Chapter One
RiahxDD
I looked in the mirror and smiled as the makeup lady finish adding a bit of powder onto my cheeks.
"Come on, Chad! We roll in five!" the Director said as he walked by.
Oh please, I don't need to rush. They can all just wait since they can't film without me, right? I mean cause… I'm Mackenzie in Mackenzie Falls! So hah! That makes me able to do what I want when I want.
I got up from my chair on the set to walk into my dressing room. I checked my cell phone and saw that I had a couple missed calls and one text message from Sonny.
Sonny called me two times and had texted me?
Was the world falling apart and was she going to confess her undying fake love for me before we both get run over by a dumpster truck driven by a banana slug?
The only way to find out was to open the text.
I will find you, Chad!
Sonny will find me? For what? What did I do?
I shrugged it off and decided that I was going to finally shoot the last scene on episode 112.
"Oh Portlyn! Why are you transferring?! I will go distances to stop you!" I said, maybe a little to over dramatically. But this is a soap opera for tweens, who's gonna care?
"Oh Mackenzie," Portlyn began.
"Sh, let's not speak with words, but with our eyes." I said again as Mackenzie.
The short moment where I looked into Portlyn's eyes to see my dazzling reflection, the director called an ear-splitting "CUT!" in the megaphone.
I rolled my eyes as the lighting return to normal.
"What is it?" I groaned. Was he really going to tell Portlyn to become the character again? Can't Portlyn act correctly?!
"Chad, we need a word." The Director called to me.
Wait. Me? What did he need me for? I was doing nothing wrong. My acting was amazing, wasn't it? Wasn't it?!
The Director and I stood in an empty corner of the set.
"Look, Chad. It's nothing really that big but…" the Director began.
"Come on, man! Don't keep me waiting." I said and rolled my eyes.
"Chad, your fired." He said.
"Oh, if that's all then- WHAT?!" I just realized what he said. The two words I thought I'd never hear so long as I played the roll as Mackenzie in Mackenzie Falls.
"Listen Chad, it's nothing personal but since you've been recognized as a teen heart-breaker, an egotistical jerk, and have been caught by Sonny Munroe on camera, you've been giving Mackenzie Falls a really bad name." he said. "I'm sorry Chad, but you're off Mackenzie Falls. Turn in your uniform and script." The Director said.
Okay, I was fired. Nobody fired Chad Dylan Cooper!
"Oh yeah, your also being replaced by Zac Efron." The Director added.
"Thanks for taking away my role as Mackenzie from Mackenzie Falls. That petty little tween soap wasn't even worth my name!" I said and marched off coolly.
Really, I can't believe I said that to the director. I mean, Mackenzie Falls was the reason I was Chad Dylan Cooper! What am I supposed to do now? Try out for another part in another soap? No, it would embarrass me to even think about joining the same genre I was fired from. There was no other way. I had to audition for… So Random!
I walked back to the dressing room I used to call mine and picked up my phone. Sonny had sent me another text message.
"Sonny?" I said and was about to open it.
"CHAD!" a very familiarly angry voice echoed in my ears. Soon Sonny stepped into my dressing room.
"Chad Dylan Cooper, I am sick of you! To embarrass me in front of all my friends? You jerk! Why can't you ever leave me alone?!" Sonny yelled at me.
"What? I didn't do anything to you, Sonny. I think you went a little nuts if you ask me." I said and stepped closer to her.
Sonny studied me from my shoes to my hair.
"You dare to lie?! Chad, could you be any more rude?!" Sonny screamed.
"Okay, first of all, if I really did something then I would always tell you that I did it because I like knowing that you are mad at me because of something that I did. But right now, you're mad at me for nothing. I'm not happy about that." I said.
"Then who else would send me a note saying 'I'll be waiting in the lunchroom, meet me there'?!" Sonny screamed into my ear, making me almost half deaf. Both from her screaming and from the Director's megaphone.
