i just want you to know who i am

Chapter 26

Cheryl walked with her head a little higher this week. Her parents were off her back, she and Toni were happy, and she was ready for her finals. Not to mention Christmas, her favorite holiday, was only two weeks away. She pulled a few books from her locker, biting her lip as she looked in the small mirror she kept on the door. Half her hair was pulled up in Toni's pink scrunchie. She never usually strayed far from ponytails, braids, or just putting Jason's baseball cap on her head, but she had been feeling a newfound sense of confidence lately. But unfortunately, no matter how much confidence she gained, someone was always there to take it away.

"Sup, Blossom?" Reggie leaned against the locker beside her with a devious grin.

"Hi, Reggie," she mumbled, not looking at him. She knew that if she ignored him, whatever he was planning would only get worse.

"Switching up the hairdo today, huh?" Sweet Pea appeared on her other side. Her heart was racing in her chest, as her palms got clammy from nerves. But she kept her chin up as she gathered her textbooks. "This looks an awful lot like Toni's," he smirked, grabbing onto the pink accessory and slowly pulling it from her hair. Her body stiffened in fear, but she kept her eyes on the back wall of her locker.

"Steal that from her locker, Blossom? Or maybe you went through her suitcase on the ski trip," Reggie smirked, his hot, smelly breath hitting her nose, "Did you get a good look at her tits?"

"Lots of people have pink scrunchies," she stated meekly, ignoring his second comment.

"Well, here she comes now. Maybe we should ask Toni if she's missing hers," Sweet Pea suggested with a chuckle. Cheryl didn't have to turn around to know the Vixens were nearby. She heard the sound of multiple sneakers on the floor approaching from down the hall, as well as the murmur of girly voices.

"Hey, Toni, you missing somethin'?" Sweet Pea tossed her the scrunchie as they got closer.

Toni examined the pink hair tie in her hands and looked at the back of Cheryl's head before rolling her eyes. "God, Sweets, tell me you're not accusing her of taking my scrunchie," she crossed her arms over her black cropped sweater, "You guys realize that you're not only assholes, but you're idiots too, right?"

"Hey, we just thought-"

"Well, you thought wrong and now you both look more moronic than usual," she interrupted, holding a hand up, "Blossom." Cheryl's ears perked up and she turned around slowly after closing her locker, pushing her glasses nervously up the bridge of her nose. Toni stepped in closer to her and placed the scrunchie on Cheryl's wrist before holding her arm up to her side with a pointed finger. "Get out of here before you're late for homeroom," her voice wasn't stern or chilling like Cheryl expected it to be, but it wasn't super friendly either.

She nodded her head obediently with a quiet, "thank you," starting to walk away. But she felt herself tripping over Reggie's extended leg and found herself on the floor before she could even realize what had happened. Her books were scattered on the floor around her, taunting laughter filled her ears, and worst of all, her glasses had fallen off her nose with the fall, the lenses cracked from hitting the floor.

"Jesus Christ, Reg, what the fuck?!" she heard Toni's angry voice and the sound of a body slamming against the lockers before the brunette knelt down beside her. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly, helping her pick everything up.

Cheryl could feel her eyes welling up with tears as she nodded, trying to ignore the laughter from everyone around them. Her heart was pounding heavily, more nervous about Toni being nice to her in front of her friends than what her parents would say about her broken glasses. She sniffled, keeping her head down as her girlfriend helped her up, clutching her books tightly to her chest as she examined her broken glasses.