You Shine (Choni)

9- The Gang

Toni's POV

It was one of the most difficult things I'd ever done, talking to Fangs, Jughead and Sweet Pea about crushing on Cheryl, when I knew that I was within touching distance of being able to tell them. 

"Toni, what did I always tell you?" Jughead asked me, sprawled over his armchair.

"Don't eat ten burgers in one sitting?" I replied, smiling at the memory.

"No, the other thing."

"Oh, when you told me never to fall for a loud redhead?" I said, wincing a little. 

He nodded, while Fangs chuckled. 

"Hey, hang on," Sweet Pea said. "I'm pretty sure I told you both never to fall for Northsiders."

"Betty's mom used to be a serpent," Jughead justified himself, indignantly. "It's Toni who's falling for the enemy."

"Why are you so into her anyway?" Fangs asked. "All she does is campaign and argue against the Southside."

I shrugged. "Sure, she used to, but now she's changed. Definitely. I could even see her as a serpent. Also she's hilarious and really hot."

Sweet Pea smiled. "Can't argue with you on that one."

I was looking Cheryl again, before I heard him talk and turned back to them. "Huh?"

"Right well, we've basically lost Toni now," Sweet Pea said, pulling my sleeve affectionately. I pulled my arm away. 

"She's not hard to lose, she's like two inches tall," I heard Cheryl mutter under her breath across the room. None of the boys heard her, but I glared at her, and she smiled sweetly back at me.

I got up. "Let's go to class," I told them, but right before they could get up to join me, Cheryl flounced past.

"You better not be talking about me," she demanded, knowing full well that that was exactly what we were talking about.

I followed her out, and watched her talk to Kevin before he left, and she was standing alone.

I stood next to her, and folded my arms over my chest. "Why are you so determined to keep us quiet?"

She turned to me in surprise. "I'm not talking about this here, or now. I have a class to get to. I'm on straight A's."

"Only thing straight about you," I said under my breath, as she walked into the classroom on the right.

I barely saw her for the rest of the day. Only after the final bell had gone did I catch up with her in the common room. 

I sat next to her on the sofa, pulling my legs up under me and trying not to fall on top of her.

"I missed you," I whispered, and watched her smile unfold as she looked down at her feet. 

"I'll meet you at the bike in like half an hour, I've got to go to the serpent meeting," I told her, and  promptly got back up again, leaving her watching me go. 

Betty followed me out of the room and tapped my shoulder.

"You really like her, huh?"

"What? Who are you talking about?" I said, head spinning.

She laughed. "Cheryl? You know, the person you've spent all your time staring at and drooling over? Besides, Jughead told me about your crush."

I groaned. "Of course he did. Please don't tell anyone."

"I won't. but just watch out though, Toni. Cheryl's reputation isn't great, and we all know her opinions on the Southside far too well."

I smiled humourlessly. "Don't worry. I think I know what I'm getting myself into."

"I mean, she was definitely staring at you too. Which either means she likes you or she wants to kill you. I hope it's the first one, but most likely it's the second one."

I laughed. "I'll survive either way. See you later."

I left Betty and found the other serpents already in a classroom, discussing who they wanted to beat up.

"Speaking of beatings, Toni's gonna be screwed if Cheryl ever finds out she fancies her!" Sweet Pea yelled as soon as I came in.

"Screwed is correct, all right," I muttered to myself. If only Cheryl was here to hear this.

"You idiots know she's staying in my trailer right? I've got her where I want her," I yelled back.

"Sure, Topaz. Because Cheryl Blossom is suddenly gay, right?" Fangs said sarcastically. I smiled inwardly. Hell yeah she was. 

Eventually, they cooled it with the jokes. I was getting frustrated, though. I couldn't think of many reasons why we should keep our growing relationship secret, and those I could think of weren't particularly appealing. Either something to do with my reputation or hers. I tried to listen to Jughead's new rant about how the Southside was getting destroyed, but my mind kept wandering back to Cheryl. Finally, when we were done, I went out to find her sitting on my motorbike, furiously scrolling through her phone.

"What did your phone do to you this time?" I asked, chuckling. She smiled up at me, a great big angelic smile.

"Nothing. I was bored waiting for you," she replied. 

"Wait's over, baby," I told her, getting onto the bike with her. Smiling at Fangs, I waved goodbye to the serpents, knowing I'd see them in a couple of hours at the party we were having in the trailer park to celebrate FP's birthday. I hadn't asked Cheryl to come yet. I wasn't sure if I was ready to hear the answer.

"They actually all seem really nice," Cheryl told me, as we reached my trailer.

"Yeah, hard to believe, right? I actually have nice friends," I joked, holding out a hand to help her off the motorbike. 

"Well, you sure wasted a lot of time stalking me for someone with so many friends," she teased back, as I blushed. 

"Yeah, well, friends could clearly wait. You couldn't," I told her, as I pushed her against my door, and unlocked it from behind her. I led her in, pulling her straight to the bed and letting her fall on top of it, grinning at her seductively.

She looked equally turned on, as we pulled our clothes off each other, and our kisses became hard and sloppy. I pulled her bottom lip with my teeth, and she gave out the smallest moan, giving me encouragement to find my way back into her body, tasting and feeling her, until she came with a massive tremor. I couldn't help but smile at the effect I had on her.