DISCLAIMER: This is a fictional story based on the style of VC Andrews. The basic idea is mine.

SUMMARY: Summer Wallace, 15, finds her live overturned and uprooted when her ambitious Momma decides to drag the family from their small town of Lynchburg all the way to Wedgewood, Virigina, in the hopes of making it big as a country music star.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: While Spring, Summer's companion fic, was a bit over-the-top and a parody, Summer will be a more serious endeavor.

1: ON THE ROAD AGAIN

- - -

"Summer, do you have all your things packed," Momma asked, flipping up her sunglasses and peering into the rearview mirror of the station wagon, brushing her shoulder-length blonde hair behind her tanned, freckled shoulders. She dabbed at her frosted lipstick with the corner of her Kleenex, before stuffing it into the glove compartment and slamming it shut.

Momma was dressed in a white, strapless summer dress, and had on dainty white lace gloves, as if she were going to have tea with the Queen of England or something. I wondered why she was so dressed up. All we were doing was driving back to Wedgewood. It wasn't like she was meeting the Queen or anything.

"Yes, Momma," I replied, sighing and rolling my eyes heaven-ward. "I don't see why we have to move all the way back to Wedgewood to start a new life. Can't we just start a new one here, in Lynchburg?" I folded my arms across my chest and stared out the window.

"Honey, you'll like Wedgewood," she sang, in that sing-songy tone she always used whenever she wanted to win over me or my little sister, Jewel. "It's such a nice, lovely town. You'll just love it as much as I did when I was your age."

"Hmph, if you loved it so much, why'd you move away in the first place?" eleven-year-old Jewel complained, jutting out her bottom lip in a pout. She mimicked me, folding her skinny little arms across her chest as well.

Momma frowned in the rearview mirror. "Now Jewel Elisabeth, don't you take that tone with me," she scolded, turning the key in the ignition of the old Ford. "I promise this is the last time, girls."

"That's what you said when you brought us to Lynchburg," I reminded her, as she pulled out of the driveway. "Coming to Lynchburg didn't get you any more famous than you were before."

Jewel turned in her seat and began to wave at nothing in particular. " 'Bye Sycamore Lane! 'Bye Lynchburg!" she sang, waving her skinny little arms. "We're on the road again!"

I rolled my eyes at her newfound enthusiasm. "You weren't this happy to move ten minutes ago," I scoffed.

"Well, I'm sorry for you, Summer. I like new adventures," Jewel sniffed, arrogantly, turning her nose up in the air at me. She tugged on the chunky plastic bracelet circling her wrist, and kicked up her heels.

Momma smiled at me from the rearview mirror again. "This is gonna be fun, Summer! You'll see."

I sighed and pulled my Gameboy out of my backpack. "Yeah, whatever you say, Momma."

- - -

About an hour out of Lynchburg, Jewel begain to whine and complain about something; it wasn't a surprise. That spoiled little monster whined and complained about nearly everything.

I sighed. "Jewel, what is it now? Did we leave Abigail Marie at home?" I sneered. Abigail Marie was Jewel's prized baby doll, and whenever I was annoyed with her, I picked on her for being eleven and still having a baby doll.

"No! I know I packed Abigail Marie! I have an upset tummy!" she cried, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"Maybe you shouldn't have had that chocolate bar for lunch then," I retorted, irritably.

Momma let out an unhappy sigh. "Girls, please," she scolded, clutching the steering wheel to the point that her knuckles were now white. "I don't want to have to pull over and whup you both."

"Momma, I don't feel well!" Jewel said. "I think I'm gonna throw up!"

Momma sighed, pulling the station wagon to a stop along the shoulder of the road, coughing up thick clouds of dust. She got out of the driver's side seat and opened Jewel's door. "All right now, Jewel."

Jewel climbed out of her seat and lurched forward, clutching her stomach. She began to heave violently, and Momma brushed back her blonde hair from her face. "I don't feel good," she moaned, as Momma brushed at her face with a napkin she'd pulled from her purse.

"It'll be all right, Jewel. We're almost there," Momma said, running her fingers through Jewel's tangled blonde hair.

When Jewel was finished throwing up, Momma strapped her back in and got back behind the driver's wheel.

"It's going to be a while 'til we get there," she said, turning back to look at me, offering me an almost apologetic smile, "so you might as well catch up on your shut-eye."

I obliged Momma, closing my eyes, losing myself in an uneasy, dreamless sleep.

