It Takes Five Tries
"You…you jerk!" Sonny yelled, storming out of the room. Chad stood there with his hands in his pockets and with a look of boredom on his face. He rolled his eyes and shook his head before making his way back to his dressing room. Sonny has called him a 'jerk' too many times for him to feel anything anymore. Why bother? She does it at least five times a day, sometimes an hour. Chad wasn't shocked, and he didn't care at all.
Attempt #1
So the next day when he was walking down the studio, he accidentally bumped into someone while reading his script. "Hey, watch where you're going." He said, looking angrily at the victim. "Oh, it's just you." He said, looking back at his script once he realized that it was just Sonny. Instead of an apology or a comeback like he expected, it was just complete silence. Chad looked up from his script again, wondering why Sonny hasn't said anything yet. He raised his eyebrows to see that Sonny wasn't even there anymore.
Chad turned around in circles, confused. He frowned to see that Sonny was no where near him. How could she move that fast? How could he miss her that quickly? Chad shook his head and continued walking towards his destination. He couldn't help but wonder why Sonny was ignoring him. He thought that it was best to clear his thoughts of her though. But then after a full four seconds, he realized that that wasn't the greatest idea.
Chad turned right around and headed over to stage three. He stopped at the invisible line that separated Mackenzie Falls and So Random. He scratched the back of his head, wondering if he should cross that line. The co-stars of So Random were either looking at him weirdly, glaring at him, or both. Chad thought that it would be best not to cause trouble since he always seems to do that every time he crosses over to So Random.
"What are you doing here?" Tawni asked, standing behind the line with her arms folded properly across her chest. She stared at Chad, giving him a dangerous look.
"Umm…is Sonny here?" Chad asked weakly. He was shocked to find himself scared by Tawni's frightening look. He felt uncomfortable under her stare, and he felt more awkward and awkward with each passing moment.
"And why would you want to know?" Tawni asked. "If you're just going to ruin her time here more than you already have done, why don't you just back off and go back to your stupid show!" Tawni said, her voice rising. Chad quickly turned around and walked back to Mackenzie Falls, scared by Tawni's tone.
First attempt: Failed.
Attempt #2
Chad ate his lobster in utter silence. As his cast mates laughed and talked merrily, he just sat there at the head of the table, eating his lunch quietly. He snuck glances at Sonny, seeing her act normally as she ate that disgusting thing they called food. She still was cheery Sonny, giggling and cracking jokes at the table. She still played with her food childishly even if she was told repeatedly not to. She was still the same.
Once Sonny caught Chad looking at her though, her entire mood died down. Chad gave her a small smile, hoping that she would finally acknowledge her. Instead, Sonny frowned and looked down at her hands, seeming emotionless. Chad grew even more confused. He turned back to face his table and looked straight ahead of him, completely puzzled.
Chad heard the sound of a chair scooting back. He turned again to see Sonny walking out of the cafeteria, her eyes locked on the floor, and her hair covering her face. Chad abruptly stood from his seat and chased after Sonny. He jogged quickly out of the cafeteria, trying to trail behind her. She was just yards ahead of her. Chad could easily catch up to her. Before he even got the chance, someone grabbed onto his arm and stopped him.
"What do you want?" Chad asked, annoyed, seeing that it was another member of So Random.
"I want you to stop harassing Sonny." Grady said seriously, folding his arms across his chest. Chad rolled his eyes.
"Please, I wasn't going to harass her. I was just going to talk to her-"
"Save it. If you're just going to hurt her feelings like you did before, just cut it out. She doesn't need some stuck up, conceited jerk to just bring her self-esteem down." Grady said. Chad didn't say anything. He just stared at Grady for a moment, not knowing what he even did to make everyone from So Random hate him more than they already have before.
Chad looked onto the other side where Sonny was walking down. He sighed to see that she was gone again with no signs of where she was headed off to. Chad frowned and shoved his hands into the pockets of his blazer jacket.
