Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! :3 I hope you guys enjoy this one as much as I do. I had a lot of fun writing it. ^^

September 10th

My room, 10:00 A.M.

Diary (you don't deserve the word 'dear'),

I love my mom. I really do.

But she's really aggravating me right now! Argghhh!

I told her about the jerkthrob next door. I told her how I absolutely hate his guts, and what he did to Lucy. She nodded and said, "Oh, yeah, honey, that's terrible."

And then you know what she does to me an hour later? She tells me that we're going to help out the Coopers!

The COOPERS!

What does she not understand about the words 'I hate Chad Dylan Cooper'?

Stupid diary. This is all your fault.

So we're going to head off to their house now. Great way to spend my Saturday, huh? Not.

Back in my room, 8:30 P.M.

Well, that was... interesting.

Mom and I got back from the Coopers a couple of hours ago, and I'm still not sure what I'm feeling right now. I think it's a combination of annoyance, anger, interest, slightly but not really guilty-ish, and just blah from being so tired.

I guess I should tell you about what happened, huh? Ok, fine. It'll take a while, though, so quit it with your whole bad luck vibe for a minute (or 30) and just be a good, normal little diary.

So Mom and I walked over to the house next door, and she rang the doorbell. Meanwhile, I paced on the porch and said for about the 18973808424635245369th time, "Mom, can I please go home now?"

"No," was her answer.

"But, Mom - !" I started to whine.

"Sonny, whatever problems you have with that boy, you're going to have to put them aside for now," my mom said in a stern voice. "I promised Sheila that we'd come today. And you know I don't break my promises."

I sighed. "I don't either, Mom. But..." Here I put on my most winning smile and nudged her with my elbow. "...I'm pretty sure I'd just ruin your time with your new best friend. Don't you agree? You do agree, don't you?"

She stared at me. "Sonny."

My smile evaporated. "Ok, fine, I'll be quiet."

"Thank you," she told me. "And if it makes you feel any better, I'll give you anything you want for doing this for me. As long as it isn't expensive."

I brightened up. "How about an allowance?"

She frowned. "Well, um... we'll see, ok?"

Trust my mom to be clingy to her money. Psh. But I nodded anyway.

A short time later, the door opened. Claire Cooper looked up at us. "Hello. Please come in," she said oh-so sweetly, with that 'I'm such a little angel' smile on her face. My mom smiled at her and entered the house. I walked after her, and Claire stuck out her foot in front of me. Naturally, I fell on my face. And it hurt, too. I looked up from the wooden floor to see Claire giving me a wide eyed, apologetic look that was obviously fake. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize my foot was there." Then she smirked and skipped away.

She has the same exact smirk as her brother. Gah.

I lowered my head back down on the floor and mumbled, "God, if you're watching right now, I really hope you're enjoying my pain."

"Need a little help?" someone said from up above. At first I thought it was God replying to me. But then I realized that I'd heard that voice before. I looked up and there he was. Chad Dylan Cooper, in all his jerkly glory, smirking down at me.

Definitely not God.

"I'm fine, thanks," I responded with all the dignity I could muster, which was hard considering I was still splayed out across the floor.

"Sure you are," he scoffed. "Come on, let me help you up." He held out his hand, and I stared at it. I was going to say "No way in hell", but then I got an idea. "Fine," I said nonchalantly, then took his hand lightly in mine. He smirked at me again. "Now was that so hard?"

"Yes. But this won't be," I said with a smile on my face. Then I gripped his hand harder, pulled him down onto the floor, and hopped up. "Ha! Peace out, sucka!" I said triumphantly, imitating his signature line that I always hear him say on TV.

He stared up at me, looking shocked. He got to his feet and rubbed his shoulder. "Huh. Well played. I guess I have to give you props."

I smiled at him smugly. "Props accepted."

"I still don't like you, though," he added.

