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In the back of the classroom, a pair of dark brown eyes were intently surveying every figure that walked through the door. Many people were making their way inside, none of which held her interest. She was looking for a particular someone… more specifically a girl with pink hair and a preference for plaid.
Someone who, coincidentally, was walking through the door right now.
The waiting girls’ cherry red lips curled up into a smile; eyes carefully trailing the newcomer as she made her way to the seat she frequented most. Dramatically flipping her long, red hair over her shoulder, she grabbed her bag and made her way from the back of the room to the seat directly next to the pink-haired girl. The scrawny boy currently occupying said seat turned with wide eyes, the girl standing over him only offering a sickly sweet smile; nothing good ever came with that smile.
“This is my seat now.” She said, the unnerving smile still plastered onto her face.
He only continued to stare blankly.
“Move, twig!” She all but shouted, making a violent shooing motion with her hands.
She was no longer faking her smile, replacing it with an intensely irritated look that scared the poor boy half to death. His head bobbed hastily underneath the table as he grabbed his bag and all but ran to the redheads previous seat. Satisfied, her smile returned to her face as she plopped herself unceremoniously next to her now annoyed tablemate. The girl, who had watched the whole situation unfold with minimal interest, rolled her eyes and shifted her gaze from the scene back to her things, flipping through her binder in search of today’s homework. She would very much like to get through this class without any interruptions, especially from this girl.
Noticing she was pointedly ignoring her, the redhead shifted all her attention to the one beside her. Her crossed arms rested upon the table, bright red fingernails tapping the surface impatiently. After a few moments of silence, save for the consistent tapping of nails on wood, the redheads burning gaze finally had an impact on her intended target. Now very bothered, the pink-haired girl harshly turned to the one beside her.
“What do you want, Cheryl?”
Cheryl picked at her nails, now seemingly uninterested in the conversation she had very clearly meant to initiate.
“My poor, sweet, frequently irritating Toni Topaz… why must you immediately assume I want something? All I’ve done is sit down. Maybe I just wanted a change of scenery... the same old things get so dreary after a while. I’m sure you understand.”
“Cut the crap. You’ve never done anything without a motive, Cheryl, so spill.”
“Aw, I appreciate that you’d take notice to that.” She replied mockingly, hand over her heart as if she just received the sweetest compliment.
“I just so happened to see online that, though I made sure you and your little friends were specifically invited to my party tonight, you are the only one refusing my invitation.”
“That’s it? That’s why you came over? Cus I’m not coming to one of your stupid parties?”
Cheryl gasped dramatically, holding her hand over her heart yet again.
“How dare you! My parties are unquestionably the best thing about this town, unlike you.” She points an accusatory nail in the direction of the other girl.
Before Toni could say anything, Cheryl pressed further,
“You’re so out of your element here. I wonder why that could be…”
She pretends to ponder for a moment, then continues.
“I guess it’s because you have no real friends here, do you? Poor Cha Cha… spending all your time with that uptight Betty and her hobo hubby made you forget how to talk to real people.”
“They ARE real people, and I don’t need you to-” Cheryl quickly cut her off,
“Well, you’re in luck! You’re so pathetic I decided to take pity on you! The party starts at 9, but you better not show up until later; that’s just the proper thing to do. It’s a small party so it’s casual, but not THAT casual. Just dress up but not too much, ok? Did you get all that? Good! Glad we got that settled! See you there!”
Cheryl flashes what looks like her first genuine smile today, and as abruptly as she sat down, she gets back up and struts towards her original seat. The poor kid that was forcibly removed from his seat earlier made a small noise as he realized she had come back to reclaim her throne, and vanished from the area fairly quick. Toni missed this entire interaction, however, as she was too busy being very confused. Sure, Cheryl was a bitch almost 90% of the time, but compared to past experiences with the girl, this seemed like an honest invitation.
Or at least an attempt at one. She thought, as she recalled Cheryl’s ability to make even an invitation seem like an insult.
