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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 2.49 - Central Park
The rest of the weekend was much more low-key than the previous week had been. After sleeping in slightly longer on Saturday, we spent most of the day traveling in the bus to New York, finally checking into the five-star hotel where we would be spending the entire week. I was given my own suite while the rest of my family was sleeping next door. Saturday night was somewhat lonely but exciting at the same time. It felt weird to have such an expensive room to myself, but I really liked the small sense of independence it gave me.

On Sunday we found a church to attend, sans wig, and then we spent most of the day exploring Central Park. I'd seen the park in movies and read about it in books, but I never realized how large the place truly was. My feet hurt by the time we got back to the hotel. Yet we had only seen a fraction of what Mom and Dad had hoped to see before Austin and I started whining about walking so much. We spent the rest of the day lounging around the hotel, and I even put some face time in with the wig at the pool when I hung out with the band and the dancers.

On Monday morning we attended a meeting to discuss the concerts and any changes that were required. The Central Park concert would occur during the day and it would be on a smaller than normal stage, so there was plenty to talk about. Then I had another meeting with Dad and Amy where we discussed the appearances I would be making. In addition, I was also helping to debut The Jive on Friday, and appearing on 'The Scene' on Wednesday. 'The Scene' was a teen-oriented talk show similar to 'The View', so it would definitely be an interesting experience.

After the meetings were finished, Mom and Dad once again chose where we were headed, and we quickly found ourselves heading downtown toward Ground Zero. I was too young to really remember much of what had happened on September 11, 2001. Austin had been even younger. I couldn't figure out why my parents were so adamant about visiting, but it didn't take either of us long before we were glad to be there.

Walking around and seeing the rebuilding efforts, the tributes, and the memorials touched me. I didn't know any of the people whose lives had been drastically changed that day. I didn't know any of the people who had lost their lives. But the overwhelming feeling of despair that I expected to feel surrounding the area was not there. There was still a solemn hush to the area, but what surrounded us there was enough progress toward moving forward that it gave hope for the future. I had tears in my eyes more than once during our visit, and I was very glad that I had my mom to hug and hold me tight.

The rest of the evening was subdued as I tried to come to terms with what I had seen. Amy had volunteered me to read to some young kids at a local library, and as I compared what I had seen earlier in the day to the bright futures that these children had before them, I almost felt overwhelmed at the ability of the human spirit to adapt and change to the world around us. I didn't know if any of these had been affected by the tragedy, but they certainly didn't dwell on it. Their love for both the time I was spending with them, and the stories that they had chosen, proved to me that life could go on, and I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure that they got a chance to live life to the fullest.

*  *  *

The next day, the sun was starting to light the sky as our car pulled up to the drop-off point near Rumsey Playfield. The sky was clear and the weather was welcoming as I walked toward the backstage area, with Cole and Mason at my side. My family would be joining us later, but there was still plenty of work to do before the concert started in just over 90 minutes.

I barely had enough time to drop off my personal belongings in the small dressing room that had been provided for me. Then I was escorted straight to the stage for a sound check. The small venue was already full, so it was a very different experience to play for a crowd before the concert even started. They cheered just as hard when we were finished, and I loved it. Then I made my way backstage once more.

But I didn't get any rest because I was immediately escorted to a number of backstage interviews: some from Good Morning USA and others from a couple of local radio stations. This was different from other concert mornings because these interviews were conducted in person rather than over the phone. After the interviews, I finally got to sit down in my dressing room for a moment and prepare myself for the concert. Before I knew it, I was being escorted back out to the stage.

This concert would be different for several reasons. First, it was early in the morning (for me, anyway), so there was no cover of darkness to hide the transitions between the songs and when I was changing. Second, the stage was smaller than what I normally performed on. The dancers and I had practiced for this concert during the week we were doing dress rehearsals. But that was two weeks ago, and I hoped that we would be able to remember what we were supposed to do. But the oddest difference of all was that I was going to be interviewed on stage before the concert started.

