A/N: I'm praying this idea hasn't been used yet, because I was quite proud of myself for coming up with it, to be honest :P

You may be wondering at this point, 'What the heck is wrong with you?! Why are you starting a new multi-chapter story when you only have one chapter of All's Fair to go??'. Okay, maybe you aren't, but I swear, I'm a few mere paragraphs away from finishing it. I would do so tonight, but I have to be up early tomorrow for work. And watching a classroom of first graders is exhausting, so I need my sleep :P

Please enjoy this until then and above all, REVIEW. Reviews give me a little motivation to actually wake up in the morning so I can get into work ;)

Enjoy!

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

Sonny stretched her arms high above her head and yawned dramatically, eliciting an eyeroll from Tawni.

"You're pathetic."

Sonny crinkled her nose. "That rehearsal took twice as long as usual! I've been here since seven this morning and it's nearly eight. I'm sleepy..."

Tawni just scoffed at this. "Get used to it! We've been pulling all-nighters long before you got here."

Sonny sighed, offering an eyeroll of her own. "Do you have to nit-pick? I was just yawning, sheesh..."

Tawni shrugged, not looking away from the mirror while she fixed her hair, as she addressed her. "So go home then. Don't stand around here forcing me to listen to you whine."

"I wasn't--!!" Sonny made a noise of frustration and folded her arms over her chest. There was no arguing with Tawni, so she decided not to waste her breath. Instead, she grabbed her jacket and messenger bag, slinging them over her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow, then..."

Sonny lingered for a moment, waiting for a response. She sighed heavily and left the room when she received none.

She hurried down the hall when she heard the faint sound of thunder outside the studio. She would have to hurry if she wanted to beat the rain home. In her hurry, she collided full on with someone walking in the opposite direction.

She fell back and landed with an 'oof!' before sitting up to rub her head.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, I-I didn't mean to--" Sonny froze mid-sentence when she realized just who she'd ran into.

Chad Dylan Cooper.

The last person she ever wanted to run into.

She bit down on her lower lip as she surveyed his appearance. The papers he'd apparently been holding were scattered on the floor around them and he held his arms out incredulously, a look on his face that suggested Sonny was the scum of the earth.

"M-My fault, Chad...", she managed. "I was kind of in a hurry and--"

"Obviously," he interrupted, his voice dripping with venom, more so than usual. Sonny cringed slightly, leaning over to pick up the papers scattered around. At a glance, they appeared to be the pages to a script. Faltering under his glare, she pulled herself up onto shaky legs and held the papers out to him. She jumped when he rudely snatched them from her.

"Maybe watch where you're going next time, Munroe," he spat. Sonny opened her mouth, willing words to come out. She was usually confident and always had a quick comeback when it came to Chad, but she'd never seen him quite this vicious. It was making her rather nervous.

"I-I... I-I'm sorry Chad, I--"

Rather than answering her, Chad simply pushed past her, causing her to stumble back slightly.

Sonny continued to stare forward into the empty hallway. Her throat tightened. Her hands shook. And then she did something she hadn't done since she'd moved to Hollywood.

She cried.

Why, she wasn't quite sure. It wasn't anything new that Chad was being an inconsiderate jerk. Somehow though, his words and actions stung more than usual today. She wiped her eyes, calming herself down with deep, even breaths. A little sleep was all she needed, she decided. She was just tired and not thinking rationally... That had to be it.

Sonny walked ahead and pushed the doors to the studio open, sighing at the pouring rain she had been trying to race.

Pulling the hood of her jacket over her head, Sonny walked carefully down the steps, trying desperately not to slip on the water.

Her efforts were in vain.

Sonny gasped as she lost her footing on something wet and slippery, her back colliding roughly with the concrete steps beneath her. She bit back a sob that threatened to return. With some effort, she carefully sat up, reaching a hand behind her to rub her lower back gently. She glanced over at the object she'd slipped on. It appeared to be a book of some sort.

Raising an eyebrow, she leaned forward and picked it up. She turned it over in her hands, examining it. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about it. Perhaps the only interesting thing about the book was that the binding was made of a flimsy leather material. A strip of it seemed to have been ripped off the bottom, acting now as a strap that was tied tightly around the book, keeping it shut.

Sonny looked up, wondering who it could possibly belong to. She stood up when she saw a cast member of Mackenzie Falls walking out to the parking lot.

"Um, excuse me! I-I think you dropped this!"

The boy turned around at the sound of her voice. He eyed her up and down for a moment before curling his lip in disgust. "I don't talk to Randoms. But if I did, I'd tell you I wouldn't be caught dead with whatever that is."

Sonny sighed as he continued walking forward. "A simple 'it's not mine' would have sufficed," she muttered to herself. She examined the book again, searching for a name. She sighed when she found none. The last thing she wanted to do was open it, in case something private was inside. It seemed she had no other option though, if she wanted to return it to it's owner. She gently tugged at the knot binding the book shut, carefully tucking the strap away in her pocket.

Sonny cautiously thumbed through the pages. It appeared to be a journal of some sort. There were pages upon pages of handwritten entries inside. She noted it was about half full. Whoever lost this was probably missing it, that was quite a bit of writing. Sonny heaved another sigh as she turned to the first page in hopes of finding a name.

