Cheryl's POV
Toni is still a mess and we're supposed to meet the boys in five minutes.
"Baby you have to wake up," I whisper kissing her
She got less than an hour of sleep between crying and nightmares.
She sits up and nods
She hasn't talked since we got back.
She throws leggings in.
"May I please wear this sweater?" She asks quietly, holding up my sweater
"Of course Tones,"
She gives me a small smile and puts it on.
I feel so bad for her, Mitch wasn't supposed to even be there so I wasn't worried.
"Ready to head out T?" I ask
She nods and I grab her hand. We walk to Tito and she sits down and looks at her hands.
"Babe you're okay," I say holding her hands
"I have no friends left Cheryl," she mumbles "all my friends hate me, you probably are mad at me and I'm alone,"
"I'm not angry Tones," I say rubbing her back "I promise you,"
She nods
"I'm sorry, I don't want to be like this," she whispers
"It's okay babe," I say "it's a scary thing,"
"Topaz! Where's your jacket?" One of her teammates who I don't know asks "You have to have it for official meetings,"
She doesn't respond and continues to cry.
"I'm going to talk to them okay?"
She nods and I get up.
"Toni quit the team last night after the game," I say
"What? why?" He asks shocked "did someone say something to her?"
"Your SM, attacked her,"
He looks at me confused
"Baby, look at me for a sec?" I call back
She looks up so he can get a look at her nasty black eye and busted lip.
"He's dead," he says "what did he do though?"
"Tried to get her to sleep with him, forced himself on her, kisses her, gave her a hickey and then beat her up and told her to lie to everyone," I sigh "he threatened her scholarship,"
"So she just quit?"
"She asked Someone names Craig to fire him and he told her that boys will be boys and to just enjoy it pretty much," I say "she said she has too much pride to stay on a team that will let someone treat her like that. Well the manager anyways,"
"I'm Cameron by the way," he says "I should've said that from the beginning,"
"Cheryl," I say shaking his hand
"Cheryl!" Reggie says hugging me "How is she?"
I point over to where she's sitting- just looking at her hands and silently crying,"
"She's said about 5 words to me since we left yesterday and got under an hours sleep," I sigh "she's not doing well,"
He doesn't look well himself. No better than Toni even, hasn't brushed his hair, has been crying- hasn't slept.
"Reggie, why were you crying?" I ask
"Because I should've stayed in the changeroom with her- I shouldn't have left her alone,"
"It's okay Reggie, she can't always be with someone," I say "he was going to do this eventually,"
He nods and all the boys file in.
"What does Toni want to do?" RJ asks
"She wants to play football, I know that," I say "but she's not talking- at all right now,"
"CHERYL!" I hear Toni yell
"Apparently she's yelling now though," I say turning around "what's wrong babe?"
"I had another nightmare," she sighs "it scared me,"
I nod.
"How are you?" Reggie asks sitting next to her
She looks at me and shakes her head.
"Babe do you want to be alone for a bit?"
She nods and looks back at her hands
"She's not talking," I say as we walk away
He nods and all the boys shut up when Reilly tells them to
"Boys, some of you know this-but Toni quit the team last night?"
Varied arguments and confusion erupts.
"Shut up!" He yells "She was assaulted by Mitch and went to Manager Craig who basically told her he didn't care. It's not right and she's right to have left,"
Austen- who's had pneumonia for the last few weeks looks confused
"Who's Mitch and why did he attack Toni?"
"Mitch is Craig's son and he liked Toni- too much," Reggie mutters "he threatened her scholarship and well being if she didn't sleep with him,"
"Anyways," Reilly says "we have to figure out what to do, how has she been Cheryl?"
"He gave her a black eye- the worst I've ever seen. She cant look in the mirror without crying because he 'marked' her neck. I tried to get her to watch TV but there was nothing but football on which made her lock herself in a bathroom for 2 hours. She couldn't sleep without nightmares and she's said 2 sentences to me all day- so she's not doing great," I sigh "She's really scared, and I'm worried I'm not going to get her back,"
"We could beat him up," Reggie says
"Or not Reginald," I hiss "If anyone's beating him up it's me,"
"And that's not happening since Toni couldn't fight him off and you're wearing heels," RJ says
"Watch me," I hiss
"Anyways, we aren't beating everyone up and a cease play like Riverdale did won't work," he says "any ideas?"
"Go to the media, people love Toni and Cheryl- they would force Stanford to issue an apology," Will suggests
"I don't trust the media at all," I say "They always make Toni a villain eventually,"
"What about we talk to coach?" I suggest
"He's on his way," RJ says looking at his phone "He's angry so he must've been informed,"
We talk and wait for Coach.
"Mantle, Morgan, O'Reilly," Coach says "What the hell happened? Why did Manager Craig just inform me that I need to sign a new Quarterback?"
