The Quiet Kid: (choni)

19: The Sisters

TONI POV:

I know for a fact Cheryl is mad at me for not telling her about the football team. I haven't told her and I really don't want to. "Hey Topaz." I turn around to some of the football team. "What do you want?" I turn closer to the wall. "I think you're in the wrong bathroom." Reggie shoves himself through the boy. "What are you talking about?" I ask knowing exactly what he's talking about. "Grab her." The boys grab me. Reggie pulls out a switch blade and the door happens to barge open. Sweet Pea and Fangs come in. Reggie looks back at them. "You're not aloud to pick on him." Fangs walks closer. "We are." SweetPea punches Reggie and hell breaks lose. Somehow I get out of the bathroom to get a teacher. "That's it all of you guys have detention!" The teacher yells. "What!?" I yell. "I haven't done anything." I say a little pissed off. "I'm sorry, I have to." The teacher says quietly. "All of you to the office." We all go to the office.

"How did it go?" Cheryl ask as I sit down on the couch in the student lounge. "I got out of detention, everyone else though has Saturday detention because apparently, we are reliving the breakfast club." She smiles sadly. "That sucks, because guess you got caught 'using their phone during class'?" She uses air quotes. "You?" She hands me a paper. "It fell out of my fucking pocket and I picked it up and got a notification." She insist and I start laughing. "I'm serious." She takes my hand. "Yeah ok. You don't have any pockets."  I say quietly. "Ok I might have been using my phone, but I had to deal with something important." Cheryl cups my cheek. "Cheryl..." I trail off. "I'll give you a ride." I whisper. "I love you." She whispers. "I love you." I pull her into a kiss. "Agh, get a room." I hear Veronica scoff jokingly. We turn to her. We all laugh. "I'm kidding, but I need to talk to you guys." Veronica sits down. "What's up?" Veronica hands me a paper. I sit back. I hand Cheryl the paper. "We need to help him." Cheryl sits up. "We'll go at night, meet me at the Pembroke at 10 and go to get him." Veronica says quietly but determined. "We can use my truck. I'll drive." I suggest. "I'll see you than we'll park in the forest and go through the secret tunnel." She gets up and leaves. I rub my eyes. "You ok?" Cheryl ask quietly. I shake my head. "No, I'll tell you later. I have to go." I get up and storm out. I go to the blue and gold and hide in a corner. I take a deep breath and start crying. All the memories come back to me. Cheryl comes in quietly. She sits down quietly. She doesn't say anything. She just sits quietly. "I came out a few years ago. The first time I came out they told me I was going through a phase. I kept insisting and nothing was happening! Do you know how many times I've had to come out?" I ask looking at her. "I've been to 12 different foster homes. I started to realize I wasn't a girl when I was 14, I came out a year later. Once they gave up on trying to stop me I was on to next home. Cheryl, I get what Kevin is going through right now. And it sucks trying to be told you're someone you're not." I tell her the stories of how many times I've kicked of a foster home because I was 'sick' or 'just confused' and how much I hated myself for that. "I came out to my mom a few years ago and her response was to do the same thing Kevin is going through." She looks at me. "So we're even?" I joke. "I didn't know we were not even." She sits closer to me. "So do you want to tell me what happened in the bathroom because I feel like this is the first time it's happened?" She ask quietly. "They the same thing that almost happened today happened then. I hate this school, but I'm tired of moving from school to school." I confess. "Maybe it wouldn't hurt, literally!" She suggest. "You were doing really well at Southside High." I shake my head. "Academically, yes. Socially, No. I wasn't picked on or anything but, I just didn't make friends or anything I kept to myself." I tell her. "That's your fault." She whispers. "Yeah, it is. But, I don't know. I don't know." I whisper. "Why have you been hiding here?" Cheryl ask me out of the blue. I shrug. "It's the quietest place in this school." I look at her. "You're also the only person who comes in here. Since Jug and Betty don't really work in here anymore." She stands up and reaches her hand out. "Come on its the end of the day and I have therapy. And I need a ride." The bell rings and we go to my truck . "How's therapy? You never talk about it." I ask quietly. "It's hard. It just brings back a lot." Cheryl takes my hand. "I get it." I start drive off.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" Sarah walks in. "Breaking Kevin out of Conversion Therapy." Cheryl says throwing a crow bar into the duffle bag. "Oh, shit. Yeah go get him." She pats my shoulder. "I thought his dad was supportive. What happened?" She ask. "His mom came home and she's not that supportive." Cheryl says quietly. "What happened to Tom?" Sarah ask quietly. "He's off on some mission and it happens to be the same amount of time Conversion Therapy last." I say slightly pissed off. I zip the bag up. "Come on. We have to go." I pick the bag up. Sarah stops me. "If you get arrested. Call me I'll pick you up in the morning." I nod. She kisses my cheek. "I know." I say quietly. "Be safe." She whispers. "We have to go."

