Ahh...and finally here is the much anticipated first encounter after Sonny has found that deep down hatred of Chad (coated in love).

Also, I know you're suppose to check in early, but trust me, there have been many times where I reached the airport with only minutes to spare.

Shout out to Josette Blanchard who was my Beta for this. You're amazing for making my words make sense.

Hope this pleases.

~*~

Chapter Three

What's on the Line

When she opened her eyes in the morning the first thing that came to mind was the fact that there was no light coming through her windows, and yet she had still woken up. She glanced over at her clock and found that it read six-thirty. Sonny was a morning person, but that didn't mean that she wanted to wake up before the sun did. Just because she lived in Wisconsin, did not mean that she woke up before the sun to feed the cows. Not that there was anything wrong with feeding cows. Cows were her favorite animal.

She rolled over onto her back again and let her hands fall to her side as she stared up at the darkened ceiling.

Last night, after Chad Dylan Cooper left in his limo and Marshall left in that shiny car, she had finally gotten her call from Lucy who had completely freaked out.

~*~

She waited for the reaction—any reaction at all, but after nearly a minute of silence on the other line, Sonny hesitantly spoke, "Um...Lucy?" She waited and bit her lip. "Lucy are you there?"

"Oh...my...gosh."

Sonny heard a sharp intake of breath.

"Y-You got...You actually...CHAD DYLAN COOPER!" There was a loud gasp and screams that echoed from the other end of the line.

Sonny jumped back from the phone when she heard a crash, like the phone itself had hit the wall, came through the ear piece. She hesitantly lifted it back to her own ear, only to regret it.

"I can't believe that you got a part in a movie! With Chad! I mean, if I knew that you were trying out for a movie, I'd still think you could do it…but still." She giggled. "And, it's all because I wrote the number wrong on my hand!"

Sonny knew that if she could see her friend right now she'd be jumping up and down on her bed with a smile on her face.

"You're going to have to tell me everything!" There was a thud, which had to mean that Lucy had finally jumped off her bed and onto the solid floor. "And you have to promise to text me about what's going on every day. And you have to get me an autograph picture from Chad!" There was a squeal. "Y-you're going to be working with Chad! What if something happens..."

Then there was nothing. In just a matter of moments, it sounded as if Lucy had come to a very serious conclusion—a conclusion she was now fully absorbing. The silence was deafening.

Lucy's voice came through the receiver with a hint of jealousy, excitement, and hesitation. "What if you and Chad...fall in love?"

Sonny's eyes widened, the thought of what Chad had said just before leaving last night surfacing in her mind again. It had been a mere three minutes since the last time those deafening, yet irritating words passed through her thoughts.

Sonny's smile faded. She was suddenly glad that Lucy had to work late so she couldn't come over. "Pfft. No. You're dreaming Lucy. The only one that'll do any falling is Chad, and it'll be down a long flight of stairs if I have anything to do with it..." Her voice had started to fade throughout her rebuttal, her dislike plainly evident.

Lucy hummed. "Hmm, so I'm guessing the first encounter didn't go so well?"

Sonny sighed and fell against her pillows. "Not as well as you would have thought."

~*~

Then there was also the conversation she had with Conner.

As soon as the words slipped from her mouth, she felt something… almost something like regret.

This was big. Possibly the biggest thing that a girl like her, living in a town like this, would ever come across. It would most likely be her only shot at anything more than her school plays.

Leaving behind the only guy that truly believed in her from start to finish was the hardest thing she had to do through all of it.

"You're…you got a part in a movie?"

Sonny nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Yeah. I'm leaving for California tomorrow afternoon."

"But…you just got the part. Why would they have you leave so early?"

"I don't know. I'm guessing they want to start shooting it as soon as possible." When he didn't respond, she continued. "Look, part of me isn't looking forward to this either. I'm not going to be able to see you or Lucy for three or four months, I'm not going to be able to finish school with you guys, and I'm not really looking forward to working with him..."

