Title: Pool Party, or Scars and Secrets
Author: Starsgirls
Fandom: Sonny with a chance
Characters: Zora and Mandy (The girl on the show before Sonny).
Genre: Friendship
Summary: Zora reveals a secret and gains a new friend in the process.
Disclaimer: I don't own SWAC or anything else in the story that you recognize
A/N: Okay folks, here it is. The big reveal. How many guessed this as the story behind the scars?
A/N 2: This chapter switches POVs a lot. I was the best way I could think of to tell the story. I'll try to keep it as clear as possible
ZPOV
By the next day at lunch, pool party excitement had yet to calm down. All morning it had been who's going, who's wearing what, what food are they serving, what music will they play, and any other little party detail you can think of. My cast mates were so excited about the party that no one really noticed my lack of enthusiasm as it related to said event. It was kind of nice not having to make up another excuse for not going, but it still stinks being left out.
Anyway, the morning passed rather quickly with several rehearsals for new sketches, some of which I was needed in. Which was nice. It gets really boring around here sometimes. Anyway, at about 12:30, Marshall finally decided to call a lunch break. This, of course, resulted in him being nearly trampled by a stampede of about 30 starving people, both cast and crew alike. Marshall wasn't knocked over, but he's really gotta learn to get out of the way. Lunch breaks are serious business around here.
After we received our oh so delicious entrées (cold, slimy pasta salad. Not really a favorite of mine) my cast mates and I sat down at our usual table. All four of them were still chattering on and on about that pool party thing. I, on the other hand, am just concentrating on my food and trying to ignore what's going on around me.
Nico's voice interrupts my thoughts. "Yo, Zora, you going to the party or not?"
I look up at Nico, my eyes glaring blazes toward him. "I told you, I can't go."
Tawni smiles, suddenly interested in this new conversation. "Why not? Is it because you can't swim, or something?"
By, now, I have completely had it. I've already told them I can't go. That should be enough. "I just can't go okay!" I yell. "My reasons should be none of your business!" With that, I stand up and run headlong out of the room.
MPOV
I'm shocked that Zora would run out of the room like that. If it is because she can't swim, that's really not a big deal. I mean, it could be, but not really. There must be some other reason. Anyway, she had a point, if she doesn't want to attend the party; it's her problem, not anybody else's. Still, I wonder if she's okay…
My mind made up, I stand up and follow the younger girl out of the commissary.
I make it to the door of our studio, before I realize I've lost her. Zora is pretty good at hiding, so this might take a while. My first stop is the prop house.
I look in the photo booth, knock on the sarcophagus, nothing. She really must not anyone to find her.
There's one more place I can look. The one place I hoped I didn't have to: The Vents. Well, here goes nothing. I open the vent cover in the prop house. Once I'm inside, I crawl through a few yards of vent before I come upon Zora's secret hideout.
ZPOV
Of course I would head to the vent system. Whenever I want to just be alone, that's where I go. No one else would dare to come up here. They know it's my place. I hope my friends feel bad enough. Why couldn't they just leave it alone? My reasons and my secrets are my business!
My train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the wall of the vent. Mandy. I can tell it's her without even looking up.
"What do you want?"
"I wanted to make sure you were okay. You were looking kind of upset." Mandy points out.
I turn to face her. "So?"
"In fact you've been acting weird for the past two days. I know it has something to do with the pool party, and I was just wondering if you would like to maybe talk about it?"
Of course she was. But, maybe it was a good idea. Mandy was our newest cast member, joining just 3 months ago. She was pretty new to the whole "showbiz" thing and a pretty good secret keeper. So, here it goes.
"Okay, do you really, really want to know my reason?"
"Of course."
"This is something I haven't told anyone. It really is my biggest secret. Promise you won't tell?"
Mandy nods, taking a deep breath.
I take a deep breath of my own and slip off my sweatshirt, revealing my arm and all it's glory underneath. I turn my face toward her to watch her reaction.
