Author's Note: I know, I know. It has, one again, been a super long time since I've updated. I was making a list of every story I've ever written and when I came across this one and realized it was STILL incomplete, I felt horrible. I have a very, very, VERY strong desire to finish it - and this time, I do mean FINISH.

Anyway...Who remembers the SWAC episode called That's So Sonny? If you don't, you may watch it on youtube since Disney doesn't show SWAC anymore. At least, I don't think they do. At midnight they show Wizards of Waverly Place and Suite Life On Deck, but I don't think I've ever seen SWAC. Oh well. I guess that's what youtube is for.

Um...Longer note at the end. Yeah.

Please enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Episode 35:

That's So Sonny

Nobody – Nobody! – Tells Chad Dylan Cooper Who to Date

Chad Dylan Cooper couldn't stop staring at his Chad-o-meter. After everything he'd done – asking Amber for help, allowing Sonny to manage his fan-club, witnessing a vacuum war between his number one fan and his girlfriend…There was no reason his number of fans shouldn't have reached a million. And yet, the number flashing before his eyes did not read one million. Instead, the number was barely above the one he'd started at: 800,050.

Fifty. He'd only gained fifty new fans in the past week. Not fifty thousand. Not even fifty hundred. Just plain old fifty.

The worst thing about his dwindling fan base was that Chad had no idea what he was doing wrong. He was still the same guy he had always been, the greatest actor of his generation, wasn't he? He still had the same good-looks, the same blonde hair, the same-

Wait…What if he didn't have blonde hair? What if that old guy who visited the studio a few months ago was right and he was already starting to go bald?

Chad left his meter behind as he ran to the nearest mirror. He breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing his reflection. His hair was perfect: still just as golden and suave as ever before. Whatever was making his fans forget about him had nothing to do with his hair.

Then what was making them forget?

He thought back to what Amber had told him. She hadn't blamed the fan loss on anything Chad had done. She hadn't even blamed all the time he spent with the Randoms now that he was dating Sonny. No, Amber's reason was…was…

"The fans do not like 'happy Chad,'; They like 'edgy Chad,'!"

Well, Amber had been right about one thing: Chad was happy. Actually, since the day he and Sonny started dating, he'd never felt happier! She was his girl, his little ball of sunshine, the only person who could make him smile no matter what was going on in his life. Sonny was just so…happy. How could Chad stop from smiling when she smirked at him, batting those beautiful brown eyes as her cheeks blushed furiously…

"Of course Sonny makes me happy," Chad said out loud. "What's so bad about being happy?"

Chad was a good – nay, a great – actor. Why couldn't he be 'happy Chad' and 'edgy Chad' at the same time? Why couldn't his fans see that just because he was in a long-term relationship for the first time in his life, he was still the same person?

A knock on the door brought Chad away from his thoughts. He needed to stop thinking about how many fans he did – or in this case, did not – have. He needed to stop thinking about his fans. He needed to stop thinking about-

"Chad? Can I come in?"

Without waiting for an answer, the door creaked open. Sonny Munroe stuck her head into the room.

Just like that, all of Chad's worries disappeared. Who cared about his Chad-o-meter? He didn't need to have a million fans to make his life complete. That was what he had Sonny for.

Yep. Sonny Munroe was the only fan Chad cared about.

…If that was true, how come he couldn't stop thinking about his meter?

Tawni Hart was sitting at her vanity, smiling into her mirror, when something huge, black, and bulky was thrust into her hands.

"Um, Sonny?" the tween queen said sweetly. "I think you accidentally put this…thing…in my lap."

"It wasn't an accident and that isn't a 'thing'," Sonny responded. "It's a video camera. We're going to use it to make a movie."

"A movie?" Tawni felt her lips curving into a smile. "Ohh, do I get to star in it?"

"Neither of us are starring in it," Sonny explained. "See, Chad still feels really bad about never reaching his million fans – I know he says he doesn't care, but I know how to read people and let me tell you: he DOES care! Anyway, I thought it would be really cool to interview random people and ask them what they do or don't like about Chad and – Tawn, are you even listening to me?"

