Disclaimer: I don't own Sonny with a Chance.

I've actually had this chapter written for nearly eleven months now, but it never got posted. Thank you to everyone who has continued to read this. It's not over yet.

I opened the locket, and the inside was engraved, "When all else fails, I'll try again." I shut it gently, clutching it for a moment before putting it back into its box. It was too much to take in right now, especially with all the mixed emotions I felt for him stronger than ever.

With a sigh, I tucked the small box into my pocket and pulled out my phone to call a cab, suddenly wishing I had never allowed Chad Dylan Cooper back in my life. It was time to face reality. I needed to make things up to my best friend.

…..

It was nearly two in the morning by the time I made it to Skylar's apartment, and the rational part of my brain told me I would be waking him up, but I was too drunk to take that into much consideration before I knocked loudly on his door, cringing as the sound echoed down the empty, dimly lit hall.

It was eerily quiet for a couple of minutes, and I shivered, wishing Skylar would hurry up and let me in. When there was no response, I knocked again, softer this time. There was nothing I could do but wait.

After what seemed like an eternity, I heard the door unlock and soon a droopy-eyed, disheveled Skylar peered out. When he saw me standing there, his eyes widened. "Sonny? What are you doing here?" It was too late in the night for him to muster up the proper amount of anger, so it was with a sigh he ran a hand down his face and opened the door to let me in.

The second I was inside, I turned to face him. Unfortunately, the combination of my klutziness and inebriation caused me to trip over my own feet, and I stumbled. Skylar caught me, scoffing. "Are you drunk? Sonny, it's two in the morning. What's going on?"

I sighed, straightening up and releasing his arms from around me. "I may have had a bit of tequila, yes. What's it to you? It's my birthday; I'm allowed to celebrate." Suddenly self-conscious, I looked down at my feet. I had spent my twenty first birthday completely alone. Not even my mom had remembered to call me. I was completely isolated, and it was my own fault.

Skylar let out an exasperated breath, leading me to the couch and ordering me to take off my shoes. A minute later, he returned with the sweats I always leave at his house and a request for me to go change. As I grabbed the clothes from him, I felt the first bit of shame creep up my neck and turn my cheeks a burning red. I hurriedly went to the bathroom, willing my face to return to its normal color.

It wasn't until I looked in the mirror that I realized what a mess I was. My makeup had smeared beyond repair, my face was thin and expressionless, and my eyes held no life. I had lost at least ten pounds in the past couple of months, and I constantly felt sick to my stomach. My fingernails had been chewed as far down as possible, and I had multiple cuts on my lower lip from biting it repeatedly. Nowhere in my reflection could I see the girl who had existed three months ago. Nowhere could I find any traces of who I was before.

I didn't want to look anymore. As quickly as I could, I changed into my sweats and washed the remainder of my makeup off. I didn't want to face Skylar again, but it would be worse to spend the rest of the night with this broken doll of a girl, so I let out a breath of air and walked back into the living room.

Skylar sat on the couch, two cups of steaming hot coffee on his table. When he realized I was back, he motioned for me to sit down. I took a seat at the edge of the couch, grasping one of the coffee mugs in my hands to warm them up. "You look like Hell, Sonny."

Startled, I looked up at him, realizing it had been silent for quite some time. "Thanks," I sighed, too tired to bite back any real response. Besides, it wasn't like he was wrong. "I can leave if you want me to. I know it's late, and I really have no right to barge in here and…" I trailed off, unsure what to say next. I seemed to have quite a short attention span tonight.

Skylar sighed, rubbing one of his eyes tiredly and giving me time to sort through my thoughts. When I never came up with anything, he finally added, "What changed your mind?" I must have looked confused, and he must have finally ran out of patience, because his next words were edgy, restrained. "Why did you suddenly decide to grace me with your presence? Chad got sick of you so you figured you'd come here and see if you could manipulate me into having sex with you, too?"

My jaw dropped. "I did not manipulate Chad into having sex with me!"

