i just want you to know who i am

Chapter 7

Toni was still popular, despite being kicked off the cheer squad. She still hung out with the cheerleaders and the football players, everyone that Cheryl was so wary of when she roamed the halls. Even though she and Toni were on better terms than they had been before, she still walked around school, expecting to be tormented somehow by one of the other popular kids. Whether it was cheerleaders verbally mocking her as they passed her by or scumbag jocks like Sweet Pea and Reggie tossing spit balls and crumpled up paper at her.

She never caught a break. Even if she and Toni were...what even were they? Were they friends now? Were they still enemies? Colleagues from newspaper team? Whatever they were, Cheryl still found herself daydreaming endlessly about the brunette. Every day in study hall, she took her seat in the back corner, loaned Toni a pencil, and watched the back of her head as she did her schoolwork. Every now and then the former Vixen would snicker across the room at whatever dumb thing Sweet Pea did for attention, and the redhead couldn't help but smile to herself at the sound of her laugh. Even if the laughter was at her expense.

Her pencil ran smoothly against her notebook as she tried to perfectly capture the curls in Toni's hair. The light brown locks were tied up halfway with a large pink scrunchie, the rest of her hair flowing down her back. The sun coming through the classroom window hit the back of her head, making the golden highlights practically sparkle. She put the finishing touches on the sketch and flipped the page to write on the back, adding to the little list she'd been making while she drew.

My Favorite Things About T.T.
1. She's an amazing photographer
2. Her smile is captivating
3. Her hair shines in the sun
4. She's nice to me (when she wants to be)
5. She trusts me with her secrets
6. Her laugh makes me laugh
7. She defended me against her friends
8. She doesn't care what anyone thinks
9. The way her voice makes me melt
10.

"Whatcha workin' on, Carrot Top?" Sweet Pea's voice broke her from her thoughts. Her pencil dragged harshly across the paper when the football player ripped it from the spiral binding of her notebook.

Her body went into panic mode as her eyes widened, standing up from her chair, reaching for the paper, but the boy held it out of her reach. She didn't pay attention to the teacher telling them to knock it off, she didn't pay attention to the confused look on his face as he looked at the paper. She didn't even notice Toni turning around to see what was happening. She just focused on getting the piece of paper back.

"Toni, did you know this freak's been drawing pictures of you?" Sweet Pea laughed as he eyed the slightly crumpled sketch in his hands.

Cheryl's eyes clouded with tears behind her glasses as she finally got fed up, connecting a surprisingly strong fist with the tall boy's gut. He doubled over in pain just before the rest of the class erupted in a chorus of laughter and 'Oooh's. She could barely hear any of them. Her heartbeat was thumping too loudly in her ears as she ripped up the paper and bolted from the classroom, tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she ran as fast as she could, unsure of where she was going. But she made sure to throw the ripped pieces of paper into the first trash can she could find outside of study hall.

xxx

She ran all the way home. What was normally a ten minute drive, was a forty minute run. And it wasn't until she reached her front door, breathless and coughing, that she realized she had literally run out of school and dashed all the way home with nothing but the clothes on her back. Her backpack and notebook were still on her desk in her study hall classroom. Thankfully the only incriminating page of the notebook had been torn out. But that didn't mean she would be safe when she walked into school the next day. She punched the quarterback of the football team and wrote a list of things she loved about Toni in the middle of class. What the hell was she thinking?