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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 25 - 5 Songs for a Daughter

Later that evening, after Emily and Ethan had gone home, Dad found me in my room trying to finish the math homework that had been interrupted earlier.

"Megan?" he asked after knocking on my door.

"Yeah," I replied to let him know he could come in. He entered my room and took a seat on my bed while I turned my desk chair to face him.

"I talked to Scott," he said. "The record company has three songs ready for you."

"That's great!" I exclaimed. "Does that mean I can do the concert?"

"I don't know," Dad replied. "Josh said we needed at least five songs. We'd need at least one more."

I felt my heart sink. I hadn't realized how excited I was to do the concert until then. I mean, if I was scared to death to sing in front of a crowd, then why would I even want to do the concert?

But despite that fear, I wanted to be up there on stage. I wanted to see Sarah Carerra become a star. I wanted to do this. It hurt to have it yanked away from me before it even started!

"There is one other option," Dad said, providing me with a ray of hope in the gloom that had settled into my heart.

"What is it?" I asked warily. I knew the look that he had on his face. It usually meant I would be doing something that I didn't like doing.

"We could use one of your songs," he replied. "You've got a few songs that would work perfectly for Sarah."

It was a crazy idea! I wasn't a songwriter. I just dabbled. Lately, I hadn't really had the time to even do that.

"Dad," I whined at him like he knew I would. "I can't use those songs. I'm not a songwriter."

"I don't know about that, honey," he said. His lopsided grin only made me feel more frustrated that he wouldn't listen to me. "You've written some good songs."

"Not good enough for Sarah!" I argued. "I'm not that good."

"Yes, you are," Dad said in a soothing voice, trying to keep me calm. "'Enchanted Forest' and 'Ever After' would both be great songs for Sarah. I'm sure the record company would agree."

"But they're so...so...Disney!" I retorted. Why would I want to sing about something like that?

"Yes they are," my dad surprised me by agreeing. "But 'Disney' appeals to much of your target fan base. I think they'll like them."

I guess he was right. After all, Scott had mentioned that I would probably be after the same market as the Hannah Montana franchise.

But that didn't mean the songs were good enough!

"Look," Dad said, slightly frustrated with me. "Why don't you play both of them for me and let me decide. I am your agent after all."

"I can't do that," I felt just as frustrated with him. "Austin broke the neck on my guitar three weeks ago, remember?"

My dad laughed. It wasn't the reaction I expected, and it somehow managed to break through my frustration and had me chuckling too. I didn't know what I was laughing at, but I couldn't stop.

"That's right," Dad was finally able to say. "But if I remember correctly, the two of you were fighting and you dropped it down the stairs, not Austin."

I grumbled. While he might be technically correct, it was still Austin's fault.

"Okay," he continued. "First thing tomorrow morning we'll get you a new one. Then you're going to play them when we go to the record company to learn about the other songs."

That did not sound like a good idea to me, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to get out of it. Especially if he bought me a new guitar for doing it.

"Okay," I finally agreed. He'd have to see the truth when the record company agreed with me that the songs weren't very good.

At least I didn't have to go to school tomorrow.

*  *  *

Joe's Music Shop did not sound like a very upscale music store. But in reality, it was much larger than I would have expected, and had a large selection of instruments.

Dad led me over to where a number of guitars were hanging on the walls or in display cases. Before we could even get there, we'd caught the eye of a salesman. He may not have known who I was, but the grin that spread on his face made me realize that he thought I was expensive. Dressed as Sarah, with glam and all, I could understand why he would think that.

"Hello," the salesman said as we approached. "My name is Brad, how can I help you today?"

"Hi, Brad," Dad said kindly, but I could hear the caution in his voice. He obviously had the same feeling about the guy that I did. "Sarah needs a new guitar."

"Do you have an idea of what you are looking for?" Brad asked.

"Not exactly," my dad replied. "Sarah's been using a cheap starter guitar, but it finally wore itself down and we wanted to replace it with one of a higher quality."

"Okay," Brad said. "Let me see what we have. Acoustic?"

Dad and I nodded and he started to look around at the guitars on display, and my gaze started to follow his.

Neither my dad nor I were really versed in what made a good guitar. I'd only ever used the one that he had bought me for my birthday the year of the accident. I probably would have continued to use it if Austin hadn't broken it.

