So sorry I've taken so astoundingly long to update! The amount of homework/extra-curricular work I've gotten over the past month is making it hard to cope with writing fics as well. So my update rate is going to be noticeably slower for the while. But thanks for putting up with the wait :p Hope it was worth it!

Chapter 3

"Hey, Portlyn! I need a small favour."

The ebony-headed girl turned slowly, her expression unimpressed.

"Another one? Already?"

"Already? What do you mean 'already'?"

His voice was indignant. Portlyn rolled her eyes.

"Chad, in the space of ten hours, you've asked me for a pair of pants, teeth whitening paste, dog food for that rat you call a dog – what more could you possibly want that you don't already have?"

He shifted uncomfortably.

"I need your help with something..."

His voice trailed off, and he visibly shrank as she turned the full force of her fabled withering glare upon him.

"What would that be, hm?"

He was beginning to think that maybe it was not such a great idea grovelling to Portlyn for help. He opened his mouth to speak, but promptly decided to shut it again before he could turn to mush. She sighed, grabbing his arm and pulling him over to the sofa, sitting down with a soft 'flump'.

"Don't tell me it's about that girl, Chad?"

He shifted uncomfortably on the royal blue sofa. Portlyn tossed her head with another roll of her eyes, sighing.

"You really are stupid, aren't you? Do you honestly think I would do any favours for a member of a rival cast?"

He kept silent. She pursed her lips.

"What exactly is it that you want me to do?"

Her tone was clipped, short. Chad looked up from where he had been staring at his gleaming black shoes, freshly polished by the wardrobe department. He had to act quickly, now that he had her attention. And he had to keep it to the point. He had been to acting school – he knew every single trick in the book. Unfortunately, so did she.

"I need you to run Sonny Munroe over with a golf cart."

The response was instantaneous. A huge grin spread across the other girl's features. She gave him a triumphant smile, clasping one of his hands in hers.

"Well now, why didn't you just say that before? You could have made things so much easier, hm? I never knew you had so much hate in there!"

She gave him a prod.

Now it was his turn to sigh.

"No, Portlyn, I need you to pretend to run Sonny over. Don't ask why, please. Just give me this one."

Her smile vanished rapidly, features morphing into a petulant scowl. Luckily, she deigned to remain quiet, listening as he explained to her the full details of his plan.

"...So you'll meet me in the parking lot at 6.15pm, got that?"

Portlyn nodded briefly, clutching her bribe of a year's subscription to Tween Weekly to her denim jacket. He flashed a quick smile in her vague direction as he got up, dusting his jeans off as he did so. He hadn't any more time for her. There was far too much to be done before six.

18.15 hours – Objective Two Commence

She pushed open the double doors with a heave, striding out into the heavy air of Hollywood at night. Wrinkling her nose as she walked past the garbage cans, she looked around her into the purple evening. Already dark at six o' clock. A sure sign that winter was on its way. She could barely see three metres in front of her, let alone make it all the way to her car, parked somewhere across the black tarmac of the lot. Keeping her head to the ground, she made her way over the ground, making sure her gaze was firmly on where she was walking. It would be just like her to trip over her own feet.

"Sonny!"

Her head snapped up instantly at his panicked voice. Suddenly, time seemed to stand still. Chad was sprinting towards her, hands outstretched, face contorted in a mask of horror. Portlyn was behind the wheel, eyes shut tight as she prepared for impact. The golf cart sped towards her, and she was still frozen, arms held in front of her as if she could stop it somehow. Forget falling over, this time she was ending up in hospital. And abruptly she was on the floor, her head knocking against the stone as she landed awkwardly, her arm twisting beneath her as her body hit the tarmac. Her sight was dark as she lay, but she knew that the cart was still travelling, still moving, still on its collision course. After a few minutes, it still hadn't hit here. She frowned, attempted to tug her arm out from underneath her body. Someone seemed to be lying on top of her, blocking her view as she tried to sit up. That someone gave an annoyed grunt as he was pushed onto the cold floor, and raised his head sleepily.

"Chad?!"

"'Ugh. Are you dead?"

She gave him a confused glance, testing her numb arm, flexing it as she ran her hand over it, wincing.

"Umm...no. I'm very much alive."

He frowned, slowly sitting up as he looked around him.

"What?"

Getting to his feet, his eyes searched out Portlyn in the dark, then glanced back to Sonny, still sitting on the parking lot floor. He groaned, smacking his hand to his forehead.

"Jesus, Portlyn...Can't I trust you to get anything right?"

She gave an outraged squeak, jumping out from the car that had stopped before even getting anywhere close to them both.

"Well, excuse me!"

Sonny jumped up, hands folded across her chest, glaring.

"Chad, can you please tell me what exactly is going in? 'Cause from where I see it, it kind of looks like you were trying to kill me?"

He ignored her, focusing the brunt of his anger on the raven-haired girl standing before him.

"I asked you to do one thing – just one! And you manage to mess it up!"

He threw his hands up in the air.

"Chad!"

"Sonny, give me a minute! Portlyn, you know this means our deal is completely off!"

"Chad!"

"Why do you always get everything I ask you to do wrong?!"

"Chad!"

"Wh -!"

She strode up to him, raising her hand and slapping him sharply, his head whipping backwards as he recoiled. His fingers flew up to his face, an angry red mark already blooming on his tanned skin. He gave her an incredulous glance.

"What was that for?!"

She gave him a tight-lipped grin.

"You wouldn't listen to me. So now you can."

He narrowed his eyes back at her.

"Fine. What do you want to say now that you've caused me sufficient bodily harm?"

"You tried to kill me."

He opened his mouth to protest, then stopped. What could he say? That he was trying to complete some stupid chain mail request to win her over? That he had tried to stage a car accident that could have possibly actually killed her? Anything he said would just make things worse.

Her jaw fell, and her eyes widened.

"You actually tried to kill me?!"

Then again, maybe saying nothing was worse.

"I can't believe you! In fact, you're unbelievable! I mean, I knew weren't exactly on speaking terms, but I didn't think we were as bad as this!"

She gave an incredulous laugh.

"So what, am I have to gonna try and kill you now? Huh?"

"Hey, Sonny!"

A new voice joined the conversation, one that Chad immediately despised. A tall, chestnut-headed, blue-eyed teen ran up, black converse slapping on the tarmac. Zac Efron. His self-proclaimed nemesis. Chad's gaze followed him as he walked to stand next to Sonny. Who currently had his arm around the girl he was trying to get. Just another reason to hate the guy. Forcing a smile onto his face (which cost him all of his many years of acting experience), he held out an amicable hand.

"Efron...so we meet."

Zac ignored his handshake, his eyes firmly locked onto Sonny's.

"Are you okay? I thought I heard you, so I came over as quick as I could, and then..."

She gave him a brisk nod, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just leaving."

Sonny directed her last words at Chad. He blinked, scrambling for words.

"Fine!"

"..."

His brow furrowed.

"What, are you that unhappy with me?"

She took a breath, closing her eyes.

"Chad, just go. Just go."

He gave her a final confused glance, before turning. He was barely four steps away when he turned again, mouth open, words hanging off his tongue. He couldn't let her just go like this. His heart fell as he watched them walk to her car, watched her stand, her hand resting on the door as she reached up to press a kiss on his cheek, whispering a thank you into his ear.

But apparently, she could.

Objective Two: Failed. Miserably.