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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 2.22 - Stardom

Waking up Monday morning meant donning the wig again and returning to the life of Sarah Carerra. The weekend had been exactly what I needed and had given me a chance to take a break from all of the glitter and glamour that I had been submerged in for the past few weeks.

After I was dressed, I stepped into the kitchen to eat breakfast. I was happy to note that I was looking forward to singing on stage again. It had been fun to get up on stage last night as Megan and entertain my family, but it still didn't compare to the rush I had received when I performed in Salt Lake City. Although I couldn't perform in front of that large of a crowd for nearly a month yet, I was sure that there would still be a large crowd at the mall for the concert celebrating the release of my album on Thursday.

Mom came into the kitchen while I was eating my cereal, and I smiled at her. This weekend had given me a new appreciation of my relationship with her. She had always been there and loved me while I was growing up, but never had I felt closer to her as I had over the weekend. I now realized why many young girls considered their moms to be their best friends.

"Morning, honey," she said while grabbing a bowl for herself and joining me at the table. "You were a big hit last night. Nobody could stop talking about how well you can sing."

I smiled while I finished chewing the mouthful that I had taken. "It was fun," I finally replied after swallowing. "I'm glad that I got the chance to sing for them, even if they don't know about Sarah."

"Those who do know really enjoyed it," she told me. "I haven't seen Judy that excited in a long time. Your dad said that he would have tickets for anyone in the family who wanted to see Sarah perform at the OC Fair, and when I told her, she nearly freaked out. She's really proud of you, you know."

I nodded. I had seen the way Aunt Judy was looking at me while I had been up on the stage the day before.

"What do you have going on today?" Mom asked.

"I've got a meeting with the people who make the perfume we wanted to endorse," I told her. Then I thought of something that I hoped would really make her happy. It would make me happy, at least. "Do you want to come?"

Mom looked shocked at my question for a moment. Then I saw the longing appear on her face shortly before she spoke. "No, honey, I shouldn't."

Immediately I felt tears start to well in my eyes, and I had to push them back. The only events of Sarah's that Mom had been to were the concert in Salt Lake City and the press conference. She hadn’t had the opportunity to experience most of what my new life entailed, and that was going to change today!

"I think you should come," I told her while making sure to make eye contact. I saw her lips curl slightly at the ends of her mouth and knew for certain that she wanted to come. "You're my mom," I continued without letting her voice the protest I knew was coming. "I want you to be there when I'm dressed as Sarah. This weekend has taught me just how much I love you, Mom! I would have been lost if you hadn't been there at the press conference. And yesterday...I never thought that cooking with you would be so fun! Please come!"

I saw the struggle on her face as she considered my words. I could only sit there and hope that she agreed to join us.

"Come where?" a new voice joined the conversation. I slumped down into my chair a bit as my dad entered the kitchen. I knew that he wanted to try to keep my personal life separate from my professional life, but I didn't want to leave Mom behind anymore when I knew that she wanted to come. She had just as much to be proud about as Dad did, and she had every right to come.

"To the perfume meeting," I replied to him. "I want Mom to come. She hasn't had a chance to see the other side of my life, Dad, and it is a big part of me now."

Dad's face immediately registered his disagreement. I knew that he wanted her to be there too; he wasn't callous and cruel at all. But I also knew that he felt her being there would only be one step away from someone finding out about my real identity.

But I didn't care about keeping my real identity a secret if it meant I couldn't share what I was going through with the people whom I loved the most. We had already agreed that it was the wrong decision to leave Emily and Ethan out of the equation. Now I had realized that we were doing the same thing with my mom. I wasn't going to stand for it.

"Megan, I don't think--" he started to say.

"I DO!" I yelled while cutting him off immediately before he could finish the sentence I knew I didn't want to hear him say. "She's my best friend, Dad!"

I jolted at my realization. Emily and I were going to be lifelong friends. We told each other everything, and nothing was ever going to keep us apart. But she and I didn't have the same relationship that I now realized I had with my mother. Mom was there for me even when Emily couldn't be there for me. There was no way that Emily could have soothed me the way Mom had after the press conference. Spending an afternoon in the kitchen with Emily might have been fun, but it wouldn't have had the same meaning. And deep down inside, I knew what that meant. Emily and I were BFF's, but my mom was my best friend.

The words seemed to have a similar effect on my parents. Tears appeared in Mom's eyes as I stared at my dad, who had involuntarily taken a step backward. He seemed to be at war with himself over the prospect of allowing his wife to come with us and trying to protect the secret. I knew he was only trying to do what was best for me and for our family, but he was being overprotective again.

"Okay," he finally said and then walked back out of the kitchen. He probably wanted breakfast, but I wasn't sure that he wanted to stay in there with us.

The look on Mom's face was enough to tell me that I had made the right decision.

*  *  *

I spent the ride over to the perfume company's headquarters in the backseat of Dad's car. One of the disadvantages with having Mom come along was that she got to sit in the front seat. It didn't matter if I was a famous pop star or not.

