Behind the Veil
a fanfiction by Emma

Chapter Sixteen

Spring
End of May

Tawni sneaked into Sonny's apartment, so the cameras wouldn't get her again. Sonny was sitting on the couch, waiting impatiently. She jumped up once she saw Tawni.

"What did he say?" she asked, "Does he hate me?"

Tawni laughed and slipped her shoes off, placing them by the door.

"Tawni!" cried Sonny.

"Okay, okay!" Tawni laughed, "No, he doesn't hate you."

Sonny breathed a breath of relief, "Is he . . . going to forgive me?"

"I don't know, he wouldn't say, he just seemed to be in his own little world." Tawni explained.

Sonny shifted her feet, she didn't know what to say next.

"I'm tired, Sonny, I'm going to get ready for bed," Tawni said, "Where am I sleeping, by the way?"

"In my bed, I'll take the couch." Sonny said, going into the closet and grabbing a blanket and a pillow for herself.

Tawni grabbed her pink leopard print nightgown and changed into it, crawling into Sonny's bed, and pulling her sleeping mask over her eyes. She was happy she was with Sonny after all these years. Though it was different than she'd imagined it, she pictured some sort of running through the fields to each other – but that just could be her actress mind running within her. Nevertheless, she didn't expect her meeting Sonny again to be fixing her problem.

"Hey, Tawn?" Sonny called.

Tawni pulled her sleeping mask off, her eyes, resting it on top of her forehead, she sat up and stared at Sonny.

"What exactly . . . happened, once I left?" She asked in a whisper.

Tawni slipped out of the bed; and sat next to Sonny on the couch.

"It was horrible," Tawni started, "The next day, I got your email, that long, long email you sent me, and . . . it hurt me, I didn't understand it, and . . . I was confused.

"I went to the studio, and Chad wasn't there yet – I wanted to scream at him . . . everyone already thought it was his fault you left. So I decided to go the Prop House to see if Nico was there. Sure enough he was, just finishing reading the email you sent him. He turned, and looked at me . . . he was confused too, we didn't understand why. Though he was furious. 'I knew Chad would ruin her,' he whispered to me. 'I knew he would break her heart.' I could only hug him at the time, because I was so confused.

"The next person to come in was Grady, he looked as if he was about to cry. You had written him an email too, and he had printed it off, he walked into the room, holding it high over his head. He turned to me and said, 'Is it true? Is she really gone?' I could only answer him with an 'I don't know.' he blamed Chad too, he said that he had to go beat him up, really bad. You were like . . . a little sister to Nico and Grady, they had to protect you, and that's what Grady was doing, protecting you. Though, I believe he felt like he was too late."

Tears had started falling down Sonny's cheeks, "W-what about Zora?"

Tawni sighed, "Zora was the worst, of all of us. She ran into the Prop House crying. Zora was crying, Zora never cries. You had written her a letter, since she didn't have an email. Remember, she said they were 'too high tech' for her?"

Sonny laughed at the memory.

"She held the letter in her hands, she was looking down at it, as if it was one of her pets, and it had died. She didn't say anything, she just looked up at all of us, and cried. She . . . she was sobbing, shaking. I knelt down next to her, and held her tight.

" After a while, Grady carried her to dressing room, Nico went to talk to Marshall, to see if he knew, and I went to my dressing room – correction, our dressing room. Everything you had brought in over the past two years was gone, it suddenly felt empty.

"That's when Chad came in. He was disheveled looking, his hair was a mess, and he was still wearing dress pants and a mans dress shirt, – Chad later told me it was the outfit he wore on your date – he looked at me, and I glared at him, 'Do you know where Sonny is?' he asked me. I told him I did – though I didn't – but I told him I wouldn't tell him, I was mad Sonny. Very mad. He tried to talk to me, but I wouldn't listen. 'She wanted to say friends, Chad! It's not like she didn't want you in her life anymore!' I told him, 'We were right! You are scum, we should have never ever, let you in!' That's when he told me that you weren't coming back. That you were never coming back.

"Then I looked at him, his outfit what he was wearing. He missed you already, I could tell. That's when I realized, he was hurting too, and it wasn't his fault, and I felt guilty. Yes, I felt guilty. He continued to tell me he went back to your apartment, but it was empty, you had already left. I told him you said hi, in the email you sent me. He smiled. I don't think I ever saw him smile again."

Sonny couldn't believe it. What had she done? She hadn't ruined just her life, she had ruined about five others. She was a monster.

There was a knock on the door, Sonny wiped her eyes at looked at it. Could it be Chad?

"I'll get it," Tawni said standing up. She opened the door, her eyes almost bulging out of who she saw.

"Is it true?" Nico gasped.

Beside Nico was Grady, and Zora.

Tawni stared at the three of them wide eyed, "H-how? –"

"The news," Grady explained, "You were on the news, Sonny was on the news."

Sonny stood up from the couch, "Grady?" she called.

The three set eyes on her, their eyes wide. Sonny smiled meekly at them and tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear.

Nico wasn't that different than the she remembered, he was still very thin and very tall, he still had a shaven head, but he had a bit of stubble on his chin and upper lip. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a green v-neck t-shirt and a pair of running shoes.

Grady had thinned out of the years, but only slightly, he was still a little pudgy here and there, his hair was hanging just below his ears and was parted at the side. He was wearing a pair of black track pants and a white t-shirt with a red sweater over top.

