Disclaimer: I do not own "Sonny With A Chance" nor any characters associated with this show, nor do I own the movie "You've Got Mail" or anything from it.
AN: I know how you guys are all anxious to know when Sonny and Chad meet right? So without further ado, here is the chapter where they meet. I guarantee you guys that their meet might be pleasant, or might not be. Read and find out. :]
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Chapter 4: Encounter with the enemy
Chad was on the dock in the morning fixing up his boat as he waited for Julien and Penelope to show up. Suddenly, as if on cue, there were two voices calling out his name as they made a run towards him. Chad stepped out of the boat and onto the dock to greet them.
"Hey, I remember you! You're Penelope! How are you?" Chad said leaning down and giving Penelope a hug.
"Good." Penelope responded.
"And you! Julien!" Chad raised his voice while pulling Julien up by his jacket collar. "How are you?" Chad asked softening his voice.
"Good." Julien replied before Chad set him down again on the ground.
"Ready to say hello to New York?" Chad asked the two children. On the count of three, the three of them shouted on the top of their lungs to greet New York, good morning.
Just then, Chad's father's wife and another woman showed up at the dock.
"Don't I get a hello?" A female British voice asked. Chad looked up from the kids and noticed his stepmother who appeared to be wearing a designer coat, boots and carrying a designer purse, topped off with gold hooped earings. She looked young and not a day old.
"Hello Maria." Chad greeted.
"Kiss me, I'm going to be your wicked stepmother." Maria said.
Chad walked over to Maria and placed a kiss on her cheek before pulling away. He noticed another woman who was standing beside Maria and didn't want to leave her out of the conversation.
"Who's this?" Chad asked, motioning towards the woman beside Maria.
"Gillian." Maria replied. "I bought her just in case you couldn't handle the kids."
"Gillian is getting a divorce." Penelope said.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Chad said.
"It's my own fault. Never marry a man who lies." Gillian said also with a British accent.
"That would be wise." Chad agreed before turning to Penelope. "Penelope, remember that."
"She taught Julien how to spell his name." Penelope said, turning to face Julien.
"Oh really?" Chad asked, lifting Julien up again. "And how do you spell it?"
"C-o-o-p-e-r" Julien responded as if he was reciting the alphebet.
"Excellent." Chad said and set Julien down and turned to face the two women.
"You know, don't worry about it. I got this covered and I'm sure you must be late for something. Rolling bandages for Bosnian refugees or something?" Chad asked.
"I am. I have to get my eggs harvested." Maria replied with a bit of venom in her voice and she flipped her hair, turned around and left with Gillian.
"And getting those eggs harvested." Chad repeated. "Don't worry about a thing, see you later!" He said before the three of them waved to Maria and Gillian, bidding them goodbye. The two ladies looked back and waved to their children before disappearing from the dock.
Once they left, Chad optimistically asked if they wanted to go on the boat, and he expected them to say yes, but they didn't.
"No?" Chad asked. "What happened to you? What happened?" He looked at Julien and Penelope and pinched their cheeks.
Instead of going out on the boat, Chad decided to take them to the Autumn Festival. There were games, face painting and other games that children found amusing and a great way to have fun. Chad played games with the kids from throwing rings onto bottles to picking apples with teeth and even face painting. The two kids managed to win a goldfish and they seemed to be quite happy about it. Chad couldn't help but smile too as he held the plastic bag where the goldfish was in as the kids got their face painted. Penelope, with cat whiskers drawn on her face and Julien with a moustache. After that, they went on to "Test your strength" game where the two children managed to hit the top, the height of the game wasn't even that high as opposed to ones that people would normally see in carnivals. Chad pretended to lose every chance that he got when he had to hit the top. He would use very little strength to hit or pretend that he couldn't even lift the hammer. Then they went on rides which Chad felt very uncomfortable sitting inside the tiny car of the ride. Next, they bought some cotton candy, and some novelty items which included shades, balloons and fake bouquet of flowers. The two kids began to tire out and Chad took the kids and left the Autumn Festival. Now they were walking down the street of New York trying to find other things to do to spend the rest of their afternoon on.
"How about a movie?" Chad suggested.
"No, there's something this way." Penelope said as they rounded a corner.
