The Softer Side of Sunshine
Disclaimer: Everyone in this story, with the exception of Julianna McConnell, Christopher Reed, Mr. Sims, and Stacey belong to Disney. Please don't sue me…I have no money…I am making no money from this story. I want to thank Kora for all of her helpfulness with this as well! All I have is an expando of debate files and a stupid debate partner, both of which you are welcomed to anyway. Please take my debate partner…
It's an average day at T.C.Williams High School. A tall blonde football player who is about 17 years old is seen walking down a crowded hallway. A few students greet him although he seems to be unaware. He keeps running into people but appears to be obliviously lost in thought.
'I can't believe she dumped me!' Sunshine thought to himself. 'I was so stupid to think she'd ever like me in that way. You know, it figures that the first nice girl I meet here would love someone else. I'm so stupid.'
It wasn't like Sunshine to think so negatively about himself, but this time he felt justified. J, the girl he had developed a crush on after first meeting her & whom he had thought liked him as much as he liked her, was in love with someone else. Not that this was a major shock to him...J and Alan had been toying with the idea of being a couple for a while now anyway.
Those few moments right before it had happened had been replaying in his head for what seemed to be forever. J had come to his house late the night before. "That should have tipped me off," he thought dejectedly. He remembered her words exactly.
***
"I think we'd better," she had stated as she sat next to him. "I've come to talk to you about our relationship. I…I don't think that I feel about you the way you feel about me. I'm really, really sorry. This just isn't going to work. I'm sorry. I hope that we can still be friends," was what she had come to tell him.
"Ok, J, if that's what you want then that's fine with me," he quietly responded, as if he had any choice in the matter. With that, he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. And, just as quickly and unexpectedly as she had come, J retreated, leaving him there to ponder her sudden decision in the dark and the cold.
The night had seemed endless as he laid in bed meditating on her comments. The only conclusion Ronnie had been able to reach was that the whole thing had some link to Alan.
***
His suspicions were confirmed the following day as word spread quickly that Alan and J were finally together. The news had left Sunshine with mixed emotions.
'In any event,' he realized, 'I can't change what happened and I'm going to have to deal with it. And it's not like Alan's a bad guy or anything like that...' Ronnie's thoughts were interrupted by the calls of Christopher Reed, one of his classmates.
"Hey Ronnie!" the tall, dark haired guy interjected.
"Oh, hey. What's up?" Ronnie's usual energy was noticeably missing.
"What's wrong? You look like you lost your best friend," commented Chris.
"Pretty close to it...Julianna McConnell and I broke up last night," he said with a sigh. "I thought we really had something, you know, but..." Ronnie tried to continue, but was to overcome to finish.
"Come with me," his friend suggested. Too upset to contest, he followed.
The pair moved quickly down the hall, earning them the stares of more than a few curious classmates. How odd it must have seemed to see the football player breaking down in the hall. Nevertheless, they rounded the corner and entered an abandoned classroom. Christopher guided Ronnie to a nearby desk, sat him down, and handed him some tissues.
"It'll be ok, really," he encouraged in an attempt to help his friend. Ronnie, however, now realized that he had a second problem.
"Oh no! All of those people saw me make a blubbering fool of myself! What if someone tells J? She'll think I'm pathetic! I'll never be able to face her again…" he rambled.
"Whoa there, buddy!" Chris exclaimed, "One thing at a time, alright? Now, this chick…why'd she break things off?"
"She's in love with someone else. I guess I should have seen it coming. I'm not even sure why I bothered," Sunshine remarked.
"Who's the mystery man?" he questioned.
"Alan," was all Ronnie could say.
"Ouch. I guess that was bound to happen eventually. So are they a couple now or what?"
"Yeah, they're together. How haven't you heard already? It was all over school by fifth period! He walked her to her seat in class…they were holding hands…it was horrible!" he cried.
"So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to say anything to Alan?" Chris questioned. His glare held the promise of a plan.
"No, I can't. Alan's still my friend. It's not his fault they fell in love. What did you have in mind?" Ronnie asked. Now he was curious as to what Chris had up his sleeve.
"A little revenge," the senior replied with a smirk. "Meet me in the art room after school. Come prepared."
"Prepared for what?"
"Anything," he said mischievously.
And with that said, he hurried off, leaving Sunshine with his box of tissues to ponder exactly what Chris was planning to have him do.
'Come prepared, huh? I wonder what he meant by that…' Sunshine thought to himself. 'I guess I'll just have to trust him…what a scary idea…'