"Really? Because last time I checked, he was in a pretty serious relationship. Is that your thing now? You're not satisfied until your self-destructive actions have ruined someone's relationship? You're not happy until you've messed with people's heads? Well, I've got news for you, Sonny. You've already destroyed any chance I had of ever being happy." I opened my mouth, but he shook his head violently, so I shut it again.

"You told me you were in love with me. You told me someday things would be okay. You had the nerve to look at me with disgust when I told you about Brit! I didn't even do anything wrong, Sonny. You weren't showing any interest at me. How was I supposed to know you'd change your mind? I believed you about everything only to find the second you found something you didn't like about me you moved on to the next guy. Go to hell," he bit, standing up and moving to the door. "You need to leave."

"Skylar, stop," I protested, finally finding my voice. "I wasn't lying—."

"You know, this whole time I thought you were the victim?" he cut me off. "I thought it was Chad's fault you were so broken when I found you. But now I know the truth. He did it because he was protecting himself. You weren't worth it, Sonny." Skylar shut his mouth suddenly, breathing exasperatedly. "You're not worth my time."

I grabbed my clothes from earlier and shoved my shoes on, pushing past Skylar deliberately as I walked out. I was wrong to think we could fix things. I was wrong to believe him. "You said you would always love me. I guess you're a liar, too." I barely registered the shocked expression on his face as I stormed away, my blood pumping faster than it had in the past two months. For once, I was no longer cold.

…..

By morning, I was sober enough to feel the worst hangover of my life, and I spent the majority of the day in bed recovering. I didn't see the point in going to work. Who cared if my business tanked? There was nothing left for me here. If I didn't have a job, then I wouldn't have any attachments to this place anymore. I could leave. I could go somewhere no one knew who I was or what a traitor I had been to my only friend. I would no longer have to worry about babies, or friendships, or even keeping my life together. I would no longer have to feel guilty every time I walked into my bedroom or passed a picture of Skylar and myself.

I thought it over as I chewed on a cracker, not trusting myself to keep anything else down. I had enough money saved up from the other bars I owned to keep me going until I could find a different job somewhere else. I could have a new life. I could have a fresh start.

If that was all true, why hadn't I left sooner? I could've left town months ago, and I would have saved myself a lot of misery. It was with a pang I realized the reason I stayed is because a small part of me held on to the hope Skylar and I would work things out. Without that, I had nothing keeping me here.

I put down the cracker and went to my room, grabbing a duffel bag and shoving in as much clothing as I could fit. Within twenty minutes, I had most of my closet packed up and moved to throw my toiletries together. Moving took time, I knew, but I was determined to get as much done now before I had time to think about the flaws in this plan. It would have worked, too, except that when I picked my pants from yesterday off the floor, a small black box fell out.

Immediately, I plopped down on the floor, picking it up in astonishment. In the craziness of the night, I had nearly forgotten. Carefully, I lifted the locket out of its box, opening the clasp to read the message again. Just because I had lost Skylar's friendship didn't mean I had to lose Chad's, too. There was still time to fix this.

I jumped up, grabbing my keys and running to my car. I wasn't going to lose everyone I cared about in one day. I needed to find Chad. Now.

….

In less than twenty minutes, I was in front of Chad's house, nervously shifting from foot to foot, unsure of what to do now. What would I do if Brit answered the door? I didn't exactly want to see her, but what other choice did I have?

Tentatively, I knocked on the door. I didn't want a repeat of last night. The last thing I needed was another fight. I didn't know how much more I could handle. I wasn't doing as well as I thought I'd be.

It wasn't Chad who opened the door, but it wasn't Brit, either. Of all people, Skylar was the one who opened the door. I felt my jaw drop as I stared at him, a deer-in-the-headlights expression clearly plastered on my face. Whatever I had been expecting, it sure as Hell wasn't that.

"Umm…." I sputtered, wishing I could disappear at that moment. Nothing could be worse than this. I knew in Skylar's eyes it would feel exactly like I had gone to Chad because Skylar hadn't given me the time of day, which I hadn't. It didn't matter; it looked really, really bad from where I was standing.