After setting the camera down, Tawni turned her attention back to her reflection. She was more interested in brushing her hair than listening to her cast mate.

"You lost me when you said I wasn't starring in the movie." She shrugged innocently. "I could really care less if your boyfriend gets a million fans. I'm the pretty one; I should be the one trying to get more fans!"

"But I really need your help! I can't interview people and hold the camera at the same time. Please help me out, Tawni! I'll never ask you for anything again!"

"Not interested."

Pouting, Sonny danced in place, trying to think of anything she could offer that would make Tawni change her mind. There had to be something she could say, something she could do, that would force her friend into compliance.

"I have an idea!" Tawni cried, jumping to her feet. She grabbed the camera and tossed it to Sonny. "How about we make a movie about me?"

"How about," Sonny countered, "I let you make a guest-appearance in Chad's movie?"

When Tawni started shaking her head, Sonny realized she was going to have to make a bigger offer.

"You can co-star in Chad's movie…And I'll help you make one all about you as soon as we're finished!"

This time, although still looking rather reluctant, Tawni agreed.

"Fine," she gave in. "But my movie has to be better than Chad's!"

Sonny slipped an arm around her cast mate's shoulders and together, one actress smiling brightly while the other muttered under her breath, the girls left their shared dressing room behind. It was time to put Sonny's plan into action!

(Quick Author's Note: Anything written like this is in real time. Anything like this is part of the movie.)

Chad was just settling down to eat when he felt someone tugging on his arm. Before he'd even managed to sit, he was on his feet again, walking out of the commissary.

"Hey, sonshine," he greeted, easily recognizing the girl leading him down the hall. "Um, you do know that most people spend their lunch hour eating lunch, right?"

"You can eat later," Sonny called over her shoulder, refusing to change her pace. "Right now, I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?"

Chad had known Sonny long enough to know that her surprises were one of two things: either they were extremely good or they were horrendously bad. As nice as she tried to be, sometimes – a lot of the time, actually – her 'surprises' ended up turning out quite differently after they left her mind and entered the real world.

Nico, Grady, Zora, and Tawni were already there when Sonny dragged Chad into the Prop House. The four comedians looked bored out of their minds. Chad had no idea if that was a good or bad sign.

"Sit," Sonny ordered, finally dropping her boyfriend's arm once they reached the couch.

Chad would've sat – except Tawni and her male co-stars were already seated on the piece of furniture. There was barely enough room for another body.

"I think I'll stand-,"

His rebuttal was lost when Sonny, grabbing both his shoulders, easily pushed him backwards. He landed on the couch with a soft thud.

"Gather 'round, Zora!" Sonny cried gleefully, waving the younger girl forward. "I want you to see this, too!"

"What, exactly, are we supposed to be seeing?" Chad asked, leaning as far away from Grady as the couch's arm allowed. He sat up straight when Zora came to stand behind her cast mates. He didn't trust her when he could watch her with both his eyes. Having her behind him…that just sounded like an accident waiting to happen.

"Sonny didn't tell you?" Nico asked, giving his rival a blank stare. "She made some kind of stupid video for you, man."

"It is not," Tawni protested from her spot beside Nico, "A stupid video."

"I'll be the judge of that!" Grady declared. He smiled at Chad childishly. "I'm good at judging whether or not a movie is stupid. Usually as long as there's some kind of super-hero, I give it two thumbs up!"

"A movie doesn't need a super-hero to be considered good," Tawni explained, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "All it needs is a beautiful actress."

Chad stopped listening to the Randoms as soon as Nico told him what was going on. Since then, he hadn't taken his gaze off of Sonny, who was getting the television on the correct setting. Once she finished, she headed to the back of the room, where she turned off the lights. Then, smiling like the crazy comedian she was, she plopped down on Chad's armrest.

"You made a video…for me?" The dramatic actor blinked. "Why?"

