I see through you - A Choni Story

15 - Trouble awaiting

Toni's pov

"That was a great movie," Toni walked out of the Bijou with Cheryl.

"I know right! Lez Bomb is absolutely hysterical!" the redhead giggled.

"Told ya you guys would love it," Betty walked pass the Serpent, holding Veronica's hand.

"We'll see you two ravishing lovebirds tomorrow," Veronica turned her head to the Serpent.

"You sure you don't need a ride?" Toni offered.

"It's fine we're good, Veronica and I are going to walk home," Betty declined.

Toni watched the dark-haired girl and the light-haired girl walk away hand in hand. She thought of back to the party when she saw Betty dancing with Veronica. At the time, Toni knew those two girls sparked the same way she and Cheryl did, the next thing she knew, they were all on a double date together.

"We should definitely do this again sometime," Cheryl suggested gleefully.

"Sounds like a great idea," Toni grinned "but I don't know how to contact you. We haven't exchanged numbers yet, have we?"

"No, but we certainly should," Cheryl pulled out her ruby red phone "We could talk to each other later tonight,"

The girls exchanged numbers and entered themselves in the other's contacts. Toni noticed Cheryl missed fourteen calls from her parents.

"You think they're gonna be mad?" Toni returned the redhead's phone.

"How pissed can they be? I'll just say it's common courtesy to keep your phone silent during a movie,"

Cheryl's pov

The redhead's chest was still bursting with joy as she watched Toni's car drove away from Thorn Hill. Cheryl was so eager to call and talk with Toni when she would return to her trailer. She unlocked the manor's door and decided to grab something to eat since it would be a while before Toni would call her. Cheryl headed towards the living room as she heard a muffled conversation through the door. She instantly recognized the voices, her mother and father. She heard the phrases and words "Jason" and "You shouldn't have done that" and one that was quite reoccurring was "ransom money".

They must be talking about the article... Wait, doesn't their flight take off tonight.. should they not be leaving soon?

Cheryl steadily turned the handle as the door slowly creaked open. Her parents, sitting from the other end of the room, turned their heads towards the redhead.

"Where have you been young lady!? Your father and I have been trying to call you for hours!"

Cheryl stared at her parents frazzled. They each sat in matching garnet armchairs across the room from Cheryl with a stern expression.

"Shouldn't you two be getting ready for your rescheduled flight tonight?" Cheryl gulped.

"We both agreed it'd be best to push back the business meeting on account of more important matters," Penelope crossed her legs "Now tell us why you haven't been responding to our calls,"

"I'm sorry," Cheryl apologized "I went to see a movie with a friend,"

"And who exactly is this friend?" Clifford sat up from his seat.

"Uh-um Josie," Cheryl fibbed.

"We all know that's a lie, it seemed you and that serpent girl from last night were getting rather close,"

At that moment, Cheryl felt her palms perspiring, her heart sinking and her mind twirling. She figured her hand holding with Toni was certainly a dead giveaway.

"Let us not forget the fact that the Lodge girl actively updates her socials," her father reminded her as he pulled out Cheryl's second phone. Of course, her parents unlocked it and invaded her privacy.

You gotta be fucking kidding me! Do they not realize there's something called boundaries? I guess making my password Jason's and mine's birthday was a tad too obvious

She cursed to herself under her breath as her father handed her the phone. The device's screen revealed a picture posted by Veronica of herself and Betty with her and Toni at Pop's.

"Um I d-don't see anything wrong in the-um this picture," she stuttered "I just went to Pop's with more than just Josie,"

"You and the serpent seem to be getting along quite well,"

"I-I um," she stuttered "Toni and I are just friends,"

"Is that so, was she not holding your hand when we saw you both together," Clifford questioned in is deep intimidating voice.

"You mean at the party? Where you saw the Serpents-" she answered meekly.

"I still can not believe you had the audacity to invite those snakes into our home!" her mother scoffed bitterly "and this twisted and deviant behavior you are showing, it's absolutely horrendous!"

Her father stood two inches from her face, clenching his fist. Cheryl slowly shut her eyes as the tears began to build up. She knew what was coming for her, again. Her father was going to punish her once more. Cheryl thought that the physical pain would distract her from her emotional pain, or at least, she was raised to understand it in that manner.

Toni's pov

Toni pulled into the trailer park after dropping off the redhead. She had just spent a sensational date with Cheryl and couldn't wait to stay up all night calling her on her phone. As she pulled to her trailer, she noticed Sweetpea and Tall Boy leaning against her trailer.

Shit! The meeting was tonight

Toni had completely forgotten about the Serpent meeting. It was crucial for the second head in charge to attend a meeting and she had promised to be more dependable with her new responsibility.

"There she is," Tallboy grunted in his deep gravelly voice.

"I'm so so sorry I missed it," she pleaded, stepping out of her car "I was just-"

"I don't want to know your excuses," Tall stopped Toni before she could continue.

"Hey, go easy on her," Sweetpea placed his hand on TallBoy's shoulder.

"Don't forget, FP can take away your leadership just as easily as he gave it to you,"

"Come on Tall Boy, it was just a meeting, the girl made one small mistake,"

"Next time they'll be consequences for your lack of responsibility,"

Toni watched Sweetpea and the older Serpent each hopped on their motorcycles and drove back away. She was grateful for Sweetpea who came so that TallBoy wouldn't go off on her.

The Serpent unlocked her door and turned on the lights. She turned her head over to a black duffle bag sitting on her wooden coffee table in her small living room. Toni didn't recognize the bag as she walked towards the table. She slowly and cautiously unzipped the bag to reveal it was filled with stacks of cash, lots of it.