Second attempt: Failed.
Attempt #3
Chad walked around the studio, just yearning to talk to Sonny. He's never been through more than twenty-four hours of not talking to her. He searched all around for her, desperately seeking her company. Chad stopped in front of stage three and officially came to the conclusion that he was crazy. Why the heck would he be wasting his precious time to talk to some girl? Chad rubbed his head and looked down, knowing that this isn't just some girl though. This was Sonny Monroe.
"What are you doing here?" a voice asked. Chad looked up, hoping that it was Sonny, but frowned in disappointment to see that it was Nico instead. Chad sighed and replied with a mere shrug. He shuffled his foot against the floor, not knowing how he should say his words. "Well if you're just going to stand there and waste your time, why don't you just do that over at your show. No one here wants to see you." Nico said, obviously angry too.
"Why is everyone so mad at me? What did I do that was so bad? It's not like I robbed a bank or stole something!" Chad asked, begging to know the answer. Nico shook his head dejectedly.
"Are you really that shallow and heartless to not notice your own mistakes?" Nico asked, his voice softening. Chad hung his head down low. "You know, you hurt her pretty badly for saying what you said." Chad glanced up at Nico for a second before looking back at his shoes. "She deserves an apology." Chad was about to speak up, telling Nico that he was just about to do that, until he was cut off.
"What is that doing here? I want him out!" Tawni ordered. Chad quickly walked away again, not having enough courage to deal with Tawni Hart. "Nico, what the heck were you doing talking to him?! Because of him our best sketch writer can't write anything funny anymore!"
"You mean Sonny's still not writing even today?" Nico asked, sadness in his voice.
Chad cringed and walked a little faster.
Third attempt: Failed.
Attempt #4
Chad was beyond desperate now. It's been about a week and he still had no communication with So Random or Sonny. He kept on growing distracted as he acted, he almost always forgot his lines, and his acting didn't seem like acting anymore. It just looked like petty lies. Everyone at Mackenzie Falls knew that something was up with Chad. Producers merely thought that he was just going through a short phase, but the actors knew better.
"So you're feeling guilty, I guess." A voice asked. Chad looked around his dressing room, wondering who that voice belonged to. "I'm up here." The same voice said. Chad swiftly turned and jumped to see Zora in the air vents. Chad opened his mouth to question Zora about why and how she's in the air vents, but Zora wasn't here for questions. "I'll tell you later how I got up here, but I'll tell you why I'm here." She said, completely reading his mind. Chad kept his lips in a straight line and looked at her, secretly knowing why she was here.
"Okay, what do you want, kid?" he asked. Zora sighed.
"I can tell that you've been trying to say sorry to Sonny whether you knew that you were gonna or not. Yet, Tawni, Grady, and Nico keep on getting in the way and you always seem to miss your chance. Am I right?" Zora asked, looking gently at Chad. Chad sat back on his seat and nodded his head curiously.
"And how on earth would you know that?" he asked, sort of freaked out.
"I told you, I'll answer all of your questions later. What's important is that you go up to Sonny and tell her how sorry you are. Even if she doesn't show it, she's really torn up inside because of you. You see her smile everyday, but in the inside she's crying hysterically. I don't know what you did; I don't want to know what you did, but I – and the rest of So Random - know that the reason why she's like this is because of you."
"You know, I actually do have feelings! I'm not this coldhearted guy that all you and your stupid friends think I am! I want to say sorry, but those eggheads won't let me! Stop making me feel worse than I already am!" Chad ordered, sounding like a whiny kid. Zora rolled her eyes in response.
"Say sorry to her, and do it quickly." Zora closed the door of the air vent and like that, she was gone.
