Again, sorry it took so long to update. I am still a little stuck on how I want to continue, so any ideas and constructive criticism are welcomed. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot.

P.S. I am completely making up this entire chapter as I go along. Seriously! I know the steps for good writing are plan, write, rewrite, edit, but I am totally disregarding the first step! So if any of my lovely readers are either insane enough or like me enough to give me a good review on this chapter, I guarantee that I'll be suprised, hysterical, and eternally grateful! :)

-CC-


Chapter 6

The Next Day: Thursday

My alarm went off way too early for my liking. I hardly slept last night because I had to explain everything to my overly excited mother over the phone. She's in Wisconsin for like the third time this month and apparently still doesn't understand the time difference. (A/N: No, I did not do proper research on the time zones, but theoretically it should be later in Wisconsin; so just assume that Connie called at a reasonable hour for herself.) She woke me up at like 4:00 AM and wouldn't stop asking questions long enough for me to tell her to SHUT UP AND LET ME SLEEP! Sorry, I'm cranky when I'm tired.

Anyway, trying to sleep again was pretty much pointless since I had to leave for rehearsals an hour after I got off the phone. Getting ready for the day was a monotonous routine as I lazily walked around my apartment eating, showering, and dressing. I was basically dead to the world.

What finally brought me back to reality was the sound of my phone Mooing. (A/N: I love onomatopoeias!)

"Hello?"

"Hello, Miss Munroe, I'm just calling to let you know that you've been scheduled to have open studio time at 6:30 tonight to begin stage rehearsals for your performance this Saturday. Your backup band will meet you at the Studio 10 performance stage, and you can talk to them to arrage any further rehearsals."

"Really! Thank you; I'll be there! Bye."

"Goodbye, Miss Munroe."

Eeeeeeppppppp! My first rehearsals! I'm so excited! And nervous...I'm the nervous kind of excited!

Okay, what do I still have to do? I need to pick out my outfit, I need to finish the sheet music for the band, I need to be at rehearsals with the band, I need to rehearse alone, I need to rehearse this week's show, I need to finish helping Tawni with the new sketch, I need to make sure my friends don't find out, I need to...I need to slow down and take a breath is what I need to do! Jeez, I even ramble in my head.


I took the bus again today because I thought I was going to fall asleep. Yes, the adrenaline rush I got with the phone call wore off. So now I'm back to my dead to the world state.

When I got to the studio, I felt like I was being attacked. It's like they knew I was feeling crappy and took the initiative to give me a proper headache. Sorry, I'm still cranky.

Tawni was the first to pounce on me. "Sonny! I came up with a brilliant idea for that sketch we were working on! Mostly, I just made some changes that involved our characters." Que Tawni's excited grin.

"So in other words there's more of you and less of me?"

"Yup, pretty much!" And with that she skipped away leaving me in the prop house.

Then, Zora literally pounced on me!

"Aaaahhhhh! Zora! What the...!"

"Don't argue! Defend yourself! Marshal's letting me join in on the Granny Slam! sketch this week. Nico and Grady don't know yet so I want to suprise them when they come in."

I looked at her like she had lobsters coming out of her ears (A/N: I think that's from A Christmas Story. Not sure.) "...Then why are you attacking me! I'm not even in the sketch!"

"Because, Sonny, you should know by now that my main goals in life are to A) wreak havoc on Mackenzie Falls, B) squeeze into the smallest places I possibly can, and C) bother Nico and Grady." Like as if it were the most obvious and heartwarming thing in the world.

"...I still don't see what that has to do with you jumping on me?"

"Oh, well, you were just the first one to walk in here so I thought I'd practice."

Really. Does it get any weirder than that?

"Code pink! Code Pink! We repeat, CODE PINK!"

...Yeah, apparently it does. I know, you're probably wondering why Nico and Grady are running into the prop house yelling a random color. That's because we made up a color code system for emergencies. Code pink, well, let's just say that's the last thing I wanted to deal with today. It's the emergency code for when we find out that Dakota's spending the entire day at the studio. I know right, it's like everyone's holding a contest to see who can get me to explode first!

