Undercover Star

♪ Twenty-Eight ♪

Summer called the hotel early the next morning, asking if I'd like to help her choose songs. Although I knew I didn't offer much help, I still agreed.

"I'm going to go help Summer pick out songs," I told Rich as I walked through the room.

He didn't reply, so I assumed he either didn't care, or was too busy to pay any attention to me. I was just glad I wouldn't have to explain anything or answer four million questions.

I tried not to think too much as I walked to the church. It always put me in a bad mood, and I was tired of it. I was going to mess everything up; it was inevitable. I didn't know how to fix it, though, and I felt like I was in too deep to stop it anyway. It was so confusing, so I decided not to let myself think about it.

Picking out songs was merely business. I could handle that.

Summer, as expected, was waiting in the church for me. She was already so immersed in song choosing that she only mumbled a quick hello before getting back to work.

"Pick anything yet?" I asked, taking a seat next to her in the pew.

She looked up at me finally, a grin coming onto her face. "I did, actually," she said, turning and picking up a few pieces of paper off the floor. She held it up so I could read the title: Sing, Sing, Sing. "It's a really fun song, and I know they will love to sing it."

"Sounds good," I told her, nodding.

"We want to have fun songs, but nothing too wild," she explained. "Everyone is still looking at us like a church choir, even though we're not in the church."

"Makes sense. You guys are pretty famous."

"You're the number one topic," she said, chuckling. "You said you didn't have any fame after your solo, but that's a lie. News travels fast, and most people were in church anyway. Everyone's talking about the new guy who can sing."

I forced a laugh, knowing that might not be such a good thing. But if Harley was the only one who found out, I guess I couldn't complain that much. It could have been so much worse.

"I thought I was old news by now," I said, shrugging.

She shook her head. "Jesse, we haven't had someone move in for years. This is a family town. Great, great grandparents first came here and ever generation after just stays. It's pretty regular."

"I think that's really cool, though."

"What?" she asked, amused. "The fact that you get to be like a celebrity around here?"

"Well, I don't mind that," I said, though I did mind it a lot. "But I mean the whole family thing. It's like you all are part of a huge family."

"It is really nice," she said, her smile softening. "I couldn't imagine any other life for myself."

I didn't know why, but what she said made a pang of sadness run through me. Maybe because it confirmed that we really were from two different worlds, and even if it was possible, she really wouldn't want to join mine.

"So, uh, how many songs do we need?" I asked to get my mind occupied.

"I'm thinking maybe four more? I want at least three for the whole group."

I pretended to look through a stack of songs until she found four more she thought were good.

"I really want to sing this song," she said, sighing. "But I don't think it's a really great group song." The sheet she was looking at was titled, Indescribable.

I thought I knew what she was getting at, so I went along with it.

She bit her lip nervously before asking, "Would you like to sing it as a duet?" she shook her head slightly before adding some rambles. "I mean, we don't have to. I just thought that it would be something different. Maybe my grandparents can sing it."