Hey, don't hate Chad now, come on. Bear with me.

Yikes...I guess it's true, I can't have a good story without making it tragic at some point...at least I approached it differently this time!

MakeMeCrazier - your review made me "LOL".

Zoezora - Yeah, the whole double alert thing...I had accidentally posted the chapter without taking all the previous ones out of the document. Don't worry, the site's not spazzing and you aren't either :)

WARNING: the following part of this authors note contains nothing pertaining to SwaC
Joker236 - Alright, I definitely wouldn't go THAT far. Ephira? That's pretty bad. And hah...the Sphinx is such a joke. I have no respect or fear for him. We all know he's going down. Oh, and don't worry; I'll finish this story before I try to go see Raxtus. And I found an easy way in: first I have to get into the Inkworld and once I get my hands on Meggie, it's Fablehaven time! And if she decides not to help me out, I'll settle for the firedancer.

Sonny

My mom had still not been over the whole Chad and me thing when I set off that morning. I assumed that was quite normal maternal behavior in the situation I had recently fallen into. To be honest, I don't think I could ever trust my daughter again if she neglected to tell me about a sleepover at a guy's house…speaking hypothetically, of course. Like I told my mom: nothing happened. No daughter in this picture.

Tawni and I had just had another fight, to make things worse. How come Chad was the core of all this? Poor guy…he was probably getting an earful from her right now. I'd told her there was nothing she could say to him to break us up and she had gone out to try to prove me wrong.

I sat awkwardly in the dressing room. It was too quiet without Tawni constantly complimenting herself.

My eyes flickered to the vanity. The lights were on and various brushes were laid neatly beside each other from smallest to biggest. Tubes of lipstick were expertly arranged by shade. Cases of eye shadow were stacked beside blush. Beside this were a few containers each of concealer and mineral powder, and on the side of the table closest to the door was a plastic drawer filled with eyeliner in different shades of blacks, grays, and browns, along with multiple colors of mascara.

I got up and peeked around the door, shutting it quietly and slipping into the inviting chair by Tawni's cosmetics.

I put on every color, just for fun, laughing at how ridiculous I looked with orange and metallic blue mascara. I tugged down the scarves and headbands dangling from the corners of the mirror and wrapped each one around my neck, waist, or head.

The door burst open so suddenly I went numb for a second, then fumbled with Tawni's scarves and shoved them in the sofa cushions. By the look on her face, however, she wouldn't have noticed.

"You look perplexed," I stated casually, my arm still between the cushions.

"Sonny, I need to tell…are you wearing my Aquamarine Mermaid Princess #30 mascara?" she asked.

"Uh…maybe?" I said, shifting awkwardly and taking my hand from between the cushions. "But…what did you need to tell me?"

"Chad's cheating on you!"

I stared at her a minute. "You really think that's gonna work on me, Tawni? Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about me and Chad. Really I am…"

"I'm not making this up! Sonny, I saw him! This blonde chick was like, on top of him and they were making out!"

I crossed my arms. This was going to far. "Tawni, please, I said I was sorry. Feel free to look the other way because you are not scaring me away from Chad. I'm pretty sure I…love him."

Tawni gave a desperate sigh and dug her fingers into her hair. "Don't say that because he doesn't love you! He said 'don't tell Sonny' and then he kissed her! When I left three seconds later they were still sucking face!"

"Okay, who exactly was this?"

"It was some girl with bleached hair with purple streaks and she had…" Tawni shuddered as she said, "snakebites."

What the heck! How far was she willing to go? "Who told you about Vivi Violence? And now I know you're lying! Vivi went with her friends to follow some band on tour! She's not supposed to be back for months!"

"Who told you that? Chad? Because he obviously lied!"

"Shut up, Tawni! He did not! Look, I know you recently broke up with your boyfriend, but I'd appreciate if you stopped trying to ruin romance for me!"

"Fine! Don't believe me! I am perfectly okay with that. But I know what I saw. If you want to keep pretending and get your heart broken, that's fine. Let's just go along with rehearsal and pretend you're not as stupid as you really are!"

---

What if he was cheating on me? Was I prepared for this? Oh, come on, I didn't really believe Tawni.

Before my knuckles touched the door, it opened and before I knew what was going on I was being held in a crushing embrace with my feet not even touching the floor. "Sonny, it's been so long! Well, like, a day, but still it feels like it's been forever!" He set me down and held my arms at my sides, looking deep in my eyes. Cheated, huh? "I'm so sorry I didn't call! My phone is being a spaz and I can't really get a new one…"

"Oh! Right, I completely forgot about that." I stood beside him and slid my hand into his. "No worries. I know you love me."

The whole time I was with him, my cuddling and giggling and talking was all half-hearted. I second-guessed the depth in Chad's blue eyes.

"How do you feel about Disneyland?" he was asking now.

"Oh my gosh, I love it there! But I've only been once."

His eyes widened mirthfully and he smiled. "One time? So you didn't even go when you first moved here?"

"I haven't had the time!"

"Well, make some and come with me this weekend!" he cheered, squeezing my hand and nuzzling my cheek.

"Just us? The two of us?"

He sat up straight and looked at me puzzledly. "Well, yeah. Of course! Why not? I mean, you're my girlfriend and I love you!"

"Chad," I said shakily, not positive I was so sure of myself anymore. "I think I love you, too. But honestly, how long have we known each other? Like really known each other?"

His expression was hard to figure out.

"Chad…are you cheating on me?"

His eyes grew wide now with shock, his jaw dropping in disbelief. Then his expression changed to guilt, and he closed his eyes and exhaled hugely, pinching the bridge of his nose.

My eyes brimmed with tears. "I knew it! I didn't want Tawni to be right…"

"Sonny, I'm not cheating on you!"

"Then what was with that? That, just now! Tell me the truth, Chad! Are you cheating or aren't you?"

"Look! Vivi came back because she still likes me. I tried to convince her not to but I couldn't keep with my argument because our phone died. She took me by surprise and started kissing me and I thought it was you!"

"Last time I checked, my hair wasn't sickly white—"

"Sonny, just—let me finish! She blindfolded me from behind. I didn't know it was her until I felt the uh…lip piercings. I felt so bad, Sonny. I didn't want it to be happening."

I tried to smile, but then something worse occurred to me. "Chad, you're lying!"

"I don't know what you want me to say, Sonny! I told you the straight truth!"

"Tawni said you said 'don't tell Sonny'."

Chad's eyes stared at me for a minute and then dropped. "That's…that's true, too. After I found out it was her she tried to persuade me to kiss her again."

I reached out to slap him but he caught my hand.

"You didn't see her face, Sonny! She looked so…sad, so desperate! And her boyfriend had just recently slept with her best friend, for crying out loud. She needed something!"

"But where is she now? I mean, she can't've driven all the way here by herself and all the way back to wherever the tour is, right?" I bet he was hiding her in his room.

He shrugged, looking annoyed. "I dunno, I don't like her back!"

"Then why did you kiss her back?!"

He opened his mouth a couple of times but shut it right back up.

I left.

In tears.