"Well, I know you're disappointed about never reaching one million fans – and don't even try telling me I'm the only fan you care about because we both know that isn't true," Sonny replied, stopping Chad before he could do more than open his mouth. "I wanted to show you that it doesn't matter how many fans you have. What matters is how much the fans you do have care about you."

Now Chad was more confused than ever. How did Sonny know he was still upset every time he glanced at his Chad-o-meter? Why did she feel she needed to make him feel better? He was Chad Dylan Cooper. He didn't need anyone looking out for him or trying to raise his spirits when he was feeling down. He could take care of himself!

Besides…How was Sonny going to prove her point just by showing him a video?

Giving Chad's shoulder a reassuring pat, Sonny held up the remote her boyfriend hadn't even noticed she was carrying. After pressing a button, the movie started playing.

The first thing anyone could see was a face – actually, not even an entire face. Namely, just two bright brown eyes.

"Tawni," the owner of the eyes spoke up. "You're standing too close."

"That's because when I back up, you look like a midget! See, I can stand all the way back here-,"

The shot started shaking as whoever was holding the camera – Tawni, from the sounds of it – moved away from Sonny. Now the viewer could see her whole body, although, just as Tawni warned, she looked tiny.

"You need to be closer than that!" Sonny ordered, "But not so close that people can see up my nose. Just…try to get my entire head, okay?"

The shaking started again as the camerawoman came closer. This time, Sonny held up her hands, stopping her friend before she could come too close. Now the whole upper-half of her body was viewable.

"Perfect!" Sonny stated happily. "Are you ready to start filming?"

"We haven't started yet?" Tawni asked. "I thought you asked me to turn the camera on five minutes ago…"

"Why would I ask you do that? We don't even have anyone to interview yet!"

Sonny left the shot as the camera spun around. When it finally stopped, it was focused on a group of girls standing on the other side of the street.

"We can interview them!" Tawni suggested. "Chad has a lot of girl fans, right? I bet they would love to help us!"

"Tawni, wait for-,"

Her command came too late. The scene bounced up and down as Tawni sprinted across the street. She and Sonny were right outside Condor. The poor, unsuspecting girls never stood a chance of remaining unspotted.

The four strangers eyed the camera suspiciously. One of them started fixing her hair.

"Hi! My name, as you surely know, is Tawni Hart. I was wondering if you'd be willing to answer a few questions about Chad – Oh my gosh! That outfit is so cute! Where did you get it?"

Finally, a breathless Sonny joined her cast mate. She held a microphone in one hand and wore a glare on her face.

"Thanks for waiting for me, Tawn," she said sarcastically.

"Sorry," the other girl apologized. "It's not my fault you're slow – Really, Sonny?" The view changed from her face to her feet. "You're really wearing those shoes with that shirt? Have I taught you nothing?"

"If you're going to be in charge of the camera, you need to film me, not my clothes!" Sonny ordered. "You know what? Maybe this isn't going to work out…"

In real-time, Chad glanced at his girlfriend. She shook her head helplessly and nodded toward the screen, encouraging him to continue watching. On the other end of the couch, Tawni smiled proudly. Apparently, she believed her camera-work was amazing.

This time, Tawni was the one seen while Sonny stood behind the camera. The blonde grinned and flipped her long blonde curls.

"I think you're forgetting something, Tawn," Sonny said.

"What's that?"

"You're supposed to be interviewing people!"

She whipped her head around, searching for someone to talk to. It wasn't long before she spotted a boy walking down the sidewalk, a boy who just so happened to be shirtless.

"Let's interview him!" she said eagerly, running out of the shot before anyone could stop her.

There was a skip in the tape – probably something edited out – and then Tawni stood beside the shirtless boy.

"Now, Eric," she said into her microphone. "Are you a fan of Chad Dylan Cooper?"

"You mean 'Mackenzie' from Mackenzie Falls?" Eric shrugged. "Yeah, sure. He's a pretty good actor."

"I see. And what is it that you like so much about Chad?"