She trailed off, letting the words sink in.

There was a laugh on the other end. "Well, at least there's that. I'm not going to have to worry about you falling for that big Hollywood jerk."

She smiled and stopped the frantic pacing she had been doing. Sitting on the edge of her bed, she replied back with an assuring voice. "No. Trust me. The only guy that'll be on my mind for the next few months is you."

She didn't have to be there to see his smile.

"I'm glad. Oh, and by the way, I'm going to miss you. Just thought I should give you the heads up."

Sonny's eyes widened at the sudden parallel words that Chad had spoken only an hour before. Her brows came together and she tried to make her voice sound assuring, though both of their voices were in her thoughts. "Yeah…I will too."

~*~

After that conversation, it had taken her twice as long to pack as she thought about Conner.

Confusion was the only feeling she could identify.

When she was finally packed, nearly her whole dresser and closet packed into only two suitcases, she had slowly fallen asleep restlessly.

She suddenly twitched, her mom calling up to her.

"Sonny! You better hurry up! You have guests!"

She sat up as straight as a board, her head twisting around toward her door. They had guests? At six-thirty?

She spun around to look at her clock.

11:32

She shrieked. She must have fallen asleep! She couldn't even remember closing her eyes.

She jumped up and ran to her window, peeking out across the front yard and at the limo sitting in front of her garage. Thankfully, the trees that surrounded her house hid the vehicle from view of any of her neighbors. The last thing she needed right now was for a hundred people to bombard her house for a chance at getting a view of a celebrity.

Quickly, she threw on the clothes that she had set out last night and grabbed the first bag she had packed last night. She figured that if she was going to be on a plane for three and a half hours with Chad, she was going to need a few distractions, including her MP3 and newest sequel to Tridark. Personally, she was rooting for the underdog and was ready to see the nice guy get the girl.

She un-zoned herself and finally flew down the stairs, landing, distraught, in front of her new producer, director, and co-star.

She knew that someone was going to show to pick her up. She didn't anticipate all three of them…especially the third.

Marshal was the first to speak, standing with a wide smile on his face from his place at the kitchen table. "So, are you ready, kid?"

Even though, everyone heard the small snicker coming from the corner, they all ignored it.

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah…yeah I'm ready."

Then the first person stood, opening his arms and gesturing a hand to her. "I'm sorry we weren't able to speak yesterday, you have to understand that there was much to get done. My name's John Goodwin. I'm-"

"The producer. Yeah…Marshal told my mom and mom told me." She took his hand and shook it eagerly. "I'm-"

"Sonny Monroe. Yeah, I got that from the tryout."

She nodded and smiled back, letting a silence overwhelm them until Marshal spoke again.

"Well," he motioned toward her bags. "If these are all your bags, then we better get going. We've got a plane to catch."

Then, just like that, Marshal was out the door, followed closely by John. She couldn't understand why everything was happening so fast, without any pretenses.

She turned around. "Mom?"

Her mother was standing there with a hand over her mouth, tears nearly drowning her eyes.

That was a little more like it.

Her mother flung her arms around Sonny and her carry on bag fell to the floor with a muffled thud. "I'm going to miss you so much, sweetheart."

Sonny hugged her mom back, lifting a brow. "What? Aren't you coming to the airport with me?"

Connie pulled away, wiping away a tear that escaped. "No. I'm sorry. I just really need to go to work today. We're having a board meeting." She rubbed Sonny's arms. "I'll be with you in spirit though. And make sure that you call me as soon as you land." A smile reappeared on her face. "I want you to tell me everything about Hollywood."

There were a few more words exchanged when Chad, finally getting up from his corner, clapped his hands together.

"Okay! So, I'm sorry about breaking up this…touching moment, but we gotta go." He motioned over his shoulder at the limo waiting outside for them.

