The decor was expensive looking, and quite feminine in white and pink. I don't think I'd ever been in an office decorated this way before.

Dad led me over to the receptionist's desk, behind which two halls led further into the building. A sign on the wall behind her desk told me I was in the offices of Aphrodite Image Consulting.

"Hi, Janet," my dad said when the receptionist looked up. "Is Julia around?"

"Hi, Don," she replied with a smile that I felt was too large to be given to a happily married man. "If you want to take a seat I'll let her know you're here."

She smiled at me too after appraising my look, but this smile seemed more like she felt I didn't have a chance in the industry. I'm not quite sure how she pulled off that look.

Before we had a chance to take a seat, a pretty woman approached us from one of the halls. She appeared to be in her mid-20s, blonde, with blue eyes. She could have been a model herself.

"Don!" she said in greeting, finishing it with a quick hug. Was I the only one weirded out by all the flirting these girls were doing with my dad?

"It's so good to see you again!" she said, stepping back. Then she turned her attention to me. "And you must be Sarah. It's so nice to meet you."

She offered me her hand, and I took it. With a grin I said, "Pleased to meet you, ma'am."

"Oh don't you dare ‘ma'am’ me again, young lady," she said with mock disgust. "Julia will do."

I liked her already. She seemed nice enough, except that whole flirting with my dad thing. If she could stop flirting with him, I think we could have a good relationship together.

"Come on back to my office," she said, motioning down the hall. Dad and I followed her into a large office. The decor was slightly different, more personalized in here, but still very feminine. It had an odd effect of putting me at ease. My dad looked uncomfortable.

"So," she said after directing us to sit down on a small couch. She took a seat across from us in a soft looking chair. "You're the next teen sensation?"

"I guess," I said shyly. It sounded like it could become an accurate description. I kind of hoped it did.

"How old are you?" she asked, pulling out a notepad and writing a few things down.

"Sixteen," I replied. She wrote some more.

"No parents with you today, huh?" she said. I think she was trying to help build me up by reminding me of this new found independence.

"Um, I…" I started, but wasn't quite sure how to continue. I looked to my dad for the answer.

"Oh, Don!" she gasped, reading something in my expression. "When you said ‘one of mine’, you really meant ‘one of mine’!”

Dad grimaced slightly at how easily she was able to read our relationship. I guess that was something I was going to need to work on if I didn't want my secret getting out.

Eventually my dad nodded at her, and reached down to retrieve his briefcase. While he was rooting around inside, Julia continued.

"I'm guessing Sarah Carerra is a stage name then?"

Pulling a stack of papers from his briefcase, my dad nodded. "Before we continue this discussion, I'm going to need you to sign this."

Julia took the papers from my dad and started looking them over.

"It's a standard non-disclosure agreement," he told her. "It states that you and your company will not reveal Sarah's true identity.”

Julia frowned, but kept skimming the documents. "I'm going to need to have our lawyer look at this before I can sign it."

My dad smiled back at her, "I know. This is just a formality. We've known each other too long for me not to trust you."

Her frown left and she smiled again at the reassurance that Dad gave her. She stood up and placed the papers on her desk before returning to her seat.

"Ok," she said looking at me. "Can I ask your real name?"

I looked at my dad. I wasn't sure if I should tell her. At his nod I said, "Megan."

"Megan Campbell?" she asked. I nodded.

"Well Megan," she said while extending her hand. "I'm glad I was able to meet you. Your dad and I have worked together for years, but he never mentioned he had such a beautiful daughter."

I smiled and took her hand. We shook softly and then she let it go. Everyone kept saying I'm so beautiful, but I still wasn't used to compliments like that, and I could feel myself blushing again.

"To business then," she said while checking the time on her watch. "We've only got about an hour to get you ready. Instead of taking you shopping, we'll take a look at the stash. Does that sound okay?"

The last question was directed at my dad. He nodded agreement before she continued. "Great, once you're dressed we'll get our stylist to glam you up."

She wrote something else on her notepad and then stood up. "This way please. Don, you can wait here if you would like."

My dad nodded at her, and I stood up and followed her out of her office.

*  *  *

"Welcome to the stash," Julia said while pushing open a set of double doors. She waved her arms in a motion designed to make me look around the room.