"Because his asshole son attacked Topaz," Dylan says "Why did you let him keep Mitch?"
"He's my boss, I can't tell him what to do- Mitch wasn't even on duty last night,"
"Well, Toni has the bruises to prove he was in the room,"
"Why was she in the room alone?" He asks "you guys always wait for her,"
"She told me that I could go meet up with RJ and the girls- I think she didn't want Cheryl to worry and she likes to be alone for a bit after games," Reggie says "So I left, but I locked the door behind me. That's how we knew something happened- she didn't lock her locker- but the door why wide open and her bag was gone,"
"Why did she quit?" He asks "she could've talked to me,"
"She said that Craig said boys will be boys and that if she did what Mitch asked he would help her out with NFL scouts," I say "and she said she wasn't losing her morals for football,"
He nods and sighs.
"Can I talk to her?" He asks
"I'll try and get her to talk to you but she's barely said anything since it happened," I say nodding in her direction
Coach looks like his spirit breaks as soon as he sees her .
Both of us walk over and i sit beside her on the couch.
"Babe," I say sitting down
She looks better, maybe happier? She looks almost excited.
"Cheryl! I wanna play football, that's it. It's all I want to do. What if I just made sure I wasn't alone in the change room, and I figured it out. I just wanna play, it's only like 3 more games anyways," she says
"Babe, coach wants to talk to you," I say pointing up
"Right I forgot, this is about what Craig said right?" she sighs "Coach i can't afford Stanford's tuition, I really can't. Can you just ask him to leave the academic part alone?"
"Topaz, Craig has nothing to do with your scholarship money," He says "I recruited you, I asked Samantha to approach you. It's me that takes that away,"
She looks at him confused
"Then what is this about?"
"Craig simply told me I needed to check senior quarterback from Indiana and I was trying to figure that out when we have you and Mantle why we need a new quarterback, and he said you quit,"
"It was quit or get raped by his son," She mumbles
"I know, I heard," he says calmly "but Topaz, I will fight for you. I want you to be my quarterback,"
"All I asked, is that he was fired,"
"I can't do that, but come talk to Craig with me?" He asks
She nods and looks at me.
"Can I?"
"Of course babe," I say "I'll wait here?"
she nods and stands up.
Toni's POV
I don't want to talk to Craig. I'm scared, I'm tired, I just wanna sleep.
But I can't
"Ready Topaz?" Coach asks
I shake my head and I feel tears well up in my eyes
"You're okay Topaz, he's not saing any of that shit with me around," he says
I nod and we walk in.
"Topaz, back to beg for your spot," Craig says smugly
"Craig, she isn't off the team because that's not your decision," Coach says "We're here to talk about the conversation you had last night,"
"Oh yes, the one where she left the bag here," he says pointing to my backpack on his floor
"Te one where I came to you- half naked and bawling because your son tried to force me to have sex with him,"
"Woah, woah, woah," Coach says "half naked?"
"I couldnt find my shirt," I whisper
"You aren't in trouble Topaz," he says "You are Craig,"
"What do you mean Hamilton?"
"A female student, in obvious distress, half naked came to you and you didn't call CP?"
"She came to me with regret and confusion and I told her to get used to it," Craig spits "we build character here Hamilton,"
"Toni came to you after another student attacked her, you have to call someone. We also know Toni has a history of mental illness and was very upfront with us in the fact that she has been suicidal in the past. What would have happened if she went and did something to herself?"
"Then the school would be sad for a day, and then move on,"
i look down and start crying.
I guess he's right
"Craig you can't say that!" Coach says "she has two brothers, a young fiance, and on top of that our team would crumble,"
"You speak about this girl like shes a saint- like she's the only reason this team will do anything," Craig spits "buddy, this girl is a whore, I talked to mitchy last night. She came on to him and got scared,"
"Ask anyone on the team Craig? Mitch has stalked and harassed me for weeks Craig,"
"Stop lying Sweetheart," he says
"Craig look at her eye, does that look like consent?" he asks "I talked to Cheryl, Toni woke up 5 minutes after she went asleep because she has been attacked like this before. It's a matter of safety and it's a matter that she's our best player Craig,"
"Don't give her that much credit,"
"Craig, she is still ranked #1 in the world, she has been dubbed the greatest high school QB ever and she holds all the records for Qb's in the US. She could've gone anywhee but she chose here. that's important,"
"She quit, we are finding a new QB,"
"No she is starting saturday and your son better hope her eye doesn't effect her play,"
He storms out and I follow.
"Thank you coach, I know he's your boss and you aren't supposed to talk to him like that,"
"Topaz, we all need someone to stand u[ for us sometimes. He's an old white man that teaches his son to take advantage of girls because they're less and that's not right,"
I nod and he hugs me
Maybe it's good to have someone in my corner