Strange Connection

Chapter Four

Toni sat with her friends in one of the "VIP" rooms upstairs, which were basically rooms reserved for Chuck's friends who wanted to get away from the party for a while. Tonight, like most nights, Veronica and the Pussycats were busy spreading rumors and gossiping. Toni was usually in on this as well, but she was slowly becoming worse and worse at acting interested in the whole charade. Her friends were starting to notice.

"Toni, you good? You're being really quiet tonight." The pussycat named Melody stated, pulling everyone's attention to the brunette. "What?" Toni said looking up from the carpet and meeting the group's eyes on her, "Oh yeah I'm good, I think I might just need some water." She said as she started to get up and stretch out. She almost had her hand on the doorknob when Veronica decided to ask a question.

"When's the guest of honor arriving?" Veronica said looking at Toni and tilting her head. "I don't know V, I don't even know if she's coming," Toni said as calmly as she could already knowing who she was referring to. Veronica took a deep breath in and then poutingly added, "But I thought you had convinced her T." Toni could tell Veronica was on to something deeper but she couldn't quite tell what. Maybe she knows my real plans tonight.

Toni started to panic but dismissed the thought completely because it was impossible for her to figure that out. Veronica was just fake pitying her because Toni couldn't do her prank if the ginger didn't show. Toni knew Veronica just wanted to see another practical joke and didn't actually care about the brunette's fake master plan. She hated other people messing with Cheryl, it made her boil inside, and Toni could tell she would definitely need to contain herself.

She never paid much attention to the redhead until her brother died. After that terrible summer, the twin looked completely heartbroken - and the bullying from others made it worse. Toni found herself constantly checking up on Cheryl from afar to make sure she was still relatively okay. She knew exactly how the young Blossom felt, and she didn't want someone as nice as Cheryl to go through something like that without the support from others as she did.

About halfway through that year, the brunette decided to joke around with the blossom to brighten her days a little, without too much notice from the popular kids. Unfortunately, Toni's idea of funny came from Sweet Pea and Fangs, so poor Cheryl just became even more afraid of her due to her unusual way of being humorous.

After about a month or so, Toni's friends noticed her interest in Cheryl, so Toni just cranked up her jokes until it was basically full-out bullying. Toni thought she originally had good intentions while no one else did, which is why she thought that it was okay for her to do it to Cheryl yet absolutely hated when her friends did it.

"What is it to you if she comes or not? You are already going to see Archie get tricked, why do you need another one?" Toni's eyes went wide as her words came back to her, so much for containing herself. "Wow Toni," Veronica said, "I think you do need some water, you're not acting like your normal self." She looked down as she tried to find an excuse for her little outburst. "Um, sorry if that was weird, I'm just a tiny bit stressed about my strategy tonight if she comes." That's not an entire lie. Everyone nodded in understanding and Josie added, "Go get some water girl, we'll catch up later." Toni gave a small smile and left the room.

That was too close. Toni may have been ready to branch out from some little habits, but she practically threw her whole reputation away in that room. She was thankful her friends didn't catch on to her plans with Cheryl, but she would need to be even more careful from now on, including tonight.

...

Just outside of the house was Cheryl Blossom. She had recently pulled into a spot near the forest and away from all the commotion inside. While Cheryl was excited during the car ride there, the feeling quickly turned to nervousness as she caught sight of Chuck's house and the raging party inside.