"It's the storybook lady." Penelope said stopping in front of "The Little Shop."
"Are we at the right time?" Chad asked checking his watch and found out that they were, they all entered the shop.
Chad, Penelope and Julien all crammed together as they sat down and watched the woman in the very front with a princess hat and a story book in her hands as she read. Chad noticed that all the kids seem very focused on the story being told. After the book was done, all the children scattered around the store to look at all the books the store had and hoped that their parents would purchase it for them. Penelope and Julien were no different and Chad let them wander while he examined the interior decorating of the tiny shop.
"Does this goldfish belong to anyone?" He heard a young male voice call.
"Oh, that's uh, mine." Chad said walking over to him to retrieve it. "Also, could I get a price check on this book?" He handed the book to the young boy and he began discussing the features of the book, such as illustration, and whatnot. Chad analyzed the book, turning some pages and nodded.
"And that's why it costs so much?" Chad asked.
"No, that's why its worth so much." Grady replied as Chad closed the book and handed it back to him. "I'll think about it." Chad said then walked over to Penelope to see what she was up to. She was currently talking to someone who seemed like she owned the store. There was something that seemed very familiar about her. Chad couldn't help but wonder. He knew her from somewhere, but he couldn't wrap his head around it.
"And my dad buys all the books I want." Penelope bragged to the woman that she was talking to.
The woman glanced up.
"And this is your father?" She asked Penelope.
"No, he's my nephew." Penelope replied, handing the pile of books to him.
"You know, I don't really think that he could really be your nephew." Sonny said, looking strangely between Penelope and Chad.
"No, no it's true." Chad replied. "Penelope is my aunt, isn't that right Penelope?" He asked looking at her.
"Uh-huh." Penelope replied happily. "And Julien is-"
"Oh wait wait wait, let me guess, he's your uncle." Sonny pointed to the Julien who was sitting down at a table reading a book.
"Are you his uncle?" Sonny asked Julien.
"Nooo." Julien replied with a shake of his head.
"His grandfather?" Sonny continued, making Julien giggle.
"His great grandfather?"
"I'm his brother!" Julien exclaimed with a smile causing Sonny to become confused.
Chad blinked and then started explaining.
"Julien is my father's son, Penelope is my grandfather's daughter." He said. "We are an American family." He finished with a smile.
Sonny's lips turned to a smile and it seemed like she knew him from somewhere too because she stared at him longer than usual. It was as if she was trying to put her hand on who she was talking to, just as Chad was doing the same. Just then, Sonny came back to reality when she heard a sneeze. She looked over at Penelope and she handed her a handkerchief.
"What's that?" Penelope asked.
"It's a handkerchief," Sonny replied walking behind the front desk. "It's a Kleenex that you don't throw away." She said with a smile.
"See? My mother embroidered this for me. It has my initials and a daisy. Becuase Daisies are my favourite flowers." Sonny said handing it to Penelope.
Chad continued to stare at Sonny, still trying to figure her out. He swore that he have met this woman in front of him before. Everything about her reminded him of someone. So he decided to ask her.
"May I ask who you are?" Chad asked.
"Allison Monroe, and I own this store." She replied with a smile.
Chad's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. The same woman he was in love with many years ago was standing right in front of him. As much as he wanted to tell her how much he missed her and how much he still loved her, he realized that C&N Books was going to take down Sonny's shop. He most certainly didn't want her to hate him after all that they've been through and because his name is part of C&N Books, he decided that he would just simply give her his name. Anyone could be named Chad right? It's a common name. But no one else would have the name Chad Dylan Cooper. C&N Books standing for Cooper & Nico Books. So he acted calm and simply stated:
"Chad, just call me Chad." He answered. Despite many years ago, when Sonny and Chad used to address one another by their last names, he thought he would play on the safe side of things. Plus he had a wonderful girlfriend. Chad thought to himself, exaggerating the "wonderful".
"We'll take these books." Chad said to Grady as he turned his attention away from Sonny, handing the books to him.
"You're going to come back aren't you?" Grady asked as he took the books from him.
"Y-yeah, o-of course." Chad stuttered, shifting his eyes.
