Summary: So. My boyfriend cheated on me, I got kicked off So Random, crazy Penelope broke out of jail and still wants to kill me, and I have to live with my ex-boyfriend for my protection. Oh, and apparently I still have feelings for the my said ex! Fun week, huh?

Hey there, guys! c: I had this story idea about a month and a half ago when I first listened to Selena Gomez's song "My Dilemma"(which fits Sonny and Chad pretty well), but I only just started writing this recently because I've been busy with my other stories.

I'm actually really excited for this one. :D I'm aiming for it to be sort of exciting, less lighthearted with my usual stories, and filled with Channy goodness. Don't worry, though, there's gonna be humor in here, too. I can't write any stories without humorous things happening at random moments. xD

This story takes place two months after Sonny and Chad broke up. c:

Enjoy!

Sonny's POV

"Hey. Put it down."

He stared up at me, his head tilted slightly, like he wasn't sure what to make of me. Which was ridiculous, of course. He knows who I am. So why was he making this so difficult?

I tried again. "Gassie. Please put down my - " I hadn't even finished my sentence when Gassie turned and bounded off, with my cellphone in his mouth. I groaned. Great. Now I'd have to chase him. Hopefully Bella wasn't lurking around nearby, because I had no desire to get yelled at for scaring off the tooting pooch. I let out a puff of air before running off in the direction Gassie had gone. "Gas-SEH! Sit! Stay! Heel! Play dead! No, wait, don't play dead!" I yelled as I ran.

As I turned a corner, I saw Gassie skid to a stop by a pair of legs. He let out a muffled bark and wagged his tail. I didn't know who the legs belonged to, because I was focused completely on getting my phone back.

I dove to the floor by Gassie and managed to pry my phone out of his mouth. "Yes!" I held up my phone triumphantly, ignoring the fact that there was dog drool all over it. "I got it!" I stood up, dusting off my faded blue jeans, and beamed proudly. Finally, I could text Patrick back. Yes!

I looked up gratefully, all set to thank the person who'd blocked Gassie's path. But the words died on my mouth.

"Hey, Sonny." Chad Dylan Cooper shoved his hands in his pockets and gave me the most adorable smile I've ever seen. Chad Dylan Cooper, the guy who'd been the first half of Channy (the second half being me). Chad Dylan Cooper, possibly one of the biggest jerks on the planet (though he could occassionally be sweet).

Chad Dylan Cooper, my ex-boyfriend.

Just the person I wanted to bump into.

Not.

"Oh. Hi, Chad." I fidgeted awkwardly and pushed back my hair. "Um, how's it going?" I asked, trying to be friendly.

He shrugged. "It's going good, I guess."

"Good..." I nodded slowly and gazed at him. He gazed right back, not saying anything. Ok. Silent stares. This did not help the situation at all.

Really, you'd think that after two months of being broken up, everything would be ok-ish between us. And it was. Sort of. Kind of. Not really. I mean, sure, we smiled at each other when we happened to cross paths, and sometimes we even talked about the weather. But... well, it wasn't the same. We couldn't exactly go back to being frenemies, and being totally relaxed around each other, the way we'd been when we were dating, was pretty much out of the question. No more daily arguments. No more hugs, or shortstacks, or anything from our past relationship. Just... this.

Basically, it was awkward. Very, very awkward.

"So what're you doing over here at So Random?" I asked. I glanced around to check and see if any of my castmates were nearby. They weren't. Too bad, I could've used some backup right then.

"Sonny, you know you shouldn't question what Chad Dylan Cooper does," he said, giving me a slight smirk, a hint of his usual self showing. I couldn't help but smile a bit. "Right." Then I shook my head and glanced down at my phone. "Um, well, I sort of have to go. I promised I'd meet Patrick at The Patio, and I'm already running late."

The teasing smile slipped off Chad's face, replaced by a blank expression. "Patrick. Of course," he said in an emotionless voice, the same voice he always used every time I brought up my current boyfriend, Patrick Myers.

What? I had to move on eventually. I couldn't just sit there writing songs about Chad and moping over him every minute of the day. Not that I ever did that or anything... oh, who am I kidding, of course I did. Still, though, it was pathetic.

And then I happened to meet Patrick one day, things sort of clicked, and now we were dating. He was a good guy. Was he someone I could see myself being truly happy with? I dunno, I'd have to wait and see. Did I like him as much as I'd liked Chad? Heck, do I still even like Chad?

...I refuse to answer either of those questions. And I certainly won't come to terms with my "conflicting emotions", no matter what Mel says.

Anyway.

"Yep." I nodded like a stupid little bobblehead, forcing a smile onto my face.

Chad blinked at me, and for a second he looked like he wanted to say something. I suddenly found myself wishing for him to start acting jealous like he'd did that one time with the Kiss Cam, to yell at me that he didn't want me going on a date with this guy and that he wanted me back. Something. Anything.

But then the moment passed, and Chad just gave me a short nod in reply. "Ok, then. Good."

I opened my mouth to reply with a half-hearted 'good', but he was already off.

I stared at the place where he'd been for a long while until I heard a gentle bark at my side, and something cold and wet nudged my hand. I looked down to see Gassie bumping my hand with his nose and woofing softly. I'd forgotten that he was even there. I bent down and stroked his fur, murmuring, "Good boy." I glanced back at the place where Chad had been, then looked at Gassie as he barked again and said aloud, "Gassie, I know what Mel said, I do. But, I mean, maybe she was wrong. People are wrong sometimes. I'm sure I don't still have feelings for Chad. I've got Patrick now, I don't need Chad. Right?"

Gassie farted his approval and wagged his tail, his tongue lolling out happily. I smiled. "Right. No more feelings at all. I'm done with CDC."

