Chapter 3

Chad looked at me, utterly bewildered. Apparently, he had lost his suave.

"Looks like Chad Dylan Cooper has a date," I rose my eyebrows.

Chad shrugged, his 'cool' trickling back as he adjusted his jacket. "Guess so,"

"Well, okay. Go with her. Have fun," I said sarcastically.

"I didn't want to go with her," Chad rolled his eyes, as if I was the stupidest person in the world.

"Then go and tell her that," I said slowly.

Chad looked uncomfortable. "But if I do that, there'll be bad blood between the Falls and two shows. Cant risk that." He sounded bored; he strode to his soda fountain and fixed himself a drink.

"Yeah, 'cant risk that'. See ya." I muttered, edging towards the door. My head was cleared now, and tinged in anger.

As I opened the door, a force pressed down on my hand- Chad was gripping it. "You're mad, why?" he made a face.

"You kissed me and you're going to the dance with that girl," I shouted.

"Well you didn't ask me!" Chad yelled in return.

"Guys ask the girls, he-LO where have you been?" I said with authority.

"I don't understand girls," Chad mused.

"I don't understand conceited jerks!" I retorted.

"So we're back to this now? Fine," Chad said angrily.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes again and stormed back to Chuckle City.

--

"Guess who scored a date with Ms. Portlyn from the Falls?" Niko said suavely, twirling around and doing a 'point-and-shoot' gesture.

I gaped at him, sipping my soda. The cast was lounging around a table at the cafeteria again, for dinner.

"You're kidding," Grady said doubtfully.

"Um, yeah. But how cool would that have been?" Niko said dreamily, staring at the Falls' table.

"I asked Cara from Rita's , but she said she was going with Chad." Grady informed us. Slowly, all eye contact turned to me.

"What?" I giggled nervously.

"I thought you were going with Chad," Tawni narrowed her eyes at me.

"Why aren't you going with me!?" Niko and Grady yelled in unison.

Zora rolled her eyes, bored with our romance-talk, and pelted the boys with chicken nuggets.

This attracted attention from the Falls, and Portlyn laughed and pointed at us. Zora, in turn, threw a chicken nugget at her.

"Ewh, like, gross!" Portlyn said squeamishly. I saw Chad roll his eyes at her squealing, then look at me. I pursed my lips and broke the eye contact.

Tawni nudged me, her eyes huge. Obviously, one way to make her nice to you was to get yourself in some sort of relationship drama.

"I'll tell you later," I sighed, defeated.

"Well, enough about you guys and your problems!" Tawni had a boastful edge to her voice. She flipped her hair and flashed a smile.

"Jeffrey Corel from the Falls asked me to the dance, and I said yes!" She exclaimed proudly, casting a triumphant grin over at Portlyn.

"Isn't Portlyn going out with him?" I asked her. Leave it to Tawni to do anything to mess with her rival Portlyn.

"Not anymore," Tawni replied, a tight smile trickling across her flawless face.

"Well, anyways, we need to find dates, brah," Grady punched Niko in the shoulder.

I sunk lower in my seat. Brah. That brought back memories, from me and Chad's 'first and last' fake date. I had asked him to put his arm around me, and he had gotten flustered about how one arm said "Lets cuddle," and the other said "Good game, brah!" But after that charade, his arm was around me and my head was leaned against his shoulder. We had fit together like puzzle pieces.

I shook the memories off, and imagined them falling off me and down to the floor where they didn't matter anymore.

"But I'm too young to care about dates," Zora said seriously. Apparently, all the romance was having a negative effect on our little prankster.

Luckily, Grady came to her rescue. "If Niko and I can't find dates, the four of us can just go in a group. Niko can be your date, and I'll be Sonny's," Grady smiled widely at me. I chuckled. "Nice try," I threw my straw wrapper at him.

"No, but seriously, a group thing could work," Niko said appreciatively. Zora was perking up, and the three started exploding with plans.

Tawni took this time to lift my arm up and throw her arm around me. "Let's talk," She said maliciously.

"Actually, I need to talk to Sonny, mkay?" Chad appeared in front of us, and did his little smile-and-nod thing at Tawni.

Maybe everything could be okay. Chad would tell me he couldn't take Cara, because he liked me too much. Then we could go to the dance together, Channy would come true, and our shows wouldn't be rivals anymore.

Life would be perfect.

Sadly, perfect doesn't come easily, because at that moment the cast of Rita's Creek paraded into the cafeteria.

"Chad!" Cara led the pack, looking breath taking.

"Cara," Chad tried to fake a happy face, but it didn't work. His face sagged as did his greeting.

Cara ignored this (and Tawni and myself, standing there with arched eyebrows and crossed arms) and continued. "So, I'm going to wear a blue dress, so you need a blue tie which could really bring out your eyes and-" Cara babbled on.

I stole a look- a desperate, pleading, yet aloof look- over at Chad. His eyes were stretched open and his mouth was twisted into a weird expression. I had the feeling he didn't like this girl telling him what to do.

But he saw me looking at him, and I saw that he looked a little scared. He shrugged at me. I shook my head in annoyed disbelief. He wasn't going to turn her down, turning me off.

"Didn't you want to talk to Sonny?" Tawni interrupted loudly, glaring boldly at Cara.

Cara glanced steadily back at her. "Do you, Chad?" She challenged, her eyes narrowing.

Chad pulled at his collar, looking nervous. It was very un-Chad like.

"Um, actually, I have to go, like, now," Chad stuttered. The side of his mouth twitched into a small smile at me, and then he was gone.

The three of us faced off.

"You saw him kiss me and you still made him take you to the dance?" I asked her in disbelief. This question had been nagging at me all day.

"You guys kissed!?" Tawni beamed at me. Like she was my dating mentor or something.

"Yeah, then she forced Chad to take her to the dance without letting him speak," I rolled my eyes.

Cara smirked at me. She looked very, very evil right now. It was actually kinda scary.

"Look, Sandy, I get what I want. I want Chad, and he doesn't want any drama, so he's sticking with me. Maybe he likes redheads?" Cara teased. But she wasn't joking.

"I hate you," Tawni informed her.

Cara, stunned, look at her. "Do you, Tony? Do you really?"

"DON'T USE CHAD'S THING!" I exploded.

"Let's just go," Tawni said angrily. We stomped off, leaving a triumphant boy-stealer behind.