[ ps. i know people are confused but the point is to NOT know what's wrong with chad. at least not yet. ;) ]

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6.14 AM, TAWNI, SONNY & ZORA'S DRESSING ROOM.

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With an infectious laugh, Tawni threw her head of tousled golden curls back. Her mouth was slicked into a perma-grin as her shoulders wobbled upwards and downwards with each peal of apparent amusement.

Zora, however, still held a look of shock as though the information had created some sort of overload in that twisted little brain of hers. "Stuffed animals," she licked her bottom lip as she spoke with extreme sloth.

Sonny nodded. "Everywhere."

Apparently finding this the tipping point, Tawni suddenly fell from her perched position atop the couch, still clutching herself with rolls of laughter. Tears were falling from her eyes by this point, but she was too darn excited to even bother to wipe them away.

"What – was he like talking to them?" Zora tilted her head to the side, still seemingly confused as to whether she should stand put to relish the news or whether she should just dart around the lot with a megaphone in hand, telling all who would listen.

Sonny shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I guess?"

"Pictures or it didn't happen," Nico piped up, legs crossed as he sat upon the carpeted floor.

"Ooh, did he have one of a koala?" Grady inquired as his hand shot into the air, waving wildly about. Happily, he let out a wistful sigh. "I love koalas."

Sonny was starting to think she should've kept her big mouth shut. Fidgeting with the tassel on her vest, she stepped side to side. "I guess. I didn't really look."

"Pictures or it didn't happen," Nico repeated, adjusting the brim of his cap. "No offense Sonny, but you're the only one here who actually likes Chad."

Sonny's cheeks burned a florescent sort of red. "I do not like Chad," she interrupted hastily, wringing her fingertips against one another.

"Right," Nico drawled. "So then why would you go to dinner with him?"

"We didn't go anywhere," Sonny corrected, her lips tense. "It was at his place and," she held up a finger, continuing quickly before anyone made any other unwelcome comments on her romantic life, "I only went because I felt bad for the girl he lives with."

Tawni let out a shudder. "How awful."

Grateful that someone in the room shared her sentiments, Sonny let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you," she said.

"Oh no. Not you," Tawni dismissed, eyes staring down at her fingernails. "My polish just chipped," she warbled a bit miserably.

"I agree with Nico," Grady added. "There's something suspicious about your story."

Sonny swallowed tentatively. The truth was that there was something suspicious about her story – perhaps the fact that she had left most of it out. "I don't know what you're talking about," she lied. As much as she hated Chad she wasn't about to divulge all of what she had seen. That's why, when she had been pestered incessantly for information from her friends that morning she had let slip the bit about the stuffed animals. It was probably the least incriminating and most harmless – not to mention the easiest for Chad to forgive her for spilling. Plus it had seemed to satisfy their curiosity for the time being.

"Unfortunately I agree with the Brainless Twins," Tawni sighed.

"Hey," Grady shouted. "Don't call Zora and Nico brainless."

"I rest my case," Tawni gestured with a terse frown. "But Nico's right. Pictures or it didn't happen."

"Yes, because I had my camera on me," Sonny rolled her eyes.

"So next time take a camera," Zora interjected.

"No offense Zora but I don't think there's going to be a next time. In fact, if Chad didn't hate me before he probably hates me now," Sonny explained. "I may have called him a freak and then busted my butt out of the apartment," she admitted with a wince.

"Good job," Tawni supplied sarcastically.

"So?" Zora questioned.

"So," Sonny spat. "I don't think he's very happy with me right now. In fact I'm probably the last person on the planet he wants to have back over to dinner."

"Then convince him you're the last person on the planet he doesn't want to have back over to dinner." Sonny stared blankly as did the remainder of the cast. Zora groaned. "Trick him," she shouted as though the answer was obvious. "Suck up, apologize, whatever. Just lie your way back through that door and get us our pictures." Hands smacking across her forehead she shook her head dramatically. "Amateurs!"

"I don't know," Sonny wavered.

"Come on, Sonny. This is Chad Dylan Cooper we're talking about," Tawni said. "Do it for everyone he's made miserable over the years. Think of all the poor extras he's terrorized. Think of us!"

"That's true," Nico nodded. "He does love to terrorize us."

"We're your friends," Grady said plainly.

Sonny's eyes squeezed shut as she balled her fists with deliberation. "Fine," she said as the guilt got to her at last – though the image of the blog he had posted about her was not far from her mind. With a steady breath she nodded. "I'll do it. And," she added with a hint of a grin. "I'll do better than just pictures." Over and over the video of Selena Gomez leaping onto Chad, pressing her lips against his – all with Sonny's name plastered underneath. "I'll get you a video."

Zora's eyes lit up immediately. "What kind of video?"

Sonny smiled, that precious girl next door smile she knew could wrap an audience around her finger in a matter of seconds. "The most embarrassing, most humiliating, most unfair kind. The kind that will make him run here crying to apologize. In other words?" She grinned. "The best kind." Nodding to herself, she played with the rings on her finger. Finally, she thought. Now he'll know how it feels.