I cringed, running a hand through my disheveled hair and trying my hardest not to look him in the eye. Neither of us said anything, and we stood there for who knows how long until Chad came to the doorway, took one look at the two of us, and coughed. "Well, this is awkward," he mumbled under his breath, and opened the door farther as if daring me to come in.

I might have left then and there if it hadn't been for the cocky glint in Chad's eyes. He knew exactly what was going on right now, and he wanted proof. He wanted to push me as far as he could, and I'm sure Skylar was here because he wanted Chad on his side. Things weren't looking great for me, but I would not let Chad win.

I turned my nose up in the air and walked in, tapping in to any and all courage I had left to remain calm and confident. I was glad I had at least taken a shower and gotten dressed this morning, or the situation would have been made fifty times worse by my vulnerability.

Chad shut the door behind him, saying something under his breath that sounded a lot like, "Let the games begin," but since I couldn't be sure, I just rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen."

Chad smirked, clearly enjoying the tension between us. "Oh my gosh, Skylar, I forgot. Why are you here again?" A devilish smile appeared and then, suddenly, "Right! We're supposed to get the paternity results today!" I didn't stand a chance. "You know, Sonny, because he probably knocked up my girlfriend and neglected to tell me about it." Well, at least I wasn't the only one Chad was angry with.

Skylar squirmed uncomfortably and met my eyes briefly, looking nearly as guilty as I felt. This was so ridiculous. Chad was playing us both, and we were falling right where he wanted us to be.

An uncomfortable thought occurred to me then, and since I didn't see how the situation could get worse, I decided to voice my thoughts. "Is that why you slept with me? To get back at Skylar?"

I was wrong. Before I could gloat over my victory, Chad bit back in a sickly sweet voice, "Oh, I'm sorry, Sonny. Is that not why you did it? To teach your boy toy a little lesson? I was under the impression you loved him and wanted your revenge." My stomach churned uncomfortably, the crackers I had eaten threatening to resurface. "Am I wrong?"

Chad cleared his throat, clearly satisfied with himself. "Not that this hasn't been super awkward and simultaneously enjoyable, but I have to go to work for a few hours. Please, make yourselves at home. I do ask, however, that in the unlikely event you two try to tear into each other again, you go into one of the guest rooms. I'd hate to get the couch dirty." He smiled, winking at me as he reveled in the tension he had intensified. "What's the big deal? It's not like Sonny's a virgin."

He barely ducked out of Skylar's right hook and shut the door behind him. I could hear him laughing all the way to his car, and then silence. I shifted uncomfortably and made up my mind. "Alright, well I'm going to go. Seeing as this is an unpleasant situation to begin with, I don't really need to make it any worse." I was almost out, my hand on the doorknob, when I heard it.

"Sonny?" If the house hadn't been so quiet, I might have thought I'd been imagining it. "You don't have to go."

I took a deep breath and turned around to face Skylar. He was biting his lip so hard I could see blood, and the look in his eyes reflected his fears and insecurities. He didn't want to say it, but he could really use a friend right now.

I almost left. After everything he had said yesterday, he might have deserved it, too. He had used my worst fears against me, and left me a drunken mess in the middle of the night. Friends, no matter how angry with each other, don't do that. Still, there was something in his eyes that made me reconsider. For a split second, he looked like the boy who'd helped me dig myself out of a hole nearly three years ago, and I couldn't leave that boy in a million years if I tried.

Silently, I walked over to him, keeping a safe distance away as a precaution. I didn't want to set him off with my presence. Instead, I took a seat on the couch, wishing I was anywhere but here right now. Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. Here I sat, with my best friend and worst nightmare ten feet away physically but a million miles away emotionally, waiting to find out if he would become a father. I've had better days.

Okay, so I also have the majority of the next chapter written, so hopefully it'll be ready to go and posted sometime relatively soon. Thank you for reading, and have a happy New Year! SMILES!

LOL