- - -

When I finally awoke, we had pulled in front of a low, dark brick building with a blinking neon sign in front of it, declaring the seedy place to be Sav-Lots Motels. Momma wasn't in the front seat, and Jewel wasn't sitting in back with me, so I unbuckled myself and went in search for my mother and sister.

Momma was at the front desk, holding on to Jewel's hand, talking to a receptionist for the motels. "The name is Rachael Wallace," Momma said slowly, one hand resting on the chipped Formica counter, almost losing her thick drawl in the process. "Actually, the rooms are probably under Olsson, Nick Olsson."

Jewel's head lolled sleepily to one side, and she slurped on her thumb like a small child. "Momma, who's Nick Olsson?" Jewel asked.

Momma looked down at Jewel, and then glanced at me before responding. "Nick is the answer to all our prayers, girls," she said, smiling. "Nick is the man who's gonna put your Momma on the map."

"What?" I asked, stretching out my arms and legs, still foggy from my long nap. "What are you talking about?"

Momma tapped her long, French-manicured nails on the counter top. "Nick Olsson is a scout for a record label," Momma explained, barely able to conceal the child-like enthusiasm in her voice. "Nick is going to sign me to a record deal, Summer. Nick Olsson is going to make us a very happy family."

The way Momma was gushing on and on about this Olsson fellow made me feel a bit uncomfortable. "Momma, are you . . . involved with Nick?" I asked, lowering my voice to a hiss, to keep from disturbing Jewel.

Momma averted her gaze to the fluorescent lights flicking on and off above us, and the chipped ceiling tiles. "Nick and I are very close, if that's what you mean."

"You know that's not what I mean," I scoffed. "Are you and Nick having an affair?"

Momma pretended to look shocked, as the receptionist took her credit card to charge the motel rooms. "Summer Cassidy Wallace! Such language!" she scolded, picking up Jewel and carrying her to a row of battered old tweed couches. "I am most certainly not having an affair with Nick Olsson." She set Jewel down on the couch and sat beside her, letting out her breath in a heavy, belabored huff. "Nick and I are engaged."

"What?" I cried out in shock, startling Jewel awake. "You're engaged?"

"Hush now. Keep your voice down," Momma sighed, running her fingers through Jewel's entangled blonde hair. "Nick and I are indeed engaged to be married. He proposed to me two months ago."

"I didn't even know you were seeing him!" I gasped.

"Nick and I have been involved -- off and on -- for a year now," she said. "Do you remember when I went back to Wedgewood for your aunt Billie Jean's fiftieth birthday party?" When I nodded, Momma continued. "Well, Nick and your uncle Stu are friends, and Aunt Billie Jean mentioned that I was an aspiring country singer. Nick demanded that we be introduced, and the rest -- as they say -- is history." Momma flushed a deep pink, and removed her lace gloves to reveal a large diamond engagement ring.

The ring compromised of a thin gold band and the largest, gaudiest pink diamond I'd ever been privvy to seeing. It surely had to have put Jennifer Lopez's engagement ring to shame.

"How come you never told me or Jewel about Nick?" I asked, examining the engagement ring with a jeweler's scrutiny.

"I wanted to wait until it was certain we would be marrying," Momma explained. "You see, Nick has an ex-wife who is very possessive and refuses to let go of him. Nick had to make sure she wouldn't cause any more trouble." Momma paused before continuing. "Nick does have a son a little older than you, named Josh. You two might get along."

I sighed, slumping back against the wall. "This is all too much to take in in one night," I sighed. "I'm so tired."

"Don't worry, honey. Tomorrow, we set out for Nick's home . . . Aren't you so excited," she asked, beaming. "You'll finally meet the man who is going to make all of our dreams come true."

As I sat there, drifting off to Neverland, I thought, You mean, the man who is going to make all of your dreams come true, Momma, not mine . . . I could have had all my dreams come true in Lynchburg.

Momma held out her arms to me and I crawled into the empty spot next to her on the couch, and rested my head in her lap like how I used to when I was Jewel's age. Momma stroked my hair, trailing her fingers down the nape of my neck. "It'll be all right, Summer," she murmured, tucking away the stray hairs at the back of my neck. "You'll see. We'll be just fine. Nick's a good man, and he's gonna take real good care of us."

I sighed and closed my eyes. "I hope you're right, Momma. I hope you're right."

- - -

TBC