Chapter Text
“Feet off your desk Topaz,” Mr. Paterson sighed, rapping his knuckles on the surface of Toni’s desk. “This is English class, not your living room. Manners please.”
Toni looked up at her English teacher dully and sat up while simultaneously letting her feet slide off her desk. Class hadn’t even started yet, she was going to lower them once the bell rang. He should’ve been happy she came on time, unlike some students who showed would show up a few minutes after the bell had rang.
“Actually Mr. Paterson, Toni here is from the Southside. She has the same manners as a sewage rat,” a voice laced with distaste piped up from behind.
Toni rotated in her desk, recognizing the voice instantly. Cheryl Blossom’s assigned seat was one behind and one to the right of Toni’s, allowing her to add her two cents to everything Toni did during the class. But, Cheryl didn’t do it to just Toni. She did it to practically everyone, even two girls that considered themselves her friends. Metaphorically, Cheryl was the thorn in the side of everyone at school. She seemed to know everything about everyone and liked to stir the pot and watch the consequences as some sort of entertainment. Toni had been putting up with her since the closing of her old high school Southside High, which caused her to end up in the clutches of Cheryl every weekday.
“That’s right Cheryl, I totally forgot that not all of us were raised by being fed from a silver spoon like you,” Toni smiled sourly, her grip tightening on the back of her chair.
Cheryl smirked at her in response, looking Toni up and down. She relished in the reactions her backhand comments garnered.
“Ladies, come on. It’s the first week of your junior year, I suggest doing your best to remain civil in my classroom. It makes my job so much easier,” Mr. Paterson spoke up, but Toni and Cheryl continued to stare each other down.
Cheryl’s smirk still remained on her ruby red lips, and Toni noticed the satisfied look in her brown eyes. Not only was Cheryl an utter bitch, but she was also undeniably attractive. It was unfair, someone with one of the ugliest personalities ever had one of the most gorgeous faces. Toni’s friend Jughead would tell her that looks didn’t mean anything when someone was a bad person. Yet, it still irked Toni that Cheryl’s hair was the most noticeable shade of red, allowing her to stand out in a sea of people. She dressed to the nines every day, never wearing the same outfit twice.
The bell rang again, causing Toni to finally tear her eyes away from Cheryl and turn around in her desk chair. A few students rushed into the classroom to their desks seconds later, not wanting to be marked late for class.
“Alright, I made my decision on if you guys are going to have a daily journal,” Mr. Paterson spoke up, causing the chatter of the class to die down. He leaned on his desk at the front of the classroom and crossed his arms. “This year, instead of having all of my juniors have nightly journals, I’m going to try something different. I have two classes of about 30 students in each, and I noticed that a lot of my students seem very closed off to their peers. So, to try to break the barrier, the rest of the junior English teachers and I have randomized all of our student’s names into pairs. Each of you will have a secret pen pal that you’ll be writing to every other class.”
Toni’s interest perked, this sounded better than having to write a journal entry every day but having to write to someone else in the school made her apprehensive.
“Here’s how it’s going to work; you and your partner will take turns writing a letter to the other. Because of how this is set up, you’ll be writing and receiving about one letter a week. For example, the first person in the pair will write the letter. The next day, their partner will receive the letter and write their response. On the third day, the second partner will drop off their letter. And the fourth day, the first person will receive their letter and write a response. This will cycle every four weekdays. Your partner will not know your name, nor will you know theirs. I’m trying to keep things as anonymous as possible, so instead of judging each other you’ll be getting to know the other below the surface level,” Mr. Paterson explained, displaying the criteria on the board. “As well as not being able to share your names, you’re not allowed to share any information with your partner that would give away your identity. Your names will be revealed at the end of the school year, but until then you need to keep yourselves a secret.”
“So, how are we supposed to exchange these letters then?” Betty Cooper asked, raising her hand. Toni expected her to have many questions. She was like that.
“When it’s your turn to write your letter, you’ll put it in a plain white envelope, so everyone’s looks the same and put it in the sleeve under your name. I’ll take it from there in making sure that your partner receives your letter. The same will go for when you’re receiving the letter, it’ll be in the sleeve with your name at the beginning of class,” Mr. Paterson said. “You can talk about anything you want, there’s no requirement for what it is you talk about. If this works out, we’ll continue it instead of the journal.”
Toni wasn’t convinced, she barely wrote anything. Now, she was going to have to come up with stuff to say to a stranger. It was her turn to go first, having to formulate something that wasn’t utterly embarrassing and try to start a conversation. Her head was swimming with questions, wondering if her partner would be able to actually keep a conversation. Or what if they didn’t even get along? Or agree on anything?
She was still thinking about it as she sat down at lunch with the rest of the Southside Serpents. Jughead, Sweet Pea, Fangs, and Joaquin were all there before her. Fangs looked up briefly as Toni let her backpack fall to the ground and slid into the seat next to Sweet Pea.
“You going to the meeting yet?” Fangs asked, looking up at her over his sandwich.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it,” Toni nodded, pulling her lunch out of her backpack. Fuck, how was she going to have time to write a letter to her pen pal with everything going on after school?
Toni groaned and pulled a notebook and pen out of her backpack. She was going to have to do it now or else it would never get done, and she did not want to make a bad first impression on her pen pal.
Her friends continued their conversation, allowing Toni to look at the blank lined paper and think of something to say to her pen pal.
Hey, let’s give this a shot?
