New Beginnings

The Perfect Frame

"Good thing I've got a car now huh?" Cheryl smiles as she runs her hands down the brand new red Cadilac. It was just one of the many luxury items her father had left in his will and after some over exaggerated begging and pleading to her grandmother, she finally got lucky.

"Are you sure you can even drive it without getting into trouble?" Toni wonders as she folds her arms against her chest.

"As long as I don't get stopped." The red head shrugs. "I look over 16 anyway."

"Right." The pink haired girl chuckled before observing the vehicle some more.

Cheryl pauses as she takes note of the minor bruises on Toni's face. They had been there for a while, and were fortunately beginning to fade but Toni hadn't uttered a word about how she'd got them in the first place, no matter how much Cheryl had badgered her into telling her.

Toni looks up from the car, noticing Cheryl had gone quiet. "What?"

She tucks a strand of her long red locks behind her ear before fiddling with her hands. "Are you ever gonna tell me what happened to your face?"

Toni shifts her gaze away from her girlfriend, knowing this moment was coming. As much as she wanted to tell her she couldn't have Cheryl dragged into her problems, she had enough of her own.

"No Cheryl, I'm not." She states sternly, placing her hands into her pockets.

Cheryl lowered her head regret, wishing she hadn't even bothered showing concern for Toni in the first place. The girls outbursts and reluctance to tell her things were starting to irate her to no end, and she had finally had enough.

"Why don't you trust me?" Cheryl bellowed, taking Toni by surprise.

"What?" Toni questioned, narrowing her black lined eyes in confusion.

"I'm just trying to be a regular girlfriend and find out what's going on in my girlfriends life, and caring about her and growing concerned and wanting to help, but every single time I try to, you shut it down." She expressed before sighing a deep breath of relief after finally getting it off her chest. "It just makes feel really shitty."

Toni was naturally taken back by Cheryl's announcement, feeling guilty over what she had said. She had been keeping Cheryl in the dark with a lot, and the redhead had a point, she should be able to tell her things, to trust her, she just couldn't risk Cheryl being hurt in the process. "Babe, it's not that I don't trust you." She assures her, cupping her heart shaped face with her hands. "I'm trying to protect to you, okay?"

"Protect me from what?!" Cheryl practically screeched, demanding to know.

"My crazy life, okay?!" The girl snapped back. "My crazy, fucked up, drug filled, poverty stricken life." She had finally come down from her rage filled high, panting heavily in an attempt to calm herself down. She didn't want to react the way she did but Cheryl's persistence was no match for her.

This wasn't normal in her book, someone like Cheryl being interested in her, having a relationship with somebody with her. There were days where she'd have to pinch herself.

Cheryl was the queen bee of Riverdale high, head cheerleader, the upper class daughter of the richest family in Riverdale, heiress to a multimillion dollar company. While she was the poor gang member with a dead mother a jailed father from the Southside of town. Naturally her insecurities were understandable, and she did feel like a burden on Cheryl at times, which added to the pressure of keeping the craziness of her life away from her.

"Toni, if you think whatever's going on with you is gonna turn me away, or make me think any different of you, then you're sadly mistaken." Cheryl assured her sternly. It would be a cold day in hell before she eve turned her back on Toni.