i just want you to know who i am

Chapter 27

"Cheryl, are you sure you wanna wear that? It's really...risqué. Plus, it's freezing outside," Betty commented as she sat on her bed, watching Cheryl brush out her hair in her vanity mirror. The blonde was wearing a long sleeved, floral polyester dress that stopped at her knees, her hair out of its signature ponytail with the ends curled under. Cheryl thought she looked like a housewife from the 1950's, but not in a bad way. Betty's sense of style had always been a little old fashioned. She was sure that she would wear a poodle skirt to school if they still made them.

"It's not like it's really showing anything," the redhead shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know what had come over her these past two weeks, but she was feeling more confident than ever. Maybe it was the positive response she got from her classmates when she wore her contacts to school, since her glasses only came back from getting new lenses a few days ago. Maybe it was the fact that she and Toni were slowly getting closer, physically. Or maybe she was just sick and tired of being the timid little mouse everyone thought she was and expected her to be. Whatever it was, she didn't want anything ruining her night. It was bad enough that she wasn't going to get to dance with her girlfriend at one of Riverdale High's most notoriously romantic dances.

"Aren't you worried about what Toni and her squad will say?"

"I'm over it, Betts. I just wanna have fun and not care for once," she sighed, turning around in the pristine white chair in front of Betty's vanity. She wanted to feel like Cinderella tonight before her carriage inevitably turned back into a pumpkin when the night was over. Betty didn't seem too convinced. She looked nervous for her. Betty had been her best friend since elementary school. She knew all about Cheryl's struggle with the popular crowd when she started attending public school. She had witnessed what happened whenever Cheryl tried to stray from her usual look. The redhead could change up her hair and they would tease her for trying too hard to fit in. She knew that Cheryl wanted to have fun tonight, but she was worried that kind of torment this would bring her.

"Please don't look at me like that," Cheryl pleaded, making eye contact with her in the mirror as she curled the ends of her hair into light waves. Maybe with enough hairspray they would stick for at least a few hours. "I can handle myself, Betty, I promise." She really did want to have fun and just be carefree tonight. This was her first school dance. She didn't count the Halloween dance, since she had to sneak there and she got dragged out not long after arriving. But for this one, she had permission from her parents to go, since she was going with Betty and Archie.

She actually felt good and pretty in her dress, and she was excited for Toni to see it. She hadn't told the brunette that she'd bought it. And if she wasn't so excited to show it to her, she would have saved it for some other occasion. But she shared Betty's apprehensions. What if this brought on a whole new world of torment? Just last week, she wore her hair in a different style and her glasses got broken because of it. And now she was planning on walking into a gymnasium full of her classmates with makeup, her hair done, and a dress that showed way more skin than they were used to seeing from her.

She tried to brush the thought away as she put on a thin layer of mascara like Toni had taught her to a few weeks ago, followed by some blush and a nude pink lipstick. She would have gone for red to match her dress, but she felt she'd done enough to draw attention to herself.

"Girls, Archie's here!" Betty's mom called from downstairs.

"Coming, Mom!" Betty called, reaching for her shawl to wrap around her shoulders as Cheryl pulled on a black cardigan that tied in the front, her black kitten heels clicking on the hardwood of Betty's bedroom floor. There was no turning back now. She followed the blonde downstairs after making sure she had everything she needed in her small purse. Glasses, ID, spare change for a payphone, the usual.