"We're just a few minutes away from the start of the concert," I heard a male voice say as I approached the stage. "We have an exciting show for you this morning, but first we wanted to bring Sarah out and talk to her for a bit. Is that okay with all of you?"

The cheering from the crowd seemed to be an affirmative answer, and my microphone was handed to me a moment before 'You Can't Hurt Me' started playing through the speakers. I took a few steps forward before I could see the crowd, and I started waving while walking toward the two people who were waiting for me. They were standing next to three chairs in the middle of the stage that had been arranged like a talk show set. I gave Darrel and Gabrielle, two correspondents with Good Morning USA, a quick hug before taking a seat in the indicated chair.

"These are dedicated fans!" Darrel exclaimed as Gabi and he took their own seats.

"I know!" I replied, completely agreeing with him. "I hate waking up this early, so it is so sweet to have so many people willing to spend the time to come down and join me!"

"Not much of a morning person, huh?" Gabi asked me, cueing in on what I had said.

I laughed lightly as I shook my head before I responded. "I prefer to sleep in. I always thought that summer vacation was the time when you got to sleep in, but that certainly hasn't been the case this year."

There was some lighthearted laughter from the two hosts and from the crowd.

"Well, we're glad you're up this early," Gabi replied before turning toward the audience. "Right?" They cheered in response to let me know how happy they were too.

"I'm happy to be here," I said as soon as the noise had died down a bit.

"Speaking of summer vacation," Darrel spoke. "Are you still planning on attending school as normal, or have you changed your mind about trying to fit in?"

I cringed inwardly. Questions like this could lead to problems if not handled correctly, and I wasn't entirely sure what to tell them. I wanted to tell them the truth, but that would just lead to more questions later.

"I would still like to go to school normally," I replied. "But I'm still evaluating all of my options. I've met with the principal of my school about some of the issues of returning, and he is willing to let me come back. But having a tutor would definitely make my schedule easier to accommodate, so I'm looking into that too."

"Fair enough," Darrel replied to my non-answer. I just hoped that would keep all of the media happy until we could figure out how best to handle the situation. I would have to talk to Dad and Amy later.

"I couldn't help but notice that your microphone is all blinged-out," Gabi broke in, relieving my fears that Darrel would continue asking me questions I did not want to answer. "It even has your name on the side there. I'm going to have to complain to our sound guys that I don't have such a cool microphone."

I smiled widely, and laughed lightly once again while I held out the white microphone for a moment to allow the camera to get a good view of it. Then I brought it up to my mouth to reply.

"My manager, whom I've known my entire life, gave this to me on the day of my first concert," I explained. "I've used it for every one of my performances so far."

The rest of the interview went better, and we didn't drift into any questions that I didn't want to answer. Keeping Sarah's secret was very difficult, but it was also vital to the hopes and dreams I had for the future. I wanted to go back to school instead of being tutored. I wanted to go to college someday. I wanted to be able to walk down the street without being deluged by adoring fans and autograph seekers all of the time.

I knew one thing was for certain as I stepped backstage once again while they worked to remove the chairs and finish preparations for the concert:

I needed a better plan to keep Sarah a secret.

*  *  *

The crowd roared as I finished singing 'Together' for them. I truly admired their enthusiasm in the face of what had happened.

Just moments into the song I'd heard a curse come from behind me. I hoped that the audience hadn't heard it, and I wondered if I needed to stop singing, but since Stacy hadn't stopped, I kept going. However, it was quickly apparent that there was a problem. He did his best to play through the song that had a heavy drum beat, but some of those beats were missing, or very subdued and out of tune. This had happened during practice before, but never during a concert.

As the crowd continued to applaud, I turned and looked at Stacy with a questioning look. The subtle shake of his head was enough to indicate that we wouldn't be able to continue until he replaced the head on one of his drums.

