Not So Different After All

2: Vixen or Serpent?

Back when Jason was still alive, whenever Cheryl would have a night terror, she would run to Jason's room. Jason would always calm her down enough for her to be able to return to sleep. But now, without him there, Cheryl would wake up in the early hours of the morning and not fall back asleep. She had no one to comfort her anymore.

She had been getting night terrors since she was little, and she assumed it was because of her abusive parents. They used to be about nonsense stuff, until Jason died. Then they turned into vivid night terrors about him. She still had them, even 6 months after his death. Most were so real that she'd wake up in tears, horrified of the gruesome version of her brother she was seeing.

So, basically, Cheryl was lucky if she got even 5 hours of sleep. Some nights it was because of the night terrors. But not always.

Other nights, Cheryl's own mind kept her awake. She used to share all of her feelings with Jason. Now, she kept all of her thoughts and feelings bottled up inside of her. She didn't dare keep a diary. If her mother found out, she'd surely be killed. No, her own mind was her diary. Cheryl often lay awake at night, thinking about if anyone out there would ever truly care about her. If she would ever find anyone to love her, or if she could even find someone to ask her how she was really doing.

Cheryl's classmates were scared of her. There was no doubt there. They were either scared of her, or hated her. She didn't necessarily desire to be friends with any of them because she thought that they were the most foul people she had ever been forced to interact with, but she longed for someone to be friends with. It was just natural.

There was one thing left in the world that Cheryl cared about that made her feel better about her lack of friends and that one thing was her River Vixens. She liked being in charge, she liked being powerful, and she liked scaring the shit out of the people she disliked the most. That's exactly what she did as HBIC.

Cheryl got to school on Thursday morning, the day after the Serpents showed up, knowing what the afternoon would bring. It was mid-season Vixens try outs, and try outs were Cheryl's favorite time of the season. She managed to sit through every class of hers (ignoring and still hating Toni of course) before the final bell rang. She strutted to the locker room and quickly changed to prepare for the tryouts. She knew that there were already several girls in the gym, as she had requested a few of the Vixens to assist with the tryouts.

The conversation stopped as soon as Cheryl stepped foot in the gym. Maybe it was the fact she was radiating an angry aura from her, most likely from the fact she had to sit near Toni in every class of the day. Or maybe it was the fact that everyone trying out was scared of what she would do if they kept talking. Cheryl took her seat in the chair positioned in front of the center of the gym.

"Which one of you losers is first?" she asked.

Tryouts weren't half as bad as Cheryl expected them to be. There were still the usual god awful girls who she told off, but other than that the candidates weren't horrible. After almost two hours, she decided she needed a drink. Cheryl left the gym and took a drink from the water fountain. She straightened herself out again, turned around, then jumped because there was someone standing right behind her. She shut her eyes tight and dramatically put her hand over her heart.

"I didn't know you had any emotion other than hate in your body, but I guess looks can be deceiving." Cheryl inwardly cringed. She knew that voice. And hated that voice. She opened her eyes and saw it was none other than Toni.

"God, first you invade my classes, and now you're invading my after school time? What is it with you?" she replied while crossing her arms.

"I'm not here for you, I'm here for cheerleading tryouts," Toni retorted. Cheryl felt a shock travel through her whole body, and then of course, anger.

"You can't be serious." Toni smirked slightly.

"Dead serious. Being a Vixen was literally my last option for an extra curricular. I didn't know you were a Vixen otherwise I would of resorted to forcing my way into art club," she explained.

"I'm not just a Vixen, Toni. I am the HBIC, and I know that it may be too hard for you to figure out what it means, so I'll tell you. Head Bitch In Charge, which means that if you make one move that screws up my Vixens, you're out. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to tryouts," Cheryl replied before brushing past Toni and back into the gym. Betty and Veronica, who Cheryl had reluctantly picked to help her out, could sense the sudden change in Cheryl's mood. She was angrier than before, if that was even possible.

Slowly, the number of people remaining shrunk until it was Toni and one other girl. The girl before Toni was ok. Nothing spectacular, and none of the three girls thought she was Vixen material. So finally, it was Toni's turn. Cheryl scowled at the pink haired girl and Toni flashed a smile to the other two in response. Ten minutes passed and Toni had successfully completed every part of her try outs.

"You can go now," Cheryl said to Toni, who was standing in the middle of the gym. Toni walked out and Cheryl let out a tired sigh. She was getting another stress headache in the back of her head.

"I really liked her," Veronica spoke up.

"Yeah, she had quite the fire," Betty agreed.

"Fire, ladies, is what kills people and burns down houses," Cheryl snapped. Veronica rolled her eyes.

"Cheryl, forget your stupid made up feud with her. You know that she was good," she said. Cheryl knew Toni was good. She would never, ever admit it out loud. But Toni definitely had something that most girls wished they could have. She knew that the River Vixens could benefit from her. Finally, Cheryl sighed, admitting defeat.

It was dinner time at the Blossom home and as usual, the air was heavy with silence. Cheryl wasn't hungry; she never was. She didn't trust her mother or uncle's cooking and lived off of the secret stash of food she was hiding in the very back of her closet.

"Cheryl, how was school?" her uncle asked. She knew he didn't really care.

"Morbid, as per usual," Cheryl sighed. Her mother rolled her eyes and Cheryl was just about ready for dinner to be over. It took seemingly forever but soon enough it was actually over and Cheryl hurried up the stairs to escape her family. She took a quick shower. Cheryl wanted to be able to shower longer but she knew that her mother would not be afraid to come in there and shut she shower off herself if she believed that she was wasting the water.

It was another night where Cheryl wasn't going to be sleeping. There was too much on her mind anyway. She closed her eyes for a split second in an attempt to sleep, but was quickly awoken again by motorcycles going right past her home. Motorcycles lead her to thinking about the serpents. The serpents lead her to thinking about school. And school lead her to thinking about Toni. Cheryl frowned out of habit. Not only had Toni invaded her classes and her Vixens, but she had also now invaded Cheryl's mind.

a/n: hello i wrote this on my birthday i am 15 wooo