ap·er·ture (noun) - An opening or gap. In photography, Aperture refers to a measuring the amount of opening of a camera's lens.
"Do you think she'll like it, Sweet Pea?" Cheryl asked, words accompanied by the jittering slam of distant locker doors. It was a Monday morning at Riverdale High, most students were as deadened to joy as ever as they shuffled along their usual routes. But not Cheryl. She was a wasp, bright and buzzing, leaving most wary at the sight of her. She'd cornered Sweet Pea this morning, but he didn't plan to get stung. He didn't even plan to listen. "I mean- if we're going to be an item—"
"Cheryl." Sweet Pea closed his locker and lifted his bag onto his shoulder like it were less full of classroom materials and more full of rocks. "I'm gonna be real with you. I don't care about your dumb playlist. Why don't you ask Fangs?"
"But—"
Before Cheryl could make a rebuttal, Sweet Pea was swallowed by a swarm of Riverdale's students, now only a speck of sand in an endless desert wind, leaving her high and dry. The hallway was emptied just as quickly as it had filled. She was alone.
"Typical. What a buzzkill." The redhead turned to make her own leave, only to come face to face with the person she'd really been waiting on. "Toni! What a surprise. I'd thought you'd already gone to class." If Cheryl's lashes had been wings she might have festered up a gale with the amount of blinks spawned from being so taken aback.
"And miss seeing your pretty face?" Toni smiled, but not that turned lip, fishhook sneer she'd might give to any of the other Serpents. Not stifled but slim, not mild but muted, not distant but delicate, meant only for Cheryl. "Never."
Cheryl felt her face brushed with pink. Only her. Ever since they'd started dating, Cheryl felt… softer. It was like Toni had cracked her open and spilled all this wonderful color into the world, like she'd flooded everything with light. Cheryl moved quickly, placing a hand to Toni's cheek, kissing her gently. "If I'd had known you'd be this sweet I would've scheduled a dentist's appointment," she murmured, the proximity between them stirring up enough warmth to melt away the whole world. "Though I'm actually here to talk to you about something, T."
"Oh?" Toni's brow lifted. "Well I've got a few minutes before English. Hit me."
"I've been thinking…" Cheryl shifted weight from one foot to the other. Where did all her confidence go this morning? How could this small, gorgeous girl strip her of all that venom? Of all that punch? Toni's attention was all on her. She'd even so much as stopped rummaging through her locker to give Cheryl the attention she deserved. All Cheryl needed was to push the words past her teeth instead of gargling them down.
"As Riverdale's most iconic couple, we should have a song."
"A song?" Toni blinked. She took the tremble out of Cheryl's hands with her own, giving them a gentle squeeze. "You waited here for how long to tell me this?"
"I'm serious!" Cheryl huffed, tugging her hands away. The pulsing poison that was in her Blossom blood stained her cheeks cherry. "My dear sweet cousin and her boy toy have a song, why can't we?"
Toni couldn't help but laugh, not at Cheryl, but rather at the way in which her envy was peeling away the stone composure she'd carved for herself. "Sorry, Cher, but you're jealous of Betty and Jughead because they have a song?"
"I'm not jealous!" Cheryl's voice filled the hallway so much Principal Weatherbee had poked his head out of his office. Cheryl's tone lowered in volume but did not intent. "I'm simply suggesting that we celebrate. We're almost at six months now. Can't we be proud of that? Of us?"
"Of course we can." Toni pulled Cheryl into a hug. "Whatever you want. It's yours."
Cheryl gently tugged Toni closer, now less wasp and more butterfly. "I've got what I want right here. What about you?"
"I—" Before Toni could answer, Principal Weatherbee called out to the two of them.
"Miss Blossom and Miss Topaz, please vacate the hallway. Classes are starting shortly."
"Gotta go, Babe." Toni planted a quick kiss on Cheryl's lips before shoveling her books into her bag and slamming her locker shut. "See you at lunch."
Toni had been in such a rush, she hadn't noticed the folded flyer fly from her locker and land at her girlfriend's feet.
Cheryl bent down to pick it up, unfolding the sheet to read its contents:
Exposure Photo Contest, sponsored by the Photographers of America Foundation
Over $10,000 in prizes - all ages and skill levels welcomed
All submissions must be submitted digitally via the website:
w w w . p a f / t
Please read guidelines before entering. Any entry that does not follow the guidelines will not be accepted.
