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Chapter Twenty-Two
A Basket of Lies
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     TONI AND TORI STARTED HEADING TO THE HOSPITAL as soon as they left the school and Tori had barely spoken a word. Toni kept the conversations small and light and Tori had no problem with it. They talked about simple little things as they walked to the hospital and nothing too heavy or anything that would hit a soft spot for either of them.

     "Honestly, I just hope that Cheryl is at the hospital and just forgot to get back to my texts or just had her phone on silent," Tori said.

     "I'm sure everything is fine. Don't worry too much, we'll check the hospital and I'm sure she will be there," Toni said reassuringly.

     The two girls reached the hospital and walked inside where they were greeted with doctors and nurses walking down the halls and a few patients going for a walk. Tori spotted her mother standing in front of the receptionist's desk and she hurried over to her. She tapped her arm and her mother turned around and smiled widely when she saw Tori standing there.

     "What are you doing here?" her mother asked, the language sounding completely foreign to Toni who watched from the sidelines.

     "Cheryl wasn't at school today so me and Toni came here to see if she was here with Nana Rose," Tori said.

     "Cheryl's mother came here to pick her up and take her home an hour ago."

     "Okay. Thanks, Mom. I'll see you at home."

     "Bye."

     Toni and Tori walked out of the hospital and Toni chuckled lightly as they made their way towards Thistlehouse.

     "The entire time I've known you, I've never heard you speak Spanish until now," Toni said.

     "We usually speak Spanish at family gatherings during the holidays or on the phone and when we're occasionally talking to family members living in Colombia," Tori said while shrugging her shoulders.

     "So, why just now?" Toni questioned curiously.

     "It's because my mom doesn't like people eavesdropping on conversations between us so we speak Spanish so no one understands, especially if it's personal," Tori answered.

     Both of them arrived at Thistlehouse where they were sure to find Cheryl. Mrs. Blossom's car was parked in the driveway so it was safe for them to assume that they were home. Toni was the one to ring the doorbell and they waited patiently for someone to open it. Penelope Blossom was the one to open the wooden door and scowled at the two girls standing on her doorstep.

     "Sorry to bother you, Mrs. Blossom, but we're looking for Cheryl. She wasn't at school today and she wasn't at the hospital with her nana," Toni said.

     "No, she's not here. She's at a boarding school in Switzerland. All girls. She just left last night," the red haired woman said with a voice that sent shivers down Tori's spine as she listened.

     Toni chuckled, "Mrs. Blossom, that doesn't make any sense."

     "There's no way Cheryl would just go to an all girls boarding school in Switzerland while her nana is sick," Tori added.

     Cheryl's mother narrowed her eyes at the two of them and said, "Don't come here again."

     Before either of them could say anything, the door was slammed in their faces.

     "Do you really believe that Cheryl is at a boarding school in Switzerland?" Tori asked as they walked away from Thistlehouse.

     "Not one bit. But you were right about Mrs. Blossom being a cunning manipulator, which means we're gonna have to be careful," Toni said.

     "So we're gonna go find Cheryl?"

     "We need to at least figure out what's going on first before we go anywhere. I don't believe that she is all the way in Switzerland but we still don't know where she could be."

     Tori only nodded as they got farther and farther away from Thistlehouse. She didn't even know where they were going now since they didn't find Cheryl at the hospital or at home.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

     TORI HEADED TOWARDS THE CAFETERIA IN SEARCH OF TONI to discuss the issue with Cheryl and hopefully figure something out. She already knew that Mrs. Blossom had lied straight to her and Toni's faces the previous day but she had no evidence to make a legit conclusion. She was so focused on the mystery of what could have possibly happened to her best friend, she almost missed Sweet Pea holding Reggie against the wall in the next hallway.

