Chapter 8: What's With Nico?

Aaron and Tawni's date was a success, but what I found hilarious was that Tawni actually thought Aaron and I were secretly dating each other. She said, "Well, you two were sneaking out like after lunch together, and then you guys have like codes that no one else in the room understood. I didn't know you two were planning a way for Aaron to ask me out!"

Geeze, first Chad thinks I am dating Aaron…and now Tawni; what's with the blondes this week? No offense.

Well, now it's my last day at Hollywood…well until my vacation ends in three months. So, I need to make my performance with live audience the best it can be because the fans deserve that, being flexible with changing the date of the show and all.

So, I'm parking my car into my reserved spot at 2:15 pm (a little later than usual because live shows start at 5 o'clock, and we still need to do one last rehearsal before it starts), and I see Chad entering Studio 3, So Random!'s studio, through my rear view mirror. I scrunch my eyebrows together with confusion.

I leave the car and follow him, but he is already like forty feet ahead of me. To catch up, I power-walk my way, and I sneakily stalk him—ew, stalking seem so creepy—so I sneakily followed him. He turns a left and I turn a left. He turns a right, I turn a right. Finally, he stops, and I hide behind the nearest corner. Chad is in front of Marshall's office, and I wonder why he is even talking to Mama's Boy Marshall.

Chad looks around to see if there is anybody looking, and I flinch back when he looks my direction, fortunately, he didn't see me. He knocks on the door. I hear the door open and I hear Chad's steps moving inside.

"Marshall, I need a favor—" I hear right before the door closes shut into privacy.

I huff in defeat to turn to leave because I obviously loss the battle of eavesdropping. I walk down the hallway, and I suddenly see Nico heading to the place where I was just leaving.

"Hey, Nico, you shouldn't even bother!" I call out. "Marshall is already talking with Chad."

I think Nico took a quick misstep. "What?" Nico exclaims, sounding oddly afraid. "I mean…why is Chip even talking to Marshall?" Nico says, returning back to normal.

I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know," I say. "I think he was asking Marshall for a favor."

"Lemme check this out," Nico says. "Oh, and Tawni is asking for you." Nico points his thumb behind him, implying that Tawni is in the Prop House.

"Okay, thanks, see ya'!" I say to Nico, walking straight ahead to the Prop House.

I walk ahead thinking how awkward Nico has been nowadays. It is probably the song he is writing for Chastity, but I don't know…it could be any girl. I mean I already learned that everything is not what it seems; for example: me dating the star of the rival show. Example 2: Mel asking out Grady. Example 3: Aaron liking Tawni.

I enter the Prop House and I see Aaron and Tawni sitting on the couch just talking to each other with his arm encircling her right above her shoulders. Their eyes shot up as they hear my footsteps disrupt their moment.

"Sorry, you guys, but Nico told me that you needed something," I say, looking at Tawni.

Tawni scrunches her eyebrows. "No, I didn't tell Nico anything. You know what's weird? I never see Nico anymore, he's acting a lot like Zora, now."

I shrug. "I don't know maybe he feels alone especially now that Grady has Mel."

"I find it hard to believe that Grady has a girlfriend before Nico," says Tawni. "I mean they're both doofuses, but Nico actually has good style."

"Hey, Tawni," Aaron says warningly. "Remember be nice to people!"

"Okay, Aaron," Tawni says giggly. That was disgustingly cute, but I guess Aaron is good for Tawni; he'll teach Tawni to be a better person.

"Okay, well, we should all head down to set," I say. "Rehearsals are in five."

"Okay," they say and with that we leave toward set.

Still walking to set, Mel and Grady joins us. And then comes Marshall and Nico. Finally, Zora, who has just happened to have a tarantula in her hands, swings by. The whole So Random! crew is here to get ready to rehearse for the final episode for the season.

And we begin to rehearse. After three hours of running lines and going through the actions, it is show time. Fans are already filling up the seats in the bleachers bubbled over with excitement.

Backstage, all the couples are sharing intimate good lucks, while Nico, Zora, and I are awkwardly standing next to each other, allowing them their privacy. I sneak a peek through the curtains and I see all the people in the audience; I immediately become nervously excited.

I turn away from peaking through the curtains to see all my costars looking at me with worry and concern.

"What's wrong," I ask.

"Chad," they all say, and it broke me.

"C-Chad?"

"He's here," Aaron says.

"Right behind us," Grady adds.

"With flowers," Tawni says.

"And chocolates," Mel continues.

"With a leather jacket," says Zora.

"And a surprise," Nico responds softly. "You should talk to him."

Author's Note: I'm going to update the next chapter ASAP! I'm going to try to finish this story with two more chapters! :D Please review, too! Thank you for reading! - Quite the Imagination