Wow. A lot of positive feedback for chapter one. Thanks for favoriting and story alerting, etc. Hope the rest of this story lives up to expectations. So, here is chapter two.
Chapter Two: Partner
Sonny's Point of View
"So," Chad said turning to me when they finished the episode. "What'd you think?"
"Umm…" I bit my lip, trying to come up with something to say. It didn't help that the entire cast, crew, and Chad were staring at me, waiting for a response. "You all did really well…" I tried, smiling.
Chad rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, we already know that. What we want to know is what we can fix."
"Uh, well…" I stood up and lowered my voice. "Do you think we could maybe find another broom closet or something, because…" I stopped talking because Chad had already sighed, taken me by the arm, and started dragging me off the set.
Before I knew it, we were standing in his extremely large dressing room. He had a fully stocked (I'm assuming it was fully stocked) fridge, an even bigger chocolate fountain, famous paintings that looked like the real thing, and a ton of mirrors. Most everything was white, with touches of sky blue and jade green. I always expected his dressing room to be elaborate, but I was surprised when I realized something. "What, no pictures of yourself?"
He smiled a little and clapped once. I was startled when the wall right next to me slid open, revealing hundreds of pictures of Chad Dylan Cooper. It looked like he was stalking himself or something.
"Okay, I guess I shouldn't have asked."
Chad sat down on a blindingly white couch and made himself comfortable. "Now… Mackenzie Falls… what does it need?"
"Well… just out of curiosity… who put me on the banned wall?" I knew I was beating around the bush, and probably making it worse, but can you really blame me? I had no idea how he was going to react. And yes, I shouldn't care how he reacts, but still. Conceited or not, I don't like to hurt people's feelings.
"Portlyn."
"Why?"
"She doesn't like that I asked for your help. She's definitely the jealous girlfriend type, if you know what I mean," Chad said, smiling the smile that made hordes of girl fans (who don't know his true personality) scream and cry for joy whenever they see him on the street.
What? Girlfriend? Since when did he have a girlfriend?
"Oh." I didn't know what else to say. I sat down on the edge of the white couch and stared at his glass coffee table covered with magazines with him and the cast of Mackenzie Falls on the covers.
Chad's Point of View
"She doesn't like that I asked for your help. She's definitely the jealous girlfriend type, if you know what I mean," I said. It was ridiculous. Portlyn had like, the world's most unhealthy crush on me. Not that I blamed her, but even I have my limits. I felt sorry for any guy who she did go out with. He wouldn't even be able to glance at anyone that even looked like another girl.
"Oh," Sonny said in a tone I didn't recognize coming from her. Disappointed? Bored? What?
She sat down on the complete opposite end of the couch and looked down. Hmm… Maybe she was still nervous, for whatever reason. Best to move this along, then… I needed answers!
Sonny's Point of View
I guess Chad took that as me trying to avoid my opinion of their show, because he cleared his throat loudly. I looked up at him, and he gave me a get-on-with-it look.
I turned my body to face him and smoothed out a nonexistent wrinkle in my dress. "Just keep in mind that you did ask for someone who works on a comedy sketch's opinion," I warned him before I told him what I had been thinking earlier, only in a somewhat gentler way. Wouldn't want to bruise his ego too much.
I stared at him and waited for his reaction. His blue eyes showed no emotion until he slowly started shaking his head no.
Wow. Was he feeling guilty about all of this, or was it something else?
"No… no… no, no, no, no, no!"
His outburst surprised me, I suppose because we'd been sitting in silence for quite awhile. "What?"
"Our show is supposed to be overly dramatic." He looked and sounded like a kindergarten teacher trying to explain something too grownup for me to understand. "That's why they call it a drama, and dramas do not have 'comical relief.'"
Okay, who did he think he was? He asked for my help, so why did he insist on still believing that there was nothing wrong with Mackenzie Falls? "Uh, well sorry, but I thought you wanted my opinion. You know, because the show is going to be cancelled."
"I realize that."
"Then what's your problem?"
"My problem is that I know for a fact that that is not why we are losing viewers," Chad said, finally standing up and pacing around the room.
"Okay, then, if you do already know the problem, then why'd you ask me to come here?" I stood up also, too wound up for sitting down any more. You could say I wasn't going to take that sitting down. Sorry, comical relief. You know the kind Chad didn't like.
"I don't know the problem, but…" he trailed off and finally stopped pacing around. He ran his hands through his hair.
"I only thought of that because… well for one, I do work on a comedy, and for another, you are losing viewers to a comedy, so I just thought…" I also let myself trail off. I leaned carefully against his wall of photos and watched him warily on the other side of the room.
It's like we were opposite sides of a magnet. We were always on the opposite sides of an argument, a room, his couch… It's not like we repelled each other on purpose like we couldn't stand each other… it's more like a subconscious thing.
"Look… I'm a real actor, and most of the people on Mackenzie Falls are also real actors and actresses, and we will not stoop to-"
I narrowed my eyes at him. He was really going to start talking about how what I did and the rest of my cast did wasn't "real" acting during a time when I was basically calling the shots? Wait. That meant if I wanted to, I didn't have to take that. I was so out of there. Can't say I didn't try. "Stoop to what? Doing something a little different?"
I walked across the room towards him until there was nothing but a small wooden end table between us. Okay, fine. I thought about leaving, but then I came up with a new approach. I believe some would call it… reverse psychology.
"Well, it's just that-"
I cut him off. He was totally setting himself up for that one. "No, no. You're totally right. I don't think Mackenzie Falls even could do any comedy at all."
"What?" I could tell he was surprised and offended at the same time. Good.
"Well it's just that, you guys just aren't cut out for comedy. I mean, what was I thinking? It's okay though." I patted him on the arm, somehow managing not to laugh at his miffed expression. "You have plenty of small but crucial roles ahead of you." I turned and pretended to leave and (I'll admit) I almost lost it. Even though I could care less about it, everyone knew you didn't tell Chad Dylan Cooper he couldn't do something. And that was exactly why I did it.
"Hold on!" Chad moved quicker than I'd ever seen him move. He stepped in front of me blocking my exit. "What do you mean we're not cut out for comedy? We can do comedy."
I gently pushed past him, sticking to my new plan. If I caved too fast, it might not work. After all, Chad is pretty stubborn once you get to know him. "I'm sure you could… try… but don't you remember? You guys are real actors. Comedy just isn't on your list of talents." I shrugged my practically-shaking-with-contained-laughter shoulders and continued on my path to the exit.
He put his hands on my shoulders and stopped me. "Not so fast there, Munroe. We can do comedy just as good as So Random can, and we can do it better because we can also do drama at the same time. What do you say to that?"
Perfect! He totally fell for it! "I say, we've got a show to save." I smiled and held out my hand.
He seemed a little surprised at first, but like a true actor, he quickly recovered and reached for my hand and shook it. "Okay."
"Let's do this… partner…"
He nodded slowly. "Partner."
Of course Sonny can only get Chad to do something by tricking him. I'm trying my very hardest to keep them in character, so if I start slipping up, let me know. It's a little harder for this show since the characters in it still aren't fully developed yet. But we try don't we? So, chapter three should be up soon, but first I have to update my other stories before the people reading them have a heart attack from the suspense. Keep it up with all of the encouraging reviews and I'll keep up my pace on updating this story. Thanks!
