Shattered Smiles (A Choni Story)

Chapter 18

Mentions of homophobia/homophobic comments
Cheryl's POV
11:26 AM
Today is the day.
I pull myself out of bed, reminding myself of today's plans to help me retain some sort of energy.
I get up and walk over to the hamper by the bedroom door. Since I've been staying here for a while, I've learned where things are kept, such as clothes being in the hamper by the door and the mugs are in the cabinet left of the bowls and plates.
I grab an outfit that seems acceptable for society and begin changing into the band shirt and sweat pants. As I go to take my shirt off, I realize I'm in a room with Toni still sleeping right near me so I immediately lower my shirt and go to hide behind something so I can change there.
It seems pretty ridiculous to be hiding behind a pile of clothes and text books just to change but the Sisters broke me. Normally I would have no problem changing in front of people, especially sleeping people, but there always is the chance that Toni can wake up and see me. That's the last thing I want. She'd be able to see all my scars and my ribs peaking through.
Toni'd be disgusted. Anyone would. And I really don't need to ruin what I have, I need help and no one's going to help me if the see how disgusting I am.
I finish switching outfits and figure I should wake up the exhausted Toni so we can get today started.
"Toni?" I shake her.
"Mmm," Toni groans in response.
"Hey babe, you gotta wake up," I tell her.
After my comment Toni shoots up, fully awake.
"Babe?" Toni asks shocked.
"Oh."
"Oh," Toni says, her previous smile slipping into a frown at my reaction.
"You know what, I missed calling you "Babe"," I tell her to make up for my reaction, "I think I'm gonna start calling you it again."
Her smile instantly shows up again then she realizes why I woke her up.
"Wait- oh yeah. Today is the day."
"Yep," I confirm, "Today is the day shit goes down."
"Hell yeah. Ok let me get ready, you go wake up everyone else. Betty and Veronica shared the air mattress so you don't have to walk to Betty's car, everyone is sleeping in the living room," Toni tells me grinning, like a kid on Christmas Day.
Damn, she might be more excited about this than me. I mean, after all she has a right to be happy about being able to execute her plan. I swear, when you put her and Betty together, you get two evil little geniuses.
Toni grabs whatever clothes she finds in Sweet Pea's lost and found and just immediately starts changing.
I giggle at her which makes her smile grow impossibly larger and she starts to laugh.
"This is gonna be a good day Cheryl, I feel it. I think you'll have some fun and you'll get rid of a lot of baggage."
"Today is gonna be great," I agree.
"Hurry, go wake them up," she waves me away.
Ah, who knew a good ol' rant session can liberate of so much the emotional shit in life.
I gotta thank Betty for that. Or literally all of them.
I walk in the living room and see an oddly cute scene.
Betty cuddled into Veronica, Veronica holding my cousin possessively and Sweet Pea holding onto Veronica's arm protectively (which I assume was an accident, probably just him having his arm dangling over the couch then holding her after he fell asleep).
I soak up all the love from this scene then yell at them to get up.
"Ow. What the fuck was that?" Betty asks.
I sit there snickering, "You shot up when I yelled for you to wake up but slammed your head into the tv stand."
"That hurt."
"I can tell."
"I'll get V up. You ready for today?"
"I've been hoping for this day for an unimaginable amount of time, I'm ready," I nod.
"Ok, are you ready to go or did Toni tell you to wake us up?"
"Second guess," I say.
"In that case, you got Pea or do I need to drag him off the couch myself too?"
"V sleeps like a damn bear, you'll need all the time you can get. I'll handle Sweet Pea."
"They both sleep like they haven't in days," Betty says while picking up Veronica then setting her down in a kitchen chair.
"What are you doing?"
"Waking her up. Trust me, she'll be up eventually, she'll either move and fall on her ass which definitely will wake her up or she'll figure out that I moved her which will also wake her up," Betty tells me while walking over to the coffee pot.
"Why are you making coffee if we are going to Pop's soon anyway?"
"Because," Betty continues, "Knowing Veronica, she probably stayed up later then she was supposed to and fucking around with Sweets. She's gonna need this or she will get cranky and put us all through hell. Any other normal day, she needs coffee to wake her up or she'll fall asleep again in the car."
