TONI POV:
"Toni! I'm proud of you!" My professor tells me. "This is the best grade you've gotten this year." I smile. "What clicked?" He ask quietly. "Oh! My girlfriend has been helping me out." I tell him. "Does she go here?" I shake my head. "No, she's still in high school, she's a year younger than me. But she's the smartest person I've ever met." He nods. "That's great! Keep it up." He smiles. I walk out and see Veronica standing outside the room. "How did you do?" She ask concerned. "I got a C." I smile. She hugs me. "That's great." She rubs my back. "You should tell Cheryl." She whispers. "Yeah." I nod. "Are you guys ok?" She ask as we walk to our next class. "Yeah! You've seen our nightly FaceTimes as I cram for a text 3 weeks in advance." I joke. "You're right." She smiles. "It's still not the best grade in the world but it's the best I've gotten. I'm surprised I wasn't thrown out of school 3 days in." I whisper. "It's a start." She smiles. I nod. We walk into the next class and I'm trying to keep focused, I'm lost. "Antoinette?" The Professor snaps me out of my thoughts. "What's the answer?" I look at Veronica. "I didn't ask her!" I look back at my professor. "I don't know." I say. I look down. She moves on and goes to the next person who has the answer. I take a deep breath.
I walk into the dorm and lean against the door. "Toni?" I look at Veronica as she sits on the bed. "You ok?" She ask quietly. "I'm fine." I whisper. "You don't look fine." I slide down the door. "Today in class. It's stupid!" I say frustrated. "Call her!" She throws me my phone. "Why do you take this from me?" I ask quietly. "Because you have undiagnosed ADHD." I smile. "Call her!" She insist. I pull Cheryl's contact up and call her.
CHERYL POV:
"Fangs! I'm serious! You can't audition for the school musical with a song from the musical! The only time you do that is if they have you do that!" I throw a fry at him. "Than what should I audition with?" My phone starts ringing. "It's Toni." I get up and pick it up. "What's up?" I ask smiling like a bumbling idiot. "I've been better." She says sadly. "Oh?" She sighs. I can tell how upset she is. "I got a C! And than I went to my next class and the only thing I can tell you is that I got yelled at for not knowing what the hell was going on." I take a deep breath. "Well, you have like half your classes with Veronica. Ask her to help you!" I smile. "We're gonna work on it after practice. Luckily she was in that class with me." Her moods starts to lift. "So why did you call me?" I ask quietly. "Well, V made me call you and I wanted to hear your voice. It's better in person." I smile. "I love you." I whisper. "I love you too. I'll call you tonight." She hangs up. I smile and go back to Fangs. "What did she want?" He ask smiling. "Ahh... nothing." I smile. "So you're audition! I think you should do a song that means a lot to you. What's that David Bowie song you and Toni sing all the time?" I ask quietly. He smiles. "Thank you!" He gets up. "No seriously. What's that David Bowie song you guys sing?" I stop him. "Heroes." He smiles leaving me at Pop's, well, until he runs back in and pays me for the food. "I need some new friends." I go up the counter and pay for the food. "Hey! How's Toni doing?" Pop Tate ask. "She's good. She's having a bit of a hard time adapting but I think she'll pull through." I smile. "That's good to hear." I nod and leave. I get home and see Nana Rose watch Tv and knitting. "Hello dear." I smile sit down next to her. "Have you talked to Toni?" I nod. "Yeah. She's still getting used to school and what not. I don't know how much longer she's going to last there. She's a smart girl but she's slipping." I explain. "Aren't you helping her? Even though you are a high schooler." I smile. "Yeah but I'm pretty much taking the same classes as is just not as extreme." I look at her. "She'll get there." I nod. "She's going to call me tonight and I have to help her study." She smiles. "I have something for you." She whispers before wheeling herself to the table, she comes back. "Jason wanted you to have this. He wanted me to give this to you for you 16th birthday and we both know I'm forgetting things." She hands me a box and it has the one thing I never thought I would see again. I pull out his football jersey. "Speaking of you forgetting a lot." I look at her. "I was talking to Toni-." She stops me. "I'm going to a home." I shake my head. "No! I'm not going to be here to take care of you and I don't want to have to stuck in a nursing home. I was thinking about getting a care taker for you, you can stay home so you're comfortable." She nods. "Does that work?" She nods again.
VERONICA POV:
I walk out of the locker room with Toni. "We don't have to practice if you don't want to, you seem tired." I tell her. "I'm fine." She grabs a ball and we start practicing. "How was Cheryl?" I ask quietly. "Good." She says quietly. "I'm gonna marry that girl one day." She says throwing the ball at me. "You think?" She smile. "No. I know. And it's now just to piss off her mother. Even though I think Cheryl hopes to get married on her grave." She stops for a second. "Isn't that like illegal?" I ask. "Probably." She smiles. "But anything for Cheryl." I nod. "When?" I ask quietly. "What do you mean?" She looks at me. "When are you going to propose?" I ask. She shrugs. "After college. It's been legal for a while now, so I no longer feel this need to get married." She jokes. "How's Archie?" She ask quietly. I stop. "He's getting better. He's still trying to process what happened to Fred. I think Archie just wanted him there to see him graduate. Especially after he had to stay back." She nods sadly. "I think Cheryl is in the same boat about Jason. She doesn't talk about it but I can tell when we talk about her graduating. I also think with her hatred for her parents she wanted them there mostly to prove them wrong. I don't know." She whispers the last part.
"Yeah, I'll talk to you later. Keep me updated." Toni drops her phone on her bed as I walk in pretending like I didn't here the phone call. "What's up?" I ask quietly. "Cheryl talked to Nana Rose about getting a care taker and surprisingly she took it well, probably because it doesn't mean being in a nursing home." She sits on her bed. "Something else?" I ask quietly. "No! Not anything to do with Cheryl." She whispers. I sit down on my bed. "What is it?" I ask quietly. "I got this." She hands me a paper. "Toni..." I look at her. "I'm gonna start packing my bags." She whispers. "You have until Christmas break to get your grades up!" I tell her. "I don't think college is for me." She says sadly. "One more shot." I whisper. She looks down. "Yeah." She nods.
