\--/
"Cheryl? Cher... Cheryl, you need to get some sleep, ok?"
Cheryl stood, frozen, watching the ambulance drive away. Inside it, her Nana lay, barely even breathing, all thanks to her monster of a mother and creepy, maybe-uncle.
"Cheryl..." she heard again.
Toni. Toni was still here, standing next to her, rubbing her eyes to try and stay awake. The poor girl was basically falling asleep on her feet. Cheryl realised she did have to go inside, if only because Toni would never go without her. The serpent was loyal, Cheryl had to give her that.
And... they had almost kissed? Right? Cheryl wasn't entirely sure, what with the speed that everything else had happened. She hoped she hadn't dreamed it. They would have to talk about it later, once everything had settled down.
"Cheryl?" Toni asked once more, starting to sound desperate, and Cheryl turned to look at her friend. Toni heaved a sigh of relief as Cheryl spoke.
"TT.. I want to go see Nana Rose," she told her friend, and Toni sighed again.
"Cher... it's best that you rest first. It's been a long day, and you need to look after yourself, so that you can look after her. Do you know what I mean?" Toni explained, and Cheryl scowled at the floor. Noticing this, Toni moved closer to her, reaching for her hand before hesitating and withdrawing her hand.
"I promise to take you to see your Nana as soon as we've had breakfast tomorrow morning. Just please rest first," Toni begged, and Cheryl, standing stock still, nodded her head almost imperceptibly.
Toni smiled slightly, shifting on her feet, before leading the way back into the house. Cheryl followed behind her. Together the moved back up to Cheryl's bedroom, and after some coaxing from Toni, Cheryl climbed into her bed, and Toni tucked her in, pulling the covers up around her neck, but being careful not to touch the other girl. Toni had learnt that when Cheryl shrunk into herself like this, it was usually best to wait for Cheryl to reach out, which she had done every time without fail. But until that happened, Toni would be happy to just be there for her, a comforting presence in a world that was falling apart.
Toni had decided she was going to sleep on one of the matresses on the floor. The other girl's had all left, their respective families turning up to drag them home. Veronica had wanted to stay, even going so far as to fight with her mother infront of everyone, but in the end, she too left.
Getting into the bed, Toni fell asleep within seconds, her breathing settling as her chest rose and fell steadily. As for Cheryl, she found it much harder to get to sleep. Yes, she was exhausted, but her mind was running a mile a minute, busy with the events of the past 4 hours.
When she finally fell asleep, it was a fitful sleep, punctuated with dreams, nightmares really. Cheryl kept hearing that noise, the crash. It replayed, over and over and over again in her mind, keeping her awake long into the night.
\--/
When the sun rose the next day, Cheryl was up and downstairs in the kitchen before there was even enough light to see by. Toni woke up as she left the room, taking her time to get changed and pack up her clothes before heading downstairs to meet Cheryl.
Arriving in the kitchen, Toni leant her hip against the bench, looking at Cheryl as she packed a few things into a bag. When she noticed Toni, she smiled.
"Good morning TT," she greeted brightly, and Toni was instantly suspicious. There was no way Cheryl had recovered this quickly, and Toni could tell Cheryl was either hiding her feelings, or plotting something. Turns out it was the latter. "I'm going to see Nana Rose now. Don't bother coming with me, I know how tired you were after last night." Toni looked at her sternly.
"Cheryl.. I don't want you to go on your own. What if your mother's there!" Toni cried. Cheryl raised an eyebrow.
"Then I'll manage her. But you need to rest. So toodles, darling and I'll see you later," Cheryl told her, practically skipping out of the room before Toni could even react.
"Cheryl! Cheryl stop, you..." Toni yelled after her. She heard the sound of the front door closing, and a few moments later, the more distant sound of a car door slam. Then an engine revved, and Cheryl was gone.
Cursing, Toni pulled out her phone. Scrolling through her contacts, Toni found the person she was looking for dialing the number straight away.
"Hey, you wanted to help? I need you to.. "
Arriving at the hospital, Cheryl rushed into the ER room, only to be greeted by a familiar face.
"Cheryl!" Veronica exclaimed. "Oh thank god, I was.."
"Toni sent you?" Cheryl interupted, and Veronica blushed, smiling at Cheryl's thoroughly unimpressed face.
"Uh.. yeah.. How'd you know?" She asked, and Cheryl sighed.
"She didn't want to let me come here alone. Worried about my mother or something." Cheryl explained, moving away from the girl to inquire at the front desk.
"Hello," the clerk greeted.
