photo is madelaine petsch who plays cheryl blossom

***

"Oh, god."

Luna was now rushing over to the school, it was only 5:00, right?

Maybe Cheryl was still there, maybe Vixen practice went by slowly.

How long did they stay anyways?

Clearly not long enough, as when Luna got there, the school was very much empty.

For some reason, the doors were open though, and Luna found that very weird.

Shouldn't the janitors have locked the door?

I mean, what if like, a murderer hid there overnight?

Luna shrugged it off, and curiosity got the best of her.

She decided to wander in the school, calling out the word, "hello" repeatedly.

I mean, when you watch horror movies, you never expect to be in one.

So you judge the characters based on what you should do, but sometimes what you should do isn't what you actually do.

Right now, or soon I should say, Luna would feel like she was in a horror movie.

Luna jumped when she heard a loud bang.

It wasn't a gun bang, it was more like a door slamming bang.

At this point, Luna was about to turn around when she saw a few of the guys from the football team.

Thankfully, they weren't paying attention to her and were laughing because of something on the person she recognized as Chuck's phone.

She couldn't really see anyone else, and she wondered why.

I mean, she knew Moose was on the team, and so was Archie, and Reggie, and Jason – well, Jason used to be on the team.

Luna quickly turned into a, thankfully, open classroom.

She heard the chuckles and speech from the group of boys come and pass, so Luna let out a glad breath.

Never was she this relieved.

For some reason, she felt she was intruding or something like that, and them seeing her would require an explanation or something like that, which would require confrontation-

And she hated confrontation.

She quietly walked past, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Veronica's name.

"Veronica, man? Dude, you scored for sure!"

"I know bro, but should I post it?"

"Dude, of course! But I think you need more syrup."

There was laughter after that and Luna put her back to the wall.

Veronica?

Why would they be talking about Veronica?

And why would they be talking about Veronica and syrup, two topics which did not correspond?

Luna sighed and furrowed her eyebrows in frustration, but her eyes soon widened when the laughter and speech started to sound near again.

She looked to her side quickly.

Men's bathroom?

Anything to avoid seeing them.

She slipped inside quickly, looking around and scrunching up her nose.

It smelled like shit in there.

She went inside one of the stalls, which smelled especially gross, and pushed the door up slightly so her body would be covered, stepping on the toilet so her feet would be concealed.

Her heart started thumping madly when a few of the voices sounded even closer, which meant they were in the bathroom with her.

"Veronica Lodge dude, that's lit."

"Yeah, I know man."

"Damn Chuck didn't know you were such a ladies man."

Chuck? Football team?

One of the guys had to be Chuck Clayton then, right?

"She's a freak," he said, which resulted in laughter.

They did their business and washed their hands, not noticing Luna, who was even more confused.

However, she decided not to think about it until she got the hell out of dodge.

She waited until the voices could no longer be heard before jumping off the toilet seat, running out the bathroom into the halls of the school, right out the doors and into the outside world.

By now, it was exceptionally dark and Luna started to think about how long she'd been in there.

She decided to push that off though until she was home and didn't feel as cold as she did right now.

But she'd have to go home to an empty home.

One that wasn't filled with the corny jokes and laughter of Anthony.

Soon, Luna was crumbling mess in the school parking lot.

This happened a lot, Luna breaking down out of nowhere.

But the thought of home just made her sad, the thought of no Anthony made her sad.

The fact that she didn't know where he was made her sad if he was even alive.

She pushed that thought out of her head, he was fine, he had to be.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around her body.

"You okay?"

She opened her eyes, but she only able to see a red blob in front of her, due to the tears that were blurring her vision.

Luna sniffed, nodding slightly and blinking until her vision was clear.

She could make out the sympathetic face of Cheryl Blossom.

Sympathetic and Cheryl Blossom didn't belong in the same sentence, which is why Luna was confused when she saw her.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I come here a lot, to the football field," she gave her a tight lined smile. "Jason."

Luna nodded, Cheryl, stepping forward and wrapping her own arms around Luna.

They didn't say anything, Luna didn't have to, Cheryl knew her pain.

"It hurts? Knowing his not gonna be home?" Cheryl asked.

Luna nodded, not trusting her own voice.

"I know it hurts, okay? But you gotta go home, you gotta fight, it's what he'd want."

"You have no idea what he'd want," Luna stepped back, somewhat angrily.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

Luna's face softened at Cheryl's stutter, she was showing weakness, and she didn't do that often.

