a/n at bottom :D

Disclaimer: i don't own anything. except the plot, obviously :)

Summary: "Just admit it. You're scared that it might not work out and you're in denial. That's why you won't go out with me." She raised an eyebrow, "And how would you know that?" He paused, staring at her. "Because I know you." Sonny/Chad, -oneshot-

Because I Know You

by mindless scribbles

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Chad knew Sonny. He knew more about Sonny than anybody could possibly expect. It wasn't that he had went through a lot of work to find out things about her. Instead, it was like by instinct, it was like he could just tell what she loved—what she hated, pretty much anything. He could just guess her favorite color— purple, and just like that, she would nodd, unable to hide the surprise on her face.

And the one thing he knew most about Sonny was she did like him. More than a friend. And the only reason she wouldn't try and tell him that was because she was afraid. Afraid that it wasn't going to work out.

Sonny knew Chad too. To tell the truth, she knew more about Chad than Chad knew about himself. It was like instinct with her too— like she could read his mind.

She knew he knew that she liked him. She knew he was right about her being in denial. She knew everything about Chad—whether she wanted to know it or not.

Except the only thing she didn't know about him was that he was in love with her.

-

Ring. Ring.

Chad Dylan Cooper groaned and slapped his forehead. Who dared call him at— 2 AM in the morning? He sighed in exasperation and reached over the edge of the couch, where he had fallen asleep a few hours earlier, and grabbed his phone, groggily sitting up and answering in a very annoyed tone, "What!?"

"Chad?"

Fully awake now, due to an incredibly annoying fly, Chad got up off the couch and rubbed his cheek. Stupid fly. Looking for the fly swatter, he rumbled around the drawers while making noises that the caller didn't understand.

"Hello?" The caller tried again.

"What do you want?" Chad asked, "Do you want money? Did I lose a bet or something? Do you want me to tell Sonny Monroe that I'm in love with her? Make it quick! I need to get rid of this fly and go back to sleep!"

The caller was silent.

"Hello!?" Chad snapped, "Who are you?"

The person on the other end chuckled in an amused way. Unable to recognize the somewhat familiar sound, Chad sighed and snapped his phone shut. Stupid prank caller. Finally finding the fly swatter, he ran around the room until he caught the dumb thing, then crawled back over to the couch, falling asleep in seconds.

He didn't know that he had just admitted he was in love with Sonny Monroe— to the one and only Sonny Monroe.

-

"Are you sure he said that?"

"Yes! He even said my last name! Is there another Sonny Monroe here in Hollywood?"

Chad frowned. Who was talking while he was trying to study his script? Spooning some more of his delightful fro-yo into his mouth, he turned and spotted his favorite So Random! cast member, Sonny Monroe, chatting with her friend, Tawni.

Yes, he knew all of the Randoms' names. He just chose to act like he didn't.

Catching Chad's eye, Sonny blushed profusely and looked away. She walked quickly, trying to hide her face behind her curtain of hair. Tawni stopped and looked around, her eyes landing on Chad. She laughed maniacally and caught up with Sonny, punching her friend in the shoulder while talking a mile a minute.

What was going on here? Chad thought, licking the yogurt off his spoon. The memory of last night's conversation with the mystery person flashed across his brain. He sat in shock, his body froze. Who exactly did he talk to last night? And why was he so stupid as to admit to them that he was in love with Sonny? What if that person he was talking to was Sonny?

He closed his eyes as he heard Sonny laugh. That laugh. The same laugh that he heard the night before. He had been talking to Sonny! Not only that, he'd admitted to her that he was in love with her! How could he do such a stupid thing!? Forget the dead fly, he was dumber than that fly!

Cursing under his breath, he walked over to the Randoms' table and tried to play it cool. "So, uh, what were you two laughing about over there?" He asked pointedly, directing his attention to Sonny.

