It had started out as a stupid game. One that Sonny was sure she would win. All she had to do was act like herself and ignore how frequently his hand found its way to her arm and how often she caught him staring at her a little too closely.

It would be easy, and she knew it.

After all, she was Sonny Munroe: sensible, peppy, and an all around good girl and he was Chad Dylan Cooper: too-charming, arrogant, and Hollywood's resident bad boy. No matter how much Marshall thought they were "magic" on stage, Sonny knew they never meshed in person. They were too different.

She couldn't even figure out why Chad was so determined that Sonny should fall in love with him by the end of the week. Sure, there had been that one time when Selena had messed with their minds and convinced them that they had some weird twisted sort of thing between them. And maybe, just maybe there was that other time that Chad had asked her to "hang out." And that stupid half-dance at that fake Prom.

But none of those moments really meant anything. It was just Chad being stupid old Chad.

…right?

--

"Chad, if this is just part of your stupid little game…"

"No, seriously, Sonny, we should go over lines. We should work through things before our first rehearsal."

For a moment, Sonny fixed him with a glare, uncertain of his true motive. It was a very rare occasion that Chad actually did anything remotely genuine, but after regarding him for a few moments, she determined that what he as saying was the truth.

Sighing, she said, "Fine."

And so they ran lines. Which wouldn't have been a bad thing had it not been for the fact that she couldn't stop stealing glances at him. Which she wouldn't have been doing if he didn't continuously run his fingers through his smooth, silky hair.

Once, she almost reached out to touch it. Then she remembered who he was and who she was and where they were and everything that stood in her way.

Damn you, Chad.

If only she knew how to get revenge.

--

It was interesting how, since his declaration nearly five days ago, all his behavior had entirely changed. Or at least, she thought it had. His eyes lingered longer, he stood closer, and every time he moved, it made Sonny's heart beat ten thousand times faster than usual.

She tried, tried so hard, to convince herself it was simply power of suggestion. By telling her she was going to fall in love with him, she was influenced into feeling nervous and jumpy with anticipation. It meant nothing. Not really.

That all changed the day it happened.

--

They were rehearsing, and, as for the past week, it was not going well. After several attempts to get Sonny to actually look at Chad (she thought it was best to avoid eye contact), Marshall gave up and called for a five-minute break.

Sonny jumped up quickly and headed out into the hallway to calm down.

She was pacing back and forth when Chad (of all people) found her out there, looking for space of his own. He smirked and leaned against the wall as he observed her.

"Agonizing over me, Munroe?" he said confidently. Sonny whirled around at him.

"I am not!" she yelled, crossing her arms over her chest. His smirk growing bigger, he took a few steps toward her.

"Then, I suppose you won't mind if I…come closer?" His eyes were doing that thing again; they were half-open and sparkling and Sonny had to look away or she would lose herself in them.

"O-of course not," she said, but stepped back as he stepped forward. He moved forward once more, and she stepped back. They continued this way until finally he had her backed into a wall, his hands quite suddenly on her hips and his breath quite suddenly on her face, and all she could think was God, please because she wanted him. So much.

She had seen Glee. In fact, she was an avid fan. And she agreed with everything that Rachel said, about girls wanting sex as much as boys, but never had she experienced such an innate desire before to feel a boys hands on her skin.

It was actually rather ridiculous.

Regardless, she couldn't help it when her hand snaked out and grabbed his tie, pulling him forward in an attempt to plant her lips on his. But just before she did it, she caught sight of his eyes, suddenly earnest and somewhat frightened, and she realized she couldn't because she couldn't be with Chad Dylan Cooper.

Startled out of her trance, she pushed him away and straightened out her clothes. She ignored him as he attempted to call her back, returning to rehearsal.

She couldn't look at him the rest of the day. She didn't want to let him see the desire that filled her eyes.

--

She avoided him the rest of the week. After the skit especially. She figured that if they could simply forget the entire incident, they could return to some semblance of normality that they'd had before this whole thing happened.

They could return to fighting and hating each other. Bickering and dancing around the edge of what could be.

After a few days of this, Chad got sick of it. He found her alone at her lunch table (something, Sonny determined, she would be sure never to do again), and stood in front of her to catch her attention.

"Yes, Chad?" she finally asked, glaring up at him.

"You've been avoiding me," he said, his eyes piercing.

And then he did something unexpected. He leaned down and kissed her.

Time seemed to stop.

When he pulled away, he didn't say anything about how her breath smelled like chilé or how her lips were too wet. Instead he merely said, "I think you should stop that" and walked away.

Everyone stared at her, with her mouth open and her spoonful of food all over her lap, but she didn't notice.

She smiled.

Maybe this whole sketch thing wasn't so bad.