This chapter was incredibly shit, tens times worse than the first chapter! So I decided to get a beta who managed to turn this into something some-what presentable! She is an amazing person whom without, this following work would have been torture for you guys! Thanks so much 0TwistedAngel0!


Centaurs or Dragons?

This was probably the worst day of my life! It was completely and utterly awful.

I found out that shooting was cancelled today and I had to stay at the dressing room because they were checking the props and clothes and blah, blah, blah all day.

So there I was- in my dressing room, bored to the max and flicking through random magazines, and going to set when I was called. I sometimes went to the break room, yes, the very room that the So Random cast had stolen food from. (Luckily, the chocolate fountain was too heavy for them to carry, everything else was replaceable.)However, I mostly just stayed in my dressing room.

I checked the clock as I had been doing for the past few hours. 2:11. Great, I still had a long way to go.

I hadn't even left for the commissary that day that was how lifeless I felt. As I thought about the commissary, it made me realize that I hadn't seen any Randoms today since I barely left our stage. On a new mission, I set off in search for the Randoms. Like I guessed, they were at their prop house place. The only cool thing about it was the mega slide at the back.

"Would you rather have-" someone started.

"Chad? What are you doing here?" Tawni, I think, questioned me.

"I was bored, and I hadn't made your day living hell yet, so I decided to stop by." I smirked as I plopped down on their sofa.

They all raised their eyebrows and finally the African-American guy sighed. "Yeah. He's got a point; we haven't seen him all day."

"Hey, wait a minute. Where's Sonny?" I scanned around the room and she wasn't there. Getting fro-yos, I supposed.

"She's gone to a wedding!" a voice screeched from inside the sarcophagus. I wasn't surprised that all these freaky things were happening here. It was to be expected. Sonny was away today?

It was just rehearsal for these losers today anyway; it wouldn't have done much for these guys if Sonny was away. What they do is so simple, rehearsals aren't even needed. It was always quieter around the studio on Wednesday's. (A/N idea from episode 8, when Sonny mentions that Wednesdays are awkward), it's because they do their live shows that day.

I got bored straight away and I strutted towards the door.

"CDC leaves as soon as he finds out Sonny isn't here?" Nico asked. One of his eyebrows popped up so high that I was shocked to see that it wasn't hovering above his head in mid-air.

"You like Sonny!" Grady pointed jumping up and down in his seat.

"I guess someone likes a Random!" The annoying Blondie teased.

"Jeez, I wasn't leaving just because Sonny isn't here."

"So, why were you going to the door?" Tawni interrogated as if she knew everything.

"I was going to shut the door." I improvised easily. Tawni raised her eyebrows, gesturing that the prop house didn't have a door, instead of questioning me further she grinned.

"OK, why don't you join our game of 'Would You Rather'?" Tawni smirked.

"Fine, I will." I glided towards their new bright, yellow bowl chair. Settling in, I gave the what-you-waitin'-for look telling them to start. The weirdest one came out of her coffin to join us and just as we were about to begin, Portlyn had to stalk into the room. Before I could even ask, she said that she was spying on the Randoms and had heard the whole thing.

"I'll join too." She smiled with her pearly whites. The enemies were going to protest but decided to just carry on with the game.

"Would you rather have a centaur as a pet or a dragon?"

I smiled at the little one's question and thought about it really hard for the minute we were allotted to think.

The alarm went off on Tawni's phone after a considerable amount of silence and Zora said, "Ok thinking time is up. Portlyn, you're first."

"A centaur for sure. They are half man." She smiled perfectly and everyone nodded at her answer, understanding her "half man" reasoning...

"Chad."

"Centaur. They are supposed to be very intelligent, aren't they?" Zora and Grady both nodded and I smiled. Everyone else looked shocked at my reasoning but though it better than to argue with CDC. "That would be helpful in a pet."

"Tawni?" Zora turned to her and smiled.

"Hmm. I still don't know. Can you come back to me?"

She nodded and moved on. "Nico?"

"Centaur of course! They are fighters and I like that. Imagine wrestling something that has arms, legs, and hooves. You beat that and you are pretty awesome!"

"Grady."

"Dragon, clearly. They fly and are more pet-like."

I shrugged and Zora nodded at him.

"Same for me, dragon." she said confidently. "Tawni, we need your answer now."

"No way! You guys are crazy! You can't choose dragon!" Nico suddenly yelled from his seat as Tawni was about to speak.

"Oh, because centaur is so very logical," Grady mocked from the other end of the room, on the stools with the desks.

"It's better than dragons!"

"No way, Nico. If you start out with a baby dragon you have something cute and little to take care of, like a puppy." He smiled at that thought and I looked at him with a confused look. I looked like half of me thought it was a good answer and the other half was calculating just how crazy Grady was.