And yet as I returned back to the set to put Gassie back in his mini dressing room, a little voice nagged in the back of my head, saying softly, You've always been a terrible liar, Sonny. Especially to yourself.

~.M.y.D.i.L.e.M.m.A.~

When I got back from my lunch date with Patrick, I felt a bit happier. Meeting with him for lunch had definitely been a great stress reliever. We ate sandwiches, drank some hot cocoa, and talked and laughed. Mel had even passed by and joked, "You two lovebirds need to quit laughing so loudly, customers are starting to complain." Patrick made me feel warm and happy. It wasn't exactly the same way I felt with Chad, but it was enough. I was convinced that he was the perfect guy for me.

Until I arrived back at the studio the next morning.

The minute I walked into the Prop House I regretted it. All my castmates, who had been group rumbling amongst themselves (again) shut up the second I stepped inside and stared at me with grim expressions on their faces. It made me feel uncomfortable. "What?" I asked uncertainly.

More stares.

I laughed nervously. "I'm pretty sure I put on all my clothes this morning... this isn't my hat dream, is it?" I glanced behind me to make sure that no Tawni and Grady look alikes were going to pop out and scare me.

Tawni gave me a strained smile. "Hey, Sonny! Isn't it a lovely morning?"

I blinked at her, surprised. The first thing Tawni does every morning is comment about how ugly my choice of clothes is. This particular greeting was completely new for me. "Tawni, is everything ok?" I asked, coming to sit on the couch beside her.

I saw Grady and Nico exchange glances. "Um... hey, wanna see my new temporary tattoo?" Grady asked, fake enthusiasm plastered all over his face. "I think it's gonna make Mel think I'm really tough!"

Immediately Tawni and Nico started to nod and make noises of agreement, and that's when I knew they were hiding something from me. "Guys, stop it!" I commanded, which made them shut up and give me nervous glances. I toned it down a bit and tried to keep my temper in check. Nowadays it's a bit hard to control my temper, for some reason. "What's going on?"

"Pfft. There ain't nothing going on." Nico let out a laugh that sounded forced.

Tawni gave me an innocent smile. "We have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Sonny. Hey, let's watch Tween Weekly TV! I heard they're doing a special on Brad and Angelina today, and I really want to - "

"Please tell me," I practically begged, now dying to know why they were trying to keep secrets from me. They exchanged looks again.

From beside Nico, Zora rested her arms on the edge of the sofa and sighed, speaking for the first time since I entered the room, "Tell her, Nico. Tell her what she needs to hear."

"She's not gonna like what she needs to hear," Grady said unhappily.

"She can take it," Zora argued. I watched them curiously. "Guys?"

"If you don't tell her, I will," Zora said, huffing.

"No, I will! I'm her best friend," Tawni said, narrowing her eyes at Zora. Normally the fact that Tawni said that would warm my heart, since she hardly ever says that in front of me, but this time I didn't really care. "Would someone just tell me?"

Nico hesitated, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Grady and I were checking out some tugboats," he started off haltingly. "And, er, we saw something... interesting."

"Very interesting," Grady added.

I nodded slowly, not getting it. "Go on..."

Nico fiddled with his phone a bit, then silently handed it to me. I took it, still clueless, then looked down at it. And stared.

"We didn't want to tell you," Nico babbled. "After the whole thing with Chip Drama Pants, we figured you'd take it badly and it would mess things up, but - "

I blocked the rest of his words out of my mind and just gazed numbly down at the picture of Patrick, my boyfriend, kissing some other girl on the sidewalk. Out in the open. In public. They weren't even bothering to hide. I suddenly felt like screaming or throwing a lamp at a wall or something. So many emotions were running through me at that moment... anger, sadness, frustration, and some other emotion I couldn't place... something like... relief? Makes no sense, but that's what it felt like. But overall I just felt upset. And numb.

"Sonny?" asked Tawni in an oddly soft voice, putting her hand on my shoulder. "Are you ok?"

I lifted my head to focus my gaze on her, then heard myself say, "Of course. My boyfriend's cheating on me. No problem. That's great, isn't it?" I laughed. Thinking back on it, I probably sounded delirious. My friends exchanged worried looks again as I stood up a bit unsteadily and handed Nico his cell phone back. "You guys are making a big deal out of nothing. With the way my life is going right now, this is something everyone probably saw coming! Right?"

"Maybe we shouldn't have shown it to her..." Zora mumbled.

"Ya think?" Nico asked sarcastically.

I backed out of the room, still smiling hugely at them. "It's fine, really. Everything's fine. I'm fine," I repeated, then suddenly turned and ran out of there, unable to stand their concerned expressions and they're stares and... and... argh! It was so frustrating!

I charged into my dressing room, locking both doors, then launched myself onto the couch and hugged my song pillow to my chest, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. I tried to think of happy thoughts. Who knows, maybe if I thought some really, really happy thoughts, I could fly off to Neverland and escape all this.

"I'm fine," I lied to myself, clutching my pillow and trying to push down the feeling of despair that was threatening to overwhelm me. Heck, I wasn't fine. First I'm forced to break up with my boyfriend. Then my new boyfriend decides to go put his tongue in some random girl's mouth. Life just couldn't give me a break, could it?

"Well, you know, Sonny, it can't get any worse than this," I said dryly, raising my eyes to the ceiling and trying to look at the bright side of things (which wasn't that bright at all, really. It was more like a very, very dimly lit side of things)

I was wrong, of course. I was totally and completely wrong.

I didn't know it yet, but the fun had only just begun.

Did I mention I'm really, really excited for this story? Well, I am. :D

Thank you for reading! And please review. I'd really appreciate any feedback and constructive criticism I get. ;)

Peace out, suckas!

~Ginger