"Well…From what I can tell, he's a nice enough guy. He seems to care about his fans and his acting career. That's something you don't see from a lot of today's stars. And, as an added bonus-," He winked at the camera. "He's dating one of the cutest girls in Hollywood!"

"I still can't believe he said that," Tawni complained. "I was standing right there and all he cared about was Sonny! I mean, come on! I'm ten times prettier than she is!"

Chad reached for Sonny's hand quickly.

"Don't listen to her," he whispered only loud enough for her to hear. "I think you're beautiful."

"Chad, that's so-,"

"And if that guy ever winks at you again," Chad cut off whatever Sonny had been about to say, "I'll kill him!"

This time, Tawni stood with a couple. A boy and a girl, probably somewhere in their late teens, stood side-by-side, holding hands.

"Oh, we love Chad Dylan Cooper!" the boy said. "We watch Mackenzie Falls every Wednesday night, don't we, sweetheart?"

"We sure do!" the girl agreed. "We can't get enough of Chad's acting! But I guess to be perfectly honest, we're bigger fans of Chad and Sonny than just Chad alone."

"That's right! We base our entire relationship off the two of them!"

Tawni stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"Sonny and Chad are not cute together," she informed the couple, who exchanged confused glances. "Why would you want to base your relationship off theirs? You know they fight, like, all the time, right?"

"Tawni," Sonny's voice interrupted. "Chad and I aren't that bad-,"

"You're Sonny Munroe, aren't you?" the girl realized, covering her mouth in excitement. "I've always wanted to meet you! Can I have your autograph?"

While Sonny agreed to sign an autograph or two, Tawni stalked off camera sullenly. Obviously, she was sick of Sonny getting all the attention.

The next person to be interviewed – a young girl around Zora's age – was definitely the most interesting. She nearly hyperventilated the second Tawni mentioned Chad's name.

"Chad Dylan Cooper is the greatest person who has ever lived!" she stated firmly. "I'm his biggest fan. I've seen every episode of Mackenzie Falls twenty times and I own every season on DVD. I also have the extended edition of the movie he directed about himself! I know everything about him!" She stepped closer to the camera, lining her eyes up with the lens. "That's right: I know EVERYTHING about him!"

The Prop House fell silent. Five heads turned toward Sonny.

"Yeah…I don't know what was wrong with her," the bubbly actress answered their silent question. "I do know that if you ever meet up her again…you should run. Quickly."

Sonny was back on the screen. This time, it looked like she was in her dressing room.

"Well, due to unknown circumstances – namely, she got bored – Tawni has decided to let me finish the video on my own," she explained. "I've decided to come back into the studio because…Well, to be quite frank about it, that last girl we spoke to kind of scared me. But don't worry, Chad; you have plenty of fans right here at Condor, too!"

Skylar was the next person seen. Sonny wasn't in the shot with him; he was alone.

"What do I like about Chad Dylan Cooper?" he said. "He's an awful leader for one thing!"

"Um, I think you mean he's an awesome leader," Sonny's voice corrected.

"Isn't that what I said?" The actor raised one eyebrow in confusion. "Sonny, there's a red light on that camera! Someone put a bomb in it!"

"A – A bomb? No, that light just means its recording-,"

"You have to pick up the camera now before it implodes!"

"What? That doesn't even make any sense-,"

The rest of her sentence was lost as Skylar sprang from his chair and rushed toward the camera.

Marta was next. She had a dreamy expression as she giggled joyfully.

"Chad is the greatest," she began. "See, he's really rich because his father owns this waterfall and-,"

"Marta," Sonny cut her off. "You do know we're talking about Chad, not Mackenzie, don't you?"

The actress cocked her head to the left.

"They're not the same person?"

Nico and Grady gave their interview together. The two boys were too busy messing around to notice that Sonny was trying to ask them something.

"Guys!" she finally shouted, gaining their attention. "Now that you've had time to get to know Chad a little better, what do you like about him?"

"I don't know." Nico rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess…I guess he's not such a bad guy after all."

