Fangs was one of the first to know by observation only.
It was Cheryl's first day back. Toni had left the lounge promising to "be right back babe" and get her biology textbook from her locker, knowing they would meet up in their first period, biology. The first bell rang, forcing Cheryl to get up and abandon her selfie for another time. On her way to class, a kid ran into her.
"I-I'm so sorry Cheryl, I wasn't paying attention and that was totally my fault--" she stuttered, picking up Cheryl's fallen books.
Cheryl grabbed her books and kept walking, causing the girl's eyes to widen as she walked past. Cheryl Blossom, aka Cheryl Bombshell, didn't humiliate her in front of everyone watching. The girl took off, not testing her luck.
As Cheryl made her way to her seat, she caught sight of Fangs in her spot.
"Move, vampire boy."
Fangs turned to look at Cheryl. Then he shifted to glance at Toni, expecting her to back him up. Unfortunately, she was a bit busy staring at the redhead, who was looking at Toni with a soft look that he had never seen before.
He nudged Toni and grinned.
"You've got it bad, Topaz," he said, smirking at Toni before getting up to find another chair.
Cheryl sat down, moving her chair as close to Toni as she could without actually sitting on top of her. Toni snaked her arm around her neck.
"You could've been a little nicer to him, don't you think?" Toni said, teasing.
Cheryl gasped and feigned ignorance; "I was extremely kind to him, TT. I don't bore people with unnecessary pleasantries."
Toni laughed, playing with Cheryl's hair while Cheryl pulled out some of her late work. Out of the corner of her eye, Cheryl saw Toni giving Fangs the finger, probably for glancing at them for the eighth time in the past sixty seconds. Cheryl gave her a kiss on the cheek in return before going back to her work.
Toni's phone buzzed.
[Fangs: 8:32] That girl is literally in your lap, Topaz.
[Toni: 8:33] That girl is literally my girlfriend
Fangs left her alone, satisfied with that answer.
---------------------------------------------
Betty found out soon after.
It was Cheryl's second day back, and she assured Toni that it was okay for her to go sit with the serpents at lunch.
"You can sit too, babe. I'll kick their ass if they say anything," Toni said.
"I might in a bit, I want to go find a couple of books for my history project," Cheryl assured her.
Surprisingly, Cheryl found what she needed easily and headed back down to the cafeteria. She glanced over at Toni's table, but quickly made a beeline in the other direction; her subconscious getting nervous since she wasn't the nicest to most of Toni's friends. Family, even.
As soon as she found a table alone, she felt Toni beside her, grabbing the book to get her attention.
"I saw you look over, Cheryl." Toni started, putting her hand on the small of her girlfriend's back.
"Glad you're observant," Cheryl retorted, getting a bit defensive.
"Baby, what's up?" Toni paused, drawing circles on her back. "You obviously don't have to sit with us, but I promise we don't bite. Except maybe me, if you ask," she couldn't resist that one.
"Those are your people, Toni, your family. They already don't like me, and I don't need to make that worse by getting Jughead to pit everyone against me for ruining your protest image," Cheryl said, sighing.
"Cheryl, Jughead is worth ignoring most of the time. Also, Sweet Pea totally loves you, I talk about you all the time. He knows how much I care about you."
"And that you want to slam me against a wall."
"What?" Toni choked on her water.
Cheryl smirked, "He kept giving me this 'my friend is totally into you' look before I left."
As they laughed, Toni put her lunch down.
"What are you doing, T? Go mingle with your friends," Cheryl said, not wanting to keep Toni away from everyone else she cared about.
"I'm not leaving you alone here, Cheryl."
With that, Cheryl made up her mind to stop pulling this shit and be the HBIC that she is. They walked over to the serpents table, and Toni sat down with Cheryl right next to her.
