Previously: For Allena Johnson, serving the most popular girl in school, Monique Forrester, was her life. When Monique decided to enter the Miss Bay High pageant, Allena was determined to support her all the way, even doing Monique's homework! But then a new girl, Deena Durwin comes to school and becomes Allena's friend. Finding out that Allena has awesome singing ability, Deena invites her to be the new lead singer of her band which happens to be TruHeart, Allena's favorite music group of all time. Allena is given a rockstar makeover, but when she returns to school, there's all kinds of trouble, and she ends up becoming Monique's #1 enemy and ending her friendship with Hector. Now Allena's on her way to her first TruHeart band practice where any thing could happen...







When we arrived at Deena's house, Deena and Edna were already there. Along with an indoor pool and theater room, she also has a sound studio in her house. I guess that's convenient when you're hashing out the next album to go triple platinum.

Anyways, when we all went down to the studio, two men were waiting for us; one in a dark somber suit with a green tie and the other in a casual t-shirt and jeans.

The man in the suit introduced himself first. He's probably in his late thirties, worry lines just starting to make an appearance on his spray tanned forehead. Although he was tall and had a powerful presence, he uneasily shook my hand, his voice like a timid whisper.

"I'm Mark Grier, TruHeart's manager. And this is Nate Jacobs, our genius music producer."

Nate, the more relaxed of the two, shook my hand. His bright yellow "Live Strong" bracelet, brushed against my wrist.

"Don't listen to him," he said, nodding in Mr. Grier's direction. "I'm far away from being a 'genius,' but I'm looking forward to hearing you sing. We're going to make a demo of you performing 'Tommorow' and then send it to Clyde Mavis to see what he thinks. If he likes it, you're on your way."

"I know an awesome voice when I hear it,"Deena said to me."Don't worry-you'll make it."

I wish I had as much confidence in my talents as she did. I never envisioned myself being anything more than a bathroom singer, and the idea of Clyde Mavis, one of the biggest record company execs of all time listening to my voice, made my fingers go cold.

While Deena and Edna tuned their guitars and Corey banged out some practice beats on the drums, I could only stand there and watch them. I don't have an instrument because I'm the lead singer. TruHeart's next Amy Grace. My legs were shaking.

Then Nate came into the recording "booth" which was more like an entire room, and asked me if I knew the words to the song. I said that I did, but he gave me a paper with the music and lyrics anyways. I warmed up my voice, lightly singing the words. My voice was so shrill-it didn't sound good. But Nate went on like he didn't notice and pointed to the microphone.

"When you sing, sing into here, and you can lay the sheet music on the stand if you want."

A pair of huge earphones hung from a hook on the wall.

"Do I put these on?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

I put them on my head, but I couldn't get the ear pieces to fit right.

"It's on backwards. Wait a minute...I'll get it."

I was so flustered, I couldn't even put on a pair of earphones right.

"I know it's your first time in a studio," said Nate. "So take in a deep breath, and then slowly, let it all out. Do that."

I did what he said, and it did make me feel a little calmer.

"Now I want you to sing this song like it's a part of your soul."

He walked back to the mixer room behind the glass, leaving me alone with the band gearing up to go behind me. T-minus ten to lift off.

I closed my eyes, trying to get myself into my zone, although I wasn't exactly sure what my zone was. Nate gave the signal with his hands.

Corey hit the drumsticks together.

"One, Two, Three, And!"
They started playing the intro. Hearing it live was amazing. On the radio, it's all synced together. In concert, there's so much noise. In the privacy of the sound studio though, every note was in HD.

But I couldn't be thrown off by the music. Jumping into the song too late would be a disaster.

My foot kept time, my eyes stayed on the music sheet, and at the last beat, it was on me.

I sung my first note. It felt like I was leaping out, falling into the sky with my voice hanging there in the air, floating, fearing the moment that gravity would bring it back down to earth. I couldn't think about it, my focus and energy absorbed into the song. With the rest of TruHeart playing vigorously in the background, my vocals weren't on their own. All of our sounds worked together like the elements of a machine.

At the end, the manager and producer stood and clapped for us. Nate said over the speaker, "Allena, that was great! Are you sure this is your first time?"

All I could do was laugh. It was such a relief to know that I was as good as everyone expected.

"The beginning of the song's a little shaky, probably because you were nervous. So we're gonna go over that again."

So I sung the beginning of the song again and did some extra vocals for the ending crescendo to Nate's satisfaction.

"Perfect. This was an easy recording session. Having a good singer makes it easy. Give me a couple of hours to mix it up and hopefully you'll get to hear it."

"You were great!" said Deena, hugging me. Even Edna had to admit, I was good. And more surprisingly, after Deena finished hugging me, Corey came and gave me another one, lifting my feet up off the floor.

"We're saved!"

"Not quite," I gasped, fighting to catch my breath. "Clive still has to hear it."

"He'll say 'yes,'" said Mr. Grier, standing like a shadow in the mixer studio's doorway. "Because it's a definite yes from me."