Chapter Eleven

"This is unbelievable! I cannot go anywhere without the press following me!" Chad exclaimed as he paced around the living room in his penthouse suite.

"It's not that big of a deal," I said, trying to clam him down.

When he glared at me, I shut up. But only for a little while. "What about my problem? I think it's a much more…pressing issue. No pun intended."

"Yeah, yeah, stay here, whatever. But I need to know who took this picture," he said absentmindedly.

I was elated that he said I could stay, but only for a second. "Wait, what? Are you ashamed to be seen with me or something?" I accused, coming up in front of him.

"Well…no, but I'd rather not have people see us like this," he answered carefully.

I doubted his answer but let it go. "I need to change for school. I really don't have to go but you probably don't want to spend the whole day with me."

"Okay, you can have the punk room. Personally, I can't stand it, but hey, you're a guest, and guest's don't complain." As he led me out of the room, he tossed the newspaper with a picture of him and I kissing during our ice cream date onto the top of the piano.

"Whoa," I said out loud as I stepped into my room. It was a punk room. The walls were painted a deep purple. The bed was black and purple stripes, but other than that all the furniture was black. There was a lava lamp with purple "lava" in it, but other than that, the room was dark.

I thought the bedroom was weird but when I went into the connecting bathroom, I almost had a heart attack. There. Are. Fish. In. My. Bathroom.

The walls were painted a bright blue with seaweed and coral designs. The sink was clear, as well as the toilet. And they were both giant fish tanks. With real fish. It was kind of creepy and a lot different from the room, but I tried to ignore it as I took a shower and got ready to go to school.

After I was dressed, I walked out into the hallway, grabbed my book bag, and went into the kitchen to grab some water before I left.

The window had been opened and it was hot. I was dressed warmly, I guess because of the temperature in the suite and the fires going, so I ran back to my room, changed into a shorts and a t-shirt, and ran out the door.

"Wait, Sonny," Chad called, sticking his head out of a room as I ran down the hall. "I'll drive."

"Are you sure? I didn't know you even knew how to drive," I said.

Five minutes later we were seated in the backseat of his limo.

"You've got to be kidding me. This is what you meant by drive me to school? I am not showing up like some spoiled rich kid. I want people to like me. I'm out," I said, opening the door and sticking a foot out.

"Wait, Sonny," Chad said. I looked at him, while I continued to get out of the limo. "Where are you going? Are you going to walk?"

"No. I do have a car, Chad. I'm driving. And you are not to follow me," I added, seeing as he was about to get out of the limo too.

Of course, being Chad, he didn't listen and stepped out anyway, waving the driver away. The driver happily obliged.

"Let me come with you. I'll find something to do while you're in school. And then we can do something. I'm not doing any interviews until tomorrow afternoon. I will be one unhappy actor sitting in the room all day with nothing to do."

"Room? Please, it's like a mansion stuffed into one floor of a building," I scoffed. But a part of me felt guilty, so I opened my big mouth. "Fine. I'll make you a deal, Chad. You find my car and I'll give you a ride."

Chad grinned and I leaned against the wall of the hotel to watch him struggle.

Two minutes later, he pointed to my car. "That one."

I gaped at him. "How did you know?"

"The plate."

"What?"

"The license plate, SORDMCM. It stands for So Random Cast Member. That, and the cow covered cell phone in the passenger seat."

I blinked, and then patted my pockets self-consciously. Darn, I did leave my phone in the car.

I didn't even know what the license plate was, or that it stood for anything. But CDC, aka 'best actor of our generation', or as we called him, 'best oblivious actor of our generation' managed to figure it out. That's just great.

"All right you win, hop in." I gave in with a sigh.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Good."

"No way am I doing this, I'm late enough as it is. C'mon." I got into the driver's seat with a scowl.

"Well somebody's got their thong in a bunch," Chad said happily as he buckled himself.

"I don't wear-never mind, I'm not talking to you."

I could feel Chad's satisfaction rolling off him in waves as we drove to school in silence.

"Okay," I said as I got out of the car. "What are you going to do for five hours?"

"Five hours? Whoa, wait a second. I didn't know that school-"

"Problem?" I asked him cheerfully.

"Nope," he said wryly. "I'll figure something out."

"Good." I smiled.

"All right. So meet me here at…" He studies his watch for a few seconds. "Three?"

"I guess so," I said, not really listening.

"Fine," Chad noted.

"Don't even, Chad. I'm leaving."

"Fine."

I rolled my eyes and started to walk into the building.

"Hey, wait, I'm sorry I'm being so annoying. Forgive me?" He held his arms out.

I nodded and hugged him.

As he turned away I whispered, "I will always forgive you."

I walked into school, going towards the front office, giving my name to the secretary.

"I wasn't supposed to be here today, but here I am. Anywhere you need me?"

The secretary looked relieved. "Well, there's an acting class where the substitute called in sick, and we can't find another replacement. If you could cover that…." She trailed off.

"Say no more just tell me what I have to do!" I said excited. The secretary handed me a thick folder.

"Here you will find the plans for today and how you are to go about teaching it. All of the student's information is in there too."

I thanked her and headed towards the classroom printed on the front of the folder.

I stood in front of the door in shock. These were not high school kids like I had thought, the oldest was probably thirteen. I was just going to have to wing it then. But I would have to loudly wing it, everyone was out of his or her seats and it sounded like a cafeteria.

"Okay, guys!" I called, stepping into the classroom. The noise dropped, but was still loud. "All right!" I said, even louder, crossing the floor to stand in front of the teacher's desk. "I need to look over the lesson plan. I want you all in your seats, now, and you-" I gestured to a girl dressed in jeans and a graphic tee, "take attendance." I handed her a sheet lying on top of the mountain of papers.