"Hello. I'm looking for my Nana. Nana Rose? Oh, you'll probably have her down as Roseanne Blossom." Cheryl told her, impatiently tapping her fingers on the counter.
"Ahh," the woman said. "Roseanne Blossom, room 405. She's not ready for visitors yet, but in about 15 minutes I'll have Dr Masters let you in." Cheryl sighed heavily. Veronica came up beside her, gesturing for the distressed red-head to sit down.
"Hey. Have you eaten yet?" Veronica inquired. Cheryl shrugged.
"I had some waffles this morning. But I can't think about food right now. I'll be able to go see Nana Rose very soon." Cheryl said, relaxing slightly at the thought being able to see her Nana.
Hanging in her trailer, Toni paced her tiny bedroom, checking her phone every 5 minutes, waiting for someone, anyone to text her with news of Cheryl.
After the red-head had left, Toni had finished the waffles the girl left, before packing up her stuff from Cheryl's room, and cleaning up the matresses so Cheryl wouldn't have to later. She had moved them back to the rooms they came from, packing everything up.
When she was done, she had grabbed her stuff, and got on her bike. Luckily, it had been parked out the front of the house. Apparently Penelope hadn't had time to get Claudius to move it like she usually did. Reving the engine, she'd sped off back to her uncle's trailer. When she arrived, she had unpacked her stuff, and that was how she had ended up with nothing to do but wait.
Flopping down on the bed, she stretched out, kicking off her shoes. Toni stared at the ceiling of the trailer. It was littered with old glow in the dark stars from long, long ago, and there was a huge scratch in the paint from a moving accident last year. It was actually quite interesting to look at.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed with a text. It was Veronica.
V (4:37pm): Call me.
So Toni did.
"Hey V. What's up? Is Cheryl ok?" Toni asked anxiously when Veronica picked up.
"Woah calm down. She's fine for now. She's in with her Nana, but you might wanna get down here. Guess who just showed up? Penelope Blossom!"
"Shit. I'm coming right now. Keep me posted. If that red-headed bitch does anything at all to hurt Cheryl, there'll be hell to pay from me."
With that, Toni hung up, grapping her helmet and keys and rushing outside. She hopped onto her bike, and sped off towards the hospital.
Just under 10 minutes later, Toni pulled up outside the Riverdale General Hospital. Killing the engine, she dropped her helmet onto the seat and practically ran inside.
Standing in the ER room, she spotted Veronica, who sighed in relief when she saw the serpent girl.
"Toni. Thank god," Veronica breathed. "You got here really fast. Penelope went into Nana Rose's room about a minute after I called you. Luckily, I haven't seen her or Cheryl coming out yet, so they'll still be inside if you wanna go check. It's room 405."
Toni smiled at her gratefully. This girl had been an amazing help today, and Toni was so glad she had been here with Cheryl.
"Thanks Veronica. I owe you big time," Toni said, running off towards the room Veronica had indicated.
Upon entering the room, she was surprised to find only Nana Rose there. A book lay open on a seat near her bed, but apart from that, there were no signs Cheryl had even been there. Starting to panic, Toni ran off to look for the head docter, hoping he might be able to aid her search.
"Dr Masters! Dr Masters!" She cried, seeing him exiting a room.
"Oh hello. How can I help?" He asked politely.
"Have you seen two redheads? One's my age, the other is late 40s. Do you know where they could be?" The docter looked furrowed his brow for a second, before his face cleared.
"Ah. You mean young miss Blossom and her mother? Why, they only just left. You must have missed them. Sorry." He replied, apologetically.
"Not your fault. Thanks for the help, Doc." Toni replied, looking at the ground, before sprinting back towards Veronica.
"They're gone!" She yelled, upon reaching her friend. "Penelope got to her already." Veronica was shocked, and she could tell Toni was almost ready to cry.
"I let that bitch take Cheryl away! I said she would be fine. I said no harm would come to her. I promised. I promised..." Toni trailed off, her voice catching in her throat, tears welling in her eyes. "I failed her."
\--/
There I go again with the feels. Poor Toni though. I hate letting people down. Obviously, y'all know where Cheryl's going, and I think you're gonna really enjoy the next chapter. 1. Cos it's really long, like 3,500 words ish. 2. Cos Cheryl is a warrior and we love her anyway
I love each and everyone of you. Yes, you and you and you and all of you! Also, I hope you all have a Toni to your Cheryl, someone who cares for you unconditionally and loves you (romantically or not) no matter what.
Bises, my darlings,
-G