I did, and I was impressed! The room was quite large; perhaps double the size of our living room at home. It was decorated much like the rest of the building, very femininely.

But it was the contents of the room that were the center piece. There were racks and racks of clothes. All shapes, all sizes. Dresses, skirts, pants, jeans, tops, jackets, you name it, it was probably in here somewhere. There was even a lingerie section!

"This area is for our clients when they are in need of a quick outfit change without the luxury of shopping time, like you," Julia explained. "The outfits are rotated frequently, and anything you take will be charged to your account. We'd prefer to take you shopping though."

I stood there, completely overwhelmed. Despite the past, I was still pretty new to this girl stuff, and this was an overwhelming amount of luxury clothes. I didn't even know where to start.

Julia smiled at my expression, and let me soak it in for a minute. "Follow me," she eventually said, and led me towards one of the racks.

"Don said he wanted to go for simple glam, as if that's not an oxymoron," she waited for my laugh, but settled for my quirky smile.

"Measurements," she continued a second later, as if the thought had just occurred to her. She picked up a measuring tape from the top of one of the racks and approached me. "Arms up, spread them like this."

I did what she said, raising my arms until my body was shaped like a T. She then took the tape and started measuring me across my bust and below my bra.

"Not much up top yet huh?" She asked me with a wicked smile.

Embarrassed once again, I nodded before saying "Most of it's the bra."

"It's okay, Sarah," she said reassuringly. "Everyone ages differently. They'll come along soon enough."

She continued to take my measurements, writing them down on a small pad designed for the purpose. Then she started searching through the racks for specific items.

"Jeans," she said, dropping a pair of dark jeans on a table. "Top," and a red top was added to the pile. "And shoes," a pair of white tennis shoes joined them.

"Try these on," Julia said while handing me the pile she had created. "I'll get the glam ready."

I took the clothes, and looked around for a place to change.

"Dressing rooms are over there," Julia was pointing to a couple of doors along one of the walls. I thanked her and headed for the doors.

The jeans were a dark blue, but weren't unlike any of the other jeans my mom had bought me. They were tighter than my male jeans of course, but not uncomfortable. The red top was gorgeous. I was starting to get an appreciation for female clothing, and I knew I wanted to keep this top. It was fitted tight to my body, showing off the small breasts I had boosted by the bras my mom had purchased. The capped sleeves had a small ruffle to them that didn't change the shape too much, but added a nice definition to them. The shoes were...normal. I don't know what else to say, because there wasn't anything really spectacular about the white sneakers.

Once I had everything on I looked into the mirror in the dressing room. Once again I was gorgeous. Sarah Carerra could be a sensation even if her singing was horrible, I thought.

I stepped out of the dressing room where I found Julia waiting with more things to put on. She stepped up to me and looked me over, checking the fit before motioning for me to twirl around slowly.

"Perfect," she said and handed me a black belt with a silver highlight running the length. "Put this on."

I took the belt from her and looped it around my waist. Once I had it on she handed me a white vest. She had a pair of silver hoop earrings in her hands, looking at me expectantly while I finished putting on the vest.

"I can't wear the earrings," I told her in a downcast tone. They looked really cool.

"Oh," she said, surprised. "How come?"

"I got my ears pierced on Saturday."

She looked surprised at this information, and raised her eyebrows in question.

I sighed at her. "I didn't really get into the whole girly thing until recently." Oddly enough, it was the truth.

Her smile widened at this news. "Oho! A tomboy turned glam queen. You're going to be a fun client!"

*  *  *

Julia had taken me to get my makeup and nails done. Somehow Julia had even convinced me to allow a French tip to be applied. It was pretty short, but now I was freaking out about how to hide THAT at school along with my hair and pierced ears.

We then joined Dad back in Julia's office, where he seemed to be awestruck at my new look.

"You look amazing," he told me. "I'm so proud of you."

I was blushing again. I really need to get that under control.

"You've outdone yourself again, Julia!" Dad said to her, but it took him a couple seconds longer to take his eyes off me and meet her gaze. His smile was a mile wide.

After a few minor things he worked out with Julia, we were on our way back to the car.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Megan," Dad said when we were going down in the elevator, alone this time. "But I really like having a beautiful daughter."

I gave him a daughterly hug, realizing the feeling was mutual.

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