Toni knew that Cheryl was going through a tough time, and was also lacking any real friends (besides maybe Josie and the weird on-and-off frenemy thing she has going on with Veronica). Toni decided that she should at least attempt to go to this party. If Cheryl was genuinely trying to be friendly, she would feel bad for not even giving her a chance. If not, she could always just leave and forget the whole thing ever happened.
-
Toni hopped off her motorcycle, looking up at the huge building before her known as Thornhill Manor. Her newspaper buddies were supposed to arrive around the same time, but looking through her recent texts quickly made her realize that was not going to be the case. According to Jughead, he and Betty were “busy” and would arrive late. Go figure. Alone at the queen B’s party. What a great way to start the night, she thought. Shaking her head, she decided to just walk in and get this over with.
Upon opening the front door, she immediately realized that this was not a small party. There were people covering every inch of this house. She also realized that literally nobody cared or even noticed her entrance. That was a relief for her, at least. Maybe she could just wait it out until Jughead got here? That would be a nice possibility… however that train of thought was immediately derailed when she made eye contact with a familiar looking dark-haired girl wearing a neck of pearls on the opposite side of the room. The girl waved and made her way to her, leaving the guy she was having a conversation with mid-sentence.
Toni was the first to speak,
“Hey… you’re Veronica, right? Betty’s friend?”
“Yep, that’s me!” Veronica gave a small smile.
“Where is she anyways? Wasn’t she arriving with Jughead and you?” Veronica asked, tilting her head slightly.
“There was a change of plans. Apparently, they’re “busy” right now and are going to be late.” Toni put up air quotes to hint at what kind of things they were actually getting up to.
Veronica rolled her eyes at this, not surprised in the least.
“Those two are too much sometimes. Here, you can join me until they arrive! I think they’re about to start a game in the other room.”
Veronica extended her hand out for Toni to take and led her to a room with people crammed around a small table. She finally caught sight of the party’s hostess, who was looking so stunning in a red dress that Toni was suddenly very glad she had decided to show up. The redhead was sending a glare between her and Veronica, which she dismissed.
Both girls made their way to the couch, where Veronica let go of Toni’s hand and smooshed herself at the end next to a redheaded boy. Veronica patted her own leg as an invitation for Toni to sit on her lap, but Toni just shook her head and opted for the arm of the couch instead.
She looked back up at Cheryl, still glaring at the two, making her wonder if she as going to yell at her for sitting on her furniture incorrectly. Thankfully, her glaring ceased once Cheryl realized her look didn’t go unnoticed, but Toni was still starting to get the feeling that coming to this party was a mistake.
Her thoughts were confirmed as Cheryl made her way to the middle of the room and clasped her hands together, effectively quieting everyone save a select few as they waited for the hostess to speak.
“Listen up kids! We’re going to start the night off right by playing a game. This is one of my personal favorites: seven minutes in heaven!”
That earned a groan from Toni and some others, but they were easily drowned out by a loud whoop from somewhere behind Toni. Turning around, she found the source of the noise; a guy named Reggie who she knew hated the southside for no good reason. He sounded like he was already drunk. Not surprising.
She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Cheryl, who continued,
“Who wants to tryst in the closet of love first? My vote is A for Archie.”
The boy that was talking to Veronica on the couch next to her suddenly looked up, obviously unaware that anything had been happening until now. Reggie whooped yet again, further confirming his drunken state.
“Let’s see who’s riding the ginger stallion tonight.” Cheryl, pointedly looking between Toni and Veronica as she spun the bottle on the table. The bottle slowed and landed on none other than Veronica. Toni heard another whoop.
“It’s clearly pointing to Veronica. This should be fun.” Cheryl said as she bit her tongue.
Cheryl looked so pleased with herself, Toni couldn’t help but feel like Cheryl had planned this. Though she had no idea how.
“Wait, what? I’m not doing this.” Veronica said and Archie agreed with a couple of nods.
Cheryl looked a little disappointed at this response, but she wasn’t one to give up so easily.
“That’s up to you. But if you don’t, house rules decree the hostess gets to take your turn.” Cheryl gestured to herself and smirked.
A look of irritation passed over Veronica's features, and not a second later she stood and defiantly grabbed a confused Archie’s hand, dragging him into the closet with her. Cheryl held her smug look towards the two as a few occupants of the room (see: Reggie) cheered.
