So, I just wanted to let everyone know that these updates are going to come slower than the ones for MGSIAAGT, mainly because the chapters are longer. It took three days to write this one, and three days to also write the first chapter. And since I have to juggle writing with my schoolwork and other things that I have going on in my life right now, the updates will not come as quickly. I'll try as hard as I can to post often, but sometimes it just might not be possible.

Anyways, there is an important Author's Note at the end, so please be sure to check that out!

Disclaimer - I do not own SWAC

Chapter 2

Last Minute Details

The sound of the metal grommets on my curtains scraping across the curtain rod the next morning filled my bedroom, and I groaned and rolled over in my bed, stifling the noise by clamping a pillow down over my ears. The sunlight poured into my room in strips, too intense for so early in the morning. My legs began to feel warm from the rays of sunlight and I quickly flung them over the side of the bed and sat up, stretching my arms over my head as I raked my eyes over my bedroom, trying to find the person who had opened up my curtains.

"Mom, what are you doing?" I demanded, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Sweetie, I tried to wake you up three times, but all you did was turn away from me and whimper stupid Chad, so I was forced to resort to desperate measures," my mom explained, straightening the heavy curtains before laying back on my bed. "What's wrong? Did you and Chad get in a fight or something? And on your birthday?"

I rolled my eyes and re-did the ponytail in my hair, catching any straggling bits that had escaped during the night and neatening them up once again. "Well...not a fight exactly, more like a disagreement."

My mother looked at me curiously. "What about?"

"It's a long story," I sighed, tightening my ponytail. I dropped my hands to my waist and let out another deep sigh. "We had a...heated discussion about what type of wedding we should have, which resulted in a bet. Between me and Chad."

"Oh really? And what is this bet?"

"He told me that he could think of 25 better ways to get married than a traditional wedding. And I told him that I bet that he couldn't find 26 different ways, one for each letter of the alphabet. And he accepted, and now me and Chad are going to have a fake wedding once a week so that he can try and prove his point to me."

My mother rolled her eyes and looked skyward, biting her lip to try and hold in her laughter. "Only you two would be able to think something like this up," she said, releasing her lip and shaking her head. "So, what are the stakes?"

"If he can't find 26 different ways to get married, then I win and we have a big white traditional wedding. But if he does succeed and can pull off all of these weddings, then I have to reconsider and we'll come to a decision about what type of wedding we'll have."

"Wow honey," my mom rubbed her hands together. "Sounds like you have a lot on your plate."

"Actually," I began nervously. "There's more."

My mother blinked at me, confusion evident in her brown eyes. "Like what?"

I took a deep breath and tried to choke the words out, but they got caught in my throat. My mom was so innocent and sweet, completely unsuspecting of what I was trying to say. What I had been thinking about for a few weeks now. What I really needed to do.

How was I going to tell her that I wanted to move out?

I sighed and shuffled over to my walk-in closet, pulling the wooden doors open. "Never mind."

My mother huffed. She hated whenever I broke off my sentences like that. As far as she was concerned, you either say what you need to or not bring it up at all. But she hated that whole trail off, forget what I was talking about crap. "Sonny," she said warningly, fidgeting in my bed so that she was sitting cross-legged amidst my sheets. "What's going on?"

"Mom, forget it," I said, throwing a pair of faded blue jeans over my shoulder. They landed on my bed with a soft thud. I then pulled out an oversized black sweatshirt and tossed it behind me, expecting to hear the same sound that I had with my jeans. Instead I heard a muffled oomph, and turned around to see my mother peeling the garment off of her face. She looked down at the sweatshirt quizzically.

"Sonny...what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I insisted, but my voice raised an octave. My mother cocked an eyebrow and I looked down, avoiding any eye contact.

"Sonny, sweetie, really? Don't lie to me. I know that not only does your voice get higher when you lie, but you never wear a sweatshirt and jeans unless something is wrong. Since you said everything is alright with Chad, is something going on with Tawni? Nico? Grady? Zora? Oh! Are those Jonas boys back? Did Nick try to win you over again?"

"You, Mom," I mumbled, intently studying the pattern of the hardwood floor.