A flash of lightning reminded her that this wasn't exactly the time, nor place to do any more investigating. Safely tucking the book under her jacket, Sonny ran down the sidewalk as fast as she could.

---

Sonny smiled as the smell of hot chocolate drifted to her nose when she closed the door behind her. Her mother was always ready with special treats on gloomy days like this. Nearly forgetting about the journal, Sonny took a step forward, ready to make a mad dash for the kitchen.

"HOLD IT!", came her mother's voice from the other room. "Don't you take one step into my kitchen with those dripping wet clothes, Sonny Munroe!"

Sonny wrinkled her nose in annoyance. How did she know? She sighed, kicking her shoes off by the door and carefully removing her socks before she ran up the stairs to her room. She was relieved, minutes later, to be in dry, warm clothes, fresh out of the dryer. She walked back over to her bed, lifting her jacket up to hang it up over the shower rack in her bathroom. She jumped back when something heavy fell out of it, landing on the floor with a dull thud.

The journal. She'd nearly forgotten all about it.

Sonny kneeled down slowly and picked it up. She turned to the front page again, searching for a name.

Nothing.

Perhaps they'd written their name in the back of the book? She quickly flipped to the last page and scanned over it. Nothing. Whoever owned this book wasn't making it easy on her. Sonny frowned, wondering if she should...

No. That would be extremely dishonest. Journals are private, she chastised herself, and reading it would be incredibly immoral.

'Take it back, Sonny,' she thought to herself. 'Take it back to the studio, throw it in the lost and found bin, and let someone claim it.' The more she thought about it though, the more she didn't like the idea. Even if she wouldn't read it, surely someone else would. What if someone found it in the box before the owner did and was tempted to read it? Worse still, what if Chad found it in there?

The poor owner would never hear the end of it from him.

She sighed, her eyes resting on the first paragraph. The owner of this book couldn't possibly mind if she read just one page in order to find out who they were. They would probably be grateful that Sonny was able to get it back to them, no matter how she did.

Just one page, she told herself. One page only. She rushed over to her desk, pulling out a pen and paper to write down any clues she might get from the writing. Turning on the lamp, she sat the book on her desk and began reading.

"This is so stupid. I mean really, really stupid. I hate journals, but mom's forcing me to write in this stupid thing. I mean, do you know what my grandparents got me for my Sweet Sixteen this year? A BMW. You know what Mom got me? This stupid journal. Nice."

Sonny paused to write down some notes on her notepad. So far she knew two things: the person was sixteen, and they must be pretty well off, if their grandparents were able to get them a car like a BMW. She quickly jotted this down before continuing reading.

"She says I need a more constructive place to let out my feelings. Fantastic. Wanna know what I'm feeling right now, Mom? Annoyed as hell. What's a guy gotta do to get his own freaking mother off his back??"

Sonny wrote on her notepad again. So the owner was a male, and it seemed he didn't get along with his mother all that fantastically.

"Yea, Mom's not one to talk at all. After all, she's the one who..."

And that was the end of the page. Sonny's eyes widened. No, wait! What did his mother do? Why didn't she have room to talk? What the heck was going on??

Sonny sighed, forcing herself to shut the book. She promised herself she'd only read a page and that was that. She pushed the book aside and scanned her notes.

"16. Male. Probably rich. Doesn't get along with mom."

That wasn't a whole lot to go off of, she realized with a grimace. So far that could be attributed to nearly every boy that worked at the studio. The angel on one shoulder demanded that she try to work with what she had. The devil on her other shoulder insisted that that simply wasn't enough information to narrow down an owner. It was quite the struggle, but she eventually came to a decision.

"One entry," she told herself, thinking out loud. "Just one entry, and then I can find out who it belongs to for sure." Sonny quickly reached for the book, turning it to the second page.

"...'can't get her aggressions out properly' as she says. Yea, coming home every night and yelling at the top of your lungs before shutting yourself in your office and ignoring your only son sure is a great way to do that."

So he was an only child. That didn't help much, but it at least narrowed down the suspects by a small amount.

"So that's the deal. Mom buys me a freaking journal for my birthday, and to add insult to injury, she forces me to write in it. So no way am I putting names or specifics in this stupid thing. If someone found it, knowing who I am, I could possibly drop dead instantly. No, I know who I am so why should I go giving out details? I dunno, I'm rambling now. I guess I don't really know what to write since no one will ever see this and I'm just talking to myself. How utterly retarded. Thanks for making things that much more difficult for me, Mom. -2/17/09"

Sonny sighed in annoyance. No specifics? Way to make things complicated. She took note of the date though, February of this year. That meant that she at least was certain he was still 16. She couldn't be sure of his birthday though. Was this written the day of his birthday? Or months after when his mom finally forced him to write in it? It didn't narrow down the possibilities very much.

Sonny jumped again when she heard her mother calling her from downstairs, informing her that her hot chocolate was getting cold. Sonny made a face before tucking the journal safely under her bed.

Whatever she decided to do with it would have to wait until after a mug of hot chocolate and a good night's sleep.

---

Please review :) Gives me incentive to get this stuff out quicker.