Chapter Five

Chad's POV

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"And you were, like, so amazingly great today!" Cara said brightly, following me down the corridor, after I had filmed a scene for McKenzie Falls.

"Thanks," I replied, walking quickly. Maybe she'd get lost. Or fall off a very tall building.

Today was Tuesday, only four days until the Big Dance. And Sonny was going with David, my rival. I guess Cara was her enemy. Dances are complicated.

"Well, gotta go grab breakfast," I did my signature 'nod/smile/point-and-shoot' at Cara and walked backstage at the Falls set, where we had a huge table overflowing with warm, buttery rolls, rich cinnamon rolls, stacks of buttermilk pancakes, and crispy waffles. I took my usual seat beside Jeffrey and Portlyn, but Cara slid in like the fourth in our party.

I couldn't catch a break from all the drama though. Jeffrey and Portlyn were in the awkward 'post breakup let's try to be friends' stage, in which they weren't speaking but weren't glaring.

"Hey, Chad, do you think if I take Niko to the dance, it'll make Jeffrey jealous and annoy Tawni?" Portlyn asked me in a low voice.

"Isn't this dance supposed to be fun?" I asked.

Cara giggled and grabbed my hand. "It will be, don't worry!" She flirted, batting her eyelashes.

I suppressed a tired sigh. Cara's flirting was just plain annoying, and who even knew if she really liked me or just wanted to annoy Sonny, who was at the top of the media right now?

"Well, like, I'm sure Niko would go with me, so, yeah," Portlyn decided. "Let's go buy dresses!" "Let's!" giggled Cara. The two danced out of the room, and I exhaled in relief.

"Girl troubles?" Jeffrey nodded at me.

"What? No. Cara's cool." I shrugged.

"I meant with Sonny," Jeffrey said, rolling his eyes.

"Sonny? What? There is beyond no problems with Sonny. I don't even care about Sonny. Psh." I laughed.

"Yeah. Right," Jeffrey grimaced, picking up a roll and striding out.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. At that moment, Tawni flounced in.

"Blondie," I nodded at her.

"David's going to ask Sonny out for tonight," She informed me, helping herself to a plate of pancakes.

"What? You're joking," I said, keeping my tone bored.

No one is going out with her while I'm around.

"Nope. David. Sonny. Asking her out." Tawni broke it down.

"He can't!" My voice rose an octave. "And speaking of 'can't', those aren't your pancakes."

Tawni shoved a forkful in her mouth and smirked, her cheeks as puffy as a chipmunk's.

"Ick," I muttered.

"Look, you can stop it. Just tell Sonny you like her and all that blah," Tawni forced more food in her mouth, then puckered her lips and applied gloss.

"I don't like Sonny. We're enemies," I explained, starting to leave.

"Ha! HA HA HA!" Tawni shouted at me, throwing her fork at my back.

"Ow?" I made a face at her. That girl is so annoying. We had already had a conversation like this last week, when James was stirring things up. The week before, I had sorta asked Sonny out. Then James killed that. Now, Tawni was back to inform me of Sonny's love life. Big whoop.

"Everyone knows you like Sonny! Everyone knows what happened in the park!" She added, in her tirade.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets. "Sonny doesn't care about what happened in the park," I answered. She didn't even care that I kissed her. She didn't care that Cara forced herself on me and I can't catch a break!

"Did you ever ask her about that?" Tawni said, her hands on her hips.

"No…could you?" I looked at her hopefully.

"Ugh, fine. You owe me, Chad Dylan Cooper!" God, her voice was shrill.

"Sure, consider me owned." I handed her a dish full of pastries.

"Deal!" She beamed, skipping happily out of the studio.

I shook my head and headed back to my room.

I wondered…what would happen between Tawni and Sonny? And if David asked Sonny out, he would seriously have to pay.