"Toni you should be the one to go in." Cheryl say. "Why because I'm a guy?" I ask. "Yeah." She looks down embarrassed. "Ok, at least you see my as a man." I say. "Ok both of you need to stop! Toni you will go with me. Cheryl call us  if anything happens." She nods as I open the door. I take a step back. "Toni. You ok?" Cheryl ask quietly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just- I'm- I'm fine." My heart starts to race. "Something about this place. I-." I stop myself. "Let's go, times ticking." I push down the lump in my throat and we go into the horrid place. We run inside and try to find him. "Kevin!" We both yell. "You go one way, I go the other way. We'll cover more ground." Veronica suggest. We run off and my anxiety gets worse. I try to shove it down. "Kevin!" I burst through a door to see him. "Kev. We have to go." He stands up and runs over to me. "Come on." He looks so broken. Veronica runs in. "Guys. Let's go." We run out to Cheryl. We run to my truck. Kevin and Veronica sit in the bed. "Toni. Drive!" I start driving. "Sorry." Cheryl takes my hand. "Are you ok?" Cheryl ask. "No." I confess. "It's ok."

"Ok, we're far enough from the Sisters. Where do you want to stay for a few days until you're dad gets back?" I ask siting on the bed of truck. "I talked to Sarah. We have a few extra rooms. If you want to stay for a while." I suggest. "Damn I thought I had a lot of rooms." Veronica says. "You do. I love in a big house for  3 people and ones a baby who no one pays attention to." I say quietly. "Or, or. This is a concept.  Since it is literally just me and no mobster parents or have mental breakdown every time something as a pin drops, you can stay with me at my apartment. Since I'm alone you can stay as long as you need." Cheryl takes my hand. "Rude! I have a mental breakdown at least 5 times a day over everything." I defend. "You're 5." Cheryl says sarcastically . "So?" I ask. "Can you guys stop fighting? Kevin you're staying with Cheryl until further notice." Veronica interrupts us. "Ok." We say in unison. I get in the front and drive off. I get to Cheryl's apartment. "I'll see you tomorrow." I pull Cheryl into a kiss. "I love you." She whispers. "I love you." I kiss her again. She gets out and walks in with Kevin. Veronica hops in the front. "So how's your sex life?" She ask. "Not Important." I drive off to her house. "Is it that bad?" I stop the car and shut it off. I don't say anything. "Toni-." I stop her. "I hate talking about sex. Especially when it's you. I know I came to you about masturbating, but I can't think about it right now." I say really frustrated. "I'm sorry." She whispers. "But, if you need someone to talk to, I'm here to listen." I tell her. "I think I'm gay." She says out of nowhere. "Ok." That's all I say. She starts crying. "Hey. It's ok." I hold her shoulder. "I haven't said that to anyone." She whispers. "It's ok. I know it's hard." I start crying for no reason. "I get it, coming out is the hardest thing." I tell her.