Sonny nodded and gave her mom one more hug, finally leaving through the door with Chad in tow. Just when she was about to step up to the door on the side closest to her, Chad stepped in front of her.

"Uh, uh. This is Chad Dylan Cooper's side." He waved his hand at her as he opened the door. "You can go around."

Sonny's mouth fell open until it turned into a scowl.

Figures.

Once she was finally in the limo, she had only ever been in one once before for last year's Junior Prom, she smiled at the leather seating and many other delights…that is until Marshal and John started to go through their to-do list and schedule for the day.

Which took the whole ride to the airport to explain…which was actually good, because she was able to ignore Chad the whole time. Halfway through the ignoring and speech, she noticed that Leo was also in the limo and waved eagerly, which was ignored due to the fact that he was anxiously talking into his Bluetooth.

Just as they were pulled up to the airport and the limo came to a stop, Marshal pulled out a hat and two pairs of sunglasses.

"These are for you."

Sonny took her set hesitantly. "What are these for?"

"They're for you guys to get through check-out without a crazy mob forming."

Because a limo is totally inconspicuous. She glanced over at Chad, who shrugged.

"Don't look at me. I don't have a problem letting all my fan girls getting a piece of Chad Dylan Cooper…but apparently it would be a bad thing for you to be seen yet."

She could tell that he was glaring at her behind his shades.

She placed them on and what little sunlight that had made it through the tinted windows disappeared. She squinted as though it would help and reached forward to open the door, only to miss the handle completely.

Marshal opened it for her and gave her an apologetic look. "You'll get use to it."

She nodded and stepped out of the door. She brought her bag over her shoulder and clutched at it desperately.

The whole time they made their way through the airport, both Chad and Sonny stuck behind John, keeping their heads low and their faces concealed.

Once Sonny could have sworn a little girl was going to yell out Chad's name as she pointed exciting at him, but John slipped her what looked to be a one-hundred dollar bill.

Overall, everything went well, until they made it to the terminal.

They both sat in the seats, one separating them and waited for Marshal and John to confirm their tickets. Leo had gone on some errand Chad had sent him on. They still had ten minutes for boarding to start, when someone called out her name.

"Sonny!"

Sonny's head instinctively whipped around to find the owner of the voice. She came face to face with her worst nightmare.

"Samantha?"

Samantha sauntered over to her, a fake smile covering her face. "Sonny! What are you doing here?"

Sonny's jaw went slack, her brain becoming slightly empty.

When she didn't answer, Samantha did. "I'm on my way to Hawaii, as you know, to spend the next two weeks in my families extra home." She looked over Sonny's shoulder. "What? Are you waiting for your grandparents? That's so sweet of you!"

Sonny cleared her throat a sudden hatred even greater than the one she had for the guy behind her overwhelming her. "A-Actually Samantha, I'm on my way to Hollywood."

Samantha scoffed, and hit her shoulder as though she thought Sonny was joking. Then she tried to get a look at who was sitting in the seat close to her. "Oh, yeah…and who's that? Your cousin?"

Chad's head turned up slightly to get a look at who was talking to Sonny, which was a bad mistake. For just a split second, his bright blue eyes could be seen from under his shades.

Samantha pointed a finger at him and suddenly she was slightly speechless. "Y-you're…No way!"

Chad stood, a smile forming on his face.

Then, something happened that Sonny didn't think he was capable of. His arm, which had been crossed over his chest since the moment they entered the limo, found its way around Sonny's shoulders while his other hand was held out in front of him.

"Yeah, I'm Chad Dylan Cooper."

Samantha's silence was broken with a scream. All of the sudden, everyone in the airport was looking at them.

~*~

I'm a horrible person, I know!

I'm sorry this didn't really move the plot forward, but look at it this way: Samantha has just yelled out a celebrity name in the middle of the airport, and Chad and Sonny have three full hours on an airplane.

Hopefully, hilarity will ensue.

REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Cuz that's what gets me to the next chapter…

Peace!