-
Once the door had closed shut, Cheryl hastily made her way to the now empty space on the couch. She turned her attention to the short girl on her left.
“You can sit on the couch now, you know. You don’t have to ruin my furniture.”
Toni hesitantly moved herself from the arm of the couch to the cushion, immediately bringing her hip-to-hip to the taller girl. She could feel warmth radiating from Cheryl; she found it hard to focus on anything else. Neither said anything for a moment, making things a little awkward as Toni kept her gaze on the closet her new friend now resided in. At least she wasn’t in there, she thought. Finally, Cheryl broke their silence.
“Aren’t you glad you came to my party? You would have missed out on Archie finally proving he’s a teenage boy.” She said and drank some of whatever vile concoction was in her hands.
“Couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that.” Toni mumbled to the floor.
Cheryl smiled at the other girl, who still couldn’t look at the redhead sitting too close for comfort.
“This is better than you bumming around the southside, at least.” Cheryl looked down at her drink, no longer looking at Toni as she realized just how close she was.
She took a deep breath, and continued,
“Full disclosure: I’m glad you came. I honestly thought you weren’t going to.”
Cheryl said the last part so quietly, Toni thought she might have imagined it. She finally looked up at the other girl.
“Oh? And what has the queen of the buskers done to please THE Cheryl Bombshell with her presence?”
Cheryl laughed at that. She pondered the question for a second, taking another sip of her drink. Her next words were soft.
“You seem… nice. And I need some nice in my life right now.”
Cheryl smiled a sad smile, eyes no longer in focus.
Toni knew she should comfort the poor girl, but she didn’t know how. She usually prided herself on being the person people came to in a crises, but with Cheryl it was different. What if she said the wrong thing and ruined any attempt at getting closer with the girl? For some strange reason she really liked Cheryl, and the last thing she wanted to do was scare her away. She had to say something, though.
“I’m really sorry about your brother. I heard how close you guys were.”
Toni put her hand on Cheryl’s in an attempt to show some sort of sympathy for the troubled girl, taking the redhead out of whatever daze she had found herself in.
Just as Cheryl was about to say something, her timer on her phone indicating seven minutes had passed went off. She rose from the couch to the closet door, leaving Toni alone once again.
“Times up, lovebirds! Time to see what’s left of your faces.”
-
The door swung open, and there stood a disheveled Archie and an unusually quiet Veronica. She quickly sat down in the empty space Cheryl had left, whereas Archie took Toni’s previous spot on the arm of the couch. Neither looked at each other, but Toni could see the blush on Veronicas face. Cheryl mockingly pretended to study them, the blush not going unnoticed by the redhead, either.
“Hmm... looks like your faces survived. Barely. Veronica, since you so eagerly followed the rules, I’ll let you pick who goes next.”
“Well Cheryl, I guess it’s your turn to go, then. If only to get rid of you for seven minutes.”
Cheryl placed one hand on her hip, the other on the bottle.
“Fine. Let’s see who the lucky fella is, shall we?”
She spun the bottle with a lot less precision than the last time, the drinks she had been sipping on finally taking effect. It spun and spun, until Toni found herself looking directly at the top of a motionless bottle. Her heart jumped as she turned to a grinning Veronica, who was clearly enjoying this development. She couldn’t do this. She wouldn’t do this. She glanced at Cheryl, who looked just as shocked as she felt.
“I can’t do this.” Toni said, clearly making no effort to mask her discomfort.
Cheryl put her hand back on the bottle immediately.
“T-That’s fine, I’ll re-spin it.”
Cheryl started spinning the bottle yet again. Before Toni could let out a sigh of relief, Veronica jumped to her feet and stopped the bottle mid-spin.
“Oh no you don’t, bombshell. The house rules decree if you don’t take your turn the hostess gets to, remember? So I guess the hostess has no other choice but to go into that closet.”
Cheryl helplessly looked around the room for someone who would back her up. Her eyes fell on Archie, who shrugged.
“Sorry, Cheryl. Rules are rules.”