Deadline: May 4th, 11 PM EST.
"Miss Blossom," Principal Weatherbee's voice was much denser this time. "Don't make me repeat myself."
"Yes, Principal Weatherbee," Cheryl said, giving him her iconic fake smile before turning to walk away, thoughts churning over what new topics would arrive with lunch.
—
"Do you think they're going to sit with us again?" Betty asked, turning to Jughead as he attempted to stuff as much of his cafeteria burrito into his mouth.
"Mmf." That wasn't much of an answer but Betty didn't expect he'd have one to begin with.
Not long after Archie and Veronica joined the two for lunch did Toni stroll over, tray in hand. "Hey guys. How was your weekends?"
Jughead's muffled grunt of a reply sounded a lot like a "Good," but no one was really sure with how much rice and beans he was plowing through.
"It was great, Toni," Betty assured, trying to translate as best as she could. "Veronica and I went shopping for some new clothes."
"We also got to hear Archiekin's newest song," Veronica said, nudging her boyfriend with a proud smile.
"New song?" Toni smirked, "Anything noteworthy?"
"It's nothing great, just a work in progress," Archie replied, taking a swig of his juice.
"Don't say that, Arch, it's wonderful," Betty said, sending him a reassuring gaze before turning to the girl beside her. "What about you, Toni? Anything new with you and Cheryl?"
"Well, now that you mention it—"
Before Toni could even mention this morning's conversations, Cheryl sat her tray down in the space across from Toni. "Hello inner circle, Sweet Cousin Betty, Jughead. Might I borrow my precious Girlfriend from you for a minute? Please?" She might have said please but she certainly wasn't asking.
Toni stood, walking with Cheryl to a more quiet part of the courtyard.
"Is this about our conversation this morning?" Toni asked. "Because I was going to give you an answer."
"It is about this morning, but not our conversation." Cheryl handed Toni the folded flyer. "It's about this. It fell out of your locker. Seems like you didn't have to answer me. I already know what you want."
Toni didn't need to unfold it. "Cheryl, listen—"
"Don't worry, T.T., I get it. You didn't tell me you wanted to enter this contest because you were afraid there wouldn't be time for us."
"What?" Toni's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's not it at all."
"Isn't it? Since we've been dating you've pulled out of a lot of your usual hobbies. I didn't even remember you had a camera at all until I was passing by the offices for the Blue and Gold and saw your name under one of the photos on the cover of an issue from three months ago. Three! When were you gonna tell me that you stopped?"
"Cheryl…" Toni reached for Cheryl's hand but she pulled away before she could. "It has nothing to do with you, I promise."
The dam Cheryl's mind had built was about to break open the flood gates.
"It's been running through my mind all morning, T.T.. How can I be a good girlfriend to you if I'm not even aware of your passions?"
And there they were, the tears. Those damn tears. The last time Toni had ever seen Cheryl cry was because of her Mother. Now this? This seemed so trivial in comparison. Toni pulled her close, speaking softly in her ear.
"It's okay," she cooed, "it's okay. Honestly, I wish you hadn't even found the flyer."
"What?" Cheryl blinked away tears more confused now than anything. "Why?"
"I wasn't going to enter the contest, not this year. So how about we forget about it and focus on something else? Like picking a song. Sweets told me you had a playlist?"
"Wait just a minute." Cheryl took a step back to meet Toni's eyes with her own, brows folding together along with her arms. "You're not entering?"
A pause too long for comfort. The playlist would have to wait.
"No, Cheryl." Toni sighed. "I'm not."
"But why?" Cheryl tilted her head. "You're a great photographer. What's the harm in a little competition?"
"Can we please drop this?" Toni said, crossing her arms now. "My mind is made up and I don't want to talk about it."
"Fine," Cheryl said, turning on her heel and walking toward the table. "If you won't tell me, I will simply find another place to sit."
"Cheryl, wait!" Toni called after her, but Cheryl was quicker than she had anticipated.
"Nope," Cheryl called back, not bothering to look over her shoulder. "I'll see you again when you want to tell me what's really going on, Toni. I want you to come to me on your own terms." She paused when she reached the table, picking up her tray.
"Think it over. Get back to me."
And with one dramatic twirl, Cheryl was gone and Toni was left standing a few feet from the table, mouth open and empty.