"Me?" My mom's voice turned high pitched due to her shock, and when I finally faced her I saw that her eyes were wide with disbelief. "Nick is trying to win over me?"

I stifled a laugh. "No, he's not trying to win over you. What I was trying to say was that something was going on with you."

"With me? What do you mean?"

For the second time that morning I took in a deep breath. However, unlike the first time, I was actually able to say what I had on my mind. "Mom...I love living here with you, but I'm twenty now. And I'm getting married sometime in the near future, and I just...I want to move out of the house. Like, move out, into my own house. It's nothing to do with you, I swear, I just kind of want to live on my own, that's all."

I scrunched my eyes shut and braced myself for my mother's protests, but surprisingly, nothing came. She baffled me by getting up off of the bed and giving me a tight hug, kissing my head gently. "Oh, Sonny, if that's what you want, then that's fine."

I pulled back from her. "Are you serious? You don't mind?"

"Sweetie, no! It's true, you are twenty now, and you and Chad are getting married, and its fine if you want to live on your own. I'm not going to take it personally. Every parent has to go through this; I'm not upset with you."

I breathed out a huge sigh of relief and returned the hug, resting my chin on my mother's shoulder. I glanced over at the clothes on my bed and released myself from my mother's grasp, picking up the outfit and putting it back in the closet. Then I pulled out a black and white dress, a pair of tights and a red cardigan, all of which I draped over my desk chair.

Mom smiled and smoothed her hand over my unruly bed-head curls. "Ah, now there's the Sonny that I know."

I smiled back at her and gestured towards the bathroom. "I'm going to go and take a shower. I'll meet you outside for breakfast when I'm done, alright?"

She nodded and headed towards the kitchen, her footsteps getting fainter and fainter the further away she travelled from my bedroom. Once I couldn't hear the pad of her fluffy slippers anymore, I locked the bathroom door behind me and turned on the shower. I had washed my hair again last night when I had come home, so I fitted a shower cap onto my hair and stepped into the enclosure, tracing my name and a smiley face onto the glass before proceeding with my bath.

When I turned the water off and had finished drying myself off, I wrapped the same blue towel from yesterday around my body and pulled the see through shower cap off of my head, unleashing my brown hair over my shoulders. I plugged in my hair straightener and quickly and efficiently smoothed out all of my curls so that they lay straight down my back, swinging with every movement that I made.

Once I was satisfied, I unplugged the beauty device and stuffed it back in the cupboard under the sink, making sure that it had enough room to cool down and not burn anything. I opened up the bathroom door and hurried into my room, shutting the door with my foot and locking it with a swift twist of my wrist. I dressed (completely mindful not to mess up my carefully crafted hair) and reopened the door, smiling when the smell of fried eggs touched my nostrils.

"That smells so good, Mom," I announced, striding into the kitchen. My ballet flats skid against the kitchen tiles and I gripped onto the counter to steady myself, the bracelets adorning my wrists hitting each other and clacking together. "Whoops."

My mother clicked her tongue and turned away from the stove, holding the pan of eggs in one hand, her trusty spatula in the other. "Sonny, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful?" she scolded, scooping out some off the yellow eggs and dumping them in one of the plates. She repeated the same action with the other plate, both of which were already piled high with slightly burnt toast. "I shudder to think what you would be like living on your own."

I adjusted the bracelets hanging from my arm and looked sternly at her. "Mother, we already talked about this. You don't mind, remember?" I winked at her, causing the whole serious facade that I had going on to crash down, and the kitchen rang with my mother's laughter.

"Oh Sonny, I will miss you," she said earnestly, handing me a plate of breakfast. "Things will be more quiet around here, definitely, once you're gone."

I stuffed a forkful of eggs into my mouth and made a sandwich with the food that was left on my plate while I was chewing. I swallowed and brought the sandwich up to my lips, pausing before I took a bite just long enough to catch my mom's eye. "Don't worry...it's not like I'm going to die," I said. "You'll still see me. I just don't be sleeping here anymore, that's all."

My mother took a sip of her coffee and rolled her eyes at my logic. "You'd better hurry up," she said, checking the time on her silver wristwatch. "Don't want to be late and all that, right?"