"Aw, you're the best girlfriend. You got the whole routine down, you know how to wake her up and make her coffee."
"I just know her well."
"Or love her."
Betty looks at me shocked.
"What? I see the way you look at her, you love her."
"Yeah, well even if I do, we've only dated for a month and I scare her. She's scared of me, Cheryl."
"Ok, I think everyone is a little scared of everyone. I committed arson and stalked Josie, Toni is an angry gang member who's fought everyone on the Bulldogs, you've committed manslaughter and tampered with crime scene evidence, Veronica is well on her way to being a mobster and her dad is in the mafia or some shit, Sweet Pea fights everything in his path and he's a giant. We've all stolen things, broken into places, put people in their places, started fights. We are all a little scary but we all know each other and we all know those scary thing and our scary pasts don't define us, they are simply behind us."
"Ooh, my baby cousin lecturing me. I'm so proud of you, you're so damn strong."
"I think the exact same about you, Betty. If you love her, tell her. There is no point in waiting."
"Ok, coffee is done," Betty says and grabs a to-go cup, "You gonna get that animal up or not?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on my way."
"Ok Sweet Pea," I mutter, "It's time to wake up."
I grab him by the shoulders and start shaking him.
Toni walks out of the bedroom and sees me struggling.
"Ok, ok, before you break his shoulder blade, let me take over and you go get ready, same with you Betty. I'll make sure Veronica doesn't die in her sleep until you get back."
"Fine," Betty says and follows me into the room.
"I left my keys in here, I have all my things in my car, I'll just change in there."
"Just don't let the older serpents see you, they're perverts," I warn her.
"Trust me, I know. I remember your serpent initiation. There was a lot of whistling and I remember hearing some dude say "Oh, the things I would do to her." I was surprised I didn't vomit."
"Exactly why I'm a lesbian. Because of men and their egotistical, disgusting ways."
"Amen," she gives me a peace sign and walks out to her car.
I brush my teeth in bathroom and put my hair into a ponytail.
I don't bother with makeup, I'll get into it next week when I go to school again.
I leave the bathroom then bedroom and see Betty is back and Sweet Pea is awake.
"Ok. C'mon big guy, go get ready to leave and then we'll get you breakfast, huh?"
A still-groggy Sweet Pea groans at Toni in return.
He gets up and goes to change in the bedroom and brush his hair and teeth.
"Betty," I call.
"What's up?"
"Why isn't Veronica not awake yet?"
"Why the hell is she still sleeping? You know what, it's fine, I'll carry her to the car then us driving will wake her up," Betty blurts out.
"Why'd you make coffee if we are going to a diner?" Toni asks curiously.
"On a normal day, Veronica needs coffee to help keep her awake until she can fully wake up so I made her some. And I also know for a fact that she was awake and messing around with Pea after I told them to go to bed."
"Oh, ok," Toni walks over and bangs in the closed bedroom door.
"Dude, hurry up," Toni shouts, "We are gonna miss the breakfast special! It's almost 12!"
"I'm coming, shut up!" Sweets yells back, "You are so damn loud." Sweet Pea comments as he walks through the door.
"Ok," Toni says while she swings her keys around and makes a face like she's trying to make sure she remembered everything, "Betty, pick up your girlfriend, we are taking my truck."
"You have a truck?" Betty asks.
"Yes."
"Wait. Then what was the point of having Kevin pick up V and use his truck during the nunnery rescue?" Sweet Pea inquires.
"I needed their help and I don't like talking about what I decide to use my money for."
"So she's secretive," Betty jokes.
"You act like you didn't already know that I'm secretive."
"True."
"Alright," Toni stops in front of a red 1967 Ford pickup.
"Damn, can I borrow this?" I tease.
"As long as I get to use your red 1965 Ford Mustang," Toni counters.
"Deal."
"You have a pickup, you have a mustang and I have a Honda. I want an update," Betty responded.
"So, Sweet Pea, how do you feel about sitting in back?"
"We're friends with everyone important in the town, I doubt we'll get a ticket," he shrugs and hops in the back.
"Well then, we can all fit but Veronica has to sit on your lap, Betty."
"Ok."
