╒══════════════════╕
Chapter Seventeen
An Inevitable Loss
╘══════════════════╛

     RIGHT AFTER LAST PERIOD, TORI STOPPED AT HER LOCKER and grabbed all of her things and stuffed them in her messenger bag that was decorated with a collection of pins and buttons. One of her favourites was the black and white button with David Bowie as the Goblin King from one of her favourite movies, Labyrinth. It was a big adventure filled with mythical creatures and riddles and magic and great music that made her want to dance along with the characters as if she was one of them. Another favourite was one that had the album cover of Michael Jackson's Dangerous album as it had some of her favourite songs features on it, especially the one song that even got her into the artist in the first place after being featured on the soundtrack of another movie she enjoyed to watch.

     "Nice collection."

     Tori smiled when she saw Toni standing right next to her locker.

     "Thanks. My mom got me some of them for my birthday and others I bought from this store I found that sells old stuff," Tori said as she closed her locker and adjusted her bag on her shoulder.

     "Like a vintage store?" Toni asked.

     "More like a thrift store but I would say vintage too," Tori said.

     "You like vintage?"

     "Have you seen some of the clothes and the outfits that I wear?"

     "You should take me there some time," Toni said while laughing at how Tori answered her question with a question. "And then one day, you need to show me your wardrobe and let me pick out an outfit for you."

     "Alright, alright," Tori said while chuckling at the pink haired Serpent's eagerness. "So I was thinking you, me and Cheryl could hang out at Pop's and just talk. I got upset with Cheryl for not telling me about her fight with MF and I just want to forget about it and move on."

     "Hey, if you ever need emotional support, let me know." Toni said. Tori only chuckled as Toni gave her shoulder a pat. "And yes, I would like to hang out at Pop's with you and Cheryl."

     The two girls walked down the hall towards the exit and ended up meeting MF along the way.

     "Hey, MF. We're heading to Pop's with Cheryl, I don't know if you wanna join us and I can tell Cheryl to at least try and be civil," Tori said, putting the offer on the table. "If you don't want to come because of Cheryl, that's totally up to you but I just thought it wouldn't hurt to offer."

     "Is Topaz going too?" MF asked while looking at the pink haired Serpent.

     "Yeah," Tori said.

     "I can't."

     "Well, why not?"

     Before MF could say anything, Sweet Pea walked by, greeting the three of them but his smile turned into surprise when MF grabbed his arm and tugged him closer.

     "Me and Sweet Pea have plans. Catch you later," she said as she dragged Sweet Pea away before he could even utter a word to the other two girls.

     "Catch you later then," Tori said while watching the two Serpents walk away. "I guess just the three of us will be fine."

     "Let's go find Cherry Cola," Toni said while wrapping her arm around Tori's shoulders.

     Both of them found Cheryl sitting in the student lounge sipping on a vanilla almond milk latte and scrolling through her phone. The two girls walked up to her and Tori was the one to tap the redhead on the shoulder. Cheryl looked at the two but her eyes travelled to Tori who looked as anxious as she felt and didn't change her stone cold facial expression.

     "Hey, Cheryl. I was wondering if maybe you would like to come to Pop's with us to just, you know, talk and hang out? Maybe we can just forget about that argument and move on," she said while fidgeting with her fingers.

     Cheryl hummed as she emotionlessly turned back to her phone and kept scrolling.

     "Cheryl, give her a break. She's trying over here so the least you could do is try too," Toni said.

     "I will come with you to that diner but only because I don't want to be anywhere near my mother right now," Cheryl sighed as she grabbed her bag and left the student lounge.

     The two girls quickly caught up to her as they left the building and started walking to Riverdale's most famous diner and hangout spot for the teenagers who lived in the small town. Toni tried to talk to Cheryl and hopefully change her sour demeanor while Tori had her headphones on listening to whatever music she felt like but kept the volume low enough so she could be aware of her surroundings. When the Serpent, the Blossom and the Colombian girl arrived at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, they found a booth and slid inside with Toni and Tori sitting right next to each other and Cheryl on the opposite side.

     "You wanted to talk, right?" Cheryl asked as she leaned back with her arms crossed. "Let's talk."

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

     THE THREE GIRLS SEEMED TO HAVE SPENT AND ETERNITY inside the booth while Cheryl and Tori tried to sort out everything from their argument, with Toni's support. But in reality, they were only there for fifteen minutes. Pop Tate even came around to their booth a few times and asked them if they were certain they didn't want anything to eat or drink, which they kindly declined and thanked the man each time.

     "I mean if I'm being honest here, Tori does make a point. If you can't tell her certain things then she doesn't have to tell you everything just because you want to know," Toni said while shrugging her shoulders.

     "I don't think we need a third party speaking," Cheryl sneered.

     "But it's true. You always insisted that I tell you everything and I feel like I have no privacy with you. I always have to tell you what I'm doing, what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling and it's getting tiring. Meanwhile, you can't tell me about your beef with MF or the things that go on with your mom," Tori said.

     "That's because my private life is none of your business unless you were involved," Cheryl said.

     "Then why is my private life any of your business? Why do you insist on making it your business and why do you always push me to tell you things?" Tori fired back. "I don't think you realize that there are some things that I'm just not comfortable telling you and that I deserve a bit of privacy just as much as you do. You don't want others to pry into your business and yet you always have to know everyone else's business."

     Tori leaned back in her seat and exhaled slowly in an attempt to keep herself from falling apart in front of the other two around her. Cheryl sighed as she looked down at her bright red painted nails as her fingers curled on top of the table.

     "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay," Cheryl said before swallowing the growing lump in her throat.

     "And you don't think I wanted to do the same for you? You're my best friend and I love you but if you don't want to tell me something, I will respect that and let you tell me when you're ready. You don't need to tell me everything so I shouldn't have to tell you everything either," Tori said. "I know you haven't been the same since Jason and I understand that. I know you still miss him and you always will but you can't just push your friends away and isolate yourself from the world."

     "Tori's right, Cheryl. In times like this, you need the people you can trust to lean on when you need that support," Toni said. "We're both here for you."

     Toni grabbed Cheryl's hand and then took ahold of Tori's. Tori reached out and offered her free hand to Cheryl, which the redhead accepted without any signs of hesitation.

     "I don't mean to push you away, Tori. I'm so used to having you always there for me so when I see you with other people, I feel like you're leaving me," Cheryl said quietly while bowing her head.

     "I'm not leaving you. I'm also used to just having you there with me so I'm still adjusting to having other friends like Toni over here," the dark haired girl said and Toni only chuckled at her response. "But I also know how it feels to lose someone you were really close with."

     Tori took a deep breath before continuing. "My dad and I were really close when I was little. He used to take me to the Twilight Drive-In every month while my mom was working. That's actually how I got into a lot of older movies. The first movie he took me to see was 'Mary Poppins' and then it was 'Jaws' and a whole bunch of other movies he ended up getting for me on VHS."

     "Didn't he leave when you were six?" Cheryl asked.

     "That's just it, Cheryl. He didn't leave," Tori said before sucking in a deep breath and releasing a shaky exhale, "He disappeared."

     She felt both of her hands being squeezed by the others and she could feel her eyes slowly burning as they welled up with tears that she refused to release.

     "I am so sorry, Tori. You don't have to explain anything else if it makes you feel uncomfortable," Toni said while pulling Tori closer to her side.

     Tori leaned her head on Toni's shoulder and quickly wiped her eyes dry so no one could see the forming tears that were just waiting to fall down her cheeks. Just like Cheryl missed her twin brother, Tori missed her father. Everyone in Riverdale lost something or someone to get to where they were now. It was simply inevitable.