Hello everyone! I've been fumbling with this idea for a few days and I finally decided to write it up. I hope everyone enjoys it!
"Who's that with Mr. Condor?" Sonny asked pointing to a teenage girl entering the cafeteria with the man in charge.
"Oh – my – gosh," Tawni's jaw dropped. "You don't know who that is?"
"Does Mr. Condor have an older daughter?"
"Sonny, that's Cat Brells – star of Jenny's Life, and not even Mr. Condor could spawn something that evil."
"She did look familiar. But what is she doing here? I thought Jenny's Life filmed at Condor Studios in New York?"
"I should I know? She's probably guest-starring on Mackenzie Falls this week."
"Yeah, like I would ever let Cat Brells guest-star on my show. You guys didn't hear? When Studio One opened up last week, Mr. Condor went out of his way to relocate Cat and the whole Jenny's Life cast and crew," Chad sneered.
***
"Wow, Mr. Condor, I can't thank you enough for all you have done for Jenny's Life. I can't believe we're in Hollywood!" Cat glowed as she walked through the busy cafeteria with her new boss. "And Studio One no less. I think I'm still in shock."
"The number one studio for the number one show!" Mr. Condor gave an unusual compliment. "We are glad to have all of you Cat. If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call.
"Thank you Mr. Condor!" Cat waved as Mr. Condor left her in the Cafeteria. "Jessi, isn't the studio amazing?" she turned to her personal assistant.
"It is unbelievable, Cat. Come on, we need to get to the studio. Rehearsal's in half an hour."
***
Sonny sat in her chair offstage while Tawni, Zora, and Grady were rehearsing their sketch onstage. She couldn't get her mind off of the arrival of Cat Brells. She had always heard good things about the girl, and great things about the show.
"Nico, what do you know about Cat Brells?" Sonny turned to her cast-mate.
"You mean the fine actress who just moved into Studio One? I know she's going to be asked out on a date tonight," Nico laughed and rubbed his hands together.
"By who?" Sonny scrunched her face.
"Me, Sonny, me."
"Seriously, Nico, what do you know about her? I always thought she was a sweet girl, but Tawni and Chad say otherwise."
"Don't listen to them," he shook his head, "Tawni's jealous because Cat beat her for a 'Best Actress Award' and Chad for 'Best Dramatic Performance' a couple years ago. I had the privilege to sit at the same table as Cat a few months ago at an inaugural dinner party. She is just as nice and kind as everyone says. And she's hot."
"That does sound like Tawni and Chad to hold a grudge for something as superficial as an award. I wish we didn't have rehearsal all day, I'd really like to meet her."
"Well when Cat and I are going steady, I'll introduce you two."
"Oh, thank you so much, Nico!" Sonny joked.
"All right, everyone," Marshall called the cast into a huddle. "Go ahead and take a quick five-minute break and we'll jump right into Tawni's ice cream sketch."
Sonny sighed. Whenever Tawni wrote a sketch, she was usually pelted with something, and unfortunately, this sketch didn't break the trend. Sonny was going to be playing an ice cream shop worker and everything was going wrong for her. A little boy would trip and his ice cream would fly into her face, she would slip on an ice cube while holding two ice cream cups covered in sprinkle, and the hot fudge machine would explode in her face.
Before enduring the mess, Sonny slipped away from the stage to use the bathroom when she bumped into a stranger.
"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry!" Sonny shrieked and immediately kneeled down to recover the other person's paper.
"No, no. I wasn't looking where I was going. It's my fault. Thanks for helping me pick up my script," the stranger squatted down and gathered the remaining sheets.
Sonny studied one of the pages and noticed the word 'Jenny' highlighted at just about every other line and Jenny's Life: Season Six – Episode One typed neatly as the page header. "Wait, you're Caitlin Brells – aren't you? I'm Sonny Monroe from…"
"From So Random," Cat finished the thought. "The show has improved so much since you joined. I couldn't stand it before, now I watch it every week. You can call me Cat, by the way. No one ever calls me Caitlin except television hosts and my mother. Is this Studio Three, Sonny? I think I'm lost."
"Yes, this is Studio Three, you're not that lost."
"Great, because I found this out in Studio One," Cat handed Sonny a small black box containing accessories to the cameras used to film the show. 'Studio 3' was marked across the front on a piece of masking tape.
