Blossom Love (Choni AU)

Chapter 5 - Freedom

Toni's POV

"Wow." Peaches replied. "Yea.." I sighed. "That's a lot." Peaches said. I'd spilled all the drama between me and Cheryl to her. It wasn't until I said it out loud that I realized how crazy this whole situation was.

"Well, if ever need anything...just know I'm here for you." Peaches said as she put her her hand on my shoulder. Surprisingly, I felt comforted.

Cheryl's POV

I met up with Heather and some of her friends to discuss her supposed escape plan. "So what's the plan here?" I asked. "So, supposedly in the basement there's a secret door that will lead to a tunnel that we can escape out of." Heather explained.

"And you heard that from?" I asked. "This girl I know named Sabrina. She said girls got locked up in here for witchcraft and dealing with the devil. So they found escape tunnels to go out and complete their rituals." Heather continued. "And you believe her?" I questioned. "Maybe not the witch part, but for the tunnels...can't hurt to try." Heather said.

I was optimistic. Heather was right, if we fail to escape the most we'll get is some solitary confinement.

So the plan was, I was going to steal the keys to the basement from Mrs. Larry and then break the girls out that night. We would sneak out the tunnel and be home free. Simple enough. I was just hoping that this wasn't easier said than done.

That afternoon as we were all wrapping up to get ready to go to bed. Heather snuck into my room. "Hey Cheryl." Heather said squeezing through the door. "Hey." I replied.

"So you cool with the plan?" Heather asked. "As ice." I answered. "Great." Heather replied. Then this awkward moment of silence resonated. "Well you better get back to your room before security gets you." I suggested. "Right." replied Heather as she got up to leave.

"Cheryl..." Heather uttered. "Yes?" I said. "Are you.. ok?" asked Heather. "Honestly..." I said as my words drifted off. It's like I couldn't get my words out. I couldn't lie to Heather. "No. But I will be...as soon as we get out of here." I responded.

The next day while we were all together at lunch, we struck our plan. "Mrs Larry? Can I please go to the nurse?" I asked. "Why child." she questioned. "Because..." I spoke and then cut my words off with a fake retch. Mrs. Larry quickly rushed over and began escorting me to the nurse.

She took me down the hallway and I continued to put on the performance of a life time pretending like I was dying. I looked around to see that we were in the hallway alone. I stopped faking and wrapped my arm around Mrs. Larry's neck holding the fork I'd taken from the cafeteria up to her throat. "Where are your keys?" I asked calmly. "Help!" Mrs. Larry yelled. "Yell again and it'll be the last sound you make, now where are the keys." I repeated.

Mrs. Larry carefully led me to her office and handed me her keys. I didn't know exactly what to do from here, what was going to stop her from immediately calling security. Then I heard a guard call over the walkie talkie and quickly snatched it off the table. "Tell them everything is going fine and to clear the commons room." I commanded. Mrs. Larry surprisingly obeyed, I couldn't believe she was letting me threaten her with a fork. But honestly, I'd be scared too, I even had no idea what I was capable of.

I took the walkie with me and quickly ran out of her office. I ran back into the commons room where Heather and girls were eating. "Let's go!" I yelled. Heather and two of her friends got up and began following. Heather leaded and quickly ran into the basement. "Stop those girls!" I heard come of the walkie talkie. "Shit!" Heather yelled.

We made it into the basement and I found the locked door to the tunnels. The door was a lot smaller then I thought, it was more of a small round sewer tunnel. The two other girls quickly began crawling through the tunnels. Then I heard the guards come into the basement. "Go!" Heather said to me. "No you go!" I responded. "You already know one of us isn't gonna make it Cheryl! It's going to be me." Heather replied. "Wha.. why!" I asked.

"You need to go fix things with your girlfriend."
Heather responded. I almost began to tear up. Heather was putting me and my happiness in front of her freedom. It's just how I remembered her, she always put my happiness first. I turned and began crawling through the small tunnel and I heard the door close behind me. I turned to see that Heather wasn't there.

I heard Heather screaming and the guards yelling at her to get down and where the other girls were. I can't believe I left her. I should go back. No. She wanted me to be free. This just shows that I need to appreciate people when I have them. Like Toni. I need to fix things with her.

I finally made it through the tunnel and the other girls were looking at me looking for Heather. "She didn't make it." I responded as I began running. I didn't stop running until I made it over Sweetwater River and back to Riverdale.

I tiredly walked through the town. Pops. Pops was my first thought as soon as I got into town. A cherry milkshake with curly fries. Maybe I could even invite Toni. Ugh, I don't even have my phone.

Once I finally made it outside of Pops. I began sprinting for the door. Then I looked through the window to see Toni...and Peaches. Toni was giving her the same smile. The same smile she gave me. Toni has this smile...she only wears it with me. Now it was Peaches'. Maybe I was stupid to try to come and fix things, maybe I've been away for too long. The world wasn't going to wait up on me, nobody cared about me. Fuck love.