"Bright and early, babe," was something Cheryl was so used to hearing on Sunday nights. It was like a routine now. She would sneak downstairs after her parents fell asleep, close herself in the pantry, and talk on the phone with Toni. Even if neither of them had anything of importance to say, it didn't feel right if they ended their Sundays without a phone call and a promise to meet in the dark room the next morning.
But Cheryl wasn't exactly looking forward to school today. After the dance on Friday, she wasn't sure she wanted to face anyone. And she definitely didn't want to run into Moose. She was just grateful that she didn't have any classes with him. But she pushed the thought down as she dropped her winter jacket off in her locker and made her way to the photography lab on the second floor, trying not to slip on the tile with her shoes covered in melted snow.
As usual, she pushed her way into the classroom, dropping her bag at a desk and opened the door to the dark room, biting her lip when she saw Toni waiting for her like she always was. "Hi," she mumbled, shyly, tucking hair behind her ear shyly. Why did she still get so nervous around her?
"Hey, cutie," the brunette smirked, turning around in the swiveling desk chair. She pulled the giggly redhead into her lap, her arms wrapping securely around her waist as she leaned up to kiss her. "You okay?" she cocked her head a bit to the side. She didn't exactly expect Cheryl to be eager to come to school today, but she wanted to make sure that she wasn't crippled with anxiety either.
Cheryl nodded, playing with the rings on Toni's fingers distractedly, "Just a little nervous," she admitted with a slight nod, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "I'm not really sure what to expect."
"You don't have any classes with any of those guys, do you?" Toni's hand came up to brush loose strands of hair from her face.
She shook her head and leaned into her palm when she cupped her cheek after tucking hair behind her head. "Just study hall with Sweet Pea and Reggie..."
"And me."
"And you," Cheryl chuckled. As it was, she wasn't nervous about going to study hall, knowing that Toni would be there. She ran her fingers up and down the soft green and black flannel on Toni's arms, feeling each and every fabric pill under her fingertips. "Are you gonna be okay today?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're not gonna try to kill anyone are you?" Cheryl smirked.
"I guess I won't try to, but I want to," she mirrored her smirk, the playful, but devilish grin spreading on her face, "But seriously, if anyone gives you any shit, tell me."
"I hope they won't...but if I tell you they do, you can't kill them," she leaned her forehead against Toni's, sighing inwardly.
"Wish I could kill Moose. I hate that he's getting away with the shit he tried to pull on you." Toni's whispering voice was calm, but Cheryl could feel her tensing up under her. She ran her hands up to the sides of her neck, running her thumbs over the warm, tanned skin as she kissed her slowly.
"He has to live with himself. Let karma take care of him," she whispered with a bit of a solemn smile, kissing her again just before the classroom door closed outside the dark room, forcing them to separate.
"You're too nice," Toni mumbled as Cheryl got off her lap, standing up just as Mr. Clemmons opened the door, "Hey, Mr. C."
"Hey girls. Did you have fun at the dance?" the older man smiled, setting his things down, "I got some great photos for the paper."
"Lots of fun. Thank you, Mr. Clemmons," Cheryl nodded, tucking hair behind her ear as she headed for the door, Toni trailing behind her.
xxx
Cheryl opened up her plastic lunch box, trying to calm her nerves. She had packed herself a thermos of soup, her favorite comfort food, knowing that she might need it today. She had to be in the same room as Moose and everyone else from the popular crowd during lunch. She didn't know how many of them knew about Moose's plan to drug her, but she didn't feel comfortable being in the same room as any of them after Friday night. They'd pushed her, and teased her, and humiliated her, but none of them had ever stooped so low until now.
She ignored their voices behind her and smiled at Betty and Archie as they sat down across from her at the table, pouring her soup out carefully. She was thankful that the chatter of other students got louder as they filled the cafeteria, drowning out the noise of the popular kids table. She blew carefully on the steaming soup in her spoon when she felt a weight plop down on the bench beside her, getting her attention.
Toni had surprised her plenty of times in the past, but Cheryl didn't think she'd ever been more stunned to see her than she was now, seated beside her unpacking her lunch from a crumpled brown bag as if it were nothing. She watched as the brunette's eyes lifted to meet all three of their gaping stares.
"What?" she shrugged, biting into her sandwich.
