AN: Ugh. This is horrible. My worst chapter yet, in my opinion. I felt I was slacking with the whole writing thing lately, and I haven't updated in a few days. Nothing really happens in this, at all. It's just to hold you over for the REAL drama in the next chapter. But really, I'm sorry. This is actually a whole 1,000 words less than what I usually write. Horibbleness.
I looked around at the familiar setting. I was standing under the large oak tree directly in front of Condor Studios. I could hear teenage casts from shows talking loudly, excited that it was finally Friday. Among the chaos, I spotted my younger self, smiling and talking into my cell phone. I watched with that sinking feeling in my gut as my 15-year-old self walked through the crowded cafeteria and to the prop house, which was surprisingly quiet and secluded. An involuntary tug forced me to follow my former self. "You're crazy, but I love you," my 15-year-old self said into the phone with a smile.
The next thing I knew, I saw my former self in the passenger seat of Chad's old silver convertible. Chad and I were laughing and joking and having the best time ever. The sound as the laughter died and the squeal of the tires followed by the sickening crunch of metal still made my stomach place I was now was brightly lit and smelled like bleach. The fluorescent lights reflected off the white walls in an almost blinding way. I sat there in the waiting room chair, moderately surprised that no one else was there for me. Where were they? Did they not care? I looked up as a doctor approached a young girl who had somehow sneaked in without me noticing. "Zora?" I whispered. She did not hear me. "Your friend had been stabilizing, but her heart rate began to drop rapidly. We did everything we could to revive Sonny, but in her current condition her body was too weak to fight."Zora rolled her eyes. "It doesn't even matter. I only came because my friends made me. They said it would 'look weird' if no one came." she shrugged, as if that was the weirdest idea in the universe.
The doctor nodded. "She wasn't a very good addition to So Random, was she?"
My heart was screaming without a sound as Zora nodded in agreement. "I don't know what Marshall was thinking." she commented before she left the hospital.
It was a small funeral, only a dozen family members and close friends from Wisconsin. Chad was at the front of this group, telling jokes and laughing with everyone. My casket sat in front of the tiny crowd, while I stood at the outskirts of everyone, still invisible. I looked around for my mom. Surely she would care. She wouldn't be joking and laughing. She would be crying. Why had I let Chad do this to me? Why had I gotten into his car? Why did I have to die while Chad didn't have a scratch on him?
"Mom?" I shouted, wanting to embrace her and tell her that I'm right here and I'll never leave her. "Mom!" I tried again. Then, I decided to open the casket. "Mom." I squeaked out, horrified at the lady inside. She looked as if she had been beaten up and ran over.
"How?" I asked myself.
"Don't you get it?" I heard an uncaring voice come up behind me, causing me to jump. "Chad?" I turned around. His blue eyes taunted me.
He laughed. "Get what?" I asked.
I looked around the room and noticed that everyone else had disappeared. "What?" I asked again, starting to get a little more than frightened.
Without warning, I felt a hot sting coming from my left cheek. Chad Dylan Cooper had slapped me. Hard. Tears sprung to my eyes and my mascara started running. "You could feel that?" he asked. "I'm surprised. I thought you were dead."
Dead?
I looked back into the casket. Now, instead of my mother being in it, it was me.
I was dead.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, I groaned as I rolled over to hit the obnoxious alarm clock that dared to interrupt my sleep. It had been the best rest I had gotten in…I couldn't even remember when. Still, I was half asleep. Glancing at the clock again, I sighed to myself. Who sets an alarm clock for a random time such as 5:27A.M.? It was still dark, with just a peek of dark blue light shining from the window. The birds had just begun to start tweeting, but I could hear crickets chirping at the same time.
Trying to ignore the distracting noises, and shake off the temptation of trying to analyze what my newest nightmare meant, I closed my eyes and tried to drift back off to sleep. Right when I was on the edge of consciousness, about to take comfort in dreamland again, the door shot open.
"Why aren't you up?!" a male voice yelled at me.
"Hmm?" I moaned, half asleep yet again.
"You think I like taking the time to set your alarm clock, and then having to come wake you up too? Who am I, your mom?"
"Five more minutes, Mommy." my hoarse voice pleaded tiredly.
When I didn't hear a response, I took that as a yes, and started to allow myself to fall asleep again.