"You can get a baby centaur." Portlyn said suddenly, defending Nico since it was her choice too.

"Yeah, but that's going to suck!" Grady said loudly. "That's not like having a pet, that's like having a baby. No way." He folded his arms and shook his head as he walked towards the circle and sat down on the sofa. "Baby dragon would be so much cuter, hands down."

Tawni and Zora were sitting in the middle while Tawni's blonde head was turning back and forth between the rest of us as we debated. She seemed to be taking every point we made into consideration for her own decision.

"A baby? It has horse legs." I informed Grady with amusement and doubt. "I'm not sure if you had some odd reproduction lessons when you were young, but a baby centaur would most likely not be much like baby human."

"It doesn't matter what you say Grady-lina, it's still better than a dragon." Nico shook his head, mocking his best friend for being girly.

"Not a baby dragon, Nico. What's the problem with raising a baby dragon?" Grady asked the group.

"When it grows up, IT WILL EAT YOU!" Nico boomed out half laughing. "There's your problem right there!"

The whole room was laughing now, but not done debating.

"Not if you raise it correctly." Zora defended sternly when the laughter quickly died down. Of course she would say that, I heard she had pet snakes.

"Yeah, haven't you ever seen The Lion King?" Grady added from the sofa. "If you raise it right, it will be on your side. Hence, no eating." He smiled happily at his what he thought 'excellent' point.

"Oh right, the cartoon character's life decisions are excellent to measure your own decisions against." Port said sarcastically. Wow, Portlyn had brains?

"Portlyn, we are speaking of owning a dragon." Zora spoke to her like she was communicating with a small child, which was pretty ironic. "I'm pretty sure in this conversation the cartoon characters are just as valid as the mythical creatures we are arguing over."

Port rolled her eyes but most of us agreed that was a valid statement.

"Centaurs are part human; you can reason with them, you can talk with them." I voiced suddenly. "The dragon is all monsters; it could lose control and hurt you."

"Not if it grew to love you enough." Grady looked at Nico, glaring at him. "If it loved you enough it would resist its natural instincts for you." It was silent for a second.

The serene moment was broken by Nico making a very loud gagging sound.

"Not if it grew to love you enough," he mocked Grady in an extremely high pitched tone and then scoffed. "This isn't a freaking romantic fantasy here sister, it's a dragon! It acts on instinct. If it wants to eat, it will eat what it wants when it wants, no matter what."

"No, Nico, that just sounds like you" Zora injected suddenly with a snicker.

I laughed from the bowl chair at Zora's retort and Nico just reached behind her to shove his little friend in the shoulder, but Zora dodged it.

"Both of them pose risks, actually." Zora said calmly after the fist stopped swinging. "With a centaur you risk resentment and hostility at being in captivity." Nico grunted in response and Port nodded once.

"That's true." I agreed. "It won't eat you though."

Zora continued her argument now that we had them agreeing with one of our anti-centaur points.

"Even though it may not eat you, it could still do some damage."

"That's what she said!" Nico laughed out suddenly from the front of the jeep. Who was that 'she'? We had no idea.

"Nico!" Portlyn said as she smacked his arm, and then took a sharp breathe-intake when she realized she was becoming friendly with a Random.

We were consumed in laughter at his sudden joke but calmed down after a minute, shaking our heads at Nico's mind.

"Doesn't this room have any windows? It's really stuffy in here!" I complained out of the blue.

"Well if my dragon was frolicking around the desert, you would all be more enchanted, I'll tell you that!" Grady said as he turned his voice towards Nico, not letting it go.

"Oh yeah, and let's see how enchanted you are when my centaur army shoots down your dragon for flying over the countryside and burning down the entire village!" He yelled back.

"You guys that's ridiculous." Zora cut in calmly. "Centaurs would never form an army, nor would they shoot down a dragon that wasn't threatening them directly."

Grady ignored her to keep yelling at his right-hand side towards his dumb anti-dragon friend.

"That will be a lot better than when your own centaurs turn on you and perform mutiny!"

"That's pirates," Port corrected him with a tone Grady clearly didn't appreciate.

"I'm pretty sure mutiny stands for any organized group that turns on its leader." Zora corrected again and was ignored, again.

"What happens when your big dumb dragon swings its big dumb tail and takes you out with one of its spikes?" Nico asked smugly.

"Then I intervene and avenge his honor!" I said proudly.

"You can't kill my dragon!" Grady said sternly as he swatted my arm. How dare he swat Chad Dylan Cooper! I was protecting him in our imaginary world, he should worship me, not hate me!

"But he killed you first!" I said defensively.

"Oh no, that's just the evil centaurs brainwashing you into thinking you need to kill the dragon!" Grady pointed his finger accusingly at me and my eyes widened.