"The feeling's mutual, Chad," I said, rolling my eyes. I actually think that was the first time I simply called him 'Chad' instead of addressing him by his full name or his last name.

"You two seem to be getting along well," came Mom's voice from the left. She walked into the main hallway, accompanied by Mrs. Cooper. Chad chuckled at Mom's completely untrue observation, while I just folded my arms and glared resolutely at the wall. "Or not," I heard Mom mutter to Mrs. Cooper.

Mrs. Cooper smiled, then said kindly, "Hi, Sonny. Don't mind Chad here, he's really a big sweetheart." Yeah, right. She was so just saying that because she's his mom.

"When it comes to pretty girls, though, he hasn't got a clue how to behave," she went on, laughing. My jaw kind of dropped slightly. "Excuse me?" Beside me, Chad hissed, "Mother!" I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, and he actually looked embarassed. Wow.

Mrs. Cooper grinned. "Awh." She nudged my mom. "How cute are they? Why don't you two go upstairs and bond while we clean up down here?"

"Wha- huh?" was my smart answer.

"Mother!" Chad repeated, now looking annoyed.

My mom raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Of course, Connie," Mrs. Cooper said happily, waving a feather duster. "Teenagers like to talk, not work."

I stared hard at Mom, trying to tell her through mindspeak to fight for me, to get me out of this. She glanced at me, then shrugged at Mrs. Cooper. "If you say so. Have fun, kids." She looked back over at me, but I turned my head the other way so she couldn't see my expression. So much for helping me out, Mom.

"Well, go ahead, don't let us stop you," Mrs. Cooper said cheerfully.

"Follow me," Chad grumbled, not looking happy at all. He made his way up the stairs, and I reluctantly trailed after him.

We met Claire halfway down the upstairs hallway. Her face lit up when she saw Chad. "Hi, Chaddy! Guess what, I tripped that girl who dissed you just awhile ago. You should have seen her face plant on the floor, it was hilarious!" She giggled. She actually had a sweet little giggle that would've made me smile under normal circumstances. You know, if she hadn't been EVIL.

Chad grinned and ruffled Claire's hair (ooh, that rhymes!). "Nice going, Claire."

I folded my arms across my chest. "Can I go now?"

Claire peered around Chad and frowned. "Oh. You're here."

I ignored her. If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all.

Chad sighed and turned to me. "Look, I don't want to bond with you," he said, making quotation marks in the air at the word 'bond'. "And I doubt you want to bond with me, either. But we've got no choice, so let's just get this over with."

"No choice? What're you talking about?" I scoffed. "Why don't we just ignore each other completely? Your mom will never know the difference."

"Oh, she has ways," he said darkly. That probably should've weirded me out a bit, but after all I've been through in the last week, I didn't really care. "Now come on. The sooner we're done bonding, the better." He opened the door he was standing next to and gestured with his hand. "Go on in."

I glared at him before stepping into the room. Chad turned to face his little sister and said, "Claire, why don't you go watch some Mack Falls?"

The little kid raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure I shouldn't stay here? She might try something on you," she said dubiously, nodding her head at me.

"I can take care of myself," he said, smirking. She smirked right back at him, then gave him a quick hug and left, closing the door behind her.

Ok, so that was sweet.

But they're both still evil. EVIL I TELL YOU.

Chad turned around and raised his hands. "So. This is my room."

I glanced around, staring at all the posters plastered over the walls. Guess who was on every single poster? Yeah, Chad. "Wow. I never would've guessed," I said sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Haha." He sat down on his bed, which had a Mackenzie Falls blanket (figures) and patted the area beside him. "Have a seat, Sunshine."

"How many times do we have to go over this?" I said through gritted teeth. "My name is Sonny. Say it with me. Son. Ny."

"Don't tell me what to do," he said, frowning.

"Well, don't tell me what to do!"

"Fine, I won't!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Good!"

"Good!"

"Fine!"

"What the hell are we doing?" Chad asked.