"I like sneaking into his gym!" Grady added.

"Note to self," Sonny voiced. "Edit that part out later."

Zora was the next victim. She scoffed after hearing Sonny's question.

"I don't like anything about Chad!" she declared. "He's still annoying and dramatic and stupid, just like he's always been."

"There has to be something you like about him," Sonny urged.

"Well…I guess I do like the fact that he leaves me alone. I like to be left alone. I don't like it when people get in my business. That's why I spend so much time in the vents!"

Finally, the last Random took her turn: Miss Tawni Hart.

"Sure, I like something about Chad!" she stated happily. "I like it when you spend lots of time with him because it means I don't have to see you as much! Everybody wins! Except you…who has to spend time with that jerkthrob…although I guess he has been nicer since he started dating you, so maybe it's not so bad. And it is kind of nice to not worry about him pulling pranks on us anymore since he wouldn't dare do something like that to his girlfriend. Yeah…Yeah, that part is really nice! I don't have to worry about him messing up my prettiness!"

"That doesn't mean we like you or anything, Cooper," Nico reminded his enemy. "We said nice things because Sonny asked us to. We were helping for her sake, not for yours!"

"Like I really care what you Randoms think about me," Chad scoffed.

"Hey!" Sonny interjected. "I'm a Random. Don't you care what I think about you?"

"Sure, sure," Chad agreed. "But I already know what you think, sonshine."

Sonny narrowed her eyes. "Do you, Chad? Do you really?"

"Sonny, you're my girlfriend now. Of course I know what you think of me! You think I'm hot, and the greatest actor of our generation, and-,"

"Stop!" Tawni gripped, covering her ears. "I've listened to you two flirt enough for one day. Who wants to go get some fro-yo?"

Nico, Grady, and Zora volunteered to accompany her. The four friends took off, leaving Sonny and Chad alone to finish watching the movie.

"You really didn't have to make this movie, you know," Chad said as Sonny slid off the armrest and into his lap. "I'm fine with not having a million fans."

"No, you're not," Sonny disagreed. "But you will be after you watch the end of the video."

"There's more?" Chad asked in disbelief, holding his girlfriend to his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Not much more," Sonny explained. "Just a final scene."

Sonny was back in her dressing room. This time, she was wearing a serious expression. It looked almost…surreal…It was so unusual to see her without a smile.

"I know you want a million fans, Chad, and someday, you'll have more than that," she said. "For now, I don't want you to think about how many fans you have. Instead, I want you to think about the influence you've had in all of their lives. There are people out there just like the ones I interviewed today – thousands of them – and you've touched all of them. Your cast mates would follow you to the ends of the world. My cast is starting to soften up to you. Random people you've never even met – like Eric and that crazy girl who knows everything about you – they love you, Chad! If you could just open up your eyes and see how much you mean to so many different people. Why does it matter if there are not quite a million of them? The important thing is that people care about you, Chad. Does it really matter how many of them care?"

The actress looked away for a moment like she was trying to think of something else to say. She drew a deep breath.

"I guess there's only one thing left to say, Chad Dylan Cooper." Her eyes locked with the camera. "I'll be right here at your side every step of the way until you reach your million. And when you do finally achieve your goal, I'll be there to celebrate with you. I…care about you a lot. Probably more than you'll ever know. I'm always going to be here to cheer you up."

Chad couldn't help himself: he kissed Sonny's neck.

Maybe there were more important things in life than having one million fans after all.

Author's Note: I know I've led you guys on making you think I'm going to keep working and then I don't, but the truth is, most of my problem is that I don't have ideas for the episodes. This one was probably stupid - all Sonny did was make a video - but the idea sounded cute in my head.

Well...IF you're still reading, please leave me a review! You can answer these questions:

1. What did you think of Sonny's movie?

2. Do you think Chad will EVER reach 1 million fans?

3. Do you have ANY IDEAS for the next episode, Chad Without A Chance?

Seriously. If you review, leave a suggestion. Please!

The sooner I get an idea, the sooner I update!