"What?" I laughed and scoffed at him.

At the same time Port yelled, "That's right! Our side has magical powers! Not only are they hooooot, they are powerful!"

"Centaurs don't have magical powers exactly-" Zora tried to explain but got cut off by an angry Nico.

"You think the centaurs are hot?!" He turned a glare to Portlyn.

"Well yeah. Half man, half beast. Who wouldn't go for it?" She smirked. I cringed, and Tawni squealed, "Ew!"

"If you were dating a good-with-the-ladies, amazingly hot guy, would you leave him for a centaur?" Nico demanded suddenly with a frown.

"I don't know, I haven't met any centaurs yet." She smirked teasing him.

"That's it; the centaurs are going down right after the dragons!" Nico yelled as he slapped the arm of the couch.

"Oh no, you don't! What if I loved him? Would you take that away from me?" Port asked loudly with a raised eyebrow at Nico. What is going on between those two...?

"I'll fight for what's mine!" Nico boomed back.

"See! It's a boy thing!" Grady intervened. "They don't care what you love, they will kill it to feel better about themselves!" he looked accusingly at me and I held my hands up defensively. What is wrong with that boy, he was a boy too! He was acting like a girl and it was creeping me out!

"IT KILLED YOU GRADY! Of course I have to do something about that!" Even if I didn't like him, I wouldn't let him die. I would seek revenge. For some reason today, our casts started to open up to each other a bit more.

At the same time I spoke to Grady, Nico yelled to Portlyn."YEAH! A stupid horse man can't please you like I can Port! If I get rid of them all then I can protect you!"

"NO!" Grady shouted at me.

"No!" Port echoed him to Nico.

"You guys, I'm fairly sure neither of you could kill either a dragon or a centaur yourself anyway. They are both very strong creatures..."

Zora's cool voice was cut off by Port, Grady and I saying, "Shut up Zora!" in unison and Nico throwing a water bottle at her.

It was silent after that for a moment, all of us brooding over our mythical loves or foes.

Zora broke the silence.

"Tawni, you never got to answer. You have clearly heard arguments from both sides... though I'm not clear exactly what those sides are at the moment..." We all looked around nonchalantly with arms still folded and chins still raised as we continued our silence and ignored Zora's words about us. "So what will it be for you? Centaur or dragon?"

Come to think of it, it as oddly different for Tawni to keep her mouth shut and not be the centre of attention. Well, try to be the centre of attention. I was always the centre but she was like my left-hand person, the second with attention.

She was silent for another moment and then she simply asked, "Do dragons only come in green, or could I get a red one?"

We all lost it then, the tension over our mythical creature fight was gone. Of course Tawni would base her answer on colour preference and nothing else. Of course.

The laughing continued, echoing off the walls and the suddenly like a bullet of wind it changed into awkward silence. The tension between Nico and Portlyn over their weird relationship, my tension for acting friendly towards Grady, Grady's tension for acting like a girl in front of everyone and Tawni & Zora caught in between us all, not knowing what to do.

With that, everything went back to normal. Portlyn and I sneered at our enemies. Nico went back to being carefree, not the sex-talking guy he was in our conversation, Tawni went back to the centre of attention by standing in the middle, Zora went back to being extreme weirdo and ran back to the sarcophagus and Grady, stayed the same, he was the only one who was himself.

The MF stars trotted out the room and stormed back to our set.

That was totally weird; I got close with the Randoms. Lucky I decided to talk less. Unlike Portlyn, the stupid one, who just blabbed and got deeply involved with the discussion.

I stayed in my dressing room until 4:00, by which time everyone had literally forgotten the friendliness we had and went back to the ordinary times. Like in world war one when they all played football at Christmas and went back to fighting the next day. No one felt awkward about what happened earlier either, we all just moulded back into reality without difficulty.

I was called to set to work on my clothes for the next season which we would start shooting as soon as we finished doing this season. The wardrobe consultant had to change everyone's style for the next season and she was fussy; we spent a lot of time working on a new trend for each character.

It was a terrible day! But as if it couldn't get any worse...

Some trashy tabloid wrote a HUGE lie about me:

Ever wondered how Chad Dylan Cooper has hair that seems to have all the S's: smoothness, silkiness, shine and softness?
Have we found the secret for you!
It seems that what girls love most about CDC is his hair and then his eyes.
All you guys out there wanting to have hair like Chad Dylan Coopers and watch girls drool over it think again...
Because all you girls out there drooling, are you sure you like him?
Well, will you like him after you find out why his hair is so "great"?
Yes, Mr. Chad Dylan Cooper uses L'Oreal: Nutri Gloss! Women Shampoo/conditioner.
Does this suggest that our heartthrob has a secret he's hiding from his fans?
There is no other explanation as to why Cooper would use women hair product...
Is he gay?
This can't be said under current circumstances, but we'll dish the dirt out for you soon!