     The first thing that went to her mind was that if Weatherbee got any knowledge of the situation happening in that moment, Sweet Pea would be the one facing punishment while Reggie got off easy and she couldn't let that happen. Without thinking, she rushed over to the two boys and separated them along with MF, who also happened to be at the scene. Tori could feel Reggie fighting against her as she pushed him away while MF did the same to Sweet Pea, making it clear that the boys did not want to stop fighting until one of them was down. MF managed to find Sweet Pea's pressure point and pressed hard enough to distract him and pulled him away, making him stumble and almost fall into the lockers across from the others.

     Tori tried to take in the situation and wondered why Sweet Pea and Reggie were going for each other's throats just then and she didn't even know who started the issue. MF made her way over to Reggie and the Bulldog immediately wrapped his arm around her waist. Tori looked at Sweet Pea, who was just as confused as she was when she saw the two being even closer than she would've expected, which was just about impossible with MF's obvious hatred for Northsiders.

     Sweet Pea stared at MF and he couldn't help but ask, "Are you seriously interacting with this guy, willingly?"

     "Oh, we're more than interacting, reptile," Reggie said while smirking.

     Tori rubbed her temples as she said, "Please don't call him a reptile, he is a human being." She turned to MF and asked, "I don't like to interfere with other's decisions since it's not my business, but how do you tolerate a guy who insults your friends?"

     "He hasn't been my friend for weeks now," MF scoffed. "Besides, Reggie wasn't lying when he said that Bulldogs ate Serpents for lunch."

     Tori blinked at the words that had just left the Serpent girl's mouth and Sweet Pea was just as shocked. Reggie walked off with a smirk after MF gave him a suggestive look and she was about to join him but Sweet Pea grabbed her arm. Tori could see how angry Sweet Pea was and how MF was just as angry, but for different reasons and she knew it wasn't going to end well.

     "MF, you can't be serious!" he said.

     MF only glared at him.

     "Why can't you just let me be happy after everything you've done to me?" she asked as she ripped her arm out of his grip and walked past him, bumping his shoulder with hers on the way.

     Sweet Pea's jaw clenched as Tori fiddled with the strap of her bag. She had no idea what MF was talking about but when she thought about MF's words right before the weekend, she couldn't help but think that maybe this was what she was talking about.

     "I'm sorry," she said while looking anywhere else that wasn't Sweet Pea.

     Sweet Pea scoffed, "What do you have to be sorry for?"

     "For you and MF," Tori replied while shrugging her shoulders.

     "Listen. Whatever has been going on between me and MF, you had nothing to do with it. So don't apologize for something that wasn't your fault," he said as his shoulders relaxed a little bit.

     Tori's spine went stiff. Despite Sweet Pea's words, she still had that feeling that she did have something to do with their fighting but she couldn't just tell him why she had that feeling and she couldn't tell him about MF's threat.

     "Nevermind. I just─" she said, stumbling on her own words and started walking away. "I'll see you around."

     "Tori, wait!" Sweet Pea called out. Tori stopped and turned around, anticipating the Serpent's next words but she also didn't expect him to stop her from walking away entirely. She didn't even expect for any words to be exchanged, due to the wedge that was driven between them. "I need help with chemistry."

     "Is Mr. Harris still giving you a hard time?" Tori asked.

     "More than a hard time," Sweet Pea mumbled as he rolled his eyes. "But there were some things that I didn't understand from yesterday's lesson and I was hoping you could help me clear things up."

     "Sweet Pea, I have no problem helping you understand the lesson. I just didn't think you wanted to talk to me anymore. You made that pretty clear when you avoided me like the plague on Friday," Tori said while nervously fidgeting with her fingers as her eyes wandered around the hallway.

     Sweet Pea sighed, "I get it, and I'm sorry about that."

     Tori gnawed the inside of her cheek as her eyes finally settled on the dark brown eyes of the boy standing in front of her. He was back to wearing that piece of cloth to cover his tattoo and the sleeves of his flannel were rolled up to his elbows.

     "Meet me in the student lounge right at the beginning of lunch. We can start by going over the things you do understand and then we can work on your weak points," Tori suggested while tugging at the waistband of her faded mom jeans.

     Sweet Pea nodded shortly with a smile so small that Tori almost missed it.

     "Works for me."