"My mom's stopping by next weekend," Kevin Keller announced at lunch, much to the surprise of his friends.
"I thought she was still stationed in Afghanistan?," Betty Cooper, always the attentive one within their group, put in.
"Right?," Archie seconded, "Her contract's running out... 2020, is it?"
"Yes, she is and yes, it is," Kevin confirmed. "She's just taking a day off to- uh... take me to dinner and meet my girlfriend..."
That made Cheryl Blossom, who'd payed a grand total of zero attention before, look up from her phone. "Which girlfrie-" At his telltale look she tossed her red mane over her shoulder in a dramatic fashion. "You can't be serious!"
Kevin shrugged, uncomfortable.
It had started out as a joke. Both Cheryl and Kevin had no real date to attend the Spring Formal with. Notre Dame International's house rules, apparently stuck in the 1800s, decreed only couples were allowed to attend all kinds of balls (no pun intended). It seemed to be the most logical thing for the friends to couple up for the night. And if hadn't been for Veronica's dare (and the influence of punch that might have been spiked just a little bit too much), things would have been just fine.
However, what happened was Cheryl kissing Kevin at the photo booth. Right on the lips. Then they won King and Queen, the school decided that this Spring Formal was the one where they were gonna start posting pictures on facebook, and everything kind of spiraled out of control.
If it had been instagram none of this would have happened. But the school's antiquated choice led to grown ups seeing the pictures. In particular, Kevin's mom saw the pictures and Kevin, always the people pleaser, let her assume he'd finally found himself a decent girl. (Not that Cheryl was particularly decent, but judging just by looks she appeared to be very well put together.) So, ever since Spring Formal, Jane Keller remained under the impression that her (very gay) son was dating a girl.
"Kev, you have to tell her," Archie pressed.
"I will," his friend promised. "After graduation."
Cheryl shook her head. "When he comes out is completely his choice," she told her redhead-partner-in-crime. "However, I won't be part of this Brokeback Mountain facade..."
"Did I mention we're going to Garopapilles?"
This made the Maple Syrup princess' eyebrows shoot up. She even almost dropped her phone. But only just almost. "You got a reservation?"
"Cheryl, no," Betty put in.
"Cheryl, yes," another voice rung out, "It's not everyday you get a chance to eat one of Tanguy Laviale's creations."
"Thank you, Veronica," Cheryl smiled, squeezing the other girl's hand in greeting.
Kevin shifted over to offer the New York native a space on the wooden bench. For a privately funded school Notre Dame saved a lot of money on their furniture. And food, for that matter. The offer of a meal originating from somewhere other than the in-house-kitchen seemed even more tempting giving the day's choice of freezer fresh fries with optional fish sticks.
"So I guess it's settled. I'll play your girlfriend for your mom next weekend," Cheryl announced, much like Kevin had announced the visit that had caused the whole discussion.
At Betty's (adorable) attempt of a death glare, Veronica raised her hands in mock defense. "Hey, all I heard was a Michelin Guide's restaurant's name being mentioned. I didn't approve of all that pretending to be straight business!"
The blonde frowned. She always worried too much. "Kevin, you have to tell your mom sometime. I'm sure she'll take it well."
Cheryl clenched her teeth at that. Poor, sheltered Elizabeth Cooper. That girl had no idea what real life was like.
"I will," Kevin sighed, "Just not this weekend, okay? She wants to know I'm happy while she's off fighting wars. And I want to give that to her."
"And that's perfectly fine, KevKev," Cheryl assured, her hand reaching over to squeeze his.
"KevKev?"
She shrugged dismissively. "Gotta start somewhere."
"You can hold all the hands you want, but she's not gonna believe you if you call him KevKev," Veronica laughed.
Instead of explaining the origins of the doubled nickname Cheryl pressed her lips together and remained silent. To her friends at Notre Dame she was a single child, and that was the way it would remain if she had her way.
She didn't need them to ask any questions as to why her twin was allowed to stay home, while she was sent across the ocean and was only allowed home for Christmas and summer break.
"Maybe you should call him Vinnie instead," Archie suggested with a wink at their friend.
Kevin rolled his eyes.
"Ohhh, that's cute," Veronica agreed, clapping her hands together.
"I'll just go with some animal names," Cheryl dismissed. When it came to acting she wasn't worried. At home she played the part of the repenting daughter, void of emotion. At school she was the official HBIC of the cheer leading squad she herself had initiated once she heard that Notre Dame – shocking – didn't have one, always knowing what she wanted and always getting it. Surely, she would pull off 'Kevin's girlfriend' without any trouble.
"Bear," Archie smiled.
"Pumpkin," Veronica suggested, meeting the ginger boy's eyes.
It took a lot of self restraint for Cheryl to not just push their heads together. The sexual tension had been present ever since Archie arrived at school over a year ago. It had been entertaining at first. Now it was just annoying.
"That's not even an animal," Kevin complained, arms crossed in front of his chest. His pout only lasted for a split second before he straightened his back and added: "But seriously. Thanks, Cher. I owe you."
"Not a problem, manticore," she said. The others looked at her dumbfounded. "What? You gotta think outside the box to sell it!"
A few hours later Cheryl found herself sandwiched between Betty and Veronica as they waited in line to hit a ball at P.E. It wasn't half as glamorous as Clueless would have you believe. Contrary to popular belief Cheryl's lips were the work of genetics, no nip and tuck involved. So she couldn't use them as an excuse to not take part in this task.
"You won't believe what Xavier told us in history," Veronica said.
The correct way to address Xavier would of course be Mr. Allande. However, given his young age and good looks, when talking about him it was mostly Xavier or TILF, an acronym coined by the gang just to describe Veronica's hot for teacher tendencies.
"The English weren't the first to inhabit North America?," Cheryl combed her fingers through her hair, then fixed it up into a high ponytail. "Shocking."
"No... We're way past that." Veronica rolled her eyes.
"So what did you learn?," Betty asked with genuine interest. Her position as the peace maker between her two friends could get exhausting at times. Not today.
"I don't remember that," Veronica blinked as if that was unthinkable, "Anyway, he told us that there's a new girl coming."
"Mid term?" The other two raised their brows. This, in comparison to actually paying attention to history class, was truly unheard of.
The brunette nodded enthusiastically. "Next week, apparently."
"And how does TILF know that? He's not up there with the holy trinity," Cheryl wondered.
"Heard it through the grapevine," Veronica shrugged.
"Lodge! You're up!," their teacher called, disrupting their conversation.
A new girl and dinner with Kevin's mom. Next week promised to be interesting.
A/N: Just a quick intro. Let me know what you think!