Disclaimer: You know how it goes. The whole schpeal about how I don't anything but wish I did.

Things weren't going so well for Sonny. She'd been back for a total of three days and already her life in Wisconsin was miserable. She'd reenrolled in the high school where she had spent her first year. She'd only missed a year in total, though it seemed much longer than that. Before she left she'd been almost permanently unpopular. She just didn't have what it took to be preppy and, well, the same kind of person Tawni was. She sighed. It seemed like there was nothing she could do to get away from her time in Hollywood. Even her own thoughts betrayed her. School was no help either. It seemed like in the space of the past two days every single girl in the school had come up to her and asked "what is Chad Dylan Cooper like?" and "is Chad Dylan Cooper as gorgeous in person?" and on and on giggling girlishly through every sentence. Most were severely disappointed when she refused to comment. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore.

"You know what?" she finally screamed after being mobbed by seemingly every Chad Dylan Cooper fan in the room, "I've got news for you guys. Chad Dylan Cooper is not the amazing, sweet, every-girl's-dream you guys think he is! He is nothing, I repeat nothing like Mackenzie. He's a selfish, stuck up jerk that only ever thinks of himself. If you ever had a chance to get to know him, you'd hate him, the same way I do." Needless to say her tirade didn't make her any friends. Instead, it bought her a one-way ticket straight to the bottom of the totem pole and short of bringing Chad in for an appearance at the school there was nothing she could do to redeem herself.

Sonny sighed again. Like she really needed reminders of Chad. That stuck-up, three-named idiot was a just a self-centered jerk who didn't know when enough was enough. He couldn't tell whether someone was playing along or whether they were actually offended, and without that gauge he had no way of knowing when someone was actually hurt. She laughed humorlessly at that thought. Likely he didn't know what hurt was. He certainly pretended he'd never known hurt. She angrily scrubbed at the tears that were running down her cheeks. It was all in the past, and it was going to stay there. It didn't matter what Chad had said or what anyone else thought. She didn't need them anyways.

There was a knock on her bedroom door. Sonny wiped her face dry and sat up.

"Come in," she called, careful to keep her voice neutral. Her mom entered, shutting the door behind her.

"Hey, Mom," Sonny said, pulling a pillow into her lap.

"Is everything ok, honey?" her mom asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sonny replied, "Just… missing Hollywood, I guess."

"Oh sweetie, you know you left for good reasons."

"I know, Mom. It's just, I wish I hadn't had to leave in the first place."

"I know. And it's going to be hard the first couple of months, getting used to it. But you will. I have faith in you."

"Thanks, Mom," Sonny smiled weakly as her mom left the room. The moment the door closed, she tipped over on her bed and curled up in a ball. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

Suddenly the room filled with a loud mooing. Sonny jumped and sat up, then pulled her phone out of her pocket. Zora? Why is Zora calling me? She never called me, even when I was in Hollywood, she thought.

"Hello?" she answered the phone tentatively.

"Hey Sonny. How is everything?" Zora's voice was even more annoying over the phone, if that was possible.

"Fine. Uh, not to sound rude, but what do you want?"

"I'll cut to the chase. We need you to come back to So Random."

"Zora, I can't do that. I'm sorry."

"Not even if I tell you that Condor's threatening to cut the show unless you come back?"

"That's awful! Why would he do that?"

"Well, he hasn't yet, but the way the ratings are looking he might."

"Zora! I'm not coming back just because Mr. Condor might cut the show."

"O-kay, would you come back if we got Chad to apologize?" Zora had that sneaky little sound in her voice, like she always did when she had a plan. Sonny had to think a moment before coming up with something to say.

"Firstly: how did you think you were going to get him to do that? And secondly: What makes you think that this has anything to do with Chad?"

"Cause you told Nico and Grady that it did." Sonny began hitting her head against the wall. Why had she been so stupid?

"Well-"

"Look, Sonny, I just need to know. If we can get Chad to apologize, would you come back?"

"Zora…" Sonny paused, really thinking about her answer, "I can't promise I'll come back. But I'll think about it." That was safe enough, considering they'd never get Chad to apologize.

"Alright! Thanks Sonny," Zora hung up so fast that Sonny barely had a chance to say "Welcome."

A/N: I know this is really short and seems kind of random, but the next bit is going to be pretty long and the story broke well here. So, I'm really sorry. I'm hoping to have the next bit up in the next couple of days though, so don't be too sad.

Please, please, please review! As much as I enjoy seeing that you've added my story to your alerts or favorited my story or whatever, that doesn't tell me a whole lot, other than you think it's halfway decent enough to come back to. Please leave a review no matter how short it is. I promise you'll make my day! =)

Alright, that's enough rambling for now. Have a nice day! =)

~Laure