Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! It makes me happy, haha. Here's your second instalment. I'm not sure how long this is going to be, but keep reviewing and I'll keep writing? Love you guys.

SUMMARY 2 The scene was such a blur. He was shouting, she was shouting and she knew what was coming next. Fiercely, he put his lips to hers, and Sonny lost it.

---

Broken Strings

In the ruins of us ;

The corridor seemed to stretch on forever. Sonny could feel her palms growing sweaty, her heart started to pound, her head started to ache. Her stomach was a bottomless pit, cascading downwards, filled with nothing but aching emptiness and above, a broken heart. So she wasn't over So Random, but it'd been three weeks after the last goodbye, the episode had aired, and she'd received a ton of fanmail wishing her well. At least that had made her feel better. But she missed it. Missed Tawni's complaints, Nico and Grady's jokes, Zora's just down-right weirdness. She wanted Marshal to tell her how brilliant she was, wanted Chad's jibes. But the thing is; that's why she was here. Because, what she missed the most, was Chad.

He'd always been the enemy. Always, always, always. At least, that was what she'd been telling herself. He was a selfish egotistical jerk and she was supposed to hate him - and sometimes she did - but she couldn't bring herself to let the boy out of her life completely. Truthfully, back in Wisconsin, she'd watched Mackenzie Falls just as avidly as she'd watched So Random. Mackenzie Falls just had that likable quality, the drama, the gossip, the great plots. And, topped off, the cutest guy Sonny'd seen in her, um, life? When she'd met him she'd been over the moon, until he'd turned out to be such a bastard. But a lovable one at that.

She smiled to herself at the thought of seeing Chad and inwardly sighed. She was So Random, he was Mackenzie Falls. Goddammit, Romeo and Juliet all over again, huh? But she was sure it was just a phase. He was just a friend, and these weird mucked up feelings she was having for him were just so not acceptable. Not now - not ever. Besides, she was always sure there was something up with him and Portlyn, the way she looked at him, anyhow. But Chad was too much of a person to have anyone else in his life. He was his other half, no matter how much that seemed to sting.

"Munroe, Sonny?"

Sonny jumped up and felt the other girls' eyes on her and blushed, before walking towards the door, not helping to notice how many movie stars she spied in the corridor. She entered the door and spotted Chad immediately, and waved. He looked bemused, then waved back, before turning to a girl next to him and smirking. She looked down, hurt, but tried to cover it up and moved towards the director.

"Hey, there, kiddo! How ya doing? Name's Jacqueline. Don't s'pose you've met Chaddy over here, hm?" she grinned and beckoned her towards Chad.

"Actually, I - "

"Hey," he smiled at her. "Name's Chad Dylan Cooper."

"But .. I know that! I know you, Chad."

Chad laughed. "Yeah, everyone does, don't they?"

Jacqueline barked out a hefty laugh and patted Chad on the back. "Too famous for his own good, ain't he? Aw, so cute. The both of you!" She grinned then ran off to the producer.

"What's going on with you?" Sonny stared at him, confused and more than hurt.

"I don't know what you're talking about .. Sonny? Sonny .. was it?" he looked at her, clearly acting his pants off.

"Shut up, Chad. You know me."

"Do I, Sonny? Do I really?" he murmured to her, blue eyes intensifying. She simply stared at him.

"Whatever. Be a jerk, I don't care," she glared at him, stomach curling. So much for her Shakespearian love story.

It made her more angry than she thought to see Chad ignore her until they were ready to rehearse, watch him flirt with every cast member young enough and stutter out her name, 'trying' to remember. ('I'm terrible at names!')

She'd pouted and let him get on with it, but it stung. His blatant disowning her was getting to her and she tried not to care when another girl kissed him on the cheek. Besides, he didn't even like her.

"Oh, fuck it," she slumped in her chair and sighed.

"'Sup, kiddo? We're getting ready to shoot now, so, uh, if you wanna get into position with Chad over there?" Jacqueline had bounded over without her even realizing and she nodded, just having another look at the words.

Etta was sweet. Shy yet strong on the inside and stubborn, hellishly. But Coby was a jackass, rich, full of himself and the popular ass at his school. Remind you of someone? She scowled as he acted like an anger in front of the crew and the cast, and then spotted her.

"Let's just get this over with, alright?" he mumbled more to himself than to her though his eyes were looking right at her. She ignored him.

"Now, Sonny. Etta's just bumped into Coby for the first time, she doesn't know anything about him. Play her with .. with an open mind. You're kinda thinking, 'he's cute!' kinda thing, y'know? But when he starts being a jerk, the real Texan inside of you jumps out. Etta's very stubborn, right? Am I right? Good. Now. Rolling!"

Sonny attempted to nod as Jacqueline told her the instructions for the scene she was rehearsing with Chad. She tried not to look at him - the audition jitters were enough. It didn't really help that she knew almost every name out there in the corridor, waiting for the same scene. They were all mega-movie stars, all auditioning for the same part. She was just a one in five role on a sketch show. Wow.

"Oh .. kay?" she sighed and ran through the lines in her head one last time, before setting it down and waiting for her cue.

"Annnnd .. action!" Jacqueline slammed her hand down through the hair triumphantly.

Sonny, slash Etta, immediately started walking and 'bumped' into Chad, slash Coby. "Oh, sorry, I wasn't looking .."

"Obviously," he snapped. "You know, it's people as ignorant as you that clutter these filthy streets even more." He made to move off in disgust, but Sonny glared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"You're being a jerk, and I don't even know who the heck you think you are."

