Kaleidoscope- a Cherry Valance fanfic

Date

Although the beginning of my week was uneventful, when Tuesday came, I was ecstatic. I hadn't told anyone about my date yet, so I had to keep my excitement internalized. I could barely focus in class. I found that when it ended, I had basically retained nothing and had spent the whole class mindlessly copying notes. When I got home from school and finished my homework, I began to get ready. I showered, did my hair and makeup, and picked a cute outfit. I finished getting ready around 6:10 and figured I should get going. I was almost out the door when I heard Soda's voice.

"Where are you going all dressed up?" he asked

"1. I am not dressed up, 2. I'm going out with a friend," I answered.

"Come on, Y/N, you don't have to lie to me. I won't tell Dally, I promise"

"Really?" I asked, sounding a little skeptical.

"Yes, now come on, tell me!"

"Okay, fine. I have a date with this guy I met at the race tracks," I said, finally giving in and taking a seat next to Soda on the sofa.

"Who?"

"I can't tell you that," I smiled, getting up and beginning to walk out of the house.

"Please," Soda pleaded

"Nope," I said one final time before shutting the door and walking down to the Dingo. 

The walk was fairly peaceful, besides a couple catcalls. I arrived at 6:30 on the dot. On-time for once, I thought. Immediately after entering the diner, I spotted two familiar faces; Christian and Cherry. Cherry was sat in a booth on the opposite side of the diner with a greaser I assumed she was tutoring. I let my eyes linger on her, once again taking in her beauty, something I'd been involuntarily doing since we'd met. I quickly shook out of it. I'm here for my date with Christian, no one else, I thought. I then sat right in front of him, in his booth.

"Hey stranger," I said.

"Y/N, wow. You look really hot," he said. I cringed internally at his word choice but chose to ignore it.

"Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself" I answered. We made some small talk and soon began hitting it off. I glanced over at Cherry a couple times. At first, she seemed to be focusing on her work and student, but once I caught her looking over with an expression I had never seen before. Her eyes were slightly squinted, glaring at Christian and her jaw was slightly clenched. Maybe they have a history, I thought. I refocused my attention on our conversation and went back to how I was feeling before. I liked him. He was attractive, funny, kind enough, and not some loser goody two shoes.

"Excuse me," Cherry said. I looked up and saw her standing at the end of our table, giving Chris a fake smile.

"Cherry... hi," I said, unsure as to why she was here.

"Y/N, do you think I could talk to you quickly," she cleared her throat, "in private"

"Y/N, do you know her?" Chris asked.

"Uh, yeah. We go to school together," I began, looking between the two, "I'm sorry, do you mind if I just- I'll be right back."

He nodded and I followed Cherry out of the establishment. We stopped in an isolated area on the side.

"What's this about?" I asked Cherry.

"Were you two on a date?"

"Yeah, we were. I'm sorry but I don't see how that's any of your business."

"It's not. Listen, it's just... Christian has a bad reputation"

"I know lots of people with bad reputations and they weren't bad people."

"No, no. His is bad. He's a player, and he doesn't know how to treat women. His last girlfriend said that he hit her sometimes. He doesn't know boundaries either."

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I partially believed her, but he didn't seem like that kind of guy to me. Maybe it was all a lie. Maybe he had changed.

"I- I don't know, Cherry. He really doesn't seem like that kind of guy."

"I know it's not my place to say anything, much less interrupt your date, I just don't want to see you get hurt or anything, ya know?" she said, blushing slightly with her eyes glued to the floor.

"Wow!" I said in mock shock, "the Cherry Valance caring about me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest and looking me in the eye.

"Oh, nothing. I just thought with this whole soc vs greaser thing in this town, you wouldn't give a hang about me, much less who I go out with," I responded.

"I couldn't care less about this soc vs. greaser thing," she scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, yeah? Prove it"

"Fine. After school, Friday, meet me in the parking lot. You're coming to my house," she smirked.

Oh. My. God. Could this really be happening? I thought. 

"Deal, but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to go back and finish my date, sweetheart. I don't wanna end up on some kinda hit list." 

With that, we turned to go back into the diner, but I could've sworn I saw her blush a little. I sat back down across from Chris and began thinking of an excuse to use as to what we talked about.

"Sorry about that," I apologized

"It's OK. What did she need?"

"She just had some questions about an English project we have. We're in the same class."

"Why didn't she ask you in school?"

"I dunno, you'd have to ask her that."

"Did she say anything about me?"

"Um, a little bit..." I gulped, the direction of this conversation scaring me a little.

"Listen, if she said anything about my past... with girls and stuff, I just wanna say that I was in a really dark place, okay? I've changed since then," he spoke, sounding slightly hysterical and mostly sincere. 

We hit it off on the rest of our date. When we said goodbye, I immediately began my walk back to the Curtis house. All in all, the date went well and I liked him. Maybe there would be a second.