I nodded my head in agreement, dumped my dishes in the sink and raced to the bathroom, where I brushed my teeth and did one final damage control check in the floor length mirror. After finally deciding that I looked good enough to go to work, I picked up my purse and dashed out the front door, calling out a good-bye to my mother as I left.

No Chad this morning meant that I had to drive myself to work. I hopped into my car, rolled down all of the windows and blasted my radio, singing my heart out as I zoomed down the highway. Passerby cars honked their horns at me, but I couldn't tell if it was because I was a terrible singer, or they liked how I sounded. Either way, I didn't care, and continued to sing until I arrived at the studios.

"Hey Tawni," I said, slipping into our dressing room and hanging my purse up on the back of one of the chairs. "What's up?"

My cast-mate turned to look at me, fluffing the ends of her curls with both hands. "Joe is coming back to work tomorrow. The cleaning people are just making sure that their set is star-worthy again."

I nodded, remembering how their set had been abandoned while they were away on tour all of those months. The cleaning people should have made periodical cleanings, but they had probably shirked their responsibilities, since no one had been in that area of the studios since the European tour had begun.

"Bet they miss Lucas now, huh?" I joked, and Tawni giggled in agreement.

Right after the Jonas Brothers had left to go to Paris (where they had kicked off the European leg of their tour) Mr. Condor had created a new show starring Lucas Till. The new show had been like a less intense version of Mackenzie Falls, but as cute as Lucas was, he was no Chad. His show had been wildly less popular than all of the others on the lot, and Mr. Condor had cancelled it after only two episodes. Instead of trying to find another show to film there, though, he just decided to leave the set free for when Joe and the others came back.

Tawni swivelled around in her chair and looked at me, pursing her lips. I hadn't known any better, I would have thought that she was mad at me, but I had just seen her coat her lips in Cocoa Moco Cocoa and knew that she was just spreading the gloss and evening out the shine. "So, Sonny, I heard about the bet."

I collapsed on the leopard print couch. "The wedding bet?"

Tawni nodded, her mass of curls shaking. "Sonny, you do know that Zora has a book on how to have like, 1001 weddings, right?"

I snapped my fingers and sat up. Zora! I knew that I was forgetting something! Last night I had every intention of seeing her first thing today and asking her to keep the book away from Chad. But after all of the excitement of talking to my mom about moving out and then having the delicious breakfast that she had prepared for me, it had completely slipped my mind. "I almost forgot! Thanks Tawni!"

A sound in the ceiling made us look up to find Zora leaning her head out of the ventilation system, a crazy grin on her face. "Hey, Sonny, looking for me?"

I twisted my mouth into a frown. "How did you know?"

"I figured that you must've been, considering what Chad borrowed from me yesterday."

I was too late. I groaned and slapped my forehead with my palm. "And did you give it to him?"

Zora nodded, her sleek brown hair quivering. She wasn't the kooky thirteen year old girl that she was when I had first joined So Random!. Her hair, instead of being styled in crazy braids and sproingy ponytails, now reached her halfway down her back, and was always worn flowing, a simple headbands keeping the bangs out of her face. She was much taller now too, only an inch or so shorter than me.

"Zora, why? Now I'm going to lose the bet!"

"I'm sorry, Sonny," Zora said, running one hand over the thick, soft headband that rested against her hair. "But he was just so persuasive! Besides, he promised me that if I gave him the book, then I would be able to be ring-bearer for all 26 of the weddings."

Tawni wrinkled her nose. "Ring-bearer? Don't boys usually do that?"

Zora nodded. "Isn't it exciting?"

"Not really. Wouldn't you rather be the flower girl? Or a bridesmaid?"

"No way, those are too fluffy and poufy. I want to be the ring-bearer! I have this new super strong magnet and I was wondering if it would be able to control the two rings even through the huge pillow. And besides, Chad said that I could be the ring-bearer, and since he's the groom, I'm going to take his word for it."

Once again, I snapped my fingers: the second time in ten minutes. Throughout all of the commotion yesterday, I hadn't even thought about the rings! Wasn't I supposed to get Chad a wedding ring? I mean, I know that this whole thing was made up of trail runs, but shouldn't we at least have had the rings to make it seem more authentic?