"I'm Coby Jackson, don't you know?" he smirked at her, and flipped on his ray bans. She stared at him, blankly. "Obviously not. You're new right? Obvious, again. Last season Gucci knock-off? Nice, nice."

"Broken sunglasses? Nice, nice," she mimicked and he frowned.

"They're not broken, idiot."

"Oh, really?" She grabbed the 'ray bans' off his head and snapped them in two, spotting out of the corner of her eye, a whole box full of the fake sugar glass sunglasses.

"Cut!"

Sonny stopped gloating after Chad and looked up, heart racing, at Jacqueline.

"Not bad, Munroe! Not bad at all!" she smiled. "Now, let's flip to .. page one-two-six? Start from Coby's line, 'Etta!' Ready? Ready? Good! Action!"

They both nodded, and Sonny inwardly moaned. It was bad enough Chad had started the audition greeting her as if they'd never met, and now he was barely looking at her. Jerk.

"Etta."

"What?" she sniped, hurriedly looking at her script. "Coming to taunt me again?"

"No .. no. I - I was wrong to do that, okay?"

"No, Coby. It's not okay. You do this to me so you don't have to introduce me to your friends or your life. You're embarrassed of me because I'm just average and you're .. you're .."

"A rich slob?"

"I was going to say jerk."

"Etta .."

"Just leave me alone!"

He reached for her and she struggled against his grip, the tension intensifying. "Get off of me!" she yelled at him with all her might, letting all of her emotions go.

"Etta! Listen to me! Etta!"

The scene was such a blur. He was shouting, she was shouting and she knew what was coming next.

Fiercely, he put his lips to hers, and Sonny lost it. This wasn't a scene anymore, this was them. The anger, the passion, the loss. She could feel his pounding heart, his blue eyes so intense it was like she could never tear her gaze away from him. He was gentle yet the passion was still there, and she bit back a moan as his tongue fought his way into her mouth. She never wanted to stop. But it had to end sometime.

"Coby, I .." she gasped as she pulled away, trying so hard to keep in character.

"I love you too." His blue eyes twinkled and her heart jumped and he was bending again, now, and she was sure he was going to kiss her ..

"Cut!"

Sonny tore her gaze away from Chad for a second and edged herself out of his metal grip.

"What can I say, kids?" Jacqueline was beaming. "Sonny! Call yourself a Morley, you're well on the way. We'll get back to you tomorrow, kiddo."

"Thanks," Sonny blushed, and walked over to get her script, a bottle of water and a kit kat she'd had her eye on since she came in the studio.

"Sonny, hey." She turned to see Chad, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, with an impish smile on his face.

"You did great out there today," he told her, flushed.

"So you know my name now?" she barked at him, letting the anger out.

"Listen, it's bad enough that you actually turned up for this, now I have to pretend I don't hate you in front of Jacqueline."

Sonny stared at him, taken aback. "What .. what do you mean?"

He frowned. "We're not friends, Sonny. I was doing something to pick you up when you were down. I'm an actor, I was acting. I referred you because I felt bad. I didn't think you'd show up."

She felt herself going red and before she could stop herself she whacked his nose with her fist. So the exercise dos with Tawni actually paid off.

But Chad's nose was bleeding. "Oh, shit," she muttered. She was so not getting that job now. "Look, Chad, I'm sorry, I just .."

"Just get me so tissues, okay?!" he snapped at her, infuriated.

"There aren't any here, just .. uh, just follow me," she reached for his hand but then thought better of it and tugged his elbow towards the nearest toilet, laughing to anyone who looked at Chad, distraught. She reached the girls' bathroom and went in, pulling Chad in with her.

"What the ..! Why am I in here!?"

"I need tissue!" she sniped, going into the nearest toilet and bringing out a handful. He glared at her and pinched the bridge in his nose to stop the bleeding, hopping up onto the counter.

She started to mop up his face, muttering apologies as she did, and tried to calm herself down and ignore his blue gaze as she mopped. She carefully led a tissue across his mouth and along his jaw, where he'd rubbed his face, and ignored her racing heartbeat at being so close to his lips again. She cleaned up his hands, slowly, enjoying the feeling of his hands in hers and finally gave him a tissue or two for his nose. She sighed.

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled, looking down before throwing the bloodied tissues in the bin.

"You better be. I'm calling my lawyer. That was assault!"

"No, that was me getting you back for being an ass, Chad," she sighed and rubbed at her forehead. He smiled slightly.

"I'm .. sorry. Kind of."

She pouted at him, this all turning into a comfortable joke between them. He poked her shoulder affectionately.

"Okay. I am sorry. I'm just .. on edge .. about this."

"What?" she mumbled, tearing her gaze away from his face before she got anymore distracted.

"You. I'm not supposed to friends with you, you .. people from Chuckle City, people, people," he told her, raising his eyebrows. "It's all a do from the producers, they think competition makes us better. We have the drive to get on with a target, y'know? But working will fuck that up and I'll get kicked off Mackenzie Falls. But you're alright, Munroe."

Sonny smiled. "Chad Dylan Cooper being nice? Wow. This really is my lucky day."

He rolled his eyes and hopped off the counter, and twisted the door knob, and froze. "Blasted thing won't budge."

Sonny frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It's not moving!"

He tried it again and again, twisting this way and that, pulling and shoving. Nothing. "Ah .. crap."

"So .. we're stuck in here?"

"Seems so."

".. Great."