“So,” drawls Veronica teasingly as Toni exits the Principal’s office, “Cheryl, huh?”
Toni huffs, self-consciously fiddling with the strap of her bag. She freaking hates Riverdale’s gossip-mill.
“I mean, I totally get it,” continues Veronica flippantly, “She’s like a renaissance painting. That hair, right? Like Kim Possible come to life.”
Veronica’s eyes dip down to Toni’s feet. “Admittedly without the combat boots, but you never know…”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” mutters Toni, feeling pink colour her cheeks, “Cheryl had absolutely nothing to do with why I was in trouble.”
Veronica smirks and folds her arms. Times like these, Toni misses the days when Ronnie thought she was too good for her and actually left her alone. “Oh, uh-huh, sure,” she says, “You just punched someone for no reason whatsoever.”
Veronica looks like she’s enjoying this much more than she should be, and it makes Toni even grumpier than she already is. “Tell me everything.”
“Nothing happened,” snaps Toni, and shifts her backpack onto one shoulder. “Someone just needed to be taken down a peg, is all.”
Veronica narrows her eyes and joins her as she merges back into the main corridor. Several people give her the side eye, but she ignores them.
“Would you like to hear what I heard happened?”
“No,” says Toni, even though she doesn’t believe for a second that Veronica will listen.
True to form, Veronica ignores her. “Kasey told Alex who told Betty who told me, that you went livid on a couple of Vixens after they insulted Cheryl.”
Toni purses her lips, determinedly staring straight ahead of her.
“So? Did you?”
“No.” She tugs on the straps of her bag consciously, but manages to keep her voice even. “I’d already planned on punching her, she just happened to be talking about Cheryl at the time that I decided to do it.”
Veronica scoffs. “Oh, ok. That’s totally believable.”
They round the science block, so Toni decides to take that as a chance to escape, even though it’s technically still lunch time.
“I have to get to class,” she rushes out, and ducks into the first classroom, which luckily is the one she’s supposed to be in. The element of surprise must work, because Veronica doesn’t follow her in - or she just thinks Toni’s hopeless, which is equally likely. Unluckily, Toni finds herself face to face with the Head Bitch In Charge herself.
“Topaz,” coos Cheryl, lazily brushing hair from her face. “I hear you have a big lesbian crush on me.”
Toni swears her eyes roll all the way to the back of her head, and wonders again why the fuck she bothered standing up for Cheryl. “You wish,” she deadpans. “I think I’ve got a little more class than that.”
Cheryl just smirks and reclines further on Toni’s desk, causing Toni’s gaze to dip briefly down to her neckline. “Oh, Cha Cha,” she teases, “What could be classier than me?”
Toni folds her arms. “A quickie in the bathroom would be classier than you.”
Cheryl eyes her up and down. “I’m sure I could arrange that.”
Toni swears Cheryl deliberately changes her behaviour to be as annoying as possible. She really wishes it didn’t also turn her on.
“Dream on, laserbrain,” she mutters, and trys to divert the blush creeping up her neck by changing the subject. “Shouldn’t you be thanking me, or something?”
Cheryl blinks. “Whatever for?”
“I - Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
Even though she’s irritating, it’s probably better Cheryl doesn’t find out that members of her cheer squad think she killed her brother and her dad. Something in the redhead’s gaze changes, and she pulls herself up so she’s sitting properly.
“You should ignore them, Toni Topaz,” she says breezily. “They don’t know shit.”
That makes Toni smile, and Cheryl gives her a sly quirk of her lips.
“But if you really do want thanking,” she says as she slides from the desk, “I think we could work something out.”
Standing in her heels, Cheryl’s tall enough that Toni has to tilt her head slightly to look at her.
She begins to head over to her own seat, hips swaying effortlessly. “Maybe you could buy me a drink sometime.“
Toni frowns and crosses her arms. "Shouldn’t that be the other way round?”
Cheryl tosses her a look over her shoulder. “No.”
Only Cheryl, thinks Toni as the bell rings, a smile on her lips. Only Cheryl.