"I'm sorry," Luna apologized.

"Don't be," Cheryl shook her head.

"Well, you and I could head home, or..." her voice trailed off.

Luna cocked her eyebrow, "Or what?"

"We could head to Pop's and you can make it up to me for missing our little meeting today," Cheryl laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry!" Luna smiled.

"You don't have to be sorry you just have to pay for my milkshake."

Luna rolled her eyes, "Fine, then."

Cheryl nodded, "I'll lead the way?"

Luna chuckled, "Of course you will."

***

Eventually, they made it to Pop's where Luna and Cheryl sat in a booth across from each other.

"So, how've you been holding up?" Luna asked Cheryl, to which she only shrugged.

"Okay, I guess. I have a game tomorrow, though. I guess football or whatever helps me cope with..." she paused. "him being gone."

"Hey," Luna started, putting her hand on Cheryl's. "you don't know what for sure."

Cheryl smiled, "We don't know that for sure either."

Luna scoffed, sitting back in the booth with her arms crossed, "You're such a bitch."

Cheryl furrowed her brows, "What did I do?"

"You won't let anyone help you," Luna said. "and that's why you've been taking so long to grieve."

Cheryl seemed to be offended, "Speak for yourself. You've just been bottling up your feelings for weeks."

"You have too!" Luna said a little loudly, earning a few glances from fellow patrons inside the diner.

"You have too." Luna repeated, a little quieter this time.

Cheryl scoffed, "What are you getting?"

"Strawberry milkshake, you?"

"Vanilla."

"Vanilla, wow," Luna laughed.

"What's wrong with vanilla?" Cheryl asked, a confused look plastered onto her face.

"You're vanilla."

Cheryl opened her mouth, but nothing came out, as she still didn't quite get it.

"You need to try something new!" Luna attempted to explain. "you're so plain and boring!"

"That's hypocritical," Cheryl smiled a bit. "you're getting strawberry."

"Okay then," Luna paused, flipping through the menu before her eyes and mouth widened. "we'll both get the Caramel Vanilla Milkshake with crushed Oreos and warm peanut butter."

"That sounds disgusting," Cheryl gagged. "they should just name it 'diabetes in a cup'."

Luna laughed genuinely at Cheryl's comment, causing Cheryl to smile a bit.

"We'll share it," Luna said. "and if you don't like it, I'd be glad to get diabetes without you."

Cheryl rolled her eyes, "Fine. But this stays between us. I'm gonna need to go on a no carb and strict exercise routine after this, I swear I'll gain like 70 pounds."

Luna smirked, "You are like 70 pounds."

"No, I'm not!" Cheryl laughed while she said the words.

"Are you two ready to order?"

A waitress came over, taking out her notepad, "Great to see Cupid doing his job."

Luna opened her mouth to correct the woman, but Cheryl cut her off.

"We'll both be sharing the – the um, Luna, what was it called?"

Luna furrowed her eyebrows before stuttering over her words, "Uh, it was the Caramel Vanilla Milkshake. I believe it came with crushed Oreos and warm peanut butter?"

The waitress' eyes lit up, "Oh, you lovebirds are in for a treat."

She winked at them before walking away, Cheryl smiling casually.

"Well, she supports LGBT+, glad to know not everyone in this town is an asshole," Cheryl commented.

Luna cocked an eyebrow, "So we're dating now?"

Cheryl shrugged, "What's so bad about dating me? And why ruin the poor woman's day, it seemed like seeing us was the best part of it."

"What's so bad? You mean besides the fact that you're the devil's spawn?"

Cheryl scoffed, a laugh behind it, "Oh, please! You love me. And so what, your friends hate me. Doesn't mean you have to also."

Luna shifted in her seat, "I don't hate you."

Cheryl smiled, tilting her head to the side, "Really?"

"No, I don't," Luna told her, placing her hand on top of Cheryl's.

Their fingers interlocked and for a while, they sat there in silence.

"One Caramel Vanilla Milkshake!" The woman yelled, placing a tall glass in front of both of them.

The removed their hands from each other's, a blush could be slightly seen under all Cheryl's makeup and powder blush, "Thank you."

"You two have a good night," she laughed. "and don't get into too much trouble."

Luna laughed at that, "You too."

Cheryl followed after her, "Yeah, you too."

They both sat in silence once again, this time 'diabetes in a cup' before them.

"Well, shall we feast?" Cheryl remarked comically.

Luna smirked, "Yes we shall."