Thank You Toni Topaz - A Choni Story

Part Twelve- Stop Them

Cheryl's POV

Thursday, October 12th 2017

"Uh h-hi. So..." I started, unable to comprehend what the hell I was meant to say to her. "Cheryl calm down okay, I get you're nervous around me but there's no need to be." She assured me, grazing her hand over my upper arm in an attempt to soothe me. I nodded to her. "I was um I... c-could you t-t-try to get y-your cheerleaders t-to st-stop bullying me and Betty." I asked her quietly with my head down. "What?! They're still doing that?!" She asked with a clear amount of anger in her tone. I looked back up at her and nodded with confusion apparent on my face.

"I had a word with them after the Midge incident and told them to stop or they'd get kicked from the team!" Her voice was now laced with anger. "Y-you knew ab-about Midge?" I asked her. "Yeah, after the black eye and broken nose that Toni gave her she explained it to the rest of the squad. She was bitching about you and Toni. She didn't even know I was in the changing rooms, I kicked her off of the team as soon as I found out."

I looked at her with my mouth gaped open, in total shock. "Y-you did th-that for me?" I couldn't believe a word of what I was hearing. I knew Veronica wasn't a bitch, she never bullied us. But messing up her own squad just to protect me? God.

"Of course I did Cheryl, you don't deserve to be bullied. Nor does that bitch Midge deserve a place on my team." She chuckled at me. I gave her a small smile back in appreciation. "Okay I've got to go find Arch, but I'll see you at the party?" She asked. I nodded at her. "V-veronica." She looked back towards me. "Th-thank y-you." I smiled. She returned the smile and walked in the direction of the changing rooms.

I was just about to walk back in when Toni opened the door and came out, when she turned around from closing it she almost bumped in to me. "Sorry Cheryl I didn't see you standing there." She laughed. "It's okay TT." I smiled back at her. "Are you going home now?" I asked her. "Not quite yet, I was just going to the bathroom." I nodded and went to open the door to the Blue and Gold. Jason shouted me from the other end of the corridor. "Ready to go Cheryl?" He made his way towards me. I nodded at him.

"Actually Cher..." Toni said, grabbing my arm. "Would you like to stay at my place tonight?" She asked me with the sweetest look on her face. "I promise we'll go to bed early and we'll be at school tomorrow." She continued. She began to ramble a little. "Toni. Calm down. I'd love to stay." I assured her. By this point Jason had reached my side. "JJ I'm going to stay at Toni's tonight could you give me a ride there after we get my stuff?" I asked him. "Of course Cher, go get your bag." He told me. "See you in an hour Cher." Toni said from the other side of me, before making her way to the bathroom as she planned to minutes ago.

Jason took me home so I could get everything I needed to stay the night. I was midway through packing when my mother came in my room. "Hello sweetie, you rushed up here as soon as you were in so I wanted to make sure you were okay?" She sheepishly asked, worried about me. I looked at her with a smile. "I'm fine mommy, I'm just packing so I can stay at Toni's place tonight. Is that okay?" I realised midway through that I never even asked permission to go. "Of course it is honey, have fun with Toni." She smiled and made her way out of my room.

I carried my bag downstairs where Jason was waiting. "Ready to go?" He asked me. We made our way to his car and drove over to Toni's place. She was outside with her mom smoking on the porch. "Have fun Cher, see you tomorrow. I love you" Jason reached over for a hug. "I will, love you too JJ." I replied as I stepped out of the car, I threw my bag on to my back and made my way over to Toni and Gracie.

"Hi Sweetie, nice to see you again." Gracie said, bringing me into her embrace. "Y-you too." I replied, wrapping my arms around her. "Right I'm taking Zach to soccer practice so you two will be okay here alone for a little bit won't you?" She said, mainly to me. "Of course we will mom." Toni replied, stubbing out her cigarette in the ashtray. Gracie looked back over at me, "don't let Toni cook! I don't want the trailer to be up in flames" Gracie said, laughing. I began to laugh also. "Won't d-do Gr-gracie."

"We'll just order pizza mom. See you later." Toni said just as Zach was walking out of the door. "Hey Cheryl" Zach quickly acknowledged me, before making his way over to Gracie's car, with her in tow. Toni opened the door and gestures for me to walk in ahead of her. I took a seat on the couch and she sat next to me. "I'll go and order the pizza, you choose something to watch on Netflix." Toni said, grabbing her phone from the table and walking outside to make the call. I didn't want to put anything I liked on because Toni would think they're all too childish and I'll make myself look stupid.

Horror. Toni will like horror. I decided to put IT on, I hate horror films but I'm sure I'll be okay. I was waiting on Toni so I could press play, I kicked my shoes off and left them at the side of the couch. "Pizza will be here in 20 minutes or so Cher." Toni sat back down next to me.

"I really didn't take you for a horror person, but okay." She laughed and pressed play on the film. The beginning was terrifying for me even, I hated this. Toni seemed happy watching it and she was engrossed enough for me to know that she liked horror films.

It was halfway through the film where everything got worse. We'd finished the pizza so I couldn't focus on that anymore. There was a jump scare and I grabbed onto Toni's arm and turned my head away. "Are you scared?" Toni asked me with a small smile on her face. I viciously shook my head as I didn't want to seem like a wimp. She extended her arm around me and pulled me closer to her, "it's okay, it's not real. If you get scared just hide your face in my neck okay?" God this girl was the best. She was sat here reassuring me which is all I could ask for. The film was bad but having Toni's arm around me made it worth it.

It was towards the end and there were jump scares constantly by this point. I had my face in Toni's neck and her hand was rubbing circles on my back. When it finally finished I took my head away from her and she looked down at me. "Are you okay?" Her voice was laced with concern, probably since I had a look of fear across my face. "Yeah I'm fine, it was just scary." I giggled, attempting to convince her that I wasn't absolutely terrified.

Her phone began to ring so she answered it, her arm was still around me. "Yeah I'm home... Sure... Cheryl's here too... Okay... Bye." She placed it back down on the table in front of us. "Sweetpea and Fangs want to come over. That's okay right?" She asked, "of course it's okay TT." I smiled at her. Moments later the two oafs crashed through the door and sat on the other couch. It was only when they began smirking that I realised Toni's arm was still around me. I shifted away from her since I didn't want them to get the wrong idea and say something for Toni to mercilessly shut it down.

We sat chatting all night, along with Toni's family who all joined us later on. I enjoyed being involved in things like this, since I never really had any friends it meant I couldn't really interact with anyone. Although I couldn't talk to them without stuttering, none of them seemed to care.

Toni and I made our way to her bedroom in order to get ready for the night. "I'll go and change in the bathroom so you're more comfortable okay?" Toni said, grabbing her pyjamas and leaving me in the room alone. I changed into the t-shirt and shorts that I brought with me and sat on the edge of Toni's bed waiting for her to come back.

She walked back in the room, holding her old clothes and threw them into the laundry hamper. It was now 10:00pm which is the usual time I go to sleep, meaning I was tired by this point. Toni climbed over me to get to the other side of her bed closest to the wall and got under the covers. I removed my glasses and did the same.

"Goodnight Cher" I heard Toni say quietly from beside me. "Goodnight TT." I replied in a whisper, closing my eyes. 5 or so minutes later I could feel Toni slowly shuffling her way towards me, she turned on to her side while I remained on my back with my eyes closed. By this point I could feel her breathing on my neck, and her small arm wrapped around my waist. She cuddled as far into me as she could and I could no longer hide the smile that wanted to appear on my face.

Here I was. Content with life. In bed.

With Toni fucking Topaz cuddling me.

I was happy.