"Oh, Marshall's been looking for these! Thank you so much! So when did you arrive in California?"
"This morning, actually. My mom couldn't come up so quickly, so my assistant Jessica is unpacking all of our boxes into our new house."
"Where did you move in? I'm sure it's along some huge, mansion-filled street."
"Nope. Since my mom wanted to keep me under control while I was in Hollywood, she had me buy a small house on a street called, Apple Court."
"Wait, do you mean the house with the blue door and small oak tree in the front yard?"
"Yes," Cat said hesitantly.
"You're moving in next door to me and my mom! We should car pool together."
"Yeah, definitely – I have a car if it's easier for me just to drive us back and forth. I'm sure your mother just loves getting attacked by the paparazzi every morning. There's no use in wasting gas for both of us to drive out to the same place and return to the same place."
"You have a car?" Sonny continued to drill questions.
"It's nothing too special – not like Chad Dylan Cooper's. My mom said I didn't really need an expensive car, just one that would take me places and withstand the abuse of crazy fans. It's a powder blue 1975 Dodge Dart Swinger and it is my baby."
"Sonny!" Tawni marched down the hallway. "What are you doing? We're getting ready to start...Cat," Tawni caught sight of her enemy.
"Tawni! Long time no see, how have you been?" Cat engulfed her in a hug. Sonny cringed, feeling the Tawn-ado coming.
"Cat, what are you doing here? This is not your studio, and no one wants you here."
"Fine, all right. See you around, Sonny," Cat grabbed the last piece of script paper and returned to Studio One.
"What is wrong with you and Cat, Tawni? Just let go of the past – she obviously did. Why can you never be the bigger person? Come on, let's just go finish rehearsal," Sonny walked back to the stage. Tawni stood still in her place. Sonny had talked to Cat for two minutes and she was already defending her. Why couldn't she see the witch Cat really was?
***
"Sonny?" Cat pulled her car up into her new driveway, only to see Sonny waiting for her on the front porch.
"I'll get dinner started," Jessi offered and stepped out of the passenger door and passed Sonny. "Are you going to stay for dinner, Sonny?"
"No thank you, I just needed to speak with Cat for a few moments," Sonny replied.
"Are you sure? Jessi's making hamburgers – she makes one killer hamburger," Cat insisted.
"No, I already ate, you know, at a normal dinnertime," Sonny gave a soft smile.
Cat glanced down at her watch and saw that it was eleven-thirty. "Man, who knew we were rehearsing for so long? I guess we needed to make up for the day of traveling. Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Sonny nodded. "All right, so what did you need to tell me?"
"I wanted to apologize for the way Tawni spoke to you earlier this afternoon. What she said is not true. She's the only one who would rather not see you there. I know Nico's already completely infatuated and I'm sure everyone else is as well."
"Wait, is Nico that funny, skinny guy who asked me out like three times this afternoon?"
"That would be him."
"Sonny, don't worry about it. I was a little over-zealous when I thought Tawni had forgiven me – even though it was never really my fault."
"I have one more question. Why was Mr. Condor so apt to give you whatever you wanted? It is not like that with anyone else. If we don't do exactly what he wants, we get the axe."
"See, Mr. Condor will never confess this to me, but his wife, Mrs. Condor, loves Jenny's Life. I sometimes think she would leave him if he cancelled our show. Therefore, he wants to make it so I don't leave either. So just let me know if you ever need anything."
"Can you start by getting better Cafeteria food?" Sonny laughed.
"Cat," Jess leaned out the door. "You need to start preparing for bed before we eat. If you wait until after dinner, your schedule will be thrown off and you won't get to bed on time."
"Oh, all right, thanks Jessi," Cat agreed and began to move towards her new blue door. "I haven't even walked around the place yet and life is going on like normal."
"You have a bed time?"
"Jessi puts together a thorough schedule for me. Every minute of the day is planned out, but I need a certain amount of sleep or else my body goes haywire and I get sick and I can't remember lines – it's not pretty."
"Well I'll get back home then. Are you still up for driving me by chance?"
"Of course! I'll be over at 6:30 to pick you up. Goodnight, Sonny."
"Goodnight, Cat! I'm really glad we met."
"Me too Sonny, me too."