I felt a rush of cold wind shoot through me. I huddled to keep myself warm, and reached to grab a blanket with a free hand. I grunted in frustration when I patted around for a few seconds and felt nothing. Finally, I decided to open my eyes. Chad Dylan Cooper stood above me, with the blanket balled up in his arms. He rolled his eyes at my confusion.
"Why did you snatch my blanket? I'm tired. Give it back." I demanded.
"No."
"Why not?" I whined.
"You have work to do."
"Chad, come on. It's five-thirty in the morning!"
"I know what time it is, Sonshine."
I smacked my head with my right hand in annoyance. At first, all I could think about was how much I hate Chad Dylan Cooper for depriving me of my sleep. Then, my memory came back to me. I was working. This was my job. My first day. And so far, I wasn't making a good impression. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and yawned. "Sorry."
He dropped my comforter back onto the bed. He still looked mad at me. For a split second, I expected him to slap the crap out of me like he had in my latest oh-so-fun-dream. "Your list of things you have to do for the day is on the dresser," he said roughly, instead of accepting my apology. "I'm leaving, but I expect all of it to be done by the time I get back. These are your normal chores. Tomorrow, I'm not gonna leave you a list. So you better have it memorized. If one day I do leave you a list, it won't be your daily chores. It will be extra things I expect to be done. Is that clear, Sonshine?"
"Yes, sir!" I saluted him. My perkiness and willingness to joke was a bit of a shock to me. First of all, I hadn't been silly in at least two years. Second of all, the sun wasn't even up yet. Third, I was ready to collapse. And fourth, it was Chad. He was the reason my humor died in the first place.
He laughed. "Now that's the attitude I expect from you."
I was displeased that I had pleased him. I definitely needed to step up the disrespect. I couldn't make him think I enjoy the idea of working for him or anything.
"See you later, Sonshine." he said while sliding out of the door.
I was eager to see what I had to do for the day, but I had to put my priorities in order. Number One: get rid of this awful morning breath.
Once that was taken care of, I went to my gigantic closet to fish out an outfit for the day, to put on as I read the ridiculously long list.
1. Wash porch.
2. Pick lint off of carpet.
3. Count how many socks are in my drawer.
4. Polish outdoor wooden furniture.
5. Wash dishes by hand. Towel dry.
6. Make my bed.
7. Clean my room.
8. Water flowers.
9. Dust. Everything.
10. Clean kitchen.
11. Clean everything.
Extra:
Go through the house and make a list of other things you need to clean. I didn't feel like going through EVERYTHING. I mean, I'm Chad Dylan Cooper. I have a life.
Enjoy.
Hugs,
CDC
Hugs? Really, Chad, really?
This list. Is. Ridiculous.
Then again, Chad Dylan Cooper is the definition of ridiculous.
I hate you Chad.
I hate my life.
I hate the world.
I could faintly hear the sound of the downstairs door leading to outside clicking, signaling to me that Chad Dylan Cooper has left the building.
I sighed to myself in relief. I was alone.
This whole situation was extremely ironic. Here I was, glad to be alone, in the place where I was first cursed to spend the rest of my life by myself.
I wanted to get things done as soon as I could. Starting with Chad's bedroom.
As soon as I opened the door, I regretted it. It was completely different than in my memory. I remembered it being cleaner than any other girl's room in America. Now, it was completely trashed, as if he had a party with five-hundred people in that medium sized room. I could barely even make out what color carpet he had. And the smell, don't even get me started on the smell. My immediate reaction was to cover my nose with my hand and squeeze my nostril with two fingers to protect myself. It was some sort of weird mixture of rotten fish with the odor of alcohol.
First thing's first: air freshener.
I made my way down the fluffy spiral staircase. Chad didn't tell me where everything was, so I guess I'd have to figure it out on my own.
Ding, ding, ding…ding ding ding ding! The doorbell rang fiercely. Whoever was outside the house of Chad Dylan Cooper, definitely had a problem with patience. "I'm coming, gosh!" I yelled, expecting it to be Chad who forgot his keys or something idiotic and Chad-like as that.
I swung the door open to reveal a five-foot-four twenty-something year old. She was absolutely positively gorgeous, with her curly blonde hair cascading down her shoulders, thin figure, and glamorous designer clothing. She had finally gotten the hang of not over-dressing, apparently. Her popping light green eyes stared at me in disgust and shock. I glared back with the equal amount of emotion.
Reading a million magazines and articles all about the queen of Hollywood would still have not prepared me for this meeting.
"Tawni?"