One guitar immediately caught my eye. I did not know what made a good guitar, but I definitely knew what I thought made a guitar look good. The guitar itself was completely black, had a teal pick guard, and was rimmed with a lighter wood around the body and some kind of rainbow inlay around the soundhole.

If it sounded anywhere near as good as it looked, it was the guitar for me.

"How about this one?" Brad finally said and pulled a guitar off the wall. Unfortunately, it wasn't the one I had been looking at.

"This is a Taylor..." The rest of his description started going over my head. I knew that Taylor made good guitars, but describing them didn't really help me in any way.

Eventually we got to the point where my dad wanted me to try it. The salesman looked skeptical at letting me actually play the instrument he was trying to sell me, which made me think it was either not a very good instrument (unlikely), or it was quite expensive (much more likely).

Nervously, Brad had me sit down on a chair and very gently handed me the guitar, making sure that I wasn't going to drop it.

The guitar seemed slightly too large to me. It felt like I had to stretch my arms and torso a bit to play it, which immediately made me dislike it somewhat. Once I got a feel for it, however, I tried to decide what to play.

Wondering if I'd regret the decision, I started playing 'Ever After'. Emily had talked me into writing two songs with her about 3 months ago. The result was two songs that spoke of fairy tales and magic. I really liked the songs, but they sounded like they were written by a girl. I might be a girl now, but I wasn't back then.

Playing the song seemed to cement a realization that I was starting to have that Megan had been living my life for a lot longer than the last week and a half. I couldn't imagine Brett writing anything so...well, girly!

I strummed through a verse before I stopped. I knew this guitar wasn't for me. It just didn't feel right. Carefully handing it back to Brad, I looked toward my dad.

"Well?" he asked.

"It's not the right guitar," I told him.

"Are you sure?" Brad asked. He had a slight frown on his face. "It's a really good guitar."

"Oh I don't doubt that," I told him. "But it's too big, and I'm not so sure the most expensive guitar is the one I want to buy."

Brad actually looked guilty when I said that. Obviously he had his best interests in mind, not my own.

"How about that one?" I asked while pointing at the black guitar I had seen earlier. Brad frowned slightly again. It seemed that this guitar cost a lot less.

But he nodded and after replacing the Taylor in its place, he pulled the black guitar off the wall.

"This is a Yamaha CPX700. It's an Acoustic Electric..." Once again I tuned out his description. I just wanted to play it.

"I thought Yamaha made motorcycles," I said, interrupting his description. Both my dad and Brad started laughing at that. Whatever.

"Here," Brad said with another chuckle. He seemed to be in a better mood now that I had apparently made a fool of myself. "Give it a try. I promise it sounds much better than a motorcycle."

The guitar felt right in my hands. It was smaller than both the Taylor and my original guitar. It was really comfortable to hold, and a quick strum indicated it was nice and easy to play.

I started playing 'Ever After' again. The sound coming from the guitar seemed like music to my ears. I guess it literally was, but it sounded really good anyway.

After playing through a verse I started singing. I really did like this song, but I still didn't think that it was good enough for Sarah to sing. The music seemed to flow out of me though. Sarah really had a good voice for the song, and I could see the appeal that the target market would have.

I continued to sing through the verses that Emily and I had written. That was another reason I couldn't use the song, I realized. How would I explain it to Emily? She'd recognize it immediately and wonder why Sarah Carerra was singing our song!

When I finished singing the song and stopped playing, I was surprised to see a group of people had gathered around us and were listening. Immediately I felt myself start to blush again.

"I'll take this one," I told Brad.

*  *  *

An hour later we met Scott in his office at Olympic Records. He seemed really excited about the opportunity to perform a concert so soon. After taking our seats in front of his desk, he got straight to business.

"Like I told you on the phone, Don," Scott started. "We have three songs ready for Sarah. We weren't planning on recording them for a few more weeks, but passing up this opportunity would be a mistake.

"I talked to our Director of Talent this morning. You've met Matt, right?" he asked. I nodded as he sat back in his chair. "He felt that we should do what we can to try and make this concert work. We're trying to find you a couple more songs that you'll have time to practice, but I don't know how successful we can be in such a short amount of time."

