Thank you so much for your reviews.
As I am sure you are all unfortunately aware, classes do not stay as easy as they start in the first week. Due to this, I may try to end this story by next week, because I really don't need another distraction. But no worries; I'll make it good. I'll not tarnish my reputation by rushing this story; I shudder at the thought.
You'll know when it's the end; I'll tell you. I don't want to say the chapter will be titled "the end", because even as I contemplate doing so I wonder if it would make a good title for a future chapter which is not, in fact, the end. I'll tell you in an author's note, and my story's status will read: "Complete".
Chad
Sedulous? What the hell does that mean? I wondered as I blearily stared at the script before me, attempting to stifle a yawn. The rest of my cast mates were as lifeless and it was eerily silent.
"Who wants to just…skip this today?" I said. Portlyn looked up at me with eyes surrounded by a ring of purple, and rolled them, nodding feebly with the rest of the cast as they started to disperse.
I caught Skyler by the arm and he looked at me with stifled surprise. "Don't do anything stupid," I said, watching the thought graze over his vacant expression. Well, at least I wouldn't have to keep him in line; he'd probably fall asleep the moment he stepped out the door. He looked awful.
Looking around me to see if anyone was paying particular attention, I made my way as casually as I could off the set and down towards the set of So Random! to see if my girlfriend was having any trouble with rehearsal. Evidently she wasn't, because she was wearing a mirthful smile (quite contrary to Tawni's expression) as she dropped her script, squealed, and launched herself into my arms.
"Wow, you don't need a lot of sleep to function," I mumbled. It took a lot of energy to both hold Sonny upright and move my lips. "How's rehearsal going?"
"Well, Tawni's downright depressing but…I just had such a good time last night, nothing can dampen my spirits!" she said over-cheerfully.
I raised an eyebrow, holding her at a distance so I could look her up and down. Her hands were twitching and her smile wasn't going to quit. Before she could deduce that I was suspecting what I did, I pulled her close to me and kissed her without hesitation, pulling away sharply. Sure enough, on her breath was the potent taste and smell of "Rockstar Energy, Sonny? Really?"
She looked at me sheepishly and tried to kiss me again, but I turned my head quickly.
"Sonny, how many energy drinks have you had today?"
"Um…maybe two of them?" she squeaked quietly. My hands still on her, I craned my neck to see behind Sonny and spotted two empty cans cast to the side of the stage and a third, probably only half-drunk, perched on the Check It Out counter. "I wanted to be awake for rehearsal…" she quickly defended.
"Sonny, that's so dangerous!"
"It's not like I do it every day!"
"No, one would have been enough," I finalized, marching up to the stage and giving Tawni the Hollywood smile-and-nod as I passed her on the way to Sonny's unfinished poison—I mean, beverage of doom—um, energy drink.
As I determinedly made for the doors, picking up the two other discarded cans on the way, I was blocked by Sonny. "Please, Chad? Just let me finish that one!"
"What are you, an energy drink addict all of a sudden?" I said rhetorically, striding ahead of her and pushing a set of double doors out of my way. I was momentarily set back by the harsh wind, and my abrupt halt caused Sonny to collide with me, sending the drink sloshing towards my shirt. I stepped back just in time to see the fizzing liquid cascade over the sidewalk curb, and whirled around to face her. "Watch it!"
"Chad, no, I'm not addicted!" she said stubbornly, receiving a scoff in reply as I continued to round a corner hugging the building. "No, really! I just…kinda…spent ten bucks on that."
I stopped again, this time holding the can over the opening of a trash reciprocal just in time for my prediction to carry out. It slipped from my hands and landed with a clunk, and I gave Sonny a disapproving sideways look as I dropped the other two in after it.
"You spent ten dollars on an energy drink."
"Well…"
Before I could give her another reproachful look, something started batting around at my ankles. I looked down to see my face.
My face and Sonny's, to be exact, with hers right against mine. I picked up the magazine and was shocked to see the picture Vivi had taken, of Sonny and I lying on my soft bed, kissing, without my shirt. It had been cropped so only our torsos and up were visible. From the bottom right corner of the front page of Tween Weekly was a negatively connotative picture of Sonny at the party, with her red shirt revealing her navel. I assumed the picture had been taken mid-jump. To the left, in bold yellow letters reading something along the lines of a possibility of me being a bad influence on Sonny.
"This is so out of context!" she shouted in horror. "Well, there goes any hope of ever getting my mom to talk to me again!"
"I want to know who took this picture," I said simply, pointing at the one from the party.
Sonny looked at me in bewilderment, as if I had just brought up an irrelevant need to buy more dental floss. "Chad, anyone could have taken it. I mean, what teenager doesn't have a camera phone, at the very least?"
"No, a camera phone can't take a picture this good."
"Chad, what does it matter who took the picture?" she said impatiently. Whatever she was about to say, she never did, because a gust of wind from the other direction gave her a mouthful of her own hair and she tugged me back inside by the arm.
Once we were safe from the outside weather, she maintained a slower pace, a far-off look in her eyes. So I stopped, dropped the magazine where we were, and pinned her against the wall by her wrists, admiring the startled look in her eyes before I kissed her. I could feel her relax.
"Hey, stop worrying," I muttered briefly. She interlocked her fingers behind my back and pulled me against her body. The magazine seemed to have vanished from her mind. Mission accomplished.