A/N: HEY THERE! Yes, I know. I'm still alive and well! And my summer has just began... and you know what that means ;) NEW STORY! YAY!

Prologue - His Mustang and Your Pride

There were two ways I knew that it was the beginning of summer.

1. I could feel the immense heat outside even though the A/C was blasting throughout my house.

2. My butler, Bernard, did not come into my room to wake me up so I could get ready for another day at the studio.

I smiled into my pillow before stretching and getting up. What a wonderful way to start things off, right? I blinked away the sleep then turned to my clock that read 1:57 p.m. It was the first day of summer, and I began my day by waking up after noon. Such a classic.

As if it was planned, my first phone began to ring. I grabbed it from my nightstand and answered it with my usual, "CDC here!"

"You seriously have to get your butt out of your bed and come over! I'm at the beach right now and you're seriously missing out on some very promising candidates, if you know what I mean. I've been here all morning and so far every girl that has walked by has already given me her number…or screamed at my face. But I think you're going to miss out unless you get here." I heard Devon on the other line.

I smirked and got up. He didn't need to tell me twice. "What the heck were you doing at the beach in the morning? Don't you know that the meaning of summer is to sleep in as late as you want without getting interrupted? You should try it sometime." I said into the phone as I walked into my bathroom.

"And miss out on bikini season? I'm stupid but not an idiot, Chad." I could just feel Devon rolling his eyes.

"Whatever, I'll be there in ten. Scope out some girls for me, will ya?"

"With pleasure."

After we hung up, I smiled at perfect me into the mirror. I texted Bernard to lay out my clothes on my bed before I climbed into the shower.

So here's the thing: it's summer, which means I need to get my summer fling. It was a tradition for me, if you will. Every summer, a girl had the privilege to be at my arm and have my (somewhat) full attention for the following few months or so. It was nothing but publicity, really. The press loves summer romances for some odd reason, so my manager tells me to "date" a cute girl then dump her before filming resumes. It was just business. No hard feelings.

The summer of '07 I had Emma Roberts. God, she was smokin' but kind of crazy. Let's just say that I was glad to have her off my back. Then '08 was all about Ashley Tisdale. Sure, she's a bit older than me, but it's always been every guy's dream to date an older woman. And God, every aspect of my dream came true. In '09 I had the honor of dating the beautiful Taylor Swift. A few words of advice, my fellow men: don't ever date her if she's only going to be a two-to-three month fling.

And now it's 2010, and I need a new girl at my side to smile at the cameras with me.

By the time I got ready and traveled to Venice Beach, it was a little passed 2:30. I found Devon talking to some girl with a sprayed tan, bleached blonde hair that was obviously dyed, and green eyes. Dang. What has this girl done to herself? Whatever, Devon looked interested. His problem to deal with, not mine.

Devon does the same thing in the summer as well. Find a girl in the beginning of June, date her, then dump her before the end of August where we start filming for MacKenzie Falls again. People like Ferguson and our other male cast mates think what we do is pointless since we're technically pretending to date these girls, but then again, they're the ones who get no publicity at all for three months straight. It's better to be under a small light than no light at all.

"Hey, dude," I greeted Devon then smiled at the wannabe before us.

"Oh, Lara, this is Chad-" Devon began to introduce us but was cut off with a shrilly scream that cut through my ears.

"Chad Dylan Cooper! Yes, I'm such a big fan!" Leona, Leah, Lira, whatever her name is, squealed.

"Well, isn't that flattering." I replied back, feigning appreciation. I subtly gave Devon a look, telling him to ditch the girl.

"Um, well, it was nice talking to you, Lara, but Chad and I have to go." Devon bid the fan girl goodbye.

"Bye, Lila!" I waved at her then grabbed Devon's arm and dragged him away.

"Dude, what was wrong with her? She's hot!" Devon complained.

"She's a fake. You know how much fakers annoy me." I glared.

"Yeah, but you're not going to be the one dating her for the next three months. I could have got my girl already! I mean - did you see her butt?"

"Yes, I did see it, and I have two words for ya: plastic surgery. It's the biggest thing in this area." I rolled my eyes. "Plus, if you date that, I'm still going to see her everyday because of you, though. Trust me, I did you a favor." I promised him.

Devon rolled his eyes. "Whatever. There are still more girls all around here anyway. Girls who are real, since apparently you're into that stuff." He added a snort to that statement, making me feel like I should have been ashamed of hating fakers.

"Well I do like real girls. They're easier to deal with in the summer instead of wannabes."

"You dated Tay-Tay and look what happened." Devon teased me. My face turned red as my glare hardened. "Wannabes are easier, dude. They tell you everything you want to hear, they do anything for you, and when you tell them that our relationship is done, they'll be the one thinking that they did something wrong instead of the other way around."

"No, dude. Fakers are too annoying. I only date real women, something you haven't accomplished." I sneered.