At those words, Tawni cracked up again, slapping her knee for emphasis. "You—" Giggle, "Told Sonny," Chuckle, "That you were—" Laugh, laugh, laugh, "in love with her!" She buried her head with her hands while her whole body shook with laughter. Nico and Grady looked at him questioningly, while Zora sat there, thoughtfully chewing her food.

"Psh," Chad defended himself, "When did I say that?"

"Last night!" Sonny blurted out. Her face turned red and she slapped her forehead.

"Whoa!" Nico said, "What were you two doing last night?" Grady wiggled his eyebrows and the two stood up, looking at him with evil eyes.

Chad scowled. "I was trying to sleep! But someone," His gaze returned to Sonny, "Woke me up with a phone call!"

"It was Tawni's idea!" Sonny said quickly, pointing to the laughing blonde. They all stared at her.

Tawni stopped for a moment. "What?" She asked, "We were having a sleepover. How could we not prank call Chad Dylan Pooper?"

"Prank calling is the way of life." Zora said in a calming voice.

"You're so zen." Tawni rolled her eyes, then grinned, "And I'm pretty!"

"Well, then it's official." Grady boomed.

Chad's expression turned into a confused one. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, little boy," Nico began.

"First off," Chad grimaced, "You don't have the right to call me little! I'm older. Than all of you!" His finger pointed in several directions before he was satisfied. "And second, I still have no idea what you're talking about."

"Okay, Pooper!" Nico continued, "It's official that you and Sonny are going out!"

"Whoa, whoa." Grady stood up, "They never said that!"

"But it's so obvious they like each other!" Nico argued.

"You just want them to go out so you'll win the bet!" Grady said, crossing his arms.

Nico grinned, "Well, that is true. Who wouldn't want three pounds of cheese? And a whole load of moolah?"

"But still!" Grady accused, pointing toward Chad, "That doesn't mean they're going out! It just means Chad likes Sonny! We still haven't figured out if Sonny likes Chad!"

"Oh, that's obvious." Tawni waved it off, "She so does."

"What?" Sonny cut in with her high pitched voice, "I don't like Chad!"

"You're using your high voice!" Zora pointed out, "It means you do like Chad!"

"I—I mean..." Sonny lowered her voice, "I don't like Chad."

"You do." Tawni sang.

"I don't!"

"You do!"

"I don't!"

"You don't?" Tawni grinned, waiting for the next answer.

"I do!" Sonny called out. She caught herself and turned bright red again, trying to hide her face with a paper plate.

Chad took the silence as his cue to barge into the conversation. "Don't worry." He said, patting Sonny's back, "It's okay if you like Chad Dylan Cooper."

She smirked, "And it's okay if you like Sonny Monroe!"

"Alright!" Nico said, rubbing his palms together, "Way to go, Channy!"

Chad and Sonny turned toward him, both asking, "What's Channy?"

"Chad and Sonny." Nico said, pointing back and forth between the two. "Cha—nny! Channy!"

"Ohhh." Zora nodded, pretending to stroke her "beard."

"But they haven't announced that they're going out!" Grady said.

"That's because they just started going out." Nico explained in a slow voice.

His best friend shook his head. "No! They're not going out! And I'm not using my money to buy you that cheese!"

Nico tugged on Chad's sleeve, "Will you please tell Mr. Crazypants over there that you're going out with our Sonny?"

"But we're not," Chad scoffed. He grinned slyly, "At least not yet."

"What do you mean?" Sonny asked nervously.

Chad wrapped his arm around her waist. Sonny pulled away uncomfortably. He smiled and reached for her hand, but she pulled away too. He sighed and shoved his hands through his hair, then turned toward her. "Sonny, would you like to—" He stopped, taking a deep breath. Sure, Chad Dylan Cooper had asked out tons of girls before, but Sonny was different. She actually made him feel nervous. "—to go out with—"

"Just spit it out!" Tawni urged.

"With me?" He finished lamely, hands in pockets.

"What?" Sonny asked, not quite getting the full picture.

"Would you," He motioned to her, "Like to go out with me."