Cheryl huffed and reluctantly made her way to the small room, not checking to see if Toni was following. Veronica gave Toni a reassuring shoulder squeeze, which did nothing to help Toni's frantic heartbeat.
“It’s ok, you got this. It’s only seven minutes, right?”
She looked at the closet and then at Archie, who gave her a small smile and a thumbs up.
“Traitors.” Toni hissed as she followed Cheryl to the closet.
-
Once the door closed, there was nothing else to look at but the redhead, who clearly wanted to be here as much as she did. Toni’s mind raced as she thought of any way she could make this a little less awkward.
“So…”
“So?”
“It looks like you and Veronica get along great.”
Cheryl snorts.
“Oh, this isn’t even the worst of it. She’s going to kill me for putting her in this closet with Archie...”
She gestured around them, reminding them both of their current situation. Cheryl suddenly seemed quite interested in the clothes around them, but Toni was determined to keep the conversation going.
“You didn’t make her go in here with Archie. That was just chance… unless you have some amazing psychic abilities you're failing to inform us about.”
Toni smiled at the other girl, who smiled back.
“Sadly, no. But I did spin Archie on purpose… he was never going to ask Veronica out, so I thought I’d speed things up a little.”
A pause. She continued,
“My brother showed me how to spin a bottle to make it land on whoever you want it to.”
Toni raised an eyebrow at this, heart beating a little faster.
“So… you wanted it to land on me, then?”
Cheryl, mortified at the implication of her words, immediately stepped back as she tried to find the right words to explain herself.
“No… maybe- I don’t know! I drank too much. Or maybe not enough.”
The taller girl looked nervously at the smaller girl, who stepped closer.
“Well, if you did have more to drink, would that change anything?”
Toni was looking at the other girls bright-red lips, knowing full well what she was insinuating. Biting her lip, Cheryl knew this was her last opportunity to back out, but she found that she had no desire to. Quite the opposite, actually.
“There’s a chance… that I just might have kissed you.” The redhead said quietly, neither able to look away.
Toni was the one to make the first move, her lips cautiously meeting full ones as she wrapped her arms around the taller girls waist. The redhead leaned into the kiss, sighing as she realized just how much she wanted this. Both got lost in the feeling of the other, until they finally had to separate for air.
“That was… wow.” Cheryl said, obviously at a loss for words.
Toni smiled as she brought their faces together again, caution be damned. The smaller girl pushed Cheryl further back until she had her completely pinned to the wall, moaning into her lips. They completely forgot about the alarm until the door cracked open, allowing a bit of light to pour into the small room. Both immediately froze and looked up just in time to see Veronica pop her head inside.
“Times u- oh! It looks like you guys were having fun. Toni, you got a little something on your face.”
Veronica gestured to her entire face as Toni’s cheeks heated up, her and Cheryl separating and trying to put themselves back together as best they could. Cheryl hesitantly held out her hand for Toni to take, and she did so happily. They walked hand in hand out of the closet, wide grins that they couldn’t seem to get rid of on their faces.
-
As Jughead and Betty walked through the front doors, they were immediately assaulted by none other than Veronica. She pulled Betty into a tight hug as Jughead raised an eyebrow at a still disheveled Archie, who had followed Veronica over here. He smiled sheepishly, and that’s all Jughead needed to get a good idea of what had transpired earlier.
“Guys, I’m so glad you made it! I have so much to tell you about… but first, drinks!” Veronica led them both further into the house, as Jughead looked up and down amongst the drunken hordes for a tiny girl with pink hair.
“Hey Veronica, I don’t suppose you’ve seen Toni anywhere? I wanted to apologize for showing up late.”
“No need. She’s “busy”… just like you guys were before you arrived so very late.” She put air quotes around her words just like Toni had done earlier that night.
This made Betty blush, but Jughead ignored the comment. He was more interested in what (or more likely who) his friend was doing.
“Wait, really? With who?”
“Well the hostess is missing as well, so take a guess.”
Jughead looked around, and sure enough the redhead was nowhere to be seen. Veronica handed him a cup as he chuckled to himself.
“Huh. Never would have guessed.” He grinned as he took a swig of his drink.