"We may be able to help with that," Dad told him. Scott looked intrigued by what he had said. "Sarah is an accomplished songwriter, and she has a couple of songs that might work."

"Oh," Scott said, mildly surprised. "Singer/songwriters are the big rage these days. If you can write as well as you can sing, your marketing potential could go up quite a bit."

"I really don't think they're good enough," I told Scott truthfully. "I was just messing around with a friend."

"Sarah's being modest," Dad explained to Scott. "I've heard the songs, and I think they are quite good."

"Well then," Scott said. "I'll see if I can get Matt and we can have you sing them for us. If they are good, we may have enough for the concert and for your first CD."

"First CD?" I asked. Once again, it seemed awfully early to be this far into a music career.

"Yes," Scott replied. "If you do the concert next Saturday, we would like to have a CD available for purchase there. It will give you more exposure with the fans, and we can start selling them in mass soon after. Six or seven songs is a bit short, but not unheard of."

"Will we need to modify the contract at all?" Dad asked. I'm glad he was here with me. All I could think about was the music and how fast my career seemed to be taking off. He had the ability to look at the business side of things.

"I don't think so," Scott answered. "Everything is already covered. The time frame is slightly more advanced than we thought it would be, but it shouldn't change anything."

"Good," my dad agreed. "What happens now?"

"We have a studio reserved for Sarah for most of the day," Scott explained. "We would like to try and get one or two of the songs recorded. The sooner we get the vocals laid down, the sooner we can start producing the CDs. Besides, rushing them like this could be a good way to learn the songs, since you'll only have a little more than a week to get ready to perform them."

The thought of learning four or five new songs in a week was daunting to me, especially since I still had to cram for my finals at school too.

Scott picked up some papers, looked at them briefly, and handed them to me.

"Here are the two songs we want to work on today," he said. "If you two want to get a bite to eat and look over them, I'll talk to Matt and see when he has time to hear your songs."

"Sounds like a plan," my dad said, and they both stood up. I did the same and grabbed my new guitar case.

"How about we meet in Studio 5 in half an hour?" Scott asked us.

"We'll be there," was Dad's reply.

"Scott?" I asked before he could get out the door.

"Yes, Sarah?" he replied. He looked slightly agitated that I had stopped him, but I asked my question anyway.

"Can I get a copy of the sheet music for 'Intuition'? I'd like to learn how to play it." I raised my guitar case for emphasis.

"Sure!" he said. Any irritation he'd had disappeared with my question. "It's always beneficial when you know your own songs. I'll bring a copy to the studio."

"Thank you," I told him. I knew I had a big grin on my face.

"You're welcome," he said before he was quickly out the door.

*  *  *

Dad and I decided to grab a bite to eat in the cafeteria again. I figured it was close enough to lunch now that this was probably the only chance I was going to get.

Once we had our food, we found an empty table and I started reading over the songs while I ate. They looked really good.

The first one was named 'Open Your Eyes (See Me)'. The message reminded me of Taylor Swift's 'You Belong with Me,' even if the sound was completely different. Like Taylor's song, it was about trying to convince a guy that he should be dating me instead of some other girl.

I must admit that it felt weird to be thinking about singing a song like that. Granted, it was exactly what my fan base would want, but I was still new to this girl thing and had only been on one date. And I still wasn't sure how I felt about that date either.

The second song was called 'Pop Princess'. It was about the glamorous and glitzy life that I was about to embark on. Hollywood parties, spotlights, concerts, and awards shows all got a mention in the song. It was a nice upbeat number with what appeared, at least on paper, to be a catchy tune. I couldn't wait to hear what it sounded like.

But then again, I didn't have to wait. I had my guitar right here.

Quickly finishing the sandwich that I had ordered, I turned my attention to the guitar case. There weren't many others sitting near us. I figured I could play the songs quietly without disturbing anyone.

I pulled the guitar out of its new case and sat it on my lap. Dad was giving me an inquisitive look, but he wasn't trying to stop me.

"I'd like to hear the songs," I explained. "But I think they're good."

Much better than mine, I didn't add.

He smiled and nodded before taking another bite of his sandwich. I turned my attention back to the sheet music and strummed the guitar. It took a few tries to begin to see the song in my head, but eventually the tune started flowing from the guitar.