I turned back to the crowd. "Give it up for Stacy!" I told them, which caused some laughter to erupt around the venue. Another quick glance back at Stacy showed me the sour look he was giving to me. But he was playing it up. I knew he was upset, but I could still see the small curl at the corner of his mouth that let me know I could poke fun of him. He was already unscrewing the top of his drum to replace the broken head with the replacement that a technician had already brought out on stage.

"While he takes a moment to fix his drum, how about we--", I started to say. I didn't stop talking, but I did stop hearing myself in the speakers. I tried to repeat what I said, but it was no use. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled wanly at the crowd, which got another round of laughter. Then another sound tech was standing next to me and I handed him my microphone. With a practiced ease he pulled out the battery and quickly replaced it. All I could do was stand there, embarrassed at how the whole concert had just gone south as he worked.

This was the worst concert for this to happen too! We were trying to keep a schedule so that Good Morning USA could broadcast specific performances throughout their show, and now we were totally off schedule. Ugh! Finally, the tech handed the microphone back to me, and I thanked him before he ran off the stage. I looked back at Stacy. He was still working diligently, but it was going to be another minute or two before he was ready. The crowd was looking on patiently.

"Good thing this is a free concert, huh?" I asked the crowd, which caused another round of laughter to erupt briefly before people started cheering. I knew they were telling us that they were here for the long haul, but I still felt like we were letting them down.

I tried to entertain them the best I could while we waited. I even enlisted Jason to give us a guitar solo. Eventually, Stacy was ready and he played a short solo himself to make sure he had tuned the repaired drum correctly. Another loud roar erupted from the crowd and I turned and clapped for Stacy too. I wasn't certain, but it almost looked like he started to blush at the attention.

Before I was able to start the concert again, Rosemary spoke through my earpiece and informed me of the repercussions. As I feared, we had to drop three songs to get us back on schedule. Fortunately, all of them were cover songs that came later in the show. We had just played a song for the TV crowd before this fiasco began, so we still had some time before we needed to be ready again. I sighed and brought the microphone to my mouth once again.

"How many of you want to be rock stars?" I asked the crowd. Naturally, most of them screamed back their desire, just like I knew they would. "It's a lot of fun," I continued when they had quieted down. "From parties to red carpets to special treatment in stores and restaurants. Who could ask for more? Who wouldn't want to be a 'Pop Princess'?"

A loud beat from Stacy and an accompanying chord from Jason and Connor signaled the beginning of the song. After a short intro from the two of them I launched into the song with a tone that made me sound like a stuck-up Hollywood celebrity.

This song was fun. It was such a farce to what my life was truly like. People didn't wait on me hand and foot. I hadn't attended a single party as Sarah. I had only been on a red carpet once. But the concept was great, and Kate had paired it with some awesome choreography. The dancers would help act out some of the scenes from the song as we danced around the stage. They'd show me different clothes at an expensive clothing store, treat me to a good meal at a fancy restaurant, and snap pictures of me on the red carpet. The whole time I acted like nothing but a stuck-up young girl that had lost touch with reality. All of these people were beneath me and existed only to make my life more comfortable.

It wasn't a negative song in any way. On the contrary, it existed to make fun of the celebrities who put themselves on pedestals. It existed to remind me of what I did NOT want to become. It existed to show my fans that I wasn't like that.

I was out of breath, but I had a smile on my face as the song came to a close. The crowd cheered and I retrieved my water bottle before continuing.

"The fabulous life of a superstar, right?" I asked the crowd.

"No!" was the satisfying response. There was always someone who took the song wrong and assumed I was a pretentious newcomer to the music scene. But that wasn't the case here. This crowd could hear the sarcasm that was dripping from the song that the record company had provided to me to help get my career going.

"No?" I questioned. "But isn't that what everyone wants? To be treated like royalty?"