"Hello Randoms. Where's Blondie?"

Apparently, our color code works because Tawni entered the room out of breath clearly trying to make it here before Dakota got mad. "Hi...Dakota! So...nice...to see you...today..."

"SIT!"

She rushed over to the couch with the rest of us and we sat quietly awaiting our inevitable torture. Zora was the only one who didn't look like a little kid who just got caught stealing cookies. All she did was stand next to us glaring at Dakota with a look on her face like as if she was a vicious carnivor just waiting for the right moment to attack her prey. Oh how I wish she would.

"My daddy dropped me off here at the studio today. He had an important meeting to go to, and I was going to get to stay home with my nanny. Well, my nanny came down with a terrible cold an..."

"Gee, what a coincidence!"

"Silence, Shorty!"

"Look who's talking, three foot giant!"

With each insult, Dakota and Zora stepped closer to each other and were now head to head and both breathing heavily. This can't be good. Normally this would be the time I'd step in and stop them from killing each other, but right now I'm so sleep deprived, the idea of Zora finally killing Dakota is actually sounding pretty reasonable.

They wordlessly stared at each other for a few seconds like as if they were waiting for something. Then they simultaniously got confused faces and turned to look at me. Why?

"Uh, Sonny," Zora said confusing me even more. I gave them a really bored and confused look which made Dakota pipe in...

"Isn't this usually the part where you jump between us and offer a healthier way to solve our problems?"

With that, everyone stared at me and nodded in agreement. Wow, I guess this really is becoming a routine huh?

"Oh, yeah, right," I responded half-heartedly as I yawned. "Ya know...just do what you want; I'm too tired to care."

Now it was their turn to look at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. Dakota and Zora shared a glance and took a step apart before they turned back to me.

"Uh, are you okay, Sonny?" Zora sounded concerned.

"Yeah, what happened to sunshiny Sonny who wants to spread her rays of sunshine on everybody?"

Now I'm just annoyed. Dakota saying that would've gotten on my nerves anyway, but when you subtract the necessary eight hours of sleep, and the power to keep even a forced smile on my face, you get a ticked off Sonny who doesn't care how she talks to her boss's daughter. That's some dangerous stuff.

"That Sonny was left in my bed to sleep, which is something I didn't get any of last night between having a late night rehearsal, getting stuck in traffic til midnight, getting home to a project that I stayed up til 2:00 working on, and having a mother who calls at 4:00 in the morning and won't shut up long enough to tell her that there's a time difference between here and Wisconsin!

Weren't expecting that from sunshiny Sonny were ya Dakota? Apparently, neither were my castmates.

"Whoa," was all they had to say besides for trying to subtly back away from me.

"Yeah, even I actually feel some sympathy, which is why I'm going to be nice to you Munroe. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," she shot an evil glance and Zora, "my daddy dropped me off here, alone; and, for some strange reason, he doesn't trust me to be by myself all day. So, Daddy told me to get one of you chuckleheads to be my chaperone for the day, and, in return, you get the day off!"

At a time like this, the phrase "day off" would be music to my ears; but when the price of it is babysitting Dakota for the rest of the day, it turns into a punishment, not a reward. That's why my theory of the world ganging up on me today was confirmed when she said this...

"So that's why I'm picking you, Sonny!"


Ha! That was fun! Maybe I should improvise my chapters more often! I really am serious about that, I just kept writing to see where it took me. This even ended up being my longest chapter! Plus, I was able to set Dakota and Sonny up for some alone time, which is the one thing I had actually decided I wanted. Funny how things worked out without me even trying! :D

Now I more than anything want your reviews to tell me if this was good or not. Please don't be shy, I don't care if you write a paragraph or just put a smiley face, I'm thankful for anything. :) And don't forget about some ideas, please!

I don't know when I'll update again, but I promise I'll be more motivated with reviews! (In case you haven't gotten my drift, I really want you to review.) Thanx :)

-CC-