"See? That is why we're not going to go out of business." Grady said to Allison, gesturing to Chad as an example. "Because our customers are loyal."
"They're opening a C&N Book store across the street." Allison said narrowing her eyes at "C&N Book store".
"C&N Books! My daddy---" Penelope exclaimed before Chad covered her mouth with his hand.
"Likes to buy discount, but don't tell anybody that honey, there's nothing to be proud of." Chad finished sheepishly then took his hand away.
"C-o-o-p" Julien recited.
Sonny gasped. "That's amazing! You can spell coop? Can you spell bird?"
"C-o-o-p" Julien recited again.
Chad frantically looked around him to find some sort of distraction to stop the kids from telling Sonny their last name and what their business really is. He found a book and handed it to Julien.
"Julien, look at this book, its a pop up dinosaur book. Wouldn't you like to have a dinosaur book like that?" Chad asked leading Julien and Penelope to a table and sat them down to read the book.
"Stay here till I take care of things. Whatever you do, come to me until I'm done okay?" He told Penelope and she nodded. Chad walked back to the counter and told Grady that he would get the dinosaur book as well.
"You know, the world is not driven by discounts." Allison said with a shake of her head. "Believe me, I have been in business since forever. I started helping my mom after my university classes were done for the day. It wasn't just her selling books. It was she was helping people become whoever they were going to turn out to be. When you read a book as a child it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your life does." Sonny continued before realizing she was rambling. "And I've gotten carried away." She nodded at her own mistake.
Chad nodded. "Yeah..." He nodded making her smile. "You made me feel.... enchanting. Your mother was enchanting."
"Yes she was." Allison agreed.
"Uh, how will you be paying for this?" Grady interrupted.
"Cash." Chad replied giving a quick glance.
"How did you know that?" Sonny asked.
"Well, isn't that your mother in that photograph there?" He asked pointing to a photo behind Sonny that was sticking on the edge of the bookshelf. Sonny turned around then faced him again.
"Oh!" She replied and smiled back at him sheepishly.
"Is that you in the photograph? What are you doing there?" Chad asked.
"Twirling." She laughed a little. "My mother and I used to twirl. Anyway, she left the store to me, and I'm going to leave it to my daughter."
Before Chad could continue, Grady interrupted him by telling him the total price of the books he purchased.
"$73 please." Grady said.
"How much?" Chad asked again, he thought he heard wrong, but he didn't. The price of the children's books were quite expensive. His eyes widened, but took out his wallet and handing him the cash to purchase the books. As Chad took out the cash, he cleared his throat and continued talking to Allison.
"How old is your daughter now?" Chad asked, feeling disappointed that she was already married and that he had no chance with her. But the next words made Chad happy as he thought wrong. As selfish as he was, he hoped that she would stay that way for a while. An unmarried woman, waiting for Chad Dylan Cooper to swoop her into his arms and claim her as his wife.
"I don't have a daughter." Sonny said waving a hand in front of her. "Oh! I'm not married," She added. "But eventually. So, the big bad C&N Bookstore could just go to hell."
Chad looked surprised but he didn't say anymore. He handed the cash to Grady and Sonny handed him a bag with his books.
"Thank you." He said taking the book bag. Before calling to Penelope and Julien that it was time to leave.
"Hm, nice." Chad said looking at the logo of the book bag. Before heading to the door with Julien and Penelope.
"Goodbye Allison." Penelope and Julien both said to her as Chad took the goldfish that was sitting on the counter, the balloons and their novelty items. She said her goodbye to them before they left the store.
"Oh! Julien, I forgot to ask you another thing. Do you know how to spell duck?" Allison asked.
"C-o-o-p." He recited which caused Chad to laugh sheepishly and then used his knee to make Julien go out the door.
"C-o-o-p" Chad repeated sheepishly and then closed the door. But one of the balloons got stuck inside the store, so he had to open the door again to retrieve it.
"Good thing it wasn't the gold fish." Chad said. "Take care!" Then he left.
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Please review!
AN: Oooh! Seems like Chad still loves Sonny. Although Sonny doesn't realize that it is Chad Dylan Cooper. What would Chad do to make Sonny realize that he's still in love with her? What if Sonny found out that Chad's family company is planning to take down Sonny's business?