She looked down at the black ink on the paper. Toni used a lot of pressure when writing, the letters darkly imprinted on the page. Normally she would describe herself, but she was one of the only girls at school with pink hair. Writing that she had pink hair would be a dead giveaway.
I’m not really that good at introductions, but I’m going to try my best. Honestly, I don’t really know what I can say about myself that wouldn’t give away hints on who I am.
That was a start, sort of? Toni sat for a minute and stared at the page, thinking about her interests and what she could include that didn’t give herself away.
Well, here’s some things that I can say about myself that seem pretty safe, we might as well start somewhere with our conversation. I sleep with socks on because my feet get cold easily. I have a bunch of ideas for tattoos I want to get when I’m older. I really want to go to college for photography, but it’s just a hobby right now. My favorite fruit is mango and I’ve never been on a plane. My favorite movie of all time is The Godfather. My favorite book is-
“You writin’ your letter to your pen pal?” Sweet Pea asked, looking over her shoulder with a teasing smirk.
Toni immediately slapped a hand on top of what she had already written, shielding Sweet Pea’s view.
“Personal space! What if you’re my pen pal?” Toni asked frantically, rotating so that he couldn’t see her notebook. “You could’ve ruined the secrecy.”
“Honestly, the whole thing is a bullshit idea,” Fangs spoke up.
“Really? I think it’s a great idea,” Jughead chimed in, shrugging as he sipped his carton of milk. “They’re just trying to get us to meet new people.”
“Says the guy who loves to write, I can barely keep a conversation with my mom,” Fangs laughed dryly.
“I don’t think you’re my pen pal Toni, I have to write a letter to mine tonight too so,” Sweet Pea shrugged.
“The only way this could be a bad idea is if you get a totally boring pen pal,” Joaquin laughed. “Or worse, Cheryl Blossom.”
“I think I’d drop out of school if I had her as my partner,” Sweet Pea groaned. “Her letters are probably going to be entirely about herself.”
Toni laughed, glancing at Cheryl at the other side of the cafeteria. She was talking to her brother Jason, a disgruntled look on her face. Toni had to admit, she did feel bad for whatever unfortunate soul got Cheryl as their partner.
---
My favorite book is Persuasion by Jane Austen, I like a lot of classic literature. I read sometimes when I can, but I barely have much time to anymore.
That’s all I can think of really, maybe that got the ball rolling on something for us to talk about? Hopefully you don’t think I’m completely embarrassing.
-Your Pen Pal
Cheryl looked down at the letter in her hands, having reread it twice before. She could feel the deep indents in the paper from her pen pal’s handwriting under her fingertips. She smiled slightly at the letter, her pen pal slept with socks too. It was probably a pretty common thing, but Cheryl was happy she could even slightly relate to her pen pal.
The concept of having a pen pal for the school year was exciting, and Cheryl barely got into the locker room for cheer practice before she was tearing open the envelope to read the letter. Other girls came in to change for their sports, but Cheryl sat on the bench by her locker reading the letter. It was nice to have someone to talk to that didn’t know her about anything and everything. The only person she could really talk to without having to filter herself was her brother Jason, but even then, she sometimes had to hold back on what she really wanted to say.
Cheryl constantly felt like a bubble waiting to explode with her thoughts and opinions, thankfully her pen pal didn’t seem to be one of the super weird kids who sat in the back or one of the cronies from the Southside. Whoever it was, they actually seemed to be educated. Their grammar was perfect, no words spelt incorrectly. But, not too formal to be Betty Cooper. Her pen pal was clearly a female based on the loopy letters of their handwriting.
“Practice starts in like five minutes, why are you still sitting around in your regular clothes?” Veronica Lodge asked, approaching Cheryl in her practice uniform.
Cheryl looked up at Veronica, hastily stashing the letter into her backpack.
“Last time I checked, I’m the captain here,” Cheryl said bitterly, standing up to be eye level with Veronica. “Practice doesn’t start until I’m ready. Besides, you should be thankful you have more time to go make out with Betty in the corner.”
Veronica rolled her eyes, “I just think you should be paying more attention to your team instead of stranger you have to write letters to.”
“Like I said, practice doesn’t start until I do,” Cheryl snapped, turning to open her gym locker. “Run along.”
Unfortunately for Cheryl, she had to wait until she was at her desk later that night to write her pen pal a letter. She had reread the letter again, formulating a response in her head. Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion from a particularly strenuous cheer practice, her bed on the other side of the room seemed to be calling her name. She didn’t want to go to bed without writing her response, already anticipating the next letter.
Hey,
I have to say, your taste in literature is surprisingly decent. I’m impressed. I haven’t seen the Godfather before, so I can’t really comment on that. My brother has mentioned it before, but mafia movies aren’t really my thing. I do a lot of reading myself, Jane Austen is one of my favorites. Have you ever read anything by Charles Dickens? I’m currently reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It’s kind of a book that’s on the newer side, but it’s really good. If you’re looking for something to read, you should definitely keep it in mind.
I completely relate with sleeping with socks on. But it’s only because it makes my feet feel cozy, my feet don’t really get cold.
What kind of photos do you take? Do you have a professional camera? It’d be cool to see some of the photos you’ve taken, I don’t really have a knack for photos other than when I take selfies unfortunately. You’re probably really good if you’re considering going to college for it, I haven’t really thought about what I want to do after high school. I guess I’m just going with the flow for now, there’s never been any kind of pressure at home to figure out what I want to do after high school. I’ve thought about taking a gap year to explore Europe, but I don’t really have anyone to go with. We’ll see though.
Talk to you soon
Pen Pal #2