"Guys, I have to go and talk to Chad," I said, getting to my feet. "It's super important – about the weddings."

"Oh, well okay," Tawni said, uncapping a bottle of blue nail polish. "But remember Sonny, I want to be the maid of honour!"

I hurried down the hallway, running past the doorways to all of the familiar rooms over on the So Random! side of the building. I rushed all of the way to Mackenzie Falls, getting past Reggie with no trouble at all and banging into the set. I scanned all of the faces, but I couldn't find the familiar blonde hair and blue eyes anywhere.

"Chad?" I called out. Cast and crew members alike turned to me and waved in greeting, but none of them were my fiancé. I turned on my heel, waving back to them over my shoulder and decided to try his dressing room. Usually, whenever he wasn't filming or with me, Chad was running his lines or fixing his hair.

I threw open his door and barged into the room, completely disappointed to find the whole room empty. His favourite leather jacket was hanging on the back of his chair, and his cell phone was lying down on the couch, so I knew that he had come to work this morning; I just hadn't a clue where he was.

"Chad?" I crept up to his personal bathroom and knocked lightly on the door. There was no response, and I let out a deep sigh, blowing the bangs up from my forehead. "Where can he be?"

A light bulb went off and I ran out of his room, almost tripping over the rug that coated the floor. Maybe he was in the commissary, getting some frozen yogurt or a bottle of water! I was so sure that this was where he was that when I arrived at the commissary and couldn't find him, I was shocked stiff. If he wasn't filming, or in his dressing room, or even getting a quick snack, then where on God's green earth could he be?

"Hey, Portlyn?" I asked, approaching the actress, who was nibbling on a piece of steak and laughing with one of the Meal Or No Meal lunchbox girls. At the sound of her name, she looked up at me and smiled.

"Oh, hey Sonny."

"Do you know where Chad is?" I asked, trying not to sound too desperate. This whole chase had started off as me trying to get some last minute details about our bet from him, but ever since I had discovered he wasn't in his dressing room, I had started to get worried.

"Did you, like, check his dressing room?"

I nodded. "He wasn't there."

"Ooookayy. What about on set?"

"I checked there too, and it was Chad-free. I don't know where else to look, and I really need to talk to him."

"About the bet?" Portlyn asked knowingly, and my jaw dropped open.

"How does everyone know about that?"

The brunette shrugged her petite shoulders and flicked a stray tendril of hair away from her face. "News like, travels fast around here."

"I realize," I mumbled. "Anyways, thanks. I guess I'll look somewhere else."

"Don't worry Sonny. I'm sure he'll turn up!"

Wow. I loved Portlyn and all, but she was making Chad sound like my border collie and not my fiancé. I didn't want him to just turn up – I wanted him to be here now so that I could talk to him and get a hug. A nice, long, protective hug.

After what seemed like hours of searching all over the building, I decided to give up and take a small, well-deserved break. I had practically turned the whole studios upside down looking for Chad. Tawni had noted, with a bit of a lilt in her tone, that maybe he had gone out to the mall or something, and since he had left his phone on the couch in his dressing room I couldn't even call him to see if this was the case.

With a sigh (probably my fifth one for the day) I started to cross the parking lot, headed towards my secret thinking spot behind the tall oak tree. I was going to sit in my special groove at the base of the trunk, but I found a blonde head bent over a book, eyes trained intently on the page.

"Chad?"

His head snapped up, alarm crossing his features. When he saw that it was only me, a smile warmed his face and he gestured for me to sit next to me, patting the earth beside him. "Hey Sonny, what are you doing here?"

I stared at him incredulously. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here, this is my thinking spot!"

He patted the ground again, impatiently this time. "Sonny, this has been my quiet spot ever since my first year on Mackenzie Falls – before you even came to Condor Studios. So technically, this is my spot. But don't worry; I'm willing to share, especially if it's with you."

I rolled my eyes in response to his statement and plunked myself down on the ground, wriggling a bit to get comfortable before resting my head against Chad's strong chest. I looked down at the book in his lap and my heart sank.

