WARNING: sorry guys, but the reason its been taking so long to get these chapters up is that I've been having some serious writers block. I already have an ending for the story in mind, but I just cant seem to figure out how to get there. So sorry, and any ideas are much appreciated. Thanks.

Chapter 11: Sparkles Like Crystal

By nine o'clock that evening, Silvia and Jay had gone to bed. I walked into Skylar's room to find him lying face down on his bed, his body shaking as he sobbed. I wanted to turn around, walk about into the living room, and pretend that I hadn't seen anything. But part of me knew that I couldn't just leave an eight-year-old boy crying like that.

"Skylar," I mumbled, sitting down next to him on his bed. "Are you alright?"

Skylar didn't look at me and for a moment, I wondered if he even knew that I was there. "Sonny," he sobbed, his voice barely above a whisper. "Please go away."

"Skylar," I whispered again, gently touching his back, "I just want to help you."

"Well, you can't," he cried, sitting up and facing me. "There's nothing you can do." Instead of asking me to leave again, he collapsed into my arms as he continued to sob. I wasn't sure as to how I could possibly comfort him, so I simply held him as he continued to cry.

I stayed with him until he fell asleep, and once he had, I left him and managed to fall asleep on the couch. It really wasn't very uncomfortable, but I knew that comfort wasn't why Skylar complained. He hated being controlled by Jay more than I hated to watch it happen.

When Silvia woke up, I stopped her before she could even make it to the kitchen. This time, when I brought up Jay, she simply ignored me and pushed past me to go make her coffee.

When Skylar woke up, Silvia took him outside to talk to him. I wasn't sure what she was talking to him about, but I desperately hoped that he wasn't paying for my suspicions.

I was actually relieved when Skylar invited me into his room after breakfast. Clearly he wasn't mad at me, so I allowed myself to believe that Silvia wasn't mad at him. "What did your mom want to talk to you about?" I asked.

He sat on his bed channel surfing. When he heard my question, he put the remote down and looked at me for a moment. "If I tell you, you can't tell her, okay?"

I smiled. Keeping secrets from Silvia wasn't exactly something that I was thrilled about, but it did cheer me up that he trusted me enough to tell me a secret. I nodded my head and he began.

"My mom's sick," he said. He paused for a moment as if debating on how much he should tell me. "Really sick. She was just telling me about her doctor's appointment."

"What's wrong with her?" I prodded.

"She has cancer," Skylar mumbled, picking up the remote and removing the back before replacing it and repeating the process. "She was diagnosed a couple years ago."

I wasn't sure what to say. "She's going to be okay, though, right?" I asked.

Skylar shook her head. "The doctors said that she should have been dead a year ago. She got lucky. They're putting her on a lot of medicine, but they don't think she'll last long."

I was stunned into silence. What did you say to an eight-year-old boy that just told you his mother was dying of cancer. Skylar seemed pretty composed, but I could tell he was troubled. I mean, of course he was. What kid wouldn't be? Was it fair for him to lose his mother at such a young age? I thought about what it would feel like if I had lost my mother. Of course, Silvia was my mother too, but it wouldn't feel the same if and when she died. She hadn't raised me; I wouldn't miss her like Skylar would.

"Don't tell her, okay?" Skylar said, returning to flipping through the channels. "She doesn't want anyone to know, and I don't want her to get mad at me."

I nodded although I wasn't sure I could keep my mouth shut. I had never been trusted with such a large secret, and now I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to keep it.

Chad's P.O.V.

"You can't replace Sonny!" I screamed at Marshall. "She's coming back!"

"I know you want to believe that, and we all do, but what if she doesn't?" Marshall said. "We can't hold her spot and the show until she finally decides to come back. And If she does, she can still have a place on So Random."

I knew I had lost the argument, so I left his office. I wondered who this new girl would be. Would Sonny's fans follow her now? I knew it wasn't fair to ask the directors of So Random to continue playing re-runs until Sonny came back from New York, but if- when- she did come back, how would she feel to find some new girl taking her spot? I knew she wouldn't be okay with that.

"Oh my GOD!" A girl with curly red hair, bright blue eyes, and freckles screamed. "You're Chad Dylan Cooper! It's my life's dream to meet you!"

I smiled my appreciation as she ran up to me. "Can I have your autograph?" she asked, holding out a small black book and a sparkly blue pen.

I nodded, flipping it open and scrawling my name against the page. "And your name is?" I asked.

"I'm Crystal," the girl replied. "I'm here to be on So Random."