"Fine, then. Show me your next 'real' woman for the summer. Then when you break up with her at the end, just watch how terrible the outcome will be. Then I'll be right at your side, laughing and telling you 'I told you so!'" Devon said, his voice taunting.

"I'll prove to you that dating a real girl is way easier. Sure, I'll probably not get laid, and I'll probably have her wanting to decapitate me when I break up with her for some lame reason, but at least the dating process is way easier. She won't be annoying, she won't be clingy, and she won't get me bankrupt by spending all my money on my credit cards."

But there was only one problem to this: I live in freaking LA county. The chances of meeting someone real is if I go to the inner-city (which I will never do) or if some perfectly normal girl mysteriously pops into my life out of nowhere. The rest were all like Lola what's-her-face. Fake hair, fake face, fake smile, and just plain fake.

"You do realize that you're not going to meet a girl like that here, right?" Devon raised an eyebrow.

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks that.

"C'mon, dude, stop looking at the stereotypes. I know you grew up in D.C., but when you came here, there had to be some legitimately nice people you met."

"Nope. Just a bunch of posers - stupid ones, too. Just face it, Chad. The only way you'll date a real girl is if she didn't grow up here."

"What do you want me to do? Date a tourist? Hell no." I cringed. Tourists are the only people that irritated me more than fakers. They do nothing but take pictures of this polluted city as if 'The City of Angles' really have some importance in it.

"So you need a real girl who has no poser blood in her… and she needs to be a non-Californian… well, she needs to at least be not from LA. Interesting…" Devon smirked deviously.

I did not like the sound of his voice.

"Who do you have in mind?" I asked suspiciously.

I swear Devon's smile right now could have resembled the Grinch's completely. And even though I wanted to punch him in the gut right now, something told me that what I was about to hear was going to make my blood freeze.

"No one special. Just your favorite Random."

…

Oh my God.

"NO!" I exclaimed loudly. "There is no way in hell am I going to ask Sonny out!"

"Think about it, Chad. She's the only real girl around here since Taylor - and I know that you are not going to get back with her." Devon snickered.

"Selena Gomez?" I offered.

"She would rather date Miley Cyrus than you…and she's a girl." Devon laughed. The worst part was that he's right.

"Chelsea Staub?" I tried again.

"…Wait…she's hot! Dibs!" Devon said quickly before I could say anything else about her.

"Damn you!" I seethed.

"Snooze ya lose, bro."

"Taylor Momsen?"

"You honestly think you can bring Taylor Momsen home to your mother? She's hot and all, but you're kinda a Momma's Boy, Chad. You wouldn't want mommy to be disappointed in you, now do you?"

"Whatever." I gritted my teeth, my cheeks burning. "How about Demi Lovato?"

"Seriously? She just broke up with that Jonas Brother. You honestly think you have enough 'CDC charm' in ya to be the rebound?"

"Chad Dylan Cooper will be no one's rebound." I stated.

"My point exactly."

"Miranda Cosgrove?"

"What is she - like ten?"

"She's like sixteen or something - oh, forget it." I sighed in defeat.

"Then it looks like your little Sonny is going to be your new girl."

I groaned into my hands. "Fine. I'll ask Sonny out. But she'll say no for sure."

"Oh, no. You said that you were going to show me that dating a real girl is easier. That bet starts from the very moment you ask her out."

"This isn't a bet!"

"It became one once you decided to prove something. If Sonny says no to you then you lose automatically. Get her to say yes, date you until our shows start again, and break up with her smoothly, then you win."

"What do I get out of this?" I asked curiously.

"The joy of being a winner." Devon grinned.

"I don't think so." I glared at him. "If I win, that new Mustang your parents bought you for your birthday - mine."

I saw Devon flinched for a split-second before he regained his cool posture. His new black Mustang that he got last month was his prized possession. He treated it like it was his child, and he loves it more than he will ever love his little brother. I'm sure he would still go down with that Mustang, seatbelt on and everything, even if it was falling off a cliff.

"Fine. You'll get Natalya."

Oh, and he named it too.

"But, if I win then…then you have to parade around Hollywood Boulevard butt naked-"

"-you've got to be kidding me?"

"And your hair will be shaved off."

My hands immediately flung within the stands of my perfect blonde hair, touching it possessively. He wanted to take my pride and my hair away from me? That's just cruel!

"F-fine. I'll do it." I said, trying to sound serious and not afraid whatsoever.

We shook hands on it.

I couldn't help but have my heart beat five hundred times per second. It felt as if my insides were going through roller coasters, and I was ready to throw up. I, Chad Dylan Cooper, was going to ask Sonny Monroe out. And date her. For a whole entire summer … Oh God, help me.

A/N: Well here we have my new story! It's based off of this amazing book I read called "This Lullaby" by Sarah Dessen. And I stole the title "That Summer" from her too xD If you can't tell, she's my new favorite author haha! (Thank you, Hayley, for showing her to me!) I didn't copy the plot, but I did something with the summer-y idea from it. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it!