Archie and Betty looked at each other before wordlessly turning back to the food in front of them. They both knew about Cheryl and Toni, but that didn't make it any less shocking to see Toni commit social suicide by deciding to sit with them. Cheryl looked her girlfriend up and down, wondering what she was doing. But she didn't seem to have a reason. She was just...sitting and eating her lunch.
"Uh, Toni, what the hell?" Veronica stopped at the head of their table with her lunch tray.
"Is there a problem, Veronica?" Toni rolled her eyes before looking up at the raven-haired Vixen.
"You're just having a quick little newspaper meeting and then coming back to sit with us, right?" she gestured to the small group of outcasts.
"No, V. I have more than one group of friends, and I felt like sitting with this one today," Toni told her pointedly, holding her head high. She wasn't angry at Veronica, but she didn't appreciate being told where she should and shouldn't sit.
"Oookay, I'll see you in English I guess," the cheerleader walked away, leaving the four of them in an awkward silence.
"So," Toni spoke up after Veronica was gone, breaking the silence and changing the subject, "You guys hear Mariah Carey's new song?"
xxx
Lunch passed by faster than ever. Toni really livened up their lunch table. She even told a joke that almost made milk come out of Archie's nose. It was important to Cheryl that Archie and Betty be civil with Toni. She wasn't too worried about Archie, but she knew that Betty wasn't exactly Toni's biggest fan, and vice versa. But the blonde had promised to give her a chance, and today the two of them ended up laughing together over what had happened in the latest episode of Friends. It warmed Cheryl's heart to see her girlfriend and her best friend actually getting along for once. Now that her friends knew about Toni, she didn't feel nearly as tense as she normally did. Maybe things were finally looking up.
"You don't have to walk me to class, you know," Cheryl blushed as she held onto her textbooks tightly, glancing down at her feet. First Toni had decided to sit with them at lunch, and now she was risking being late to class just to escort her to Spanish? She didn't know what was going on with her, but she wasn't going to complain about it.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I do things cause I want to," the brunette smirked as they walked slowly through the halls, "I just wanna make sure you get to class okay."
Cheryl's face stayed flushed as she ducked her head, looking at her sneakers. It did make her feel safer having Toni by her side in the halls. "I'm okay, TT, no one's bothered me today," she looked over at her with a shy smile, keeping her voice down. But as usual, she spoke too soon, because the next thing she knew, the textbooks were getting knocked out of her arms by a muscular arm as someone bumped her shoulder walking by.
"Sup, Blossom? You have fun after the dance?" Sweet Pea laughed, high fiving Moose and Reggie who were walking with him.
She closed her eyes and willed herself to stay calm, trying not to remember the possibility of what could have happened to her that night. Kneeling down to pick up her books, she gathered them with a sigh and stood back up, seeing that Toni wasn't where she had been standing beside her a moment ago.
"Hey!" Toni's sharp voice made her flinch as she pushed her glasses up, watching the brunette stomp down the hall after them. Cheryl barely had time to react before she saw Toni forcibly pull on Moose's shoulder to turn him around and punch him so hard in the nose that the sound rang through the halls, getting the attention of the other students in the hallway. She nearly dropped her books again in surprise as she watched everything from afar.
"Toni, what the fuck?!" Sweet Pea gaped at her before looking at Moose, who was holding his bloody, broken nose.
"Jesus, Toni, a guy makes one comment about your stalker girlfriend and you break Moose's fucking nose?" Reggie stepped closer to her, only to have his shin kicked by the small brunette's firm leather shoes, making him double over in pain. A chorus of "oooh"s filled the space around them from the other students who hadn't yet made it to class.
"Anything you'd like to add?" she turned to Sweet Pea, looking up at the boy who was twice her size, ready to kick his ass if necessary. He shook his head nervously, holding his hands up and backing away. "I swear, if you assholes don't leave her the fuck alone-"
"What is going on out here?" Toni's old geometry teacher came out of her classroom, approaching Toni and the boys. Cheryl's already racing heartbeat picked up speed as she watched. She willed herself to move, to step in. But she was stuck in place, too stunned to move.
"She broke Moose's nose and kicked me in the shin!" Reggie pointed at the brunette, who was standing her guard with her hands firmly on her hips.