But having her there to talk to on the way made it all worthwhile. Both Emily and Ethan weren't able to come - or didn't want to come in Ethan's case - and it was nice to have a friend with me again. I loved my dad, but my relationship with him was definitely different than my relationship with my mom.

Dad pulled up to an office building close to downtown. There weren't many people around when we stepped out of the car, but I still saw some of them point when they saw me. We made it inside the building lobby without anyone approaching us, though.

Inside, we were met by a receptionist sitting at her desk. She looked to be in her early twenties, and her face lit up when she saw me and I even heard her squeal.

"Hi," Dad said. I could see the small smile he had as he watched her reaction. "We're here to see Judy Kirkland."

"Yes," the girl replied, showing her professionalism by taking her eyes away from me and looking at her computer. "She's expecting you and should be out in a few moments." Then she turned toward me. "Sarah, can I have your autograph?"

I smiled at her. I knew that she was trying to keep the composure that the company probably expected from her, but I hated to leave her empty-handed. "Of course," I replied. Dad immediately dug out one of the press photos he always had on him. I signed it for her and then handed it to her.

"Thank you," she said with the largest smile I had seen from her yet.

"You're welcome," I replied. There was a bit of humor in my voice at her reaction, but signing autographs for fans was sometimes as much fun for me as it was for them. I loved seeing their reactions when I handed them whatever I had signed.

We stood there for a few more moments before a woman entered the lobby from the adjacent hallway. She appeared to be in her late 40's and in excellent shape. She too had a big smile on her lips and her blue eyes showed her excitement from behind the cut of her brunette bangs.

"Sarah!" she said while extending her hand toward me. "It is nice to meet you. My name is Judy Kirkland."

"Hi, Judy," I replied and took her hand, giving it a light shake. I then turned toward my parents. "This is my agent Don and his wife Linda."

Judy smiled at both of them before shaking Dad's hand. "Don, it's nice to put a face to your name. If you will all follow me, we have a room ready where we can discuss the details and check out a sample."

Dad nodded his head and the three of us followed her down the hallway and into a conference room. There were two other people in the room talking when we entered, but they stopped and stood up.

"Sarah," Judy said and pointed to a man in a nicely tailored suit. "This is our Chief Marketing Officer, Brad Pickett." He held out his hand and I gave it a shake before we turned our attention to the other lady in the room. She seemed to be in her late 20's and could have easily been a model. "And this is Tina Kirkland. She is the creative director in charge of marketing for Stardom."

"Pleased to meet you," I said and shook her hand too. Nobody mentioned it, but she looked a lot like Judy, and with the same last name I assumed that Judy was her mother.

"Please, have a seat," Judy said and we all took seats at the conference table. I sat down next to my mom across the table from Judy and her crew. It was kind of odd to have Mom between Dad and me while I was dressed up as Sarah, but I wanted her there to get her opinion of the perfume.

Tina, who sat across from me, had a box sitting in front of her, and she reached for it immediately after we sat down. "First thing I'd like to do is introduce you to the perfume." She opened the box and pulled out a perfume bottle made of pink glass in the shape of a stylized star. There appeared to be something in the glass that made it glitter as it was moved around.

"This is Stardom," she said and handed the bottle to me. I took it carefully and turned it around in my hands. I really liked the bottle. It had that 'Glam' factor that Julia was always looking for. The star was also pretty cool looking. It almost looked like a Christmas ornament, but managed to keep itself from falling into that category.

Next, I did the one thing I had been waiting all morning to do. I uncapped the lid and sprayed the back of my left wrist. I then held my wrist up to my nose to see what it smelled like.

"Mmmm..." was what escaped my lips. Immediately, I knew that this was a perfume I was going to be wearing every day. It had a light, sweet, and fruity smell. But mixed in with the faint smell of strawberries was something that I couldn't quite identify. Whatever it was, it immediately seemed to remind me of what it felt like to be on stage. I didn’t know how they had captured that smell, but it certainly was an aptly named perfume.

I passed the bottle to my mom and she had a similar reaction to mine. It was obvious that she really liked it too.

"What do you think?" Tina asked me. I smiled back at her; the corners of her mouth curled up as she realized that I just became their spokesperson.

"I really, really like it," I told her. "I don't know how you did it, but it smells like the feeling I get when I'm up on stage." Mom was nodding her head too.

"Great!" Judy said excitedly. "Then let's get down to the details of what we would expect of you."

I nodded, and the real work began.

*  *  *

It didn't take long after we were back in the car for me to realize that we were not heading for home. In fact, it seemed like we were heading toward the studio.

"Where are we going?" I asked my dad. I saw him smile in the rear-view mirror before he responded.

"I have a surprise for you," he said, but wouldn't elaborate. It took some coaxing, but he finally confirmed that we were heading for the studio.

It took us about ten minutes to get there, and I followed my dad down a corridor I hadn't been in before. After a short walk we were in Max's office.

"Sarah!" Max greeted me when we entered. "It's nice to see you again!"

"Hi, Max," I replied warmly. He seemed to be excited about something, and I wondered what was going on.

"Come in, come in," he said and waved the three of us into the room. Once we were seated in front of his desk, he pulled out a box and laid it on his desk in front of me.