"Funny funny Sonny, I'm not as petty as to write you some note like that. It's not really the Chad style, you know?" I said and popped my uniform collar. The uniform really doesn't belong to me though. Not anymore. Wait… Sonny doesn't know I'm fired from Mackenzie Falls, does she? I hope she doesn't find out. If she did then she'd hold it against me forever! And that is NOT healthy for a well-deserved ego.
"Then who could've done it?" Sonny asked me.
"Me." Someone said. It was Zac Efron leaning against the doorframe acting like he owned this room. Well… He did now.
"Zac? I thought Chad banned you from the set?" Sonny said.
"Nothing can keep me far from someone as cute as you, Sonny." Zac said, walking closer and closer to Sonny. My finger twitched for a second. It felt very awkward right now.
"Oh Zac." Sonny said happily as Zac neared her face.
"Oh yeah. And did Chad ever mention that he got-" I stopped him from telling her. I punched him in the face.
"Chad! ZAC!" Sonny panicked.
Zac got up holding his nose.
"C'mon Sonny, we're leaving." I said and pulled Sonny's arm towards the exit.
"What? No! I wanna stay and talk to Zac." She said and pulled away.
"Yeah man, she wants to stay and talk to Zac. So why don't you get your nice little butt out of here before I call the security to kick it." Zac said, pulling Sonny towards his side.
I narrowed my eyes on him and grabbed a hold of Sonny's arm. "Go ahead and try, Efron." I challenged him.
"Okay. SECUR-!" I interrupted him again as I kicked the place between his knees. I grabbed Sonny's hand and made a run for it. Sonny, who was too shocked to fight my grip, was running behind me, squeezing my arm.
When we got out of the Mackenzie Falls set and near the So Random! set, we stopped and began breathing hard.
"Chad... Dylan… COOPER!" Sonny said in between hard breaths. "Why did he say he was going to call the security on you?" Sonny said. "It's your set anyways, right?"
No, not right. Darn it, Sonny! How could I come up with a clever excuse?
"Look, I… I… I quit Mackenzie Falls." I said, trying to keep my ego in tact. Lying like this really broke bits of my ego off.
"You quit? Why?" Sonny asked, crossing her arms.
"Because soap operas are old. I, Chad Dylan Cooper, keep up with everything. And right now, what's 'in' is… So Random!." I said. Ouch, that really hurt my ego.
"So Chad Dylan Cooper wants to join So Random?" Sonny said, adding a "hah!" at the end of her sentence.
"Yes, Chad Dylan Cooper does." I said.
"Well too bad." Sonny said and walked toward the opening to the set.
"HEY!" I said and grabbed her wrist. "Nobody walks away from Chad Dylan Cooper like that!" I said.
"Well Sonny Munroe does!" Sonny stuck out her tongue at me. I recoiled in disgust, I mean, come on! Who does that? She's so childish.
"No, Sonny Munroe does not!" I said back to her.
"Well Chad… I guess I could get you into So Random." Sonny said with a sly smile on her face. My smile disappeared.
"Okay, what's the catch?" I asked her and waited for the dreaded answer.
"You can't embarrass me, insult me, or do anything rude or mean to me! And… You have to be the cast of So Random!'s server monkey." Sonny said and chuckled to herself.
"Okay, deal's off!" I said, trying to hold my ego together.
"Fine then, you won't get another opportunity like this again, though." Sonny said and began walking into the entrance.
Come on Chad! You're going to fall apart, here if you don't accept it! Just do it! JUST DO IT!
"SONNY!" I screamed and grabbed her wrist again.
"Okay, that's starting to hurt." Sonny said and took her wrist into her hand.
"Sonny… I'll do it." I said. I could feel my ego falling apart. "I'll… I'll be your server monkey." I said, trying to look anywhere but at Sonny.
"Oh ho!" Sonny laughed. "Yes! Okay, I'll talk to Marshall and see what I can do."
I bit my lip. What mess did I get myself into?