1001 Wacky Ways to have a Wedding.

I was in trouble.

"So, uh, what are you reading?" I asked, trying with a great effort to keep my voice light.

He chuckled and closed the book on his finger, creating a makeshift bookmark. He slung his free hand around my shoulder and snuggled me closer to him. "Just 1001 ways for you to lose the bet, that's all," he said nonchalantly, stroking circles into my shoulder blade with his index finger. "I'd let you see, but I want you to be surprised."

"Listen, Chad, about the bet-" I began, tucking some hair behind my ear.

I didn't get to ask about the rings, because he rudely interrupted my question with a, "No way, Munroe. You can't back out now, we haven't even started yet!"

"Chad, that wasn't what I was going to say!" I said, raising my voice over his loud protests. He shut up and looked at me sheepishly, inviting me to continue. "Thank you. Now, what I was going to say was that we didn't really iron out all of the details. Like, the rings? Are we getting those for the trial runs, or do we wait until it's time for our actual wedding?"

He brought one hand up to his chest, obviously proud. "Don't you worry your stupid cute little head about that, Sonny. I have that all taken care of."

I raised my eyebrows and looked up at him. "Really?"

"Really. But I do have one question."

"Which is?"

"Yesterday, when you said 26 weddings in 26 weeks. Can I do it so that one day we have a wedding, and within the next three days we have another? Do I have to wait for a whole week?"

I thought about his question. I had only said 26 weeks because I wanted to give him sufficient time to plan and get everything perfect between the weddings, and not make him feel like he was rushed. But if he wanted to have the weddings closer together, then I really didn't have a problem with that, a fact that I didn't hesitate to tell him.

"You know something else, Chad?" I said thoughtfully, biting back a smile. "I just realized something."

"Which is?" he mimicked me, and I slapped one hand against his stomach.

"Shut up. What I'm trying to say is, don't you think that this whole thing is ironic?"

"Ironic how?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to put into words what was so clear in my head. "Well, you didn't want a big wedding because you said that it was too much work, and you didn't want to plan all of that. Yet, here you are, planning 26 different weddings all by yourself."

It was silent, and then a quiet, "Damn." This was followed by a smug, "But it'll all be worth it when you lose, Munroe."

"Sure, whatever. Anyways, I should go," I said, bending my knees and pushing off of the ground with my palms. I straightened my skirt, clapped the dirt from my hands and waved at Chad, who lifted his hand in acknowledgement.

I started to walk away, and then doubled back and stopped in front of where he was sitting, the book open on his lap. "Chad, one more thing."

He raised his eyebrows.

"This weekend, can you come apartment shopping with me? I'm moving out of my house, but I have nowhere to go. Can you come with me, help me decide which one is the nicest and cheapest and help me to get a good deal and all of that stuff? Please?"

"I can actually do you one better, Munroe," he said, closing the book for a second time. "Why don't you come and live with me? We're going to get married soon anyways, so what's the point of buying an apartment and moving in only to move out in a few months and live with me? Why don't you just come and live with me right now?"

"Really?" I squealed, my mouth falling into a perfect oh. When he nodded, his golden hair falling into his eyes, I threw myself onto him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you!" I pressed my mouth against his and pulled back, only to attack his whole face with kisses. "Thank you! When can I move in, do you think?"

"After the trip, I guess," he shrugged, running one hand through my hair. He stopped when he reached the ends and started to play with the tips of my hair, twirling them round and round his pointer finger.

"Trip? What trip?"

He let go of my hair, letting it fall back into place as if it had never even been disturbed. "Didn't your producer tell you? We're all – your cast and mine – going on a promotional trip to Australia. Mr. Condor is letting us use the studios' private jet, and we all have to leave tomorrow."

I jumped up from his lap and shrieked excitedly. One of my lifelong dreams was to visit Australia and see the whales. Ever since I was a little girl and had seen a tape of my cousin's trip to SeaWorld, I had vowed to myself that one day, I too would go and see a whale in real life. So far, it had been a pipe dream, since I had never been to anyplace other than Wisconsin and Hollywood, but thanks to Mr. Condor I'd be able to have my dream come true!