We all load in the car and we're on the way to Pop's. I can hear Sweet Pea whooping in the back but it is pretty drowned out by the wind.
We make it to Pop's just in time for the breakfast deal and we decide to all eat together before the plan happens.
Betty carries Veronica into a booth since she still hasn't woken up and we all gather around.
More time passes, we all chat, the waiter comes and Veronica is still not awake. Betty ends up ordering her favorite, waffles with extra whipped cream, a bowl of fruit (extra strawberries) and 2 sausage links along with a chocolate shake.
Sweet Pea gets pancakes with bacon and eggs and a chocolate milk. Betty gets a bowl of oatmeal with extra fruit, hash browns and a coffee with cream and sugar. Toni gets pancakes with bacon and a fruit bowl paired with a black coffee. And lastly, I get waffles with eggs, 2 sausage links and orange juice.
It's good to know my appetite is back.
While we are waiting for our food our conversation moves onto the topic of Veronica still sleeping.
"Should I punch her?" I offer.
"Is that the best idea?" Betty questions me, slightly fearful.
"Wait, it might work," Sweet Pea tries to reason for me.
Toni just sits quietly and sips her coffee.
"This is gonna be bad," Betty says, knowing she can't stop me at this point.
I have my arm cranked back then I slam my fist into what was meant to be Veronica's jaw but then her head shifted and it ended up being her nose.
Her nose starts spouting blood.
Toni's eyes go wide. I use my hands to cover mouth. Sweets snorts and chocolate milk comes out of his nose.
All of us are so shocked but what snaps us out of it is Betty yelling, "Shit Cheryl, she's bleeding and crying! Toni move your ass, I need to get her to the bathroom!"
Toni gets up right away and Betty carries Veronica to the bathroom.
"She's awake," Sweet Pea winces.
"Yep, and bleeding," Toni laughs.
"Her stupid head moved!" I yelled in defense.
"We can still hear your loud asses!" Betty yells from the bathroom (which is across the diner).
10 minutes later, a puffy faced Veronica walks back to the booth with Betty following close behind. Toni gets up and they sit back down. No one has said anything but then Veronica starts to tear up again. I see the bruise forming on her face and I'm not the only on who notices.
Toni raises her eyebrow slightly at the when she sees and my phone chimes.
I look and I have a text from Sweet Pea saying "Good punch, red" I respond with a "thank you".
When I put my phone down, I catch Betty glaring at Sweet Pea, knowing exactly what he did without even seeing what was on our phone screens.
Her gaze moves to me and she gives me that look. It's the one that demands I apologize for something, in this case it would be punching V in the face.
"I'm sorry, Veronica," I break the silence.
"Bitch," she says quietly but then begins to snicker a little.
Her laughter is an invitation for everyone to start laughing so we accept and start chuckling until half of us are crying and the others are wheezing.
Veronica doesn't really say anything, she just leans on me after we all had a giggle fit and I know I'm forgiven.
Just then, our food arrives and we finish concerningly fast.
When we are all done we all look at each other and know that it's time to begin.
Betty calls Sheriff Keller, Sweet Pea and Veronica go back to the truck and Toni follows them to go grab our backpacks.
Betty gets off the phone with Sheriff Keller and walks over to the booth where I am still placed.
"I'm gonna ask one more time, do you want to continue with this? Because we'll have to use all the pictures we gathered yesterday and it might get a little uncomfortable," she warns.
"It's about time she's behind bars, this is just the beginning. We'll get them, all of them. And they deserve it for what they put me through for the last 16 years."
"Well, Keller is that on his way, Kevin and Fangs are waiting to surprise you with shakes after the fact but I know you hate surprises so your welcome and Sweet Pea is getting ready to make the call," Betty sighs and grabs my hand, "I'll be at the booth the whole time. If she so much as touches you, I will pounce. Just be lucky we've made sure Toni knows not to lay a damn hand on her because then they'd both end up in a cell."
I smile politely at her and she walks a few booths away while Toni makes it back to our table with our bags.
"Ok, so Fangs got all our work. I figured we'd start with the language arts because it's kinda light and I'm really dreading biology," Toni reports as she plops down on the seat across from me.
"Let's get started then, shall we?"