Chad' POV

"Fine." I heard her yell. I smiled.

"Fine." I repeated, knowing what she was going to say next.

"Good." She said, confirming my suspicions.

"Good." I finalized our conversations as I started to walk away from her and back to my dressing room. I could almost hear her smirking, thinking that she had won. We did that almost everyday, and it was something that I could actually look forward too.

It's been almost ten years since my father was murdered, and the anniversary of his death is next week. The only person that I can smile around at this time of year is my mother, and of course, the bubbly, always sunshiny, Sonny Monroe. She had bounded into my life eight months, and 23 days ago, wearing a fat suit and a wig.

I locked my dressing room door, made sure that the block on my vent was in place, and closed the shades on my window.

Grabbing my hair, I started to tug on it like I had a bad migraine, before I felt the wig come straight off. My longish black hair, about the same length of the blonde wig, fell down and I smiled into the mirror. I popped out my contact lenses, and my green eyes twinkled from behind my hair.

I had two hours before I had to do absolutely anything, and I never wanted to have my fake identity on for long, seeing as I felt like I was hiding my true self.

Many people think that I am conceited, and that is the reason why I don't want anyone touching my hair, but if they knew that I didn't want them to touch my hair because I have fake hair, then I would never live down the poparazzi.

I started to think about everything that I have accomplished since my father had died, and after I got through a very long list, I started to think about all of the close friends that I had made, and everyone that I had lost because of my cold attitude. The losses were huge, compared to the made friends, and, it made me cringe.

I was so cold to absolutely everyone that I met, because of something that happened ten years ago, and it hurt my soul, knowing that I was going to continue to be like this until the man that killed my father was caught and not a constant fear in my hectic life.

My head tilted to the side and I dozed off, thinking about that night…

Bang Bang Bang!

I jolted out of my dressing rooms' couch, scared out of my wits, immediately curling up into the fetal position, my head cringing away from the noise.

Tears formed in my eyes and I was about to say something, but I heard the nasaly voice of my co partner, Portlyn. "Chad, we're filming in 30 minutes, you have to come in for make-up and costume!" She said, loudly.

If there was only one thing that Portlyn did that was good for me was that she always knew my schedule and where I had to be, since I was constantly late.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," I replied, knowing that if I didn't answer, she would try to break open my door.

"I'll tell them that you have the lines memorized and that you'll be there in 5 minutes, is that alright?" She asked sincerely, trying not to get on my bad side today. She knew that this week was my bad week out of the year, especially since she has had to endure me through it for the past nine years that I have been working with her.

"Yeah, that's great Portlyn," I muttered, giving her enough praise so that she would go away.

I looked down at the picture of my mom that sat on my dresser, and I sighed, she was still in a slight depression, and even though I have been told many times that it's not my fault, I still feel the pang of guilt whenever I see how dull her eyes have gotten, or when I see her all skin and bones. If only there was something that I could do to get her smile back.

I sighed and expertly put on my wig, made a few adjustments, and then put in my contact lenses. I looked into the mirror and I saw a stranger looking back, the fake identity that I put up for absolutely everyone in the media.

It was like a lifelong character that I would have to portray, and it was something that I wasn't looking forward to spending the rest of my life like this.

Sighing, I opened my door with my script in my other hand, and started to head off for a tough day at work. But, as luck would have it, I ran into the one girl that could make me smile a real, genuine smile.

"Um…" She muttered, looking down at the floor, as if she were studying it.

"Sonny? What are you doing over here in MacKenzie Falls?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow, putting my weight on my left foot, and crossing my arms around my waist.

"You dropped a piece of paper when we were fighting earlier, and I had to shoot so I wasn't able to give it back to you, so my show just finished shooting, and I thought that I would bring it over here, because maybe it was something important, you know?" I heard her ramble on, a slight pink creeping up into her cheeks.

I looked at the paper in her hands and gasped. It was the picture of my dad that I kept in my pocket at all times, and it was my good luck charm. But the thing that made my heart stop was that I was in the picture as a little kid, holding up a trophy that I had just gotten. And on that trophy in big bold letters was my name, I mean, my old name. I was smiling, and my green eyes and black hair matched my dad's perfectly.

"I didn't open it, because it seemed really fragile, so I brought it right back so that I wouldn't damage it." She said, her tone balancing on being frightened, seeing as I had a death glare planted upon my face once I realized what it was that she picked up.

I snapped, even though I didn't really mean to.

"How dare you touch this! You probably ruined it! I can't believe this. Sonny, how could you be so dimwitted, careless, and stupid!" I yelled, feeling all of the pain from my past creep up on me.

I could see tears forming in her eyes, and I immediately felt regret at what I had done.

I grabbed the picture from her hands and shoved it neatly into my pocket, my arms curled around my waist and I could see her running away from me.

"I didn't mean to, Chad." I heard her whisper softly as she headed her way back to her own set.

I shook off the regret and guilt that was penetrating my impenetrable emotional defense and made my way to my set, thanking the lord that today was the day that we were shooting a scene where I got to yell at my costars.

I was done shooting for the day when I decided to make my way down to the cafeteria, just to get something so that I could cool down.

Today was evidently some of the best acting that I have ever done according to my director and every single one of my cast mates.

I grabbed some fro-yo from the machine and I saw Sonny sitting alone at the So Random! table, with none of her castmates surrounding her.

Making my way over to apologize for what had happened earlier, I realized that she had been crying. There were some blotches on her cheeks, and there was no bright smile playing across her face. It made her face look dark and moody instead of the normal bright and peppy look she had planted on her face every day.

My face twisted and my throat clenched when I realized that it was probably all my fault that I had made her like this. She picked up her fork slowly and played with her unedable food before she dropped it and looked down at her shoes. I saw that she was murmering to herself and before I knew it, one single tear slid down her face.

Before it could drop off of her face, I made my way over to where she was sitting and I took my finger and wiped it softly across her soft, smooth cheek.

She froze, tensing all of her muscles before she turned her head up and her eyes met mine. A bright pink flashed across her face as she brought her arm up to wipe all other traces of the tear from her face, leaving a damp spot on her bright yellow sweater. "I just got something in my eyes Chad." She looked directly into my eyes, penetrating my defenses, letting me see right through her lie.

I chuckled, and shrugged before I started to walk away, eating my chocolate fro-yo.

"What was so important about that piece of paper anyway, Chad? It looked like a photograph." She said quietly enough for me to hear. I felt my hands starting to clench up and before I could do something I regret, like exploding on her for the second time in a day, I softened my eyes and turned around to face her.

"It was nothing." I smiled a real smile, hoping that she would just drop it.

"Of course Chad, I believe you." I heard the sincerity in her voice, but I could also hear how she doubted how the picture was nothing. "I'll see you later?" She said even quiter, seeing as she was afraid that I was going to do something to her.

"Yeah, later." I left the cafeteria and threw away the fro-yo that I was holding. I tore through everyone in my way and made my way through to my dressing room and shut it harshly, locking it and throwing my wig onto the ground. I took out the contacts as fast as I could without harming myself and sat down on the ground, leaning up against my one couch. I pulled out the picture in my pocket and unfolded it. Pressing it up against my chest, I started to cry silently.

Why do I tend to hurt the people that I care about most?

I know that this was shorter than the last chapter, but come on, give a girl a break :D. I'll make sure to update all my other stories too. By the end of Christmas break of course. Make sure to R&R!

~Del3195