Disclaimer: I do not own SWAC, Disney, or anything else copyrighted.
Nothing was ever too awkward at Condor Studios, especially between Studios 2 and 3. With the exception of Sonny and Chad, each cast normally just ignored each other. But, now that Sonny and Chad weren't speaking to each other, everyone could feel the incredious tension that they had built up.
Sonny was in a bit down after her "conversation" with Chad. She kept a smile on her face and participated in working on the script and such, but when she was in in her dressing room by herself or at her apartment, she just would sit or lay down. Thankfully, she didn't see much of Chad since then... in fact, she rarely saw him at all. Maybe in the hallways or a few times at lunch, but not that much since their argument two weeks ago.
Chad was almost in a state of depression. He was in complete hate for himself after the argument. He made a promise (to himself, mostly) to show up at work and to look okay. When he got there, he worked... and worked... and when he wasn't working, he shut himself in his dressing room. For a couple of days after their argument, he would try walking around, but somehow, he either saw Sonny or his thoughts went to her, and he would shut himself in his dressing room. He finally met up with the guys, and he ended up bringing his drugs to work. He knew nobody went into his dressing room, and he made sure of it. He mostly brought his Mary Jane, but he was slowly starting to like cocaine more and more and would sometimes bring a little bit of that to work, too.
After not talking to his parents for a couple of weeks, they started to grow really worried. They would try to call him, and he would never pick up. They knew he wasn't dead, but they were wondering what he was up to. They figured, since neither of them were busy, they would pay him a visit to his apartment. Hopefully he would be there.
Chad invited his friends over one afternoon. Max, Trey, and Jason each brought a few things and they just sat around. They were mostly smoking, but their new found love for cocaine made them start sniffing that even more.
Chad still didn't believe he was an addict. He blamed the incident at the party on how it was his first time using cocaine, and even after that, he just said it was a great way to calm him down.
Suddenly, their was a knock on his door. Chad's smile dropped. Who was at his door? He wasn't expecting any guests... He got up and walked over to it. He looked through the door hole and his eyes widened. His parents were here! He ran over to his friends, who were in his living room, and said, "Quick! Get this stuff and hide in my room. My parents are here."
His friends nodded, smirking, and started grabbing all their stuff.
He ran back over to the door, took a deep breath, hoping he didn't smell or look bad, and opened the door. "Hey!"
His Mom ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. He stood there for a moment, shocked, before wrapping his arms around her. "Oh, sweetie," she murmured, rubbing his back with one hand and his head with the other.
"Are you okay?" Chad asked, smiling at his Dad, who was standing behind his Mother.
"Well, when a son hasn't talked to their parents for a couple of weeks, their parents tend to get a little worried..." his Dad explained, returning the smile to his son.
Chad's smile faltered. "I'm sorry," he quietly said.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" his Mom asked, standing back slightly, placing a hand on his cheek.
Chad shrugged. "Been working a lot..."
"My poor baby," his Mom said, giving him another hug. "You're always working so hard..."
Chad didn't say anything. True, he was working a lot, and he was thankful for the distractions that that brought to him, but there were so many other things going on in his life. He didn't need his parents knowing about his "side duties"; they already looked so worried, and he didn't want to worry them any further.
"C'mon," his Dad said. "Let's get something to eat."
Chad nodded. "Okay. Let me get my stuff."
His parents nodded as he stepped inside. He opened the door to his room and quietly said, "I'm going out... my parents are here. I'll see you all later." His friends nodded. He shut the door before grabbing his keys, wallet, and phone. He stepped out of his apartment and smiled at his parents.
---
Sonny wasn't someone who snooped into people's personal lives. She couldn't help but wonder about Chad's life, though. He never really talked about his family; she knows that he's an only child and that his parents live outside of LA. She figured he was from LA, or at least California. But, other than those facts, she knew almost nothing about his family or personal life.
She used to wonder, but never extremely care. After these events these past six or so months, she can't help but wonder what his life is like. After their argument about his life not being so "perfect", she figured he thought his life was far from perfect. He was a teen heartthrob, he was a good actor, he won a lot of awards, he was rich... She guessed being popular and rich wasn't his idea of a perfect life.
She started heading over to his dressing room. She thought maybe they could sit down for a few minutes and talk... she wasn't too sure what to say to him, but maybe he knew of something to say to her. She knocked on his door, but surprisingly, it slowly started to open. She quietly peered into his room... nobody was there.
I guess he left his door open, she thought to herself as she stepped into his room. She looked around and frowned slightly. What was once an almost perfectly clean room was now almost a mess. Things were thrown around and there were clutters of random things on the floor. She stepped around the things and just stood there in his room, trying to clear her thoughts. She would leave a note for him, but she figured he probably didn't like people in his dressing room without his permission.
She turned around to leave when something on his desk caught her attention. She squinted, stepping closer to his desk. There was this white, powder-y stuff on there... She suddenly gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.
No. Chad... he couldn't be a drug user...
"Whatever, Sonny. Chad Dylan Cooper is too good for drugs."
She suddenly ran out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her. She ran all the way to her dressing room, where she slammed the door shut behind her and ran over to her laptop. Thankfully, Tawni left the set early, so she wouldn't have any interruptions. She went to Google and typed in: "Effects of cocaine use"
The results shocked her, and made her look into the effects of other drugs. She was in a state of total disbelief after doing what seemed like hours of research. It all made more sense now:
Chad was a drug addict.
A/N: Aah, so the story's coming together a bit more... expect quite a bit more drama in the next chapters ;) And thank you all SO MUCH for the reviews!!! Like I always say, they mean so much to me. Let's reach for 30 reviews this time, okay? :)