I had to think about that for a second, but came up with nothing. So instead I shrugged. "I dunno."

He shook his head. "So you wanna sit down?"

About four days ago, the idea of sitting down next to CDC would've made me pass out. Now it just made me want to barf. "No, thanks, I'll stand."

He shrugged at me and sprawled out across his bed, propping up his head in his hands. "All right, then. Bonding time. Whoo," he said without any enthusiasm.

"Yay," I said in the same tone of voice.

There was awkward silence for about 5 seconds. Then I finally said in a fake bright voice, "Ok, how about I start. Let's see... oh, how about this?" I abruptly changed my tone. "Why the heck are you such a jerk!" I glared daggers at him.

Chad made a 'tsk' noise. "I choose to skip that question."

"I'm serious, Chad." I dropped the angry face and stared at him, trying not to sound depressed. Because even though I'm really ticked off with him, I'm still disappointed that he isn't the guy I thought he was. I mean, that really stinks. "Why did you tell off my best friend like that? You may be a celebrity, but you can't talk to people like that. So why?"

"Let's change the subject," Chad cut in.

"I'm not done, Cooper," I said sharply. "Really, I know you aren't that big of a jerk, from the way you act with your little sister. But you - "

"So I'm not a jerk? You're sending me mixed messages here, Sonny." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Oh, you're still a huge jerk. Not as huge as I thought you were, but still a jerk."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Oh, and you remembered my name!" I smiled sweetly at him. "Now was that so hard?"

He stared at me with a weird expression on his face, which got me feeling all awkward again. It was like he was... studying me or something. Like I was some kind of animal in a zoo. Or a science experiment.

I don't know.

Honestly, if I didn't know better, I'd say he'd been checking me out. But that would be insane.

"So are you going to tell me why you acted like such a snob?" I demanded.

"Hmm, let me think? Still no." I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up a hand. "Look, Sonny, could you just drop it? I really just don't want to talk about it."

Something about how he said that made me quit asking about it, even though I really just wanted to keep questioning him. Stupid celebrity star power that makes you do what you don't want to do.

"All right, my turn. I'll start with something simple," Chad said. "What's your favorite color?"

"Rainbow. My turn!"

"Rainbow isn't a color, it's, like, seven colors."

"That are combined to make one thing."

"But it's still seven colors."

"Yeah, but it's technically - "

"Seven colors."

"God, fine!" I said, annoyed. "I like yellow, ok? Sheesh."

"Hmph. Well, I like blue." Chad smirked. "It's the same color as my amazing eyes."

His eyes really are very nice, from a far away distance. But I wasn't going to tell him that. "Yeah, that's great. As much as I'd love to hear you talk about your amazing eyes, I think it's my turn again." He glared at me, which made me grin. Then I thought about my question. "So how'd you become a celebrity, Chad?"

"What, you don't know?" Chad looked over at me, obviously surprised, and I shrugged. "Uh... no? I hate you, so I never really bothered to find out."

"You didn't hate me when we met."

"Just answer the question."

"Ok." He sat up on the bed and closed his eyes solemnly. "The day Chad Dylan Cooper became a shining star in the world of Hollywood was the day that the lives of everyone on Earth changed forever," he said in a dramatic voice.

I facepalmed. "Chad. Like a normal person, please."

He childishly stuck his tongue out at me. Really? "Fine. I got my big break when I was seven, on the Goody Gang, the most popular kid's show of its day."

That was a name I actually recognized, and my eyes widened. "Hey, I think I used to watch that show! But you weren't on there."

"Actually, I was. My name was Chad Dylan Goldfarb, though."

I tried to puff up my cheeks to keep from laughing, but the laughter just sort of spilled out. "Goldfarb? Seriously?" I said while cracking up.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Trust someone like you to find that funny."

I wiped a tear away from my eye. "Wow. Ok. So if you were a Goldfarb, then how'd you become a Cooper? Did your mom get divorced?"