All the kids sat down (well mostly slouched) and were silent as I leaned against the desk and read through the plans and I grew more excited as I read.

"Okay, I am super excited to get to do this lesson," I said. I saw a girl raise her hand in the back. "Yes? Tell me your name first," I asked.

"Maddy. Are you Sonny from So Random?"

I nodded. "Uh huh."

"Cool!"

This started a buzz in the room, but as soon as I opened my mouth, it stopped. Nice.

"This lesson plan is awesome. You guys are gonna go on a little field trip with me today…" I said mysteriously.

Another round of voices filled the room and a guy in the front row raised his hand slightly. I nodded.

"Are you going to tell us where?" he asked. Everyone was attentive, I knew he was the silently decided asker of a question everyone wanted to know.

"It's a surprise," I said, grinning. But leave your stuff, and anyone who needs to go to the bathroom or get a drink, go now." Ten people filed out into the hallway.

When everyone was back, I started again. "All right, it says put yourself into groups of no less than four but no more than eight," I said, studying the paper and waiting as the students shuffled around and talked excitedly while they reformed into groups.

"Now you have to follow we and listen to whatever I say, or else we have to come straight back, okay?" The kids nodded furiously. "Then away we go!"

The students were on their perfect behavior, only going slightly out of line as they whispered excitedly. I led them outside, and down several blocks.

I stopped on one corner. "Go to it guys!"

They stared. "Um, what exactly are we going to?" a girl asked.

"Your assignment…" I paused for dramatic effect. "Is to improvise. You need to stand on this corner, with your groups and improvise skits and stuff. Place one of these," I handed each group a bucket, "in front of you. Hopefully, if people like what you are doing, they will drop money into the bucket. The money will go towards your end of the semester amusement park field trip."

Cheers filled the corner. "But," I cautioned, "do not stop acting to thank the people. If you really want, incorporate it into the skit. You have four hours to complete this task. Go!" The teams scurried around, trying to find the best spot on the corner.

Three hours later, I was taking a break on the street corner. Each group was doing fantastic, their buckets almost overflowing. I had joined every group at least once, which definitely helped the tips, but my feet hurt. And I was starving, it was 1:30 and I had only eaten a few eggs for breakfast.

"Listen up!" I shouted, motioning for all the groups to finish up and then come over. "I don't know about y'all, but I am starving. And I think you deserve a break. So let's go eat!" We gathered up our money pails and went to the nearest vendor. I ended up paying for every student to get a hot dog and a drink, but I didn't mind, these kids were awesome.

Twenty minutes later, we were back at it again, this time improvising with alphabet skits. One person has to say their line starting with A, the next person's line has to start with B and so on. If they mess up, they're out.

I walked pass the groups, pointing at people I heard mess up and they reluctantly went to go sit outside of the circle. I even joined in at one point, keeping groups moving as they struggled to get from P to Q to R.

All too soon it was 2:30 and we had to head back to school, dragging our now super-full buckets along behind us.

As soon as we got to the classroom, I let the kids chill for the next half hour, they had deserved it. But what I wasn't expecting as I put my feet up on the desk and took my favorite novel out of my bag was Nikki walking in.

"Hey!" I said, sitting up.

"Oh don't you 'hey' me. You wanna explain this to me?" She threw a copy of the paper onto the desk. I grinned.

"There's nothing to explain."

"But you're freaking living with Casey. And he's your boyfriend!" she whisper-shouted, just now noticing the class eavesdropping intently. Anyone who didn't know here would think the whole punk image would make this yelling thing a lot scarier than it actually was.

"Nope."

"What do you mean, no?" Nikki glared at me, turning her back on the class.

"No, I'm not dating Casey, I'm not even living with him anymore," I said, starting to snap. My cool was wearing off and my hackles were raised slightly. I breathed deeply and gave my friend a level stare.

"Well then where are you-" she paused. "Oh no, tell me you're kidding."

I grinned again. "I'm not kidding," I said, enjoying every last minute of this. "We drove together to school this morning and he's taking me on a date after school in about…" I glanced at my watch. "Ten minutes."

"Girl, you better go buy yourself a ladder before you go on that date."

"Why?" I asked.

"'Cause you're gonna need something to get yourself out of that deep hole you're digging."

I rolled my eyes. "I can take care of myself, thanks."

"Sure," Nikki called over her shoulder as she left. As soon as the door slammed shut behind her, the class got "involved" in their work, and didn't look up to the front of the room, which was fine by me. I needed time to think.

Ten minutes later, the bell rang, and the students all came up to me and said how awesome of a time they had and how much they loved having me as a sub before they filed out the door. I gathered up the plans, returned them to the office, and got my check, which I would happily deposit in my gift/Sonny's Mental Health day fund at the bank.

Then I went to go wait outside for Chad. Twenty minutes later, still waiting, so I go back inside to grab the giant cardboard box with all of the class earnings in it so I can count it. Twenty more minutes and 953 dollars later, still no Chad.

I give up and start walking to my car, when I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Chad?" I turn, my frown turning into a grin, which slides away as soon as I realize its Nikki.

"He didn't show, did he? Sonny, I'm so sorry," she said, pulling me into a hug, while I cried my eyes out. "C'mon," she said, coaxing me to my car.

"What about your ride?" I sniffled.

"I told Daniel to go home without me when I saw you walking by yourself. We had to stay after to help tutor some kids."

She pushed me into the passenger seat of my car and while she got into the driver's side, I triple/quadruple checked my phone. No texts, no calls, no nothing. Chad Dylan Cooper had officially stood me up.

review please, tell me what you thought! more soon :)