Chad knew that this was his chance. He quickly got up and ran towards stage three. He then bumped into someone, knocking both of them down. He looked under him and blushed to see that it was Sonny. "Oh, sorry." He said, getting off of her. Sonny sat straight up, not making eye contact with him. Chad offered her his hand, but Sonny got up herself. That stung Chad a little, and he scratched the back of his neck. "Can I, umm, talk to you maybe?" he asked. Sonny still didn't make eye-contact, but she didn't walk away. "Well, I just wanted to say-"
"Sonny!" Tawni called out. Sonny turned to see Tawni giving her a full out Tawni Hart smile. "Did you think up of a new sketch yet? If you did, we'll all be really excited to hear about! And I promise that I won't judge this time!" Tawni said, trying not to blow up because Chad is two feet away from her.
"Sorry, Tawni, I just…" Sonny walked away, not bothering to finish her sentence. Tawni frowned and looked sourly at Chad.
"This is your entire fault!" She yelled, poking her index finger harshly against his chest before running after Sonny, trying to catch up with her.
Fourth attempt: Failed.
Attempt #5
"Meet me in studio one at 2:00 pm exact."
The letter said. Sonny looked at it, wondering who gave it to her. It was neatly placed on top of her dresser when she found it, right next to a large bouquet of roses. Sonny smiled a little and smelled the roses, placing the letter between them. She looked at the time that read 1:54. She stood up and quickly headed towards studio one.
She opened the large doors and stepped into the dark room. She could barely make out anything around her, and the whole place seemed empty. She sighed, knowing that this was probably just some useless prank someone played on her. Sonny turned around to leave until someone touched her hand. "Sonny," the soft voice said. Sonny turned around to see that it was Chad, looking at her so sincerely. She turned around, continuing to head towards the exit. "Wait, can you please just wait?" Chad begged.
Sonny stopped, but didn't turn around. Chad sighed and stood next to her, holding her hand. "What do you want, Chad?" Sonny asked in a quiet whisper.
"I just want to say…tell you…how much I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry for everything that I've done to you that might have hurt your feelings or whatever. Bottom line is I'm sorry." Chad said, sounding as apologetically as he could. Sonny looked down at her shoes and frowned.
"Sometimes sorry doesn't cut it, Chad." She said. Chad moved away and stood in front of her. He gave her a small smile.
"I know." He said. Suddenly, small twinkling lights illuminated the dark room. They were everywhere around the ceiling and hanging in the air, connected by clear strings. Sonny looked around, amazed at the bright white fairy lights that surrounded her. She smiled and slowly spun in circles, trying to take in the whole scene in one look. "You deserve so much more than an apology from me." Chad said, taking Sonny's hands again.
"Oh, Chad, this is so beautiful!" she said, looking at him, smiling at him for the first time for what seemed like years. "How did you do this?" she asked. Chad shrugged.
"I'm Chad Dylan Cooper. I can do anything." He said conceitedly, yet in a modest way. Sonny looked at him, still smiling.
"And you did that just to say that you're sorry?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Oh, you have no idea how much I've been through just to say that I was sorry." Chad said, shaking his head. Sonny smiled and surprised him with a warm hug. Chad was taken back with complete shock. Though, he smiled and embraced her back, nuzzling his face into her hair. "And I really am sorry. You're right, I'm a jerk, and for what I said…I'm just sorry."
"Apology accepted." Sonny forgave. Chad pulled back and smiled. Sonny smiled back at him, her arms still wrapped around his neck. Chad stared at Sonny, watching how the lights reflected off of her hair, how they made her eyes twinkle, how the brightness just bounced off of her skin and around her. She looked like she was glowing. "Are we friends?" Sonny asked, breaking Chad's trance.
"If that's what you want, then yeah, we're friends." Chad said, hugging Sonny again.
Fifth attempt: Achieved.
A/N: I know, I know! I'm in love with Channy! (Honestly, I don't want to call them that because it sounds weird, but that's the best name I've heard so far.) I wouldn't be surprised if I wrote about a thousand one-shots about them! Sorry that this isn't a mult-chapter story, but I'm working on making one! I just had to write this though! It was stuck in my head the whole entire day! I hope you guys love it!