Electric Dreams (Choni)

11.

Monday morning. I was still suffering from the aftermath of Saturday evening's antics, and my mind was spinning as I opened my locker, got all my books out, and slammed the door shut, glad I'd avoided Toni so far. Or so I thought.

"Miss me last night?" Her voice came from next to me, smirking.

I turned to her. "Fuck off. What are you doing at school on time, anyway? Aren't you meant to be skiving?"

She rolled her eyes. "If I'd known I was going to run into you this early, I definitely would have."

"As if I want to see you either," I told her, before striding off towards first period.

I sat at the back of the room, on Veronica's desk, bitching about Toni to her and Betty. Betty laughed.

"At least your hatred of Toni is distracting you from your mother," she offered, and I gave a small grunt in agreement. Yes she was distracting me, but I hated it. I never thought I'd prefer terror, but I'd rather live in fear of my mother than have feelings for someone.

When the teacher came in, I threw myself down at my usual desk, dreading Toni coming in and sitting next to me. I wasn't in the mood to argue with her again.

She came in ten minutes late, and I ignored her. I heard the clatter as the threw her stuff on the desk, her half hearted apology that I was convinced was fake. I'd seen her a few minutes ago- why the hell was she late.

The lesson went on without much arguing between us- only the odd glare every now and then. Until the teacher announced that we'd have to do a project in pairs. With the person sitting beside us.

"Not happening." Toni and I spoke at the exact same time, glaring first at the teacher, then at each other.

He sighed. "Normally, I'd tell you to work through your differences, but I know that won't work in this situation, so Toni can swap with Betty, and work with Veronica instead."

She gave a satisfied smile, and leant back in her chair, rocking back and forth with a creak.

"Can you cut it out?" I hissed, turning to glare at her.

She raised her eyebrows at me, and kept going, deliberately slowing down whenever there was a creak.

"I hope you fall off and crack your fucking head open," I muttered when it became clear that she wouldn't stop rocking.

She rolled her eyes. "Death wishes already? It's only ten in the morning."

"Just fuck off," I said, turning back to my work.

I could sense her steaming to herself, and tried everything not to throw my pen at her. She was driving me crazy in so many ways.

I managed to avoid her after the lesson, going straight to the common room with Betty, and hanging out with her and Josie for a bit. Toni came in, but purposefully sat as far away from me as possible, with Sweet Pea and Fangs. Veronica came to join us, watching Toni and the boys.

"What do you think of Sweet Pea and Fangs?" She asked us.

I shrugged. "They're serpents, so I hate them, but they're not Toni so I guess I don't hate them quite that much."

Betty laughed. "All three of them are actually quite nice. Jughead spends all his time with them, so I'm used to having them around."

I scowled at her. "Betty, I love you, but you're deluded. Toni is a nightmare."

"Betty's right," Veronica agreed. "She's really fun. Did you see how she danced at my party? We need to get her to join the vixens."

"No fucking way," I objected.

"Cheryl, the vixens could be so good if you got Toni to join," Betty pleaded.

"I don't care. It's not happening," I told her. 

"When are you ever going to put this ridiculous rivalry aside?" Veronica asked, her voice irritated.

"When she stops being a pain in my ass," I muttered.

Toni's voice rang out from behind me. 

"Charming."

I turned around to glare at her. "My god, what do you want now?"

She glared back. "Just to be a pain in your ass, like usual."

I rolled my eyes. "I know you hate me, so what's your problem?"

Veronica interrupted before we could go any further.

"Stop it. Seriously, stop it, you two."

We took a break from glaring at each other to glare at her.

"Can you guys at least try to get along when you're with us?" Betty asked, siding with Veronica.

We shook our heads simultaneously. If I hadn't been so pissed off, I would have smiled at the way we'd unwillingly sided together against the other two.

Toni left, striding off to her locker. I waited behind for her to leave.

"I'm having another party next week," Veronica said, changing the subject. "It seems like that's the only time when you two don't fight."

I inhaled sharply, remembering exactly what we were doing when we weren't fighting.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, V," I told her.

Betty shrugged. "Tough. I agree with V. Toni's spending more and more time with us now, and I don't have the energy to watch you two fight nonstop."

The two of them left the common room, chatting about how to get us to get on. I leant back in my chair and sighed. She spun my emotions around so much, and I got so dizzy, that I didn't know which way to go.