Zora, was the one who looked the most different. Her brown hair had a multitude of coloured steaks, pink, blue, red, green, purple, yellow, it was pulled into a bundle of little ponytails hanging below her ears. She was wearing a pair of yellow skinny jeans and a blue tank top over top of a purple one, she had a small black cardigan over the tank tops. She stood, almost glaring at Sonny, until, she actually looked at her, and her eyes softened. Tears threatening.

Zora ran into Sonny's arms and attacked her with a hug, sobs bursting from her chest, she held tight onto her. Tears of joy filling through the air.

Sonny smiled and hugged Zora tight.

"I-I mi-issed you s-s-so much!" Zora sobbed.

"Shh, I know, I'm so, so sorry, Zora. I am so sorry!" Sonny cried, she then glanced at Grady and Nico, "Come on guys," she called to them, "I missed you too!"

Grady and Nico ran up and wrapped their arms Sonny, laughing for joy.

"I can't believe this!" Grady whispered, "It's really you."

The four released each other, Zora clinging onto Sonny's arm.

"C'mon, sit down." she said, pushing the blankets off the couch.

The three sat down, Tawni pulled over a chair. The three sat in awkward silence, they hadn't all been in the same room for a long, long time.

"How did you guys find me?" Sonny asked, finally breaking the silence.

"The news, Sonny, you're the only thing people are talking about." Nico explained.

Sonny snorted, "I know."

"Nico saw Tawni on the news, and he immediately called me. I . . . I could hardly believe it," Grady said, "No offense, Sonny, but I thought you were dead."

Sonny ran a hand through her hair, "I don't blame you, I just kinda . . . disappeared."

"If Chad hadn't dumped you, none of this would have happened." Nico mumbled under his breath.

Tawni groaned, "Nico! Are you seriously starting this again?" she cried.

"Yes, I am!" Nico cried, "It was his fault Sonny left, I can't believe he's living in this town. I should go beat him up or something."

"It's NOT Chad's fault!" Sonny screamed, causing the four of them to jump and look at her.

"W-what?" Zora whispered, "But it has to be, you two were completely in love, and the next thing we knew you were gone."

"I messed it up, okay? I told Chad I didn't love him, and he got mad at me, that's why he was mad. The depressed Chad was real, and I made him. I'm to blame here, I left because I wanted to!"

"Why Sonny?" Grady asked.

"I don't know, I just missed Wisconsin, and I wanted to go back, then I realized I couldn't, and I ended up here." Sonny said, "Or, at least that's the short version."

There was another strange silence, a few sounds of people shifting in their seats.

"I feel like such a . . . a douche." Grady whispered.

"Why?" Sonny questioned.

"I punched Chad." Grady said.

"You what?" Sonny shrieked, "When?"

"Like, two weeks after you left. I still didn't believe Tawni when she told me it wasn't Chad's fault, I was just . . . so mad, so I stormed into his dressing room and punched him, right in the face, then stormed out."

"He had a black eye for a month." Nico murmured, "I can't believe I ruined the best relationship I had about him." he said moment later.

Tawni blushed and let her hair fall into her face.

Grady coughed awkwardly.

"So, what have you guys been up to?" Sonny asked.

"I've been making movies here and there," Nico said, "Just small parts though, nothing major. Doing stand-up-comedy here and there. . . . Y'know, small things."

Sonny nodded and looked at Grady.

"Me? Oh, well I've been working on a book." Grady said.

"A book?" Tawni questioned, "Like, you're reading a book?"

"No, I'm writing a book. – Well, it's not really a 'book' it's a comic book." Grady said.

"Really?" Sonny said, surprised, "Grady, that's so cool! I didn't know you could write."

Grady shrugged, "The main characters based off of you, Sonny." he said.

"I've been working on my own comedy show, Zora's Zokes," Zora said, "It's mostly me, but I have co-workers and such."

"That's cool, Zora." Sonny said with a smile.

"Zora's Zokes is even more popular than So Random! was. . . . Though I liked So Random! better."

Sonny looked around at her ex-co-stars. She smiled. She had missed them, and they had suffered for years missing her. Poor Zora lost the only friend-like-sister she ever had. Grady and Nico had also lost a little sister, Tawni and Nico had lost their romance, and Tawni in general, she was taking care of Chad. All the time. Like a mother, Tawni wasn't a mother, she was a eighteen-year-old girl, at the time.

Finally, there is the one she hurt the most; Chad. He had suffered in pain for eight years. Then, he met "Charlotte" and he thought everything would go back to normal, he would get his life back, he would get a new girlfriend, and he wouldn't be hurting anymore. Then, Charlotte was Sonny, and everything was ruined for him. Sonny had hurt him two times, and she couldn't risk hurting him again. She wouldn't blame Chad if he never walked through those doors to see her.

Authors Note:
YAAYZ.

I hoped you liked the little So Random! cast reunion. Zora's one of my favourite characters in the show, it SUCKS that she isn't in it more, especially in the new season. Zora's only been in like, three of the, like, fifteen episodes that have aired.

So, the next chapter is going to be the SECOND LAST CHAPTER. :O :( :'( D: Those are the smily faces of GASP, SAD FACE, TEAR, and OH MEH GEE.

Love,
Emma

P.S: C'mon guys, I'm ALMOST at 300 reviews! REVIEW, LET'S MAKE 300 :D