Just Met You | Choni AU

5

Cheryl reached Thorn-hill just in time for dinner. Thorn-hill was, well, the house that all the kids in town avoided. House would be an understatement. It was a mansion. The Blossoms' family mansion, with its very own graveyard. Maybe that was why kids avoided it. The estate also had a barn where maple syrup storages were located. Cheryl barely goes there. It really wasn't necessary for her to.
After all, Jason was supposed to inherit the business. That was before he died. Now he's no more. Jason was supposed to live. He was supposed to run away from their parents to spend a lifetime with the love of his life. He was supposed to contact Cheryl in a month after he left but instead, his body washed ashore a week after Cheryl helped him get to Greendale, a neighbour town Jason was supposed to be. He got shot in the head instead.
And every time Cheryl thinks of how that was partly her fault for not telling the truth in the first place, she feels as though a knife has stabbed her in the chest, hard. She could've saved him. He could be alive right now. But what was done was done. She never could've prevented it anyways, given the circumstances. He did tell her he was going to contact her only after a month. She told herself every time afterwards. That was the only way she could pull herself up. She needed to be strong. She always has been. Even without their family's accusations towards the Serpents and all, she still had a reputation for being a rich, mean, self proclaimed Queen Bee. She walks around the school as if it belongs to her, and she won't hesitate to contest anyone who believes differently, thriving off the fear and intimidation she traffics in from her fellow classmates. She was also the captain of the River Vixens, the school's cheerleading team, which stereotypically made her look like a she-devil. She was shallow, vain and conceited. Someone who doesn't care about anyone but herself. And yet, deep down inside, she was just a lonely girl. A girl who's as vulnerable as sand glass, a girl who needs love and a girl who deserves it. But she never shows that side of her to anyone. She wasn't as lonely as she was now before Jason died. That's why when she heard from the police that the Serpents were somehow responsible for his death, she got angry. She feels as though she had lost a part of her, someone who truly cared for her.
And it was her father who had brainwashed her into hating the serpents so when she saw him with two of the serpents in the barn with him that night, she became confused. They weren't arguing which made it more puzzling. It was as if they were in a business meeting. One of them was Jughead, the weirdo in school, who never takes off his stupid beanie. He's never not wearing it. The other was his father, the Serpent King. Cheryl couldn't hear anything but having little energy to further investigate the matter, she decided to head to bed instead. She had had a long evening. With someone she thought she never would. That Serpent girl. She's heard of her before, she was infamous for being in trouble all the damn time. For a girl like Cheryl, she can't be seen hanging out with those snakes. And Toni, she was just one of those snakes. Cheryl thought.
Just one of those snakes.