Santiago Heraldo

The article was accompanied by a picture of me picking out the pink bottles of shampoo and conditioner.

OK, it wasn't a lie, but still, I am not gay! Not that I have anything against gay people. But I was a straight guy! What were they thinking publishing something like that?

Girl shampoo made your hair shinier! What was I supposed to do? Go around with icky hair that girls won't even give a second glance at?

The most typical plan was to get a fake girlfriend to prove I was straight, but that would mean I have to be seen with them in public and waste my precious time. I was not up for that. There must be some other short cut out of this!

What a way to ruin my Friday night!

Raged, I just cruised around the streets of Hollywood in my car. Yes, I was wasting petrol. Yes, it emitted carbon dioxide. Yes, it was bad for the environment, but I was too incensed to care.

The fourth time I drove past the park was when I realized something in the bushes. So after 10 minutes or so I drove back to the park and I slowed down. (Literally, like my car was drifting). Strolling on the road, I struggle to see what was in the bushes.

As a car drove past in the opposite direction, I caught a glimpse of something from the headlights. It was something black, but it was too dark to see. Curiously, I rolled down my window and stuck my head out.

"Achooo!" I heard a grunted sneeze. A very manly one.

"What are you doing?" It was so obvious that there was a man.

As soon as I let slip that I knew, men from all directions, from all sorts of hiding places bulleted towards the car. Hastily, I tried to roll my window up, but a man stuck his hand through the hole, holding a tape recorder.

Questions were fired at me and I felt like I was being followed around by a swarm of flies. They were all trying to communicate; it just came out like static electricity.

I was already having bad publicity, I decided to suck up (or how Mr. Condor prefers, butt-kiss) and make the press happy. Smiling my winning smile, I parked my car on the side and got out. More flashes blinded me as I walked over to a bench in the park.

"Are you gay?"

"Do you actually use ladies hair product?"

"What have your past girlfriends said about this?"

"Chill, lads. There's plenty of time." I spoke calmly. Acting as if it was natural and I was at complete ease.

"I just want to confirm this, I am not gay. It is official."

A bald man asked, "So what were you doing buying L'Oreal shampoo?" he grinned at me knowingly.

Think quickly! Think quickly! Don't give them more gossip. I chanted in my head and improvised. "Well, as you'd know I do have a family."

"What has your family got to do with this?" a fairly young journalist enquired. She looked nervous; I could tell this was new for her.

"I was buying it for my mum."

"Don't you live on your own, isn't your apartment in the same block as Sonny Monroe's?"

"Yes. I went to visit my mum though, she told me to buy her some stuff on the way. I also bought groceries that day; don't you have pictures of that? Did you just not publish them?"

So lucky! I had bought food supplies that day, CDC doesn't starve does he? Some of the photographers who must have been there that day dropped their cameras knowing there was no story here. Some rude ones just walked off.

I did interviews just to butter them up and to be safe with the ones that stayed. I went home happily; pondering on tomorrow's magazine headlines. Utterly content, I parked the car (well, handed my keys to the valet) and walked towards the double doors.

Nothing could ruin my day; I literally saved myself from years of bad publicity before it could become something bigger.

Little did I know that a lot could happen in the short journey to my apartment door, and that it included a certain brown doe-eyed girl...


I'm not particularly proud of this chapter, but I needed a concept where Chad had a bad day that turned good. (Just like Sonny's in the last chapter). My mind went blank so I just used the mythical creatures thing, inspired by my time with my cousins. The shampoo thing was just really random.

Centaur: Go and review or I'll shoot you with an arrow!
Leader Centaur: Calm down, control your temper, you know we do not shoot creatures that do us no harm.
Centaur: But they have trespassed our virtual cyber land! They shall not leave without paying the price!
Leader Centaur: They did no harm. You will not attack them and you will follow my orders Cronotitis.
Centaur: Yes Thesius.
*The earth suddenly shakes*
Leader Centaur: I can feel it, something bad has entered our premises...
*A red dragon blows fire at the surrounding virtual trees*
Leader Centaur: Assemble the army, we must fight in this battle and win. The dragon would burn down the whole of our virtual land, which means that the story would be burnt too. The story, the heart and power source of our territory.
Centaur: I do not want my land to crash and burn!
*Brings army and they charge towards the dragon*
Leader centaur: We are running out of arrows...
Centaur: We have already lost 20 men Thesius!
Leader Centaur: Tell the humans to review! It brings more arrows!
Centaur: Review, you measly, impure creatures! Virtual lives are at stake!