"Oh my God, I can't wait!" I cried, hopping up and down. I stopped abruptly and turned to face Chad, who had an amused look on his face. The monstrous book was forgotten, nestled among the grass at his side. "But this means that I have to go and pack! And tell everyone! Bye, Chad!" I gave him one more quick kiss and then danced away, pulling my cell phone out of my cardigan pocket.

I dialled my mother's cell number and waited impatiently for her to pick up. The ringing died down and was replaced by her automated voice mail message, so I cancelled the call and tried again. I got the same results the second time, so even though this wasn't news that was exactly suitable for a voice mail (it was much too big) I was forced to leave her a message.

"Hey Mom, it's me," I said, pulling open the huge metal door and being greeted with a blast of air condition. "Chad only just told me that both of our casts are going on a promotional trip to Australia, and we have to leave tomorrow. I have enough clothes at work and I have a suitcase in my dressing room, so I'm just going to pack here, okay? I'll see you when I get back...love you! Oh, and I found a place to live! Chad said that I could just live with him, which, I know, goes against me wanting to live alone, but since I'm going to be living in the same house as him once we're married, what's a few months earlier, right? Anyways, he said that I could move in when we come back home, so you'll have the house to yourself soon enough. Bye!"

I pushed the door to my dressing room open with a bump of my hip and was welcomed with the sight of all of Tawni's clothes scattered across the floor. Her bright pink suitcase lay open on the couch and she was bent over it, trying to push a makeup case flat against a pile of shirts. She glanced up for a fleeting moment and smiled at me, her hazel eyes dancing with excitement.

"Hey Sonny, did you hear about the trip?" she asked, putting all of her body weight on the purple case. She stepped back with a grunt and the little bag stayed put for a second before popping back up, earning a loud groan from Tawni.

I stepped past her and wedged the makeup case between her shirts and dresses, where it fit snugly, almost hidden by her huge amounts of clothes. "I just did. Chad told me. When did you guys find out?"

"About five minutes ago, when Marshall called a cast meeting. We didn't know where you were, so he waited for you for about...ten minutes, I think," Tawni decided, tapping one blue nail against her chin. "Anyways, he said that he couldn't wait any longer, we were going on a trip, blah blah blah, and one of us should tell you." She pushed the lid of her suitcase down and zipped it up, pausing only once to press down on one little bump that was preventing the zipper from closing all the way.

I dragged my own suitcase out of my changing area and hauled it up next to Tawni's. I didn't have as much clothes as she did, and since they were already neatly folded in my closet, I just transferred the stacks from my shelves to the luggage. I made sure to pack my laptop, my iPod, my diary and my jewellery/makeup case, and I was finished packing in about ten minutes.

I was just about to close up my suitcase and set it down next to the doorway when Tawni called out for me to stop. I looked up at her, a mixture of surprise and confusion on my face. "What's going on?"

Tawni held up the wedding planner that she had given me yesterday. "Sonny, you can't forget this! What if he has one of the weddings while we're away? You don't want to forget in the coming excitement! You should pack this and record what he does. That way, when the bet is over, you can look back at what happened and properly decide what type of wedding you guys are gonna have!"

For once, Tawni actually made sense. I took the book from her outstretched hand and folded it into one of my favourite shirts, keeping it hidden from the security guards at the airport. Satisfied, I zipped up and brought my suitcase down from the couch, the bright yellow dazzling next to Tawni's highlighter pink.

"You know," Tawni said thoughtfully, buffing her nails against her shirt. "I've never actually been to Australia."

I nodded. "Me either. But I'm so pumped! This is so exciting!"

Yeah, I know, kind of an iffy place to end.

But whatever. I just wanted to let you guys know that the alphabet weddings start in the next chapter. You guys should know what's coming up first, because not only is it kind of obvious, but's also not very creative. It's only the beginning, after all. But, if anyone of you guys have any ideas for upcoming chapters, please feel free to share! And if I use your idea, I will dedicate the whole chapter to you!

So, any ideas or requests? Send 'em in and I'll see what I can do, ok?

And pleasepleaseplease review!