Their response was laced with confusion now. They had heard the sarcasm, but they couldn't understand where I was going.

"It's not what I want," I told them. "In fact, I want to be treated just like anyone else. This summer has shown me how much life can change with a little fame. But I'm no different than you guys. I still walk down the street, shop at the mall, and eat fast food. In fact, I'm happiest when people don't recognize me and I just get to be myself. "

I paused for a moment and looked up into the spotlight. "But I really do enjoy being a 'Rock Star'."

A cheer escaped the crowd as Jason and Stacy once again provided the soft intro to the song that I had used to introduce myself to the world. It felt like it had been a lifetime since I lifted my microphone to my mouth for the first time in Salt Lake City earlier this summer. In some ways, it had been a different life altogether. I wasn't the same person I was back then.

But the cover of the Hannah Montana song said it all. I really was a rock star. As I sang the song that was nearly a polar opposite of 'Pop Princess', I had to smile. This song did so much more to describe my life. It talked about all the things a normal girl would aspire to do or be. It talked about how nervous I was. It showed that I was a normal teenager. And it proved that I could do all of that and still be successful in this industry.

The choreography for this song was also fairly easy to do. It provided anyone in the audience who wanted to join us a chance to dance along in their seats. Seeing so many people taking the opportunity and waving their hands around while I did was always an awesome sight!

Because truthfully, they were all rock stars too. Even though I was the one on stage, every one of them had a talent or an ability that I would never have.

As Jason's solo piece came to a conclusion, I was cheering and clapping along with every single fan in the audience. They deserved as much of the applause for this one as everyone on stage did.

When the noise levels dropped, I returned the microphone to its stand before speaking to the crowd once again.

"I hope you all found your inner rock star tonight," I said. "Because from up here, you guys all rocked!"

They started to cheer themselves on again as the screen at the back of the stage lit up with another short video. This one showed the band and me talking about how we got started. I quickly headed for my second costume change as the crowd's attention was drawn to the video.

*  *  *

I took another bow as the crowd continued to roar. I had just finished my encore, but I wasn't finished yet. Normally I would leave the stage for the night now. Instead I held my ground while the crowd started to settle down.

"Thank you, everyone," I said sincerely a moment later. "Before I leave you this morning, I have one more thing I'd like to share with you."

The last remaining noise from the audience started to quiet down at the serious tone in my voice. I took a deep breath, not entirely sure how to introduce the next part. I had warned the band that I was going to do this earlier, but we hadn't rehearsed anything.

"I had the opportunity to visit Ground Zero yesterday morning," I told the crowd. "It hit me just how proud I am to be an American. I want to share that with you today, if you don't mind."

We didn't have the right instruments in the band for this song, but as I looked at Jason and saw him nod at me in encouragement, I knew it would work out in the end. He started playing the opening bars to “God Bless America”.

Jason continued to play until I started to sing. Then he stopped playing as I began the first verse, softly and unaccompanied. An even bigger hush settled over the crowd as I continued singing. Jason joined in with a soft melody as I sang about the mountains and the prairies. He accompanied me as I sang through the rest of the verse, and as I finished singing "My home, sweet home," for the first time the rest of the band joined in, playing and singing a tune that I knew they must have practiced at some point.

"Sing it with me!" I told the crowd. With a lot more energy and power than my solo rendition, I joined in with the nearly 5,000 people in attendance as we sang through the song once again with the familiar music being provided by the wonderful band who performed with me. Then we sang it again, building up to a very powerful "God Bless America" before the music suddenly ceased.

With only a very soft tone accompanying me, I sang the last "God bless America, my home, sweet, home," quietly and proudly for everyone that could hear me before the entire venue fell into silence. Only the soft sniffles and quiet sobs broke the peace for a few moments before the clapping started. There was no loud cheering or roaring from the crowd, just applause.

I bowed once more for them, this time more slowly, before I turned and headed off stage, tears running down my own cheeks.

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