MPOV
I'm shocked when I see the mass of scarred flesh running down Zora's right arm. I'm even more shocked when she slips the hem of her T-shirt up to display a similar sight on her stomach. It's hard not to let my reaction show; after all it's pretty bad. But I know the last thing this girl wants is pity. Looking at the scars in awe, I muster up the courage to ask one question.
ZPOV
I'm impressed; Mandy doesn't seem disgusted at all. That's more than some people can say.
I hear her say in a soft voice, "How did this happen?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story. It happened about 5 years ago when my family was on a camping trip. See, my family used to really love to go camping and backpacking. Every year, before school started, we took this big weeklong trip up to the mountains. So it was my parents, Aurora, our middle brother Trojan, and me. We're there for about 3 days, and things are going fine. Mom started some hamburgers over the fire and Rory's supposed to be watching them, right? So I come along, just wandering around and Rory decides to just be kinda funny. She takes one of our soccer balls and throws it at me. Hoping I'll catch it, right? She throws it a little too hard and I run backwards trying to catch it. This results in me tripping over a box and falling right side first into the campfire."
Now Mandy looks horrified. "Oh, my gosh! How terrible."
I nod. "Yep."
"So what happened?"
"Well, once I hit the fire pit, I remember there being this burning, searing pain in my arm and side. It felt like I was there for hours, but in reality it was just a few seconds before Trojan was able to pull me out. The first thing he did was to open the cooler and stick my arm inside to cool it off. The shock of the temperature difference, in some ways, felt worse than the burn. The burning stopped, though, so that was good. My parents and Trojan took me to the local hospital. It was about a 45-minute drive. Not too bad. Trojan was one of those extreme boy scouts and before we left, he had my arm and side bandaged up real good with ice packs and everything. "
"What about Rory? I sure she must have felt awful. Did she go with y'all?"
"Nah. My parents were too mad at her. They left her there with instructions to pack everything up and wait till they cam back from the hospital. Anyway, the four of us waited in the emergency room for about an hour before they could see me. A five-year-old burn victim gets through pretty quick, you know. I had two surgeries and was in the hospital for about three weeks before I could come home. I recovered nicely except for the humongo mega-scar that you see here. End of story."
"Not really," Mandy points out. "If my sister pushed me into a fire, I'd hate her guts. Did you really forgive Rory that fast?"
"Not really, " I reply. "I went through a period of hate and anger for about 2 months before forgiving her. The incident was an accident and she felt pretty bad about it. I'd probably say it brought us closer together more than anything. Not just me and Rory, but Trojan too. My mom says we're the only teenagers she knows who actually like being around their siblings. I mean, when I moved down here, there was absolutely no question or doubt that Rory would take me in. We're that close."
"That's so cool." Mandy says. "It was a horrible thing, but good came out it."
I nod. "Yup. You have to promise me something though. As far as you know, the scars I showed you don't exist. Can you imagine the field day Tween Weekly, Sharona, and other guys would have over it?"
MPOV
"So that's why you can't go, huh? I ask. "I wish there was something I could do, but what is there? Except for those wet suit things, there's not really any swimsuit you could wear that covers it up. Unless… what about those things, the surfer's shirts. Some of them are long sleeved, ever thought about that?
Zora looks at me like I'm insane. "You're kidding right? I show up in one of those things with every other girl in a bikini? No, nuh uh. Not gonna happen." She shakes her head empathetically.
"Not every girl, Zora. There's no way I'm wearing a bikini. If I wore one of those shirts, would you?"
"Maybe." The younger girl says slowly. "I do want to go to the pool party. You would do that?
I nod. "Of course, we're friends right?"
She breaks out into a huge grin. "Definitely! Come on, If we're both going, the two of us have some shopping to do."
I laugh and follow Zora out of the vent; glad she's feeling better.
A/N: What do you think? Sorry it was kind of long, but I had to get a lot in there. I'm thinking about doing one more chapter to finish it, so stay tuned