"Is that true, Toni?" the middle aged woman looked at her.
Toni wanted to fight back and defend her actions, but she took a deep breath and nodded her head, rage still apparent on her face as her heart pounded.
The teacher sighed and shook her head, "Everyone get to class. Mr. Mason, go to the nurse. Toni, let's go see Principal Weatherbee." She guided Toni to turn around and head back down the hall, holding her by the elbow. Cheryl's jaw was slacked as they walked in her direction, clutching her books to her chest. "Get to class, Miss Blossom," the woman told her gently.
Cheryl nodded her head as they passed her and around to watch her take Toni around the corner to the stairwell, the brunette turning to flash her that signature smirk before Cheryl lost sight of her completely.
xxx
She could hear her father snoring down the hall. Right on time. Her parents were so predictable, they were always asleep by 10:30 every night. But she appreciated the fact, because it gave her a perfect window to sneak downstairs to call her girlfriend. She padded down slowly in her bunny slippers, tip-toeing into the kitchen for her typical Sunday night routine. But with it being a Monday, she was sure that Toni wouldn't be expecting her call. Picking the phone up from the cradle, she dialed the number she knew by heart and closed herself into the pantry as always, sliding down the wall to sit on the cool wooden floor.
"Hey, you," Toni's voice brought a smile to her face, though she was surprised to not hear her usual "Topaz" greeting.
"How'd you know it was me?" she giggled quietly, already curling the phone cord around her finger.
"You're the only one who calls this late," she could hear her smirking on the other end, "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to check on you. I can't believe you got a month's worth of Saturday detentions, that's so unfair."
"Wait, how did you know that?"
"Let's just say Betty's close with the office staff," she smiled solemnly.
"I guess now I don't have to break that bad news to you tomorrow," Toni sighed into her ear, "Technically it's gonna be more than a month, cause two of those Saturdays we'll be on Christmas break. So I'll be clapping erasers and washing chalkboards til mid-January."
"And all Moose got was a broken nose," she frowned, picking at the loose threads of her pajama pants, "I still can't believe you did that."
"He deserved a lot more than a broken nose. I know it's for the best if we don't tell anyone what happened at the dance, but fuck..."
"I know...Thank you for sticking up for me, TT...and for walking me to class."
"What are girlfriend's for?" the brunette smiled into the phone, making Cheryl's heart race in her chest. It had been about two months since Toni asked her to be her girlfriend and she still got butterflies when she thought about it. She wanted to tell her so bad, how she'd been feeling. But she didn't want to scare her away. What if it was too soon for something like that?
"You still there?"
"Yeah, I'm here. Just thinking..."
"About what?"
Should she tell her? It was eating her alive, she was dying inside. Something this big couldn't be kept a secret for long. "Just about..." she sighed, "Asking you what you're doing over Christmas break."
"Probably hanging out at home if I'm not being dragged to the mall with Veronica. Why?"
"Well, my parents are going to New York City for New Years...I'll have the house from the 30th to the 2nd...if you wanted to come over," she bit her lip, curling the cord tighter around her finger as she waited for an answer. She didn't know what she was so nervous for. She slept over at her house, and Toni's house was more of a secret than hers.
"Yeah, totally," Toni's voice sounded much more calm and collected than she thought, like she had just asked for something as simple as a spare dime for the payphone.
"Really?"
"Yeah, why not?"
A smile spread across her face as she released the breath she didn't know she was holding. She didn't know why she was acting like she just won the lottery. Something about knowing that Toni would be in her house again made her giddy. She'd only been inside once, months ago when they had their first kiss. Cheryl was ready to make new, happy memories with her in her gloomy old house.
"Okay, cool," she sighed, trying not to sound too excited or overeager, "I can give you your Christmas present when you come."
"I'll bring yours then," Toni laughed a little through a small, audible yawn.
"Go to bed, cutie," the redhead smirked, cradling the phone to her ear.
"Hey, that's my name for you."
"Well, you're still cute when you're sleepy," she giggled.
"You can't even see me."
"I've seen you when you're going to bed and when you're just waking up, so I know for a fact that you're cute when you're sleepy."
Toni just scoffed playfully at her words before yawning again, making Cheryl do the same. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, baby."
"Okay. Goodnight, TT."
"Night, Cher."