Penelope had lapsed into a shock that briefly enabled her not only from speaking, but from movement as well. Her mouth hung open, adorned with the red ruby lipstick she reserved for evening wear only and as she began to come to, she looked up at her own teenage daughter, and then at the young girl she claimed to have impregnated. Toni looked like a frightened puppy, her large light brown eyes looking intensely at Penelope, exemplifying the resemblance.
"Look at her." Penelope finally spoke, finding a compassion in her that came from the empathy she held for Toni's situation. Once, at eighteen, she had experienced a pregnancy scare, and she couldn't recall ever being more terrified than during that time.
"The poor little thing's shaking like a leaf." Penelope said softly. She stood up and walked over to Toni, placing a hand on her right shoulder. Truthfully, it wasn't the most natural thing for her, especially when she thought of how this girl might affect Cheryl's future. Still, when she looked at Toni, she saw the frightened little girl she knew years before, and the own motherly instincts she had developed through caring for Cheryl were jump started again, towards Toni.
"How long have you known?" she asked the two.
"I think I've been pregnant for about a month?" Toni offered. "But I've known for a couple of weeks."
"Did you just find out Cheryl?" Penelope turned to her daughter.
She lowered ether eyes to the ground, ashamed for not having told her sooner.
"Actually, I found out about a week ago." She admitted, biting her lip, "But I didn't tell you, because at the time, we planned on getting an abortion."
"Oh. So you have already considered... the alternative." Penelope replied.
There was no hiding the disappointment in her voice. Toni understood. She felt horrible, practically a stranger to Cheryl's mother these days and yet standing in her kitchen, and revealing how drastically now she was going to change the future of this woman's daughter.
"Yeah, but it wasn't right for Toni." Cheryl said, "For us." she quickly added, not wanting to isolate her in her already frightened state.
"So," Clifford remained seated at the kitchen table. He had been staring ahead at the wall, and finally looked up at his daughter and Toni.
He knew Toni, and he knew a lot about her. He'd taught her in physical education freshman year, being the gym teacher and soccer coach. He'd chaperoned field trips she'd attended, long before she reached high school age. He heard the things said about her through Riverdale High, and stories Cheryl told him about her. He'd even known her father back in college. His feelings towards Toni had been mixed, since she and his daughter stopped their friendship seven years ago. He didn't always care for the way she treated the other students in school.
Still, certain aspects of her personality had always been attractive to him. She was outgoing, with a strong ability to entertain, and admittedly, had been one of his favorite students when he had taught her. But now, when he realized how much Toni was jeopardizing his only daughter's future, he suddenly saw her as just as ominous as the majority of the Riverdale High student body did.
"Are you planning on going through with the pregnancy, and then giving it up for adoption?" He already knew that hadn't been their plan, it had been clear by their expressions. Still, he hoped if he asked the question with enough confidence and jurisdiction, that the young teens would be swayed to agree.
"No." Cheryl replied firmly, "TT and me are going to raise it."
"You and 'TT'?" Clifford asked incredulously, "Cheryl, this isn't fairy tale time."
