A/N: First of all, thank you all for following the story to this point. It's amazing to see that so many people have read my writing. I'm always glad to hear when you're enjoying the fic. Now, here's where thinks get a bit hazy. When I first started writing this fanfic, I didn't think hardly anyone would read it, let alone enjoy it. So while I have the beginning and end plotted out, the middle is a little more uncertain. That said, updates may start being a lot less frequent, though I will certainly try to update at least once a week. Again, thank you all for your interest in the story!
So he is Spencer. Shit. Sonny winced when the girl said that name, proceeding to purge the sour expression from her face as the girl looked back at her. "Oh, wow. He's playing Spencer?"
Lacey laughed. "Of course he is. He's an awesome actor, have you seen him on Mackenzie Falls?"
"Um… yeah." Sonny nodded, her voice high. "So, um, how did they get him on here?" She fiddled with a lock of her hair, glancing from Lacey to her fingers.
Lacey shrugged. "I dunno. From what my uncle told me, he just showed up and auditioned. And of course, they had to have him, and he played a pretty good Spencer anyways."
"That's weird, though," said Sonny, fighting to lower her voice down into a normal range. "Isn't he doing Mackenzie Falls still? I mean, he's a pretty important role."
Lacey frowned. "I hadn't thought about that. But you're right. I wonder how he's going to balance that." She glanced over. "Ooh, here's your chance to ask him yourself. He's coming this way!" She almost squealed, and would have, had her voice not been dropping in volume by the second.
Sonny's eyes widened. "Oh, no, that's alright, really, I-I—" she stammered, her voice faltering more by the second.
"Hey, Sonny."
Sonny cringed at Chad's voice right behind her. She dropped her hands to her side, turning around. "Hi, Chad," she said stiffly.
He was still as handsome as Sonny remembered him to be. His vivid blue eyes stared right into Sonny's, his hair cascading in golden blond locks around his face. The smile on his face evaporated when he caught sight of the stiffened, callous expression masking Sonny's wounded inner self. God, Sonny, get the fuck over yourself. It's been two years, snapped her inner voice. But she couldn't bring herself to smile, no matter how hard she might have tried.
"So… Um… It's been a while," Chad offered, after a long, agonizing moment of silence.
"Yeah—yeah, it has," Sonny forced out. "How… how've you been?"
"Fine," said Chad quickly. "You know me, always busy." He gave an awkward attempt at a chuckle.
"Yeah, um, speaking of busy," said Sonny, staring past him, "it looks like they're starting the first read-through. So we'd better get going."
Without even looking back to see if Chad was keeping up, Sonny hurried towards the rest of the cast, where they were gathered around Jack. She tried reminding herself not to run, and after she'd distanced herself a good fifteen yards from Chad, it mostly worked.
"What was that about?"
Sonny turned, to see Lacey speed walking by her side. She shook her head. "Nothing."
Lacey raised her brow. "Didn't look like nothing to me. That was a little harsh. Was he rude to you?"
Sonny sighed. "It's complicated."
"Boy, am I familiar with that phrase," grumbled Lacey. "Can you summarize?"
Sonny hesitated. "I—I'll tell you at lunch, okay?"
Lacey frowned. "Alright…"
"Alright, everybody," called Jack, "Full cold read, starting with act one, scene one. Take a script and quiet down when you're not onstage."
~Time Lapse~
"And that's a wrap. Lunch time, everybody." Sonny walked off stage, laying her script down on the nearest table as Jack spoke. "Be back in an hour for memorization time."
There were a couple scripted kisses between Gigi and Spencer, but thank God, Jack hadn't made Sonny and Chad kiss. She couldn't have handled it. She would have walked off the stage and never come back, if she could help it. But, knowing where they were at now, Sonny knew that she would have to kiss Chad eventually. She just had to start preparing herself. She needed to separate Gigi from herself, and Spencer from Chad. Both pairs were two completely different people. They had to be.
Sonny migrated over to Lacey. "I'm not going to the cafeteria. You want to go see what we can find in a couple blocks?" she asked.
"Sure," shrugged Lacey. "You owe me a story, about earlier."
"Right," Sonny sighed. "In a minute."
She glanced over her shoulder. Chad was heading towards the cafeteria, like almost everyone else was doing. He knows he's not going to get special treatment here, right? thought Sonny. Although, he's Chad Dylan Cooper. He's certainly good enough at flattery… She shook her head, dismissing the thought as she stepped outside. Lacey followed her out, bouncing behind on the balls of her feet.
"I'm pretty sure he can't here you now," said Lacey.
"Yeah, alright." Might as well get it out and over with. "So back when I was on So Random, the cast of our two shows hated each other. There was a huge rivalry between So Random and Mackenzie Falls. They were the Drama Snobs, we were Chuckle City. That didn't really change when Chad and I started dating. Looking back, I don't…" Sonny looked down. "I don't really know why I didn't see our end coming. We broke up about six months after we got together. It just… wasn't going to work out."
"Why'd you break up?" asked Lacey, furrowing her brow.
"It was a lot of things, one thing after another." Once she'd started talking about it, it was like a dam burst and the whole story was flooding out. "Our relationship was under a lot of stress when So Random won the Tween Choice awards. Mack Falls won that thing every year, and always second best was So Random. But that changed that year, and that meant that So Random got all the special privileges. It was weird enough for both of us, and it made us uncomfortable, but the rest of the Randoms loved it, and I was happy for them. Chad... he was trying to help in his own way, but what he ended up doing was to take away the award from So Random. He ordered a recount on the votes, and it turned out that Mack Falls won after all. Things were back to normal as far as that goes, but that was what snapped our relationship."
Lacey frowned. "I'm sorry. Breakups that happen on bad terms are never easy."
"No, they're not," Sonny sighed. "But it's been two years. I should be over it by now."
Lacey shrugged. "That stuff takes time, and sometimes wounds like that reopen."
"I just… I wanted the Randoms to be happy. And they were so happy when they thought we had won the Tween Choice Award. In the end, it was either I choose Chad and turn my back on my friends, or I break it off with Chad and still have my friends' backs. He thought about him and the Falls cast, not us and the Randoms." A moment of silence hung after her words, followed by, "So, now you know."
Lacey nodded. "I take back what I said earlier. That wasn't harsh, that was generous." Sonny merely shrugged, and Lacey continued, "So yeah. Sorry about that. But you know, I've got your back."
Sonny smiled a bit. "Thanks."