He shook his head. "Nope. I was born out of wedlock. My mom was a Goldfarb then, so I just kept her last name for a while. But then my dad got her pregnant again when I was starring on the Goody Gang, so they decided to just quit holding it off and just get married."

I blinked. "Um, well, why didn't they just get married before you were born?"

Chad shrugged. "I guess my dad liked being a single man. I don't blame him." He smirked again, and I rolled my eyes. Though, all the same, I couldn't help but giggle at how egotistical he was being. "Yeah, whatever, Chad."

"You sure you aren't getting tired standing?"

I sighed and plopped down on the bed beside him. "Are you happy now?"

"Yep." He grinned at me. I just tried to avoid eye contact. Because if I'd looked at his eyes, his celebrity power might've led me to do something crazy. You never know.

"So tell me about yourself, Sonny."

"Why?"

"We're supposed to be bonding."

"Right. What do you want to know?"

"I dunno."

"That's really specific. Well..." I thought for a second. "My real name's Allison Munroe, but no one ever calls me that except Tawni."

"The blond chick?" Chad smirked. "She's hot."

I shuddered. "Ew. Well, anyway, we're enemies. She moved here from California a few years ago and decided to terrorize me ever since." My bangs fell into my eyes as I talked, and I blew them away. "Anyway, I'm 16, I like animated Disney movies and comedy shows - "

Now it was Chad's turn to shudder. "Ugh, comedy."

I ignored him. "My favorite actress is Selena Gomez and my favorite actor is probably either Jackson Tyler or Zac Efron - " Chad gasped loudly. I nearly jumped off the freaking bed, then stared at him. "What?"

"How could you like that doofus?" he said, looking genuinely shocked. "I'm a much better actor than he is!"

"You keep telling yourself that. My best friend is Lucy, I hate people with the initials CDC - "

"I'm so touched."

"Please stop interrupting me."

"Diva," he mumbled.

"What did you just call me?" I asked in a steely voice, glaring at him. He blinked at me, then smirked for about the 5th time that day. "A diva. What'cha gonna do about it, Munroe?"

"How about I show you?" I grabbed his Mackenzie Falls pillow off of his bed and promptly began hitting him with it.

"Ow! Hey, what the - OW!" he yelled.

"That's-for-being-a-jerk!" I said between gritted teeth as I smacked him with that pillow. Man, I smacked him good. BOO YAH!

He grabbed the other pillow on the bed and began hitting me, too. "That's for liking Efron!"

Anyway, long story short, that's how our mothers found us ten minutes later, pounding away at each other with pillows.

Yay.

But it sure felt good to hit him. It was like... immediate stress relief. I'm going to have to do that again sometime soon.

After that, we left. You know, once our moms were done awwhhing over us. Claire looked like she wanted to use me as a punching bag when my mom and I walked out of the house.

Hah!

As for Chad, well... I'm not really sure. I know people really well, but his expression was hard to read when I coldly said goodbye to him.

It was probably dislike or something. Not really sure.

So I still really hate Chad Dylan Cooper. Not as much as I did yesterday, but... I still hate him. So there.

Has it really been about an hour since I started writing in you? Good grief.

Well, I guess my Saturday wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I'll deny that I enjoyed myself if anyone asks.

Oh, and Tawni's coming over tomorrow. Joy...

Great, you're sending out those bad luck vibes again. Which is my signal that this little chat is over.

Peace out, sucka!

That's actually really amusing to say.

Seriously, though. Bye.

Ooh, a hint of Channy in this one. :3

Review, please! Virtual cookies to anyone who reviews. Also, I'm trying to see if I can get this story to reach 100 reviews by the 17th chapter. Probably not gonna happen, but I'm gonna try anyway.

Also, can anyone guess what events happened that made So Random never exist? I already have it all planned out as to what happened, but I'd like to hear your opinions. :)

Thanks for reading, guys! Ginger out. ;D