"What's this?" I asked. I hadn't expected any gifts from him or the record company.

"Open it," he said excitedly.

I picked up the box and opened the cover. Then I gasped. Inside the box was a CD jewel case. On the cover of the case...was me! It was my album!

I stared at the image of me. The picture they had chosen to use was one of the pictures from the airport. But I knew it was totally Sarah the second I saw the picture. My face was hidden behind my hair in the picture, but somehow it was very apparent to me that Julia had been wrong about losing the glam in the outfit. Dressed in the jeans and simple top, I managed to pull off an essence of glam even if there were no glam pieces in the shot.

I thought it was slightly odd not to use a picture that showed my face on the cover, but once I opened the case, I appreciated what Max and his team had decided on. Staring back at me from the CD itself was a close up beauty shot that had come from the beach. We had taken a few beauty shots there with a white background, and this one had turned out beautifully.

I was also happy to note that the inside cover of the CD had a picture of the band and me performing. It looked like the picture had been taken while we were shooting the music video for 'You Can't Hurt Me' because I was wearing the white dress and it looked like we were on the roof of the red brick building.

There was also a small booklet inside that I started to look through. Each song was listed with the lyrics, another picture of me or the band, and the credits. I flipped through it a bit and smiled when I saw Chloe's name next to a few songs. Even Madison's name was listed under 'Friends Forever'. She would certainly score some points with her friends.

The back of the CD case sported the same photo as the CD, and almost looked like it could be a cover itself.

"What do you think?" Max asked me after I had seen each piece. I looked up at him and smiled.

"I love it!" I told him enthusiastically. I was feeling much of the same rush that I normally got after performing a song, and I knew that all the hard work that the band and I had put into making this CD had been worth it. I couldn't wait to get their thoughts on it!

"I'm glad," Max replied, beaming. "They are already in production and will be ready for Thursday. Sarah, I think that this album is going to be a big hit. We've already got high order volumes coming in. That one is yours to keep."

I smiled back, and when we left his office shortly afterward, I still had a large rush flowing around inside of me.

*  *  *

When we got home, I immediately headed to Sarah's room and removed the wig and glam. I would have been back out of the house just as quickly if I hadn't been stopped by Dad to get my opinion on the Jive. I had already decided that I wanted to endorse the music device. After telling him that I would endorse it, he finally let me out of the house and I was quickly on my way to the mall. There was no way that I wasn't going to share the album with Emily as soon as possible and I knew that she would still be at work.

I wanted to show Ethan the album too, but he hadn't answered when I had called him from the backseat of Dad's car while we were on the way home from the studio. I hoped that he wasn't trying to avoid me again. I no longer knew what to do to try to get through to him. If I couldn't get him to open up soon, I didn't know what would happen to our friendship.

After pulling my car into the parking lot, I quickly made my way through the mall toward The Treble with Music. The store wasn't very busy when I entered, but I saw that Emily was helping a customer at the register. She smiled at me and held up one of her index fingers to let me know she would be right with me.

While I was waiting, I looked around the store. It had changed slightly since the last time I had been inside. A space had been cleared at the back of the store where a table had been set up and there were pictures of me all over the place. It was still three days until I'd be signing CDs here, but they had already converted the place to try to draw in as many people as possible. I had a feeling that I would be making this store a lot of money this week.

Eventually Emily finished with her customer, and I walked over to the register.

"Hi, Megan," she said with a broad grin. It felt like it had been a week since I'd last seen her. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you might want to see this," I told her and pulled out the album. Her reaction was similar to mine the first time that I had seen it. She gasped before taking it from me and looking through it. When she found Chloe's name next to the songs that she had helped me to write, she lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Megan, this is awesome!" she finally exclaimed. She was nearly as excited as I had been. "I can't wait for Thursday!" she continued. "Have you seen the mall? Your picture is everywhere! It's going to be amazing!"

I smiled at her reaction. I felt much the same way. Walking through the mall had shown me that they were definitely playing up my concert for all it was worth. I was glad that I was going to have the chance to sing here. I'd been shopping here my whole life, so it was nice to give something back.

"Have you shown Ethan?" Emily asked me. My smile disappeared at the mention of his name.

"No," I told her, and her smile also dimmed. "I think he's avoiding me."

"What?" she had a confused look on her face. "Why?"

"I don't know, Emily," I replied. "I really screwed up our relationship at the concert. He doesn't answer when I call him, and he barely acknowledges me when I'm around. I went over to his house last Friday and dragged him with me to look at the Jive, and he moped around the whole day like he didn't even want to be there."

Emily sighed. I didn't think she realized just how bad our relationship had become because she was at work nearly every day. But now she was starting to understand that I needed her help.

"I'll talk to him," she finally said after a moment of silence. "There must be something bugging him, and I'll see if I can find out what it is so we can patch it up."

"Thanks, Emily," I beamed at her. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

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Have a song you want to hear Sarah sing?
I'm looking for cover songs that Sarah can sing to help fill out her concerts. These songs should be of a pop variety that someone like Sarah Carerra would sing. If you have any suggestions, please post a comment below or here.

Thank you,
Megan