It really was a catchy tune. I had finally gotten to the point where I could play it pretty well and was about to try singing the song when I was interrupted by my dad.

"We better go," he said. "Scott will probably be waiting for us."

I wasn't happy, but I placed the guitar back in its case and followed my dad out of the cafeteria.

*  *  *

I spent most of the next four hours singing the two songs over and over again. Scott was once again really easy to work with. He'd tell me what he wanted me to do for the next take, and I'd try it, and he'd give me another suggestion.

By the time we were done with 'Pop Princess', I felt that I could actually perform the song on stage. I'd sung it enough times that it had been ingrained in my head. The same thing happened with 'Open Your Eyes' after that.

It felt sort of like cramming for a test. I had to learn the songs quickly. But unlike the test, I couldn't forget what I had learned. Fortunately, after singing them so many times, it didn't seem likely that would happen.

Around 4:30 in the afternoon Matt entered the studio. He looked slightly distracted, and I wondered if he was only humoring my dad's request to use my songs. I was sorry he was going to be disappointed.

Scott was satisfied with what we had accomplished for the two songs, and we were discussing them in the control booth at the time.

"Hi, Matt," Scott greeted him. "We just wrapped up the first two songs. She's a keeper. She's really easy to work with."

Matt smiled at Scott's statement, but still didn't look any happier.

"Hello," was his only reply. He then turned toward me. "I hear you wrote some songs you would like to use?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I don't think they're very good, though."

"Nonsense, Sarah," Dad said. "They are excellent songs."

"Can I hear them?" Matt asked. He still looked agitated. He either didn't think they would be worth it, or he was in a hurry to get somewhere.

"Sure," I replied and got up to retrieve my guitar case from where I had placed it. I sat down on the couch that was in the control room and opened the case. I pulled out my new guitar and got ready to play.

"This is 'Ever After'," I told my audience. "I think it's the better of the two."

I started strumming the guitar and the song filled the room. I started singing when it was time, and looked around the room. Scott and Matt both had a look of concentration on their faces; obviously they were listening intently. But it was Dad's face that caught my eye.

He had a beaming smile reaching nearly from ear to ear. It wasn't often that I saw him looking that pleased. His smile infected my own, and I made every effort I could to perform the song to the best of my ability.

As I continued to sing and play the song, I watched Scott start to nod. I was surprised to understand that he liked the song. Matt just sat impassively and listened. He made no outward sign of whether he liked it, and I knew that he agreed with me that it wasn't good enough for Sarah.

I strummed the last note and looked toward him. His face still hadn't changed.

"Let's hear the other one," he said.

I started in on 'Enchanted Forest'. It was a completely different type of song. While 'Ever After' was an upbeat, modern story, this one was slower and had a lilting melody to it that I always thought reminded me of a forest. The story was more of a fantasy too.

Eventually the song came to an end, and I once again turned my attention to Matt to get his feelings about the songs.

"I like them," he said. "Scott, record them and look into adding the rest of the instruments. We're going to be hard-pressed to get everything ready by next Saturday."

He smiled then. It was the first real smile I'd seen him give to me all day. "You're going to take us all for a wild ride, Sarah. I hope you're up to it."

I felt immensely nervous at his statement. Learning the songs would be tough enough. But Scott had talked to me earlier in the day about the sessions we'd schedule with a choreographer next week and at some point I would need to meet the band that would be backing me up on stage. This whole concert thing had gotten really overwhelming very fast!

Matt frowned at my nervousness, I noticed. It was slight, but I saw it. I think he had hoped I would be a little more ready to step onto the stage than I appeared to be.

"Don't worry," he said in reassurance. "You'll do fine. You're an exceptional young lady."

"Thank you," I told him. "I hope you're right."

"I am," he said with more confidence than I think he felt. "I've got a meeting to get to. I'll see you guys later."

With that, he rushed out of the studio. I was left amazed that he thought Sarah should use the songs! I didn't think I was that good at writing them, but they seemed to like them. Dad was still beaming from ear to ear. I was sure I'd hear more about it from him later.

"Come on, Sarah," Scott said. "Plug that new guitar of yours in, and we'll get these songs recorded."

*  *  *