"Oh," Sonny's forehead wrinkled as she thought of an excuse to say no, "Um, no."

The whole table gasped as he stared. Sonny Monroe had just rejected him. Sonny Monroe had just said 'no' to Chad Dylan Cooper. There was only one thing he wasn't cool with. He wasn't cool with rejection. And Chad Dylan Cooper definitely didn't deal with it well, either.

-

For the next week, Chad moped around. Occasionally showing some sort of excitement when Sonny talked to him— in hopes of her changing her mind, but then his hopes fading as she answered him with another "no."

Chad knew what kind of a girl Sonny was. She was confident. And happy. Not to mention one of the cutest—and prettiest girl on Earth. And he was sure she knew that.

Having thought about it for a whole week and a few hours, he decided to confront her. He had come up with the only reason that she had said 'no' was because she was scared it wasn't going to work out. Scratch that— he knew that was the reason. He knew Sonny Monroe. And he knew that with a few magical words, he could help her face her fears, whether they were going to finally be together or not.

Sonny knew she was in denial. Actually, not much in denial, per se, more like... in post-denial. Chad knew she liked him, and she knew he liked her, but she still was scared. For a while, she had dreams that when they finally admitted their feelings for each other, they would kiss and have their fairytale ending. But after seeing heartbreak after heartbreak with other people, those dreams disappeared. And now she was scared. Scared that that might happen between her and Chad, no matter how much chemistry they had.

And she was scared enough to not even try.

So when she bumped into Chad in the hallway, she almost ran away. But he caught her and pulled her back in, making her look into his blue eyes.

"Sonny," He began, "I know why you said no to me."

"No you don't." She said quickly.

"Yes, I do." He laughed, "You said no because you're scared."

She laughed, and made a 'psh' sound. "What? What are you talking about? I'm not scared! In fact, I'm not even scared a little bit! Have you considered that maybe the real reason I said no was because I really don't like you?"

He held her gaze and said, "Just admit it. You're scared that it might not work out and you're in denial. That's why you won't go out with me."

She raised an eyebrow, "And how would you know that?"

He paused, staring at her. "Because I know you, Monroe."

"Well if you know me so much, then why don't you just go away?" She asked, "Because I really don't like you."

Chad sighed, "Sonny, I know you like me." She rolled her eyes, but he continued anyway, "Come on, just imagine it. Chad and Sonny, the next big couple. We could be even bigger than Zac and Vanessa!"

She gulped. He was really getting to her.

"Just give it a try." He begged, "I'm willing to."

"But what if you're lying?" She asked, "What if you're just going to dump me like all those other girls?"

"I won't." He assured her. "You know why? Because you're different, Monroe. You know how you're different? You made me feel nervous when I asked you out that other day. How different can you get?"

She laughed, "I made you nervous?"

He scowled, "Yes, you made Chad Dylan Cooper nervous, okay." His look softened, "So? What do you say? Are you willing to get on board with Chad Dylan Cooper?"

She sighed, "Fine."

"Good." he smiled.

"Good!" She mocked him.

"Good!"

"So we're good?" She asked.

"Oh, we're so good."

She grinned and stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around him. Sonny was surprised when she felt him hugging her back.

"Bet you needed that hug, Cooper." She said as they walked away.

"Psh, I didn't need that hug!"

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did." She argued fiercely.

"No I didn't." He said back in the same tone.

"Come on, admit Chad. You needed that. I know you needed that."

He smirked, "And how would you know that, Monroe?"

She smiled, "Because believe it or not, Cooper. I know you too."

a/n: meh. not my best. but i wrote it, so why not post it and see what people think? speaking of telling what you think, why don't you drop a niiiice review? ;)

penguins: you loved it

hello kitty: you thought it was okay

tomatoes: you hated it

by the way, for mission: destroy shane gray readers, the epilogue is in works. it'll probably be up by next week or so. :) and for those of you who haven't read that yet, go. read it. hahah, just kidding. only if you wanna ;)

thanks for reading!

-hayley